steve thomas

Excellent Bio of Important Figure

Revisado: 03-19-25

Michael Kazin is a left wing professor and former Editor of Dissent. I am wary of Bios/Histories written by political activist types no matter their leanings. They usually can't help themselves and get carried away into presentism. Kazin however doesn't fall into this trap at least not too much to ruin the book. In this book he is an historian first and activist second.

Bryan is a fascinating figure and Kazin clearly admires him but not too much. In the end, this is a very readable and informative account of this major political figure who dominated Democratic party politics for upwards of 16 years. Recommended for those who like political history or just want to learn about the issues of the late nineteenth early 20th Century.

The narration is excellent.

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Terrific Political Biography

Revisado: 03-09-25

Martin Van Buren wasn't a great or terribly important president. His term was basically stillborn due to a financial panic that started in 1837 then eased briefly but flared up again in time to doom his re-election bid in 1840. But presidents aren't everything especially in this era where so many of the major movers and shakers never made the White House. Despite his failed presidency, Van Buren was a critical figure, essential in creating the modern Democratic Party and shaping it's policies for two decades before being toppled by the sectional politics that eventually led to Civil War.

Bradley has complete command of the politics of the era which is unusual among modern writers who seem to disdain that sort of history. There isn't a lot about VB's personal life, it's mostly politics. So if you're not into that then this may not be for you but if you're a political history junkie then you will enjoy it. I particularly like getting into significant but forgotten political episodes like Clay and Calhoun torpedoing VB's nomination for Minister to GB only to see it backfire on them and grease the skids to put him in the White House. Also loved the brief sketches of many of the major political figures of the day, not just Jackson and Clay but people like Silas Wright and William Marcy.

Paul Woodson is fairly new to me, I think this is my second listen but he is outstanding and quickly rising on my list of favorite narrators.

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OK Account of the Peninsula Campaign

Revisado: 01-17-22

Perfectly fine book but not as compelling as Sears' other works on Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Not sure why that is maybe because this campaign is less interesting and at least in hindsight seems to have been doomed from the start because McClellan lacked the boldness and tenacity to pull something like this off.

Nelson Runger was one of the best narrators and this is up to his usual standards.

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Classic 1950's Noir

Revisado: 07-30-21

This is a crime novel from the 1950's about a man who heads to a cabin in the Southwest to recover from a breakdown and becomes obsessed with an old murder case. It was republished in the 1980's as part of the excellent Black Lizard collection so you know it's a good one.

Stefan Rudnicki is an excellent narrator for this sort of book.

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1840's Political History

Revisado: 06-09-21

As others have noted the title is a bit misleading. This is more of a political history of the 1840's with a particular emphasis on Democratic Party politics than it is about Texas. If you're not deep into political history or the causes of the Civil War then this book probably won't cut it for you but if you are it's pretty good. Traditionally historians start the countdown to Civil War in 1846 with the Mexican War and Wilmot Proviso but this book makes the case for backing that up a bit to 1844 as the events of that year led to splits in the Democratic Party which fueled the anti-slavery expansion movement.

Narrator is pretty good.

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Middling and somewhat tedious

Revisado: 05-15-21

I found this pretty disappointing. The problems as I see 1) Too long - McCarthy was only a major figure for about 5 years and his life doesn't really support a 600 page/21 hour book at least not by this author 2) McCarthy the man is not very interesting. He was a liar and demagogue who seized on the hot button issue of the day and found a way to turn the dial up to 11 (or 12) . 3) Footnote hell. Do we need footnotes to tell us there were only 96 senators in 1946 because Hawaii and Alaska weren't states yet? Or that Joe really made his venison burgers with chopped beef? 4) Re-litigating old controversies. I don't really care what the Jack Anderson book or other books written 70 years ago got right or wrong. 5) Some explicit and a lot of heavily implied Trump comparisons. I hate this in works of history even if I am sympathetic to the conclusions. Let us draw our own parallels.

Still there is some useful info here so it's not a total loss. I think cutting down the length would have gone a long way.

The narrator is okay but somebody made a disastrous decision to read all the footnotes which hinders the listening experience.

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1880 Election

Revisado: 04-04-21

Short, somewhat boring but to the point account of the 1880 election. Not sure I buy the argument that Garfield was the last hope for a better reconstruction. Yes, he was more committed than Hayes but the South was too far gone in the other direction and the Republican party not strong enough anyway. If you had wondered like I did how a Union General became the southern leaning Democratic Party's nominee 15 years after the end of the civil war then this book will clear that up - Hancock had pandered to southern whites while military governor of Louisiana.

I hope Audible gets more books from the University of Kansas election series because the physical and kindle versions are overpriced.

The narration is fine.

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Overwrought

Revisado: 04-04-21

This book takes itself way too seriously. It is not content with just being about Chinatown and the movie business but tries to make profound points about the whole era (late 60's-early 70's), LA, drugs, and yes, life itself. Along the way there are quite a few stories that don't ring true to me. Not doubting people told the author these things just that he took them at face value. One in particular about a Polanski\Nicholson fight is surely exaggerated. It doesn't help that many of the books main characters like Polanski, Evans and Towne are very unlikable. Only Jack Nicholson seems remotely like a good guy. As far as Faye Dunaway goes, she may have had a major role in the film but she has a very minor role in this book.

The author reads the book himself which is usually a mistake but from other reviewers I gather that the original narrator botched the job so I don't blame him for giving it a go and he's not terrible.

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Good slice of life bio

Revisado: 04-04-21

I've been underwhelmed by the full length FDR bios I've listened to or read (Smith, Daniels) and come to prefer books like this that focus on a period of his life. This one is centered around his battle with polio in the 1920's and it's well written and perceptive. The Richard Moe book about his 3rd term run in 1940 is another good one.

The narration was only adequate.

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Good Bio

Revisado: 04-03-21

Glad to find this new bio on Audible as the Coit one is outdated. After a slow start (apparently not much is known about his early life), I found this to be quite good. Calhoun began as a nationalist who supported the 2nd Bank of US, internal improvements and even tariffs. When SC politics took a hard turn against tariffs in the 1820's, Calhoun nimbly shifted gears and became pro States-rights and the foremost advocate of nullification. In the 1830's as a strong abolitionist movement emerged Calhoun led the shift from defending slavery as a necessary evil to embracing slavery as a positive good. The rest of his career was devoted to the pro-south, pro-slavery cause including his short stint as Secretary of State where he took on the British empire for it's anti-slavery tilt.

The narration is choppy and there's lots of misplaced emphasis like "war making-powers" instead of "war-making powers" but I gave it 4 stars because the narrator has a nice soothing voice which goes a long way.

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