History Books

Amazing book! Proves that not all Germans were rabid Nazis. A personal journey through a unique perspective on how and why the Nazis were able to assume power, as well as why the Germans were unable to stop them. Highly recommended!

This is the story of Sebastian Haffner, a man who lived in Germany during Hitler's rise to power. I loved hearing the story from the perspective of the average German. I can't imagine living in such tumultuous times, but reading this book gives me a glimpse. The best part about it is the fact that it tries to answer two very important questions: how on earth a regime like the Nazis could rise to power, and how almost the entire nation where corrupted by them. It's a wonderful story that I would recommend to anyone that is the bit interested in that period. Remember, it's by understanding the past that we can best keep from repeating it.

Excellent book on the rise of the Nazis by an author with a very humane and sensible view of life who lived through the events. Haffner gives voice to the average Germans who witnessed the rise of Hitler and did not approve - the majority, as it turns out - but who could simply not make sense of the madness around them nor could they find a way to realistically oppose the Nazis.

Haffner's narrative is often touching as he discusses personal events of his own, friends' and family's, illustrating how the sphere of their private lives was affected by politics. The result is that it reads like a 'non-fiction novel', and one extremely relevant for contemporary world events.

It is a pity that Haffner never actually concluded the book. In the last section, his son briefly explains what happened after the abrupt ending of the narrative, thus we miss the detail and richness that Hafner's own perspective would have undoubtedly provided. Still, it is an unmissable book, packed with lessons for present and future generations.

Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler" has an ambitious initial scope - to chronicle the rise of Hitler from 1918-1939. The memoir is "unfinished" in that the narrative leaves off in 1933 as Haffner put down writing the manuscript with the advent of World War II and never came back to it. Haffner's son, Oliver Pretzel ultimately had the work published after Haffner's death.

Even in its "unfinished" condition, the work is a masterpiece. Haffner's purpose is not to excuse the average German in germany to succumbing to Nazism and to Hitler but rather to EXPLAIN the phenomenon. Excusing it would simply be post hoc. Explaining it serves the additional function of future application.

Defying Hitler was a difficult thing to do in practice. One could certainly not do so in public. The repression of Nazism in Germany was all the more pervasive by its reach into the private sphere and by doing so, obliterating the prior German distinction between public and private. The only safe way to defy Hitler was, ultimately emigration.

Haffner's narrative is frank, honest and ironic. It was a joy to read.

Finally, a word about Robert Whitfield, the reader of the Audio edition of "Defying Hitler." I believe there are instances in which the audio edition of a work is equal to or superior to the printed version. These instances of "audio excellence" are directly related to the quality of the reader. Robert Whitfield repeatedly accomplishes "aduio excellence." Whitfield's diction is spot on, his tone fluctuates to match the text. If the text is ironic, so then is Whitfield's tone. If the text is frank, so then is Whitfield's tone. If the text contains italics for emphasis, that emphasis is contained within Whitfield's voice. In short, his contributions always enhance a book and never detract from it. For other texts read by Robert Whitfield, I would recommend Bleak House by Charles Dickens, and The Abolition of Man & the Great Divorce: Library Edition by C.S. Lewis.

This is a powerful story of the rise of the Nazi movement with scary parallels to modern day events. The question has often been asked how the Germans could allow this to happen and Haffner does an amazing job at describing how. Along with a controlled media, one method was to turn the volume of fear and intimidation one little almost imperceptible increment at the time. Most people just laughed at the antics of Hitler and his crowd in the beginning, but by the time that people caught on to the seriousness of the issue it was too late. By this time many secretly just hoped that it would go away like a bad dream, but history tells a different story.

The difference with this book is that it is told from a very human perspective from an ordinary German who was living through those times and who saw the transformation of German society and social interaction.

Along with this book I would recommend the movie V for Vendetta (Two-Disc Special Edition), and the book Political Ponerology (A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes), which describes the process by which a society is taken over, and by what kind of people.

Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. This book is an important book to read so as to be better able to read the warning signs before it is too late.

This book will definitely make you reconsider the murder of JFK, along with the cancer so many of us fight each day. It's scary to imagine what the government can do.

If you don't want to be challenged, or you want to believe the Warren Commission Report that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and unaided in the assassination of JFK, or that New Orleans and the events taking place there played no part in the assassination, don't bother to read Dr Mary's Monkey, for it will disrupt your complacency and demolish your assumptions.

This book is a serious attempt to move into an area of research that is as-yet mostly uncharted with little documentation. And it is no surprise -- most of the people involved are dead -- something happened to them soon after the assassination. One has survived, though; a woman who has created more controversy and discussion than anybody connected to the assassination, save for perhaps Lee Oswald himself.

Judyth Vary Baker, who now resides outside of the US for her own safety, is the witness whose statements pull together this book into a cohesive theory of what might have happened behind the scenes of the assassination. In addition, Haslam is a good writer who uses his own experiences (they create rather eccentric credentials for his passion for his subject-matter) to give us a book that is a real page-turner. An updated and expanded version of his earlier outrageously fascinating book "Mary, Ferrie and the Monkey Virus", which gained a considerable cult following over the years, this edition has photos and documentation galore.

I was amazed when I read Dr Mary's Monkeys. This is honest research and shows just how corrupt scientists and governments can be. It also explained the connection to why JFK was murdered.

As a native New Orleanian, I was 20 years old when Dr. Sherman was murdered and remember parts of the strange story of her murder in her St. Charles Ave apartment. Having actually met a couple of the players in the book, back in the early and mid-60's, remembering the stories of the Primate Center over the years and various related vague controversies, I find Haslam's story very compelling, well researched and totally believable - it sure tied up a lot of loose ends for me about many questions I've had since 1962. It also helps explain why so many people of my generation (who took the polio vaccine in question) seem so susceptible to the current cancer epidemic, at least here in New Orleans. Call me cynical, but to me, there is nothing far-fetched in this book at all and Haslam clarifies a lot of issues/mysteries that have been successfully suppressed for 40+ years.

This book was somewhat "under the radar' here and was a word-of-mouth type of thing that locals started to talk about, passing around their copies of the book (which I could initially only find on Amazon); however, I noticed it on display at a Border's store this week (at $19.99). I've referred the book to everyone I know and I am ordering another 4 copies today from Amazon for friends - I think it is a must-read - even if you don't believe part of it, it is a book that is hard to put down and frightening on many levels.

An incredible journey.Absolutely Brilliant writing! A book that should be in everyone's home. The millions of children innoculated with the polio vaccine,that were contaminated with monkey virus'. This led to a possible
development of soft tissus in later life,(and possibly AIDS). Even worse after the discovery,was the cover-up by the Government.You can NOT put this book down.The documentation and footnotes,are flawless. The new Orleans Connection,Lee Harvey Oswald,Jim Garrison,the death of President Kennedy,and the homicide of Dr. Mary Sherman,The links to the finest researchers brought to New Orleans to try to keep the secret while trying to find an answer. One of the best and most riveting books I have EVER read!

I bought this book in the 60's in the Time/Life edtion, but didn't get around to reading it until 1995, when I was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan for a few weeks. Of course, that was the perfect setting, but from any viewpoint in the world "Eastern Approaches" is quite close to the perfect travel book. I left my copy in the library of the American Club in Peshawar, trying to save luggage room for Afghan textiles, and I was very sorry to learn when I got home that it was out of print. Now it's back, and I look forward to reading it again while sitting in my armchair. "Eastern Approaches" is a great read, and never more relevant than today.

This is an exciting autobiography, which I have read and reread over the years. Of particular interest is the author's introduction into the SAS.

This book will become a permanent fixture in your library.

Pre WWII, Maclean finagled trips through parts of the USSR where no westerner had previously been, even crossing into Afghanistan from the north at one point. He spent much of WWI aiding Marshal Tito's effort to drive the Germans out of the Balkans. Fascinating stuff, this, eloquently written and he's a damn good storyteller.

This book is of great historical value. The narration is witty and elegant. I would recomant it to everybody interested in European history.

This is a truly unique book and comparable only with Churchill's 'My Early Life' as an adventure history. Some people write adventure books, some people have adventures but Fitzroy McLean, like Churchill, or TE Lawrence, is able to do both. A rare treat and very easy to read.

This book is a great book on the history of prions. Max easily illustrates how prions are connected to other important diseases such as alzheimers and diabetes. He flawlessly goes from past to present, connecting the two times with the venetian family who has a defective prion gene. It is really amazing that prions don't affect more people. It is also a wake up call for the beef industry in America.

This is a fascinating medical 'thriller', only it's real! it was nearly impossible to stop listening to it and i think anyone who likes medical thrillers or anything related to the medical field, would love this.
The book focuses on prions and their role in disease, especially 'mad cow disease'.

This is a very scary book. The Family that Couldn't Sleep by D. T. Maxd was a very thought provoking study of some of the neurodegenerative diseases that have eluded our understanding. Most of those that the author mentions are truly horrific to the individual who suffers them and to their families. I started my nursing practice on a neurology ward where I encountered many of the maladies the author describes. What was particularly disturbing to me was that years later many of these insidious diseases are as little understood as they were when I first encountered them. The sufferer of ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" after the baseball player who died from it--still finds medical science unable to offer much more than they did when it was first described. Huntington's Disease still devastates families that carry the genetic misprint. While the treatment of myasthenia gravis has progressed to some degree, that of Alzheimer's disease (the old organic brain syndrome or pre-senile dementia) and Creutzfeld-Jacab Disease (formerly referred to as Jacob-Creutzfeld's) are still in their infancy. The similarity between the latter disorder and Kuru has been known for years, but understanding and treatment elude us. According to the author, even the prion concept has its detractors. If nothing else the author was certainly able to capture the devastation that such disorders cause their sufferers and their families. In my early practice I met a man who came in with mild neurological symptoms; he received a diagnosis of Huntington's, and within months he became a changed person because of the unrelenting course of his disease. He ultimately ended up in a nursing home, more or less "insane." Worse yet was the fact that both of his children had a 50-50 chance of having the disorder or of passing the disposition on to their own children. The heartbreak of his wife in witnessing his decline and than recognizing the symptoms anew in her son was awful.

By bringing these disorders and the agonies of the sufferers to public attention Max may well spur more intensive research into these many disorders. And it's about time.

This book does a lot to clear up the story of prions, what they are, what they do, how their threat is real. The Italian family who gives the story its title is but one instance of prions affecting human and animal life. The research is impeccable, and particularly interesting is the process by which medical and veterinary sciences came together to begin unraveling the prion mystery. Because, to be accurate, documentation on how livestock has been affected by prion disease had been, until recently, far more complete and detailed than human prion disease.

The author tells the story unemotionally, which is good, but the reading is far from arid or too technical. The human factor -- how scientists competed for the credit, sometimes damaging other professionals' reputations and careers -- makes it even more interesting. All this makes "The Family That Couldn't Sleep" a fundamental work for anyone who wants to understand these proteins better, and also for people curious about the inner workings of scientific research.

You may find yourself staying up all night to finish this fascinating book. Just be glad you don't share the wrong genes with the family of the title.

This account of prion-based spongiform encephelopathic diseases covers a lot of ground: the Italian family of the title suffering from FFI (fatal familial insomnia), the mysterious epidemic of kuru among the Fore tribe of New Guinea, eventually linked to the practice of eating their dead ancestors' brains, the rare genetically transmitted Creuzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), various animal spongiform encephelopathies, from scrapie in sheep to mad cow disease to chronic wasting disease in deer. All of these diseases share a common feature - they are transmitted by an infectious agent of a kind thought until recently by scientists to be impossible, and the incubation time from infection to manifestation of disease symptoms is remarkably long. The culprits are *prions*, which are a type of rogue protein. The idea that a protein could act as an infectious agent flew completely in the face of scientific received wisdom to date when first introduced and the science underlying this class of degenerative brain diseases is both complex and controversial.

The author's exposition is clear, but ultimately I think he does not do complete justice to the material (which is really fascinating). It may be that his scope is too ambitious - with so much ground to cover, the exposition occasionally lapses into sketchiness. To be fair, there can be no single "right" level of detail that would suit all readers, and D.T. Max generally shows good judgement about what to include to keep the exposition intelligible while moving his story along.

That said, the material related to kuru, cannibalism among the Fore, and the linkage to scrapie, CJD, and mad cow disease has already been presented in the 1998 book by Richard Rhodes, "Deadly Feasts: Tracking The Secrets Of A Terrifying New Plague". I preferred the Rhodes account - his exposition of the science was clearer, and I thought he told a better, tighter story.

However, there's not that much to choose between the two, and Max's book does have the extra material about FFI, which is interesting in its own right. Max does make one misjudgement, in my opinion, which is to include an account of his own illness (he has been diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease which, although it is a neurodegenerative muscular disorder, is neither prion-related nor an amyloid plaque disease). Inclusion of this essentially irrelevant material is a distraction, which just muddies the exposition.

One final criticism is that Max includes an unquestioning discussion of putative geographical "clusters" of CJD cases, based solely on their identification by patients' family members, whom he refers to as "Creutzfeldt Jakobins" (a hideous, tin-ear coinage, which he seems to think is clever). These so-called clusters are almost certainly spurious, based on an incorrect application of the relevant probability models and Max's failure to identify the error detracts from his objectivity as a science writer and contributes to a presentation of disease spread scenarios which are unduly alarmist. The discussion of possible treatment options in the final chapter also struck me as weak, an over-interpretation of what are essentially just anecdotal data. One sees this kind of over-interpretation all the time in the popular press, but I would have expected better from a science writer as experienced as D.T. Max.

However, these are minor criticisms of this well-written account of a fascinating subject.

The Final Frontiersman is the true account of the wilderness life of Heimo Korth and his family. Heimo grew up in Wisconsin but followed a dream to live in the bush in Alaska. Heimo is a "successful" subsistence trapper and hunter in the ANWR where you can freeze at -55 in the winter and the clouds of mosquitoes torment you in the short summer. The sun disappears for over a month in the winter and there is no night in summer. Heimo and his family spend most of the year in the bush where their nearest neighbor is more than a hundred miles away--human neighbor that is; bears, wolves, wolverines, caribou, and many other kinds of animals abound. Heimo is successful in the sense that he and his family survive, all except one. Theirs is a tough life, and Heimo is a tough but likable character.

I enjoyed reading this book. The author, Heimo's cousin, has a direct, clear writing style and a good sense of pacing. The story reminded me in some ways of The Big House by George Colt: "Here is the story of my (extended) family and all my weird relatives" and like The Big House this book could have used extensive editing. We get too much detail about Heimo and his brood, who in fact are not really all that weird or exceptional after all.

The author presents this work as a meditation on the meaning of wilderness and a vital but disappearing American way of life, but he never manages to infuse these issues of wilderness and the struggle to survive with a sense of metaphysical profundity. Heimo's work and life all come off as somewhat mundane, if exceptionally lonely and uncomfortable; even deprived and brutal (Heimo kills large numbers of furbearing animals for a living). In the end, the author failed to communicate why Heimo would choose such a life, or what about it is attractive. I got the sense that neither the author, nor Heimo's family, nor Heimo himself understand Heimo. He remains a discomforting enigma.

Like The Big House, The Final Frontiersman is most interesting as an exploration of family and what it means to be involved in this most natural and troubling human institution.

There are not very many people I would like to meet, but Heimo and his family are at the top of my list. Fantastic story of some extraordinary folks.

Really painted a good picture of what life was like living in the cold Alaskan wilderness.

It is hard for me to realize that Heimo and his family live even today in the manner in which they live.The hardships they overcome daily as part of their everyday living shows the will that some people have and develop.I recommend this book highly and it has also made me realize that I am not so tough as I thought I was.

This story grips you like an Arctic winter. It is hard to put down as Heimo Korth lives a storybook life subsisting 28 years in back country of Alaska as a trapper and frontiersman. James Campbell takes you through Heimo and his family's incredible story. If you have any sense of life outdoors or appreciation for living off the land, this award winning book is for you.

Heimo and his family did it their way and Campbell's book celebrates their courage, difficulties and successes.

The Washington Times wrote a terrific review of this book, which follows:

A President Of the Peephole
By Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, June 7, 1998

Fearing revelations about his illicit affair with a young campaign volunteer - which included sex in an Oval Office hideaway while under the guard of Secret Service agents - the president realized that stonewalling was ultimately futile. He stunned a private party of reporters at the National Press Club by confessing his carnal desires.

"It's a good thing I am not a woman," the president said. "I would always be pregnant. I can't say no."

In this administration, the scandals never seemed to end. There was the strange suicide of an administration official, made even more mysterious by a note that disappeared. Then came an investigation into payoffs and coverups connected to a notorious land deal. The president's friends launched smear campaigns against his perceived foes. Dossiers were compiled; private eyes and snitches deployed. Affidavits were drafted in which various women denied liaisons with the president. Jobs were arranged to keep people quiet.

Through it all, a steel-willed first lady kept the press at bay and did whatever was necessary to defend her husband's reputation - even if it meant destroying evidence.

The scandals erupted at a time when technological advances in communication were feeding a nation hungry for distraction, and the economy was booming. Sex sold - and the ravenous press corps was all too happy to name names and offer seamy details. The president and his wife boosted their public image by bringing Hollywood stars to the White House; they knew the value of glamour and the power of celebrity. It also helped that he was a genial populist and inveterate shaker of hands, fond of golf and cards, a man of the people.

Ladies thought him virile and handsome; he photographed well.
For some reason, all of this seems familiar. Whatever else may be said of Warren Gamaliel Harding - whose tenure as 29th president ended with his peculiar, premature death in 1923 - he was a truly modern politician. His administration, which reeked of corruption, offers a prototype for Washington scandals. Whitewater, Iran-contra and Watergate are better known today, but the granddaddy of them all was Teapot Dome, a political maelstrom that broke 75 years ago this month and is still hard to top in terms of sheer outrageousness.

Harding, a small-town Ohio newspaper publisher, was uniquely unsuited for the job of president - and he knew it. "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here," he once said. But he "looked like a president," as one major backer put it, and his wife, Florence, was instrumental in shepherding his political career. (The press considered Florence, known as the Duchess, to be the power behind the throne; one cartoon depicted the couple as "The Chief Executive and Mr. Harding.") Harding, a one-term Republican senator, won the job by promising Americans a "return to normalcy" after World War I.

Though his legacy was soiled, his domestic achievements were substantial: the 40-hour work week, improved health care for new mothers, the first balanced-budget bureau, a focus on technology. And we have to give Harding credit for establishing a venerable institution: the Washington gossip mill. Based on new documentation, here's a reprise of the Harding era.

I love your back, I love your breasts
Darling to feel, where my face rests,
I love your skin, so soft and white,
So dear to feel and sweet to bite. . . .
I love your poise of perfect thighs,
When they hold me in paradise. . . .
-- A Harding poem to one of his mistresses, Carrie Phillips

No president had more "women scrapes," as his attorney general put it, than Warren G. His first affair, three years into his marriage to Florence, was with Susie Hodder - his wife's best friend from childhood - resulting in the birth of a daughter. His second affair was with Florence's closest adult friend, Carrie Fulton Phillips. It lasted 15 years. His third enduring mistress was his Senate aide, Grace Cross.
Number four was the most infamous and the first presidential mistress to write a memoir: In the large Oval Office closet, the president had at least one tryst with Nan Britton, a campaign volunteer who had started having sex with Harding when he was 51 and she was 22. Their assignations, facilitated by Secret Service agents James Sloan and Walter Ferguson ("Harding hated to have them around, for he despised being watched," reported the chief usher), came to an abrupt stop when another agent, Harry Barker, tipped Florence off, and she ran down for a confrontation.

It was in Harding's Senate office, late one night in the winter of 1919, that Britton claimed she conceived their daughter, Elizabeth Ann. They disrobed because Harding wanted to "visualize" her while he worked there during the day. Britton worried that they lacked the "usual paraphernalia which we always took to the hotels . . . and of course, the Senate Offices do not provide preventive facilities for use in such emergencies."

He had assorted other flings, including one with Rosa Hoyle, said to have conceived his only illegitimate son, and one with Augusta Cole, whose pregnancy by Harding was terminated. He bedded a Washington Post employee known as Miss Allicott, and former chorus girls Maize Haywood and Blossom Jones - all procured by Harding's crony, Washington Post publisher and owner Ned McLean. And then there's the string of "New York women" - including one who committed suicide after Harding wouldn't marry her, and another who had a stash of incriminating love letters purchased by Harding loyalists.

The president even publicly ogled Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America, in Atlantic City, days after her crowning.

Follow the Money

Just weeks after his inauguration in 1921, Harding approved Interior Secretary Albert Fall's request to transfer oil reserves from the Navy Department to Fall's control. Fall then secretly leased the reserve at Elks Hills, Calif., to oilman Edward Doheny and the one at Teapot Dome, Wyo., to Harry Sinclair - in exchange for a "loan" of cash and stock worth nearly $400,000, delivered in a small black satchel, and a "gift" of $100,000 from Doheny. Fall became the first Cabinet member to be thrown in prison.

Col. Charles Forbes, the first director of the U.S. Veterans Bureau, created by Harding, was particularly close to the first lady. She saw to his appointment, and entrusted him with $450 million to build hospitals and provide decent medical care for the thousands of disabled veterans of World War I, on whose behalf the Duchess was a national activist.

Instead, he bilked tens of thousands out of building contractors and medical supply companies. He was eventually imprisoned - but not before Harding personally throttled him against the Red Room wall in the White House.

Although Attorney General Harry Daugherty, a Harding crony and campaign manager, eluded conviction on a variety of pardon-selling and influence-peddling charges, his Justice Department was riddled with malfeasance, kickbacks and payoffs. One of the department's central tasks was to intimidate any Harding mistress who threatened the president with blackmail.

High Officials

Evalyn McLean, the Post publisher's wife, was a confidante of Mrs. Harding and an admitted intermittent morphine addict. Despite Prohibition, she also was a heavy drinker and speakeasy regular - but then, so were her husband and other ranking government officials: Albert Fall, Col. Forbes and the president's chief aide, George Christian. In the Veterans Bureau, stories eventually broke about flapper secretaries and young officers having a regular cocktail hour, with shakers and glasses at the ready, overseen by Forbes.

The president served liquor freely in the present-day Yellow Oval Room to his guests. Alice Longworth - a regular at poker - recalled that the first lady mixed the drinks. "No rumor could have exceeded the truth. . . . [T]rays with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey stood about," she remembered. And, according to recently declassified FBI reports, Harding was drunk on whiskey during an Oval Office confrontation with railroad union leaders during their 1922 strike.

At the center of the capital's most elite bootlegging service was Jess Smith - who, even though never an employee or even a volunteer at the Justice Department, used official letterhead, cars and staff, and sat in on private meetings with FBI Director Billy Burns. Smith enjoyed these perks as the bachelor companion of the attorney general. Smith also served as the first lady's favorite escort and arbiter of her jaunty '20s fashions.

Through the Justice Department, Smith had access to whiskey supplies confiscated by Prohibition agents, and some of the booze went directly to the White House, and to the McLeans, while the rest was kept for parties at the "Love Nest," the small house shared by Smith and Daugherty, complete with a pink taffeta bedroom.

Hollywood Values

Working closely with Republican National Committee Chairman Will Hays during the 1920 campaign, Florence Harding conceived of recruiting Hollywood movie stars to support her husband. Al Jolson was drafted to head the Harding-Coolidge Theatrical League, and on Aug. 24, 1920, the marriage of politics and entertainment was forged forever when Jolson brought 40 movie stars to the Harding home for a campaign rally.

The White House became a little Hollywood. On any given day, D.W. Griffith, the Gish sisters or Tom Mix might pose for newsreel cameras with the Hardings. When Hays left his job as postmaster general to become president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, he developed a "project to link the White House with the motion picture industry" by providing a movie library. All of this was nothing short of immoral to old society. The religious press took even greater offense to Florence's ringing the stately halls with jazz for the first time. The Biblical Recorder excoriated the Hardings for "setting a bad example by joining in the modern dance with its 'jazz' music."

Squelching the Bimbos

There was a good reason for Jess Smith having a vaguely defined association with the Justice Department. In this way, he was able to act at the implicit direction of the attorney general and FBI director and carry out a systematic intimidation of Harding mistresses who threatened to do as Carrie Phillips did and demand blackmail for their love letters. At one point, in exchange for apparently small amounts of money, affidavits disclaiming rumors of their liaisons were wrestled out of Evelyn Ruby, Augusta Cole and Cecilia Hoyle, and made their way to the first lady.

In April 1921, Ned McLean officially became an agent of the FBI, and did his utterly unethical best to destroy any anti-Harding efforts he heard about as publisher of The Post. Such responsibilities included ripping the blouse of Nan Britton to try to snatch letters she claimed to be carrying - in the privacy of his editorial office.

Even on the eve of his inauguration, Harding was providing more trouble for his troubleshooters. He had arranged a late-night rendezvous with Grace Cross, his Senate aide, in a Willard Hotel room. Some of his friends, recalled Olive Clapper, a reporter's wife, "ordered her to pack and get out of town, threatening to put the FBI on her trail if she didn't go at once. She was so frightened she left immediately."

Psychic Guidance

Mrs. Harding's diary, discovered last year at an Ohio barn auction, revealed her to be a true believer in crystal ball readings, the zodiac and clairvoyance. In February 1920, as a Senate wife, she had her first consultation with capital society's seer, "Madame Marcia." The psychic predicted that if Harding ran for president that year, he would be nominated - but that if he won the election, he would not live through his full term and instead die of "sudden, peculiar, violent . . . death by poison."

Knowing that the blackmail price of $25,000 demanded by Carrie Phillips for the love letters could never be met unless her husband became a presidential nominee, Florence pushed him through the primaries on to the nomination, ignoring the ominous prediction. During the Harding presidency, Madame Marcia was regularly fetched by the first lady's Secret Service agent, brought through the back entrance and escorted to the presidential bedroom for zodiac updates. Madame Marcia also did horoscopes for the president's public appearances; the first lady was trying to protect him from numerous assassination and bomb threats.

When Florence got early inklings of the Teapot Dome, Veteran's Bureau and Justice Department scandals, she asked Marcia to do astrological charts of Cabinet members - and used the results as evidence to remove some of the crooks from the administration.

Blackmailers' Delight

Newly discovered documents now prove that Harding was the only president successfully blackmailed by a mistress. Once he was nominated as the Republican candidate, the national GOP committee paid off Carrie Phillips's lump-sum demand of $25,000 and monthly stipend of $2,000, funneled through a secret bank account kept, apparently, under Jess Smith's name (the records were burned by Attorney General Daugherty).
Once Harding became president, Phillips returned from an all-expense-paid trip abroad and demanded that her brother and son-in-law be given federal posts. It was done. Harding even circulated the name of Phillips's husband to be ambassador to Japan - before word got out why he thought a dry-goods salesman from Marion, Ohio, deserved the post and the idea was quashed.

One night, when he was a senator, Harding had such a row with aide Grace Cross that she cut his back and the police were called. Thereafter, Cross went around town talking about a "birthmark" on the president's back that she could identify - undoubtedly the wound - which became part of her arsenal in unsuccessful attempts to get blackmail money. However, former Democratic attorney general Mitchell Palmer would later use his knowledge of the Cross affair to force Harding to drop a Justice Department prosecution against him.

Crossing a Friend

After a failed attempt to frame Cross with a phony affidavit claiming she was a liar and blackmailer, Smith approached Bertha Martin - a friend of Cross's - to try to get possession of the aide's love letters from Harding. Martin said she would turn on her friend on the condition that she was given the job of society editor at The Post. Smith went to McLean, who gave his nod. Martin took Cross to lunch, asked to see the letters, snatched them away and bolted out of the restaurant. She was made society editor - and still managed to stay friends with Cross, taking her on a European vacation, courtesy of the secret blackmail fund.

Deadly Sins

During a party at Smith and Daugherty's "Love Nest," some New York chorus girls were brought down to entertain a stag party. In attendance was the president. When glasses and bottles were being flung off the table so the dancing girls could perform, one Washington prostitute, identified only as a Miss Walsh, was knocked unconscious. Harding was hustled out. The woman died and was buried in a potter's field.

In recently discovered transcripts of her taped revelations, Evalyn McLean recalled that the FBI director "railroaded" the woman's brother into St. Elizabeths mental hospital when he suggested a blackmail payment.

Censorship by Book Burning

"The Strange Death of President Harding," written in 1930 by the notorious perjurer and former FBI agent Gaston Means, implied that Florence Harding poisoned her husband in retaliation for his adultery, but the book has long been dismissed as a fabrication. New evidence shows that while Means lied in details, he told general truths. He said that he was part of an FBI effort to seize and destroy a small, privately printed book, "The Illustrated Life of Warren Gamaliel Harding," that revealed Harding's affair with Carrie Phillips, the RNC blackmail payoff and Florence's out-of-wedlock child by a common-law first husband.

This turned out to be the only book suppressed by the government in peacetime. The entire action was illegal, and thus the boxes of books and updated manuscript inserts were taken not to any government property but to the McLean estate, where they were all burned. Well, not all: An original with the author's notes sits with none other than Evalyn


Spying

Among Gaston Means's other sensational charges was that he spied for the first lady on Nan Britton. In fact, it was probably Grace Cross - for at least one letter sent to her from the president's office was purloined and found its way into the file on Cross in the McLeans' private papers. Post reporter Vylla Poe Wilson later admitted that both "Mrs. Harding and Mrs. McLean were very jealous women, and they hired Gaston Means to follow Harding and McLean and report on their actions." In congressional hearings on the Justice Department, it was confirmed that Agent Means not only spied on Cross but the president's physician, Charles Sawyer, and his mistress, the first lady's housekeeper.

Suicides

Congress first heard tales of gross corruption at the Veterans Bureau in February 1923. Col. Forbes's colleague in kickbacks, Charles Cramer - the bureau's chief counsel, and the purchaser of the Hardings' Senate home - wrote out a letter to the president in his dining room, then stood before the bathroom mirror and shot himself. The letter mysteriously disappeared.

At the start of the summer, the first big Harding scandal broke with the news that Jess Smith was found in his room with his head in a trash can, and a bullet in his head. The official word went out that it was a suicide due to health and emotional problems. Bertha Martin of The Post recalled that it was "noised about" town that Smith was a known homosexual, and that he was heartbroken over Daugherty's sudden rejection of his friendship when the president learned of Smith's nefarious activities. Others, like Evalyn McLean, simply believed Daugherty, Means or Burns had Smith killed because he knew too much. As for Martin, after a second career bootlegging whiskey to embassies, she was found dressed in her fur coat, pearls and white gloves with her head on the gas range, another alleged suicide.

Negligent Homicide?

Beginning on June 20, 1923, the Hardings sought to escape the heat and scandal of Washington on a 15,000-mile transcontinental train trip and voyage to Alaska. The president was 57 at the time. The recently unsealed diary and notes of naval physician Joel Boone reveal Boone's grave concerns about the president's heart condition. The warnings were ignored by longtime Harding homeopath "Doc" Sawyer, who made no effort to stop Harding from speaking in the blistering heat, driving the golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad, or doing other arduous tasks. In this Sawyer had the absolute approval of the first lady, who was now enjoying the height of her national popularity and didn't want the trip canceled. She viewed the incompetent Sawyer as her own Rasputin, who'd miraculously kept a chronic kidney ailment from killing her.

When Harding suffered a bout of food poisoning from tainted crab meat at Cordova, Alaska, Doc Sawyer ultimately weakened the president's sick heart by treating him with heavy doses of purgatives to flush out the toxins. On Aug. 2, 1923, when Boone was out of the sickroom in San Francisco's Palace Hotel, Sawyer plied one too many purgatives - in Florence's presence - and Harding died. There was a quick coverup regarding who was in the room and at precisely what time the president died. Mrs. Harding refused to permit an autopsy or a death mask, protecting her beloved Sawyer. "Now that is all over," she told Evalyn McLean after Harding's death, "I think it was all for the best."

Evidence Destruction

At the McLean estate, aptly named Friendship, Evalyn permitted the widowed first lady to bring from the White House wood crates full of government documents (which may have been incriminating to Harding) and helped burn them. Even though Mrs. Harding was being spied on and her phone was tapped during the congressional investigations of the scandals, she was able to keep destroying documents within the privacy of her Willard Hotel suite.

Four months after leaving Washington, Florence died at age 64 in Marion, Ohio. She was staying in a cottage on the grounds of the Sawyer Sanitarium "for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases," amid signs that read: "Please do not stare at the Patients."

This article is adapted from Carl Sferrazza Anthony's just-published biography, "Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President" (Morrow).

The Harding administration is buried in 20th century obscurity. Aside from the words "Teapot Dome", which few laymen know anything about, and the overriding scandal that dogged Harding's reputation after he left office, there are few people who would even know the name of the first lady.

Florence Harding portrays the image of a plain, dowdy hayseed, but the author brings her to life in the context of an amazing time in our history.

The 1920's were a time of a burgeoning economy, a rich underground economy with speakeasies, amazing jazz, racial awareness, and a recovery from World I. Florence Harding worked behind the scenes to prop her husband up to the challenge of the presidency. Recent revisionist historians have re-examined his presidency to look at his leadership, and his vision beyond the republican side of the aisle.

Florence Harding welcomed in the Jazz Age, consulted "spiritual advisors", and looked at feminist causes long before many of her contemporaries. She also loved and adored her husband, looking past his infidelities, and his out-of-wedlock children.

Warren Harding was in over his head as President. He was an innocent idealist who was thrust into a dark horse candidacy by unscrupulous men who he believed were his friends. He was also a popular and beloved President at he time of his death.

This book, however, is about his wife. She was a tirelessly driven woman, cannily intelligent, with a strength that propelled her to the pinnacle of American leadership.

It is a story few would undertake to tell, and it is riveting. While Florence Harding never comes off as likable, she is portrayed as loyal, admirable, and visionary beyond her time. There is a touching passage, as she sits next to Warren's open coffin, when she tells her husband "nobody can hurt you now, W'urrn".

She clearly understood the power of the office, and the damage it had done to her husband.

An engrossing biography, on an unlikely subject.

How to make a fairly dull and unpleasant like Florence Harding come alive is a difficult enough feat, however the author does a splendid job of doing it! Expertly researched and pleasantly told, Mrs. Harding comes off far better than she has ever been depicted before - and perhaps even better than she deserves.

Writer Carl Anthony has composed an outstanding biography in his work Florence Harding. Harding Florence Harding been one of the more easily understood or admired First Lady's in this nations history, this book would have been written years ago. However, Mrs. Harding's legacy has been in the past told and retold more as a tabloid story than factual account.

When approaching this book, one needs to understand how Mrs. Harding's legacy was tainted by three men, none of which was her husband Warren G. Harding. First, Gaston Means - a grifter and one time low level FBI agent - did a master job at maligning the deceased Mrs. Harding in his book, The Strange Death of President Harding, a ghost written work that was penned by a tabloid jouranlist who sued Means when he failed to honor his obligations to the writer. In this book, Means paints the picture of Mrs. harding that is pervasive in American Pop Culture: that Mrs. Harding was clueless love lorn hag, who spent her time with mystics plotting the Presidents next moves in star charts. This is an image that the public bought, hook, line and sinker.

The other two men who betrayed Mrs. Harding were her doctor, Charles E. Sawyer and his son Dr. Carl Sawyer. The Sawyers held Mrs. Harding in their sway - she believed that they were great medical doctors, however it was the elder Sawyer's mis diagnosis of President Harding's heart condition as food poisoning. When Charles Sawyer discovered that the widowed First Lady's kidney ailment acted up, he travelled to Washington DC and demanded that Florence return to Marion Ohio for treatment at his private Sanatorium rather than seek treatment at at the better suited facilities in Washington. Mrs, Harding was placed in a cottage at the facility, and then kept at the facility by Sawyer's son Carl after the elder Sawyer died. Following Mrs. Harding's death, Dr. Carl Sawyer assummed total control of the Harding Memorial Association and maintained an iron grip on the Harding legacy until his death in the 1960s. As with all great dictators, Carl Sawyer controlled all aspects of the Harding legacy. As a result, the public never had a fair opportunity to study the Harding's, but rather were fed a steady stream of "approved" information about the couple.

Anthony's work goes the distance in seperating the negative myths from the honest truths in her life, which by any standard was not charmed. However, the author does take liberties in communicating his emotions about Mrs. Harding. He believes that she has been mis-portrayed and his passion about correcting that sometimes overstates her case. However, his book is very well documented by copious endnotes and reliable first person accounts and primary documents.

This book will never be a New York Times best seller - the public would rather believe that Harding Myths inseatd of the facts - but for those who care to learn more about the truths of the 29th President and his most remarkable wife, this is a satisfying and accurate book to read.

I found this book hard to put down. I had not realized all the things this obscure first lady was involved with in her life. She looks like somebody's stern grandmother so when I idly looked through this book, I was surprised to find myself drawn in immediately. It is a large book, but I read it very fast as I just could not put it down. This is how a biography should be written, it is well researched and yet still reads almost like a novel.

I enjoyed this book very much. Twelve well researched and written historical biographies of 9 men and 3 women who's lives demonstrated the fruit of signs and wonders. The author uses their stories to encourage readers to stretch their faith in the future.

This is a fantastic book containing the short biographies of twelve influential evangelistic people with healing ministries:

John Alexander Dowie
Kathryn Kuhlman
Aimee Semple McPherson
William Branham
William Seymour
Charles Parham
Evan Roberts
Smith Wigglesworth
A. A. Allen
Jack Joe
Maria Woodworth-Etter
John G. Lake

The book is from a Pentecostal/Charismatic perspective and as the title suggests, discusses where these people had success and where they had failure. Personally, I found the book a treasure to read.

God's General's is one of the most inspirational books that I can remember reading. In addition, it gives the history of some of the most powerful men and women of God since New Testament times. This book is a must read!

I Have two things to say about the purchase of this book: First, that it was delivered to my house in a timely fashion and in perfect condition. Secondly, the book itself is a wonderful look into God's hand on people's life in history. The Bible says that God created each and every one of us with a purpose. Sometimes, that purpose is to live a quiet life of ministry and love. Sometimes God uses us for extraordinary purposes. This book is an encouragement to all people that God can do anything, no matter who you are, if you put your trust in Him.

A balanced, thoughtful, entertaining and useful look at some of God's major powerplayers over the past 100 years or so. Concerning the likes of Kuhlman, Wigglesworth and Branham, most writers either choose to vilify them or worship them. Author Roberts Liardon chooses a more accurate middle road that exemplifies a love for the truth combined with his own helpful Pentecostal insights.

This is a VERY interesting read that Spirit-filled Christians particularly will find both fascinating and useful. Useful because there is much to be learned from the successes and failures of these saints -- much that can be applied to our own lives.

You gotta have this book if you're a Bruce fan. Great history and old photos. Great back stories and nostalgia. I was a bit dissapointed with the reproductions - both in terms of relevance and also the quantity of them, but all in all it is well worth the money. I mean, people actually paid $50 for the Madonna book a few years back. Puh-lease.... there is only one BOSS!

I recently took my 10 year old to a Springsteen concert and he is hooked. At his urging we went to the local library to see if they had a book on the Boss..we found this one and he loved it so much I ordered it..the great thing about it was that I loved it too !! Nothing better than something you can enjoy with your kids. I give this a thumbs up !!

My daughter got this book for me for X-Mas,
and it's the neatest thing !
Great chronological history of Bruce and his
various bands, along with the cool artifacts
placed throughout the book, including 2 great
posters !
Great bargain and must-have for any fan of the Boss !!

It's one of the greatest gifts you can give a Springsteen-fan. It holds the hole story from start til today and includes som replicas of tickets and posters

I bought this book not knowing what to expect. Talk about a labor of love. I highly recommend Greetings From E Street to any serious Bruce Springsteen fan. It's chock full of nifty things and some good information, as well. I was very pleased with this book. It has replicas of tickets, backstage passes, concert posters, and other memorabilia. The writing, which is fine, is secondary to the entire package. Just a real treat. If you have a die hard Springsteen fan in your house, he or she would love this book.

After reading this book I was left with a pretty vivid conception of Middle Eastern politics and society. The author does a good job connecting various events and figures together, which makes conceptualizing a holistic picture much easier than treating them as distinct.

Organizationally, the book was easily navigable by region/chronology. This also contributed to the coherence of the text as I never felt the author was jumping around, but rather moving in a progression.

I also enjoyed the simplicity of the author's language, it was concise and precise. At the same time, the author avoided dry writing, and never managed to lose my interest.

The only thing I felt was missing from this text was the inclusion of more North African countries, which although may not be geographically the "Middle East" still has strong connections to Middle Eastern culture and politics

Given that it's only around 480 pages, this is about all the author could possibly cover. Excellent book, and not biased IMO.

for the amount of history that is compacted into this work it still admazes me at how little is left out. the meat is left, and even though the fat gives the taste, it is the meat that we need to live off. for all it is a must read on what the middle east is and why. i require it for all my soldiers who want to make rank. this is a work from the highest of scholary men.

Cleveland's history of the Middle East is a superb summary of events that span the time between the formations of the Ottoman Empire and the Gulf War while weaving in the influence of Islam and the challenges of capitalism and imperialism. Cleveland brings his skill as a writer and analysis to bear on explaining the historical basis for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, and a dozen other conflicts in this volatile region.

Cleveland's presentation of Middle East history is a 5-star work of art and analysis.

This is one of the best overviews of the Middle East I have found. IT is distinguished in that it manages to keep to its topic of the Middle East instead of losing focus and revolving everything aruond the state of Israel. While it includes this in the history there is a lot more that has taken shape here and continues to take shape. All in all a very good overview.

This book is a must for teachers, parents, and children 10 years old and up. It should read with children and an adult together and should have some Holocaust background explained first. If we want future generations to know what happened, we must tell them

This is a really good book. It was a great tool for teaching my daughter about the Holocaust. The best thing about the book is that you are seeing pictures and poetry that was created by the children of one of the most terrible tragedies in history.

Only three of the poets and authors whose work is represented in this volume survived the Nazi Holocaust.

These works, however, are no more dead than the wings of butterflies mounted in a natural history museum.

They fly: They give the children voices for all time---not just the authors and poets' voices, but the voices of all 14,900 children who perished in Terezin from the arrival of the first transport in November 1941 to the ghetto's liberation in April 1945. Indeed, voices for all 141,000 Jewish people transported here from Germany, Holland, Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and elsewhere, including the relative handful---16,832---who survived.

The works here are a testament to the human spirit.

It is a historical masterpiece of creative resistance during a horrible period when part of mankind became monsters and trough this book we can see how children and adolescents lived with sensitivity and hope!

As a school teacher, I found a wonderful use for this book in my classroom. My 6th grade history class studies the Holocaust and was participating in the Houston Holocaust Museum's Butterfly Project. This book helped my students understand some of the feelings and problems faced by children housed at Terezin Concentration Camp during WWII.