5 comments about A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton.

1. I'm writing this review because the fact that it didn't have a 5-star rating irritated me. I first saw the McPhee/Bill Bradley piece in the New Yorker Magazine about 30 years ago. After reading it I xeroxed the entire article and sent copies of it to every member of the University of South Carolina basketball team (which for those of you who are as old as I am was coached by the legendary Frank McGuire (the assistant coach was Donnie Walsh, now President and General Manager of the Indiana Pacers) and featured a cast of great college players like John Roche, Tommy Owens, Billy Walsh, Bobby Cremins, etc. All of the players (an unusually intelligent group) loved the article. We had many conversations about Bradley's approach to the game in the months to come. This is definitely a 5-star book for any lover of the true game of basketball. It's great and can't possibly be outdated. Highest recommendation.



2. Bill Bradley, a three-time basketball all-American at Princeton, Olympic gold medalist, Rhodes scholar, member of the New York Knicks and two time NBA champion definitely has a passion for basketball. This books helps show what goes into the making of a champion. Discipline, selflessness, respect, courage, imagination and passion are elements that made him a success on and off the court. I knew nothing at all about Bill Bradley before reading this book, but I have great respect for his personal code and his shining example.



3. This book is a must read for all aspiring young athletes and their parents. Bill Bradley always had his priorities straight. Although a gifted athlete, he knew that his education was more important. After being named the best college player in America, he eschewed the money and glory of the NBA to accept a Rhodes scholarship. Can you imagine one of today's selfish, ignorant, anti-intellectual, basketball stars doing that today?



4. "A sense of where you" are, offers a fascinating look at a true scholar athlete. Author John McPhee`s debut is well written and gives the reader a look at how a student athlete should approach life and grasp the opportunity ahead. Bill Bradley is the consumate teamplayer who pays tribute to the small and important details of the game of basketball. A hoop junkie growing up, but also a reflective mind,perhaps too reflective to become President of the United States.
   An inspiring book that should be read by people of any age, who seek to become successfull at whetever they do.



5. Whether you like sports or not, McPhee's book is so well written that it carries you along. Bradley at Princeton seems so ancient compared with the sports scene today, but the story reveals unknowingly how much we have lost in the culture when it comes to heroes.

5 comments about Alexander Hamilton, American.

1. The author has done a very good job of researching and reporting to us on one of the great icons of American history.
   
   There were a few times when writing on the machinations of government, politicians, and legal maneuvering got a little tedious but it was probably necessary to give readers a full perspective.
   
   At the end of the day, the author has done us a favor by giving us a detailed and historical perspective of Alexander Hamilton. Thank you!



2. As the title of my post states, this is an excellent primer for those interested in learning more about one of the greatest and least appreciated Founding Fathers.
   
   This book provides and easy to read and yet thorough review of Hamilton's life and provides a good foundation and understanding before you read some of the more in-depth biographies and studies.
   
   I love this book.



3. To preface this, I gave this book 5 stars due to the splendor of Alexander Hamilton. For as George Washington is the Father of America, Alexander Hamilton is his son cementing the United States into a nation.
   
   Not enough credit is ever bestowed upon what Alexander Hamilton earned. The same politics of today, banking problems, debt and war are the issues Hamilton solved as a Federalist or Conservative Republican of today at odds with socialist reactionary Democrats creating the same obstacles.
   That is the truest gift of Hamilton and the intriguers of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in setting up a conflict which is still ripping the United States apart.
   Other Federalists like Theodore Roosevelt would appear in the historian mode and castigate Madison and Jefferson for their shoddy leadership in attacking the very foundations of a strong government, standing military and strong finance, but yet even now these same reactionary individuals have followers today who have yet to learn the lesson Thomas Jefferson learned when at past age 70 he finally admitted to John Adams that he was wrong.
   
   That is what is remarkable about Alexander Hamilton in he stood alone, first as President Washington's advocate in American principles and later as John Adam's entire cabinet much to Adams jealous dismay.
   Hamilton would create a long line lone leaders in John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan whose leadership and financial policy reflect his.
   
   The problem with this book is the historian Brookhiser. I rarely ever read biography or historians as they always get in the way of the person. Brookhiser starts out by stating "he is no superior to Alexander Hamilton" and then in the entire book stomps in mugging for the camera like a faux grade Bill Buckley speaking Greek philosophy trying to compete with Hamilton's genius.
   It is not that bad until he reaches the end of the book when Brookhiser then attempts to disect Hamilton as some kind of Freud without ever understanding the simplest of point. A reader does not have to know the DNA function of Raquel Welch to know she is beautiful........and a reader does not need to have Brookhiser placing his own psychopathy onto Hamilton to try and explain him.
   Hamilton might just be a God inspired genius set down to guide the founding of a nation and not a boy tusseling with demons of abandonment and issues of a dead mother.
   That is the greatest problem of books like this in historians can never just allow Hamilton who wrote over a million words in public during his life to just tell his story. No Brookhiser has to jump in front of the mic and like Dan Rather tell moronic Americans what Hamilton was really about which he might not have been.
   
   I do recommend this book even if Brookhiser is boorish too often and is like Benjamin Franklins company and fish after 3 days, because even in the "rummage of musty words dusted by a fresh historian the light of Alexander Hamilton shines through".
   
   Plutarch in his Lives understood the biographies were about the person in telling who they were in a story of their life. Historians need to emulate Plutarch in knowing he was not the story, the great man was made great by the common thing he did which was great.



4. I had originally purchased Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton but I found I wanted a quicker read and something easier to carry while traveling to and from work. Mr. Brookhiser's book was exactly what I was looking for, interesting and gave me plenty of insight into Alexander Hamilton's life and character. I'm sure some people might prefer "more" but I'm basically a "cliff note" type of reader. I would recommend this book to someone short on time but still likes to read about fascinating characters by a good author.



5. Interesting, because of its interesting subject. However, it could have been better written, especially the opening chapters. Hamilton was a man of ideas and words, and these are not coherently portrayed until late in the work. Ultimately, though, it is of great interest, with particularized, insightful portraits of Hamilton, Burr, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Monroe and others.

5 comments about The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand.

1. 
   A fine study of how one remarkable man added to the strength of another remarkable man guiding this country to a peaceful ending of the Cold War.
   
   A very informative and rewarding reading experience -- somewhat like a good novel, you hate to have it end. Although this book is a biography of Judge Clark, it is extremely valuable in placing before the American public how and why Ronald Reagan was a successful President and led the United States to Victory in the Cold War.
   
   The author's emphasis on Judge Clark's philosophy of "Let Reagan Be Reagan" is so important and in such contrast to other key advisors. Judge Clark's exemplary style of Leadership and Management contributed much to his function as Reagan's "top hand." Clark's humility, loving care and concern for those who worked for him, plus his family and friends, displays great character. The concern and dignity Secretary Clark paid his driver, Joe, is obvious by considering this driver his friend rather than "government chattel." Especially touching is the scene where Clark brought Joe before the President to show off his belt buckle. Joe had served another Secretary for three years who had never bothered to speak a word to him.
   
   References to the "Divine Plan" for Judge Clark and President Reagan, along with their Faith and belief in God, exemplifies what is missing at the top in our government today, something we desperately need. Strengthened by his belief in God and his devout Catholic background, Clark was able to serve Reagan well in various critical and important assignments. Clark's wise judgments added immeasrably to the success of President Reagan.
   
   Authors Kengor and Doerner are to be commended for bringing this valuable Biography and Presidential History to the attention of the American public. Job well done.
   
   James A. Webb, Jr.
   Major, USAF (Retired) and
   Associate Professor of Business,
   Louisiana Tech University (Retired)



2. This book showed a different side to Ronald Reagan.One that many people may not have known about.But as always, it did show that Reagan had strong bedrock values and surrounded himself with knowledgable people.



3. A wonderful look at one of America's unsung heroes. William Clark was indeed a patriot who went above and beyond the call of duty. As President Reagan's key advisor these two great men had a relationship unlike any other political figures in recent history. Almost telepathic in nature they were like brothers united like no other. Elemental in the ultimate "end game" in dismantling the Soviet Union piece by fractured piece to ensure the safety of America and preserve our freedom. It may not ever make the mainstream media's top ten list for obvious reasons and that is a shame. A must read for anyone who grew up during the Cold War.



4. Despite all the books written about Ronald Reagan, none reveal the insights into this President and man like this book about his closest friend and soulmate, William P. Clark, "The Judge". Besides learning some new, important and inspiring things about Reagan, we learn a lot about this most amazing, and truly unsung American hero, former National Security Adviser, William Clark. As the book jacket and others have already stated, the reason we are just finding this all now is because Clark seems to truly embody those rare virtues of humility and selflessness not often found in public figures, and he never wanted the light to be shone on him and his incredible accomplishments. He was truly a public servant who went to Washington to serve Reagan and his country, always with his eye on someday heading back west to his beloved ranch. Reagan knew Clark was this type of very honorable man, and thus trusted him completely, and that is why Clark became Reagan's confidante, top adviser and closest friend in those very critical years for our country, and the world.
   Lets hope that those men who are now striving to win the Republican nomination for the next Presidential election and, hopefully, take up the mantle once again of the great Reagan, will read this book and truly learn from it what it means to embody those ideals and deep convictions that Reagan and Clark both held in tandem and lead our country with that same, much needed strong, fearless, and wise moral and just leadership like that of Ronald Reagan.



5. I completed this informational biography in seven days during a stay at the Cleveland Clinic. Due to my conservatism and Roman Catholic background, the book held my interest throughout with its references to Bill Clark's faithful devotion to his President and his Pope. Especially enlightening were the passages revealing Al Haig's true personality and the secret meetings with the papal nuncio as the Berlin Wall was beginnning to crumble and the USSR bear beginning to stumble. I would recommend this book to those who are able to uncouple their politics, open their minds and enjoy a vivid look behind the one of the most difficult times of the 20th Century. Good job, Paul Kengor and co-author.

5 comments about Profiles in Courage (Perennial Classics).

1. John F. Kennedy makes an excellent contribution to history with this book. It describes the lives of several distinguished Americans who, in the course of history, have shaped the face of the United States. All these biographies are interesting. History becomes very much alive with this book, and Kennedy does an excellent job in showing how men can contribute to the life of a nation. What is even more noteworthy is that that is what he himself did. This new edition of the book has an excellent preface by Caroline Kennedy, herself an eminent legal scholar.



2. 
   I read this book quite a while back and found some great food for thought. One of my primary takeaways was that be careful when judging others motives.
   
   Kennedy (or whoever wrote the book) poses a primary question: Which is better...the man who will not compromise at all, or the man who bends but does not break?
   
   The argument is that the man who does not compromise may be considered true to his cause, but may get little done. The man who compromises to get things done may not be 100% true to his cause but is able to forward some of his ideas.
   
   The author(s) leave it up to the reader to decide (judge) if the path is right. Or, are both paths right? This is good food for thought for a critical thinker!
   
   What the author(s) is pointing at is that each man and woman must choose their own path in a situation according to their beliefs, values and morals, even if it may cause political and/or other ruin.
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking



3. This book is well written, engaging and tells stories of courageous political leaders. Once you pick this book up you won't be able to put it down, and it will stick with you for years. He won the Pulitzer for a reason; we all need a reminder that doing what's right but unpopular leaves a far richer legacy than making decisions that win short term allies.



4. I bought this book and it's a nice read and very historical, of course. I just wanted to put it in context today. 07/31/08 The house voted 213-212 not to extend the session. The main reason it was brought up was to debate the issue of our nations energy future One vote mattered to keep Congress in session, it voted against that debate. I wonder if that can be pinpointed to a single Representative for that vote against and why they chose that. Probably not as they would not be viewed as a member or party of courage today! Then again why not? They come out on TV saying they want to save the earth (tell China, India and the rest of the world please and let me drive cheap, please), so lets get the debate going and cut the total BS. no courage on the Democrat side now a days or else you become Lieberman.



5. Profiles in Courage is a book that American lovers of history will inevitably read at some point or another...and they should. It is a solid piece of work, grounded in erudition and steeped with keeps-the-pages-turnin' anecdotes.
   
   The Senators profiled are mostly forgotten, but their stories are compelling nonetheless, and one wonders why they have lapsed into obscurity while other negligible figures (e.g. Crispus Attucks) have risen to prominence in elementary history curricula. (OK, one doesn't really wonder.)
   
   There are some eye-glazing passages of fluff and foofaraw, but the book mainly keeps a brisk pace, evoking the historical context in small prefatory chapters, and then outlining the situation wherein the Senator in question--rightly or wrongly, for good or ill--exhibited the courage that qualified him for inclusion. (One could call their courage anti-democratic...but sometimes that worked out for the best.)
   
   Besides its readability, Profiles in Courage is also strictly non-partisan--a feat I'm surprised they pulled off. Kudos to Ted Sorenson for crafting this--I'll go ahead and call it "classic"--work, which stands as an admirable piece of educational apparatus.
   
   (Too bad he didn't receive the Pulitzer.)

5 comments about Alexander Hamilton.

1. Long, but an easy interesting read for anyone interested in the founding fathers and seeing our current problems of today were the same ones they strugled with.



2. I find tremendous inspiration in these stories of "dead white guys"(and I probably should read the bio of Frederick Douglass and others to round it out) who spent every minute of their adult life, up to their death, providing for their families AND building a country out of nothing. In addition, because of the lack of modern communication(phone/email_ as well as the lack of leisure time they journaled every thought and action they experienced in order that we may learn from them. Their idea of a fun event was maybe being at an inn while working and someone playing a fiddle as the hummed along. We need to get inside thier heads and find out what combination of mental, physical, and spiritual energy they experienced to undertake this monumental task when just staying alive and providing for a family took every waking moment of everyone's life.
   
   Clearly the author grew to respect the role Hamilton played and felt that maybe the average reader may have been unaware(as I was) as to the various debates going on between Federalists and Republicans re: city v. country, farm v. industrialization, support of Britain v. France, etc.and Hamilton's influence (through Washington) on these events. He tried to capture the sense of adventure the young Hamilton experienced(in Nevis, then NYC, the catupulted into Washington's inner circle), the conflict between his family life(with Eliza who comes across very well here), and finally the events that drove his descent into a fatal resignation and eventually death.
   
   All in all a LONG read (took me 3 weeks at 1-2 hours a day) but a worthwhile read.



3. This is the first full-length biography about Alexander Hamilton that I have read. My only exposure to him has been in general history books, short biographical sketches and references to him in biographies of the other founding fathers. I had just finished watching the John Adams miniseries from HBO and had read his biography by David McCullough. In it Hamilton was depicted as quite fanatic. I wanted to get a broader picture of his life and had heard good reviews of this book. It was available in audio book format and I grabbed a copy to listen to on my commute. It turned out to be a fascinating listening experience.
   
   The narrator was Scott Brick and his voice was perfect for a biography of this type. He has a clear and pleasant voice, and the time listening went by quickly.
   
   I knew that Hamilton had contributed a lot to our countries early history, but had no idea how much he had contributed. I wasn't aware of how he was such a key part of George Washington's career as general and president. I didn't know that Hamilton was the key author of Washington's farewell address, considered one of his greatest speeches. I also didn't know his role in the federalist papers was so key. He was clearly a visionary and was way ahead of his time. It was interesting to get another perspective on the other founding fathers, especially Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.
   
   Hamilton also had plenty of weaknesses and Chernow points those out freely. There is a lot for us to learn from him. It's tragic that Hamilton's life was cut short. It would have been interesting to see what else he would have accomplished if he had lived longer.
   
   I highly recommend this book for all to read. The subject is fascinating and well written. It caused me to reflect on the importance of looking at both sides of a story and realize that even people with flaws can accomplish great things.



4. Takes forever to read (or listen to as I did) but by the end, the reader has not only a fantastic understading of the subject, but for the entire maelstrom from which this country sprang.



5. Ron Chernow has written another well detailed and well researched biography of a man who is indeed not as well known in the formation of the government of the United States.
   It seems Chernow's writings lean toward people who are often misunderstood. Such is the case on his biography of John D. Rockefeller.
   Although Mr. Chernow is not an academic historian, he does the due diligence of an historian. As stated in Janet Mislin's New York Times Book Review, Mr. Chernow actually visited the jail cell in St. Croix where Hamilton's mother was imprisoned for adultery.
   Also in Chernow's prologue of this book, we find out that Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, the widow of Alexander Hamilton was still alive into the 1850's. The last of a generation who was at the birth of the United States.
   The author goes into the remarkable career of a bastard child who later became a man so crucial in the formation of our government. His exploits as a young officer during the Revolutionary War serving George Washington are well detailed by Chernow. His prominence as a key figure in the writings of the Federalist Papers which help to debate and form the Constitution of the United States is indeed apparent in Chernow's prose. Later Hamilton was responsible for the lasting effects of the formation of the U.S. Treasury. His plan of Assumption of the States debts and the formation of the Bank of the United States are the result of Hamilton's work.
   Hamilton was opinionated and very aggressive in all his dealings. He indeed was a thorn in the side of Thomas Jefferson and also fellow Federalist John Adams. He was brilliant and verbose. He was indeed an agitator.
   His hubris and beliefs led him to the plains of Weehawken where he was shot by Aaron Burr, the Vice President of the United States, and subsequently died.
   That ended that! At the age of 49 Alexander Hamilton died of wounds suffered in a duel with Mr. Burr on July 12, 1804. Thirty-one hours later Mr. Hamilton passed away in New York City.
   Chernow's book is excellent. Bully for him. Five Stars!!! If I could give six stars I would!!!!

5 comments about Freedom from Fear and Other Writings: Revised Edition.

1. this book is very good for me to build my strength
   and power for fight against military dictatorship
   in my country. Thank you for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

   KoKoOo




2. This book really inspired me. And all the details information written in this book are 100% accurate and I was so suprised to read all those history things that I have learnt in my childhood in my country, Myanmar. I believe this is one of the books that every patriots of Burma should have.



3. This book was for me an opener into the evolution of Burma's political scene, and it proved to be a good one.

   Whilst it takes some time to get accustomed to the many abbreviations of Burma's political parties and factions, once it is gotten used to, Freedom from Fear becomes an essential book for those interested in the becoming of Aung San Suu Kyi - daughter of Burma's national hero, the late Aung San - and her process of fighting and eventually winning the support of the country she always called home depite her international influences.

   Though Freedom from Fear would be a good book to start learning about Burma's modern political history, I would suggest first reading about pre-colonial Burma to get a better grasp and understanding of the country's stand and place in Southeast Asia.




4. I re-read this book shortly after Aung San Suu Kyi was placed, once again, under house arrest in 2003. The daughter of the man who is referred as the founding father of Burma(today called Myanmar) - Aung San - is herself a major political figure in her country. The chapter about her father - who was assassinated when the author was two years old - is an impressive, informative, and dispassionate account of Aung San's days as a student leader and his leadership of the independence movement that established modern Burma as a nation. My own father was a foreign correspondent in Burma in the late 1940s and had covered the assassination of Aung San and his colleagues. This left me since my childhood with a deep curiosity about this period of Burmese history - and Aung San's daughter's account does not leave curious readers like myself disappointed. Most of the book is devoted to the life and times of Suu Kyi herself. It includes several articles by other writers who help readers understand how a Burmese woman rises to national prominence in a country which has known but unbroken military dictatorship for decades. This book is also about Burmese culture, religion, and language, and should be on the bookshelf on anyone who has a serious interest in this curious, wretched country of tremendous unfulfilled potential.

   If you have an interest in Burmese or Southeast Asian history, you might also consider reading Amitav Ghosh's The Glass Palace, a historical novel which I have also reviewed on this website.




5. The best writing I've ever read ... about striving democracy in peace... I love That Woman!!!!

5 comments about Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary.

1. The book seemed to represent itself as a biography of Zhou. Thinking that's what I was reading, I threw myself into the first few chapters, about his early revolutionary life, with great interest, and was then perplexed when the book glazed over major events like the Long March, the Civil War, the Korean War and the Paris Peace Conference and omitted the Second Sino-Japanese War altogether. Barely a quarter of the way into the book the focus shifts to Maoist machinations, and whole reams of pages went by with nary a mention of the Premier. This seemed terribly odd to me because based on the excerpt on the back I thought the author was trying to show that Zhou was his own man and to dispel the perception that he was Mao's sidekick. Eventually I skipped ahead and read the author's notes, and did some more research on the book, and learned that the Chinese edition was specifically the story of Zhou's role in the Cultural Revolution. The promotional material surrounding the English edition made me think otherwise. (I should mention by the way that I received the book for Christmas and did not buy it, otherwise I would have researched it a bit beforehand.)
   
   What I still couldn't figure out was why the book was seen as so edgy and controversial and why the CCP seemed to feel it's a hatchet job. Eventually I realized that the author and others involved in the writing and translating of the book view their expose of Zhou's "enabling" of the Cultural Revolution by not opposing it unequivocally is damning by itself. Here I disagree and take great issue with the contention by Introduction-writer Andrew Nathan that Zhou should have allowed himself to be purged, deprived the PRC of its ablest administrator, and allowed the Cultural Revolution to collapse under its own weight. Had he done so the nation would have descended into something even worse, a return to the deadly chaos of the Warlord period of the 1910s and 1920s. In an impossible situation where all choices were bad ones, Zhou did what he could to leave China able to rebuild once the hurricane had passed by maintaining as much social order as he could, even though he needed to make a deal with the devil to do so. It is easy for those who have never lived in dictatorships (the author himself is not included therein) to condemn those who have for not making acts of defiance with reckless abandon, but in a realistic light Zhou's attempts to mitigate the tyrant's fury seem quite heroic to me.
   
   Sanctimonious tone (which is more pronounced in the front- and back matter than in the book itself) aside, I enjoyed the book for what it was, which is not what I was led to believe it was. Had I known what it was beforehand, I might not have bothered reading it.



2. This book has tons of inside information about Zhou En Lai and his times but it is written with the assumption that the reader already knows modern Chinese history well. Ergo I enjoyed it, but I have decided not to assign it to my class. Without knowing the "standard story" this behind the scenes look is hard to follow. But for one who does know the terrain, it is of great interest.



3. I read this book for a graduate history class on Mao's China
   
   Gao Wenqian has written what surely will be received by the burgeoning Chinese history community as the definitive biography of "the Beloved People's Premier," Zhou Enlai. It is rare to comment on a biographer's life when writing a book report; but in this case, it is necessary to illuminate the reasoning and methods used by this author in order to understand the significance of his biography of Zhou. The authority and importance that this book represents to China scholarship is due to the position that the author held for over fourteen years, as a research writer in the small and secretive Central Documents Research Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for Zhou Enlai Studies. Gao's unique access to the secret People's Republic of China's (PRC) government and Party documents relating to not only Zhou but to Mao Zedong and other leading Party officials, as well as important events such as the Cultural Revolution, gives his biography an unparalleled stamp of authority. Soon after the government crackdown on dissidents in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Gao decided to bolt the Party. Over a period of two years, he successfully planed and executed his goal of compiling note cards of information from the archives he worked with and sent them through the mail to trusted friends in the West. By this method of subterfuge, he was eventually able to leave the country and travel to Harvard University on a fellowship, where he fulfilled his dream of writing a truthful biography of China's long serving premier (311-315).
   
   Born on March 5, 1898 in Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, Zhou was born into a cultured and well-educated family that suffered from the hard economic times sweeping across China. Since his uncle was dying of tuberculosis and had no heirs, at six months old, Zhou was given over to his uncle and aunt to rear as their son. This was not an unusual arrangement since he was raised in a household which included his natural birth parents as well as his grandmother. Essentially, Zhou was raised with two mothers who adored him. His adoptive mother was widowed while he was an infant. She devoted her life to his upbringing; teaching the very intelligent and precocious Zhou to read at three years old. It is also at an early age that Zhou developed one of the most important character traits that embodied his life; his uncanny ability to weather the turbulent political storms that dogged him throughout his life (21-25). Like a cat with nine lives, Zhou's knack to survive any and all difficulties that he was faced with served as the major theme of Gao's biography of Zhou.
   
   Zhou honed his survival instincts at an early age, and Gao did an excellent job of illuminating Zhou's survival skills throughout all the stages of his life. Orphaned at ten, by the time he was twelve years old, Zhou was sent off to northeastern China to an excellent school by an uncle. Gao pointed to this time, when Zhou was being picked on as the "strange new boy" in school, as an experience that stayed with him the rest of his life. With his own gang of friends, Zhou would confront his bullies one by one. Thus, Gao said of Zhou. "He revealed himself to be an early master at creating a united front. This was a skill that served him well in later years and may explain his capacity to survive so many hostile confrontations" (27). In addition, Zhou was well schooled in the teachings of Confucius during his childhood. Gao pointed out that Confucianism was the philosophy that ruled and guided Zhou's life. "With a strict Confucian upbringing, he personified modesty...Zhou was the diplomat, supremely poised, smooth, charming" (64-65).
   
   Another great influence on Zhou's life was his extensive travels throughout the world--as a young man. Gao explored Zhou's life abroad to highlight another theme in his book Zhou's political awakening as a university student. When Zhou graduated Nankai University in 1917, his family sent him to Tokyo for further study with the goal of becoming a teacher. However, Zhou's experiences in Japan would forever change his life. First, he became frustrated in his studies by his poor fluency in Japanese. More importantly, he chafed under the growing militarism gripping Japanese society and the effects it started to have on China as well. The two years he spent in Japan awoke his slumbering political feelings and set him on the political course that would influence the rest of his life. Zhou returned to Nankai University in 1919, in time to participate in the May Fourth Movement, which was a student uprising that fostered an increase in Chinese nationalism coupled with a growing dissatisfaction over the Treaty of Versailles. It is during this time that he actively became involved in "revolutionary" politics and studied Marxism, but did not become a Party member until 1922. It was also during this period when he met his future wife, Ding Yenchao. In 1920 he traveled to France as a university student in a work-study program. However, he became disillusioned by how the students were used as factory workers and were poorly paid or educated for their services (29-37).
   
   Once again Zhou's political soul was stirred, and despite being accepted to the University of Edinburgh, he embarked on organizing the recruitment of Chinese students in France, Belgium, and Germany to join the Communist Party. He met and kept friendships with several of China's future CCP leaders. "Deng Xiaoping, (who emerged as China's leader in 1978) and, in Germany, Zhu De; a student who was later celebrated as the father of the Red Army. Zhou...even met and worked with ...Ho Chi Minh, who later served as Chairman of the Vietnam Communist Party" (45).
   
   Zhou performed his duties well and was ordered back to China in 1924 by the Party, to help establish a new "united front" between the CCP and Sun Yat-sen's new Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist Party). It is because of his early pioneering work as an organizational leader in the CCP, and especially after he threw his full support behind Mao to lead the Party in 1935, that Zhou's skills made him the obvious choice to become the Premier of the PRC in 1949 (51-56, 83-88). However, his stormy and multifaceted relationship with Mao highlights the other major theme of Gao's biography, which completes the picture of Zhou.
   
   Zhou's relationship with Mao was a very complicated and "tortured" affair filled with enough political intrigue, and twists and turns to make a Chinese puzzle appear easy! It is during their relationship of over fifty years, that Zhou relied on his Confucian philosophy to serve him in order to survive Mao's rule, which one could argue was to the detriment of millions of Chinese. However, when examining Zhou's life and how he conducted himself within the Party, one gets the sense that Gao wanted the reader to question whether Zhou's Confucian teachings could be viewed as a blessing or a curse. Confucianism certainly tempered Zhou's personality. It also provided him with the psychological and political acumen that he found necessary to survive the many political pitfalls he was faced with throughout his life. Zhou's reliance on his Confucian philosophy is unique, considering it essentially made him the last "Mandarin bureaucrat" in an high political office in the PRC. However, one sensed from Gao's biography that Zhou's reliance on his Confucian philosophy also caused him to become non-confrontational to either Mao or Mao's wife, Jiang Qing--leader of the infamous "Gang of Four" (93-106, 166). "Zhou had no desire to offend Mao by doing something that would offend his wife....Zhou Enlai had long realized that if he departed on his own from the inner circle of power it would be a form of political death" (165). Zhou always took the middle ground and never took a political stand against Mao, since he made his fateful public declaration of support for Mao in 1943. "Anyone who in the past had opposed or expressed doubts about Comrade Mao Zedong's leadership or opinions has been proven completely wrong" (87). Even after spending five days of public self-criticism to CCP members, Zhou never really bought Mao's trust. Mao harbored deep resentment of Zhou who he thought had slighted him years earlier. Mao could not run the country without Zhou and his keen sense of organization. Thus, Gao noted, "Throughout the decades to come, Mao was plagued by this paradoxical relationship. He had to draw Zhou close even as he raised the whip, and sometimes lashed the man he could not live without" (88). Gao perceptively argued that in reality, Zhou's political survival instinct really served only one person--himself. Zhou rarely stuck his neck out to help others when they fell under the wrath of Mao. In the few instances that he did try to help others who Mao was preparing to dispose of politically, such as Lin Biao who was designated as Mao's successor, Zhou's efforts usually came too little and too late to save them (161-164).
   
   Soon after becoming Premier, Zhou wanted to focus on China's economy, which was ravaged by decades of war. However, Mao was more concerned with his own political reputation. The first major "folly" that Mao put the Chinese people through was the "Great Leap Forward" in 1958. Mao's economic plan to increase agricultural and industrial production coupled with droughts and natural disasters, turned out to be an economic and humanitarian disaster; killing tens of millions of people. The plan that Mao embarked on also had political reasons that probably far outweighed Mao's concerns for the economic future of China. Mao became alarmed at Nikita Khrushchev's denunciation of Joseph Stalin's rule of the Soviet Union, as well as the uprising that took place in Hungary in 1956. Fearing that "intellectuals and moderates" in the Party would be bolstered by events in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Mao used the "Great Leap Forward" from 1958 to 1960, to steer China along its own "Communist path," with disastrous results (89-93).
   
   At first Zhou had sided with the "moderates"; such as, Liu Shaoqi, Mao's first heir apparent. However, Zhou detected Mao's plan. Mao was going to purge the Party of Liu, his "Chinese Khrushchev. Thus, when Liu decided to try to rectify the disastrous results of the "Great Leap Forward" on his own, Zhou quickly shifted his political stand to appear more neutral. "Refusing to align himself with either of these political titans, Zhou employed his fabled Confucian strategy and tried to find a middle way" (93). From 1960 to 1966, Zhou tried to minimize the economic and humanitarian damage done to the country by Mao after the "Great Leap Forward"; however, he never offered any real political opposition to Mao. "Zhou never forgot his relationship with Mao, and did everything he possibly could to shield his status as the unassailable Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. He wanted to show Mao exactly where he stood on the leadership issue" (94). Zhou's acquiescence to Mao only made matters worse when Mao embarked on the disastrous Cultural Revolution that gripped the country from 1966 through 1976--only to end after Mao's death.
   
   Once again, Gao's biography proved how Zhou's reliance on his Confucian philosophy coupled with his well-honed political survival instincts caused him to offer virtually no opposition to Mao on his conduct of the Cultural Revolution. Always the "smooth" politician, Zhou weathered his most severe political storm during the Cultural Revolution; sadly, at the great expense of the Chinese people (106-111). In addition, Zhou offered tepid support or protection to "old Friends" as well as able party leaders, such as Lin Biao and Deng Xiaoping, who he thought were persecuted by Mao unfairly. Gao's account about the political intrigue in 1970 that led up to the "Lin Biao Affair" is a case in point of how Zhou, in a halfhearted attempt, tried to "calm" the political waters, to no avail. "Ever devoted to following Mao, and eager to preserve his own legacy, Zhou had no desire to see the Lin-Mao relationship collapse" (206). However, Zhou the consummate survivor began to distance himself politically from Lin Biao and cozy up to Mao's new favorite, Zhang Chunqiao. Deng was attributed with the following pithy quote regarding Zhou's role in the Cultural Revolution, which astutely summed up Zhou's character. "Without the premier the Cultural Revolution would have been much worse. And without the premier the Cultural Revolution wouldn't have dragged on for such a long time" (162).
   
   Although Zhou personally weathered the turbulent times of the Cultural Revolution, he did so at the expense of his personal health and political reputation. By the time Zhou became a world-renowned figure in 1972 after the historic visit of President Nixon to China, Zhou was diagnosed with bladder cancer, which would take his life in 1976. Gao paints a "tragic portrait" of Zhou in his book. For instance, despite all the political "cow-towing" that Zhou engaged in for over forty years to ingratiate himself to Mao, when Zhou's health and life was on the line Mao took active steps to insure Zhou did not receive proper medical attention, which might have cured Zhou's bladder cancer. Mao, true to form, wanted to be sure that Zhou did not outlive him and become the leader of China (234-240). In addition, Zhou was distrusted once again, not only by Mao, but also by several high-ranking Party officials who witnessed Zhou's lack of help to those in the Party who were unjustly persecuted. Thus years later, Zhou was faulted according to Gao, for being too submissive and too eager to please Mao. "Although his supporters were always quick to claim that Zhou had no other choice, his critics insisted that Zhou encouraged Mao in his madness by yielding to the Chairman time after time and that by following him, he too was responsible for the disaster that befell China" (161). Thus in Gao's final chapter of his biography, he offers what seems like an apropos closing line in Zhou's obituary. "Zhou intended to be a good person, but failed. In this sense, his life story conveys the tragedy of the Chinese Communist political system, from which he ultimately emerged, at the end of his life, as a victim" (311-312).
   
   Recommended for all interested in Asian history and political science.



4. 
   It appears that once the revolutionaries took hold of China, they had no idea what to do with it. In the absense of any program for bettering the country, Mao chose a legacy of power and adulation over one of public works. The result was a wholey dysfuctional bureaucray where participants schemed not for corner offices, but for their lives. This book documents those internal battles.
   
   Unless you have some background in this, not all the dynamics will be accessible. What is clear to the general reader is that at the core was the insatiable ego of the revolution's presumed hero.
   
   The Author's Note tells about the brave people who helped to assemble this book, bringing notes from China index card by index card. The list of sources shows the impressive primary materials that were used. You also learn of the author's mother, herself a victim of the Cultural Revolution, who despite being harrassed, encouraged him to write this book.
   
   The title is misleading. This is not a bio of Zhou, there are pages and pages where he is hardly mentioned. The subtitle is strange since the author says he is trying to show Zhou as not the perfect man he is thought in some quarters to be. While not the main subject, Zhou is an organizing personality for this story, since he is, perhaps, the only enabler of Mao who could have done him in.
   
   The big mid-twentieth century revolutions, China, Russia and Cuba ended in similar ways. The revolutionaries who put their lives on the line to remove autocracies easily surrendered those same dictatorial reins to their victorious generals. The generals had psychopathic needs for power and could not tolerate anything but a cadre of enablers. Fresh from fighting horiffic revolutions they were inured to bloodshed and suffering and saw them as legitimate political tools. Perhaps these are the mindsets it takes to wage a revolution against a despot, but as history shows, they are disasterous in running a country.



5. A fascinating book, its rare look into the machinations and motivations of Communist China's top elite more than makes up for its lack of supporting documentation. The narrative covers many in the early CCP's pantheon, but the primary focus is Chairman Mao through the lens of Zhou Enlai, from his beginnings to his death. This is a story with no good guys, a massive amount of suffering by untold and uncomplaining millions, where politics always trumps performance. It is also an old story, repeated since the Chinese nation was formed several millennia ago, of the corrosive effect of power and the deification of rulers, in a far more absolute way than what the Western tradition has experienced. While the prose style is more officialese and a bit too slanted for most works of history, it does bring out the personalities of these two titans within the context of their times.

5 comments about Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games.

1. Amazing what Mitt Romney can do with numbers. If in doubt, do without. He pulled the 2002 winter games off on a no frills budget and turned a scandal into a triumph.
   
   It seems he gets so much grief just because he is a Mormon, but I'm amazed at what he can do and mostly impressed by his get up and go, can do attitude. His wife says he loves emergencies and crisis situations of any kind. He turns the financing of the games from a huge millions of dollars deficit into a millions of dollars profit. Throughout the whole crisis leading up to the games, he made it the mission of the whole team to be honest and forthright with each other and the public. It's blatantly apparent that he always makes an honest million and demands integrity of his team whoever they be. This book was truly inspirational in many ways. If you don't want to read the book or even hate Mitt Romney, at least read the "Prologue" and the first chapter. I love the story of the American flag from the World Trade Center bombing being brought into the Olympic stadium during opening ceremonies. It's really awesome!
   
   There have been other budget inversions in our nation's history. The most remarkable one happened on the eve of this country's founding and was repaired by Alexander Hamilton, our nation's first Treasury Secretary. That tale is best told by Forrest McDonald in his biography of Hamilton.
   
   These are great stories and must reads for government financiers!



2. If you want to know how Mitt Romney approaches business this is a valuable book to read.
   
   Mitt Romney was doing really well in the business world until his dear wife Ann told him that God had been good to them and now it was time to give back. Romney did just that and turned around the Olympics. After that challeng he sorted out Massachusettes and now he has got his eye on the White House.
   
   If you're American and qualified to vote you've got to read this book to find out who Mitt Romney is. A lot of people crticize him because of his faith. This guy has a great relationship with his wife, a great family, has been very successful in business and politics too. The President of the USA should be a man for everyone to look up at. Don't most people dream of being happily married to a beautiful woman, have great kids, become a Millionaire and then President of the USA? Maybe Mitt Romney is the man for the White House...read this book and it will help you decide!



3. The basic concept of this story was interesting. The Olympics are exciting... unfortunately, 150 pages dedicated to a line-by-line analysis of an Olympic budget is not exciting. Nor is the constant name-dropping of international CEOs and executives. Nor is the re-affirmation every 40 pages that Mitt sacrificed a lot by leaving his multi-billion dollar private equity firm to work for the Olympics and the accompanying statement that he was blessed enough in his life to be able to afford to make that sacrifice.
   
   I gave this book two more stars than I wanted to because a) Amazon won't let me give a book zero stars and b) I like the Olympics.
   
   This book does accomplish one thing: It's a 400-page long example of just how detached from the average voter Mitt really is.



4. When I started reading this book, I thought that I had made a big mistake in buying it. After reading about half of it, I decided that I was learning much about the man in reading about how he accomplished things and why he was successful. There are probably better books to tell about Mitt Romney, but this one will do if you have the time to wade through much detail (simply scan part of it)and like to read about methods of achieving success.



5. I beleive it was a great insight to management. Learnt a lot from the book!

5 comments about Silent Partner: A Memoir of My Marriage.

1. I was also deceived by a gay man disguising as straight. I met him online where he presented himself as a "marriage minded man seeking a woman." I began to get suspicious after a few weeks of dating and asked him if he was "bi" and he tearfully told me of his past. He also professed undying love and the desire to be with a woman permanently so I stuck with him for a few more months. Those months can only be described as a roller coaster ride; one I wish I never got on. I was not equipped mentally or emotionally to cope with this man's sexual confusion. Probably 1 week after we parted, he found himself an "amazing gentleman" and raved about how he had finally found love. (it sounded pathetically familiar; he used to rave about me.
   I walked away and had to deal with my anger and resentment for what he put me through. Yes, you can go through relationship problems with anyone, but these were particularly painful and confusing for me. No matter what anyone says, it's not the same. I felt used and exploited by him to test out the heterosexual waters.
   Prior to meeting him, I had a old friend who was gay. She fell in love with me when I was 17 and used to harass me to be with her. Physically and emotionally. That, too, was an awful experience.
   I used to be a tolerant person; probably too tolerant and it got me in some situations that were not good for me.
   Unfortunately this has caused me some trepidation in being with gay people. It's sad but I just have not had any positive experiences with them. I do try to keep an open mind though and hopefully healing will prevail.
   Thanks for listening.



2. I loved reading this book, about the true events in the life of a governor and his wife. She is very elegant in the way she tells of the lies and truths she find out about the life she led with her husband. It tells of the difference in what was going on and what she had missed. She tells about seeing signs after the fact and how she stepped out of the public eye after being pushed into a public scene with her cheating husband.



3. This book was personal for me because I had this experience. There is a large percentage of men who fall into the category - so ladies beware.



4. I wanted to know how could a woman be married to a man without knowing he's gay. Or rather, I wanted to know how could a gay man be married to a woman without letting her know he's gay. In this book Dina Matos comes across as a very intelligent and kind person. If she could be fooled, anyone could be fooled. I think anyone who's ever been betrayed by a loved one can relate to the feeling of trying to keep up the hope when there's a nagging feeling of something not being right. I want to read the ex-husband's side of the story but there is no way getting around the fact that Dina was deceived.



5. good read.. left alot of unanswered questions but only because i don't think she really even knew the answer herself... hard to believe someone could be that unattached to what was going on around her, don't think she wanted to see alot of it because of her own political ambitions... but good read....

5 comments about Fear No Evil.

1. Having met Sharansky in Israel (Birthright alumni!), and having had a long time interest in the Soviet Jewry dissident movement - which allowed my own (Jewish) family to emigrate from the Soviet Union in '91 - I had little doubt as to the outcome of Sharansky's imprisonment. As someone who has read a number of books on similar subjects - in particular the Alexander Solzenytsin "Archipelag Gulag" series - I was a bit dissapointed with "Fear no Evil". (Nevermind that Solzenytsin is widely believed to be an anti-semite; I'm speaking of the literary aspect only.)
   
   In contrast to Solzenytsin's breathtakingly vivid literary style and powerful analysis of the core of the Soviet regime and it's criminal code, Sharansky's book read rather like an eagle's eye view of a convoluted social and political order. "Fear no Evil" reads instead like a game of mental swordsmanship, with a self-inflicted narrow focus quite removed from breadth and depth of a much needed analysis on the Soviet system as a whole.
   
   However, Sharansky does not proclaim himself to be a literary guru. This book is a poignant (if dry) portrayal of one man's fight for freedom - both for himself and 2 million of his people. The uncompromising stance taken by the author with the Soviet regime throughout his imprisonment - his life, family and future hanging in the balance - is awe-inspiring in its simplicity and effectiveness.
   
   It has become a cliche in our time that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter". Yet the Sharanskys of the world have proven that one need not be a terrorist to be a freedom fighter. Where are such men today?



2. "[Saul] put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on [David's]head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around... "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd's bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached [Goliath]".
   
   So begins the story of the famous battle between the future King David of Israel and the giant Phillistine during Biblical times. In Natan Shcharansky's "Fear No Evil" (the title taken from one of David's own psalms), the author is less equipped even than young David in battling the ubiquitous and evil KGB, which maintains an illegal presence in the prisons he's held in (again, illegally), accused of spying for western countries. But because of decisions he makes early in his arrest, he is the victor in the struggle waged over his soul by men who would like him to acknowledge he is wrong, who would like him to implicate others in his "crimes" in order for favors from them, or who would simply like him to stop being the delightful fly in the prison ointment he is.
   
   Shcharansky's only weapons during his trial and during his following prison term, consist of his personal integrity, which remains unsullied; his faith and trust in his family and friends; and a tiny book of psalms that he will spare nothing in reminding prison officials he is entitled to. He sometimes has to wage a hunger strike for these things, but always wins. It is true that his wife, who managed to reach Jerusalem before Shcharansky's arrest, is on a worldwide campaign for his release, resulting in no less than two sitting US presidents mentioning him by name in speeches heard by Soviet officials as a political prisoner, as well as global support, but Shcharansky does not learn this until later, and so believes he is virtually alone in the fight.
   
   This gritty autobiography is a lovely example of human survival, and how one can keep his humanity in a horrific place. Shcharansky's relationships with his fellow "zeks" (prisoners) is especially touching, and we're able to get a glimpse of how even the guards in the system have surrendered their souls in this "police state".
   
   A great read for anyone questioning how to survive while it seems suffering and injustice are towering overhead. Very inspiring.



3. Natan is a hero to the human race. He is wise beyond his years and his wife really proved what true love is. No wonder our Oresident sticks to his convictions. We should all be like Natan



4. In this classic, in the tradition of The Gulag Archipelago: 1918-1956, Prisoner of Zion, Natan Sharansky, one of the greatest Jewish heroes of our time, tells of his nine years in Soviet prisons and gulags, because of his desire to live in the ancient homeland of the Jewish people.
   Sharansky was first denied an exit visa to Israel in 1973. Seperated from his wife, Avital, a day after thewir marriage, in 1974, Sharansky fought for the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union as well as the rights of other persecuted minorities such as Pentecostals, Catholics, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars and ethnic Germans, which disproves the repulsive charge by anti-Semites that Zionists only care about their own people.
   He worked as a translator for Soviet dissident and human rights champion Andrei Sakharov, and his spokesman.
   Sakharov never stopped fighting for Sharanky's freedom, for human rights and for the Jews of the Soviet Empire.
   Sharanky describes his life in the preface as a Jews growing up in Russia, and his mental liberation from Soviet thought slavery, by his discovery of his Judaism and Zionism. He then details his 1977 arrest, and his nine years of brutal incarceration.
   He never bowed to his captors and refused to have anything to do with the perfidious KGB.
   A variety of mental and physical tortures were used to try to break Sharansky, but he never flinched.
   Always given courage by the word of the G-D of Israel, and particularly guided by Psalm 23:
   "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
   I will fear no evil
   For though art with me..."
   Indeed he did not fear the evil of the Soviet tyranny.
   His wife Avital tirelessly fought for his release as his cause became known in the free world, and fought for by all freedom-loving people.
   The book ends with Sharansky's release in 1986 and his aliyah to Israel, where he was reunited with his wife.
   The book is a testament to the evils of a one party tyranny.
   It is a testament to the eternal endurability of the Jewish people, and their unbreakable bond wit the Land of Israel.
   Unltimately it is a testament of hope and of freedom of the human spirit.
   Today the same Communist ideology that persecuted Sharansky is waging a jihad of intellectual terrorism against Israel and her people.
   But the courage of people like Sharansky and the people of Israel has shown that Israel can and will prevail.



5. Having met the esteemed Sharanksy and heard him speak many times, this book, which he autographed for me before a speech last year, is priceless. The tales inside, as well as the lessons, are incredibly moving, angering and inspiring.
   
   I recommend this book to all, especially American Jews who should read this man's story to understand what people of our religion have gone through, especially in Europe -- and how lucky we are to live in a peaceful, tolerant and fair place like these United States...where, like ALL minorities, we are treated better than anywhere else we've dispersed during our near 5800 year religious history.
   
   Ignoring this book is why people don't understand history and evil: be that Nazism, Communism, Islamo-fascism or the dangerous left wing media who appeases these animals here and abroad.