No comments about One of the People: Life and Speeches of William McKinley, Citizen, Soldier, Congressman, Governor, and Presidential Candidate... to Which is Added a Brief Sketch of Garret A. Hobart.

No comments about Abraham Lincoln.

1 comments about First Among Equals: Abraham Lincoln's Reputation during His Administration.

1. This book will be of interest only to people who desire information on President Lincoln's reputation just before and during his terms in office. It is not a general history of the man or the era. Professor Trefousse's aim is to give a multitude of specific quotes from the time extolling President Lincoln to rebut the supposed thought he was almost universally disparaged before his assasination lifted him to martyrdom. To me, it is a book on which most avid readers about Abraham Lincoln can afford to give a pass.

2 comments about Lenin (Profiles in Power Series).

1. After a brief intro about Lenin's early years, Williams covers Lenin from the time he joined the ranks of other Russian political revolutionaries to his death. The emphasis is on his actions in acquiring and maintaining power in the swirl of competing political leftist parties before and during the revolution, and his later actions with regard to keeping the reins of national political control following the revolution. In the context of this narrative, he discusses Lenin's views on politics, ideology, and policy during the different time periods covered in the book. The quotes from Lenin reveal a man concerned with power. Williams shows how Lenin's orders and actions left a legacy of justifications for killing people and destroying entire families and villages in the name of the "party" or the "revolution." He demonstrates in Lenin's own words the link from Lenin to Stalin.



2. The author makes more of an argument for hating Lenin than explaining his life, which makes the book into a long essay instead of a short biography.
   
   The first few chapters are a fairly good explanation of Lenin as a youngster and how certain events may have influenced his ideological choices. The problem is, when arguing her point, Williams chooses to use a lot of speculation instead of fact.
   
   The second half of the book blames the downfalls of the Revolution, the civil war, famine, disease, and every other obstacle in Russia on Lenin. It is argued that the main betrayal of the revolution lies in the fact that Lenin is a power-hungry man who will not compromise with anybody despite their position or knowledge. He also is sponsering terrorism and randomly shooting his own citizens for various reasons (strikes, being middle/upper class), and sometimes just for intimidation. Even if all the atrocities are true, and every decision did come directly from Lenin, she still does not explain his reasoning for doing so. More importantly, she did not answer the question, "Why did Lenin commit these horrible atrocities if he fought his whole life to make a better society?" Why would he randomly kill peasants while trying to elevate their position in society? Everything definately does not fit together by the end of this book. One is left feeling hatred for Lenin and his ideals. She does make him out to be a complete psychopath who is jaded by his brother's execution at the hands of the czar, and desperately wants revenge on everyone in Russia.
   
   I could go on about how bad this book is, but I think you get the picture. If you are looking to argue with friends and colleagues about why Lenin is the first terrorist and the worst leader ever, still don't get this book. This book provides a very weak argument. On the back cover this book sounds as if you can make your own choice at the end, but Beryl Williams tries to make up your mind for you the whole book with some of the most idiotic arguments ever!

No comments about China President Jiang Zemin (World Political Leaders Library).

No comments about The Twenty-second Amendment: Term limitation in the executive branch.

1 comments about Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Volume 1.

1. General Grant wrote this book while dying of throat cancer. He had been swindled by a dishonest Wall Street Broker and his trophies and possessions were stripped from him to satisfy the demands of his debtors. Bankrupt, suffering from a terminal illness and never passing a moment without acute pain, he produced this magnificent monument to his greatness. Those who denigrate Grant as a drunkard, butcher, bumbling President need to read this book in order to correct these errant assumptions. It is impossible to read this book and not realize that Grant was an inordinately intelligent man and one hell of a writer.

   Grant's Memoirs are a deserved classic in American literature and considered the greatest military Memoirs ever penned, exceeding Caesar's Commentaries. Grant wrote as he lived: with clear, concise statements, unembellished with trivialities or frivolities. The only "criticism" the reader might have is that Grant bent over backwards not to wound the feelings of people in the book. He takes swipes at Joe Hooker and Jeff Davis, but what he left unsaid would have been far more interesting. A compelling and logical reason why Grant was so spare in his comments was because he was involved in a race with death. He didn't know how long he could live and therefore, "cut to the chase."

   Grant's assessments of Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan and other military leaders are brilliant and engrossing. His style, like the man himself, was inimitable and couldn't be copied. In everyday life, Grant was a very funny man, who liked to listen to jokes and tell them himself. His sense of the absurd was acute. It's no accident that he loved Mark Twain and the two hitched together very well. Twain and Grant shared a similar sense of humor, and Grant's witicisms in the Memoirs are frequent, unexpected and welcome. There are portions where you will literally laugh out loud.

   Though Grant's Memoirs were written 113 years ago, they remain fresh, vibrant and an intensely good read. I have read them in! their entirity 30 times in my life and I never weary of the style and language that Grant employed. He was a military genius to be sure, but he was also a writer of supreme gifts, and these gifts shine through on every page of this testament to his greatness. All Americans should read this book and realize what we owe to Grant: he preserved the union with his decisive brilliance. In his honor, we should be eternally grateful.

No comments about Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States 1993 : William J. Clinton (vol. 1).

1 comments about Eisenhower at Columbia.

1. General Eisenhower's five year tour of duty as president of Columbia is told with great gusto and just the right amount of detail by historian Travis Jacobs. It's jammed with stories that make it fun to read from beginning to end. Plus you really get a sense of history about this nationally renown university. It starts with Murray Butler's 44 year reign--old, blind, and deaf--and the desparate search for a new dynamic replacement.
   
   Was Ike anti-intellectual and anti-academic? Here you see both sides: He refused to honor John Dewey at a 1949 banquet; He was found sitting at his clean desk one day reading a Western novel; yet he spoke eloquently before a history class about the military books that influenced his decisions in Europe during WW2; he made surprise appearances in classes, including an economics course, although he was clearly more fond of Baker Field and the football games.
   
   Critics said he vacationed too much, played too much golf and bridge with his buddies, made too many off-campus appearances, and was seldom available to Columbia professors and administrators. But some of that was due to his staff handlers, who shielded him from his Columbia colleagues. Jacobs tells a delightful story of how history professor Robert Livingston Schuyler got around his handlers and met up with the General on his way home for lunch (pp. 125-26).
   
   After reading Jacobs' biography, I'm amazed how much Eisenhower accomplished, given his constant interruptions--trips to Washington, NATO leader, and running for President in 1952. Yet he gave a lot of good publicity to Columbia, which was hurting financially after the war, and got involved in many university projects (although he hated fundraising).
   
   Jacobs is even handed in reporting on Ike's supporters and detractors. His conclusion is that Ike was ultimately good for Columbia, and Columbia good for Ike even into his presidency; a surprise ending. My only complaint is that you learn very little about his wife Mamie in the book. She's around, but you never know what she's thinking. Otherwise, a mighty enjoyable reading of a little-remembered part of Eisenhower's career.

No comments about The life of William McKinley: Including a genealogical record of the McKinley family and copious extracts from the late president's public speeches, messages ... photographs and four full pages in color.