Book Description

Reviews (5)

If it were longer and the same it would be 5 stars for me
This book provides what Antonia Frazer's biography of Marie Antoinette does not -- more about the children, more about the aftermath of Marie Antoinette's death. I thought this book would repeat much of Frazer's but, in fact, it enriches Frazer's work. And, except for some melodramatic flourishes, I think it is better written. Though I usually read 2 or 3 books at a time and can easily jump from one to the other, I could not put this book down until I finished it.

I wish there had been more to this volume. The DNA passages sometimes feel 'padded' and the 'mystery' element seems somewhat contrived. Who cares! It was so engrossing that I neglected everything this afternoon so that I could finish this book.

WOW
I could not put this book down! I can't wait for Deborah Cadbury to write another history!! Even though I knew what "the outcome" would be .... I was "on the edge of my seat" the whole way through! A VERY fun read that also taught me a lot about this period of history.

Fantastic popular history
This is as readable as any historical novel and far more interesting. Cadbury brings the shadowy image of Marie Antoinette's children fully to life with detail and emotional depth. Unlike most books on this topic, the parents are moved firmly to the background, coming forward only to illustrate their influence on the children and their lives. I learned more in this fast paced enjoyable read than I have in half a dozen 'scholarly' books on the period. The Lost King's resolution may not surprise you, but it's a rewarding read that immerses you as fully as an epic film. One of the finest histories I've read on any subject and more emotionally affecting than most fiction. You will not be able to forget this family or view them in the same fashion again. A true must read.

The Mystery is Finally Solved!!!
This is without a doubt the BEST nonfiction book I have ever had the acute pleasure of reading. This book tells the tale of Louis XVII, his fate, the pretenders (or were they?) that played in the masque to prove they were him. This book tells what happened to the poor child in the Tuilleries, and sometimes they were so heart-wrenching that I actually began crying in the middle of class while I was reading it. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! It is so good!

A haunting, tragic tale............
This was the best history lesson ! I actually felt as if I were transported to the 18th century as I read this . So many of the stories about the revolution dehumanize the royal family, or focus entirely on Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette , with very little thought to their final days, or of their children . The Lost King Of France , includes the painful, memoirs of Princess Marie-Therese , (Louis and Marie-Antoinette's oldest child) , a witness to the full horrors of the revolution , and the fate of her brother Louis XVII . The mystery of Louis's fate , far surpasses the saga of Russia's Anastasia , and I was on the edge of my seat until the final page ! I gave it 4 stars because of the grainy , black and white photos , and that is the only reason I did not give it 5 stars . This is such an absorbing tale of one of the youngest victim of the revolution, a definite page turner!! ... Read more

Book Description

When they first met in 1925, Martin Heidegger was a star of German intellectual life and Hannah Arendt was his earnest young student. What happened between them then will never be known, but both would cherish their brief intimacy for the rest of their lives.
The ravages of history would soon take them in quite different directions. After Hitler took power in Germany in 1933, Heidegger became rector of the university in Freiburg, delivering a notorious pro-Nazi address that has been the subject of considerable controversy. Arendt, a Jew, fled Germany the same year, heading first to Paris and then to New York. In the decades to come, Heidegger would be recognized as perhaps the most significant philosopher of the twentieth century, while Arendt would establish herself as a voice of conscience in a century of tyranny and war.
Illuminating, revealing, and tender throughout, this correspondence offers a glimpse into the inner lives of two major philosophers.

... Read more

Reviews (3)

Arendt and Heidegger in Letters
This collection of letters is an absolute necessity for anyone interested in Hannah Arendt, and particularly her relationship with the controversial German philosopher (and mentor) Martin Heidegger. The letters are well annotated and there is a helpful introduction as well. The only problem is that there are relatively few letters from Arendt. And those that appear in the collection are somewhat concise, whether from the editing or simply because they were not extensive. As a result, the reader does not get the intimate and expansive view into Arendt's thinking and activities that one comes away with from reading, for example, her collection of letters to and from Mary McCarthy. Of particular interest is the exchange of poetry between the two--somewhat ironic given Heidegger's controversial career and purported anti-Semitism during the Nazi period. One cannot help thinking, as the letters pass by, as to why Arendt chose to treat Heidegger with such kid gloves; nonetheless, there is a touching quality about this late-in-life correspondence of two former lovers. Quite pleasant and informative and not overly technical in philosophical terms.

Finally Available
Perhaps it's a sign of the times in which we live, but the biggest stories of recent note in philosophy have been Heidegger's flirtation with National Socialism and the revelation of his affair with his student, Hannah Arendt, in the 1920s. The affair with Arendt has left a bad account of the affair (Ettinger) and a badly written novel in its wake, but perhaps these lumps of fool's gold have led us to the real thing, for they helped persuade Heidegger's son, Herman, to open the private files of his famous father and release these letters to the public. These, along with the letters to Arendt that are extant, comprise a volume that belongs in the library of every serious student of Arendt and Heidegger. It provides a glimpse of the lives and thought of two intellectual giants and of how events led to their estrangement and shaky reconciliation.

The first part of the book comes across as a one-way conversation, as only Heidegger's letters to Arendt are extant. Obviously Heidegger was smart enough to destroy Arendt's letters lest they fall into the hands of Mrs. H. The tone of these early letters is that of a besotted adolescent. Heidegger sends her bad poetry and, in one letter, refers to her as his "little wood nymph." As these letters were meant to be strictly private, we cannot help but suffer the embarrassment of an unintentional voyeur. However, the section ends on an ominous note with a letter from Heidegger in 1933 answering Arendt's charges that he is anti-Semitic. This came shortly after the ascension of Hitler and makes us sad that Heidegger destroyed Arendt's letter making the charges.

The correspondence begins anew after the war and only because Arendt saw it in her heart to forgive her former mentor and in effect bury the hatchet. Heidegger seems most pleased and the letters lead to a personal reconciliation with Arendt visiting Heidegger and his wife in Germany. But all was not to remain quiet. Heidegger had confessed all to his wife, and took her willingness to see Arendt again as a sign all was back to normal, as it were. The letters he sends in 1950 give the impression that he is more than willing to resume their affair; to once again have his cake and eat it, too. But a sudden dispatch from Heidegger warns Arendt to cancel a postponed visit and not to write for a while. Seems Elfride Heidegger was not the willing accomplice her husband believed her to be.

But time heals all and the letters (and visits) resume. Heidegger is more interested in what he is doing and the American response than in what Arendt is doing. In one telling letter, he admits he has no idea of what she means by "radical evil." Another subject on which Arendt treads lightly is that of Karl Jaspers: Jaspers and Heidegger attempted a reconciliation after the war, but failed and each has bitterness toward the other with Arendt playing the diplomat in the middle, though in her letters with Jaspers there is no doubt about whose side she is on.

Another missed opportunity is the sudden death of Merleau-Ponty a few months before he was to meet Heidegger in Marburg. Arendt has a higher opinion of him than does Heidegger, although in a philosophical debate I'd place my money on Merleau-Ponty, whose forays into aesthetics, ontology and physics expose Heidegger as stuck in a neo-Kantian continuum.

All in all, this is the book students of these two intellectual giants have waited for, and I, for one was not disappointed in the least.

Heidegger as Dasein
Well, this is quite a surprising little book that casts Martin Heidegger less as the controversial and unrelenting thinker, and more as a man in his world concerned with the quality and concerns of his life and career. It is also an extraordinarily personal and endearing extended love letter to a woman who meant the world to him.
This will strike the usual Heidegger reader as entirely different. There is no hidden marvellous de-coding of his demanding trek. This is a collection of mostly Martin's letters to Hannah with a few responses. The collection spans the course of their lives, and clearly show not only how much he loved her but how much he trusted in her thinking. They were equals in far more sophisticated ways and in far more honest and enduring ways than Sartre and deBeauvoir, who come across as petty bourgeois rats in Henri-Levy's recent biography.
No, here you'll find sign posts and journal entries along the path to Language, Thinking, Heracleitus and Parmenides, Totalitarianism, and the resolution of past controversies. There are Romantic and Philosophical poems (yup, Martin was smooth), endearments and sentinments that come from the heart.
Heidegger refudiates categorically any notion that he is anti-Semitic, and in truth, there's no evidence that he ever was. A bit stupidly enthralled with German nationalism, and certainly a supporter of National Socialism as opposed to Communism, but not anti-Semitic. He refuses to engage in any mea culpa's on that score, and that's it, as far as he is concerned. Arendt, herself Jewish, must have believed him. And that's good enough for me, in any case.
But there is so much more to their relationship than just this point. Her presence in his life upset Elfride Heidegger. There is a curious absence of Hannah's letters to Martin, and perhaps Elfride or Jorg or Hermann decided against preserving them. It's a pity. They clearly had an impact on Martin. Nonetheless, the story of their emotional and philosophical lives continues apace, and the real hallmark of this story is that it succeeds in getting the reader to think, as Heidegger so desperately wanted humans to do, about the little things that we often take for granted, and yet open the way to what is hidden. Hannah has a brilliant description of what Heidegger is about about midway through the book, just before the "Autumn" section begins. It is an analysis that only comes from someone who honestly knows the person she admires, loves and respects, and it thoroughly presents Martin Heidegger as he is.
This isn't weighty stuff for the advance seminars, just a brilliant and extraordinarily personal view of the two greatest philosophical minds of the twentieth century. And it is quite moving. ... Read more

Book Description

Samuel Adams: America's Revolutionary Politician offers a fresh full-life biography of the man Thomas Jefferson once described as the helmsman of the American Revolution. In his study, historian John K. Alexander uses narrative history to argue that Samue ... Read more

Book Description

Life at the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette has long captivated readers, drawn by accounts of the intrigues and pageantry that came to such a sudden and unexpected end. Stefan Zweig's Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman is a dramatic account of the guillotine's most famous victim, from the time when as a fourteen-year-old she took Versailles by storm, to her frustrations with her aloof husband, her passionate love affair with the Swedish Count von Fersen, and ultimately to the chaos of the French Revolution and the savagery of the Terror. An impassioned narrative, Zweig's biography focuses on the human emotions of the participants and victims of the French Revolution, making it both an engrossingly compelling read and a sweeping and informative history. "Certainly no one can arise unmoved from the reading of this powerful work." -- The New Republic "Excellent biography." -- The New York Times ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The Wicked Austrian Queen
Portraying Marie Antoinette as an "average woman," as the title of Zweig's work provocatively suggests, is a debatable proposition. On the one hand, as Zweig shows throughout this study, Marie Antoinette was no prodigy: she was flawed, egotistic, intellectually limited and ... indiscreet. Her greatest passions were for clothes, vast flowery gardens, [fancy] jewelry and good looking Swedish men; she was a compulsive spendthrift; her political self-awareness was zero and her policy meddling was uniformly disastrous. Her indiscipline at court was flagrantly exploited by her political enemies - notably her jealous and ambitious brothers-in-law Louis and Charles (the later Bourbon Restoration kings) - who portrayed her as a modern day Jezebel. In all of these respects, her life was far from "average". But the "ordinariness" within, argues Zweig, left her ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of an extraordinary life.

Once the Revolution happens, however, Zweig's "averageness" argument makes a dog-leg turn. Under the extreme pressures of her imprisonment, her husband's guillotining, her separation from her beloved children and her state trial for treason, she rose above the "average," drawing on her Habsburg dignity and treating her Committee inquisitors with the contempt they deserved. In death, if not in life, she proved herself to be a true daughter of Maria Theresa. Even ordinary people can be martyrs, Zweig seems to be saying.

Zweig is a natural storyteller, and the fact that he, like Marie Antoinette, was Viennese gives him insights into her sensibilities and predilections. Another Viennese voice can be heard in this narrative: the psychological narrative owes much to Dr. Freud - particularly when we come to her early womanhood. Can it be, as Zweig dares to suggest, that Louis XVI's early impotence, and young Marie Antoinette's consequent frustration, fueled her shallow materialism? Was her scandalously profligate lifestyle an outlet for ... frustration? Did one man's "shortcomings" thus cause the revolution? And what of the bizarre Strasbourg ceremony whereby the newlywed Marie Antoinette was forced to [unclothe] at the frontier, lest the new Dauphine of France cross the border wearing foreign clothes? Surely an emotionally scarring experience? Her tale is a gift for the Freudian, and Zweig milks it for all it's worth.

The story of a Woman
Marie Antoinette... many things go through one's mind when thinking of that name. Many say she was cruel, pampered, and spoiled, and that she was the main couse of the French Revolution, yet, she was just a woman, a woman born a princess in the Austrian court, married to a French boy whom she had never met by the age of 15, crowned by 19, and beheaded by 35.

Life went by so fast by Marie Antoinette!!, and never gave her a chance to choose what she wanted out of it.

Stefan Zweig is a marvelous writer, and manages to gives us an intimate portrait of at times very hated, at others very loved and admired woman, an ordinary person who only wished for a normal life with her family, a little place of her own, where she didn't have to adjust and adapt to the many different rules impossed on her.

He describes the life of the French court as only he could, and you feel like you are part of the story, hearing about Versailles, Louvre, the revolution and the people involved, which makes this an excellent book to learn about history, about life in the French court, and about France's last great queen.

So, was she cruel, spoiled, and ignorant? read and decide for yourself....

An average woman in exceptional circumstances
Zweig's biography is so fascinating, I can't believe it's been allowed to go out of print. He does a remarkable job of delineating a light-headed, pleasureseeking woman who was thrust into circumstances she couldn't have anticipated or coped with. Marie Antoinette becomes a real woman, not a figurehead or a scapegoat. No one could ask for anything less.

surreal and magnificent
This book is essentially the perfect introduction to the French revolution. Written in 1932 by Stephan Zweig, a novelist and professional biographer of Viennese origin, it presents a 'visual guided tour' of the life and death of the tragic queen Marie Antoinette. The book dips into psychoanalytical thinking without getting mired in its jargon, and draws on extensive research into the letters and diaries of the most minor characters, without sacrificing narrative style or readability. Zweig writes books that move swiftly, but are rich in detail, and could easily repay a second reading.

Married at fifteen, crowned queen at nineteen, and beheaded at thirty-seven, Marie Antoinette went from the heights of heedless frivolity into the depths of isolation and despair. Zweig carefully shows how she converted the arrogance and narcissism of her early years as the "queen of rococo", into a brave and selfless defense of the aristocratic lost cause. Surrounded by the mounting violence and insanity of the revolution, which mirrored the earlier unreason of a decadent aristocracy, she was stripped of her power and prestige, but passionately refused to surrender her honor. In the end the force of her character vindicated the nobility which her years of frivolity had discredited. But it was too late, the damage had been done, and she more than any other was the symbol against which the revolution was fought.

Independent of the historical significance of the topic, this book is magnificently written, it moves at a rapid and exciting pace, and it contains many deep moral lessons without slipping into tedious jargon or dogmatism of any kind.

An excellent book about a mediocre Queen
Stefan Zweig's excellent account of history's most tragic queen; it's a very good read.

Zweig's assertion is that Antoinette was not only unprepared for her role as the last Queen in the ancien regime, but that she - the daughter of Maria Theresa - was simply 'average'. Nothing about this woman was average. This is a vivid account of a life so privileged it is incomprehensible today. It is the story of a spoiled, pampered Queen who is unwilling to pay the price of her station in life: the constraints of etiquette.

Perhaps her outlook might be considered to be 'average' for the time. The fall of the French monarchy caused all of Europe to tremble. It would have taken great vision for a person in Antoinette's position to see the inevitability of the revolution. Nevertheless, the book clearly portrays Marie Antoinette as a personage with typical views for her time, of mediocre intelligence, without wit or talent, uneducated (uneducable, perhaps) who is not only unprepared but also unwilling to shoulder the responsibilities of what was the most important throne in Europe.

Yet, Zweig's affection for the subject is undeniable and contagious. It might be argued that Antoinette deserved the guillotine, but we're very sorry to see her make that journey in the end. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Garry Wills--Latin scholar, liberal Catholic apologist, historian, award-winning Augustine biographer, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author--is certainly one of the best qualified translators in America to render Saint Augustine's Confessiones for modern readers. With Saint Augustine's Sin Wills offers the third and perhaps most crucial volume of the translation (following Saint Augustine's Childhood and Saint Augustine's Memory), and, with a small exception, his text remains lively, erudite, and contemporary while preserving the rhetorical games of the original.

As in the earlier volumes, the supporting apparatus for the translation--almost two thirds of the slim book--allows Wills to open the literary and theological complexity of Augustine to new readers. In the introduction he declares that Augustine's titular sin is not sexual (as is often assumed), but, rather, is a gratuitous sin--a theft of pears committed with a group of young delinquents--akin to Adam’s sin of "compulsion to solidarity" with Eve. Wills buttresses his contention in the Appendix, "Augustine’s Theology of Sin." Here, he cites Augustine's City of God at length to demonstrate the parallel language used in the narration of the fall.

Wills' other major goal in this translation, beyond positioning the work in its proper contexts, is to preserve Augustine’s Latin "rhetorical pyrotechnics." In doing so, he embraces word play and conjures Augustine’s Latin imagery into English equivalents. At one point, his decision to mirror Augustine's use of a rare Latin verb leads to the opaque phrase, "I boldly foisoned into ramifying and umbrageous loves." But after this intended, intrusive lapse in clarity, the language of the pear theft itself melds perfectly Augustine's philosophical and theological anguish. Wills' scholarly notes taken together with his rousing, vital translation insure that Augustine will be enjoyed by contemporary readers afresh both for his gifts as a writer and for the passion of his spirituality.--Patrick O'Kelley ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A real gem!
I want to start this review by thanking Garry Wills for giving us this real gem of a book. I found it in the new books section of my local library, and, intrigued (Augustine's *Confessions* being one of the few books I've enjoyed enough to read more than once), I brought it home with me. I returned it the next day, having devoured it in the meantime.
It is a rare gift to be able to take a work over 1600 years old and make it fresh and new again, but it is clearly a gift Wills possesses in spades. I can say with complete honesty that this small book has changed the way I think about this seminal figure and has re-ignited my interest in his works.
*Saint Augustine's Sin* is divided into four parts. The first part is Wills' summary of Augustine's view of sin, with a focus on Augustine's key example: his theft of pears as a young hooligan. Wills expertly re-weaves Augustine's analysis to drive home just why such an outwardly ordinary act becomes in Augustine's mind representative of sin in general.
The second part consists of a translation of the relevant material from the *Confessions*. Wills' translation captures the wordplay and rhetorical flourish of Augustine so well, one may easily fall prey to thinking that Augustine really wrote it in English. Wills also includes on facing pages Biblical passages and other quotes alluded to in Augustine's rich writing.
The third and fourth parts consist of Wills' commentary on the text and not-so-supplementary material from Augustine's other writings.
*Saint Augustine's Sin* is short, but what it succeeds in doing in such a short space is phenomenal. No one will put down this book unrewarded. ... Read more

Amazon.com

You'd think there wouldn't be much left to say about a living icon like Muhammad Ali, yet David Remnick imbues King of the World with all the freshness and vitality this legendary fighter displayed in his prime.Beginning with the pre-Ali days of boxing and its two archetypes, Floyd Patterson (the good black heavyweight) and Sonny Liston (the bad black heavyweight), Remnick deftly sets the stage for the emergence of a heavyweight champion the likes of which the world had never seen: a three-dimensional, Technicolor showman, fighter and minister of Islam, a man who talked almost as well as he fought. But mostly Remnick's portrait is of a man who could not be confined to any existing stereotypes, inside the ring or out.

In extraordinary detail, Remnick depicts Ali as a creation of his own imagination as we follow the willful and mercurial young Cassius Clay from his boyhood and watch him hone and shape himself to a figure who would eventually command center stage in one of the most volatile decades in our history. To Remnick it seems clear that Ali's greatest accomplishment is to prove beyond a doubt that not only is it possible to challenge the implacable forces of the establishment (the noir-ish, gangster-ridden fight game and the ethos of a whole country) but, with the right combination of conviction and talent, to triumph over these forces. --Fred Haefele ... Read more

Reviews (71)

Ali as agent of social change?
I found David Remnick's story of the rise of Ali quite compelling, and that's coming from someone who doesn't even like boxing. The brash young confident kid is portrayed in great detail but the portraits of the other major figures: Liston and Patterson are just as engrossing. Remnick writes well, mixes the story with telling anecdotes and chronicles Ali's rise in the context of the social changes of the time.

The book is accurately called 'the rise'; you don't get a lot of the mature Ali and his fights after his comeback. My main question about the book, and it's one the book doesn't answer; exactly HOW did this sometimes loathed figure; an outsider in a religious and racial sense from the authorities, become such a modern day hero? Exactly how did that happen? There's a book there waiting to be written.

In the meantime enjoy this one.

Good book, even if you don't like to read
This book I would recommend to all the people who either like boxing or Muhammed Ali. I would also recommend this to people who don't like to read because you would enjoy it and keep reading until its done. This book is about Ali at his best. From his childhood days to his greatest boxing match ever. This a nonfiction book that tells about Ali's career and the other boxers of his time, which include Floyd Patterson and Sonny Linston. Their fights took place in the 1960's. The best fight ever in this book was held in Miami Beach against Sonny Liston. This fight was exciting because Ali was the underdog of the fight and won it when Sonny Liston just gave up. The worst thing about this book is that it didn't fully describe all the other fights in his career.

The Titans Reigned Supreme
The Titans Reigned Supreme

Fantastic book - more than just the Ali Story -

This is one of the best-written and thought out books of the happenings amongst a small circle of the greatest heavy weights.

You get a rare insight into the lives and minds of Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay - and the awakening/becoming of Muhammad Ali

I went into this book wanting to feed my hunger for knowledge of Muhammad Ali and came out of with a craving for more Sonny Liston - I now want to know all I can about him.

Only a brief period in time is covered - but it's an in-depth look at that time and the people and the places that made up boxing and some of the world outside boxing.

This is a great book for anyone interested in these titans - for anyone interested in Patterson, Liston and Ali - for anyone interested in the history of legends.

One of the best books I've experienced - I truly felt like I was there at times - in that era - that energy of the people and the times

This is one of those books where you wish there was a part 2

muhammed ali discussed
the author is a very good writer and his style here makes this book a good read. impressive. the location of the photographs are well placed--not all in the center as in most books--but advantageously placed at the beginning of some chapters. a good read.

Liston, Patterson.
Covers three fights: Liston, Liston, Patterson. Much discussion of those opponents. More sport and less deadening Black Muslim/Malcolm X would have been better. Mentions Patterson's "vacances au soliel." Who the hell do you think is reading this book? ... Read more

Book Description

Muhammad Ali is The Greatest. From Heavyweight Champion of the World to his ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease, Ali has captured the imagination of our finest writers and won admiration and scrutiny the world over.

With sixteen pages of classic photographs, this collection brings together thirty-two essays, interviews, and articles by the best contemporary sportswriters and literary journalists. Spanning four decades, these pieces chronicle the highs and lows of Ali's career -- his first pro fight in New York; his affiliation with the Nation of Islam, his epic battles with Joe Frazier and George Forman; his Vietnam draft refusal, and the subsequent stripping of his title; and his ultimate return to the spotlight at the 1996 Olympics -- memorable milestones in a truly extraordinary life.

Awe-inspiring, controversial, and beloved, Muhammad Ali, the man and the legend, comes out swinging in a collective portrait that is as illuminating as it is celebratory. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A Truly Full & Satisfying Muhammad Ali Experience
Fantastic - Truly the BEST book on Muhammad Ali out there - and I've read lots!

On a scale of 1 to 5 I give this a 16 - it's THE Best out there!

The book is divided by decades - and you're given insights and perspectives of Muhammad Ali from some pretty impressive folks.

You travel through time and space with each page, with each chapter - you go through the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's with the Champ - it's incredible - I'm at a loss for words to describe what it's like to spend time here - you get this opportunity to travel 30 years with Muhammad Ali - to get different insights and looks at Muhammad Ali - you get to enjoy his youthful energy and watch him dance and you get to sit next to him and count the grays in his hair and watch his hands shake - and just when you even think of feeling sorry for him he levitates off the ground - or makes a hanky disappear -

Yes - a must have for any Ali fan - I have LONG been a fan and this book has been like several books combined and has given me a full experience - like nothing else out there - a truly full and satifying Muhammad Ali experience

The Greatest
"Maybe if there were a few cheers from the other side of the fence, and a little more tolerance, too, people would realize Cassius Clay is not as bad as he seems, and maybe then he would also return the favor once in a while and keep his mouth shut."
--Floyd Patterson (with Gay Talese), "In Defense of Cassius Clay," August 1966

"Boxing is a dialogue between bodies. Ignorant men, usually black, and usually next to illiterate, address one another in a set of "conversational" exchanges... It is just that they converse with their physiques." -Norman Mailer, "Ego," March 1971

This is an excellent book, not only for those interested in perhaps the greatest boxer of all time, but for people interested in the separate and combined effects of race, the 1960's, and the subjectivity of writing. For example, it appears that Patterson and Mailer held contradicting opinions about Ali's talking, and, much this book's fun is how Ali served as a projective test for the attitudes and values of others--Mailer in particular is a hoot.

Ali's larger-than-life persona draws such literary heavyweights as Amiri Baraka, the humorist and essayist A.J. Liebling, Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, George Plimpton, Irwin Shaw, Gay Telese, Garry Wills, and Tom Wolfe. Ali is a symbol, yes, but an individual too, and the better essays show him as a multifaceted, intelligent, and controversial person. Three interviews ("Black Scholar," uncredited, June, 1970; "Playboy," uncredited, November 1975; "Sport," Joe Torres, December 1981) let the champ speak for himself.

The book is full of great writing (except for Hunter S. Thompson's annoying self-aggrandizing piece and Wills' non-illuminating intellectualism), and offer snapshots of Ali from 1962 through his post-Atlanta Olympics acclaim in the late 1990's. A blend of facts and iconography, the book is a fascinating look at Ali both inside and outside the ring. (Some pieces were edited for this book, but there is a bibliography on source material. With 16 pages of photos, no index, and an introductory essay by the editor.) Very highly recommended!

Very much on Point Book on the Man
Muhammad Ali is truly one of a Kind Person inside&outside The Ring.nobody like Him since.The Man took Sports to a whole different level.He took America&The World to a whole different view.this Book brings all that&more into view.a 3 Hour Movie can't do Him any true Justice.He captured so much that is still being felt to this day.a Must Read.

The Greatest!
If you want to begin to try and really understand what Ali is all about, if you want to feel that you have met him and talked with him, this book is for you! It is a great read, and the many writers who contribute each have their own take on this most complex of all heavyweight champs. I loved this book from the first page to the last. You cannot find a better way to get to know Ali. I have read other books about him, and this one stands in a class by itself.

Inspired Writing and Subject
This is a really nice chronicle of Muhammed Ali's life and times. The writing here is just as inspired as the subject, so even non-boxing fans can appreciate it. Don't be put off by Early's poor introductory essay -- get the the meat of the book and you won't be disapointed. I'm glad I read this book. ... Read more

Book Description

John Adams comes to vivid life for young readers in this latest addition to Harness’s acclaimed presidential picture-biographies. Dynamic artwork and lively narrative create a warm, personable portrait of the stubborn man from Braintree, Massachusetts, whose passion for liberty spurred him on to extraordinary roles as a Founding Father, first Vice President, and second President of the United States. Through Adams’s eyes, kids witness the tension-enflamed streets of Boston, the bickering Continental Congress, the complexities of waging the War for Independence, and the challenges of governing a new nation. Vivid quotes from both John and Abigail Adams provide great primary source material for school reports, and three illustrated maps let readers see where key events took place.

Book Description

A fresh look at this astute, likably quirky statesman, by the author of the Pulitzer Award-winning Founding Brothers. "The most lovable and most laughable, the warmest and possibly the wisest of the founding fathers, John Adams knew himself as few men do and preserved his knowledge in a voluminous correspondence that still resonates. Ellis has used it with great skill and perception not only to bring us the man, warts and all, but more importantly to reveal his extraordinary insights into the problems confronting the founders that resonate today in the republic they created."151;Edmund S. Morgan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Flesh and Blood
When John Adams began to compile notes for an autobiography, he prefaced his material with a warning to posterity: "[T]here is no reason to expect that any sketches I may leave of my own Times [will] be received by the Public with any favour, or read by individuals with much interest" (61).
Adams wrote more out of a typical self-effacement than modesty, but his prediction has proved accurate. Succeeding generations of Americans have paid relatively little attention to this cantankerous Founding Father. Compared to some of his contemporaries, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, Adams has enjoyed only small bursts of notoriety.
In his new work, Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, historian Joseph J. Ellis explores why Adams "remains the most misconstrued and unappreciated 'great man' in American history" (12). In his work, Ellis explores the last twenty-five years of Adams's life, spanning from the time he left the White House to the day of his death on July 4, 1826. According to Ellis, it was in this final period that Adams, free from political and social restraints, was able to express fully his personality and reveal his deepest thoughts. It was also during this time that Adams himself began to analyze and comment upon his own role in the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States government.
Readers should bear in mind that Ellis's work is not a biography. Those looking for a chronological account of his life and accomplishments will not find it here. Instead, Ellis structures his narrative episodically. Each chapter explores a different facet of Adams's personality, revealing his character and thoughts through his friendships, correspondence, intellectual habits, personal reflections, and hopes for the future of his country.
A consistent and entertaining theme throughout Ellis's book is Adams's belligerent yet likeable personality. Adams was never more productive than when challenged; he thrived in the face of conflict. Ellis describes how much in his element Adams felt when, as president, his policies lost him the favor of the Federalist Party:
[Adams had] placed himself in the most attractive position imaginable, at least for a man of his disposition: a leader without a party, whose independence [was] unalloyed and whose virtuous motives [could not] be attributed to a crass craving for popularity. (36)

Adams even took this personal combativeness into his library. He was an aggressive reader, scribbling furious notes on the pages of his books as a means of debating with the author. This habit is indicative of his mode of intellectual operation: "[Adams's] marginalia....constitute dramatic illustrations of the way he defined his own elemental ideas in conflict with opposing versions" (89).
It was typical of Adams to identify his views according to opposition. Ellis employs this same method of identification to reveal Adams's ideological mindset. He devotes a significant amount of his text to the famous correspondence between Adams and his colleague, Thomas Jefferson. Citing Benjamin Rush, who once dubbed Adams and Jefferson, "the North and South Poles of the American Revolution," Ellis juxtaposes the two Founders, demonstrating how Adams sharpened his opinions by pitting them against Jefferson's (134). It was within this context of private communication that Adams was best able to articulate his views: "the episodic character of a conversation matched nicely with his impulsive, hit-or-miss...mode of thinking" (144).
While the structure of Ellis's work is refreshing in its originality, it suffers at times from rough transitions. He divides his analysis so sharply into different categories that some chapters read like independent essays. This lack of structural unity requires him to repeat information, unnecessarily burdening the reader. Twice, for example, he discusses Adams's criticism of Mary Wollstonecraft's writings (101, 185).
The lack of connection between sections also produces an aesthetic imbalance in Ellis's work. Some chapters, such as the one dwelling on Adams and Jefferson's correspondence, are full of delightful anecdotes; others, such as Chapter 5, "Erudite Effusions," are sufficiently heavy with political theory so as to alienate readers in search of lighter fare.
However, for Adams enthusiasts, Ellis's analysis provides a fresh and original look at an oft-neglected Father. Ellis's heartfelt treatment conveys an unusual appreciation for the Sage of Quincy. By portraying Adams transparently-warts and all-he succeeds in conveying to readers a sense of the Founder's humanity. "In effect," says Ellis, "though [Adams] belongs on Mount Rushmore, we would need to devise a way to replace the granite with flesh and blood" (6).

Introduction to our charmingly obnoxious founding father
Ellis' work focuses on the latter part of Adams' life. While it makes no claim to be a complete biography, the book serves as an excellent foundation for those seeking to learn more about our most underappreciated founding father. Through detailed comparisons with Jefferson - Adams' rival and close friend who has been treated more kindly by America's collective consciousness - Ellis begins to illuminate many levels of the New Englander's character. In doing so, he helps us understand why Adams was not, and probably never will be, adored by the nation he helped to create

Better than the best seller
I thought the energy, mischevious wit and intellectual excitement of Adam's mind was wonderfully brought to life with this book. Though not an A to Z life story - it generally focuses on his later life - it still manages to give you a sense of the whole man and the challenges of his times. I wish Ellis would have written a more comprehensive life story, perhaps he will yet.

Scholarly History of the best kind.
Superb History that lays bare insights into of one of the most brilliant and least understood "Founding Fathers." Ellis does not take a psychodramatic approach. Instead he opens the vault of evidentiary material (i.e. quotes and the ability to weave together the paterns of Adams life) to give us John Adams the man. The intellectual, the tornado, the intuitive man of insight to whom we owe so much.

Revisionist Adams
Ellis' book portrays Adams in the most flattering light, viewing the second president largely through the charming, if self-serving, forum of his extensive correspondence. This portrait of Adams, as friend, father, husband and intellectual gadfly, is largely sympathetic. Ellis acknowledges, but glosses over, Adams' numerous failings as president (he was a combustible, querulous, ineffectual and frequently AWOL chief executive, with a haughty view of his office, and a poor regard for civil liberties). Ellis' prose is clear and concise, and the book is of quite manageable size, unlike some of the bloated tomes that have been written on Adams. However, it suffers from a disjointed and episodic construction. ... Read more

Book Description

"One of the most promising young poet-critics in America" (Los Angeles Times) examines a revolutionary generation of poets.

Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, Randall Jarrell, and Delmore Schwartz formed one of the great constellations of talent in American literature. In the decades after World War II, they changed American poetry forever by putting themselves at risk in their poems in a new and provocative way. Their daring work helped to inspire the popular style of poetry now known as "confessional." But partly as a result of their openness, they have become better known for their tumultuous lives—afflicted by mental illness, alcoholism, and suicide—than for their work. This book reclaims their achievement by offering critical "biographies of the poetry"—tracing the development of each poet's work, exploring their major themes and techniques, and examining how they transformed life into art.

An ideal introduction for readers coming to these major American poets for the first time, it will also help veteran readers to appreciate their work in anew light. 6 illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

The legend lives on in this remarkable and inspiring memoir by a remarkable and inspiring man -- Arthur Ashe, tennis champion, social activist, AIDS victim, man of courage and grace to the very end. Born into the segregated South, an intruder in the white world of tennis, Ashe learned early the lessons of racism while developing into one of his generation's greatest players and winning three Grand Slam events. Ashe was America's Davis Cup captain when, in 1983, from a transfusion during a bypass operation, he was infected with the AIDS virus... which wasn't discovered until 1988. He then transferred the brilliance and power that made him a great tennis champion to the championship of great causes: justice for black men and women, the fight against prejudice, the fight against AIDS. In Days of Grace, we learn about the athlete, the husband, the father, the activist -- we learn about Arthur Ashe the man. An extraordinary audiobook, an extraordinary man.

Joe Morton has appeared in the films Of Mice and Men, Forever Young and Terminator 2, and starred in Brother from Another Planet. On television, he appeared in "Equal Justice" and currently stars in producer Robert DeNiro's new anthology series "Tribeca." ... Read more

Reviews (18)

The book is great
I thought that this book was a great book. Arthur Ashe portrayed the role of a famous sports figure who suffers from aids perfectly. Although he received the disease accidentally through a blood transfusion, he was still an active member in big aids charities trying to educate people about the disease and such. The book also talks about his tennis career. I thought the book was good, however sometimes he stretches a certain story in a chapter, turning it from a short story into a long stretchy story, which made the book boring at times. I give the book 4 stars out of 5 stars.

this book is great
The book "Days of Grace: A Memoir
by Arthur Ashe, Arnold Rampersad" is a great book. I thought both Arthur Ashe and Arnold Rampersad did a great job with writing the book. The book mainly talks about Arthur Ashe's struggle with aids. The book also talks about how his life and tennis career was affected by aids and how he dealt with it.

The book talks about Arthur Ashe's struggle to cope with aids. Arthur Ashe's struggle with aids was an eye opener. The book also talked about Arthur Ashe donating to charities and foundations dedicated to contributing aid to aids patients.

Arthur Ashe's tennis career was heavily effected by aids. Although he received the disease accidentally by blood transfusion, Arthur Ashe talks about the importance of protection during sex or abstinence.

Overall I thought the book was a good book to read. Sometimes the chapters tend to drag which causes the book to be boring at times, but overall it is a very good book to read, and I recommend people to read it. I gave the book 4 out of 5 stars.

Very Inspiring
The title perfectly describes this book. We learn of his life and how he conducted himself as a person -- being a gentleman and a citizen of the world. The book starts out pretty much at the time when the news of Arthur Ashe having contracted AIDS (through a contaminated blood transfusion) broke out. Also, the chapters of him being the Davis Cup captain and having to work with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe as players on the team are a great read. This is a very touching and inspiring book.

Profound
The book was a wonderful read it was deep thought provoking happy and ultimately sad. The title could also have been called A Journey In Courage.I did not know much about Arthur Ashe at the time of his death I like many of my comtemporaries heaped unneccesary praise on the Micheal Jordan's and Jerry Rice's of the world when Arthur Ashe's poster should have been on my wall. Unlike them and (countless others) he was so much more than just an athelete. Just like his book is so much more than just a read it is as though your having a conversation over coffee and your running late for work but you do not care because you are talkin to Arthur, his book has everything in it from sound financial advice to help in choosing the right mate. We lost a true treasure with his passing.

Health, race, sex, politics, religion, family...
This is a sad yet uplifting memoir from a great man who was taken from us much too soon. Arthur speaks with dignity and intelligence on all the aforementioned topics and more. This is that rare book that makes you feel a better person for having read it.
So why withhold one star? Selfishly, I was a bit disappointed that Arthur didn't tell us more about his own magnificent tennis playing. His win over Connors at Wimbledon in '75, for example, was as shocking and historic an upset as you'll see in sports, but Arthur mentions it only in passing, in connection with other events, with no details or insight into how the match unfolded.
I suppose he knew time was short and he had many more important things to say.
I'm glad he did, and I'm sorry he's gone. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Saint Augustine, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and cultural critic Garry Wills, is a 145-page biography of a saint whose collected works total 13 volumes. Despite its brevity, the book offers a complex and compelling interpretation of Augustine's life and work. Much of Wills's task is demythologizing: Augustine was not a central figure in 4th-century Christianity but was "peripheral in his day, a provincial on the margins of classical culture," who did not know Greek, the intellectual lingua franca of his time. Although Augustine has been portrayed by artists as a bishop "wearing all the episcopal finery of the late Middle Ages," he actually "dressed in the gray clothes of a monk." And far from being a self-righteous pontificator, Augustine was "impatient with all preceding formulations, even his own." He wrote, "Since it is God we are speaking of, you do not understand it. If you could understand it, it would not be God." Wills also argues that Augustine's Confessions (which, Wills persuades the reader, is an anachronistic, egoistic translation of the original Latin title, a word Wills more accurately renders as "Testimony") has been misread in a way that suggests Augustine led a debauched sexual life before his conversion. In the Shocking Revelation department, Wills does, however, find more detailed (if elaborately coded) information about Augustine's mistress and about the son they raised together than other biographers have found. Like Wills's masterful Lincoln at Gettysburg, Saint Augustine accomplishes its revisionist aims completely and yet lightly. Wills makes his arguments without ever forgetting his first job: telling the story of a life. --Michael Joseph Gross ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A relatively pain-free introduction to Augustine
I wanted very much to like this book, and I did by the time I finished and reflected on it. Publication of a short biography of Augustine, an influential but little-known (to modern Americans) figure in Western history, was a great idea, and I'm pleased that Penguin took on the project.

Writing a biography of someone like Augustine is difficult -- little information is available other than Augustine's surviving writings. The successful biographer needs to ground the available information, and a critical rereading of previous biographies, in our current understanding of the state of society at that time. Garry Wills has pulled that off nicely.

Augustine lived in interesting times: Church doctrine was evolving while identifying heretical docrines (e.g., Donatists); the Roman Empire was effectively split in two, with the Western capital moved from Rome to Ravenna; and (mainly) Christianized "barbarian" groups were taking over large sections of the Western Empire (Alaric's Goths captured Rome during Augustine's lifetime, and Augustine died near the end of the Vandal conquest of Roman Africa). Wills successfully places Augustine's life in context of these important events.

Other Amazon reviewers have noted that this is not a good introductory volume. I disagree, as long as the reader has some knowledge of the historical period. Even in that case, however, the early sections of the book can drag -- e.g., with lengthy reinterpretations of specific Augustinian phrases. But how can one complain about an Augustine biography that (in the final pages, anyhow) manages to incorporate discussions of both Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint" and Chesterton's "Secrets of Father Brown"?

Needs prior knowledge of Augustine; some history invented
As some reviewers have mentioned, this book presupposes you know a lot about Augustine before you read this. This assessment is correct--you do. Wills freqently stops in mid-discusssion to get into arguing with other translaters about whether a given word should be translated one way or the other. And if you don't know about Augustine's life (presumably true, if you're reading a biography), you have no idea why the author is making a big deal about each translation point. And they are numerous.

In addition, key facts that most biographers would introduce for the reader are skipped. For example, he refers to the Maximus the Usurper in his pages as if you should know who he is. Who Maximus is or why he is important is never explained. Other references to key players are left similarly unexplained.

Other parts that are suspicious. After a long explanation of the origins of the word 'confession' and its use in Augustine's time, Wills decides to call Augustine's most famous work not by its universal title "The Confessions" but "The Testimony." What is the point of renaming a book that is known by everyone under one name? Everytime he refers to the Testimony, you mentally correct it to the Confessions. This is a pointless distraction and it makes you suspicious of what other titles have been intenetionally retranslated to something no one would recognize.

Likewise, he gives the name Una to Augustine's mistress, even though there is no record this was her name.

Personally, I don't like this kind of self-created biography. I was expecting a book that would lay out Augustine's life, and at various points dip deeply into the theological debates and explain Augustine's views in the context of his times and also detail how they affected Catholic/Christian thinking after him. This is not that book. This is a treatise arguing for a different translation of Augustine; it's not a biography.

A good stepping stone
This is a very good book for someone who has a basic understanding of Saint Augustine's philosophy and wants to gain a better understanding of his times and how this influenced his development before embarking on further study.

The philosophy of St. Augustine.
St. Augustine's life was that of a writer on the relationship between God and his people. Much of the material he has written forms the backbone of the Christian religions. He is an important person in Western civilization. This book by Garry Wills is supposed to tell Augustine's biography. Instead Wills spends countless pages on philosophical arguments and one does not get a good view of this man nor the times he lived in.
A previous reviewer commented that one should read the writings of St. Augustine himself, rather than try to fathom what he stood for in the Wills book. I agree with this assessment.
I don't really care for Wills' politics and after this book not alot for his writing. This was a difficult book for me to get through. Even though it is short, the writing style has a lot to be desired. Perhaps Wills intended this book for his students at Northwestern. A real disappointing read!

History and Spirit!
Wills, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Lincoln at Gettysburg (LJ 5/1/92), makes a marvelous contribution to St. Augustine studies but one best used in conjunction with a more standard biography such as Peter Brown's Augustine of Hippo (1967). Wills reviews and explains events he thinks were crucial to Augustine's personal and theological development. His particular strength, however, is to offer an intriguing challenge to the traditional scholarship on Augustine. For example, Wills does not believe that Augustine was a sexual libertine before his conversion: "He lived with one woman for fifteen years `and with her alone, since I kept faith with her bed.'... This kind of legal concubine was recognized in Roman law." Wills also considers the title of Augustine's biography, Confessions, to be a mistranslation, opting instead for "Testimony" and arguing that Augustine is giving testimony to the presence of the Spirit rather than confessing sins. Wills offers insight after creative insight into the society, law, philosophy, and church of Augustine's fourth-century world. A three-page Bibliographical Guide and a two-page list of works by and about Augustine are included. Highly recommended as a supplementary work on Augustine. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Concise, well-judged, sympathetic account
This book keeps up the generally high standard of the "Profiles in Power" series and will be very useful for readers fresh to Ataturk and modern Turkish history. The author does not conceal the blemishes in Ataturk's character, but equally the reader can hardly fail to grasp the scale of the Turkish leader's achievements against the background of the Ottoman empire's collapse and the conservatism of Turkish traditions. A longer biography would do greater justice to the complexities of Ataturk's personality and historical legacy, but this is still a reliable and enjoyable book.

A summary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic.
Profiles in Power: Ataturk as well as telling us about Ataturk also summarizes the the falling down of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey . It does not go into details but gives overall explanations of the events. Notes and references given at the end of each chapter and the references listed in the Further Reading part is very usefull for the interested reader. Through out the book the writer can be said to be neutral to case, though I doubt the correctness of some of his views.For example the explanation of the meaning of the title "Ghazi" which is the title given to Mustafa Kemal after the War of Sakarya as the "Destroyer of the Christians", is not correct. The meaning of the word Ghazi (Gazi) is explained in the Turkish Dictionary published by Turkish Language Institude as "the title given to the commanders who, performing extraordinary courage and capabilty wins victory against the enemy." Although some comments on some issues should be double checked it is a fluent, consistent book, enjoyable to read. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Avoid the cycle of imitation, intimidation, and resignation.
Most reviewers have hit upon the highlights of this book. I do not feel the need to repeat it.

This book is a set of mini-biographies of the lives of three flawed saints. I emphasize the word "flawed" because one of the things I appreciated most about this book was how it emphasized each man's weaknesses and sin. These were flawed saints. There is no saint who is not flawed. When it comes to heroes, there is an easy downward slip from the desire for imitation to the discouragement of intimidation to the deadness of resignation. Seeing their weaknesses and how God's grace triumphed in them is to see Christ's strength perfected in weakness.

And seeing how they sang of their sovereign joy of God in the midst of incredible opposition both from the world and their sin gives me hope; for I am flawed, I am imperfect, and I struggle with sin. But oh, I sing for my Sovereign Joy! There is hope in these pages that even men of God sin, but God pulls them out of the mirey clay as an example of His grace, not their greatness.

While I wish Piper could have gone a little bit deeper, I found in his book enough to meditate upon, and a spark has ignited a desire to learn more about these men in order to see their God, their Sovereign Joy.

The Cricket Chirps, The Swan is Silent
John Piper's series of biographies, The Swans Are Not Silent, of which this is the first book, is so named for multiple reasons that come out in the preface. When Augustine was handing over his administrative duties to an assistant named Eraclius, Eraclius was asked to give a message. As Augustine sat silently on the bishops throne behind, Eraclius said, "The cricket chirps, the swan is silent." This is how I feel looking at the way that God has impacted men like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Owen, and even Piper. Being motivated by the grace that God has shown them in their lives and learning from their lessons, as I go out to the world with the motive of Paul that is seen in so many of these great men in history, "Him we declare, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom so that we may present everyone mature in Christ (Colossians 1:28 ESV)," my words feel like the chirps of crickets next to the songs of these gifted swans. Sometimes, one of the best ways to let their songs be sung is to let them sing them for themselves through the words that they wrote and the testimony that they left. That is what John Piper has done in this book, and it has definitely had its desired effect.

Not what I was expecting, but quite good.
I have only good things to say about the man John Piper, both as a theologian and pastor. I was however, a little disapointed with this book. I love all three of these Christian heros and was very excited to read about their lives and ministries especially agaist the backdrop of their blatent failures. Piper however, spends more time molding their lives into three preset themes he wishes to discuss then their lives themselves. His chosen themes are Sovereign Joy, Sacred Study, and The Divine Majesty of the Word.

This book is certainly not a biography (something that is tipped off by its 150 pages of large type) but is interesting if you wish to read about all of the aformentioned ideas. It certainly is a quick read and worth the edification. I would reccommend though that after this book you read some of the men themselves to get a fuller picture of their lives and more importantly, how they display God's glory.

Glimpses Of Sovereignty
A quick and eye-opening read. Mr. Piper opens the doors of a cellar that has been closed to evangelical Christianity for too long. Mr. Piper's text is void of deep theological language, in-depth historical jargon and is perfect encouragement and enlightenment for the layman. A great book for getting congregations thinking again. Read it. Even if you have an aversion to reading, be encouraged, you will be through this book quickly. This is an excellent companion to J.I. Packer's translation of Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will. Piper is not apologetic and is quite forthcoming in relating the "flaws and sins" of these men. What is most remarkable and refreshing about the sketches he presents is the overwhelming sovereignty of God choosing man, not man choosing God (Romans 9). What is obvious from the lives of these men is that they served, strived and conquered, not by any self-determination, but by the absolute joy and delight in Christ which overcame each one of them in a unique way and of course this was accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. The book was a great lift for me, I struggle with some of the things these "giants" struggled with. I drew encouragement from these brief biographical sketches. Overall, Piper's text is a small compass which points to the true North of our lives, loving God and worshipping Him with all we have, motivated by His unyielding and relentless love. It has aided me in being still and knowing God is the great I AM.

Enjoying God who is so enjoyable
This is a wonderful book for the layperson. John Piper brings the realization home that God works through flawed human beings. Because of this, you and I can be freed from the misconceptions that only superheroes of faith are used greatly by God. It is God and God alone that shines through the cracks in our earthen vessels. May God have the glory in the lives of Augustine, Luther and Calvin. And may God use us in a way in which he recieves all the glory. Thank you for these biographical sketches that explore three giant men but shows a sovereign God who dwarfs them...much to the pleasure of these giants. ... Read more

Book Description

John Quincy Adams was raised, educated, and groomed to be President, following in the footsteps of his father, John. At fourteen he was secretary to the Minister to Russia and, later, was himself Minister to the Netherlands and Prussia. He was U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, and then President for one ill-fated term. His private life showed a parallel descent. He was a poet, writer, critic, and Professor of Oratory at Harvard. He married a talented and engaging Southerner, but two of his three sons were disappointments. This polymath and troubled man, caught up in both a democratic age not to his understanding and the furies of passion, was an American lion in winter. ... Read more

Reviews (36)

"My life must be militant to its close."
I really enjoyed this biography. A fine researcher and writer, Paul C. Nagel has succeeded in doing what I believe is the key thing in an autobiography: really taking the reader inside his subject's mind and emotions, telling us not only what he did, but why.

The key to this success is Nagel's access to JQA's unexpurgated diary, a treasure-trove of information not available to earlier writers. (As Nagel notes in his introduction, this book "is, to my knowledge, the first biography that draws upon Adams' massive manuscript diary.") Fortunately, Adams was a compulsive and comprehensive diarist, and so we get a look at our subject in a way few biographies offer us of any person. In a sense, JQA's interior monologue is our constant companion.

To be honest, though, I think that's also this title's major weakness. Nagel is so focused on Adams' own self-analysis that the book sometimes struck me as too introverted. We seldom encounter other people's assessment of Adams, just his view of them, or his opinion of their opinion of him. The many significant events of Adams' life, too, are frequently viewed through Adams' eyes and colored by his reaction to them. This isn't to say that Nagel isn't an objective biographer, but rather that the book could have benefited from an occasional contrasting viewpoint.

Though that weakness might be seen by some as a major lapse, I should repeat that I nevertheless found this an interesting read and an insightful biography. Nagel captures the motivations, passions, and fears behind JQA's notoriously p