The Death of Teddy's Presidential Ambitions
358481
This astonishing book sheds light on the infamous death suffered at the hands of a U.S. Senator. It is well-written, and needs to be read before people make up their mind about what a "wonderful" person Teddy was. What he may have accomplished in the Senate doesn't make up for killing this young lady.
4372390
Much as Upton Sinclair did, when he focused the nation's attention of the conditions in the meatpacking plants in Chicago, with the publication of&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Jungle/dp/B000JMLINW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Jungle</a>, so too did Harry M. Caudill, who focused the nation's attention (well, at least a couple key leaders) on the conditions in eastern Kentucky, when he published this book in the early `60's. Caudill is a "native son"; he was born, and died in Whitesburg, KY, not that far from the Virginia line, and not far from the more famous towns of Hazard and Harlan. He comes from an excellent pedigree in terms of being "qualified" to write about this region: his ancestors first settled the region in 1792. He says that he was inspired to write the book in 1960, when he served as a commencement speaker at an 8th grade coal camp school, and noted the bitter irony of the singing of "America the Beautiful" against the backdrop of utter poverty and desolation.

Caudill chronicles the area's history over a 170-year period, from the original settlement by the white man, mainly of British and Irish stock, who came over the mountains from the coast, and advanced no further, settling in "for the duration." In many ways it was a good area to live: fertile river bottoms for crops, hills that teamed with game, and all the timber you could ask for. Despite the lack of a slave-owning aristocracy, the Civil War literally pitted brother against brother, father against son, as the natives left these valleys to fight for their respective sides. After the war, the vendettas and the feuds continued, personified by the "Hatfields vs. McCoys." Caudill takes quantitative measure of the feuds: in one county alone, between 1865 and 1915, a thousand murder indictments were made. Obviously, numerous killings never made it to the indictment stage.

Then there was the coming of "King Coal," and prosperity, around the beginning of the 1900's. Even today, based on repeated headlines, mining is a dangerous business. It was a much more deadly game then, but if you survived, in general there was the "alabaster cities" of prosperity, as Caudill says. The prosperity ended with the Great Depression, as it did for much of America. With the Cumberlands however, it never returned. During the Depression, and thanks to Prohibition, many turned to the making of moonshine to survive. The Second World War at least provided "employment" for so many of the men from the hollows. After the war, employment did not return, as it had in the 1920's, due to the "technical innovation" of strip mining, which devastated the landscape, yet provided few jobs. Caudill devotes an entire chapter chronicling the rise of the spirit-sapping welfare state, since no "work" can be provided.

As with Sinclair's book, which led to governmental entities that were responsible for inspecting meat plants, so too with Caudill's, who devoted a chapter to "The Case for a Southern Mountain Authority." His advocacy reached fruition; he gained the "ear" of President Kennedy, who introduced legislation that created the Appalachian Regional Commission in 1965. It has poured billions of dollars into the area, but with the collapse of the steel industry further north, it has had limited beneficial effects. To me, Caudill's most startling conclusion was: "Actually much of the Cumberland Plateau can best serve the nation by being submerged." (!) 50 years on, we've experienced some of the deleterious effects of the "dam culture" run amok. There is a downside to that approach also.

Overall, a very solid, well-written, lucid piece of advocacy that did focus the attention of the nation's elites on one of the regions of chronic poverty in America. 5-stars.
3625171
"Those were the days, my friend. The USA will end..."

William Z. Foster was a worker, union organizer, Stalinist, boss of the Communist Party USA, and Communist candidate for president in 1932. "Toward Soviet America" was his political platform that year. He described the building of a new society that would be a clone of Soviet Russia.

This book appeared as the Great Depression, predicted of course by the far-seeing Karl Marx, seemed to be destroying America. The confidence of all the far-left elements reached intense levels. (This has huge relevance to my main area, education. All our top educators ca. 1932--George Counts, John Dewey, Harold Rugg--were Socialists who assumed the US was finished. Which turned out wrong. But this thinking, the related theories, the fanciful wrongness about so much, became a permanent part of American education. We are still living with the after-shocks today. Why have the public schools, for many decades, been so ineffective? Perhaps because many of the people in charge believed their real job was to move students Toward Soviet America.)

Foster's book is written in a brazen, bracing tone. Russia was the world's savior, while America was curling up in a ditch to die. All that was left to settle was the transfer of power. Words are NOT minced. Probably Lenin talked like this. Communists apparently still enjoy this book, for its ideological correctness but most of all, I suspect, for its big-shouldered swagger. Capitalists can enjoy savoring how narrowly we avoided a Bolshevist blood bath. Here are a few typical quotes:

"The correspondent of the New York Times only voices an almost universal opinion when he says: `The Soviet leaders know precisely what they want and are doing it, in sharp contrast to the rest of the world where leadership seems to be a lost art.'"

"They have done away completely with all the exploitation of the toiling masses by owning, ruling classes. These fundamental political and economic measures are the substance of the revolution. They solve the many contradictions of capitalism and they open the door to an era of  general prosperity, freedom, and cultural advance hitherto completely unknown to the world."

"Citizenship is restricted to those who do useful work, capitalists, landlords, clericals and other non-producers being disenfranchised."

"In the acute stages of the revolutionary struggle special courts will probably be necessary. The pest of lawyers will be abolished."

"The superiority of such an organized agriculture over the present unorganized American system is evident at a glance. It is like comparing a modern automobile with an ox cart...The great ranches of the Far West, the big corporation farms of the Middle West--all confiscated by the new government--will provide immediate bases for many such great State farms."

"Capitalism naturally develops a hopeless babbittry in every direction; but Socialism produces inevitably the intelligent and the beautiful."

"Communist society will go further. It will scientifically regulate the growth of population. It will especially speed up the very evolution of man himself, his brain and body. Capitalism has checked the evolution of the human species, if it has not actually brought about a process of race degeneration. But Communism will systematically breed up mankind."

Also happening in 1932: Stalin was starving more than a million Ukrainians to death; and Russia was secretly selling millions of tons of raw materials to Germany (see Treaty of Rapallo), letting this rogue country rearm in defiance of the Versailles Treaty. (June 22, 1941, Germany would return these materials to Russia in the form of the Wehrmacht.)
2275978
Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" was the catalyst that changed the way food processing companies did business at the turn of the century.  This book promped Teddy Roosevelt, on June 30, 1906, to sign the Pure Food and Drug Act and also The Federal Meat Inspection Law.  Can you imagine eating meat that has been tainted with turberculocis and no telling what else (and this happened all the time).  When I go to the grocery store and buy food, I would never think that the store I trust to buy my food would sell rotten meat and the store knowing it. But then again, I have also taken things for granted and never really thinking about them.  At the turn of the century, there were no laws to govern the safety of food.  There were also no laws to protect workers' rights.  There was no such thing as unemployment insurance to protect workers in case of a layoff and no workmans' comp in case of an injury. Workers labored in dangerous conditions for just pennies a day. This book makes you think.  Everyone should read "The Jungle".
4452020
As Teddy Roosevelt's oldest child, Alice was introduced to the lifestyles of the rich and politically well-connected early on in her life. She never got over living in the White House. To read her correspondence on the subject, it was forever hers. Alice was a diva. She was the original "it's all about me" celebutant. Very few people ever denied her, and when they did, woe be unto them.

She was married to the Speaker of the House, had a child by a distinguished senator from Idaho and held political sway over the inner circles of Washington, D.C. until her death in 1980.

Stacy Cordery's new biography is voluminous, coming in at 608 pages, not including the references and bibliography. Cordery has done a thorough and sincere job, but even her meticulous efforts can't make "Princess Alice," as she was called, a likable creature. She may have been admirable from afar, but up close and personal, she was selfish, self-centered and hated sharing the spotlight with anyone.
2377174
I really liked this book.  It is very detailed and some might find it a little too detailed and longish.  But it is a very captivating account of both the French failed effort to build a Panama Canal and then the United States effort under Teddy Roosevelt, although it wasn't completed until Wilson was President.  The project lasted from 1904 to 1914.  The U. S. congress voted to have the canal built in Nicaragua but after hearing from many sides, Teddy went ahead and ordered that the canal be build in Panama.

Panama was part of Columbia then, but somehow (and perhaps a bit underhandedly) the U. S. managed to help the Panamanians finally get their own country.

McCullough is his usual thorough writer and this will not be a one night read, except for Evelyn Woods.  dI had the Kindle version which wasn't good for the maps involved, but I was able to see the maps better on my computer version of the download.

If you are interested in American history, you will find that this story will fascinate you.
1804627
This is an excellent account of the early political career of

Teddy Roosevelt, state legislator, federal civil service commissioner, NYC police commissioner, Rough Rider, Governor of NY, Vice-President, and you probably know the rest.  It is full of wonderful stories, such as TR and reporters combing NYC for policemen who were corrupt or not doing their jobs, the first bicycle policemen which TR organized, his successes and failures, his gift for publicity and cultivation of his image.

With the help of a lot of caffeine, TR worked very hard and learned to work with the less than honest machine politicians.  The research seems through and the writing impeccable.  A true gem.  But, then, the material could not be finer.
4911596
Big theme of this book: President Ike was not as dull as he seemed then, or now. Throughout much of the book I thought the point was well-defended. However, by the time I got to the end, the over-arching conclusion seemed to be just the opposite. The hero who won the war was extremely out of touch with the radical new world he'd helped to build. It's hard to accept that a perpetual willingness to use nukes if necessary to defend our interests in remote locations exemplified wisdom more than it signified a failure to come to terms with shifting international political realities. Still, we have Ike to thank for his Farewell Address, and that's something of great value and importance, even though it seems never to have been very well understood by any generation.
1735116
Teddy's childhood wasn't easy.  Strong family values and faith did not protect him from loneliness, multiple academic uprootings and an abusive boarding school headmaster.  Teddy describes in detail his many famous failings and family tragedies. The mantra to persevere and lead a "meaningful life" shines on his successes.  "Kennedys don't whine, cry or give up" was ingrained by his adored father who is presented as almost flawless.  No family scandals are unveiled.  His life and family history gives an intimate look at modern US history and major world players.  Highly recommended as an upbeat view of cancer survival and finding fulfillment.
3543026
Having finished Devil in the White City, Thunderstruck, and America, 1908, I read The Imperial Cruise to learn more about this historical period.  I'd also just read Ken Burns' The National Parks, which painted Teddy Roosevelt's role in land conservation in a favorable light.

As other reviewers have admitted, I, too, knew little of the Roosevelt years beyond what I'd studied in school. It was an eye-opener to learn about the covert "treaties" that Roosevelt brokered that influenced world history for decades beyond. Arguably, the fall-out from Roosevelt's ignorance, prejudice, and hubris still affect us today. The Imperial Cruise provides a crucial counterbalance to Roosevelt's benign image as portrayed in text books.

As an editorial comment, two things disturbed me greatly: First, that Roosevelt's carefully self-crafted image was so disingenuous. Second, that he blantantly used (misused) his daughter, Alice, as window-dressing to put a lovely face on a very dark chapter in American history.

Bradley's book certainly makes me think; what will the Bradleys of 100 years from now reveal about what's happening today?  What is yet to be revealed about factors that have landed us in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan? While other reviewers (many of whom sound as if they are serious history buffs) said they were disappointed by the lack of detail/perspective in the book, I found it absolutely 5-star fascinating and highly recommend it.
3685946
Very interesting information about the influence of Stalin in world politics and how he intimidated and influenced Roosevelt's decisions.  What a relief he is dead.
2759633
So far so good, but I am just getting into it.  I think Teddy is a bit of a forgotten US President, and he should not be.  Gail Schoppert
2039235
Bobby: a book review
Amidst the anguish of having to choose between two seventy year old presidential candidates neither of whom is attractive to many voters, the publication of a new biography of Bobby Kennedy by Larry Tye recalls a time when hope was embodied in young political figures who were role models of service, bigger than life and whose lives were taken because of their championing for the poor and marginalized.
Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon traces the dramatic story of the life of the youngest Kennedy brother from his days as council to the infamous McCarthy committee though his New York senate campaign to his shocking assassination during the 1968 presidential campaign. To say that he was a person who was driven is no exaggeration. He did it all: military service, council to congress, Attorney General, US Senator, international figure, champion of civil rights and farm workers, presidential candidate and father of a very large family. One wonders what kind of president he would have been and how would the country have changed under his leadership?
Readers and especially anyone who lived during Kennedys time will appreciate the extensive research used by the author to tell the story of Bobbys life and all of the characters of that time in a new way: Joseph McCarthy, Jimmy Hoffa, Martin Luther King, Ted Kennedy, Roy Cohn, Linden Johnson, J Edgar Hoover, Jack Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Ramsey Clark and Richard Nixon.
What is there about the present time in our history when we have a dearth of young and attractive public servants and have to choose between a paranoid narcissist and an aging bureaucrat? Perhaps it is the labeling of candidates as either liberal or conservative. Perhaps life is becoming too much like a TV reality show!  Bobby Kennedy came from a rich conservative family, worked for the McCarthy committee and moved on to fight on the side of farm workers and other union members. He ended up as a strong advocate for the poor all over the world and was an inspiration to many especially the young.
No matter who wins the 2016 presidential election we will still need to fill a gap in national leadership and promote young political candidates who can inspire hope and motivate the next generation of Americans to selfless service.
A good start to this promotion might be the publication of Tyes inspiring biography, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon.
970754
Its interesting to me that this book has come out right on the heels of another specialized Teddy Roosevelt biography, one which concentrated on his passion for the study of natural science. Roosevelts exploits in the Spanish-American War were barely mentioned in that book, while in Rough Riders: Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill, the only mention of that lifetime passion is the fact that he recognized many of the birds that inhabited the countryside of Cuba, some just from their calls.

That little tidbit aside, I must say that this book grabbed my attention from the get-go. Drawing on personal correspondence and diaries, etc., of many members of the Rough Riders  material that was not known or available to earlier writers on the subject  as well as periodicals and newspaper reports from that time, author Mark Lee Gardner brings the story of the Rough Riders to life in a way that has not been possible before. The late 19th Century was a time when the United States was a brash but maturing nation embarking on the early steps of its journey to becoming a real world power. However murky the origins and justifications were for the Spanish-American War, the country embarked with a vengeance upon the crusade to free Cuba from its Old World masters. The boundless enthusiasm felt by Teddy and the volunteers who formed the ranks and officer corp of the Volunteer Cavalry comes across clearly through the correspondence and other source material, in those mens own words, both quoted and when used to inform the authors writing.

Roosevelts anxiousness to get into action in the Spanish-American War sprang partly from his early childhood recollections of his father buying his way out of the requirement to report for service in the American Civil War, and partly from his natural desire to be in the middle of the action, whatever and wherever it was. He went so far as to resign his post as Asst. Secretary of the Navy in order to get a commission in the 1st Volunteer Cavalry. He pulled strings, pulled rank, and spent his own money to obtain supplies for his troops when the War Departments bureaucracy moved too slowly and he did the best he could by the men under his command, in training, in action, and afterwards, in peacetime. Their, and his, entire experience is recounted here, from muster, to training, shipping out to Cuba and landing on its tropical shores, all the way through the jungle warfare, the iconic battle to take the San Juan Heights, and the immediate and long-term aftermath.

I believe that his book captures the essence of Teddy Roosevelts character (and that of the men he commanded) better than any other biography of him that I have read (admittedly, not an exhaustive list, but I have read a few.) For students or fans of TR and/or this particular period in United States or Western Hemisphere history, I recommend this book very highly, and without reservation.
4762484
Richard Burke, who worked for Ted Kennedy for 10 years in the 70s and early 80s, paints a disgusting portrait of the senator.

Burke quickly learned that to be part of the Kennedy team you had to watch and shut up.  It was important not to dwell on the negatives, but to think about all the wonderful things Ted had done and could do.  In that context, he said, Kennedys personal flaws seemed to diminish.

Make no doubt about it, Teds flaws were many.  He was a serial womanizer, hard drinker and cocaine user.  Burke writes that Kennedy had an aura of invincibility and was never held accountable for his actions.

Trying to keep Teddy reined in was like trying to keep a bull from charging a red flag, he writes.

According to Burke, Kennedy did cocaine with a teenage intern and even did cocaine with two of his children.  And, he was always chasing women, even staffers, who had been declared off limits.

His marriage to Joan was a charade, as was much of his public life.  Appearances, however, were extremely important.  The family was mobilized for the obligatory photos and appearances for Teddys 1980 presidential campaign.

Amazingly, Burke reports that Kennedys staff underestimated the character issue during the presidential campaign.  They seemed to think they could make the Chappaquiddick go away, or at least minimize it.

Burke says the Washington DC environment breeds excess, whether its drugs, alcohol, sex or power.  And, he fell victim to all of them, paying a steep price for his years with Kennedy.  Burke resigned after the 1980 presidential campaign.  He does, however, accept the responsibility for his actions.

As incredulous as many of the incidents in the book seem, Burke declares that the book is nothing but the truth.
876099
I am a big Theodore Roosevelt groupie. He is in my top 5 Presidents of the US. I was reading this book at the same time I was reading Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough and sorry to say this one, even though a Pulitzer Prize Winner didn't compare.

This volume takes Mr. Roosevelt from birth to the telegram saying he is President, while the other book was just until his 2nd marriage to Edith Carew, so this one covers more time.

My biggest problem with this book is that Mr. Morris stated as fact things about Mr. Roosevelt's mother that Mr. McCullough said were rumors and not in the character of Mrs. Roosevelt.

The other bugaboo I had was his judgement that the first Mrs. Roosevelt, had she lived, would have made Theodore miserable and unhappy in their later years. He based this on the fact that most of the letters between them were burned and that the second wife said something like that. I lean again toward McCullough's treatment of Alice Lee, who charmed the Roosevelt family and made Teddy very happy until her sudden death.

The facts are all here, just some are twisted in a way that I found more biased and judgmental than a good biographer should use.

The narrator was fine.

I would recommend Mornings on Horseback instead of this book.
1769264
This book by a noted history professor and author of more than twenty-five books is part of a series of dozens of short books about the American presidents, called The American Presidents Series. It tells the tragic tale of President Millard Fillmore, an accidental unelected president, who was the vice president to the war hero President Zachary Taylor who in 1850 suddenly took ill and died. Taylor may have been killed by the misguided doctors who improperly treated him. The country at that time was at a crossroad over the issue of slavery. It was possible that a compromise could have been reached. But Fillmore, who was not school-taught, a bigoted anti-Catholic, an opponent to immigration, and an advocate for the continuance of slavery, ruined the possibility for compromise. He also destroyed his own party, the Whigs, who disappeared from history because of him. The book contains many interesting facts.