Alex J. Caffarini

Excellent book; should have had a closing summary

Revisado: 02-01-23

Kenyon does a great job describing the history of each African country whose dictator he profiled. He also give clear, thorough illustrations of the factors that led to each dictator’s ascent. The book was easy to follow and hard to put down.

The only disappointment comes at the end, with a hard stop after discussing the last country, Eritrea. It would have been helpful if Kenyon had included a final chapter of commentary summarizing the common themes he saw in all the countries he profiled; offered surmises into how these countries’ route might have been different if neither colonization nor the Cold War had been factors; and prognosticated on Africa’s future.

Still, the book was great and is worth the read.

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Very in-depth; a little hard to follow as audiobook

Revisado: 11-30-20

The book is a very thorough account of Wilson’s life. Cooper provides a lot of detail and chapters are so long that Audible breaks chapters down more frequently and it gets hard to find your place again, should you lose it. The detail provided in this book can be overwhelming to an audio listener. I had to rewind several times to understand a topic the narrator had just discussed. This book is better read than heard. In all, a very good biography.

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Thorough story, but rambles through many unrelated topics

Revisado: 08-07-20

This is the third of H. W. Brands’ books that I’ve read. I also read his books on FDR and Reagan. It’s pretty clear to me now that Brands is quite leery of capitalism. His book on FDR was the best of the three I’ve read so far.

American Colossus is well-researched and well-written, with many interesting events covered. However, the book covers so many seemingly unrelated topics with little transition. The book begins with a discussion of the robber barons and their manipulations, especially in the railroads. At first, the reader believes the book is about these gilded age speculators and capitalists. Then Brands segues sharply to the end of the Civil War, to the Reconstruction era, to the battles with native Americans, through the end of the 19th century. Throughout each of these topics, the reader can see that Brands attempts to fault capitalism for the evils of each of these historical periods, however such links to capitalism are more often told than shown (or proven), and are often difficult for the reader to discern from Brands’ superficial connection. What’s more, is that Brands seems largely to ignore the role government and politicians’ culpability in the evils of American history.

In all, I did enjoy the book, and would recommend it more for general business and economic history.

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More about him as the president than as the person

Revisado: 03-09-20

This book should really be titled "Reagan: The Presidency," or "Reagan: The Politician," since there are few details given about his personal and family life. Reagan's enigma is no more demystified by Brands' book than any other. The Reagan mystique continues. Where Brands really excels in this book is on his coverage of major events during the Reagan presidency: Grenada, Libya, Lebanon, the Philippines, Iran-Contra, the summits with Gorbachev, and other events. However, one gets the impression that these events were pulled from secondary sources, not interviews with people who were actually there. Still, the coverage is quite thorough.

Where Brands falls short is in his coverage of Reagan's life - especially his family. We learn more about his relationship to his parents and brother (and even that is pretty scant) than we do his relationship to his children. There's no coverage, for instance, of how his daughter, Patti Davis, openly opposed many of the things Reagan stood for as president, or the activities of his other children, Maureen, Michael, and Ron; we see no glimpse of the man as a father. We get only slightly more coverage of Michael Reagan than the other Reagan children.

Finally - and I have this complaint with most biographies I have read on late 20th century presidents (like Nixon and Ford) - the book doesn't devote a lot of coverage to the post-presidency. Often, I'm fascinated by what presidents have done when they left office. This biography of Reagan, much like the biographies (written by other authors) I've read of Nixon and Ford, disappoints in this regard as well.

In all, however, a great book and a fast read (or listen). Stephen Hoye provides an excellent narration, and listening/reading is still time well spent.

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Amazing book - awesome narration

Revisado: 01-15-20

I just finished the audible version of this book. Very comprehensive and well narrated. I’m no fan of FDR, but H. W. Brands goes into great detail describing the challenges and situations FDR had to go through in order to restore hope to Americans impoverished by a depression, and to a world facing subjugation by tyrants. The detail Brands provides, combined with Mark Deakins’ narration helps you understand the circumstances behind FDR’s decisions and his state of mind, and makes the reader/listener feel like s/he was present and by FDR’s side. Highly recommended!

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Thorough, Balanced presentation of the Vietnam War

Revisado: 11-02-17

The authors do an excellent job of presenting the facts of the Vietnam War, from its roots in French colonialism through its aftermath decades later an, commendably, from the perspectives of all parties involved.

As you listen to the nearly 30 hours of audio, you feel like you were there with the soldiers fighting; the soldiers wounded; the grieving families of the soldiers (whether American, North Vietnamese, or South Vietnamese); the policymakers and leaders of all countries; the POWs; the nurses and medics attending to the wounded and dying; the civilians of Vietnam; and the anti war movement in America.

Parts of the book make you think; others will make you cry. As you go through the book two things will inevitably become clear: first, Although the U.S. lost the War, the Vietnamese did not feel they won it, and hence that war has no winners; and secondly, we fail to learn from history. Wars continue. Hopefully, this account may change that last part as more people listen to it and absorb its learnings.

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