Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans by Lewis L. Gould

Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans
by Lewis L. Gould

This is as the title would suggest a history of the Republican Party from its roots as an abolitionist group of Northerners who constructed it off of the wreckage of the Wig Party.   That supported a tariff and internal improvements to the modern anti-government low taxes, Southern strategy using party we know today. Gould constructs his narrative around the presidential of ministrations he views to be the most important in describing the party. They are Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan. Perhaps the most surprising of those is Eisenhower. The case is made rather convincingly that he caused a break between the leadership of the party who wanted a more "East Coast" Republican as opposed to Southern/Midwestern where the parties base was. The bass taking their revenge by nominating Goldwater and Nixon. Unfortunately the other sections of the book often turn into fights with other historians as well as lists of individuals that he'd concedes have been forgotten today. Unfortunately he rarely explains why we should remember them. Only that they were important at one time or another.

What I found most interesting was the discussions of the various campaigns. How in the 1860s presidential candidates were actually looked down on if they gave public speeches. Which just wouldn't work today. Also that mudslinging isn't a recent development by any means.

Recommended.

The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 by Gene Allen Smith

The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812
by Gene Allen Smith

 A different book on the war of 1812. It deals with the decision of slaves to either find their freedom with the British or stay with the Americans. It also covers the attempts on both sides to arm them. There's also coverage of the conflict with Spain over parts of Florida. The fear with narratives such as this is that they turn into a list of anecdotes but fortunately that is not the case here. His conclusion that the success of the armed free man for the Americans and runaway slaves for the British increased southerners fears of a slave rebellion in the era between the conflict and the Civil War. Causing more restrictions to be put in place Makes sense.

Highly recommended.

Book was part of LibraryThing's early reviewer program.-

The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran by David Crist

The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran 

by David Crist

Over the last 40 years there has been a cold and occasionally hot war between the United States and Iran. This history is usually only discussed in academic or service journals. This is the first book that I am aware of that attempts to deal with the interaction between the two countries since the Iranian revolution as a whole. 

Not surprisingly, the book is mostly focused with Washington, D.C. and the various military and bureaucratic infighting about what to do about various Iranian actions. There are so many players discussed in the diplomatic intelligence and military spheres that it can be hard to keep them all straight, even for someone like me who has a deep interest in late 20^th century American politics. That criticism aside, the descriptions of the different groups’ views and the bureaucratic infighting is fascinating, at least to someone like me who took several political science courses. 

If you are more interested in combat and spy craft, you will not be disappointed. There are also detailed descriptions of the various engagements that the two nations have been involved in, mostly over the shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. 

One of his major points is that both countries—particularly at this stage during the Obama administration—are so paranoid towards the other that doing any sort of confidence building is probably impossible. Whenever one country wished to soften its stance towards the other, they would be pushed away. Naturally the roles will be reversed a few years later. So over the last generation this means that neither side is willing to take an olive branch put forward by the other seriously. In the future, this does not bode well, particularly with the conflict over the Iranian nuclear program. 

The book usually relies on American sources, although there seems to be a few from Iran, although, of course, it would not be possible to go in and do archival research in Tehran. So this isn’t going to be the last word on the topic by any means, but it is an excellent start and well worth your time if you are interested in the subject. 

Highly recommended.

 Note:This book was provided for review by the publisher.

Leak:why Mark Felt became Deep Throat by Max Holland

Leak : why Mark Felt became Deep Throat
by Max Holland

This book takes a different perspective on the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon than most.  It deals with the motivations of Mark Felt the FBI official who became famous as Deep Throat for his leaking of sensitive information to Woodward and Bernstein.  Instead of the myth that grew up around "Deep Throat" Holland argues convincingly that instead of being worried about the legality of Nixon's actions Felt was instead trying to undermine the current FBI director. Nixon was in many respects collateral damage which is ironic because Nixon was one of the few people who believed that the FBI should be led by someone who was a member of the organization.  As opposed to finding someone new who would reform the behemoth J. Edgar Hoover left after his death.

The book also looks at the reporting and legal investigations. Holland goes to great pains to demonstrate that Felt's material although useful was not critical to the breaking of the story and that the secrecy surrounding the identity of Deep Throat only became a major issue after the scandal.  This section of the creation of a myth I found particularly well done.

Highly recommended for those interested in American politics and the media.

Note:This book was provided for review by the publisher.

Legacy of a False Promise: A Daughter's Reckoning by Margaret Fuchs Singer

Legacy of a False Promise: A Daughter's Reckoning by Margaret Fuchs Singer this is a memoir of the 1950s. The authors father was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. He decided to name names. The narrative is two threads, first of these, the authors experiences growing up. The second the research she did later on both archival and interviews. I was perhaps not surprisingly to frequent viewers of this blog more interested in the research side of things. I'm not really sure what her boyfriend trying to fondle her addes to the narrative quite frankly.

Her father's decision to name names destroyed his career. He was fired from his position as a law professor. He found work inside the US government [thanks to the help of the committee], which was an interesting piece of irony. Nicely demonstrating that it really doesn't work to encourage people to come forward if they are confessing to things that will make them shunned by wider society. There's no incentive. The research uses up to date secondary sources and the FBI files and intelligence intercepts.

Recommended.

Note: this was provided for review by a PR outfit.

Deadly Force: Firearms and American Law Enforcement, from the Wild West to the Streets of Today by Chris McNab

Deadly Force: Firearms and American Law Enforcement, from the Wild West to the Streets of Today by Chris McNab describes the history of the use of guns by police throughout American history.  This is published by Osprey.  Before this my experience with them was solely based on the various short heavily illustrated titles on different military topics.  This is 300 pages with only 2 photo inserts and not a 3D computer generated map in sight.  McNab argues convincingly that throughout time there's been increasing professionalism and militarization of police use of force.  The development of swat teams in the 1960s and 1970s specifically.  He sometimes gets bogged down in describing events.  In the introduction he claims that he's just going to give the facts without moral judgments.  Unfortunately he repeatedly does exactly that.  Defending police use of force by pointing out that they were scared.  Strangely he doesn't consider that this also extends to the other individual involved.  This is certainly not the last word on the topic but it is an interesting place to start.

Recommended.

Note:This book was provided through Librarything's early reviewer Program.

Panic on Wall Street by Robert Sobel

Panic on Wall Street by Robert Sobel is an extensive history of crashes on American stock exchanges. There is material on 12 separate economic panics from the start of the Republic through 1987. Let's face it the sort of book is rather topical these days. Most of the coverage is on the 1873 crash and 1929 Great Depression. I was actually most interested in various incidents I hadn't heard of for instance closing down trading on the outbreak of the first world war. Many of the more colorful characters both captains of industry and charlatans are discussed in loving detail.

Sobel does occasionally use jargon without explaining it. There isn't a glossary of terms I had to search to get definitions. Considering this book is aimed at a general audience this seems to be an oversight. For the most part an excellent book on an intriguing subject. Contains notes and bibliography.

Highly recommended!

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell describes the author a contributor to NPR's obsession with the assassinations of American Presidents. The first three to be killed are dealt with Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. JFK is left out except for one or two small references. The argument in the text is that the first three were linked by Todd Lincoln being near to all three assassination sites. This seems a little forced. Vowell is trying to be funny. The humor isn't at least to me. The narrative itself is also very disjointed. It's laid out in chapters 1 for each assassination but it will bounce between the various narrative threads. It should be noted that she tries to link the McKinley administration with the current Bush presidency. Personally I didn't find the comparison all that egregious but it's caused some pretty severe frothing on the Amazon review page for the book. I did learn one or two things but the book comes off more like a piece of performance art then a the history or travelogue.

Not recommended!

Macarthurs War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero by Stanley Weintraub

Macarthurs War: Korea and the Undoing of an American Hero by Stanley Weintraub covers the first 11 months of the Korean War when General Douglas MacArthur was in command. Weintraub a lieutenant during the conflict paints McArthur as a schemer always looking for ways to expand his power at the expense of the Pentagon and the White House. There are intriguing parallels between MacArthurs failure at the beginning of World War II and at the outbreak of Korea. He seemed unable to grasp rapidly changing events. Weintraub complements McArthur for his grasp of military history and leadership but considers him a failure in the wider political sphere. For instance MacArthurs inability to understand that using the Nationalist Chinese would be a politically disastrous mistake. There is extensive research from archival and secondary sources.

Recommended!

Notes on Democracy by H. L. Mencken

Notes on Democracy by H. L. Mencken is a famous classic of American political criticism. Mencken today is usually known as a social critic with an acid tongue. His quips are frequently quoted by PJ O'Rourke and Paul Fussell. This slim book contains Mencken's views on the politics of the 1920s. He is particularly scathing where it comes to the mob, how they are stupid, superstitious and ignorant. Politicians must either whip up the mob as demagogues or be populists who follow the mobs every will. He has no real solution for this except the creation of a disinterested elite but there are no real explanations of how this would be accomplished. Mencken is somewhat a libertarian however he also criticizes the judiciary as being more interested in political expediency than the Constitution.

This new edition contains extensive endnotes that give short biographies and explanations of Latin and Greek terms. An introduction tries to put the work in context as well as giving biographical notes. I would've preferred that the explanatory notes had been footnotes at the bottom of the page instead of endnotes in the back.. Very thought provoking particularly in our post-9/11 world.

Highly recommended!

Note: this book was provided by the publisher for review.

Hurricane of Independence: The Untold Story of the Deadly Storm at the Deciding Moment of the American Revolution by Tony Williams

Hurricane of Independence: The Untold Story of the Deadly Storm at the Deciding Moment of the American Revolution by Tony Williams is well what the title says. Through the discussion of a hurricane the author discusses the outbreak of the American Revolution in the colony capitols affected [New Bern, Norfolk, Williamsburg, Annapolis, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston]. The hurricane being a historical event I had never heard of before. There's also discussion of a second hurricane that hit the Canadian Maritimes. I found the most interesting part to be on late 18th century science as it related to the study of "tempests". Sometimes it can be hard to realize just how bad technology was just a relatively short time ago. The structure of the book struck me as problematic. There are chapters on each capital that was affected. This means that the same information is often repeated. Like that warehouses near the ocean would be flooded.

I'm not really sure who the expected audience is for this. The writing style is a popular history. Some of the descriptive passages are particularly well done for the genre. There are endnotes and a bibliography. Discussion questions are also included. So possibly aimed at the textbook market for schools?

Mildly recommended.

Note: this book was provided through Mini Book Expo.

Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs

Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs is a popular history of the rather farcical attempt to land German guerrillas on the American coastline during the second world war. Not surprisingly for books of this genre there are the usual fictional flourishes which I guess I'm just going to have to accept.

The book traces the training of the agents, there transport in a U-boat, capture and execution. The legal challenges provide part of the Bush administration's reasoning behind Guantánamo Bay. I was expecting more references to current events there are only a few references at the end of the book.

Most interesting was the idea that apparently Hitler and his entourage actually thought they would be effective. Surprisingly the book argues that theoretically they could have crippled alumina production within the United States. Fortunately for the Americans the misfits selected weren't terribly competent and included one who betrayed the mission.

Interesting history on a current topic of interest

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers by Horace Kephart

Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers by Horace Kephart is part memoir part anthropological survey. First I should note that I was going to use this for Maggie's Southern reading challenge however the introduction informs me that the author was in fact born in Pennsylvania. So I'll substitute one of Shelby Foote's novels in its place.

Anyway back to the book. Kephart describes in great detail the society, customs and personalities of the Scotch Irish and Dutch that were [are?] the mountain people. The book was written in the early 20th century. He spent several years living with them.

There is extensive discussion of bootlegging. He seems to be trying to give a balanced look but much of what he tells us is positive. His criticisms are muted and often come with caveats. For instance his discussion of blood feuds. He argues that they were necessary because of lack of government control. However government control as extended through the excise on alcohol is called un-American in the chapter on bootlegging. He evidently had quite a bit of affection for the people. In my edition there is an excellent introduction that helps put the book into context.

Highly recommended a portrait of a historical curiosity.

Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among Northwest Coast Indians, by Robert Boyd

Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence: Introduced Infectious Diseases and Population Decline among Northwest Coast Indians, by Robert Boyd. That certainly is quite the title. There's coverage from California North to the Yukon border and from the late 18th century through the mid-19th. There are several diseases covered including smallpox, tuberculosis and even malaria. There were multiple outbreaks that swept through the various native groups. Most interesting was the various reactions including religion and scapegoating. The text is very dry. I get the feeling that Boyd is quite proud of all the research he's done so he's going to reference all of it. There are quite a few extensive quotations from primary sources which was nice. Explanatory footnotes accompany the text as well as general information on epidemiology and the various illnesses.

Recommended there's a lot of information here even if it is occasionally hard going.

Is available through Abebooks.