3 comments about The Wild Man from Sugar Creek: The Political Career of Eugene Talmadge.

1. AN outstanding literary piece. I would highly reccomend it for all especailly children. Eugene Talmadge's life, as expresses in this book was spent in th ebetterment of the ordinary working people of our nation.



2. This work is a must read for anyone interested in southern history, or in demagougery in the U.S., or in southern politics! The author does an excellent job -- in a very interesting and readable narrative -- of truly capturing the colorful Eugene Talmadge, four times elected Governor of Georgia! He captures the real Gene, from Talmadge's red suspenders, to his plants at political rallies, to his outlandish, dogmatic ways -- such as the time he caused the Univ. of Ga. to lose its accreditation. As a teacher and historian, this book is one of the very best I have ever read!



3. A sweeping, incisive, colorful view of the life and times of the man in red galluses, Eugene Talmadge, famous for his slogan, "The poor Georgia dirt farmer ain't got but three friends who never let him down: God, Sears Roebuck, and Ol' Gene."

5 comments about Diana.

1. Bradford sounds like a fan of the Princess. She gives Diana the benefit of the doubt at every juncture. In a way, this makes for a pleasant and poignant read. Diana is portrayed as misunderstood and misused by "the establishment," the press, her family and most of her lovers. The only ones who didn't let her down were us (her public) and Hasnat Khan, the Pakistani surgeon who loved her dearly but couldn't/wouldn't marry her. Diana's more destructive impulses are portrayed as being the flip side of her strength. The thing of it is, though, very little of this information is new and much of it is hard to believe. Diana did bring much of her heartache onto herself. As Tina Brown's superior book exhibits, Diana's real story -- objectively told -- is just as compelling and heartbreaking as this more rose-colored version.



2. I wasn't sure about "Diana" by Sarha Bradford when I picked it. I thought that it would be a Diana hate fest or love fest. But this book was either. I was a balance book about Princess of Wales. Ms. Bradford should that Diana was just everyone else in the world. She had her up and downs with family and friends and all that she was looking for was her place in world, but unlike the rest of us the whole world was watching her do it.
   If you are a fan of the late Princess of Wales this may be the book for you.



3. If you're like me and just want to know Princess Diana's whole story, this is the book you need to read. It tells her life story in such an intertaining way that i just couldn't stop reading it until the very end. Sarah Bradford's work is remarkable. I highly recommend it.



4. This is probably the closest we will get to an "official" biography of the late Princess of Wales for many years to come. Sarah Bradford (who is also Viscountess Bangor) was able to interview countless friends and servants and other acquaintances of Princess Diana, including apparently several unnamed members of the Royal Family. The result is a book which, while overall sympathetic to the Princess, also acknowledges her darker side.
   
   Lady Diana Spencer broke into the world's consciousness as a shy, smiling young girl in 1981. After her magnificent wedding most people thought the fairy tale would go on forever. There were warning signs from the beginning as Bradford points out: Diana's troubled childhood, her tendencies to overdramatize and manipulate her way out of difficulties, and her sadly neglected education. The Prince of Wales, Bradford also demonstrates, also had more than his share of problems. With hindsight, we can only wonder why any one thought this marriage ever had a chance.
   
   Bradford does a good job of dissecting the numerous contradictions in the life of the Princess, exposing the differences between reality and the facade erected by both the Prince and the Princess. At the end, the reader is left still feeling sympathy for this tragic couple but very aware that they themselves did much to sabotage their lives.



5. I have read several Diana biographies and too much of the time it's a simple rehash of stories and moments already told. Sarah Bradford's bio is a breath of much needed fresh air. I think it's the definitive biography on Princess Diana's life. At times you feel for her and at others you are left in total disbelief at how petty and irrational she could be. The book is a success because the author doesn't try or attempt to side with Diana or any other member of the royal family. There's no line crossing here, Bradford keeps her subject at arms length but at the same time manages to weave a touching and warm biography. Towards the later part of the book that deals with her life from the time she agreed to do the Morton book, reading about how manipulative and out of control she could be I was left wondering why I respected this woman. But because of the author's talent in presenting both sides of a person, I ended up not hating Diana but respecting that she was a complex person, as are all human beings. She was not a saint but a woman trying to find peace, succeeding at times and due to outside circumstances and her own misjudgment failing to find the peace she sought. By the end of the book I found myself tearing up. This is truly a wonderful and well paced biography.

1 comments about The Complete Bolivian Diaries of Che Guevara, and Other Captured Documents.

1. The Bolivian Diary of Che Guevara is pretty fascinating, because when I thought about the Bolivian Adventure, Che being a horrible comandante and guerrilla leader always came to my mind. When I read the book I found that there were many aspects that didn't let Che prevail in Bolivia. From Mario Monje and PCB Party's betrayel, Fidel's lack of re-establishing contact with the guerrillas, lack of peasant recruiting to create a people's army, lack of conditions being right in country for an insurection, etc. Even with all these things stopping Che I was very amazed on how far he got, any other leader wouldn't have lasted 2 months. Che's tactics in his ambushes was incredible and even with lack of guerrillas he wiped out mostly all army forces that opposed him. Che was doing superb until US intervention. To understand Che's mission and how he failed is to understan Latin America today.

5 comments about John Glenn: A Memoir.

1. After seeing "The Right Stuff" I became intrigued with the Mercury Seven astronauts and wanted to read everything I could about them and when I saw John Glenn's autobiography I immediately snatched it up and pored through the pages! What a great and exciting life John lived! Poring through the pages I hung on every word and lived his experiences vicariously as he described them...I can only imagine how he felt when he was picked to be one of the 7 Mercury astronauts...He was in a elite group that was beginning to embark on a major adventure into a new frontier...How exciting that must have been! John's book to me was better than the movie..He talks bout his childhood days and test pilot years and ends with a wonderful passage on flying back into space again at the ripe old age of 77..What an inspiring book! If you are looking for inspiration..pick this book up and read about ambition and hard work and focus ande see what all these things can do for your life! John...thanks for being a great role model!



2. A great story and I am glad that I read it. However, my admiration for Glenn would have been far higher had I stopped a hundred or so pages from the end. Getting reacquainted with Glen as a young man, Marine fighter pilot and then astronaut was to see the very best. In addition to all his accomplishments his relationship with his wife was a great tribute to those left behind.
   
   Glenn's story of becoming a Marine fighter pilot through sheer resolve was enlightening. His flying in the Pacific during and after WW2 was an interesting look at the era, as was the description of their flying in China when Stilwell was attempting to get the communists to live up to their agreements. Finally the Vietnam like escape from China by train with Glen and his fellow Marine pilots providing low air cover.
   
   Too soon after the end of WW2 we were back in Korea and Glenn is in the front seat, flying both Marine ground attack aircraft and USAF Sabres. Again Glenn does his tour of duty with the Marines and then arranges to fly Sabres against the Migs.
   
   Within a few years after Korea the Russians were overhead with Sputnik and the world changed again. Glenn's description of the initial testing of the astronauts adds some interesting insights.
   
   Although the book was presumably written in its entirety after his return from space, the man changes with his election to the Senate. Perhaps the changes are even appearing in his post mortem on his campaigns. Most of the blame is shifted away from the leader.
   
   Later as the book covers his years in the Senate the change continues. While he literally demanded that his fellow astronauts give up their road romances because they were both wrong and threatened the public's support of the program. However a few years after hanging out with Bill Clinton the book suddenly offers the standard Clintonian spin that what people do behind their bedroom doors is not public. What is even more amazing is that Glenn seems to gloss over his critical role in protecting Clinton from being removed from office after he was impeached.
   
   Glenn does off the tidbit that while he and John McCain were deemed to not be involved with the Keating scandal, his fellow democrats would not acknowledge that because to release Glenn they would have to release McCain and then they would have only democrats ( Cranston et al) left. Having been advised that Keating was under criminal investigation Glenn ( unlike McCain) maintains a relationship and even hosts a private lunch for Keating in his office. All of this is covered in the book with a little too much self serving cover to earn the respect of the reader.
   
   Glenn the Marine officer would have been outraged if the generals had summoned his career enlisted personnel and asked them why they were complaining about the performance of an airplane made by a friend. Yet Glenn sees none of the destructive impact of 5 senators demanding that a civil servant appear to explain why a major donor is being investigated. A sad transition.
   
   Glenn blames his campaign organization for failing him in his run for the presidency after he was a leading contender among the democrats. If you can't run your own campaign staff how are you going to run the nation?
   
   I agree with the prior writer that Glenn's return to space was a pure and simple reward by Clinton for his having taken the heat. A sad ending to an otherwise heroic life of great accomplishments.
   
   Recommended but be prepared for a letdown at the end.



3. * There is a great story to be told about John's life and this book does a decent, straightforward job.
   * The writing isn't perfect, but it works...especially in audiobook format, where the author presents the material
   * There are no revalations here. It seems like a Disney version of his life at times, but it is an enjoyable read.



4. Absolutely my hero. I was (-1) when he flew his first flight, and love all of the Mercury Astronauts. John Glenn is the finest example of the GOOD that this country can produce. If there were more men like him, we would be weaned off of oil, and would have maintained our preeminence in the world as a respected country- instead of living off of the labors of our fathers without much contribution. It is interesting that John Glenn is the oldest of the Mercury 7, yet has managed to outlive almost all of them (as of Jan 19, 2008) except for Scott Carpenter!
   
   Please read this book, and discover the possibilities that a disciplined life and an honest-to-goodness sincere human being can give.



5. Excellent biography of a space pioneer. You will enjoy this book, even though the author went to the "dark side" later in life. At least he interjects very little of his liberal bias into the book.

5 comments about Envoy to the Terror: Gouverneur Morris and the French Revolution.

1. Gouverneur Morris has been a long underrated yet instrumental figure during important times. He took a critical part in the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, and he played as crucial a role as his predecessor, Thomas Jefferson, in his position as U.S. ambassador to France during the Terror, when French and American citizens alike sought his intervention, hoping to avoid losing their heads by guillotine. The author provides plausible explanations for this strange obscurity. Melanie Randolph Miller does much to humanize Morris's daily life, times and dilemmas, not to mention the big and small events of the French revolutionary era, deftly weaving into her text original and previously unknown sources, such as his own meticulously kept diaries, letters to and from his mistress, Adele Filleul, comtesse of Flahaut and other paramours, and urgent communications with key protagonists: the falling and fallen royal couple, Danton, Robespierre and the Girondins, among many others. The author's prose is brilliantly precise, enhanced by a dry and intelligent wit, and I agree with reviewers that the book is written with "the discipline of a historian but a novelist's eye," "a page turner." I admit that I found myself dragging my heels as I read along because, truth be told, I didn't really want to finish. In the final stretch, I stayed up way past my bedtime, skimming excitedly to learn what happened in the end, even though of course I already knew. I recommend Envoy to the Terror to anyone with more than a passing interest in the events of revolutionary Paris.



2. Gouverneur Morris may be the virtually unknown, underrated key to understanding the American Revolution, and this exciting new book tells his story from a fresh viewpoint. Thorough-going scholarship combines with bright and lively prose to bring Morris to life and set the record straight on his role in the establishment of the American Experiment. Dr. Miller shows that the conventional view of Morris has been much too limited and is due for thorough revision. This study is much more thorough than the recent popularizing biography of Morris by Richard Brookhiser. If you liked that book, which acknowledges Miller's ground-breaking research, you should read this one to learn the whole story. This book is invaluable for serious students of the Revolutionary period.



3. This well-written and lively book should go a long way in restoring Gouverneur Morris to his rightful place among the Founding Fathers. The prickly Morris has had a pretty bad press over the years, but Envoy to the Terror provides a vigorous, in places brilliant, and ultimately convincing defense of Morris' conduct. Miller shows how Morris energetically defended America's interests under extraordinarily difficult circumstances and successfully disproves charges made both at the time and by later historians that his term as minister to France was a failure.



4. We learn to see our future by looking at our past, and contemporary French and American relations--as they relate to French censure for America's enlarging foreign policy and the U.S. zeal for "democratization" of the larger world--can be viewed in greater focus by narrowing in on the history of our two countries during the French Revolution and the French `Terror' that followed it. The American diplomat pivotal to this period-the only one on whom Washington could depend for analysis of what was happening abroad-was Gouverneur Morris, today one of the lesser known founding fathers, who as United States Minister to France from 1789-92, during the height of the atrocities taking place there, turned out to be profoundly perspicacious in seeing the terrible future of this, one of America's first adventures in `democracy building,' and its unpredictable, and sometimes terrible results. In Dr. Melanie Miller's insightful revisiting of the historical record of relations between the United States and France during this fateful and terrible period, as set down in her recent biography of Gouverneur Morris, Envoy to the Terror, Dr. Miller tells us much that is relevant to French and American relations today.



5. An expansion and refinement of the author's Ph.D. dissertation on the diplomacy of Gouverneur Morris during very troubled times in Paris.
   
   Gouverneur Morris was an intelligent man of solid good sense, with an obvious love for life. Dr. Miller, as befits one holding a law degree, writes as an advocate for the historical reputation of this important figure from our country's early days. In my opinion, she wins her case.
   
   Anyone interested in the diplomatic efforts of our country in its infancy will enjoy this book.
   
   I hope that the talented Dr. Miller will continue writing graceful books on equally interesting subjects.

5 comments about The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide.

1. Susan Nathan, a British-born Jew started as an ardent zionist who toook up the 'Law of Return' to move to Israel. Living in Israel, she begins to question the status quo and try to look at things from a different perspective than the official version. This results in great disillusion with the politics of the state of Israel or 'Death of a Love Affair' as she calls it.Her extraordinary decision to go and live among the local Arabs in the Arab town of Tamra, near Haifa gives her an inside perspective of witnessing the Arab-Israeli divide permeating the state of Israel today. She tries to make sense of the feeling of gross injustice, frustration and hapless anger which the non-Jews resident in Israel feel as second-class citizens living among ominous echoes of apartheid. She makes a clear distinction between Jews in Israel and elsewhere as ordinary human beings trying to live normal lives and Jews involved in the state machinery.Still proudly retaining her Jewish identity and not intent on becoming an Arab or converting to Islam, the author tries to paint the historical backdrop which have led to the portentuous deadlock of hatred, violence, repression and senseless death.
   She tries to show that modern Israel is a traumatized society with not much leftist politics to challenge the politics of a hawkish government.
   
   Has David become Goliath? Susan Nathan tries to answer this rhetorical question by saying that the Jewish-Arab divide is an illusion in reality as it is only a mindset. The similarities are too much and the stakes too high to continue not talking without hate on either side.
   
   Very compelling read as the writer has firmly commited herself to the issue and she is a mature woman in her late fifties with experience of living in different cultures.



2. It is very difficult to write and talk about such a complex topic, without being biased or not taking sides. It is impossible, I would say. And this is the case of The Other Side of Israel, where one can feel from a distance, on whose side the author is. I consider the book just another view on what is nowadays one of the hottest political (and not only) issues.
   
   No doubt, Susan Nathan managed to write an interesting and honest story, but that is not all. One also has to listen to the other side. Yes, Palestinians are being terrorized, are being deprived of many freedoms, are being treated as second class citizens. But this is only one side of the puzzle. The whole Israeli-Palestinian problem goes deeper than that.
   
   Why doesn't she mention anything about Palestinians blowing up themselve, thinking that this will save the country and will get them to heaven? Why doesn't she talk at all about Palestinian politics, but criticizes a lot the Israeli government? Since when is Israel the source of all evil? And what about bringing in the Jewish perspective?
   
   Don't stick to this book only - that is not universal. Try to see other views. Read more on the history and politics of the region as well - there are plenty of good choices on Amazon. It will only enrich your perspective and help get your own ideas.



3. Susan Nathan left her native England where she had never felt at home and came to live in Israel the country she had long identified with. The daughter of a South- African Jewish father and a Protestant mother who converted to Judaism she upon her divorce decided to make a new life in Israel. However in Israel she discovered herself more and more distressed at the situation of Arab citizens of Israel. She then decided to go and live in the Arab village of Tamra in the Galilee. Though her Jewish friends warned her against this , she found the population of Tamra warm, hospitable, accepting. They invited her into their homes, and told her their stories.
   She came to identify wholly with their situation, to see and feel them as victims of discrimination in all facets of their everyday life. She became an advocate of their cause. She tells stories of discrimination against them , of their difficulty in getting permits to build homes, of the poor public facilities they suffer from, of their being behind the Jewish majority in all elements of socio- economic well-being.
   All of this makes for disturbing reading.
   It also makes for angry reading for one has knowledge of the facts and history Nathan persistently distorts or simply omits.
   For instance she writes of Israel's 'invasion of the West Bank' in 2002 without indicating anything about the wave of suicide- bombings that preceded it. She speaks about a massacre in Jenin and tells the story of seeing the documentary film about this produced by Mohammed Bakri. She does not mention that the whole story of an Israeli massacre though it seized the world - media for a few weeks, was later disproved a finding even a U.N. commission accepted. She mentions nothing of course about the Israeli soldiers who lost their lives in Jenin because their commanders decided not to bomb a building where terrorists were hiding behind civilians. Nor does she say anything about the Jewish victims of the whole series of suicide- bombings which preceded the Israeli military operation.
   She in the course of the writing reveals herself as one who has lost her objectivity completely, gone over all the way to the 'other side'. She writes of the 1948 Israeli War of Independence without considering the role of invading Arab armies, or without giving the background in Palestinian Arab violence against the Jews which was prelude to the struggle. She accepts with a kind of naivete Arabs account of their victimization without in any way providing an account of the tremendous improvement in the level of health, and social services this largely rural peasant population has known thanks to their being part of Israel.
   She says nothing of course about the seditious activities of a good share of this population, including many Arab Knesset members.
   She says nothing about the special security situation of Israel and the special privilege the Arab minority is given of not having to serve in its armed forces. She does not seem to understand that Israel has real security needs, and that the Arab minority is connected by family ties with those whose single aim is the destruction of Israel.
   Nathan has not simply crossed the Israeli/ Arab divide in this book. She has gone over to the Arab side and so firmly planted herself there that she has lost all perception of what the whole Israeli reality truly is.



4. Do Australian aborigines have exactly the same standard of living that Australians of European descent do? Does Australia practice apartheid? Are you outraged by this? Will you do a follow-up book in the outback?



5. This book is not worth reading. Its conclusion is drawn before the first word is written: Arabs 100% wronged; Israelis 100% guilty. The most ludicrous statement of all is that the 1948 War was between equals. Apparently, Nathan never took arithmetic.
   
   Don't buy the book and don't give her the royalty. Neither side is blameless for the history of Israel but Nathan can only find support for her thesis with Arab authorities. Find something on the subject of Arab-Israeli relations more worthwhile to read.

1 comments about Communism and the Remorse of an Innocent Victimizer (Eastern European Studies, 16).

1. At the center of Z. Anguelov's memoir is the intriguing concept that life choices can be the result of one's political environment. For us, people raised in democracy, Bulgarian communist reality looks worlds apart. Yet, I found this memoir extremely interesting and admirable on several levels. First of all, the complexity of the several stories, the description of how communism really worked, and the author's personal odyssey through that system are very impressive: to sort all that out and to present it to the reader, especially one unfamiliar to the system, in a way that is absolutely unambiguous is indeed impressive.
   
   I found that the American editor of the book was very astute and sensitive to the author's voice. It comes through very clearly and makes the story even more poignant. For example, one thing that so bothered me initially was the seeming insensitivity of the author to the women he became involved with. At one place, he said that his wife complained before they were married that she was pregnant. And the editor left the word 'complained,' although it is obvious that, if that sentence were to be shown to any American woman, she would immediately say: whoooa ... this man has no responsibility for this event?? Regardless of what he really felt or meant, the word 'complained' in this context is a red flag signaling his inconvenience. But he speaks with his old 'voice,' at the level of sensitivity he was at that distant time, and the choice of word is actually quite precise. At another place, I found it rather endearing that the author described himself as a "spoiled brat," and, of course, why wouldn't he be? He was a super-star among stars in the educational community.

   I found deeply moving the descriptions of the little cottage in the country where he and his third wife were able, for at least a few hours, to find their true selves. I think for many of us it is difficult to comprehend on a really profound level how deeply landscape contributes to our emotional life. I am who I am in part because of the Alaskan landscape, which is seared into my unconscious as well as conscious life. The author of the memoir has a very profound understanding of that.

   But even more, his descriptions of the continuous assaults on one's personal integrity show why the insidious and devastating effect of communism were so powerful. I think every sociologist and history or political science major should read this book.

1 comments about Arthur's Round: The Life of Brewing Legend Arthur Guinness.

1. This is an extremely thorough and detailed look at the origins of one of the most famous Irish families of the modern era, and one of the most well-established global brands; written by one of the members of the family to boot.
   
   Patrick Guinness has certainly done his research - digging through the family archives as well as reams of other original source material he confidently paints a complete picture of Arthur Guinness (the first Guinness to brew the stuff for which Guinness is now synonymous) and the times in which he lived.
   
   Starting with Arthurs's ancestors and putting right some common misconceptions about the Guinness family's origins, geographically, socio-economically and brewing(ly), he uses Arthur's story as an example of how many, at this point in Ireland's history, managed to find success in Dublin in spite of more humble beginnings.
   
   The story ends, largely, with Arthur's death (sorry if I've ruined the ending for any of you). Overall this is a meticulously well researched book which manages to tell many tales in one, the two primary ones being Arthur's story and the story of Ireland itself, throughout the period in question.
   
   The flip-side of that same coin, however, is that this is not a pleasant biographical read such as we might see published on some current titan of business. This is a historically heavyweight book, its amusing cover art notwithstanding, and I was surprised at how dry and academic it was in many places (I could have done with a Guinness or two while I was reading it). Patrick Guinness also used this opportunity to correct, and in some instances berate, some previous biographers' alleged mistakes, misconceptions, presumptions and blunders. At first his tone was amusing but by the end of the book it had grown somewhat tiresome.
   
   That said, I ploughed through the drier parts and am glad that I did - it's a fascinating read from all sides and I highly recommend it to anyone; almost as heartily as I recommend a pint of the black stuff itself.
   
   Slainte.

4 comments about Tony Blair: Prime Minister.

1. With the advent of what may become the second Gulf War, Tony Blair-Prime Minister is a comprehensive biography of the leader of America's closest ally. Prime Minister Tony Blair is an unlikely choice to be the foreign leader closest to President George W. Bush. British Journalist, John Rentoul has written about the rise and times of Tony Blair from his roots in a middle class British family to that of a rising socialist politician who became leader of the "New" Labor Party and Prime Minister of Great Britian.

   Rentoul traces Blair's family and their political leanings. Blair's father Leo Blair was born to a pair of actors and given to a James and Mary Blair in Glasgow. Leo Blair as a teenager was a member of the Scottish Young Communist League and had ambitions to become a Communist Member of Parliment. However, after service in World War II as a member of the Royal Signal Corps, Leo Blair underwent a political conversion. Upon leaving the military he became a member of the Conservative Party. Leo Blair married Blair's mother Hazel from a strongly Protestant family from County Donegal while working at the Ministry of National Insurance in Glasgow. Leo Blair studied law eventually becoming a lecturer in Administrative Law at the University of Adelaide in Australia and eventually the University of Durham in Durham. Leo Blair eventually became a practicing barrister and active in the local Conservative Party.
   Tony Blair was the second of three children. He is described as being the child most like his father Leo.

   In the opening chapter of the book it states "Tony Blair's political ambition began at age of eleven, when his father Leo's ended, on 4 July 1964. At the age of forty, at the height of his political powers and looking for a Conservative parlimentary seat, Leo Blair had a stroke."

   However, the book indicates that many of Blair's acquaintances during his school and law school years were suprised when he decided to become active in politics. Blair was not a member of any political clubs while in school or in-between. Blair had been a singer and manager of a rock n roll band "The Ugly Rumors", had long hair and a van. Unlike his American political counter parts, he never experimented with drugs, smoked marijuana or was seen drunk. In response to the question of whether he ever smoked marijuana, he said no, but if he had "he would have inhaled" in a jab at his friend President Bill Clinton.
   One of the suprising discoveries found in the book about Tony Blair is his Christian Socialism. Unlike many American politicians not much mention has been made of the fact he has been a confirmed Christian since his Oxford days. Moreover, he is the only British Prime Minister since Gladstone known to regularly read the Bible.
   Tony Blair and his wife Cherie Blair are as political a couple as the Clintons. Both have worked in local politics and both have run for seats in Parliment. When Blair ran his first successful race for his current seat from the Sedgefield Riding, Cherie was seeking a seat in a "marginal" Labor district or riding. However, after Blair won his first election, Cherie decided to forego elective office as one politician was enough in the family. Since Blair's election in Parliment in 1983, the Blairs have had three children and Cherie has continued her career as a successful barrister.
   Over half the book covers Blair's career as leader of the Labor Party and Prime Minister. When he became Prime Minister at age 42, only tweleve years in Parliment, he became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool who became Prime Minister in 1812.
   The book is well documented with footnotes after every chapter. Because of its "scholarliness" it may tend to drag at times in the chapters which deal with his years as Prime Minister from May 2, 1997 through the time the book was written in January 2001. As such it chronicles in detail Tony Blair's first term.
   In it, the achievements of the first term include the Balkans, Northern Ireland,as well as helping provide a better standard of living for all of Britian.
   Blair is described as a "hands-on" Prime Minister, informal but energized and possibly hyper-working on the phone from planes, on vacation and on the weekend.
   With as much detail provided of all aspects of Blair's life, TONY BLAIR-Prime Minister gives the reader and the world great insight into Blair's actions now in his second term as Prime Minister.




2. On 4-th of july 1964,Tony was woken by his mother in the morning and as soon as he heard the first words coming out from his mother - he knew that something wasn't right and he was right
   about that.
   Tony's father had a stroke and it wasn't sure whether he's gonna make it or not.
   This day was the day when Tony's childhood ended,a day when his political ambition began, a life which taught him the value of the family and real friends who walked with his family in the worst moments of their lives.

   Tony,a child of strict parents about manners :
   Was always polite,kind,helpful towards other people and he enjoyed the attention so much so when he is only 16 years old he formed a group named The Pseuds - to act.

   Soon, as a 'gifted guitarist' he starts meeting people of the same interest and talked about getting into the music world.
   He loved The Rolling Stones and they were going to be the next Led Zeppelin or Free (Tony's most favorite bands).
   So...the band "Ugly Rumours" is formed and THE LEAD SINGER-with
   a fantastic voice is someone such as : the future prime minister of Great Britain - TONY BLAIR.

   ...John Rentoul's biography of Tony Blair-(was made to read easy as novel, even though it was Tony's life to make that possible). It is a well-researched book and tells just about everything you'd want to know about Tony Blair.




3. John Rentoul's biography of Tony Blair is a must read for those who want to understand him. The book is scholarly enough to use as a text in comparative politics. It also gives enough character development to understand who Blair is, how he was developed as a man and what Britain's youngest Prime Minister in the 20th century is like.
   
   The text certainly gives a clear view of "The Third Way" philosophy of Blair's tenure which eschews unfettered capitalism and old labor socialism. Rentoul also illuminates Blair's Christian moral beliefs without ignoring the character of a young rock musician.
   
   It is the best biography yet of Britain's most dynamic leader.



4. Well five years after publication we find the subject of this book in serious political trouble with members of his own party asking for a date for his resignation. Nobody in the UK believes what he says any longer and his chancellor is waiting in the wings to take over. One star and forget it.

3 comments about A Breach of Privilege: Cilley Family Letters, 1820-1867.

1. Eve Anderson has created a most remarkable work with A Breach of Privilege. It is simultaneously a fascinating and truly authentic account of daily life in the early 19th-century, an engrossing chronicle of several generations of an amazing American family, and an eye-opening history of a young United States.

   The events and personalities of A Breach of Privilege virtually leap off the page, and become as familiar to the reader as those of any novel. In fact, it's difficult to believe that the members of one family could have been witness to as many remarkable events in American history as were the Cilleys, but it is all true. From the quiet hills of New England to the marbled halls of the Capitol and dusty battlefields of the Civil War, their thoughts, prayers and fears come alive as can only happen in private letters.

   Anderson has done a wonderful job of weaving delightful anecdotes and insightful facts into the narrative, blending them naturally with the Cilley letters themselves. As a result the lives of the characters flow seamlessly with the events of the time, an era in American history that is little studied and only vaguely understood today. It was a time of tremendous turmoil and remarkable change, and it all comes to life through the words of a Jacksonian Congressman, his pious wife, and their sons, officers in the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War.

   The letters are transcribed exactly as they were written, complete with spelling and grammatical errors, by the members of this singular family. They speak of a time when death was as common as life, when children were lost with frightening regularity, when the horrors of war were secondary to its glory, and when the survival of the nation was all but certain. This is a book of history, authentic to the last detail, but beyond that it is a fascinating story.




2. Via the medium of personal letters written between 1820 and 1867, the author has succesfully brought to life an era in the history of our early republic. She has defly connected them into a cohesive narrative. Her historical insights enhance the story. What I liked best was that it is a good read for the general public.



3. This is a wonderful book. A great read for anyone even if they aren't related to this historic family. The letters bring to life the people and life in the early 1800's. They did a wonderful job transcribing the letters and the Author has done a great job with explainations on how life was then.