Category — Book Review

Harlow Giles Unger’s latest biography is, if possible, even better than his last. Unger does a superb job of illuminating a largely forgotten figure of American history – John Quincy Adams. Unger’s book is a great place to start learning about the generation immediately following the country’s founding. Mr. Unger’s descriptive powers continue to impress. He writes some of the most readable and informative biographies available. His latest on John Quincy Adams is certainly one of these.

Authors Nash and Hodges weave the lives of three men into the American founding’s complex tapestry of slavery and liberty. They examine Thomas Jefferson, Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Agrippa Hull and their responses to the political compromise that both made the American experiment possible and contradicted its founding principles.

The Shut Mouth Society is a potboiler of the first order. James Best fans will be surprised as the author steps a bit outside of his regular genre, the classic American Western, and gives hero Steve Dancy a break. This reviewer wasn’t sure what to expect as Jim has been fairly close mouthed about the book himself, except to say that this book is his wife’s favorite.* After reading it, it’s easy to see why. It is difficult to talk about the story without giving away any of its many twists and turns, which on reflection, is probably why the author was so “shut mouth” about it. Well, here goes.

There is much to recommend in A Defense of American Ideals just as there is much to recommend in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. However, there is also much of which to be critical. Malone is relentless in his attack on Christianity and increases his level of vitriol as the book progresses.

Early 18th Century America was a place where people enjoyed unparalleled freedom of opportunity, the ability to govern themselves to a hitherto unprecedented degree, and a standard of living which would have been the envy of their peers in England. It was only when England sought to exercise, what it saw as it’s legitimate prerogatives, that the colonists began to chafe under British rule. The legislation passed and policies implemented by a tone-deaf government was all that Desperate Sons like Samuel Adams needed.

This book is the story of men like Adams.

Ann Coulter’s new book should be read to understand how the struggle for equal rights was won and why racial divisions are back some 40 years later. It documents the true history of civil rights and exposes the many hoaxes perpetrated upon the nation by the Democrat Party.

In this sometimes-tedious account of the last three and one-half years – from just before Obama’s inauguration through the summer of 2012 – Woodward paints a disturbing picture of a dysfunctional federal government.

The Rifleman reads like a cross between a James Best western and a Lee Child thriller The Rifleman isn’t quite as edgy as Jack Reacher, but a bit more than Steve Dancy. It is definitely an adult book, but the romantic encounters aren’t lurid or graphic. The novel is constructed around historical characters in much the same way the Shaara’s wrote their civil war trilogy.

Founding Fathers Know Best is based on an interesting premise, the dead presidents club sends Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison for a week-long visit to provide counsel to the current denizen of the White House – President Ob.

We Have the War Upon Us is an engrossing book, full of fascinating historical details. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the American Civil War and an excellent introduction to the people and events that led up to the bloodiest, most devastating war in American history.