Book Review: G.I. Butler: An Honest but Misunderstood Church Leader by Denis Fortin

G.I. Butler: An Honest but Misunderstood Church Leader by Denis Fortin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Adventist history, he is known as the man who from a distance influenced opposition to a new understanding of righteousness by faith within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but this General Conference president’s opposition was misunderstood. Denis Fortin’s G.I. Butler: An Honest but Misunderstood Church Leader gives added context to the events of 1888 and later the breech with John Harvey Kellogg in the 1900s.

Fortin’s biography of George Butler is only the second written about the two-time General Conference president, and unlike the first that the author references this one tries to add context to the biggest controversy of Butler’s tenure the 1888 General Conference session in Minneapolis. Yet while that is the literal heart of this volume, Fortin reveals that this wasn’t the first “controversy” of Butler’s time in office, nor would it be the last in his long career in service of the denomination. As this is the first book published in the Adventist Pioneer Series in four years, Fortin readily referenced previous biographies to contrast his findings and interpretations of Butler’s actions and activities to previous research. Through the 680 might appear daunting for some, the last 60 pages are a bibliography of Butler’s writings and an index, yet the remaining 620 pages of text includes several pages at the end of each page of notes thus giving the reader assurance of a thoroughly researched subject. Personally, I came into this biography intrigued given the way Butler has been colored by previous historians and came away impressed while also seeing the controversial events Butler is associated with in a fuller context.

To the average Seventh-day Adventist that knows that name of George I. Butler, the initial thought might not be positive. However, after reading Denis Fortin’s well researched and thorough biography one will have a better understanding of the man and his perspective of events that he is seen in a negative light.

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Book Review: The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, what happens when a humorous writer from the West Coast joins a bunch of East Coasters tourists on a tour of the France, Italy, Greece, the Holy Land, and Egypt in 1867? The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain is a humorous travelogue detailing the author’s five month “pleasure excursion” on both land and sea.

Noting his observations and critiques of not only his adventures, but his fellow passengers, those locals that he’s met, and his expectations, Twain took everything to task so likely to the frustration of his fellow passengers. Twain’s humor isn’t over-the-top instead it is subtle and slowly builds thematic jokes until hitting the perfect one to finish the thread on then letting it go—unlike some comedians that can’t think of new material. This narrative nonfiction account has it all with minute detail of how the trip begins, excitement on finally getting to a foreign location, annoyance with everyone tell you the same nonsensical factoid all the time, watching our fellow travelers taking souvenirs by breaking pieces off stuff, realizing all the money you spent of travelogues to let you know what to expect would have been better in your pocket, and not caring one bit what happened on the way home because you just want to get there. As my previous Twain reads were short stories in high school or the serious historical fiction Joan of Arc, I didn’t know what to expect going in and I came out very happy after reading it.

The Innocents Abroad is a humorous look at a journey from the United States to Europe and the Holy Land from the viewpoint of Mark Twain. Upon finishing it you’ll realize why it was Twain’s bestselling book during his lifetime.

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Book Review: Coffin Corner Boys by Carol Engle Avriett

Coffin Corner Boys: One Bomber, Ten Men, and Their Harrowing Escape from Nazi-Occupied France by Carole Engle Avriett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While they had been substitutes on other missions, this was their first mission together after arriving in England and it would turn out to be their last. Coffin Corner Boys by Carol Engle Avriett features the stories of the 10-man crew of a downed B-17 bomb in occupied France and how they survived not only through her own research but through interviews and first-person accounts by the flyers themselves.

The newly arrived crew piloted by a 20-year-old George W. Starks left for their first mission, occupying the coffin corner—so named for being the most vulnerable to fighter attack—position in the flying formation due to being the least experienced in the squadron. They were shot down and those able to parachute to safety landed in occupied France three months before D-Day, their options were to get to Switzerland or Spain before being taken as prisoners of war. As it happened all three options happened to the crew as George Starks on his own and a few others as a group were able to get to Switzerland with help, a few were able to get to Spain with help, and the rest were eventually captured by the Germans and taken to POW camps in Germany. While Avriett is the main author, Starks is the primary contributor through interviews he had given and written accounts so much so that this could have been “The George Starks Story” but as one learns when reading this book that would not have been the George Starks way when it came to his crew. All the flyers’ stories are absorbing from two crewmembers’ harrowing last moments before making it to Spain to the crewmembers who survived in POW camps or later the death match to no where in the last months of the war.

Coffin Corner Boys tells the stories of survival by a crew of a downed B-17 bomber over occupied France that keeps the reader interested in a book that is less than 250 pages long. Carol Engle Avriett using research, interviews, and written recollections from all the crewmembers—especially by George W. Starks—brings page-turning read from those interested real-life military stories.

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Book Review: A Promised Land by Barack Obama

A Promised Land by Barack Obama
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A devastating economic environment, a politically divided nation that less than a decade before was united, and then there was everything else going on in the world; what a way to start off a very different presidential administration. A Promised Land is the first volume of Barack Obama’s memoir that covers his life leading up to the presidency to the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

An important thing to begin this review is that throughout the book this felt like it was from Obama’s voice and not a ghostwriter. This is important because since Obama details his life up to the presidency followed by his first two and a half years in office, the authenticity is needed especially as he explains his decision making once in office and his impressions of the individuals he interacted with. Frankly while I knew a lot of what happened during Obama’s administration because I paid attention to the news, I read this more for the “inside” details that he could provide and wasn’t disappointed. How Obama approached each major legislation or event of the first half of his first term was something I appreciated as he tackled it whole before moving out but was able to reference those events later to give context as the book progressed, the separate but interconnectedness was better than trying to blend everything together and hope the reader kept everything straight.

A Promised Land is a well-written look into a recent American presidential administration by the man who led it. Barack Obama’s voice comes across clearly throughout thus giving the reader great insight into events and background on how things went.

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Book Review: Richard III by Charles Derek Ross

Richard III by Charles Derek Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The ultimate Shakespearean villain, the original evil uncle, and the poster child for physical attributes show character, he is Richard III. Following up his biography of the first Yorkist king, historian Charles Derek Ross’ Richard III covers the life and reign of the last Yorkist king who’s controversial taking of the throne still sparks debate to this day.

From the start Ross “anti-Ricardian” sentiment is out there, however he also places the man in the context of his times as well as the political environment that the Yorkists promoted. Ross even-handed approach is centered going back to what contemporary accounts of Richard’s reign and avoiding anything that he thought was Tudor propaganda, however he noted that the propaganda worked was because it appeared to have some sprinkling of truth. Ross divided the biography into three sections that boiled down to before Edward’s death, the brief Protectorate, and as King. Throughout the biography Ross emphasizes the extrajudicial executions and property appropriation that Edward IV and Warwick (Richard’s father-in-law) performed during the early Yorkist period that eventually Richard would follow in his Protectorate not only to shore up his power but then seize it. Ross assigns ultimate responsibility for Edward V and young Richard of York’s deaths to Richard and doesn’t go along with the Tudor line about who did the deed. Ross’ explores Richard’s reign as one of using all the tools at his disposal to retain power against the one challenger he had, Henry Tudor, that ultimately came down to one battle that didn’t go his way.

Richard III is a balanced look at England’s most controversial king, though Charles Derek Ross is critical of the last Plantagenet he does put the man in the context of his times and doesn’t perform a hit job.

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Book Review: The Glory of Their Times by Lawrence S. Ritter

The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It by Lawrence S. Ritter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When they started their careers, professional baseball players were lowly regarded and by the end they’re exploits sold newspapers and had people standing in crowds waiting for details of the game they were playing across the nation. The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It by Lawrence S. Ritter is a collection of 26 players telling the story of their careers in their own words from the dawn of 20th Century when baseball became a national obsession.

When originally published Ritter had only interviewed 22 players—four players including a Hall of Famer were added for this enlarged edition—whose careers went just before the turn of the century to mostly the early 1920s with a few exceptions. At the time only three players of the group were Hall of Famers and after publication four more were elected, but this collection of “important” and regular players gives this book a wonderful mix as well as the player’s backgrounds. Interestingly Ritter was able to interview several players that were involved in important moments of the time like Merkel’s blunder or Fred Snodgrass’ (featured player) dropped fly in Game 7 of the 1912 World Series, or several Cincinnati players who take exception that they wouldn’t have won the 1919 World Series if the White Sox hadn’t “thrown it”. Of all the 26 players featured in the book, I had only heard of Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg—who was included in the enhanced edition—and didn’t know that much about him so the individual perspectives on how baseball became a major part of the American social-cultural fabric was very interesting.

The Glory of Their Times is a wonderful look into baseball in the first few decades of the 20th Century, Lawrence S. Ritter’s work in transforming a interview transcript into a autobiographical feature that you could imagine the player speaking the words to you was fantastic and made what it is.

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Book Review: Path Lit by Lightning by David Maraniss

Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As sports became embedded within the American cultural zeitgeist at the turn of the 20th Century, one man’s raw athletic ability and accomplishments would make him a legend in his own time even while being described in disparaging language at the same time. Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe by David Maraniss follows the wandering life of the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th Century who straddled the divide between White American culture and his Native roots that mirrored thousands of others who wasn’t as well known.

Maraniss, basing the book’s title on Thorpe’s given Sac-and-Fox name, gives a very detailed chronicle of Thorpe’s life from his childhood on the reservation to attending Carlisle Indian Industrial School where is athletic prowess in first track and field then football gained national attention before his Olympic triumph followed by ‘disgrace’ then sis long professional careers in baseball, football, and even a little basketball before wandering across the country looking to make a living and get by. Yet while Thorpe the man’s story is amazing, Maraniss uses him to highlight the plight of Native Americans within the larger text of mainstream White American culture from the military and government’s treatment of tribes over history to the benign sound but cultural devastating “Kill the Indian, save the man” philosophy of Carlisle and the casual racism that the press and organized sport’s white elitism who viewed amateurism as the ideal over professionalism thus causing a 110+ year injustice. This dual purpose was executed very well by Maraniss, though I will admit that he appeared to belabor some things like his critique on historical accuracy of the 1951 Hollywood biopic because at that point the reader was in 400 pages of a biography and could tell what the inaccuracies were already. And ironically mere weeks before it’s publication some information in the biography became dated when the IOC fully restored Thorpe as sole champion and his scores of his 1912 Olympic events.

Path Lit by Lightning is not only a revealing look into the man who was head and shoulders the best athlete of his time, but also of the difficulty Native Americans dealt within as they tried to remain true to their culture while attempt to live in White American society. David Maraniss writes in a very good narrative style though at times belabors inaccuracies as if the readers didn’t pay attention in early portions of the book. Overall, highly recommend for those interested in sports biographies or Native Americans in the United States.

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads program in exchange for an honest review.  

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Book Review: Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

European-Americans in the southern Great Plains feared them, other Native Americans quickly learned to get out of their way, and eventually the United States army would have to learn to be like them to defeat them. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne gives a general history of the Comanche nation from their rise as a power on the Plains thanks to the introduction of the horse and their fall with the near extinction of the bison mainly through the lives of Quanah Parker and his mother.

Gwynne’s dual history of the Comanche nation and the Parker family so closely linked with them for most of the 19th Century, are two different books combined in one that separately would have been good but together is just okay. While the subtitle implies that Quanah Parker plays a larger role in the history of the Comanche, his prominence is in the closing days of the Comanche’s pre-reservation years and attempt to help his people once on the reservation by essentially calling duplicitous government efforts to take away reservation land. One of the biggest issues throughout is Gwynne’s use of civilization and barbarism in relation to the Comanche and Euro-Americans they encountered, along with related words like savage when not in the context of a quote, is haphazard at best and problematic at worst that should have been taken care of in the editing process.

Empire of the Summer Moon is a very good general history of the Comanche as well as very good family drama in a clash of cultures only if the two were separated as together they are an okay combination. While S.C. Gwynne shows the complicated interactions between Native tribes and the ever-expanding tide of Anglo-American settlement well, his terminology is questionable and distracting.

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Book Review: First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A boy from Ohio fascinated by planes and how they are engineered one day becomes the most famous man on the planet by stepping onto the Moon. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is the authorized biography of the Apollo 11 commander by James R. Hansen.

Hansen centers the biography on the Apollo 11 mission, which from the decision to name Neil Armstrong commander to his return home. The first quarter and the final quarter of the biography literally bookends those approximately eight months with the former detailing Armstrong’s childhood passion for flight that led to his career as a test pilot then astronaut and the later detailing how the modest Armstrong adjusted—or did not—to worldwide fame that only lessened in everyday life as he grew older. Given the number of pages that Hansen concentrated on Armstrong’s time with NASA, there are a lot of vehicle abbreviations that need to be negotiated when reading but Hansen does a good job in make sure readers learn the terms however if one doesn’t pay attention, you can miss something and get confused. Yet this book is a fantastic read thanks to Hansen’s interviews of Armstrong and his extensive research into the Apollo 11 logs which flesh out those momentous July days for those not alive to experience them.

First Man is a very well written biography that blends NASA archived logs, author interviews of Armstrong, and interviews of fellow Gemini and Apollo astronauts.

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Book Review: Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul by John M. Barry

Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty by John M. Barry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The founding of the smallest state and its secular character are directly attributed to him and inspired the Founding Fathers, but Roger Williams is a man from a complex time in both England and colonial America. John M. Barry’s Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty is not only a biography of Williams but a cultural, political, and religious history of his time.

While it takes a while for Barry to focus on Williams and his soon-to-be very revolutionary thinking, he sets the groundwork not only for Williams intellectual and religious development but also the political and cultural context of his life. First and foremost is the political view of the early Stuart monarchs of divine right of kings going up against Magna Carta and Parliament that will eventually set off the English Civil War, and alongside it was the struggle over the Church of England and those Puritans who would not conform to practices that looked decidedly “popish”. It is easy to forget sometimes that England and its American colonies interacted before 1763 and the lead up to the American Revolution, but Barry plainly illustrates that events in each did have an impact on one another whether religiously or politically. Roger Williams’ vision of separation of church and state has come up against John Winthrop’s “city on a hill”, ironically a Puritan version of conform or else mirroring what was happening in England, throughout American history and this was central to Barry’s book even as he followed the live and struggles of Williams. One of the biggest takeaways from the book is that history does not happen in a vacuum as the development of Roger Williams’ revolutionary idea came from a messy political and religious background.

Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul is not only a book about the life of Williams, but Barry shows how Williams was influenced by not only important personages he came in contact with but also how he influenced them.

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Book Review: Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell

Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

He might be considered the original Cold Warrior and his quarter-century career was defined by and defined the period in the United States, but his legacy is intertwined with a landmark Washington hotel. Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell reveals the personal and political life of one of the most divisive figures of mid-20th Century America.

Farrell’s life of Richard Nixon revolves around the political life of the United States from the end of World War II to the end of the Vietnam War, in which he was a significant player. The biography begins with how Nixon entered politics before going into his childhood, courtship of Pat, and experience in World War II. While Farrell doesn’t ignore Nixon’s family life after 1946, this is essentially a political biography because that’s how Nixon lived his life. His red-baiting tactics in 1946 and 1950 heralding the McCarthy era are examined in full, the Alger Hiss case is examined in full, Nixon’s role in Eisenhower’s nomination is revealed, his friendship then antagonism with the Kennedys is full revealed, and his hate-hate relationship with the press and the Establishment is a constant theme. Once in the Oval Office however Farrell’s focus of the biography revolves around Vietnam and the events that lead up to the momentous events both foreign and domestic of 1972 that would define his legacy. With just under 560 pages of text, Farrell had a lot of history and politics that he needed choose what to focus on and what to breeze by. I did not agree with some of Farrell’s decisions when it came to Nixon’s time in the White House as it felt he was short shifting some things, not Vietnam, so he could get to Watergate; however, Farrell’s time spent on the Bangladesh Liberation War/Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 revealed new information to me and was a great addition.

Richard Nixon: The Life is a well written and informative biography of the 37th President of the United States that John A. Farrell did an impressive job in researching and authoring. While I had minor grips with Farrell’s decisions during Nixon’s years in the White House, it doesn’t undermine the overall quality of the book.

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Book Review: Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon by Larry Tye

Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon by Larry Tye
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

During his life he was seen as the ruthless politico that guided his brother to the White House after his death he was viewed as the man who could have changed America in 1968. Bobby Kennedy: Making of a Liberal Icon by Larry Tye looks at the complicated life of the hardnosed campaign manager, young Attorney General, Senator, and slain Presidential aspirant.

Using a variety of historical resources and first-hand interviews, Tye brings the real Bobby Kennedy into focus from his cold warrior conservative days working for Joe McCarthy to his 1968 Presidential campaign that made him an icon to liberals only after his death. Given the numerous roles in government and politics Kennedy filled in almost two decades and the issues in the 1950s and 60s, Tye wrote a hybrid chronological-topical biography so during Kennedy’s time as Attorney General three different chapters were dedicated to being Attorney General, Civil Rights, and then essentially being his brother’s deputy president. Tye doesn’t shy away from exposing Kennedy’s flaws, long-held grudges, and major fibs—the Cuban Missile Crisis—but also give credit to Kennedy for changing his views and attitudes. Kennedy’s place within his family from runt of the litter third son to becoming the patriarch after his father’s stroke even with his brother still alive is an interesting dynamic that the reader see’s take shape through Tye’s writing.

Bobby Kennedy is an engagingly written biography that shows the full range of the life led by the third son of Joe and Rose Kennedy.

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Book Review: William Pitt the Younger by William Hague

William Pitt the Younger by William Hague
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The youngest man to ever hold the position of what is called today Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, came to power as result of the political turmoil following the loss in America and died in office facing off against the greatest general to stride across Europe. William Hague’s William Pitt the Younger is the definitive biography of one of the most important men to lead Britain.

Hague’s detailed recounting of the younger Pitt’s life and times gives the reader an understanding not only of the man but the political dynamics of late 18th-Century Britain. While Pitt’s quick rise to power and the extraordinary crisis he had to manage—the Regency debate, the various wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, etc.—are handled in a well written narrative style of twists and turns, Hague’s analysis of Pitt as a person is where this biography goes from great to excellent. The most important personal issue addressed about the lifelong bachelor was his sexuality, it was something Hague did not handle flippantly but analyzed over some pages drawing on all facets of Pitt’s life to give his conclusion.

William Pitt the Younger gives a full account of the life of Britain’s youngest Prime Minister and the times he lived in that influenced his time in office. William Hague’s biographical and historical narratives are written lively keeping the reader’s attention throughout.

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Book Review: J.N. Andrews: Mission Pioneer, Evangelist, and Thought Leader by Gilbert M. Valentine

J.N. Andrews: Mission Pioneer, Evangelist, and Thought Leader by Gilbert M. Valentine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While Joseph Bates, James and Ellen White were the founding triumvirate of what became the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it was the fourth person to join the inner circle of leadership that would systematize the emerging Sabbatarian Advent movement. Gilbert M. Valentine’s J.N. Andrews: Mission Pioneer, Evangelist, and Thought Leader is the first major biography of one of the early Adventism’s most important figures.

Valentine approached Andrews’ biography in a chronological fashion with a few chapters set aside dedicated to Andrews the Sabbath historian and Andrews the theologian. As the longest book within the Adventist Pioneer Series at over 720 pages, one might have assumed that there was a lot to learn of Andrews life, however as Valentine stated in his introduction this book would also focus on James and Ellen White’s leadership in the fledging Sabbatarian Adventist movement. While Valentine’s biographical narrative of Andrews life was very well-written, at times his decision to make this book a secondary biography of essentially James White would effectively sideline Andrews which ironically mirrored real-life events—whether this was intentional on Valentine’s part I can’t guess. The analysis of Andrews as Sabbath historian and theologian were highlights of the book especially the praise Andrews received from Seventh Day Baptists both during his lifetime and today.

The life and scholarship of John Nevins Andrews were not only important during the early history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church but as Gilbert M. Valentine was able to show significant even today.

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Book Review: Edward IV by Charles Ross

Edward IV by Charles Derek Ross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A devastating battle resulted in his father and younger brother dead leading to him taking up his family’s claim to the throne of England and he took it. Charles Ross’ Edward IV is the first modern biography of the first Yorkist king.

Ross essentially divided this biography into three parts, one for each of Edward’s reigns and how Edward governed over the course of his time on the throne. Edward’s reputation over the centuries was either a strong warrior-king or a lazy, debauched ruler who partied himself into an early grave depend on who was reviewing him; Ross revealed that both opinions were true as Edward was a charismatic individual who inspired men to fight for him but coming to the throne at such a young age made him enjoy it. Ross’ lively writing describing Edward’s reigns stood in stark contrast to his writing of Edward’s governance which was dry and at times snooze-inducing, while I understood Ross’ decision to compare various economic or law-and-order issues from both reigns it might have been better to mix the governance in with the happenings of the reigns.

Edward IV looks at the man who founded a dynasty that lasted only two years past his death but began laying down the foundations that the Tudors would use to transform England especially his famous grandson, Henry.

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Book Review: FDR by Jean Edward Smith

FDR by Jean Edward Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

He is the man who served in office the longest and once the most Presidential elections in history, he is most identifiable by his initials. FDR by Jean Edward Smith shows the life of the 32nd President of the United States from his birth in high society New York to his death just months before total victory in World War II.

From the outset Smith makes the reader aware Franklin Delano Roosevelt is one of the most written about of Presidents thus giving an indication that he will not do anything new but give a new generation of readers a straightforward look into Roosevelt’s life. Three-quarters of the book is Smith’s text with the final quarter being notes and an index, but during the biography proper Smith’s footnotes are in-depth and as interesting as what is in the text proper. Smith devotes a little over a third of the biography to Roosevelt’s life before his run for the 1932 Democratic nomination thus transitioning to focusing on the final 13 years of Roosevelt’s life. During that first third, Smith not only covers Roosevelt’s life but also foreshadows how his early political career in New York would later affect his entrance to Washington politics as Assistant Secretary of State and his later New York career as Governor. While in Washington Smith shows how Roosevelt learned the ways of the city that would come in handing once he assumed the Presidency. Once on the national stage, Smith gives the political backstories to campaigns and later to battles for legislation as well as the overall atmosphere of the Great Depression of the time. Yet while Smith devotes most of the biography to Roosevelt in the White House there is no really in-depthness like some books that devote themselves entirely to an individual’s Presidency and this is telling once the U.S. enters World War II as Smith essentially says ‘FDR did not micromanage the military once he made decision to an objective and left the generals do their thing’ while barely covering his relationship with Churchill.

FDR gives a detailed—but not in-depth—look at the life of the longest-serving President in the history of the United States. Jean Edward Smith writes in an engaging style for a very readable book but with wonderful footnotes that adds to the text. For a general biography this is a must read, but those looking for political or military details this is not.

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Book Review: Grant by Ron Chernow

Grant by Ron Chernow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The man who was Lincoln’s main military and policy instrument then ultimately his true political heir has been maligned as a martial brute to his supposedly noble opponent at the tale end of the American Civil War. Grant by Ron Chernow chronicles the life of one of—if not—the greatest general in American history.

As with many biographers, Chernow goes into generations of Grant’s family history—including alcoholism—as well as the personalities of his parents Jesse and Hannah who each shaped Grant for both good and ill. Much the biography covers Grant’s service in the Civil War and his Presidency, yet in the little over 100 pages that Chernow covers Grant’s life from his youth through West Point and career in the military including the Mexican War then his interwar civilian life. Chernow not only used these pages to chronicle the young Grant’s life, but also how the struggle of alcohol and his business naivete that would cause issues throughout the rest of his life. With the start of the Civil War, Chernow goes in-depth into how Grant his first command and then how he slowly progressed up the chain of command while dealing with the rebel soldiers but army politics. Then upon Grant’s ascent into the high councils of Washington, Chernow shows how he reassured Lincoln that he was his man and fully embraced his agenda. It was this adherence to Lincoln’s vision that ultimately led Grant to accept the Republican nomination in 1868 and his policy in the South throughout his presidency. Throughout the pages dedicated to Grant’s time in office while the scandals surrounding those individuals that he naively appointed and supported were covered but Chernow balanced it out with achievements of Grant and many of his outstanding cabinet members did during the eight years. Though devoting a little more space to the later years of Grant’s life than those prior to 1860, Chernow focused on Grant’s battle with cancer as he raced to write his memoirs then his legacy.

Chernow knowing the general view of Grant as an alcoholic that defeated Lee through manpower and resources then presiding over a scandalous presidency took his time to address during the biography via themes throughout. Grant’s battle with alcohol was a constant theme until the latter end of his presidency and post-presidency when it appears the presence of his wife Julia and Grant’s own determination essentially conquered the problem. Throughout the Civil War portion of the text Chernow examines Grant’s tactical and strategic thinking especially when he was facing off with Robert E. Lee in Virginia or more accurately tying down Lee’s army while the rest of Union forces crushed the armies opposing them and the will of rebel civilians. Chernow’s chronicling of the scandals of Grant’s presidency was firmly tied to Grant’s naivete with people and always supporting people who he believed to be his friends, something that made him a huge mark for flim-flam men of the Gilded Age. While Chernow’s biography could be seen as “revisionism” by today’s historical readers, it could also be seen as reversing the ‘Lost Cause revisionism’ that occurred during Grant’s own lifetime.

Grant is a fantastic addition to Ron Chernow’s chronicle of great American lives like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. Chernow shows that while Grant was flawed like everyone else, his status today is beginning to return to where it was after he militarily reunited the country after being diminished by those who wanted to pretend the American Civil War didn’t happen.

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Book Review: A Country of Vast Designs by Robert W. Merry

A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent by Robert W. Merry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From a political has been to the first dark horse President candidate to the first President to preside over a war ending with the annexation of foreign territory, the last five years of James K. Polk’s life changed a lot about the United States. A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent by Robert W. Merry reveals how America’s first dark horse President came to the White House and how he changed the office and the changed the nation through expansion to the Pacific.

Merry sets the stage to cover Polk’s presidency by setting up his election in 1844 with a history of the Jacksonian era to that point and place Polk and his main opponent Henry Clay occupied in it. After two electoral defeats, Polk’s attempt at a political comeback by being presumptive Democratic nominee Martin Van Buren’s running mate is upended with John Tyler’s decision to annex Texas that eventually resulted in the pro-annexation Polk to get the Presidential nomination instead of the anti-annexation Van Buren. His close victory over Clay appeared to call for Texas annexation and passed Congress just before his inauguration in March 1845. Merry then sets about explaining how Polk obtained his four goals for his promised single term (obtaining California, settling the Oregon dispute with Britain, lowering tariffs, and creating an independent treasury). The domestic priorities were covered in a few chapters, much of the book was on Polk’s negotiation Oregon and the situation with Mexico regarding Texas annexation, the border, and later the war. Polk’s administrative talents, working relationships with his cabinet (mostly Secretary of State James Buchanan), and relationships with members of Congress from both parties were detailed throughout the historical flow of events. Merry’s overview of Polk’s place in history amongst scholars and how he is viewed by the public is examined as an epilogue to a transformative single Presidential term.

Merry’s biographical work on James Polk is probably the best part of this historical examination of his presidency followed by his explanations of the internal fissures within the Democratic Party of the mid-to-late 1840s. His interpretation of Polk’s very hands on approach to day-to-day business in the White House on top of managing a foreign war culminating in his death soon after leaving office was well established. Also, his description of the Mexican’s internal political merry-go-round and factions leading up to and throughout the war was a welcome addition to the history. However, Merry’s analysis of the Whig Party and the slavery issue in this period are major issues of the book that should caution readers. The Whigs were portrayed as an elitist only view of America that only those it would benefit supported and that Henry Clay’s American System was soundly rejected, unfortunately the likes of Abraham Lincoln would disagree that the Whig platform was for elites and today’s debating of infrastructure improvements shows that in fact Clay’s American System still influences politics today. But Merry’s attempt to push the big blowup over slavery to being a result of the war with Mexico is problematic as Polk’s victory was the result of an anti-slavery party—the Liberty Party—costing Clay votes in New York and thus the election. It also paints over the fact that for over a decade John C. Calhoun had made every issue he could be about slavery to inflame fellow Southerners and that slavery itself was a banned topic in the House of Representatives because of the gag rule.

A Country of Vast Designs shows how during one single term the United States changed its trajectory both nationally and internationally. Robert W. Merry’s while providing a good biography of James K. Polk and the internal workings of his administration, but either misunderstands or completely misrepresents the opposition and the political role of slavery during this time thus giving a false impression to those not well versed in the era.

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Book Review: President McKinley by Robert W. Merry

President McKinley: Architect of the American Century by Robert W. Merry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though nowadays overshadowed by his young, energetic successor that built upon his foreign policy successes in history, if not for his transformative Presidency the 20th Century could have gone differently for the United States. President McKinley: Architect of the American Century by Robert W. Merry explores the four and a half years of William McKinley in office and whether he led events or where led by them.

Merry begins his biography by leading up to its end, the assassination of McKinley in Buffalo at the Pan-American Exposition after the recently reelected President made a speech that seemed to show him turning towards freer trade and away from the protective tariffs that had defined his political career. After this dramatic beginning, Merry goes back to the first McKinleys to arrive in the Ohio territory where the future 25th President would live his life when not in the Union Army or in politics. Quickly going through McKinley’s early years, Merry spent a little more time following McKinley’s military career and how he rose quickly from a private to a Lieutenant within a year before finishing the war as a Major. After quickly covering McKinley’s time in law school, Merry covered his early years in Canton as a rising lawyer and meeting his future wife, Ida. As McKinley’s political career began and slowly took off, Merry slowed the pace of the narrative to give more facts including the how McKinley became a specialist on the tariff and dynamics of the Ohio Republican party that would impact his career. Once McKinley is in the White House, Merry slows down the narrative and focuses on the eventual four and a half years the redefined the United States at the end of the 19th Century leading to the 20th on the world stage from the lead up to and through the Spanish-American War to the Insurgency in the Philippines afterwards and the Boxer Rebellion in which the United States became a Great Power. Though McKinley’s time in office is now viewed as more foreign policy Presidency, McKinley himself had wanted to focus domestically more and Merry covered the many issues at home from the tariff to the gold standard to anti-imperialist sentiment that McKinley dealt with.

Merry began and ended his Presidential biography with how McKinley having been reelected based on his accomplishments of his first term was evolving his long-held political positions to meet new requirements to set up and complete his view of McKinley making decisions then incrementally push the political attitudes of others towards supporting his new position. Throughout Merry’s look at McKinley’s time in office, he showed evidence of McKinley’s incremental decision making and its high success rate but also the times when events moved too fast and how McKinley dealt with those events. Though focused on McKinley’s time in office more than the rest of his life, Merry’s biographical background of McKinley before his Presidency was fine but at times went back and forth in time during his political career that made things hard to follow and anticipate.

President McKinley is a well-written, informative political biography by Robert W. Merry of the 25th President’s time in office and how he made the decisions he made. While not a thorough biography of McKinley, it succeeds at it’s aim at covering the four and a half years that dramatically changed the United States standing in the world.

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Book Review: Truman by David McCullough

Truman by David McCullough
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Born in Missouri a generation after it was the western frontier of the young nation, he led an emerging superpower into the atomic age at the end of the largest war in human history. Truman is all-encompassing biography of the 33rd President of the United States by one of the best biographers and historians of the past half century, David McCullough.

McCullough begins by quickly covering the lives of Truman’s grandparents and parents who relocated and lived on the frontier of Missouri beginning 40 years before his birth. McCullough then guides the reader through Truman’s childhood as his father attempt to succeed in various businesses with mild to no success while young Harry went through school and attempt to strike out on his own in nearby Kansas City until finally joining his family when they went working his maternal grandmother’s large farm that he would continue to work until he joined the Army in 1917 where he would see combat as a Captain of the artillery during the Hundred Days Offensive that led to the armistice. After the war, Truman opened a business that started well but failed during the recession of 1921 after which he turned to attention to politics and becoming a part of the Pendergast political machine. Successful in his first campaign to be a county administrative judge, he failed in reelection only to succeed in the next election to becoming the presiding judge which was a position he used to transform Jackson County with numerous public works that eventually gets him noticed by the new Roosevelt administration that eventually got him a position in the New Deal programs in Missouri. After Pendergast rejected Truman for a run for governor or Congress, he selected him a run for Senate in 1934 and Truman’s victory in the primary he was considered the Pendergast Senator not a Missourian. Through hard work during his term, Truman became a respected member of the Senate but when he went to be reelected, the Pendergast machine was in disarray due to various federal criminal trials and the Roosevelt administration didn’t support him, he was in a uphill battle. In a forerunner to his 1948 upset, Truman outworked his opponents and received support from the St. Louis political machine, which had opposed Pendergast’s Kansas City machine for decades, to a slim victory. During his second term, Truman became a national figure with his Select Committee to Investigate Defense Spending that investigated wasteful spending that saved roughly $15 billion that eventually would get him to be selected as Roosevelt’s 1944 Vice Presidential running mate that was essentially a nomination to be Roosevelt’s successor because everyone knew he would not live out his term. Truman’s nearly 8 years in office cover nearly 60% of the book that started off with his decisions and actions for the five months that dealt with challenges that no other President save Lincoln had to deal with. The challenges of a post-war America especially in the economic sphere led to a Republican takeover of Congress that many blamed Truman for, who used the loss to his advantage to stake differences between both parties that would eventually lead to his strategy for the 1948 Presidential campaign that led to him becoming President in his own right. Truman’s second term was dominated by his decision to military intervene in Korea that would lead to a confrontation with General Douglas McArthur that put civilian control of the military at stake, but also would continually lead to charges of Communist subversion of government jobs that reached a fever pitch with Joseph McCarthy. Once out of office, Truman transitioned to a regular citizen and began figuring out how to financially support his family, which eventually lead to Presidential pension laws for Truman and future holders of the office and creating the Presidential Library system that we know today. But after leaving office very unpopular, Truman’s popularity grew over the two decades of his post-Presidency so upon his death he was genuinely mourned by the public.

McCullough’s writing reads like a novel with his subject his main character and every other individual in a supporting character to reflect upon the protagonist. As I noted in my synopsis, most of the book covers Truman’s time in office that McCullough documents with detail and when doing a Presidential biography of the man who essentially had to deal with the end of the largest war in human history and the beginning of the Cold War is to be expected. With documentation of Truman’s early life not a prevalent, McCullough’s decision to turn a spotlight to his grandparents and parents at the beginning of the book and throughout Truman’s life added depth to the man and the also the area where he grew up and shaped him.

Truman brings the humble man from Missouri to life for those that have only seen him in black and white photographs and film, David McCullough’s writing hooks the reader from the beginning and makes you want to see how Harry S. Truman’s life played out in all facets.

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