No comments about Boris Yeltsin And Russia's Democratic Transformation (Jackson School Publications in International Studies).

No comments about Portrait of a Patriot, Volume 2: The Major Political and Legal Papers of Josiah Quincy Junior (Colonial Society of Massachusetts).

No comments about King.

4 comments about Franco (Life&Times).

1. centinela de occidente, el unico que vencio a los extintos rojos en el campo de batalla...



2. It's hard to find a work about Franco without politics in it. Yet, there's the book. You can really appreciate who was Franco, and then develop an idea on your own. Books that help thinking- that's my favourite in history, especially when I know little about the topic.



3. Left facts that would interfere with the opologetic view of history out. No historian would try as hard to excuse Franco's crimes and leave much of the truth to the imagination of the reader.Much research, that should have been included was left out, for whatever reasons. There are other books much more definitive of what Franco really was.



4. This was an excellent, if very brief, introduction to the life of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco. Streeter describes his subject in a relatively objective manner, giving us the positive and negative aspects of Franco's personality and his actions from his childhood up to his death. For instance, despite his slight frame and bookish nature, Franco was a fearless and effective soldier as a young man. He also had the capability to be quite clever at times. On the other hand, he comes across as somewhat politically inept and out of touch with reality. Then there is his capacity for cruelty. He could be very sentimental about abstract things yet coolly indifferent to the deaths of his own people, including his own brother. He seems like a typical dictator in this regard.
   
   I have to disagree with the reviewer who condemns the book for leaving out facts and being "apologetic" for Franco. For one, this is an intentionally concise biography (135 pages) not an exhaustive tome; therefore it is impossible to fit every little fact and detail into it. Secondly, the author is hardly an apologist for Franco. He is OBJECTIVE, as all historians should be, but he has no problem pointing out that Franco could be very cruel and used terror to meet his ends. In fact, I think it would be difficult to read this book and come away with a positive view of the dictator. He is portrayed as a cold, arrogant, tyrant whose main concern was the preservation of his own power. He was clearly an authoritarian man of the right, but it wouldn't be accurate to describe him as either a fascist or a monarchist. His government was made up of both of these factions, but he seems to have done just enough to appease each of them without really aligning himself with one or the other. His main concern seems to have been strictly power and the preservation of Spain as a traditional Catholic state.
   
   As for Franco's relations with the Axis powers; Streeter argues that although Franco supported the Axis in principle, he simply had very little to offer them after the devastating Civil War. He actually sent a list of extraordinary demands (military aid, colonial territory, etc.) to Hitler, to which, in return, he would enter the war on the Axis side. For his part, Hitler decided that Spain's potential contributions were not nearly enough to warrant these demands, and thus rejected them. With that said, Franco seems to have cleverly played both sides of the fence (he accepted aid from the allies) as his ultimate priority was strictly the preservation of Spain, as well as his own power. In fact, Hitler and Mussolini both had low opinions of him, the former even calling him a coward and a "Latin charlatan."
   
   All in all, this is a great biography of the man for anyone who doesn't want to slog through a massive tome. The book is very aesthetically pleasing as well. It is sleek, compact, has glossy pages and many pictures. Four stars.

No comments about A Passion for Democracy: Benjamin Constant.

3 comments about Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze. Second Edition, Revised & Updated.

1. "The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze" is an excellent description and analysis of the former Soviet foreign minister and his role in bringing an end to the Cold War. The book treats Shevardnadze's background in the Soviet republic of Georgia as well as his current role as the president of Georgia. The book is the only biography of Shevardnadze.



2. I bought this book because I am a student of all things Georgian. However, while reading the book, I was constantly impressed how important this book would be for anyone who wants to have even the most basic understanding of Cold War politics or Soviet/Post-soviet studies. The book is a nice synopsis of the events leading to the dismantling of the Soviet empire. Its most obvious flaw is the tiring repetition; Although I usually benefit from repetition as a comprehension tool, this book went overboard, and hearing the same thing repeated for the fifth or sixth time became distracting towards the end.

   Considering that the jury is "still out" on Shevardnadze and his deeds, especially as president of Georgia, I found the author tended to lean towards a typical Baker/Schultz (and US foreign policy) pro-Shevardnadze conclusion.

   Minor criticisms aside, I'm glad the author wrote the book, and I glad I read it.




3. Shevardnadze is one of the great men of the century(in diplomacy anyway). Unfortunatly he is sandwhiched between the Dobrynin/Groymko periods of the cold war and the more chaotic period of Yeltsin. After all we have forgotten Gorbachev and the period of Glasnost. Is this because the Russians have a propensity to forget them? Its not clear.
   Nevertheless this is the only book on Mr. Shevardnadze(the only one I could find). SO its an important document. It seems to glossy to me. It seems to not get at the beef, the meat of what was happening from 1980-1990. I wish it detailed the afghanistan ending, I wish it detailed the various new nations created in the breakup of the Soviet empire. I wish it detailed the new voices that came to the fore in eastern europe. I dont think the book answers the question: How did so much happen, so fast? Obviously Shevardnadze was key. But then why arnt we told more about his role in shaping policy throughout the Russian sphere of influence. I feel that the book approaches the topic from a political scientists analytical eyes, disregarding the historical questions. Lacking flair and literary greatness the book is doomed, and yet essential for those who want to learn more about the Gorbachev era.

1 comments about Willis Carto and the American Far Right.

1. 'Prof.' George Michael (not the sleazy singer
   from back in the '80's) doesn't know the difference
   between the Political Middle (Populism) and the
   right, so leave it to him to use dopey 'Slick
   Willie' Carto to clear that up, eh? Think again.
   
   (1) True Fact - It was the late Jason B. Matthews
   that started the 'Legion for Survival of Freedom'
   in 1952, not Willis Carto who was fired by future
   John Birch Society starter Robert Welch, who first
   started another organization.
   
   True Fact (2) Willis Carto neither started Liberty
   Lobby, nor...
   
   (True Fact) (3) The Institute for Historical Review.
   The IHR was started by the late David McCalden and
   the late Lewis Furr on Dec. 11th, 1978. And Liberty
   Lobby was started on July 17th, 1955 by the late
   Col. Curtis B. Dall, former son-in-law to FDR [born
   1899] and Dr. Martin A. Larson [born 1897]. Carto
   hastled in there in early 1956 and became Treasurer
   and showed the oldsters how to stretch them buck$.
   
   Fact #4 - Jean Edison Farrell was NOT the neice of
   Populist Inventor Thomas Edison.
   
   Fact #5 - She never intended to leave Carto, per se
   any monie$ - She wanted the money to go to further
   the IHR/LSF's work in fighting the rapidly forming
   New World Order. Carto embezzled the monie$ and used
   them to line his, Henri Fischer's and his nutty wife's
   pockets and to try to sell the IHR to Lawrence Patterson,
   the Clearwater 'Church' [read CULT] of Scientology, et, al.
   
   Fact #6 - Tom Valentine, the great Populist-Libertarian
   short-wave Radio host of Radio Free America, True Health,
   The Midas Report, originator of the Power Hour, et, al
   was the driving force behind reactivating the Populist
   Party, not Carto, who only embezzled more monie$ from
   them and was fired by the rightful Party Executives.
   
   Fact #7 - Carto and his chief jew-batier, the half jewi$h
   Bernard Piper, have kiped monie$ from many Christian, Pat-
   riot, Revisionist Organizations ans individuals for years.
   Well, P.T. Barnum was right, "there's one born every minute!"

No comments about Earl Browder: The Failure of American Communism.

No comments about Telling Political Lives: The Rhetorical Autobiographies of Women Leaders in the United States (Lexington Studies in Political Communication).

No comments about Wife of...: An Irreverent Account of Life In Washington (Goodread Biographies).