Posted on 02/20/2002 11:35:58 AM PST by xzins
This is a recently approved monthly topic for Free Republic. The purpose is to tap the reading experiences of the countless Free Republic readers. Your mission is to post recommendations and brief summaries of current books which you've recently read. They need not be on anyone's bestseller list, but preferably they will be current (less than two/three years from publication.) If someone wishes a link to a bestseller list, this one is for Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers Lists
WHAT YOU SHOULD PUT IN YOUR POST
1. Give name of Book and classification (fiction/non-fiction)
2. Give a very brief summary. (Unless you feel bold and want to post a review.)
3. Give a rating and a reason. Scale = 1 to 5 Freeps, five being the best possible. A 5 Freep book would delight the CONSERVATIVE, FREEDOM LOVING folks who frequent our beloved Free Republic. A one Freep book would probably be trash anyplace, but maybe just in some liberal haven like DemUnderground.
Finally, Thanks Admin Moderator 8 and thanks Jim Robinson.
by Shalom Yoran
I give it 4 Freeps.
A moving tale of a young Polish Jew who manages to survive WWII by grit and wits. Provides excellent examples of how anti-semitism was a widespread social phenomenon that was hardly the sole property of the Nazis.
I gave this book 4 freeps. I thought the author left out a bit of history, otherwise it was full of historcial data. Well written and intersting. Gave look into Arnold's state of mind and motives for treason. Well researched, not dry historical work.
Was the man who Benedict Arnold tried to sell America to really named Clinton? Read and find out......
A history of political movements from their inception onward: with specific information on the parties behind the Boldt decision, the spotted owl controversy and Northwest ecologists and their land-grabs.
See my article/review here.
Bobrick does a fine job of laying out the intellectual, political and spiritual reasons for the American Revolution. Our Founders are not merely iconified, but are treated as real men -- who had human flaws like all of us, but who shared a love of freedom that was truly revolutionary in its day. The book does not hurry, but spends 100 or so pages giving the background of life in colonial America. The opening scene is of Washington fighting near Pittsburgh in the French and Indian War, barely escaping alive thanks to the incompetence of his British commander, and learning lessons that would ultimately defeat Britain.
Washington comes off as he was -- a giant of a man, whose modesty was genuine. (A favorite story has him leaving the room out of shyness when he realized he is about to be nominated to command the Continental Army) Washington was a reluctant soldier, but realized of himself what we all know now -- he was an indespensible man of history. If not him to lead us, an already near-hopeless cause would be sunk for sure. Thank God Washington had such a deep sense of duty.
I highly recommend this book to get a grasp of what our Founders were thinking and doing at the time of the Revolution, and of the battles that won our independence. Bobrick is a fine writer, and this book -- while dense -- is an easy read.
DITTOES! It's a great book.
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