1 comments about Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa.

1. I have read this book over twenty times. One major reason is that each time I get new insights into the life and genius of one of this centuries greatest and most brilliant American leaders.

   The other reason is because I was priviledged to have worked beside Mr. Chavez during the time of this books writing. Every time I read it I can still hear the author, Jaques Levy, reading it in draft form to Cesar by flashlight as we traveled California and Arizona's highways and biways.

   This is truly the closest Mr.Chavez ever came to writing his own book. Jaques Levy had a rare inside look at Cesar, his movement and his family. The combination of trust and journalistic integrity between Mr. Chavez and Jacques Levy made for a great book that covers and captures his actions, thoughts, ideas, trials, ambitions, hopes and dreams. Mr. Levy, together with Cesar Chavez, captures the essence of his formative years, those leading up to his becoming the first Mexican and American hero of this century.

   Unlike any other author on Chavez, Mr. Levy captures several examples of Chavez's self taught brilliance and tenacity. He also clearly shows Chavez' ability to grasp any subject and his views on American and poor people's economics. I have read many of the others and having been on the spot while they were written can add that while most err somewhat to a great deal in covering basic facts, Jacques Levy's book is on the money.

   If it is possible to get this book reprinted, it should be and I bet a Spanish version would sell a million copies.

   Mr. Levy spent nine years researching, writing and editing this work that over time will come to be known as the basic foundation of Mr. Chavez's life

4 comments about Presidential Campaigns.

1. This is a well organized book full of useful facts that show how our political history has evolved over the years. Full of antdotes and trivia, the book reveals quite a bit about America. Very well condenced stories of each election. Reports things as historical facts rather than a political leaning (except for the 1988 race maybe). Overall a very good read.



2. This classic chronicle of Presidential campaigns, from the get-go to contemporary times, has the unusual virtue of being useful either as a collection of short readable chapters - each just the right size for a daily bus or train ride - or as a reference source. Reading this in the wake of Monicagate and the Florida Recount, it's instructive to read the history of Grover Cleveland, who seems to have features of BOTH past Democratic candidates. Like Clinton, he had his scandals - fathering an illegitimate child. Like Gore, his career was rudely interrupted by an election which he won on popular votes but lost, in a hotly contested, knife-edge electoral college tally.



3. Paul F. Boller Jr. turned in a milestone effort with "Presidential Campaigns," combining an excellently developed historian's eye along with an objective presentation.
   This informative work reads like an entertaining novel while providing all kinds of fascinating information about America's presidential campaigns from Washington to the present, from which we can learn so much about our nation's history, using famous elections as an evolutionary guide to understanding the peaks and valleys of the Ameican experience.

   In that some of the subject matter is about heavy topics such as war and peace, domestic political conflict, and America during economic panics and depressions, Boller's humor is needed to lighten the heaviness and he delivers superbly. This is understandable since much of his career as an author involves books of anecdotes regarding American and British history as well as Hollywood's film world.

   This is a book that crisply and entertainingly tells us so much about America, as revealed through its presidential compaigns.




4. This is a readable and informative history of Presidential politics. Devoting one chapter to each election since 1789 (George Washington), author Paul Boller provides a crisp overview, followed by a host of trivial facts and tidbits. Readers get a good view of U.S. poltiical history, personalities like Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, William Jennings Bryan, etc., and key issues such as slavery, railroads, robber barons, war, peace, communism, etc. Some readers may be surprised to learn that half-truths and mud-slinging are nothing new - Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were both accused of being enemy spies, Grover Cleveland's illegitimate son was campaign fodder, and charges that the Pope would soon rule the USA came with candidacies of Catholics Al Smith (1928) and John F. Kennedy (1960).
   
   I gave just four stars due to a couple factual errors (e.g., Martin Luther King was killed April 4, not April 27 1968), and readers may prefer the updated version - this one finishes with 1984. Still, this is fun, informative reading.

No comments about Plunkitt of Tammany Hall.

4 comments about Rob Roy (Canongate).

1. This is an elegantly written, thorough, balanced and fascinating account of a deservedly highly admired man.

   The author provides a comprehensive historic and social background and a detailed biography. Real history, not the current hip Celtic fashion or Braveheart drivel.

   I found the book moving and inspiring. A picture of an honourable, intelligent and courageous man, living his life by the laws of his time; a man who deserves to be remembered.

   The film Rob Roy with Liam Neeson, runs amazingly close to this book. If you were inspired by the film, I think you will greatly enjoy this biography.

   I'd also recommend John Prebble for his classic works on Culloden and Glencoe and the Highland Clearances.




2. This is a book for a scholar or a person dipping into Scottish history for the first time. An excellent book about Highlanders and there are precious few books available on the topic. The author has considered vast quanitities of sources; the only books lacking are Gaelic language sources such as those bilingual editions published by the Scottish Academic Texts Society. The author shows a broad understanding of the politics and economics of the period; what is unique is an attempt to understand Gaelic society. The "creach" or cattle raid is explained from a Highland point of view; it's a custom sanctified in the great Gaelic epic "Táin Bó Cuailgne". The format is very appealing as historical events are related to the colourful life of this one honourable man.



3. A fascinating biography. This book inspired the film with Liam Neeson, but is so much more than a glimpse of the incidents chronicled in the film. W.H. Murray has given a well-researched, well-documented look at highland life that enables the reader to step into the shoes (or lack thereof) of the Scottish highlander. Everything from the clan structure, rivalries, English oppression, how to carry a handful of oats dipped in a stream for daily ration; it's all there. Mr. Murray gives us very detailed information on the subtleties of the constantly changing political climate and the MacGregor's sense of injustice.

   This book is a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in Scotland, the MacGregor Clan, or Rob Roy himself.




4. Murray does a great job of telling us about the true Rob Roy MacGregor (versus the tarted up Sir Walter F. Scott rendition to quote an English friend friend of mine)! Murray explains clearly the politics of the time in England, and the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland: Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism); the Whigs and the Torys; etc. He gives a vivid depiction of the Highland way of life from the daily routine to engaging in commerce amongst local Highland clans, the Lowlanders, and England. Let's not forget "abduction" of live-stock for which Rob Roy in particular was well-noted. There is even information on the materials used in the dying of kilt and tartan plaids. The impression one gets is that if the Highlanders were left alone to continue their way of life, who knows how wonderfully it would have evolved and what contributions they could have made to the world. Murray is given extra credit here because he had to re-start this writing while in a Nazi POW camp. A must read for all who are interested in all things Scottish!

5 comments about Curzon: Imperial Statesman.

1. Lord Curzon was a major figure in British politics at the turn of the century. Immensely accomplished as well as ambitious, he served in several of the highest postions in government, including as Foreign Secretary and Viceroy of India. It is Gilmour's achievement that he manages to convey the complexities of the man, his overweening ambition, his insecurities and also, his tremendous drive to succeed. This a greatly detailed biography, but it is at the same time also very readable. It does not bog down in the minutiae of detail, and keeps a very articulately expressed story-line going. A book of immense interest to those keen on the politics and social and cultural history of that era.



2. George Curzon was born in the Victorian era with an extremely privileged family background. This excellent biography relates the multiple rises / falls in his career - I enjoyed the book because of the insightful account of the timeless contradictions of Curzon's character; he was born to an aristocratic family, yet worked incredibly hard all his life; he inspired great loyalty amongst those who worked with him, but thoughtless offense to other senior political figures contributed to missed opportunities; hopelessly out-dated on issues such as women's rights and empire, his views on foreign policy issues were well ahead of his time. David Gilmour gives a great overview of a life which started at the time of the Great Exhibition and ended just before Britain's humiliations of the Gold Standard in the 1930s. People who enjoyed Titan (Rockefeller) may well enjoy this account of a flawed but dynamically positive man.



3. David Gilmour has written an excellent biography of George Curzon, who, although little known to most Americans, was an important figure in English politics and government from the 1890s until the 1920s. The virtues of Gilmour's biography far outweigh its minor faults: the book is well-written and takes a balanced and comprehensive look at its subject.

   That balance is important: Curzon was by all accounts a brilliant but highly difficult man who was often haughty with subordinates and quarrelsome with his peers. Gilmour makes no excuses for Curzon's often indefensible behavior, nor does he gloss over Curzon's regrettable tendencies in this regard.

   Gilmour does a very good job overall reviewing Curzon's long life in English public affairs, starting with his career in the House of Commons, moving on to his years as Viceroy in India, then to his years in the House of Lords and then in Cabinet. Nor is Curzon's private life neglected. My sole criticism is that at times Gilmour assumes a relatively high level of background knowledge of English history and politics of the era. For example, many of the references to the passage or defeat of individual bills before Parliament were simply beyond my knowledge. For my part, that level of detail could have been omitted without interrupting the narrative flow. But although those sections were inherently less interesting to me, I still give high marks overall to this work.




4. Even though I read (on Dec 26, 1976) Superior Person: A Portrait of Curzon and his Circle in late Victorian England, by Kenneth Rose, I figured that was a while ago and I could enjoy another biography of George Curzon (born 11 Jan 1859, Viceroy in India from 1899 to 1905, in Lloyd George's War Cabinet from 1916 to 1919, Foreign Secretary from 1919 to 1924, died 20 March 1925)and I am glad I decided to read it. He was a fantastic and brilliant if difficult person. The book is solidly researched, with ample footnoting, and an interesting bibliography.



5. David Gilmour renders a balanced portrait of George Curzon, a complex imperial statesman. Curzon was born and raised as an aristocrat at a time that the British Empire was at its apex in the decades before WWI. Unlike the rest of his family, Curzon was very ambitious and determined to leave his mark in history. Gilmour makes a judicious use of Curson's writings to show us how extraordinarily well-traveled Curzon was for a man of his time. Curzon had a first-hand knowledge of many foreign issues, his undeniable specialty, unlike such luminaries as Lloyd George, A. J. Balfour, to name a few. Curzon was a work alcoholic, self-centered person who sounded condescending at times and was unable to delegate much because of his very exacting standards. Furthermore, Curzon often did not display much emotional intelligence in his relationship with others, including his own family. Unsurprisingly, Curzon's peers and superiors in politics found him regularly unbearable in Parliament, during his viceroyalty in India and as a member of different cabinets in the last decade of his life. Chirol summarized it very well when he told Hardinge that Curzon had the knack of saying the wrong thing, or even, when he says the right thing, of saying it in the wrong way, is quite extraordinary. I can recall no instance of a man whose personal unpopularity has to the same extent neutralized his immense abilities and his power of rendering great services. Gilmour shows very clearly how Curzon could be well ahead of his time in fields such as foreign policy and protection of old monuments and at the same time be so backward in such areas as women's rights and his attitude to nationalism. Overworked for most of his life, Curzon died prematurely at the age of 66. However, Curzon left some built-to-last monuments to posterity: think for instance about the impressive restoration of at one time decrepit Taj Mahal in India, the negotiation of the Lausanne Treaty that formalized the existence of Modern Turkey or Remembrance Day, a fitting tribute to the Fallen Heroes.

5 comments about Right from the Beginning.

1. A very insightful and readable biography
   of American perpetual Presidential Candi-
   date Pat Buchanan, who used to be very
   good on the McLaughlin Group. Buchanan
   got my vote in 2000 when he ran on the
   Reform Party tix and I was 4th District
   Delegate in Ches., VA. Buchanan's troops
   marched off with the matching funds, Buch-
   anan started a silly Newsletter and a new
   Third political party of hacks and started
   using that stupid 'judeo-Christian' moniker
   again. I threw in the towel on him after
   trying to talk sense into his brainwashed
   followers. His sorry Newsletter was always
   late and I ordered a bumper sticker from
   his website store and got his Amer. 1st
   Party Newsletter instead. What a bunch of
   idiots he has working for him! Poor old
   guy. His follow-up books are not very good.
   They all leave out the United Nations /N.W.O
   connection to everything. How the mighty have
   fallen. I can't beleive a man this intelligent
   is involved in the Knights of Malta and his
   heroes are Reagan [one of the worst Presidents
   of all time] and Nixon [one of the worst men
   ever in the Whitehouse. Can you believe that
   Nixon had Joe Namath on his enemies list? JOE
   NAMATH?!] What could have been...Sigh.



2. The man is brilliant and an extremely talented writer and TV commentator. Another great asset this author has is a sense of humor. He does not take himself seriously. He is loyal to his friends in good times and bad. He does not apologize for his ethnic heritage,his deep love of his native land, his deep religious faith, his Jesuit education. He is a well rounded person. I am always impressed with his TV appearances in that he never raises his voice or tries to speak over another guest. His manners are genuine. We need more Pat Buchanans!



3. Because I have thoroughly enjoyed Patrick Buchanan's columns criticizing President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, I decided to catch up my reading of Buchanan's books by reading _A Republic, Not an Empire_ (1999) and _Where the Right Went Wrong_ (2004). Having been favorably impressed with these two books, I turned my catch-up reading next to _Right from the Beginning_ (1988; 2nd ed. 1990). It is a remarkably well-written and remarkably honest autobiography. At times it is very funny.
   
   As a boy and a teenager, Patrick J. Buchanan (born November 2, 1938) was a fist-fight waiting to happen. Being expelled from Georgetown for a year (1960-1961) enabled Buchanan to overcome his earlier proclivities toward fisticuffs and turn his energies instead toward verbal combat.
   
   Buchanan does an excellent job of explaining his cultural conditioning in the 1940s and of explaining how this cultural conditioning posed great difficulties for him in the 1960s:
   
   "Americans who had grown up in the late 1920s and early 1930s had memories of a time when the United States was denounced at home and abroad as an unjust and failed society, a country that exploited the poor and sided with the exploiters. We [who were children in the 1940s] had no such memories. The 1960s were thus more of a shock to us than to them." (p. 30)
   
   This is a remarkable admission. Buchanan here acknowledges that he is the product of his narrow cultural conditioning in the 1940s. He also states that "[b]etween 1941 and 1945, that idea of America [as "a glorious and militarily invincible Republic"] was stamped upon us for life" (p. 30; also see pp. 139-140).
   
   But hold on! In his epigraph to chapter 7, Buchanan quotes St. Paul as saying, "When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spake as a child, and I acted as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put off childish things" (quoted p. 175).
   
   So when is Buchanan going to recognize that his cultural conditioning as a child in the 1940s is something that he now as a man needs to put off, rather than cling to it?
   
   From the evidence that Buchanan himself presents in this book, it is possible to argue that his cultural conditioning in the 1940s skewed his consciousness too strongly toward brashness -- that is, toward an over-developed tendency to get angry and want to fight. When he returned to Georgetown after having been expelled, one of his teachers asked him, "Why are you so angry?" (p. 229). I would argue that at least in part he was angry because of his cultural conditoning as a child in the 1940s.
   
   --Thomas J. Farrell, author of Walter Ong's Contributions to Cultural Studies: The Phenomenology of the Word and I-Thou Communication (Media Ecology)



4. This is #100 on the reader's choice non-fiction, of the Modern Library's Top 100 list. It's basically an autobiography of Pat Buchanan, who is as right wing conservative as they come. He grew up in a traditional, staunch Catholic home, and ended up becoming extremely influential in right-wing politics. I'm happy he never became president. Most of his political ideas stem from his religious up-bringing. He definitely would not be able to separate church and state, which would be dangerous.
   
   I don't agree with most of ideas politically, but I think it's important to understand all sides of politics and would therefore recommend this book as a great way into the mind of the religious conservative. It shows how dangerous religion is when mixed with politics. The fact that Buchanan proposes we hold a second constitutional ammendment, that would basically violate all kinds of individual rights is appaling. If it was up to Pat we would all be living under a government run by the Pope. It didn't work out very well for his twin Darth Sidious, and it would have an even worse outcome in real life for the Pope, or any other religious crazy man.
   
   So, that's why I found the book important in furthuring my understanding of the right-wing. I definitely learned more than I ever would have imagined.



5. "Right from the Beginning" is the enjoyable autobiography of Pat Buchanan. His account of growing up in the middle decades of the twentieth century in Washington, D.C. is a page-turner, and he stresses how growing up in the pre-Sixties era was much different from doing so afterward. Some of the anecdotes that Buchanan relays in the book are laugh-out-loud funny.
   
   The book continues with Buchanan's path through college and graduate school to his days as an editorial writer in St. Louis. He tells the story of his hiring by Richard Nixon.
   
   The closing section of the book concerns the political situation as Buchanan saw it when the book was published in 1988. He believed that the moral climate of the country was far more important than the state of the economy, and was an unceasing advocate, not of détente, but of the defeat of the Soviet Union.
   
   Buchanan also has one of the best writing styles ever, and the fact that this book is still in print twenty years after it was published is indicative of how good it is.

5 comments about Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra.

1. Initially,Shareen Brysac's Resisting Hitler attracted me because of my long-term fascination with German history, Holocaust Studies in particular.This book opened a whole new world to me! Brysac's sensitive portrayal of Mildred Harnack's tragic and extremely heroic story literally brought tears to my eyes.I'd never heard of her, nor of the "Red Orchestra"--a Nazi Resistance group little known in the U.S.Brysac's gripping tale is supported by copious research in archives, including those only recently opened to the scrutiny of scholars.I strongly suggest this biography to those interested in having a fresh look at a much written about period in German history, and to anyone who appreciates a well written book--both informative and exciting.



2. Resisting Hitler, by Shareen Brysac

   When criminals gain control of governments, average citizens mostly pretend not to notice. Each thinks to himself something like, "How could I possibly pass judgment on our august leaders?" In a state ruled by force there are no competing politicians left to whom they can shift their allegiance. By default, then, they allow themselves to be used by the regime to prove that it has popular acceptance.

   Not so my great-aunt Mildred Fish Harnack, whose resistance against the Third Reich has been a vivid legend in our extended family for half a century. Her story gradually became known to a widening circle of interested people, including Shareen Brysac, who finally taking the initiative, researched the case exhaustively with its myriad details, and assembled from them a powerful, vivid mosaic.

   Like the Diary of Anne Frank, it is a tragic story imbued with the sense of inevitability that comes from everyone knowing the ending -- and yet it is joyous, because through Brysac, we cannot help being deeply inspired by the example of Mildred and the scores of her fellow resisters in the Red Orchestra, including her husband Arvid Harnack. They all knew they were taking a mortal risk, but as serious intellectuals who cared deeply about -- and even helped to create -- the best in German culture, they knew the truth of Socrates' dictum that "the unexamined life is not worth living." And so they lived their lives to the hilt.

   By telling Mildred's story, which is by extension and implication the story of every person willing to put their life on the line to resist tyranny, Brysac has enriched my life, and all our lives. I have been inspired by Mildred for 50 years. Now let the rest of the world be inspired too.




3. This book contains much more than a description of one woman's efforts at wartime resistance. It is a remarkable depiction of the intellectual and social life of the liberal and sometimes left-leaning intelligentsia in Madison, Wisconsin, and as well as of the liberal upper class in Germany in the period from the turn of the 20th century to 1945. The material ranges from vivid social commentary,historical narrative, and thriller, to final tragedy and its aftermath. The writing style is lucid and the footnotes copious. This book conbines the virtues of being a good read and a highly informative social history. I recommend it strongly.



4. A first class research by Brysac finally puts to rest the conflicting histories of the Red Orchestra (Rotte Kapella): the white-washing done by the FDR (former Federal Republic of Germany) vs. the pro-communist embellishments of the DDR (former East Germany).
   
   The author's exhaustive research (de-classified Stasi and KGB archives, interviews with survivors, US Army documents) finally does justice to the only American in the German Resistance who was executed (Mildred Fish-Harnack) and also allows the readers to reach a balanced view about who the Red Orchestra was.
   
   The reader will also become acquainted with how life was in Germany (particularly Berlin) during the 30's and early 40's through the lives of Mildred Fish-Harnack and her husband Arvid Harnack. Since the Harnacks were highly educated, came from esteemed families, and had influential friends in elitist Berlin society the reader also gets a glimpse of how divergent the views of various Germans and Americans were towards the Berlin regime.
   
   In conclusion, it is sad to see how a heroic German-American (Mildred Fish-Harnack) and an independent thinking German intellectual (Arvid Harnack) who spoke-out against, resisted, and even sabotaged the evil regime of Hitler met such a drastic end due to the follies and reckless acts of Stalin's regime.
   
   I wish there were more history books like this one written out there:
   * impeccable research
   * excellent prose (and thus easy to read)
   * semi-autogiographical
   * great lessons to draw about WWII, society, economy, and contemporary events.



5. I wanted to read this book because I am interested in WWII espionage, but only the last third of the book really deals with this, and the actual espionage is sketchy at best. The first third recounts Mildred's early years in Wisconsin (and her life just isn't that interesting) up to her marriage to Arvid Harnack. She has a hard life with him after they move back to his native Germany. They never have any money and for fun read Goethe to each other and their friends. The author tends to glorify Mildred, but she is made human, perhaps unwittingly, in recollections by her friends during a visit to her homeland after Hitler is in power. She reveals herself to be full of insecurties by making references to her own beauty and by looking down her nose at the hicks she grew up with. Much is made of Mildred's beauty throughout the book, but it must not be the kind that reveals itself in pictures, since she looks rather plain. Arvid comes across as unlikeable, humorless, controlling and provincial in his own way, while Mildred is a gentle soul who really should have been a literature professor at an American university instead of getting tangled up in her husband's underground activities for the Red Orchestra. But she is loyal and her love for him leaves her no other choice. The book comes alive in the section about Martha Dodd and the Schulze-Boysens, who all did their share of clumsy, though well-meaning espionage for the Russians. Both Arvid and Mildred are highly intelligent and cultured, but neither of them seem to have a lick of common sense, which leads to their eventual arrest by the Gestapo. The author has done a remarkable, exhaustive amount of research and the book is well-written. A problem, though, is the amount of names thrown at you, and frequently someone is referred to and you have no idea who he is until you look in the index and see he was mentioned 200 pages earlier. All in all, this is a portrayal of a woman who really didn't have that much to do with espionage but was punished because she was Arvid Harnack's wife. But somehow I don't think she would have had it any other way.

5 comments about Greenspan: The Man Behind Money.

1. Martin writes a hero's biography in his view. No arguments here. Greenspan was a late bloomer. Not until age 42 did Alan Greenspan start to get some visibility-- lifting him from the ranks of just another Wall Street economist seeking publicity to some one that was going to be listened to by Presidents. It all started by working on the 1968 Nixon campaign to help out an old musician friend. In 1974, when President Ford make him head of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) many in Wall Street were outraged that Greenspan would be the man. At age 48 Greenspan had slowly risen from very humble beginnings to a powerful place in government that would be his springboard to an exulted place in the history of the nation---one of the important contributors to America's greatness.

   Martin provides an entertaining tour of Greenspan's early life as a musician that quit Julliard training to become a professional jazz musician despite his love of classical music. His passion for reading economics evolved to a new endeavor and enrollment in New York University in 1945. He contributed to the economic thinking of Ayn Rand (novelist and philosopher) and he gained greatly from the 15 year close association that sustained a friendship, lasting until her death. It was the moral foundations for his contribution to helping some sectors of public opinion find the virtues of free markets, free trade and limited government. Martin's liberalism never allows him to really hear the Greenspan message of free markets and less government. Woodward's book follows the Fed events more closely then Martin, but he really brings Greenspan to life. More people need to aspire to be an accomplished economist in public service. This book may help by showing the potential for fame.

   The book is entertaining about his personal life. With power he became attractive to powerful women journalists ( Barbara Walters. Andrea Mitchell and others). His Washington social life is fascinating. Martin is a light weight when it comes to writing about the occupation of economist and economic history. He is particularly weak on monetary policy, but he makes a good effort. After all this is a book about a hero. I am inclined to be skeptical about the authors economic policy observations on Milton Friedman, Arthur Burns, Henry Kissenger, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush 41,William Clinton, and George W. Bush.. The author exaggerates Greenspan's skills and diminishes his weaknesses. The passion to tell the most salable story for the book allows him to overlook the fact that no economist is going to have a great track record for forecasting the economy. Congressional criticism of Greenspan's forecasting in initial confirmation hearings should have been about any economic forecast not just Greenspan's. The book perpetuates the myth that the Council of Economic Advisors or the Federal Reserve can have a detailed forecast of the future with great odds of success.

   Greenspan was a noted (perhaps revered) inflation hawk. Some say he turned weak in the Clinton years. Martin totally misses the issue of so called modest inflation of two to three percent for more than a decade versus the no inflation talk of Greenspan in his early years. If it had been possible to have no inflation long term interest rates could be half what they are today. He does note that the Fed has little influence on long term rates. He just does not make the connection that the markets never believed that the Fed would or could commit to a true policy of no inflation. The daily failure to bring inflation to zero is the direct cause that the Fed lacks any influence on long term interest rates except as now being enthroned as perpetrators of two to three percent inflation for a long, long time to come. The public will be paying a high price on home mortgages and corporations on bonds as the result of more than a decade of so called modest inflation after the preceding radical inflation that preceded the Greenspan era.

   Martin's review of Greenspan's "Irrational Exuberance" remarks is very frumpy. Martin does catch the fact that if the money supply grows to fast it does not always translate into inflationary product prices. Sometimes excess money growth has the insidious impact of driving up asset prices and or stock prices. This creates a time bomb that the Federal Reserve has great difficulty dealing with as the potential for adjustment is so impossible to forecast. Hence, the irrational exuberance remarks came a few years before the stock market correction. Had he understood this, Martin could have researched why the Fed never utilized its power to set margin requirements on stocks. On this point, Martin really blew it. It really stems from his struggle to know just enough economics to tell a good story and not take so much time so that he could make some fast money while Greenspan and the stock market was still popular. The book is well enough written that I would seriously look at any future book that Justin Martin writes. A serious reader is left with a deep passion to read hopefully Greenspan's memoirs and the resulting discussion of irrational exuberance, the weakening on inflation and his views on Federal Reserve oversight and independence. Greenspan will every right to brag about his policy of opening up Fed actions to more timely public understanding of deliberations.




2. An extremely shallow book that offers no insight how Greenspan thinks or makes his decisions. The reason Greenspan is such an interesting character is how he has managed to constantly adapt to changing market conditions. The real story would be why and how he came to the decisions he did, but this book just reports his actions. There is almost no economic anlysis or justification. Anyone looking to gain some understanding of Greenspan's thought process will be left wanting and extremely disappointed with this book.



3. The principles that Alan Greenspan follows politically and economically are all accounted for in the in-depth writing Justin Martin presented in this book. Justin Martin even gets into small details about Alan Greenspan that not many people know about. I recommend this book to anyone willing to learn rock solid principles surrounding our economic conditions.



4. This book is an excellent journalistic account of Alan Greenspan's life up to the first part of 2000 - the zenith of his career and fame.

   The book is not a serious biography. You will be disappointed if you expect the book to give you a deep and insightful analysis of Greenspan's life philosophy, his work methodology, or a revelation of the detail working of the Federal Reserve System.

   On the other hand, this book is a fascinating account of his life - both its private and public sides. Greenspan's brush with band music, his own economic consulting business which employed mostly female economists, his relationship with Ayn Rand and as an esteemed member of her Objectivist Collective, his role and relationship with the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush and the Clinton teams. There are also some vivid accounts of how he handled some high profile financial and monetary situations as well as how he left his handprints on several important presidential commission reports and recommendations. And, of course, the book has not neglected to give brief but interesting accounts of the women in his life.

   This book is very well written - the material is interesting and well organized, and presentation is smooth and captivating. I find it to be very enjoyable reading.

   Read to the end. The last two paragraphs of the book were as weighty as everything written prior!




5. Justin Martin's "Greenspan" -- from beginning to end -- is a delightful read. I was laughing over and over as the pages turned, and was disappointed upon running out of pages to read.

   Here is one humorous example (page 225), about Greenspan changed his seating position at the FOMC meeting table.

   "Then there's the table flap. Since 1977, the FOMC has conducted its business around a twenty-seven-foot-long table fashioned out of Honduran mahogany, with a center section made of black granite. It weighs two tons. Since becoming Fed chairman, Greenspan had always sat at the head of this table. But in November 1998, attendees at one of the Fed's periodic public meetings noticed that he had moved to a spot in the middle.

   "The hubbub began immediately. What did it mean? Was Greenspan sending a message about increased 'collegiality' at the Fed? Turns out the move was for the sake of acoustics. 'Given the speed of sound, the advice arrived too late and inadvertently we got behind the curve,' joked Greenspan, during a meeting of the Fed's Board of Governors."

   I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in economics.

5 comments about The Age of Napoleon (Modern Library Chronicles).

1. This newest addition to the Modern Library Chronicles series is not a history of Napoleon but a snapshot into this time in France, although by his very nature the man defines the times. For a short biography of Napoleon, take a look at Paul Johnson's slim volume and for a fuller context of Parisian history read Alistair Horne's The Seven Ages of Paris. This book, the Age of Napoleon, is Alistair Horne's examination of one of those particular ages and the man at the centre of it. The book is arranged by topics as opposed to a chronological history so basic familiarty with European history will be an advantage. The author also repeats himself, at times, as the story moves back and forth. But this book will give the reader an idea of these tumultous times and either lead them to further reading about Napoleon the man or work as a refresher to a previously read biography.



2. Engaging and informative, Horne manages to present his vast knowledge of Napoleon and his age in an almost conversational tone that-while full of rich historical detail-manages to be scholarly, riveting and often quite humorous. For example, in addition to learn about the numerous ways Napoleon's two decade rule transformed Europe, we learn that his wife and Empress Josephine's wardrobe contained 666 winter dresses, 230 summer ones and only two pair of knickers. If one wishes for a direct introduction to Napoleon and his influence, The Age of Napoleon is an excellent place to start.



3. For those seeking a biography of the man or his military accomplishments, this book does not fit the bill. Horne focuses on the political, economic, artistic, and scientific accomplishments of Napoleon and the Napoleonic Regime. So this book focuses on an area not covered by most authors. Since Napoleon is a topic that many authors have attempted, Horne focuses on an area not usually written about. Napoleon changed a lot in France, and Horne outlines both his accomplishments (Code of Napoleon for law, and scientific research) and his failures (theater, opera, and literature).
   This is not an easy read, despite its brevity. It is a read that will enlighten a Napoleonic historian. However, the subjects and concepts are more difficult to understand than the
   military victories.



4. Horne's pithy little book is certainly not a good introduction to Napoleon the man, general, or emperor, nor a comprehensive history text on France. It is, however, a valuable collection of his most lasting and significant policies, ambitions, whims, excesses, successes, and failures.
   
   Horne writes with the facile hand of an expert in his element, yet this book will certainly prove most valuable to the casual rather than novice or advanced scholar of Napoleonic France. It covers his rise to fame, deceptively humble power-grab, impressive reformist tendencies and initiatives, his staid morality contrasting personal hypocrisy, as well as Napoleon's creation of a new and (at least in theory) merit-based aristocracy, as well as the advent of modern French culture. Colorful episodes featuring his beloved Josephine as well as other flames and vixens are recounted.
   
   This will be a nice addition to a Francophile shelf, but only a sketchy entry text for the curious.



5. This is a good book about Napoleon the man. Alistair Horne is a supreme writer. He covers the good in Napoleon, but balances it with his shortcommings. He illustrates the influence Napoleon had back then and the impact he has on our lives today. This is an excellent book about the complex life of one of history outstanding figures.

5 comments about Sweet Caroline: Last Child of Camelot.

1. I have read all of the Kennedy biographies and there is very little new information in this biography. The first part has been covered in all of the others, and the second part has been covered in the tabloids, which makes we question the accuracy of anything here that has not been lifted from another source. I noted two parts of this book that do not appear to be in keeping with what has been well documented. 1. The books states, that on April 4, 1968, Caroline was in her classroom when a teacher came in and whispered to her teacher that Martin Luther King had been shot. Quick research on the Web states this happened at about 4:30PM EST..Are 11 year olds in class at that time? 2. The books states that when visiting the White House JFK Jr. told then President Nixon, that he used to play under his desk. Everyone knows that the famous Kennedy desk was removed when he died, and not used again until it was brought back by President Clinton.



2. Andersen misleads the reader when he markets this book as a book about Caroline Kennedy. In fact this author does nothing more than re-hash everything that has already been written about the family. He sells it as a book about Caroline simply because he constantly uses the possessive form of her name to refer to the actual main characters in this book (Caroline's mother, Caroline's brother, Caroline's father etc.).After reading this book, I realized that this is because Caroline has lived a rather simple and scandel free life. The only remarkable thing about Caroline's life is that it's not that remarkable. Like so many Americans, she cooks her children breakfast every morning, video tapes their school pageants, and considers being their mom her most rewarding job in life. Caroline is to be commended for her stellar academic record and her accomplishments as an author. However, without the last name "Kennedy" no one would find her life particularly compelling reading. There simply isn't enough provacative information out there to fill up an entire book about Caroline alone. Unlike her mother, she wasn't first lady of the United States, married to one of the most beloved presidents, she didn't hold up an entire nation during three of the darkest days in our nation's history, she didn't marry a wealthy shipping magnate from whom she inherited 26 million dollars and then went on to parlay that money into 200 million. I could go on and on about Jackie but in the interest of brevity, I think you've got the picture.
   That said, I believe Mr. Andersen has done a great disservice to his reader when he sold them a book complete with the tacit implication that we were to really learn who Caroline Kennedy was as a person. The information may well be out there but Mr. Andersen has yet to find it.



3. this was a good book, and we got to know a lot about caroline, and how sweet she was, despite her tragedies. it broke my heart to learn that she always felt neglected without a strong male figure in her life, especially since her mother centered all her efforts on her son having a strong father figure, or risk having him "grow up to be a fruit." yet, caroline made it through. i absolutely felt sorry for her, and i don't even know how the erroneous belief that jackie kennedy onassis was such a great mother has lasted up until today. she spent most of her time on vacations and shopping, and sent her kids off to boarding school when they were so young, spending little time with them. i feel caroline suffered greatly from it, since she got taken care of mostly by nannies, and not so much by her parents, since her dad was killed when she was young, and her mother was so into shopping and money that she neglected her daughter's needs regarding the idolization her daughter felt for her father, and being there for her in this aspect. overall, a great book



4. Not only does this book do a fabulos job of detailing the intimate life of Caroline the only remaining survior of Camelot. But it also gives an imtimate look of the lives of her family. Jackie, John and John Jr. And even the before and after family events surrounding the assination of her father President John F. Kennedy. Whom Caroline herself, first heard about the assination from the radio. Also intimate details of the power and control that Jackie exerted over her family. Her (Jackie) extreme drive to obtain her vast wealth and to protect the family image and to shelter her and her children's privacy from the public-at all costs. The struggles that Caoroline faced with being a Kennedy, how she could't understand why she was famous for nothing more than her name. So, if you like me, enjoy reading about the intimate life of America's royal family, this book is for you.



5. A lot of celebrity biographies, or "tell-alls", I take with a grain of salt, but this one seemed very credible when I was reading it. Most of the author's sources were people from the Kennedy's inner circle, including Pierre Salinger, Ben Bradlee etc. I didn't think this book would expose anything new, but I was actually quite surprised and intrigued. Most often I was surprised by the behavior of Jackie Kennedy and new facets of her character were revealed that made me see her in a totally different light from her Camelot image (an image which she created). A fascinating page turner!