Editorial Review

In this candid and gripping account, President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions that shaped his presidency and personal life.

George W. Bush served as president of the United States during eight of the most consequential years in American history. The decisions that reached his desk impacted people around the world and defined the times in which we live.

Decision Points brings readers inside the Texas governor's mansion on the night of the 2000 election, aboard Air Force One during the harrowing hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001, into the Situation Room moments before the start of the war in Iraq, and behind the scenes at the White House for many other historic presidential decisions.

For the first time, we learn President Bush's perspective and insights on:

• His decision to quit drinking and the journey that led him to his Christian faith
• The selection of the vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state, Supreme Court justices, and other key officials
• His relationships with his wife, daughters, and parents, including heartfelt letters between the president and his father on the eve of the Iraq War
• His administration's counterterrorism programs, including the CIA's enhanced interrogations and the Terrorist Surveillance Program
• Why the worst moment of the presidency was hearing accusations that race played a role in the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, and a critical assessment of what he would have done differently during the crisis
• His deep concern that Iraq could turn into a defeat costlier than Vietnam, and how he decided to defy public opinion by ordering the troop surge
• His legislative achievements, including tax cuts and reforming education and Medicare, as well as his setbacks, including Social Security and immigration reform
• The relationships he forged with other world leaders, including an honest assessment of those he did and didn’t trust
• Why the failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice ranks as his biggest disappointment and why his success in denying the terrorists their fondest wish—attacking America again—is among his proudest achievements

Reviews

Not what you might expect...
"That is the nature of the presidency. Perceptions are shaped by the clarity of hindsight. In the moment of decision, you don't have that advantage." -G. Bush

In a lot of ways this statement just about sums up the book. The President of the United States, maybe more so than any other person on the face of the Earth, has his/her every decision microscopically analyzed by just about everyone... after the fact, when the results are known and more information is available. I thought this to be a very interesting premise for a presidential memoir. It doesn't come across as an apology nor does it come across as an excuse. President Bush gives you the situation as he saw it and lets you make your own decision.

I am not a huge fan of President Bush, but I don't think he is the utter failure as President that some consider him. I come away with some empathy (though short of being President, I don't think anyone could truly grasp the reality) for President Bush. Could things have been done better... more than likely. Could they have been worse... almost certainly... but how many of us couldn't apply those phrases to our own lives?

If you are a Bush fan, I'd almost guarantee you'll like the book. If you aren't a fan.... you'll probably find some more ammunition to bash him. For myself, I don't at all regret the time spent reading the book and that is usually the measure that I put on literary material.

What you see is what you get - No question, this is written in HIS VOICE!!!


The book is written thematically, not chronologically. This is important because it gives the book a much different flavor than one that is written month by month, and year by year. This book was not ghost written. This is his hand and his words, and it comes through on every page - all 512 of them.


I had no expectations when I opened the cover other than to enjoy the book. I found it was written with a wonderful light hand, Bush being a story teller, no question about it. And he pulls no punches, he tells you the real deal and he does not filter it. Other people will write pro and con on this book depending upon their political filters. There will be none of that here. I am only interested in enjoying a book and telling you that you will also or maybe not.


I am going to give you a flavoring of the book and you will know immediately if this is for you:


* In the Presidency there are no do-over's


* Quitting drinking was one of the toughest decisions he ever made


* It wouldn't be the last time the student George Bush slept through a Yale lecture


* He says he had the same personality as his mother. He would needle people to show affection and to make a point. He flares up rapidly. He and his mother both can be real blunt, a trait that gets them into trouble from time to time


* Bush was enormously influenced by a history teacher on crutches at his prep school which was Andover Phillips Academy in Mass. His name was Tom Lyons (crippled by polio), and he nurtured, he hectored, he praised, and demanded a lot. He instilled in George Bush a love of history that remained with him throughout a lifetime.


* Reverend William Sloan Coffin was a contemporary of the president's father, George HW Bush while both were at Yale. When George W. was a student at Yale, his father had just lost his bid to become a Senator from Texas. George W. asked the Reverend to perhaps write a letter to console his father, and the Reverend's former classmate. The Reverend responded, "Your father was beaten by a better man." I don't think the future President ever recovered from the remark.


* Having spent considerable time in Texas over the last couple of decades I thoroughly enjoyed Texas wisdom which the President captures brilliantly in one statement. He refers to some people as "Book smart and sidewalk stupid".


* He sums up his education by telling us that he went to Andover by tradition, Yale by expectation, and Harvard by choice.


* The funniest story in the book is when he is sitting at a dinner party in Kennebunkport with his parents during his heavy alcohol stage, and he says to a contemporary of his parents, so what is sex like after 50. Everyone was aghast at the statement. The future President receives a note after he is elected. The note says, "Well George how is it?"


* What you are looking at here is an absolutely honest, self examination.


* When the President becomes introspective and talks about personnel, his philosophy is that the people who surround you will determine the quality of advice you receive and the way your goals are implemented.


* He mentions meeting with Margaret Thatcher who told him that she usually makes up her mind about a man in 10 seconds, and very rarely changes it.


You cannot write 500 plus pages of biography without revealing yourself. You simply cannot hide it for that long. I do not believe that this President has a bad bone in his body. Did he make mistakes, yes lots of them, and everyone else does too. It's all so easy in hindsight, and so difficult to call them accurately before the event. He takes responsibility, and welcomes history's future judgment of him. This is a man who sleeps at night.


It's all here in 14 chapters, from stem cells, September 11th, Afghanistan, Iraq, Katrina, the Surge, his freedom agenda, and finishing with the financial crisis. You will wind up reading the whole thing, and looking for more. You will be critical, and at the same time consoling, for this was and is, a good man. They may have been errors of judgment, but not of the heart. From the hiring's to the firings, read this book and you will better understand a part of history we all lived through. He holds no punches and tells you what he thinks of the players who were part of his Administration.


And then there's the family, his love of father and mother. Their loving imprint on him, and the child they produced. George Bush is the perfect example of the apple not falling very far from the tree. He is the product of a totally enveloping family where he was not pushed, but gently supported to find his own way. There were stumbles along the way including the decade long battle with alcoholism.


I thoroughly enjoyed this book and ask you my fellow reader to come to it with an open mind, with a fresh eye, and try to see if you can capture some fresh thoughts on this very interesting man who has led a very interesting life. In the end it seemed to me that if George Bush was your friend, you didn't need many more friends - you were covered. Thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

Fascinating
I voted for Bush the first time. I didn't vote for him the second time. I rarely read political books or memoirs, but the way Bush has carried himself after leaving office had me intrigued and gave me a new respect for the man.
I started this book and, at times, got very bogged down with details that this mostly fiction reader doesn't like, but still, I appreciated it and didn't skip anything (as I usually will).
It was a fascinating look into politics, what really goes on behind the scenes, and how truly difficult (as I imagined, but never really new)dealing with a national tragedy was.
Humorous and smart, what I liked about the book was that, after I was done reading it, I felt that President Bush was an ordinary guy who managed to do an extraordinary job with class. Not perfect, not by a long shot, but that he admits his errors and does so, I believe, sincerely.
A truly fascinating book.

Changed my opinion of the man
I have never been a fan of Bush. In fact I really thought he was the worst president in history. I could not put this book down. He had an extraordinarily hard job, and when he tells of his mindset when making the decisions he made I have to admire him. I truly think that he did what he thought was the rite thing to do on each and every one of his decisions. I can honestly say that I now think that he did a good job.

Honest Reflection That Shows W is a Man After All
I read this one right after the release, and being one of the many who was tired of W and ready for him to leave office, I have a new perspective on the man - no matter if you are a Democrat, Republican, or whatever political party affiliation you may lean I believe if you read this book with an open mind you will have a new perspective on W, too: he is a man, certainly not perfect, and every decision made with the facts and circumstances at hand is subject to second guessing. After all, hindsight is 20-20.

I thought the reflections on alcohol and religion were refreshing in a politician - when do you hear of a politician having truly candid conversations on those two subjects? The realities of not finding WMD in Iraq, the repercussions of Hurricane Katrina, Scooter Libby, and the honesty come out in this book. Love him or hate him, I think this is an honest reflection, albeit with a few cards still held close to the vest - being President of the USA has to be one of the most difficult jobs ever, and wears on you. You try to make the best decisions at the time - sometimes they work out, and unfortunately sometimes they don't and you have to live with it. That is life.

If you are looking for a good read on W's perspective, I recommend you pick this one up. If you can't get over the negative - or even highly enthusiastic - celebration of W's presidency, this one is probably not for you.

An interesting insight...
This book provided an interesting, thematic look at the major issues in the presidency of America's forty-third president. Even if you do not share the policy leanings of GWB, you will most likely come away at least understanding hit rationale for the major decisions he made and be convinced that he placed serious thought and judgment into making them. I came away very surprised and gained a great deal of respect and empathy for his management style and processes, even in instances where the decisions may not have been ones I would have made in his place. A must for anyone interested in American politics. I found that many insights and pieces of information I did not get during his time in office. ... Read more

Editorial Review

America is the home of the brave and, apparently, the stupid and gullible. Satirist Leland Gregory teaches us a lesson in historical hilarity with Stupid American History.

From Columbus to George W. Bush (that's a lot of material, people), Leland leads us through American history's mythconceptions, exposing idiocy and inanity along the time line. He reeducates by informing us about myths. For example, Samuel Prescott actually was the guy to alert us that the British were coming and not that Paul Revere dude.

Move over Colbert and Stewart; satire has finally found its rightful place in American history.

Excerpt from the book:

"John Tyler was on his knees playing marbles when he was informed that Benjamin Harrison had died and he was now president of the United States. At that time marbles was a very popular game for both children and grown-ups."

For reasons still unknown, Texas congressman Thomas Lindsay Blanton, a Presbyterian Sunday school teacher and prohibitionist, inserted dirty words into the Congressional Record in 1921. His colleagues overwhelmingly censured him on October 24, 1921, by a vote of 293-0." ... Read more

Reviews

Stupid American History
As a history major, the main reason I requested this book during the ER month was to see what dumb little incidents in history the author could highlight, starting in a chronological order from the very beginning of our history.

What I got was a mish-mash of historical anecdotes that are in no perceivable order, nor are there any citations given, which any person who has even been to a high school history course knows are a necessity to prove the veracity of what you are claiming. With no discernable way to find out the truth behind all these little vignettes, one must doubt the truth in them.

Stupid American History? No, I say Irresponsible American Author.

Smartly funny
Leland Gregory has done it again. Gregory, the author of such hilarious bestsellers as "America's Dumbest Criminals," "What's the Number for 911?" and "Great Government Goofs," follows up 2007's "Stupid History" with this ode to homegrown idiocy.

Did you know, for example, that the brilliant Thomas Jefferson had a dimwitted brother named Randolph? Or that the first motto that appeared on U.S. coins was not "In God We Trust," but "Mind Your Business"? Or that Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, who gave his troops strict orders to shoot any unknown or unidentified soldier who approached their lines and ask questions later, was -- you guessed it -- shot and killed by his own troops?

Only in America. But the really funny thing about "Stupid American History" is that it's also a great educational tool. Seriously. The book debunks many myths (or, as they are called in the subtitle, "mythconceptions") that for decades have been embedded in the national consciousness. Read the true stories of Paul Revere, Abner Doubleday, Henry Ford and the Liberty Bell and you'll both laugh and learn.

"Stupid" is as smart does. The rest, as they say, is history.

Brilliant Stupidity
I've been a fan of Leland Gregory's for years, since his "Dumbest Criminals" books and general chronicling of idiots in all walks of American Life. This latest version of Stupid History doesn't disappoint. I love reading one surprising tidbit after another- it's like historical popcorn. Looking forward to his next--

I Loved it and I'm not stupid!
I really liked this book. I bought a few extra to give as gifts. Cool. It's like a book version of something you would see on cable. ... Read more

Editorial Review

THE FACTS.

THE FUTURE.

THE FIGHT TO FIX AMERICA—

BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

In the words of Harvard historian Niall Ferguson, the United States is “an empire on the edge of chaos.” Why? Glenn Beck thinks the answer is pretty simple: Because we’ve turned our backs on the Constitution.

Yes, our country is financially broke, but that’s just a side effect of our broken spirit, our broken faith in government, the broken promises by our leaders, and a broken political system that has centralized power at the expense of individual rights.

There is a lot of work ahead, but we can’t move forward until we first understand how we got here. Starting with the American Revolution, Glenn takes readers on an express train through 234 years of history, culminating with the Great Recession and the bipartisan recklessness of Presidents Bush and Obama. It’s the history lesson we all wished we’d had in school. (Did you know, for example, that FDR once made a key New Deal policy decision based on his lucky number?)

Along the way, you’ll see how everything you thought you knew about the political parties is a lie, how Democrats and Republicans alike used to fight for minimum government and maximum freedom, and how both parties have been taken over by a cancer called “progressivism.” By the end, you’ll understand why no president, no congress and no court can fix this problem alone. Looking toward them for answers is like looking toward the ocean for drinking water— it looks promising, but the end result is catastrophic.

After revealing the trail of lies that brought us here, Broke exposes the truth about what we’re really facing. Most people have seen pieces of the puzzle, but very few have ever seen the whole picture—and for very good reason: Our leaders have done everything in their power to hide it. If Americans understood how dire things really are, they would be demanding radical reform right now. Despite the rhetoric, that’s not the kind of change our politicians really believe in.

Finally, Broke provides the hope that comes with knowing the truth. Once you see what we’re really up against, it’s much easier to develop a realistic plan. To fix ourselves financially, Glenn argues, we have to fix ourselves first. That means some serious introspection and, ultimately, a series of actions that will unite all Americans around the concept of shared sacrifice. After all, this generation may not be asked to storm beaches, but we are being asked to do something just as critical to preserving freedom.

Packed with great stories from history, chalkboard-style teachable moments, custom illustrations, and Glenn Beck’s trademark combination of entertainment and enlightenment, Broke makes the case that when you’re traveling in the wrong direction, slight course corrections won’t cut it—you need to take drastic action. Through a return to individual rights, an uncompromising adherence to the Constitution, and a complete rethinking about the role of government in a free society, Glenn exposes the idea of “transformation” for the progressive smokescreen that it is, and instead builds a compelling case that restoration is the only way forward. ... Read more

Reviews

A Review of the Book - Not My Position Statement
Broke, the latest release by Beck, is a surprisingly entertaining text to
be sure. It's engaging, easy to read and designed as an unapologetic
agenda...Beck style. It's also packed full of information that is sure to
create a "teachable moment" among even the most vocal opponent. As a college instructor and business writer, Beck is one of the personalities that tends to draw a lot of attention and followers/critics; for that reason I attempt to stay somewhat up to date with what he/others are doing however, I'm not a "fan" of Beck per se. Although I consider him in the realm of "entertainer" rather than serious economic or political leadership, Beck has done a very real service with the publication of this book if for no other reason than the historical and educational value of the first 2/3 of the book. Also, despite the fact that this is an early review of the book (versus my own personal opinion and/or agenda), please note that this is a verified purchase unlike others. If you want to debate the pro's and con's of the "agenda", the tea party, republicans vs democrats, liberals versus conservatives etc...this is NOT that review.

Basics About the Book

First of all, this is a 400 pages of facts, figures, charts, explanations,
history, examples and action-steps. It contains plenty of resources, ample
visual impact and a clear concise style that encourages the reader to
continue reading. This is the hardcover version with dust-jacket and I'm
happy to say that it was well designed for maximum readability and
audience appeal. Whether you are the type that sits down and reads 400
pages at once or just likes to browse a bit here and there, this book will
work equally well. Plenty of conversation with oodles of tidbits and
factoids.

Who Should Read

Beck Critics - Those that dislike Glenn Beck will not be disappointed - he
provides plenty of fuel to fire-up even the most reserved of his critics.
In fact, even hard core Beck advocates are likely to take issue with a few
items here and there due to "spin" so commonly used by Beck when
interpreting information and data. Like the old adage, there are lies,
d-mnded lies and statistics...the cited data is often used for/against
both sides of a debate, definitions are distorted to the benefit of both
sides and the usual chicanery is alive and well throughout the book. Yes,
I cringed at times but let's face it, that is a daily event for most
Americans that haven't already tuned out entirely. Critics of Beck will
find ample opportunity to criticize the details, the proposed plan of
action and even the man himself. However, there is a good chance that even
the most critical opponent of Beck will actually learn something from this
book! It is interesting and packed full of relevant historical detail as
well as food for thought.

Beck Fans - If you enjoy Beck, this may be his best book to date. It's
packed with information and is unapologetic in the proposed agenda set
forth. It's funny. It's informative. It's entertaining. It's educational.
Without a doubt you will want to buy a copy for yourself, a couple to loan
out to friends and at least one to keep on hand for naysayers and critics.
Unless they are so closed to anything other than their very own agenda,
every thinking person is likely to find something of interest in this
book. Yes, there is slant or angle but that is true of every "side". What
does come through (quite clearly) is the position taken by Beck and his
supporters as well as the reasons and rationale. Agree or disagree, it's
worth reading.

Teens & Those New to Politics, Economics, Tax Issues etc. - Anyone with an
open mind is likely to enjoy this book even if you don't agree...or
actually disagree...with Beck and his conclusions. This would be a great
tool for teens, home schooler and others that would like to initiate an
open conversation about what it taking place (or not) in this nation. The
historical perspective alone is well written, filled with facts and open
enough to spur endless debate.

What is Covered

With over 400 pages packed to the brim, this book provides a big bang for
the buck! It's roughly divided into three parts:

Part I - Part I begins with ancient history, the foundation of this
nation, monetary policy of Hoover, FDR, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II and
now Obama.

Part II - Covers the crime of the century, the cover up and "the murder
weapon".

Part III - The Plan. This is Becks' call for action, response to critics
and his understanding of the role religion, government, family etc plays
in shaping our nation.

Citations, Resources etc...

The Great National Turning Point
As a financial planner, I am always advising my clients on sound financial investments and it kills me to see our government (suposedly for the people, of the people, and by the people) got absolutely berserk with spending. Most of the facts and figures in this hefty but easy to comprehend book follow common sense and the news that you've heard recently about our country's debt problems (the $202T is new--I've always heard our unfunded obligations at $50T). It is a great resource though.

What this non-fiction wake-up call means is that what you've read in the great political fiction (Gods of Ruin is right: we have a government full of power-hugry elites that could give a hoot about "the people".

The timing of this book is impeccable- out just before midterm elections. It provides a clarion call to readers to put restraints on our government or risk some horrendous fiscal consequences (this section in Broke is excellent). Kudos to Beck for doing this at a major turning point for our nation!

Sounds Like A Good Plan
After reading the free book sample on Kindle, I decided to move on and get the audio book download on Audible. Why? Because, just by reading the sample, I realized that "Broke" reasoning and arguments are not directed to blame anybody or anything in particular. It blames us: the people. The approach of explaining today's struggles from a historical perspective on political systems that once thrived and then failed when people, by some reason and sometimes not willingly, renounced their own freedom is absolutely convincing and agreeable.

The tale of the working ant and the lazy grasshopper presented in the beginning - and that is of knowledge to the most of us - is a very comprehensible example on how to turn a stimulating and constantly growing environment into something abysmal, allowing government to take part on things that we could manage ourselves. When there's no personal savings, there's no liberty. The whole book develops around this concept which is so simple in theory, yet so difficult to put in practice. We need somebody to remind us about it from time to time.

To make a case, the book contains in several passages an "interruption" with quick facts comparing past to present data on social and economic indicators which is very hard to disagree if we look around. I believe these fast, non intrusive breaks are quite welcomed and provides to all readers/listeners not only with reasons to keep moving on until the end of the book and let everyone draw their own conclusions, but also the very reason to why this book was written.

Another Eye Opener
Glenn Beck's newest book is another eye-opener and perhaps his best. Beck continues to educate America, even though it seems to be politically incorrect with some. This book is easy to read and provides clear facts and figures to prove his point that the USA is financially broke. Not only is our economy broke; we are spiritually broke; our faith in our government is at an all-time low...we are a train wreck! The author doesn't leave us without hope, but provides the facts, so that Americans can start to heal their country and themselves. This is a must read for all voters and those who really care about turning our country around before it is too late.

Glenn's best so far!
Broke is Glenn Beck's third "text book" styled book. The same high gloss, colored pages are back with all your favorite wit and humor used to tackle serious issues. This book, unlike Beck's others, is much more focused in it's scope. It deals with the past, present, and possible future of the financial state of the Nation.

A great feature in this book are citations that take up over 50 pages! You may not agree with his conclusions, you may say they are reaching a bit, or paranoid, but you definitely can't say that he is simply pulling all this stuff out of thin air!

I'd recommend this book to any Glenn Beck fan, and to anyone who has never actually watched his show. If your entire view point on Beck's character is made up entirely by Stewart and Colbert, you owe it to yourself to find out exactly what it is this guy is saying.

How we got here, our current status, and how we can fix it.
One of the things that I think speaks well of Glenn Beck is the kind of crazed hatred he inspires in the Progressive / Collectivist / Socialist class. I am sure this book will be wildly criticized, with few to zero citations, and the non-arguments against it will be personal attacks against Beck.

But I have read this book and while no one will mistake it for Milton Friedman, David Ricardo, and Adam Smith, it's head and shoulders better than most anything we are being told by Beck's peers on radio and TV. And given the importance and timeliness of what Beck is saying, I recommend that everyone read and think about what Beck is saying. We need to wake up, people. We are broke. While we might have some cash in our wallets, our long term obligations are frightening. Changes are coming. The only choice we have is to plan and manage them on our own or wait until the train leaves the tracks and disaster forces us to change.

Part I takes us through the history and how thrift, savings, and productivity were transformed by the Progressives into bad things and what the revaluation of those values has been a big contributor to our current crisis. My only question of the material is whether or not Andrew Carnegie really did make a major contribution to the University of Chicago since it is so closely associated with John D. Rockefeller. Maybe he did. But either way, it is no big deal. Chances are, you will learn a lot by reading this section.

Part II discusses how honest government accounting went out the window during the Reagan administration and has gotten steadily worse. Beck demonstrates why we have to look at the off book spending to realize that there really was no surplus under Clinton and the deficits were always works than the Feds ever admitted. He also shows how the huge Federal Government spontaneously calls into being lobbyists to work on funneling Federal Spending to their clients in return for helping those in power stay in power. Frankly folks, the number one way to get the Feds out of our lives is to quit asking them to give you stuff. Shrink the demand, shrink the spending, and most of their power goes away.

Part III is the most controversial because you may or may not share Beck's values and his 8 step plan for restoring the values, as he sees them, that made this country wealthy, powerful, and great. What are they? 1) Realize that we have individual rights and that collective rights are an excuse to grab power and chain people to the government. 2) Realize that we have equality of opportunity and that trying to make equal outcomes is just a government way of grabbing more power to try and do something that cannot be done. 3) Believe in America and her greatness. 4) Refashion government to be closer to the people. Decentralization takes away power from the elitists who want government as free of actual control by the people as they can get it. 5) Give the Progressives a taste of the activism they have been giving us for more than a century. 6) Cut spending everywhere. A little, some more, and a lot. 7) Stop printing money. Create policies that support a sound currency with real value. 8) Live your own life so you are "out of the system". Don't allow yourself to become dependent on the government and vote for those that support liberty and responsibility rather than dependence

Can we do it? Yes! Will we do it? That remains to be seen. I hope we do.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI

The book is better than 2010 midterm election results
This book is incredibly informative and I'm recommending anyone interested in the state of the country whether conservative or progressive to read it. There's alot in here that's good for discussion. It's the smash mouth call outs in the margins of the text that make this book punchy and lively. They back up alot of what he says.

Of course opinion will vary depending on your interpretation so it's up to the reader to decide. But when you have the likes of Thomas Jefferson calling out from the grave in the pages of this book...it's hard for people who disagree with Glenn Beck to counter his proposals and historical accounts of what's happened. Bottom line is I believe progressive thinking is in serious trouble if Glenn Beck is right in his new book.

Very Educational!
I found that this book taught me a lot of things that I felt I should have already known and didn't. It is written in three sections: the first is our past, and how our Presidents and congresses have brought us to our current financial situation. The second section is all about our current situation, and the many "slight of hand" tricks that are used to make finances look better than they really are, and where that is going to lead us. The third section is how the author feels we need to change things to turn our country around financially.

First, let me say that I am ashamed that I knew so little about our former Presidents and our own history. Second, I am a bookkeeper, and when I discovered how the accounting in Washington is done I was appalled! Any individual or business who kept books and budgets the way that the government does would be in prison right now. And I never knew! While it is chocked-full of facts and information, I also found the book very entertaining. I had thought it might be dry, but I didn't find that to be the case at all. In honesty, I couldn't put it down.

Even if you disagree with Beck's positions, suppositions, or suggested actions; the book is a good read if you would like to understand better how the country's finances are figured, and how the figures for their reporting are kept. It certainly makes for a much more educated American voter, when we understand what a politician is saying (or not saying) about our financial futures, and those of our children. When we understand the rules of the game, we know the questions to ask. I HIGHLY recommend this book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells.

Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? 
          
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. ... Read more

Reviews

Thank you for this beautiful tribute to Henrietta Lacks, February 5, 2010
Wow. This book should be required reading for scientists and students of life. The true story of Henrietta Lacks and her family has finally been told, beautifully, in this book. The book encompasses science, ethics, and the story of a family who was terribly wronged in the pursuit of scientific research. I could gush about this book for pages but I'll try first to hit the main points of why this book is so remarkable in list form for the sake of brevity:


1. The author clearly developed a strong relationship with the Lacks family, which was absolutely critical to ensuring the story was told accurately and with the respect to Henrietta Lacks that was so deeply deserved.

2. The storytelling is amazingly moving despite the need to convey a lot of scientific information. It reads like fiction.

3. Ms. Skloot's research into the science is impeccable.

4. The book is FAIR. It presents the unvarnished truth, obtained DIRECTLY from as many prinicpal people involved in the story as is humanly possible. It would have been easier to simplify the story into heroes vs. villians, but Ms. Skloot deftly handles all sides of the story.


For some detail: I have worked with HeLa cells in the past, but did not know even the barest information about the story of Henrietta Lacks until a few years ago. It simply was not common knowledge, until a few less ethical folks released her name and medical records to the public. This obviously should not have been done without the express permission of the Lacks family, which Ms. Skloot obtained. In the past, others have not been as ethical. The book covers Ms. Lacks' early life, how her cells came to be harvested, and what happened to both the cells and her family afterward.

The contributions of HeLa cells to science are absolutely staggering and cannot be over-stated. The sections where the science was described were clear and accurate. With the story of Ms. Lacks' family interwoven, this book was fairly close to perfect. I found myself moved to tears several times because of the fate of the Lacks family and Henrietta's daughter's indomitable spirit. I do not think anyone but Ms. Skloot could have written this book. She worked with the family for over a decade in order to get the story right. This was critical, as the family had been wronged too many times in the past.

Thank you for this astounding work of art. I will be donating to the Henrietta Lacks foundation in honor of the entire family, and I hope many others will read the book and be similarly moved.

Captivating, engrossing, fascinating, heartbreaking, englightening...ALL in one stellar book!, January 16, 2010

2010 Non-Fiction Award Winner?, January 8, 2010

Absolutely superb, January 17, 2010

A fantastic effort about the life of a forgotten woman, March 14, 2010
Henrietta Lacks was born to an impoverished family of in rural Virginia in 1920. Her family worked on the same tobacco fields that their slave ancestors did during the preceding century, and after her mother died she grew up in her grandfather's dilapidated log cabin that served as slave quarters. She left school after the sixth grade to pick tobacco for ten cents per day on the farms of local whites. Henrietta had her first child with her first cousin Day at age 14, and they eventually married and moved to a small town outside of Baltimore during World War II so that Day could work at Bethlehem Steel for less than 80 cents an hour.

In early 1951, Henrietta went to the gynecology clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital after feeling a "knot" in her womb. After she was taken to a "Colored" examination room, the gynecologist on duty found a firm mass on her cervix that seemed cancerous, but was unlike anything he had ever seen. He sent a slice of the mass for analysis, and Henrietta was soon diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Henrietta returned to Johns Hopkins a few weeks later, where she underwent treatment for cervical cancer. She was given a generalized consent form that gave permission for her doctors to perform any operative procedures necessary to treat her illness. However, she was not told that one of the staff gynecologists was collecting specimens of clinic patients with cervical cancer for a clinical study, and biopsies of healthy and cancerous cervical tissues were taken from her during her initial procedure. The cancerous cells, which were named HeLa after the first two letters of Henrietta's first and last names, proved to be the first human cells that could be grown indefinitely in a nutrient broth, and the Johns Hopkins researchers were overjoyed at this long awaited success.

The treatment she received at Hopkins was state of the art, but was unsuccessful, due to the aggressive nature of her primary tumor, and she succumbed to her illness several months later. The researchers wanted to acquire more specimens from her tumor ridden body by performing an autopsy with biopsies. Her husband, after initially denying a request for an autopsy, was misled into agreeing to allow the Hopkins pathologists to perform a limited autopsy, after he was told that the doctors wanted to run tests that might help his children someday.

The HeLa cell line was provided to scientists and organizations worldwide for minimal cost, as neither the researchers nor Johns Hopkins profited from the first immortal human cell line. However, a number of companies made millions of dollars by mass producing HeLa and selling them at a much higher cost. HeLa was used in numerous important biomedical studies, including the development of the Salk polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1950s, cancer and viral research projects, and studies of the effects of weightlessness and space travel on the human body by NASA.

During this time Henrietta's husband and children were completely unaware that her cells had been harvested for medical research by the Hopkins doctors. By that time most of them were living in poverty in Baltimore, and were unable to afford basic health insurance. Articles about HeLa began to appear in medical journals and in the lay press, but it wasn't until 1973 that the family accidentally learned about the HeLa cell line. The family was contacted by Johns Hopkins, so that their cells could be analyzed and compared to those taken from Henrietta 22 years earlier. Once again they were misled into believing that the purpose of these tests was to determine if any of her children also had cancer, which caused Deborah, Henrietta's oldest surviving daughter, many years of anguish.

Once Henrietta's name was released in the media, the family was besieged by journalists and others wishing to profit from her story, causing her husband and children to become distrustful and wary.

Rebecca Skloot became interested in Henrietta Lacks after hearing about the HeLa cell line and its forgotten host as an undergraduate student. She spent many months and countless hours attempting to contact the Lacks family, and she slowly but painfully gained the trust of Deborah and her siblings, after she promised to tell the family's story alongside the history of HeLa.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fantastic achievement, given the hurdles that Skloot had to overcome to obtain information from the Lacks family, Johns Hopkins, and the other key actors in this story. In addition to an in-depth history of this ordinary yet quite remarkable family, she provides just the right amount of information about HeLa and what it meant for biomedical research, along with information about informed consent from the 1950s to the present, the effect of race on medical care in the United States and the views of African-Americans toward medical experimentation, and the biology of cancer. The book is meant for a lay audience, but it would be of interest to those with a formal medical background. I found the book to be a bit overly sentimental and personal at times, but this is a very minor criticism of a fabulous book.

5 star story, February 17, 2010
Just so id doesn't sound like I damn this book with faint praise, let me say that this was an excellent story told well (for the most part). I'll save the synopsis for others. Needless to say, Henrietta Lacks' story is just as gripping as the science that was done with her cells. You will most likely enjoy her story (as I did).

My criticisms:

The author spends a rather substantial portion of the book describing her own efforts. It didn't add to Henrietta's story and leaving it out would have made for a better, more concise narrative.

Black people were treated inhumanely to say the least (go look up the Tuskeegee Syphilis Study, for example). At the risk of sounding callous, this is well trod ground and some of it could also have been omitted for the sake of brevity without losing any of the story's impact.

Lastly, there is an implicit condemnation of the doctors that took her cells (the author does say that this was "common practice" at the time). I can tell you that as a former cancer patient who has been biopsied more times than I care to remember, once a doctor removes something from you, it's gone. They are not going to pay you for it.

Those criticism aside, this is a worthy read.

An astonishing scientific, sociological, racial exploration--and an engrossing work of art, December 28, 2009

Good try, but could have been better, July 31, 2010
I'm a big fan of science and medical non-fiction, so when I saw the rave reviews for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I was excited to read it. It started off strong; I'd give the first half five stars. The oral history of the Lacks family was fascinating, and I loved reading about how the cells got their start in the lab. When the author introduced the adult family (Deborah, et al), I felt a strong sympathy for them and what they'd been through. I was already recommending it to friends, anticipating that the second half would be as good.

However, once I got to the second half, it went downhill considerably. The writing was fairly tight in the beginning, keeping all of the stories woven together in a comprehensible way, but seemed to unravel as the book went on. When I read the introduction, I didn't understand why Skloot was so defensive about inserting herself into the book (in my experience, medical non-fiction authors do it all the time), but I soon realized why - because by the second half, the book becomes less about HeLa, science, history, and ethics, and instead turns exclusively into a memoir about Skloot's dealings with the family. And at this point, the family became unsympathetic and insufferable. The writing became repetitive, somewhat informal, and ridden with unnecessary details. One reviewer called this book "deftly written" and I'd have to disagree. The second half gets one star.

The book ended on a strong note, with the Afterward. The Afterward took us back to questions of bioethics. As I was reading it, I wondered why the Afterward was a separate part - couldn't it have been woven into the second half of the book?

In short, I thought this book was merely ok, but as the reviews show, a lot of people loved it. If you think that you're one of the people who will love it, read it. If you're looking for a book that's just outstanding, look somewhere else.

Is Immortality really worth the price?, January 21, 2010

Two different books, August 25, 2010
I enjoyed the first half of the book. It was informative and educational. The second half - not so much. It took a bad turn with the introduction of Deborah and their trip together. The author depicted her as a woman who has the mind of a hyperactive 5 year old with ADD. "Oh my god. . . . I did this to her?" Maybe. Maybe not. The book went from the scientific and factual to the land of superstition and sensationalism I was left with the impression the book was a collage of facts and embellished observations. It's a good idea to leave your readers for a desire for more. I was left with a desire for less. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The #1 New York Times bestseller: a brilliant account—character-rich and darkly humorous—of how the U.S. economy was driven over the cliff.When the crash of the U. S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine, and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking.

The crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages?Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 best-selling Liar’s Poker. Who got it right? he asks. Who saw the real estate market for the black hole it would become, and eventually made billions of dollars from that perception? And what qualities of character made those few persist when their peers and colleagues dismissed them as Chicken Littles? Out of this handful of unlikely—really unlikely—heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times. ... Read more

Reviews

Who knew?, March 15, 2010
Based on reading Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker and Moneyball, I wondered whether The Big Short would prove to be entertaining and informative. If you've read some of Lewis' books, you might agree that the "entertaining" part would seem to be a reasonably safe bet. It turns out, it is. The Big Short is fast-paced, straightforward, conversational and salty--very much like his earlier works. Indeed, if you didn't know Michael Lewis had written this book, you could probably guess it. It is easy reading and very hard to put down. In short (no pun), The Big Short doesn't disappoint in being entertaining.

In a sense, this book is similar to Moneyball in that Lewis tells his story by following a host of characters that most of us have never heard of--people like Steve Eisman (the closest thing to a main character in the book), Vincent Daniel, Michael Burry, Greg Lippmann, Gene Park, Howie Hubler and others.

How informative is the book? Well, it may seem that Lewis has his work cut out for himself, since the events of the recent financial crisis are already well known. More than that, lots of people have their minds made up concerning who the perps of the last few years are--banks and their aggressive managers, "shadow banks" and their even more aggressive managers, hedge funds, credit default swaps, mortgage brokers, the ratings agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Fed's monetary policy, various federal regulators, short sellers, politicians who over-pushed home ownership, a sensationalist media, the American public that overextending itself with excessive borrowing (or that lied in order to get home loans), housing speculators, etc. The list goes on--and on. Okay, so you already know this. The defining aspect of this book, however, is that it asks (and answers) "Who knew?" about the impending financial crisis beforehand. Who knew--before the financial crisis cracked open for everyone to see (and, perhaps, to panic) in the fall of 2008--that a silent crash in the bond market and real estate derivatives market was playing out? Indeed, the good majority of this book addresses events that occurred before Lehman's failure in September of 2008. In describing what led up to the darkest days of the crisis, Lewis does a good job helping the reader to see how the great financial storm developed. All in all, this is an informative book.

Interestingly, in the book's prologue, Salomon Brothers alumnus Lewis explains how, after he wrote Liar's Poker over 20 years ago, he figured he had seen the height of financial folly. However, even he was surprised by the much larger losses suffered in the recent crisis compared to the 1980s, which seem almost like child's play now.

For a taste of The Big Short, Steve Eisman was a blunt-spoken "specialty finance" research analyst at Oppenheimer and Co., originally in the 1990s, and he eventually helped train analyst Meredith Whitney, who most people associate with her string of negative reports on the banking industry, primarily from late 2007. Giving a flavor of his style, Eisman claims that one of the best lines he wrote back in the early 1990s was, "The [XYZ] Financial Corporation is a perfectly hedged financial institution--it loses money in every conceivable interest rate environment." His own wife described him as being "not tactically rude--he's sincerely rude." Vinny Daniel worked as a junior accountant in the 1990s (and eventually worked for Eisman), and he found out how complicated (and risky) Wall Street firms were when he tried to audit them. He was one of the early analysts to notice the high default rates on manufactured home loans, which led to Eisman writing a 1997 report critical of subprime originators. Michael Burry (later Dr. Michael Burry) was, among other things, a bond market researcher in 2004 who studied Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, and who correctly assessed the impact of "teaser rates" and interest rate re-sets on subprime loans. In 2005, Burry wrote to his Scion Capital investors that, "Sometimes markets err big time." How right he would be.

Greg Lippmann was a bond trader for Deutsche Bank, who discussed with Eisman ways to bet against the subprime mortgage market. Before home prices declined, he noted, for example, that people whose homes appreciated 1 - 5% in value were four times more likely to default than those whose homes appreciated over 10%. In other words, home prices didn't need to actually fall for problems to develop. (Of course, home prices fell a lot.) When Lippmann mentioned this to a Deutsche Bank colleague, he was called a Chicken Little. To which, Lippmann retorted, "I'm short your house!" He did this by buying credit default swaps on the BBB-rated tranches (slices) of subprime mortgage bonds. If that's not a mouthful, read further in the book for a description of Goldman Sachs and "synthetic subprime mortgage bond-backed CDOs." Then there's the AIG Financial Products story, told through the story of Gene Park, who worked at AIG, and his volatile boss, Joe Cassano.

Did I say this book is informative? Here's a bit more: Did you know that a pool of mortgages, each with a 615 FICO score, performs very differently (and better) than a pool of mortgages with half of the loans with a 550 FICO score and half with a 680 FICO score (for a 615 average)? If you think about it, the 550/680 pool is apt to perform significantly worse, because more of the 550 FICO score loans develop problems. Think about how that got gamed.

There's more, but hopefully you've gotten the point. This is a very interesting, entertaining and informative book that accomplishes what it sets out to do. Chances are you'll enjoy it.

The Big Short Falls a Bit Short, March 15, 2010
Let me get the easy part of this out of the way first. Michael Lewis is a remarkably gifted writer, and I have often found his books impossible to put down. When I first read his debut at book authorship, Liar's Poker, I literally read it straight through. I was not alone in this, as Liar's Poker rightfully made Michael a very well-respected author and a very wealthy man. Moneyball, The Blind Side, and numerous other best-sellers built on that reputation. The long-awaited newest contribution from Michael Lewis, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, is 264 pages long, and I also read this in 24 hours. However, I doubt many others will feel the same. The book was compelling, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and nothing in the book modified my view that Michael Lewis is one of the most interesting writers of this era. I simply doubt that this book evoke the same response from the masses of people who will buy it. Perhaps I am wrong. So before I begin to disect the important parts of the book (its underlying messages, etc.), I will say that it was another hard-to-put-down book from Michael Lewis. Thumbs up, and all that stuff.

So what did I really think of the book? Well, Lewis should be commended for writing a book on the 2008 financial crisis from the most unique perspective thus far. Rather than focus on the major characters that a plethora of other books have focused on (Paulson, Bernanke, Geithner, etc.), Lewis tells his story using some extremely obscure characters as his lead actors: A handful of hedge fund managers who made massive bets against the subprime industry (and by hedge fund managers, I am not referring to high profile, well-known hedgies; I am talking about very, very minor players). Readers will feel connected to the characters when they are done with the book, and a less gifted writer could have never pulled this off. It was a difficult task for Lewis as well, but he skillfully made the points he wanted to make and simultaneously told a story, all through a narrative of four or five unconnected characters of whom the public has never heard.

What are these points Lewis wanted to make? I suppose the major tension of the book is the teeter-tottering between the greed/evil genius of the major Wall Street firms (on one hand), and then the utter stupidity and incompetence of Wall Street (on the other). It is a difficult balance to strike, and one reason it is difficult is because, well, one can not have it both ways. Lewis can not claim, as he astonishingly and explicitly does, that Goldman Sachs made AIG write credit default swaps on the subprime mortgage industry, guaranteeing AIG's demise and Goldman Sachs flourishing, but then on the other hand claim that the firms had no idea what they were doing, and were completely shell-shocked by what happened to their CDO's (the collateralized debt obligation instruments which served as the toxic assets you hear so much about). This inconsistency permeates the book, and tonight on 60 Minutes I heard Lewis repeat what his major thesis is: Wall Street did not know what they were doing. This is the correct thesis. But it is wholly imcompatible with the obscene Goldman Sachs conspiracy movement that has taken over the Oliver Stone mainframe of our society. Even a Michael Lewis fan like myself was taken aback by the audacity of this oft-repeated contradiction.

Perhaps the most disappointing message of the Lewis book is the conclusion he saved for the final chapter - the one I have heard him preaching for some time now on the media circuit. Lewis has been preaching since the days of Liar's Poker that the great sin of Wall Street was when all of the major firms went public (i.e. rather than function as closely-held partnerships, they sold shares to the public in the IPO market and now have no reason to ever check their evil inhibitions at the door). It is a rhetorically effective charge, but one that is not up for the most routine of examinations. The individuals most responsible for the massive money-losing operations of 2005-2007 were the largest shareholders in the firms. Jimmy Cayne of Bear Stearns saw his stock holdings decline from $1 billion of value to $50 million of value, directly under his watch. Richard Fuld was thrown to the lions as Lehman Brothers burned to the ground, but it burned up his $550 million of Lehman stock as well. The gentlemen running these firms were wealthy, and they were driven by a desire to get even wealthier, but it is absurd to postulate that the performance of these companies in the public stock markets were not important to them. It was all that was important to them. Are we really to believe that Wall Street would not have found more creative ways to raise capital in the capital markets if they were partnerships? Whether the firms were partnerships or public corporations, they lived off of balance sheet capital that they mostly raised in the debt markets. It was the bondholders who were on the verge of utter collapse in September of 2008. Why would that be different if they were partnerships? The most obvious refutation of Lewis's thesis is the question many are probably dying to point out to him after reading it: If being a public corporation corrupts the intentions of financial firms, why couldn't the same broad brush be used for all public corporations of all industries? If the removal of the partner capital from the company capital is a self-corrupting event, why should any corporation ever be allowed to go public? What exactly is the difference? Do not huge retail businesses, manufacturing firms, and technology outfits also use shareholder money to grow and operate? Does Lewis really want to advocate the abolition of public equity markets in America? It is absurd to even carry that argument through to its logical conclusion.

I do not want readers to be confused. There are some stellar observations in Lewis's newest book. He gets inside some of the most confused and ridiculous financial transactions ever conducted in the history of civilization, and he does it with the precision of a surgeon. But Lewis does not use his 264-page book to even apply one word - not one single utterance - against the malignant government policies behind much of this malaise. He could easily counter that his book was not meant to be a comprehensive introspection of the financial crisis, and that would be a fair response. But readers hoping for a biog-picture analysis of this crisis will not get it here. They will see the worst of a very small number of Wall Street traders, and they will see a system that was clueless to keep this process from ballooning out of control (his section on the high seven-figure bond traders being regulated by the high five-figure ratings agency analysts is choice). The risk management processes of Wall Street broke down. The hubris of a select number of people grew to a point of perversity. Contrary to Lewis's assertion, the bulk of these CEO's and executives did lose their jobs (Citi, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, etc.) all fired their Presidents and CEO's as their houses burned to the ground. But overall, the book has a ton of good to say about the crisis. Most notably, he demonstrates how "in an old-fashioned panic, perception creates its own reality" (a concept that I want to explore much further in the future). He summarizes in a single sentence the most important thing that can be said about Lehman Brothers ("the problem wasn't that Lehman had been allowed to fail; the problem was that Lehman had been allowed to succeed").

I am truly glad that I read this book, and I do recommend it. However, as the pivotal work of evaluating the big picture of the crisis continues, the conclusion that Wall Street's transition to a shareholder-owned entity was at the heart of the matter is quite lacking. Unfortunately, both evil and incompetence exist in all kinds of business structures.

Liars Poker Squared, March 15, 2010
Mike Lewis has the gift for watching America and picking stories that are interesting to the public: in the last ten years Moneyball (the effect of statistical analysis on baseball) and The Blind Side (Importance of Left Tackles in American Football and rescuing an impoverished athlete). But his undying fame was Liars Poker, the story of Solomon Brothers Investment firm where he worked when 24 and made bonuses of about $200,000 without really understanding what he was doing. Possibly the most interesting part of this book is the foreward where Lewis describes how he felt when writing Liars Poker Wall Street provided worthless value to the economy and it was just a matter of years before the market recognized this. Unfortunately he was about 24 years too late. Couple this with his closing lunch with John Gutfruend and you have a great bookend for closure.

Now Lewis presents us with this bookend to Wall Street, how it universally missed the bad securities being issued backed by subprime securities destroying over $1 trillion in wealth. And his vehicle for this exploration is not a complete rehash but rather documenting the very few people (he estimates fewer than 20) that recognized that market crash coming and profiting immensely, people like Michael Burry, a Stanford Medical student who left to manage his own Hedge Fund. Actually there were many more than 20 people that knew this was coming. I began giving speeches in 2004 on "The Coming Crash in Home Prices". But these people he mentioned left conventional wisdom in believing that the subprime mortgages were worthless AND discovered the newly created tools to profit from them: credit default swaps and the ABX index. With the belief and knowledge these investors were rewarded handsomely whereas the rest of us suffered through a very downbeat market. But they deserved it and in Lewis' upbeat writing style he conveys eloquently but simply how the decisions were made and how they profited beyond belief.

There is one problem with this book. The subject was just covered quite well in The Greatest Trade Ever by Gregory Zuckerman which was released in November 2009. I've now read both books and there is an overlap. Greatest Trade is a very fast read and tells the story well focusing on John Paulson. This book doesn't delve on Paulson but does cover Michael Burry who was featured in the other book also.

Since so many reviews seem to be more interested in giving their political view of this tragic occurence, I'm compelled to weigh in on this issue even though I know this will upset some politcally closed minds. We must recognize if it was so easy to comprehend and solve we would have all profited in the manner these investors did rather than suffer through the last two years. We wouldn't have had the meltdown that we had. The smart people on Wall Street would not have overleveraged creating the steep downward ascent in destruction of wealth as we deleveraged. Specifically, I'm startled how many people want to blame politicians and FNMA/FHLMC. As a seller of $1 billion a year to these entities and some knowledge of their loss history as well as debating this issue with a former Vice Chairman of one of these entities who is a neighbor, it is shocking when you hear people talk of the subprime mortgages that FNMA/FHLMC owned. Did they do some such targeted loans? Yes. But half their losses came from their foray into Alt A loans. Coupled with the drop in property value and low equity position (they were leveraged at an unsafe 30 to 1 ratio) their insolvency was guaranteed if there was a downturn. Why were they not managing for this? It wasn't politically motivated. It was profit motivated. Quasi-guaranteed by the govt. they could issue callable agencies, their drug of choice, and arbitrage this money into a higher yielding security which they did. UNTIL the losses started. With 3% equity/custion, the 30 to 1 leverage immediately worked against them. Where were the regulators? Where was management managing risk? As the Vice Chairman said, the problem was property value drop. Well, with much advance notice and concern, WHY WEREN'T YOU MANAGING FOR THIS?????

With that as a background, let's approach the question of should there be a FNMA/FHLMC? I believe there should be. Exactly what do they do? When they are not leveraging for earnings which BTW they started in the early 90s when loan volume dropped and they recognized they needed to do something else to "gin" earnings, they perform their intended function to make borrowing cheap for homeowners. If there were no FNMA/FHLMC for the past two years 30 year mortgage rates for the last two years would not have been 4.25% to 5.25% but rather approximately 5.75% to 7.50%. In addition there would have been a lot more balloon or adjustable rate loans. Now, does America want this higher rate when an effective "NON-Profit" or govt. entity could maintain this function? I think not and I think we need to recognize that the recovery would have been much slower if many people would not have had the availability of this lower cost money to buy homes and refinance to lower rates. Enough with policy and now back to a conclusion.

But Lewis' writing style makes this book and his credibility from having written Liars Poker and the unique perspective of having worked in the industry and left it will make this a big hit. I strongly recommend this well written, important book.

"W/O Gov't Intervention Every Powerful Financier would Have Lost His Job, & Yet, The Financiers Used Gov't 2 Enrich Themselves", March 15, 2010
Michael Lewis's "The Big Short" tells a rather disturbing tale of some of the biggest profiteers of one of America's worst financial crisis, which we are likely still in the midst of. The amazing thing cleverly illustrated by Lewis, is that while most of the brightest minds in America woke up to our shocking decline once it was too late, a small handful of speculators not only called it correctly, some became fantastically wealthy. The question that nagged me throughout the book was how should I feel about people who just made a killing while most of us watched our retirements suffer alarming declines, and witnessed friends & family lose their jobs and houses?

Greg Lippmann is credited with being the first to expose the weakness in the market around 2006. He pitched the idea to hundreds of financial groups, but most seemed to invest in insurance policies to protect their exposure.

P105:

"A smaller number of people -more than 10, fewer than 20- made a straightforward bet against the entire multi-trillion dollar subprime mortgage market and, by extension, the global financial system. The catastrophe was foreseeable, yet only a handful noticed. Among them: Whitebox hedge fund, The Baupost Group hedge fund, Passport Capital hedge fund, Elm Ridge hedge fund, a gaggle of NY hedge funds, Elliott Associates, Cedar Hill Capital Partners, QVT Financial, and Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners. What most of these investors had in common was that they had heard, directly or indirectly, Greg Lippmann's argument."

Mr. Lewis is a fun and witty writer and his energy in The Big Short is very reminiscent of Liar's Poker, but I really found something morbid and unappealing about this subject. Reading about Paulson's $15 billion killing in 2007 had a different feel than say Soros in the `80's & `90's, but maybe now I know how the English & Indonesians felt? Our society is bred to believe that hard work and ingenuity are rewarded, but in this case there is a tangible human tragedy as a consequence of speculators earning a massive imbalance of wealth in relation to the rest of the population.

All of the speculators Mr. Lewis uses as examples technically did the right thing and chose wisely. Some were more sophisticated than others, but they all have one thing in common: they all made an obscene amount of money betting America would be brought down to its knees. I am also even more disgusted now with the rating agencies that were super-slick in stamping AAA ratings on what was absolute garbage in hindsight.

I found the book both fascinating and disturbing. I think it is now clear to me that financial speculation that doesn't promote sustainable growth needs to be addressed and properly dealt with, and that adequate steps have not been taken. Lewis definitely added a new layer to my awareness of the credit crisis, and covered some fresh ground beyond typical news. I recommend the book if you want to gain a deeper understanding of the sucker punch that just hit most of us.

BookForum review, March 23, 2010
In the run-up to the housing collapse of 2007-2008, houses weren't merely expensive, they were insanely expensive. Yet just when it seemed that prices couldn't go higher, some fool would come along and pay an enormous sum for a glorified hovel. You didn't have to be a genius to realize that American real estate was overvalued. It did, however, take something special to figure out how to make money off the madness. A group of between ten and twenty people did just that, making the bet of a lifetime that author Michael Lewis calls "The Big Short"

The cast of characters in Lewis's highly readable chronicle of the collapse (and what led to it) includes a misanthropic former medical resident, a money manager who saw himself as Spider-Man, and a pair of men in their thirties who started with $110,00 in a Schwab account they managed from a backyard shed in Berkeley, California. "Each filled a hole," Lewis writes. "Each supplied a missing insight, an attitude to risk which, if more prevalent, might have prevented the catastrophe."

Ever since he left Salomon Brothers to write Liar's Poker, the classic 1989 account of his years as a bond salesman, Lewis has been waiting for a day of reckoning. Little did he realize that the Wall Street he once knew now seems quaint. By 2007, it had morphed into a financial Frankenstein, a "black box" filled with hidden risks on complicated bets that could destroy its creators, but only if the government allowed it to do so.

The first to figure out how to use the system against itself was a man named Michael Burry, who once described himself in an online personal ad as "a medical student with only one eye, an awkward social manner, and $145,000 in student loans." Burry possesses an intellect so unusual that Lewis turns his journey of self-discovery into a fascinating subplot. While working the grueling schedule of a medical resident, Burry started writing about stocks in an online forum. (He also took apart his personal computer and put it back together between 16-hour shifts at Stanford Hospital, prompting his superiors to send him to see a shrink.) When he quit medicine to start the hedge fund Scion Capital, admiring investors tracked him down and gave him money.

When Burry started buying insurance in 2005 on nearly two billion dollars' worth of bonds backed by lousy mortgages, his investors thought he had gone nuts and nearly mutinied. But in 2007, when the housing market began to crumble and Burry's bet paid off, everyone realized that his predictions weren't crazy so much as a sane interpretation of a market gone mad.

Burry might have set the trade in motion, but he was no salesman. The one who took his idea and ran with it, the "Patient Zero" of this tale, was a bond salesman at Deutsche Bank named Greg Lippmann, who went around telling everyone he could that the end was near. Only a few took his advice, but most who did became extremely rich. (John Paulson, who made an astounding personal profit of four billion dollars, is the subject of another recent book on the same theme, Gregory Zuckerman's The Greatest Trade Ever.)

The reader can't help but root for this gang of financial renegades as they take on a corrupt and rotten system. Still, The Big Short lacks the pure narrative drive of Lewis' best-selling sports books, Moneyball and The Blind Side. The new work draws its energy from a different source, a palpable undercurrent of anger at the excesses of Wall Street the author shares with his subjects. Lewis is justifiably outraged at the behavior of Wall Street and what its trillion-dollar subprime-mortgage business truly represented: a means of extracting money from the bottom of America's social pyramid and moving it to the top. The problem isn't that Lehman Brothers failed, he shrewdly observes, but that it was allowed to succeed in the first place.

Lewis reserves special scorn for the biggest banks. Goldman Sachs was selling large volumes of bonds backed by subprime mortgages and, at the same time, betting against the junk it was peddling. The Big Short also tells the little-known tale of how Morgan Stanley allowed a single trader to lose more than $9 billion.

It's appalling, but not much has changed. Most Wall Street CEOs who set a course for the iceberg remain in power today. The blind are still leading the blind. At any rate, as Lewis observes, they still can't see things any better than a one-eyed former medical resident.

Good book, but a little late to market, March 15, 2010
First, I'm a big Lewis fan. Like many, my first exposure to Lewis was Liar's Poker; although, I've read several other Lewis books, his columns in the now defunct Portfolio, and occasional writings on Bloomberg. The Big Short isn't really a Liar's Poker experience.

I enjoyed the book, and it's a quick read. It's just that a couple of Lewis's main characters--Burry of Scion and Lippman of Deutsche--were previously covered in another book, The Greatest Trade Ever. As a result of The Big Short being released comparatively late, some of Lewis's thunder has been stolen, so-to-speak.

Regardless, the story is well written and if I had no experience with sub-prime, structured finance products, etc., I would have enjoyed it more. For the most part, I found myself grinding through the pages covering Burry. Ok, sits in his darkened office, listens to heavy metal, pouring over documents, investment from Gotham Partners, at odds with investors, Goldman not valuing CDS fairly, brink of collapse, etc. There's really little insight to add to this character if you've read The Greatest Trade Ever. In some ways, the same can be said for Lippman.

I did enjoy reading about Eisman of Front Point and his crew.

Bottom line, if you've read The Greatest Trade Ever and you're a huge Lewis fan, you'll likely enjoy the book, but you'll be familiar with the tale. Otherwise, there are probably other titles on your "To Read" list where your time may be better spent.

Of course, if you haven't read The Greatest Trade Ever, The Big Short should be rewarding.

Informative and entertaining, March 15, 2010
Hugely entertaining look at the genesis of our current economic mess. Lewis finds the very few investors who predicted and profited from the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and follows their journey from initial realization of the impending disaster to eventual payout. Following these eccentric characters and their interactions with the big Wall Street investment banks is at turns laugh out loud funny and head shaking incredulous. Lewis knows how to turn a phrase and does a good job teasing out the dark humor of the situations. He also does a very good job at explaining the essence of very complicated financial transactions and gives the reader a good understanding of the whys and hows of the financial meltdown. While this book is an important addition to our understanding of what happened, it isn't complete as it doesn't spend any time talking about US government policies that contributed to the crash (specifically, the special legal status given to the three rating agencies, and Fannie and Freddie's role in weakening underwriting standards). Nonetheless, this is still both an important and entertaining book.

Beware: One Star Reviews Based Only on Kindle Availability, March 16, 2010
I just read through all the reviews. 35 of 41 one-star reviews were to punish Amazon for not making the book available on Kindle at the time of their review. They haven't read the book and don't intend to until it's on Kindle--but that's not going to stop them from punishing Michael Lewis to get back at Amazon. I suppose Amazon should have two rating systems--one for what the author actually wrote, and a second to tally the numbers of those expressing disapproval for the book not being available on Kindle.

The Big Short is a wonderful read, well-written and informative. Lewis is a storyteller who roots his understanding of human activity in humans rather than in larger "processes". There's nothing wrong with observing the latter, but without humans there would be no economics, financial markets, etc. Nature doesn't provide for them, people do, and people have stories. They make decisions. They do intelligent things, selfish things and nutty things. These things are the threads woven into the larger tapestry. Lewis doesn't tell the WHOLE story of the financial meltdown, but he identifies many of the key players and how their decisions made a difference to the Big Short. He names Names. His prose, as always, is clear, witty and informative. The Big Short filled in many gaps in my understanding of how smart people can make a lot of money without really knowing (or caring) about how their industry actually works or what the consequences of their decisions might be. Makes you wonder.

Another Michael Lewis gem!, March 17, 2010
Contrary to the whining horde of "munificent" 1-Star allocating-Kindle owners, I actually read the book. Yes, through that "antique" medium, a hardcover printed edition. A medium which allows me to lend it out, have it signed by the author, pick it up in 20 years once more (after Michael Lewis pens the sequel), and place it prominently alongside other Michael Lewis volumes on the book shelves of my homely reading room.

I refrain from a comprehensive review, given that numerous detailed and persuasive reviews appear on these pages, regrettably buried amongst an alarming preponderance of peeved Kindle owners, who have instead opted to commandeer the reviews for purely self-centered reasons. Reasons completely unrelated to the narrative. (Instead of unfairly skewing the book reviews of The Big Short, Amazon provides Kindle owners with the appropriate forum to voice complaints (below the book image): Tell the Publisher! I'd like to read this book on Kindle!)

The Big Short is an interesting read, written in the delightful, thoroughly investigated, and remarkably enlightened style to which Michael Lewis aficionados are accustomed. While the book certainly doesn't encompass the entire body of the financial crisis, The Big Short provides an interesting account on some unlikely luminaries engaged in the markets prior and during the heights of the recent financial crisis. The book merits a prominent place amongst a collection of texts recounting products and players that contributed to the rise and fall of financial institutions, markets, and concepts.

Another worthwhile read on those who saw the sub-prime crisis coming, March 28, 2010
Very much along the lines of Zuckerman's "The Greatest Trade Ever," Lewis explores the cast of characters who correctly deduced that the sub-prime fall was inevitable. Lewis' book arguably had much of its thunder stolen by being beaten to market by Zuckerman. Deciding between the two books, Zuckerman is marginally ahead, but Lewis' treatise covers enough new material and his style is different enough to make The Big Short a worthwhile read. It is an easy, uncomplicated read and flows quite well. It is not technical in nature, but should be more viewed as a populist commentary of characters and events. Lewis' analysis can't be viewed as being too in-depth (especially by market professionals) but then this book is not aimed at a dry academic market, but rather the general public interested in finance and the sub-prime crises. I enjoyed the book, but I'm still searching for the definitive account of the sub-prime debacle. ... Read more

Editorial Review

One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year

In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves.
 
With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, who in 1937 left sharecropping and prejudice in Mississippi for Chicago, where she achieved quiet blue-collar success and, in old age, voted for Barack Obama when he ran for an Illinois Senate seat; sharp and quick-tempered George Starling, who in 1945 fled Florida for Harlem, where he endangered his job fighting for civil rights, saw his family fall, and finally found peace in God; and Robert Foster, who left Louisiana in 1953 to pursue a medical career, the personal physician to Ray Charles as part of a glitteringly successful medical career, which allowed him to purchase a grand home where he often threw exuberant parties.

Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work. Both a riveting microcosm and a major assessment, The Warmth of Other Suns is a bold, remarkable, and riveting work, a superb account of an “unrecognized immigration” within our own land. Through the breadth of its narrative, the beauty of the writing, the depth of its research, and the fullness of the people and lives portrayed herein, this book is destined to become a classic. ... Read more

Reviews

Deep, richly rewarding, heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time., September 7, 2010
Isabel Wilkerson, the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper writer, has now come back to write a fascinating and sweeping book on what she calls ""the biggest underreported story of the twentieth century."

This is the story... no- make that the stories... of the "Great Migration", the migration of sharecroppers and others from the Cotton Belt to the Big Cities: New York, Chicago, Detroit, LA and etc in the period between the World Wars. Over one million blacks left the South and went North (or West). Of course we all know the tale of the "Dust Bowl" and the "Okies", as captured by Steinbeck in words, by Dorothea Lange in photographs, and even in song by Woody Guthrie. But this was as big or even bigger (estimates vary), and to this day the story has not been covered anywhere near as well as the "Dust Bowl" migrations.

Wilkerson's book has more than ten years of research in its making, and thus is a large and weighty volume at more than 600 pages. It is also personally researched, the author having interviewed over 1,200 people. She picked three dozen of those to interview in great depth, and choose but three of those stories to present to you here.

The title of this book is taken from Richard Wright's "Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth": "I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns, and, perhaps, to bloom."

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Boy-Record-Childhood-Youth/dp/0060834005

This book is a not an easy summer read, mind you. At times both heartwarming and heartbreaking, at times so riveting you won't be able to put it down- but at other times so moving that you'll need to put it down for a while.

The author peppers her book with interesting side notes and anecdotes, such as when some of the migrants, being unfamiliar with a Northern accent, would mistakenly get off at the cry of "Penn Station, Newark," the stop just before Penn Station, New York. Many decided to stay there,according to Isabel , giving Newark "a good portion of its black population."

A personal note: My Dad got his Masters on the GI Bill, then took us to Los Angeles to be a teacher. He was partnered with a more experienced teacher- a lady we called "Miz Edna" who had migrated to LA from the South. Our families became friends, as also "Miz Edna's" husband had served in New Guinea with my father (as a cook, however, remember the WWII Army was still segregated) . I remember many of her stories, and especially her rich melodic voice, with just enough of the South remaining. Thus, I "heard" many of the quotations and personal stories here in "Miz Edna's" voice.

This is a deep and great book, I highly recommend it.

Further reading:

Arnesen, Eric. Black Protest and the Great Migration: A Brief History with Documents

Grossman, James R. Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration

Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America

A Rich and Powerful Book, September 20, 2010
Between World War I and the presidency of Richard Nixon, some six million black Americans fled the indignities and oppression they grew up with in the American south and headed north or west in search of freedom. Some found at least a modicum of it. Some did not. This mass migration --- unplanned, haphazard and often resented --- has affected our laws, our politics and our social relations in all kinds of ways. Some for the better, some not.

Isabel Wilkerson did a mountain of research to tell this story. She conducted some 1,200 interviews and digested a huge volume of sociological data. Wisely, she concentrated her book on just three of those six million people --- a gutsy woman from the cotton plantations of Mississippi, an orange picker from central Florida and an aspiring doctor from Louisiana. Each of them left the south in a different decade and with different motivations. They met with varying degrees of success and disappointment. While they didn't achieve everything they had hoped for, none of them in their final assessment regretted their move.

Wilkerson plays off these three protagonists against a vast chorus of others whose stories vary wildly but all come down to the determination to leave behind intolerable social oppression and at least try their luck in freer air. Wilkerson herself, a child of two black immigrants from Georgia, is a part of that chorus. Her book is valuable on several levels. It documents in gut-wrenching detail the brutal way these migrants were treated in the region of their birth. It is honest about their own personal failings and the not-always beneficial effect that northern life had on them. It challenges the popular assumption that they themselves caused the problems that have made their life up north so difficult. It documents a different idea --- that much of the problem stems from their children, born in the north and unmindful of what their parents had to suffer to give them a shot at a better life.

The book is gracefully written. Its level of personal detail gives readers the impression that its subjects had total recall as they spoke into Wilkerson's tape recorder. She has also elected to preserve the unique syntax and tone of black speech, without cleaning things up to make her subjects all sound like upper-class college graduates, though some of them are.

Some passages are riveting in their eloquence --- the automobile journey of Robert P. Foster from his native Louisiana to Los Angeles in the early 1950s, a hellish series of efforts to find unsegregated lodgings before he fell asleep at the wheel; the horrifying descriptions of lynch mobs on the rampage; the life of railroad porter George Starling serving white passengers while himself unable to escape discriminatory practices and threats against his person; the far-reaching Jim Crow laws in the south that prevented blacks from patronizing public libraries and decreed that, even after desegregation was the law of the land, they had to wait for service in stores until all the whites present had been taken care of. (In Birmingham, Alabama, for many years it was against the law for blacks and whites to play checkers together).

Wilkerson devotes major attention to the racial history of Chicago, where immigrant Ida Mae Gladney of Mississippi ended up. This may be simply because the volume of statistical and sociological data on the racial divide there is so enormous, and also because that divide persists to this day in many ways. George Starling made a decent life for himself in Harlem, but watched helplessly as one of his children slid into drugs and criminal activity.

But perhaps the most vivid story of all is that of Robert Foster, a medical school graduate and prominent Los Angeles surgeon. He achieved greater success than either of the other two major figures, but it only aroused in him a need to "prove himself" by buying an ostentatious home, spending lavishly in fine clothes and elaborate parties, and developing a gambling mania. Of Wilkerson's trio, he is the most arresting character --- a man who made it big but felt he always had to go higher up the success ladder. Wilkerson is candid about his character flaws. She seems to pity him rather than simply wax critical.

THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS is a rich and powerful book. It tells a story that for many people still needs to be told.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn

An under reported epic, September 7, 2010

"Epic" is right, September 21, 2010
There is a page in the book where Wilkerson recounts what a single day of picking cotton in the old South entailed...it's a pretty remarkable mini essay in its own right, and you probably won't forget it. The whole book is like this, with one powerful anecdote after another, woven together with great skill. I've always been fascinated with the Jim Crow era in America, and eyewitness stories of those who lived through it...though this book only follows 3 people out of the millions who endured it, it captures America in the 2oth Century as well as just about social history I've ever read.

As a gay man, I often look to these books to be inspired by how black Americans "soldiered on" and showed such unbreakable spirit during these years. No, I personally never experienced even 1/10th of their struggle, but it still empowers me to face prejudice and avoid a lazy victimhood mentality. I am incredibly grateful for books like this, as should anyone who faces prejudice or discrimination by a majority.

Clearly a book of this scope took years to complete, and I'm rooting for this to win this year's National Book Award. I suggest you set aside a whole weekend like I did and savor every page of it.

America's Great Migration, September 25, 2010

Where was I when this was happening?, September 17, 2010
I found this book not only terrifically readable, but moving and exhilirating and frightening (out of concern for those who are profiled) as well. Isabel Wilkerson is a gifted writer (as well as a beautiful woman, if the head shot associated with the book is any guide at all); she well deserves the journalism Pulitzer she was awarded in 1994 even though the structure of this particular book is as defined and apparent as clothes drying on a line in the back yard.

I kept asking myself, "Where was I when this was happening?", shocked that so much of the lives of the blacks who are profiled coincided with my life, yet at the time I had no awareness of what they faced, what they lived with, what they endured. I grew up in the southern San Joaquin County Valley of California. It was 'understood' that blacks lived in a separate part of town. I went to a high school with 5,000 students; fights between blacks and whites were rare, but it was also 'understood' that a current ran below the otherwise still waters of the local racial divide. A drive one night with the local police (this was a benefit of the police-high school liaison intended, I suppose, to help me - a white person - to understand the relationship that should prevail between whites and blacks) revealed more than the officers' excitement about their powerful patrol car, but also the 'proper' nature of the divide between both the white and black parts of town as well as between the members of those communities.

As Wilkerson follows three particular black families out of the South and into the 'Promised Land' of the Northern (or Western) United States, I kept referencing my own life and interactions with the kind of people she was profiling. Unfortunately, I had few points of contact that I could point to. Wilkerson's book makes me regret that lack of interaction and chides me for my anxieties that were all too obviously inculcated by my parents and the white culture in which I grew up.

I recommend this book highly for its revealing story about a segment of American society that has been hidden - at least hidden from me - as well as for its beautifully written style.

I don't want to put it down!, October 15, 2010
Ah, come all you people who are tired of poor muddled writing, poor character development, aseptic dry tomes...

Open this book and I dare you to read 3 pages and then put it away.

Isabel Wilkerson can WRITE! She describes her characters so well they almost step out of the pages.
The historical accuracy of this book is evident and it is obvious that she did a ton of research.

I place this book high on my list of best ever, right along side "Wild Swans" and "David Copperfield"

This is a story that needed to be told, thank you. Because like lots of Americans, I had no idea.

A history lesson..., October 9, 2010
This book should be required reading for all American History students, high school and college, in this country and anyone abroad who studies American History. The story is beautifully told by Ms. Wilkerson who weaves statistics, and facts with beautiful quotes from noted authors and just regular folk. The author tells the moving story of 3 individuals during the mid 20th century and the difficult choices they made to uproot and start over within their own country. There are so many stories within the stories told, and anyone born and raised, particularly in the African American community, within the last 90 years, can relate. But it is by and large the American story. It is a major part of America, and it's amazing that many, at the time of the great migration did not recognize it for the huge impact that it was to our entire nation. And sadly the reason for that is because, the main participants were African Americans and many did not think this story worthy of reporting or telling.

The author gave life to a quiet, historical movement that began way before the civil rights movement, but had just as much impact, if not more, on our country. I would love to see Oprah pick this book for her audience to read. Her broad audience appeal would surely garner many people who might not otherwise read this, to read it. I think all Americans should understand who our country was, where we've come from, and who we are today as a country of diverse people. This is indeed, one of the best books I've ever read about the history of our country.

The Unknown Powers of the Great Migration, October 6, 2010
Excellent examination of the trials and tribulations African American ovecame and endured to create a better life for their families. Moving from the South to the North was like moving to a foreign country. To learn "how to be" in such a hostile environment; to greive for acceptance from other African Americans and others and to make a way out of noway. This is the legacy our ancestors left us to continue to survive and strive to inprove not only ourselves but our families. We oftetimes forgot the sacrifics our ancestors and the pain they endured.

This is a wonderful book it made me realize how special and privileged I am that my grandfather, aunts & uncle and parents were apart of this great migration. To finally receive recognition for their accomplishments and how they changed the landscape of America step by step. Thrown into the unknown but unwilling to endure the darkness to reach some semblance of light.

The only gift I'm giving for birthdays and Xmas this year is this book.

To the author: THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!

Beautiful book, September 29, 2010
This book does what I think every really great book does - it draws you in so that you actually enter the world the book creates. It is even harder for a work of non fiction to do this than for a novel, but The Warmth of Other Suns grabs you by the hand on page 1 and pulls you in and doesn't let you go until you finish the last page. I am not an African American and the history that is set forth in these pages is honestly new for me and happened before I was born. It is not often that a book that is so engrossing that you literally cannot put it down is also able to teach you so much. I learned about a big part of American history that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Highly recommended, for the history, for the stories of the people and for the writing. Everything about this book is simply beautiful. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Full of practical advice as well as invaluable guidance on how to understand American society (covering topics like political parties, privacy, family, work, and money), this handy book is an ideal reference for anyone new to the United States. ... Read more

Reviews

Funny and wise
Understanding the Americans is a delightful book, and I recommend it not only to recent immigrants, but also to Americans who work with immigrants, because it may help them see America through foreigners' eyes. While at the first read the book may seem simplistic and trivial to an American absorbing the American culture from birth, a more focused reader will immediately see that Richmond very succinctly, and with great humor explains hundreds of unwritten rules governing life in America, such as "Americans [...] may tell you much about their personal lives without considering you as a friend or even wanting to be your friend," or that "drop by some time" doesn't really mean you can do that because "such an action would be seen as an invasion of a person's privacy and a failure to plan ahead." The book is also full of American expressions such as "keeping up with the Joneses" "beating around the bush," or "soccer mom," which every American knows, but which puzzling to foreigners who most likely have never heard them. I agree with the reviewer who recommends that this book should be handed out to visitors at every border crossing.

My favorite quote:
"When meeting someone in America, as in most countries, there is usually a ritual greeting. You ask the other person "how are you?" and the answer is usually "Fine" unless that person is mortally ill and about to be transported to a hospital."

Finding your way in another culture
This is a different, and ultimately far more useful "travel guide" than we are used to. It is a day-to-day guide to our manners and mor�s, but is much more, providing background and insights to nearly all major features (and peculiarities) of American society. I can't think of a more useful and practical book. I--and I'm sure visitors--will appreciate the author's honesty about some of the less attractive aspects of our culture. The practice of highlighting common American terms (like doggie bag) makes the book even more user-friendly. By helping visitors to understand what to expect, and how to cope with the inevitable shocks and frustrations, this book should be handed out to visitors with every American visa. Every country should produce a book along the lines of this one.

So true, and so much fun
This book was written as a guide, but it is also structured nicely and the style makes it so funny. I've been in the States for 4 years and realizing how true all those points in the handbook are is just hilarious. I think it is a good reading material not only for international people but also for US citizens who want to learn how non-US people perceive them. ... Read more

Editorial Review

From National Book Award winner Ron Chernow, a landmark biography of George Washington.

In Washington: A Life celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one-volume life of Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his troubled boyhood, his precocious feats in the French and Indian War, his creation of Mount Vernon, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president.

Despite the reverence his name inspires, Washington remains a lifeless waxwork for many Americans, worthy but dull. A laconic man of granite self-control, he often arouses more respect than affection. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow dashes forever the stereotype of a stolid, unemotional man. A strapping six feet, Washington was a celebrated horseman, elegant dancer, and tireless hunter, with a fiercely guarded emotional life. Chernow brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods. Probing his private life, he explores his fraught relationship with his crusty mother, his youthful infatuation with the married Sally Fairfax, and his often conflicted feelings toward his adopted children and grandchildren. He also provides a lavishly detailed portrait of his marriage to Martha and his complex behavior as a slave master.

At the same time, Washington is an astute and surprising portrait of a canny political genius who knew how to inspire people. Not only did Washington gather around himself the foremost figures of the age, including James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, but he also brilliantly orchestrated their actions to shape the new federal government, define the separation of powers, and establish the office of the presidency.

In this unique biography, Ron Chernow takes us on a page-turning journey through all the formative events of America's founding. With a dramatic sweep worthy of its giant subject, Washington is a magisterial work from one of our most elegant storytellers. ... Read more

Reviews

A Washington For Our Time
Why do we need another biography of George Washington? The four volume Flexner biography was published 40 years ago, and since then 60 newly edited volumes of Washington letters and diaries have been published, which Chernow has read closely. He has combed the important multi-volume biographies and reviewed the shorter more recent books. The bibliography is many pages, the text meticulously footnoted. Chernow brings keen psychological insight to this magisterial work. His preamble sets forth his purpose: to bring Washington to life, to get behind the grave, somber image so the reader will have a true appreciation of the man. Moreover, Chernow's writing is superb. The book - over 800 pages of text alone - never drags and one's interest never flags. You can open it anywhere and receive enlightenment. On Washington's leadership in the Revolutionary War: "His fortitude in keeping the impoverished Continental Army intact was a major historic accomplishment... He was that rare general who was great between battles and not just during them." On Washington's early charisma: "Long before he achieved great fame or renown, something about Washington's bearing and presence bedazzled people." It is a tribute to Chernow that he "remembers the ladies", with colorful descriptions of Martha Washington and her circle: "It is a testimony to Martha's social versatility that she won over women who were far more intellectual than she." On celebrity: "For all of Washington's professions of modesty, the thought of his high destined niche in history was never far from his mind." On religious tolerance, Chernow quotes a letter from Washington to a Jewish congregation in Newport: "'All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship...'" I approached this book with some trepidation - so long, so detailed, another Washington biography? Why read it? To find out how Washington did it. To study his character. To be inspired. To understand the virtue in moderation and self control. To feel, far beyond the cliche, proud to be an American.

Wonderful, well-written and complete
I liked Chernow's other biographies; particularly his one on Alexander Hamilton, so much that I advanced ordered this book. I am happy to say that I was not disappointed. If I had to describe this book in one sentence I would say that it shows why Washington was a great leader and a great man. Below is further information about the book, how it compares to other Washington biographies, and some caveats (mentioned at the end of this review) that I think a potential reader should be aware of.

Why should you read this book when you think that you know all you need to about George Washington? I think that you should because this book is wonderful, both in the writing and in the level of detail. Chernow is a wonderful writer. As with his other biographies, Chernow gives us a picture that goes beyond a stiff formal portrait. He gives us, what I consider to be, a fair picture of Washington, with his faults clearly delineated as well as his positive attributes. Here is not the Washington promoted to a saint-like status, rather a man who made the most of all the opportunities that came his way. A man who was not above ordering gold braid and a red sash for his uniform, and a man who took offense at slights (although when necessary held his anger to himself) and a man who bristled when he was appointed to a military rank that he felt was too low. However, he was also a man who learned by his mistakes (and Chermow points out a lot of them) and was above all; courageous, conscientious, honest, and hard working. He shows Washington the man - a man who felt handicapped by his lack of a college education, a man with a volatile temperament that he kept tightly under control, a man who could lead men but found himself leading untrained and undisciplined ones. He shows Washington to be human, a man who "... adopted a blistering style whenever he thought someone had cheated him". Most of all he shows a Washington who prevented the dissolution of the army during the war and whose actions defined the presidency of the US. One of Chernow's objectives was to show that Washington made his own decisions, after consultation with those whose opinions he respected, and contrary to the charge made by his enemies was not controlled by men like Hamilton.

What I found most interesting were the discussions of those aspects of Washington's life that are generally not covered in one-volume biographies. He discusses the economic factors that eventually turned Washington against Britain. Chernow discusses Washington the businessman (both as a planter and a land speculator) and his dealings with his London agents. Contrary to popular myth, Chernow shows Washington to be land rich but cash poor, frequently to the extent of being on the brink of economic disaster. Chernow devotes two chapters (and parts of others) to the issue of slavery. He makes it clear that Washington did not like the institution, but he viewed his slaves as an investment that he did not know how to dispense with without bring about his economic ruin. Furthermore, he unrealistically expected his slaves to act more like employees or soldiers and could not understand why some did not, or why some ran away.

Remarkably, Chernow makes Washington come alive without sacrificing details. My touchstone for a biography on Washington is the extent to which it covers his family, particularly his brothers. Flexner's one volume condensation of his four-volume biography of Washington mentions George's older half-brothers, but not his older half-sister or his younger full brothers and sisters. Chernow mentions them all. He also clears up the story of how George acquired Mt. Vernon, and how it got its name. Chernow also discusses Washington's difficult relationship with his mother, a subject generally not covered in other one-volume biographies. The book also discusses such diverse topics as Washington's teeth, his height, and many of his illnesses.

This is a complete biography of George Washington. It is divided into six parts, covering his entire life. In contrast, some biographies only cover part of his life. For instance, Willard Sterne Randall's biography of Washington focuses almost entirely on the revolutionary war. Chernow covers everything, devoting almost equal space to Washington's presidency as to his leadership of the army. The book contains 30 black and white photographs of paintings of individuals, printed on high gloss paper. The quality of the photographs is good, but lacks the color of the originals, which is unfortunate.

I think that there are two caveats that a potential reader should be aware of. This is not a detailed military history - there are no maps or detailed discussions of tactics. It is more about the man and how he handled the problems of the war, than a history of the war itself. Neither is this book a political treatise on the Washington presidency. Chernow does, however, show how Washington, by his actions, created the presidency. For instance,Chernow shows how Washington changed the Senate's constitutional requirement of "advise and consent" to consent for actions he took. One should not take these caveats as an indication that the book was not excellent or is incomplete. It is just that there is a limit to what one can put into a single volume, even with more than 800 pages of text. Furthermore, this is a book about Washington's whole life, written for a general audience. In this it succeeds admirably.

Discover George Washington and Discover Our Country!!!


Washington, A Life by Ron Chernow should be required reading by all of us, including our children. For most of us, the images we have in our heads of the founding fathers were formed a lifetime ago when we were children. Today our children are forming those same images in their minds, based on boring textbooks and teachers that have only a borderline knowledge of Washington, or that matter an interest. Had I been fortunate enough to have had a book like this several decades ago, my understanding and interest in Washington would have been remarkably different than the lifeless, waxwork image that most of us have.


Chernow makes George Washington come alive, and how grateful we should be for this. Every few years a new book comes out on our country's first President, each one is pronounced the definitive one, and yet next year there is another one. What differentiates Chernow from all of the rest is his capacity to convey a living human being with an emotional life, something no other author has been able to do so far.


First, let's discuss the mechanics of the book. Without the footnotes and index, we are looking at 817 pages printed with a small font. It's a big heavy book, but remember that many Washington biographies encompass several volumes, usually 3 or 4. Chernow was very reliant on the papers of the George Washington Project at the University of Virginia. This involves more than 130,000 relevant documents.


First composed by John C. Fitzpatrick in the 1930's and 1940's, the papers occupy 39 volumes of letters written by George Washington. In recent years, this work has been expanded to 60 volumes, which now includes letters addressed to Washington as well as writings of his friends, family, and others who lived during his lifetime.


One of the amazing statements I took out of the book was Chernow's comment that we now know more about George Washington than his own friends, family or contemporaries did. The book itself is divided into six distinct parts. They are:


Part I - The Frontiersman

Part II - The Planter

Part III - The General

Part IV - The Statesman

Part V - Acting the Presidency

Part VI - The Legend


I am going to describe an instance briefly from each section to give you a feel for how interesting this book is. Chapter 4 of Part I is called the Bloodbath. In it Chernow describes vividly how Colonel Washington trained 160 green recruits to take on more than 1000 French soldiers with 360 boats and 18 pieces of artillery during the French and Indian War. This occurred in May of 1754.


It is obvious that America's founder lost control of his troops who engaged in scalping, and other acts which the future President found to be degrading. Washington himself had to lie to his troops and tell them that additional soldiers were on their way to reinforce their position. He would regret the actions that took place in this encounter for the rest of his life.


In Part II, chapter 17 Washington finds himself living in Cambridge Massachusetts adjacent to Harvard University, and regrets never having attended college. He lives in the house of John Vassall and encounters a young slave named Darby Vassall. Washington decides to take young Darby into his service and changes his mind, when the young man says, "What would my wages be." What most of us would find to be humor, Washington found to be insulting.


During this period of his life, Washington is described by different people in the following terms, venerated, truly noble and majestic, vast ease, dignity, always buffed and polished. He always had an elegant sword strapped to his side, and had silver spurs attached to his boots. When asked how he would pick an officer, his reply was that he must be a true gentleman, with a genuine sense of humor, and the reputation of being able to rise.


In Part III the General deals with the revolutionary war. Chapter 28 is about the Long Retreat. Washington is so disappointed when General Benjamin Lincoln must surrender Charleston, South Carolina along with 2,571 men with 343 artillery pieces plus 6000 muskets. Normally soldiers are allowed to surrender with dignity and march out with their colors, but not this time. To shame the Americans, we were required to lay down our arms in silence. The choice was than given to become a prisoner of war or return home after a solemn oath to refrain from further fighting.


This part also includes the Benedict Arnold affair. If you think you know the story, believe me, you don't. Arnold comes through as an extraordinary American. Words to describe him include, fearless, racing on horseback to spur on his men, most enterprising, and dangerous as a warrior. Arnold had horses shot out from under him, and kept going. One of his legs was basically blown off, and still he would not stop fighting, refusing amputation; he was able to carry on. The first President of our country is totally enamored of Benedict Arnold.


Arnold on the other hand felt betrayed by our country. Far superior to the generals he reported to, other generals took credit for the victories that Arnold won, and paid for with his body, in pain and parts. Officials in Pennsylvania officials falsely accused Arnold of exploiting his position for personal gain. The General demanded an immediate trial by court martial. Arnold felt that George Washington did not come to his defense, and this led to the ultimate betrayal. It is Arnold's betrayal that has erased all the major battles he won on behalf of this country - sound familiar.


In Part IV, the Statesman, we see George Washington as perhaps the first American celebrity. He is the most famous person in our new country, a position he is completely uncomfortable with. His brother dead, he takes his children into his home, and raises them as his own. If you want to understand Washington, listen to what Nelly and Washy, the two children say to describe the General. He (Washington) never spoke of a single act of his life, during the war. He was a remote figure.


Part V is Acting the Presidency. Chernow used a term that makes no sense unless you read the book. The concept is not creating the Presidency, but Acting the Presidency. Washington felt and knew when he became President that every act would be scrutinized. His fear was that of all the branches of government, only the Presidency possessed the power and potential to slip into monarchy, and subvert the Republican form of government. He would avoid this slippage at all costs. Chernow also explores the concept that many things which appear to be of little importance have the ability to have durable consequences.


Bringing it all together, I believe from this day forward, we will now have a definitive, reliable, and wonderfully readable story of the life of our most important American. Creating what we call America was a very difficult task, but it was left to Washington to lead a war to create it, to win the Presidency to create the model for everything that would come afterwards, and set by example how each succeeding President should and would conduct himself.


We have no idea what America would look like if George Washington did not exist? We don't know if America would have been at all, so much rested on his shoulders. Two-thirds of the colonists sided with the British initially. We do know this however. There were only two times in thousands of years of history when a perfect solution to the formation of a government took place. One was under Caesar Augustus, while the other was under George Washington. Now we have the definitive biography to tell us the whole story. Thank you Mr. Chernow and thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

The master chronicler of the American Experiment
Chernow has done it again. Though many pundits complain that America lacks "public intellectuals", Chernow offers a wonderful reading experience that is both academically rigorous and yet popular biography.

Washington has always seemed to me like an Olympian who rules from the mountain rather than a general, a rough and tumble pol, or even a businessman. He has certainly never appeared very human in my schoolbooks. We Americans have been brought up on so many ridiculous myths - I remember modeling my behavior on the cannot-tell-a-lie story about the chopped cherrie tree - but he is also seen as a neutral presider over the innumerable factions of bickering revolutionaries, i.e. the ultimate honest broker (I have never met one!). This wonderful biography truly penetrates the cloud around him to reveal the man.

Alongside his career and times, Chernow investigates Washington's motivations, emotional life, and methods. Washington was ambitious, shrewd, and incredibly self-disciplined. But, in contrast to his popular image, he was also passionate, complete with a fiery temper that he learned to keep in check with great difficulty. And he made plenty of mistakes.

As the book unfolds, we see that Washington learned certain lessons from experience rather than books, shaping his attitudes in a uniquely pragmatic and practical way. Though born to a plantation family, he was not the prime heir, so had to make his way more or less on his own; to his great regret, he had very little formal education.

After working as a surveyor, he began his career under the British military. In this way, he was schooled directly on how to fight on American soil, which was unlike the European theatres and served him well in his tactics when he later fought the British. On a personal level, he came to despise aristocratic privilege, which all too often reserved position and advantage to the mediocre and undeserving. This was a clear sign of both his self confidence and his ego. This also was a tumultuous beginning for him. Indeed, he oversaw the massacre of a French envoy by Indian allies, which some claim was the spark that led directly to the Seven Years War. He also suffered many significant defeats, though emerged something of a hero.

Then Martha enters the picture. Benefiting from his reputation, he made a crucially important marriage to the widow, whose holdings elevated him the status of a gentleman farmer; for the next 16 years, he operated at the pinnacle of Virginia colonial gentry. Instead of leading an idle pseudo-aristocratic life style, he applied himself to his business, with real estate deals and experiments in the management of his estates, in particular cultivating a variety of crops rather than mono-crops such as tobacco, which exposed his neighbors to suspiciously fluctuating prices. Observing the debt that was ruining his cohorts, he came to distrust both faraway officials dispensing favors and merchants who promised to manage everything from the delivery of extremely expensive European goods to the sale of his crops, he moved towards self sustainability.

His experience as a business man convinced him of the need for independence and self-reliance: alone among the founding fathers, he died a very rich man with minimal debt. When the time came for the revolution, he was ready to risk everything to preserve his political and economic autonomy. Of course, his choice was helped by the real estate holdings he had in Ohio, which the British were refusing to allow him to exploit!

Risking everything he had achieved, Washington took over the disorganized and poorly funded American rebel forces. After his early catastrophic defeat in New York, he concluded that he would have to harass the British to gradually wear them down rather than confront them directly in the field (as they expected he would, given the European war traditions of the time).

This led to an extremely long conflict that was aggravated by the incompetent confederation government. From this, Chernow writes, he concluded that the US needed a strong executive with the power to tax and act effectively rather than relying on Congress or fractious state legislatures to lead. This explains very clearly why he championed the Federalists later. Once again, this was counterintuitive to conventional wisdom: the colonies had revolted against the British monarchy's policies and taxation, it was said, and did not want to replace it with another monarchical authority.

At the victory, Washington retired with unsurpassed prestige, yet aghast at the chaotic mismanagement of the confederation government. To remedy this, and putting his place in history as the country's liberator in jeopardy, he joined the Constitutional Convention at its very start. As a savvy pol, Washington had waited a long time to commit himself as he examined his options. In an interesting aside, Madison tutored him in the political ideas and vocabulary then current. From his experience as a leader and executive, Washington had strong ideas of what he wanted to do, but he shrewdly relied on his more learned colleagues for the right way to describe and sell it politically, lending his prestige yet appearing majestically above the fray and hence the logical choice to become the first president. That is true political artistry.

As the pioneer exemplar of a new kind of republican government, aware of the value of symbolism, Washington established many of the norms of executive power and practice that have survived intact to the present day. Fearful of the country fragmenting into competing sovereign powers, he also strove to manipulate the political forces into a durable union. This entailed avoiding to address the issue of slavery and the economic system it supported, which led directly to the Civil War. Nonetheless, by delaying the reckoning for a few generations, he may have prevented the union from immediate (and permanent) disintegration.

Another part of his legacy, which Chernow covers in wonderful detail, is his careful though unequivocal support of Hamilton and the Federalists. With them, Washington created the foundation of the federal system of government that has evolved until the present today. Though still controversial, the Federal Government can raise funds, maintain an army, take precedence over states' prerogatives, and serve as a decisive economic actor even though the constitution does not specifically allow it. Once again maintaining the appearance of even-handed distance, Washington was the real mastermind behind the protean Alexander Hamilton, his political instrument of action. Chernow truly does justice to the immensity of this undertaking - it was the first republican government to rule over such a huge and socially disparate country.

Chernow's book is extremely long and dense, a genuine masterpiece that will be the definitive treatment of this amazing life for a generation to come.

Recommended with the greatest enthusiasm. This cannot disappoint.

Superb Popular History
Chernow's "Washington: A Life" really does not add much that is new or fresh to our understanding of Washington the man, although his inclusion of the recently catalogued Washington letters, artfully woven throughout the book, is long-overdue, refreshing, and welcome. Rather, what Chernow has done is set himself the task of finally collating the massive amount of scholarship on the "American Cincinnatus" into a unified explanation of Washington as we understand him. And I am pleased to report that he succeeds admirably, producing a solid, well-researched, engaging work of popular history freely accessible to most readers. And this alone is no mean feat. But what also stands out for me is the tone of the work.

I am not going to summarize the main threads of the book's arguments since the other reviewers have done so thoroughly and well. Suffice it to say, the other factor making this book so grand is its overall sense of balance. Chernow simply refuses to resurrect the breathless myth-culture of President Washington and present it as "fact," but neither does he diminish the man's amazing accomplishments. There is also no gloss of Washington's often paradoxical - even sometimes Quixotic - nature and the more unpleasant aspects of his character and life, not the least of which was his not-so-well sublimated vision of himself as a "Man of Destiny." Like Burlingame's "Lincoln" I reviewed a long time back, what Chernow produces is a person of "whole cloth," not an icon, and a person who had routine flashes of a certain kind of unique political genius and possessing what was, at heart, an elevating, evolving political conscience and sense of his place in history at exactly the right time and moment in the tumultuous history of the early American experiment.

This book is not a valentine or a love-letter, and not a hatchet job. It is popular history done well, the use of sources measured, balanced, and up-to-date, and the clearest biographical picture we have yet, I think, of Washington presented again to the American public at large as he most likely was. While it is not a microscopic biography, neither are there any curious omissions or leaps in Chernow's narrative of this fascinating life. Just first-rate all the way around.

Readable, engaging, comprehensive, and lavishly researched. It would be difficult to ask for more.

Highly recommended.

A Needed and Definitive Biography of Cinncinatus
Chernow's "Washington" sheds light on a founding father that many students of my generation know little about. It's refreshing to read this biography, especially after the magisterial work on Alexander Hamilton. The letters from Washington helps to fill in the gaps of the story we never knew and presented well by a master historian.

It's a long read, but well worth the long nights of stories about a great man. Undoubtedly, there will be some who look at this story and say that there are too many "ifs" in the story and call Chernow a one-sided historian as they did when Chernow wrote the biography on Hamilton. To me, these are parts of history because history cannot be seen as the definitive account of humanity as truths are socially constructed by the living. Chernow does an excellent job of pulling back the dusty curtains of history to give us a three-dimensional view of one of our greatest founding fathers, whose life has been shrouded in shadow by his taciturn nature and forbidding character.

The biography, like other commentators have already established, is very extensive and give a detailed account of how Washington grew from a repressed young boy under a illiterate mother to become the great general whose stoic personality lead America to final victory in the American Revolution. Cinncinatus is resurrected in his best incarnation within American History with interesting analysis on how he chose to be an impartial leader who acted in silence to make the best of a precarious situation for a seedling nation known as America.

In conclusion, this biography will be a defining authority on George Washington and his formerly mysterious life.

Best Washington Bio yet
Simply an amazing biography of George Washington! Comparable to James Flexner's bio, this is far more detailed in the fact that Chernow not so much breaks down the mythical ediface of Washington but explains him in such detail that the reader can actually get a sense of who he really was. Chernow digs deep into Washington's mind by citing the facts and primary sources that make him far more human than mythical. Though critcal of Washington on many issues, he is fair in reavealing that GW was driven by many normal human ambitions and was very critical about his image and his reputation. This was a great read and a must read for any American history reader who wants to learn more and enjoy learning about GW and the times he lived in.

A stellar biography
A wonderful biography of George Washington. The author, Ron Chernow, is an accomplished biographer, having already penned lengthy tomes on John D. Rockefeller and Alexander Hamilton. This work is another triumph for him. And while short bios, such as from the American Presidents series, can be useful, there is nothing like a long detailed biography to give a reader a real sense of the subject. And the subject here is genuinely important--George Washington.

The book is written in a literate fashion. It begins at the beginning, examining Washington's childhood and his family background. It discusses some of the enduring characteristics of his nature and when these began to manifest themselves (e.g., trying to quell his ambition and NOT seem as ambitious as he actually was). We do see him trying to struggle to control his anger and to address his tendency to let his pride hurt his efforts (note as an example his continuing complaining over lack of respect, rank, etc. when he was serving with British forces in the French and Indian War).

The book considers his early military career, success and failure alike. His "luck" that helped propel him higher and higher in rank at a relatively young age (although part of this was the death of close family members--so it was not all "good news"). He was nervous about the fact of his male relatives dying fairly young; his own health was at points precarious (including while he served as president). The book describes his ascent, his public life, his military leadership, his political persona. We get a sense of the real challenges facing him as commander of the Revolutionary force and his sometimes painful experiences as President.

We also learn of a more private side--his potentially dangerous flirtation with Sally Fairfax and his engagement and marriage to Martha Custis. His marriage may not have been the romance of a lifetime, but the two made a terrific team and were full partners in their marriage. Martha was pretty much what Washington needed--plus bringing him much wealth.

His views toward slaves was more nuanced than many in his time, and the book addresses that nicely. His frustrations as president and how the stresses wore him down is well told. The struggles for power within his cabinet would weigh him down (e.g., Alexander Hamilton versus Thomas Jefferson).

In short, a biography worthy of the person.

Washington: The Legend And The Man
Recent trends have made the reader of any new history or biography expect a healthy dose of cynicism as reputations are drastically revised and accepted narratives questioned. Any new biography of George Washington especially seems to demand such treatment because he has undergone such idealization that he seems too good to be true. Ron Chernow's excellent new biography does wave away some of the incense, but actually confirms rather than dismantles much of the legend.

George Washington was born the eldest son of the second marriage of a Virginia planter of excellent family but increasingly limited means. Young George grew up accustomed to uncertain finances and unsettled homelife. His father died young and his mother became more and more demanding and sharp tongued as she grew older. George never attended college and lived precariously, supporting himself as a surveyor, until an older half brother died and left him his Mount Vernon estate.

Young Washington wanted a military career, but was held back by British prejudice against colonials and his own lack of education. His first foray into combat was embarrassingly unsuccessful, touching off what later became known as the French and Indian War. But even in his twenties Washington was already demonstrating the courage, fortitude, and common sense that later made him so successful. After the French and Indian War ended Washington returned to Virginia, married a rich widow, and worked hard to make Mount Vernon and his other properties successful. Eventually his reputation as a cool headed leader led him into politics. There he demonstrated that, although he was not a great speaker and lacked the imaginative flair of others, he was a great man and a great leader. It was those qualities, rather than military skill (he lost more battles than he won), that made men flock to him and remain loyal throughout the Revolution and after. And those same qualities made him the indispensable man to lead the new United States.

Ron Chernow does an excellent job depicting Washington's many fine qualities and contradictions. Among the most interesting of these is Washington's attitude towards slavery. As he grew older he became more and more repulsed by it and eventually freed his own slaves in his will, but he also defended it as an institution in order to hold Virginia and the rest of the South in the new nation. He even went to great lengths to reclaim slaves who had escaped from him. Similarly, Washington dearly loved his home state of Virginia, but found himself increasingly alienated from other Virginia politicians like Jefferson and Madison who opposed his policies. More personally, he and his wife Martha had a long and happy marriage, but he also admired and enjoyed the company of attractive women throughout his life.

Throughout this long biography we see Washington's personality: calm, resolute, dignified without being humorless or priggish, and we realize again how lucky Americans were to have him during those eventful years. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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One of Twains Greatest!
This book--at times disjointed, rambling, self-referential, and irreverent--is decades ahead of its time. It's an interdisciplinarian's dream as Twain takes on economics, geography, politics, ancient and contemporary history, and folklore with equal ease. Mostly though, one appreciates his knack for exaggeration, the tall tale, and the outright lie. It's a triumph of tone, as he lets you in on his wild wit, his keen observation, and his penchant for bending the truth without losing his credibility as a guide.

The book's structure is also modern: He recounts his days as a paddlewheel steam boat "cub," piloting the hundreds of miles of the Mississippi before the Civil War, then, in Part 2, returns to retrace his paddleboat route. Although a few of his many digressions don't work (they sometimes sound formulaic or too detailed) most of the narrative is extremely entertaining. Twain seems caught between admiration and disdain for the "modern" age-but he also rejects over-sentimentality over the past. He writes with beauty and cynicism, verve and humor. Very highly recommended!

A compelling monologue of biography, geography and history
Let me guess: your total exposure to Mark Twain came in high school, when you were forced to read about the antics of Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer, right? Well, now that you've reached adulthood, you should make time to read _Life on the Mississippi_. It's mandatory reading if you live in a state that borders the great river, anywhere from Minnesota down to Louisiana. It's mandatory reading if you have come to that point in life when you can suddenly appreciate American history and post-Civil War stories written by someone who lived through that time.

Writing in the first half of the 1870s, Twain retraces the steps of his youth: the watery highway he knew when he trained to be a riverboat pilot nearly 20 years earlier. He speaks of how life _was_ along the river, and what life _became_. It's almost a "you can't go home again" experience for him, while the reader gets the benefit of discovering both time periods.

I have two favorite parts that I share with others. Chapter IX includes a wonderful dissertation about how learning the navigational intricacies of the river caused Twain to lose the ability to see its natural beauty. And Chapter XLV includes an assessment of how the people of the North and the South reacted differently to the war experience. If I were a social studies teacher, I'd use that last passage in a unit on the reconstruction period. So put this title on your vacation reading list, and don't fret: the chapters are short and are many -- 60! -- but you can stop at any time, and the words go by fast. _Life on the Mississippi_ should make you forget all about any Twain trauma and report-writing you may have suffered as a teenager. [This reviewer was an Illinois resident when these comments were written.]

Twain on the Mississippi
This is the book that Mark Twain himself thought to be his greatest. It is basically a memoir in two parts of his life spent on the river with historical sketches, statistics, and other matters thrown in.

The first part of the book tells of Twain's early years as a riverboat pilot. He talks about being a cub pilot, about learning about the intricacies of the river and the difficulties of navigating it, and about his mentor Horace Bixby. Twain's love of the river and his pride in "mastering" it are made obvious in these chapters.

The second part recounts Twain's return to the river in 1882, mainly to "see it again" in preparation of writing this book. Starting in St. Louis, he first goes south through Baton Rouge to New Orleans. He spends a bit of time there and describes life as he sees it in the city (there's a funny chapter regarding the above-ground cemeteries and an argument about cremation). Then he heads north on the steamboat City of Baton Rouge, piloted by his old mentor Horace Bixby. He stops off in Hannibal for three days, just enough time to see how much the town and some old acquaintances have changed, and then continues all the way to St. Paul, Minnesota.

Twain's humor, as he recounts conversations with people, sights seen, reminiscences dredged up, and a myriad of other matters that fill the book, is always evident. It's one of the great books on the mighty river, and whether you are a lover of the works of Mark Twain or interested in the Mississippi River during the time period just before and after the Civil War, you will enjoy this book.

Twain's Mississippi River Recollections..........
In Life on the Mississippi, Twain recounts his river experiences from boyhood to riverboat captain and beyond. Encompassing the years surrounding the Civil War, this book is an excellent source of 19th-century Americana as well as an anthology of the mighty river itself. Replete with rascally rivermen, riparian hazards, deluge, catastrophe, and charm, Life on the Mississippi is another of Twain's stellar literary achievements.

Wit and wisdom are expected from Twain and this book does not disappoint. It is equally valuable for it's period descriptions of the larger river cities (New Orleans, St. Louis, St. Paul), as well as the small town people and places ranging the length of America's imposing central watershed.

The advent of railroads signalled the end of the Mississipi's grand age of riverboat traffic, but, never fear, Life on the Mississippi brings it back for the reader as only Samuel Clemens can. Highly recommended.

The Book I Would Choose On A Deserted Island.
Life on the Mississippi is by far one of the most wonderful books ever written about the post Civil War era in America. Mark Twain takes the reader on a melancholy look at this period of time in history as you journey into the Mississippi of his youth, adulthood, and the people and the communities he knew so well. He conveys a miraculous picture of this lively river giving it the grandeur and prominence it deserves. He defines the river very much like a living organism with a power and personality all its own. As the book unfolds, he begins in his days when he grew up along the river and became a steam boat pilot, ending that career with the advent of the Civil War. Later he returns to the river after some twenty years and takes a journey as a writer from around St. Louis to New Orleans and back up the river into what is present day Minnesota. You learn about the different cultures along the river, its tributaries, as well as the remarkable people who become part of the forgotten history of our nation. Twain's anecdotes are sheer brilliance, and he has an incredible way of choosing just the right story to illustrate a particular point transporting the reader back into time as if it was the present day and you are standing beside Twain observing what he is seeing. His reflections of his times along the river and his descriptions of the people and places make this a true masterpiece of literature and I highly recommend it. I found myself only able to read short portions at a time, as I personally found the sheer beauty of the entire book was a work to be savored and digested rather than rapidly consumed as you would with any other book. As I poured through the book, I felt often as if I was traveling with Mark Twain as a companion along his charming and magnificent journey during a wonderful period of history.

Excellent
The best work by Twain I've read to date. This combination history, memoir, travelogue, and collection of sketches is both humorous and entertaining. I have also learned a great deal about Twain, his time, and the history of steamboating and the Mississippi. Written later in his life, this work is mature in style as well as content in spite of its loose organization and focus. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Editorial Review

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Reviews

Pink angel treetopper creates lush Christmas magic, October 15, 2009
Miss Terry finds an old box of family toys and a pink angel while she sets out to ignore Christmas. Her attempt at isolation is instead met with memories and new joy. Lovely author.

Very much like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, November 18, 2010
I got this free for my Kindle and was very surprised that it was really a good story. Very much like the Charles Dickens story, "A Christmas Carol". You've got a bitter older woman who is going through an old box of toys. She throws some of them outside in the snow to see what people will do. She comes to this Christmas Angel ornament and it takes her to where the thrown away toys ended up. Her long lost brother comes by and they reunite. An abused, orphaned little girl becomes a part of their family. It was a pretty predictable story but a very good one! This could easily become a Christmas tradition in many households!

Put me in the right mood for Christmas!, November 20, 2010
Could not put this book down. I have recommended to family and friends as a fast read but writer immersed you into this time period and didn't let you go until the end! Really enjoyed!

Simple, enjoyable story, November 30, 2010
This nice, old-fashioned story was one I enjoyed reading. It was not, however, one that I will read every Christmas. It did pleasantly fill in the time between going to bed and going to sleep. ... Read more

Editorial Review

This is the best-selling Original Authorized Edition regularly featured by Glenn Beck to Fox TV viewers as a Must Read!

The nation the Founders built is now in the throes of a political, economic, social, and spiritual crisis that has driven many to an almost frantic search for modern solutions. The truth is that the solutions have been available for a long time -- in the writings of our Founding Fathers -- carefully set forth in this timely book.

In The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World, Discover the 28 Principles of Freedom our Founding Fathers said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desire peace, prosperity, and freedom. Learn how adherence to these beliefs during the past 200 years has brought about more progress than was made in the previous 5000 years. These 28 Principles include The Genius of Natural Law, Virtuous and Moral Leaders, Equal Rights--Not Equal Things, and Avoiding the Burden of Debt. Published by the National Center for Constitutional Studies, a nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to restoring Constitutional principles in the tradition of America's Founding Fathers.

The National Center for Constitutional Studies...is doing a fine public service in educating Americans about the principles of the Constitution. -- Ronald Reagan, President of the United States

This is possibly the most comprehensive treatment of the genius of the American Founding Fathers which has ever been encompassed in a single volume. --Kenneth C. Chatwin, District Judge, Phoenix, Arizona

Reviews

A Must Read For All Americans, November 23, 2007
This is an incredible book that should be read by all Americans.

I first read this book back in the mid 1980s shortly after it was first published. It had such a profound effect on me that I can still recall where I was when I was reading it. That is rather amazing as I have I have probably read about 1600 books since then.

I was excited to see that it had recently been republished as my original copy is pretty ragged. It was great to reread it and brush up on the great ideas contained in it.

The premise of the book is that because of the free market system that took root after our Constitution was enacted, the United States literally made a 5000 year leap of progress in the time since then. The author, W. Cleon Skousen, discussed the changes from the time of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the early 1980s when the book was written. In discussing Jamestown, he said: "The most striking thing about the settlers of Jamestown was their startling similarity to the ancient pioneers who built settlements in other parts of the world 5,000 years earlier. The whole panorama of Jamestown demonstrated how shockingly little progress had been made by man during all of those fifty centuries."

He went on to say, "The settlers of Jamestown had come in a boat no larger and no more commodious than those of the ancient sea kings. Their tools still consisted of shovel, axe, hoe, and a stick plow which were only slightly improved over those of China, Egypt, Persia, and Greece. They harvested their grain and hay-grass with the same primitive scythes ..."

He then discussed the Constitution that was developed by the Founders. It took 180 years for them to put it all together from the beginning of Jamestown in 1607 to the enactment of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. He goes through the inspirations and sources for their thoughts in explaining how the U.S. Constitutional system came about.

Dr. Skousen contrasted the situation described in Jamestown above to the present day. He talks about the phenomenol results produced by the free enterprise system. Some of the incredible inventions and changes that he cites are as follows: the internal combustion engine, jet propulsion, exotic space travel, 'all the wonders of nuclear energy', massive changes in communications, the doubling of the life expectancy, central heating/air conditioning, surgical miracles, cures for numerous diseases, etc. Needless to say, the list could go on and on.

In showing how our system was designed, Skousen goes through 28 principles that the Founders developed from their study of sources such as Cicero, Locke, Montesquieu, Adam Smith, and others. Skousen has done what most people don't have the time or inclination to do: Study the original source materials and bring it all together.

Obviously, it would be great if every American studied the sources listed above as well as The Federalist Papers, the writings of Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, and others. Since that is unlikely, this is a great way to gain a good general understanding of the roots of our nation.

One great thing about this book is that the author discusses some of the problems that we have faced in recent years due to failing to follow the Constitution and the principles of the Founders. Some of these are issues like the mounting national debt, excessive taxation, and judicial activism.

Dr. Skousen also does a great job of explaining the political spectrum and the absurdities of the left-right labeling so often used in discourse today. He explains in an easy-to-understand manner that the far left and far right as the terms are used today are really the same thing, ruler's law, and are totally out of step with the way the system was intended.

One could easily go on about this book for a long time, but I will spare the reader that. Suffice it to say, this is an amazing book that should be read by all.

I would also highly recommend, "The Making Of America" The Making of America: The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution by the same author. Anyone who reads those two books will know more about the way our system was designed and supposed to work than 99% of all Americans including 'constitutional lawyers'. Buy this book.

Contextual perspective of the Constitution from the Founders, January 17, 2009
Over the years I've read many books on the founding of America, the Constitution and our government. From the Federalist papers to present day books on specific politicians and policies. This book has put a perspective on how America came to be the 'Tip of the Sword' of planetary development in only 200 years after a human history that runs on for many centuries consisting of bare bones existence for the masses by illuminating not 'just' the beliefs of the Founders but what they were from the inside out... and what their intent for this nation really was.
Above all they were academicians in every aspect of the word... but also they actually felt individually responsible not only for what they were doing but for each and every word they uttered or wrote in regards to the archival evidence they understood they were creating for the new Government. Something you won't find in any politician today.
An easy read, very enjoyable and ultimately educational. Be careful, you may actually learn something you didn't know.

If one doesn't know what it means to be free in America, this book will teach you., October 12, 2009
I remember going through school and learning about American history and the writing of the Constitution, but I never felt like I had a feel for the language or the principles upon which that great document was written. W. Cleon Skousen's book, The 5000 Year Leap, does just that. This is a book that anyone of almost any age could pick up and understand just what it was the Founding Fathers were striving for. I think that every individual should pick up and read this book at least once, but preferrably multiple times.
This book lays out 28 principles with which the Founding Fathers tried to integrate into the Constitution. It seems that over 50% of the book is actually quotes by the Founding Fathers themselves, allowing it to do a great job of showing the reader what they actually meant and not just what the author thinks they meant. This book is a must-have for any American history fan or any individual who studies politics. I would recommend it to everyone, though.

Look no further, March 25, 2009
As a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society and someone who considers themselves well read and current on our nation's politics, this book, The 5000 Year Leap is the absolute best. If you wish to understand the founding of America. If you wish to learn how the founders wrestled with the issues. If you want to know whether or not America is really a unique and great nation, not merely in the world today, but throughout all of human history. If you are troubled by our current day's politics and wonder just how closely our leaders today, regardless of political stripe, remain true to our founding principles. If you have wondered about any of this, you need read only one book for your answer. READ THE 5000 YEAR LEAP!! I promise you will come away with a renewed sense of America and great hope for our continuing success as a nation.

Illuminating but breezy, January 7, 2008
The 5000 Year leap left me irritated, challenged, and wanting to read more.

I found the historical material the most interesting, but every time I read the views and conclusions, I felt the need to check the facts. Somehow it seemed that Dr. Skousen was bending the story. I may be off-base here, or I may not. It has inspired me to do more research.

I had two problems specifically. Skousen's concept of good government, which he says he shares with the Founders, is to seek a balance between anarchy, which he equivocates with chaos, and tyranny. To me that sounds like halfway to tyranny, and doesn't help differentiate between the activities where government arguably has a role, and those in which it doesn't.

He takes to heart the purpose of government as described in the Declaration of Independence, but I still felt an authoritarian streak running through the book.

I think the Founders model was to get as close as possible to liberty, and keep the federal government as small as possible, leaving all else to the people or the states. It may sound like a small semantic difference, but the idea of seeking a balance between pure liberty and pure tyranny is a lot different than staying as close to pure liberty as possible.

My other problem was his notion that the part of natural law that is political law is not discovered but revealed. I believe he is saying that the laws which are used to govern human behavior have been revealed by God, through scripture, and are not discovered through experiment as are the laws of physics. He quotes Blackstone on this. I am uncomfortable with this idea, and plan to read more of Blackstone's work to see for myself.

My understanding is that common law is the best origin of political law, and that it was discovered through centuries of case law arising from the resolution of disputes. Some forms of resolution work, others don't. The workable solutions last, the others fall away. This is a discovery process, a science of behavior, not a matter of applying scripture.

This book came out in 1980. In 1943 two books came out which I think better express the idea of the emergence of liberty: The God Of The Machine by Isabel Paterson, and The Discovery Of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane.

A little disappointed, September 7, 2009
Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great book, and I highly recommend it. With all the rave reviews, maybe my expectation was set too high. I enjoyed reading the book, and agree with all of it, but was still disappointed.

Here's the catch: This book is written by religious people, for religious people. The title should be changed to "How Religion played a role in the Founders writing of the Constitution".

I've been a conservative all of my life, and am a Libertarian, and even though I grew up in a church, and respect religious people, I no longer believe there is a God. However, I do believe in the morals taught by religion, and choose to associate with these good people.

This book covers many topics, but every single chapter has the same theme: How religion played a role when the founders wrote that part of the Constitution. It makes sense, is well written, and is a very positive book for religious people to read, but if you are not religious, it does eventually start to get old. I made it through about 85% of book, before I hit religion overload. I scanned the rest, reading the bullets and highlights, and agree with them too.

If you are an Atheist (I don't like that word, the incorrect stereotype assumes you are anti-God which is simply not true for many Atheists), I still recommend this book. You will learn a lot, and it makes sense. Just be warned, it reads at times like a church sermon.

For those of you wondering: Yes, I do agree with this books' premise that a government SHOULD have officials that adhere to MORALS found in religion. I may not pray to God myself, but I would rather our government officials do. I am just as offended by the "God hating" Atheists; they are the ones who seem hell bent on destroying America with their immorality. I usually vote for officials who fear God and love their neighbors. I love my country, and am proud to be an American.

It will change your views of America, June 3, 2008
The constitution, what does it mean anymore? This document changed the course of the world and this book will tell you why the United States of America changed the world in 200 years. Sadly, it is also pointing out why we are loosing what has made us so strong.

This book yes, should be required reading.

Do you want a book that will honestly change your whole way of thinking about American Government, are you willing to be challenged? Take the dare, you will not regret it.

If you are a liberal, Democrat or Republican, how about, just an American, this book is for you.

Are you new to the concepts of Natural Law? This is a good jumping off point.

The book is an easy read, easy to grasp for the beginner, yet I believe an advanced reader will still find it fascinating. It is a new perspective of our country, or rather just highlighting the original intent which seems to be new in this day and age.

Really Makes One Wonder...., March 24, 2009
This is one of those books that has the ability to change lives and, if not that, to at least get a person thinking. The Romans were an incredible people with astounding technology, as were the Greeks and other ancient civilizations. But what happened in the early 1800s when suddenly technology suddenly began changing the world faster than the world could handle it?

The United States was driving this technology to a great degree. Unfettered by the oppressive governments in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, it was as if someone suddenly turned on a light...literally. Electric lights, cars, trucks, tanks, telephones, machine guns, airplanes, radar, sonar, submarines, satellites, microscopes, electron microscopes, telescopes, astrophysics, astronomy, computers, cell phones, telecommunications, medical knowledge, atomic energy and a dizzying array of other advancements that made life not only easier, but in many ways much more dangerous.

The 5000 Year Leap brings this home and leaves one wondering...why?

The ride is far from over, and this book makes one wonder if we're not all trading our greatness for a mess of pottage. Very readable and highly recommended.

One Nation Under God, December 3, 2002
A great compilation of the inspired ideas that are shaping our nation; a must read for all patriots. In this post-September-11 world, this book reminds us of the need to return to the religious and moral foundation upon which our republic rests.

Although the book's thesis is based on Judeo-Christian principles, I had no problem (nor did our nation's founders) in extending its premises to all humanity and all humane belief systems. I especially liked the summary of Ben Franklin's fundamentals of all sound religion on p. 77.

For those of you who deny the need for a religious and moral component to our society, I can only side with an intellect greater than mine. Let us remember George Washington's warning from his farewell address excerpted on p. 76 of the book: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indespensable supports...And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion...Reason and experience forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle."

Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, anyone who believes in an ordered universe will find much to ponder in this book.

The best way to understand our founding fathers ideas., July 6, 1998
This book is the most detailed collection I've ever seen discussing the constitution and the men who wrote it. I'm planning on making it one of my children's schoolbooks! If you are interested in finding out more about your country and why it was founded, you need to read this book. You'll look back on it often for reference, and you'll have a hard time not loaning it out to every person you know. ... Read more

Editorial Review

THE SECRET SERVICE. An elite team of men who share a single mission: to protect the president of the United States. On November 22, 1963, these men failed—and a country would never be the same. Now, for the first time, a member of JFK’s Secret Service detail reveals the inside story of the assassination, the weeks and days that led to it and its heartrending aftermath. This extraordinary book is a moving, intimate portrait of dedication, courage, and loss.

Drawing on the memories of his fellow agents, Jerry Blaine captures the energetic, crowd-loving young president, who banned agents from his car and often plunged into raucous crowds with little warning. He describes the careful planning that went into JFK’s Texas swing, the worries and concerns that agents, working long hours with little food or rest, had during the trip. And he describes the intensely private first lady making her first-ever political appearance with her husband, just months after losing a newborn baby.

Here are vivid scenes that could come only from inside the Kennedy detail: JFK’s last words to his tearful son when he left Washington for the last time; how a sudden change of weather led to the choice of the open-air convertible limousine that day; Mrs. Kennedy standing blood-soaked outside a Dallas hospital room; the sudden interruption of six-year-old Caroline’s long-anticipated sleepover with a friend at home; the exhausted team of agents immediately reacting to the president’s death with a shift to LBJ and other key governmental figures; the agents’ dismay at Jackie’s decision to walk openly from the White House to St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the state funeral.

Most of all, this is a look into the lives of men who devoted their entire beings to protecting the presidential family: the stress of the secrecy they kept, the emotional bonds that developed, the terrible impact on agents’ psyches and families, and their astonishment at the country’s obsession with far-fetched conspiracy theories and finger-pointing. A book fifty years in coming, The Kennedy Detail is a portrait of incredible camaraderie and incredible heartbreak—a true, must-read story of heroism in its most complex and human form.

Reviews

Well written and gives one a feeling as the person of JFK
This book is exceptionally well written, easy to read. Additionally it gives you a lot of information as to the insider workings of the secret service detail during those early 1960s era. The book also has many stories of SS agents interacting with the president and his quips, his human side, which frankly I was unaware of. I really like this book!!!

At Last The Truth!
Gerald Blaine has finally done the country right by providing the truth about what happened and led up that fatal day in Dallas nearly fifty years ago. In doing so, he has put to rest all the weird conspiracy theories that have sprung up and infiltrated the public's perception of what happened, particularly with younger people. The truth is that the Secret Service was a close knit band of agents, more like a brotherhood, dedicated to protecting President Kennedy, whom they greatly admired, as well as his family.
Imagine with the casket on Air Force One, being guarded by the Secret Service, with the Irish Mafia present, Dr. Burkley, General McHugh, as well as Mrs. Kennedy, that the body is spirited away within seconds just before it was unloaded to the vehicle that had pulled up beside the plane. All for what? To alter the wounds to show that there was second gunman? With all those people around it no one could have done it period. When will these conspiracy folks give up!
News Flash! It was Oswald and Oswald alone. Hard to believe that a loser such as him killed our beloved President but the circunstances that day added up to a perfect storm for him. Forget Oliver Stone et al. By the movie JFK he has done a gross misservice to the country whereas Blaine with his book had done the opposite!
For a sheer great read with many new incidents and facts that are brought to light Gerald Blaine, ably assited by Lisa McCubbin, takes the reader on a fantastic voyage of truth. Finally!

The Kennedy Detail
A very interesting read. Considering then and now the USSS has probably changed a lot. The men of the Kennedy Detail need to be proud of their work and the support they received from their families. I enjoyed the book very much and felt like I was getting a real insider's view and not the opinion of some conspiracy theorist or some self proclaimed USSS expert. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all.

S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.

Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up. Comanche boys became adept bareback riders by age six; full Comanche braves were considered the best horsemen who ever rode. They were so masterful at war and so skillful with their arrows and lances that they stopped the northern drive of colonial Spain from Mexico and halted the French expansion westward from Louisiana. White settlers arriving in Texas from the eastern United States were surprised to find the frontier being rolled backward by Comanches incensed by the invasion of their tribal lands. So effective were the Comanches that they forced the creation of the Texas Rangers and account for the advent of the new weapon specifically designed to fight them: the six-gun.

The war with the Comanches lasted four decades, in effect holding up the development of the new American nation. Gwynne’s exhilarating account delivers a sweeping narrative that encompasses Spanish colonialism, the Civil War, the destruction of the buffalo herds, and the arrival of the railroads—a historical feast for anyone interested in how the United States came into being.

Against this backdrop Gwynne presents the compelling drama of Cynthia Ann Parker, a lovely nine-year-old girl with cornflower-blue eyes who was kidnapped by Comanches from the far Texas frontier in 1836. She grew to love her captors and became infamous as the "White Squaw" who refused to return until her tragic capture by Texas Rangers in 1860. More famous still was her son Quanah, a warrior who was never defeated and whose guerrilla wars in the Texas Panhandle made him a legend.

S. C. Gwynne’s account of these events is meticulously researched, intellectually provocative, and, above all, thrillingly told. Empire of the Summer Moon announces him as a major new writer of American history. ... Read more

Reviews

Great History--Both Brutal and Warm, June 1, 2010
Mr Gwynne has written a masterpiece. It is the story, first, of a deadly land: Endless miles of grassland with no shelter and almost no water. People died from the heat, thirst, lightning strikes, and simply from getting lost and giving up hope in an enormous area, every acre so alike in appearance that it was like looking at the water of an ocean. The primary story is of the people who wanted this deadly land and who were willing to kill for it. The Spanish. The Mexicans. The Apaches. The Comanches. The Texans. All of these people were tough and stubborn. They believed in vengeance and they went after it.
Mr Gwynne does not take sides. He describes the ruthlessness and savagery of all involved, he tells what happened and allows the reader to make his own decisions and retroactively take whatever side he wants to. But Gwynne does more than tell of people's violence. He shows the same people at home, caring and fun loving.
Chief Parker, Cynthia Parker, Ranger Hays, Colonel Mackenzie, and several others were fascinating people and Gwynne makes them real to our modern eyes. It is evident that he admires them all, for their toughness and their determination and their courage. After reading this excellent book, most of us will admire them all, too.

Captivating. History at its best., June 15, 2010
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S. C. Gwynne is an eye opening account of an often overlooked era of this country's history. S. C. Gwynne is a consummate researcher and storyteller displaying the love of his topic.

Gwynne manages to tell this multilevel, multifaceted story in a riveting manner. Relating history is a difficult task to do well. Very few authors seem to have the ability to relate history is a manner that makes it interesting and then manages to hit all the high spots. The late Barbara Tuchman did it well as did Stephen Ambrose and David G. McCullough. High praise for Gwynne? Yes, and well deserved.

Empire of the Moon examines the forty year battle waged by the Comanche nation against the constant encroachment of pioneers from the young United States. They had fought off the Spanish, French, and Mexican invaders, rolled back the Apache Nation and did a pretty good job in forestalling the American invasion. But the relentless push of westward settlement eventually won out. It is the attention to details and the development of the principle characters that makes Gwynnes book unique. This is especially true in how he deals with the young Cynthia Parker, the white girl taken captive and raised as a Comanche. She disappeared after this but eventually adopted the Comanche way of life, married a chief and became the mother of Quanah Parker, the center for Gwynne's book. Gwynne must have had access to new resources since he presents new details to the reader (new to me, anyway). At the risk of being obvious, the story of Cynthia Parker makes the purchase and reading of this book worthwhile by itself. But then the story of her son, Quanah will captivate you.

Quanah perhaps killed more Americans than any other Native-American. However, the closing years of his life, after he fought the good fight, he raised cattle, ran for the school board and attended the 1905 inauguration of Teddy Roosevelt as a personal guest of the President. Astounding!

As an amateur historian, I've concentrated on other areas of American history, especially focusing on the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne as they relate to the Little Bighorn. Empire of the Summer Moon is a new area of interest and thanks to Gwynne I will continue to read.

I highly recommend Empire of the Summer Moon.

Peace always.

summer reading at its best, June 13, 2010
Whatever Hollywood version of the winning of the Old West is in your head, read Empire of the Summer Moon for the real story. The human drama of the kidnapped white girl who grew up to be the wife of a Comanche chief and the mother of the last great chief is just the locus for the historical, geographical, and political perfect storm of the nineteenth century Great Plains. It's sad and amazing.

Superbly crafted and downright exciting to read., June 16, 2010
I bought this book planning to read it after finishing The Man Who Ate His Boots (hardcover also from Amazon). That was a mistake because as the cliche goes I could not put it down. And that's because the author's narrative is superbly crafted, his action scenes beautifully drawn, his timing perfect.

Here's a sample: "Blanco Canyon would give the U.S. Army its first look at Quanah. The author then quotes Captain Carter's firsthand description of "the young war chief in battle..."'A large and powerfully built chief led the bunch, on a coal black racing pony. Leaning forward upon his mane, his heels nervously working in the animal's side, with a six-shooter poised in the air, he seemed the incarnation of savage, brutal joy. His face was smeared with black warpaint, which gave his features a satanic look...a full length headress or war bonnet of eagle's feathers spread out as he rode...he was naked to the waist, wearing simply leggings, moccasins and a breechclout. A necklace of beare's [sic] claws hung about his neck....' After quoting Carter's description, the author finishes the picture -- "Moments later, Quanah wheeled his horse in the direction of an unfortunate private named Seander Greeg and, as Carter and his men watched, blew Gregg's brains out."

This is not to mention the insightful political and geographic detail plus the absorbing story of the Comanche's singular mastery of the mustang introduced into the high plains by the Spanish.

Could not put it down, June 15, 2010
What a fantastic book this is. In honest, sometimes brutal, yet always unbiased prose, Mr. Gwynne presents a period of history that has been glossed over, especially in movies and school history books. He brings the period of Texas expansion into Indian lands to life in a way that made me feel I was right there with both the settlers and the Comanches and provided many thought-provoking moments throughout. I highly recommend this book and look forward to any future histories Mr. Gwynne may write.

Wide ranging survey of the Comanche, June 27, 2010
This book surveys the role of the Comanche in the western plains. The centerpiece of the narrative is the war Chief, Quanah, and his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker. But the story begins long before that.

First, this is the chronicle of the Comanche. It really begins with the access to horses, scrawny but tough, coming from Spanish mounts. The Apache, the Comanche, and others adapted to the new resource and began using the horses for mobility, hunting, and warfare. The Comanche, according to the book, adopted them more thoroughly than other native Americans (including Apaches) for combat, learning to shoot their arrows while riding their mounts. Apache, for instance, would ride to the point of combat and then fight dismounted--a serious disadvantage against Comanche. Their tactics and their ferocity gave Comanches control over a huge range of land. Often allied with Kiowa, the Comanche established a bastion of strength, as the book details it (referring to it as Comancheria).

Second, the narrative highlights the relationships between Europeans (Spanish, French, Americans, Texans) and the Comanche. The style of fighting by Spanish and later Mexican troops gave the advantage to the rapidly moving Comanches. The book explains this nicely. Later, as Texas became an independent country and later a state, Texans, too, did not handle Comanche well. Only as Texas Rangers became more mobile and armed with six shooters did they begin to have success.

Third, this book is personalized, given a human element, by reference to Cynthia Ann Parker, who was part of a family attached by Comanches. Some were killed, some escaped, and some were captured. She was one of those captured. She later became a wide of a powerful war chief. One of her children was Quanah, who later became an important war chief among the Comanches. We learn of Comanche life, to some extent, by the life of Cynthia, the work that she carried out. Later, she was "rescued" when a polyglot force of soldiers, Rangers, and others attacked the camp where she was living. She was "freed" from her captivity, although she appears to have been pretty miserable for the rest of her life among Texans.

After her death, the narrative follows her son's career. The book traces Quanah's life, from lonely orphan to brave to war chief. We also learn of those who tried to quell the Comanches, with the major figure here being the Civil War general (now much lower in rank), Ranald Mackenzie. We learn how the Americans began to turn the tide against the Comanches. We also learn, after the Americans triumphed, how Quanah was still able to have a major role to play among Comanches. He even gained a certain respect from Americans. An interesting comparison of his later life with that of Geronimo is instructive.

Perspectives, Grandiose and Flawed, June 24, 2010
First, Gwynne's book booms with rhetorical crescendos, especially the language of super-grandiosity: "most hostile," "most remote, primitive," "most violent and warlike on the continent," "at the edge of the known universe," "a vast, trackless, and featureless ocean of grass." Many of these phrases paint the Comanches or the Quahadis in the most extreme colors. I'm never clear, in the view of the horrid deeds of Anglos, why the Comanches are the "hostiles." Why are they the "savage" ones? Or, if we are all savage, then why use such a meaningless, undifferentiating term at all?

Gwynne's research is extensive, and I appreciate the fact that he has actually walked the earth of which he writes--the Pease River Battle area and others. However, unlike Pekka Hamalainen's The Comanche Empire, Gwynne's book does not reflect the insights of Spanish and Mexican historians and historical records. Though he probes beyond the conventional sources into Comanche life and biography, his tone still betrays an ethnocentric bias reminiscent of Walter Prescott Webb (The Texas Rangers) and T.R. Ferhrenbach (Comanches). This betrayal, for me, occurs most tellingly in his bibliographical note: "[Walter Prescott Webb's] work on the Texas Rangers remains definitive." This is absurd. Webb relies on the Rangers' own accounts to tell their story. Surprise, then, that the Rangers are such tough, resolute patriots. Gwynne should check into the views of Americo Paredes and others before canonizing Webb as the definitive source on the Rangers. The "rinches" were certainly not heroic to most Mexican Americans. And any "definitive" account should, I would think, exhaust all possible perspectives.

Again, I share Gwynne's fascination for the Comanches. I grew up near the headwaters of the Pease River (though the "headwaters" barely amount to a trickle any longer), and I have come to empathize (from reading of them and walking where they walked) with the Comanche life along the Caprock Escarpment and on the Llano Estacado. Too often Gwynne's fascination lapses into grandiose diction, always urging our spines to tingle at the immensities, vastnesses, and horrors. I, too, think the Comanches played a significant role as a kind of "empire" in the southern plains. But the case must be made in clear interpretation and plainsong, not shrill insistence. And I think it's time to stop calling American Indians "hostiles" or using the word casually (with "savage") as an adjective. Any proud people surrounded by enemies and threatened with extinction will become hostile, I assume. And the enemies and their threats of extinction are quite hostile, too.

John Wayne as The Searcher, July 2, 2010
If you admire John Ford's movie, The Searchers, as much as I do you will be fascinated by this book and
surprised to learn that the movie was based on events that comprise some of the subject matter of this book.
Beyond that, the book is superbly compelling in its own right. This book is a historical treasure.

Interesting But Overblown, July 20, 2010
I bought this book after reading an enthusiastic review in the New York Times Book Review section, but I find that the review was highly inflated. In the early chapters the "breathless" prose runs ahead of the subject matter, leaving one to wonder what the excitement is all about. More disturbing, however, are the frequent errors of fact--mostly simple ones such as that Quanah and a war party started from their camp in Santa Fe, rode east to San Angelo and then south to San Antonio. Cannot this author read a map? Worse is that the author not only has used few primary sources but that he bypasses the work of sound historians and relies instead on "histories" written by novelists and other journalists. A good story, but poor history.

A Masterpiece of American Heritage, August 24, 2010
A fascinating, well-researched narrative, this book will soon be found on mandatory reading lists for college American history courses. I was disappointed at first because I thought I had purchased a historical novel similar to McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove." What I discovered was a historical masterpiece unburdened by political correcteness and apologist fantasy. The native American was brutally bloody and paganly spiritual. That they were treated savagely by whites does not whitewash the truth: at their point in civilization, they were savages, beautiful and harsh, especially the Comanches. There are too many astounding revelations for me to recount. Quite simply, if you have even a passing interest in American heritage, you must read this book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In this heartfelt memoir, master baker and star of the #1 hit TLC show, Buddy Valastro tells his inspiring story—and recounts his family’s warm memories from a lifetime of living, loving, and cake making.

Television viewers have fallen in love with Buddy Valastro, master cake maker, and his funny and fiery family, proprietors of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the smash hit TLC series Cake Boss. Now, to coincide with Carlo’s 100th anniversary, cake designer extraordinaire Buddy Valastro brings together his passion for baking and his high-energy family stories in the pages of this charming, heartwarming book—complete with 25 recipes and tips that will make every reader the “cake boss” of their own kitchen.

            Buddy’s beautifully designed cakes are the stuff of legend—and so is the remarkable story of his father, a beloved pillar of the community and himself a talented baker who set the stage for his family’s rise to the pinnacle of their industry. Cake Boss recounts the story of Buddy’s life and of his family’s bakeshop, originally established in 1910 and now a Hoboken, New Jersey, landmark and culinary tourist destination. Here also are twenty-five recipes for Carlo’s Bakery’s most sought-after pastries, pies, cupcakes, and cakes, an irresistible combination of time-tested old-world recipes and modern creations, all founded on a rock-solid “old-school” baking foundation and classic techniques.

            This is the incredible true story of how Carlo’s Bakery came to be, how one hard-working family realized their patriarch’s dream of making their beloved bake shop a household name. The special bond and loving dynamic of the Valastro clan make this an uncommonly touching and truly inspiring memoir. ... Read more

Reviews

A delicious memoir - way more than I was expecting
Cake Boss is more than a gorgeous book with mouth watering recipes. Cake Boss is a memoir of the Valastro family, Buddy's remarkable father who played such a positive role in where Buddy is today... and within the first few pages of this book you will know that this is a book about family. From Danny Dragone, who helps out wherever he is needed, Stephanie who was the first woman to work in back with the bakers (no small feat), Joey the brother in law who is not only married to Buddy's sister, but is also one of the top bakers, the counter is run by Buddy's sisters. Little Frankie who's been in the bakery business since he could walk, and Sal who has been with the bakery since 1960. This is truly a family business.

And that is just the beginning, as I turned the pages I found myself immersed in what family means to Buddy. As I found myself reading the history of the "Cake Boss" I became immersed in the strong sense of history. I enjoyed reading about the first cakes Buddy was allowed to make, to his growing talent as a baker... to his first wedding cake where he really began to flourish.

(Who knew reading about the history of a bakery and a family could be so interesting?)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While I have heard of the show Cake Boss, I admit I have never watched it. I can assure you I am going to start now. This book jump started my heart for a family I did not know, and reading this book makes me want to know more.

I highly recommend this book for yourself or for a friend who enjoys baking. Gorgeous cover, fantastic pictures!

Very nice with some commentary...
If you like watching Cake Boss, you will very much enjoy this book. You learn much about the Valastro family and the history of their rise to bakery royalty. The senior Buddy deserves much praise for all he achieved while facing much challenge in life. The recipes are terrific. It is a nice family story, easy to read, and for a good price if you buy at Amazon. I do not favor the lack of education among the family members and do not believe that any mother should willingly sign her children out of high school before they receive a diploma under any circumstances. I hope that all the family insist theri child finish college no matter what kind of family business opportunity they have. Also, I hope that the old time sexist thought patterns they describe - men eat while woman clean up after them - are not passed onto this generation.The book, the show, the family espouse wonderful values that have family at the core and for that they should be well admired. A side note, if you're expecting any mention of the disgraced brother-in-law or family heartbreak, forget it. He is not even mentioned and even photo-shoppped out of pictures. Good riddance to him! Blessings to you all.

Engaging Look Behind The Scenes
Viewers of TLC's hit show, Cake Boss, will be delighted to discover that Buddy Valastro, the genial host, has written his memoir. Those not familiar with the show will also quickly become engaged in reading Buddy's life story. Scumptious recipes, gorgeous photographs of the finished products and a great memoir make this a book to enjoy and share.

Buddy is the product of a traditional Italian family. His family have been bakers for many generations, and he knew from a child that becoming a pastry/cake baker was the life he wanted. The book traces the Valastro family history. We get to follow the immigration of the family on both sides from Italy to America and hear how they became successes at their Italian bakery.

When Buddy took over, he made some changes that improved the family business while maintaining the traditional Italian fare his customers had grown up loving. He changed ingredients and expanded the cake decoration and custom cake part of the business. Part of the change was the expansion of the business as Buddy makes a splash in the national bridal magazines, and finally on the TV show that has made the bakery a recognized business nationwide. Regardless of the changes, the same core values continue the success of the business; love of family, hard work and the determination to send every customer home happy.

In addition to the engaging memoir, the book includes the recipes that made Carlo's Bakery famous. There are recipes for traditional Italian pastries, cookies, cupcakes and cakes. Along with the recipes are tips on kitchen equipment, quality ingredients, and cooking techniques. This book is recommended for cooks everywhere and for readers interested in a feel-good, interesting story.

Womderful!
I'm a diehard Cake Boss fanatic, but I'm well aware that a terrific screen personality doesn't always translate to the page. But in this case it more than does. Reading this book, I can almost hear Buddy's voice telling this story. The tale is inspiring, the recipes are mouth watering.

Buddy Valastro is an American original. This may be his first book, but I more than hope it won't be his last.

Must read for fans of the TLC series
Cake Boss by Buddy Valastro is a companion volume for the popular TLC series about the antics of the Valastro family of Carlo's Bakery in New Jersey. The show is famous for his astounding theme cakes as well as the family tiffs and pranks, and that flavor carries over into this book. Buddy narrates the book in his trademark off the cuff voice and tells the story of his family history. His father, Buddy Sr, started working in the bakery business as a young boy to support his family after his father abandoned them. His fierce loyalty to family and love of baking is carried on by his youngest child and only son, Buddy, who nows runs the business. Fans of the show (like me) will enjoy reading about the romance between Buddy Sr and Mary, and how she, who is often seen berating her son for riding a motorbike or pulling pranks, was known as a firecracker as a young girl and has taken care of the books for the business since she was in her teens. Their four daughters now run the downstairs shop while most of their husbands now have a role within the family business as well. Buddy makes the point early on in the book, that this bakery is not just business for the family. It is their heritage, and so from Buddy's earliest memories, those who work at the bakery are family, and the family works at the bakery. There are lots of terrific vintage photos (including Buddy with his first lunchpail: The Dukes of Hazzard!). Buddy writes with absolute love for his family and complete confidence in his abilities, but he never comes across as arrogant. If you love watching the show with the building of beautiful cakes and the drama of the kitchen, you'll enjoy this book for its behind the scenes view of the show, as well as the opportunity to understand what motivates the Valastro family and just what the name "Buddy" means to them. Included at the end are several of the shop's most famous recipes. This is a must read for any fan of Cake Boss.

Excellent
This is a really nice book with a great history of the family. If you love Cake Boss you will love this book. The recipes in the book are an added plus and look very easy to make. This makes a great edition to your home cookbooks or a great book for display on a living room table. Loved it!

Cake Boss Book
Great book. I loved reading about the history of the family and the bakery. Also was very pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of so many recipes!

Great book
This is a great book. Love how he tells his story. Great recipes at the end as well. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

A Valuable History, September 28, 2009
When HBO wanted to develop a crime series with the unenviable task of following "The Sopranos," they turned to Martin Scorsese to produce it. The great director chose to base the show on a history book by Nelson Johnson, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, first published in 2002 and now re-released in paperback. The cable drama, starring Steve Buscemi, is shooting this fall in New York and will air next year, with Scorsese directing the pilot.

When people hear the name "Atlantic City," they most likely think of gambling and casinos. But probably not many know that it was the birthplace of the American Mafia. On the Boardwalk today is a picture of a smiling Big Al Capone in a snazzy one-piece bathing suit on one of its historical markers. Few cities can boast of that. In just 30 years of the 19th century, Atlantic City went from being a 10-mile strip of sand dunes to a city based entirely upon two things: tourism and vice.

Nelson Johnson, a New Jersey politician and judge, decided to write the hidden history of Atlantic City; the result is this fascinating and meticulously researched book. Decades-long visitors to the resort like myself, as well as first-time travelers, will find it a good read. He based BOARDWALK EMPIRE on an amazing fact. For the first 70 years of the 20th century, Atlantic City was controlled by just three political bosses who were also, for lack of a better term, gangsters: Louis "the Commodore" Kuehnle, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson (no relation to the author) and Frank "Hap" Farley.

We have often heard of how gangsters historically corrupt elected officials and the police with bribes and payoffs. Atlantic City was different, though, because the gangsters and the Republican Party was one and the same organization. Atlantic City was a one-party city for decades. And here's the really odd thing: the vast majority of the public did not seem to mind because the Republican ward system was effective not only in turning out votes, but also in meeting the needs of the people. Nucky fed the poor. Eventually, the corrupt Republican leaders of the city would dominate and control the entire state of New Jersey.

Johnson takes us back to the earliest days of the resort, when it was filled with more flies and mosquitoes than people. A local doctor named Jonathan Pitney wanted to make some money, so he thought of creating a "health" resort on Abescon Island in the middle of the 19th century. Resorts of any kind were unheard of then, but Cape May, New Jersey, became the nation's first, catering to rich people. By 1870, a rail line linked Philadelphia, the nearest metropolitan area, to the island; Pitney's dream came true, just not the way he expected it.

Atlantic City became the first resort that viewed working class people, mostly from Philly in need of a little diversion after a six-day work week in the factories, as vacationers. The booming resort sought to give the workers what they wanted, which could be summed up in three words: booze, gambling and sex. Atlantic City was born.

The only business on the tiny island was tourism, and the cardinal rule was that the tourists had to go home happy so they would return with their cash the following season. Johnson quotes a local man who said it best: "If the people who came to town had wanted Bible readings, we'd have given 'em that. But nobody ever asked for Bible readings. They wanted booze, broads and gambling, so that's what we gave 'em."

By the 1890s, a Philadelphia newspaper identified 100 brothels on the island, but the cops looked the other way. As long as the payoffs were made to the local Republican machine, racketeers could operate in the open, which is amazing considering that this was Victorian America. Hookers and illegal casinos, and selling booze on Sundays (also unlawful at the time), were vital parts of the town's economy. When a reformist governor threatened to send the state militia in to clean up Atlantic City, boss "Commodore" Kuehnle reassured the local merchants. Johnson writes, "...If the governor did send down the militia, then Kuehnle would have the local whores greet them at the station."

Finally, a way to end war! Of course the militia never arrived, but then America went totally insane after World War I and passed the 19th Amendment prohibiting alcohol. This ushered in the glory years of Atlantic City, which already had seen the rise of huge Beaux Art and architecturally beautiful hotels that lined the Boardwalk like giant sand castles. "Prohibition didn't happen in Atlantic City," according to one expert. There was no need for speakeasies, booze was sold openly, and the famous beach became a major trafficking route for East Coast contraband.

At this time, Atlantic City was ruled by its most flamboyant "decadent monarch" in the person of Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. The author writes, "In his prime, he strode the Boardwalk in evening clothes complete with spats, patent leather shoes, a walking stick, and a red carnation in his lapel. Nucky rode around town in a chauffer-driven, powder blue Rolls Royce limousine...had a retinue of servants to satisfy his every want, and an untaxed income of more than $500,000 a year." He was also a virtual underboss of the Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel New York crime family, the founding fathers of the Mafia. When, in May 1929, organized crime groups from around the country decided to meet to create a nationwide "syndicate" and divide up the turf, there was no question where they were going to hold their meeting. Atlantic City was a wide-open town for gangsters, and Nucky was the perfect host, both gracious and generous.

The repeal of Prohibition and the changing American leisure and travel patterns after World War II sent Atlantic City into a long period of decline. And in reading these pages, Johnson's narrative achieves a bit of a wistful feel. I was reminded of the great Louis Malle 1980 film, Atlantic City, which captured perfectly that time. Burt Lancaster's character says at one point, "You should have seen the Atlantic Ocean back then." But still, the graft, corruption and one-party rule continued unabated until 1971, by which time the once famous resort had nearly become a crumbling ruin.

Johnson takes his history straight through the battle to pass legalized gambling in Atlantic City during the late 1970s and the early decades of the casinos. He is firm in his belief that not only did gambling save the resort from certain death, but it has the potential to make Atlantic City great again. Some might argue this, pointing out that the resort might have been built on a vice, but it is still depending upon a vice to survive. Legalized gambling has hardly been the panacea that proponents promised. Some of the meanest streets of America in terms of poverty can be found just blocks from the casinos. And at night, hookers, another part of the resort's heritage, ply their trades on those sometimes dangerous streets, often within sight of the glittering neon casinos.

Modern-day Atlantic City is filled with ironies like that and ghosts galore. Existing like an afterthought within the shadow of a huge casino tower is the Ritz Hotel, now a condo, which was once the most exclusive spot on the Boardwalk. Nucky, who at one time ruled Atlantic City from the entire ninth floor of the Ritz, would be happy to see the huge casino next door, but extremely disappointed that he was not getting his share of the take.

Nelson Johnson has written a valuable history in BOARDWALK EMPIRE. Reading this book will be good background until we find out what Steve Buscemi does with the role of Nucky Johnson.

--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan

Killer Read!, September 30, 2002
Extremely solid research---the author says it took twenty years, and that is apparent. Johnson tells it all---from salacious anecdote (what the Reading Public demands!) to scholarly relating of broader historical movements to Atlantic City's unique and amazing (some might say "weird") story. So well written, it reads like a novel. From "The Commodore" to "The Donald", Johnson particularly excells at character description. Absolutely brilliant---Highest Recommendation.

NO GAMBLE, January 15, 2003
I have been interested in this most amazing city for about 30 years now. I thought that I had nothing else to learn about the city until I read Boardwalk Empire. Thank you Mr. Johnson for bringing a lot of new information to light in a most enjoyable fashion. Once started, it was hard to put this excellent book to rest. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in urban America. This book is a sure thing.

A Shore Bet, May 28, 2003
I am pleased to be the first reader from Atlantic City to review this book. It goes without saying that it was of special interest to me. Throughout my life I have met several of the key figures in this book, so it was fascinating to learn more about their lives.

I enjoyed reading this book very much and would recommend it to anyone interested in Atlantic City. It was well written and researched. Nelson Johnson repeats facts when they become relative to another incident. This makes it much easier to keep track of the players and how one event or person influences another years later.

Johnson helps local residents understand why a unique racial tension still exists in this small northern city. This may not be apparent to readers unfamiliar with the area.

If I were to change anything about this book, it would be the last few pages. It ends with Nelson Johnson giving his opinion on the future of Atlantic City and how it can avoid its mistakes of the past. It is my feeling that this possibly belonged in a separate conclusion but not as the ending to the last chapter.

History buffs and political junkies will love this book.

Boardwalk Empire: A Classic, May 15, 2010
This is an absolutely wonderful book. It starts from the very beginnings of Atlantic City from when it was just an empty sand pit of an island to almost the present day. The style of writing is very colorful and the characters are facinating. I am really looking foward to the author''s future books and the HBO series based on his book. I would definitely recommend that people read this book, especially if you live in the area, as I have and if yu really want to understand why Atlantic City was and has developed the way it has. The book is very well researched and contains many sources of information for anyone who wants to do further investigations. I really hope that the people who currently run Atlantic City and the people in the casino industry read this book.

Excellent Read!, October 21, 2010
I actually bought the book after watching the first episode of "Boardwalk Empire." The previews for the series intrigued me and after watching the premiere, I wanted to know more. I love how this book was well researched and written. I live about 15 miles from Atlantic City, so this historical account is really fascinating to me. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, crime, or the television series!

Great Read and A Breath of Fresh Air, August 22, 2007
We've all read books outlining the history and politics of such places as Las Vegas, New York and Hollywood. This book takes on a topic that is very rarely given any attention, the birth and life (and seedy underbelly) of Atlantic City.

I first visited AC when I was a boy in the late 1960's. My mother (now 85) always regaled me with stories of how glamorous AC was when she was growing up. I could never reconcile that image of the city with the one I saw, that of stark urban decay on the one side and the gleaming casinos on the other. The book lays it all out, from the earliest days to the politics that brought gambling to the east coast.

I read the book on a one week vacation in Brigantine Beach, the beach town right next to AC. I found the book in a beach house that my father-in-law had rented and read it in about 3 days. I found it fascinating. It is strange to say of this type of book that I couldn't put it down but it was virtually the case.

The book has it all, history corruption, politics, do-gooders, sex/affairs, the mob, entertainment, bootlegging etc., etc.

I was not aware that the book was being considered as the basis for an HBO series but I will be sure to watch it if it materializes. Read the book, you'll like it.

Boardwalk Empire, December 26, 2002
Nelson Johnson's account of Atlantic City reflects his long and intense twenty-years of research. His "heroes and villains," quite often the same person informs readers that in Atlantic City all that glitters was not gold, but gold-plated. The racketeers and politicians all tended to land on their feet even when faced with the "law" as it was at that time. The book is fact-filled, concise, and tells the true story of how A.C. became casino city. Mister Johnson accompishes this without boring the reader. It is well-paced and worth reaing.

The facts behind the "as based on" HBO series, September 28, 2010
The writer of the HBO series, Terence Winter (who also wrote the foreword for this edition of the book), was recently interviewed on public radio and explained how and why the HBO show deviates from many of the facts in the book "Boardwalk Empire." Last names were sometimes changed and certain information had to be imagined or created in order to allow the plot to veer away from the events in the book.

None of this takes away from the entertainment value of the series but potential buyers of this book will get an added perspective and accurate historical detail."Boardwalk Empire" is an excellent way to round out the very entertaining cable television series.

The book primarily covers the years from 1920-1970. Not surprisingly, Terence Winter (again, writer of the HBO series) also wrote many episodes of The Sopranos and director Martin Scorcese steps to the helm and directs the first and possibly many more episodes of the cable show ( but guest directors aren't uncommon for cable series). In the show, Steve Buscemi plays Nucky but Winter has admitted that James Gandolfini would have fit the actual body type and appearance of Nucky.

But back to the book "Boardwalk Empire."From prohibition to prostitution, the book doesn't pull any punches and is a detailed and accurate recreation of the history of Atlantic City. Nucky Johnson is shown as a strictly matter of fact business man. He provides what people want, primarily alcohol, gambling and sex. But if the public had wanted other things Nucky would simply have gone with public sentiment. His choices were based on what brought him the most profit -and it was as simple as that, although being in power was not so simple.

Having seen the first episodes of the series, I am able to compare both the book and television show. I'd urge you to buy the book. It made me yearn to visit Atlantic City in its heyday. Women dressed in their finest outfits before strolling on the actual boardwalk. I'd love to have revisited that time - if only to understand the thrills that drew people to Atlantic City.

Since I've now seen the series, it is impossible to write about "Boardwalk Empire" without comparing it to the film version. I have to admit that the HBO show recreates Atlantic City's mixture of people and often weird attractions, from side shows to palm readers - and it does make a difference seeing and hearing the combination of sights, sounds and dialogue.

"Boardwalk Empire" reveals how the area was a place where families came, with children enjoying themselves by day and adults venturing off to enjoy other pursuits at night. You won't get a truly balanced historical take on Atlantic City without reading the book and the series should motivate viewers to want to learn more about the history of Atlantic series. Reading "Boardwalk Empire" is well worth the time.

Boardwalk Empire, August 28, 2010
This was what not what I expected...it was so much better...it has everything.Great history...I learned a great deal about the history of Atlantic City and how the Empire was built....When I was told it was going to be turned into a HBO Series...I ordered HBO just for this show...I picked up the book and was hooked did not put it down until I had read the 1st 4 chapters and it was 3am & I needed to go to sleep..the 1st page hooked me when a wife of a man who had gambled all of the family paycheck the night before in a gambling house and went to see Mr. Johnson who said he would take care of the problem...it just got better as I read...If you loved the Sopranos you will love this even more...I also read some of the other "Sister" books about N.J. he has written...I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read some history and facts in a enjoyable way...I enjoyed this book so much & now look forward to the HBO series. ... Read more

Editorial Review

An inspiring account of America at its worst-and Americans at their best-woven from the stories of Depression-era families who were helped by gifts from the author's generous and secretive grandfather.

Shortly before Christmas 1933 in Depression-scarred Canton, Ohio, a small newspaper ad offered $10, no strings attached, to 75 families in distress. Interested readers were asked to submit letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author's grandfather Sam Stone was inspired to place this ad and assist his fellow Cantonians as they prepared for the cruelest Christmas most of them would ever witness.

Moved by the tales of suffering and expressions of hope contained in the letters, which he discovered in a suitcase 75 years later, Ted Gup initially set out to unveil the lives behind them, searching for records and relatives all over the country who could help him flesh out the family sagas hinted at in those letters. From these sources, Gup has re-created the impact that Mr B. Virdot's gift had on each family. Many people yearned for bread, coal, or other necessities, but many others received money from B. Virdot for more fanciful items-a toy horse, say, or a set of encyclopedias. As Gup's investigations revealed, all these things had the power to turn people's lives around- even to save them.

But as he uncovered the suffering and triumphs of dozens of strangers, Gup also learned that Sam Stone was far more complex than the lovable- retiree persona he'd always shown his grandson. Gup unearths deeply buried details about Sam's life-from his impoverished, abusive upbringing to felonious efforts to hide his immigrant origins from U.S. officials-that help explain why he felt such a strong affinity to strangers in need. Drawing on his unique find and his award-winning reportorial gifts, Ted Gup solves a singular family mystery even while he pulls away the veil of eight decades that separate us from the hardships that united America during the Depression. In A Secret Gift, he weaves these revelations seamlessly into a tapestry of Depression-era America, which will fascinate and inspire in equal measure. ... Read more

Reviews

How a kindness lifted the dreary lives of a few of The Great Depression victims
I've long had a keen interest in The Great Depression. I saw the effects of it in the lives of my grandparents and parents and was always curious about why they did some of the things they did. Why did they horde things? Save things that to me seemed useless? Why did my grandparents keep their money in cash at home? Why wouldn't they talk about the Depression when I asked about it?

When I read this well-written, eloquent book, it brought tears to my eyes. And, I'm not a woman given to tears. Author Ted Gup takes us back to a time that is, in many ways, being repeated even now. So, it's timely. And yet, it's history. A moving, terrible history. It's hard to read about it. It must have been total hell to live it.

Gup interviewed about five hundred descendants --- "many of them multiple times."

There are many books written about the Depression economy. We've tried to learn what happened to cause the Depression and who or what caused it to finally lift. Though we still don't really have all those answers, we do have the opportunity to study it.

But the people who suffered through it are not in those books for the most part. In this book, however, they're the stars. We feel their suffering and understand why a generation was like it was and how it produced yet another generation that was similar.

But it's more than even that. It's a mystery. The author discovers his own grandfather was the mystery-giver of $750 in anonymous money given in $5 checks in 1933.

Why did his grandfather, Sam Stone, do it? And why did he choose to be anonymous and indeed was for 75 years? The author didn't find all the answers but he found many that surprised even him. He found out things about his grandfather he never knew.

"For one moment, in one forgotten town, one man managed to shrink the vastness of the Depression to a human scale," he says.

The money was given to white collar people. As one letter writer said in his gracious thank you letter to the giver, "Most people don't think about us." In other words, we worry about those who are always poor but we think little of those who worked hard to build something and then in the wink of an eye lost it all. Those who went from prosperity to poverty thanks to the Depression that engulfed the world in the thirties.

The Depression hit white collar people hard. Perhaps because they had gotten so high and the fall was further and harder. Some recovered. Others never did.

About those tragic days, the son of a woman who lived through the Depression said, "There was a loss of confidence. For her, the good times were wonderful, then all hell broke out. Friends of hers said she had been full of pep and vigor. I didn't know her that way at all, so I think it probably did a job on her. It crushed her a little."

My guess is it crushed her a lot. It probably took her spirit.

Stone invited people to write to him and tell him about their experiences. He wanted to know how the people felt. He offered them the opportunity to express their sorrow and sadness. And they needed that more than even the money in many ways. They didn't talk to anyone about their hardship. Not even their spouses. So to be able to write it all out was a gift to them.

There was a sense of shame, embarrassment. And the white collar people felt that perhaps more than others because their fall was so public. They were pillars of the community.

They didn't want the dole. They wanted work. They would do any job.

"In the wasteland of the Depression, when men rarely felt free to truly open up to one another and share their doubts, Sam Stone had created a rare comfort zone. Those who had long guarded their feelings could finally release them without fear of disappointing others or humiliating themselves," the author says.

Of course, the money was a true blessing because in those days $5 was equal to $100 today.

The author writes with great compassion and understanding. He brings The Great Depression to life. My own grandparents were middle age people with children during the Depression. My parents were adolescents and then teens during that decade. I was born into prosperity. And those younger than me have known nothing but prosperity. It would be well for us all to visit our roots.

I felt ashamed and saddened at comments I made to my mother for saving things she never used. To me that was senseless. Now I see why she did it and I'm sorry for my thoughtless comments to her. I wish I could tell her.

Sometimes it takes a book like this one to give us the gift of seeing life through the eyes of others. In that sense, the author's grandfather's gift is still giving through this wonderful book and these precious stories. And as countless homes are being repossessed and people are hurting, people losing jobs and security, it may be the best time for this special gift.

The author tells us, "As Sam Stone himself learned more than once, the bright line that separated the favored class from those below them could dissolve almost overnight, exposing the fragile divide between the haves and have-nots."

Why did Sam Stone give this gift? What was his secret past? You'll have to read the book to find out. It's a book you will love and from which you'll gain an entirely new appreciation for one, perhaps two misunderstood generations.

Highly recommended.

-- Susanna K. Hutcheson

Real people
Sam Stone's grandson discovered Sam had been an anonymous donor of five dollar checks to some of the most needy people in Canton, Ohio in 1933. This is a true detective story. This is the exactly right time to tell the story.

Imagine for a moment working hard, paying bills promptly, and putting money regularly into the savings bank. Then suddenly you lost your job. There was no unemployment insurance. You go to the bank and find it closed with all your savings gone. There is no FDIC. You try to sell your belongings. Sometimes this will feed the family for a while. Once your furniture is gone, and your house repossessed, and you are living as a whole family without heat or a bed in a room somewhere. Five dollars sometimes gave people enough hope to save them from suicide. Sometimes it meant an orange and a pair of shoes.

Ted Gup found descendants of the people his grand father had helped. He even found one still living who could remember the help. He followed up every one of his grandfather's checks, a tremendous task in itself.

But equally important he learned that his generous life affirming grandfather was an illegal alien who loved his adopted country with fear and passion.

This is an elegant book that bring to life early 20th century history. Read it please, and be glad for our safety nets no matter how inadequate they may be. It was once so much worse.

WOW
this book is incredible! It will truly make you see the meaning of going hungry and what it means to give a gift from the heart. What it must have been like for granparents and great granparents in the depression, when not having a job meant way more than just not having a job! This book will touch your heart and soul!! A must read, especially this time of year.

An Emotional MUST Read!
Reading The Secret Gift, put me in remembrance of Jason Wright's Christmas Jars. The way it's written, the theme, and outcome. However, I can't fully compare the two because the stories ARE different and, of course, one is bigger than the other. The time eras are also different. It's just the meaning behind the story and the emotions that I feel as I read them both. The Secret Gift is a life changing book. So much so, that I feel this book TOPS Christmas Jars. Simply put: I loved this book.

Written about one of THE Hardest Times in American history, The Great Depression was so terrible for many, many people. Especially around the holidays. The historical, accurate details written about Ted Gup's family secret is absolutely amazing. While this was a true story, this book read like a wonderful fictional novel. It wasn't boring, it had pictures of the families from this horrific time in history, and it was emotional for me to read. I love when a memoir can be read like a fiction book. Ted Gup captures every emotion known to man-hunger, sadness, loneliness, heartache, anger, faith, love, happiness and hope- in this wonderfully written book. Gup was able to truly capture the events during The Great Depression in Canton, Ohio. The effect, during a holiday season, really took a toll on my heart. It was sad to read about the families and how many of them had no homes or clothes...and what the banks did was just horrible! This book really brought into perspective what went on during that time, especially since I had grandparents living during that time. But, through all this sadness and hardships, a holiday miracle took place that year, all because of a wonderful gift of a stranger.

In all honesty, this is a book that I would have seen in a bookstore and passed right by. However, after reading this emotional 5 star book, I would have been missing out. Through one man's gift during hard times, a lesson of love and hope and kindness is woven through out. A pay-it-forward sort of act. I highly, highly recommend that you read this life changing book. I'm glad I had the chance to review this book. Just take warning: have many, many tissues handy for this book!

Time to tell the secrets.. . and Wow!
This book does for the depression what Bob Greene's book about the North Platte Canteen did for World War II. It puts the best faces of America right where we can see them. About 25 years ago, my husband asked his grandmother about the Depression. She got this faraway look in her eye, and all she could say was, "There was no money. . ." and then she told us more detail. I then went to my father, who was just a bit younger than she, and put the question to him. He got this faraway look in his eye, and all he could say was, "There was no money. . ." and then he started in. To grasp the terrible need of the time, you just had to be there, and Ted Gup has done a masterful job of allowing his grandparents and their contemporaries to share about the Christmas season of 1933, when "There was no money. . ." I have read practically nonstop for three days.

great historical real life struggles from the great depression
I ordered 2 of these books, one for me and one for my mom for a Christmas gift. They arrived quickly once past the release date. Ted Gup is an amazing author, he doesn't use "fill in" words just to make the book bigger. True stories from real people during the great depression. A very good read for anyone who loves american history.

More To The B. Virdot Story
I live in Canton, Ohio where B. Virdot shared his wealth with needy people. I personally knew some of the families who wrote to him. Those of you who are interested in this book and the story of the Great Depression and the life of Sam Stone--there is now more to the story.

After Ted Gup was here in town to meet descendants of the families his grandfather helped--there was quite a bit of publicity. It stimulated our community to think of trying B. Virdot again for needy families in 2010. Three people from our community seeded the fund with $5000 each. The goal was to help 150 families through our United Way/B. Virdot.

Others in our community have, so far, donated $5350 to the seed money.This will take care of 203 families. There have been 350+ letters asking for help.

Should anyone who reads the book and is touched by the story wish to donate--they could google "Canton Repository" and search for B. Virdot. The paper is playing a major role in assisting the group and the United Way.

The gift provided by the letters and Ted Gup's easy to read style of writing will greatly enrich the lives of the people who read this excellent book.

Interesting And Moving Story
Great story. Very moving. This would make an excellent Christmas gift or a gift for other occasions. It really emphasizes the benefit of giving others a little boost during a time of need. Well written.

Required reading for today's world
I read about this in the NY Times in 2009, then again in 2010. My mother told stories about The Depression when I was growing up, and I HAD to read this book. More touching than the newspaper articles indicated, more interesting than I had expected, and too close to home for my (100 year old) mother to finish. This is up close and personal in capital letters, the real deal, and just incredibly moving, especially in today's economic times. I have recommeneded this book to several people and, when I read it, found it very difficult to put down. This should be required reading for every politician in Washington, DC ... no, it should be required reading for every person in the US.... ... Read more

Editorial Review

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. ... Read more

Reviews

An Entertaining and Informative Read, April 27, 2004
Erik Larson does a bang-up job of conveying what life must have been like in the "Second City" as the 19th century drew to its fitful conclusion. Bristling at the constant reminder of New York City's superiority in so many areas, Chicago's city fathers rallied the troops and went all out in proving to New Yorkers, to the nation and to the world that Chicago was equal to the great challenge of mounting a World Exposition of truly monumental stature. Larson's descriptions of the Herculean effort put forth by numerous architects, builders, politicians, etc. lead the reader to a true appreciation of these "can do," spirited individuals.

Yet beneath the teeming activity and a short distance away from the gleaming white Pleasure Palaces of the Fair, there stood a building of a different sort entirely, inhabited by one of the most vicious, truly evil creatures the young nation ever produced. Larson does an adequate, but not great job of telling the darker story surrounding H H Holmes, the mesmeric Svengali whose brilliant blue eyes and engaging charm seduced at least a score (one estimate was up to 200, which the author disputes) unfortunate women. Unlike Jack the Ripper, to whom he was later likened, he didn't limit himself to female victims. Business partners who had outworn their usefulness and several children were amongst his prey, as well. He just had a penchant for murder.

The sections on the construction of the Columbia Exposition are filled with fascinating anecdotes, ranging from the origins of the sobriquet "windy city (derisively coined by Charles Anderson Dana, Editor of The New York Sun)" to the dramatic entrance of Annie Oakley, barreling in on horseback and blazing away with her two six-shooters in Buffalo Bill Cody's Western Show adjacent to the Fair Grounds. Larson also provides an interesting side story surrounding Patrick Predergast, a delusional political aspirant who turns assassin. He paints a compelling portrait of Fredrick Law Olmstead, American History's premier landscape architect who took up the almost impossible task of designing and overseeing the Exposition's parks and lagoons. The hero of the book, however, is Daniel Hudson Burnham, who was ultimately responsible for the lion's share of the planning, construction and smooth running of the entire enterprise. He had a little over two years from the time Congress selected Chicago from a list of candidate cities that included Saint Louis and New York, to the day of the Expo's official opening. That he got the job done within the alloted time is one of the great marvels in an age of marvels, especially given the myriad difficulties which he and his crew had to overcome.

The Holmes narractive appears a bit lackluster in comparison to the story of the Fair's construction. Larson acknowledges the difficulty he faced in recreating Holmes' vicious crimes via imaginary vignettes. He states in an afterword that he went back and read Capote's IN COLD BLOOD for the technique in which Capote so brilliantly engaged in his imaginative reconstruction of events. The only problem with this approach is that Capote had access to and the confidence of the two killers that are at the center of IN COLD BLOOD. Larson had only newspaper accounts from the period as well as a very unreliable journal that Holmes wrote after he was tried and sentenced to death (he was hanged several months after the trial). It would appear that Larson goes a bit too far out of his way to avoid the lurid and sensationalitic aspects of Holmes' killing spree. One has only to visit some of the numerous web sites devoted to Holmes to see that Larson is particularly reticent to discuss Holmes' sexual deviance. This is understandable, as Larson wants to be taken seriously as an historian, yet the facts are out there (most of them well documented) so it wouldn't have hurt to have included a bit more of the darker details. The book could also have used more illustrations. The Chicago Tribune, at the time the story first broke in 1894, included a detailed floor plan of the "Chamber of Horrors" Holmes built on the corner of Sixty-Third and Wallace in the Englewood section of Chicago. That illustration would have given the reader a better sense of the bizarre layout of the structure. More pictures of the Exposition would have also been helpful. Here again, there are several sites on the web devoted to the Columbia Exposition that have many pages of great photographs.

The books virtues far outweigh its shortcomings and I have no problem in recommending THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY to anyone interested in US History, Chicago Architecture, or just a well told story.

BEK

Unspeakable Wonders and Startling Evil, February 11, 2003
Larson has created the first must-read nonfiction title of the year, an assured and satisfying work which vividly portrays the one of the last grand gasps of the nineteenth century, the World's Fair of 1893.
Daniel Hudson Burnham, architect and overseer of the fair, builds the White City itself, while Henry H. Holmes is the titular devil, a charismatic young doctor with blood-curdling obsessions. The British of the period may have dealt with Jack the Ripper, but our ever-expanding country weaned its own monster, whose house of horrors stood in the shadows of the great architectural triumphs of the Fair.
This compelling book moves with the relentlessness of the greatest novels of our time. The supporting cast includes such luminaries as Edison, Archduke Ferdinand, Buffalo Bill, and Susan B. Anthony; the ill-fated Titanic even makes an appearance in the books opening pages.
Larson's evocative prose fully engulfs the viewer in the period, and the dark and dreadful scenes with Henry H. Holmes are given welcome respite by the tales of Burnham's amazing accomplishment. The enjoyment of this stunning work is only heightened by the knowledge that the story is true.

Fabulous Historical True Crime Saga, March 16, 2003
Author Erik Larson had set the bar pretty high for himself after his previous book, "Issac's Storm," was such a huge critical and commericial success. Surely, he couldn't top that, could he? Well, with "The Devil in the White City," Larson has produced a book at least the equal of, if not better than, his previous effort. As a work of history, this book has it all. It resurrects for the modern reader the memory of an all-too-forgotten historical event (the 1893 Chicago World's Fair) and combines it with the sensational and gruesome story of the firt American equivalent of Jack The Ripper.

The book is structured as a dual biography of Daniel Hudson Burnham, the steadfast architecht who was the prime mover in making the World's Fair an astounding succes; and of Dr. H.H. Holmes, the diabolical psychopath who operated his own killing chamber in a hotel he built not far from the fairgrounds. The two men never met, nor did they have any connection other than their contemporary existance, but weaving their stories together was a brilliant choice by Larson.

Larson provies plenty of colorful backdrop for his main story, vividly describing harsh life in 19th Century Chicago; the development of the first skyscrapers, the Charles Dickens-like ambiance of the streets and the colorful personalities that made it go. He also describes the amazing and lasting impact the Fair had upon America, the The Ferris Wheel, Cracker Jack and Shredded Wheat being but a few of the things that debuted there. And, of course, he graphically describes the Holmes murders and the investigation that finally brought him to justice. Larson is a diligent researcher in addition to being an excellent storyteller, and that's what makes this book so special.

Overall, an outstanding work of narrative history that is like to be high on most reviewer's lists of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2003.

The White City and the Dark Side, March 21, 2004
This is an easy and enticing read, full of gritty and gossipy details that are presented in a style that keeps the reader interested. I was intrigued by the astounding feat of effort that it took to prepare and present the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 and Larson does a good job of introducing us to the men who made it happen -- all led by the talented and tireless architect Daniel Burnham. The cast of characters with whom Burnham worked reads like a Who's Who of culture and design in the 19th Century.
The reader also comes to learn a good deal about the city of Chicago at that time -- how it so desperately wanted to refine its image from that of a grimy city known primarily as a hog-slaughterer into a cultural oasis and how it self-consciously but determidly sought world-class status, competing with New York and Paris to make the Big Time.

The enormous success of the White City was due in large part to that gutsy determination and much hard work. And this book explains that very well. At the same time, it really piqued my interest to the extent that I have done some additional research into this World's Fair.

Larson parallels Burnham's story with that of Herman Mudgett, alias Dr. H.H. Holmes, the first notorious serial killer in the United States. Holmes, a charming, fast-talking and handsome con artist, was able to swindle, steal and lie his way into and out of many schemes that a less clever person could have never even imagined, much less succeeded at. He was also a cold-blooded killer who had no qualms about killing women and children as well as men. He ran a hotel and apartments in Chicago during the Fair and attracted tenants and victims there with the Fair's help. Holmes' story is chilling but also fascinating. Again, he is someone I'd like to know more about.

Having said all that, I realize that the things I enjoyed about the book were also weaknesses. There is so much going on that I'd have appreciated either more focus on one area or a great deal more focus on the whole picture. The book just left me wanting to know more, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I just wish the paralell stories would have had more of a connection. I wish there had been more illustrations. I wanted more detail about the legacy of the Fair on the City of Chicago.

All in all, though, this was a fascinating story and one I could not put down. Be forewarned though, if you enjoy the story, this book will not be enough for you. You'll want to read more. Fortunately, there is an excellent bibliography at the end, as well as extensive notes and a thorough index. (...)

A fascinating trip through time, February 19, 2003
Not a perfect book, but extremely well done.

This well-researched book is so entrancing at times that you feel like you've gone back in time when you read it. The contrast of Chicago as it was before the fair...you can almost smell the dirty city. Once the exposition opens, you find yourself sensing what it must have been like for people of that era to experience some of the marvels of science (such as widespread use of electric lights) being displayed for the first time. You sense the wonder of people seeing the world's first ferris wheel. All in all, a fun book to read (especially if you know little about the Columbian Exposition).

The gore of the murders was kept to a thankful minimum; readers who are expected a chilling nonfiction murder mystery will be disappointed however.

More pictures would have been nice. Reading descriptions of the buildings and sites is one thing; seeing what they really looked like is quite another.

A Haunting Journey of Heights & Depths, October 14, 2003
A good, fast read - especially for Gilded Age buffs like me, but certainly not limited to us. Larson weaves the fascinating story of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition with the dastardly doings of a psychopathic fiend. Odd combination, but effective. We are transported in time to the excessive age of enormous wealth and grinding poverty - the "White City" of the Exposition and the dark, demonic "Castle" of Dr. H.H. Holmes. Surprisingly, it turns out the odyssey of Exposition head architect Daniel Burnham and the fascinating characters surrounding him are often more compelling than the blue-eyed, charming devil himself.

There are on the one hand, the leading architects of the East, hesitant about committing their sturdy reputations to the city of meatpackers - Olmstead, McKim, Hunt, St. Gaudens. And later the mystery engineer whose feat rivals the Paris Exposition's great Eiffel Tower. On the other hand, the `Chicago' characters, sketched in sharp relief, even those appearing for brief moments at the Fair - sage architect Louis Sullivan and the budding Frank Lloyd Wright; immensely popular Mayor Harrison; white-clad, white-haired Buffalo Bill; the `dancer' Little Egypt; pygmies and giants from Africa; President Cleveland, "immense in black...[he] touched the gold key" that set the massive fair in motion; Archduke Francis Ferdinand, whose taste ran to Chicago's high-class brothels, not the exhibitions; the eccentric Spanish Infanta Eulalia, munching on German sausages; haughty Mrs. Potter Palmer, always diamond-drenched and offended; the insane assassin Prendergast; a (temporarily) deathly ill Mark Twain -- even professor Woodrow Wilson makes an appearance, and the surprises continue.

But the star of the Chicago Fair was Burnham and his heroic/dictatorial reign over the incredible creations of the White City (Larson's description of the dimensions and details of the Fair are an absolute must-read). Holmes' story is appropriately secondary to the Fair's larger-than-life drama. But it is indispensable to the vast human drama of America/Chicago in 1893. The all-consuming drive of the national energy, technology, and most of all, money, accounted for both the soaring dreams of a future America embodied in the (short-lived) neo-classical enlightenment of the White City, and the evil soul of humanity laid bare by the dreams' very creation. A haunting book, with some flaws (a little less speculation & more photos needed), but well worth the journey from the heights to the depths.

the things you never learn in history class, February 19, 2003
....are just the things that might have gotten more people interested in history! I was born and raised in the Chicago area, and while I went on all the usual public school field trips, and certainly knew a little about the 1893 fair, I realize after coming across this book and seeing the recent PBS documentary "Chicago:City of the Century" that I was taught only the least interesting bits. I'm not trying to say this is gospel as history goes, but it may be close enough, and it has certainly awakened my interest in learning more-the way to get anyone interested in a subject is to sucker them in without making them aware of it. It may well be that the lurid story of the innkeeper from hell is what initially attracts, but the reader will find themselves fascinated by many stories before the last page is turned. The only thing that keeps me from adding the last star is wishing there were more illustrations of the Exposition itself, and a more easily readable map of the Chicago of that time for reference, but those are small considerations when you find a learning experience wrapped in an enthralling story. So...have any of you Hollywood types optioned this yet-or are you all asleep????

Two stories, neither fully told, April 14, 2003
This book tells two stories that intertwine around the fabulous Chicago World's fair of 1893. One story concerns itself with the monumental challenge the actual construction of the fair presented to the various architects, engineers, and landscape artists involved in the event. The other story tells the tale of murderer H.H. Holmes, who constructed a large hotel near the fair to accommodate the young, female tourists needing a room for the event. Holmes, in fact, had constructed a murder factory, complete with gas chambers, crematorium, and chemical decomposition facilities. There is a third story which makes brief appearances as well: the story of Patrick Prendergast, the sad lunatic that stalked and killed Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison just as the fair was wrapping up.

This is an extremely ambitious book. Too ambitious. For me, the story of the architects and the trails in constructing the fair was fascinating and more than sufficient to carry the book. I had no idea the fair of 1893 was so towering an undertaking. They basically built a city within a city, complete with fire and police departments, municipal workers, and political offices - all built on earth that was, in essence, a quicksand-like foundation that had no real bedrock. The stresses and ultimate successes of this side of the story are captivating and incredible.

The anecdotal stories about the fair make wonderful reading, my favorite being the story of George Ferris and his incredible Ferris Wheel, which was built to outshine the Eiffel Tower, introduced at the Paris fair a few years earlier (which it did in spades).

The Book fell flat for me whenever the author undertook to tell the story of H.H. Holmes, the handsome, smooth con man who many call the first serial killer in American history. In the book, these episodes feel unfocused and hasty. Particularly rushed and episodic was the description of Holmes' pursuit and eventual conviction by Pinkerton Detective, Frank Geyer. When reading these portions of the book, I felt myself whishing the author had dedicated a book just to this aspect of his tale. Mr. Larson has sensed the great story that lies in wait for the telling, but hasn't given himself the space or time to tell it well.

Read it for the magnificent, melancholy story of the engineers, artists and architects, whose ultimate triumph came at such sad, personal costs. For all the men involved in this project, it seems to have sapped the very strength right out of their lives.

Perfectly paced and constructed., February 16, 2003
I downloaded this book from Audible.com and listened as I did some work in my studio. What strikes me most about this book is the detailed research that went into the parallel story about the Chicago World's Fair and how it's woven around the story of the murders. Pleasant surprises are abound as little by little you get a sense of history based on the historical figures present and they are revealed very thoughtfully.
I would like to write more although I don't want to spoil the tale. But I can say that a chilling picture is painted with this book, made even more so as it goes on in the background of the preperation and construction of the World's Fair. It's like looking into a crowded room and reading the mind of the one insane individual mingling with the rest of society--and put into great and interesting historical context.

Mystery and History, April 12, 2003
The Devil in the White City seems like a funny name for a book. The White City is the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1892 to honor the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America. It was called White City because the major exhibition buildings were painted white. To contrast this Herman Mudgett who called himself H H Holmes after the famous fictional detective was the devil. He was a mass murderer with 9 documented killings and likely many more.
This book brings to life both events that have mostly been forgotten now but were very important at the time. The book is both interesting and entertaining and kept me reading late into the night. The murders were described with detail but not any of the gore that might turn a reader off. The building and execution of the fair was also detailed but was informative without a dry and textbook sound. Even though this book reads like fiction it has been well researched and contains many direct quotes from letters and articles of the times.
One of the best parts of this book was to come away with a real feel of how it was to live in a large city in the 1900's. That alone was worth the price of the book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The Civil War as you've never experienced it before, through original, first-hand reportage of The New York Times, the country's newspaper of record.  Available for the first time in a unique book/DVD package

The New York Times, established in 1851, was one of the few newspapers with correspondents on the front lines throughout the Civil War. The Complete Civil War collects every article written about the war from 1861 to 1865, plus select pieces before and after the war and is filled with the action, politics, and personal stories of this monumental event. From the first shot fired at Fort Sumter to the surrender at Appomattox, and from the Battle of Antietam to the Battle of Atlanta, as well as articles on slavery, states rights, the role of women, and profiles of noted heroes such as Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, the era comes alive through these daily first-hand accounts.

• More than 600 of the most crucial and interesting articles in the book—typeset and designed for easy reading
• Commentary by Editors and Civil War scholars Harold Holzer and Craig Symonds
• More than 104,000 additional articles on the DVD-ROM— every article the Times published during the war.
• A detailed chronology highlights articles and events of interest that can be found on the disk.

Strikingly designed and illustrated with hundreds of maps, historical photographs, and engravings, this book is a treasure for Civil War and history buffs everywhere.

"This is a fascinating and riveting look at the most important event in American history as seen through the eyes of an institution that was emerging as the most important newspaper in American history.   In these pages, the Civil War seems new and fresh, unfolding day after anxious day, as the fate of the republic hangs in the balance."  Ken Burns

"Serious historians and casual readers alike will find this extraordinary collection of 600 articles and editorials about the Civil War published in The New York Times before and during the war of great value and interest...enough to keep the most assiduous student busy for the next four years of the war's sesquicentennial observations."  James McPherson

"This fascinating work catapults readers back in time, allowing us to live through the Civil War as daily readers of The New York Times, worrying about the outcome of battles, wondering about our generals, debating what to do about slavery, hearing the words that Lincoln spoke, feeling passionate about our politics.  Symonds and Holzer have found an ingenious new way to experience the most dramatic event in our nation's history."
Doris Kearns Goodwin

"Harold Holzer and Craig Symonds have included not only every pertinent article from the pages of The Times, but enhanced and illuminated them with editorial commentary that adds context and perspective, making the articles more informative and useful here than they were in the original issues.  Nowhere else can readers of today get such an understanding of how readers of 1861-1865 learned of and understood their war." William C Davis

The DVD runs on Windows 2000/XP or Mac OS X 10.3 or later.



... Read more

Reviews

Just What the Doctor Ordered!, October 19, 2010
Beautiful Coffee Table sized book containing most of the writing in the New York Times from when it was actually written! Not dummied down in the least... The picture here looks drab but the book is anything but!

Tmely Reference for The Sesquicentennial, November 30, 2010
This splendid reference will be valuable to all Americans.

It will be particularly opportune for the Civil War history buffs as they track, celebrate or commemorate the events which occurred in our country's Civil War 150 years ago.

Keep it handy to read accounts as they occurred and were recorded for our nation's readers, and thereby bring new life to your study of the war as it "progressed" over the four years.

It includes a DVD as well as a great 42 page chronology of the four years.

An Outstanding Chronicle of the War, December 24, 2010
What I found most exciting about this book was the fact that it took the day-to-day articles about the war. What is forgotten after all these years is the living history aspect of the war. I am a big admirerer of the editors Harold Holzer and Craig Symonds, but I wanted to know who was in the trenches doing the research work. I was not familiar with the name Dwight Jon Zimmerman, but that the editors gave him great praise for putting things together, I decided to check him out. Turns out he's done a bunch of respected books, the most recent one about Medal of Honor recipients. So, while giving kudos to Harold and Craig, I want to say "Thank you" to Mr. Zimmerman--he did a great job assembling the articles. It must have been a huge task and I'm in awe of what he accomplished. It's evident by the praise Harold and Craig gave him. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In Obama's Wars, Bob Woodward provides the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism.

At the core of Obama's Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War.

"So what's my option?" the president asked his war cabinet, seeking alternatives to the Afghanistan commander's request for 40,000 more troops in late 2009. "You have essentially given me one option.... It's unacceptable."

"Well," Secretary of Defense Robert Gates finally said, "Mr. President, I think we owe you that option."

It never came. An untamed Vice President Joe Biden pushes relentlessly to limit the military mission and avoid another Vietnam. The vice president frantically sent half a dozen handwritten memos by secure fax to Obama on the eve of the final troop decision.

President Obama's ordering a surge of 30,000 troops and pledging to start withdrawing U.S. forces by July 2011 did not end the skirmishing.

General David Petraeus, the new Afghanistan commander, thinks time can be added to the clock if he shows progress. "I don't think you win this war," Petraeus said privately. "This is the kind of fight we're in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids' lives."

Hovering over this debate is the possibility of another terrorist attack in the United States. The White House led a secret exercise showing how unprepared the government is if terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in an American city--which Obama told Woodward is at the top of the list of what he worries about all the time.

Verbatim quotes from secret debates and White House strategy sessions--and firsthand accounts of the thoughts and concerns of the president, his war council and his generals--reveal a government in conflict, often consumed with nasty infighting and fundamental disputes.

Woodward has discovered how the Obama White House really works, showing that even more tough decisions lie ahead for the cerebral and engaged president.

Obama's Wars offers the reader a stunning, you-are-there account of the president, his White House aides, military leaders, diplomats and intelligence chiefs in this time of turmoil and danger.

From the Washington Post
By Steve Luxenberg, September 22, 2010:

President Obama urgently looked for a way out of the war in Afghanistan last year, repeatedly pressing his top military advisers for an exit plan that they never gave him, according to secret meeting notes and documents cited in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.

Frustrated with his military commanders for consistently offering only options that required significantly more troops, Obama finally crafted his own strategy, dictating a classified six-page "terms sheet" that sought to limit U.S. involvement, Woodward reports in Obama's Wars.

According to Woodward's meeting-by-meeting, memo-by-memo account of the 2009 Afghan strategy review, the president avoided talk of victory as he described his objectives.

"This needs to be a plan about how we're going to hand it off and get out of Afghanistan," Obama is quoted as telling White House aides as he laid out his reasons for adding 30,000 troops in a short-term escalation. "Everything we're doing has to be focused on how we're going to get to the point where we can reduce our footprint. It's in our national security interest. There cannot be any wiggle room."

Read the full Post news report on Obama's Wars.1 ... Read more

Reviews

Run, Don't Walk to get this Book - Woodward pens another Important Best Seller!!!, September 29, 2010


In the author's personal note to this book, Bob Woodward thanks his assistant Josh Bock with words of such kindness that I was completely taken aback by the grace that this man possesses. Many writers wouldn't take the time, or interest to be so encouraging to someone else.


Woodward's writing has the poet's touch. It is elegant, straightforward, and of such compelling interest that this book like many others he has written, is a page turner. You start it, and you just keep going until you are finished.


First we must discuss his sources and methods. This author doesn't publish unless he has confirmation of what he is being told by an additional 3rd party. His interviews are recorded, transcribed and then checked for errors. He sometimes revisits the same interviewee 4 or 5 times. He works with notes, documents and recollections.


Although a person being interviewed may request that it be background only, once Woodward gets the same story from another independent source, the story is no longer background. Many people have talked to Woodward on the basis of background in an effort to remain anonymous, and control him. It just doesn't remain that way. You are not going to fool this man.


When you read Obama's Wars, you realize that you can't obtain this much great information if you read a year's worth of the New York Times. You are getting the real deal here, and you don't get it anywhere else. Let me illustrate:



* When meeting President Bush's intelligence officer and hearing what he had to say prior to the election, then Senator Obama responds that he was worried about losing this election, now he's worried about winning the election with the information he is being told.



* Woodward confirms for us that Pakistani intelligence, the so called ISI has been giving aide to the Taliban, while taking $2 billion a year in cash from us.



* During the first half of 2008, the US made only 4 Predator strikes in Pakistan. Pakistan made the US warn the ISI ahead of time before a strike could be made. The ISI in turn would warn the Taliban and the bad guys would head for the hills prior to the strike. Once American got wise to the setup, we only gave the ISI simultaneous warning, and frankly we waited until the Predator was ready to fire its missiles before giving that warning. Where are you going to get information like this? I don't see it in the Washington Post, and certainly not the NY Times.



* President Obama was informed that 35 countries do not require Visas prior to coming to the United States. Terrorists are now coming to the US through those countries and forming cells. Our worst nightmare may be yet to come.



* Iran will have a gun-type nuclear weapon between 2013 and 2015 which will be demonstrated in the desert. Saudi Arabia will immediately notify Pakistan that you help us develop a nuclear weapon, or we cut off oil supplies to your country.



* Then Senator Obama was the victim of a cyber attack on his campaign by the Chinese government that copied his documents and files. The greater danger was what would happen if they destroyed the files as opposed to just copying them. The same thing happened to Senator McCain and his campaign.



* But Wait - there's more. Senator Obama was then told that every day both the Bank of NY and Citibank handle $3 trillion a day in funds transfers, whereas the entire economy is equal to $14 trillion in gross domestic product. Other countries now have the capability to interfere with those transactions through cyber war. The resulting financial chaos would be exponentially worse than the World Trade Center destruction. We do not have a cyber defense yet.



Woodward is at his best when discussing personalities. His discussion of Hillary Clinton's reluctance, then refusal and finally acceptance of the Cabinet position of Secretary of State is absolutely fascinating. Senator Clinton did not want the position, but Senator Obama's people sensed the door was still opened, so they told her to sleep on it over night. During the night Senator Clinton consulted Mark Penn, the Clinton pollster who basically asked her if she was crazy. Take it, "you will have an unmatched record of public service." He also reminded her that you are weak on foreign policy and national security, and now you will have absolute bonafides in both, and it didn't hurt that you she will finally show independence from her husband.



Yes, there's Richard Holbrooke the egotist, and General Petraeus comes through looking great. No one lays a glove on the General. The Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gets very high marks in the book. Over and over again, when you read Woodward, you recognize that the story you are reading is not something that is covered anywhere else. You are a part of the decision making process. You are involved. You know who makes sense and who doesn't, who's brilliant, and who's all talk, and no show.



I have given you pieces here and pieces there, a flavoring of a giant ice cream Sundae. Every page has a great story, and there is nothing superfluous in this great read. This book gets five stars. If you love politics, a good story, history, and reading what a great author operating at the peak of his powers can do, read Obama's Wars, and thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

Enquiring Minds Want To Know, October 2, 2010
Woodward's latest book presents a treasure trove of information about a young presidency still in progress. Yes, it's too early for a comprehensive history or evaluation of the Obama administration, and that's not what this book purports to be. The focus of this book is the first 18 months, beginning with many of the discussions that took place while Obama was President-elect. As the title suggests, this book covers the decisions behind the war in Afghanistan and the related al Qaeda and Taliban activity into Pakistan. A September 22, 2010 Washington Post article also suggested another meaning for "war" in this book's title is the conflict among the president's national security team. Woodward has done his homework, and the results are marvelous.

Reading this book is quite educational. Woodward incorporates many characters into this book, including some that are probably unknown to those who don't regularly follow the news. Prior to reading this book I wasn't aware of the extent of Biden's influence, and I didn't fully understand the gravity of the Mumbai bombings or exactly how important Pakistan is to the war on terror. This book gave me a much better understanding of both the similarities and differences between al Qaeda and the Taliban, between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and between Karzai and Zardari.

For those who have read recent Woodward best-sellers such as "State of Denial" or "The War Within," the feel of this book will be familiar. His writing style is far from elegant prose. Some passages are borderline robotic; this is often due to directly paraphrasing or selectively quoting sources.

Woodward successfully avoids any partisan slant, despite what some other reviewers have implied. The amount of information Woodward has here is amazing. As time goes by we will have a much more complete picture of what is currently happening, but for a present-day look at the Obama administration, this book would be very hard to beat. A page-turner!

A review of the Book itself, not the characters it portrays, September 29, 2010
Woodward has crafted one of his best books yet. This book is informative and well researched. As you read it, you cannot help but realize WHY certain news stories appeared at specific times. The debate about troop numbers is captured in a clear and concise manner, yet you will shake your head as to why it had to take place in such a public forum. Woodward's portrayal of GEN McChrystal is especially useful given the bad press surrounding his departure. An insiders viewpoint of events that most of us at the time had to rely on the media to learn about. Woodward does a fine job counteracting a lot of the Washington Spin by providing unparalleled insight behind the scenes.

For those wondering if "Obamas Wars" covers both Iraq and Afghanistan, I would opine that it does not. Obama arguably inherited a war and a drawdown when he took office. As I read the book, I felt that the use of "wars" plural referred to the ongoing Afghanistan conflict, the "war" within the White House over what policy to back, the "war" within the Department of Defense over what military options to exercise, the "war" between US foreign policy and domestic political concerns as the latter seemed more important to Democrats while Republicans preferred to emphasize the former, and the "war" - percieved or not - between military and civilian authorities, in this case a President who did not feel as if his wishes were being carried out to the letter. The book ends in July 2010 around the time when Woodward interviewed President Obama.

No Exit!, October 5, 2010
The focus of this book is the complicated process that led to President Obama to increase the level of U.S. troops deployed to Afghanistan in support of the so-called "surge strategy." Like all of Woodward's previous books this book is apolitical and contains minimal analysis and commentary. It is a chronological compilation of quotes and paraphrases that Woodward has selected to demonstrate how the decision making process in this case actually worked. Woodward is a respected journalist and has a track record of accurately reflecting White House Deliberations.
Woodward makes it clear that President Obama's concerns with Afghanistan so often articulated in his run for the Presidency were genuine and unfortunately well founded. The military and political situations in Afghanistan were rapidly deteriorating to the point of endangering the U.S. position there. The President wanted to formulate a new strategy that would neutralize the threats posed by al Qaeda still operating on the Afghan-Pakistan Border, the Taliban insurgency, and transform Afghanistan into stable country that would not serve as a host to al Qaeda. To do this, he sought to obtain at least three or four strategic alternatives that he could choose from rather than simply going with the military centric strategy option that was already on the table.
The military centric option was favored by Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS), General Petreaus (USA) Chief of CentCom, and General McChrystal (USA). General McChrystal strongly argued that the Afghan security forces could be quickly brought up to such a level (400,000!) and that an all American Force of 40,000 troops (four brigades) could easily seize, hold, and transfer key population centers over to Afghan Security Forces. Although his optimism was at variance with actual conditions in Afghanistan, Admiral Mullen and General Petreaus supported McChrystal's argument.
Still President Obama wanted to be able to review other options before committing so many troops to a failing state like Afghanistan. He also was aware that any Afghan solution would by necessity involve a Pakistani solution. The all powerful Pakistani Military had a very complex relationship with the Taliban movement and, it was suspected, al Qaeda. He therefore sought to develop a strategy that would recognize this.
In one sense this book is a chronicle of the President's efforts to pry alternative strategies from the National Security Council (NSC). Saving for Vice-President Biden's "counter-terrorism" strategy which would require considerably fewer troops than the counter-insurgency plan he was unsuccessful in obtaining any real alternatives to the surge strategy. In the end the President simply caved into the military and accepted General McChrystal's counter-insurgency strategy even though it offered only an Afghan centric and an unrealistic military solution to what was and is a much more complex regional problem. Woodward's account of how the President got to this point is quite fascinating.

Obama's Meetings (Actually The Same Meeting, Over and Over Again), October 10, 2010
This is at least the sixth book by Bob Woodward that I have read, and I continue to be amazed at the access he gets and the subsequent direct quotes from private and confidential conversations and classified documents. He is a reporter's reporter (and a very pedestrian writer - he's more Dragnet than Gay Telese). There is just not a very gripping story here. There is no Deep Throat; there is no smoking gun; there is no big reveal. It is, essentially, 400+ pages of the same meeting taking place over and over and over and over again, over the course of several months.

The Lowdown on How Obama Expanded the War in Afghanistan, October 5, 2010
Bob Woodward has become the go-to guy to chronicle the inside story of how Washington operates. His latest book, OBAMA'S WAR, details how President Barack Obama presided over a year-long study that led to an expansion of the American war in Afghanistan.

It is a convoluted, fascinating read that gives the reader unique insights into Obama and the leading characters of his Administration.

Woodward paints a portrait of Obama that is generally positive. He describes the young president as a thoughtful chief executive who maintains his cool among the hotheads that he has surrounded himself in the White House. And like most White House administrations there is considerable infighting among Obama's aides.

Woodward gives us a gossipy version of how Obama arrived at his decision to send an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan. We get the mindset of the principal players, including Vice President Joe Biden (a chattering nabob who serves as a brake on some of the other hawks on the White House staff); national Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, a well respected military chief who seems to be in over his head politically; Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who is a loyal, if cautious adviser to Obama, and chief of staff Rham Emanuel who is a profane, rambunctious lieutenant who cracks the whip with a hair trigger in an effort to get things done. Richard Holbrook, the man who would be Secretary of State under a Hilary Clinton Administration, loses the confidence of Obama as he (Holbrook) fails to resolve the enigma of a Muslim Pakistani nation that is trapped by its fear of India.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates comes off as a wily, practical politician who remains faithful to his command structure and the troops in the Afghan theater of war. Army Gen. David Petraeus is depicted as a cautious, but media savvy, politic military commander who successfully walks a high tension wire between his bosses at the Pentagon, the White House staff and the political heavy weights in Congress. Woodward describes Gen. Stan McCrystal as probably the best field commander for the war in Afghanistan - but who stumbles over his inability to keep his mouth shut.

Woodward also gives the reader useful insights into the politics of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the intricacies of the geopolitical framework of the Middle East.

Woodward always amazes with his ability to wring information out of the key players in Washington. Clearly everyone from Obama on down talked to Woodward. He quotes frequently from Jones' private notebooks, for example, and his extensive verbatim quotes from all the key players indicate he had virtually unfettered access to the White House and the Pentagon.

An unexplained mystery is who gave Woodward the copy of McCrystal's top secret, highly restricted assessment of the war in Afghanistan? After considering the likely culprits, this reviewer suggests that the culprit was either Petraeus, DOD chief Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Mike Mullen, or most likely Richard Holbrook. Whoever it was, Woodward couldn't wait for publication of his book and published a page 1 story in the Washington Post nearly a year ago. The details of how Woodward and his editors at the Post negotiated publication of the report with the White House team are fascinating.

While Obama comes off reasonably well in this book, his legacy of course will depend on the final outcome of his war in Afghanistan. The reader should remember that in his four books on the Bush war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Woodward also gave George W Bush high marks early on, but in the final book, THE WAR WITHIN, Woodward described Bush as "intolerant of confrontations and in-depth debate.... he never got a handle on it and over these years of war, too often he failed to lead."

Even ace reporter Bob Woodward can be fickle, it seems, and while OBAMA'S WAR is a fascinating read, it is by no means the final word on a very difficult war in a far-off land that has never been permanently conquered. While Woodward successfully connects the dots thus far, the full story of hte AfPak War remains elusive -- and will remain so for a long time in the future.

Great book .. everyone should read this., October 2, 2010
Obama's War is a real page turner. It reads like a suspense novel. Woodward did a great job of simply presenting the facts, thoughts and expressed feelings of others, while himself remaining neutral -- good old fashion journalism without an agenda. The book isn't preaching right or left, and lets the reader decide. It's amazing how he manages to gather the information he does.

Insight into the 10 year war, October 15, 2010
Just finished reading Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward. I honestly stepped into this book not looking to lean to the left or lean to the right. I just wanted to wrap my head around the collaboration between the military and Washington. I wanted to get a better understanding of each person's wants and perception of the Afghan War.
I believe now I have a much better understanding of each individual and their contribution (or lack thereof) in the last two years. Whether our citizens want to continue this war or end it ...it's best to understand that this war is far more complicated than Iraq.

On the Money as Usual, October 8, 2010
I found it hard to put down Bob Woodward's latest, although it's not a quick read.

He introduces a big array of characters. They consist of the hands on military guys like McChrystal and Petraeus, Secretary of State Clinton, Secretary of Defense Gates and a bunch of White House staff. Then there is a bewildering variety of security advisers. For decades the USA has had a bunch of security agencies and they do snap at each other's heels.

Obama comes out well, partly because he doesn't gang up on anyone. This book mainly details a long series of meetings designed to assess McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops for Afghanistan. (The title is misleading: this book is about Afghanistan, not Iraq). Obama is diligent in making sure everyone's voice is heard, in not rushing a decision, and most of all in being determined not to be steamrollered by the military.

In today's paper we learn that General Jones, National Security Adviser, who frankly comes out of Woodward's book as limp (as McChrystal illadvisedly said to Rolling Stone back in June) has just been sacked (as McChrystal was) for telling tales out of school in Woodward's book. Obama told Woodward about McChrystal he welcomed debate but wouldn't tolerate division.

For someone like myself who doesn't read the papers and blogs in depth this is a very useful account of Where the Americans are currently at in central Asia.

One of the problems is Pakistan. Current conventional wisdom is that Pakistan is fighting the Taliban and Al Quaeda within its own borders but also supporting them. They need American aid and fear their wrath but they also want the fundamentalists because they scare India. The attack on Mumbai was run by a terrorist group based in Pakistan for example. Pakistan also fears that a Taliban-free Afghanistan would be India's ally.

Another key issue is that while the Americans have more or less driven Al Quaeda out of Afghanistan and with the extra numbers show signs of making a real impression on the Taliban at the time of Woodward's writing there were still few signs that they were doing much of a job in terms of getting to a point where Afghanistan's own security forces would be ready to take over. This is what the USA believe they have achieved, more or less, in Iraq, but of course Afghanistan is a different country and corruption is out of control.

In all the debates Woodward recounts there is very little about how this can be sorted.

Nevertheless MacChrystal comes across as an incredibly talented guy who was making things work. Unfortunately he liked to party with Rolling Stone journalists and tell the truth, not always a good policy.

The other message is, for all those who supported Obama: you picked the right guy. Although Clinton for me comes out well too. Her contributions were few in number but probably decisive.

a sobering view of war, September 30, 2010
woodward has done an excellent job of clearly defining the complexities of the afghan war. this book showed that the military brass should take as much if not more blame than obama. woodward poimts out that after 6 years of war no uniform goals had been established and no one was on the same page. it was like pulling teeth for the president to get options from his military leaders. its ironic that this war was begun with little/no planning and when obama comes in and has the military/pentagon take the time for a review, he is blasted by the public for not being decisive. its a strange dichotomy because when a war is succesful the military gets the credit but when unsuccesful the president gets the blame. cant wait for woodwards next book. ... Read more

Editorial Review

365 reasons to love America!

The fife and drum of history mark the time of each passing day. And within their cadence, personalities, conflicts, discoveries, ideas, and nations peal and fade. American history is no different. From the starving time of Jamestown during the Winter of 1609, through the bloody argument of the Civil War, and to today, the United States is a tale best told one day at a time.

Best-selling author and educator Dr. William J. Bennett is a master of the story that is the United States. And in The American Patriot's Almanac, Bennett distills the American drama into three hundred sixty-five entries-one for each day of the year. Fascinating in its detail and singular in its grasp of the big themes, Bennett's Almanac will make anyone a fan of history, assembling even some of the most obscure details. Even better, it will make of everyone a patriot.

This revised edition includes:

• A new Preface and updated facts and figures
• Updates to the American History Parade lists and daily readings
• New special �sections on "Faith and the Founders;" "State Facts and Symbols,"�with fascinating trivia; and "Fifty American Quotes," containing great quotes about the�American spirit.

Reviews

Make American history and American Patriotism a part of your daily family discussion, October 3, 2008
This is another of William Bennett's reading resources for families. Yes, you can (and should) read this book as an individual, but it is more useful and more powerful when you take time to go through the daily readings as a family. You r kids need to become familiar with American history, and you cannot and must not leave it to the schools. Sure, not every detail will stick everyday. No big deal. Just going through each reading will at least get the sounds of the names, places, and events in their minds so they will provide resonance when they hear them at a time when they are prepared to take it in and remember it. I am sure you have had the experience of learning a new word and then finding everyone using it. They were using it all along, but you simply had not been familiar enough with it to hear the word. Then one day you were. Same thing here with the historical events discussed.

How is the book organized? There are 365 daily readings (I guess you get February 29th off every four years) that present a short article about a key historical event from American history that took place on that day. Many of these have a small engraving to also provide an image. At the bottom of the page is a list of other key events from that day and the year they occurred. The authors call this American History Parade.

There are also several other articles provided throughout the book. The first is an introduction to this book. The others are "Twelve Great Reasons to Love a Great Country", "Flags of the Revolutionary War", "The History of the Stars and Stripes", "Fifty All-American Movies", "Flag Etiquette: Guidelines for Displaying and Handling the U.S. Flag", "How the Declaration of Independence Was Written and Signed", "The Declaration of Independence", How the Constitution Was Written and Ratified", The Constitution of the United States", "The Bill of Rights", "Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Since the Bill of Rights", "The Gettysburg Address", "The Emancipation Proclamation", The Pledge of Allegiance", "The American's Creed", "Songs of American Patriotism", "Poems of American Patriotism", and "Prayers for the American People". I think this collection of articles is worth the price of the book all by themselves!

If you home school or actively participate in the education of your children, you can use this book as a terrific way to spark discussion and help build a collection of important facts in the minds of your children (and yourself). Just making reading, thinking, and talking about American history, patriotism, and the glory of America a part of your family's daily life will have great benefits and pay huge dividends in the lives of your family members.

I think this is a must have for your bookshelf.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Provides you with a daily history lesson, October 29, 2008
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (10/08)


"The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America" is an excellent resource for individuals and families to teach and better understand the history of the United States. We have all had American history classes in school; however, I know that at least for me, a lot of what I had learned I have forgotten since I was taught it so long ago. It is always nice to have a refresher course and that is just what this book is.

The book begins by analyzing the meaning of "patriotism" with a general definition of "love for country" and then by looking at it more specifically. The authors go on to give reasons as to why we should be patriots and concludes the introduction with these words: It takes a nation of patriots to keep a republic. Especially this republic. The United States, with all its might, isn't likely to be conquered from the outside anytime soon. If American liberty loses its luster, the dimming will come from within. It will be due to our own lack of attention and devotion. Without patriotism, there cannot be a United States. It falls upon us - upon you and me - to take care of this miraculous American democracy, to make it work, to love it." (xi-xii)

Following the introduction are 365 sections or units each focusing on historical events throughout the year. For instance, the entry for April 2nd focuses on Juan Ponce De Leon and the Fountain of Youth, July 20th gives information on the Apollo 11 astronauts stepping onto the moon's surface, and September 11th reiterates the events that took place at the World Trade Center. While each date's page gives the history of one event in detail, other events of significance that took place on that date are listed at the bottom.

Although my children are young, I have been reading to them that day's page and then explaining the parts that are hard for them to understand. I think that it is important that all Americans are familiar with and well versed in their country's history and, in my opinion, it is never too soon to establish a foundation. I found the lessons to be very interesting and I am learning new details about events that I was only vaguely familiar with. This book definitely should be a part of any American's home reference library.

A great way to make American History a part of your daily life, November 14, 2008
This is another of William Bennett's reading resources for families. Yes, you can (and should) read this book as an individual, but it is more useful and more powerful when you take time to go through the daily readings as a family. You r kids need to become familiar with American history, and you cannot and must not leave it to the schools. Sure, not every detail will stick everyday. No big deal. Just going through each reading will at least get the sounds of the names, places, and events in their minds so they will provide resonance when they hear them at a time when they are prepared to take it in and remember it. I am sure you have had the experience of learning a new word and then finding everyone using it. They were using it all along, but you simply had not been familiar enough with it to hear the word. Then one day you were. Same thing here with the historical events discussed.

How is the book organized? There are 365 daily readings (I guess you get February 29th off every four years) that present a short article about a key historical event from American history that took place on that day. Many of these have a small engraving to also provide an image. At the bottom of the page is a list of other key events from that day and the year they occurred. The authors call this American History Parade.

There are also several other articles provided throughout the book. The first is an introduction to this book. The others are "Twelve Great Reasons to Love a Great Country", "Flags of the Revolutionary War", "The History of the Stars and Stripes", "Fifty All-American Movies", "Flag Etiquette: Guidelines for Displaying and Handling the U.S. Flag", "How the Declaration of Independence Was Written and Signed", "The Declaration of Independence", How the Constitution Was Written and Ratified", The Constitution of the United States", "The Bill of Rights", "Amendments to the U.S. Constitution Since the Bill of Rights", "The Gettysburg Address", "The Emancipation Proclamation", The Pledge of Allegiance", "The American's Creed", "Songs of American Patriotism", "Poems of American Patriotism", and "Prayers for the American People". I think this collection of articles is worth the price of the book all by themselves!

If you home school or actively participate in the education of your children, you can use this book as a terrific way to spark discussion and help build a collection of important facts in the minds of your children (and yourself). Just making reading, thinking, and talking about American history, patriotism, and the glory of America a part of your family's daily life will have great benefits and pay huge dividends in the lives of your family members.

I think this is a must have for your bookshelf.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

On Patriotism, February 2, 2009
The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America

REVIEW OF: The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America
Authors: William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: November 2008
515 pages

This Almanac is not a book with which the lover of reading is likely to curl up to devour by firelight. With 365 brief daily items or stories, it is meant to be read daily. However, anyone who enjoys learning about our nation's history will enjoy reading it and return to it, over and over again. The American Patriot's Almanac is full of good information, inspiration, and a number of important documents from America's history. While some are included in many history textbooks--e.g., the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights--this book is more complete for their inclusion.

One feature of this book that I enjoyed was the "American History Parade" at the end of each day's reading. This "Parade" lists approximately five events that took place on the same date in history, from distant to recent past. For example, on July 21, 1925, The Scopes "Monkey Trial" ended with the conviction of teacher John Scopes. On the same day in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, of Apollo II, ended their visit to the moon.

Other items found between months include Flag Etiquette (p.183), Fifty All-American Movies (p. 138), both Songs and Poems of American Patriotism (pp. 368 and 421, respectively), and other documents we might expect to see here, including The Gettysburg Address and The American's Creed (pp. 329 and 336, respectively). The reader will also find the Code of Conduct for members of the U.S. armed forces (p. 328), authorized in 1955 by President Eisenhower. The authors explain that "The code is an ethical guide that instructs armed forces members when they are prisoners of war or are in danger of capture." Every American should familiarize him- or herself with this Code and consider what it requires of our fighting men and women.

The American Patriot's Almanac is a great book to pick up, from time to time, or to read daily, as its authors intended. Because it contains such a wide variety of gems within its pages, I recommend the book.

Great Dinner Time Reading for the Family, March 30, 2009
I bought this book several weeks ago and read it aloud at the dinner table each evening. My kids (ages 8 and 11) give me long faces when the book comes out. However, the readings are short and more often than not they generate a discussion of the topic. This is exactly the result I was seeking - a brief history lesson and family discussion. Thank you Dr. Bennett.

Great for High School kids, December 13, 2008
Bill Bennett does a great job putting compendiums of uplifting stories together, like his stories for children and moral compass stories. This book is a daily reader or almanac with historic American facts and heroes and stories you may not have heard about. Every day has several events that happened on that day. It also has a story about a hero or piece of americana, like the Great American Seal. Between each month are other lists (50 great American movies) or essays (how the constitution was written).

I think this would make a great gift for a high school graduate. There is probably a lot in this book that they were never taught in school. Kids seem to be taught more about other cultures than our own and when they learn about our country, they are mostly made aware of the faults. We have made mistakes, but that doesn't negate the good things we have done. Actually, now that I think of it, any high schooler can and should read this book. It would be a great balance to what they are taught in many public schools.

Here is the publisher's page.

Using the American Patriot's Almanac in the Classroom, June 6, 2009
For this post, we're taking a look at Dr. William Bennett and John Cribb's The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America.

This book focuses on daily readings centered around different people and events from American history. Dr. Bennett weaves an exceptional story of America's history from the dramatic story of the Jamestown flood through the American Revolution and Civil War all the way to present day. In addition to the daily readings, you'll also see complete versions of The Declaration of Independence, The United States Constitution, The Gettysburg Address, and several more important historical documents.

For myself, this proved to be a valuable classroom resource for middle school students. I used it to start the class each day with a student reading that day's entry. After the reading, we as a class would discuss what we other information we knew about that day's person or event as well as what information we'd like to research to find out more. Students genuinely looked forward to this part of the class each day. I'd highly recommend every social studies teacher, especially those with American history classes, buy a few of these books for the classroom!

Educate yourself on why you love America!, May 6, 2009
I purchased this book for my third grade classroom and I read it to my students every day immediately following the flag salute. They listen with rapture, especially when I explain in kid friendly terms the weight of the day's reading. When I read to my students the day regarding how the Confederate Army surrendered to the Union, they were speechless. Every day, we are learning why we say the flag salute, why we honor veterans, and what it means to be lucky enough to be born on American soil. How can anyone know what true patriotism is if they do not know the incredible accomplishments of America. Sometimes I get chills reading this book, and I hope that my students love this country enough to help take it back someday when the tyranny of government attempts to steal this incredible nation. If you love America, you should own this book. If you aren't sure what there is to love about America, you should own this book. We have many reasons to be proud, find out for yourself!

Historical Treasure, December 22, 2008
The American Patriot's Almanac is a beautiful testimony to the history of the United States.

In school, history was boring and tedious. Not with this book. It would make a great history book for students and adults alike. It is filled with historical stories and they are linked to the each day of the year. It can be an additional devotional to your library.

An American History Parade of events is included in each story. The story brings history to life. It represents real people, real events, real meaning to Americans today.

I have fond memories of President Ronald Reagan. On June 12, 1987, he insisted that Mikhail Gorbachev tear the Berlin Wall down. By his persistence, it happened less than three years later. This freed millions of people.

Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Before he signed it, his words were, "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing the right than I do in signing this paper." Slaves were finally free. From this day forward, January 1, the beginning of a New Year, will bring new meaning.

The authors do not stop at historical facts and wonderful true stories. They expand the book to include: Prayers for the American People that were said by Harry S. Truman, The Reverend Peter Marshall, and Abraham Lincoln among others. Songs and poems are shared.

The United States wouldn't exist as it is today if it weren't for the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Gettysburg Address, The Pledge of Allegiance, The Emancipation Proclamation, and much more is included in this wonderful beautifully written book.

I am proud to be an American and I thank the authors, William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb for writing this book. I will treasure it.

The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America, August 7, 2009
Interesting daily read. It's great to be reminded of the things that made this country great, as well as to learn new facts that I hadn't known prior to having this book. It has left me wanting to know more. ... Read more