The Gangster by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

The Italian American gang the Black Hand will attempt to kill President Teddy Roosevelt in 1905 and almost succeed.  387 pages.

The Bridge: the life and rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick

Everything you wanted to know about President Obama but were afraid to ask.  I really had to slog through this biography but it was worth it.  I feel I have a better understanding of who President Obama is from reading about where he came from and what he's done to be elected President of the United States.  What are my takeaways from this biography?  Obama is above all a pragmatist.  He almost left politics because of his need to secure his family's financial security.  So he wrote two books, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope, to make it possible to generate more income, gain more exposure, and stay in politics.  He alienated some folks in the Democratic party on the way to the Presidency because he refused to follow  protocol and "wait his turn."  Early on he attracted the attention of people with lots of money who made it possible for him to build an effective campaign organization.  He's not afraid to surround himself with the best and brightest minds.  I guess history will  judge how effective Obama has been as President.  Remnick's biography makes it clear that whatever his legacy, Obama is following in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt-a complex man who brought a unique set of personal qualities and professional skills to meet the national crisis of his time. 672 pages.

Theodore Rex

Author: Edmund Morris
Pages: 555

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Theodore Rex is the story—never fully told before—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms as President of the United States. A hundred years before the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in the aftermath of an act of terrorism. Youngest of all our chief executives, he rallied a stricken nation with his superhuman energy, charm, and political skills. He proceeded to combat the problems of race and labor relations and trust control while making the Panama Canal possible and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. But his most historic achievement remains his creation of a national conservation policy, and his monument millions of acres of protected parks and forest. Theodore Rex ends with TR leaving office, still only fifty years old, his future reputation secure as one of our greatest presidents.

 

This book was fantastic, it showed TR's tender side, his high intelligence and his drive for success.

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Drift by Rachel Maddow

If you watch the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC, you know that she has a penchant for sharp-witted humor.  In Drift, Maddow applies her skills for in-depth research to the story of the growth of presidential power and the U.S. military from the end of WWII to current day.  Her main premise is that over time, Congress and our presidents have allowed a drift from strong Congressional oversight of the use of our military forces, to our current state where we are perpetually at war, and this condition seems normal.  She describes very clearly but with a good dose of her sometimes sarcastic wit how successive presidents have skirted Congressional review of use of the military, the outsourcing of support of the military mission and what she sees as the detrimental effects of an overly large military infrastructure.  The text reads like an expanded script from one of her shows; she tries to take the reader into the scene of each of the decisions on which she bases her argument.   Overall, a thought provoking discourse on the past 60 years of American history.  She concludes with a list of eight ways in which we can bring use of the military back under greater restraint. 252 pages