5 comments about A G-Man's Journal: A Legendary Career Inside the FBI- FROM The Kennedy Assassination to the Oklahoma City Bombing.

1. I know and work with Buck Revells' brother Dennis and Dennis told me that it was a good read. I knew that if Buck had his brothers integrity and analytical thinking process, that this indeed would be a good read. I was not disappointed. This book gives an excellent insight into the FBI, which given the number of times Buck & Sharon Revell moved stands for Forever Being Inconvenienced. Good facts about the cases involved but not too much given away. It is a good "guys read", fast paced with detail it never gets boring. I enjoyed this and can whole-heartedly recommend it to all.



2. I'd like to set the record straight about the rebooking of Chris Revell's flight and the speculation that his Father "saved his life" and not others. Chris Revell's flight plans were changed at least two weeks prior to Thanksgiving that year in early or mid-November. Chris had more leave-time than he had first thought and asked me to get him a direct flight from Frankfurt to Washington D.C. so he could spend more time at home. We had been apart since the beginning of August and I can assure you it wasn't anticipated terrorism that was motivating him to return early. My In-Laws were in Australia at the time and my Father-in-Law was in no way involved in our decision to change Chris' flight. Sorry, but the situation just wasn't as sinister as some would like it to be.



3. Revell, in this co-authored book, believes in the philosophy "never say in 350 pages what you can say in 570."
   The events are apparently purely chronological, and almost stream-of-consciousness. There's a lot of jumping from subject to subject, with little transition or unifying theme. While the book has a bibliography and index, it's lacking a glossary, which would be helpful for those of us who don't use acronyms like OSG, JSOC, CSG, and CISPES on a daily basis.
   The book would be less cluttered if there wasn't a compulsion to include every incident in which Revell wished to claim credit, or rebut an allegation of misconduct against him. For instance, the liner notes claim that Revell "participated in ... the JFK assassination [investigation]." It turns out Revell wasn't even in the FBI at the time; he was a Marine who was liaison to FBI agents who were interviewing Marines who had known Oswald during Oswald's Marine service.
   It is an interesting account of agent Revell's career, and FBI history and lore, mainly from within the FBI bureaucracy looking down, and contains some almost-hidden nuggets of insight on personalities and events you probably won't find elsewhere.
   Read _No Heroes_ by Danny O. Coulson for a street agent perspective on many of the same events.



4. It is an informative novel which gives exciting insight into one of the most famous law enforcement agencies of America. Not only learning about the cases that Oliver Revell worked on, but knowing how others in the FBI, including J. Edgar Hoover, thought and said is purely fascinating. This is a must read to anyone interested in the FBI, law enforcement, or federal government agencies.



5. The nice thing about freedom of speech is that it helps one to learn the truth. I recommend this book for a well written viewpoint and a non-abusive style from the former Assistant Director of the FBI (with the help of Dwight Williams). Presumably his "nemesis" under Clinton, Director Freeh, has a book written by himself somewhere, and it will only be fair to compare the versions of the two books. In fact, I think that an outstanding Management Course could be made by assigning Revell's book, Freeh's book (or future book - I don't know if it exists), and Bonanno's book giving one of the more enlightened Mafia viewpoints (see my review of the latter). Revell appears to have been an outstanding manager from this book, and some readers may not understand why. Revell has a military type discipline viewpoint with an exceptional respect for justice and fairness rather than firing senior employees arbitrarily or because of political orders or downsizing attempts. It's the type of discipline that Field Marshall Montgomery had (see my review of his book), and to some extent General Eisenhower. Whether he violated law for patriotic reasons I do not know, and whether he is right about Freeh's motivations - that, only comparisons between sources of evidence can reveal. His strong opinion that J. Edgar Hoover was not a homosexual is quite interesting, since Great Britain has found for example that freedom of speech without respect for the public can lead to very erroneous conclusions, innuendoes, etc. As for Bonanno, his idea that the Mafia should not sell dope is quite an honorable proposal (it seems to me).

No comments about Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope.

4 comments about The Thirty-first of March: An Intimate Portrait of Lyndon Johnson's Final Days in Office.

1. Horace Busby was one of the more interesting witnesses in Robert Caro's biography of LBJ, and I was sorry to hear he had passed on a few years back, here in California. Busby knew where all the bodies were buried in his capacity as top speechwriter for Johnson, extremely close to the man for twenty years or more, and inventor of the catchphrase, "The Great Society."
   
   The book, while never less than elegantly written, is scattershot in its approach, and jumps back and forth in chronology like a human pinball machine, skimming the surfaces here and there, then coming down to dwell lovingly and cinematically on some unlikely venues, such as a trip with Johnson in November of 1963, to Brussels for a conference. LBJ in Brussels, of all places, it's unreal! Here Busby really goes to town, exploring the insecurities that fueled Johnson's drive to the top and which made him the most feared man in politics.
   
   And yet he had his charming side too, and Buzz was there for large chunks of it. There's a long, fleshed out memoir of arriving with Johnson at Hyannisport in 1960, not knowing whether or not Kennedy would want him as his candidate for Vice President. There's no denying that Johnson was the odd man out among the Kennedys; in one hilarious moment he can't understand JFK's accent, despite trying to read his lips. You won't get this kind of intimate, novelistic detail anywhere else.
   
   But often "Buzz" seems overdiscreet, drawing a veil over the very things that the reader wants to know more about. Buzz's son Scott, who introduces this posthumously published memoir, suggests that Buzz came to feel he had given all his "good Lyndon stories" to Caro in their many interviews, and that the book we now have represents perhaps the not-so-good stories which Caro didn't find interesting enough to include in any of the three volumes published so far. And sometimes Buzz's speechwriting strength betray him as a memoirist; his highly praised alliteration for example, grows inane when it is employed to open a paragraph with "The prolonged procrastination was highly provocative . . . "
   
   What else is memorable about this all too brief book? Well, I liked finding out more about Johnson's religious background as a "Digressive." I never even heard to term before, and now it seems utterly key to understanding the man. Buzz' dad, a strict preacher type, hesitated before giving his boy his blessing to work for LBJ, fearing that the latter's "Digressive" qualities would corrupt Buzz. Johnson's own father emerges as a salty old son of a gun, telling his son not to forget that "If a fella starts trying to climb a pole, he usually ends up showing his ass." It was a lesson Johnson was never to forget.
   
   In one touching chapter Busby, together with Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, travel to Gettysburg to represent the administration at the Eisenhower farm, as Ike and Mamie prepare to leave their home forever (they have deeded it to the National Park Service). Both Eisenhowers come to life vividly, and their lives together for forty-five years touchingly adumbrated, in Busby's careful rendering of a moment in time.
   
   Busby provides lovely word portraits both of fragile, thoughtful Jackie Kennedy and the amazing Lady Bird. Either of these would make the book worth reading all by themselves, but yet there is a whole lot more in THE THIRTY-FIRST OF MARCH. Don't let this one slip under your radar.



2. Querying "Lyndon Johnson" on Amazon generates over 18,000 references. The man was a dominant figure in US politics for over 20 years, which goes some way to explaining why he has been written about so prolifically.
   Few books though can surely be as intimate and interesting as Horace Busby's memoir of the man he worked with for most of Johnson's career on the national stage.
   
   The twenty-four year-old Busby joined then Congressman Johnson's team in 1948, a few months prior to Johnson winning a Senate seat. His initial brief was to "put a little Churchill" and motivation into the Texas politician's speeches. He remained with Johnson, in some capacity as adviser, speechwriter, confidante and sometimes almost as therapist until March 31 1968 when Johnson made his famous utterance to the US people that "I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President," - lines written by Horace Busby.
   
   This is a wonderfully warm, penetrating look at the psychology, temperament and mindset of LBJ particularly in the days prior to his famous announcement. The manuscript was discovered by Busby's son after the author's death in 2000, hence the publication date of 2005. Unfortunately, much of the manuscript seems to have been lost as it does not deal at all with the President's period in the Senate, which by all accounts he bestrode like a colossus.
   
   The reader can appreciate why Busby was so highly rated by his political patron. Much of the book contains wonderful writing and descriptive passages including a very humorous account of how the infamously impatient Congressman Johnson treated Busby when he first reported for work in 1948 - three days later than expected.
   
   Busby crafts some wonderful images, not least when he recounts the terrible events of November 22nd, 1963. The author was in Washington when President Kennedy was assassinated in Johnson's home state of Texas. Co-incidentally, Busby's wife was in Johnson's Washington home doing some research for Lady Bird Johnson at the time of the shooting. She stayed in the house until Mrs. Johnson returned from Dallas - "she saw as no one else did that day, the cold passing of power," as the secret service took control of the house and presidential communications infrastructure was put in place, even before the residents returned from Dallas.
   
   Busby appears to have been a true confidant of the towering Texan. Few (if any) who worked under Johnson would claim he was an easy person to deal with. He could be mean, nasty, uncouth, self-centered, insecure and tyrannical, yet he had very strong motivational skills, sometimes conveyed with great good humor. Johnson was blessed to have a number of very loyal and competent aides - Jack Valenti, Joe Califano and of course Busby who writes of Johnson almost as a son might of a father.
   Because of his close relationship with LBJ, Busby writes compellingly on a number of little known episodes about the President including a dirty tricks campaign initiated by White House insiders to prevent Vice-President Johnson from gaining the nomination to run with Jack Kennedy for the presumptive 1964 campaign. LBJ believed he had but one friend "in that place - President John Fitzgerald Kennedy himself."
   
   The account of the 31st March, when Busby was called to the White House to draft Johnson's final words is both riveting and compelling. Many of Johnson's family and aides did not wish the President to remove himself from the race and blamed Busby for influencing his decision.
   
   The initiative to withdraw though was Johnson's, but when Busby handed him four pages of script - much more than expected, the President `threw up his hands. "Damn" he exclaimed. "You must really want to get me out of town." `
   
   Johnson on a one-to-one level was surprisingly humorous with strong motivational skills, something that rarely came across in his public appearances. Unlike his predecessor, JFK, Johnson never mastered the new media of television.
   
   For those interested in one of the most intriguing characters to attain the presidency, this book is a little jewel. The one regret is that it covers such a short period of the political life of a man whom the author writes was "extroverted, gregarious, and roughshod," but who "sheltered a sensitive, introspective, and unaccountably fragile self inside."



3. "The Thirty-first of March", by Horace Busby takes a heart-warming yet candid look at Lyndon B. Johnson, as few had known him. The book makes for fast, interesting, and enjoyable reading.
   
   Horace Busby was an assistant to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1948 to 1968; those twenty years gave Busby the opportunity to know Lyndon B. Johnson as both a politician and a human being. Busby writes of a thoughtful, engaging, and at times ill-tempered congressional representative, senator, majority leader, vice president, and president of the United States. Readers will find that "The Thirty-first of March" offers a rare look at the human side of Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon Johnson was the congressional representative for the Tenth District of Texas, described by Busby as the politician who swam against the political tides; who despised the Texas "sacred cow" (oil utilities), along with big business. Busby writes of Johnson's ability to balance his social insecurities with boundless energy and passion for the causes he so firmly believed in.
   
   According to Busby, Johnson's passions may have been a result of Johnson's close association with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Johnson is described as a politician who wished to continue the work that was left incomplete by Roosevelt's "New Dealers". Many know the Lyndon B. Johnson who was arrogant, quick-tempered, reclusive, and a veteran of the political arena - he may have even been a conniver at times. However, many are unaware of Johnson's compassion for ordinary people - the downtrodden. Horace Busby brings this to center stage by giving readers a clear view of what most mattered to Lyndon B. Johnson, who believed that
   
   "[p]eople are good . . . what the average folks want is very simple: peace, a roof over their heads, food on their tables, milk for their babies, a good job at good wages, a doctor when they need him, an education for their kids, a little something to live on when they're old, and a nice funeral when they die."
   
   Busby writes of his own good fortune in making the acquaintance of such influential and powerful people as Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and their families. The book is sprinkled with short stories of these enduring encounters, which make for interesting reading. It is, however, the relationship between Busby and Johnson that the memoir brings to the forefront, which will most interest readers. Busby recollects how passionate Johnson was on domestic issues such as housing, education, healthcare, and conservation. Busby also describes Johnson's anguish and distress after receiving the news of Martin Luther King's assassination; not just for the country, but for the King family and all American people - African Americans as well as whites....
   
   "The Thirty-first of March" was not meant to encompass Johnson's political career, but readers will gain a new understanding and respect for the ideas, accomplishments, and sacrifices of the political phenomena that was Lyndon B. Johnson. The book will also give readers and future biographers new insights into the persona that was LBJ.



4. Horace Busby provides and intimate and interesting view of President Lyndon Johnson in THE 31ST OF MARCH. Although Busby provides selected views of other incidents that were key moments in the Johnson presidency and of course the story of how he became involved with Johnson the focus is on LBJ's decision not to seek re-election and the process of announcing that decision to the world.
   
   Busby's view of LBJ is that of a much more fragile man than generally preceived of. It's a quick read. Busby's walks the reader through the family quarters of the White House and the inner workings of the presidency with facinating detail. One particulary interesting aspect of the story is how Johnson was treated at JFK's funeral. Most accounts are totally sympathetic to the Kennedy's but in reading Busby, you see that LBJ had a side too. The reader comes away with a very unique view LBJ.
   
   Though brief, the work is very powerful. It is the story of friendship, loyality and devotion. I wish that the son, who edited the work would have provided a brief description of the relationship between Busby and LBJ after the White House years. It would rounded out the story.

5 comments about Introducing Machiavelli, Third Edition (Introducing...).

1. I knew very little about Machiavelli before reading this amusing illustrated book. I had heard many 'negative' remarks about him, but just like Nietzsche, Machiavelli is not at all that simple. A fascinating character with much to say that is still quite relevant to our world today. I will definitely go on to read Machiavelli's books. The cartoon sequence featuring Mussolini and Gramsci in a dialog moderated by old Nick was great. Go out and get this book!



2. I picked this up from a sorting shelf this afternoon, and I am very very glad I did so. This book introduces you to Machiavelli's life and ideas, and then deftly compares his writings to contemporary and recent history. The "running commentary" by Machiavell is fascinating. It's opened my eyes to just how switched-on Machiavelli was, and how earnest and well-intentioned. I'm definitely going to be reading more about Machiavelli - indeed, this book was so good I'm considered changing out of science and into arts to pursue the topic more closely!



3. Less then half of the book is about the life or philosophy of this great thinker. More then half the book is leftist propaganda disguised as objective reasoning obviously intended to indoctrinate the novice - its intended audience. One example should suffice. Margaret Thatcher is made to say: "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families." Machiavelli then responds: "Nothing I ever wrote was worse - this is a republican nightmare and a sure recipe for social and political disaster!" If you do not recoil from this exchange then you have already been indoctrinated. Quickly pick up John Locke or the Federalist Papers to recover. Then help the young readers of this book recover.



4. Many people will read the Prince, The Discourses, or the Art of War and not know what the hell Machiavelli was talking about. I picked this book up, and right away I figured the other books out. This is a required reading if you need to read the Prince, or the other books by Machiavelli.



5. Who was Niccolo Machiavelli? Why is his name synonymous with deceit, skullduggery, stiletto knives and J.R. Ewing?
   What did he really believe and how would his philosophy be applied throughout time -- even to our current crop of kakistocrats in office?
   This book uses illustration to put good ol' "St. Nic" (as I refer to him tongue-in-cheek) in modern situations, each time offereing some pithy comment on the situation. Quite intriguingly done.

5 comments about Family Circle: The Boudins and the Aristocracy of the Left.

1. This story of a leftist/progressive family and their radical daughter is a microcosm of the intertwining social and political trends that helped shape the 60s. Nice insights into family dynamics and generational friction, the search for "authenticity" (black panthers, bomb-making) by white, middle class kids, and a glimpse of what life was like among the radical fringe. For a West Coast take on the same period, look at Peter Coyote's "Sleeping Where I fall." Both explore the confluence of the personal and the political in a volatile era.



2. This book has all the flaws of a poorly written biography - unsubstantiated claims to understanding characters' thoughts and motivations, lots of irrelevant details, broad generalizations, inferences treated as facts, and amateur-psychologist diagnoses. Perhaps with serious editing, this could be a decent book. As it is, learning about the people and the times keeps me going, though my annoyance at the author's careless approach to a serious story makes me want to stop. I am not surprised Kathy Boudin did not cooperate.



3. I enjoyed reading this book very much, and recommend it to all readers. It was a fascinating look at Kathy Boudin and those radical student leftists known as the Weather Underground who declared war on America in protest to the Vietnam War.

   Kathy Boudin's treachery resulted in the killing of two policemen, for which she served 22 years in prison. That may not matter to the leftist readers who have given this finely written book low ratings. Ignore their hateful rantings, and judge for yourself how a bright young woman of privledge could make such a bad choice to pursue terrorist goals.

   Kathy left her baby with a sitter to drive a getaway van full of Black Panthers who robbed a Brink's armored truck, and actually expected to return on time to pick up her child! Instead, she was captured after the two policemen were killed, and her child was abandoned.

   The picture on p. 353 of one of the Weathermen stomping on an American flag gives the reader an indication that these radical leftists have no remorse for their past behavior.

   There is ample material on the internet concerning how leftists were able to get Kathy released on parole in 2003. Her victims left behind families that will never forget her treachery.




4. I enjoyed this study of the colorful, unconventional Boudin family. I agree with other readers that there was too much space given to the father, Leonard Boudin, an intense, civil rights attorney, who specialized in representing the radical left. So it's not surprising that his daughter, Kathy Boudin, became a radical protestor of the Vietnam War and a loud, snarling member of the Weather Underground. While other members of this pathetic group finally threw in the towel and turned themselves into the law after careers as bombers, killers and trouble-makers, Kathy Boudin stuck it out. You read in horrified fascination how she became a key member of the killers who murdered two police officers in a foiled Brinks truck armed robbery. Even behind bars for 21 years, she played the role of wronged martyr. I remember during the sixties, when the Weather Underground was at its peak of fury. My college roommate dubbed them, The Marx Brothers of Terrorism. He hit the nail on the head. No one knew really what these rich, wealthy white kids were protesting. None had ever worked anywhere in their lives. Even when they supposedly went underground, their wealthy parents and friends supported them and gave them safe houses. Yet, you caught occasional glimpses of them on television as they shrieked and cursed and acted like lunatics. In their own pathetic little reality, they dramatized themselves as great revolutionaries who would foment a nation wide revolution to destroy America's values. No one knew what they wanted to replace them with.



5. This fascinating book will make uncomfortable reading for committed progressives, so I am not surprised by the many negative reviews. Progressives no doubt also loathe David Horowitz's book RADICAL SON, which was a thoughtful description of the underside of the idealistic 1960s and its aftermath. FAMILY CIRCLE covers similar material and provides much food for thought.
   
   What both books make clear is that it was not a coincidence that idealistic progressives with a particular group of personal qualities and beliefs morphed into violent domestic terrorists, despite their early idealism and desire to help make a better world.
   
   The key elements seem to be:
   
   (1) Legitimate, but blown out of proportion, social grievance
   
   The terrorists who formed the Weathermen Underground: Boudin, Dohrn and Ayers and their comrades were initially motivated by legitimate issues. Their original issue was the shameful treatment of black Americans by the white American majority, and subsequently their other major focus was their opposition to the Vietnam War.
   
   But what was the connection between the awareness of legitimate social issues and the decision to kill other human beings? The link is by no means obvious, and few individuals who shared similar outrage over the same injustices took the step of turning to violence.
   
   (2) Family values that justify treason or violent revolt
   
   One of the best predicters of an individual's political party affiliation is the political affiliation of their parents. This is a somewhat humiliating confirmation of Schopenhauer's contemptuous (but overly sweeping) dismissal of the idea of free will, and it turns out to be particularly important when the political behaviour involved is extreme. When an individual decides to set out to kill people and become an enemy to one's society and government, it apparently helps to have deep, subconscious confidence in the support of loved ones for those violent acts.
   
   Kathy Boudin's parents (like David Horowitz's parents) were Communists and her father Leonard was a famous radical lawyer who defended many Communists and traitors who have subsequently, since the opening of KGB files after the fall of the USSR, been proven to have been guilty--a fact that Leonard, who was hostile to his adopted USA, probably knew when he was defending them. Tragically, Leonard Boudin went from defending Fidel Castro in the late 1950s to unsuccessfully defending his daughter Kathy in the early 1980s from charges that arose out of her participation in the violent robbery of a Brinks truck and the murders of a Brinks guard and two policemen.
   
   So just as Microsoft founder Bill Gates' father was a prominent and wealthy Seattle lawyer, it seems that that treason and terrorism often reach full flower in the nurtured next generation.
   
   But what were the values that these families specifically inculcated in their children?
   
   (3) Heroic immortality and hedonism
   
   Boudin's father was a materialist and a Communist who was flagrantly sexually omnivorious--behaviour that was well known to his family.
   
   The great advantage of being a materialist with no belief in the after life like Boudin and her father is that one doesn't have any eternal punishment to endure for one's earthly actions. In fact, it is a very liberating philosophy.
   
   In fact, weirdly, this is creates a direct connection between the Weather Underground and today's Islamic terrorists--the mullahs and extremist Islamic theologians goading young men and women to their deaths are pushing the functional equivalent of materialism and atheism. Ironically, there is little functional difference between killing policemen in Nyack, New York because you think that after death there is nothing at all, and blowing yourself up in an Israeli shopping mall because you think you'll spend eternity having sex with virgins.
   
   The multi-partner sex that was practiced as part of their political indoctrination by the Weathermen Underground had the same function as the mullahs' loopy lure to suicide bombing.
   
   Both sets of political killers expected to be remembered for their heroic acts of violence, and to either experience extinguished consciousness after years of hedonistic sex, or to be about to embark on an eternity of hedonistic sex. A truly wierd confluence of the motivations of Western domestic terrorists and Islamic terrorists.
   
   Of course, if Islamic terrorists and materialist Western traitors and terrorists are attracted to sexual hedonism with no fear of any consequences, so are many if not most ordinary people who don't go on to kill innocent strangers. What is the final link?
   
   (4) Grandiosity and psychopathic narcissism
   
   Why was Kathy Boudin a convicted killer and pleasure-seeking Mick Jagger not a killer? (Boudin denies any active role in the murders, but other witnesses claim that she played the key role of persuading the police officers to put down their weapons just before the Black Panthers attacked with automatic weapons blazing).
   
   The answer is contained in a statement that Kathy Boudin made during her ultimately successful quest for parole after 20 years' imprisonment, which was not included in FAMILY CIRCLE but is still available on the Web. She wrote,
   
   "Sitting with young women dying of AIDS, creating a quilt for those in our community who are no longer with us, I face the deaths for which I am responsible. As I work with mothers on rebuilding their relationships with the children they left, I am overwhelmed by my own responsibility for leaving a group of children with no hope of ever seeing their own fathers again. Now I can ask: what if it were my father, my husband, or my son who had been killed or hurt? What would I feel? I understand the rage that the victims' families may feel towards me. "
   
   Terrorists have no regard for the feelings and sufferings of the human beings they are about to maim or kill, or for the grief of the loved ones of their victims. This is a key component of the psychological make-up of psychopaths--an inability to emphathise with other human beings, or an evil pleasure from inflicting pain. Most terrorists probably do not derive pleasure from inflicting pain--although their controllers and motivators may well be psychopaths in this sense--but they are so narcissistic that the are indifferent to the pain inflicted on others by their murderous actions.
   
   An ordinary human being may be narcissistic, but only a criminal or a terrorist is psychopathically narcissistic to the point that they are indifferent to the suffering of the people whom they kidnap, maim or kill. This is the realisation that Kathy Boudin has apparently come to through her years in prison.
   
   Bound up with this psychopathic narcissisim is grandiosity. This is a belief that one is so special, so gifted, such a distinguished and great person that one can affect the course of history by one's daring actions--even though those actions are condemned by one's government and society. It is interesting that Boudin pursued increasingly extreme measures precisely when it became objectively obvious that her interpretation of history was absolutely incorrect--or at least it was obvious that almost all support for her interpretation had vanished.
   
   Boudin had started out in the protest movements of the 1960s, and she lived underground during the 70s as the US made steady progress on civil rights and the Vietnam War ended. It became clear that whatever public support for the violent Left had evaporated, and Weathermen founders Dohrn and Ayers had even turned themselves in to the authorities and escaped punishment. But Boudin persevered through the early 80s, getting mixed up with Black Panthers who were little more than pimps and drug dealers, and it was a pure criminal act that Boudin was involved in when she abetted the violent robbery of the Brinks truck and the murders of the two policemen.
   
   Grandiosity was an element in the mental outlook of Boudin--she was so sure of her greatness, or at least the greatness of her cause, that she couldn't accept the plain evidence of reality all around her.
   
   Taken together, FAMILY CIRCLE and RADICAL SON reveal very interesting truths about the ultimately tragic vision of the most extreme wing of the idealistic Left, despite the originally good intentions and the many sacrifices of some its most committed practitioners.

No comments about Inventing a Hero: The Posthumous Re-Creation of Andres Bonifacio.

3 comments about Hannah Arendt: For Love of the World, Second Edition.

1. This book has become something of a classic. It unearths a mass of detail about Arendt's life - the pages on her upbringing and experiences before her flight from Europe are particularly memorable. However, the main focus is kept firmly on the way Arendt's thought developed during her life. The author [who knew Arendt in her later years] is well versed in philosophy and political thought and so her account becomes a useful companion to studies of Arendt's many contributions to modern thought: 'totalitarianism', 'the banality of evil', the loss of public space in the contemporary west and much more. This book is not the kind of simple minded attempt to reduce thought to biography that we see all too often. While it is no hagiography [Arendt comes in for some serious criticism on occasion], it ends with a sense of celebration for a life well lived, one of passionate thinking motivated by 'love of the world'



2. FOR LOVE OF THE WORLD
   
   This work is an outstanding intellectual biography, detailed consideration of both the life and work of one of the twentieth- century's great political figures. I learned much from it, and it was a great pleasure to read it.
   Among the revelations of the work to me was the depth of Arendt's involvement in Jewish communal work during her six years in Paris in the late thirties, and during her first years in America. The knowledge of her dedication and courage in this work makes even more painful one of the central episodes of this work and her life, the controversy that her `Eichmann in Jerusalem' book created. Here despite Young- Bruehl's careful defense of Arendt it seems to me that she committed a major error. This does not in my opinion relate so much to her much misinterpreted concept of the ` banality of evil' but rather through her tone and manner of writing about the victims. Arendt whose central value in life was friendship and loyalty to those friends without intention `betrayed' according to their feeling the `victims' and again without intending to seemed to implicate in the evil that they suffered.
   This chapter of her life came after she had already published her monumental work ,"The Origins of Totalitarianism'. In this biography we learn how Arendt prepared for this work, for understanding the connection between the totalitarian terror of the Nazis and that of the Soviets. Here a central part was played by her second husband Heinrich Blucher her instructor in radical revolutionary thought. We learn how this work grew out of her classical philosophical training and her constant concern with the meaning of political action.
   In fact I found the first half of this biography which tells us about her life and work leading up to the `Origins of Totalitarianism' to be more engaging than the second half. In the first half we learn more about her personal story, of the central role her mother widowed when Hannah was seven played in her life. We see the development of her strong , independent personality. We follow her in the world of studies with Heidegger, and Jaspers and in the story of her romantic liasons ( including the one with Heidegger) and two marriages. We are made to understand too the general climate of the time of Germany in the twenties and early thirties.
   Again one of Arendt's greatest gifts was for friendship. And her life is filled with encounters with and friendships with remarkable people, a number of whose stories are told in one of her best books, " Men in Dark Times".
   If I were to find fault with this biography which contains so much more than I have indicated in this brief review is that it does not it seems to me analyze critically the basic relationships of Arendt's life. For there are problematic sides morally to the friendship with Heidegger, who had a Nazi period- questionable areas in her relation to her second husband, however intellectually strong their connection was. I too think that for one who so valued the faculty of Judgment, Arendt's numerous political errors in judgment should have been considered here. As one who came from the world of catastrophe she was too ready to see America on the verge of , or going into catastrophe. And to my mind her late books `On Violence' and ` On Revolution' are the weakest of her offerings.
   However it is necessary to stress that this biography really brings Arendt, and her inner life to life. It does this especially by bringing examples of her poetry, the record of her inward life. As I understand it this poetry has not appeared in a volume of its own and it seems to me that a dual German- English language edition of her complete poems , annotated properly would be a great contribution to our understanding of her and her work.
   There are many `moving and great moments in this work and in Arendt's life. Among those moments are the description of her participating in a seder at the house of Louis Finklestein in the last year of her life. Here, she who had become a bit of a pariah in the Jewish world was as it were welcomed back home, and she joined in the singing of the traditional Passover songs. Another such great moment was her meeting with Blucher after her period in an interment camp at Gurs, when he too was a fugitive. This reunion set them on their way to America.
   This book does a very good job of analyzing Arendt's standing as a scholar , her evaluation in the eyes of her colleagues, the great appreciation had for her by many at the highest level of human thought.
   I think that if there was a chapter on her in `Men in Dark Times' it should certainly have the word ` Greatness' in it.
   This book is a gift to all those who love the life of the mind. I cannot recommend it more highly.



3. I simply want to add a few points to the fine reviews by Freedman and Horner.
   The original edition of this biography was published in 1983 and undoubtably contributed to the upsurge in Arendt studies that we have seen in the subsequent years. This newest edition includes a preface that situates the biography within that subsequent work.
   The first point I want to make is one of agreement with the other two reviewers. This is a superb biography written by someone who obviously has great affection and respect for Hannah Arendt. As Horner mentions, Young-Bruehl knew Ms. Arendt. More importantly, she studied with her. The results of that training show in her ability to explain the development of Arendt's thought. Young-Bruehl is very clear, for example, on how Arendt's concept of evil changed from The Origins of Totalitarianism to her book Eichmann in Jerusalem.
   I also learned much from Young-Bruehl's discussion on Arendt's hope for the council system as a means to effect radical and democratic change that is not controlled from above. Apparently Arendt saw some continuity between what happened in the early stages of the American Revolution and what happened in the 1848, the Sparticist Rebellion and the Hungarian revolt in 1956. If I understand correctly, Arendt had hopes that these were all variations on a new (post-Enlightenment) way to found a government. The idea is that revolutionary situations generate massive small attempts to organize locally that can be then used to create larger governmental entities without losing that mass democratic participation.
   Finally, Young-Bruehl is good at showing how Arendt's various political concerns kept driving back at certain times to more philosophical work, e.g., how the follow-up work on The Origins of Totalitarianism eventually lead to The Human Condition.
   Reading Young-Breuhl's excellent discussion of the Arendt's various books made obvious to me many points I should have caught earlier. And she makes me want to read some of Arendt's books all over again. And all this is being done within a well-written and moving narrative of Arendt's life.
   This really is an impressive achievement. If you have any interest in Hannah Arendt's work, Young-Bruehl biography is an absolutely essential read.

5 comments about Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City.

1. Having lived through those turbulent years and having to begrudginly give my approval to many of the things that he did,I find that the balance in this superbly written and easy to read study make me more comfortable with my feelings. Kirtzman doesn't take sides as much as he presents both sides allowing the reader to get a better feel for this complex and often forbidding and not forgiving mayor without sacrificing your basic reactions to the man. A must read.



2. Consider that even before Sept 11, this "hero" was publically questioning whether there should be mayoral elections at all, (term limits meant he had to go) and after the tragic events he wanted them cancelled so that he could stay on, since in his words he was already "experienced and doing a good job". His contempt for democracy is matched by his endless conceit.
   His public order record is bound to be reviewed considering the positions he took over repeated police shootings/savagery of civilians/bystanders (Dialo and Louima being only two of the most publicized).
   As for the "hero" part, a hero is one who risks his life to save or help others. It is not clear what risk Mr Juliani undertook either as mayor or as soon-to-be-ex-mayor during the aftermath of Sept 11, other than attempt to monopolize the publicity of a profound tragedy for personal aggrandizement. There is clearly an effort by the Royalist (former Republican) party to place him in the front running for high national office. Don't go for it.



3. I picked this book up to read on a flight from Providence to Phoenix. I never put it down and read the whole book by arrival. It is an incredibly readable book. As far as I understand it was oringinally published before sept 11th so most of the book is unbiased by the great acts the mayor performed on that day and afterword. This being siad the author is great at detailing the intricacies of New York politics. A worthwhile read for anyone who didnt experience the Guliani era first hand(in NY). As another reviewer siad it does lack detail and certainly is in no way a biography of the man. The book is a political biography the starts in 1988 and ends in 2001.



4. This biography was excellently written in a mostly unbiased way. Kirtzman has an excellent understanding of NYC politics and this served to his advantage in chronicling Giulianis life. For a more comprehensive biography pick up "Rudy" by Wayne Barrett.



5. This is not a traditional biography, which was what I expected when I picked up the book. If you wish to know about Rudy's life before 1989, his first marriage, childhood, days as U.S. attorney, this is not the right book for you. The first 100 pages or so this book are a bit slow--too much campaign stuff and not enough on governing. However, the narrative picks up quickly over the last 200 pages. We learn about Rudy's mistakes and triumphs--of which there are many. You learn a ton about Rudy's controversial policies. The personal scandals are discussed, but not in a malicious way. We never learn about the details of his mysterious marriage to Donna Hanover--or anything much about Hanover. So, yes, things are left out. However, Al Sharpton is a fascinating character here. You learn about Rudy's day on Sept. 11, when the author was actually running around the city with the Mayor. The narrative ends in 2001. I would have loved to hear more about Bloomberg, but who can change the publication date now? It isn't perfect, but Rudy remains one of the fascinating--and successful--Mayors of our time.

No comments about Mahatma Gandhi: Autobiografia.

2 comments about Judah P. Benjamin: Confederate Statesman.

1. Excellent perspective of history without the northern or PC agenda.



2. Judah Benjamin's story has fascinated me since I was a child. Here was a man who lived by a masterful combination of brains and charm, who overcame great adversity, and, when The Cause was lost, picked himself up and moved on. Benjamin was a biographer's nightmare...he never kept correspondence, burned all his papers before evacuating Richmond [and did the same shortly before he died], and never wrote, or spoke, of the Civil War once it was over. He became the richest lawyer in Louisiana at a young age, lost everything in the war, and, starting over in England in his 50's, became the richest lawyyer there. Who was the first Jew in the U.S. Senate? Who was the first Jew nominated to the Supreme Court? Who was the first American Jew to hold a Cabinet position. Who was the first Jew [and man born outside England] to be a Queen's Counsel in England? Benjamin is the answer to ALL those trivia questions. [David Yulee had served in the Senate earlier, but he had long since converted to Presbyterian; Benjamin turned down President Fillmore's nomination because the Court didn't pay enough] Judah Benjamin held three different jobs in President Davis' Cabinet,[despite an earlier near duel with Davis in the Senate] and was, in many ways, Davis' right hand man, accessory brain, and designated "nice guy", soothing the feathers that Davis ruffled. The story of Benjamin's escape to England at the end of the war is, alone, worth the price of the book. Benjamin's marriage gets plenty of space; in many ways, it was the match made in Hell. Natalie was a piece of work, yet the Benjamins were, on some level, quite devoted to each other, and stayed more or less together for over 50 years.
   
   Judah Benjamin is a problem for some Jews, and northern liberals...here was a Jew, educated at Yale, who owned slaves, and was probably the most articulate defender of slavery. Then, he was one of the central figures in the Confederacy for four years. History does not always fit neatly; try making Thomas Jefferson fit anything. The number of Jews in the Confederacy was around 2000 [see Robert Rosen's "The Jewish Confederates"], and, as for slavery, not only did rich Jews own slaves, so did rich Indians, Mexicans, and free Blacks.
   
   Dr. Robert Meade published this great masterpiece in 1943. It is one of the very finest pieces of biography about anybody, anytime. There are three other Benjamin biographies that I know about, and own. Two of them are even worth reading. But, there is no real comparison. This is up there with Dr. Freeman's "R.E. Lee". High praise, I know, and not made lightly. {If you can find Meade's two volume study of Patrick Henry, get it. Good luck} LSU press deserves a big "THANK YOU" for making this great book available.
   
   ADDENDUM: There is now a fifth volume available...the 1933 "Judah P. Benjamin-Statesman of the Lost Cause" by Rollin Osterweis can be had from Amazon. See my review of it; this volume remains definitive.