No comments about Captains of Industry (Large Print Edition): or Men of Business Who Did Something Besides Maki.

5 comments about Woodrow Wilson.

1. H.W. Brands' output over the last five years has been enormous. From huge biographies on Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin to fair-sized books on the California Gold Rush and several major U.S. business figures to a slim volume on Americans' relationship with their federal government, the Texas A&M historian has published at least six books over the last five years that I'm aware of. The four which I've read have had the same qualities: solid scholarship and writing, but nothing flashy or standout about them.

   Brands' biography of Woodrow Wilson fits in this pattern. The book is an easy and enjoyable read. The scholarship is solid (I enjoyed reading the short but striking comments for each of the books mentioned in the "selected bibliography"). Occasionally, Brands is even eloquent as when he describes the effect on Wilson of the death of his first wife.

   Nevertheless, as with every other book of Brands I've read, "Woodrow Wilson" never soars to become a great work. The reason eludes me. Brands seems to have all the gifts to write a memorable history or biography, but his work remains a little too flat and it fades too quickly from the reader's mind. He does not break out of this mold with "Woodrow Wilson".




2. No one can truly understand the issues of the modern era without knowledge of of the man who mid-wifed it into existence, Woodrow Wilson. In his biography of Wilson's presidency, Professor H.W. Brands brings his insightful style and keen sense of relationships between critical events. One learns enough from this rather short book to ask the next set of more interesting questions.

   Absent Wilson, would there have been a central bank, the Federal Reserve, in the U.S.? How did the Wilson presidency effect the direction of the national income tax? What did Wilson do to foster the growth of centralized federal power in the U.S.?

   Absent Wilson's inept diplomacy, would the U.S. have become so involved in World War I, first by funding Britain and France, and then by participating in the combat? Would the Great War have lasted so long and caused so much damage to the fabric of European civilization and colonial influence? Would the world ever have heard of Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini, veterans both of front line combat?

   Absent U.S. participation in the European War, would a pedestrian lawyer, and middling state-level politician named Franklin Delano Roosevelt have found his first federal job as Assistant Secretary of the Navy? Would the U.S. ever have bred such soldiers as Douglas MacArthur and Harry Truman, and most of the rest of the list of future political-military leaders of mid-century?

   Absent events put into motion by Wilson, would Russia have broken up and descended into a Bolshevik Revolution? Would the Ottoman Empire have dissolved, to spawn the modern politics of the Middle East? Would the concept of League of Nations/world governance ever have gained the traction it did?

   Had Wilson never been president, would the U.S. and the world have had a far different 20th Century? Or was Wilson just one man in a particular time of great change? Germany and Italy had been building centralized, debt-financed governance for 40 years by the time Wilson walked into the White House. So did Wilson make history, guide history , or was he merely governed by historical forces whose time had come?

   Like it or not, we lived the 20th Century in Wilson's Century, and in the 21st Century we still follow the path he blazed. Wilson's ghost hovers over the plains of the Republic, walks the halls of power in every government building, and touches the lives of every person who draws a breath.




3. You must guard your expectations on a biography (especially of a two term president) that only reads 138 pages. However, I thought that H.W. Brands could add his typical free flowing style and story-telling ability to make a completely satisfying short-read. Unfortuantely, Brands delivers his least inspired performance in telling the story of Wilson. Obviously, the context of the project (a short "taste" on the life of Wilson) curtailed Brands style, which I found to be my biggest disappointment.
   
   As a whole - the life of Wilson is fascinating - a great turning point in the life of "liberals" (While Wilson would certainly not be considered a "liberal" by today's standards). Wilson implemented the 8 hour work day, the FTC, and stiffened anti-trust laws.... not to mention a monstrous epidemnic of the flu... and oh yeah.... World War I. Unfortunately - most of these issues are just briefly touched on (The flu epidemic was not even mentioned).
   
   As a whole - I found this to be a fair brief glimpse into the life of Wilson. However, I would have love to read one of Brand's standard 400 pagers on the life of Wilson.



4. H.W. Brands has written ambitious biographies of American historical figures, including a major work on the life of Andrew Jackson. Here, in keeping within the format of the American Presidents Series, Brands has writtten a shorter, but nontheless, insightful work. Wilson might have been a great president but, he was flawed. He was stubborn and uncompromising. Although he suffered a major stroke in his second term, he evidentally had suffered other, less serious strokes over the years. It is difficult to say whether his physical condition led to his unwillingness to yield but, much that could have been accomplished through compromise never came to fruition.
   
   An early sign of Wilson's concreteness appeared during his presidency of Princeton University. There was a dispute as to whether the graduate school should be located on the main campus or at another site. Wilson, a proponent of locating it on campus refused to negotiate a compromise and the project was stalled.
   
   Wilson was a Virginian and his racial attitudes were that of the Jim Crow South. However, being president of Princeton established his credentials as a New Jersey resident and Democratic party leaders put him up for governor of that state. He was elected and he showed remarkable independence as he proposed reforms that disappointed the party leaders and led them to consider him to be an ingrate. Later, when he was elected President of the United States, he continued his reform path in domestic matters.
   
   What defined his presidency was World War I and its aftermath. After the war, Wilson traveled to Europe to negotiate the peace treaty. On a tour of Europe, he was cheered wildly whereever he went. He was a genuine hero. However, in the negotiations England and France sought to impose harsh terms on Germany whereas Wilson sought more leniency. The heart of Wilson's Fourteen points proposal was a League of Nations. This League was included in the treaty and Wilson's next major battle was to get the Senate to ratify it. Here is where Wilson's stubborness did him in. Rather than negotiate with Republicans in the Senate, led by Henry Cabot Lodge, Wilson bypassed them and took his case to the people in a speaking tour. This was not the way to win favor in the Senate.
   
   Wilson's most egregious error, probably compounded by his stroke, was his total unwillingness to yield on one point regarding the League of Nations; i.e. a clause that required members to come to the aid of other members militarily. Republicans in the Senate were concerned that this clause might weaken US sovereignty. They noted that under the Constitution, it was the Senate, not the President who decalred war. Paul Johnson, in his "History of the American People" noted that if one of Great Britain's colonial possessions, such as India, had been attacked, the treaty might require the United states to get involved militarily. Anyway, Wilson refused to allow a reservation which would clarify the United States' understanding of the clause to the satisfaction of Lodge and other concerned Senators. Accordingly, the treaty didn't pass the Senate.
   
   The tragedy of the Wilson presidency is that so much more could have been accomplished. He was a great reformer on domestic issues and was a popular war president. However, his one major flaw kept him from achieving true greatness. Brand does a good job in capturing the essence of Wilson and I recommend this book.



5. Many people ask when they found out that I'm a political scientist: "When has a political scientist ever affected politics?" Frankly, there are quite a few who have done so (think Henry Kissinger, for instance). But, above all, there is Woodrow Wilson. He served as President of the American Political Science Association and wrote a series of works that are still viewed as classics in the study of politics and public administration.
   
   This biography, another of those brief looks at presidents in "The American Presidents" series, does its job well. While I agree with other reviewers that this is such a brief volume that it glosses over much of Wilson's career, the series is what it is. And I think it somewhat unfair to criticize the book for working within the parameters imposed upon it.
   
   That said, this is a capable biography. I think a little more information about his early career, his life as an academic, an academic administrator, and governor may be covered too briefly even for this series. But that is not atypical.
   
   The book does give a sense of his persona--aloofness, stubbornness, rigidity, certitude, erudition, persuasive ability--and how this helped him succeed, but also could lead him to take stands that hurt his cause.
   
   The volume lays out the accomplishments with which he is associated, advancing the progressive agenda, enunciating a political perspective ("The New Freedom"), and the like. It also addresses his foreign policy--from the not terribly successful Mexican adventure to his leadership of the country in World War I to his efforts to transform global governance after the war (note his 14 points and his effort to establish a meaningful "League of Nations").
   
   He ran into political opposition with the League. The book does a nice job--even with its brevity on this score--explaining why he failed and how the effort here plus preexisting medical problems led to his breakdown and the strange last months of his presidency.
   
   There were contradictions with Wilson--his Southern background was associated with racism, even as his ideals led him to assist workers throughout the country with his Progressive policies. If you want a quick introduction to Wilson that nonetheless provides some understanding of his presidency, you could do a lot worse than visiting this volume.

No comments about Twenty-Two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman (Large Print Edition): Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years While.

5 comments about She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story.

1. I pinched COL Cornum's book from my boyfriend, curious to find out more about his boss. She jogs by my workplace almost daily, she seems frail and full of girlish energy. Recently,I met her at a LRMC function and she IS full of girlish energy. As she's a former POW, I was unsure what to expect. Since then, I've been even more curious about the woman my old mentor COL Ron Blanck described as "a woman to watch". That was back in '91 - we'd been following her release on AFN-TV from FARMC HQs during Morning Report. I was hungover but jolted out of my stupor by the respect in his voice. He later made it 4-star and respect was never something he's doled out like party favors.
   I've just finished her book (coincidently on the anniversary of her release thirteen years ago). It was staunchly pro-military and pro-American without resorting to gush-mode. It made me laugh unexpectedly, it made me run to my PC and download Lee Greenwood, it made me understand my former mentor. I took it to bed, I took it to breakfast and finally, I took it in the tub with me where I cried so hard at the reunion passage that I dropped it in the water. It was the autographed copy which she'd recently presented to my boyfriend on his birthday. I hope her sense of humour has rubbed off on him. If not, I'm in big trouble. Buy this book. Buy your own copy and buy some for your family. Then buy some for your neighbors. I need the karma points.



2. I'd heard that there was a female soldier captured during the first Gulf War, but I didn't know anything about her until I read this book. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Rhonda Cornum's strong personality comes through the pages of this book. Just her description of how she coped with her untreated injuries is impressive, and I second the person who admired how she kept her spirits up by singing in her prison cell. I hope if I ever found myself in as adverse a situation as she did, that I would be able to remain as courageous and confident throughout. Her description of the struggles she faced as a woman in the military is blunt without sinking into self-pity. An interesting and impressive slice of the first Gulf War, and a courageous role model and heroine.



3. I express my deep respect, admiration and gratitude for Colonel Rhonda Cornum's service to our country and the medical profession. She is a soldier's soldier. Her book is as entertaining and as inspirational as her career. Read it and it will change your life forever.



4. I thought I'd let readers know that now Col. Rhonda Cornum was nominated for promotion to Brigadier General today.



5. I got this book after the First Gulf War. Rhonda Cornum's courage as a POW is inspirational, especially under the circumstances in shich she found herself. It is well-known how the Ba'athists rotinely employed torture (real torture, not redefined torture) in order to get airmen to make statements critical of the Coalition war effort. In fact, the enemy we were fighting against at the time were barbarians who had no scruples when it came to the men and women who fell into their hands.
   
   An awesome book about an awesome Soldier.

2 comments about My Mark Twain (Large Print).

1. If you really want to know Mr. Clemens, don't stop with the modern biographies. Read this one by his long-time good friend and consultant. Howells wrote this book in 1910, the year Clemens died. It is a fond recollection of the 44 years he had known the author. Clemens was a complicated man and Howells admits that he did not always understand him. But Howells, a great writer himself, comes close to describing the multi-faceted person that Clemens was. Yes, he was Mark Twain, but that was just one part of a man who surely must be one of the most interesting Americans who ever stood in the spotlight of the world. He was a superstar before radio, TV, and movies. This is certainly not an unbiased account of his life. Howells was clearly in awe of Clemens, a man who was unlike himself in so many ways. He was fascinated by Clemens and drawn to him. How lucky we are that we have this insightful and personal biography, beautifully written by someone who obviously wanted to get it right. Howells put Clemens at the top of the list: "Emerson, Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes - I knew them all and all the rest of our sages, poets, seers, critics, humorists; they were like one another and like other literary men; but Clemens was sole, incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature."



2. this is a must book for anyone really interested in mark twain... thank you for publishing it...

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