5 comments about Slaves in the Family (Ballantine Reader's Circle).

1. Some reviewers below complain that this book is tedious. Well, sure. I bet the US Constitution and the Bible are tedious to someone who has no clue about, or doesn't care about, their context. To anyone with some understanding of US history, the project of writing this book marks a step forward in race relations, however big or small that step may turn out to be. If you care even a little about why this country is the way it is, this book crackles with a searing flame.
   
   Ball writes about visiting a wary African American man in Chapter 6, and what that man says at the end of his interview speaks for me and my opinion of the book. "Someone has to break the ice. I gotta give you credit, you were man enough to do it."
   
   People won't agree whether reconciliation or forgiveness apply in this situation, and I'm not sure either. But this is the author's best effort at telling the objective truth about black-white relations as it was lived by individuals over the centuries. "I decided I would make an effort, however inadequate and personal, to face the plantations, to reckon with them rather than ignore their realities or make excuses for them."
   
   Chapter 9 describes the shocking child mortality figures on the plantations. And on a slave voyage from Africa to Charleston, over a third of the captive passengers died en route - just the cost of doing business to the owners. No wonder some try to deny this history; it's too painful. Yet, the book also provides some episodes of humanity and hope. Readers will emerge with a greater understanding of our history and human nature. Maybe they'll become more vigilant against trespasses on human life and dignity in our own day as well.



2. I thought this was a good read. I especially appreciated the details of the types of Africans that the planters preferred and detested. I recommend this book. Yes, I do agree that the author's writing style was dry. However, I find most books that have a historical base, unless it is fiction, to be dry as cracker.



3. Oh my gosh! I didn't realize that Dawn Langley Simmons had passed away. When I purchased her book about the life of Margaret Rutherford, "A Blithe Spirit", I wrote to Dawn, and was surprised to receive a reply from her or him. For several years she/he corresponded and now I realize that she/he may have mis-represented herself. She did send me several photos of Margaret Rutherford. Interesting story.



4. Edward Ball made a courageous journey into his family's past when he researched and wrote this book about their slave owning history, and took the step of searching out and meeting descendants of their slaves. This paperback edition includes an insightful follow-up exchange between the author and one of his black relatives about the writing of the book, their relationship, and how their views of race relations have and have not changed since its writing. The book inspired me both to think deeply about my attitude towards race and to read more about southern history, using the prism of slave ownership and my own family's southern geneaology as a focus. Related recommendations: The Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders] and [ASIN:0465015557 My Confederate Kinfolk



5. Quite often history textbooks can be dry and boring. Edward Ball's "Slaves in the Family" illuminates many larger historical events -- the slave trade, the institution of slavery, plantation economies, the Revolutionary War, The Civil War, and Emancipation -- and brings these events down to the human level, to the place where flesh and blood people lived through these events, how the events shaped them, and how they in turn contributed to history.
   
   Ball's careful, meticulous research wove oral accounts with written records kept so well by the Ball family, giving a credible, well-balanced view of plantation life, slavery, and how it impacted the lives of both black and white Ball plantation residents.
   
   Ball paid special note to the nuances of each speaker's story as told, not only through their words, but also their body language. He is an astute observer of people's reactions and unspoken thoughts.
   
   I highly recommend this fasinating book. I couldn't lay it down.

3 comments about True West.

1. this play is great, buy it!



2. in True West , Sam Shepard's method is a kind of allegorical realism, where the use of everyday items such as golf clubs, houseplants and toasters is not at all intended to suggest us reality.
   In this play, Shepard illustrates the duality of human personality, and our primitive instincts for violence against the unavoidable family ties that usually discourage an individual from acting as wanted. In this case, two brothers, Austin and Lee, who experience the typical good boy vs. bad boy sibling rivalry unexpectedly meet. As a result a series of emotional angry outbreaks take place as Austin can't defined himself: Is he frightened of Lee or does he admire his brother's willingness to break the rules? Austin graduated college, got married, has a family to whom he will return soon. He is disciplined, striving and ambitious. Quite the opposite, Lee is uneducated, violent, envious and resentful.
   Austin, a Hollywood screenwriter, is housesitting his mother's home while she is on a sightseeing trip to Alaska. His brother, Lee, has appeared all of a sudden and wants to share the house. Lee is a tramp and small-time criminal, who has just spent the previous six months in the Mojave Desert with their alcoholic father.
   The filthy and foul Lee invites Austin's Hollywood producer for a round of golf, and ends up selling him on a story idea for a modern Western film, totally displacing his hard-working brother, who as a result crumples into a chaotic and violent wreck.
   Shepard's focus is not on verisimilitude, but on the intensity of the conflict that is revealed. For instance, the main action in the play is the reduction of the mother's neat household into a garbage dump. This includes the destruction of Austin's typewriter with a golf club, vomiting into the desiccated remains of a philodendron and squashing fresh toast into the linoleum. Additionally, Lee had stolen several toasters from the neighborhood, "There's gonna be a general lack of toast in the neighborhood this morning..." he says.
   In various occasions, Austin seemed to be afraid of his brother as he winds up doing what Lee asks him, such as lending him his car or typing the script of his imaginary screenplay. However, what Austin mostly seems to fear is not Lee, but his own deep-set, self-destructive impulses as he lives out the paranoiac nightmare of being displaced by his brother. "You think you are the only one in the brain department?" Lee questions him.
   When Lee is dictating Austin the lines of his screenplay, he narrates the story of two characters that are running after each other -- actually referring to themselves. He says: "The one who is chasing, doesn't know where the other one is taking him, the one who is being chased, doesn't know where he is going." The two brothers are constantly competing with each other; even though, they head in opposite directions in life. Austin has a career and a family while Lee doesn't but he has the ability to break the rules, his brother strictly follows.
   Towards the end of the play, both brothers who are very intoxicated from having being drinking alcohol the night through, start to act both wild and silly at the same time. Under the influence of alcohol, repressions and taboos are forgotten and one acts and says things that would not normally do. As in Fool for Love, the protagonists confess their deepest fears and feelings when drunk, in True West, Austin reveals how he feels lost and lonely despite of his accomplishments, he says:" there's nothing real down here... streets look like a postcard..." He is living his dreams (he is becoming a playwright, has a wife, etc) but he seems not to get acquainted with his reality and does not know anymore what is real and what is not.
   Then, decides to "try" the toasters and make some toasts, which Lee steps over and smashes on the floor as he criticizes him: "you're making that toast like salvation or something...I don't want any toast..." to what Austin replies: "...I love the smell of toast...it's salvation...". While this argument goes on, their mother comes back doesn't surprising much when finding out the disaster her sons had made to her house. But, she tells them they'll both end up in the same dessert.
   At the end of the play the phrases: "...Something to keep me in touch" and "It's easy to go out of touch" made me realize that one must hold onto something that will keep one focused in order to go on -- either focus on one's reality or on one's dream(s). Everyone needs that toast of salvation!



3. I didn't like TRUE WEST. But there's nothing wrong with it that could be blamed on this particular production of the play. The actors are good considering the flimsy material that they have to work with. The music is used sparingly, but is very effective at setting the scene. I just couldn't get over the shallow development of the characters and a script that was constantly attempting to be deeper than it was.

   The story has one location. Two brothers sit in their mother's house, yelling and screaming at each other until the parental unit herself appears near the end of the play. I like the idea behind the story, which is to put two people in a confined area and see what happens to them. Unfortunately, most of what we learn about these two is quite dull. One brother is a moderately successful screenwriter while the other makes his living as a petty burglar. I had hoped that we wouldn't get soppy scenes of each brother revealing that he secretly envied the other's lifestyle, but that's exactly what we get here. The successful brother is the one without good people skills and the streetwise brother really wants to make it big, but doesn't have the proper school learning to do so. You've probably seen this sort of thing played out in films, television and theatre thousands of times before; I know I have. The problem here is that there is virtually nothing else going on in the script to distract from the banality of the characters.

   The humor comes across as being forced -- very forced -- especially in the second half. The play is billed as a tragicomedy, but the transition from the funny scenes to the dramatic is shockingly jarring. You can almost hear the goofy, "Hey, this is funny!" music in the background every time a supposedly lighthearted moment comes up. It's possibly attempting to be a black comedy, but I just can't really see it that way. People who moan and whine and complain constantly could very well be hilarious, but I just wasn't amused by them. The comedy didn't flow naturally from the drama, and the drama just hung limply by itself out in No Man's Land.

   If you already know that you like the play, then you will probably enjoy this particular staging of it. The various sound effects and music are used in moderation, and are very efficient at placing the audience right inside that house. The script does have one or two nice lines about the falseness of the Hollywood lifestyle and the boundary between the life that we see in pop culture compared to the reality that we drive through every day. They aren't the most original observations that you'll ever hear, but the wording of them and the acting of the principals really make those short sequences work. It's a pity that the rest of the script wasn't as sharp as these moments, because they really had me longing to hear more.

   At one point near the end, the hardened brother (who is attempting to write a screenplay, just like his sibling) asks, "What do you call it when something's been said a thousand times before?" The answer that he receives is, of course, "a cliché". And unfortunately that sums up almost this entire production. Other dramas that have utilized these rather basic elements haven't made the mistake of not including anything else. But TRUE WEST is just one big cliché.

5 comments about Andrew Jackson.

1. Clear and consise prose; well documented; theories of future effects well substantiated.



2. Today's historians are still in a quandary on why Andrew Jackson, the Seventh President of the United States and one of this nation's greatest leaders, was a man of complete contradictions in his public life.
   
   Was he the populist politician who championed the rights of all citizens in the growing republic, yet owned slaves to do the hard work on his own property?
   
   Was he the grandiose dictator who tried to crush his political enemies whom he viewed as elitist or just a man from the working class battling those seeking to dominate the masses?
   
   Was he the brilliant military genius who defeated the British in the War of 1812 for America's only major victory in that ill-conceived conflict against England? Or was he the racist extremist who conquered the Indian Tribes and removed them from their homelands in the south because it was good for his own political career?
   
   Was he all of that and more?
   
   Sean Wilentz is a Professor of History at Princeton University and has written a new examination of Jackson in `The American Presidents' series that are published by Times Books which are edited by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Schlesinger had previously written about the famed chief executive sixty years ago in the Pulitzer Prize winning biography `The Age of Jackson.'
   
   Wilentz tries to explain in the brief 195 page tome those many contradictions of the Tennessee military commander nicknamed `Old Hickory' for his toughness who is generally accepted as one of our nation's top half-dozen greatest presidents.
   
   Jackson served as chief executive from 1829 to 1837, when America was transitioning from having leaders who had participated in the Revolutionary War and the immediate years after to those politicians who would serve in the two decades leading up to our nation's civil war. Jackson was a soldier in America's struggle for independence against the British in his early teens, earning a scar on his head when he was struck by a sword belonging to a British officer and is the only American president to ever have been a prisoner of war.
   
   His greatest military triumph came in January, 1815; albeit two months after the War of 1812 had officially ended with a peace treaty signing, when troops under his command defeated an invading force of British soldiers twice their size landing near the southern port city of New Orleans, Louisiana. He then spent a few years in battle with several of the Indian tribes in the southern states which culminated in those tribes' relocation to the Midwest part of the country that came to be known as `The Trail of Tears.'
   
   Jackson first ran for president in 1824 and got the highest tally of popular votes in the election. But none of the multiple candidates running that year were able to get a majority of the Electoral College votes to claim victory. The contest was then decided in the House of Representatives where runner-up John Quincy Adams was selected as the new chief executive after he made a deal with third-place candidate Henry Clay to gain his votes in exchange for Clay being promised the job of Secretary of State.
   
   Jackson was livid on what happened to him that year and vowed revenge against what he considered to be the thievery by those politicians belonging to the New England aristocracy he so hated.
   
   He ran again in 1828 and soundly defeated Adams in a re-match. But that victory turned bitter sweet when his wife Rachel died a few weeks before the March, 1837 inauguration which the president-elect believed was caused by stress when his political enemies spoke ill of her and her marriage to Jackson before her divorce to another man became final.
   
   Wilentz writes that once in office, Jackson was a champion of the concept of the republic, meaning the will of the majority ruled while he attempted to re-structure the functions of national government into how he believed it should operate.
   
   Modern pundits complain that today's politicians can be nasty and uncivil towards each other in their rancorous discussions on the issues of the day. But today's media sound bite zingers are tepid and restrained compared to how those of the different political parties and viewpoints treated each other two centuries ago when many disagreements ended with the two participants settling their feud with a duel.
   
   The political opponents of the president referred to Jackson as ruling like a king or dictator, since the new chief executive did his best to re-tool the government into a bureaucracy of his liking such as making multiple changes in his cabinet to get those advisors he desired and would do what he wanted. The colloquial phrase `to the victor goes the spoils,' refers to Jackson's selection of those political supporters of his choosing into specific national government posts to do his bidding.
   
   Jackson considered himself to be a man of honor and believed his words and those spoken by others to be a reflection of their firm beliefs. That's why he terminated the relationship with John Calhoun, his own vice-president, in 1832 when he determined the South Carolina politician had crossed him when Calhoun supported that state's desire to secede from the union in seeking nullification of certain laws over keeping the union together.
   
   Calhoun resigned as vice-president, the first national officer to do so, got himself appointed as a senator from South Carolina while that state made plans to secede from the union if the federal government continued to demand its share of taxes through tariffs. Jackson mobilized federal troops to send into that state and let it be known that he would publicly hang his former vice-president if cessation plans went forth.
   
   They didn't.
   
   Compare that to today's politicians who say or do anything to keep their particular electorate happy, even it will hurt the nation in the long-term as long as it keeps them being re-elected.
   
   Jackson also hated bankers and the concept of paper money that's not based on gold or silver. He closed down the Second Bank of the United States, (today's version of the Federal Reserve) and paid off the national debt in 1835 which endeared him to the masses. So it is with much irony that his image ended up on our twenty dollar bill, the most popular American paper currency that is issued by today's Federal Reserve Bank which is privately owned and makes a profit from the public debt that increases every year and has no chance of ever being paid off.
   
   Wilentz states that Jackson put the nation on the road to true democracy for all the people, although the democracy he believed in is not what we have today because that process evolved over time with the work of the many presidents who would follow.
   
   By the end of Jackson's second term, his popularity and large group of supporters across the country helped to start the creation of the modern Democratic Party and he was able through his influence to get his second vice-president, Martin Van Buren, elected to the presidency in 1836. Jackson's own political beliefs also led to the formation of the political parties movement when the Whig Party, mainly composed of those politicians who opposed Jackson on just about everything during his time in office, was created in 1834. They lasted for twenty years until it was replaced by the Republican Party in 1856 for the continuation of the two major political party system this nation still has today.
   
   Can it be considered unfair for those of us now alive two centuries later to judge Jackson and the other early 19th Century presidents on their stands regarding personal liberty when slavery was still prevalent to today's standards of freedom for all citizens? Yes. But that's not Jackson's fault. He made the decisions he believed on what was best for the country's long-term survival without compromise to any special interest group seeking favors for their particular cause to the detriment of the nation as a whole.
   
   What politician of today can make that same claim?



3. Nice book and an easy read. Not very much depth, but well written and informative. I would recommend to the casual reader, but not any historian.



4. The 2008 Presidential race is in full swing, and interest in the contest runs high. In order to keep my own bearings, I wanted to try to take a short but broader view of our Presidents and our nation's history. One way to do this is by reading some of the volumes in the recent "American Presidents" series edited by the late Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Each volume in this series offers, in short compass, the life and accomplishments of an American president together with an evaluation of his achievement.
   
   I chose Sean Wilentz' biography of Andrew Jackson (1767 -- 1845) because of our seventh President's role in broadening the basis of American democracy and because of the controversy he inspired and continues to inspire. Jackson was a flamboyant, larger-than-life figure with great virtues and as many faults. He was orphaned at an early age and bore for life the physical and emotional scars inflicted upon him by a sword gash to the head by a British officer during the Revolutionary War. Jackson fought off poverty and his own impulsive nature to serve an early term in Congress and in the Senate before the 19th century. He became a lawyer, a judge and a large plantation owner of the Hermitage in Tennessee. He became famous as an Indian fighter in wars against the Southeast Tribes such as the Creeks and Cherokees and against the Florida Seminoles. Jackson won a great victory against the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, (the War of 1812 was officially over at the time) which secured his fame.
   
   Jackson ran for President in 1824 but, following a close election, he was denied the presidency in the House of Representatives as a result of what he claimed was a "corrupt bargain" between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. In 1828, Jackson defeated Adams, inauguarating what he and many American people believed was a new age for American democracy. Wilentz describes the themes of Jackson's presidency as including:
   
   "robust nationalism on constitutional issues tempered by a restraint on federal support for economic development and a strict construction; a distrust of what Jackson called the corrputed power of 'associated wealth'; and a celebration of what one pro-Jackson newspaper called 'the democratic theory that the people's voice is the supreme law." (p. 112)
   
   In his biography, Wllentz reminds the reader that Jackson's age was not our own. Thus, the issues Jackson faced cannot be transferred directly to our current situation with the label of "liberal" or "conservative". Jackson was an enemy of big government. But in Jackson's time, this position made him a foe to the power of wealthy and powerful people and businesses who had a close relationship to the government and who, Jackson, believed, were gaining too much privilege at the expense of the people. Thus, a major activity of Jackson's presidency was his destruction of the Second Bank of the United States, a private bank which had been chartered by Congress and which exercised strong power over the American economy.
   
   Jackson thought that American government up to his time had been the province of the leisured and elite. His avowed goal was to make the government responsive to the will of the majority and to expand the basis of democracy. He did so, in part, and at a terrible cost. Jackson's democracy was formed by a coalition between Southern planters and northerners. This coalition inevitably led to compromises with slavery and to sectional tension. Jackson censored the mails to prevent anti-slavery tracts from flooding the South and opposed attempts to curtail slavery.
   
   In his younger days, Jackson had been a cruel Indian fighter, and in his Presidency he set in motion the removal of the Southeastern Tribes across the Mississippi over what became known as the "Trail of Tears." Wilentz, together with many other scholars, has some sympathy for the goals of the removal policy, but he emphasizes the cruelty and carelessness with which it was carried out, resulting in the death of thousands of Indian people.
   
   Jackson was a strong, even autocratic, excecutive. Perhaps his finest hour was in defusing, with a mixture of strength, compromise, and cunning, the "nullification controversy" resulting from South Carolina's attempt to set aside a Federal tariff with which it disagreed. Jackson was also an expansionist president who foresaw the acquition of Texas and the West even though no new territory was added to the United States during his two terms.
   
   Wilentz praises Jackson for his democratic vision and for his early version of egalitarianism even while he recognizes that, in its treatment of Indians, African Americans, and women it was quite different from our own ideals. Wilentz is favorably disposed towards Jackson's economic policies, including his war on the Bank. Many historians have different, less favorable views of Jackson. Those readers wanting an in-depth view of the period might want to compare two lengthy studies: Wilentz' own "The Rise of American Democracy" (2005) with the more recent study by Daniel Walker Howe "What hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848", which takes a less favorable view of Jackson and a more positive view of his predecessor in the presidency, John Quincy Adams, and of Jackson's opponents, the Whigs.
   
   Those readers wanting to reflect upon the history of our country and on where it may be going during this election year will enjoy reading this short study of Andrew Jackson and its companions in the American Presidents series.
   
   Robin Friedman



5. Sean Wilentz submits his mostly positive take on Andrew Jackson for the American Presidents series edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Jackson's reputation and ranking among US presidents has fallen in recent decades, mostly due to his treatment of Indians, his stance on slavery, and misunderstanding of his economic policies. Wilentz argues, and I concur, that any attempt judge Andrew Jackson by standards of other time periods is doomed to failure.
   
   In his time, Jackson was considered the great champion of democracy. As set forth in his first annual message, `the majority is to govern' was his emblem. New York editor William Leggett considered him the `leader and champion of the people'. While these words sound like 4th of July political platitudes to our ear, in his time Jackson faced opponents who still believed in a `natural aristocracy' and who feared `mob rule' as they saw democracy. The anti-Jacksonsonian William Henry Seward summarized the Jacksonian principle: `That principle is democracy....the poor against the rich; and it is not to be disguised.'
   
   Jackson stood against what he called the `few monied Capitalists' as represented by Nicholas Biddle and 2nd Bank of the US. Again, in the modern view the necessity of a national central bank seems obvious, but Biddle's bank used its power to grant `special privileges to unaccountable monied men on the make as well as those already well established.'(Wilentz at p. 83) In his words, Jackson wanted to get the wealthy off the backs of the `humble members of society'.
   
   In one his major feats, Jackson defeated the `nullifiers' led by John C. Calhoun. The theory of state nullification of federal laws undermined national unity and indeed the survival of the Union.
   
   Jackson also considered the removal of the southeastern Indian tribes, the Creeks, Cherokee, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, as one of the greatest accomplishments of his administration. Jackson professed, and Wilentz accepts, that his intent was to remove the Indians from the harm they would suffer at the hands of local whites especially in Georgia. The removal also served Jackson's aim of US western expansion. And whatever Jackson's intent, the Indians generally opposed the removals and suffered tremendously from the policy (Note: The Trail of Tears actually occurred during the presidency of Jackson's protégé, Matty Van Buren).
   
   Jackson also vigorously opposed the nascent abolitionist movement. Wilentz asserts that Jackson believed that anti-slavery politicians were `ambitious demagogues' (Wilentz at p. 164) who simply used the issue for personal gain. His great desire was to suppress the slavery issue because he accurately saw it as the greatest threat of disunion. The effort to suppress the debate was foredoomed to failure.
   
   This book is well worth a read for anyone interested in American history generally or Jackson specifically. It meets Schlesinger's goal of being compact, lucid, and authoritative. For those who want a fuller consideration Wilentz suggests Robert Remini's Andrew Jackson and notes the newer (and acclaimed) biography by HW Brands, Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times.

5 comments about James Buchanan (The American Presidents).

1. Over the years the occupier of the cellar of American presidents has changed. When I was growing up, Warren G. Harding held the title as "Worst President Ever", then Ulysses S. Grant seemed to vie for a tie. In more recent years and given a more thorough look, James Buchanan now resides there and Jean H. Baker's excellent short biography of President Buchanan goes into some reasons why that has happened.
   
   Far from being the domestic American Neville Chamberlain of his day, Baker argues that vacillation wasn't Buchanan's worst trait (although it was a pretty bad one) but his pro-Southern views were. As a seasoned politician and diplomat, our fifteenth president was arguably one of the best prepared to take over the presidency in 1857. But, as suggested, things began to heat up fast and Buchanan's support of the Dred Scott Decision, perhaps the worst Supreme Court decision in U.S. history, got the ball rolling. Buchanan seemed to be feckless at every turn, managing to alienate his own party politicians with decisions that pleased no one in the end. But her chapter on the lame-duck months of Buchanan's presidency is the best of the book, as it should be. This four-month transition is one of the most important in presidential turnovers and has been heavily scrutinized for decades with the author coming down hard on Buchanan. What might have been done to save the country had Buchanan actually moved swiftly and successfully to reinforce Fort Sumter, for instance? We'll never know, but Baker gives the reader some things about which to think.
   
   On the personal side, the author delves lightly into Buchanan's possible homosexuality and concludes, like everyone else, we'll never know. But she does make an interesting point toward the end of the book when she contemplates the reasons for Buchanan's pro-Southern tilt by suggesting that the president preferred the more genteel southern ways to the edginess of his northern counterparts.
   
   The American Presidents series is terrific and I've read several of the presidential mini-biographies. This is one of the best and I highly recommend it.



2. So Jean Baker judges James Buchanan. (5 points if you can name the other two members of the triumvirate.) For her, his presidency was a miserable failure. This was surprising because, at least on paper, no man was more qualified to be chief executive. Buchanan had personal contact with every president since James Madison. He'd served as a congressman, senator, cabinet officer, leader of his party (Democrats), and minister to England. Moreover, in a post-Jacksoninan period when the presidency was viewed as a primarily administrative (rather than executive) office (perhaps this goes some way toward accounting for the "feckless triumvirate"), Buchanan saw himself as a wielder of power and an initiator of policy.
   
   But Baker argues that Buchanan, for all his apparent qualifications, was too dogmatically pro-Southern in his views, and too unpragmatic in dealing with sectional crises, to be an effective president. He stacked his cabinet with pro-slavery yes men (a cabinet, by the way, which was notoriously corrupt). He pulled strings behind the scenes to persuade a fellow-Pennsylvanian on the Supreme Court to vote with Taney on Dred Scott. He totally fumbled the Kansas crisis, doggedly defending the Lecomptian slave constitution even when it became clear that the vast majority in Kansas were free-staters. And in the long lame duck period before Lincoln took office, when the states in the lower South pulled out of the Union, Buchanan completely lost his head and became paralyzed with indecision and panic, sometimes unable to get out of bed.
   
   Baker, unlike other more sympathetic biographers, doesn't see Buchanan as a peacemaker caught in a tide of unstoppable sectional conflict so much as a man largely unqualified by temperament (gloomy, pessimistic, fatalistic) and dogmatic partisanship to handle the crisis. Perhaps. I don't claim to know enough about Buchanan to evaluate her conclusion. But I do know two things. First, she's presented a convincing case for Buchanan's incompetence and downright shadiness when it comes to the Kansas crisis, and there's good reason to think that this example is representative of his entire presidency. Second, I'd have liked to have learned more about Buchanan the man in order to be satisfied that Baker's characterization of his temperament was accurate. I know that her volume is in a series that focuses on presidential administrations, and so a full-fledged biography would've been inappropriate. But nonetheless, I didn't actually get a feel for Buchanan the person in reading her book.



3. There are 72 reviews of this brief and simply-written biography of a President who came to office with superb qualifications and who bungled the job that perhaps no one could have done. I found the book quite adequate as an introduction to the decade of the 1850s. Causes have to precede effects; anyone interested in the causes of the Civil War ought to have a good look at the events that led to Buchanan's election, and the dismal decision Buchanan made in reaction to those events. Honestly, however, you needn't buy the book. Just read the 72 reviews herewith. It will take some patience, and some tolerance for bad syntax, but it will reveal just exactly how polarizing the Civil War was, and still is.
   
   This "American Presidents" series is surprisingly top notch. I also recommend the biography of US Grant, the most underrated and slandered chief exec of American history.



4. James Buchanan came to the presidency with a wonderful resume. And he failed dismally. This brief biography, part of the well done "The American Presidents" series, tries to explain that disconnect. In the recurring introduction to each volume in the series that he edited, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. remarked that (Page xvii) "To succeed, presidents must not only have a port to seek but they must convince Congress and the electorate that it is a port worth seeking." And "there's the rub" for Buchanan.
   
   His background was impeccable: Pennsylvania state legislature, U. S. House of Representatives and Senate, Secretary of State, Ambassador to Russia and England. As Jean Baker, the author of this slim volume says (Page 7): "Critical times often summon forth our best presidents, and it is worth taking the measure of those presidents who, given the opportunity, failed to rise to greatness. James Buchanan was one of those."
   
   The Democratic nomination for president culminated at the Convention. Franklin Pierce (incumbent president), Stephen Douglas, Lewis Cass, and Buchanan. After some maneuvering, Buchanan's supporters helped get him the nomination.
   
   After his election, though, he ran into a buzz saw: a panic (depression), violence in Kansas, and the horrific "Dred Scott" Supreme Court decision. Buchanan selected a Cabinet that was very much pro-Southern, some of his closest allies were from the South, and he alienated Democrats such as Stephen Douglas. He did not recognize the danger of the slavery issue and watched as his pro-Southern stance split the Democratic Party, enabling the one thing anathema to him to occur--the election of a Republican in 1860, Abraham Lincoln.
   
   Why did he fail so miserably? Unreflective prosouthernism is one part of the explanation, according to Baker. Other factors--his arrogant and uncompromising use of power.
   
   So, an interesting essay on a failed president. I think that personality quirks might be overemphasized in this book. Overall, though, a useful volume for those who want a quick introduction to the presidents.



5. James Buchanan possibly was one of the best qualified men to assume the office of President. Qualifications don't mean anything if you don't have backbone and belief in principles. Buchanan bent over backward to try to please his Southern friends and it didn't get him anywhere. He tried to be rigid on forcing the North to bend to the South's ways. This didn't help him in the North. He defied the will of the people of Kansas and made more enemies. Finally everybody was fed up with this man. The South suceeded and the North elected the Republicans. The Democrats became a wilderness party for the next twenty eight odd years. James Buchanan played an instrumental role in the downfall of the Democratic Party and the United States.
   
   This is a short quick read. However Baker makes it plain that leadership does not develop from experience. A better leader may have found a way to change and compromise so that the United States didn't not go through a horrible war. Poor leadership by James Buchanan.

5 comments about Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination.

1. An absolute must-read for not just any Disney enthusiast, but anyone interested in the history of American pop culture in general. Gabler's effort to gather the most comprehensive research on the man behind the mouse is evident throughout, but even more important is his ability to weave that research into a page-turner of a tale which parallels the themes of the Disney features themselves, most importantly struggle against adversity, good versus evil, and the glory of success versus the misery of failure.
   
   Enlightening, invigorating, and inspirational. A pleasure to read.



2. If you ever wanted to know virtually everything about Walt Disney and the Disney company, this is the book for you. The author has almost overwhelming detail of Walt's early upbringing and difficult life to his unfortunate early death while in the middle of planning out Disney World and Epcot. This book is not for the light reader on the subject, the biography is massive with over 600 pages not counting the notes and index. But you will come away from the book adoring the man that never stopped planning and making improvements from not just the way cartoons were drawn but by making them more artistic, utilizing new techniques and cameras with an analyzing eye for detail. Often on the brink of bankruptcy, Walt, with the huge contribution of brother Roy, continued to make improved products equiring outstanding loans throughout much of his career. Betrayed initially by a film distributor who not only stole, legally, Disney's Oswald character and stole many of his staff, Disney and his top artist Ub Iwerks, develop the life changing Mickey Mouse. But as Gabler tells the story, Disney's studio grows and so do the risks with perhaps the greatest risk at that time, Snow White, the first full length animation film. What almost seems like a pattern, Walt continues to make improvements, hire increased staff and take out loans as he produces more, works staff long hours to put out a higher quality package. The book also provides a sobering view of Disney as sometimes the pressure was too great for the great story teller and the advent of unions and the need for stock sales along with bankers starting to provide over sight leads to greater restrictions and frustration but then Disney thrives with less costly non-cartoon films such as Davey Crocket that become quite a rage along with the Mickey Mouse TV show and eventually his plan for Disneyland that was an attempt to fulfill his boyhood dreams of his small town life in Marceline, Missouri. Fascinating detail on such things as Ub Iwerks as the actual artist who drew the early Mickey, the need for Donald Duck as a charcter to offset the corporate wholesomeness now required of the mouse, Roy Disney who held the finances together to allow Walt to plunge on and and Disney's plan for developing not only Disney World with modern monorails but Epcot. The sad end of the book of course is Walt's death of cancer that is well hinted very early on by references to a hacking cough many years before. What is really unfortunate was Walt Disney's plan for Epcot that was never completely fullfilled that was to be more of a town with living areas for Disney employees creating a village concept that is actually being realized in many communities today (office parks with stores, landscapped lakes, and condos or apartments). Regretfully as Roy Disney said, the great plans for Epcot died with Walt. Primarily because Walt reached higher and higher, his ultimate plans with stringent notation to detail crerated a fascinating entertainment industry.



3. As with any major celebrity, there is fact and there is legend. With Walt Disney, the lines have become blurred as Walt the man has been supplanted by Walt the icon. Most people today have gotten to know the image of "Uncle Walt," the paternally avuncular picture of middle American success -- the man who went from animated cartoons, feature films, to television and Disneyland and its successors. Yet there was another side to Walt. He was by turns a workaholic, hard-driving taskmaster, visionary, storyteller, tinkerer and technical wizard -- a man who inspired and infuriated subordinates, colleagues, competitors. Ever the perfectionist, he sought to elevate entertainment above the simplistic to the artful.
   
   Neal Gabler crafts a splendid examination of the life of this enigmatic man -- labeled by many as "An American Original." Going beyond the superficial press releases and stock images, he looks not only at Walt Disney the entertainer, but Walt Disney the man. He presents a well-researched, meticulous, balanced portrait of a unique individual -- a genius, who nevertheless possessed deep flaws and human weaknesses. We discover a man who, despite his upbringing (or perhaps because of it), rose to become a giant in the entertainment world. In the process, he became a symbol, alternately, of innovation, artistry, daring, conventionality, stodginess, and ultimately, an icon synonymous with happiness (albeit at an often hefty price).
   
   The author explores his personal relationships with family and friends, including his brother Roy, his wife Lillian, and the animators and studio employees from whom he would later distance himself as he grew in ego and stature. Uncle Walt succeeded in reinventing himself in the image of the quintessential American of his own making.
   
   Mr. Gabler chronicles not only Disney and the company that bears his name, but also an industry and an era long past, but whose roots still entwine the American imagination.



4. Neither a love letter nor a scathing attack, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination is an even-handed and thorough examination of one of the undisputed icons of 20th century popular culture. And written in Neal Gabler's clear, crisp narrative style, it's dense but enjoyable reading.
   
   Gabler clearly has done his homework, and done it extensively (and, he notes in the afterword, he did all his own research rather than passing the legwork off on assistants). It makes for a cohesive look at how Disney decided animated characters needed to evoke emotional responses; created the first feature-length animated film; promoted both Technicolor and color TV in their infancies; became the first motion picture studio executive to work directly with nascent television networks; and, of course, redefined the concept of the amusement park.
   
   At the same time, Gabler discloses Disney's involvement in the anti-Communist and blacklist hysteria; his reluctance to credit individual studio artists; and how, later in life, he became a tyrannical figure at Walt Disney Productions while simultaneously always pursuing innovative projects.
   
   Especially important, Gabler shows how Disney consciously created (and even licensed to his own studio) a "Walt Disney" public persona while remaining intensely private -- and how he was never satisified with resting on his previous accomplishments and, in fact, seemed embarrassed that his legacy would be what he had already done.
   
   While it takes a while to read, Neal Gabler has produced a biography that shows how Disney both directly and indirectly influenced how generations experienced entertainment -- and their expectations of it.



5. What I have to say has already been said in several two-star reviews: for all its impressive length and alleged research, Gabler never gets a proper handle on Disney as either a man or a creative artist. The new Mike Barrier book is better. The old Richard Schickel book is better. The short chapter in Leonard Maltin's "Of Mice and Magic" is better. Heck, there are websites devoted to Disney that are better!
   
   Somehow - I guess because of its length and sanctioning by the Disney organization - this has been annointed as the "definitve" Disney biography. But it misses by a mile. It's boring, pretentious, and very unsatisfying. You'll get much more of out the shorter, better-written book by Mike Barrier - a lifelong animation scholar who understands Disney in ways that Gabler simply can't.
   
   Please believe me (as somebody who's read nearly everything about Disney, and has been a major animation buff/collector for 40 years) when I say that this disappointing book has been insanely overpraised!

5 comments about Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams.

1. This book by Joseph Ellis covers the post-presidential years of John Adam. It discusses his renewed correspondence with Thomas Jefferson after many years of silence because of partisan politics. It reveals a picture of a brillant but misunderstood founding father who Ellis calls "the voice of the Revolution" and Jefferson "the pen of the Revolution." A well-written and insightful book! A must read especially for those who read McCullouch's book on Adams.



2. Great book that I shared with friends at Christmas. John Adams, an extraordinary intellectual who, thanks to Joseph Ellis, history has not forgotten. Fascinating, one that you want to read word for word, slowly.



3. Joseph Ellis has taken upon himself the task of bringing the relatively unknown 2nd President of the United States out of obscurity and making him relevant to today's industrial America. Surprisingly, Ellis finds a way to make this shadowy figure between Washington and Jefferson every bit as memorable and important as his predecessor and successor; no simple task, given that Adams was forcibly shoved from the pantheon of American heroes over a century ago.
   
   Passionate Sage reveals Adams as he would have liked: Contrarian in every respect, an irritating mixture of sanguine and volcanic, pessimistic and hopeful, witty and reserved. More importantly, though, Ellis reveals Adams for the master of political thought that he was. No longer is Adams a footnote between the Great Leader and the Republican - in this slim tome, Ellis finds a way to enlighten readers to Adams' unparalleled contributions to Constitutional and American history. As history has shown, few men did more for the American cause than the underappreciated John Adams, and even fewer living Americans are aware of the monumental accomplishments the Sage of Quincy achieved in his nearly nine decades in America.
   
   Though Passionate Sage falls victim to the dry definitions of a professional academic, these drudging pages do not occur with great frequency. However, the slim size of this volume does seem cluttered with pedantic and tangential discussions that distract from the subject himself - ironically, the same slight Adams suffered in his own time.



4. Ellis again does an excellent job of making public figures who are seemingly lost to history real again. While not as flowery and readable as McCullough's work, I believe Ellis' effort to be more substantive. Following only Adams' post-presidency years, Ellis explores Adams' core political principles and beliefs through the struggles and battles of his sunset years.
   
   Through Adams' fight with long-time friend Mercy Otis Warren over his legacy, to his arguments with Mary Wollstonecraft in the margins of her own books, Ellis is able to show an aging John Adams at his best (or worst): outspoken, irreverent, fiesty, and more often than not, correct. The reader is led through Adams' opinions on government, law, the French Revolution, and more. The curious reader would do well to compare Adams' and Jefferson's opinions of the French revolutionaries, keeping "track of score."
   
   I only wish that Ellis could have written more. This book, while dry at times, will hold the reader's attention and leave them wanting more chapters.
   
   Recommended to the general reader who has already read through a full-length Adams biography.



5. Ellis' biography of John Adams, one of the earliest published portraits of the Founding Fathers by the author, is well suited for those who want a shorter, crisper account than the longer ones produced by other biographers (e.g., McCullough). Though it does not include some important material unearthed since its appearance, it honors Adams' essential brilliance and his determinative role in both the success of the American Revolution and the country's endurance while a Federalist president.

5 comments about The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cern and America's Race in Space.

1. What a great read. Parts of this book was a bit hokey, but I really enjoyed the book. Based on what I've read in other material about NASA, Gene was one of the most liked astronauts. What a great guy. A must read. I've read a lot of material and books on the Mecury thru Apollo missions, and I think the best I've read was Micheal Collins "Carrying the Fire" this lends itself to great detail and leaves you with a good education.
   
   KLD



2. Some people may be disappointed by this book. There's very little about Commander Cernan's time on the surface of the moon. If that's all you want to know about, I'd still recommend the book but you'll only want to read a couple of chapters. But to buy the book for that reason would be to miss the point. This is the story of the man that was last to stand on the moon. The moon was his home for 3 days. For a guy over 70 years old, that's not a large period of his life, even if it is what history will remember him for. This is what it was like to be an astronaut for NASA at that time and that's all you need to know, and it's personal, heart warming, fun, exciting, distressing, stressful and sad, just like real life.
   In 2007 I got the opportunity to meet Gene Cernan and had the pleasure of sharing dinner with him. He told me this book was the best way to know what it was like to be on the moon.
   And he's right, in every way. It describes many years of hard work, dedication, hardship and sacrifice, for a short period of time in which he was kept so busy he had to treasure the moments where he could take it all in.
   It is a testament to the quality of writing that my opinions of Commander Cernan are the same now, after reading the book as they were when I bade him farewell. He's a genuine, pull no punches guy. I don't think his heart is on his sleeve but he'll say what he thinks.
   I was honoured to spend a time in company with Commander Gene Cernan and get to know him. Reading this book, you will get to know him too.
   Read this book. It describes the pinnacle of human achievement and how it was done. The men, the women, the engineers, the scientists, the emotion, the humanity. It's all here and it makes you proud to be part of humanity because we may not be perfect, but neither were they.
   
   It's magnificent!



3. I liked this book for its coverage of all the space flights from the beginning with Gemini to the end with Apollo. Gene was in fact the "last man on the moon" as we stopped going to the moon after his flight! He did more in his lifetime than most anyone. He started as a Navy pilot, about to go into Vietnam, when he got pulled for astronaut duty. I liked reading his descriptions of the celebrity lifestyle the original astronauts lived, with lots of parties at the Cape in Florida (while the wives were banished to their homes outside Houston!). I thought he touched on what it was like for the wives to live with a larger-than-life "space hero" in their midst, but he pulled back in some places. He does give his opinion on all the famous astronauts like Al Shephard and Neil Armstrong, and what he thought of their personalities and also their ranking as far as the best of the astronauts. The only downside to the book was, because Gene was involved in so many space flights, both as a backup crew and regular crew, that by the time you get to his last moon flight it's a bit routine hearing once again about getting the rocket ready for launch, stuffing themselves into their bulky spacesuits, etc. Overall, the book is very thorough and good but maybe could have used more humorous stories. I also liked the very beginning of the book where he talks about his grandparents old-time farm in Antigo, WI, without any running water or electricity.



4. It's no surprise that it's well-written considering how many journalists (and potential co-authors) Gene Cernan knows. It is accessible to all because they kept it non-technical.
   
   The author keeps his family in the forefront and puts his wife and daughter on a pedestal. He lets us in on how an Apollo astronaut's career could be a real marriage-tester due to his time away from home, and the wife being on stage. I liked the way they chronicled the story not only with dates, but with what songs were playing on the radio and what the non-NASA headlines were.
   
   Personal judgments abound. He pulls no punches on Buzz Aldrin and a few other astronauts, resurrects the Apollo 15 "scandal," and then runs a one-man campaign to redeem and lionize Alan Shepard, burying the screw-ups of Apollo 14. (For those who consider Shepard a hero, as I once did, may I suggest Andrew Chaikin's authoritative and well-researched tome A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts.) Another thing I found really different about Cernan's memoir: Wally Schirra is finally vindicated as an unsung hero of the space race. The author recaps Schirra's brash manner during the Apollo 7 flight as others have, but also points out that Wally had been that way during the previous 21 months (since The Fire), getting in everyone's face with his demands at North American and other contractors. It made me realize how much Wally Schirra had to do with us (people) getting to the moon by the time we did.
   
   Any Apollo aficionado would be remiss without reading this. (Ditto for Chaikin, and Jim Lovell's "Apollo 13.") This is an inspiring American success story.



5. When I started to read The Last Man on the Moon I wondered: What did it feel like to walk in space and on the moon? I got more than I bargained for. I enjoyed one of the greatest true adventures of all times when Cernan removed the shackles of the earth and took me to places where few have gone.
   
   Cernan's book is exceptional at describing what it felt like to be an astronaut in the 1960s and what it was like to walk in space and on the moon.
   
   One of the parts I could relate to best was his descriptions of a space walk during a Gemini mission and his moon walks. His descriptions of a pressurized suit that was tough to move and navigate in were amazing. As a diver who has been to places such as the Galapagos islands (with cold waters) I know what its like to have a life support system and bulky suit. Cernan's descriptions helped me understand (just a little) what it is like to walk in space and on the moon.
   
   There were many close calls in the space programs that were truly nail biters. For example, during the Apollo 10 mission Gene Cernan discusses Tom Stafford and himself spinning out of control while just above the moon. The countless hours of training and razor sharp skills of the astronauts saved them. Stafford pulled them out at the last couple of seconds just before they would have crashed into the moon.
   
   There were also stories of tragedies such as the loss of the three men in the fire of Apollo 1. Everyone on the space program was deeply saddened. Afterwards everyone's resolve to go to the moon safely reached a new level of commitment.
   
   The book is definitely a page turner with many amusing antidotes. One story that sticks out in my mind is when Cernan explains that the early astronauts were like rock stars (they could do almost anything they wanted to). For example, they would let there wives know they were coming home in the evening by flying right over their homes with their jets before landing at a local base (a true flyby). Then they would jump into their Corvettes and drive like a bats out of h**l to their homes screeching into the driveways. This is stuff that legends are made of.
   
   Cernan writing style is engaging and fascinating. He is both a strong Critical Thinker and philosopher rolled into one.
   
   For example, in one telling excerpt he discusses the importance of going to the moon as a commander, not just walking on it. His thoughts are summed up when he says: "I have always believed that destiny is a matter of personal choice, where you carefully think out your decision, consider the downside, accept the risk of being wrong, and press on."
   
   Cernan eloquently writes about his passion for space travel when he says: "Our legacy is that humans are no longer shackled to the Earth. We opened the door to tomorrow, and our trips to another celestial body will rank as the ultimate triumph in the Age of Achievement. And for the price, it was the biggest bargain in history."
   
   He goes on to say: "Sometimes it seems that Apollo came before its time. President Kennedy reached far into the twenty-first century, grabbed a decade of time and slipped it neatly into the 1960's and 1970s."
   
   I have been fortunate to meet Gene Cernan on a few occasions at Astronaut gatherings in the past couple of years. He is one of the greatest advocates for the space program and is a gentleman and a scholar. He still has a bounce in his step and a twinkle in his eye...and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a little mischief in him as well.
   
   Once at a dinner I was sitting at Cernan's table and someone asked him whether seeing the moon was different from earth orbit or from the moon.
   
   Gene Cernan got very quiet and thoughtful and said that it was entirely different. He went on to say that from orbit the earth is beautiful with its blue oceans, majestic large land masses and more. Then he paused and got very serious. He said from the moon the view of the earth was unbelievable. He went on to say that seeing this little blue ball that hung in black space by an invisible string (axis) that it turned on was unbelievable. You could see in his eyes that he had a life changing experience when he saw it from the front porch of the moon many years ago.
   
   There are several excellent books on the early space program. The Last Man on the Moon is one of the best of the best.
   
   The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

5 comments about The Catcher Was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg.

1. I'd been anticipating reading this book for some time, but getting through it was a chore. Dawidoff's writing and research are thorough. Berg left behind a wealth of personal material and many who knew him were still alive and available by phone or personal interview to Dawidoff. Hundreds of anecdotes and details about Berg's life emerge from these resources, and Dawidoff marches them all past the reader. The question is "Why?" Berg never becomes very interesting. It is well-known that he was a mediocre major league catcher. He was not much better as a spy, excelling mostly at running up large expense accounts. His tradecraft was abysmal; making and keeping notes to himself about briefings he received is such a fundamental error as to be ludicrous. After more than 300 pages it remained hard for me to take Berg seriously in any of his endeavors. In the end this is the biography of a moderately interesting obsessive dilettante, whose avoidance of normal human contact except on his own often strange terms seems almost pathological. Dawidoff tries valiantly but a New Yorker profile of about one-tenth this length would have been a sufficient account of Moe Berg's mildly curious life.



2. Moe Berg is truly one of the most interesting, and enigmatic, characters in sports history. What always fascinated me was how, after WWII and no longer in baseball, Berg never worked. He would stay at friends and relatives' homes throughout the country, reading multiple newspapers, and maintaining strict control of those papers. My guess, and this would make for an interesting investigative study, is that he stayed on the OSS/CIA payroll and was working for them, in some capacity: Dissecting the news, dealing with Communist espionage - or who knows, maybe he was working with foreign elemnets. Berg was something. He has to be considered a major hero. Surely the fact that he was an ex-ballplayer makes him stand out from the other heroes under "Wild Bill" Donovan, as does the fact that a Jew was sent to Nazi-controlled Finland to get German scientists. This is a terrific story. (...)



3. Moe Berg was completely unpleasant. I found myself wondering why I should care about his life. He was a mediocre ballplayer, a mediocre scholar and a mediocre spy. His talent was that he was pleasant to be around. Why write a book about him?
   
   Why read about him? I wondered that. My reaction was, "So what?"



4. This interesting biography covers a most unusual person. Moe Berg (1902-1972) was a talented linguist, ballplayer, and U.S. espionage agent for the OSS (forerunner of the CIA) before and during World War II and briefly for the CIA after the war. Author Nicholas Dawidoff describes Berg's mysterious life, including New Jersey boyhood, studies at Princeton and Columbia, and years as a second-string catcher for the Dodgers, White Sox, Indians, Senators and Red Sox. Even as a player Berg was better know for his linguistic skills and stealth than for his baseball exploits. Then readers learn of Berg's years as a spy, which probably began when Berg toured Japan with other big leaguers in 1934. The author describes Berg's secret wartime activities, including his 1944-45 mission to ascertain the status of Nazi nuclear research. We also read of his later years, when except for brief CIA assignments, Berg chose to freeload off relatives and friends rather than employ his superb linguistic and legal talents (he had a law degree). A Overall, Berg was an enigmatic man, and this biography, written two decades after his passing, fails to uncover much about him - perhaps Berg would have wanted it that way. Still, this is an interesting and nicely researched biography.



5. I felt like I was reading the sports pages for the first 140 pages. Too many stats, facts and figures. The storyline didn't flow, the plot was sluggish and languished for the most part. The story of Moe Berg's life should have packed some punch! I expected more pizazz. His life warranted it, but the book didn't deliver.

5 comments about Nathanael Greene: A Biography of the American Revolution.

1. After reading Mr. Carbone's Nathaniel Greene series in the Providence Journal, I contacted him and asked if he had plans for a book. I felt that it was extremely well written. It kept my interest so much that I was anxious for the next morning's paper to arrive. It was written in such a way that you feel that you are there. As a big history buff and with the success of HBO's John Adams, I think that this book should be made into a major movie. Congratulations, GED!
   I highly recommend this book for all that are interested in American history.



2. Gerald Carbone writes that Nathanael Greene's involvement throughout the entire war results in the general's biography being quite similar to that of the American Revolution itself. This is a good summary for the book. In fact, Carbone even provides a refresher on the litany of acts imposed by Parliament that precipitated the war and discusses some of the battles in which Greene was never even involved.
   
   The writing is succinct and moves quickly through the events. Largely, based on Greene's Letters (but, unfortunately, not those of many others), Carbone describes Greene as a meticulous tactician and fervent patriot. The reader learns exactly how Greene was so successful in battle. After initial defeats in New York and Pennsylvania, perhaps due to over-optimism, Greene distinguished himself in New Jersey - at Springfield and in a victory of sorts at Monmouth. His ability to impose discipline and thoroughly understand local geography and use it to his advantage was extraordinary.
   
   The second part of the book deals with Greene's Southern command leading to the British surrender at Yorktown. This is quite a thrilling read about partisan warfare and daring tactics. For a further account of the less discussed, but highly important Southern Campaign, refer to Walter Edgar's Partisans and Redcoats.
   
   Through all the battles, however, the reader learns little about Greene's character. Why was this man, raised as a Quaker, so intent on leaving his new wife and family and successful business to fight against the British? Was it ambition and glory that propelled him to seek positions of authority? Or was it genuine support for the Patriot cause? And if so, what had turned him against the British?
   
   Furthermore, Greene commanded the first segregated regiment in Rhode Island and he was not an insignificant slaveholder himself; however, there is scant discussion of his views about slavery. We know that most of the other Founders were against it, many of whom were from a Southern society dependent on slavery, yet they vehemently renounced it (at least in writing) and declared it to be opposed to the egalitarian principles of the Revolution.
   
   The author pays homage to Greene's military successes, but Greene, despite his absence from politics, was an important leader and deserves further analysis. Fittingly, the author notes that Greene was buried in an unmarked tomb - after reading this book we still don't really know who he was.



3. It is amazing that after hundreds of years of review and many factual accounts being written that an author can bring new life and perspective to the American Revolution....but Gerald Carbone has done it with this book.
   
   This review of the General Nathanael Greene's personal life and war time thoughts and actions are documented in letters to his family, friends, General Washington, and other major military players. These letters are woven into historical accounts of this war providing a play by play to the game of cat and mouse he played with British Generals in both the northern and southern fronts over many years. The race to victory over the second half of the book is especially exciting for a story which we already know the outcome.
   
   Over and above the insight into Greene's thoughts and never ending planning for the war, the book provides an interesting perspective of the communication, travel and logistics of operating a war in that time period. His personal thoughts of balancing the responsibility of leading an army in war time and family duties are also intriguing.
   
   Definitely worth reading for the whole family.



4. In "Nathaneal Greene: A Biography of the American Revolution", Gerald Carbone provides the reader with an outstanding view of the American struggle for independence, at the same time providing tremendous insight into one of our country's most significant (and perhaps tragic) figures.
   The author's skillful use of the subject's own writings, as well as those of his contemporaries, provides the reader with an exceptional insight into both the characters and the tenor of the times. Exceptionally well researched and well written! An excellent read!



5. Gerald Carbone has written a book that every Rhode Islander should read.
   Nathanael Greene was a true Patriot and unsung hero in this country's fight for freedom.
   
   Mr Carbone's journalist's background can be seen in his absorbing portrait of a true American hero.

5 comments about Baruch: My Own Story.

1. This book is the best autobiography that I have ever read. Baruch, the Wall Street financier and advisor to Presidents Wilson through Truman, lived an amazing life. Unlike many autobiographies, which are written with an eye to aggrandizement, this one accurately portrays Baruch as a decent humanitarian that did not let his success and power go to his head. There are no intimations here (or elsewhere) that Baruch was dishonest or untrustworthy, and he served in many public service capacities without pay. Baruch writes about his friendships with guys like John "Bet a Million" Gates and "Diamond" Jim Brady. As an investor, I was impressed about how Baruch was able to write about his early failures in the market and was steeled by the fact that he made so many mistakes in his youth but was undeterred on the path to wealth. This book was so good I read it in one day.



2. A fantastic writer, a brilliant business leader and judicious statesman. Bernard Baruch's explanation of the background and definition of the term speculator in chapter IX, is one of the finest pieces of business mentorship and insight available in print. He believes it is an ability of priceless value in human affairs, especially the need to act in time. Practical wisdom in any age.



3. This biography is a great read for anyone interested in this great man who counseled presidents and was associated with Winston Churchill. It is interesting in showing how far ahead of his time Mr. Baruch was in not only stock speculating but also discrimination and economics. He was a millionaire in his early thirties after a few good runs in the stock market and devoted the remainder of his life serving the public and helping the U.S. when WWI and WWII. If you are reading it for only his advice on stocks just read chapter XIX My investment philosophy. It is one of the greatest chapters you will find anywhere on successful stock speculation. He will explain to you that economic conditions do not drive prices, peoples perceptions do. Cut your losses fast. Sell your worst performers keep your best. Know what you are investing in. You can only truly learn the rules of stock trading by experiencing the losses personally. Here is a summary of his 10 rules summarized:
   
   1. Only speculate if you can do it full time.
   2. Ignore inside information and tips.
   3. Have a complete understanding of a companies fundamentals before you buy the stock.
   4. Don't try to buy bottoms or sell tops.
   5. Cut your losses quickly.
   6. Focus on and buy only a few stocks.
   7. Review and update your investments periodically for changes.
   8. Study your tax position to know when to sell at greatest advantage.
   9. Never invest all your funds. Keep a reserve.
   10. Stick to the field you know best in investments.
   
   Chapter 19 is a must read for all serious stock traders.



4. You may not agree with many of his philosophies on life, markets or politics. Like Soros, he wasn't a supporter of uncontrolled laissez faire capitalism. He was a disciplined man who espoused discipline and control in public and private affairs.
   
   I was drawn to this memoir through the mention of Baruch by Jim Rogers (who founded the Quantum fund with Soros) in an interview two decades back. Then at another place i had heard he sold off his stocks in 1929, just before the big break, when a shoe-polish boy gave him a tip.
   
   Who was Baruch? One of the most successful men in speculation and politics in his time - a wall street partner at 25, a millionaire at 30, a statesman by 50. A very rational observer, he trusted his own judgement above all else. There are many lessons for the trading/investing mind. The one i liked the most was his insistence on never trusting inside information above one's own rational judgement.
   
   This is a fabulous book written by a great man in his closing days. A man who was as big a success in public life as he was in his private.



5. Bernard Baruch ranks up there with the Morgans, Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Warburgs, Thomas Ryan, etc, in the cutthroat world of business and securities. This brilliant individual found himself rubbing elbows with all of these men along with Presidents, congressmen, senators, rich and powerful elite of the U.S., and Foreign leaders like Winston Churchill. His writing is highly entertaining with insights into the mind of one of the greatest investors the U.S. has ever witnessed. It is one of the greatest books I have ever read, and is a staple for anyone who wants to learn not only what it takes to be a player in this arena, but also the pitfalls many inexperienced and some experienced investors have fallen into. He is a truley enlightened individual who prides himself on taking advantage of the panic behavior found within human beings. This book is for people interested in power, wealth, and speculation in the stock market.