Presidents' Day Books

I enjoyed this book because I am a cancer survivor. Mr. Jordan also
discussed and gave an inside look into political events that happened
events over 2 decades ago, which I found to be interesting.

I read this book years ago and never forgot this brave uplifting man as he fought his battle with cancer. I am greatly saddened to hear of his passing today. His words will live on for anyone facing life's greatest challenges.

Hamilton Jordan tells of his inspiring victory over the deadly disease that affects us all in one way or another - cancer. He also tells the intriguing and compelling history of his brief tenure in the White House under Jimmy Carter as well as the inspiring story of his uncle, who fought racism in rural Georgia ahead of his time.

But above all, this book provided me with a shot in the arm while I was in the hospital for over a month with pneumonia. Feeling somewhat down, this book really lifted my spirits.
Jordan proves that a positive outlook and one deeply rooted in prayer and faith in God immensely helps those in dire medical circumstances. I am a walking monument and a true believer of the power of prayer and faith in God.

I highly recommend this book to everyone - whether you're sick or not. It is ineffably a book that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling after you put it down. A great gift to someone you love - including yourself.

I have several relatives with cancer,including my son who is a childhood leukemia surviver. I bought this book expecting to learn more about dealing with the diagnosis of the "Big C". I got that and much, much more.

This book is an inspiration for those touched by cancer, but also an inspiration to see how seemingly small decisions or details in life can a have huge impact. It also is an insider's view of what life in the Deep South was like in the mid-19th century.

Whether you read this book to better understand how to deal with cancer, how to face difficult circumstances in general, or how how a single person can make a huge difference in the lives of others, or just an interesting read you will not be disappointed.

Not many books kept me up past my bedtime but this ranks as one of them. Jordan is frank, lucid and at times funny but I would prefer if he elaborates on his tenure as chief of staff further. I'm sure the conversation he had with Carter in his old car campaining for this little known person then would interest a lot of people...well he left that part out.
This book is about hope and doing something about it.

Poignant, powerful stories. Beautifully written with a distinctive and important design. This book's not to be missed--by you, your friends, your business colleagues. Bravo!

Within his book A Leader Becomes A Leader, Kevin Sheehan delightfully illustrates the essence of true leadership. He poignantly definies a diverse group of past and present leaders; while exploring their life events and characteristics of greatness. Encourage your friends, family and coworkers to read this motivational book!

The author does a phenomenal job of breaking the topic down into small manageable and inspiring readings; also covers a great cross-section of leaders and the characteristics that made them successful. I ordered a dozen copies as executive and motivational gifts.

J. Kevin Sheehan presents a celebration of what's possible in his biographical snapshots of great leaders. By focusing on the unique character traits of outstanding leaders the author transforms the mysteries of leadership into something very real. He answers the question "what made them great?" in an extremely concise and inspirational style. Great as a corporate gift or graduation present. My children have used it for school projects and I have found inspiration for my own business. No home or school library should be without this most valuable tool.

What I love most about "A Leader Becomes A Leader" is it's timeless simplicity. I can take this book (turn off the television) and spend quality time with a young child, parent, teacher, grandparent or peer and connect on a visual, thoughtful and emotional level. These inspiring stories remain simple, true and steadfast in their messages of perseverance (and are told with grace). A thoughtful journey through and towards what is really important in life. A great exploration on human potential. This must be shared!

couldnt put it down.... was reading it during traffic stops.
oh...was truely great enjoyment... a must read...

- But with deeper sex drive and shallower roots. Raleigh-based and just-fired pharmaceutical representative Buchanan Forbes is really a bit too young for a Herzogian mid-life crisis. But his wife pushes him over the edge when she packs up boys and goes to live with his father in Charleston. Buchanan's reaction is less than heroic - he has overlapping affairs with three sexy ladies. But perhaps he can be forgiven since the first one is his lawyer. And we hope that the Feds won't be able to bag him for the candy store operation he'd been running with the free physician samples. His wife needed the extra money for a new SUV. As Buchanan runs around and is shadowed around the Carolinas, we experience the charms of the southeastern coastal resorts and the ladies you can find there. Ragged, disconnected and improbable in spots, Buchanan's story nevertheless kept me turning the pages until the morally ambiguous end. Thanks to Brewster Milton Robertson for showing us a new kind of southern novel.

Enjoyed! Liked the use of short chapters. Gets the point across without being too wordy. Would like to have seen ending embellished more...with a chapter where Long was drilled by cops as a suspect as Forbes and the doctor were.

Enter Buchanan Forbes. Devoted father, out-of-work pharmaceutical salesman,with a crumbling marriage and under surveillance from several governmental agencies for black market wholesaling of prescription drugs. And an array of beautiful women who find him attractive. Something for everyone here! A man not immune to women's rights nor sexual emancipation. Lots of Southern sense of place - food and the smell of Carolina beaches, believable characters, many also good old Southern boys wearing college T-shirts and cut-off jeans. Only the women appear liberated and strong-willed. The social problems in the background often appear unnecessary - closing of abortion clinics, a return to back alley butchers, problems with the IRS, possession- hungry wives trying to climb social ladders. Buchanan faces them all as he tries to put his life back on track. What a man! What a story!

Brewster Milton Robertson's hot thriller, RAINY DAYS AND SUNDAYS, set at the Carolina seashore is a heck of a read. The protagonist, Buchanan Forbes, star pharmaceutical salesperson, devoted father and family man, intellectual, and all around good guy, finds himself on the wrong side of a Federal drug bust. The Feds are aiming to clean up the multi-billion dollar black market in prescription drug and medical device samples involving manufacturers, crooked detailmen, and physicians. To make matters worse the Feds are following the lead of a dingbat conservative President who has just outlawed all abortions and seems determined to return to dark ages politics of the 1950's.

Forbes finds himself in the middle of this mess when several young Carolina women die as a result of botched abortions involving experimental IUD's. The Feds pour on the heat and Forbes is wrongly accused of prescription drug theft and sales. His life is further shattered when his faithless wife leaves him taking with her Forbes's four beloved sons. Forbes sets out to put his life and reputation right and he has to fight mighty odds. If and how he is to succeed makes great suspense and a powerful read. Get the book and read it now. It won't wait for a "Rainy Day" or a "Sunday."

This is a brilliantly written and highly readable book. The events of the four days are documented virtually minute-by-minute in an excellent narrative. This work flows so well it I would like to suggest it reads like a thriller - but only in the most complimentary sense. That comment is not intended to demean a work of research and clarity that is worthy of very wide readership.

I really wasn't interested in reading anymore about the Kennedy assassination by the time RECLAIMING HISTORY was released...but then I found out Vincent Bugliosi wrote it. And he spent 20 years writing it. After reading HELTER SKELTER and then his take on the O.J. Simpson trial in OUTRAGE (both incredible reads, btw), I was suddenly very interested in whatever he had to say.

By the time I'd finished reading the first section of RECLAIMING HISTORY (which is what has been released as FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER), I realized that Lee Harvey Oswald did it. And he did it alone.

After spending my entire life believing that some dark and sinister conspiracy was at work that day in Dallas, I was ready to let all of that crazy paranoia go. I had a suspicion that Oswald did the shooting since I work with rifles for my job. I had to qualify at targets at 100 yards with a iron sight for years. While watching a show about the assassination, I found out the distance from the book depository window to the limo was about 88 yards. "That's it?" I thought. And Oswald had a scope. Almost all of the shows on the History Channel and Discovery have also found dismissed a lot of conspiracy details as well.

But reading Bugliosi has convinced me. While the conspiracy nutjobs (and their devotion to their delusions is crazy) continue their death grip on shadows and theories and unproven, undocumented fantasies, Bugliosi deals in facts and records.

And so much of FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER was news to me. I'm sure it will be with you as well. Open your mind and take a look. Honestly, it won't hurt.

When Vincent Bugliosi wrote Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, published in May, 2007, the predecessor of the book being reviewed here, it was widely regarded as his magnum opus, a towering masterpiece which took twenty years and 1648 pages to write. In this new edition about the assassination, drawn from Reclaiming History, Bugliosi has now winnowed the original manuscript to approximately 500 pages, concentrating on the facts of the assassination and eliminating nearly all the material used by the conspiracy theorists because he has essentially disproved the conspiracy idea.

Four Days in November reconstructs the assassination, giving dates and times, sometimes second by second, to make these real events come to life, and he includes seventy-nine photographs and drawings. The resulting achievement is stunning, an intensely readable and compelling work of scholarship which should eliminate, once and for all, the idea that there was more than one gunman. Photographs of the shooting, broken down into tiny fractions of a second, anatomical drawings of the wounds of President Kennedy and Governor Connolly, fingerprint evidence in the "sniper's nest" at the Book Depository, extensive photographs of the grassy knoll at the time of the shooting, and accounts from many eye-witnesses provide weighty, seemingly incontrovertible, evidence that Oswald was the lone shooter.

Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson in the Tate-LaBianca trial and then went on to write Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders about that trial, is an accomplished writer who shares with the reader the kinds of details that he, as a prosecutor, counts as compelling evidence. At the same time, he is a painstaking recreator of scenes and observer of human nature. His intuitive sense of how people behave gives him an understanding of their psychology and, at times, motivations, all of which humanize this account of seemingly inhuman actions. Focusing on Lee Harvey Oswald and his dysfunctional family, the Dallas police and press, Jack Ruby and the underworld which he represents in Dallas, and the Kennedy family as it comes to grips not only with the loss of the President but with the loss of a loved one, Bugliosi provides an intimate and unforgettable look at a national tragedy which, in his hands, is also transformed into a moving series of personal tragedies.

Readers who begin this book will be as compelled to keep reading, as details unfold, as were all of us who lived through these events during that terrible long weekend in November, 1963, when we remained glued to our TV sets around the clock, and the entire country shut down. Bugliosi's total dedication to providing every relevant detail, his ability to convey the atmosphere and the understandable confusion following the shooting, his sensitivity to the feelings of the innocent people and families who were permanently scarred by these events, and his honesty in recreating events without trying to make the facts "fit" an agenda, make this book a milestone of historical research. Certain to be honored with awards in the coming months, Four Days in November endows terrible events with the respect--and finality--they deserve. n Mary Whipple

Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
The Death of a President November 20-November 25 1963
The Warren Commission Report: Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Vince Bugliosi's masterful work is a devastating knock-out blow to those who, like me, once believed there was a conspiracy in the death of JFK. Bugliosi finishes and completes, in exhaustive and impressive detail, the work of the Warren Commission, the House Select Committee on Assassinations, and, quite frankly, all the other writers who have ever delved into the crime of the twentieth century. It is time to get a life, America: Oswald did indeed kill Kennedy, acting alone. Vince Bugliosi has done what I once thought was the impossible: he has convinced me of this notion. The conspiracy community was able to survive the Warren Commission Report, as well as the Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. The question is whether it will be able to survive Bugliosi's seminal work on this subject.
Vince Bugliosi letter to Vince Palamara dated 7/14/07:"I want you to know that I am very impressed with your research abilities and the enormous amount of work you put into your investigation of the Secret Service regarding the assassination. You are, unquestionably, the main authority on the Secret Service with regard to the assassination. I agree with you that they did not do a good job protecting the president (e.g. see p. 1443 of my book)..."

Vincent Bugliosi's "FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER", published by W.W. Norton & Company in late May 2008, paints a vivid word picture of the events surrounding the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

This 688-page paperback is a reprint of the first chapter of Bugliosi's mammoth and spectacular 2007 hardcover tome "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY". So if you've already got that book, there's really no reason to also purchase this "Four Days" volume too.

The award-winning* "Reclaiming History" lays out all the evidence (in overwhelming doses) to definitively show that Lee Harvey Oswald--alone--did, indeed, murder President Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.

* = "RH" won an "Edgar Allan Poe Award" on May 1, 2008, as the "Best Fact Crime" book of 2007.

Author and former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Vincent T. Bugliosi has referred to "Reclaiming History" as his "magnum opus", and after reading its compelling and convincing contents, such a description is certainly hard to disagree with, in my own personal opinion.

"Reclaiming History", as mentioned, is mammoth in size and scope, logging in at 1,535,791 words and 2,824 total pages (which includes the 1,100+ pages of endnotes and source citations on a CD-ROM computer disc that is attached to the back cover of the book). That page count also includes all of the photo pages in "RH"; and most of those same photographs also show up in this shorter "Four Days" volume as well, albeit smaller in size.

The narrative that we find in "Four Days In November" begins at 6:30 AM on the morning of President Kennedy's assassination (Friday, November 22nd, 1963), and continues chronologically through the day of JFK's funeral (Monday, November 25th).

Bugliosi provides an incredible amount of information and seldom-revealed facts in "Four Days", much of which will probably be brand-new to some readers.

Many portions of this book actually can be traced back to two other similarly-styled books about JFK's assassination that were written in the late 1960s -- William Manchester's "The Death Of A President" and Jim Bishop's "The Day Kennedy Was Shot".

This is quite evident when glancing through the 49 pages of source notes in "Four Days", with Manchester's and Bishop's books being referenced many times within the 1,557 citations that Bugliosi provides. ("Reclaiming History", by the way, contains more than 10,000 source citations, which is a figure that probably makes it one of the most-sourced books in publishing history.)

To a person who isn't inclined to believe that virtually every piece of evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald for the murders of President Kennedy and Dallas policeman J.D. Tippit was miraculously and magically "manufactured" or "faked" in some way, "Four Days In November" leaves little to no doubt as to the identity of the one and only person who was responsible for those two homicides.

Or, to put it more bluntly (as Vince Bugliosi does in this quote from "RH"):

"I can tell the readers of this book ["Reclaiming History"] that if anyone in the future maintains to them that Oswald was just a patsy and did not kill Kennedy, that person is either unaware of the evidence against Oswald or simply a very silly person. .... Any denial of Oswald's guilt is not worthy of serious discussion." -- Vincent Bugliosi; Page 969 of "Reclaiming History" (c.2007)

So, if you're interested in just about every last detail imaginable when it comes to those four incredible days in November of 1963 when America lost its President to an assassin's bullet, then "Four Days In November" is undeniably the book to pick up.

And for an even more-exhaustive examination of JFK's assassination and the large number of conspiracy theories it spawned (with Mr. Bugliosi reducing each one of those theories to a most-deserved pile of smoldering rubble), "Reclaiming History" is an absolute must-have item for the "True Crime" home library.

Both of Vince Bugliosi's JFK volumes ("RH" and "Four Days") are books that will (or certainly should) make anybody reading them think twice the next time they hear the words "Oswald was just a patsy".

===================================

FROM THE LIPS OF THE AUTHOR:

"The millions of Americans who have been hoodwinked into buying into the conspiracy illusion don't believe that Oswald conspired with some other lowly malcontent like himself to assassinate the president. Instead, though most don't clearly articulate the thought in their mind, they believe that Oswald was merely the triggerman for organized crime, a foreign nation, or conspirators who walked the highest corridors of power in our nation's capital. ....

"Not the smallest speck of evidence has ever surfaced that any of the conspiracy community's favorite groups (CIA, mob, etc.) was involved, in any way, in the assassination. Not only the Warren Commission, but the HSCA [House Select Committee on Assassinations] came to the same conclusion. .... But conspiracy theorists, as suspicious as a cat in a new home, find occurrences and events everywhere that feed their suspicions and their already strong predilection to believe that the official version is wrong. ....

"The fact that Kennedy was a powerful public figure was very relevant to Oswald's motivation for killing him. On the other hand, murders of powerful public figures in America by the groups fancied by conspiracy theorists--the CIA, mob, FBI, and military-industrial complex--are absolutely unheard of. Show me a precedent. ....

"The bottom line is that evidence of Oswald's innocence in the Kennedy assassination is about as rare as hundred-dollar bills on the floor of a flophouse. ....

"Only people who subscribe to rules of absurdity, not rules of life, could possibly believe that a conspiracy to kill [John F.] Kennedy ever existed. The conspiracy argument in the Kennedy assassination requires the belief that for over forty years a great number of people have been able to keep silent about the plot behind the most important and investigated murder of the 20th century. In other words, it requires a belief in the impossible. ....

"Waiting for the conspiracy theorists to tell the truth is a little like leaving the front-porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa."

-- Vincent Bugliosi; Pages xiv, xvi, xlii, 844, 950, and 1442 of "Reclaiming History: The Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy" (c.2007)

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David Von Pein
May 2008

This is a great book! It addresses an important, yet abstract idea - patriotism - in a way that not only makes it understandable to kids, but enjoyable. Kids will be drawn into the story by relating to the individual students and their project ideas, and will sympathize with Caleb and his lack of inspiration. The text clips along well with many opportunities for chuckles, and the lively illustrations add humorous details kids will enjoy discovering. Beware parents - you may be so busy enjoying the book right along with your child that the tears this book can bring to your eyes may catch you off guard. To be able to laugh and cry in less than 1,000 words - kudos to Ms. Skeers.

This is a great book about a great subject. It is well-written with humor and authenticity. It manages to convey a touching message without being preachy or overdone, something few books do well. It is a wonderful book to share with kids and to enjoy yourself. Keep a kleenex on hand. =)

With all the media attention to what the United States "shouldn't" be doing, it's wonderful to find a children's story that shows what patriotism is and who the real patriots are. Make sure your local library has this book - especially for story hour. It's not just for the 4th of July but all year long. The United States is a free country with freedom of speech because men and women were willing to risk their lives to keep it free and to help those in other countries who can't fight for themselves.

The whole story and the great illustrations make this a "must have" book for any child's book collection - or for their parents' too!

I was a story time librarian for 12 years at our local library. Every July, I searched for books I could read to young children that would let them know how wonderful it is to live in America. It is wonderful because we are free. I wanted to read books that would tell the story behind our celebrations of Independence Day and Memorial Day. The Impossible Patriotism Project is that book. This book shows throught text and art the various icons we associate with freedom along with the people who work to keep us free, namely the men and women in our armed forces. Mrs. Skeers and Mr. Hoyt have done a tremendous job conveying the idea of being a patriot to young children. I love it!

If this one doesn't make tears come to your eyes than your heart must be made of stone.

The beautiful thing about childrens books is that they can play straight to the heart - and this one does. My daughter liked it, but every grown-up who has seen this book has cried or at least teared up. Don't get this one for your kid - get it for you. Moving, wonderful and based on a true story which is just as moving (see back inside flap).

Horace Busby provides and intimate and interesting view of President Lyndon Johnson in THE 31ST OF MARCH. Although Busby provides selected views of other incidents that were key moments in the Johnson presidency and of course the story of how he became involved with Johnson the focus is on LBJ's decision not to seek re-election and the process of announcing that decision to the world.

Busby's view of LBJ is that of a much more fragile man than generally preceived of. It's a quick read. Busby's walks the reader through the family quarters of the White House and the inner workings of the presidency with facinating detail. One particulary interesting aspect of the story is how Johnson was treated at JFK's funeral. Most accounts are totally sympathetic to the Kennedy's but in reading Busby, you see that LBJ had a side too. The reader comes away with a very unique view LBJ.

Though brief, the work is very powerful. It is the story of friendship, loyality and devotion. I wish that the son, who edited the work would have provided a brief description of the relationship between Busby and LBJ after the White House years. It would rounded out the story.

"The Thirty-first of March", by Horace Busby takes a heart-warming yet candid look at Lyndon B. Johnson, as few had known him. The book makes for fast, interesting, and enjoyable reading.

Horace Busby was an assistant to Lyndon B. Johnson from 1948 to 1968; those twenty years gave Busby the opportunity to know Lyndon B. Johnson as both a politician and a human being. Busby writes of a thoughtful, engaging, and at times ill-tempered congressional representative, senator, majority leader, vice president, and president of the United States. Readers will find that "The Thirty-first of March" offers a rare look at the human side of Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon Johnson was the congressional representative for the Tenth District of Texas, described by Busby as the politician who swam against the political tides; who despised the Texas "sacred cow" (oil utilities), along with big business. Busby writes of Johnson's ability to balance his social insecurities with boundless energy and passion for the causes he so firmly believed in.

According to Busby, Johnson's passions may have been a result of Johnson's close association with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Johnson is described as a politician who wished to continue the work that was left incomplete by Roosevelt's "New Dealers". Many know the Lyndon B. Johnson who was arrogant, quick-tempered, reclusive, and a veteran of the political arena - he may have even been a conniver at times. However, many are unaware of Johnson's compassion for ordinary people - the downtrodden. Horace Busby brings this to center stage by giving readers a clear view of what most mattered to Lyndon B. Johnson, who believed that

"[p]eople are good . . . what the average folks want is very simple: peace, a roof over their heads, food on their tables, milk for their babies, a good job at good wages, a doctor when they need him, an education for their kids, a little something to live on when they're old, and a nice funeral when they die."

Busby writes of his own good fortune in making the acquaintance of such influential and powerful people as Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and their families. The book is sprinkled with short stories of these enduring encounters, which make for interesting reading. It is, however, the relationship between Busby and Johnson that the memoir brings to the forefront, which will most interest readers. Busby recollects how passionate Johnson was on domestic issues such as housing, education, healthcare, and conservation. Busby also describes Johnson's anguish and distress after receiving the news of Martin Luther King's assassination; not just for the country, but for the King family and all American people - African Americans as well as whites....

"The Thirty-first of March" was not meant to encompass Johnson's political career, but readers will gain a new understanding and respect for the ideas, accomplishments, and sacrifices of the political phenomena that was Lyndon B. Johnson. The book will also give readers and future biographers new insights into the persona that was LBJ.

Querying "Lyndon Johnson" on Amazon generates over 18,000 references. The man was a dominant figure in US politics for over 20 years, which goes some way to explaining why he has been written about so prolifically.
Few books though can surely be as intimate and interesting as Horace Busby's memoir of the man he worked with for most of Johnson's career on the national stage.

The twenty-four year-old Busby joined then Congressman Johnson's team in 1948, a few months prior to Johnson winning a Senate seat. His initial brief was to "put a little Churchill" and motivation into the Texas politician's speeches. He remained with Johnson, in some capacity as adviser, speechwriter, confidante and sometimes almost as therapist until March 31 1968 when Johnson made his famous utterance to the US people that "I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President," - lines written by Horace Busby.

This is a wonderfully warm, penetrating look at the psychology, temperament and mindset of LBJ particularly in the days prior to his famous announcement. The manuscript was discovered by Busby's son after the author's death in 2000, hence the publication date of 2005. Unfortunately, much of the manuscript seems to have been lost as it does not deal at all with the President's period in the Senate, which by all accounts he bestrode like a colossus.

The reader can appreciate why Busby was so highly rated by his political patron. Much of the book contains wonderful writing and descriptive passages including a very humorous account of how the infamously impatient Congressman Johnson treated Busby when he first reported for work in 1948 - three days later than expected.

Busby crafts some wonderful images, not least when he recounts the terrible events of November 22nd, 1963. The author was in Washington when President Kennedy was assassinated in Johnson's home state of Texas. Co-incidentally, Busby's wife was in Johnson's Washington home doing some research for Lady Bird Johnson at the time of the shooting. She stayed in the house until Mrs. Johnson returned from Dallas - "she saw as no one else did that day, the cold passing of power," as the secret service took control of the house and presidential communications infrastructure was put in place, even before the residents returned from Dallas.

Busby appears to have been a true confidant of the towering Texan. Few (if any) who worked under Johnson would claim he was an easy person to deal with. He could be mean, nasty, uncouth, self-centered, insecure and tyrannical, yet he had very strong motivational skills, sometimes conveyed with great good humor. Johnson was blessed to have a number of very loyal and competent aides - Jack Valenti, Joe Califano and of course Busby who writes of Johnson almost as a son might of a father.
Because of his close relationship with LBJ, Busby writes compellingly on a number of little known episodes about the President including a dirty tricks campaign initiated by White House insiders to prevent Vice-President Johnson from gaining the nomination to run with Jack Kennedy for the presumptive 1964 campaign. LBJ believed he had but one friend "in that place - President John Fitzgerald Kennedy himself."

The account of the 31st March, when Busby was called to the White House to draft Johnson's final words is both riveting and compelling. Many of Johnson's family and aides did not wish the President to remove himself from the race and blamed Busby for influencing his decision.

The initiative to withdraw though was Johnson's, but when Busby handed him four pages of script - much more than expected, the President `threw up his hands. "Damn" he exclaimed. "You must really want to get me out of town." `

Johnson on a one-to-one level was surprisingly humorous with strong motivational skills, something that rarely came across in his public appearances. Unlike his predecessor, JFK, Johnson never mastered the new media of television.

For those interested in one of the most intriguing characters to attain the presidency, this book is a little jewel. The one regret is that it covers such a short period of the political life of a man whom the author writes was "extroverted, gregarious, and roughshod," but who "sheltered a sensitive, introspective, and unaccountably fragile self inside."

Horace Busby was one of the more interesting witnesses in Robert Caro's biography of LBJ, and I was sorry to hear he had passed on a few years back, here in California. Busby knew where all the bodies were buried in his capacity as top speechwriter for Johnson, extremely close to the man for twenty years or more, and inventor of the catchphrase, "The Great Society."

The book, while never less than elegantly written, is scattershot in its approach, and jumps back and forth in chronology like a human pinball machine, skimming the surfaces here and there, then coming down to dwell lovingly and cinematically on some unlikely venues, such as a trip with Johnson in November of 1963, to Brussels for a conference. LBJ in Brussels, of all places, it's unreal! Here Busby really goes to town, exploring the insecurities that fueled Johnson's drive to the top and which made him the most feared man in politics.

And yet he had his charming side too, and Buzz was there for large chunks of it. There's a long, fleshed out memoir of arriving with Johnson at Hyannisport in 1960, not knowing whether or not Kennedy would want him as his candidate for Vice President. There's no denying that Johnson was the odd man out among the Kennedys; in one hilarious moment he can't understand JFK's accent, despite trying to read his lips. You won't get this kind of intimate, novelistic detail anywhere else.

But often "Buzz" seems overdiscreet, drawing a veil over the very things that the reader wants to know more about. Buzz's son Scott, who introduces this posthumously published memoir, suggests that Buzz came to feel he had given all his "good Lyndon stories" to Caro in their many interviews, and that the book we now have represents perhaps the not-so-good stories which Caro didn't find interesting enough to include in any of the three volumes published so far. And sometimes Buzz's speechwriting strength betray him as a memoirist; his highly praised alliteration for example, grows inane when it is employed to open a paragraph with "The prolonged procrastination was highly provocative . . . "

What else is memorable about this all too brief book? Well, I liked finding out more about Johnson's religious background as a "Digressive." I never even heard to term before, and now it seems utterly key to understanding the man. Buzz' dad, a strict preacher type, hesitated before giving his boy his blessing to work for LBJ, fearing that the latter's "Digressive" qualities would corrupt Buzz. Johnson's own father emerges as a salty old son of a gun, telling his son not to forget that "If a fella starts trying to climb a pole, he usually ends up showing his ass." It was a lesson Johnson was never to forget.

In one touching chapter Busby, together with Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, travel to Gettysburg to represent the administration at the Eisenhower farm, as Ike and Mamie prepare to leave their home forever (they have deeded it to the National Park Service). Both Eisenhowers come to life vividly, and their lives together for forty-five years touchingly adumbrated, in Busby's careful rendering of a moment in time.

Busby provides lovely word portraits both of fragile, thoughtful Jackie Kennedy and the amazing Lady Bird. Either of these would make the book worth reading all by themselves, but yet there is a whole lot more in THE THIRTY-FIRST OF MARCH. Don't let this one slip under your radar.

With wit and wisdom, Bendat discusses all aspects of Inauguration Day -- from the president-elect's morning coffee with the president, to the afternoon parade, to the evening inaugural galas -- all with an eye toward the historical and hysterical." L.A Times, January 20, 2001.

This book is filled with fascinating details about every presidential inauguration in United States history. Most people probably have not given a great deal of thought to inaugurations, but writer Jim Bendat opens the door to a series of intriguing, and sometimes important, details. For example, Abraham Lincoln was the first president to invite a free African American to attend an inauguration. Lyndon Johnson was the first president to be sworn in by a woman.

This engaging book provides us with an insight into a wealth of little known facts about American history. Anyone interested in history (or trivia, though there is much more to it than trivia) will be delighted by this book.

The writing is lively and spirited. The subject matter is unforgettable. The book is terrific.

This is an excellent book for the historian and the casual reader of American history. The style is relaxed and the content is strong. There is at least a synopsis in anecdotal form of every inauguration in U.S.history. With constant controversy surrounding contemporary presidential elections, this book is genuinely a must read. It captures not just the information, but the actual drama of the inaugurations and peppers that with fascinating tidbits. For example, did you know that Frederick Douglass was at Lincoln's second inauguration reception? Or that Franklin Pierce had no lights, no dishes and no bedroom of his own, the first night of his White House stay?

This book is worthy of more than one read and endless "pick-it-up-when-you-get-a-second" reads! Very good, very cool book. Both for someone wanting something interesting to read and for an addition to a historian's library. Here's hoping that Mr. Bendat writes more!

This will rank as one of the greatest books ever on Wilford Woodruff...a true masterpiece.

This is a masterpiece work that can only be told in Hullinger's unique style. The book is well researched and the stories come alive. The art is somewhat lacking, but does not detract from this wonderful book.

This is a must read for those interested in the life of Wilford Woodruff. The author has a knack for making his life real. Mrs. Hullinger conducted a great deal of research to produce this wonderful tome.

Hop on board the 1968 Campaign Train! All aboard! The train will be making nationwide stops. It's the Equal Opportunity Train! Join Robert Kennedy and supporters as he makes stops across country during his 1968 Presidential Campaign.

Tagged by detractors as being ruthless, the Senator's supporters lighten the charge by doing a parody of the "Wabash Cannonball," called the "Ruthless Cannonball." Robert Kennedy, then a senator, had lived with the charge of ruthlessness since his days as a young attorney prosecuting Teamsters and mafiosi. In fairness, the Senator does not appear to be ruthless. He appears to be a very determined, committed, goal oriented, compassionate and often driven man. He was the man who was credited with helping unify groups of disenfranchised persons; he was the advocate and voice for many.

Witcover's clear, precise writing literally places his readers on board that 1968 campaign train. In reading this book, one almost wants to cheer, "Hop on board the campaign train! Next stop, VICTORY!"

Sadly, the last stop was in Los Angeles the night of June 5, 1968 when Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated. This book does an excellent job of discussing the tragic aftermath of the Senator's assassination and yet the question will always remain -- what would this truly good man have accomplished had he lived to be elected president in 1968?

Fabulous book! This is the most complete and comprehensive account of the ill-fated 1968 Presidential campaign of RFK ever written. All the speeches, campaign stops and strategy meetings are discussed in detail as well as an analysis of RFK's platform and the deteriorating political relationship with fellow Democratic candidate Eugene McCarthy are vividly covered...Witcover really puts the reader right into the campaign and it's never more evident than when the assasination and subsequent hospital stay and funeral are covered. Most books about this campaign cover just the campaign details or the assasination and none cover completely all the post assasination details like this book does (i.e. we hear about how 3 people are injured/killed in the funeral train procession). Finally, Witcover's conclusions about Kennedy's policies and speculation about his possible Presidency are right on target. Overall, this is an essential book in understanding RFK's transformation from the "Ruthless Cannonball" into a caring/[...] person who very well would have been President...highly recommended.

Abigail Adams life was a miracle. The book was so good, that I did not want to finish it. So I didn't read it for about two months. I am thinking about reading more books from this series. It is truly amazing how she survived when she was born. The whole entire world should read it.

This book is very exciting and interesting from from the begining to the end. It tells how Abigail almost dies as a child. She lived through the Revolution. Abigail also marrys the second President and is the mother of the sixth President.