|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0393073270
| 9780393073270
| 0393073270
| 4.04
| 80
| Feb 16, 2014
| Feb 16, 2014
|
liked it
|
George Kennan's mother died when he was only one month old. That's a tragedy, but it also meant that he missed something she could well have said to h
George Kennan's mother died when he was only one month old. That's a tragedy, but it also meant that he missed something she could well have said to him: GEORGE - STOP WHINING! For all of his fame and good fortune, Kennan is never far from lamentation. He gets the Pulitzer Prize but it just doesn't touch him. He wants those in power to credit him with being ahead of events in his predictions and advice on what the U.S. should do in foreign affairs, but they ignore him. His last book is a best seller and his talks are always heavily attended, but it just doesn't satisfy. He's not particularly fond of himself either, a refreshing contrast to this reader after hearing so much baloney from a "very stable genius" on current display. Like all of us, Kennan is a mixture of the good and the bad. He promotes eugenics long before Hitler gives it a try, but stays with it long after National Socialism earned it a place in the trash bin. The masses, in whatever country of the world, are not good for much. Not only are they far too numerous and ignorant, they have no business selecting leaders in a democracy, the US included. His greatest competitor, Walter Lippman, agreed and expanded the thought into a book. In foreign policy Kennen was a visionary, fluent in both German and Russian, famously the author of the containment policy that drove the US to wall off the USSR, though Kennan denied that his idea included going into proxy wars all over the world to stop Communism. Unsurprisingly, he opposed US intervention in VietNam. Yet he lamented that we allowed the Saudis to claim their oil when we should have grabbed it. This is strangely contradictory to his disapproval of the 1991 Gulf War where we kicked Saddam out of Kuwait. He lived long enough to see and disapprove of NATO expansion to the border of Russia. Modern society? He wants none of it. The automobile symbolizes the malaise of materialism for him. He doesn't like air travel. He resents the family taking too much of his time. He'd take off to solitude on the farm if he only could and he does purchase a farm as a retreat. He desires women and mentally writhes under the social restraint that stops him from acting on it. In what I found the most bizarre idea in the book, he says that he has become an image to the public that is not at all what he is in reality. Of course that's a given for any public figure, and to a degree something we all have to deal with, but Kennan's conclusion is that he should strive to be more like his image, which, I believe, is what too often drives celebrities to disaster, even suicide. Kennan must be given credit for giving us his thoughts, expecting that his diary would be read by the public. He did not go through it cleaning things up for presentation. Undeniably intelligent and able as he was, this reader can only feel sadness that for such an exceptional life as he had, he could never find peace of mind in 100 years. Simple joy eludes him. Never boring, this book is illuminating and drives home both that we can never know other people as they know themselves, and that knowing oneself is a challenge. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
May 17, 2023
|
May 17, 2023
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0385503342
| 9780385503341
| 0385503342
| 3.79
| 77
| Jun 05, 2002
| Jun 24, 2003
|
really liked it
|
My father was an ordained Methodist minister, with a career as an administrator for the national church in the US. He said he didn't want to preach be
My father was an ordained Methodist minister, with a career as an administrator for the national church in the US. He said he didn't want to preach because he didn't want to tell other people how to live their lives. He was an intellectual who was Phi Beta Kappa at Duke, had two doctorates one from a scholarship to study at the University of Marburg in Germany. He was a Biblical scholar who knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew and German. He died when I was 21, far too young to question or have meaningful intellectual interaction with a parent 52 years older who was held in awe. To top it off he never would voluntarily talk about himself. In my later life I have been intrigued by his situation: a man of the 20th century fully accepting of science yet born in the 19th century and obedient to the mythology of religion. I read this book eager to find out about the foundation of Methodism and the philosophy in order to provide insight into the life my father lived. I was not disappointed. Roy Hattersley stands back from any reverence to look at the man who made the church. At a time in England (18th century) when there was a variety of belief against the background of the protestant Church of England, John Wesley had the view, in keeping with Martin Luther's, that salvation was obtained solely through faith in God through Jesus. He was opposed to the Calvinist belief in predestination - that God decides about the salvation of each individual completely apart from what that individual does in life. For Wesley, one needed to live a moral life devoted to the community, believing in free will allowing a person to make the decision to seek salvation and find it through effort, even if after a life of sin. Seek and ye shall find. Early in life he traveled to the New World, to Georgia, where he tried for a short time to convert the Indians, with little success. Escaping back to England he began the itinerant preaching that continued for the rest of his long life of 86 years. Holding open air services that found him at times in Ireland and Scotland, an audience of 2 or 3 thousand was not unusual nor were multiple sermons given in a single day. A vegetarian who spent most of each day outside and usually in the saddle, he enjoyed good health. Admittedly attracted to women, he kept his relationships with them platonic, joining with one woman in an unhappy marriage from which he was delivered by her death ten years later. His brother, Charles, was equally enthusiastic about Methodism, but felt free to disagree with John over the theology while they retained fraternal affection for life. Methodism began as communities united in what was called the connexion (not sp) and there was always the issue of whether to separate or remain within the Anglican Church. John Wesley to his dying day refused to countenance a separation. Though it will seem strange to modern readers, the principle issue was the frequency of communion. The Church gave this ritual sharing of the body of Christ infrequently while Wesley and his followers wanted it done often. Then there was the issue of who could give the sacraments (marriage is a sacrament). The Church insisted it be done only by ordained clergy and Wesley would not allow ordination apart from the Church. Above all, John Wesley demanded control of the movement he had started. He kept a tight watch on the communities in his travels. He appealed primarily to the working men of England and Ireland. The enclosure of public spaces made into private property kept the public in turmoil with many forced off the land and into the cities. Mob violence on occasion would cause Wesley problems including a short captivity. It was not uncommon for him to be the target of thrown produce and sometimes of rocks. Not surprisingly, he did not have a fondness for wealth though he did not deny that even the wealthy could be saved if they allowed Jesus into their hearts. Methodism came to represent protestants who cherished community, who wished to model their lives on that of Jesus, who highly regarded being respectable and responsible, who felt a duty to the poor and to the financial support of the church while avoiding any profligacy or ostentation, who wanted each individual to support the moral strength of his co-religionists and believed so completely in the possibility of salvation that death would be greeted with, if not joy, then indifference. Underlying it all was a belief that Jesus was a personal savior. Even in the 1700's the phrase "born again" was well known. And so it was with my father, though he faced along with my mother an unexpected challenge in the death of my brother at age 11 (polio) and WW2 during which he was a conscientious objector whose qualifying essay I greatly regret was not saved. Though I am here because of my brother's death in 1949, my parents wanting to try again, his demise shattered both of their lives. This came after WW2 challenged my father's cherished memories of living and bicycling in 1928 Germany, staying overnight in private homes and coming to love the German people, speaking to them in their native tongue. Though he never spoke about himself, I have no doubt that the horrors of Nazism and the genuine popularity of Hitler in the land of Martin Luther undermined my father's belief in good people working for the betterment of all. Both of these events would cause anyone to question a religion positing a loving God. This book confirmed my observation that my father was a true Christian and a devoted Methodist who would have comfortably conversed with John Wesley were a time machine available. But at the same time it also confirmed my feeling that his life of complete devotion and dedication, put to the test by tragedy, ended in tragedy. Within a few months of his death, alone with me in a car, he broke into tears, something I had never seen before, and told me that he could not believe he would not be reunited with my brother in heaven. This was far from the confidence of salvation that Methodism held out. The conflict between his intelligence and his faith was won by his intelligence at the end. Though I had been an obedient son attending church and becoming confirmed in Methodism, religion never held the slightest appeal and I am an atheist without regret. Religion seemed completely removed from reality. I loved my father as the gentle man he was and regret he faced so much sorrow that he folded inside himself. Yet I can't but feel that he was deceived by a faith that while sustaining him through tragedy, let him down in the end. Methodism peaked in the United States at the time of his death and has been steadily declining in the decades since. At least he was spared that knowledge. One brief excerpt from the book, quoting Jesus, spoke to me about Dad. Jesus said - If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Mar 04, 2023
|
Mar 04, 2023
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 080707005X
| 9780807070055
| 080707005X
| 4.25
| 59
| Jan 01, 1973
| Jan 01, 1987
|
In the 2oth century there were 3 giants of tyranny, Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Collectively they were responsible for millions of deaths and widespread s
In the 2oth century there were 3 giants of tyranny, Hitler, Stalin and Mao. Collectively they were responsible for millions of deaths and widespread suffering across Europe and Asia. All three were obsessed with power regardless of the cost to humanity. Hitler lived to see the complete destruction of all he had gained, while Mao and Stalin lived to old age, managing to keep control to the end of their lives. All were obsessed with ideology; that society should be arranged in one particular way. If there were people who objected, even if close associates, then such people would be imprisoned or killed without hesitation and often without warning and without remorse. This definitive history of Stalin's life, a digital edition being available for free online, leaves out no details in the rise of the dictator from Georgia who, though he was not Russian, came to identify himself as the embodiment of communism, superior in his thinking on the subject to both Marx and Lenin. He established himself early on with his ability to manage, to get things done while others were dithering and talking. He played a part in the civil war of the White versus the Red armies and became the indispensable righthand man for Lenin. Playing up his image as the no-nonsense man of the countryside with the ability to argue forcefully on Marxism/Leninism with the best of ideologues, he maneuvered to the top by playing off those around him against each other. While initially this resulted in the promotion of those he favored and the demotion of those he did not, once his power was secure, disagreements could result in banishment and death. Private property was not allowed after a brief experiment with capitalism in the 1920's. Small farmers were forced onto collective farms. He managed the remarkable feat of bringing on mass starvation in the USSR in the early 1930's by setting impossible agricultural goals for the collective farms and then blaming the farmers for the failure. If a five year plan was not meeting the goals established, it could never because of unreasonable goals. Capitalism not being allowed, the most successful farmers who had cultivated their own land, the kulaks, had to be eliminated and were, turning citizen against citizen under the watchful eye of the secret police. Obsessed with the idea that no associate or underling could be trusted not to plot Stalin's overthrow, even long time peers were brought down in the famous show trials of the late 1930's. Stalin insisted that those accused of this or that unforgivable crime such as "wrecking" or anti-socialist behavior be made to confess in their own words that they were guilty of every charge and more. This was made possible through torture, sleep deprivation and solitary confinement. The infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty that Hitler contrived to allow Germany to conquer France and threaten Britain was acceptable to Stalin in order to hold off a German invasion of the USSR for as long as possible. Stalin's purging of the top military brass in the 1930's left the Red Army in confusion when that invasion came. Turning defeat into final victory over Germany in WW2, Stalin went on to successfully stage manage the takeover of occupied eastern European countries with toadies, the one exception being Tito in Yugoslavia. The author repeatedly admits Stalin's success with foreign policy. Brutal and uncompromising as Stalin was with the people of the USSR, from the peasantry at the bottom to the leadership in the Politburo, he retained his position and even had the admiration of many who believed strong leadership necessary. Not only did he get things done, he eliminated all those who might get things done in his place. This made for general anxiety about how the country could go on without him. He had fear and helplessness as bodyguards. Adam Ulam frequently ponders the situation at many points in Stalin's life. At one point he wonders if would be right to call Stalin insane. He answers the question with this powerful passage: "To most people such behavior (as Stalin's) is hard to explain except in terms of mental aberration. But most people have never exercised absolute power with its fears and temptations; have never been in the position to appease every suspicion, to satisfy their every whim and resentment." We know power corrupts. While absolute power did corrupt Stalin to the point of being inhuman and becoming a megalomaniac, it did not destroy him as it has many others. He truly believed he was representative of the people and the embodiment of the state right up to the moment of his death from natural causes. He oversaw the rise of the USSR to become a major power, his primary concern no matter the cost. This book, written in 1973, is considered a classic, deservedly. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Feb 26, 2023
|
Feb 26, 2023
|
Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0786888415
| 9780786888412
| 0786888415
| 4.17
| 9,799
| 2005
| Aug 08, 2006
|
it was amazing
|
Temperament is destiny it has been said. Yet, while temperament might drive one person to live as a hermit in the forest while another to always seek
Temperament is destiny it has been said. Yet, while temperament might drive one person to live as a hermit in the forest while another to always seek the spotlight, for most a great deal of chance can put one along a path in life that is not a good fit for one's temperament. And while living in accord with temperament may produce low stress, that isn't necessarily the same thing as satisfaction or happiness. And what of environment? It's said that one can never go home again. This is poignant for all of us because of aging. The surroundings of childhood, both the people and the place we know in early life that we take in as normal have a profound impact emotionally that can never be reproduced by going back to the neighborhood in later life. In a larger sense there is no going back. Life has changed from pre-industrial times: dying near where one was born after spending a lifetime engaged in the same way of life practiced by generations before, in this being automatically fitted for a life of familiarity passed down by parents and shared by siblings and friends. All of the above are challenges, but even more so is fame which can rocket anyone anywhere anytime from the familiar to an alien world where almost everything material is available and any personal accomplishment appears possible, more than that, it is demanded. In this outstanding, intense, never decelerating biography of Jimi Hendrix the reader is taken on the wild ride that was Hendrix' life. Everyone in R&B, rock and roll and jazz in the late 1960's is mentioned because of interaction with Jimi, whether in a jam session or in performance or backstage or passing on the street or attending a party or simply dropping in to say hi. The only person Jimi has difficulty contacting is Bob Dylan and that gets resolved when Jimi sees Dylan on a NYC street and runs up to introduce himself, pleased to find that Dylan knows who he is. And women. The sex appeal of Hendrix was such that he could almost point to any female in an audience and have her willingly in his bed that night quite possibly with one or two other selections he had made. Though he had a handful of long term girlfriends, none of them kept him from his pursuit but it should be said that he did not force himself on anyone and a refusal could result in hours of pleasant conversation followed by a walk to the front door. Jimi's spontaneity could result in asking some fan who happened to get backstage to give him a ride home or, hearing some stranger mention knowing how to play bongos, inviting that person to a studio session. In common with many who seek fame, early on Jimi found closed doors either because he was black or he dressed strangely or his music was considered weird. In common with many who achieve fame, he was consumed with his talent, the guitar playing that occupied all his time starting with a beat up instrument given to him when he was a kid that had only one string. He sought unusual sounds whether from the manner in which strings were played or through deliberate distortion. Paying his dues with many performances in small venues around Seattle, it was only when he was heard by a woman with connections in Britain (Keith Richard's girlfriend) that he was spirited over the Atlantic to explode onto the British pop scene. Success with the trio of the Jimi Hendrix Experience brought satisfaction, money and women beyond counting but it also brought the all but inevitable drugs with alcohol in every possible combination. Hendrix was known to take uppers and downers at the same time. Fans demanded his classics as he sought to break new ground. And beneath it all he remained, known only to himself, the person founded on his childhood, bewildered by the world of 24/7 stimulation to which he was locked by contracts, tours and free spending with few chances for a break. Hendrix comes off a sympathetic character increasingly sinking through drugs, stress and exhaustion into confusion. I leave you with an excerpt. At this point at the height of his fame, a concert has concluded at midnight in the Seattle area and he suggests to three relatives who came for the show that they drive around the old neighborhood. They spend hours going to every place Jimi remembers from his youth and arrive at the now abandoned, rundown house where he had lived for a time as a child... "A light rain was falling and the women remained in the car as Jimi approached the darkened structure alone. At the window to the room he had once slept in - where he had played countless hours of air guitar with a broomstick - he put his hands around his eyes, pressed his face against the glass and peered into the shadows; as if he were searching for something he had lost." Produced by Charles Cross with 325 personal interviews over a period of 4 years, Room Full of Mirrors is a good read. It bears comparison to The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Oct 14, 2022
|
Oct 14, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0679764410
| 9780679764410
| 0679764410
| 3.93
| 28,491
| Jan 31, 1997
| Apr 07, 1998
|
really liked it
|
Thomas Jefferson was a gifted writer, the man who gave us the Declaration of Independence, but he was a shy person who disliked public speaking and pe
Thomas Jefferson was a gifted writer, the man who gave us the Declaration of Independence, but he was a shy person who disliked public speaking and personal confrontation, preferring to be master of his domain at Monticello. He was a man of contradictions as Joseph Ellis reveals to us in this psychological study. The idea that an individual should be as free as possible from authority was a foundation of Jefferson's thought though he owned over 150 slaves. Professing his dislike of slavery he did not work to end it instead proclaiming that future generations would take care of the problem either through gradual emancipation, his hope, or by violent confrontation between the races, his fear. He felt that speaking out against slavery would only isolate him, preventing the achievements he thought possible through his efforts. Though not a tyrant with his slaves, he conveniently left then under the charge of overseers in the fields. Jefferson promoted life on the land, that of the virtuous and responsible farmer, but he spent little time in the field and much time at home studying and tinkering with pet projects. His property at Monticello had poor soil with his crops bringing little income to relieve the heavy debt he owed to foreign bankers. A Virginian, he was a republican defending agrarian America and states rights against the Federalists led by Adams and Hamilton who saw the future in a strong central government supported by industry and finance, the backbone of the northeastern states. Despite his distain for the industrial world, Jefferson's sole profitmaking venture was a small nail factory he started on his property employing slaves to make the nails. His dislike of slavery could not compete with the financial benefit it brought him, nor could his dislike of the industrial keep him from manufacturing nails to earn income. Debt oppressed him throughout his life, but did not inhibit his free spending while in Paris as part of the delegation to France, buying things and shipping them back to Virginia. At the end of his life he owed what in today's dollars would amount to over $1 million, resulting in an auction of his estate after his death. Though FDR pushed through the construction of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC, Jefferson would have been strongly opposed to the centralization of authority represented by the New Deal. He also would object to the Constitution being seen as holy writ, a tyranny of the dead cited to prevent needed change regardless of present circumstances as we see with the Second Amendment today. Though we all exhibit contradictions, those of national heroes are usually forgotten. This book is an antidote to thinking only of Jefferson on Mt. Rushmore. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Sep 06, 2022
|
Sep 06, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0765804646
| 9780765804648
| 0765804646
| 4.23
| 106
| Jan 01, 1980
| Apr 30, 1999
|
it was amazing
|
This book is the perfect combination of biography and American history. Walter Lippman was a journalist who for decades wrote an opinion column syndic
This book is the perfect combination of biography and American history. Walter Lippman was a journalist who for decades wrote an opinion column syndicated in newspapers throughout the United States, dealing primarily with international affairs. Because Lippman came up via a privileged path with money no problem and finished his schooling at Harvard, he was from the start an insider who made the usual network of friends who were either influential at the time or would become so. Incredibly, before the age of 30 he had the ear of a President (Wilson). Toward the end of his career he had the ear and then the enmity of LBJ. Throughout he mingled with just about every known political personality not only in the United States but in Europe as well. Trips to Europe were frequent and always put to good use with visits to such as the Pope and heads of state. Not simply formal visits, friendships were maintained through intelligent conversation about the pressing issues of the day, Lippman's second wife, Helen, not only taking copious notes but often acting as translator. The reader could not ask for more vivid portraits of the powerful, the people that the public know only as images. For example, in a visit by the Lippmans to the USSR, Khrushchev invited them to play badminton and, surprisingly for a short and portly man, won. This is a book filled with personal encounters. LBJ, known for his domination of others in conversation, remarked of Lippman, "as soon as I pull my chair toward him, he pulls his away" This was a perfect sign of Lippman's high standard for journalism. The journalist should remain aloof from the danger in relationships with power. The reporter could not let personal relationships interfere with reason when deciding on the value of this or that political policy. By adhering to this, he established himself as a person both in the know and worth listening to. His readership was vast and influential because he wasn't a toady to anyone and would quickly speak out against bad policy with good reasons to shun it. Politicians attempted to cultivate him and he enjoyed the attention, connections and socializing this made possible but kept his columns dedicated to suggesting the best policies based only on the facts of the matter. He was a public intellectual unlike any journalist today. Not only did he write his column, Today and Tomorrow, several times a week, he also wrote books that were well received and remain highly regarded. He had no respect for the mythology of democracy: that each citizen is omnicompetent and that the collective will of the citizenry is capable of making the right policy choices through the vote. He felt that only an impartial group of technical experts on specific subjects, groups that could only offer advice without a say in policy making, could make a democracy workable. We the people would be limited to voting in qualified people and voting out those who proved to be poor choices. With a good income and the companionship of a second wife that fully supported him and helped him engage fully with emotion, Lippman flourished, rewarded with the respect of the powerful, living an expansive life of travel and intellectual challenge that will awe any reader. Lippman lived exactly the life he wanted. Though he did not always suggest the right direction for policy, he arrived at his views honestly with a sincere desire to offer the best path for his country. As for the American century, Lippman's intellectual lifetime covered the period from before World War I to the Vietnam War. Starting with Teddy Roosevelt, Lippman had something to say through the terms of Wilson, Hoover, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and LBJ. Ronald Steel gives an excellent background on all the issues throughout. Any lover of history will find this book a delight. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Aug 28, 2022
|
Aug 28, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 3.86
| 430,400
| Jun 28, 2016
| Jun 28, 2016
|
it was amazing
|
This book has been a bestseller and I am late to the read. The story has elements familiar to me such as the deranged screaming mother and the good bud This book has been a bestseller and I am late to the read. The story has elements familiar to me such as the deranged screaming mother and the good buddy older sister. How many times did I hear my mother say, "she's not your mother, I am!" exactly as described in this book. In my case the member of the family providing salvation was not grandmother as with Vance, but Dad, who stoically endured all, never responded to attack and gave me a stable model to emulate quite different from that of the average American male. Thank you, Dad! I did not have to face poverty, nor did I see routine destructive behavior in the neighbors or witness the decline of my town. Vance was in the position of too many Americans who, surrounded by hopelessness and despair, are at the same time at home nowhere else. With both my parents being from the South, I did get a taste of resentment for the way other Americans were thought to look down on those from the South. The Beverly Hillbillies was not appreciated even though I thought the show made fun of the pretentious upper class as much as it did the Clampetts. Reading this book, I could not help thinking of the similar situation of poor whites in Appalachia and poor blacks in the ghettoes of urban America. It is so easy to look self righteously from the outside at both groups and wonder why people in dire straits don't simply get out, no matter what it takes. But this simplistic view doesn't take into account the powerful connection of identity with the place where one grows up, absorbing the negative as easily as those more fortunate absorb the positive in middle class homes. We like to think of ourselves having completely free will and tend to ignore that we are constructed from our environment. I hoped to gain insight from this book into the mindset of the many white Americans who are angry and often armed, vowing to fight change and government in America; to throw a wrench into the works if nothing else. In this Hillbilly Elegy delivers. Other books, such as Strangers in Their Own Land, Confederates in the Attic and Ain't No Makin' It also deliver, though nothing can tell the story as intimately as an autobiography. I'm worried about J.D. Vance, though. The fame and fortune of this book are propelling him into divisive politics, potentially pushing him from the rational reflection and refreshing truth-telling he has shown into the extremism that easily comes from playing to a crowd. He is rightfully proud of what he accomplished in his escape from what looked like his destiny in Appalachia, but having the exhilarating power to escape adversity can easily turn into loving power for itself. He is currently running for an Ohio seat in the Senate and is putting out some crazy talk typical of the extreme right that keeps me from applauding. Read the book and keep your eye on the man. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Aug 11, 2022
|
Aug 11, 2022
|
Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0801481112
| 9780801481116
| 0801481112
| 4.20
| 51
| Jun 1991
| Jan 05, 1993
|
it was amazing
|
John Dewey, American public intellectual, was born in 1859. He died in 1952. This outstanding book is a trip through the period that repeatedly made t
John Dewey, American public intellectual, was born in 1859. He died in 1952. This outstanding book is a trip through the period that repeatedly made this reader pause and consider topics that might be, that should be, on the mind of any American today. Dewey's life began in a time of romanticism and idealism in both Europe and America just as the American Civil War was about to began. It ended when both "isms" were history with nothing to replace them and nuclear war threatening, as it is today. Romanticism placed emotion above reason. Science, though revealing facts, was a cold companion in a blind universe that it could not transcend. One could not be fully human without relating to the world with feeling. Nature could speak to us, wordlessly, through our emotional response to it. Idealists believed that there was a spiritual background to reality; that mankind was progressing, improving as it moved toward a destiny indicated by ideals of beauty and the good. If this was not directed by a god, then surely there was a force that acted through human behavior even if not known directly by individuals. There could be no other basis for morality. Dewey as a young man subscribed to these thoughts. As he aged he became uncomfortable with them, increasingly persuaded that science alone could inform us of reality. The challenge that faced each person, as an individual and in community was to decide what to do about problems as they arose. The good was what would benefit the community through cooperation while at the same time aiding each member in realizing his/her full potential. The was known as Pragmatism. Democracy was for Dewey the only political arrangement that could be Pragmatic. The trouble he saw was capitalism that, by design, elevated the few to power over the many and degraded the great majority to the status of tools to be used by those few. Socialism would be more in accord with Pragmatism, but Dewey knew well enough from what happened in the USSR that state socialism was not the answer. He also recognized that in the Unites States, just the mention of the word socialism meant defeat in national politics. He recognized that there could never be the personal growth necessary for true human fulfilment for all if there wasn't equal opportunity. It was foolish to believe in a democracy of one man - one vote when some were born to deprivation and others to entitlement and wealth. He saw no difference between intellectuals claiming sole responsibility for their thinking ability and the wealthy claiming to have earned every cent of their wealth. He was an advocate of income redistribution, but never believed that in itself would make a difference. He thought that only the individual fully involved with the community could bring the kind of society needed. Everyone would want to see the success of the whole and in achieving that success, each individual would be advanced in realizing all he/she could be. He was a severe critic of public education for the way it unapologetically trained youth to accept the status quo and to fit into the economic scene in willing service to established wealth Dewey headed a program in pedagogy at the University of Chicago, putting into practice his plan for the best education possible, one that would not (as critics wrongfully claimed) allow children to do as they pleased, but would have teachers guide the inclinations of children to be all that they could be within the limits of the possible. This could not be more in contrast to the typical public education that expected children to take in what was given and then reproduce it on demand. Yet, as with income redistribution, Dewey did not think education in itself would bring improvement, primarily because it was subject to so much input from so many people across the country. Robert Westbrook excels in making the intellectual ideas that prevailed during Dewey's lifetime understandable to the reader. He gives both Dewey and his critics full play, in particular the debate between Dewey and Walter Lippman over democracy, an absorbing topic for this reader. Democracy as seen by the two men had three possibilities. 1) All citizens would have the vote and all would be encouraged to vote. Those who did not vote would be failing the system of rule of, by and for the people. This was Dewey's preference with the proviso that "the public" would be individuals fulling engaged in community and supported by that community. His analogy was that only the man who wears the shoes can say where they pinch. Power had to come from the bottom up where problems were encountered in everyday life. 2) Though all had the vote, the great majority were not qualified to vote based on the fact that most were ignorant of the matters involved. Only an elite, those who knew the issues should be in the driver's seat. There was no need to worry about non-voters. The only purpose for the people to vote was to throw out bad guys and retain good ones. This was Lippman's view. As I read this, I thought of Jefferson's idea of the voting yeoman farmer who was intimately familiar with the problems of the agricultural America of his day, property ownership being a qualification for voting. In other words, this scheme is nothing new and is in practice what we know today, with the experts on legislation being lobbyists who know every detail but have a vested interest far different from that of the public. 3) All would have the vote and there would be an advisory body of technical experts who would only offer alternatives to the legislature without having any power to pass legislation. Dewey feared that this restriction on power could too easily be sidestepped, in the end putting the elite in control. It seems obvious that choice #3 is the best plan, interesting to note that from 1974 to 1995 there was an Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) as part of the government, composed of experts and tasked with advising Congress. It was terminated in 1995 when Republicans took power (the "Contract With America and Newt Gingrich) under the claim that it cost too much and was not in line with Republican goals. Democracy was Dewey's obsession and reading this book is exhilarating if only for exposing the reader to his wide open, stimulating ideas regarding a system of government that could be so much more than it has evolved to be: a democracy of lobbies, projecting an image of the public behind which is the reality of the few operating the process for their own profit, exactly the case of experts putting themselves into power that Dewey feared. Dewey's thoughts remained only thoughts. He was clear in his descriptions of the goal, but he could never come up with a practical (pragmatic!) way to get from here to there. He treasured science as a source of information and dismissed any grand idea of divine direction for human affairs. he treasured human beings as wonderfully capable and productive if allowed to develop fully. He deplored the use of people as tools with work that had nothing of them in it but their robotic actions, to the detriment of their minds; a person as a replaceable part. On finishing the book, I considered Dewey to have come up with a perfect description of a mountain peak; the good society good for each member. At the same time he precisely defined the barriers to ascent. We need to solve the problem of how to make the climb, being pragmatic in doing so. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Jul 16, 2022
|
Jul 16, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0673393194
| 9780673393197
| 0673393194
| 3.12
| 41
| 1980
| Dec 01, 2019
|
really liked it
|
In the debate about whether mankind progresses, I find one area where it is indisputable, the acceptance, still far from complete, of women as fully e
In the debate about whether mankind progresses, I find one area where it is indisputable, the acceptance, still far from complete, of women as fully equal to men. Though I had heard the name of Cady Stanton, it was only when I read an essay of hers from 1892 that I was stimulated to find out more about her. This short biography does an excellent job portraying the issues and the times in which this remarkable woman lived. She was a close associate of Susan B. Anthony, seven years her junior, who did the organizational and clerical work while Cady Stanton wrote articles, made speeches and impressed the public with her command of her subject. Her subject was the inferior status of women and she saw it broadly, as sexual and social, not just in the political lack of suffrage. This book concisely describes the social turmoil of the mid to late 19th century. The drive for abolition of slavery is probably the best known of the movements of that time, but there was a strong effort to ban alcohol as well. Feminism lagged behind, denounced even by a majority of women that Cady Stanton sought to win over, impressing all who heard her speak even if they did not agree with her. Freed by inherited wealth and aided by a supportive though feisty and usually absent husband due to his dedication to abolition, Cady Stanton, a mother of seven, had the means to provide child care during her frequent absences from home. She lived her entire life in New York state, a center of American political activity in the late 1800's, knowing and associating with such as Frederick Douglass and Henry Ward Beecher. She did not have to travel far to reach New York City and was a principle organizer of the Seneca Falls (NY) convention on women held in 1848 which is considered the opening event for the women's rights movement. The dispute that dominated Cady Stanton's early life was over priority. Should the rights of the slave or that of the woman be considered first? For most slavery was most important and Cady Stanton would often be attacked for not giving it her full attention. She spoke mostly to groups of women and found a majority of them opposed to her call for female equality. Far more popular among women was the call for temperance. Not surprisingly for someone on the lecture circuits of the time, Cady Stanton also knew and was friends with the much younger Francis Willard who played a leading role promoting prohibition. Cady Stanton's view on the equality of women, notable in the essay I read, was comprehensive. She believed that all avenues, social and sexual, should be open to women without restriction. She had an outlook that would be at home today, but was astounding 150 years ago, properly earning her place as a trailblazer for women's rights. This book was a double treat for me as I discovered the Library of American Biography of which it is a title, published in 1980 containing (per the back cover) 28 biographies ranging from Tecumseh to Andrew Carnegie. The Cady Stanton book is only 175 pages in length and not a sentence is wasted. I'm ready for more! Cady Stanton's biographer, Lois Banner, has an easy to read yet energetic style that held my attention throughout. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
May 23, 2022
|
May 23, 2022
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B08SSRTV5V
| 4.18
| 11
| unknown
| Feb 01, 2021
|
really liked it
|
I am fascinated by public spirited people, humanitarians. Politicians depend on popularity but they are by no means always, or even often, pubic spiri
I am fascinated by public spirited people, humanitarians. Politicians depend on popularity but they are by no means always, or even often, pubic spirited or humanitarian. I'm thinking of those who will normally, not exceptionally, think of the other and work to see the betterment of conditions for others as a goal in life. Popularity doesn't necessarily follow for such people, because it isn't necessary for the beneficiaries to be aware of the one working for their benefit. To the true humanitarian it is enough to see conditions improve or, if that isn't possible, to know that he or she has made the effort to improve them. Power, position, wealth and applause are not rejected so much as being placed lower on the priority list than living up to one's own philanthropic standard. Richard Falk's book is a good read because it tells of how he came to be a humanitarian from a family background that would for most have lead by way of connections to a great income in a secure job with the praise from peers that would follow. His is a story of an intellectual feeling the pull of working for the good first as an academic and then expanding his work into activism. His purely academic years saw his acceptance by the respectable society of professors and pundits, politicians and businessmen that don't make political waves. But with the move to activism during the Vietnam War, the pats on the back, the invitations to appear on TV, the requests for speaking engagements began to fall in number. One might say he sealed his fate when he began telling the truth about Israel's project of ethnic cleansing, of the injustice that Palestinians suffer, a sure way for public figures in America to find doors closed. The plight of the Palestinians was his purview as the UN Special Rapporteur of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories from 2008 to 2014. It was during that time when I first knew of him as he became a target for vicious attack and demands that he be removed from the position. In this book we get to see Falk move among social groups from the rich and famous to the completely dispossessed while never forgetting the privileged life he has led and the duty he feels toward those deprived of all that he has enjoyed. He is not a name dropper, but in his over 90 years has had a variety of relationships with many well known names from Zsa Zsa Gabor as a friend in his youth through Richard Mueller being a student of his. He writes openly of his family life throughout. Always one to carefully think about issues, his position on a wide variety of events in 20th and early 21st century America can only make the American reader ponder his or her own positions. Falk has a blog where he currently (2022) writes on topics of interest. I've been reading his entries for a few years now and have commented there from time to time, sharing his concern with the Palestinians. The man is never hesitant to respond and credits his blog with stimulating his own thoughts. Public Intellectual is an account of a long life well and admirably lived. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Feb 28, 2022
|
Feb 28, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| B004IPPINW
| 3.73
| 79,460
| Apr 03, 2007
| Apr 03, 2007
|
it was amazing
|
A style of writing perfected, this short story addresses the reader as the listener sitting at a table being addressed directly by the author, with th
A style of writing perfected, this short story addresses the reader as the listener sitting at a table being addressed directly by the author, with that listener's responses implied by comments made. It is all one-way and fascinating to read, drawing the reader into an intimate account of the life of a twenty-something Pakistani man living in America at the time of the 9/11 attack. I can't think of a more effective way to place a reader on the side of the protagonist, a highly educated man who speaks in a formal almost British way that one would expect of a foreign graduate of an Ivy League school. Consumed with a passion for success, he races up the ladder of his profession to achieve the American dream before doubts surface prompted by American and his own reaction to 9/11. While almost consumed with his work, he is also attracted to an American woman, Erica, who is suffering from the loss of a lifelong love and sinking psychologically. Changez (the young man) is filled with satisfaction at his work but disturbed by the course Erica is taking, showing a very touching sensitivity to her condition. Amid beautiful turns of phrase, we follow the course of a true gentleman while wondering at the identity of the American with whom he shares dinner. Mystery, love, acute observations on social relations told with complete honesty all work together to make this a very enjoyable read. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Jan 2022
|
Jan 10, 2022
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0811216543
| 9780811216548
| 0811216543
| 4.19
| 43,351
| 1932
| May 17, 2006
|
liked it
|
A young Frenchman thrilled with patriotism goes off to World War I to be disillusioned, suffers an unidentified injury then drifts through his young l
A young Frenchman thrilled with patriotism goes off to World War I to be disillusioned, suffers an unidentified injury then drifts through his young life with no goal, no dream, no hope. He goes to Africa to be assaulted by insects and disease. He goes to America to be oppressed by the high buildings of New York City then returns to France to become a doctor. His practice is in a low income area where he provides service to those who do not pay. Throughout he feels up women who fall for him effortlessly then become bitches who go their own way. One exception, a beautiful prostitute, supports him for some time. His time in medical school is dismissed in one short paragraph where he mentions it taking him "five of six years" to get the degree. To sum up, life is a bitch and then you die. There is a lot of vomiting by various people. We read of hives, festering sores, fevers, a bloody botched abortion, the smell of urine. The human body, to be lusted after if it is female and comely, is otherwise a source of misery and disgust. The characters are filled with themselves, the protagonist despite his medical training, is largely unable to help anyone. The best that happens to him is to find a sinecure administering a madhouse. Written in 1932, this blast against the society of the time came just before Europe descended into the even greater hole of WW2. A lengthy expression of anguish, you must dedicate yourself to getting through it. Mick Jagger told us that we can't always get what we want, Celine tells us we can get what we want if it's sex, but we can't get what we need. Human beings can't relate to each other and must flounder about in fear and anguish until death terminates it. The book gets three stars, "I liked it", because it is well written. A bit over half way through I had enough, the message having been pounded into me, but I persevered. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Dec 04, 2021
|
Dec 04, 2021
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 147673190X
| 9781476731902
| 147673190X
| 4.14
| 27,355
| Sep 23, 2014
| Sep 23, 2014
|
it was amazing
|
Options in life start being determined at the moment of conception. The health and situation of the parents, genetics and the country where the child
Options in life start being determined at the moment of conception. The health and situation of the parents, genetics and the country where the child will be born are primary, but more come into play as a life is lived. There are few places in America where options are more limited than in the impoverished inner cities and this is where, near Newark NJ, Robert Peace was born. Against the odds for the area, Rob not only had a father present in his early life but one devoted to Rob, helping with homework and shepherding the boy around the neighborhood. Rob's mother, Jackie, was nothing if not dedicated to his welfare. She refused to move in with Rob's father due to the father's free wheeling ways, but did not object to a close relationship between father and son. Rob lived with her as she did everything she could to help him on his way in an environment with dangerous attractions on all sides, even managing to come up with the money to put him in a private Catholic high school. Rob, in turn, was a loving and devoted child to both of his parents right into adulthood, dedicated to supporting them in any and every way he could. Rob was a standout intellectually with an insatiable curiosity driving him to learn why things work the way they do. His love of reading brought him knowledge far beyond that of his peers and his dedication to learning brought not only high grades but the attention of a wealthy benefactor of his high school that offered to pay his tuition to Yale. Against the odds options opened for Rob even as they were narrowed for all around him in the neighborhood. A 4.0 average at Yale with a BA in molecular biology only confirmed the exceptional ability of this diamond in the rough. But every one of us has to deal with our own issues, nobody getting a smooth ride over self-imposed hurdles that can be far more difficult to deal with than what others might put in our way. This was Rob's tragedy and a big part of it was his refusal to take advice, not surprisingly feeling that he, on his own, could find the best way to deal with things. Up to a point this had proven true for him. Intensely social and supportive of his many friends he enjoyed and was appreciated for his ability to lend an ear and make suggestions. The irony of his life was that he could not take the advice of his best friend to "be smart" in charting a course in life. Though he rocketed to the top graduating from Yale, he had no clear idea of how to proceed. His love of socializing and seeing the world drew him aside from proceeding to graduate school with all the expense that would involve and small hope of a resulting income that would allow him to do what he loved to do. The ever-present lure of easy money dealing drugs (marijuana) seemed to offer a solution starting while he attended Yale, one that did not deter Rob from planning other ways of making money after graduation such as teaching at his old high school, flipping houses or handling baggage at an airline for the free world travel it allowed. All of these were easy for him, a guy with an ability to work hard, stay high, and still get the job done. He arrived at a fork in the road of his life and took the wrong way, because initially it was so easy to do. Finally realizing his mistake, that his options were closing, it was too late. Jeff Hobbs, white, from an affluent family and a roommate of Rob's at Yale, brings Rob to life in this wonderfully open book that explores what it means to be black in America, walking a line between two limited worlds as Rob did, loving friends and family who have known one since childhood in a world restricted by poverty, while engaging at the highest level in another world restricted by wealth. Hobbs did the work of interviewing a multitude of Rob's friends to paint as complete a picture of the man as one could hope to have while also presenting the intricacies of race in America. This is a book deserving of all the praise it has received. It is a work of love and a finer tribute I could not imagine. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Nov 09, 2021
|
Nov 09, 2021
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0671869205
| 9780671869205
| 0671869205
| 4.16
| 88,451
| Jun 15, 1992
| Jun 14, 1993
|
it was amazing
|
In a democracy such as we have in America, the chief executive is elected largely on the basis of the image seen on TV. Few people know the candidate
In a democracy such as we have in America, the chief executive is elected largely on the basis of the image seen on TV. Few people know the candidate well enough to vote on character. As a result, the quality of presidents varies greatly and what you get may well be far different from what you see. We know human beings are a complex mix of strengths and weaknesses, psychological as well as physical. Insecurity is common, vanity is common, false bravado and overestimation of oneself is very common in those whose ambition gets them to the top. Knowing all of the above makes it a marvel that Harry Truman became president. He was down to earth amid giant egos. He was self confident in the best way, sure of himself without thinking he was the best or brightest. He rose through politics by being picked rather than by promoting himself. In whatever situation he found himself, he knew he could face the task and accomplish things through dedication and work but never believed he was uniquely gifted to do something others could not. He was always concerned that he could make enough money to live comfortably but never sought wealth for status. He was perfectly comfortable in his own skin and because of that very open and eager to engage others since he had nothing to prove. He was considerate, never walking over others though he had the power to do so. He solicited and took advice. He had his political opponents, of course, who did all they could to defeat his plans as president, but everyone found it hard to dislike him personally. He was a man of character who loved his country, felt a deep obligation to the common people and made decisions based on a cool analysis of problems without considering how it would look or play out on election day. Of course this biography covers the major events of the Truman presidency such as the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, the Korean war and the firing of McArthur, the handling of the epidemic of labor strikes, the Berlin airlift, but there is one part of the man's history that I did not know about which reveals him more than any other and that is his month long railroad trip around the United States in an effort to win the 1948 presidential election over Republican Thomas Dewey. Riding in a private 7 car train, Truman went from the east to the west coast and then back making 150 stops that included small towns as well as large cities. Enjoying himself thoroughly, he was eager to see everyone and they showed their appreciation by turning out in large numbers. Though his wife and daughter were not enthused with the trip, they dutifully came out on the rear platform of the train to be introduced to the crowds. In his whistle stop speeches, Truman would go all out against the Republicans and Dewey, shake hands and revel to the sound of "give 'em hell, Harry!" Then in the evening as the train sped along at 80mph a good game of poker could be enjoyed. Always cheerful, always in trim physical shape from daily walks and careful eating, almost always able to get a good night's sleep, the office of the president was challenging, stimulating and the perfect fit for this man intensely curious not only about the world at large but about the next person he might meet. I can't think of any other president except Jimmy Carter who has taken the concerns of the ordinary citizen to heart as did Truman. He wanted to have national health care, he wanted a minimum wage, he had to take on the unions at the peak of their power but appreciated their value to working people, vetoing Taft/Hartley. He was suspicious of corporate wealth. His did not want the government (read FBI) spying on the citizenry. He integrated the armed forces and recognized the plight of black Americans. Fearless and dedicated, his attitude was that while he might not be the best man for the job, the job was his and he was going to do it. The following paragraph from the book tells of the effect Truman had on others with his open, friendly and respectful treatment of everyone around him. "The loyalty of those around Truman was total and would never falter. In years to come not one member of the Truman White House would ever speak or write scathingly of him or belittle him in any fashion. There would be no vindictive "inside" books or articles written about this President by those who worked closest to him. They all thought the world of Harry Truman then and for the rest of their lives, and would welcome the chance to say so." Could we please have another such in the White House? ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Aug 26, 2021
|
Aug 26, 2021
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0394720245
| 9780394720241
| 0394720245
| 4.48
| 22,802
| Sep 16, 1974
| Jul 12, 1975
|
it was amazing
|
Power must be limited, no matter who the individual. We all believe we have the right view of things and that means we disagree with each other. The c
Power must be limited, no matter who the individual. We all believe we have the right view of things and that means we disagree with each other. The conflict normally results in a contest to determine the best course of action. What ends up being done may not be the ideal, but it does accommodate multiple views. When one person has freedom to do whatever he/she pleases then people are going to be hurt. Even if power did not corrupt, it would, as this book shows, completely ignore groups of people to the point of devastating lives. The sole virtue of unrestrained power is it gets things done, whether or not they are what should be done. Hitler did marvels for Germany before he destroyed it. Jeff Bezos can spend $1 billion a year on space tourism as so many Americans go homeless and his workers cannot get $15 an hour for their labor. Robert Moses was a genius in several ways. He was a master at engineering without ever taking a course in it, a quick learner, a great judge of talent, an inspiring team leader, insatiably curious, unmatched in writing legislation, willing to work any and all hours to get something done with a physical constitution that would not quit, marvelous at planning down to the smallest detail and able to manage multiple projects at one time driving each one to completion. But he had three serious flaws. He would not listen to others, always insisting on doing things his own way. He was supremely arrogant; openly contemptuous of anyone who disagreed with him taking real pleasure in dishing out humiliation. Worst of all, while deeply involved in public projects he had no feeling for the public and would drive his projects through regardless of the effect on the people whose lives would be shattered by them. He wanted monuments to himself and created them one after another for decades overcoming all obstacles financial and political to do so. A Rhodes Scholar, Moses wrote his thesis at Oxford on the British civil service then upon return to the United States joined the movement for reform in New York state that saw him design a makeover of the state civil service, the details of which allowed him to work that system to his advantage including the writing of legislation creating the first public authority with him in charge and, once appointed, unable to be removed. When threatened with dismissal he would advise the one threatening him to check the law. End of threat. Even FDR as president was unable to dislodge Moses, and was barely able to stop one of Moses' bridges. Governors and mayors came and went while Moses remained in his positions, heading up 12 government bodies at the peak of his power. Starting in the late 1920's with the public pleasing development of Jones Beach on Long Island including parkways to allow access to it by car, he rode a wave of popularity with the public as the man who got things done even as his building of expressways within NYC did nothing to improve traffic jams as he ignored the crying need for rail improvements. In the 1930's he built the Triborough Bridge, an engineering marvel tolls from which allowed him sole authority over millions of dollars annually. The Depression starved state and city funds, but Moses had the toll money that could be capitalized into bonds that would provide collateral to fund park and highway building, but only as he dictated it be done. And if neighborhoods were destroyed and people evicted left and right from their apartments to make way for six lane expressways, so be it. While obsessed with power, Moses cared little for what money could buy for him personally. Not only was he seen as the master builder, but one who was incorruptible. His secret was in commissioning companies, unions and individuals with generous contracts that bound their loyalty to him. Any objections to his plans by elected officials brought a barrage of protest from the movers and shakers of the city and state. The Power Broker is an account of the 45 years of Moses reign. Though it is 1200 pages long, my interest flagged at only one point with a detailed description of NYC borough politics. It is fascinating to see one politician after another step up to challenge Moses, even if in a minor way, only to face humiliation demanding cooperation with him. Moses made a point of having mayors meet with him at places and times of his own choosing. Heart rending accounts of people losing everything to make way for Moses' highways show how far removed he was from public pressure. He ran for governor of New York only to be resoundingly defeated due to his arrogant attitude toward the public that he should have been wooing. The book was published in 1975 six years before Moses died, completed only after the author was rebuffed by him. This biography of a man who lived to the age of 93 proves that some people can face incredible stress every day for decades yet thrive. Robert Moses made NYC what we know today, still congested with a teetering public transportation system despite all the expressways, bridges and tunnels that he built. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
May 08, 2021
|
May 08, 2021
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1501125486
| 9781501125485
| 1501125486
| 4.34
| 2,066
| Sep 29, 2020
| Sep 29, 2020
|
really liked it
|
To succeed as a politician, image can go a long way. But if image is all there is, performance will not follow expectations. In 2016 there was a react
To succeed as a politician, image can go a long way. But if image is all there is, performance will not follow expectations. In 2016 there was a reaction to image and a man no one could deny was an outsider to Washington was elected, yet far from doing the right things, from draining the swamp, the new president got busy tearing things apart. Jimmy Carter was indeed an outsider to Washington, elected in 1976 over Gerald Ford who had pardoned the disgraced Richard Nixon. Though Carter's campaign did push the image of a hard working farmer/businessman, there was substance to it. Carter has what is seldom mentioned about anyone now, character. With a strong sense of self, a determination to do what he thought was right regardless of the political consequences, a powerful intellect with an insatiable curiosity and an unwillingness to do anything less than his best, Americans had elected an outstanding public servant to the highest office. In this biography, Jonathan Alter follows the course of a Georgia farm boy with a strict, emotionally distant father and a humanitarian mother, a boy who grown to manhood found his full partner in a girl also from Plains, Georgia, Rosalynn Smith. Though Carter served in the Navy just after WW2, I could not help thinking of the phrase the Army has used, "be all you can be" as this is a story of someone with that idea always in mind. He could easily be compared to the founding fathers in his constant desire to know and understand the world whether it be about farming practices, woodworking or international relations. This is not a book of flattery. It doesn't hesitate to portray traits that would get Carter into trouble. Stubbornness and the refusal to see how his way of going about getting things done might alienate the people whose support he needed would create barriers to his plans. He could be very chilly in person and tended to be arrogant given that he often knew more about a subject than the person to whom he was speaking. Yet he could be embarrassingly critical of himself in public. For his inability to project an appealing image, his one presidential debate with Ronald Reagan tells all. The legislative accomplishments of his four years in office are remarkable, exceeded only by those of LBJ. Interestingly, both men had minds for detail. In LBJ's case it was knowledge of how Congress works and how to personally work legislators that sped bills to passage. For Carter is was the ability to study a subject and quickly take in the facts that would make him hard to beat debating the merits of a case. As he was pushing through the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, Ted Stevens, the Alaskan senator who opposed the legislation, left a meeting with Carter saying, "that son of a bitch knows more about my state than I do!" And what troubling times were the four years of Carter's one term as president. A second gasoline shortage came, the USSR invaded Afghanistan, the Shah was overthrown in Iran and the American embassy hostages were held for 444 days. Inflation raged, the economy limped. But far from being paralyzed, Carter passed civil service reform, negotiated the SALT II arms limitation agreement with the USSR, brought significantly more women and minorities into government and championed human rights worldwide. His Very Best leaves none of the colorful Carter family out such as his mother Lillian and younger brother Billy. One couldn't ask for a more detailed accounting of the campaigns Carter ran. Though only a fraction of the book tells of what has happened since he left office, it shows his dogged determination to keep making a difference whether building houses with Habitat for Humanity, observing elections, negotiating with dictators for peace or working to eliminate the horror of Guinea worm in Africa. He saw that disease go from over a million cases to only 130 as he and Rosalynn tirelessly advocated for the powerless sufferers to obtain clean water and drug treatment. There are a couple of photo sections, one of the earlier years in black and white and one of presidential and later years in color. Most interesting is a shot of former presidents in Obama's Oval Office. Bush I and II, Obama and Clinton are joking together and off by himself is Jimmy Carter, the guy who was last to socialize but first to think about the job to be done. Now 96, Carter will not be with us for much longer. Of all the presidents I have known, that would include those from Eisenhower on, Carter is the only one that has so impressed me with his personal life that I would seriously consider traveling to DC when he dies. He has shown by his actions his concern for his fellow men and women. In the history of the United States there have only been 16 years when this country has not been in a military engagement somewhere in the world. 4 of those 16 were the years of Carter's presidency of which his is justifiably proud. Yes, he reached the height of power, but behind that is an admirable man who has worked to be his very best for the good of others. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
2
|
not set
not set
|
Feb 06, 2021
not set
|
Feb 06, 2021
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0312060270
| 9780312060275
| 0312060270
| 3.88
| 4,940
| Jan 01, 1976
| Jun 15, 1991
|
it was amazing
|
The dream of any biographer is to know the subject in person. Without knowing at the time that she would write a biography of LBJ, Doris Kearns (Goodw
The dream of any biographer is to know the subject in person. Without knowing at the time that she would write a biography of LBJ, Doris Kearns (Goodwin) won a White House Fellowship during the Johnson administration when she was in her 20's. This allowed her access to the daily goings on as an observer, but for some reason that she says she doesn't know, the president took a liking to her, was quite open in conversation with her and eventually trusted her to the extent that he asked her to help him write his memoirs after retiring to his ranch in Texas. This intellectual intimacy allowed Kearns not only to hear the opinions of the chief executive but to question and even challenge him on them. The result is a clear examination of a distinctively peculiar personality as LBJ went from great popularity on the occasion of his beating Barry Goldwater for the presidency in 1964 to being the object of hatred over the Vietnam War, resulting in his early retirement with the refusal to compete in the election of 1968. Kearns dips into psychology carefully, suggesting why LBJ behaved as he did while in no way claiming more than informed speculation, the most that any of us can do when we analyze others. A man from rural Johnson City, Texas, LBJ had a demanding mother who praised what she felt was good behavior and gave the silent treatment when she did not, holding as a standard her deceased father who was a successful and cultivated man. LBJ's father was by contrast a person who did not always behave as his wife would want and in the background was a grandfather who would regale young Lyndon with stories of the old cattle drives filled with danger and hardships. Central to LBJ's character was a theme of the times in his 1920's youth, part of the American dream of the title. If you worked hard you would prevail at any task and your character would be forged by the challenges you applied yourself to overcoming. There was an aphorism appropriate to any situation. My mother, born the same year as LBJ, was full of these tidbits of good advice such a stitch in time saving nine or the early bird getting the worm. One that sticks in my mind was "root, little pig, or die!" There was, hovering above every boy and girl of the time a clear image of the good man or woman that a child should strive to be. This resulted in much of the conformity that was so thoroughly rejected first by such as Lenny Bruce but then by many young people in the late 1960's. LBJ took to the times. He rose through jobs where he would take on work a superior did not want to do and make himself indispensable. He won a seat in the House of Representatives, then one in the Senate, became vice-president and, with the death of JFK, president. Success came as he expected through hard work and long hours, the only bleak period being his time as VP when there was little for him to apply himself to. He showed what ambition could accomplish when accompanied by a sincere desire to better the lives of others, something exactly the opposite of what we see in the man who thinks only of himself in the White House today. LBJ had an almost supernatural ability to detect the wants and needs of individuals. For a politician, this is a golden gift as it allows productive bargaining. Johnson would corner this or that senator alone and far more often than not reach a compromise that produced something that senator wanted for his state. This was very productive both during his time in the Senate when legislation passed through at a rate that astounds the reader, as currently we witness the ability of one senator to bring legislation to a complete stop, and in his first years as president. He tailored his approach according to the likes and dislikes of the person he was addressing, being a down home boy with anecdotes to offer or a sober realist if that was what would appeal to the audience of one. Coupled with this ability was LBJ's phenomenal memory that allowed him to retain a mental picture of every senator he dealt with, not just what each wanted in legislation but also personal likes and dislikes, and preferences for places to vacation or visit. If a fact finding trip needed to be taken to Japan, for example, he would recall that Senator X's wife loved Japanese art. Would that senator and his wife be able to go to Japan? This is a master at work. Kearns gives excellent descriptions of how the parts of our government function, explaining how different is the job of representative and senator, allowing the reader to understand why LBJ excelled in Washington in each position he held, except VP, until his undoing by the Vietnam War. In contrast to his deep understanding of his fellow Americans when dealing with them as individuals, he was at a loss to understand the war. Still working from aphorisms such as a winner never quits or one I heard him use: "We've got to nail the coonskin to the wall", Johnson could not understand how a "piss-ant" country could defy a superpower. He could not comprehend a people willing to die to the last man rather than yield to a foreign invader. His ability to negotiate and compromise, to get another party to see his side of an argument failed him when there was no opportunity for personal interaction. Above all the American fear of communism made Vietnam a chess piece rather than a real place. Johnson had visited there once during his days in Congress. Realizing he was not a foreign policy expert, he yielded to those who had the credentials that said they were qualified to advise him. As always, none of the experts were from the country under discussion. With the notable exception of George Ball, the experts advised staying the course, though Secretary of Defense McNamama burned out and left office after years of trying to make war conform to efficiency studies. Finally the Tet offensive ended the delusion that progress was being made and the division of opinion in the US made Johnson see that he had lost the ability to bring people together. The war was his nemesis and it won. LBJ longed to be loved by those who received the benefits he made possible, and there were so many that came under the heading of The Great Society. He would tell Kearns that he knew the American people loved him only to be dumbfounded by the strident way so many indicated that they didn't. Though he had a towering ambition, Johnson was insecure. He reviled the silver spoon Kennedys and was so greatly concerned to not appear as a country bumpkin that his appearances before large groups of people were stilted, deliberately hiding the personal charm, colorful language and expert mimicry with which he would regale individuals or intimate groups. He had haunting dreams of being paralyzed while others carried on around him and near the end of his life he would get into bed, pull up the covers and hold interviews with Kearns in this state. Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is a classic biography and deserves to be for its intimacy due to the very special relationship of LBJ to Doris Kearns. Much can be learned of the way American government worked in 1960's as a side benefit of the life story of a man who more than any other knew how to work it. NOTE: my copy was the first edition paperback. I notice that the author has written a new forward in the current edition. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Dec 2020
|
Dec 01, 2020
|
Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| B08FXTSKLJ
| 4.09
| 14,839
| Aug 2020
| Sep 08, 2020
|
liked it
|
If anyone should be able to tell the story of what goes on inside Trumpworld it is Trump's former lawyer and fixer. Michael Cohen doesn't disappoint. T If anyone should be able to tell the story of what goes on inside Trumpworld it is Trump's former lawyer and fixer. Michael Cohen doesn't disappoint. This book is testimony to the power of ambition to blind a person, even to the extent of ignoring pleas from spouse and children to stop. Access to the power of Trump, where hundreds of adoring fans would stand cheering while Trump with Cohen at his side emerged from an elevator or walked in the lobby of Trump Tower was heady. When the idea of running for the presidency came up, Cohen was immediately on board starry eyed at the prospect. The job of troubleshooting required Cohen to be an attack dog intimidating anyone who had anything on Trump from harming the image. Shouting and cursing on the telephone was part of a day's work. Should someone come up with some dirt, a payoff could be arranged an example being that involving Stormy Daniels. The reward was as close a relationship with Trump as was possible. Cohen and Trump shared the same telephone address book and Cohen had permission to Tweet in Trump's name. Phone calls from Trump could come at any time and calls to Trump would be immediately answered. Cohen says all this was as addicting as any drug. Trump could make things difficult with his tendency to say one thing one day and contradict it the next, but he was never challenged, being right no matter what and to be defended no matter how illogical or ethically questionable his actions might be. Cohen remarks how the mixture of team spirit, empowerment and fear caused all of the members of Trump's inner circle to act in ways would look bizarre to outsiders. This we have seen in the parade of press spokespersons for Trump who have seen nothing strange about the circus of deception and disrespect they perform before the press. We've seen it also in the obedience of Republican members of Congress. Ambition rules. There are many remarkable scenes in this book, among which is a description of a repulsive sex show attended by Trump and Cohen in Las Vegas. On another occasion, Trump not knowing the identity of a woman makes lewd remarks about Cohen's daughter to Cohen. There are a couple of devious real estate deals mentioned where Trump stiffs the other party to great delight. Coming out on top is a must. Putting off payments even to the point of refusing to make them at all is routine. If the other party complains, Cohen gets on the phone to make threats. No American bank will deal with Trump, a bankruptcy escape artist. The Trump family comes off as fearful. Ivanka is portrayed as a nice person whose ways were changed though her relationship to the arrogant Jared Kushner. Trump Jr. is often verbally denounced to his face in the presence of others. Eric apparently isn't a significant enough presence to merit a mention. Melania is no fool, the quiet presence upstairs who endures and thinks only of protecting her son, Barron. It's telling that when Trump made his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination, many people were aghast at his remarks about immigrants. Cohen remarks that Trump's words made many listeners think his campaign was as a result doomed. The Trump children were very distressed, not because of what Trump said in itself but out of fear that their brands and investments might be damaged by association. Trump demands loyalty and is ready to turn on anyone, thus the title of the book, though I think "Ugly Business" might have been a better one. There is nothing surprising in this book though it is an interesting read, quickly done. Cohen is undoubtedly an intelligent man and likely wrote the text with little or no assistance. The author makes a believable case that he is contrite, now seeing what an ass he was, yet the reader has to wonder how long he would have continued to be an ass if the law had not put him behind bars and had Trump not tried hard to keep him there to prevent the publication of this book. Ambition can easily lead one to destruction. Cohen was a successful lawyer and had made millions off of NYC taxi medallions before the fateful day he met Trump. He could have stopped this sorry story before it got going having no financial needs and a loving family, yet the lust for power and the challenge of doing a demanding job that would take all of his talent, even if devoted to a bad purpose, won the day and ruined his life. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Oct 02, 2020
|
Oct 02, 2020
|
Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1789544629
| 9781789544626
| 1789544629
| 4.09
| 263
| Sep 24, 2019
| Aug 27, 2019
|
really liked it
|
David Ben-Gurion was born in 1886 in Poland and died in 1971 in Israel. His activity as a Zionist began in his teenage years and continued without int
David Ben-Gurion was born in 1886 in Poland and died in 1971 in Israel. His activity as a Zionist began in his teenage years and continued without interruption for the rest of his life. He is rightfully called the father of Israel, the establishment and development of which was his first concern at all times. Tom Segev's account is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the 20th century and the contested area of Palestine/Israel. A man without a sense of humor, Ben-Gurion was driven to place himself in a leadership position. Though married, he would leave his wife, Paula, and their children for long periods of time as he traveled both within Palestine and to other countries promoting the cause by attempting to unite factions or influence foreigners to aid the effort. He spent time on a kibbutz (a commune) in Palestine both as a young man and finally in retirement. Above all he provided a sense of direction toward the goal of a Jewish state established in Palestine through the immigration of Jews to the point where they would be a majority over the Arabs who were living there. Ben-Gurion had peculiarities, one of which was continually announcing, when things reached a bind, that he was stepping down from this or that leadership position, fully expecting and almost always receiving pleas to remain with the bind relaxed in his favor. He comes across as reasonable in most cases but had rivals such as Ezer Weizman that he was continually trying to side-track. He could rail at those who opposed his plans, such as Menachem Begin, and did not hesitate to use military force to have his way. Ben-Gurion did not fear combat but failed to see it in WW1 when he raised a Jewish force to fight for the Ottoman Empire, being expelled from Palestine by the Turks. Despite his lack of any officer training, he ended up being the effective commander in chief (he became both prime minister and defense minister for Israel) in the fight for independence against the Arabs in 1948 and remained so into the 1960's. Because Jews were a small minority in Palestine as the 20th century opened, the task of raising the number to exceed the Arab population was daunting. Pogroms in Russia brought some refugees and further waves of Jewish immigrants gradually brought their population up, but the relatively primitive living conditions in Palestine and the difficulty of making a good living there resulted in a good percentage of those who had arrived ultimately leaving. The closing of America, the first choice by far for Jewish immigrants from Europe, to immigration in the 1920's made it easier to attract them to Palestine, but it was the Holocaust that in the end provided the numbers needed to create a Jewish majority even if in only a segment of Palestine. Ben-Gurion was a pragmatist and was not put off by partitioning into Arab and Jewish sectors, convinced that Israel could expand over time, as has been the case to date. Being European and seeing the settlement of Jews in Palestine as an extension of European culture, he hoped that European Jews, the Ashkenazim, would make up the bulk of the population for the new state then watched, helplessly, as the Holocaust literally eliminated that group of millions of potential citizens. It was this loss of so many possible immigrants rather than the millions of personal tragedies at Hitler's hands that bothered him most. Not a socialite, Ben-Gurion had few close friends. His moments of relaxation were usually spent in reading rather than conversation but he was always open to people who wanted to meet with him and tried his best to respond to written correspondence. When Israel was declared a state in 1948, he despaired that so many who came were Mizrahim, Jews expelled from Arab countries in retaliation for Israel's expulsion of Arabs. The Mizrahim did not possess the European cultivation and expertise that he felt was necessary for the survival of the new country, and he was never sure of that survival. At the bottom, in his eyes, were the Arabs, a people of lesser intelligence, who needed to be forced to leave if they could not be encouraged to do so. This has been a problem ever since. Ben-Gurion's story contains the many conceptions of the Jewish state held at various times by Zionists, expanded and in some cases contracted by war. The most extensive visions went so far as to include parts of what is now Saudi Arabia extending even to the oil fields on the Persian Gulf that have brought so much wealth to the Saudis. To the west, not just the West Bank of the Jordan river, but Jordan itself have been thought to be a rightful part of Israel in a kind of miniature replication of the dream that played out in full for Anglo-Americans as they easily swept natives from the land. Israel from the start has deliberately never declared official borders but the large Arab population has stymied expansion plans beyond the relentless but gradual evictions of Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank. The irony of Zionism under Ben-Gurion's leadership is the way it parallels what Hitler had in mind: ridding a land of people that the ones doing the expelling believe have (had) no right at all to be there. Jews in Europe were, and the Arabs in what was Palestine were (and are), equally innocent and undeserving of eviction. It should be remembered that Zionist plans to re-locate Arabs preceded the Second World War, involving payments to absentee landlords to purchase land after which the Arabs working the land would be told to leave. Ben-Gurion also considered mass Arab re-location by paying Jordan to take Palestinian Arabs with or without their consent. This is a reason that the title of this book, A State at Any Cost is appropriate. Ben-Gurion is understandably seen as heroic by Israeli Jews because he had a vision of nothing other than a state for one people. It was of no importance to him what happened to the Arabs other than that they leave. Not religious, in common with many Jews of his generation who immigrated to Palestine, he did not regularly attend services. He had no use for ultra-orthodox Jews, which he referred to as "blacks" though he was able to work with them politically, making concessions to them involving Israeli cultural life. This is significant because the ultra-orthodox who lived in Jerusalem at the turn of the 20th century were anti-Zionist and some remain so today. The final chapter of this book, titled Another Kind of Jew is a penetrating look at what it means to call oneself a Jew and how Ben-Gurion fit into the picture. Tom Segev is an outstanding writer. This book is a model of clarity. He is Israeli and the book was originally published in Hebrew. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Sep 29, 2020
|
Sep 28, 2020
|
Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 0062954237
| 9780062954237
| 4.26
| 3,061
| May 26, 2020
| May 26, 2020
|
really liked it
|
I'd love to see this book a required read for middle school students in America. It very easy to read and relates the kind of up from nothing life sto
I'd love to see this book a required read for middle school students in America. It very easy to read and relates the kind of up from nothing life story that has always been considered worthwhile for youth to emulate. In Somalia, Omar was part of an economically successful family which meant a gated compound with walls topped by shards of broken glass, but civil war there disrupted life for everyone. In one passage she talks of how the family had retreated into their house as young men broke down the gate to the compound. Barred windows and a strong front door kept them safe, but as the men looted outside, some were recognized as former classmates. Siblings of Ilhan shouted at them, "what would your mothers think of you!" which may have prevented a turn for the worse. Such is the intimacy of that horrible war that devastated the country. Could an 8 year old experience greater terror? But it was only the start of Omar's trials. Losing all, the family escaped to a refugee camp over the border in Kenya, where home was a tent, one of many in a landscape of no shade. After applying for admission to the United States, something almost impossible to obtain, an entire year had to pass before the request was granted and, not knowing a word of English, Omar was off to a life she expected to feature a nice home behind a picket fence as depicted in an orientation film shown to those moving to the new land. Far from finding the white picket fence, Omar found herself in constant fights in middle school where her pride would cause her to challenge anyone who looked at her wrong. I suspect that were she male, her behavior would have resulted in dismissal. Even her father wondered what was wrong with her. But this feisty temperament drove her. A failed marriage, a brief life on the road with another guy, a miscarriage, being duped by a community college into paying for courses that were not accredited, she had more than her share of hurdles but was sustained throughout by a loving father and grandfather. Her ascent from a Minnesota election worker to elected office in MN and then to a seat in Congress is related with all the ups and downs you would expect plus a few more due to Omar being Muslim and female. There are many people who have a drive that is unstoppable, who jump at opportunities and often the result is a politician. Ilhan Omar is different in her concern for the people at the bottom and her experience of being there with them. This is precisely the kind of background we should hope to find in the House of Representatives, but don't. Starting in 2018 and being followed up now in 2020 Americans are seeing long serving placeholders being removed by upstarts such as Omar and AOC. Let this be the start of a flood of new faces! Any American could gain by reading this book, an encouraging one that is quickly finished leaving the reader not only invigorated but cognizant of how wrong is the terrible image of immigrants we hear presented regularly from a particular person born to wealth and obsessed with himself. I was stimulated to make a donation to the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) that ran the refugee camp in Kenya mentioned in the book. UNHCR also ran the program to place refugees that resulted in Ilhan Omar coming to America. The UN is a very worthy organization that the current administration denounces. Americans: show your support for the UN, even if your country doesn't. ...more |
Notes are private!
|
1
|
not set
|
Aug 06, 2020
|
Aug 06, 2020
|
ebook
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my rating |
|
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 4.04
|
liked it
|
May 17, 2023
|
May 17, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 3.79
|
really liked it
|
Mar 04, 2023
|
Mar 04, 2023
|
|||||
|
| 4.25
|
Feb 26, 2023
|
Feb 26, 2023
|
||||||
|
| 4.17
|
it was amazing
|
Oct 14, 2022
|
Oct 14, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.93
|
really liked it
|
Sep 06, 2022
|
Sep 06, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.23
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 28, 2022
|
Aug 28, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.86
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 11, 2022
|
Aug 11, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.20
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 16, 2022
|
Jul 16, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.12
|
really liked it
|
May 23, 2022
|
May 23, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.18
|
really liked it
|
Feb 28, 2022
|
Feb 28, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 3.73
|
it was amazing
|
Jan 2022
|
Jan 10, 2022
|
|||||
|
| 4.19
|
liked it
|
Dec 04, 2021
|
Dec 04, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.14
|
it was amazing
|
Nov 09, 2021
|
Nov 09, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.16
|
it was amazing
|
Aug 26, 2021
|
Aug 26, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.48
|
it was amazing
|
May 08, 2021
|
May 08, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 4.34
|
really liked it
|
Feb 06, 2021
not set
|
Feb 06, 2021
|
|||||
|
| 3.88
|
it was amazing
|
Dec 2020
|
Dec 01, 2020
|
|||||
|
| 4.09
|
liked it
|
Oct 02, 2020
|
Oct 02, 2020
|
|||||
|
| 4.09
|
really liked it
|
Sep 29, 2020
|
Sep 28, 2020
|
|||||
|
| 4.26
|
really liked it
|
Aug 06, 2020
|
Aug 06, 2020
|
Loading...
