Book Description

In December of 1814, American forces led by Major General Andrew Jackson moved into the city of New Orleans. For the next six weeks, Jackson’s ragtag troops of militiamen, free blacks, Indians, and pirates furiously defended the city against Britain’s elite army, led by Lieutenant General Sir Edward Pakenham. In the bloody confrontation of the two armies, the American underdog army decisively defeated Sir Edward Pakenham’s British troops.

The Generals tells the dramatic story of the battle between Andrew Jackson and Sir Edward Pakenham for the "booty and beauty" of New Orleans in the winter of 1814–1815. The Battle of New Orleans was the last battle in the War of 1812, which cost Pakenham his life and propelled Andrew Jackson into the national prominence that would eventually lead to his presidency. The Generals provides a detailed and intimate look at both the personal and professional lives of Jackson and Pakenham, demonstrating how their paths twisted and turned until they inevitably met each other on the battlefield outside of New Orleans.

Benton Rain Patterson leads readers through the captivating tale of a central battle in American military history and subsequently brings the biographies of these two great generals into full light. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

The only unbiased work I've found on this subject...
Gordon-Reed shows how many prominent historians have discounted evidence of a TJ-Sally liaison simply because it comes from, or is attributed to, African-American sources, while they eagerly rely on equally slim, or even slimmer, evidence from Euro-American sources. She also highlights the expressed reluctance of some "brand-name" Jefferson scholars to ascribe reprehensible conduct to Mr. Jefferson, regardless of evidence that it may have occurred. I read the first (1997) edition of this book, which appeared before the DNA study was released. The new information from the DNA results supports Ms. Gordon-Reed's cautionary proposition that we should not ignore or discard any evidence simply because of its source. I was glad to hear that the DNA results confirmed the long-standing oral tradition that Eston Hemings and his descendants are related to Thomas Jefferson. This new century needs people possessed of the Hemings' steadfast truthfulness.

Has Jefferson relatives reeling!
The Jeffersons'/Randolphs'/Coolidges' response to stories about their patriarch's relationship with Miss Hemings long had been to say that the Carr brothers actually had fathered the Hemings children. Sally Hemings, the typical account said, had (to borrow an image Gordon-Reed shows a famous historian using) lied about her children's parentage in much the manner that a nag's owner might lie about its being the offspring of a famous thoroughbred. Comes now the DNA evidence to back Gordon-Reed's strong proof that the Carrs were innocent of any such adultery, and the Jefferson family seems to want to blame yet another of its male forebears, Thomas Jefferson's brother. Why do they have such an emotional investment in Thomas's not having had black children? This is one of many interesting questions Gordon-Reed's book prompts one to consider. (For the history of historians' defense of Jefferson against this charge, see the essay by Ayers and French in _Jeffersonian Legacies_, edited by Peter S. Onuf.) Virginius Dabney, who was related to Jefferson on both sides of his family, is the outstanding example of a Jefferson flack in this regard, but there have been others. Kudos to Gordon-Reed for not losing her cool in wading through the insulting, demeaning, degrading things that historians have said about Sally Hemings -- whose personality remains obscure. Even those who detest Gordon-Reed must admit that the appendices to this book, which present the main primary sources regarding this question, are worth the book's price. If you care about Jefferson, race, public "education"/propaganda, or America, buy this book.

Well Written but irrelevant
Gordon-Reed's work, while impressive from a research perspective, point sout the basic flaw undergirding most of this politically correct fable about the paterninty of the Hemmings's descendents: no evidence EXISTS to prove that they were Jefferson's. Writing about the controversy between pro- and anti-Jefferson positions -- without acknowledging that one side can not prove its case, while the other is forced into the tortured pose of having to prove a negative, is to miss the crux of the entire debate.

Two hundred years after the story first gained circulation, the DNA evidence demonstrated nothing more than had ALWAYS been asserted -- that the Hemmings's children were fathered SOME DESCENDENT in the Jefferson line.

Books like Gordon-Reed's only highlight the affliction currently paralyzing much of the historical community: the willingness to ignore facts in favor of a narrative of the way in which we WISHED events had happened.

Good, But Not Quite There
Annette Gordon-Reed's offering on the two hundred year old controversy linking Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings did manage to keep my attention. I thought the book to be well written and persuasive in many regards. I believe that Ms. Gordon-Reed was faithful to her point of view during the entirety of the book. The author brought to light some new concepts, and ideas that should be part of any intelligent discussion of this topic.

However, as a student of Thomas Jefferson, I was disappointed by Ms. Gordon-Reed on two important points. The DNA results of Eston Hemings' descendant indicated that Eston was tied genetically to the Jefferson family line, but not specifically to Thomas Jefferson. My first area of disappointment was with the fact that the author did not bring to light the fact that Jefferson's brother Randolph could have in fact been the father. Randolph, who lived only twenty miles from Monticello, would have been close enough for frequent visits, especially when Jefferson returned from an extended absence. It is a fairly well known fact that Randolph Jefferson spent time among the Monticello slave population. It appears that he enjoyed playing his fiddle while in their company. That could explain why several of the Hemings children were musically inclined.

My second area of disappointment resided in the fact that the author noted on numerous occasions that Jefferson was present at Monticello during the times when Sally Hemings conceived. My question is, was Sally Hemings at Monticello each time she conceived? It was not uncommon in those times for plantation workers to be loaned to other plantation owners. This possiblity
was not discussed at all.

Randolph Jefferson may not have been the father of Eston Hemings. Sally Hemings may in fact have been at Monticello for each conception. However, by not addressing either of these issues the book falls somewhat short of a full investigation of the facts. I would very much like to see in any future editions of this book an addressing of these issues.

Did we really need DNA evidence?
Annette Gordon-Reed's book should be required reading in graduate history programs across the country. Not because of its topic, but because it is one of the finest, most careful and critical reading of documentary evidence I've ever encountered. By providing an outstanding example of how professional historians should operate, it also exposes one of the tragic weaknesses of the discipline of History--it has for too long been among the least intellectually rigorous of all the disciplines. The recent publication by the "scholar's commission," sponsored by the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society is a classic example of the problem. In finding Jefferson "innocent" of the charges, the commission ignores the most powerful arguments put forward in Gordon-Reed's book, and builds its authority mainly on the commission member's own pedigree (mostly aging white scholars from prestigious institutions). While the commission points out the real limitations of the DNA evidence, by ignoring Gordon-Reed's work, it fails to understand what an intelligent, open-minded reader of Gordon-Reed's work will quickly grasp: credible evidence pointing to Thomas Jefferson as the likely father of Sally Heming's children has been around for more than a century, but was until recently blithely dismissed by generations of historians who were prisoners of their own racist, and guild-protecting assumptions. Gordon-Reed raises the bar for serious historical inquiry in this book, and I beleive its importance will outlast the controversy it explores. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good abridgement
Remini's text provides the reader with an excellent synopsis of the life and times of Old Hickory while condensing three volumes into one. While the author at times defends the General loyally, Remini attempts to provide details of both Andrew Jackson's many triumphs and pitfalls. for someone trying to become acquainted with this president or Jacksonian American, this is an excellent text. It provides narrative details of the facts and the context surrounding President Jackson, but it is also highly readable. All in all, I would recomend the text highly. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Miraculous Story of Survival
It's hard to imagine that a society could tolerate the killing of 6 million Jews. It's even harder to imagine how this happened only six decades ago. I have studied and read many Holocaust books, but I can not remember one that affected as deeply as Michael Jackson's memoir and story of survival in Head of the Line: A Holocaust Survivor's Memoir. Mr. Jackson not only recounts a personal tale, but he tells the story of European Jews prior to World War Two. His use of Yiddish reminded me of a language past that my grandparents spoke about. Mr. Jackson gives a first-hand account of growing up as a Jew in the Carpathian Mountain region of pre-World War II Czechoslovakia. He proudly recounts his days growing up surrounded by a large extended family that treasured life, religion and freedom. His memoir traces his journey through the Holocaust as he bore witness to the atrocities of the war and the destruction of his family. He tells his story of survival in detail, from his deportation from his home, to forced labor marches and slavery to Dachau and eventually America. It is through acts of unexplained miracles, courage and a strong will to survive that Mr. Jackson is able to share his story. In just a few years time, we will rely on books like Mr. Jackson's to teach and explain the Holocaust. It is from this memoir that I will teach my children and my children's children about the Holocaust. It is for that reason that I recommend this book. Mr. Jackson's memoir will forever remain on my bookshelf. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good book, but hard to recommend it.
Next to journal reading, a compilation of personal letters is a good way to really get to know someone. This book is a collection of letters exchanged between Thomas Jefferson and his children & grandchildren over a long period of time. The book starts when the kids are young and he is away on his government duties. We find that times really hasn't changed that much as Jefferson constantly nags them to write him letters. As the kids grow older, they become much more prolific writers. The book becomes most interesting whenever the grandchildren mature and begin to write him during his presidency. In these letters, he shares tips and philosophy on life, economics, and general principles- even though we know he may not have put all of these into practice himself.

My rating reflects the disappointment that the editors failed to structure the book in a way that fills in the blanks for the reader. As an example, the death of his daughter only triggers a footnote to one of the letters since the event caused a lapse in letter writing between the family during his return visit to Monticello. To find out what had happened, I had to consult other material. This book could be greatly improved if a revised edition would include dialog that would explain the events mentioned in the letters.

In spite of this, you will like this book if you are a follower of Thomas Jefferson. This shouldn't be your first book or even your second volume on Jefferson, but if you are well versed on the history of this important man- then you will find much enjoyment within the pages. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

"I have often wondered for what good end the sensations of Grief could be intended."
-- Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson suffered during his life from periodic bouts of dejection and despair, shadowed intervals during which he was full of "gloomy forebodings" about what lay ahead.

Not long before he composed the Declaration of Independence, the young Jefferson lay for six weeks in idleness and ill health at Monticello, paralyzed by a mysterious "malady." Similar lapses were to recur during anxious periods in his life, often accompanied by violent headaches. In Jefferson's Demons, Michael Knox Beran illuminates an optimistic man's darker side -- Jefferson as we have rarely seen him before.

The worst of these moments came after his wife died in 1782. But two years later, after being dispatched to Europe, Jefferson recovered nerve and spirit in the salons of Paris, where he fell in love with a beautiful young artist, Maria Cosway. When their affair ended, Jefferson's health again broke down. He set out for the palms and temples of southern Europe, and though he did not know where the therapeutic journey would take him or where it would end, his encounter with the old civilizations of the Mediterranean was transformative. The Greeks and Romans taught him that a man could make productive use of his demons.

Jefferson's immersion in the mystic truths of the Old World gave him insights into mysteries of life and art that Enlightenment philosophy had failed to supply. Beran skillfully shows how Jefferson drew on the esoteric lore he encountered to transform anxiety into action. On his return to America, Jefferson entered the most productive period of his life: He created a new political party, was elected president, and doubled the size of the country. His private labors were no less momentous...among them, the artistry of Monticello and the University of Virginia.

Jefferson's Demons is an elegantly composed account of the strangeness and originality of one Founder's genius. Michael Knox Beran uncovers the maps Jefferson used to find his way out of dejection and to forge a new democratic culture for America. Here is a Jefferson who, with all his failings, remains one of his country's greatest teachers and prophets. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Jefferson's Psyche
Demon - n. Greek Mythology 2. An attendant spirit; a genius.

This book investigates the classical influences on Jefferson and follows them through to his motivations in Government and his personal life. The "demons" are the classical inspirations for Jefferson.This is a great book which delves deeper into a person's psyche than any other biography I've read.The language is exquisite (nearly over-the-top), but in the end it is a highly rewarding investigation into one of our founding fathers.

ASOMEWHAT LIMITED, BUT TOTALLY UNIQUE BIOGRAPHY . . .
_____________________________________________________________________________

I really enjoyed this biography of Thomas Jefferson - the book itself. My overall impression is altered somewhat by the added dimension of having listened rather than read . . . I bought the CD version because of the many hours I spend on the road. Dan Cashman, the narrator, has a splendid voice, but I felt his reading was too slow and with too many poignant pauses for my taste. I would have liked the audio version more if he'd been more straight-forward in its reading with less tendency to pontificate. Be that as it may, the substance of the book itself opened up the world of it's protagonist in a way few books do.

Although the book meanders a bit at certain points, the reader feels he is in Jefferson's mind at times. I would have liked the author to have told us about more of Jefferson's close acquaintances and their relationships. Few of the other founding fathers are mentioned, Benjamin Franklin a case in point. Attention given to Washington and Adams is quite sparse. I felt too many pages were devoted to Jefferson's lopsided relationship with Maria Cosway whom he met after the premature death of his wife. Maria was a married woman he was romantically attracted to, but who would have nothing to do with him except as a friend. He couldn't let go of her over the years, however, and she was too polite to totally cut all communications (even though she lived in Europe and ended up becoming a nun).

One thing I liked about this book was the way Beran shed light on Jefferson's intimate interests, his way of looking at the world around him and the place he felt he occupied in it. Some of those interests and notions, or ways, of looking at people, places, his own personal psyche and health (among other things) seem alien to us today. But that is what's wonderful about how Beran puts it all together - in a way you can almost taste Jefferson's time, what was important to people and what they found motivating (people, at least, who were of the station and caliber of Jefferson - a rarity to be sure). Many of Jefferson's fears, shortcomings and idiosyncrasies are also covered, but in an affectionate way which makes him seem more human and less aloof.

I was pleasantly surprised and gratified to find that Jefferson appeared to become more disposed to the teachings of Christ later in his life, considering him the greatest teacher of the virtues of pure love who ever lived. Beran indicates that Jefferson came to believe Christ's teachings transcended those of the Greek philosophers in that Christ applied them across the board to all peoples. Jefferson even wrote a singular treatise on the subject, this after having held a largely hellenistic view of the world for most of his life.

I finished the book feeling I would have liked to have known Jefferson personally and been able to have conversed and debated with him as a friend. My reason for awarding the book only 4 stars rather than 5 is largely due to my disappointment in the audio version - If I were you I'd opt for paper.

How Thomas Jefferson Can Change Your Life
This book is a Bildungsroman: the Education of Thomas Jefferson. It's the story of how Jefferson struggled to form himself into a man capable of action--the story of his "paideia," as the author would have it, in a bow to his subject's lifelong love of the Greeks. JEFFERSON'S DEMONS describes the mysterious ways the Sage of Monticello educated himself and learned to tap his most profound creative instincts.

Like so many great men, Jefferson was engaged in an ongoing conversation with the great men of the past, with Montaigne, Homer, Solon, Tacitus, Milton, Isaiah, Socrates, Jesus. Beran lets the reader overhear these conversations, and he shows us how Jefferson drew on them both in his private life and his public work.

The author's richly allusive style is itself an instrument in the communication of his vision of Jefferson: there are passages in the book in which the prose has less affinity with the rhytmically and spiritually flat prose of the present than with that of the Caroline and late Elizabethan prose-stylists. This startling use of language and metaphor prepares the reader for the book's major reassessments of whole tracts of Jefferson's thought. The book provides a nuanced reading of Jefferson's "Whig" and "Tory" qualities, shows how deeply immersed Jefferson was in a Virginia culture of decadent feudalism, and contains an ingenious reading of the connection between Jefferson's "sentimentalism" and the mediaeval romance of the rose. Jefferson's architecture emerges as something more deeply felt than the pasteboard classicism it is often taken to be; and Beran ties his analysis of Monticello and the University of Virginia to his discussion of how Jefferson tried to reconcile his civic republican ideals (the communitarianism of the classical city-state, the Greek polis) with his commitment to Whig liberalism, with its emphasis on liberty of trade, liberty of the press, and liberty of conscience.

I loved this book. It's a splendid account of Jefferson's self-culture and his attempts to apply the lessons he learned in the young American Republic, and it enlarges the number of intellectual debates in which Jefferson participated and through which he must examined.

But the book's most important message is an intensely personal one. Jefferson spoke hopefully of the "progress to be made under our democratic stimulants until every American is potentially an athlete in body and an Aristotle in mind." Beran shows the reader how Jefferson, in trying to realize this potentiality in himself and in others, aspired to the Greek ideal of the statesman who is also an educator, one who can help people to know themslves and do their work.

Stripped Bare: TJ's Heart of Darkness
I bought this book after reading the review in "The Wall Street Journal," which praised it as a "profound and exquisitely written meditation on the mind of America's most enigmatic Founder." I was skeptical at first; I did not want to read another study in what is sometimes called "pathography." But the book overcame my skepticism. The writing style is, I think, very fine, and owes something to the mandarin tradition exemplified by Lytton Strachey and Sir Thomas Browne. But what impressed me most about "Jefferson's Demons" was the complexity of the personality the author reveals in his protagonist. When I was in graduate school I read F.O. Matthiessen's classic study, "American Renaissance," in which Matthiessen argued that "notwithstanding the humaneness and toleration that made Franklin and Jefferson among the strongest bulwarks in our social heritage, it is forced inescapably upon us that their rationalism was too shallow to encompass the full complexity of man's nature." "Jefferson's Demons" makes a strong case that historians have misread Jefferson's "rationalism," and in especial have failed to do justice to the daemonic qualities in his neo-classical architecture. Jefferson was not as "shallow" as Matthiessen and others have supposed. He is interesting precisely because, as this book demonstrates, he is not a caricature of an Enlightened sage, a plaster-work Voltaire. Whether the Conradian nightmare described on page 250 of the book -- the accusation that Jefferson was once seen "FLOGGING IN THE MOST BRUTAL MANNER A NEGRO WOMAN" -- is true or not I can't pretend to say; but certainly Jefferson was more familiar with human nature's dark side than we've been led to believe. In any event "Jefferson's Demons" is a profound and brilliant book, and I am grateful for it; it is, I think, a classic of its kind.

Occult Side of Jefferson
I found this book fascinating. If it not always completely convincing, is is utterly thought provoking.Why have conventional historians missed the stuff this author has discovered in Jefferson?They must be blind.Did the third president "go out of doors each December and burn Adonis in effigy before the pillars of Monticello"?This book left me wondering just how far this supposedly Enlightened man went with his secret studies into the ancient mystery cults, weird fertility rites, the bacchanalia of antiquity.Jefferson even put implements of the primitive sacrifices -- knives and bulls' skulls and bloody dishes -- into his living room at Monticello.Sarastro had taken over here, and Master Adamo and Michael Scott!Yet Jefferson, the book shows us, did not stop with the mumming plays of the ancient fertility cults and the old pagan demonology;towards the end of his life he was as deeply immersed in the Bible and the Greeks, and he ends up playing the part of a democratic fisher king, a redeemer president.Going beyond his demons and sprites Jefferson turns to Socrates and Jesus.Like any intelligent man, he wanted to know why he was here, and like Solon, whose life he studied so carefully, his spiritual pilgrimage is a revelation.The book is in itself an education, showing as it does how closely Jefferson sympathized with the deepest spiritual currents of his civilization: with Solon and Socrates; with the 18th century sentimentalists who revived the love-poetry of Dante; with the black vesper-pageants of the Renaissance sages, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Shakespeare; with Goethe's walpugris-night dances and the myths which T.S. Eliot later used in creating his fertility tree in "The Waste Land" (cf. Jefferson's "tree of liberty"); with the early Greek theories of paideia (education) that underlie the University of Virginia and their relation to St. Jude's and Tertullian's theories of agape (love); with Aeneas' descent to the underworld in book six of Virgil's Aeneid and the "rival poet" of Shakespeare's sonnets; with Diotima's theory of Eros in Plato's Symposium, the witch of Endor, Simon Magus, the Jannes and Jambres and other wizards of the ancient Jews, and Machiavelli's theory that "the lust captain achieves greatness by raping Fortune, who by his seed is got with world-historic child."A truly exciting book, to my mind, one that shows how Jefferson used the spiritual resources of the West to invent himself -- and invent America. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The book is a great view of Andrew Jackson
This book is a great view of Andrew Jackson and his place in national history. ... Read more

Book Description

When the most famous, successful and talented pop singer of all time makes a comeback, the world sits up and listens, the press takes notes and the fans go shopping. And so it is with Michael Jackson, out of the limelight for five years, yet with his new album just released, its as if he's never been away. Yes, 'The King Of Pop' has returned in triumphant style topping charts worldwide, breaking records and receiving rewards. Michael Jackson: An exceptional journey, brings the story up to date, using equal parts newly researched text and both classic and rarely seen full color photography, this book will appeal in every way to his millions of fans new and old. With only two other books currently available on this mega star (and both of these seriously outdated) this brand new visual documentary could not come at a better time. ... Read more

Book Description

Representations of "the Jew" have long been a topic of interest in Joyce studies.Neil Davison argues that Joyce's lifelong encounter with pseudo-scientific, religious, and political discourse about "the Jew" forms a unifying component of his career. He offers new biographical material, and presents a detailed reading of Ulysses to show how Joyce confronts the controversy of "race," the psychology of internalized stereotype, and the contradictions of fin-de-siècle anti-Semitism. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Superb account of Joyce's perceptions of Jews.
An essential guide to understanding Bloom's perception of himself. Davison makes it clear that Joyce's undrstanding of Jews was fluid. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great Stuff for the History Freak....
A very interesting overview of how the Higgins family of boats (WW2 landing craft, PT boats,cargo ships)evolved to such a prominent role in WW2. Great overview of production challenges, wartime politics, war procurement, and certain national leaders during that era. The description of FDR being driven through the huge boat factory in a convertible is neat.

This is somewhat of a "dry" read- lots of names, acronyms, etc.- but the story itself and the pictures are well worth the effort.

Shades of Howard Roark
It is easy to see why Marine Corps Lt. Gen. "Howlin' Mad" Smith and Andrew Higgins were great friends. Both were dynamic men of genius who suffered the bungling of lesser men, often times, the same group of bunglers. But neither man would suffer in silence. Smith, along with other farsighted Marines, understood quite early the nature of the coming war in the Pacific. It would be a bloody contest of island hopping across the Pacific to the very shores of the Japanese home islands. The taking of those islands would necessarily require the landing of assault troops on defended beaches and the United States lacked proper amphibious craft for the task. There was a critical lack of troop transports, cargo transports and a satisfactory landing craft to bring both ashore had yet to be designed.

From the bayous and backwater swamps of Louisiana, boat builder and designer Andrew Higgins produced a boat far superior to other designs, the now famous Higgins Boat. Incredibly, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (BCR), as early as 1934, preferred to ignore this boat. Even more incredible, in sixty-one hours he designed and built a tank lighter which far exceeded the design produced by the Bureau of Ships. Both craft were largely ignored in spite of their superior performance in multiple government tests. But the men who would use these craft first, the service men who formulated the "Tentative Landing Operations Manual" in 1934 became Higgins strongest allies and chief among them was H. M. Smith. The Marines saw the worth of the boats he designed and fought for them. They fought for the best landing craft which would carry their Marines ashore under enemy fire. But the battle against the Bureau of Ships would not be won until after widespread pettiness and favoritism was exposed by Higgins before the Truman Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in 1942. One man, Andrew Higgins, took on the Washington and military bureaucrats, the leaders of the eastern shipping industry and won. In short order, he took on a vicious labor racket, profiteering from the war by so-called "labor suppliers". He beat them too.

Remarkably, in September of 1943 the American navy totaled 14,072 vessels. Of these, 12,964 or 92% were designed by Higgins industry. Higgins designed and built high-speed PT boats, antisubmarine boats, dispatch boats, freight supply boats and specialized patrol craft. He produced several types of landing craft, including the famous Higgins boat (LCVPs) and the tank lighter (LCMs).

Of Higgins, General Eisenhower stated in 1964, "He is the man who won the war for us."

Strahan has penned a fine tribute to a truly remarkable man. Strahan's strength, like his mentor, Steve Ambrose, is his prodigious research skills. One wonders what he would have produced had he stayed in history in stead of venturing off to run Lucky Dogs in New Orleans.

A man who tested his ideas, who listened well, & had limits
This is a study in how to test ideas with practice and in leadership. The primary lessons for me in Strahan's book are how Higgins did this and became so effective, and his limitations. This book provides the unvarnished facts on both. Higgins' many boats were much better than his competitors, for three reasons: he tested his ideas, he inspired loyalty that got the job done objectively, and he was a very good listener. 1. He tested his designs repeatedly. He began building them commercially as work boats. His famous landing craft of WW II, were based first on what he learned in the business building shallow draft boats to retrieve farm equipment marooned by floods of the Mississippi River and the Ohio river. When he got a Dutch contract to build 20 boats, instead of setting up a production line to make them all the same, he made them one at a time and varied the design to see what he could learn. His next boats, for the Army Corps of Engineers, had deficiencies discovered in the bow construction by one of his sons, of being damaged by floating logs. His further boats, for fur trappers in the shallow waters of S Louisiana, also needed stronger bows. A faster and more maneuverable design was needed by people importing liquor during Prohibition, to outrun Coast Guard ships. Build it, test it, make the next one better.

2. He inspired loyalty of the kind that got the job done objectively. To see what objective means, see (1) above on testing results, and (3) on listening.

3. Higgins was a very good listener. He listened to his craftsmen. He listened to foremen. He listened to marine boat designers, including people who used small boats in wartime. The people he listened to, often continued to work for him for many years. He understood boats really well, and he understood people.

One of the strong points of Strahan's book is to describe Higgins' real deficiencies as an administrator by quoting newly hired people such as his public relations agent. He kept far too much power in the hands of the same small coterie, and the loss of any of them was a serious blow to his operations. Any leader can tell you that he looks at his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and finds solutions, but few actually do that. I met few who actually did. Reading this book is a cautionary tale of one bankruptcy after another, for a company whose work was essential to winning the war both in Europe and in the Pacific.

For anyone ever buffaloed in a meeting with people who are really hostile, and who have to make a presentation with a few people who will listen, mixed with a lot of people who want you to go away, Higgins' description of his meeting with Admiral Robinson on August 28, 1941 is of an extraordinary event. Surely Higgins' description is one-sided, but his shock tactics, built on the demonstrated successes of his boats, depict a meeting that seems unique. An unusual man. No college education. Understood his craft very well. Built more boats than any other company in WW II. People who like an inbred organization were likely hate him. Lit crit analysts might despise him. Michelangelo, and Ghiberti of the bronze doors, and others like them who knew how to make meaningful things by working with their hands and thinking it through, would have admired him and argued with him.

Giant of a Man
I first learned of Andrew Higgins, when I had the honor of visiting the D-Day Museum in New Orleans this year. The book intrigued me, it provided insights into the life of a remarkable american entrepreneur, during an especially critical time in our history. Eisenhower credits Higgins with providing the means for victory in Europe, yet his greatest obstacles were here on our very own shores. This book should be required reading for the DOD.

Heroic Citizens Beat Petty Bureaucrats--A Cautionary Tale
I wish every doctoral dissertation were this useful. Under the guidance of Stephen E. Ambrose, well known for his books on the citizen-soldiers of World War II, the author has produced a very readable and moving book about one brilliant caustic citizen's forgotten contributions to World War II. Two aspects of this book jump out at the reader: the first is that Americans are capable of anything when motivated. Andrew Jackson Higgins and his employees, most trained overnight for jobs they never thought to have, was able to create an assembly line producing one ship a day. He was able to design, build and test gun boats and landing craft on an overnight basis. He is remembered by Marines, and especially General Victor Krulak, for having given America the one missing ingredient necessary for successful amphibious landings-in this way, he may well have changed the course of the war and the history of our Nation. The second aspect that jumps out at the reader is that of bureaucratic pettiness to the point of selfishly undermining the war effort within the Department of the Navy and the Bureau of Boats. In careful and measured detail, the author lays out the history of competition between trained naval architects with closed minds, and the relatively under-trained Higgins team with new ideas, and shows how the bureaucracy often conspired to block and demean Higgins at the expense of the Marines and the sailors on the front line. There is less of that sort of thing these days, but it is still with us, as we contemplate the need for a 450-ship Navy that is fully capable for Operations Other Than War (OOTW). This book should be included on the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Naval Operations lists of recommended professional readings, and it should be studied by anyone contemplating the hidden dangers of bureaucratic interests that often override the public interest and undermine our national security. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Save Your Money -- Very Skimpy
This "book" is a waste of money. I put the word "book" in quotes because in fact this little tract is less than 10,000 words. That's only about one-tenth the length of an average book. Furthermore, the "author" (also in quotes) has terrible spelling and grammar. Although it appears that Wegner did work for Michael Jackson, it seems Wegner barely met him. Wegner has hardly any information about Jackson. He "reveals" that boys would sometimes sleep in Jackson's room (which Jackson himself has said many times) and that Jackson would sometimes hug boys or sit close to them on a golf cart, both of which Jackson himself has shown in his recent "Home Movies" special. I'm sorry I wasted my money on this!

A Very Sad Attempt!
The first thoughts that came to mind as I read this book were if Mr.Wegner observed one-tenth of which he stated he did with Mr. Jackson and young men Mr. Wegner should be charged with aiding abetting and accessory to a crime.

In my years of reading I've read more fiction that seemed believable than what Mr.Wegner claims is truth and based in fact in his book.

It comes across as a sad attempt to obtain money from his previous employer. I won't even bother going into detail on the spelling and spacing in the book that in and of itself is hurtful to his credibility.

I can only conclude that Mr.Wegner was suffering from visual delusions during his employment with Mr. Jackson and had great hopes of wealth from his attempt at writing a book about a man who has given so much of his time and wealth to the needy selflessly.

Lets get the facts straight
I have read this book and liked it very much. The people writing these bad reviews don't know what they are talking about. If they had bothered to notice, the book was published in October 2002. Months before Michael was interviewed in Feb. 2003 about the children sleeping in his bedroom. It appears the news medias liked the book, or they wouldn't be interviewing Wegner over and over again. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

HUGE Waste of Money
The "author" of this disgrace should be ashamed of himself. Not for talking about Michael Jackson, but for putting out this piece of garbage and calling it a "book."

Each page has HUGE typeset, is triple-spaced (I figured each page has maybe 90 words), has typos and/or is just plain blank. This guy does to the reader what he believes Michael Jackson did to the kids!

If you're expecting an "insider's" perspective of the Michael Jackson situation, don't hold your breath. This guy's stunning insight includes stuff like "it took me 2 hours to drive around Neverland." Wow, tell me more Uncle Remus!

Where's the gossip? Where's the drama? Why was I stupid enough to buy this book?

ZERO STAR RATING SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED FOR BOOKS THIS BAD.
This is NOT a book by any definition. It's 90 pages are printed in huge type with triple spacing! Then there is also a significant amount of blank paper at the end of each and every chapter. So it must boil down to about twenty or so pages of a "normal" book. Just an issue or two of the "Enquirer" will give you more than you will find in this self-published "work." Save your money and run from this one! ... Read more

Reviews (15)

The Roots of Jacksonian Democracy
One might argue that the hallmark of great men is that they fundamentally and permanently alter the world they inherited - its beliefs, its practices, its conception of itself. Andrew Jackson is one of those extremely rare individuals.

In this first of three volumes, which he subtitles "The Course of American Empire," Remini highlights the central role that Jackson played in opening up the early American frontier in the first decades of the 19th century. Long before the expression "Manifest Destiny" ignited the expansionist and nationalist passions of Americans in the 1840s, Andrew Jackson fought single-handedly - and occasionally circumvented direct military orders, the Constitution, local judges, and officially recognized international treaties - to advance American territorial expansion along the southern border and promote the removal of the Spanish, British and myriad tribes of native Americans.

Other salient events that Remini chronicles in this volume include Jackson's humble roots and tragic childhood during the American Revolution in the Carolinas; his move westward to the Tennessee territory to start life anew as a lawyer; the "facts" behind Jackson's much-disputed relationship with his wife, Rachel; his entry into local politics and emergence as a militia leader; his military exploits against the Creeks, the British at the Battle of New Orleans and the Seminoles; and, of course, the many duels, fist-fights and other outlandish events of his early life that he somehow managed to survive.

Much of Volume I reads like a "wild west" novel, but Remini is careful to accentuate how Jackson's natural rough hewn character, along with his experience on the frontier, melded to shape a political philosophy that ultimately altered the course of American government. There is little direct reference to the principles that would become known as Jacksonian Democracy in this volume - an undying faith in the virtue and wisdom of the people, the inviolability of the Union, the pernicious effects of deficit spending and "soft" currency, etc. - but it is easy to understand how and why Jackson cherished those ideals after reading the story of his early life.

Finally, it must be noted that Remini assiduously avoids holding Jackson's conduct in relation to slavery and the Indians to modern standards. In all fairness, that is understandable and not especially offensive. However, Remini does neither himself nor Jackson any service by going out of his way to stress how relatively humane (in Remini's mind) the president was to his human chattel and explaining that he really had the Indians best interests at heart when he forced them from their land to the barren plains of modern day Oklahoma. In this volume and the others, Remini offers some strongly worded criticism of Jackson's political, military and social performance, but his many heinous crimes against humanity are treated with kid gloves throughout.

Exceptionally well-balanced biography.
This book did a spectacualar job of any biography's first mission: to provide enough information both on the pros and cons of the subject to allow the reader to form opinions of his own, even ones that disagree with those of the author. Remini does a fine job of detailing the accomplishments of Jackson, but he also admits willingly that Jackson was far from perfect, and generally makes no attempt to sugar-coat the flaws in his subject. But what's even more impressive, is that even in the case of events that HE is willing to cut Jackson some slack in passing judgement on, he gives sufficiently clear and unbiased reporting to enable me in several cases to decide that I am NOT. Further, in at least one case, his apparent opinion of the merits of Jackson's actions is harsher than mine is.

This volume covers Jackson's life from birth through his governorship of Florida; if the next two volumes are as good as this, I do not anticipate needing any other biographies of Andrew Jackson. I cannot rate this book any more highly for someone who would like to learn about one of our most controversial presidents, without having his flaws glossed over, but without ignoring his legitimate accomplishments, either.

Excellent biography of a remarkable man
In the first of three volumes, Remini carries Jackson from birth to the tragic loss of much of his family in the Revolution, through his early years in politics, his duels, and the Battle of New Orleans, up to his term as first American Governor of the territory of Florida, acquired by his own military victories.

Remini admires Jackson, and argues persuasively for his huge historic importance - not just President Jackson, but the younger Jackson of this book, responsible for acquiring a large chunk of what ultimately became the Southeast USA in several Indian wars and treaty negotiations, the campaigns of the War of 1812, and his subsequent attacks on the Spanish colony of Florida. Many historians have condemned Jackson for siezing Florida without the explicit approval of the Monroe administration; Remini is convincing in his argument that Monroe must have known and encouraged Jackson's actions, although he was careful not to say so directly, since Spain and the US were not at war.

Remini doesn't by any means try to whitewash Jackson. The man shown in these pages is impressive but often distinctly unpleasant. Remini quite directly calls him a 'bully', and the story of his feud and duels shows a man who is ruthless and foolishly ill-tempered. The ugliest part of the Jackson story is his treatment of the native tribes; Remini offers some half-hearted apologias for Jackson's ruthless treatment even of those natives who fought with him in his campaigns, but tells the facts frankly enough that most readers will come to a harsher conclusion.

Remini shows that Jackson's famous victory in the Battle of New Orleans was a closer thing than is generally supposed. Jackson carelessly left a crucial avenue open to the British, and a more determined general would have marched on the city and probably taken it before Jackson had his defenses properly prepared. As it was, the British foolishly gave Jackson sufficient time to settle in and fortify his line, only then attacking it with disastrous results. Although this battle is often viewed as an afterthought (the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war, was actually signed a few days bfore the battle was fought), Remini also shows that a British victory would have had real, and catastrophic, consequences for the US.

Along with the colorful and often complex story of Jackson's life and activities, Remini fills in the story with good explanations of the conditions of the period. In particular, he gives a good explanation of the values and traits of westerners, and East-West conflicts, at an early time in the country's history when the Pacific was barely dreamed of and the 'Far West' meant the Mississippi.

Remini's writing is excellent, and the biography is detailed and exhaustively researched without being pedantic or boring.

Top-notch biography
Andrew Jackson is one of the more complicated figures in American history. On the one hand, his significance to the development of the United States as a nation is large. On the other hand, he was often a very unpleasant person.

This first volume in Robert Remini's biography follows Jackson's life from his childhood through his governorship of Florida. Along the way, we learn of Jackson's brief roles in both houses of Congress and his period as a judge; it is later, however, when he joined the military (becoming a general through politics rather than merit), that Jackson rose to nationwide prominence, especially his overwhelming humiliation of the British in the Battle of New Orleans and his later dealings with Indians and the Spanish which led eventually to the U.S. acquiring Florida.

His military victories made him one of the most popular people in American history, but Remini pulls no punches with Jackson's flaws, including his often brutal and bullying nature and his tendency to violence. The ambiguous circumstances involving how he married his wife Rachel would lead to nasty talk during his presidential campaigns and his killing of a man in a duel (was it murder?) wouldn't help either.

Having been previously exposed to Remini's writing through his brilliant biographies of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, I knew this book would be a pleasure to read, and it was. Remini has written the definitive biography of Jackson, very detailed but always objective and always entertaining. If you want to learn of this era and of one its pivotal figures, this is the book to read (plus the other two in the series).

Great biography of a great but deeply flawed man.
This meticulously researched and wonderfully written book is the first volume in a three-part biography of Jackson that will undoubtedly set the standard for years to come.
Part of what makes Remini's work so useful is that he does not rely solely on American sources but has also dug deep into the Archivo General de Indies in Seville, Spain in order to try to see Jackson from the viewpoint of the Spanish colonial government. It was this research that led Remini to his main thesis in this book which is that Jackson, thru his military exploits against the Indians of the southern United States (notably the Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, Seminole and Chickasaw tribes) and against the Spanish in Florida did as much or more than any other individual to extend U.S. territory into much of Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and all of Florida. One of the more interesting revelations of the book for me was the mutual admiration and the shared goals at this point in their lives between Jackson and Monroe's Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams.
In fact, Remini makes a good argument that Jackson's military exploits in that region were is what enabled Adams to deal so successfully with the Spanish in negotiating the Trans-Continental Treaty of 1819. This treaty formalized the recognition of the European powers of the territory added to the U.S. by Jefferson in the Louisiana Purchase. Up until then the purchase was widely recognized as illegal.
So why don't I give this book a higher rating? I think that Remini falls prey to a common tendency of American historians who take on the task of writing the lives of our great men. As a reading public, we do not seem to want to acknowledge the dark side of our leaders or our history. As a result, it is difficult to write biographies that do not border on hagiography. Remini for the most part avoids this failing. He is clear about Jackson's violent (murderous, really) temper, his tendency to bully others until they gave in and his paternalism. This is not a man I would have wanted to know.
Where Remini does not quite live up to his own standards is in regards to Jackson's (to my mind) overt racism. Jackson regarded the presence of the Indians anywhere in territory that was being settled by Americans as unacceptable unless the Indians were willing to give up their tribal territories, accept a farming plot and become good little American citizens. Remini tries to convince his readers that Jackson the paternalist hated only the tribes not the individual Indians and that therefore Jackson and his policies were not racist (see the discussion on p. 337). I leave it up to the reader of this review whether this defense is adequate. I think that the last fifty years has amply proved that a racist can befriend individual members of the hated group as long as that individual keeps their place. I think that this is actually a rather common type of racism and Jackson exemplifies to a plentitude. To be fair to both Remini and Jackson he had a life long history of defending the underdog if they applied to him for protection.
Of course, this makes Jackson a paragon of the southern culture of the time but we also need to be honest about our own history. Jackson was a racist, he initiated Indian policies that were, at the least, marginally genocidal (the Indians called Jackson, Sharp Knife) and he was still one of our greatest men, one who had an enormous influence on our historical destiny. Remini, the good honest scholar that he is, gives us enough material and detail so that we get enough of the story so that we can sort out our own vision of the truth. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (13)

An indispensable sour companion
Anybody interested in Jung should read this book, but read it with a grain of salt. The author is no great admirer of Jung; was this a result of learning so much about him while writing his biography? I do not know, but I am grateful to McLynn for writing a book that has taught me so much about a man who has taught me so much.

That said, let me state that this book can by no means substitute for reading Jung. The brilliance, fire, and life of his writing is almost entirely absent from this book: a great loss.

Also absent are photographs. I would like to see what Jung and Co. looked like at various stages.

So let's put out a new version with photos!

the last page causes a sigh of relief
McLynn doesn't like Jung ideas. Not a problem, really, but then why write a book about him? So the book crawls slowly, unhappily amassing all negative gossip about Jung, leaving the reader ( as probably also it did to the writer), miserable, exhausted, untill, at last the book ends, and a sigh of relief is impossible to avoid. Was this really necessary? Was this a paid, imposed job? This is really a pathography, a subgenre of our sick postmodern times, and I hope that these kind of people never go so far as the write a new life of Christ.

Disappointing
Exhibits little, if any, understanding of the immensity of Jung's work. Try Wehr's biography instead.

Masquerade
Wanting an introductory overview to C. G. Jung and his work, and reading the editorial reviews that Mr. McLynn has presented an objective and clear account of them, I eagerly picked up this biography, but was disappointed to find it a tendentious polemic relentlessly and repetitively attacking Jung (and, by the way, I am not a "Jungian"), dwelling at unnecessary length on the Freud-Jung relationship and insufficiently on Jung's influence as an original thinker of the XXc, and most signally, failing to present any sort of precis of Jung's seminal ideas that would be helpful to the general reader. Don't bother with this one: wait for a better biography, something on the lines of Peter Gay's Freud: a Life for Our Time.

Freud, Freud, Freud.
So far, I find this book captivating like a traffic accident. Page 222 of 529, for example, consists, in it's entirety, of three paragraphs about Freud. And it's so chock-full of whiney, vague "interpretation," that McLynn has become in my mind the handlebar-moustache-twisting, bound-lady-on-the railroad villain of all biographies. What other reviews of this book have said comes to mind: McLynn's book is valuable precisely because it is OBVIOUSLY the most unfair and degrading description one could credibly sling together based on any interpretation of the facts (in fact, I would say, well beyond "credibly," except, naturally, I am not aquainted in a thoroughgoing way with every detail of Jungs's life... which it's worth noting, the author assumes I am. McLynn omits a vast array of details as if he were *deliberately* trying to make himself sound even more of the dire propogandist than he actually is.) One wonders if this book was written in an attempt to discredit the whole field of critical biography of Jung. That's my theory. Jung must be above reproach, if his foremost critics are the likes of McLynn. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Neat Book - A Great Gift
This is a really neat little book. So much has been written about Thomas Jefferson's life and the building of Monticello that it is hard to find books that offer anything really different. This book is a treasured part of my library for several reasons. The biggest reason is that it offers something unique: a look at the ordinary life of Jefferson. This isn't about the statesman, the president, the revolutionary. It's about the things he loved most: farming and working on his beloved home. The hardcover edition I have is beautiful in appearance, and this little book serves as a nice endtable conversation piece. It's a great gift for history lovers (I received it as a wedding present, believe it or not). In short, I couldn't recommend it more highly. ... Read more