1 comments about Martin Luther King Jr (Life&Times).

1. Ron Ramdin has accomplished a short, but fairly comprehensive overview of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I found this work accessible, accurate, and in sufficient depth to give a sense of the life and ideas of Dr. King. One would only wish that Mr. Ramdin had done a little more, giving more length and substance. The book is very short. For first time readers of Dr. King, this is a good place to start. Three and a half to four stars.

5 comments about Architects Of Victory: Six Heroes of the Cold War.

1. how can one say victory after a few million people lost their lives in all the proxy wars, I couldn't understand why this author "praises" these people, communism fell under it's own faulty economic structure. I thought when I first picked up this book, lets see what he has to say, by the time I finished the book I was disgusted! How can ANY side claim victory in a war, everybody loses in a war, everybody.



2. This book's objectivity is suspect due to the fact that it was published by the conservative Heritage Foundation; however, Joseph Shattan does a good job in making his case for these six men who did so much to alter the course of late 20th century history. It is remarkable that his list includes two American presidents (one Democrat, one Republican), a German chancellor, England's greatest prime minister, a pope, and a Russian writer. Such a disparate group makes this more than an essay on politics, it is a rich analysis of fifty years of world history. You can disagree with Shattan (as other reviewers have done), but you cannot deny that he has offered good reasoning for his heroic choices. It is enlightening to read about the contributions of Solzhenitsyn, Adenaur, and John Paul II, which are not well known. It is extremely satisfying to read a concise analysis of what Truman, Churchill, and Reagan brought to the mix. I believe that conservatives give Reagan too much credit for "winning" the Cold War, however I also believe that history will bear them out to a very large degree. Churchill is a giant, truly the Man of the Century (despite what TIME magazine thinks), and get his credit here. Truman obviously had a strong grasp on "the big picture" even as he grew into his role. It is interesting to apply what Shattan teaches us to the study of governments, economies, and social progress in this same time period. Joseph Shattan has done us all a favor by publishing this book; maybe efforts like this will finally begin to reduce the luster from Mikhail Gorbachev. Buy this book and read it. Then donate it to your kids' school library.



3. This is the ideological nonsense that passes for intelligence on the rabid right. In regards to Reagan, although a critique of the importance of these "Hero's" is overdue. If just spending the USSR into destruction were true, the Soviet Union would have fallen in 1943 when they spending virtually everything on materiel. Read about the economic situation the Soviets faced and Gorbachev's thoughts. He knew the situation was desperate long before he got to the top, and knew there must be changes. He allowed the borders to open. A few more facts, i.e., Solidarity, Perstroika, and you'll get a picture of what happened. The USSR would have collasped without Reagan. Why would the Soviets just throw in their hand after Reykjavik? (read Frances Fitzgerald's new book.) The first time I heard this inane theory about Reagan I did the same thing Gorbachev did when he first heard it - I broke into a good belly laugh. I will admit the right has a PR machine that is second to none. But in the end this is just another specious attempt to revise history, a close cousin to "FDR was in on Pearl harbor."



4. This book is a very impressive piece of work. Shattan is very fair when he writes about each and every person, no matter what their political stripe. From Churchill's prescient knowledge of what must be done to Truman's acknowledgement of the danger that Communism posed to Adenauer's firm and unwavering alignment with the West to Solzihentisyn(sp?) showing how the Cold War was really a moral struggle to Pope John Paul II's unwavering determination to free Poland to Ronald Reagan who ultimately caused the end of the Cold War; even though it came under Bush's administration; Shattan demonstrates a keen eye for details and an excellent sense of analysis. This is well worth reading for anyone interested in the Cold War.



5. Joseph Shattan has assembled a series of short, but informative profiles of six leaders who played central roles in the Cold War. His roster of heroes includes:

   -- President Truman. After initially toeing the accommodationist line of FDR, Truman soon recognized the expansionist ambitions of the Soviet Union and reacted accordingly. His Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Greece and Turkey aid package stopped the spread of Marxist hegemony in its tracks and set the contours for the four-decade struggle that was to come.

   -- Winston Churchill. In and out of office, he warned early and often of the rising Bolshevik threat. But like his earlier forebodings about Hitler, his alarms fell largely on deaf ears. It was not until the 1980s that the West pursued Cold War strategies that can truly be called Churchillian -- with predictable results.

   -- Konrad Adenauer. As the first Chancellor of the Republic of Germany, he planted the vital country squarely in the Western camp. West Germany was the crucible of the Cold War. Lacking a leader of Adenauer's resolve and conviction, that country could have easily fallen under the Soviet orbit, or, as Stalin designed, opted for a feckless, hollow "neutrality."

   -- Solzhenitsyn. In Shattan's words, he "re-moralized the struggle" after Viet Nam and other setbacks cast doubt on the West's Containment policies. His seminal writings, especially "The Gulag Archipealgo," laid bare the repressive underpinnings of the Soviet system, while his public outrage at detente opened many eyes in the West.

   -- Pope John Paul II -- The first non-Italian Pontiff in some 400 years came around at a most propitious moment. (Andropov and other Soviet paranoids contended that the Pope's selection was engineered by the U.S.) Lech Walesa credits Pope John Paul II with "saving Solidarity" -- the counter-revolutionary movement that administered the first schisms in the Soviet armor --and in inspiring his fellow Poles in their stuggle to shake off the yoke of Communist domination.

   -- President Reagan. He foresaw the demise of the Soviet Union at a time when many saw history moving inexorably away from the West. Beginning in the 1970s, he called Communism a failed and failing system that would ultimately be trumped by the West -- heretic words to Western leaders who thought befriending the Soviets was the best way to change their behavior. As President, he pursued policies (Churchill's) expressly designed to exacerbate the tensions within the Soviet system. The Berlin Wall was toppled (it did not "fall"; it was pushed) less than 10 months after he left office.

   Shattan's work is required reading for anyone interested in learning how the Cold War began -- and ended.

3 comments about Sketches from a Life.

1. "Sketches from a Life" is a series of meditative reflections written by George Kennan during his long career in the foreign service and academia. To an extent the sketches tread ground made familiar to readers of his two volumes of memoirs, but I was impressed by the immediacy and eloquence of these diary-like texts. In many cases, Kennan's writing would be perfectly suited to the novel format.
   
   Kennan's years in Europe and his proximity to the destruction of World War II deepened and confirmed what I suspect was an already ingrained melancholic and pessimistic character. The tone of many of these sketches is therefore quite bleak. There are several haunting scenes set amidst the ruined cities of post-war Europe; in one, Kennan sees a few young Berliners wandering in the wreckage of a bombed-out cathedral as a symbol of "man's lost and purposeless state, his loneliness, his helplessness, his wistfulness, and his inability to understand."
   
   I was also impressed to see Kennan's thoughts on Los Angeles; specifically, his concerns regarding America's growing reliance on the automobile and dependence on oil, which were written with great prescience in 1951.



2. I guess if you want to write a book on sketches of your life, you've got to have lived an interesting one. And Mr Kennan did.
   He lived most of his adult life abroad, mostly in Europe, with a focus in the Eastern part. This allows him to give a nice perspective of life in the Old World versus America. Also, because he lived to be 100, he can give a very good perspective timewise (he wrote the book when he was in his 80s). He comes across as a nostalgic, but it is hard not to be one when one is old, I guess.
   One reviewer said that Kennan is the kind of man who owes everything to his position in an organization. It seems to be true. In the book, he is extremely passive and seems to go with the flow. He also seems not to like much interaction with people and shows more emotion about a work of art or a beautiful building than real people. He doesn't even talk much about his wife.
   Nevertheless, this does not diminish the pleasure of reading the book, if you prepare yourself to a pleasant tale of distant places, both in space and time. He has been there, he has done that, that's what matters.



3. The late George Kennan was known as a diplomat and as a scholar. In Sketches From A Life, published when he was eighty-five years old, he also reveals himself as a writer and as a moralist. The pieces that form this volume are entries into his private diary that were written during a period spanning more than sixty years. They were not intended for publication (the author nonetheless confesses that "every diarist has moments, I am sure, of a vague hope that what he has just written, particularly if he himself is please with it, will some day fall under at least a few eyes other than his own." Internet has turned this hope into an instant obsession.)
   
   Although they reveal glimpses into his inner self and contain pages from his personal history, these diary excerpts were expunged from the most intimate entries and are the opposite of a narcissistic account. What they have in common is that they were written, for the most part, only when traveling. They are a collection of sketches, by an author who also was fond of drawing and took graphic sketches of the cities and places he visited. Whether George Kennan could draw well or not is left to the imagination of the reader; but there were few domains in which he didn't excel, and writing was obviously his forte. After all, the man won two Pulitzer and published more than eighteen books.
   
   From Hamburg and Prague to Moscow and St. Petersburg, from Riga to Mexico and Kristiansand to Pennsylvania, Kennan puts to paper beautifully rendered and exquisite prose. His ability to capture the spirit of a city in a few lines puts him among the best of travel writers ; but this lover of nature also had a talent for sketching landscapes and natural sceneries. The streets and buildings that he evokes come to life, sometimes quite literally, as in this prosopopoeia in which the old palace that shelters the American legation in Prague laments "the incorrigible vanity and tragedy and futility of all human endeavors."
   
   Although he first came to Europe in the 1920s and never experienced pre-soviet Russia, Kennan feels much closer to the Russia that was than to the Russia that is. Certain sections of Moscow and Leningrad inspire him such a sense of familiarity "as to evoke the mystery of a former life". He is, as he acknowledges, an "expatriate in time rather than in place", and longs for a Europe that embodied the best of civilization before its plunge into chaos. By contrast, California inspires him his most scathing remarks : the place reminds him "of the popular American Protestant concept of heaven: there is always a reasonable flow of new arrivals; one meets many--not all--of one's friends; people spend a good deal of their time congratulating each other over the fact that they are there; discontent would be unthinkable; and the newcomer is slightly disconcerted to realize that now--the devil having been banished and virtue being triumphant--nothing terribly interesting can ever happen again."
   
   His penchant as a moralist emerged early in his career. One is surprised to find under the pen of a twenty-three years old sentences like the following: "we have too many friends to have any friendships, too many books to know any of them well; and the quality of our impressions gives way to the quantity". It is also ironic that the man who lived to hundred years old remarked, halfway through his life in 1959, "we older people are the guests of this age, permitted to haunt its strange and somewhat terrifying halls--in a way part of its life, like the guests in a summer hotel, yet in a similar way detached from it." Or as he concludes, "each generation staggers through life: occupying briefly the little patch of apparent light between the darkness of the past we have so largely forgotten and the darkness of the future that we cannot see."

2 comments about The Wit and Wisdom of Jesse 'the Body...the Mind' Ventura.

1. Although I don't like the fact that Gov. Ventura did not authorize this book. It is great because the person, who created the quotes in the first place is pure philsophical excellence.



2. Why in the world would anyone want to spend a nickel on this book. My advice, make a charitable contribution and feel good that your money is going to someone who appreciates it.

1 comments about Guardian of the Presidency: The Legacy of Richard E. Neustadt.

1. Guardian of the Presidency: The Legacy of Richard E. Neustadt Richard Neustadt worked with 7 US presidents and his narration of the PBS documentary of the presidency made him familiar to many viewers. He was a well-loved professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Gov't (which he helped to found) shaping the minds of many of this generation's leaders. The book is written by those who knew him well, from Al Gore to Jonathan Alter, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Arthur Schlesinger and many more. The chapters reveal as much about the lives of the writers and the times we live in. It's politics and the life of those who live and breathe it.

5 comments about Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond.

1. In Ol' Strom, Bass and Thompson tell the whole story of Senator J. Strom Thurmond's remarkable march across 20th century politics. But they don't do anything else. While it is interesting just to read about a politician so long-lasting that he ran for president in 1948 and still holds office today, the book does not attempt to delve into the meaning of Thurmond's extraordinary tenure. Thurmond's political career is a mirror of the evolution of the South from Dixiecrat to Republican, from racist to mainstream conservative. The authors opted not to tell this story, however, and stubbornly insisted on offering just a journalistic account of Thurmond's life.



2. I once had the pleasure of sharing a flight with the author Jack Bass. The man is a walking encyclopedia of anecdotes of South Carolina history and political lore and he was quite entertaining. Reading his take on Thurmond, who he knew well, is similar to an actual conversation with Bass. Put it to you this way, reading this book is like listening to some old-timers reminisce around the cracker barrel in front of the general store. Not a scholarly work,but an enjoyable one. BTW, I wish he would have gone into detail about Thurmond''s meeting with Coretta Scott King. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to hear what the former supreme segregationist had to say to the widow of Dr. King.



3. Insightful, provacative...You may not like Strom, but this book
   will make you view him in a different light. This book doesn't take sides. It does give you a view of someone many have thought of as a not very bright, but who has outlived or outsmarted most of his critics. A very good view of politics in South Carolina. Mr. Thurmond won my grudging respect in this book by taking care of his constituents...without regards to race or religion. Well documented facts by the writers!



4. Strom Thurmond is widely viewed as a simple racist with just one cause- to fight against civil rights. However, OL STROM helps to explain that while Strom was historically on the wrong side during the civil rights battles, he was and still is a man of character and integrity.

   Like him or not,OL STROM makes a strong case to support Strom as "the century's most enduring American political figure". Strom Thurmond was on the cutting edge of the white souths move from the Democratic party to the Republican party with his 1948 presidental bid. He still holds the filibuster record and well being in the Senate for longer than any one in history.

   Unlike some of of the hardcore racists, Strom reached out to African-Americans in his later years. At the same time, Strom never "admitted" his earlier positions on civil rights were wrong. Strom still clung to his "States Rights" view which seem to open the only hole in his intergrity. Only Strom knows what's in his heart.

   OL STROM also gets into more details, regarding his personal affairs, such as his biracial daughter, that others bio have glossed over.

   Strom is not so much "a" southern politian, as he IS the south!




5. Myself and other progressive young southerners who were previously appalled by his well-known Segregationist tactics could not have even imagined Strom Thurmond himself fathering an interracial child, only to gleefully keep his family and other in racial subordination supposedly for their and/or country's own good.

   Sure, I was previously aware of slave-owner-slave stories which basically told the same tale in eighteenth century language, but I did not believe somebody intentionally kept their family in segregation today. There has been much discussion about conscience, character, and morals within the public sector and what quantities of these ingredients are required of 'good' public servants versus those that simply keep getting re-elected for tradition sakes---but Thurmond's life (long overdue for an examination) lacks all three components.

   After former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond's death, a woman Essie Mae Washington came forward with revelation that she was Thurmond's half-daughter. Her mother was a teenage African American worker in the Thurmond home, and he was a wealthy young adult whose activities were apparently concealed for fear of dominant society retaliation. If word of Thurmond's 'extracurricular' activities had leaked out while he was living, (especially in the segregation era) it would have been the end of his political career.

   I don't doubt that the incident (and others) in question happened, or Strom's legendary libido (ironically while courting voters from 'family values' crowd who made a national crisis out of President William Jefferson Clinton's consensual affair with a twenty something adult woman). Apparently because Ol'Strom forces himself on women far less powerful than himself, this is not only appropriate conduct but an expected public service perk that he was not in a hury to give up. Throughout his 'distinguished' life, Thurmond regarded women as objects for his convenience and entertainment, unable to consider us full and three-dimensional people.

   I am not shocked by the lurid details contained within this volume, but I sincerely hope conservatives and/or Republicans understand what allegations are in here before continuing to pretend only one political party houses ravenous libidos. Letting neither his switch to the Republican party or increasing age stop him, Strom remained the consummate womanizer, quickly falling out of step with an era that (at least in public relations) saw the importance of treating women as professional equals.

   Thurmond's death was one of the 2003 newstories, but it is ultimately telling of his supreme inhumanity that none of the Sunday talk shows devoted significant time to memorializing his influence on the nation. Good riddance!!

5 comments about Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary Beings: Experiences of an American Diplomat with Maitreya and the Masters of Wisdom.

1. Let any man who understands know that this name "Maitreya" is the sum of 666. This being is none other that the Light Bearer-The Bright Morning Star-THE FALLEN ONE...LUCIFER. Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth, for the beast has come down to you as a Lion, seeking whomever he may devour--Revelations. There is only ONE Christ. He was the ONLY son of God Yehovah. For God so loved the world, that he gave his ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, so that who so ever shall believe in him shall not parish but have everlasting life--John 3:16 "Beware, for many will come saying here is the Christ, or I am the Christ...they will come as wolves in sheep's clothing"--Lucifer will claim to be the Christ!. Do not be deceived...For The one and only Christ-JESUS-said in Matthew "There shall rise false Christs, who shall show great signs and wonders...he shall deceive even the elect." Maitreya who promises us something that he cannot give, has only one agenda...to destroy the human race. Christ will indeed return to earth after 7 years of Maitreya's rule. This time will be known as the Tribulation. This Tribulation's beginning will be marked by Maitreya's 7 year agreement w/ Isreal. This agreement, like all promises made by the Father of Lies, will be broken. There is no "Godhood" for any of us. This same thing was promised to Eve in the Garden... "for you will know the difference between good and evil and be as Gods" The real reward for this trespass against God (as Lucifer knew it would be according to eternal law) was seperation from God and the beginning of suffering. "And take heed to yourselves, lest anytime your heart be overcharged [with the cares of this life ] so that the day will come upon you unawares" Luke 21-34
   
   The time is soon now, very soon. God Speed in these last days.
   This life is nothing in the scheme of things. God Speed in these last days.



2. Wayne Peterson describes his extraordinary encounters with Maitreya, the World Teacher. Highly recommended for those whose hearts and minds are open to the new energies and the new time. Maitreya, the World Teacher, is here to guide and assist humanity. Also highly recommended are all the books by Benjamin Creme about the Masters of Wisdom. Read and expand your consciousness.



3. Wayne Peterson's book is extraordinary. His journey is so inspiring and his interactions with Maitreya and the Ascended Masters truly mezmerizing. Wayne seems to be leading the way with his courage, conviction and compassionate life story. Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary Beings should be set reading for this difficult time in the world. Learning about Maitreya has given me such a sense of hope for the future of humanity. I highly recommend buying this book; it will take you into a world that few have only dared dream.



4. All that you need to do in order to appreciate the author's story is to have an open mind and start reading. There is a truth here that will tell its own story and you can decide for yourself what it means to you. The book is well written and entertaining, so much so that you just might mistake the Masters of Wisdom for old friends.



5. Loved this book! Use for a lot of referrals. My husband read it twice. Couldn't put it down.

5 comments about The Downing Street Years.

1. If you're interested in how a strong-willed conservative would deal with an ingrained socialist government (not to mention society), give this tome a look-see. Very well written, brutally honest, with just enough of Lady Thatcher's dry Brit humor to spice things up. As another reviewer has pointed out, though, if you're American and unfamiliar with certain British lingo, be prepared to scratch your head on occasion. Favorite quote from the book: "It was not long before the conversation turned from trivialities-- for which neither Mr. Gorbachev nor I had any taste-- to a vigorous two-way debate. In a sense, the argument has continued ever since and is taken up whenever we meet; and as it goes to the heart of what politics is really about, I wouldn't have it any other way>"



2. This book is one of the most interesting political autobiographies I have read (and I've read many of them). I must confess that interest was intensified due to the fact that I worked in the House of Commons during her tenure in office, and indeed worked during the 1987 General Election for two Conservative Members of Parliament (David Amess of Basildon and David Evennett of Erith & Crayford--yes, I know, you've never heard of either of them).

   This is actually the first volume of Margaret Thatcher's books to be published; the prequel is 'The Path to Power' and there is a follow-up, 'The Collected Speeches', but for those interested, 'The Downing Street Years' is the book to have.

   It begins with the 1979 General Election, and carries forward to her resignation as Prime Minister a decade later. In this volume are her perspectives on all the various Cabinet intrigues, shuffles and reshuffles; her attempts to find civil servants and other helpers who were not of the old guard but of a new mentality, often asking, 'Is he one of us?' by which she meant, not is he a Conservative, but rather, will he get something accomplished, is he a do-er?

   Thatcher's perspectives on the various scandals and inter-Cabinet fighting makes for interesting reading -- she is candid in her likes and dislikes among her Cabinet colleagues. Her final row with Geoffrey Howe, who delivered a scathing speech in the HoC that mostly prompted the leadership crisis, is enlightening. (I've not seen his version, if one exists--it would be good to compare the two sides.) She was very disappointed at the end when she thought she had the continued support of the party, but each of her ministers and 'friends' told her in turn that while he supported her, others would not. She saw the writing on the wall, and after having won the first ballot for party leadership but not by a sufficient majority to avoid a second ballot, she resigned in favour of John Major (whose autobiography, recently issued, is also well worth reading, particularly for his comments about how Thatcher tried to maintain a controlling influence over him from behind the office).

   You might be tempted, if you're not really into politics and not reading this for scholarly purposes, to skim over various minor issues that are gone into great detail. Historians are appreciative, but I seriously ask myself how many non-political scientists and historians will read through all the detail of what are now minor bits of history?

   In all, a brilliant career, the first woman head of government in a major Western democracy, and well worth reading on the whole.




3. Highly interesting and exhaustively detailed first-hand account of the first female UK premier. In the 1980s, Britain could arguably be defined by three things: Diana, Pop music, and Margaret Thatcher-- it is refreshing to see the least showy of the three recall her memoirs. Although the Iron Lady's sometime turbulent relationship with the Queen is hardly ever mentioned. In fact, Her Majesty barely appears at all...in that case, you will have to consult a biography for her infamous debacle with the Queen over the Commonwealth. Still, highly recommended...even if you need to take it's mammoth size in small doses. A great read.



4. A no nonsense and fast paced (yes and lengthy) review of Britain in the 70's 80's and early 90's. Thatcher led the UK out of the "pit" of socialism (and closed a few pits too!)
   Sadly the world lacks Politicians with conviction when we need them more than ever. This book will restore your faith in the fact that real politicians DO and WILL have an opinion. Love her or hate her she DID change her times...and sat down to write about how she left her mark. The creed of Thatcherism will not die and just look at New Labour, she even convinced the left to move to the right!



5. I thought that this was an interesting autobiography of a most unusual modern leader. Lady Thatcher gives a detailed account of her 11 years as British Prime Minister. She devotes a generous amount of space to the Falklands War, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, her dealings with a wide variety of foreign leaders, and her tackling of major domestic problems. While I enjoyed the book, I had difficulty with some of the terms that Lady Thatcher uses. This is because I am not familiar with the finer points of British politics.

No comments about The True Story of Kaluaikoolau.

1 comments about A Prairie Populist: The Memoirs of Luna Kellie (Singular Lives).

1. I absolutely love this book and I am just reading it through for the second time. The grammar and format take a bit to get used to but the descriptions of her time homesteading are just fascinating. I am encouraged by her stories of living in a sod house and raising children there. She perseveres and then finds her "voice" in the politics of the time. Wonderful read!