| Blogger note: As the year 2018 comes to a close, I'm happy to report that I have now read at least one biography of every deceased United States President! I started blogging my reviews in 2013. At that point I had read only one! It is that biography, David McCullough's John Adams, that is not reviewed on my blog. I thought about 'cheating' and writing a review anyway for the sake of completeness, but it wouldn't be a very good review since I don't remember much about it. This is one of the reasons why I started this project. I became frustrated when I would read a book and thoroughly enjoy it, yet not remember much (if all) about it several years in the future. So why did I choose to read all of these presidential biographies? What possessed me to undertake what many would consider an arduous task? I'm not sure I can give an honest answer other than I love history. For many of these biographies, the reader also gets insights to the time and the mood of the particular period. Again, this serves as a great method if one wants to learn about a country. Perhaps the most jarring lesson when reading these biographies is the fact that politics has never really been any better than it is now. It's very easy for today's public to become disheartened with all of the political name-calling and back-stabbing that seems to pollute online news and social media, but these biographies teach us that this has always been the case. The main difference is that, 200 years ago, no one had access to 24 hour cable television nor a Twitter account. Such things give me hope since we're really not "much worse" than we ever have been. I've also debated about ranking or grading these biographies in the space below, but at this time that seems a tad overwhelming. I would estimate that 90-95% of these books would get a 'thumbs up' from me. There have only been a few that I've been disappointed. Most of those books which I found unfavorable were written quite some time ago. I mention this because I believe that styles of writing have changed over the years. Most of the dry, drab volumes I came across were written 40,50,60+ years ago. Audiences weren't as fickle back then, and I honestly don't think book publishers of today would allow some of those earlier volumes to be released in today's times. I should also mention that many of the obscure presidents had almost nothing available to purchase. I was forced to purchase 'The American President' series of those particular presidents. Apparently, 'The American President' books devoted one book to each president. The quantity of each of these volumes are a bit thin, but as I mentioned, the particular president wasn't well known, so there might not have been that much about the man that many would consider 'interesting'. Again, all of the books that I read of 'The American President' series were enjoyable and well-written. As of this writing (December 2018), there are four living presidents along with the current Commander in Chief; Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barrack Obama. I haven't decided if I want to read any of the biographies available on these presidents. The main reason is that in many cases, time judges the man differently after the dust has settled around the administration. My guess is that 90% of the current biographies out there on George W. Bush and Barrack Obama are either vitriolic mud slingers, or accounts written by fawning admirers who would gladly drink their subject's bath water if asked. Neither of these type of books appeal to me. I prefer books that are objective and tell a comprehensive account of the individual. If the book is well researched and well written, the unbiased reader should be able to serve as judge and jury and come to their own conclusions about the person's character. That being said, I confess that I might break my rule and sneak in a couple of bios that I feel might tend to not be as unbiased as others. On that note, does this mean that I've 'finished' my task and won't read any more presidential biographies? Oh no. In fact, I'm currently reading a new book on Franklin Roosevelt and have a Harry Truman and a John F. Kennedy eagerly waiting to be picked up and devoured. I will say, though, that there are some biographers that did such a thorough, outstanding job, I don't see any need to read anything else about the particular president. This is how I feel, for example, after reading Edmund Morris's trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt; or Robert Caro's tetralogy on Lyndon Johnson (although Caro isn't finished yet. There will be a 5th installment one day. One hopes). So hopefully this list will give you ideas if you're interested. As I've previously mentioned, with the exception of the John Adams biography, I have a detailed review of all of these books here on my blog. I'm hoping you find it somewhat useful. If you have questions, don't hesitate to leave one in the 'comment' section, or email me at cnjbates2@gmail.com. I love to talk books! Have a great 2019 folks! P.S. - Just finished the Herbert Hoover one that is listed below. My review for that one should be posted in a few days (spoiler alert: it's a good one!) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Friday, December 28, 2018
Biographies on U.S. Presidents that I have read.
The Thief
The Thief – by Clive Cussler
Clive Cussler’s Isaac Bell novels (co-written
with Justin Scott) have brought a new level of excitement to me that I felt
died quite some time ago with the Dirk Pitt novels. I felt that Cussler’s Dirk Pitt was a class A
adventure hero for the first dozen books or so, but after he got married and
started involving his twin adult children into the newer novels, the stories
lost something for my tastes. Cussler has co-authored many different series of
books with many different authors, and most don’t do much for me. Isaac Bell is the exception.
Like Dirk Pitt, Isaac Bell is a swashbuckling
lady’s hero of a guy. He’s a private detective working for the Van Dorn
Detective Agency around the 1910s. The fact that these books take place 100
years or so in the past is kind of what makes them so refreshing. This detail
adds quite a few elements that help separate Bell from Pitt (something that
Cussler’s ‘NUMA Files’ books couldn’t do).
Also, it probably goes without saying, but Isaac Bell can do no
wrong. He’s handsome, smart, can hold
his own in a fight, while all managing to be quite the gentleman. He’s also fabulously wealthy due to an
inheritance, so he’s constantly flicking out $10 gold pieces to strangers as
the Easter Bunny would toss candy to children.
Yes, Isaac Bell is a tad unbelievable, but that’s what great stories are
supposed to do; allow the reader to suspend their disbelief and enjoy the ride.
To be fair though, after five
installments now of Bell (only the 4th I’ve read), even this formula
feels a bit tedious at times. The plot
is quite well-thought out and interesting. It seems as though an inventor has
figured out a way to produce motion pictures where viewers can see the action
AND clearly hear the action and dialogue as well! It might seem as though this a bit trivial,
but this technology was unheard of in the 1910s and, to be honest, many thought
unnecessary. Well, it seems as though Kaiser
Wilhelm’s Germany sees this idea as a masterful way to inject propaganda on the
masses. Such a tool could be used for marketing purposes that can help Germany
conquer the world!
An inventor that has a prototype of
this device is nearly kidnapped by some German thugs on a ship bound to America
from England. Since Isaac Bell is on the ship and thwarts the crime, Bell
becomes heavily involved. The fact that
his sweetheart (whom he hopes to soon wed) is ‘in the picture business’
herself, only adds to the story. It’s quite nice that the reader gets a healthy
primer on motion pictures and the business as it existed during its infancy. We
even get to meet such notables as Thomas Edison and D.W. Griffith.
Still, though, once the plot has
thickened and the action starts to cripple the capers, I found myself losing
interest. I’ve just seen and read all of this so many times before. There’s
also a high level of unbelievability in many of the scenes. Now, I’ve already mentioned that Bell is
pretty ‘unbelievable’, but we’re talking about a larger than life
character. What I didn’t like in this
book where times when people ‘knew they were being watched’ because of a
feeling they had. Or the fact that the Van Dorn Detective agency seemed to have
hundreds of detectives scattered all over the globe that were all being called
in at a moment’s notice to somehow drop everything in order to help Isaac Bell.
Still, though, the book was mostly fun
to read. Whenever an author only has one type of book that they write, you
really can’t be surprised if you find yourself not as excited as when the author
first started writing these books more than 40 years prior.
Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography
Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography by
Fred Schruers
What a depressing biography this is.
Like King Solomon of the Old Testament
in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Billy Joel is further proof that you can have tons
of money, loads of talent and fame, and gobs of beautiful women, yet still be
utterly miserable. Critics of this
biography (there have been several bios of Billy of recent) state that author
Schruers is a bit too kind towards Joel and he leaves out much of the
unpleasantness spewed by those who are, or who have been closest to him. What’s ironic is that this type of
mud-slinging isn’t even necessary with most of the negativity within these
pages coming from Joel himself. Joel
simply doesn’t have many happy things to say about his life; past nor present.
The fact that the subject matter’s life
is filled with malaise is not what left me with a lukewarm feeling after I
finished the book. My reservations are
that this biography talks too much about the things in Billy Joel’s life that
simply don’t interest me. As a fan of music, I wanted to read about music, not
things that seem to have been lifted off a tabloid front page. Early in the
book, we read a lengthy story of his grandparents escaping Germany during the
holocaust that takes about 7 or 8 pages, but we later read less than 1 page
about the album 52nd Street. We then read a lackluster 2-3-page account of
when Billy and first-wife Elizabeth ‘accidentally’ take her son to California
without the father’s permission, but there’s absolutely nothing in this book
about the album ‘Songs in the Attic’.
I remember when I was a fan back in the
glory days of the eighties, and how excited I would be whenever I would come
across a magazine with an interview with Billy Joel (this was pre-internet,
remember). I then became disgusted when the interviewer seemed to ask Billy more
questions about Christie Brinkley than his music. Again, maybe that’s what people want. If so, maybe that same group of people will
enjoy this book since it talks ad nauseum about his plethora of wives and
girlfriends. Although to be fair, we
must remember that Billy Joel hasn’t written any pop music since 1993, so one
could argue ‘What else is there to talk about?’
Fair enough. Still, I enjoyed reading
the first half of the book so much more than the second half, but even as I’ve
stated, I felt the first half should have focused more on his music, his band,
his writing, his touring, and his life in the studio and on the road. There is
some of that here, and I did learn some things, but I just wanted more. Even when Billy was at the top of his game
from 1973-1993, he was still awfully depressed, the only thing that gave him
escape, it seemed, was when he performed on stage for two hours every night.
Perhaps this is why he’s still been
touring successfully a quarter of a century after his retirement from
recording? With so much more spare time, though, Billy sinks deeper and deeper
into a wide variety of funks. In addition to the failed marriages and relationships
with girlfriends, we read about managers that try to rip him off, hostility
between him and his longtime band-mates, motorcycle accidents, car accidents,
alcoholism, a couple of stints in rehab, and a multitude of conflicts with
fellow touring partner Elton John. It really is quite sad.
With the last twenty years of his life
being so haphazard, the book reads more like a series of People magazine
articles than it does a ‘definitive’ biography. Even though the tough kid from
the Bronx tends to shrug off his many issues with a healthy dose of machismo,
you really can’t help but pity the man. One hopes that now that he’s in the fourth
quarter of his life, he’ll find something to give him happiness, if not a bit
more contentment.
Truly sad when you think about how his
music means so much to so many people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)