General Books - Page 6

Ultimate Sacrifice

Thom Hartmann, Lamar Waldron

By: Constable Amazon Marketplace: 8 new & used starting at $14.94

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 115 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HAPPENED 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

A clear, understandable recital of the facts. Well documented.
One of the best-if not the best,I've read on the subject.
There is a great deal of material, but can be digested.
Clear and precise in showing WHY and HOW things happened on Nov 22, 1963.

Amazing and extremely persuasive (& well documented) 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I'm only a third of the way through this nearly 1000 page book, but it's extremely impressive. Packed full of details, this book does an excellent job of laying the groundwork for a satisfying and wholly credible conspiracy theory. According to this account, the root of the JFK assassination can be found in RFK's (and JFK's, to lesser extent) pursuit of the mafia, beginning in 1958 (see 'The Enemy Within' by RFK for more). And the book provides even the background of this public investigation (NYC mob boss Anastasia's barbershop murder...increasing mafia power and influence, resulting in increasing mafia murders as a result of mafia infighting for a share of the expanding pie, ect...). The official version- the 'lone nut theory'- is so weak as to be laughable, yet it still persists. Professional mafia-hired hitmen assassinated JFK and Oswald was a patsy. If this wasn't the case, then why would Jack Ruby (who had a long and deep relationship with the mafia) assassinate Oswald? To kill a communist???...because he loved JFK??? Ruby killed him because they (the mafia) absolutely needed to shut Oswald up...that simple. This book is very well-written, researched, and documented. Highly recommended.

UPDATE: Now that I've read a handful of books on the JFK assassination, I find that this book is excellent in providing a crucial framework for understanding JFK's assassination. That said, there's very very little (nearly none) on US government officials (in any department) being directly involved in the assassination or (especially) in the cover up. Thus, this book is only part of the whole story. Apparently E. Howard HUNT said to one of his grandson's on his deathbed that "LBJ, Harvey and Ward (CIA), and then Morales and Phillips (also CIA), and "French gunman grassy knoll" were all involved...what should we make of this information?

The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts

Burke Davis

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Wings Amazon Marketplace: 210 new & used starting at $0.88

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A classic 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is a must for Civil War buffs, presenting lots of odd facts about the War Between the States which one would probably not come across except in bits and pieces in other works. I never get tired of looking through this one.

Strange and Interesting facts found while researching the Civil War. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Great read, read it in a day. What odd things happened in those times and were put on record for us to find these many years later. Fun and filled with fun facts.

unique civil war book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I can recommend this book because the facts I found were not only interesting, but also important to know as an American. I think every history teacher should probably own a copy. Thanks!

Civil War trivia 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It's okay... I think it has a lot of "filler" in it. I'd rather have a smaller book with precise information in it - stuff that you would not find in other books or you wouldn't have come up with on your on.

Editorial Review:

Wonderfully entertaining look at some intriguing oddities, unusual incidents, and colorful personalities connected with the Civil War. Includes 25 names the war was known by, personal quirks of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and more,

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (Oxford History of the United States)

Robert Middlekauff

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 49 new & used starting at $10.68

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically acclaimed volume--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize--offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic.
Beginning with the French and Indian War and continuing to the election of George Washington as first president, Robert Middlekauff offers a panoramic history of the conflict between England and America, highlighting the drama and anguish of the colonial struggle for independence. Combining the political and the personal, he provides a compelling account of the key events that precipitated the war, from the Stamp Act to the Tea Act, tracing the gradual gathering of American resistance that culminated in the Boston Tea Party and "the shot heard 'round the world." The heart of the book features a vivid description of the eight-year-long war, with gripping accounts of battles and campaigns, ranging from Bunker Hill and Washington's crossing of the Delaware to the brilliant victory at Hannah's Cowpens and the final triumph at Yorktown, paying particular attention to what made men fight in these bloody encounters. The book concludes with an insightful look at the making of the Constitution in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 and the struggle over ratification. Through it all, Middlekauff gives the reader a vivid sense of how the colonists saw these events and the importance they gave to them. Common soldiers and great generals, Sons of Liberty and African slaves, town committee-men and representatives in congress--all receive their due. And there are particularly insightful portraits of such figures as Sam and John Adams, James Otis, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and many others. This new edition has been revised and expanded, with fresh coverage of topics such as mob reactions to British measures before the War, military medicine, women's role in the Revolution, American Indians, the different kinds of war fought by the Americans and the British, and the ratification of the Constitution. The book also has a new epilogue and an updated bibliography.
The cause for which the colonists fought, liberty and independence, was glorious indeed. Here is an equally glorious narrative of an event that changed the world, capturing the profound and passionate struggle to found a free nation.
The Oxford History of the United States
The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multi-volume history of our nation. The series includes three Pulitzer Prize winners, a New York Times bestseller, and winners of the Bancroft and Parkman Prizes. The Atlantic Monthly has praised it as "the most distinguished series in American historical scholarship," a series that "synthesizes a generation's worth of historical inquiry and knowledge into one literally state-of-the-art book." Conceived under the general editorship of C. Vann Woodward and Richard Hofstadter, and now under the editorship of David M. Kennedy, this renowned series blends social, political, economic, cultural, diplomatic, and military history into coherent and vividly written narrative.

History of the American People

Paul Johnson

By: Weidenfeld & Nicolson History Amazon Marketplace: 7 new & used starting at $63.19

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 188 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A broad, and different, perspective on American history 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Recommended for two types of readers: 1) The person who wants to get an overview of U.S. history in one easy-to-read (but large) volume; and 2) those who, like myself, have read many American biographies and histories. We can benefit in at least two respects. First, we get to share a history of our nation as seen from an outsider's perspective. Second, we learn factual history that somehow never made it into the books we have read, perhaps because we, collectively, were not much interested.
My comment avoids political controversy, so I'll stick with the earlier portion of the book.
First, the beginnings of American slavery were brand new to me, and fascinating.
Second -- and as a Philadelphian news to me -- was Johnson's view of the northern colonies/States' support of slavery. Quakers in Barbados, rich from slave trading, moving to North America! news to me.
Especially appreciated was Johnson's discussion of the "thousand years of political traditions, inherited from England," which formed the basis of our Founding Fathers' political actions.
Johnson attributes to Madison's famous "We, the people" Lincoln's rationale for not permitting States to leave the Union.
And more, much more. Buy it. Enjoy it!
One word of warning: read cautiously; Johnson has some blunders, the funniest of which is calling Horatio Gates "Horatio Alger."

Great Speeches (Dover Thrift Editions)

Abraham Lincoln

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

His greatness humbles and uplifts us 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

There is something so moving , and even humbling about reading the words of Lincoln.
He is a politician of his time, and yet is above his time. He is a leader of the nation in the war to preserve the Union, yet he is compassionate and understanding of the defeated foe. He is a human being of great sympathy. And his words at Gettysburg are the most moving and profound statement made by an American about the essential meaning of the United States itself.
His greatness humbles and uplifts us.
This volume contains the essential words of the one who most Americans believe the greatest American of them all.

ONE MAN OF PRINCIPLE... 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Whatever else one may feel about President Lincoln (he has been both glorified as a martyr and demonized as an opponent of individual civil liberties), one cannot come away from this great little anthology of his speeches without seeing a principle-driven politician at his best. And the principle that we see driving Lincoln from his very earliest days through his final speeches (although by that time, preserving the Union had become an equally important theme) is that of the abolition of slavery.

Lincoln is clearly a man who believed in right and wrong. He sees slavery as the great evil of his day. From the beginning of his political involvement to the day he died, his speeches show him as a man determined to do away with this evil.

If only we had one man in our political arena as interested in principles today. We have'nt had one in our Federal Government since Paul Wellstone died. Too many are money and/or power driven rather than having any interest in principle.

I do not say this to despair.

I picked up my copy of this book this spring at the gift shop of the National Historic site for Lincoln's birthplace. Both the site (which is beautiful and well worth seeing if you're ever in Kentucky) and the book stand as testimonies to what one determined man of principles can do.

Read these speeches if you get a chance.

I recommend them highly.

Editorial Review:

Representative collection of 16 masterly orations, correspondence, including "House Divided" speech at the Republican State Convention (1858), the First Inaugural Address (1861), the Gettysburg Address (1863), the Letter to Mrs. Bixby (1864), expressing regret over the wartime deaths of her 5 sons, and the Second Inaugural Address (1865).

Great Shark Hunt, the (Picador Books)

Hunter S. Thompson

List Price: $37.20 By: MacMillan Amazon Marketplace: 20 new & used starting at $6.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Essential Hunter Thompson 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Much like Sony's "The Essential" series, which collected the greatest songs from the greatest musicians of the past century, "The Great Shark Hunt" is an anthology of the greatest of the Good Doctor's work from his peak period of the 60's and 70's.

Perhaps no other American writer captured the essence of that tumultous era better than Hunter S. Thompson. He was simultaneously of his time and above his time, and invented a new kind of journalism, dubbed "Gonzo." All objectivity was thrown out the window as the author thrust himself into the action of the stories he was reporting. Whether it was dropping acid at a police convention in Las Vegas, sabotaging the presidential bid of Ed Muskie, or running for sheriff of Aspen, Thompson's antics are legendary, and "The Great Shark Hunt" is a great way to get acquainted with the man and the writing for which he is best remembered.

Editorial Review:

America, with all its warts, lies naked under the laser-like scrutiny of legendary outlaw journalist and brilliant reporter Hunter S. Thompson. Fearlessly, he hurls himself into each assignment, gouges out the truth, then returns with a fresh story no one else on earth could write. From Nixon to napalm, Las Vegas to Watergate, Carter to cocaine, hippies to himself, Thompson's razor-sharp insight and crystal clarity capture the crazy, hypocritical, degenerate, and redeeming aspects of the explosive and colorful '60s and '70s. Thompson is a rebel and an artist, and we are all richer for it.
"No other reporter reveals how much we have to fear and loathe, yet does it so hilariously."
-- Chicago Tribune

1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance

Gavin Menzies

Amazon Price: $17.79 List Price: $26.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: William Morrow Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $13.94

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Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The New York Times bestselling author of 1421 offers another stunning reappraisal of history, presenting compelling new evidence that traces the roots of the European Renaissance to Chinese exploration in the fifteenth century

The brilliance of the Renaissance laid the foundation of the modern world. Textbooks tell us that it came about as a result of a rediscovery of the ideas and ideals of classical Greece and Rome. But now bestselling historian Gavin Menzies makes the startling argument that in the year 1434, China—then the world's most technologically advanced civilization—provided the spark that set the European Renaissance ablaze. From that date onward, Europeans embraced Chinese intellectual ideas, discoveries, and inventions, all of which form the basis of western civilization today.

Florence and Venice of the early fifteenth century were hubs of world trade, attracting traders from across the globe. Based on years of research, this marvelous history argues that a Chinese fleet—official ambassadors of the emperor—arrived in Tuscany in 1434, where they were received by Pope Eugenius IV in Florence. The delegation presented the influential pope with a wealth of Chinese learning from a diverse range of fields: art, geography (including world maps that were passed on to Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan), astronomy, mathematics, printing, architecture, steel manufacturing, military weaponry, and more. This vast treasure trove of knowledge spread across Europe, igniting the legendary inventiveness of the Renaissance, including the work of such geniuses as da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo, and more.

In 1434, Gavin Menzies combines this long-overdue historical reexamination with the excitement of an investigative adventure. He brings the reader aboard the remarkable Chinese fleet as it sails from China to Cairo and Florence, and then back across the world. Erudite and brilliantly reasoned, 1434 will change the way we see ourselves, our history, and our world.

Black Boy: A Record of Youth and Childhood

Richard Wright

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 156 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

incredible intelligence that can't be stopped. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The best autobiography EVER, in fact I am not even sure it should be called autobiography because it is much more than that for many reasons. Autobiographies are often flat and either self pitying or glorifying, but this one is completely at another level. I was so impressed by the brilliant mind that shines through all obsacles, and his writing is just so natural, logical and insightful, not just about his personal life experiences, but about human suffering, senseless oppression, and unyiedling human spirit. Wow!

Editorial Review:

At four years of age, Richard Wright set fire to his home; at five his father deserted the family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. Moved from home to home, from brick tenement to orphanage, he had had, by the age of twelve, only one year's formal education. It was in saloons, railroad yards and streets that he learned the facts about life under white subjection, about fear, hunger and hatred. Gradually he learned to play Jim Crow in order to survive in a world of white hostility, secretly satisfying his craving for books and knowledge until the time came when he could follow his dream of justice and opportunity in the north.

Abraham Lincoln (Library of America)

Don E. Fehrenba

List Price: $180.00 By: Routledge Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $78.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Leadership and Eloquence 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful.

This is the second volume of the Library of America Project devoted to the works of Abraham Lincoln. It covers the period after the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and includes many of the records of the Lincoln Presidency and the Civil War. The standard Lincoln materials are included, of course, such as the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Inauguaral Addresses. But there is immeasurably more. We see Lincoln writing to his Generals, Cabinet members, and other national leaders in his attempt to hold the Union together. We see a lincolns agonizing over military discipline and frequently pardoning deserting soldiers. We see Lincoln dealing with Indian issues in his day; and we see him supporting the use of black troops in the War effort. This volume is highly useful in uderstanding the Civil War. Equally important it teaches the nature of leadership and fortitude. Finally, Lincoln is one of our Nation's great prose writers and the book deserves reading for that reason alone. The Library of America is to be commended for this volume and for its ongoing series.

Editorial Review:

Lincoln measured the promise--and the cost--of American freedom in lucid and extraordinarily moving prose. Here are all the significant works, including the complete Lincoln-Douglas debates, dozens of speeches, hundreds of personal and political letters, communications to generals in the field, presidential messages and proclamations, poems, and private reflections on democracy, slavery, and the meaning of the Civil War's immense suffering.

There Are No Children Here

Alex Kotlowitz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 92 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The other America indeed 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Nice mix of anecdote and historical background on life in inner city America. Excellent insight into the everyday difficulties faced by families and some of the root causes. This book, though almost 20 years old, still has a message that needs to be heard.

There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I found this book both rewarding and disturbing at the same time but appreciated that it took me out of my middle class comfort zone and reminded me that there are social and cultural inequities that continue to cry out urgently for solutions.
Mr Kotlowitz has the ability to describe the lives of two young gentle souls who are raised as best their mother can against a system that tolerates, shamefully, physical surrounds and economic deprivations that most of us can only guess at.
The author narrates his observations as he follows the children around and describes how they deal with the life they are dealt and the heroics involved in order to do so over a two year period.
I think that the way we are shown how their loving mother has to go about her daily life should awaken in all of us a desire to help in any way we can, to find ways to ease the life of those who live in sub standard housing and the lack of more assistance to live a more comfortable and nurturing life.
Without tackling such issues, we continue to condemn our youngsters to a way of life that inhibits their potential and ingrains the social ills that contribute significantly to their development.
Mr Kotlowitz,in deciding to help those youngster personally, to give them the opportunity to study at a private school, whether they did or did not ultimately benefit from his generosity, is an example most of us can only dream about.
I highly recommend this book to all who may wish to gain insight into a class in our society that cries out for understanding and assistance.

Editorial Review:

This is the moving and powerful account of two  remarkable boys struggling to survive in Chicago's  Henry Horner Homes, a public housing complex  disfigured by crime and neglect.


From the Trade Paperback edition.