Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants

Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H.W. Brands

H.W. Brands is easily one of my favorite historians. His resume of material focuses on America; the events and the people – from Benjamin Franklin to Ronald Reagan.  I’ve never been disappointed by any of his works.  His writing is clear, easy to understand, and told in what I would call digestible “chunks”.  I imagine he would be one of those professors that the students hope to get as their teacher.  According to Wikipedia, Brands believes that Americans tend to focus too much on the individual in the White House and that the constitution was written to give plenty of the other movers and shakers just as much, if not more, decision making power.

This book could be looked at as a perfect example of this point.  The three individuals highlighted in the title of this book never made it to the White House (although one DID get elected VP).  They all tried, some came close, but they never held the distinction of President.  As Brands shows us in this well-crafted book, that didn’t really matter.  These individuals deserve a lot of credit for many of the opinions and decisions that they crafted to help steer American policy.  Some decisions good, others not so much.

Strangely though, it needs to be pointed out that this book really isn’t a biography of these individuals.  True, they are the main focus of the 40 years or so history presented here, but whereas they serve as the lead roles in this historical account, Brands gives us plenty of supporting players as well.  One could argue that this book is more of a primer of the history of the United States from about 1812 – 1852.  Not only was this the time when these three protagonists were their most vigorous and influential, but it was also a time in America’s history that was arguably the most pivotal.  This was the time when slavery dominated the headlines and always seemed to be the biggest bone of contention that divided the country like nothing it had ever seen or has seen since.

Slavery, though, doesn’t necessarily take up the bulk of this book. There were plenty of other issues that were hotly debated that seemed to divide the country and cause one to quickly take allegiance to one side or the other.  Interestingly, this was the time when one could make the argument that there weren’t really two “main” political parties as we know now.  What we now call “Democrat” and “Republican” hadn’t been clearly defined at this point, and the young country was still struggling to find a foothold in policies that could positively influence the country.  An example: the term “bank” is so widely used now, yet such a concept in the early 1800s was deemed preposterous by many yet deemed highly necessary for others.  It seems a bit silly now, but the young country was still learning and deciding how to move forward in uncharted waters.   So the federal bank, the reasons for and against, is one of the hot topics that these three find themselves either defending or fighting. Other topics include tariff laws, Texas, California, the many ‘compromise’ bills, and of course slavery. 

All three of these individuals died in the early 1850s – which was about ten years before the U.S. Civil War began, and so the narrative basically ends when these three go to the grave.  One almost wishes there could have been more detail leading up to the disastrous conflict, but this really isn’t the author’s point.  He succeeds in showing how these three were very instrumental in policy making that helped get the country where it ended up shortly after they passed away.  One could safely argue that none of these three “caused” any of the latter events to happen; yet they were simply the ones with the most influence that guided how many of their constituents felt at the time.

I would conclude by saying that even if you don’t think you necessarily want to read about these three politicians that dominated the stage roughly 200 years ago, this is still an excellent resource that covers the pivotal years of the country’s history.  This book left me wanting more.  I wanted to read more about relevant people and events such as Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, James Polk, The Missouri Comprise, The California Gold Rush, The U.S. War with Mexico, and many many others.  This book kept me well entertained in addition to making me appreciate history all the more. Another solid effort by H.W. Brands.

Solitude Creek

Solitude Creek – by Jeffery Deaver

This is about the 25^th or 30^th book I’ve reviewed by Jeffery Deaver in the last seven years. It’s a bit unfair for me to make judgements about how familiar his characters and scenarios tend to be since many are ‘repeats’ from other books.  Why should anyone expect that much variety from the same author?  Many of Deaver’s books feature either criminologist Lincoln Rhyme or kinesics expert Kathrine Dance (this book is the latter).  After multitudes of books, we feel like we’re reading too much about the protagonists personal lives, over and over again, and not as much story as we would like.  Such traits are important, though, to the masses who haven’t read as much by the author, so I feel that it’s important to give the author a ‘pass’ where such things are concerned.

So a Katherine Dance novel.  Overall this is a very good one.  I think part of my enjoyment with this book is that the author doesn’t ‘overdo’ her kinesics experience as much as in other books.  Sure, it’s cool to read about such personal behaviors and how one can be tipped off by someone demonstrating such behaviors. But at times in the past, her gift seemed a bit too strong and contrived.  This really isn’t the case here.  This is a good ol’ fashion detective story with police, victims, suspects, crime scenes, and a heckuva twisted bad guy.

Solitude Creek is the name of a nightclub featuring live acts that can pack in several hundred patrons on a good night.  One night with the house is packed, a fire breaks out. People rush to the exits and some are trampled and killed.  An accident, right?  When Kathrine Dance shows up at the scene, she starts to slowly put pieces together that make things not as obvious as they first appear. So this starts her on her own investigation.

We do read a lot about her personal life.  She’s a widowed detective with two teenage-ish kids, and we tend to read a tad too many chapters where her family, along with friends and relatives are having group dinners and watching corny kids shows etc.  All of this is to show us that Dance is more ‘human’ (I guess) than your average run-of-the-mill police detective.  Usually I find that all of these diversions featuring her family and friends of the family simply get in the way of a good story.

There’s a couple of subplots going on here as well with various other good cops and bad cops.  As usual, there are several twists which are common to the Deaver forte.  This leads me to conclude that I enjoyed the book overall, and probably would have enjoyed it much more had I hadn’t read so much of Deaver’s work in the recent past.  No, it’s not a perfect book and one can find many flaws in a lot of different places, but I thought the read was solid and entertaining.  Not his best, but far from his worst.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

You Can’t Always Get What You Want – by Sam Cutler

This is another one of those ‘insider’ books that focuses on famous celebrities.  Rather than a serious biography by some esteemed author, this account is by somebody who actually worked with the artist; or in this case ‘artists’.  Such books are hit or miss.  Just because someone has rubbed shoulders with the greats doesn’t necessarily translate into a meaningful, interesting retrospective. 

This one, though, was very entertaining and interesting. Author Sam Cutler holds his audience’s interest throughout while keeping the chapters somewhat succinct.  He knows what his audience wants to read about and doesn’t pollute the pages too much with memories of no interest to anyone other than himself.

If you haven’t heard of the author, chances are you’ve seen him if you’re a fan of the Rolling Stones and have viewed the somewhat infamous film “Gimme Shelter”. Sam was the band’s tour manager during this time period, and one can see and hear him multiple times during the Altamont fiasco trying to keep the overwhelming chaos of the day somewhat controllable. As Sam Cutler begins this book, he talks briefly about his upbringing, but he wisely keeps this time period to a minimum.  He comes of age during the wild unmitigated period of history known as The Sixties.  During the era of flower power and acid rock, even some of the most well-known and famous bands were incoherent for much of the time, and you get the feeling that Sam Cutler’s introduction to working for the Rolling Stones was more acid-dripped luck than anything resembling a strong work resume.  Fortunately, though, Cutler is the real deal and knows what he’s doing. So it isn’t surprising that the Rolling Stones quickly incorporate him into their inner circle during the pivotal time of 1969.

The year of 1969 was a pivotal one for the Rolling Stones, and the tumultuous times weren’t limited to the Altamont concert; although the event did serve as a fetid climax.  So, not surprisingly, a good deal of this book is devoted to that one event - the poor planning, the ensuing chaos, and the stabbing of a 17- year old concert goer (which can be viewed on the film, no less).  It’s interesting to hear Cutler’s recollections of the event.  There isn’t that much that’s earth-shattering, but such an event is always best when told from someone deep on the inside.  There are some observations by Cutler that might be new for the novice. One example is that he claims that the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club really didn’t inflict much of the beatings that they’ve become infamously known.  The harm, Cutler alleges, was mostly done by the ‘prospects’ of the Hell’s Angels that utilized this event as a recruitment pledge so they could show off to the actual members.  Cutler also makes a slight allegation that the whole event may have been conspired by the government, and there were key infiltrators that passed out ‘bad acid’ during the day which caused things to deteriorate throughout the day.

Anyway, immediately after the fiasco, the Rolling Stones basically bail the country leaving Cutler to clean up the mess.  He then immediately begins working as a manager for the Grateful Dead.  The Grateful Dead were also supposed to perform at Altamont but chickened out when the day erupted in senseless brutality.  So even though Mick Jagger and company leave the author penniless, he at least has another gig where he can quickly transition. 

We then follow along with the author’s interesting journeys of touring with The Grateful Dead for a couple of years.  There’s acid, booze, loose women, acid, marijuana, cases of cigarettes, and more acid.  You wonder how the author, and most everyone else, survived.  It seems like every other page, the author begins another story with “We poured drinks and all shared a fat joint….”   I mean, I almost became nauseous at times just reading about it.  Anyway, a couple years into his tenure as one of the Grateful Dead Managers, he and the band come to an impasse and he’s unceremoniously sacked.   And here our story basically ends.

He does give a brief epilogue but doesn’t spend time talking about what he’s been up to in the last 40 years. This is probably a good thing since after being a part of the inner circle of The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead, he probably rightly assumed that the best part of his story had already been told, so he wisely quits while he’s ahead.

This was a fun read. Cutler knows how to tell a good story. True, at times it seems as though the drugs may have taken a bit of a toll on his ability to think in a linear fashion.  One example is a chapter in the book titled “Mick Taylor”.  He begins the chapter holding his reader’s interest by giving his impressions of Brian Jones’ replacement, but in the middle of the chapter he drifts off and ends up talking about a popular groupie of the time that had a fetish for hot melted butter.   I’ll stop there and leave the rest up to your imagination.

He definitely has no regrets, even though it seems like he was somewhat screwed by the two famous bands. But in the era of free love, he considers himself lucky for the experiences.  Despite his appearance of being a rather serious manager, he definitely never seems to take himself, nor his surroundings very seriously, and it made for an overall pleasant, fun, and educational read.