War and Politics Reviews

Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik

Published in Kindle Edition by Oxford University Press, USA (2003-02-26)

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Why don't you own this book?!!

Helpful Votes: 13 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-12

Faith-based Diplomacy, Trumping Realpolitik offers a fresh perspective on how to deal with religious militancy. It goes beyond traditional notions of power politics to get at the heart and soul of how to deal with religious terrorism, thus superseding in effectiveness Washington-centric notions of guns and missiles. The creativity of the authors offers much grist for policymakers to "think outside the box" of how traditional power politics are conducted and offers new insights into the process of conflict transformation. A very interesting, insightful, and helpful book for the politician, religious leader and educated layperson.

Award-Winner, Mind-Altering Information, Useful, Scholarly

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-29

Let's start with the award. I was so impressed with this book that it received one of the ten Golden Candle Awards for most constructive and innovative work in the Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) field. It represents the second book in a body of work that may eventually be worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. The citation reads:

To Dr. Douglas M. Johnston, president and founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, for his path-finding efforts with regard to Preventive Diplomacy as well as Religion and Conflict Resolution. Among his many works, two stand out for defining a critical missing element in modern diplomacy: Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft (Oxford University Press, 1994), and Faith-based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik (Oxford University Press, 2003). He has restored the proper meaning of faith qua earnestness instead of faith qua zealotry, and this is a contribution of great importance.

With a foreword by no less than The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton, today a leader of the 9-11 Commission, the book drives a stake in the heart of secular "objective" negotiation and focuses on how faith (not zealotry, but earnest faith) can alter the spiral of violence in such places as Sudan, Kashmir, and the Middle East.

The editor and contributing author has assembled a multi-national and multi-religion cast of experts whose work in the aggregate completely supports the premise of the book: that the 21st Century will be about religion instead of ideology, and that what hopes we might have for reconciling "irreconcilable differences" lie in the balanced integration of religious dialog and conflict prevention, rather than in pre-emptive military action and unilateralist bullying.

I found two core concepts especially relevant to national security: the first is that we need an Office of Religious and Cultural Intelligence within the Central Intelligence Agency, and we need, as the authors suggest, to put religious attaches into every Embassy. The second, and this is a truly core concept, is "The price of freedom is cultural engagement--taking the time to learn how others view the world, to understand what is important to them, and to determine what can realistically be done to help them realize their legitimate aspirations."

This is a brilliant, scholarly, practical, world-changing book. It joins Max Manwaring's various books, but especially "The Search for Security," Joe Nye's earlier books on understanding the world and engaging the world with soft power, and George Soros as well as the several other books on my standard national security reading list. The conclusion of the book lists a number of means by which religion can impact on diplomacy and state-craft, and I for one have become a believer--this book completely altered my perspective on the role of religion as a peacemaker of substance and day-to-day practicality.

FAME AND THE FOUNDING FATHERS

Published in Paperback by Liberty Fund Inc. (1998-05-01)

Author: DOUGLASS ADAIR

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A buried classic's welcome return

Helpful Votes: 12 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 1998-10-12

Douglass G. Adair (1913-1968) revolutionized the study of American history in the Revolutionary and early national periods -- and yet, except for those who worked with him and learned from his writings, nobody has heard of him. Adair is one of the great tragic figures in the history of American history. He became the editor of the WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY and transformed that musty journal into the leading scholarly journal on American history and culture to 1815. His essays, mostly published there but also in other widely scattered venues, turned the writing of history of the Founding upside down. Not for Adair was stale economic determinism or patriotic hero-worship. Rather, Adair took ideas seriously, and took seriously the idea that human beings shape and are shaped by the ideas that capture their imaginations and move them to action.

Adair took his own life in 1968, after years of struggle with academic culture's emphasis on writing books. His friends and colleagues gathered his best essays and published them in FAME AND THE FOUNDING FATHERS as a memorial to him.

The essays collected in this volume are dazzling explorations in the history of ideas and politics. In the now-classic "The Authorship of the Disputed FEDERALIST PAPERS", Adair not only solved a historical puzzle that had perplexed generations of Americans -- he provided a model of deft historical detective work. Similarly, his two essays on THE FEDERALIST No. 10 -- "The Tenth FEDERALIST Revisited" and "'That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science:' Hume, Madison, and the Tenth FEDERALIST" -- are indispensable to anyone who would understand the FEDERALIST or James Madison. Among the other important essays collected here are Adair's superb brief biography of Madison, his trio of essays exploring knotty puzzles in the life and career of Alexander Hamilton, and his still-controversial essay on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings -- though this last essay has been exploded by the work of Annette Gordon-Reed in her pathbreaking THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS: AN AMERICAN CONTROVERSY (University Press of Virginia, 1997).

In 1974, when this book first appeared, I had just completed my freshman year of college. I read it eagerly, and it opened my eyes to the value of writing about difficult historical issues in an elegant and accessible way. Anyone who is interested in American history between the 1770s and the 1830s must read this fine book. Anyone who cares about writing about history for a wide general audience will find this book to be a treasured model.

I owe Douglass Adair, who died when I was 12, a debt that I can never repay. I hope that others will read this book and contract similar debts.

-- Richard B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School

A buried classic's welcome return

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 1998-10-29

Douglass G. Adair (1913-1968) revolutionized the study of American history in the Revolutionary and early national periods -- and yet, except for those who worked with him and learned from his writings, nobody has heard of him.

Adair is one of the great tragic figures in the history of American history. He became the editor of the WILLIAM AND MARY QUARTERLY and transformed that musty journal into the leading scholarly journal on American history and culture to 1815. His essays, mostly published there but also in other widely scattered venues, turned the writing of history of the Founding upside down. Not for Adair was stale economic determinism or patriotic hero-worship. Rather, Adair took ideas seriously, and took seriously the idea that human beings shape and are shaped by the ideas that capture their imaginations and move them to action.

Adair took his own life in 1968, after years of struggle with academic culture's emphasis on writing books. His friends and colleagues gathered his best essays and published them in FAME AND THE FOUNDING FATHERS as a memorial to him.

The essays collected in this volume are dazzling explorations in the history of ideas and politics. In the now-classic "The Authorship of the Disputed FEDERALIST PAPERS", Adair not only solved a historical puzzle that had perplexed generations of Americans -- he provided a model of deft historical detective work. Similarly, his two essays on THE FEDERALIST No. 10 -- "The Tenth FEDERALIST Revisited" and "'That Politics May Be Reduced to a Science:' Hume, Madison, and the Tenth FEDERALIST" -- are indispensable to anyone who would understand the FEDERALIST or James Madison. Among the other important essays collected here are Adair's superb brief biography of Madison, his trio of essays exploring knotty puzzles in the life and career of Alexander Hamilton, and his still-controversial essay on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings -- though this last essay has been exploded by the work of Annette Gordon-Reed in her pathbreaking THOMAS JEFFERSON AND SALLY HEMINGS: AN AMERICAN CONTROVERSY (University Press of Virginia, 1997).

In 1974, when this book first appeared, I had just completed my freshman year of college. I read it eagerly, and it opened my eyes to the value of writing about difficult historical issues in an elegant and accessible way. Anyone who is interested in American history between the 1770s and the 1830s must read this fine book. Anyone who cares about writing about history for a wide general audience will find this book to be a treasured model.

I owe Douglass Adair, who died when I was 12, a debt that I can never repay. I hope that others will read this book and contract similar debts.

-- Richard B. Bernstein, Adjunct Professor of Law, New York Law School

[N.B.: This review was originally written for the paperback edition of this book and submitted to amazon.com on 12 October 1998. It accompanies the Amazon listing for the paperback edition and should also accompany the simultaneously-published hardcover edition from the same publisher. -- RBB]

Fascist and Liberal Visions of War: Fuller, Liddell Hart, Douhet, and Other Modernists

Published in Hardcover by Oxford University Press, USA (1998-12-03)

Author: Azar Gat

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Great cultural study of war

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-12

Fascinating book on the thinkers of modern war. The author made clear
the relationship between Fascism and mechanised war. What is more
importnat is he indicated that the concept of `indirect approach'
of Liddle Hart is the key concept of our age. I felt that the war theory
of Man-in-the-dark is highly related to the bounded rationality
of H.A. Simon.

Excellent and Breathtaking

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2001-03-09

This book concentrates on the analysis of intellectual growth of particular ideas and styles of thought after the WWI. It is a breathtaking study of the intellectual enviroment of the inter-war years (and not only) and the way it shaped the thinking of strategic thinkers as Fuller, Liddell Hart, Duhet and others. This study clearly shows the connection between the world of ideas, war, their origins and their interaction.

Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army

Published in Hardcover by Doubleday Canada (2007-10-09)

Author: Christie Blatchford

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Canada has no idea how lucky it is

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-05

Bob Patterson's review really captured a lot of what I was feeling. As a former member of the Canadian Army, I was not only able to see in my mind's eye the scenes that Christie was describing, I was able to see many of the soldiers, often because I actually knew those men. The Canadian Army is not big - and the Army of West is probably about 6,000 Regulars and a few more thousand reservists - that's not a very big town, and all of the larger than life characters tend to become known by all - men like Mars Janek, whom I had the honor to serve with back in 1995, and who features prominently in this book as the extraordinary soldier that he is. Canadians really have no idea how lucky they are that these bright young men and women are willing to put their lives on the line in the service of their country.

Christie did a great job with this book, and clearly she wrote it her own way. My only real citicism is that I would have liked her to spend a bit more time of the achievements and field operations, and a little bit less on deaths, but I understand why she went the route that she did.

The New Canadian Army

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-05

The Canadian army is very small - many organizations claim to be like a "family" but the Canadian Army is a family. In the larger world there may be 6 degrees of separation but in the Canadian Army there may be only two. So every loss is a wound for all. Every loss is indeed the death of a brother.

This remarkable book is a revelation of what it may mean to be part of a true Band of Brothers - a world where the most senior general lends a master corporal his own wedding ring so that he can ask his girl to marry him - a world where the entire platoon comes to the home of a fallen comrade and spends a week in the community celebrating his life - a world where a 40 plus year old widow enlists so that she can continue to be part of the family - a world where Colonels weep for their men.

The book also causes the reader to think more deeply about war and soldiers. It is politically correct to feel that all war and everything about it is bad. But we discover, that for all its terror and for all the losses, for a soldier war is what he lives for. It is when he also discovers whether he is any good at his life's work. We discover how good our soldiers are. Surprisingly, for we always think the less of ourselves, in Afghanistan, we are considered the heavy weights who punch well above our weight.

We discover that while war exhausts a person more than any other activity, it also makes him more alive.

We discover that PTSD is much more prevalent in peacekeeping than in the kind of situation that we find in Afghanistan. In peacekeeping the kit was awful and the impotence high - imagine simply witnessing atrocity? But in Afghanistan our soldiers can take the initiative and they are very well equipped and have rules of engagement that make sense.

We discover a new kind of woman soldier - who are at home in this strange world, as is of course the "Blatch", and who are no longer seen as odd.

We discover how the families of our soldiers have been integrated into the mission and we see how the worst of all news is given and how the families are supported when what they all fear the most occurs.

This is not the civil service in green that was the sadness of our forces for many years. Implicit throughout the book is that someone really knows that he is doing. I think that someone might be called Rick Hillier.

We discover how great our local field leadership is too which also says something more about General Hillier -

Brig- Genl Dave Fraser to LTC Ian Hope, in radio orders given at 11.30pm on July 17 "You need to recapture Nawa and Garmser by 1600 hours.

Hope to Fraser: "Roger that. Recapture Nawa and Garmser by 1600 hours."

Fraser: "Any questions?"

Hope: "Just one: Where are Nawa and Garmser?'

Not only do we routinely pull off tough missions, but the Cols take all the risks that their men do - they lead by example. They also tend to do the really terrible things like personally extract the burnt and mutilated bodies of their dead so that the buddies in the platoon would not have to remember their friend like that. There is all this bull in the public service about "Servant Leadership". Here you see it for real at all levels from the LTC down to the Master Corporal.

We discover the central frustration of the mission. That we have to go back again and again and take the same ground because the ANP, the police, cannot hold it - we learn how complex this work is.

But most of all, we learn how fortunate we are to have those wonderful people wearing our uniform.

It is a mystery to me how, in a nation, so cut off from the reality of war, that we can once again have the kind of army that we had in 1917. A pathfinder Army.

A small army that can think and adapt. A small army that is lead by men and women of an integrity and skill that put our business and public organizations to shame. A small army largely made up from men and women from small town Canada who have that can do attitude that used to be the hallmark of Canadians.

Who else could tell this story but "Blatch"? A woman who acknowledges that she knows of only two soldiers who swear more than she. A woman who shares the hardships, the joys, the terrors, the losses and the fun. A woman who loves her boys and who is loved back.

She writes with such a love and a passion - I could not put the book down except when my eyes were so full of tears that I could no longer see.

It is exciting, it's very funny, it's very sad. But in the end it is heroic. Not in a little boy's view of heroic but in the most mythic sense of people who live for each other in undertaking a very hard task.

At the end of the book, "Blatch" goes back to see everyone to see how they are.

"Eight months later, Hope (LTC Ian Hope) answers my email form an airport lounge somewhere. I wrote back to tell him of one of the stories - bawdy and funny, loving and sad, always brutally honest - I'd heard from the troops.

You must miss them so xxxxxx much," I said. " I can hardly bear to write about them sometimes. I find them so beautiful."

"You understand what I miss," he wrote back. "I am Odysseus."

This is a wonderful book about wonderful people written by a wonderful person - who has by the way a wonderful dog but that is another story.

Fighting for Ireland?

Published in Kindle Edition by Taylor & Francis (2007-03-14)

Author: M.L.R.Smith

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The fallacies of the IRA

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 1999-02-15

MLR Smith did an extrodinary job of portaying the military history of the IRA. He explicates the Anglo-Irish Treatry and implores the pragmatic achievments of Michael Collins. From the Civil War and hencforth, Smith examines the lapse of political ends in the IRA or the irregulars. He compares the fallacies in the bombing campaigns throughout the fifties to the philiosophies on Von Clausewitz' "On War." Never were there any political motives in the campaigns led by Sean Russel. Furthermore, One cannot expect to be victorius in limited warfare in Northern Ireland where the Protestants make up two-thirds of the population. An excellent military analysis of the IRA. Recommended to all readers.

Unbiased examination of IRA strategy

Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 1998-06-01

An interesting, dispassionate analysis of IRA strategy from 1969 onwards. Smith is not concerned with moralizing, and takes no position on the justness of the IRA's campaign. Rather, he looks at the methods and strategy of the IRA and how well they have (or haven't) advanced the IRA's interests. He doesn't seem to consider the IRA's goal of a united and free Ireland as realistic, and continually evaluates the IRA's position in the most pragmatic terms possible. This can be somewhat off-putting for someone wrapped up in the principles of Irish Republicanism, but it is thought provoking and these are probably the kind of arguments that were used to bring the IRA's campaign to an end by pragmatists within it and within its political allies in Sinn Fein. For this reason it is a valuable book for Irish Republican supporters to read.

For people not very familiar with the struggle in the north of Ireland, this book is probably not the best place to start. I would suggest reading a broader and more general history first, such as "The IRA" by Tim Pat Coogan, which is excellent for those with no previous knowledge of the subject (and even for those of us who do have some). Then come back to this book.

Final Cut: The Post War B-17 Flying Fortress the Survivors

Published in Paperback by Pictorial Histories Pub Co (1990-08)

Author: Scott A. Thompson

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B-17 nuts will love it

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-11-14

all sorts of post-war B-17's - from crop dusters to gas stations to heavily modified B-17's. A Must have for the B-17 fan.

Excellent source on a little covered part of the B-17.

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-07

There have been many books published on the legendary B-17 bomber. But most of them cover the combat history of the plane, devoting only a chapter or less to the post war use of the planes and to the surviving aircraft. "Final Cut", on the other hand, is different. The book focuses solely on the non-combat use of the fortress, in roles Boeing designers never imagined the aircraft would do. Uses of the planes in the military such as target drones, air sea rescue and experimental work are shown. Civil uses include fire bombers, air mapping and transports (One plane even served with the CIA). There is also coverage of the planes that weren't so lucky and even discussion of Hollywood movies featuring B-17s such as "Twelve O'Clock High" and "The Best Years of Our Lives".

But where this book really shines is in the survivors. There are a few pages devoted to each survivor, with text and photographs explaining about the individual plane. The text of each section details the plane's use during and after its military service and eventual concludes with its current whereabouts and condition. The photographs help cover the lives of planes such as "Memphis Belle", "Shoo Shoo Baby", "Sentimental Journey", "Nine O Nine" and "Fuddy Duddy". Overall, a great source for millitary and avation buffs alike.

The First Five Years of the Communist International

Published in Paperback by Pathfinder Press (NY) (1972-02)

Author: Leon Trotsky

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A school from the 1920s that's of great usefulness today

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-05

A deep political and economic crisis shook the world during the years leading up to and immediately following World War I and the Russian Revolution. Millions of workers and peasants were disgusted with the bloodletting of the war (made possible, in large measure by the betrayal of revolutionary internationalism by almost all the best-known leaders of the pre-war socialist movement).
Millions were further angered by the rapacious, so-called "democratic" peace of Versailles, which saw the victorious allies fall viciously on the already war-ravaged economies of Germany and its allies.
Many of these workers began to radicalize, inspired by the positive example of the achievements possible even in one of the most backward countries in Europe when the government of the Tsar was overthrown and replaced by a government of workers and farmers led by a genuinely communist party. They sought to build such revolutionary organizations in country after country to emulate the Bolshevik road to power.
For its part, the Soviet Communist Party looked to politically organize these advanced workers of the world--knowing that by themselves they could not sustain indefinitely the work of building socialism in an isolated USSR without additional revolutionary victories.
These advanced workers from around the world joined together to form the Communist International. These two volumes feature speeches and articles by Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky prepared for the first five congresses of this new organization. These are the congresses that took place before the political degeneration signified by the rise of Stalin. Their relevant and helpful discussions can be a big boost to an understanding of the challenges facing fight-minded workers and farmers today.
What economic and political conditions on top of the regular boom-bust cycles of capitalism give rise to a working-class radicalization? How do the economic concessions made by the ruling rich, which can slow down such a radicalization for a certain length of time, only contribute to the deepening of the crisis of bourgeois rule in the longer term?
A particularly interesting aspect of these discussions is the debate over the shift in class relations that took place around 1921 when the immediate possibilities of emulating the Soviet revolution in Germany, Hungary, Italy and some other parts of Europe were supplanted by a new, though temporary, stage of capitalist stabilization. This period also saw the victory of fascism in Italy.
The Soviet communists led a fight to shift tactics under these circumstances, urging the development of what they called the united front, an approach by which still-small communist parties could fight to win the allegiance of workers still looking to larger, reformist formations.
Grasping the lessons of the weaknesses of the new communist parties and the defeats these contributed to was essential to moving forward in a sober and effective manner. The early history and development of the Communist Party in France is discussed in substantial length, offering great insights into the kinds of lessons in party-building the Russians offered to their co-thinkers around the world.
There is also an important discussion of the deepening rivalries between Europe and America that characterized this period. These play an increasingly important role in world politics today, where economic and social conditions increasingly resemble those of the early 1920s that gave rise to the world depression of the 1930s.

We need this for today

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-09

Fascism, economic crisis, wars, the rebellion of the peoples of Central Asia, the conflict of Europe versus America, all of these current issues are taken up in Volumes I & II of this book. Get them both! These are speeches given to the Communist International by one of its greatest leaders. They unmask the lies and distortions the anticommunists have identifying Stalinism with communism. Read these speeches if you want to know the nuts and bolts, the strategy and tactics, and the way to organize, not for the past when these speeches were given, but for the our present where we need these ideas.

The world crisis

Published in Unknown Binding by Scribner's (1930)

Author: Winston Churchill

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The Bloodiest Century's Opening Act

Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2000-06-29

This magnificent abridgement, published eight years before Hitler invaded Poland, clearly illustrates the fatal miscalculations with which the European nations entered and waged The Great War of 1914-18, and presages the dreadful and continuing consequences of having pursed them to the end. The final pages are as moving a condemnation of war as is found in English, made all the more poignant by our foreknowledge of Churchill's subsequent achievements. If you want to know how our world got to be the way it is today, start with this book.

One of the finest works of history ever written.

Helpful Votes: 22 out of 22 total.
Review Date: 1997-10-03

Churchill's memoirs of World War 1 is one of the finest works of history ever written and is probably among the three or four best works on WW1(together with Martin Gilbert's recent History of the First World War).It is also a masterpiece of Engish literature, demonstrating a prose style that later won Churchill the Nobel Prize. While the book necessarily reflects Churchill's own experiences in the war,it is reasonably unbiased and balanced,although he certainly presents his own case forcefully and convincingly. The only limitation of the book is that it was written only afew years after the end of the war so it did not have access to all the government arhives released later.Despite this,I believe that Churhill's conclusions have stood up well even in the light of subsequently released archive material. However,one might consider reading the book together with a "modern" history--such as Martin Gilbert's--for a more complete perspective.

Forgotten War: The Criminal Invasion Of The D.R.Congo: The International Conspiracy Unveiled

Published in Paperback by PublishAmerica (2004-09-07)

Author: Rigobert N. Butandu

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A MUST READ FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS & CONSPIRACY LOVERS

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-10-26

The question I've always asked myself is "Why does the Int'l community apply different approach to the same issues when the same causes produce the same consequences?" The double standard policies of the UN, the US and super powers in dealing with humanitarian or armed conflict in Africa let to the commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes, genocide, and terrorism in the DR Congo. The fact of the matter is that it's only in Africa where the killings and death of millions of innocent people go -purposely - unnoticed and unreported.

The efforts of the author of this book must be saluted for he says high what most of us are saying low. It's more than time that the citizens of the world honor and defend the sanctity of human lives without hypocrisy. The lives of innocent people, regardless of the color of their skins, SHOULDN'T be sacrificed for the quest and thirst of minerals and other wealth. And those who conspire to reverse this equation must be brought to justice no matter their civil status.

When you read this book, think that those Congolese women and girls who were savagely raped, shot in their private parts and brutally murdered, and forced to have sexual intercourse with their family memebers, were your sister, mother, friend, etc. Imagine the pains they went through, the trauma that will for ever mark the lives of those who escaped death, and their marginalization from society. Still, the perpetrators of these crimes are walking free because some people protect them and the int'l community is incapable of doing a sane job. When the prosecution of crimes that shock human conscience are politicized in one case and not in the other, I call it conspiracy. How do you name such attitude: justice, fairness? Why does it always and almost happen in Africa? READ THIS BOOK AND FIND OUT.

LUMUKA, USA.

Very Interesting read

Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-10-22

I was very interested to learn about the conspiracy in the DRC I had heard very little of this war. Which I guess is the point people with power and money don't want us to hear about the attrocities going on. Great BOOK!!!

The Founders' Almanac Reference Edition

Published in Paperback by Heritage Books (2002-03-18)

Author:

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Excellent!

Helpful Votes: 11 out of 18 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-30

I added this fine work to my library about 4 months ago and already the pages are showing signs of wear. I can't begin to say how many times I have turned to this fine work for a reference source..

Mr. Spalding has put together a very readable sourcebook. The book begins with a calendar of notable events, followed by six outstanding essays on six of America's most notable founders. All six essays come from different authors and each one is equally well written.

The last half of the book is devoted to notable quotations, founding documents and additional resources. The quotes are divided into numerous indexed categories. The documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, have quick reference sidebar notes. You won't regret adding this fine work to your personal library.

Invaluable resource

Helpful Votes: 8 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-19

I added this fine work to my library about 4 months ago and already the pages are showing signs of wear. I can't begin to say how many times I have turned to this fine work for a reference source.

Mr. Spalding has put together a very readable sourcebook. The book begins with a calendar of notable events, followed by six outstanding essays on six of America's most notable founders. All six essays come from different authors and each one is equally well written.

The last half of the book is devoted to notable quotations, founding documents and additional resources. The quotes are divided into numerous indexed categories. The documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, have quick reference sidebar notes. You won't regret adding this fine work to your personal library.

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