No comments about Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography.

5 comments about Lincoln: A Biography.

1. This is a fantastic and beautiful book--oversized, loaded with more photos than you've ever seen in a Lincoln book, and worthy of coffee-table display. But it's not just a picture book. Each page is jam-packed with text, including an account of a dream Lincoln had about his own assassination. You'll definitely want the hardback version. Even if you've got a hefty collection of Lincoln lore, you must add this book to your shelves!



2. ...that deal with President Lincoln; includes some excellent photography and many good quotations. What an incredible fellow he was.



3. The quality of this book is what first grabs you. The paper is thick, glossy and has weight, it reproduces 19th century photographs beautifully. The text is ancillary and never intrudes upon the primary focus here, which are the photographs of Lincoln, his family and the people who shaped his extraordinary life. The text illuminates and expands upon the photographs, giving dates and other pertinent information.

   If you're looking for a full-scale biography of Lincoln, look elsewhere, this is primarily a visual treat and one of the better photographic compilations on any President.




4. Philip B. Kunhardt is to be highly commended for this outstanding photographic history of Abraham Lincoln. Not only are the photographs captivating, but the narrative of Lincolns life and the important events during his lifetime are interesting and enhance this book. Many interesting stories go along with the photographs of Lincoln from his 40's to his last days, however the most interesting part in my opinion is the month by month account of his presidency and the important events that occured. So much about the man has been written, but until this book was published not as many photos of President Lincoln were circulated or published. Just as important, are the events and stories which swirled around Lincoln. From his habits and humor to his history changing decisions are written in clarity and interesting form. His life and his loves are given with compassion, and his impossible losses of his sons and his mentally unballanced wife Mary Todd Lincoln is given unflinchingly. The last chapter of the book is about the assassination and the controversy surrounding Lincoln's remains, a very interesting and informative chapter to close with. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in U.S. History or 19th Century U.S. History.



5. Kudos to the publisher Knopf and all involved on the quality of this book. The reproduction of the 19th century photographs is first rate. The sepia toned image of the great man inside the front cover is exceptionally gorgeous - just breathtaking.

   John Updike said Knopf publishes the most physically beautiful books in America, and this book leads me to believe he's right.

   This is not a comprehesive, scholarly biography of Lincoln, nor does it pretend to be. But the text reads well, and the Lincoln photographs are beautiful, all-inclusive and presented in sound written context. The large size of the book works particularly nicely here. Well done!

1 comments about Christmas in the White House.

1. Christmas at the White House was not what I expected for the money paid. I thought the book would be filled with colorful illustrations that could direct our floral guild in our church to be inspired in doing Christmas decorations. Instead, it was a history of Christmas in the White House with illustrations in black and white. I returned the book for a refund.

No comments about James Garfield - Army General and President (Biography).

No comments about Presidential Cookies: The Lure and the Lore: Cookie Recipes of the Presidents of the United States.

1 comments about The Presidency of Andrew Johnson (American Presidency Series).

1. This book in the American Presidency Series focuses not only on Andrew Johnson's presidency, but also expatiates the economic hardship that both the Union and the Confederacy faced during the Civil War, along with its political and economic repercussions. The author recognized that Johnson's battle with Congress over Reconstruction evolved into the most pivotal issue during his presidency. In fact, Albert Castel argues that Johnson lost his battle with Republicans over Reconstruction due to intransigence and impracticality with regards to African Americans. Also, this book mentions that Johnson's lack of a political base contributed to the Southerners' refusal to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. Nonetheless, Johnson retained much of his institutional power of the presidency. Johnson's violation of the Tenure of Office Act did, however, lead to his impeachment and eventual acquittal. Nevertheless, Johnson achieved appropriations for the purchase of Alaska.

   The last chapter reads: Johnson Before The Bar of History. This chapter gives a historiographical overview about Johnson's critics since his presidency until 1979. Unfortunately, Castel contradicts his own thesis when he maintains that Johnson used the presidency in a strong manner with integrity, but ultimately failed as president. Did he fail or did he represent a scapegoat for his political enemies? Nonetheless, this book elaborates on the relevant issues and explains why Johnson has been much maligned. Nevertheless, this book stimulated my interest in Johnson and provided me with a useful bibliographical essay.

4 comments about The Thirty-first of March: An Intimate Portrait of Lyndon Johnson's Final Days in Office.

1. Horace Busby was one of the more interesting witnesses in Robert Caro's biography of LBJ, and I was sorry to hear he had passed on a few years back, here in California. Busby knew where all the bodies were buried in his capacity as top speechwriter for Johnson, extremely close to the man for twenty years or more, and inventor of the catchphrase, "The Great Society."
   
   The book, while never less than elegantly written, is scattershot in its approach, and jumps back and forth in chronology like a human pinball machine, skimming the surfaces here and there, then coming down to dwell lovingly and cinematically on some unlikely venues, such as a trip with Johnson in November of 1963, to Brussels for a conference. LBJ in Brussels, of all places, it's unreal! Here Busby really goes to town, exploring the insecurities that fueled Johnson's drive to the top and which made him the most feared man in politics.
   
   And yet he had his charming side too, and Buzz was there for large chunks of it. There's a long, fleshed out memoir of arriving with Johnson at Hyannisport in 1960, not knowing whether or not Kennedy would want him as his candidate for Vice President. There's no denying that Johnson was the odd man out among the Kennedys; in one hilarious moment he can't understand JFK's accent, despite trying to read his lips. You won't get this kind of intimate, novelistic detail anywhere else.
   
   But often "Buzz" seems overdiscreet, drawing a veil over the very things that the reader wants to know more about. Buzz's son Scott, who introduces this posthumously published memoir, suggests that Buzz came to feel he had given all his "good Lyndon stories" to Caro in their many interviews, and that the book we now have represents perhaps the not-so-good stories which Caro didn't find interesting enough to include in any of the three volumes published so far. And sometimes Buzz's speechwriting strength betray him as a memoirist; his highly praised alliteration for example, grows inane when it is employed to open a paragraph with "The prolonged procrastination was highly provocative . . . "
   
   What else is memorable about this all too brief book? Well, I liked finding out more about Johnson's religious background as a "Digressive." I never even heard to term before, and now it seems utterly key to understanding the man. Buzz' dad, a strict preacher type, hesitated before giving his boy his blessing to work for LBJ, fearing that the latter's "Digressive" qualities would corrupt Buzz. Johnson's own father emerges as a salty old son of a gun, telling his son not to forget that "If a fella starts trying to climb a pole, he usually ends up showing his ass." It was a lesson Johnson was never to forget.
   
   In one touching chapter Busby, together with Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, travel to Gettysburg to represent the administration at the Eisenhower farm, as Ike and Mamie prepare to leave their home forever (they have deeded it to the National Park Service). Both Eisenhowers come to life vividly, and their lives together for forty-five years touchingly adumbrated, in Busby's careful rendering of a moment in time.
   
   Busby provides lovely word portraits both of fragile, thoughtful Jackie Kennedy and the amazing Lady Bird. Either of these would make the book worth reading all by themselves, but yet there is a whole lot more in THE THIRTY-FIRST OF MARCH. Don't let this one slip under your radar.



2. Querying "Lyndon Johnson" on Amazon generates over 18,000 references. The man was a dominant figure in US politics for over 20 years, which goes some way to explaining why he has been written about so prolifically.
   Few books though can surely be as intimate and interesting as Horace Busby's memoir of the man he worked with for most of Johnson's career on the national stage.
   
   The twenty-four year-old Busby joined then Congressman Johnson's team in 1948, a few months prior to Johnson winning a Senate seat. His initial brief was to "put a little Churchill" and motivation into the Texas politician's speeches. He remained with Johnson, in some capacity as adviser, speechwriter, confidante and sometimes almost as therapist until March 31 1968 when Johnson made his famous utterance to the US people that "I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President," - lines written by Horace Busby.
   
   This is a wonderfully warm, penetrating look at the psychology, temperament and mindset of LBJ particularly in the days prior to his famous announcement. The manuscript was discovered by Busby's son after the author's death in 2000, hence the publication date of 2005. Unfortunately, much of the manuscript seems to have been lost as it does not deal at all with the President's period in the Senate, which by all accounts he bestrode like a colossus.
   
   The reader can appreciate why Busby was so highly rated by his political patron. Much of the book contains wonderful writing and descriptive passages including a very humorous account of how the infamously impatient Congressman Johnson treated Busby when he first reported for work in 1948 - three days later than expected.
   
   Busby crafts some wonderful images, not least when he recounts the terrible events of November 22nd, 1963. The author was in Washington when President Kennedy was assassinated in Johnson's home state of Texas. Co-incidentally, Busby's wife was in Johnson's Washington home doing some research for Lady Bird Johnson at the time of the shooting. She stayed in the house until Mrs. Johnson returned from Dallas - "she saw as no one else did that day, the cold passing of power," as the secret service took control of the house and presidential communications infrastructure was put in place, even before the residents returned from Dallas.
   
   Busby appears to have been a true confidant of the towering Texan. Few (if any) who worked under Johnson would claim he was an easy person to deal with. He could be mean, nasty, uncouth, self-centered, insecure and tyrannical, yet he had very strong motivational skills, sometimes conveyed with great good humor. Johnson was blessed to have a number of very loyal and competent aides - Jack Valenti, Joe Califano and of course Busby who writes of Johnson almost as a son might of a father.
   Because of his close relationship with LBJ, Busby writes compellingly on a number of little known episodes about the President including a dirty tricks campaign initiated by White House insiders to prevent Vice-President Johnson from gaining the nomination to run with Jack Kennedy for the presumptive 1964 campaign. LBJ believed he had but one friend "in that place - President John Fitzgerald Kennedy himself."
   
   The account of the 31st March, when Busby was called to the White House to draft Johnson's final words is both riveting and compelling. Many of Johnson's family and aides did not wish the President to remove himself from the race and blamed Busby for influencing his decision.
   
   The initiative to withdraw though was Johnson's, but when Busby handed him four pages of script - much more than expected, the President `threw up his hands. "Damn" he exclaimed. "You must really want to get me out of town." `
   
   Johnson on a one-to-one level was surprisingly humorous with strong motivational skills, something that rarely came across in his public appearances. Unlike his predecessor, JFK, Johnson never mastered the new media of television.
   
   For those interested in one of the most intriguing characters to attain the presidency, this book is a little jewel. The one regret is that it covers such a short period of the political life of a man whom the author writes was "extroverted, gregarious, and roughshod," but who "sheltered a sensitive, introspective, and unaccountably fragile self inside."



3. "The Thirty-first of March", by Horace Busby takes a heart-warming yet candid look at Lyndon B. Johnson, as few had known him. The book makes for fast, interesting, and enjoyable reading.
   
   Horace Busby was an assistant to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1948 to 1968; those twenty years gave Busby the opportunity to know Lyndon B. Johnson as both a politician and a human being. Busby writes of a thoughtful, engaging, and at times ill-tempered congressional representative, senator, majority leader, vice president, and president of the United States. Readers will find that "The Thirty-first of March" offers a rare look at the human side of Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon Johnson was the congressional representative for the Tenth District of Texas, described by Busby as the politician who swam against the political tides; who despised the Texas "sacred cow" (oil utilities), along with big business. Busby writes of Johnson's ability to balance his social insecurities with boundless energy and passion for the causes he so firmly believed in.
   
   According to Busby, Johnson's passions may have been a result of Johnson's close association with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Johnson is described as a politician who wished to continue the work that was left incomplete by Roosevelt's "New Dealers". Many know the Lyndon B. Johnson who was arrogant, quick-tempered, reclusive, and a veteran of the political arena - he may have even been a conniver at times. However, many are unaware of Johnson's compassion for ordinary people - the downtrodden. Horace Busby brings this to center stage by giving readers a clear view of what most mattered to Lyndon B. Johnson, who believed that
   
   "[p]eople are good . . . what the average folks want is very simple: peace, a roof over their heads, food on their tables, milk for their babies, a good job at good wages, a doctor when they need him, an education for their kids, a little something to live on when they're old, and a nice funeral when they die."
   
   Busby writes of his own good fortune in making the acquaintance of such influential and powerful people as Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and their families. The book is sprinkled with short stories of these enduring encounters, which make for interesting reading. It is, however, the relationship between Busby and Johnson that the memoir brings to the forefront, which will most interest readers. Busby recollects how passionate Johnson was on domestic issues such as housing, education, healthcare, and conservation. Busby also describes Johnson's anguish and distress after receiving the news of Martin Luther King's assassination; not just for the country, but for the King family and all American people - African Americans as well as whites....
   
   "The Thirty-first of March" was not meant to encompass Johnson's political career, but readers will gain a new understanding and respect for the ideas, accomplishments, and sacrifices of the political phenomena that was Lyndon B. Johnson. The book will also give readers and future biographers new insights into the persona that was LBJ.



4. Horace Busby provides and intimate and interesting view of President Lyndon Johnson in THE 31ST OF MARCH. Although Busby provides selected views of other incidents that were key moments in the Johnson presidency and of course the story of how he became involved with Johnson the focus is on LBJ's decision not to seek re-election and the process of announcing that decision to the world.
   
   Busby's view of LBJ is that of a much more fragile man than generally preceived of. It's a quick read. Busby's walks the reader through the family quarters of the White House and the inner workings of the presidency with facinating detail. One particulary interesting aspect of the story is how Johnson was treated at JFK's funeral. Most accounts are totally sympathetic to the Kennedy's but in reading Busby, you see that LBJ had a side too. The reader comes away with a very unique view LBJ.
   
   Though brief, the work is very powerful. It is the story of friendship, loyality and devotion. I wish that the son, who edited the work would have provided a brief description of the relationship between Busby and LBJ after the White House years. It would rounded out the story.

No comments about "Lincoln's Humor" and Other Essays.

No comments about The Reagan Diaries, Leatherbound Edition.

5 comments about Fidel Castro: A Biography.

1. Fidel Castro: A Biography is a solid and thorough rendition of the life of Cuba's tenacious and controversial political leader. Tracing his early years, his influence on profound events of history, economic and social issues plaguing the nation of Cuba up to the modern era, and much more, Fidel Castro: A Biography is an exceptional, evenhanded portrait of an undeniably strong leader's strengths and weaknesses. An inset selection of black-and-white photographic plates complements the involving prose.



2. First of all, this is a great biography. Its incredibly balanced in many topics and pans all along the intense life of Fidel Castro.
   Im not giving 5 stars for two basic reasons:
   1. I think that it is fast forwarded on several fundamental moments of Castro`s history. For example, Sierra Maestra and its very complex development between the action in the mountains and the polithical operation that was done in the cities. That is a fundamental point in the triumph of the Revolution and Skierka gets short in detail and interpretation of the moment. Another example is the relationship between Castro and Che Guevara. The ideology of Guevara was much more influential for Castro than what Skierka merely suggests, Skierka runs away from the problem quoting a Che's biographer: Jorge Castañeda.
   2. This is very important for all the future readers of this work. This biography is classified by topics mostly and not chronologically. For me, this was annoying at some moments and I got more focused in others. For example, one of Castro's skills is the illusionism. He is an expert of saying yes and acting like no. In telling to everybody what they want to hear and do what he wants to do. He partially opened and closed Cuba's socialism so when you have this kind of charachters it can be annoying to be in 1995 and then return to 1989 and then fly to 2000 and return to 1959. On the other hand, there are some topics that get more interesting when you gather all the information, topics such as Castro and religion. It lights a part of Fidel that we could have never imagined, and for me it was one of the most enjoyable moments of the book.
   
   With these 2 handicaps it's still a great work. The economic side of the biography is well explained for all of us who dont have much knowledge on the subject, and we even learn about it withe guidance of Skierka.
   
   Fidel Castro's life is immensely interesting. No matter if you are a Fidelista or not, we are talking about a unique kind of politician. He is a survivor in the crushing steps of history. He survived a "Periodo Especial" which was his ultimate act of escapism.
   I really enjoyed to read this book. My understanding of the world development is now more clear and my perspective of Fidel Castro is now different than 500 pages before.



3. I thought this book was quite good. I remember that when I bought it I read a review stating the the book was outstanding, but the reviewer didn't like the fact that the author kept travelling through time instead of providing a chronological approach to the biography. I actually liked this book better for this reason, partly. Volker Skierka does write the book chronologically, but also skips ahead in time and some times reminds you of instances in the past. Having read this book I'm now interested in reading another, lengthier biography of Castro. The book also does a good job of providing some interesting analysis of what's currently going on in Cuba and what might happen after the man expires. I thoroughly enjoyed it!



4. There's absolutely nothing here not already explored in more detail elsewhere. The reader is forewarned as early as p. 3, when the author calls Naty Revuelta "the most captivating woman in Cuba." How many women did the author interview during the 1950s in Cuba so he could make this statement? Silly at best and incredibly breathless as well.
   And while we're on the opening pages, there's nothing about Castro's well-known illegitimacy and tremendously awful childhood, including the many traumatic events that later defined Castro's megalomaniacal behaviors. Instead, the author takes Castro's word that he was raised into a rich family and that he had some sort of normal childhood when nothing could be further from the truth. He was in fact raised in various foster homes, including the shack of his maternal grandparents. He was not allowed in the "big house" because his father was married to someone else. He didn't even have the last name Castro until he was 17.
   The best part of the book is the cover photo, which shows, among other things, Castro's long and manicured nails.



5. If you are looking for a biography of Castro this is a decent one. There are better ones out there but taken alone this book will tell you the essential things about Castro. I would recommend Guerilla Prince or Fidel Castro by Quirk as a substitute for this book. It is well written but lacks the in depth analysis that the previous two mentioned provide. If you just want a quick introduction use this one but if you really want to know about Castro I would use one of the other two.