No comments about Jackson Vs Biddle's Bank: The Struggle over the Second Bank of the United States (The Problems in American Civilization).

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5 comments about Louis XIV.

1. I found this to be a very well thought out, and well-written, biography. In the space of less than 500 pages we are given a very complete picture of a remarkable man, a man who came to the throne as a child and was king from 1643 until his death in 1715. The author is admirably even-handed. Louis' faults are not ignored: In his youth and up until middle-age he was an inveterate womanizer. When he was through with a mistress, she was carted off to a convent. (There was a joke making the rounds at the time that the quickest way to salvation for a woman was via the King's bed!) Louis also had an inordinate fondness for war and glory. Besides the obvious cost in lives for soldiers of all the countries involved in these conflicts, France was bankrupted. This did not stop Louis from building and renovating- Versailles; Marly; Fontainebleau, etc. One of the many strengths of this book is that Mr. Dunlop can rightfully criticize this irresponsible behavior and profligate spending; then, he can turn right around and describe the architectural splendor, the beautiful gardens and fountains, etc. For, as Montesquieu asked: "Who could have told that the King established the greatness of France by building Versailles and Marly?" Another glaring "negative" in the rule of The Sun King was his persecution of the Huguenots, via his 1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. But without making excuses or trying to justify what Louis did, Mr. Dunlop puts this in perspective. To quote the author: "Tolerance enjoys a high moral status in Western civilisation today, but it exists in inverse proportion to a general decline in commitment to any creed or moral code. Total tolerance denies, in effect, the possibility of any objective truth in either religion or ethics. Intolerance, a logical outcome of total commitment or total conviction, is therefore more typical of the seventeenth century because of the often fanatical firmness with which the differing faiths were held." Likewise, regarding Louis' fondness for the ladies, the author shows us both the weakness of Louis in his giving in (often!) to temptation but also shows us the difficulties involved in resisting.... If you are brought up to believe that you are God's anointed, could you refuse the advances of beautiful, intelligent, charming women...some of whom were quite ruthless in the means they used to get a previous mistress out of the way? For bedding the King wasn't only a romantic achivement- the families of these women would "egg them on," hoping to gain political influence at court. Louis was aware that people were trying to use him, and he was always on his guard. This book is a wonderful blend of the political, the philosophical, the religious and the military aspects of Louis' reign....as well as containing much enjoyable material on the architecture and the gardens of the royal residences. The mistresses, the gossip and the hypocrisy and political infighting at court are certainly not neglected! With extensive excerpts from the diaries and letters of Louis, Saint-Simon, Vauban, Mme de Maintenon, etc., we get a beautiful balance of the personal and the public life of The Sun King. This is a very impressive book.



2. I once read that Louis XIV would hold court with his advisors and other notables while receiving his daily enema, making him sort of a public "enema of the people." Maybe that's what was wrong with the French monarchy. The author seems to agree with me that Louis did have his problems, not the least of which is the eponymous condition, Dunlap's disease (note the similarity to our author's name), which Louis had also. Asked once whether he was gaining weight, Louis replied, "It done lapped over my belt." And the rest, as they say, is history...



3. My purpose in reading this book was very simple: i wanted to have an idea on one of the most famous kings in french history and i wasnt dissapointed. The author makes an interesting accounting of Louis XIV.It covers important areas like major constructions ordered by Louis and his political struggles with other european nations. It is interesting the way the author explains Louis relationship with some of his family members like his oldest son and his oldest grand son, the King of Spain,Philip V.On the other hand, Mr Dunlop uses way too many french words and sentences.This is annoying because you are left trying to make sense out of what was said and it's relation with the rest of the paragraph.Also, the author dedicates too much pages to Louis desire for architecture and construction.He gaves too many details that are not that necesary when you are talking about a very prominenet and influential king as Louis XIV.In short, it is a very good book for someone who is beginning to get interested in the matter.



4. Academic reviewers have been a bit sniffy about this book. It's true that Dunlop scatters quotations throughout the book without a footnote to be seen. He also makes some careless errors of fact. For example on p.432 he claims that Lully was composing music in 1710, when he had been dead for 23 years.

   However, readers who are not worried about its lack of scholarly rigour should find this a very enjoyable book. Dunlop has a delightfully easy going style and an eye for the enlivening anecdote. It would be hard to write a dull book about such an extraordinary monarch as Louis XIV and Dunlop's biography is not a bad place to make his acquaintance.

   Those who want to meet Louis face to face, as it were, should seek out Lucy Norton's three volume edition of Saint Simon's Versailles memoirs.




5. It's amazing to me when an author takes a potentially fascinating person, and writes in a way that is both confusing and somewhat boring. As a history teacher with a degree in European history I found many of the chapters hard to follow. There is rarely any explanantion or foundation of the people being described. The author seems to assume the reader has inside knowlege of the titles and social structure of the French court and French language. Overall I found the book to be disjointed and hard to follow. It is the type of book that made me feel as though I should read another biography of Louis XIV to understand this obne.

5 comments about Madam Secretary: A Biography of Madeleine Albright.

1. Political biographies have more than there share of critics .Everyone thinks they could do a better job than that of the person holding office. Blood did a good job of showing the history of Madeline Albright and what she was bringing to the table. It was refreshing to 'not see' the usual bashing of a Washington Woman who Blood himself called "tough-as-nails." The only biographies most people think are "balanced' are those that tear apart the subjects accomplishments. After reading this book I felt positive and hopeful for other women in politics and passed it along to my daughter, a political science major at Harvard.(she also enjoyed it.)



2. I work "inside the beltway" and Mr. Blood's book should be praised for its attempt to put Secretary Albright on a pedastal. The media today takes great pleasure in tearing down the character of politicians, atheletes, etc. But this book cannot be taken seriously; it is too one-sided in its portrayal of Ms. Albright and the issues Mr. Blood writes about are too "cut and dried" by his account. Shame on him - with his experiences in Washington he should know such issues are imbued with plots, subplots, and unknown factors. Mr. Blood's experience as a lobbyist comes through in his writing, as he could no doubt convince Americans that Washington DC has cool, dry summers. I wish Mr. Blood better luck in his future attempts.



3. The fact that this book even got published makes my head smart with incredulity; there is no political objectivity or critical analysis to be found anywhere on the printed pages nor is there any scholarly, in-depth research on the life of our country's first woman Secretary of State. In the author's eyes, if one can call him that, Madeline Albright is the goddess of the State Department, and that's that. This book is astounding in that it is so terrible; it is nothing but shoddy work -- a meandering diatribe that resembles a poorly written fifth grade book report. To say more would be a waste of space and time...



4. I agree with the other reviewers. I, too, was looking forward to a critical and well-argued review of Albright's career. Instead, this book is page upon page of thin fawning and simplistic worship. Just for fun, I tried to find one single paragraph critical of Albright in the chapter on her relationship with Powell. I couldn't find one.

   Where was the editor when this book was being written? Why was this author chosen to write this biography? Surely there must be credible authors able to recount a far more analytical and balanced story than Thomas Blood.




5. I bought this book by mistake. Its title was the same and the cover is almost the same as the real thing ie Madeleine Albright's autobiography. The author is clearly a fan, so much so that it is full of saccharine platitudes and name dropping. I'll be looking more closely next time - particularly at anything published by St Martin's Griffin or authored by an uncritical Mr Blood.
   
   Kate Owen

1 comments about Abraham Lincoln (American Presidents Reference Series).

1. I am a graduate student, my field of interest is Civil War History. I found Dr Pinsker's book extemely valuable in my research for my thesis. I highly reccomend this book as a valuable reference guide.

No comments about Ruling Suburbia: John J. McClure and the Republican Machine in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

1 comments about John A. Macdonald: The Young Politician. The Old Chieftain (RICH: Reprints in Canadian History).

1. I am rather surprised to be the first person to review this book, since Donald Creighton's biography of John A. Macdonald is considered a classic in Canadian history. The book was first published in two parts, in 1952 and 1955, and both parts won the Governor General's award for these two years. At that time its topic was relatively new, since there had been only a few detailed biographies on Macdonald written in the half century before Creighton's (such as the one written by sir Joseph Pope, Macdonald's literary executor, who had at that time control over Macdonald's papers -- which were donated to the Public Archives of Canada in 1917) and even fewer books on the great politician have been written since Creighton's. But with all this new wealth of information now available to historians, Creighton was able to shed new light upon this famous Canadian statesman.

   But Creighton's book is more than a conventional biography. It tries to make history come to life. Indeed, Creighton wrote Macdonald's biography in the shape of a novel, which means that the only quotations in the book are either from newspaper articles or from letters written by, to, or about John A. Macdonald. No secondary work is quoted in the entire book, even though it appears that Creighton read extensively on the subject before writing his book. The book includes endnotes, but it does not read like a conventional history book. The novel-like approach used by Creighton makes the book a pleasure to read. Creighton succeeds in making Canadian history interesting.

   However, Creighton's book is also representative of its time, and representative of Creighton's personal beliefs. Creighton, who died in 1979, was known as a Canadian nationalist with strong anti-American tendencies. His choice of John A. Macdonald as a subject rather than, for example, William Lyon MacKenzie King (another famous Canadian Prime Minister), might be explained by the fact that Macdonald was himself a nationalist. Macdonald once declared: "A British subject I was born, a British subject I will die," and his famous National Policy, which favoured the development of the Canadian West and which introduced high tariffs on American goods, is still considered as one of the most nationalistic policies ever applied in Canada. Creighton, therefore, chose Macdonald as topic because of the similarities between their political positions. Therefore, Creighton is sympathetic to Macdonald throughout the book. Creighton's position regarding French-Canadian nationalism and Quebec separatism (he saw them as disruptive elements that weakened his beloved Canada against the United States) also had an impact on how the book was written, which is particularly evident when he writes about the two Metis rebellions in a rather unsympathetic way.

   Also, the novel-like type of writing does have a disadvantage: it only allows the reader to know a single view on Macdonald. Historical books written in the conventional manner often include different positions on a single event, but in the case of Creighton's book, the narrative strength of the novel simply cannot include more than one version, since the sweeping narrative would otherwise be broken up by different views, and the book could consequently lose all of its appeal.

   In summary, because the book has a clear bias in favour of Macdonald, and because it has not aged well (this style of writing is not used anymore by historians, because of the limitations it creates, the sacrifice of impartiality in favour of a continuous narrative form), I believe it does not deserve a full mark. On the other side, Creighton's book is interesting to read as an example of the historical research method of its time. And I must also admire Creighton's skill for making history come to life. We must thank him for his use of a writing style that makes Canadian history accessible to the larger public. And the caricatures by the Canadian cartoonist Bengough, that are present throughout the book, are an extra treat.

1 comments about Eleanor Roosevelt: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies).

1. I purchased this for a gift and have not read the entire book. I was surprised to find that there is only 190 pages. For the price, I expected more detail. My impression is that the book reads like a "just the facts" document, which is what the author may have intended. As an author, I am willing to support other authors when I can. G. Miller

1 comments about Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography in Postcards.

1. A look at one of the most celebrated figures in American history - in the form of postcards. "Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography in Postcards" covers this great man's life, illustrated with nearly three hundred postcards from various eras. Depicting a conflicted, brooding man who led America through the Civil War and was struck down in his prime for it, "Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography in Postcards" is a top pick for American History and Biography collections and for anyone interested in history from a fresh perspective.

3 comments about Chances of a Lifetime: A Memoir.

1. Warren Christopher gives his personal history the most cursory of treatments before plunging into exposition of his interactions with some of modern history's greater figures. At first I found this self-effacement irritating--I wanted to understand what would propel someone to work so tirelessly for his nation, under such trying circumstances as the widespread civil unrest of the late '60s and the hostage crisis at the end of Carter's term in office. Then I realized that Christopher's approach to his memoirs reflects his approach to public service: it's not about _him_, not at all. It becomes very clear as the book progresses that Christopher's modesty, discretion and unrelenting focus on the task at hand have made him the epitome of the gentleman statesman and a model to which other politicians should aspire. Sure, other ex-Cabinet members might write juicier memoirs. But they very likely are not be as widely-respected, or as consistently in demand over decades of American political life, as Christopher. "Chances of a Lifetime" is a worthwhile read for that lesson alone.



2. If you are looking for a kiss and tell book full of gossip or new and exciting state secrets this is not the book for you. The author may be the last true nice guy in politics and his book echo's his character. The book spends about 30% of its time on his boyhood, working with the LBJ administration and working on different riots in he country. To be honest, this was not what I really was interested in. The rest of the book deals with his work in the Carter and Clinton administrations, which I felt was the most interesting sections of the book.

   Christopher spends a good deal of time on his involvement in the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 and 1980 and on the Middle East peace process during his Clinton years. Both areas are well written and interesting, he brings a sense of a true gentleman to his writing - always taking the civil high road in his descriptions. I also found the sections on the personal security given to the Secretary of State and how he travels around the world new and interesting. Overall the author does a good job in this memoir; it is well written and understated. You understand why the author is so well respected; he goes out of his way not to include snide little comments and back- handed attacks that fill so many memoirs.




3. Christopher's book is highly readable. . .until he reached the point in his tale of becoming Secretary of State I found it difficult to put down. Chris was instrumental in handling and reporting (and in the aftermath dealing) with many of the urban riots in 1960s after the assassinations of King & RFK, and the urban riots surrounding the political conventions in Chicago. As undersecretary of state under Carter he was the key U.S. player in the Iranian hostage release, warmly adding how a restaurant applauded him at dinner shortly after coming home from those negotiations. Once he reaches Sec of State status in his book, the tale is less engaging but still informative, giving us a sharp and clear inside look at Chris' view of his job, and the policies and outlook of the U.S. government he represented for four years.