Book Description
This is the true story of America's first black dynasty. The years after the Civil War represented an astonishing moment of opportunity for African-Americans. The rush to build a racially democratic society from the ruins of slavery is never more evident than in the personal history of Blanche Kelso Bruce and his heirs.
Born a slave in 1841, Bruce became a local Mississippi sheriff, developed a growing Republican power base, amassed a real-estate fortune, and became the first black to serve a full Senate term. He married Josephine Willson, the daughter of a wealthy black Philadelphia doctor. Together they broke racial barriers as a socialite couple in 1880s Washington, D.C.
By befriending President Ulysses S. Grant, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and a cadre of liberal black and white Republicans, Bruce spent six years in the U.S. Senate, then gained appointments under four presidents (Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, and McKinley), culminating with a top Treasury post, which placed his name on all U.S. currency.
During Reconstruction, the Bruce family entertained lavishly in their two Washington town houses and acquired an 800-acre plantation, homes in four states, and a fortune that allowed their son and grandchildren to attend Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University, beginning in 1896.
The Senator's legacy would continue with his son, Roscoe, who became both a protégé of Booker T. Washington and a superintendent of Washington, D.C.'s segregated schools. When the family moved to New York in the 1920s and formed an alliance with John D. Rockefeller Jr., the Bruces became an enviable force in Harlem society. Their public battle to get their grandson admitted into Harvard University's segregated dormitories elicited the support of people like W. E. B. Du Bois and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and broke brave new ground for blacks of their day.
But in the end, the Bruce dynasty's wealth and stature would disappear when the Senator's grandson landed in prison following a sensational trial and his Radcliffe-educated granddaughter married a black Hollywood actor who passed for white.
By drawing on Senate records, historic documents, and the personal letters of Senator Bruce, Josephine, their colleagues, friends, children, and grandchildren, author Lawrence Otis Graham weaves a riveting social history that spans 120 years. From Mississippi to Washington, D.C., to New York, The Senator and the Socialite provides a fascinating look into the history of race and class in America.
Customer Reviews:
Intrigue and Disappointment.......2007-09-29
Lawrence Otis Graham's "The Senator and the Socialite" is an important work. Graham does a wonderful job of detailing the great accomplishments of Black-Americans - much of which you would not ordinarily hear about and should be proud of. However, I am saddened to learn the descendants of such an important historical figure (Senator Blanche K. Bruce) are ashamed of their Black-American heritage and now live as white people.
The Senator and the Socialite.......2007-09-10
I thought this was a slow starting book,but I ended up really liking the book. I learned so much. Well worth reading.
Review of The Senator and The Socialite.......2007-09-02
This is a wonderful documentation of early Black history. I would reccomend all Blacks to read it . Our children especially should be made aware of this History. I have given it to some of my friends and they are glad to add this bit of history to their knowledge. We have been given so much misinformation that it is great to find some truth in books such as this
An amazing account of the black elite in turn of the century America.......2007-07-30
This book chronicles the lives of Blanche and Josephine Bruce and their descendants who were the creme de la creme of the black elite during their time. Blanche was the first black senator elected to full term and his wife a well known socialite. Their son and his descendants went on to go to the most prestigious schools in the country and would create their own legacy though not always a positive one. The book also explores how the black elite in DC wielded great power and prestige at a time when a majority of blacks couldn't even exercise the right to vote. It also explores how racism played a role in all aspects of life and that it wasn't just white on black but rich, elite, lighter skinned blacks against poor, dark skinned blacks. Despite the obstacles the Bruce family became the toast of Washington DC and were friends with personalities such as Booker T. Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglass and many other celebrities of the time period. The meteoric rise of this once prestigious family unfortunately plummeted during the early twentieth century. A must read for those wanting to learn just how important the black elite was at this time in America's history.
the senator and the socialite: true story of first blk dynasty.......2007-03-10
this bk brought to life a part of blk history that i was unaware of. i did know that all blks were not slaves but i had no idea they were republicans (initially) and that quite a few were wealthy. it is great to know that during that period in amer. hist. ( perhaps the worst pd. ever) blk people were educated, rich, intelligent and socially accepted. i do regret to know, however that old money and being light skin and light enough to pass for white, runs hand in hand.
Amazon.com
"Today [Joseph McCarthy] exists in most people's imagination almost solely as an established icon of evil," writes biographer Arthur Herman. His very name has become an epithet: McCarthyism. Yet Herman believes it's time to reexamine the legacy, and in a brave, eponymously titled biography, he argues persuasively that "McCarthy was making a good point badly." Communism represented "a massive and intractable security problem" for the United States during the 1940s and 1950s; furthermore, "Democratic administrations had been unconscionably lax in dealing with an internal Communist threat." Herman doesn't mean to excuse McCarthy's recklessness--only to offer a balanced portrait of the man and his times. Joseph McCarthy simply couldn't have been written before the late 1990s--partly because the subject still stirs fiery passions, but also because Herman makes use of archival material that only became available after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His reassessment will no doubt be met with scorn by many leftists: "McCarthy was always a more important figure to American liberals than to conservatives. The nightmarish image of his heavy, swarthy, sweaty features haunted the imaginations of thousands of anti-anti-Communists throughout the fifties and sixties." Herman usefully points out that McCarthy actually had nothing to do with many aspects of the anti-Communist activities commonly grouped together under the label of McCarthyism, including the House Un-American Activities Committee, probes into Hollywood politics, and university blacklisting. (He also humanizes his subject: Did you know McCarthy was "a minor figure in the Kennedy circle," even dating two of the Kennedy daughters and becoming godfather to Bobby and Ethel's first child?) In the end, Herman offers an outstanding, cool-headed, and much-needed reappraisal of a poorly understood man. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Was Joe McCarthy a bellicose, shameless witch-hunter who whipped up hysteria, ruined the reputation of innocents, and unleashed a destructive carnival of smears and guilt-by-association accusations? Were McCarthy and McCarthyism the worst things to happen to American politics in the postwar era?
Or was McCarthy just a well-intentioned politician who seized a legitimate issue with the fervor of a true believer?
Perhaps something in between. For the first time, here is a biography of Joe McCarthy that cuts through the clichés and misconceptions surrounding this central figure of the "red scare" of the fifties, and reexamines his life and legacy in the, light of newly declassified archival sources from the FBI, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Congress, the Pentagon, and the former Soviet Union. After more than four decades, here is the untold story of America's most hated political figure, shorn of the rhetoric and stereotypes of the past.
Joseph McCarthy explains how this farm boy from Wisconsin sprang up from a newly confident postwar America, and how he embodied the hopes and anxieties of a generation caught in the toils of the Cold War. It shows how McCarthy used the explosive issue of Communist spying in the thirties and forties to challenge the Washington political establishment and catapult himself into the headlines. Above all, it gives us a picture of the red scare far different from and more accurate than the one typically portrayed in the news media and the movies.
We now know that the Communist spying McCarthy fought against was amazingly extensive -- reaching to the highest levels of the White House and the top-secret Manhattan Project. Herman has the facts to show in detail which of McCarthy's famous anti-Communist investigations were on target (such as the notorious cases of Owen Lattimore and Irving Peress, the Army's "pink dentist") and which were not (including the case that led to McCarthy's final break with Whittaker Chambers). When McCarthy accused two American employees of the United Nations of being Communists, he was widely criticized -- but he was right. When McCarthy called Owen Lattimore "Moscow's top spy," he was again assailed -- but we now know Lattimore was a witting aid to Soviet espionage networks. McCarthy often overreached himself. But McCarthy was often right.
In Joseph McCarthy, Arthur Herman reveals the human drama of a fascinating, troubled, and self-destructive man who was often more right than wrong, and yet in the end did more harm than good.
Customer Reviews:
EXCELLENT BOOK.......2007-07-04
Thoroughly researched and excellently written, this book is a great read.
It gives a distinct picture of Joe McCarthy, and also educates the reader about the events occurring.
GRADE: A++
McCarthy's cause vindicated with good scholarship.......2006-09-25
An excellent book and invaluable for understanding this pivotal cold war episode - the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
McCarthy, on the heels of the Hiss Case in late 1949, started asking, loudly and publicly, what the administration knew about Communists in the State Department and other sensitive places, and what it was doing about it. For the next four years, and particularly after gaining the chair of a Senate investigation subcommittee, McCarthy bore down on this issue, attracting millions of followers who believed in his mission, but also making enemies among the intelligentsia, among elites threatened by McCarthy's populist style, among liberals who saw Communists as ideological allies. McCarthy's own missteps, and those of aide Roy Cohn, helped bring down his career and blacken his name. But only in recent decades has newly declassified intelligence information shown he was more or less on the right track.
It is important to remember the context of the times. The Soviets had ended any illusions about democracy in Eastern Europe. China had fallen to Mao. Manhattan Project spies had given the Russians the atomic bomb and in 1949 they detonated their first. The Korean War began in 1950. Communism was seeking to establish its influence in the developing world. The Cold War was heating up, the U.S. seemed to be losing, but meanwhile the Truman administration didn't seem to want to know about potential traitors in their midst.
Some of the best chapters here focus on historical context rather than McCarthy himself. Herman recreates the Popular Front days of the 1930s, when Communists successfully infiltrated many liberal organizations or duped liberals into joining Communist front groups. In the "Who Lost China?" debate, Communist-influenced diplomats tweaked U.S. policy to finish Chaing on Mao's behalf. And Herman renders a fine consideration of McCarthy's effect on politics between then and now, including the death and rebirth of conservatism, the death of the liberal establishment with the Vietnam War, and the Popular Front's rebirth as the New Left.
History reads quite differently from the liberal conventional wisdom when the then-secret Venona Decrypts or only-recently-availaible KGB files are factored in. Virtually no one McCarthy exposed was innocent. Today's conventional wisdom mistakenly regards Communist ties then as no more than an expression of dissent, a sympathy for the underdog. The CW fails to recognize that it was a lifelong commitment - more like being in the Mafia or a religious cult - where one swore fealty to a foreign and hostile power, created discord to destabilize one's own society, and sometimes aided spies and traitors.
Herman does not spare McCarthy's faults - his drinking, his judgment-impairing mania, his too-trusting reliance upon Cohn. He shows how McCarthy destroyed himself, such as his fit of pique during the televised Army vs. McCarthy hearings, where he reneged on a deal not to expose the Communist-front involvement of one of opposition counsel Joseph Welch's aides.
Those close to him knew the youngest senator was not the best person for this job. He was too raw, too impulsive and too unschooled in Washington's ways. But the way he saw it, no one else was doing it and the job needed to be done.
McCarthy became undeservedly vilified. No one went to jail because of him. He didn't kill anyone. Unlike dissidents in Communist states, those questioned by him were protected by due process of law and had legal counsel. McCarthy was performing quintessential Congressional oversight - shining the bright light of publicity on dark spots within the administration, to influence change through the bringing of social pressure. McCarthy often held closed hearings, when the publicity of open hearings would have helped him more, to protect witnesses or those they testified about from being smeared. His questioning style was tough but typical of a courtroom. And the government really did have Communists buried in its bowels, often with access to sensitive information, with an administration too often unwilling to act.
Herman highlights some amazing ironies of McCarthyism:
--The truest single victim of "McCarthyist attacks", someone railroaded and hounded to death in sham hearings, was McCarthy himself. Liberal journalists with little regard for the truth smeared him, and frequently.
--The executive privilege so loathed by liberals when Nixon claimed it during Watergate, was pioneered by Eisenhower expressly to stonewall McCarthy. That marked the beginning of "the imperial presidency" and decline of Congessional oversight which liberals particularly often decry - sentiments with which McCarthy himself actually agreed.
--Bobby Kennedy's well-received Congressional investigations of the Mafia and labor racketeering in the late 1950s used the identical tactics he had learned working for McCarthy, and for which McCarthy was condemned.
--The Kennedys were not only McCarthy allies, but refused to go along with the rest of Congress in abjuring him. John Kennedy scheduled surgery so that he would not be present for the vote to censure McCarthy, while Bobby discreetly attended McCarthy's funeral in Wisconsin.
--The New Left, born in 1962, was explicitly an attempt to revive Communist activity in the United States, minus the Soviet ties. The biggest purveyors of the "paranoid style" in American politics, a term often tied to McCarthy, has actually been the left, with its dark vision of a world dominated by a malign U.S. government and its all-powerful corporate allies.
This book is one of the major sources for Ann Coulter's bestselling "Treason". Coulter's polemics rouse her base but may alienate even the undecided. Herman's evenhanded tone and treatment of the subject matter, though, do credit to his work, which lends a measure of vindication to McCarthy's short but searing political career. He continues to be vilified today, through movies such as "Good Night and Good Luck". Hollywood wants to keep history's spotlight on McCarthyism, but you get the idea that's mostly to keep us from looking where our attention belongs - on what McCarthy sought to expose.
Terrific book.......2006-03-03
Professor Herman does a great job in clarifying the real story of the so-called McCarthy era. Most books and movies rehash the same tired line: innocent Americans were persecuted by witch-hunting Congressional investigators. Herman shows that was not the case. As he points out, no one was deprived of legal counsel or of their Fifth Amendment rights. The McCarthy era was far more benign than the administrations of Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson, where Americans were jailed by the thousands for speaking out against the government.
Herman makes a vital point: McCarthy was concerned only with investigating Communist subversions among government employees. He had nothing to do with the Hollywood investigations. Herman makes an even more important point, one that is the heart of his book. There was a massive infestation of Communists in the government. The Truman state department did a horrible job doing background checks on government employees. McCarthyism was not, as most historians have said, a withchunt against innocent liberals. There was a legitimate problem with Communist subversion, and McCarthy was destroyed for trying to do something about it.
Herman freely admits McCarthy made errors of judgment. He also points out McCarthy was often right. I wish more Americans would read this book. What people think they know just isn't so.
A much needed balanced account of Joe McCarthy and his "ism".......2005-10-01
"Received wisdom" places Senator Joseph R.McCarthy(1908-1957)only a few notches below the likes of Hitler and Stalin in the pantheon of great political villains of the twentieth century.The fabled "visiting Martian" might find this hard to understand.While Stalin,Hitler and co waded thru the blood of the millions of victims of their tyranny,Senator McCarthy never killed anyone,never started any wars,never even had anyone put in jail! He did once drunkenly assault columnist Drew Pearson in a tender spot though! The Martian would doubtless have his amazement compounded by the knowledge that McCarthy spent his career opposing communism,a despotic totalitarian political system,responsible for countless deaths and vicious oppression across the world,setting himself against those in his own country who sought to serve the interests of foreign communist regimes and who eagerly wished to overturn the US political system in favor of the communist one.
This biography by Arthur Herman,seeks to explain the "how and why" of Joe McCarthy,the man,his career,the political context in which he operated,and the Senator's legacy.This is a broadly sympathetic picture of the the Senator and his "crusade".The only similar pro-McCarthy biographies before Herman which I am aware of,are those by Joe's friends and colleagues-William F.Buckley and Brent Bozell(1954)and Roy Cohn(1968).Biographers who have tended to "have the floor" on McCarthy,are Richard Rovere(1959)and heavyweight writer Thomas C.Reeves(1982).The latters biography has probably been seen as the "standard" one up to now(admirers of the Reeves take on McCarthy might not be so pleased about his later demolition job biography of liberal icon Jack Kennedy!)
Herman has the advantage in having access to intelligence material de-classified in the US(especially the "Venona" documents),and the Soviet archives opened after the fall of communism.This allows a much fairer assessment of the period,and McCarthy's career,grounded in solid research.
Here we see that the so-called "Red scare" of the 40's and 50's,far from being based in unjustified hysterical paranoia,exploited by seedy political operators like McCarthy,Jenner,McCarran and co,was a response to a subversive threat which was all too real.Soviet spies and agents of influence-many directly in league with Russian intelligence, were working within the heart of the American political and cultural establishment,secretly promoting communism at home and overseas.It was indeed "a conspiracy so immense"(McCarthy's words),which had seen,for example,the widespread entry of communist agents into highly influential positions within Roosevelt's Democratic administration,often with access to classified material which they passed on to Moscow.Stalin was allowed to swallow up large chunks of "liberated" Europe,China fell to Mao and communist North Korea invaded the capitalist South-all this seemingly with US acquiescence.Those,such a Whittaker Chambers(a former communist agent),who had warned the authorities what was happening in their midst,were largely ignored or ridiculed by a complacent administration and a "liberal"leaning press.It was only when the revelations surfaced about Alger Hiss,that a reluctant establishment was forced to at least look seriously at the issue.However it was generally the "outsiders"-poiitical mavericks like Richard Nixon and J.Parnell Thomas of The Un-American Activities Committee(HUAC) and Senators like McCarthy and William E.Jenner-who forced the issue to the forefront of politics.Many of the political and media elite found men like McCarthy "vulgar"-rowdy and unsympathetic.Unlike(say)the Soviet agent from Harvard,Alger Hiss,who they initially championed,farm boy Joe McCarthy was not "one of them".
The idea of a reign of terror by "redhunters" is seen to be a misleading exaggeration-in fact it was often more "respectable" and acceptable in many circles to be opposed to the likes of McCarthy than be for him-there was massive hostility in much of the press,and among the political and legal elite(though Joe did,of course have his cheerleaders too-notably in the Hearst papers and among veterans groups).The CBS TV network could still run a breathtakingly unbalanced attack on McCarthy by Ed Murrow on "See it now"(mythologized by Hollywood at the moment in "Goodnight and good luck"),at the height of "McCarthyism"(this term itself-significantly-was coined by McCarthy's target,the academic Owen Lattimore-a State Department advisor on China,who did much to promote the cause of the murderous maniac Mao and his communists in the United States)
Herman does not shrink from identifying McCarthy's faults and failings-he was a heavy drinker(it killed him),had a volatile temper,often didn't do adequate research,exaggerated,lied(which politician has not?),was a publicity hound who loved to be in the headlines,and was prone to serious errors of judgement(the biggest being over his blind faith in the Chief Counsel to his Senate Committee,Roy M.Cohn-this directly led to his downfall).But we are given a portrait here far removed from the one dimensional ogre of legend-McCarthy was basically kindly,he didn't tend to hold grudges(Drew Pearson excepted!),even when it came to his biggest political enemies like Secretary of State Dean Acheson(meeting Acheson in an elevator,McCarthy shot out his hand saying "Hi Dean!"-Acheson,coldly furious,stiffly ignored Joe,a reaction which left the Senator genuinely puzzled).His methods could be clumsy and his manner harsh(though no more than other government investigators in other areas),yet he was often right about his targets.In this context,Herman looks carefully at some of McCarthy's best known "victims" like George C. Marshall(so insouciant in allowing pro-communist advisors to guide him into effectively handing millions of Chinese to Mao),Owen Lattimore,Irving Peress and Annie Lee Moss.Even the notorious 1954 Army case(known as the "Army-McCarthy hearings")-which would destroy him politically and eventually personally-shows McCarthy was quite justified in launching his probe into Army "leaks",and came to grief thanks to his unreliable subordinates(especially Roy Cohn),his unfortunate television image and style(in contrast to his slippery unctious adversary,Army counsel Joseph Welch)and because he had taken on the massed ranks of a jittery political establishment(Democrat and Republican-including President Eisenhower),which finally decided to unite against him.
McCarthy's last years were a miserable record of political oblivion,heroic boozing(he became a hopeless alcoholic)and poor health.Ignored by the press(which was especially hard to take)and fair weather friends-only a few stuck by him such as Bill Jenner,Roy Cohn and notably Bobby Kennedy(who briefly worked for Joe and liked him)-McCarthy died of liver disease,still in his 40's.Yet when he passed away,even his inveterate enemy and victim Drew Pearson expressed genuine regret.
McCarthy-"Misunderstood" Senator.......2005-09-12
I have never read a biography of Joe McCarthy. Most of what I have always heard about him and his career has been quite negative (i.e. the blacklists, "commie" trials etc.) To be sure, Joseph McCarthy could not have been the only man involved in the blacklisting and destruction of so many reputations of politicians, artists, scientists etc. We would be giving McCarthy the man way too much credit (and from the book, it is clear that he was not all that capable.)
However, the book never looks at anything in McCarthy's career (beyond his work in the commitees investigating alleged members of the communist party or communist sympathizers.) As a man who was a senator (and supposedly working on behalf of his contituents in Wisconsin) one would think that there would be more. Mr. Herman does not discuss this. I would have liked to know what Joe McCarthy did, as a seator, for the people in the state of Wisconsin!!
In my opinion, Mr. Herman's book is a defense of Joe McCarthy, period. He does not write as an impartial observer, using the many primary and secondary sources as a historian should. There were many times in the course of the book where Mr. Herman seems to rant and interject his own subjective views about McCarthy or his era (i.e. page 90), rather than letting the evidence and his sources speak for themselves. In this way, the writing was disappointing.
Did I learn about Joe McCarthy and his era? Absolutely. However, Mr. Herman seems more desperate about getting his own conservative agenda across than writing a true and balanced history of that time.
Average customer rating:
- It gets only a little better
- Not much suspense, but interesting plot
- Don't "listen" to other reviews-read it for yourself!
- Superficial character, unimpressive plot
- Karen--where are your morals??
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The Senator's Wife
Karen Robards
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0385310404
Release Date: 1998-01-12 |
Amazon.com
Ronnie likes the idea of being Senator Lewis Honneker's wife a whole lot more than she actually likes being married to him. She loves the power, the prestige, and of course the wealth and all of the comforts and beautiful things that he provides. But Ronnie is acutely lonely. Her husband is not the man she thought he was, and although long accustomed to it, Ronnie despises the strain of the campaign trail--especially the constant facade and total lack of privacy.
If those problems weren't enough, Lewis's voters despise Ronnie. As the younger, sexy, second wife, the senator's loyal constituency think that Ronnie broke up his first marriage. Because Lewis is up for reelection, expert political consultant Tom Quinlan is brought in to change Ronnie's image. He finds the task to be far more of a challenge then he expected--not only because Ronnie is difficult to direct, but also because the two can't keep their hands off each other. When the senator is found murdered and Ronnie is accused of the crime, only Tom believes she is innocent. The two work together to uncover the senator's sordid secrets.
Book Description
New York Times bestseller Karen Robards reaches new heights with this sizzling new novel in which one woman finds unexpected love against the unforgiving backdrop of political life, where a private affair can quickly become a public matter.
Ronnie Honneker is the senator's wife--his second wife. The Honorable Lewis Honneker, a man twice her age, is wealthy, successful, and revered by voters in his home state of Mississippi. What the public doesn't know is that this pillar of the community is fond of engaging in casual indiscretions. Now he's running for re-election and his young wife is expected to stand by him. Though scorned as the woman who broke up the senator's first marriage, Ronnie does her best to promote her husband's re-election campaign. But she never would have guessed that marriage to a wealthy man could be so lonely. The glamour of political life can't make up for the emptiness deep in her heart, a dark space she fears will never be full.
Until political strategist Tom Quinlan enters the picture.
Solid, quietly handsome, the southern boy-next-door, Quinlan prides himself on his work, never mixing business with pleasure. Called in to enhance the senator's campaign, he finds his biggest challenge in Ronnie as he struggles to make her appear less glamorous and more likable to the voting public. To him, Ronnie is a job. A routine assignment. So why does he find himself unable to stop thinking about her? Her fiery hair, her long, perfectly muscled legs, those inviting chocolate-brown eyes? Tom has never allowed himself to surrender to such feelings. . . until now.
Ronnie never expected to find love again, and certainly not with a man like Tom Quinlan. But she can't fight the pull that Tom has on her as he awakens feelings in her body that she'd thought were gone forever. And she knows the tempers that flare between them are only a cover for their barely contained passions. Together they discover that love and politics are uneasy bedfellows as they contend with their burgeoning attraction to each other, a swarm of snooping reporters, and a public growing increasingly suspicious of their relationship.
When the senator mysteriously dies in the midst of a sticky scandal, Ronnie and Tom must answer to the growing rumors of their love, and clear themselves of any guilt in his death. Realizing it would be easier to keep up appearances, they take the ultimate political gamble and risk everything for each other. But as the stakes rise, they learn that they must watch their backs.
And follow their hearts.
Customer Reviews:
It gets only a little better.......2007-09-28
This is the first of Robards books I've read and it will likely be my last. Her 'heroine' isn't at all likeable. Her greed drove her to marry a man old enough to be her father who was a known philanderer. Actually, almost everyone in this novel commits adultery. And constantly telling us how gorgeous the 'heroine' is and how every man wants to jump her bones does nothing to make her likeable.
The book gets a little better when it FINALLY addresses the suspense part of the plot but leaves out a great deal of detail and is fairly predictable. I selected this author because it sounded like she had a good track record but I fail to see how.
Not much suspense, but interesting plot.......2005-10-26
Political consultant Tom Quinlan is hired by the father of his former college pal, a well-connected senator, to inject some life into his sagging campaign and make Ronnie, the senator's second and much younger wife more voter friendly. Ronnie lived a life of poverty with little love. When she grew up, she decided the only way to marry was to a powerful and wealthy man, so her sad childhood would not repeat itself. At first dazzled by he husband, she soon finds that his eye continues to wander, and they have fallen into a loveless marriage of convenience.
Tom immediately finds areas that they can improve Ronnie's image - in her style of clothing, speech delivery, and softening of her appearance. One thing he does not count on is falling for her, and being subsequently drawn into a dramatic murder investigation. After giving Ronnie an ultimatum, she considers giving up her wealth for love, but is it too little too late?
There is plenty of steamy romance, and a little suspense, but the bad guy is pretty apparent once he is introduced. Not Robard's greatest suspense novel, but still a good read nonetheless.
Don't "listen" to other reviews-read it for yourself!.......2003-06-24
I read the reviews and then read the book afraid that this was going to be one that I put down before finishing. But I didn't come out with the same results as other reviewers. Ronnie was raised in a poor, torn-up family, with little love. She set the goals of marrying wealthy so she would never have to do without again. She was even careful with her reputation and didn't date just anybody. In her college years she met a wealthy older man that had it all. His first marriage had had problems and was in its final stage (all that was left was signing the papers). He offered Ronnie a job in his political arena and started pursuing her heavily. Finding out that it was going to take marriage before he could get her in bed he made the offer. Marriage! Thinking he would have a young, beautiful, "trophy" wife. He continued having other woman, though. By their third year Ronnie was on longer giving him rights to her bed due to his other affairs. Divorce wasn't a question, though, due to her husband's political career for re-election. A 2nd divorce would ruin his chance for re-election.
I do feel that KR made her characters rather shallow for the reader, not giving us enough information to feel some warm for them. But I did not come away feelig like other readers did about Ronnie and Tom. Ronnie was young & beautiful, with her guard up since she was the 2nd wife, accused of breaking up a marriage (though it was on the rocks before she even showed up). She thought having material things and money would feel the void of love until she found someone that showed her kindness and later on love. Remember (if you have already read it), that Ronnie had not reached out to any other man during her marriage until Tom came on the scene. So she was trying to deal with it.
Tom was hired by Ronnie's husband as a campaign adviser to help get his campaign back on track. He, himself, was in the process of rebuilding his business with his partner and was good at his business. He started working with Ronnie, seeing right off a woman that was being treated harshly by the public as well as being alone in her private life. He reached out to her with lust in his mind when they first got together sexually- but then it turned into love, realizing that they cared for each other. Doesn't that happen in a lot of relationships?
Then there is the murder of the senator and Ronnie is accused of doing it. It turns into a "who done it" story. It's not the best I have read, but it sure isn't the worse, either. I really wanted to judge it with a 3 1/2 stars but felt bad about all of the other low reviews that I went with a 4 stars. Read it for yourself and see what you think!
Superficial character, unimpressive plot.......2003-01-06
Ronnie must be the most unlikeable character of all the Karen Robards books that I have read. The author kept highlighting how incredibly beautiful and sexy Ronnie was that all men were drawn to her like bees to honey. However, beyond the surface, she was selfish, vain, snobbish, materialistic and displayed a questionable level of intelligence and common sense. There was little character development of how she attracted Tom, except through dressing up sexily and flirting shamelessly. All I could see was that Ronnie was irresistible to the organ on the lower part of Tom's body. She found herself pitiful that there was no love in her marriage, that her husband was sleeping around from the first day of their marriage. Come on! Ronnie did not marry the Senator for love in the first place! She tried to believe that her husband loved her so that it would be less unpalatable to marry him for money. So there was nothing to lament about, she got what she wanted. But Ronnie wanted more from the bargain, she wanted good sex and love but still wanted to enjoy the glamorous lifestyle and money of being the Senator's wife. I really despised her so much that I didn't think she deserved to get what she had in the end.
Tom had the potential to be a real intelligent, magnetic and sexy character. But the author failed to demonstrate how good he was as a political consultant, worse, he appeared to just fall for Ronnie for her looks and body, not to mention his double standard with his wife's adultery and his partner's fling.
All the unmoral and irresponsible actions were almost justified because the characters fell in love with each other. I failed to see love between them other than lust. All I could say that perhaps they really deserved each other, very superficially. For a relationship which lust formed the basis, the sex scenes were unimaginative and stale. If the author decided to write a trashy book, at least make it hot and erotic.
The plot was very amateurish, especially coming from Karen Robards. The sub plot of the murder on board the ship was distracting and converged with the main story too late and too weakly. I always love her books but this one was too disappointing. My advice is: give this book a miss.
Karen--where are your morals??.......2002-09-09
I don't want to sound like an fuddy-duddy, but how can readers sympathize with a woman who has no compunction whatsoever about cheating on her husband and endangering the career of her lover in the process? How can anyone like a hero who cheats with the wife of an old family friend, endangers his own and his partner's business with the affair, and admits to having cheated on his previous wife with no legitimate reason? Yes, there were some very sexy scenes in this novel, but there's no real love between the two main characters. If Ronnie wasn't great looking, what would Tom see in her? I kept asking myself that question as I read and came up with nothing. She's a gold-digger plain and simple. She acted irresponsibly and childish in her pursuit of Tom.
Sorry, Karen, but this one is just hard to stomach.
Book Description
Book 12 in the Brides of Montclair series brings the era of the Roaring Twenties for the younger generations of the Montrose and Cameron clans. This is a Lightning Source, Inc. print-on-demand title and can be ordered only from Spring Arbor Distributors by calling 800-395-5599. International Customers please call 615-793-5000 ext. 24882 or fax at 615-213-5720.
Customer Reviews:
love continues for the Montrose and Cameron families.......2000-07-27
In this chapter of Peart's Brides of Montclair series, the next generation of the Montroses and Camerons are looking for love and fulfillment. The Montrose children, who have been split up since the untimely death of their mother on the Titanic, finally reunite at the home of their grandmother in Virginia. The youngest, Bryanne, who has not seen her father, grandmother, sister, or brother in the ten years since her mother's death, is deeply disappointed that her father and brother are not interested in forming a stronger relationship, and she is very hurt when her wayward artist father leaves once again. Only her relationship with older sister Lynette is renewed and becomes stronger than ever. Both sisters experience their first loves, Lynette with an up-and-coming senatorial candidate, and Bryanne, with the handsome Irish groom. Their cousin-uncle Scott Cameron, editor of the local newspaper, decides to endorse Lynette's fiance Frank, not knowing that his old friend, war-hero Kip Montrose, has also decided to throw his hat into the race. Kip's aggressive campaign is suddenly halted, however, by the sudden and near-fatal illness of his son Luc. In the meantime, Jillian, Bryanne's English companion, finds herself drawn to Scott, and Crystal, a New York photographer, is hopelessly attracted to Kip. Kip, however, is torn once again between Scott's sisters, twins Kitty and Cara, both now attractive widows with a new maturity and wisdom that comes from the trials that they have experienced. On top of the varying love interests in this book, the underlying tension between the Montrose children's grandmothers, Garnet and Blythe, which has been a part of the last several books, finally comes to the surface in Senator's Bride. The Brides of Montclair is a great series, and my only complaint about these books is that Peart should have put a comprehensive family tree in each one so that I can keep these rather complicated Montrose/Cameron relationships straight, especially when a good bit of time elapses before I read the next installment. Senator's Bride was a great Christian romance; I recommend it and the entire series to anyone who likes this type of book.
Book Description
This powerful story documents the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of extraordinary navy corpsman George Wahlen. After decades of silence, this survivor of one of World War II's most horrific battles divulges the gritty details of his incredible experiences. Upon landing with a company of 250 marines, Wahlen fought alongside them. Under repeated grenade and mortar fire himself, Wahlen refused evacuation, preferring to aid those he perceived to be in greater danger. Witnesses of his heroics remain dumbfounded he survived, and while his incredible feats of bravery saved countless marines, the intensity of the battle left few men of the company unscathed—they suffered the highest killed-in-action ratio of any marine company during a single battle in U.S. history. The significance of his story lies in the historic context of the battle for Iwo Jima; while many remember the iconic flag-raising photograph captured during this conflict, few realize the battle was the most costly of World War II for America. After receiving a Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman in 1945, Wahlen has been the quintessential quiet hero, refusing the adulation usually bestowed on nationally recognized veterans.
Download Description
This powerful story documents the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of extraordinary navy corpsman George Wahlen. After decades of silence, this survivor of one of World War II's most horrific battles divulges the gritty details of his incredible experiences. Upon landing with a company of 250 marines, Wahlen fought alongside them. Under repeated grenade and mortar fire himself, Wahlen refused evacuation, preferring to aid those he perceived to be in greater danger. Witnesses of his heroics remain dumbfounded he survived, and while his incredible feats of bravery saved countless marines, the intensity of the battle left few men of the company unscathed-they suffered the highest killed-in-action ratio of any marine company during a single battle in U.S. history. The significance of his story lies in the historic context of the battle for Iwo Jima; while many remember the iconic flag-raising photograph captured during this conflict, few realize the battle was the most costly of World War II for America. After receiving a Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman in 1945, Wahlen has been the quintessential quiet hero, refusing the adulation usually bestowed on nationally recognized veterans.
Customer Reviews:
This book Says it all! Navy Corpsmen Rock!.......2007-08-17
The book tells the story of a Hospital Corpsman who was thrust into the bloodiest battle in the Pacific. It was well written and really explained the horrors of what a Navy Corpsman has to go through to do his job. To keep as many Marines at as many guns for as long as possible. Armed with only a 45 and his vast ability to operate under extreme fire and his limited medical skills Pharmacist Mate Second Class George E. Wahlen shows us readers in the highest way possible what it means to be a US Navy Corpsman! Warning! Once you pick up this book you won't be able to put it down!
Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue.......2007-04-11
George E. Wahlen was born in Utah on August 8, 1924. By February, 1945, George would be many miles from his beloved family and friends. He was stationed on a remote volcanic island in the Western Pacific. In the two weeks that George was on the island, he would distinguish himself many times and earn the respect of his fellow men. The name of the island was Iwo Jima, and George served as a Marine combat medic.
In his younger days, George dreamed of becoming an aircraft mechanic, but his father refused to let him enlist in the Army. So, George volunteered to be drafted. He was sent to California for basic training, where he was trained as a medic. Despite his love of repairing airplanes, he quickly adjusted to his new role as a medic and he became proficient in his new job.
As time passed, George's unit continued to train for combat, and the training became more and more difficult. Eventually, George's unit was sent to the island of Guam to prepare for the invasion of Iwo Jima. George's unit landed on D-Day, which was February 19, 1945. For the next two weeks, George spent his time tending to wounded Marines, all the while ignoring his own safety. He faced numerous Japanese mortar attacks, banzai charges, and infantry raids, but he never ignored the call of a wounded comrade. During one action, while wounded himself, he stayed in the field of fire for over twenty minutes tending to wounded Marines. During this time, he managed to save fourteen men who might otherwise have died. Another time, again while wounded, he crawled on his stomach for over fifty yards to drag a wounded Marine to safety. These selfless acts of bravery quickly earned George the respect of his fellow men. His superiors took note of his actions as well, for on September 14, 1945, George received the Navy Cross and the Gold Star. Then on October 5, 1945, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman.
George didn't retire from the armed forces after receiving his awards. Instead, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. He retired from military service on August 11, 1969. Not many servicemen served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. George E. Wahlen did.
As a fan of World War II history, and especially the battle of Iwo Jima, I was very impressed with this book. I have always enjoyed reading about the lives of militaty personnel, and this book does a remarkable job in describing the heroics of one of the numerous individuals who won the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima. Author Gary W. Toyn writes with a style that places the reader at the forefront of the battle with George as he's tending to his wounded comrades. The battle is vividly brought to life throughout the pages of the book, and I learned some things about the battle that I previously didn't know.
I recommend this book very highly. This fine biography of George E. Wahlen embellishes the epitaph of Iwo Jima; uncommon valor was a common virtue. George Wahlen upheld the code of the United States Marines to the fullest, and his life serves as an example to future generations of Marines.
The Quiet Hero.......2006-11-03
The Quiet Hero is a down to earth written story about a down to earth good guy. The author has not followed a traditional war story format, in my view at least. It is easy to read.
Stand Up and Cheer.......2006-09-07
"The Quiet Hero" is all about bravery, character, and selflessness. Not only is it a great source in examing the battle for Iwo Jima, it will also fulfill your desire to know a real hero. This book , as I finished the last page, made me want to go up on the roof of my home, wave the American flag, and yell out for all to hear, "God Bless George E. Wahlen!"
Wow... Could George Wahlen be the greatest living American Veteran?.......2006-08-16
With just a small note in the Epilogue, it was noted that George E. Wahlen is the "Quintessential American Veteran." Few people may notice (see page 207... because not everyone reads the epilogue) where it states that Mr. Wahlen served tours of duty in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He also served all four branches of the military (He worked as an aircraft mechanic for the Army Air Force, was drafted into the Navy and became a corpsman, volunteered for combat with the Marines, and after WWII, re-enlisted in the Army and retired as a Major), He survived Iwo Jima, what many agree is the greatest battle of the modern era. (It was the only battle of WWII where the U.S. suffered more casualties than the enemy). To top it off, he is the recipient two Purple Hearts, and the Medal of Honor, the highest award this country can bestow on any American. Could any veteran make such a claim? I doubt it.
This book is well done and compelling. I read it in 17 hours straight, and just couldn't put it down. It is well illustrated with many unique archival photographs, many that I've never seen in any other battle account. I highly recommend it!
Book Description
Breaking nearly eight decades of silence, Essie Mae Washington–Williams comes forward with a story of unique historical magnitude and incredible human drama. Her father, the late Strom Thurmond, was once the nation's leading voice for racial segregation (one of his signature political achievements was his 24–hour filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, done in the name of saving the South from "mongrelization"). Her mother, however, was a black teenager named Carrie Butler who worked as a maid on the Thurmond family's South Carolina plantation.
Set against the explosively changing times of the civil rights movement, this poignant memoir recalls how she struggled with the discrepancy between the father she knew–one who was financially generous, supportive of her education, even affectionate–and the Old Southern politician, railing against greater racial equality, who refused to acknowledge her publicly. From her richly told narrative, as well as the letters she and Thurmond wrote to each other over the years, emerges a nuanced, fascinating portrait of a father who counseled his daughter about her dreams and goals, and supported her in reaching them–but who was unwilling to break with the values of his Dixiecrat constituents.
With elegance, dignity, and candor, Washington–Williams gives us a chapter of American history as it has never been written before–told in a voice that will be heard and cherished by future generations.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Classy Lady.......2007-08-15
Lots of people have had lots of things to say about Essie May Washington-Williams. Having read a decent amount about Strom Thurmond, I resisted reading this book thinking that I knew the story from the newspaper accounts. However, I started reading the last night and frankly could not put it down. Ms. Washington-Williams puts a whole new perspective on her illustrious father. Whether she should have revealed her existance earlier was a decision that only she could make. After reading her book I feel that Thurmond truly loved her mother. Surely, he could have treated his daughter better, but he was what he was. He provided for her in his own way and did much for her financially. For all those who had comments about what Ms. Washington-Williams should or should not have done, I feel that they are obligated to read her book before they voice an opinion. In my book, she is one classy lady!
American hypocrisy.......2007-03-30
In what is likely the worst example of hypocrisy in America since "The Scarlet Letter" -- with Thurmond playing the role of Arthur Dimmesdale -- leading segregationist proponent Senator Strom Thurmond fathered a daughter on the family's 15-year old black maid when he was a young man. The child, Essie Mae Washington, was raised by relatives in Pennsylvania and did not learn of her true parentage until she was 16 years old. She kept quiet about it until after Thurmond's death at age 100 when Essie Mae herself was a grandmother in her 70's. This book is her story.
Thurmond seemed to have some level of affection for Essie Mae's mother, Carrie, as their liaison continued sporadically for over two decades. Thurmond helped out with gifts of cash and saw to it that Essie Mae got a university education (in a "black" college) to enable her to support herself as a teacher. Thurmond did not marry until his mid-forties after he had broken off relations with Carrie. Meanwhile he built a political career in South Carolina on a platform of racial segregation, a stand from which he never wavered during his long life.
Thurmond's black mistress and daughter lived and worked as did other blacks in the pre-civil rights era, as second class citizens, relegated to the back of the bus. There were no special favours. Although occasionally Thurmond met with Essie Mae and treated her "kindly", it was as the daughter of an old family retainer, never as his own. Essie Mae was never acknowledged, publicly or privately. Essie Mae always addressed him as "Sir". They never shared a meal. (Carrie, meanwhile, died untimely at age 38 in the poverty ward of a charity hospital of renal failure.)
What seems to me most strange about this tale is that neither mother nor daughter thought there was anything iniquitous about their arrangement and did not want to rock the boat. They knew if the truth were to get out, it would destroy Thurmond's political career, a career which benefited neither of them and, had he been successful in his presidential bid in 1948, would have ensured his black descendants remain locked in servitude, grateful for the crumbs he threw to them. Although Essie Mae has had the utmost regard for her father -- her long silence bespeaks her own generosity of spirit ("coming out", because she felt she owed her children the acknowledgement of their ancestry) -- Strom Thurmond appears a stiff calculating figure, forever imprisoned in the white supremacist persona he had created for himself.
This is a most absorbing true story which proves, once again, that fact is stranger than fiction.
sad autobiography.......2007-03-08
I thought that there were some parts of this book that could have been omitted. The story was well written but a bit excessive. It was even dry at times, lacking emotion.
Was he really a racist?.......2007-01-26
Dear Senator is an exceptional memoir, important not only because of the courage it took to write, but also because it reveals so much about the complexity of Strom Thurmond's double-sided character. Some skeptics have said that he "raped a black maid" and took care of the resulting offspring financially like a "massa" to a slave, but I beg to differ. Thurmond didn't have to do any of the things he chose to do for his mulatto daughter and he risked a lot by making special trips to see Essie Mae and giving her cash. He also can't be blamed for his daughter's long silence. He never told her to not tell anyone. That was Essie Mae's choice alone.
I am a loyal Democrat and supporter of civil rights, so before reading this book, I thought that Strom Thurmond was one of the most evil legislators America has ever elected. However, after finishing Washington-William's page turner, I believe that at heart, Thurmond was actually a very good man. A part of him obviously believed the racist rhetoric he preached as governor and as a U.S. senator (or else he wouldn't have preached it), but I believe that at heart, he was a decent person. He had two opposing forces fighting for resolution inside his head and he ultimately gave credence to the one that would propel his career-- not the most noble choice, but understandable.
Is She Serious?.......2006-08-30
The day I believe that Strom Thurmond loved Washington Williams' mother is the day that pigs fly while drinking Starbucks lattes. Such is the way I begin this review to indicate my feelings about the book.
I fully agree that the book is an important document. Essie Mae Washington Williams finally decided to go ahead and write a book about information that most of the black people in this country already knew: Strom Thurmond had a black daughter. I found that out about ten years ago and so I was glad that she finally "outed" him in a sense.
What concerns me is that Washington Williams seems to have a naive, almost warped view of Strom Thurmond. To say that the union between her mother and Strom that produced her was borne out of love is appalling. The bottom line was that Strom raped a black maid in his household. Washington Williams does an obvious dance around actually letting the reader in on her true feelings about Strom. Even as I was reading I felt I was reading a memoir written by someone at gunpoint, or rather Klanpoint. Klanpoint meaning I feel that Washington Williams sugarcoated her account to protect herself and her family. So basically, while the book is good for your basic, surface information, you aren't going to find much depth besides the obvious issue of a black woman admitting to the world that her father was really a racist white senator.
You travel with Essie through time as she tells about life growing up, how she eventually found out her parents weren't really the people who raised her. There is a sad overtone to the book as you realize that Essie and her mother never really have a loving relationship. There is always a palpable distance between the two women. overall I would only recommend this book for sheer entertainment. If you are looking to find out how Essie REALLY feels, you would do better actually calling her up and talking to her than reading this book.
Book Description
Totally revised and updated, this classic history of the 108 members of the U.S. Supreme addresses the vital questions of why individual justices were nominated to the highest court, how their nominations were received, whether the appointees ultimately lived up to the expectations of the American public, and what their legacy was on the development of American law and society. Enhanced by photographs of every justice from 1789 to 1999.
Customer Reviews:
packed with interesting information.......2002-07-23
Anybody interested in politics and the Supreme Court is bound to be enthralled by this book. It is I suppose mainly a reference book but I read it cover to cover in less than two days. It includes a number of ratings of Presidents, and also ratings of Supreme Court Justices. Each person nominated for the Supreme Court is described, together with a sketch of his (or her) work on the Court after confirmation. Some may disagree with some of the judgments, but in general they resonate well. This is a great book. I noted a few errors and will list them, tho they are minor. On page 189 it is stated that "the key slogan of Eisenhower's campaign in 1952" was "Had enough?" That was the Republican slogan in 1946. The slogan in 1952 was a much milder one: "I Like Ike." On page 345 footnote 14 lists the Senators who voted against Senator Hugo Black's confirmation as Justice of the Supreme Court, and names one of the six Democrats who voted against him as Burke (N.H.) This is an error; Burke was a Senator from Nebraska, not from New Hampshire. On page 364 footnoe 63 gives the citation for United States v. Eichman as 496 U.S. 310 at 4776. This is an obvious error, since no opinion goes on from page 310 to page 4776. I have not checked the page number of the language quoted, but it is not on page 4776 since no volume of the U.S. Reports has that many pages. But these minor errors do not mean the book is poorly edited. In general the editing is quite good. This is a book that any person interested in the Court should own.
Excellent Intellectual Work on the History of the Court.......2002-04-08
Professor Henry J. Abraham has long been recognized as an expert on the Supreme Court's history and federal judicial appointments process. His book, "Justices, Presidents, and Senators," is newly revised to include information on President Clinton's nominations to the Court (Ginsburg and Breyer). Professor Abraham provides insight on some of the top contenders for the High Court, the politics and process of evaluating potential Supreme Court Justices, and enlightens the reader on the contentious battles before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Professor Abraham examines the Supreme Court appointments process and why certain individuals were selected over others. For example, Justice John Paul Stevens, who was nominated by President Ford (Republican), was chosen in part because he was "confirmable" by a heavily-Democratic Senate, especially in the Watergate aftermath. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was originally considered by President Ford for the seat currently held by Justice Stevens, but President Reagan nominated her instead several years later. Another example of political strategy and perfect timing is the elevation of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and the nomination of Justice Antonin Scalia. Both of their contributions to the decisions of the Court has impacted, to some degree, the workings of the lower courts and the federal judiciary's original understanding of the Constitution and how that should play when decisions are made.
This book's latter sections are divided by the tenure of several Chief Justices, starting with Earl Warren. I find these sections thoroughly fascinating. The last fifty years for the Surpeme Court has arguably been the most interesting period of time since the founding of the Constitution. Beginning with Brown v. Board of Education, the Court has exerted more power and significantly more influence that is more widely recognized in today's society. Professor Abraham details the individual Justices and their famous (and infamous) contributions to jurisprudence and understanding of the Constitution. This book also contains some statistical information on the ratings of Supreme Court Justices and ratings of Presidents in its appendix.
I highly recommend this book not only for academic reasons but for personal reasons, as well. Many Americans have misunderstood the role of the courts and their jurisdiction. I think this book is a fair attempt to dispel some of those misunderstandings. The book is not written from a perspective of a bitter partisan or a politician attempting to deceive Americans (unlike Alan Dershowitz).
Overall, this book provides a fair and balanced approach to the Supreme Court, its appointments process, and significance it plays in American society. This is one of the best books on the Supreme Court I have ever read.
Amazon.com
The groundbreaking publication Another Vietnam: Pictures of the War from the Other Side is an intense collection of images, many never seen before, from the cameras of North Vietnamese photographers. Each included photographer has a chapter highlighting his personal stories and captivating pictures. The stories are riveting and sometimes ironic: one revolutionary photographer falsified identification cards for Communist fighters, another traveled side by side with guerrillas, while another barely escaped a bombing campaign only to be forever haunted by the loss of his film and equipment.
With almost no resources, a serious lack of film, and outdated equipment, these committed photographers used will and determination in order to record history. From film processed under a night sky with homemade chemicals to making one roll of film last for years, each individual tale is a testament to the power of perseverance. Some of the pictures are haunting (a devastated landscape with the intense flare of napalm, an emergency surgery in a mangrove swamp), while others capture a seemingly staged Communist resolve (smiling soldiers with little children, classic hero poses shot from below). This book offers an important pictorial viewpoint and fills in many gaps from the popular Western media coverage of the war. --J.P. Cohen
Book Description
For more than 25 years, American memory has been haunted by photographs of the Vietnam War, the most troubling and divisive foreign conflict in our history. Our collective recollection and deep familiarity with the war has been shaped by the work of the courageous civilian and military photographers who worked alongside American troops on the fields of battle. Yet there remains an experience of the war in Vietnam that we have rarely seen—that of the other side.
Author and veteran combat photographer Tim Page, who was a freelancer for UPI during the war, returned to Vietnam to find his surviving North Vietnamese counterparts, the photographers who spent as many as ten years documenting, with equal depth and courage, their nation¼s conflict with America. From interviews with these forgotten men and from their surprising photographs, a stunning new visual record of the war emerges in Another Vietnam. Among the many remarkable images of daily life and battle on the North Vietnamese side are the elephants moving munitions down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an impromptu operating room in a mangrove swamp, Jane Fonda on her controversial trip in-country, and American POWs at the Hanoi Hilton. Released to coincide with a major National Geographic Television documentary, Another Vietnam provides a rare and captivating change of perspective and a moving meditation on the sacrifice and loss on both sides of the war.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Lies.......2005-08-05
The Cliff Notes version of the critics and reviewers who liked this book would be "Yeah, its some propaganda but its more than that". To this I say it is almost nothing but propaganda.
Look at the pictures. All except the most mundane photos are clearly staged. The subjects are all in properly heroic stances, the enemy bodies are all perfectly mangled and in nice rows and the ambushes are textbook perfect. Heck, the smoke even billows just right! A good example is the swamp surgery photograph everyone seems to fawn over. The water is calm, the supposedly wounded soldier is calmly awaiting the doctors and the surgical team show not even an iota of tension. If you believe this is a real time pic, I have some beachfront property in Kansas Id like to sell you!
And heres another thing. There are only three pictures involving the American military. Ive seen pictures from Communist Bloc sources of Communist Vietnamese troops prancing around dead Americans. Why are these not in the book? My guess is the editors couldnt get their sources to part with such pics. Its not something the Communist Viets would want to reveal at a time when theyre fresh out of friends and desperately needing US economic assistance!
Do I think this book is worthless? No. It does give us at least a partial image of how the other side saw things. And the pictures do have a stark grandeur to them. The problem is the editors try to make this tome to be something that its not. Its a collection of propaganda photos. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Collection of Posed Propaganda Photos .......2005-07-12
This book is a collection of posed propaganda photos by the same people that brought you reeducation camps and inspired millions of their fellow citizens to flee abroad.
I can't believe anyone is gullible enough to believe that all but a handful of these photos were anything but posed propaganda. You see "combat" photos with soldiers in spotless uniforms, clean faces and purposeful (but never frightened) expressions. I suppose the editors just couldn't pass up an opportunity to denigrate the U.S./South Vietnam War effort.
If you want to know about real life in Vietnam and how the war influenced it I suggest you read something by Duong Thu Huong instead of spending your money on this silliness
Very good book, but..........2005-01-08
Tim Page's Nam is one of my most cherished books about military history because the spectacular photographs succeed in conveying not just a visual depiction of the war but also the emotions of its participants (in the case of that book , focusing primarily on U.S. forces). I was therefore very excited to see this new volume compiled by Page and his team, which is full of photographs of the war from the perspective of the North Vietnamese. However, I gave this book four stars rather than five because of one disappointment I have with it: Nearly all the photos depicting battles or battlefields or in any way involve "the enemy" focus on ARVN forces. There were hardly any photos that had anything to do with U.S. forces or any of the other foreign armies defending the South. This struck me as quite odd. I realize the book's authors are limited by the photographs available to them (i.e. ones taken by photographers travelling with Viet Cong and NVA forces), but surely it can't be that these photographers never took pictures of subjects that involve forces other than the ARVN. In this sense I felt like the book fell short of telling the entire story of the other side. However, this book is still very much worth owning, so don't let my one complaint scare you away.
First rate, typical of Tim Page, Chris Riley and Doug Niven.......2002-12-07
Having studied Tim Page's great work "Requiem" tens of times, each time seeing something new in the striking photographs, and having seen Riley and Niven's brilliant work on the killing fields of Cambodia, I knew what to expect when I opened "Another Vietnam." This is a natural follow-on to "Requiem" and reflects Tim Page's admiration for war photographers on all sides. I have the feeling that Tim Page is still at work seeking out new information on some of his closest friends who disappeared on the battlefields of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. I hope to see more film documentaries from Tim Page. His investigations, first documented in his film "Danger at the Edge of Town," will continue until all his colleagues are accounted for. No one can accuse Tim Page of having forgotten his heroic comrades. They live on in his lifetime of work.
Another look at Nam........2002-10-14
Most of these pictures record tiny episodes, but those thinkers with a long view might refuse to accept that there were ever two Nams in the 20th Century. When France tried to pick a southern area called Cochin China for itself as a French colony in 1945, there should be little doubt that it was merely usurping part of Ho Chi Minh's independent Vietnam. A picture shows Ho in Hanoi, 39 days after his declaration of Vietnamese independence on Sept. 2, 1945. The picture of Le Minh Truong by himself, Kontum, 1972 (p. 114) is as unexciting as my own pictures taken in that area in 1970. The surprising picture on page 49 was taken May 9, 1973, soon after the American withdrawal: "Cuban leader Fidel Castro hoists a victory flag at the site of the strategic 1968 battle [Khe Sanh]." There are so many troops in the picture that it doesn't show any bomb craters, and a mountain in the background (possibly as far away as Laos) shows that the area was not entirely leveled. Khe Sanh had the highest priority for B-52 strikes when North Vietnamese troops threatened the U.S. troops there and this book says that "was part of the North's plan to divert U.S. and South Vietnamese forces from population areas prior to the Tet offensive." (p. 49). This might provide a lesson for anyone planning a war against American forces, which are bound to rely on a strategy which depends heavily on bombing, and Americans are organized so they pay more attention to their top priority than to anything else. A panorama made from six negatives of "supply trucks rolling through a ghost forest denuded by defoliants dropped by American planes" (p. 135) shows some of the damage from 40 million pounds of Agent Orange "which were sprayed over five million acres, creating environmental havoc." (p. 135). Such tactics suggest that the war was against Nam as a whole, and not a strategy that would have been adopted by one half against the other. The American Civil War was pretty bad, but Abe Lincoln never nuked the South. General Sherman was hard on South Carolina, but not as bad as Americans who wanted to nuke Nam. The defoliated mangrove forest, Ca Mau Peninsula, 1970 (p. 104-5) looks awful, "Americans denuded the landscape with chemicals to deny cover," as if we were involved in a cat and mouse game, but couldn't decide how serious we wanted it to be. A weird picture in which "An NVA soldier positions a Chinese-made mannequin" (p. 60) (a long time after Hamburger Hill) is the perfect: SO? SHOOT ME picture.
I found a lot of irony in the information on page 56 about only 8 of 109 students (the guys who are smiling) being accepted into the army in Hanoi, Aug. 1971. The standards were tough: these "young men were chosen because they had good revolutionary credentials, which usually meant that they didn't come from landowning families." This sounds like a perfect way to pick people who would be willing to hold on to a government job, regardless of the circumstances. The increase in the NVA, from 35,000 in 1950 to over 500,000 by the mid-1970s, didn't require a mandatory system until 1973, when the United States withdrew and the NVA was free to pursue military objectives without being bombed. With the use of American support, South Vietnam's ARVN were capable of suffering "243,000 dead and a half a million seriously wounded." (p. 202).
Picture (p. 218) Russian MIGs "at a remote air base" on January 1, 1973 and the military parade (p. 220) on the outskirts of Hanoi in October, 1973, after the United States had stopped its bombing. Hiding all these things is the result of a lot of effort. On page 54, Hanoi, 1972 "Military trucks park in relative safety in front of the French embassy. . . . In November 1971, however, American bombs accidentally struck the embassy." It sounds like the embassy was still pretty safe, but the attack on the U.S. Embassy by a squad of Viet Cong sappers on January 31, 1968, mentioned on p. 151, definitely sounded intentional.
Book Description
A spellbinding biography of one of the most powerful and dignified men ever to come to DC— Senator Mike Mansfield.
Mike Mansfield's career as the longest serving majority leader is finally given its due in this extraordinary biography. In many respects, Mansfield's dignity and decorum represent the high-water mark of the US Senate: he was respected as a leader who helped build consensus on tough issues and was renowned for his ability to work across the aisle and build strong coalitions. Amazingly, he would have breakfast every morning with a member of the opposing party.
Mansfield was instrumental in pushing through some of the most influential legislation of the twentieth century. He was at the helm when the Senate passed landmark legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the creation of Medicare, and the nuclear test ban treaty. Mansfield played a crucial role in shaping America's foreign policy, corresponding with JFK about his opposition to the growing presence of the U.S. in Southeast Asia. And as ambassador to Japan, his conversations with Cambodia and China paved the way for Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972. Includes b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Firm and Brilliant.......2006-01-12
Michael Joseph (Mike) Mansfield's approach to Congress could instruct many of the politicians in power today. Unlike his bombastic, controlling predecessor, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, Mansfield, as Senate Majority Leader, retreated from the glare of publicity so that his fellow senators, from both parties, could take pride in successful legislation that they initiated, all the while guiding that body with a steady hand.
Because of the statesman's honesty, his intellectual capacity, his ability to connect immediately with people, no matter their views, and his brilliance as a public servant, his home state Montana kept him in Congress from the year they first elected him in 1942 to 1977, when he retired from the Senate. They loved him because he put their interests first, regardless of what was occurring on the world's stage.
When Mansfield retired from the Senate, he expected to "loaf, read, and think," but the government couldn't let go and sent him to Japan where he served as Ambassador, a position from which he retired in his mid-eighties. After that, Goldman Sachs hired him to be its East Asian Advisor.
Above all else, human relationships ranked highest in importance for Mansfield. When his wife died, he said during her eulogy that without her he would have been nothing. Early in their marriage she urged him to leave his work as miner and mining engineer to pursue and complete his education.
I recommend Don Oberdorfer's "Senator Mansfield" to readers interested in a look into the bowels of politics, particularly during the Vietnam War era and its aftermath. I felt as if I were hiding under a desk eavesdropping. Reading parts of the tapes that Nixon made of himself, I couldn't decide whether to laugh or weep.
The Senate's Last True Gentleman............2003-12-16
I had known of Senator Mansfield, but this biography was essentially my first real glimpse of the man. It was a genuine treat to come to know him, even in this limited way, and the author has given us one of the best biographies in many years. Yes, this is a tribute and it is clear that the author has great respect for his subject (as he should), but he does not ignore the complexities of Mansfield's career in the public arena. Admittedly there is little about Mansfield's private life (outside of the early, pre-government years), but I found that refreshing as what we need to know about Mansfield is what he contributed to the country and what we can learn from his long career. Nevertheless, we do get a sense of Mansfield's intellect, his charm, and his appeal across ideological divides. His greatness is never exaggerated and after finishing the book, one gets a sense of sadness as we consider what could have been if only he had been listened to regarding Vietnam.
A Lesson From Recent American History.......2003-11-26
Don Oberdorfer's biography of Mike Mansfield brings an extraordinary American to life. Not only does the reader gain deep insights into Congressman then, Senator and, later, Ambassador Mansfield; but also Private Mansfield of the U.S. Marine Corps; and copper miner Mansfield of Butte, Montana; high school and college student Mansfield which he completed simultaneously, and professor Mansfield of the University of Montana in the 1930s and 40s.
Besides a wonderful and inspiring portrait of a truly unique American, the book portrays the relationships Mansfield developed with American Presidents beginning with FDR through Ronald Reagan. The entire middle third of the book focuses on the Vietnam era and Mansfield's heroic, behind the scene, effort as the Senate's Asia expert and Majority Leader to persuade Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford to, first, avoid committing American troops to a mainland war in Asia and, second, to withdraw troops once they were tragically in place in Vietnam.
Mansfield's analysis showed the Vietnam problem to be 9 parts diplomatic/political and one part military. Therefore, he argued American policy in Vietnam could not be resolved using a 9 part military solution to only 1 part diplomatic/political. Essentially, Mansfield believed a military response is rarely indicated and far too often, riding coattails of false intelligence and phony patriotism, militarism acquires a fatal and unstoppable momentum of its own. In retrospect it turns out that the "attacks" by North Vietnamese torpedo boats against the U.S. Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1965 that were used by President Johnson as a pretext to go to war were a monumental and, likely, willful intelligence failure. Almost 40 years later, on a much larger scale, American intelligence now seems to have failed to provide an accurate analysis of Iraq's WMD. It is clear American Presidents still base their decision to take the country to war on often misleading or patently false information.
This book provides an apt but sober warning for policy makers working on contemporary Middle East who are designing President George Bush's war on terrorism. This is a great read about a unique American who lived through a compelling time in American history and whose values in public life are sorely missed in today's divisive and disfunctional political climate.
Superb Biography of a 20th Century Marvel!.......2003-10-17
For young soldiers returning from the war in Vietnam, Senator Mike Mansfield was a literal legend in his own time, the consistent voice for greater moderation, caution, and reason during the escalation of the war in Vietnam. As chronicled so marvelously in this new biography by noted historian Don Oberdorfer, from the very beginning of the sordid Vietnam affair Mansfield had cautioned long-time colleagues as friends John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson as to the absolute futility and danger associated with pursuing a military victory in Southeast Asia. A long-time member of the Foreign Relations committee in the Senate, he was well aware of the complexities and national aspirations simmering under the surface of the region, and recognized the morass we might soon find ourselves in if we succumbed to the siren song of the so-called `domino' theorists, who posited the loss of South Vietnam would lead inextricably to the loss of Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Mansfield maintained the domino we needed to worry about was Vietnam itself, which might well topple our whole far-eastern strategy if we allowed ourselves to become entwined in its silken grips.
Alas, no one among the `best and the brightest' of either the Kennedy or Johnson administration listened, and instead dragged us into more than a decade of death, destruction, and depravity. Yet in this fascinating biography, we learn that Mike Mansfield had many more facets to his marvelous personality and many more intellectual insights to offer the American people during his long and illustrious career as a public servant. He presided over the U.S. Senate during the difficult and angst-filled deliberations over the Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, its companion bill for Voter Rights Act passed the following year, and the donnybrook that ensured over the initial passing of Medicare legislation. A man of almost encyclopedic knowledge, he spoke carefully and constructively, and listened as intently as he had spoken. Like his predecessor as Senate majority leader, LBJ, he was a master of personal one-on- one persuasion, and his soaring intellect and engaging personality made him scores of friends and precious few enemies in his many travels and engagements. He was, however, much like Harry Truman in terms of being both a straight-talker and a straight shooter, and he was known to be a man of incredible principle and integrity.
His only regret in later serving as Ambassador to Japan was that it took him so far a field from his beloved Montana, a place he could sometimes become almost doggedly appreciative of. He was a hunter, an outdoorsman, and an early champion of what was then called conservation and is now better understood as environmentalism. His was a life that spanned a myriad of different concerns, causes, and conflicts, and although we will always remember him best for his earnest, informed, and heartfelt opposition to the war in Vietnam, Mike Mansfield was certainly a public man for all seasons. This is a wonderful book about a noteworthy American who until now has been seriously under-appreciated. Enjoy!
The Most Important Man of the American 20th Century.......2003-09-29
This book is mandatory reading for anyone seeking, or currently in, public office. Oberdorfer's analysis of Mansfield's writing, thinking, and speaking style is first rate. For serious students of American politics, Oberdorfer has given them a look at the making of one of the most important men of the century. I know it must have been difficult because Mansfield steadfastly refused to allow anyone to be his biogr
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