2 comments about Custer: Cavalier in Buckskin.

1. The earlier paperback edition of Cavalier was the first book I read about Custer. At the time I was expecting Utley to take a strong stand as to whether Custer was a brilliant Indian-fighting hero, or an egomaniacal upstart. So I found the objective style and even-handed treatment a little disappointing. However, several years and books later, I have come to see this as the best book on Custer and LBH ever written, mainly because of his refusal to approach the subject with the pre-conceived notions others have.

   Utley neither lauds Custer, nor does he cast blame. He makes it clear that Custer may have been somewhat over-rated in his Indian fighting abilities. Though he allows that he had gained a lot of knowledge of Plains warfare and might have become equal to the likes of Miles or Crook, had he lived. He points out that Custer did ignore the scouts who told him of the great number of warriors present in the camp on LBH. However, he also notes that Custer was not unlike other military leaders of the time in under estimating the fighting abilities of Indians, and therefore did not think that numbers really mattered. While he feels that Reno and Benteen did not support Custer as they could have, he also feels that not enough credit is given to the idea that the Indians merely outfought them all.

   Of course, this was all included in the earlier editions. So the obvious question is, do you need to read the revised edition. This depends on what you're looking for.

   With a few small exceptions the text remains the same. Utley has made a few changes based on later research, especially work by Larry Sklenar, but his overall theories have not changed. Also, for those interested in further reading, he has augmented his list of sources.

   The main difference in the editions is physical. This is definitely "over-sized," fitted better to a coffee table than a bookshelf. And it is filled with illustrations, many of which seem to have been chosen more to improve the lay-out than for their applicability to the text. Take for example the photo of a Buffalo Soldier with the caption, "Custer disapproved of black soldiers...." (p.45) Or the photo of modern-day cadets at West Point captioned, "Cadet Custer had 726 demerits...."(p.22) And, of course, there are more portraits of Custer and renditions of LBH than one would ever dream existed.

   My suggestion would be that, if you're a collector of Custeriana, or simply the type who likes to impress your guests with your choice of books, you might want to purchase this and place it somewhere prominent in your home. Otherwise you'd do just as well to stick with the paperback version.




2. The master of the western biography has written (and added to the original version) a balanced reporting of the events that happened that day in June. The oversize pages allow for splendid photographic illustrations. All the versions as to what actually took place are presented thoughtfully and a case presented for the most logical conclusion. I had read his later book(s) including "The Lance and the Shield" about Sitting Bull, before discovering this one. It was also very interesting to find out what happened later to some of the people involved.

5 comments about Washington.

1. Multiple reviewers of other Washington biographies recommended this abridgement over the book they were reviewing. I am a reader, as claimed above, but I have NOT read ANY Washington biography. I still thought the above information might be helpful to other seekers.



2. Harwell does a good job of pulling together and redacting DS Freeman's epic VII Volume (actually VI - he died before publishing the 7th) account of George Washington's life. I often find myself wishing he would annotate, at least on a chapter basis, which volumes of the larger work he is pulling his info from.

   A basic understanding of the extreme hardships early Americans (Colonists) went through can be gathered through this book, and this understanding should be required basic knowledge in all schools. The birth of this nation, was founded on some of the most remarkable physically, financially, emotionally and seemingly impossible acheivements by a few who had the courage to see the delivery through. Freeman captured these trials and victories in marvelous detail.




3. His decades of efforts for the multivolume biography on Washington is a gift to all fans of American history. While this summary drags in a few places, it is the best one volume biography of the "Father or Our Country" available. Particularly pleasing is the concise chronological arrangement of the materials.



4. His decades of efforts for the multi-volume biography is a gift to all fans of American History. Even though it drags in a few spots, this edited version is one of the best one volume biographies of the "Father of Our Country"



5. Every year there are biographies published on the life and career of George Washington. Years pass but still no one has matched Douglas Southall Freeman for a biography on the Father of our nation. Freeman was the dean of Southern historians winning many awards (including the Pulitzer Prize) for his unsurpassed life of RE Lee in 4 volumes; Lee's Lieutenants in 3 volumes and 7 volumes on the life of Washington (he died before he completed this overwhelming project!)
   Richard Harwell abridges the work as he has also done on Freeman's volumes on Lee. Overall he has done an excellent job.
   I do wish the book had included more maps to follow the battle action.
   Many of the sections of the book will seem dry. Freeman's work
   is basically a military history as he rarely comments on the social scene in colonial and early America.
   While not williing to spend time with Freeman through his seven volumes on Washington I found this one volume work to be
   essential in my understanding of Washington.
   Washington was a man who loved duty, honor and country. He was
   honest and ambitious. Frugal Washington never gave up on American independence. He was kind and though somewhat aloof could also be there for his friends and nation when in need.
   No wonder he and Lincoln are always at the top of presidential polls.
   In this sober work of scholarship you will meet a great man and enjoy the words of a great scholar. Recommended.

5 comments about Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy - A Lost Generation Love Story.

1. This delightful story is like watching a wonderful old movie from the 30's-40's! And I learned a thing or two about history!!! I'll be urging my book group to read this.



2. Zelda Fitzgerald died on March 10, 2005. Hers was a terrible death --- she was a patient at the Highland Mental Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, and the building caught fire, and because the patients were locked in, Zelda and eight others died. She was 48.
   
   Her life had, effectively, ended years earlier, when she had the first of her breakdowns and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Or had it ended earlier than that? Perhaps with the death of her estranged husband, the once glamorous, then ruined F. Scott Fitzgerald, in 1940. Or maybe even earlier, on the Riviera, in 1924, when she had a dalliance with a French aviator that so enraged that her husband she tried to kill herself a few months later. Or even earlier, when Scott started appropriating her personality and her ideas for the characters in his novels.
   
   Yes, but for a few years there, they had it all, didn't they? They were the Golden Couple, the personification of the '20s: young, beautiful, gifted. But not smart about fame, although, back then, almost no one understood how the flame of media draws you in, consumes you for the amusement of an uncaring public, and leaves you with ashes in your mouth and regret in your heart.
   
   No, wait. Some people did grasp that. The Murphys did. And, as Amanda Vaill tells their story, they are considerably more interesting than their friends, the drunk and disorderly Fitzgeralds.
   
   And can we talk about turning life into art?
   
   Late each morning in the summer of 1922, Gerald went outside his home in Antibes and created something never seen before --- a beach! --- by raking the seaweed and stones. For this, he is said to have invented the idea of the Riviera as a summer destination.
   
   Moments later, Sara would join him and, on a blanket, read or write. She wore a white linen dress or bathing suit. And, always, a long strand of pearls, which she looped around her back so she wouldn't mar her tan (and, she said, because the sun was good for them). For this, she became a style-setter and muse.
   
   Gerald and Sara together were not two but one. They were "The Murphys," a young and rich American couple who used their youth and money to establish themselves at the center of a cultural elite in which everybody was young, talented, acclaimed. Cole Porter, Stravinsky, Picasso (who was in love with Sara), Cocteau --- though they were stars on their own, they orbited the Murphys. "There was a shine to life wherever they were," Archibald MacLeish said. "It was as though custom and habit had been wiped away and the thing itself was, for an instant, seen. Don't ask me how."
   
   Then F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway showed up.
   
   If you've read Tender Is the Night, you know that Fitzgerald took the Murphys as models for the Divers. Whatever its merits, the novel reduced the Murphys to "Beautiful People." In fact, Gerald was an accomplished painter, an American Leger. He and Sara were experts on African-American spiritual music. They financed theatrical productions and helped worthy friends (Hemingway, for just one).
   
   And they were far from untouched by the troubles of ordinary mortals.
   
   First their young son Patrick came down with tuberculosis. Then, suddenly, their younger son died of meningitis. "Fancy. There's no other word for it," John Dos Passos said. "They could have thought & thought for a million years and they wouldn't have been able to think of one like that." And then, "fancy" again, a few years later, when Patrick died, and the Murphys had to carry on for their one remaining child.
   
   It gets, if possible, more intense. Gerald returned to America to run his family business, a posh New York leather store named Mark Cross. He sent money to the faltering Fitzgerald. He had some deep poetic attachments with young men. And then he died. Dorothy Parker sent his widow this telegram: "Dearest Sara Dearest Sara." The widow staged a funeral that was described as "courage disguised as taste." But that was his life. And hers.
   
   It's easy to read a book like this for the anecdotes about the mighty. But Fitzgerald comes across here as an eternal college boy and a bit of a fool, Hemingway as cold and manipulative. In contrast, the Murphys seem like explorers of the rarest kind --- blessed with money, they set out to find beauty and harmony. That they also found tragedy only makes their story more fascinating.
   
   College kids majoring in Gender Studies can find much in the life of Zelda Fitzgerald to ponder. I'm not knocking that --- there are lessons galore in that roller coaster of a life. But when you're further along the road, the Fitzgeralds start to be, at bottom, a lot of noise --- spoiled children breaking things.
   
   The Murphys, in contrast, look more substantial, more worthy of a sustained view. The Murphys, for all their money and privilege, seem real. These days, I don't want to read about the Fitzgeralds; I want to read Fitzgerald. But the Murphys --- they're well worth 500 pages.



3. I had to go out and buy this book after seeing "Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy" at the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, MA. The book is terrific, but if you're interested in this period, its writers and artists than track down this exhibit. It's a wonderful and extraordinary show about the Murphys and those they were friends with. Paintings, theater pieces, diary entries, letters, amazing photographs, home movies and more illustrate that the Murphys were really an essential part of the 1920s and 1930s. An argument can be made that they were the center that everything spun out from. It is absolutely sensational.



4. The world of the rich-and-famous is ever fascinating. Here we're given entree into the Murphy world. If this is your favorite genre, you'll like this. However, I became satiated very early on too much richness, too many names, too many details. I found it over written, over talky. Everyone is charming (one way or another) and I can see why celeb advocates would adore this. Not I.



5. I recently discovered this book so will try not to repeat the favorable reviews of others. I have visited most of the locations in this book and will try to search out the Murphy's history the next time I go. They lived magical lives in a period of tremendous artistic creativity. The 1920s in Paris were a unique period for American literature. That the Murphys were at the center of it makes this book required reading for anyone who wants to study the period. I have been in Sylvia's Beach's Shakespeare and Company, still there on the left bank, but the magic is gone. What must it have been like to be part of this generation of expatriates ? Read the book and find out. It is terrific.

5 comments about Period Piece (Ann Arbor Paperbacks).

1. Wood-cut artist Gwen Raverat was associated with the Bloomsbury group, and grew up with the Keynes children in nineteenth-century Cambridge. Here, she tells the story of growing up amid the fads and fetishes not only of academic and Victorian England, but of her extremely individual family, children and grandchildren of Charles Darwin. Raverat's wood-cut illustrations are as illuminating and funny as her text.



2. This is a really lovely book, perfect for reading at bedtime or in the garden under the apple tree on a summer's afternoon. Gwen Raverat writes vividly with chapters by theme rather than chronologically and and gives a rounded view of her childhood experiences and the Darwin family of uncles and aunts.



3. An absolute masterpiece of comic writing. Ms. Raverat drawings mesh perfectly with her loving, but not pious, treatment of her eccentric aunts and uncles. A deft ironist, a great memoir of late 19th century Cambridge. I promise you will force this book on everyone you love and they will thank you for it.



4. Darwin fanatics and Jane Austen fans will gobble up this delicious dessert. Written by Darwin's grandaughter (Raverat was George's daughter born too late to know her illustrious grandfather personally)PERIOD PIECE contains both a wealth of Family Stories that helps humanize the usual image of the Great Victorian Sage and some real (although often tongue-in-cheek) insights into Late-Victorian/Edwardian Society. As Raverat says in the Preface, the book doesn't really have a beginning or an end, it is easily dipped-in-to at any point & you will have to be totally lacking in a sense of humor not to come away both charmed & informed.



5. Four or five anecdotes save Gwen Raverat's "Period Piece" from being so sweet it gives you tummy ache. It is no surprise that this charming memoir has remained in print for nearly 60 years. It has the "Upstairs" cachet, relieved by the Whiggery of Raverat's family -- she was the daughter of Charles Darwin -- which fits comfortably with both American and English tastes now.
   
   Raverat was born in 1885 and her childhood ended about the same time the Boer War did, so there are plenty of horses, tea parties, country house theatricals and such to appeal to the romantics. Socially, the Darwins were middle class except for the snobbery and religion. Gwen's mother excepted, who was the type of ignorant American puritan who made H.L. Mencken's fortune.
   
   Thus, the aunts went in for prudishness (especially in front of the servants) and silly dress codes, which Raverat can play against, giving the important sense of superiority that appeals to secret snobs.
   
   In his memoirs of English society, a generation later, Peter Medawar alleged that Americans were wrong to imagine that P.G. Wodehouse country life really existed. But it did. There are no Georgian silver cow creamers in "Period Piece," but Raverat's aunts were every bit as dotty as Bertie Wooster's.
   
   For me the most memorable episode, because like the book as a whole it captures the confusion of childhood so well, was Raverat's understanding of J.M.W. Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire." She and her cousins thought the little black tugboat was the Temeraire.
   
   Raverat led a sheltered childhood and young ladyhood, but on occasion the grim features of the Victorian/Wilhelminian era intruded. It is these -- brutality to a peasant servant in Hamburg, animal torture in Cambridge, the lower depths of drunkenness in the alleys around the Slade School -- that raise "Period Piece" from idle gossip to seriousness.
   
   The book is illustrated with Raverat's line drawings, very much in the style of the slighter travel books of her time. They are not charming.
   
   .

2 comments about Stonewall Jackson (Great Generals).

1. I thought this book provided a succinct and accurate assessment of General Jackson's life and career. I do, however, offer three criticisms.
   
   First, a few maps would have been most helpful. The author presumes that the reader has a working knowledge of Jackson's major battles--the places they were fought, the strategy and tactics employed, and the surrounding topography. I realize that the Great General Series must make certain accommodations in order to accomplish its goal of providing a BRIEF overview of the life and service of its subjects, but a few maps would have greatly enhanced my understanding of what Jackson accomplished.
   
   Second, I thought the comparisons between Jackson's strategy and tactics and those employed in the Iraq War were both gratuitous and a bit of stretch, a not-so-veiled attempt to make the Civil War seem somehow relevant to the conflict in the Middle East.
   
   Third, the editors should have read the text one more time before it went to print. There were several typographical and formatting errors that were a bit of a distraction.
   
   These, however, are minor complaints. If you don't know much about Stonewall and want to get a feel for the contribution he made to the Confederacy and towards the evolution of military tactics, you would do well to read this book.



2. Stonewall Jackson by Donald A. Davis
   (Palgrave Macmillan (2007), Hardcover, 224 pages)
   
   A review
   by
   Colin J. Edwards
   
   Stonewall or Oddball?
   
   I have to come clean immediately and confess that I have difficulty with the description, `tough fighting generals'. What they are describing are heartless individuals who send men to death or mutilation with reckless abandon. Let us remind ourselves that wars are started by politicians, fought by generals and won by soldiers. The American Civil War was the exception: the generals prolonged that one.
   Before you cast me aside as a peace-nik lefty, let me assure you that I saw action as an infantry officer, and know a little of what I speak.
   
   Books about wars: and this is a book about a war more than a biography of an individual, are either from an officer's perspective, or the enlisted man. Donald Davis is the exception being quite at home writing about either. His best seller `Lightening Strike', records the active service of a gunnery sergeant. However, I could find little sympathy for the fighting man in this volume. Mr Davis wrote with touching tenderness of the separation of General Jackson from his wife and new baby girl. A separation that didn't last long as the general called them to his side. Tens of thousands of ordinary soldiers from North and South would have thought precious, just a moment with their loved ones. Rank has its privilege it seems.
   
   Davis' detailed descriptions of the various battles are excellent, if a little tedious. This is due perhaps to a lack of information about Jackson who was such a secretive individual, that it's a wonder Davis was able to write the book at all.
   
   Born at Clarksburg West Virginia on January 21 1824 into an attorney's family, he preceded by four months another general and West Point chum who saw the light of day at Liberty Indiana in May: a future adversary, Ambrose Burnside.
   
   After a very unsettled childhood, he entered West Point more by luck than judgement. He struggled to keep up but had an almost eccentric ability to focus unswervingly on the subject at hand. This paid off and he was able to move up the rankings graduating 17th out of a class of 59. This was not good enough to get him into the esteemed engineers, but it did get him into the artillery as a second lieutenant. This single minded eccentricity bordering on autism became more apparent when he was under fire during the Mexican Way. Observation of his reckless valour caused him to be bumped up the ranks to acting major. Another manifestation of his disturbed mental state was his inability to work in harmony with others. His unresolved dispute with a brother officer while stationed at Fort Mead in Florida, resulted in him leaving the army and taking up a teaching post at Lexington Virginia.
   
   The general consensus was that Thomas Jackson was a poor teacher, but the eight years there gave him the opportunity to meet and marry two wives.
   
   The Civil War found him back in the army and up to his neck in muck and bullets in the battles so precisely delineated by Mr Davis. His eccentricity (or mental disturbance), new no bounds and he and his soldiers went from victory to victory even if it killed them. He even had one of his generals (A.P.Hill), dragged along behind a cart on an interminable march for some undisclosed actus reus. This so damaged the general's tender feet that he was out of action for some time. Not the action of a sound mind you might think; particularly when it concerns one of your better generals.
   
   Jackson continued to carry the whole war on his shoulders, confiding in no one until he experienced a nervous collapse. From then until the end of his life he was conspicuous for his ability to fall asleep anywhere. On one occasion he was summoned to see his boss Robert E Lee, and promptly fell asleep before he saw him.
   
   Thomas Jackson was a religious zealot who spoke more to God than anyone else. However, he did not practice what he preached, nor anything anyone else preached as he didn't stay awake long enough. He had no compunction in raking artillery fire into Mexican civilians when Mexico City failed to surrender in 1848, or later when he gunned down a retreating Mexican army. During the Civil War he showed no reluctance to destroy fellow Americans be them from the North or the South, and insisted that his officers do likewise.
   
   To experience fear while in the presence of danger is normal. To some extent it is possible to hide that fear. Jackson did not hide it; he did not have any fear. He constantly took needless risks and in front of his troops defied the conflagration to kill him.
   That was until Chancellorsville on May 2 1863. Throwing caution to the wind as usual, he took his staff beyond his own front lines to reconnoitre the enemy positions. True to form he omitted to inform anyone of his intentions. Upon his return he was fired upon by his own soldiers and hit three times. Six of his staff were killed outright. He however was not killed but was stretchered to an aid station falling off the stretcher on the way. The chief surgeon of Jackson's army, Dr Hunter McGuire, amputated his left arm, but did not notice General Jackson complaining about chest pain. The pain developed into pneumonia from which he died on May 10th 1863.
   
   Google Books list over 4000 entries for General Jackson, and most of them suggest that had he lived the result at Gettysburg would have been different. The generals lost the battle for the Confederates by their bickering and lack of direction. Jackson would have only added to the confusion. The soldiers of the South fought their hearts out at Gettysburg only to be betrayed by their officers.
   
   Donald Davis's book is a myth breaker, and a `must read' for anyone who has an interest in the first modern war.
   
   
   

2 comments about Grant and Twain: The Story of an American Friendship.

1. Despite the author's best efforts, I thought the premise of the book -- that Grant and Twain's friendship was of great importance in both men's lives -- was not well proven in the book. However, the intimate portrayal of Grant in this short book was very interesting to me, and earned the book 4 stars in my mind.



2. This book explores the personal and business relationship between US Grant and Mark Twain, and attempts to advance the thesis that these two men, who were such towering figures of the mid to late 19th century, were profoundly influenced by each other. As a narrative this book succeeds--especially in Perry's description of the dying Grant. His portrait of the ex-president and savior of the Union is touching, and definitely makes the book worth reading on that merit alone. Perry's recounting of the relationship Twain and Grant shared is also interesting, demonstrated mainly from Twain's point of view.
   
   The thesis which is central to this book, unfortunately, was not confirmed for me in Perry's argument. The central argument seems to be that Twain was a deciding factor in Grant's resolution to write his memoirs, and that somehow it may not have happened had Twain not intervened. Perry points out that Twain brought the subject up to Grant several years before the project was actually started, but that alone was not enough to convince me. In fact, Grant was writing a series of articles for the Century magazine, and was already in process of making a deal for the book. Twain's publishing company more or less stole the deal away from Century. And while Twain was able to secure a much better financial compensation plan for Grant than he otherwise would have gotten, this, too, can hardly be attributed purely to the friendship the two shared. The memoirs made both men a lot of money.
   
   There is little doubt that Twain revered Grant and that Grant, in turn, appreciated and was fond of Twain. I just couldn't see, however, the link Perry seemed to want to build between Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Grant's memoirs, and for me that left the premise of the book flawed. Certain elements of the argument also break down under closer scrutiny, for example Perry's claim that the 'GG' appearing at the beginning of Huck Finn stands for 'General Grant,' and that the book was somehow dedicated to his friend.
   
   Perry also attempts to draw parallels between Huck and Grant, which to me seem very far-fetched. He claims that "Grant's journey [South down the Mississippi after he captured Vicksburg] was intended to free the slaves" and that "capturing Vicksburg, Grant had transformed the war for the Union into a war to free the slaves." This is much more than I can swallow. The Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect 7 months before this event, and had been declared almost a year before. If there was a battle that changed the course of the war it was Antietam, not Vicksburg.
   
   In short, Huck Finn was not General Grant, nor vice-versa. I just can't wrap my mind around that one, and that makes the whole of Perry's argument seem fairly weak. That having been said, the book is very well written, the narrative is excellent, and only the historical analysis/interpretation seems to break down under scrutiny. I bought this book before reading it (something I don't often do), but I can honestly say I don't regret it. Though I'm not convinced by Perry's argument, this book was worth reading.

4 comments about Dark Lady: Winston Churchill's Mother and Her World.

1. While this biography deals with a fascinating (and, from all we can tell from the record, bewitching) woman, the author barely does her justice. The book seems cramped and telegraphic in approach--it presumes the reader may know more about people and events than he or she really does. There are far better books (including the two-volume Ralph Martin biography published in 1969 and 1971 and readily available) to better understand "Jennie" and the swath she cut through late Victorian and early 20th century society. That she was the mother of Sir Winston Churchill was merely icing on the cake--she had plenty going for her on her own.



2. Rich in detail. Remarkable insight into a complex character in a remarkably important family, in Victorian and Edwardian Britain.
   Politics,Monarchy and Aristocracy interwoven with sex and scandal.
   A great read for anyone interested in the Churchills.



3. This book appears to have been written in haste and not edited. It contains so many glaring factual errors, such as identifying Queen Alexandra's sister as the Duchess of Tech (definitely not, her sister was the Empress of Russia) that I came to doubt the rest of the book. At one point he seems to indicate that Catholics do not eat during Lent (that would be an extraordinary accomplishment). There is, literally, an error on every page, many of which could have been avoided by very simple and basic editing. Very annoying. I couldn't finish it.



4. This biography reads like a quickie rush to the market insant book written about some pop singer or two bit actress. In it, Jenny Jerome comes off as a truly horrible creature. How such a monster managed to attract so many men seems impossible. Plus, the bit about Catholics apparently not eating during Lent (it's 40 days long) made me laugh and this is not a comedy.

1 comments about Mary Edwards Walker: Above and Beyond (American Heroes).

1. In this short biography of Mary Walker, Dale Walker gives glimpses into the history of medicine, the world of women's fashions, prisons of the Civil War, and the beginning of the campaign for women's vote. Mary Walker was born in 1832 in upstate New York to freethinking parents who insisted that the four girls work on the farm and wear clothing that allowed amble circulation of blood. Not only did she follow her father's suggestions for attire, she also followed him into the medical profession and became one of the first female doctors in the Unites States. Her father was self-taught; Mary graduated from Syracuse Medical College in 1849 and began the difficult task of finding patients who would pay to see a woman doctor. What the Civil War began, she volunteered as a physician and fought hard to be paid as a physician, not a nurse. She worked to stop battlefield amputations and to incorporate sanitary practices. Known as much for her brash, unrelenting behavior as her trousers, she became fodder for Civil War tabloids. Captured as a spy, Mary spent four months in Confederate prison where she schemed for prison reforms including better food and medical care. She was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1865, had it rescinded 1917 when Congress decided that too many medals had been awarded without merit, and reinstated in 1977. Her life spanned the Civil War and beyond. She saw women's roles changed from domestic work to physician. Just before she died in 1919, women were granted the right to vote.
   
   Mary Walker is a terrific role model for today's girls- feisty, responsible, hard-working and not at all concerned about the fashion police. Well worth reading.
   
   Reviewed by Beth Edelsten for Flamingnet Book Reviews
   www.flamingnet.com
   Preteen, teen, and young adult book reviews and recommendations

5 comments about Dearest Friend: The Life of Abigail Adams.

1. This is a beautifully written tale of an extraordinary 18th century woman. She was the wife and dearest friend of one US President and the mother of another. Her husband depended on her political acumen, and trusted her judgment. She was sometimes referred to as the old lady in the politics. She corresponded on business and politics with many men including Thomas Jefferson. Perhaps our first American feminist, Abigail Adams was full of contradictions.

   As a staunch revolutionary, she foresaw the need for independence from England perhaps even before her husband, John. She advocated education and political freedom for women long before it was respectable to do so.

   As practical homemaker, she worked the farm, raised the children, and handled the family finances including investments. Abigail liked investing in securities; John preferred land. They made investments in both. Her dependability in these matters secured the home front. This allowed her husband to attend the Continental Congress, sign the Declaration of Independence, serve as minister to France and then England, as well as serve as the first vice president, and then 2nd President of the fledgling USA. Without her shepherding the family finances, either the family would have been ruined; or the United States would have lost one of its great founding fathers.

   As a post-revolution political conservative, she hated the republicanism of Jefferson, although she respected him as an honorable man. She foresaw the problems with the French Revolution before Jefferson and his Republican cohorts. She did not understand the criticism of the free press. She strongly advocated the Alien and Sedition Act, passed by congress during her husbands presidency. It addressed the two of what she thought were the serious threats to the security of the USA& that of foreigners and criticism of the government by the press.

   The paradox of Abigail Adams is that she had always established her identity through her husbands achievements. The author tells us that Probably Abigail would have been astonished to find herself transformed into something of a celebrity one hundred fifty years after her death. Yet surely she would have approved of the reasons for her fame: the interest of a later age in the history of family and domestic life, as well as the history of politics, and above all its interest in the emancipation of women and the discovery of women in the past who spoke out on behalf of their sex.

   The beauty of this book is that Lynne Withey presents Abigail Adams as a real human being, not an icon. It is easy to understand why Abigail was Johns Dearest Friend.

   I highly recommend this book.




2. While in college I took an American History class because I wanted to, not because I had to. In the process of writing a paper on the role of women in the American Revolution, I found so many references to Abigail Adams, that I knew at some point in the future I would have to read her biography. Well, I just completed this book and I can't recommend it more highly!
   
   With so many books regarding the Founding Fathers being touted at the bookstores recently, it's wonderful to read the story of one of the Women behind one of the Men. Though not traditionally educated Abigail's knowledge of politics, curiousity about everything, and affection for family and friends is well-documented through excerpts from her numerous letters. The sacrifices both she and her husband made for the fledgling America are a sober reminder of the courage and bravery required of our ancestors.
   
   In a time when woman were subservient to men, she stood head and shoulders above other members of her gender. Her husband wisely depended on her counsel, love and care.
   
   This is a wonderful biography that takes the reader back in time and place so vividly as to feel present at the birth of a nation and a voyeur into the unfolding political career of the second President of the United States and the woman who loved him.
   
   I, too, wish American History had been presented this richly in my grammar and high school years.
   
   After reading this book I would suggest reading "John Adams" by David McCullough, though quite lengthy, it is worthwhile to read the other half of the "conversation".



3. During the history of the United States there have been many women who have sacrificed just as much or more for their country than did Abigail Adams, but not many. Thanks to the voluminous correspondence of Mrs. Adams this book was made possible and should stand as a monument to all of these women.

   In recent years the life of John Adams has been reexamined and his role in American history has again come to the forefront. Without Abigail, Mr. Adams could never have accomplished what he did. For unlike many of the other leaders of the Revolution, Adams was not a man of means. When he was away, someone had to look after the family's domestic concerns. That someone was Abigail. John became so accustomed to having Abigail to take care of home and hearth that when he did have time to see to such matters he seldom did.

   This book details the work Abigail did behind the scenes to allow John to make his vital contributions to American independence. We see a strong woman who is more than willing to take charge of a given situation and make a decision. We also see however a wife who misses her husband. Abigail and John Adams are one of the true love stories of history. Their complete devotion to each other is amazing, especially in that the longer they were together the more in love they became. In the end becoming almost one soul in two bodies. Abigail's worst hardships didn't involve the work she did but the separations from John. Separations that lasted months and then years at a time.

   Abigail is also shown in this book as a woman of strong conviction but also a woman of great contradiction. She and her husband helped make the American Revolution but she detested revolution as a threat to the social order. She believed strongly in a good education for women but still thought a woman's place was in the home. She believed the election of a Republican President would destroy the republic, but eventually became a Republican herself. Mrs. Adams was also probably a better politician than her husband was and while she had much influence on her husband, there were times when he paid no attention to her and ended up wishing he had. For example, it was Abigail who first saw the danger posed by Alexander Hamilton and it was Hamilton who in the end cost John the Presidency.

   An excellent book but not complete. A much larger volume would be required to do this great lady justice. Still, it is wonderful that there is such a book at all for the women of that era are often forgotten. Abigail once advised John to not forget the ladies. Advise we should remember in the 21st century.




4. I assigned this book to college freshmen and sophs.... in US History.

   I did not like how it portrayed Abigail as "long suffering," yet strong. The two did not mesh well.




5. This is a somewhat disappointing book about a fascinating woman during a fascinating period of our history. The book was highly recommended to a friend of a member of my book club, but the women in my club agreed that the author failed to make Abigail Adams "come alive." The writing was tedious, especially in the first half. I read "The Summer of 1787" just before this, and "Dearest Friend" pales by comparison, especially in the richness of the story telling. Nonetheless, the book contains history I didn't know or had forgotten, and I'm glad I read it.

5 comments about Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House.

1. In many ways, this book is very much a "bait and switch." The cover promises that you will be reading the "First Documented Account of the Woman Who Was President." The chapters on Edith Wilson's early life and relationship with Woodrow following the death of his first wife also lead you in that direction. Those chapters imply that Woodrow shared virtually all important presidential papers, sensitive documents, cables, and thoughts with Edith, which would somehow prepare her for her stint as president as soon as he has the stroke that we know is coming.

   But, as we slog patiently through the middle chapters waiting for the stroke that will make Edith president, we begin to not care because we realize that Woodrow is so "arrogant, egotistical, and poor at negotiation" (to paraphrase the Amazon editorial review) that anyone would be an improvement. Alas, Edith is worse, much worse, in that ultimately she is a cipher. Rather than the deft amateur who has picked up oodles of useful information from her preparation in the early chapters and actually does something as "President," Levin makes it clear that Edith was absolutely nothing more than a crabby gatekeeper to the stricken president who was totally incapacitated for months. Others in the administration made the few important policy decisions that actually were made.

   This book, however, is useful because the lead-in gives you real insight into the man, his wife and the personality quirks that ultimately would doom his presidency----although most of us would not know from conventional history that his presidency was doomed or in fact bad in any way.

   I encourage everyone to read this book in sequence following Theodore Rex, which I did. Most of us know Teddy Roosevelt as little more than a caricature and Woodrow Wilson as nearly a saint because of his striving for the League of Nations. These books, however, make it clear that Teddy Roosevelt was one of the great presidents (certainly one of the most capable) and Woodrow Wilson one of the worst. Edith Wilson never was president---not by a long shot.

   As for Levin's writing, I felt that Abigail Adams was a much better read, but maybe the subject was simply more sympathetic.




2. Checking the other customer (and editorial) reviews, I find that no one had the reaction I did - this is a very poorly written book on an interesting subject. Author Levin wears her agenda on her sleeve from Page One, repeatedly skews the narrative to her own purposes, and fails to footnote responsibly.
   What's more, her chronology is so haphazard, and she skips around so much, that the reader is never quite sure what year or country we're in at any given time, or what the heck is going on, or who said what to whom.
   Add a boatload of odd editorial boo-boos and you have a very disappointing book.



3. Being a fan of presidential biographies and after having read some books on both of the Wilsons, I was very excited to see what appeared to be a dual biography of the couple. Levin's book was dry and downright boring . It is a very interesting and debatable premise....whether Edith Wilson really "ran" the White House when Woodrow was incapacitated by stroke.
   My complaints are that the book was much more Woodrow than Edith and I am still not sure I feel like I buy Levin's theme that Edith was the first female president.
   I was surprised to learn just how incapacitated Wilson was and how little the country was aware of.
   This could have been a much better book.



4. There are several fundamental flaws in Ms. Levin's book. First and foremost, she sympathizes with Col. Edward House. Plain and simple House is not one to treat sympathetically. A critical biography of the Wilson family would point out that Col. House deliberately attempted to sabotage the President's great peace plans starting in late 1916 (a great friend and confidant). House (and Secretary of State Lansing) collaborated with the British assuring them that the President would eventually enter the war on the side of the allies. In reality, President Wilson had no desire to enter the war (even after the German's resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917). Wilson waited two long months to finally make the decision. Edith Wilson perspicaciously distrusted House from the beginning. Maybe it was a hunch, perhaps she saw through his rather obsequious personality, but she destroyed Woodrow's relationship with House. In fact, after January 1917, House no longer held a high position in the President's mind. In short, Mrs. Levin is highly critical of the Wilson's because they abandoned Col. House.

   Second, Mrs. Levin's assertion that Edith Wilson was the first female president is highly overstated. While she did control, along with Dr. Grayson and Secretary Tumulty, who and what the President saw she never made an important governmental decision. While Wilson was unable to appear in public he was able to read and perform limited duties of his office. Any scholar who has combed even the surface of Wilson's papers understands this. For an unbiased and complete review of Wilson in the months before and after his infamous stroke an interested reader should look at John Milton Cooper's "Breaking the Heart of the World." Cooper is the foremost living authority on Wilson.

   My point here is not to completely excoriate Mrs. Levin's book but to caution readers of its flaws. There are much better books on both President Wilson and the first lady: the mentioned book by Cooper, Arthur Link's "Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era," and John Cooper's dual biography of Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, "The Warrior and the Priest." As a student of Wilson I am most disappointed by Levin's failure to observe Wilson's high moral purpose and the energy which he devoted to it (this is what eventually brought on the stroke).




5. I love biographies of historical figures but this one was a disappointment from the beginning...and a plodding read, to boot.
   
   All it really manages to confirm is that politics is a dirty business and that corruption & deception are part and parcel of it all. The more things change, unfortunately, the more they stay the same.
   
   As for Mrs. Wilson, she wouldn't be the only First Lady in history who was more of a WIFE than a politician!