ERA Reviews

You know, this is not the sort of book I would normally read. But there it was, suddenly, on the coffee table one night. How it got there I have no idea. Just curious, I began to leaf through the pages, and the words began to resonate with me. Unable to sleep, I read it through in one sitting by candlelight. The next morning, I began to look at things around me differently. First, I removed several unessential appliances from the house in an effort to simplify my existence. Then it became time to de-clutter and I threw out several items I realized I had no more use for. Then, and this all seemed so logical in light of the things I'd read, I divorced the wife and sent her on her why. Sure, she cried a bit, but I knew I was doing the right thing. And I've never regretted it. This is, indeed, one of the best books I've read all year.

I don't usually tolerate so-called theory, but this was fun!

Don't let the title fool you--this is a down-to-earth, engaging work that deserves to be read by a much larger audience than the academic field it's probably relegated to.

This is a powerful, bleak book. None of the writers Peyser deals with is particularly optimistic. The possible exception is Howells but there is a dark undertow even to his work which Peyser makes sure we see. So a book about utopia is also a strangely, depressing read. 40 years or so after Brooke Farm, who would have thought things would have gotten so sad? Of course it was the turn the century and the best of the Western thinkers were thinking sad and pessimistic thoughts. And now here we are at the turn of another century and we have this powerful, bleak book. Have we come all that far after this century of bloodthirsty carnage? Is Utopia even further away than it was 100 years ago? Read Peyser's powerful, bleak book and see if you can answer some of these sad questions yourself. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

At critical junctures of my life I have found Montaigne to be the best source of understanding of what it is to be a civilized human being. The essays illuminate the self and our relationship to society. This book more than any other I know enables the reader to trace our relationship to issues that concern us today: freedom, appropriate behavior, individuals vs institutions, health, nature. You name it, MM deals with it. Buy this book.

Montaigne wrote what he called "essays", in the sense of "attempts" - he was trying to find out what he thought about stuff. It helped that he'd read a great deal, led a pretty full life and had known some interesting people, although one of his great virtues is that he seems to have found them more interesting than they themselves probably thought they were.

Pascal struggled all his life with the example of Montaigne. The problem for Pascal was that he was only really concerned with one thing - God's grace - and he was scandalised that Montaigne didn't seem to find it that big a deal. MM will write as readily about theological disputes and poetry as he will about sex, forgetfulness and his own stupidity. Apart from anything else, he was perhaps the first person to observe that nobody can pretend that his s*** doesn't stink (I can't remember the exact page, but then there _are_ over a thousand.)

There's a lifetime's reading in here. For such a big fat classic of a book it reads like it was written yesterday, although if it _had_ been written yesterday, he'd've been all over Hello! magazine by now.

Wisdom is maybe underrated these days, but Montaigne isn't just spouting off. This is not a 16th century evening with Morrie. You can see him thinking. He _encourages_ you. (What a great word "encourage" is.) It's not that bad for about fourteen quid.

When reading Montaigne's essays, I had to continually pinch myself out of the notion that I was reading the innermost secrets of a thoroughly modern human being. Far from the reaches of cell phones, televisions, automobiles, miracle drugs, 7-11 stores and the internet, Michel De Montaigne (1533-1592) via his essays, at once conveys the essence of the universal human condition, and imparts to us a sense of relief and liberation; that our life's journey, beneath all the trappings of the times, share their essential qualities: the challenges, triumphs, tragedies, passions, ironies and humor. With remarkable wit, Montaigne draws characters out of the history books, particularly the classics, and demonstrates to us that our human foibles date not just to HIS own times, but to the dawn of humanity and civilization itself. I read the Penguin Classics edition of the essays, translated by Dr. M. A. Screech, and must say that it is among the best translations of any book I have ever read. Dr. Screech employs an entertaining, colorful and evocative vocabulary which succeeds both in clarity of communication as well as painting vivid and rich pictures for our mind's eye to feast upon. Perhaps Montaigne's most charming quality is his self-effacing and modest demeanor. Never tooting his own horn, except perhaps to lay bare his bad memory or some other perceived fault, the following is one example of thousands which reflects his humor and humility. Wishing to deliver a critique of great intellectual and rhetorical importance, Montaigne instead settles for: "I would say of them the same as Cicero (if I could talk as well as he could.)"

Fascinating personal day-by-day account of the journey of Lewis and Clark through the Louisiana Territory. As you read, you feel yourself slowly seeing the American west as it was seen by those who first wrote of its magnificence, the customs of the natives, the wildlife, and climate. You see it for what it was, and for its possibilities. This edition has been edited from the individual journals of both Lewis and Clark and some of the others. It has been made more compact by putting in only passages that tell the story, but with no sentence restructuring or spelling corrections. Sometimes this requires you to figure the meaning out, but is never a big problem. The chapter length was perfect for reading a chapter a day which means 33 days. The only bad chapter was 31, which was a summary of one leg lifted from DeVoto's The Course of Empire, which I felt was harder to understand than the journals. The appendix includes Jefferson's Instructions, list of personnel, and specimens returned.

This is an excellent book. It is hard to imagine the hardship these men had to endure on their trip across the nation, but by reading this book you get some kind of idea. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is even slightly intrested in the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition. This book tells it exactly how it happened, from the men who were there. I strongly believe that books like these should be required reading in schools....who knows what this country would be like today had it not been for those brave men.

You have to read this book to consider yourself an American Citizen. This is a great book about a great time. It takes out all of the boring facts and figures and tells you the story of the greatest expedition of all time.

Bruce Catton is, in my opinion, the most readable author of American Civil War history. Whenever I've labored through some book I wanted to read but have struggled with, I reward myself with something he has written. This trilogy is, as all his work is, thoroughly researched and very balanced. It would be hard to detect any bias in this native Michiganer of the first half of the 20th century, though I vaguely suspect he had more sympathy for the South, if only for the "pluck" (he likes that word in fact) of their "David vs. Goliath" undertaking. In any case, this first volume delivers a very important message in a very complete way, and it's a message I had never before considered: The Army of the Potomac's loyalty to the government was never compromised, but it was fretted about in some pretty high places, perhaps not the least important of which was in the White House. So completely was this Grand Army made in the image of its creator, McClellan, that his removal gave cause for many to hold their collective breath and pray that it would remain intact and loyal to the Union once stripped of its beloved leader. That it did, and the rest, as they say, is history. McClellan is thoroughly understood by the reader of this work. He is a man of some complexity and some sympathy, diminished by his ego perhaps. Despite many lost opportunities that would have made the war much shorter and correspondingly less bloody, he was a good soldier caught between military logic and political caution. In fact, Catton points out to us that never before had there been a general of a great army of a democracy, and that that arrangement itself is tenuous at best. In the end, we understand that the Army of the Potomac was Lincoln's Army for just as long as he remained the Commander-in-Chief, and despite their love for McClellan, they always stood ready to do what was asked of them.

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" is the first volume in Bruce Catton's celebrated trilogy chronicling the history of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, one of the most exciting war narratives in literature. Catton had grown up in Michigan around men who had served in that Army and these books were his attempt "to find out about the things which the veterans never discussed." Catton relies on a host of source material to weave his tales, from autobiographies of Generals McClellan and Howard, to the correspondence of Generals Sedgwick and Meade, to dozens of soldiers' reminiscences and regimental histories, to military histories relating to specific battles, campaign, military tactics and weapons. As you read these books you are always feel that you are dealing with living literature rather than dead history. This is because Catton privileges "The Diary of an Enlisted Man" by Lawrence Van Alstyne and the history of "The 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion" more than he does "McClellan's Own Story."

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" covers the Army of the Potomac from its creation to the Battle of Antietam. Despite the title the central figure in the book is General George B. McClellan, the war's most paradoxical figure who gave this Army the training it needed to become a first rate military unit and who then refused to use the great army he had created. There are 6 sections to the book: (1) "Picture-Book War" actually covers the events in 1862 that led to McClellan being placed back in charge of the Army of the Potomac, setting up a rather ironic perspective for what happens both before and after that decision; (2) "The Young General" provides the background on McClellan and details his formation of the Army; (3) "The Era of Suspicion" covers the ill-fated Peninsula Campaign; (4) "An Army on the March" centers on the Second Battle of Manassas/Bull Run when the Army was under John Pope; (5) "Opportunity Knocks Three Times" begins with the great intelligence coup of the Civil War, the discovery of Lee's Special Order No. 191 and establishes how the upcoming battle was handed to McClellan on a silver plate; (6) "Never Call Retreat" tells the story of how McClellan snatched defeat--or at least a bloody tie--from the jaws of victory.

Bruce Catton's books on the Civil War are eminently readable, and with his History of the Army of the Potomac he finds his perfect level, writing about the men who were the common soldiers as much if not more than he does about the generals and politicians. You certainly get the feeling his heart was in these volumes more than it was in his larger histories of the Civil War. For those who are well versed in the grand details of the war, these books provide a more intimate perspective on those great battles.

Catton has taken the task of reporting about the Union side of the Civil War and brought it together in a very well written, entertaining and intriguing book. Being the first book in a trilogy Catton focuses on early leadership, high morale, Washington politics and the creation of McClellan as the leader of the Army of the Potomac. Catton has brought to life the trials and hardships that the army suffered and endured during 1861 and 1862. In this text, Catton reveals Lincoln's desires for quick resolution while leadership fails or doesn't take advantage of manpower to end the war. In a constant struggle to find the right general McClellan appears to be the right person for the job although Republicans in the Whitehouse fear he may not have the heart for it as his believed to be a solid democrat, rather over cautious, misinformed and downright treasonous. Catton follows the army chronologically and brings the fighting to the forefront from Manassas to Antietam. With this we get great insight as to McClellan's motives and conflicts that express the problems of the army during the early days of the war.

Written in the early twentieth century, this indigenous Japanese novel recounts the life and times of old Japan's greatest swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi -- a man who began life as an over-eager and rather brutish young lout but who, through the discipline of Japan's "way of the sword," turned himself into a master of his chosen weapon. But this tale is not only about a life spent in training to perfect the art of killing with a sharpened piece of steel. In the venerable Japanese tradition, it is also about a man's search to conquer himself, to become a better person. The Buddhist view cultivated by the Japanese warrior class allowed for a spiritual dimension to their very bloody enterprise of warfare and killing. And it is this aspect of his training that consumes Musashi, to the detriment of the people he encounters and who seek to attach themselves to him. Unable to settle down in the ordinary way, or to simply join a particular clan as a retainer to some noble lord, Musashi embarks on the life of a ronin (masterless samurai) as he wends his way through the feudal world of medieval Japan in his seemingly endless search for perfection. In the process he finds a young woman who loves him and many enemies who seek his destruction, at least in part in repayment for the damage he does them while on his quest. He also crosses swords with many other experts in Japan's martial arts, but it is his early encounter with a Buddhist priest that puts him on the path which will forever after guide his life. Musashi ultimately finds his grail in a duel to the death with a man called Kojiro, who will become his greatest opponent, a sword master famous for his "swallow cut" -- a stroke so fast and deadly that it can slice a swooping, looping bird out of the air in mid-flight. This alone is a challenge worthy of the master which Musashi has become -- and a match which even he may not be up to, for this opponent is surely the finest technician in his art in all Japan. But there is more to swordsmanship than technical skill, as Musashi has learned, and there is more to living one's life than merely preserving it. Musashi attains a sort of peace in preparation for his climactic bout, for he is willing to risk all and even die in order to win against the master of the swallow cut, while applying all the strategy he has learned throughout his tumultuous career to unsettle the man who will oppose him. In the end Musashi became a legend to his countrymen, composing the famous Book of Five Rings -- his contribution to the art of strategy. But what he and Kojiro must do when they finally face each other is a tale in itself -- and a denoument towards which everything else in this book ultimately leads.

Written in the early twentieth century, this indigenous Japanese novel recounts the life & times of old Japan's greatest swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi -- a man who began life as an over-eager and rather brutish young lout but who, through the discipline of Japan's "way of the sword," turned himself into a master of his chosen weapon. But this tale is not only one of a life spent in training to perfect the art of killing with a sharpened piece of steel. In the venerable Japanese tradition, it is also about a man's search to conquer himself, to become a better man. The Buddhist view cultivated by the Japanese warrior class allowed for a spiritual dimension to their very bloody enterprise of warfare and killing. And it is this aspect of his training that consumes Musashi, to the detriment of the people he encounters and who seek to attach themselves to him. Unable to settle down in the ordinary way, or to simply join a particular clan as a retainer to some noble lord, Musashi embarks on the life of a ronin (masterless samurai) as he wends his way through the feudal world of medieval Japan in his seemingly endless search for perfection. In the process he finds a young woman who loves him and many enemies who seek his destruction, at least in part in repayment for the damage he does them while on his quest. He also crosses swords with many other experts in Japan's martial arts, but it is his encounter with a Buddhist priest, early on,that ultimately puts him on the right path. In the end Musashi finds his grail in a duel to the death with his greatest opponent, the sword master, Kojiro, famous for his "swallow cut" -- a stroke so fast and deadly that it can slice a swooping, looping bird out of the air in mid-flight. This alone is a challenge worthy of the master which Musashi has become -- and a match which even he may not be up to, for this opponent is surely the finest technician in his art in all Japan. But there is more to swordsmanship than technical skill, as Musashi has learned, and more to living one's life than merely following rules. Musashi attains a sort of peace in preparation for his climactic bout, for he is willing to risk all and even die in order to win against the master of the swallow cut, while applying all the strategy he has learned throughout his tumultuous career to unsettle the man who will oppose him. In the end Musashi lived to a fairly ripe old age and, unlike many of his contemporaries, died in his bed after composing the famous Book of Five Rings -- his own contribution to the art of strategy. I had originally rated this book at four stars only but on re-thinking it I find it continues to live vividly in my mind so that, alone, suggests it had a more powerful resonance than I originally gave it credit for. Certainly there are many levels in any continuum of ranking and many ways of placing anything ranked on that continuum. But in one very serious way, this book deserves a five star ranking, not a four so I am correcting for this now.

This is a great book not just because of the action, characters, samurai spirit, etc., but also it gives the reader a lot of insights to the human nature and how to live a life. There are wisdom bits scattered all over the book. You can't help to feel a bit enlightened after reading this book. I recommend this book to both young and old, martial artists and non-martial artists alike. Anybody can and will benefit from reading this book. A special credit must be given to Charles S. Terry for his great translation.

This book seems to be very complete and the author highly qualified in war technology, strategy, logistics... For that one is easily convinced by almost all his affirmations but one: it's about the tanks: he says them are impressive war machines, but you must don't trust very much on his power: these steel monsters have demonstrated to be very vulnerable and his use are best when infantry have destroyed the main opposition, against residual resistence ¿¿??. Dunnigan trusts much more in war aircraft. I confess these paragraphs are astonishing for me after the Panzer campaigns, and today, in Middle East. As it were one must expect that also there this book must be read and serve for the ceasefire for once.

Many of us have seen the reports of military operations on CNN and we get a healthy dose of military oriented documentaries on some cable channels but for most of us the world of the military is an unknown realm. Even books that suppose to tell us the who, what, where, when, why, and most important how of military operations are often written using incomprehensible terminology. The fine work produced by this author clearly explains these terminologies and many of the inner workings of the military but does so without talking down to the reader. The traditional venues of combat air, land, and sea are discussed in detail but the book also includes specialized areas such as electronic warfare and space based activities. This book is a must for any aspiring arcmchair General or Admiral.

James Dunnigan's "How to Make War" is an excellent reference book on today and tomorrow's warfare. It's 600+ pages are packed with information on organization, leadership, weapons and equipment, and various country's tactics among other topics. The book is divided into eight parts which are: Part One: Ground Combat, Part Two: Air Operations, Part Three: Naval Operations, Part Four: Human Factors, Part Five: Special Weapons, Part Six: Warfare by the Numbers, Part Seven: Moving the Goods, and Part Eight: Tools of the Trade. An essential book for anyone who has anything to do with military affairs.

I found this book hard to put down. I had not realized all the things this obscure first lady was involved with in her life. She looks like somebody's stern grandmother so when I idly looked through this book, I was surprised to find myself drawn in immediately. It is a large book, but I read it very fast as I just could not put it down. This is how a biography should be written, it is well researched and yet still reads almost like a novel.

Carl Anthony reports in his prologue that the inspiration for this project came from none other than Alice Roosevelt Longworth, one of Florence Harding's collection of mercurial and dysfunctional friends. That fact alone speaks volumes about the tenor and atmosphere of the story. Perhaps aware of America's antipathy toward "The Duchess," Anthony has given this work a title worthy of an Oliver Stone epic. The reader who gets past the burlesque title will discover an intensively fascinating narrative of a driven, unconventional woman intertwined with a malleable young newspaper editor. When, years later, the Duchess would tell her "W'urrn" that she had made him president of the United States, many of their contemporaries would have agreed.

Born in 1860 to an Ohio businessman who wanted a son, Florence was in fact raised as a boy until her fourteenth year, when her domineering father realized that what he had actually created was a feminist with an attitude. He struck back ferociously and physically; Florence eventually retaliated by having herself impregnated by a hayseeder several years her junior. Christmas Day of 1882 found the young mother homeless and abandoned. Anthony takes the time to access the options available to this intelligent, ambitious, but impoverished woman. Determined to not disappear into rural Ohio obscurity giving piano lessons, Florence makes two critical decisions that would change her life forever, for better and worse: she gave her child away, and she set her cap for the man through whom she could make her mark in the public forum. On the surface these seem like cynical strategies, but with feminist sympathies Anthony takes pains to remind the reader that American business and politics were both male bastions in the Gilded Age. There were few routes for a woman of ambition.

Florence married the handsome and randy Warren Harding and immediately took over the operation of his local paper, turning a handsome profit and expanding the couple's business ventures. Anthony lets his facts carry the story: the Harding marriage is clearly one of convenience, arguably Florence's more than her husband's. Unencumbered by children, the Duchess, as she came to be called for obvious reasons, had time to consort with the political beat writers and politicians who came to Marion. She tended bar at their poker games, plied them with liquor for information and party gossip, and strategized a grand design for her husband's career in Ohio Republican politics. Managing Warren Harding was a full time job. He was not by nature ambitious, he was not a particularly good businessman, and he was not physically or mentally well, having suffered nervous breakdowns and indications of cardiovascular disease. His most obvious flaw-and one particularly odious to his wife-was his womanizing, which continued virtually to his death, with little concealment, and occasionally on the sly with her best friends.

For two people as different as Warren and the Duchess, it is surprising that they shared one common fatal flaw: they were both dreadfully poor judges of character. For all her intelligence and savvy, the Duchess became dependent [perhaps co-dependent] upon two outright rogues, Charles "Doc" Sawyer, her personal physician, and a gypsy fortune teller, Madame Marcia, both of whom exercised excessive influence throughout the entire Harding Administration. There is a sense in which Florence becomes more insecure with her greater success: Anthony describes her as weeping on Warren's Inauguration Day because of Madame Marcia's prediction that the new president would not live out his term.

Writing about a president's wife inevitably involves detailing the president and the presidency itself. Anthony does a creditable job in paying appropriate attention to Teapot Dome and Veterans Affairs scandals, for example, but in ways that keep the focus of the narrative on Florence and other political wives--Grace Coolidge, Emma Fall, and the aforementioned Mrs. Longworth, for example. The later unraveling of the Harding Administration has obscured the activism of the First Lady; Anthony reminds us of the Duchess's emotional investment in women's rights, veterans' welfare, animal rights, and international peace.

Anthony takes the position that the fateful 1923 "Alaska Trip" was essentially the First Lady's act of self-promotion. Ostensibly, the President's lavish cross continent tour was undertaken to rally political support at a time when congressional investigation of the executive branch was accelerating. The author's narrative of the trip forms a good portion of the book and deservedly so. Warren Harding was depressed and ill as the presidential train left Washington and journeyed across the continent. After innumerable speeches and rallies, the party sets sail from California to Alaska, traveling overland to sites that have probably not seen a president since. Although Anthony debunks many of the myths about the trip, the facts are strange enough-the presidential vessel collided twice with other vessels, and several members of the party were killed in various accidents.

The great mystery of the trip among conspiracy buffs is what [or who?] killed Warren Harding. In one sense the answer is simple enough-the trip exhausted the president to the point where he either suffered a stroke or heart attack in San Francisco. That we cannot say for certain is due to the Duchess, who permitted only Doc Sawyer to treat her husband. Sawyer's incompetence is excelled only by his arrogance; when Herbert Hoover fetched a renowned cardiologist from Stanford to the president's bedside, Sawyer, who was treating the chief executive with questionable purgatives, would have nothing to do with him.

For a veteran of the journalist profession, the Duchess's management of the news of the President's death was poor, and veteran reporters at once smelled cover-up. Most likely her immediate concern was the reputation of Sawyer, and she refused permission for an official autopsy. But her greater worry was the legacy of her husband; she spent weeks burning his official papers and personal correspondence. Her podium destroyed, Florence Harding outlived her husband by one year; she died while in residence at Sawyer's "sanitarium."

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I bought Anthony's biography of Florence Harding some time ago and it's sat a while in my "need to read stack". Every time a friend came over and saw it they laughed, questioning why I would have any interest Florence Harding. And I was hard pressed to explain why. But having just ocmpleted it I find it an amazing story and great compainion volume to Barbara Goldsmith's wonderful "other Powers" about Victoria Woodhull. More than a personal story, Anthony has given us a great social history of the era and early hipocracies of America's good old days. Eveyone would be better educated it they read this volume. And as to the Hardings, well the less said the better... as you will enjoy every single page of this great biography. Enjoy!

I have read Incidents in the Life of a Slave by Harriet Jacobs, twice! I enjoyed reading her book. Her book is full of rich vocabulary. Her writing skills and the description of events she used was impressive, i.e. the separation of mother and child being sold to slaveholders, I felt the pain. In her writings, she constantly humbled herself because of her circumstances of being a slave and how she felt incompetent to write her life story. I must say that Jacobs did a magnificent job, considering her life of chattel slavery. Besides being courageous, strong and enduring, she was a very wise person. I think Jacob's does not give herself credit for being wise. She was very wise because she had to plan various strategies to outwit her devil master's attempts to capture her. She was wise in not trusting Harriet Beecher Stowe. What was Stowe's purpose of forwarding Jacob's writings to Mrs. Willis, which included her sexual history? Jacobs was no fool. Finally, the most indelible impression on my mind was when she hid in her grandmother's house, above the storage room, for seven years! I was right there with her. Great job Harriet Jacobs!!

Intended to convince northerners -- particularly women -- of the rankness of Slavery, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl presents a powerful autobiography and convincing writing that reads like a gripping novel but is organized and argued like an essay.

Incidents follows the "true story" (its authenticity is doubted in some places) of Linda [Jacobs uses a pseudonym] who is born into the shackles of slavery and yearns for freedom. She lives with a depraved slave master who dehumanizes her, and a mistress who mistreats her. As the novel progresses, Linda becomes increasingly starved of freedom and resolves to escape, but Linda finds that even escaping presents its problems.

But Incidents is more than just a gripping narration of one woman's crusade for freedom, and is rather an organized attack on Slavery, intended to convince even the most apathetic of northerners. And in this too, Incidents succeeds. The writing is clear, and Jacobs' use of rhetorical strategy to preserve integrity is astonishing.

Well written, convincing, entertaining, Incidents is an amazing book.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Linda Brent is a deeply touching narrative of a slave woman's journey through the heinous institution of slavery to her eventual emancipation. Through her description of bonded labor, the reader very poignantly realizes what it was like for millions of African Americans to be brutalized and ravaged by slavery. Written in 1861 to educate the Northerners, especially the women, about the evils of slavery, the autobiography is a harrowing account of a woman's life, what the author ironically calls her 'adventures'. The abuse that the palpably intelligent and veracious author had to undergo has the power to humble every one of us even today.
Linda Brent was born as a slave in the household of a miraculously benevolent mistress. She lost her mother at the age of six, but her mistress, who was her mother's half-sister, took good care of her and endowed on her ward the gift of literacy. The degradative reality of slavery was hidden from the author till she entered her early teens, when within a year both her mistress and her father passed away, and she was acquired by the household of Dr. Flint. At his plantation, the author had to bear the full force of slavery. From this time to the author's eventual freedom, the reader gets a glimpse of the persecution that a slave had to face.
As mentioned above, the book was written to illustrate the depravity of slavery to people living in the North. It is striking to see how humbly, or even apologetically, the author has used her life to explain the circumstances of slavery. She has used fictitious names and concealed the names of places so as not to offend any person, black or white. As one reads the book, the author can definitely be identified as a pious and truthful person, and becomes easy to see why the author places so much emphasis on her secrecy. The book is not written to garner sympathy from readers, but to shock readers into the realities of slavery. It was an appeal to the people who the author thought had the power to defeat slavery to act on it.
The author's main argument is that slavery is not just about perpetual bondage, but it involves the absolute debasement of a people. She painfully acknowledges that the 'black man is inferior', but vociferously argues that it is a result of slavery, which stymies the intellectual capacity of her race. She believes that 'white men compel' the black race to be ignorant. Although she was wronged by many Southern white men, she does not blame the white race for her ills. She believes that the institution of slavery has ample negative impact on the household and psyche of a white family as well, and that white males are coerced into being brutal. She rebukes 'the Free States' in her own pacific way for condoning slavery in the South. Her stand is that a life of manumit destitution is radically more acceptable than bondage, and that is the general idea that the author wants the readers to remember.
The book is sequenced more or less in a chronological order. The author's astoundingly comfortable childhood is shattered by the nefarious demands of being a pubescent female slave. She explains how even the body of a slave is not her own, and is considered to be a property of the slaveholder, that can violated or abused according to his wishes. Her analogy to being traded or shot like pigs demonstrates the extent of shame that a slave had to bear with. Her infatuation and blind faith in the goodness of a white man make her the mother of two children, and her determination to keep them away from the evils of slavery becomes her primary goal. In her attempts to flee from slavery, she has to hide in a den above her grandmother's house for seven years. The anguish of a mother who can see her children but not be able to communicate with them is heart wrenching. The story of her escape to the North is also incredible. Even after reaching the north, she had to resist prejudice and fear for a long time before she and her children eventually became free.
By reading the book, the reader can definitely get to experience the life of a slave. Perhaps the shocking brutality of the truth is shielded in the book by the author's conscious effort to not be a cause of affront. She wrote this book because she had a message to give to the readers, but was held back in a way by her goodness. On the other hand, reading a book written in a simple way, as though the author was narrating her story in front of the reader, goes on to validate her tragedy. It is explained in a more personal way than a historian would explain it, and the harsh emotions experienced by the author break through, even though she tries to suppress her sadness. The author's argument that slavery is humiliating is proved by the fact that the author does not explain exactly how she was mentally and physically abused. She only points out that she had to bear physical and mental decadence, but does elaborate on the techniques of the likes of Dr. Flint.
It has to be remembered that this book was not written to be a historical text. It is about a woman's personal fight with slavery. It cannot be argued that her emotions were wrong or that her views about slavery can be challenged in any way. Readers who have not experienced slavery are not in a position to do so. This book definitely manages to do what it was intended to do, and that is to make the reader aware that slavery was a harrowing experience for the African Americans. As a book of past injustices and future hopes, it is a must read.

This book has an abundance of profound observations of both praise and constructive criticism of the American political system, delivered in a richly eloquent and distinctly objective manner by a young Nineteenth Century French aristocrat/lawyer with a very impressive grasp of enduring political reality. The heart of Tocqueville's message is twofold: (1) his praise of Americans' voluntary associations as prime examples of what results from individuals pursuing enlightened self-interest, and (2) his warning that American democracy has the potential to devolve into pervasive majoritarian tyranny by an all-powerful central government covering the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules and treating citizens like children or timid and industrious animals, in perpetuity. In other words, he accurately predicted the out-of-control bureaucracy and rule by opinion poll which is now inflicting its hypnotic popular tyranny upon us. END

Toqueville's work unquestionably will last for as long as human nature remains the same. Certainly, it is diverting to read accounts about the topography and anachronistically idiosyncratic habits of the inhabitants of America over a century ago; the fundamental value of his work, however, lies in his acute understanding of human nature that does not change throughout time. I must, however, qualify this statement, since there is only one Book, the author of which I am in utter agreement. One part of his book I disagree with concerns the ways of ending slavery. It was not nearly as dangerously problematic as he thinks, since most Western nations that had had slavery peacefully eradicated it, and America could have done so by several means. (One way, although a distinct compromise, could have been for philanthropists, abolitionists, and/ or government to requite the slave owners their money and thereby instantly free those enslaved.) Having said that, I wholeheartedly agree with much of the work, and think that more than most writers on the American polity, he truly perceives how certain tendencies of human nature are revealed in this particular society founded upon practical wisdom, personal responsibility, self-reliance, and faith. Many of his disquisitions on these tendencies that could be accentuated in American democracy are now more thought-provoking than ever. One prominent example is his understanding of an issue fundamental to Americans. He famously shows how they are pragmatically intent upon getting things done by combining in 'societies.' A problem could occur if ever the citizens in general become selfish and much less self-reliant: 'individualism' could arise. He articulates a bleak portrait of a society in which none care to take personal responsibility, but are willing to sacrifice freedom for temporary security. This is disquieting for modern society, and it would be well were more people to read his work and learn from it.

well this book to me seem to talk about how are system flows and the times have completly changed over the pass years. The author Tocqueville was very inspiring and very cunning in the ways he gather knowledge on this great nation I was very fascinated to read the words and see the fact and read the opinion of this very brilliant author. The book shows what pass democracy look like and showed what path he expected it to go. The times were he compares the government with the rest of other nations show how here we have organization and structure. How all the power is not under one rule but split with in different parts no one man is contrrolling everything. Well I am very impress with the book it shows and gives true meaning.

* William Taubmann's NIKITA KRUSCHEV is an attempt to provide a
definitive biography of Nikita Sergeyich Kruschev, Stalin's
controversial successor as leader of the USSR.

Taubmann's biography is thorough, tracing Kruschev's origins as a
Ukrainian-born Russian who grew up under conditions of grinding
poverty, rising above his origins through his cleverness and drive to
become a metalworker and enter a higher social class. Had the
Revolution not come along, Kruschev would have probably become a
factory manager (and might well have had a happier life if he had).
However, Kruschev was a young man on the make and threw his lot in
with the Bolsheviks as he perceived they provided him with the most
opportunity for advancement.

This pattern of opportunism continued into the 1930s, when he became
what he himself described as "Stalin's pet", serving the Party as a
high Moscow city official to push through the construction of the
Moscow subway system, and then as Party boss of the Ukraine. Though
he would ever try to obscure the fact, his prominence with Stalin's
regime meant that he was up to his neck in the terror, helping to send
thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent
people off to imprisonment or the executioners. He didn't like doing
it, but he did it anyway.

He served through most of the war as a military political commissar,
and then in the last years of Stalin's rule consolidated his position.
After Stalin's death in 1953, Lavrenti Beria of the secret police took
charge for a short time, only to be betrayed by Kruschev and his
colleagues and executed.

Kruschev's years in power are the heart of Taubmann's book, and they
paint an odd picture, showing Kruschev to be energetic but often
chasing off in different directions; good-natured but full of bluster
and inclined, through simply peasant coarseness, to step on toes and
make enemies; wanting peace while giving the impression of being

warlike; and chopping away at the cult of Stalin while remaining
clearly in awe of him.

Taubmann does a thorough job of portraying Kruschev, making him seem
sympathetic even though there are times when he seems to need a good
kick where it might do him some good. It is by no means an entirely
pleasant story, not so much because of the brutalities in which
Kruschev was a party, than because of the background of bureaucratic
toadying and back-stabbing that runs through the narrative. Anybody
who's ever worked for a big organization will find such games
unpleasantly familiar -- it's sad to find out how badly people behave
under such circumstances, and though Soviet Communism was an extreme
example it was by no means unique or even all that unusual.

I have to say that I am impressed by all the work Taubmann did on this
book, since he seems to have done a painstaking amount of scholarship.
At the same time, though, I found reading KRUSCHEV to be a bit of a
slog. It has about 650 pages of text, not counting footnotes and so
on, which is not excessively long, but I would have been happier if it
had been about 300 pages long.

I have to add that I say that about *most* of the biographies I read,
and that I understand that a shorter and simpler biography would
probably be rejected by most publishers. It certainly would not get
the author much respect from his peers. Still, from the consumer's
point of view I feel like I'm being given more than I really need to
know, or for that matter can usefully retain. So, in sum, I have to
say this is a thorough, well-researched book, just not one which is
entirely lively and smoothly-crafted reading from front to back.

Taubman's biography of Khrushchev is immensely readable, emphasizing the personal aspects of the dictator's life. It is the portrait of a man temperamentally unsuited to lead a great nation. Nevertheless, Khrushchev emerges as more human than the other dictators during the Soviet experiement, and most readers are likely to feel a grudging affection toward him.
Taubman begins with a quick summary of Khrushchev's childhood and quick rise in the Communist Party apparatus under Stalin. Seemingly unambitious, often to the point of evading promotion, Khrushchev thrived and survived during the worst of the Stalin era. After Stalin's death, Khrushchev adeptly asserted himself over supposedly stronger rivals to wield primary power by 1956.
Taubman doesn't give a complete, detailed account of Soviet domestic and foreign policy during the Khrushchev era, but concentrates instead on several key events: The Secret Speech, the Invasion of Hungary, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is also a fairly detailed account of Khrushchev's troubled and ambivalent relationship with artists and intellectuals, which reveals him at his worst, often devoid of elementary self-control.
Despite his blustering threats and personal vulgarity, Khrushchev was in many respects admirable and likeable, and it is hard to read of his ouster and lonely retirement without sympathy.
In Taubman's account Khrushchev suffered from an inferiority complex based on his lack of education and culture. I'd like to suggest an additional explanation for his intemperate behavior. I believe Taubman's biography shows Khrushchev as a basically decent man who wanted the party and government to which he'd dedicated his life to succeed. Not a cynical careerist like most of his colleagues, Khrushchev may have been stricken more by doubt about the system he represented than about his own capabilities.

No one is less understood in the so-called Western democracies than former Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, who assumed the reins following the death of long-time ruler Joseph Stalin under somewhat mysterious circumstances in 1953. One of the reasons he is so poorly understood and appreciated not only here in the West but within greater Russia itself is largely due to the internal contradictions that marked his many-starred career as Soviet apparatchik and eventual ascension to the seat of power. After all, he rose due largely to the sponsorship and special status he held with Stalin himself, a man noted for his treachery and endless paranoid actions against enemies and allies alike. With this book, entitled "Khrushchev: The Man And His Era", we are presented with what is by far the most comprehensive, nuanced and carefully researched biographical effort to date. Indeed, this wonderful study by acclaimed history scholar, Professor William Taubman of Amherst College, in Amherst Massachusetts will likely become the benchmark study by which all others are henceforth compared.

Given his long association with Stalin, and having been complicit with all of the atrocities associated with the Stalinist era, including thousands of politically motivated arrests, executions, and deportations to the endless locations within the Gulag, as well as his well-known public endorsements of Stalin and his policies, it may be hard to understand how the same man could so quickly rebound to the other end of the ball park in terms of his subsequent harsh and quite critical public denouncements of the policies of the years under Stalin. Indeed, it was Khrushchev who more than anyone else within the Politburo who dared to reveal to the public the sheer scope and scale of Stalin's crimes against the Soviet people, using the shocking revelations as a political screen for the introduction of a wide series of reforms that began to allow the emergence of a rudimentary smattering of civil society where none had been allowed before. In this sense, Taubman maintains that Khrushchev deserves historical credit for having originated the beginnings of a thaw in Cold War relations that would eventually lead to the policy of "perestroika" under Mikhail Gorbachev three decades later.

However, this is not to suggest that Nikita Khrushchev boldly walked away from the policies instituted by Stalin into the cold light of another, more enlightened era in Soviet politics. Instead, he moved quite cautiously and with great care and aplomb amid the swirling quicksilver currents of Politburo politics, having learned from personal experience what it takes to survive in such a Machiavellian environment. What he had was a natural gift for political compromise and accommodating his colleagues; without it this rough and tumble man who was so limited in terms of education would not have survived in the murderous political atmosphere of the soviet Union in the Stalin years. His intellectual limitations made him less suspect in Stalin's eye, however, and Khrushchev later took particualr delight in embarrassing and even persecuting the better-educated elements of the intelligentsia. His poor stumbling efforts at public speaking belied his cleverness and political adroitness in dealing with comrades and enemies alike. In one amusing passage one of his successors, Leonid Brezhnev, complaining aloud to other Politburo members of how difficult a man to deal with Nikita could be; crocodile tears shed in the company of other reptiles.

Khrushchev was in many ways unprepared to be launched onto the international scene in terms of his native abilities or his legendary difficulty with elocution in particular or public oratory in general. Neither was he particularly adept at the more theoretical and intellectual aspects of ruling the Soviet Union. Bu the was easily the single best choice the Politburo had in terms of who to forward as the front man for the years immediately following Stalin's demise, and he provided the Soviet Union with the necessary leadership to survive the decade of the fifties and was quietly shelved in a bloodless removal n the early 1960s. This is a superb historical biography of one of the most enigmatic and least well understood public figures of the 20th century. This is surely a biography that will enjoy a long and sustained readership. Enjoy!