Book Review: Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter Borneman

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
by Walter R. Borneman
Unabridged, 13 hr. 13 min.
Recorded Books
Alan Nebelthau (Narrator)
April 8, 2008
★★★★☆

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Source: Borrowed audiobook from my library

“In Polk, Walter R. Borneman gives us the first complete and authoritative biography of a president often overshadowed in image but seldom outdone in accomplishment. James K. Polk occupied the White House for only four years, from 1845 to 1849, but he plotted and attained a formidable agenda: He fought for and won tariff reductions, reestablished an independent Treasury, and, most notably, brought Texas into the Union, bluffed Great Britain out of the lion’s share of Oregon, and wrested California and much of the Southwest from Mexico. On reflection, these successes seem even more impressive, given the contentious political environment of the time.

In this unprecedented, long-overdue warts-and-all look at Polk’s life and career, we have a portrait of an expansionist president and decisive statesman who redefined the country he led, and we are reminded anew of the true meaning of presidential accomplishment and resolve.”

I must confess that Polk was not someone that I remember learning about in school, but he came to my attention rather recently when doing some research on various First Ladies, and in particular, Sarah Polk. There is also a song my fiancé likes to sing about Polk which keeps him in my mind too, but more on that later this week. So as I endeavored to read about all the presidents, and I was organizing who I wanted to read about, I put Polk toward the top of my list.

I can’t even begin to explain how much this book taught me – not only about Polk himself and his method of politics, but the mindset of the time and his contemporaries. At times this felt beneficial and other times completely overwhelming. The author spends ample time on the political atmosphere surrounding all the presidents from John Quincy Adams up through Polk, giving the reader a solid understanding of just what Polk was walking into as President. The author also had a good source of insight into the President as Polk kept a diary of the days in office. Central to understanding many of Polk’s decisions is understanding the politics of Andrew Jackson, Polk’s political mentor. I do somewhat think that the author needed to bulk up the narrative a little bit seeing as Polk dies within 6 months of leaving office; there was less physical time that needed to be told about his life.

Whether I agree with Polk’s political philosophy or not (which isn’t the issue here), I admit that I admire the man for the fact that he campaigned on a platform, succeeded on making those 4 platform issues happen during his presidential term, and then decided not to run again because he did everything he felt his duty called him for. That is something the majority of the other presidents cannot say.

With regard to time spent on the First Lady, I have to give some kudos to the author. From what I know there is only one, very short, biography on Sarah Polk, so he didn’t have much to work with here – but he covered what I consider to be all of the important points and paints her as important to the President.

★★★★☆

I thought that the narrator did a commendable job with this book. The most important thing in my opinion about narrating a non-fiction is to not let it feel boring with all of the facts. Nebelthau keep it interesting and has a great speaking voice.

Author Walter Borneman also has written several other books including: The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King—the Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea, 1812: The War That Forged a Nation, The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America, Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land, and Rival Rails: The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad. You can visit the author’s website for additional information about the book.

You can also watch a discussion with the author about this book – it was a feature on Book TV in 2008 (it wasn’t embeddable so you will have to go to the Book TV link).

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Practically Historical
• The Skoalarian

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore).

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Battleship by Dorothy Ours

Battleship: A Daring Heiress, A Teenage Jockey, and America’s Horse by Dorothy Ours
E-book, 368 pages
St. Martin’s Press
April 30, 2013
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography, Sports History

Source: Received through Netgalley from the publisher for review

“The youngest jockey, the smallest horse, and an American heiress. Together, near Liverpool, England, they made a leap of faith on a spring day in 1938: overriding the teenage jockey’s father, trusting the boy and the horse that the British nicknamed “The American Pony” to handle a race course that newspapers called “Suicide Lane.” As a result, Battleship became the first American horse to win England’s monumental, century-old Grand National steeplechase—the smallest National winner ever. At age seventeen, British jockey Bruce Hobbs became the race's youngest winner.

Hobbs started life with an advantage: his father, Reginald, was a superb professional horseman. But Reg Hobbs also made extreme demands, putting Bruce in situations that horrified the boy’s mother and sometimes terrified the child.  Bruce had to decide just how brave he could stand to be.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the enigmatic Marion duPont grew up at the estate now known as James Madison’s Montpelier—the refuge of America’s “Father of the Constitution.”  Rejecting her chance to be a debutante, denied a corporate role because of her gender, Marion chose a pursuit where horses spoke for her.  She would be pulled beyond her own control by Battleship and leave her film star husband, Randolph Scott, to see this quest to its end. With its reach from Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight to Cary Grant’s Hollywood, Battleship’s story is an epic true adventure.”

This book might not have originally caught my attention except for the fact that I recognized the horse’s name from my visit to Montpelier last year and the visit left such a lasting impression on me that I immediately had to read this book that was connected to it. I loved horses as a kid, did some riding in my teen years, and before my love of historical fiction came my love for horse-themed novels. This book takes the whole horse experience that I loved to read about as a kid and made the people and animals real.

The narrative starts out with three distinct threads – one following Marion DuPont (horse lover, owner, socialite), one following the Hobbs men (the father Reginald and son Bruce who were horse trainers and jockeys respectively), and one following an unknown, Battleship (the horse at the center of the book). Through these threads you can watch the perfect storm come together as these three eventually are brought to each other and reach for the stars. You get a little bit of everything: the life of a wealth socialite in the early 1900’s, a little Hollywood glitz and glamour, and are immersed in everything horse related. Even with my knowledge about horses, I did look up quite a few things.

For the most part I think that the author did a good job of carrying off two very different types of stories – a story of both human and animal lives – and each was just as interesting as the other. I did find some strange elements – for instance, somehow the author brings references to Charles Lindberg into the story but I didn’t find that there was any purpose to it. I also thought that the ending wrapped up much too quickly following the competition at Aintree. It was one of those plot maps with a very long exposition, quick climax, and then even faster resolution. I would have liked to know a little more how they spent their days following the competition.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has a love for horses and also loves the story of an underdog. Stay tuned for some Battleship related posts later this week, including a story relating my personal connection to this book and a particular passage from it that grabbed me.

Author Dorothy Ours also has written Man O’ War: A Legend Like Lightening, who was Battleship’s father. You can visit Dorothy’s website for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• A Book and A Review

 

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
Unabridged, 30 hr. 27 min.
Simon & Schuster Audio
Dick Estell (Narrator)
November 7, 2012
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Non-Fiction, Presidential Biography

Source: Received from publisher for review

“David Herbert Donald's Lincoln is a stunningly original portrait of Lincoln's life and presidency. Donald brilliantly depicts Lincoln's gradual ascent from humble beginnings in rural Kentucky to the ever- expanding political circles in Illinois, and finally to the presidency of a country divided by civil war. Donald goes beyond biography, illuminating the gradual development of Lincoln's character, chronicling his tremendous capacity for evolution and growth, thus illustrating what made it possible for a man so inexperienced and so unprepared for the presidency to become a great moral leader. In the most troubled of times, here was a man who led the country out of slavery and preserved a shattered Union -- in short, one of the greatest presidents this country has ever seen.”

I have to admit that I wasn’t planning to read about Lincoln until much later in my challenge mostly because there are SO many books about him available. You have books that cover his entire life as well as those that are focused on a smaller segment of his life. I know some things about him (as most people do) – so where to start? As luck would have it, Simon and Schuster contacted me with the offer to review Lincoln by David Herbert Donald on audiobook, so I jumped at the chance and the decision was made.

I really appreciate the approach that Donald took when writing this book. In the introduction he lays out the following: “In tracing the life of Abraham Lincoln, I have asked at every stage of his career what he knew when he had to take critical actions, how he evaluated the evidence before him, and why he reached his decisions. It is, then, a biography written from Lincoln’s point of view, using the information and ideas that were available to him. It seeks to explain rather than judge” (preface). He really seeks to keep the focus on Lincoln himself and not get tied up in all of the turmoil that was going on around him – which is something that other books tend to do. You won’t really find tangents on the specific battle of the Civil War here, unless it was something important to what Lincoln did or where he went.

The bulk of the book (and it certainly is a chunkster, with a page count of 720 pages and over 30 hours of audio) focuses on the time prior to the presidency – particularly his time as a lawyer in Illinois. While I appreciated understanding where Lincoln came from and how he grew in popularity to even become president sometimes I thought this section was a little too in-depth. The author went on to talk about the specifics of almost every case that Lincoln tried. I didn’t need these details. I think it would have been more effective to choose a few of the cases that were most important to some aspect on Lincoln’s development and focus on those. It got to a point where it was an endless list.

I appreciated learning about the relationship between Abraham and Mary – it made her a real person. Typically we see Mary following Lincoln’s death as a grieving widow, but Donald makes her a complex creature. It was also eye-opening to learn that most of the other politicians of the time period thought that Lincoln was doing a terrible job as president and that he almost wasn’t re-nominated for a second term. He is typically viewed as the greatest of our presidents by the modern American public. It makes me wonder how more recent presidents will be viewed once we are further removed from their term of office. If this book does one thing, it really gets you into Lincoln’s head which is a great feat since he kept his own mind most of the time.

I would recommend this book for someone looking for a complete life of Lincoln. However, be aware that the book ends almost immediately following the assassination, so do not expect an analysis of that issue.

★★★★☆

The audio narration was overall very well done. I thought that the narrator kept my attention throughout the book. My only complaint would be with regard to the production. There would be times where I was listening and the voice would seemingly change. I think, if this was done intentionally, it was to denote the reading of a footnote so as to help the listener differentiate from the text. Whatever the case, I found it to be a little jarring. I would have preferred if they were reading a footnote to say something like “footnote: blah, blah, blah”.

David Herbert Donald also has written several books about Lincoln and his times, including: We Are Lincoln’s Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends and Lincoln At Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln’s Family Life. You can listen to an excerpt of the audiobook here.

Below is a segment from Book TV with David Herbert Donald discussing his book, Lincoln. This interview was a few months before his death in 2009.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Life is Short Read Fast
• Occam’s Razor

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Marie Thérèse, Child of Terror by Susan Nagel

Marie Thérèse, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette’s Daughter by Susan Nagel
Unabridged, 18 hr. 14 min.
Books on Tape
Rosalyn Landor (Narrator)
March 4, 2008
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Non Fiction, Biography

Source: Downloaded the audio from my local library

“The first major biography of one of France's most mysterious women--Marie Antoinette's only child to survive the revolution.

Susan Nagel, author of the critically acclaimed biography Mistress of the Elgin Marbles, turns her attention to the life of a remarkable woman who both defined and shaped an era, the tumultuous last days of the crumbling ancient régime. Nagel brings the formidable Marie-Thérèse to life, along with the age of revolution and the waning days of the aristocracy, in a page-turning biography that will appeal to fans of Antonia Fraser's Marie Antoinette and Amanda Foreman's Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire.

Nagel's gripping narrative captures the events of her fascinating life from her very public birth in front of the rowdy crowds and her precocious childhood to her hideous time in prison and her later reincarnation in the public eye as a saint, and, above all, her fierce loyalty to France throughout.”

I have not spent much time previously reading about the time period surrounding the French Revolution and accordingly I did not know much about Marie Thérèse, Madame Royale, either. When I have seen her appear in historical novels she is typically a child with an apparent attitude problem – and I was sure that there was more to her than that, however until now I didn’t know just what it was. Nagel’s book follows Marie Thérèse from the opulent Bourbon court, to incarceration at the Temple Prison, to exile at various courts of Europe, Restoration in France, and to the final exile and her death. There was SO much more to this woman’s life than I had any idea of!

The woman that evolves from Nagel’s portrait is a very strong woman who would do anything for France. Even after all that she went through during the Revolution she forgave the people and wanted to go back to bring the country back to glory again. She had more resolve and forgiveness than most people. By the end of the book you truly come to know Marie Thérèse is her own right – not just as the daughter of Marie Antoinette. She is truly someone that more people should know about – especially in her later life.

The first section of the book dealt primarily with the retelling of the life of Marie Antoinette – how she came to France, her petit Trianon, issues with her marriage, etc. There was little mention of Marie Thérèse throughout this section. I felt that with this being a book of Marie Thérèse, not Marie Antoinette that this section was WAY too long. I understand that the author needed to set up the scene and establish Marie Thérèse’s deep love for her mother – but it felt like I was reading a Marie Antoinette biography instead.

I also had an issue with the Dark Countess portion of the book. There is one rumor that Marie Thérèse was switched with another at some point after leaving the Temple Prison and that the real Marie Thérèse was actually this person known as the Dark Countess living far afield and that the person who was portrayed to the world as Marie Thérèse was an impostor. This was all explained more in the afterword, however throughout the book when this thread was brought up, I had no idea what this had to do with anything and found that I couldn’t connect it. I think it would have been more effectual to place the whole discussion of the Dark Countess in the afterword.

Overall, this was a wonderful biography of a woman who is lesser known than her mother, but whom more should be known about.

★★★★½☆

The narration here was excellent. The narrator had a French accent which made the story being told feel more natural. It was also great to learn pronunciations of names and places that I have always struggled with. I actually found myself repeating after the narrator to learn how to say things.

Author Susan Nagel also has written Mistress of the Elgin Marbles. You can visit her blog for additional information about the books.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Chrisbookarama
• Tea at Trianon

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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Rothstein by David Pietrusza

Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series by David Pietrusza
Unabridged, 13 hr. 47 min.
Blackstone Audio Inc.
Grover Gardner (Narrator)
May 27, 2004
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Non-Fiction, Biography

Source: Downloaded the audio from my local library

History remembers Arnold Rothstein as the man who fixed the 1919 World Series, an underworld genius. The real-life model for The Great Gatsby's Meyer Wolfsheim and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls, Rothstein was much more—and less—than a fixer of baseball games. He was everything that made 1920s Manhattan roar. Featuring Jazz Age Broadway with its thugs, speakeasies, showgirls, political movers and shakers, and stars of the Golden Age of Sports, this is a biography of the man who dominated an age. Arnold Rothstein was a loan shark, pool shark, bookmaker, thief, fence of stolen property, political fixer, Wall Street swindler, labor racketeer, rumrunner, and mastermind of the modern drug trade. Among his monikers were "The Big Bankroll," "The Brain," and "The Man Uptown." This vivid account of Rothstein's life is also the story of con artists, crooked cops, politicians, gang lords, newsmen, speakeasy owners, gamblers and the like. Finally unraveling the mystery of Rothstein's November 1928 murder in a Times Square hotel room, David Pietrusza has cemented The Big Bankroll's place among the most influential and fascinating legendary American criminals.

I have always been fascinated with the notorious gangsters of the early 1900’s America – it probably stems from my criminal justice degree background. I also have always loved reading about the period of the 1920s and 30s – all the glitz and glamor. This book has both of those qualities and was absolutely packed with random tidbits and facts.

Rothstein is one of the most fascinating characters of this period – he had his hands in every piece of the pie from gambling, to rum running, fixing sports events, and much more. All of these aspects are covered in detail in individual chapters of this book. We get into the mind of Rothstein and understand how he saw the world. He lived the high life of 1920’s New York and we are privy to all of that. And just because of Rothstein died in 1928 does not mean his story ends there – Pietrusza takes us on a wild ride of the investigation into his murder.

There is an extensive epilogue which follows the life stories of every character, even the minor ones. I appreciated this information for the major characters that were very instrumental in Rothstein’s life; however the passing characters I could have done without their eventual life stories. I began to lose interest as the epilogue ran on. I spent more time wondering who the people were that he had talked about. Additionally, throughout the book when we would encounter new and important figures, the author would frequently take a tangent to tell us the story of this other characters – which sometimes took me away from my interest in Rothstein. However, it was helpful at times to flesh out the world that Rothstein moved in. So it was a love-hate relationship for me.

Overall I learned a great deal about this man, and while I can’t admire him for obvious reasons, I’m blown away by his mind and how he was able to accomplish all of these things without ever being caught for any of it. It also has given me the inspiration to read more on other notorious gangsters.

★★★☆☆

The narration and audio presentation of this book was well done but relatively standard. There isn’t really anything that I can complain about for it, but was not totally memorable either.

Author David Pietrusza also has written 1920: The Year of Six Presidents, 1960 - LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies, 1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America and Silent Cal’s Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont’s Calvin Coolidge. You can visit the author’s website for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out listening to this excerpt of the book?

Reviews of this book by others:

• BrothersJudd

 

Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series (9780465029389): David Pietrusza: Books ISBN: 0465029388 ISBN-13: 9780465029389

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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