Allan NevinsBesprekingen

Excellent bio of Cleveland. Very interesting and a good read.

This book is by one of the relatives of Theodore Roosevelt(TR), I don't remember if he is a cousin or a nephew. Throughout the book TR is described through a narrator reciting from memory. There is no doubt that TR was an interesting person. So the author explores different aspects of his character and tries to paint a picture of TR the man as opposed to TR the politician.

Theodore Roosevelt was a man that loved his family, had an awesome memory, was devoted to his standards and morals, and came up with epithets instead of swearing. It really made TR seem approachable. The book covers his short biography of dates, like when he was born and so on; it covers his political career to some extent; it covers his marriages and some of his kids, and it talks about his sisters. I suppose the author felt that it was necessary to understand TR to include such a thing. It also talks about TR predicting the First World War, so that was pretty cool.

All in all, this was an interesting book, but not an exemplary one. It was a sort of biography on Theodore Roosevelt from someone that was in his inner circle, so I suppose it gave a different viewpoint of the man, but I don't know if it was really necessary.

A survey of editorial cartoons published in the United States in the 19th century. Interestingly, with a few exceptions, the book doesn't necessarily cover the most famous cartoons of the era; among other things, you won't find the "Gerry-mander" here, and the representation of Thomas Nast's work is surprisingly thin. (On the other hand, the work of Keppler is, in my view, slightly over-represented.) One issue I have is that many of the works that were originally published in color are presented here in black-and-white, which means that some details (especially labels of individuals) are lost. The essay at the front and the essays accompanying each cartoon are well-done. Something that cartooning fans should enjoy a great deal.½

This book is well-written and very informative. I really learned a lot from this book especially as Grover Cleveland is not really as well known as other U.S. Presidents. This book is complete with all the details you could ask for in a presidential biography, from his background as an up and coming lawyer to the major domestic and foreign policy decisions he has to make as a President. I would admit that this book would have been even better if it has been updated but not once did i feel that it is lacking in anyway just because of its age. In other words, I would have wanted comparisons of Cleveland's policies with Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan (not just with W. Wilson and TR) but I still think that even without it is still complete and helpful. My only reason for not giving 5 stars is that the author often chooses to pass the blame on Cleveland's subordinates and enemies rather than on Cleveland himself for Cleveland's lackluster presidency as well as the wrong decisions that Cleveland made during his time in office.

Volume 1 of the series beginning with the end of the Mexican War and ending with the Civil War. Highly detailed, with extensive citations. Basic premise - Civil War was inevitable due to the underlying cause of Slavery. States Rights were merely a justification for continuing the practice of slavery, and thus a red herring.

Very odd abridged version of the Leatherstocking Tales. All the parts about Natty Bumpo are copied verbatim and the rest is summarized.

194. A Century of Political Cartoons Caricature in the United States from 1800 to 1900, by Allan Nevins and Frank Weitenkampf (read 17 May 1945) On May 12, 1945, I said: "Today got a letter from the Iowa State Traveling Library. You can get books from them simply by paying postage charges! Any book you name! Largely because of this I have decided to drop the Book of the Month Club. O, the Library's books have to be returned after three or four weeks. Tonight I made up a list of books for them to send me. Just so they have the books. Boy, this is really something!" On May 17 I said: "Finished reading "Century in Political Cartoons" this morning. First Traveling Library book I've read.

Reading my way through the magnificent Nevins' Ordeal of the Union and was struck by this paragraph" “Alongside the dominant traits of individualism, materialism, and optimism ran a fourth characteristic in which Americans took uncritical pride, their democracy. Few men paused to reflect that the four attributes were not wholly harmonious; that even in Jefferson’s day a conflict between equality and liberty had been visible. In both economic and political spheres, individualism and materialism were allying themselves to place fetters on democracy. Admiration of wealth, love of power, and the tradition of free economic enterprise led naturally to the growth of plutocracy” (p 51)

How little has changed, and now we seem to be revisiting South Carolina and the Nullification Crisis of 1832.

A guide for how to use materials in the study of history. Includes advice on dealing with lying documents and biased reports.

This was a very good idea for a compilation. Allan Nevins takes all of Cooper’s Leatherstocking tales (The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers and The Prairie), edits out the parts that don’t have much or anything to do with Natty and puts them in chronological order “from Hawkeye’s youth on the New York frontier in King George’s War until his death on the Western prairies in Jefferson’s Administration.” It’s sort of a Reader’s Digest Condensed Book for American Lit majors. There is a good bit of useful introductory matter with essays and maps plus bridging summaries and notes within the texts. Not all of the novels get the same amount of trimming. The Prairie is the shortest with 68 pages retained and The Deerslayer is the longer at 236 pages. All in all, this a good way to read about Hawkeye (or whatever he calls himself at the moment) in one continuous story.

444. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage, by Allan Nevins (read 20 Sep 1952) (Pulitzer Biography prize for 1933) I read this book in September 1952 and on Sept 13 said of it: "Am reading a Grover Cleveland biography which makes very good reading even though about things like the tariff, Civil War pensions, and the silver issue. I am enjoying the book thoroughly." On Sept 14 I said: "Book on Cleveland continues absorbing. Just finished the account of the fight to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Congress was called into special session on Aug 7, 1893. The greatest speeches in the House were made by Wm. L. Wilson of West Virginia, Bourke Cockran of N. Y., and Thomas B. Reed of Maine for repeal and W. J. Bryan of Neb. against it. Repeal won by 13 votes. In the Senate the silver forces filibustered long, Senators Jones and
Stewart of NV. being willing to go on endlessly. Senate tempers grew very sharp. Cleveland refused a compromise and finally on Oct 20 the Senate passed the repeal bill. Nevins, of course, has nothing but praise for Cleveland's course, but I wonder if a non-biased view would also be that his stand was one of principle rather than of a subservience to the moneyed interests. All the rebel in me urges me to agree with the silver men. Radicalism has, in this case, all the seeming, emotional right on its side." On Sept 15 I said: "Book on Cleveland continues great. His effort to change the tariff in 1893-1894 was riddled when eight Democratic Senators refused to follow him. Compromise followed. Accounts of debates in Congress make me feel something is irretrievably lost to me--I want to revel in study of the personalities of the Congress of that era." I was struck by and copied the following from Page 590 of the book: "Probably never before or since in American history have the times been so completely out of joint for so many millions of producers. By hundreds of thousands farmers had sweated in heat and cold, in hope and fear, and then had seen the sheriff come striding across their dooryard. They had turned in bitterness from wheat fields devoured by chinch bugs or grasshoppers, had watched the short-grass parch under sirocco winds while empty clouds drifted mockingly across the skies; had lifted the tailboards and dumped their grain on the streets rather than take the elevator prices; had gathered in menacing clumps as neighbor after neighbor was sold out at auction. From thin Kansas houses they had watched the furious blizzard which froze their cattle to death, and listened to the icy wind whine across the plains to cut the vitality from their huddling children. In southern cabins they had tossed thru hot nights sick with worry, and risen to stare out at shriveled cotton not worth the picking. There was no sugar on the table, no money to put the son in high school, no books or magazines. they creaked to town..." On Sep 20 I said: "Finished Nevins' book on Cleveland. The book is very favorable to Cleveland, though not a whitewash. I enjoyed the book greatly."

A decent short narrative history of the United States, running from 'the planting of the colonies' to World War II.

It has a few flaws, although its not terrible overall. Its main problems are that the prose is sometimes tinted with a bit of romaticism-- it would have been better if the authors had written slightley more seriously, and not tried to give it the air of an amusing school textbook-- and that the text is sometimes a bit cluttered by relatively unimportant facts-- it may be a short narrative, but it isn't tight....

And of course, it's also pretty old-fashioned, for better or worse. On the whole, not terrible, but certainly not great.

(7/10)½

1589 Hamilton Fish: The Inner History of the Grant Administration, by Allan Nevins (read 10 Oct 1980) (Pulitzer Biography prize for 1937) This good book tells the story of Hamilton Fish, who was born in lower Manhattan on Aug 3, 1808, and died Sept 7, 1893, at his summer home at Glenclyffe on the Hudson. He was U.S. Senator, Governor, and Grant's only Secretary of State. It is an interesting book and I now know more about the Alabama Claims than I ever expected to; also the San Domingo Treaty, and other things of which I had little knowledge--and not too much curiosity--before. Nevins lets his opinions show through blatantly--most noticeably when he characterizes something and then quotes the actual letter or document. His footnoting is the most haphazard I've ever seen in a serious work. (E.g., he has a footnote: "Congressional Globe" without a year--much less a page!) In his summation he says Fish kept us from acquiring Canada--and approves. I think it would be great if Canada were part of the U.S. We would really be a great country then.

1779 Ordeal of the Union Volume I Fruits of Manifest Destiny 1847-1852, by Allan Nevins (read 2 May 1983) This is an excellent book, which I found simply absorbing and really flawless. It is the first volume of Nevins' work on the period 1847 to 1861, and goes up to 1852. It starts with the end of the Mexican War, and with a sure touch and clear scholarship, tells the story. On May 15, 1976, I read The Impending Crisis 1848-1861, by David M. Potter Completed by Don E. Fehrenbacher (Book of the Year) (Pulitzer History prize in 1977), which covered the same period of U.S. history, and it was the best book I read in 1976. This Nevins' book is just as outstanding in my mind, even though it was published in 1947, and may be outdated somewhat. But I found it simply stupendous. The first chapter tells of the moment of victory in Mexico. Chapter 2 surveys the social status of the country in 1847--really not too edifying, of course. Chapter 3 is entitled "Culture of the Masses." Chapter 4 is "The Pulse of Reform" and considers temperance, women's rights, and anti-slavery strivings. Then the philosophical theories of government are considered, and the government surveyed. In 1848 Taylor was elected, and this election is the subject of Chapter 6. Chapter 7--The Gathering Quarrel--lays the scene leading to the Compromise of 1850, and the next four chapters tell the story and its aftermath in the best possible way--a simply enthralling account, not able to be bettered: historical wilting at its best as far as I am concerned. The next three chapters consider slavery, and while I have never been interested in black history, I found these chapters extremely enlightening. Really, I never before had read such illuminating accounts of what slavery really meant. The final chapter touches on foreign affairs and the volume ends: "The U.S., everyone agreed, was to be a mighty place in the world. But could it first settle the most imperative of its own social and economic problems?" This book treads not unknown territory and yet it was all supremely absorbing: a period of history I find most enthralling. I should have read this long ago, but for sheer enjoyable reading I have found nothing to match this in a long time. I found flaws in other Nevins' books, but I can find no flaw in this book. This book and Volume II won the Bancroft Prize and the Scribner Centenary prize.

1780 Ordeal of the Union Volume II A House Dividing 1852-1857, by Allan Nevins (read 11 May 1983) This volume covers the years of Franklin Pierce, and has very little good to say of him. This volume somehow seemed more opinionated and not as interesting as Volume I. It in effect concludes with Buchanan's election in 1856.

1781 The Emergence of Lincoln Volume I Douglas, Buchanan and Party Chaos 1857-1859, by Allan Nevins (read 16 May 1983) This is the third volume of Nevins' history of the period 1847 to 1861. It covers 1857 to 1859--Dred Scott, Kansas, Douglas' fight against the Kansas LeCompton constitution, and the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Somehow I did not have the intense interest I had in volume I of the Ordeal of the Union.

1788 The Emergence of Lincoln Volume II Prologue to Civil War 1859-1861, by Allan Nevins (read 17 Jul 1983) This second volume by Nevins on the emergence of Lincoln tells well the story of 1859 to 1861, ending with Lincoln's inauguration. Nevins emphasizes the cataclysmic effect of John Brown's raid in October of 1859, and tells in excellent detail the momentous events succeeding that time. A most satisfying book.

1791 Ford: The Times, the Man the Company, by Allan Nevins with the collaboration of Frank Ernest Hill (read 20 Aug 1983) This tells the story of Henry Ford and his company up to 1916. I found the early part really fascinating, giving an account of Ford's early life and the beginning of the automotive industry. The Selden patent case, if I ever heard of it, I had forgotten about, and I found the chapters on it in this book really good. The book would gain by more perspective--it was published in 1954, only 7 years after Ford's death--but otherwise it was very interesting. I believe I'll go on to read Volume II, even though it is probably not going to be as interesting as this volume.

1792 Ford: Expansion and Challenge 1915-1933, by Allan Nevins and Frank Ernest Hill (read 27 Aug 1983) This volume tells the bizarre story of the Peace Ship, the war efforts of the Company, the expansion after the war, the odd venture into journalism, the end of the Model T and the building of the Model A--and much more. Ford was an odd person--a genius with blind spots, and this book I think does a good job of telling how he was.

1794 Ford: Decline and Rebirth 1933-1962, by Allan Nevins and Frank Ernest Hill (read 31 Aug 1983) This is the third and final volume of Allan Nevins' history of the Ford Motor Company, covering from 1933 to 1962. This period includes Henry ford's declining years--he finally got out of management entirely after Edsel died in 1943. The book is very laudatory of Henry Ford II, and toward the end sounds like a Ford ad. The book is 20 years old, and spends no time on today's giant problems: foreign competition and product liability problems. It makes 1962 seem long ago. I am glad I read these volumes, since I learned a lot in a field which is somewhat out of what I usually read in.½

A classic of American literature. It has aged - but it should still be required reading for American students.

An old-fashioned account of the history of the United States that doesn't cover up America's bad aspects, but it generally treats America as a progressively better nation (for bad or good). It is a sort of 1940s progressive liberal/Whig history of the US. It does lean towards Democrats beginning in the 20th century and needs many more maps, but it is still good.

That is, up until the modern update courtesy of Jeffrey Morris, which might be described as: Democrats good, Republicans bad. Nowhere is this most apparent when he talks about Reagan, who comes across as a genial cipher (the "amiable dunce" myth). And Morris just makes stupid, ahistorical comments, case in point, p. 624: "The President's overarching goal in the area of domestic policy was to reduce the role of the federal government, a policy traditionally associated with the party of Jefferson, not that of Lincoln." REALLY? Maybe the analogy holds true for Jefferson and Lincoln themselves, but not their parties, at least not since the 1890s. Has Morris ever heard of, I don't know, Republicans like Harding and Coolidge who pruned government? or government growers like Wilson, FDR, and LBJ, who created bloated bureaucracies? What party did the last three belong to? Hint, they ain't Republicans. Absolutely and utterly biased against conservatives.½

An excellent, if rather lengthy, look at this part of the 1850s of the USA leading up to the Civil War. Lots of detail provided, of especial interest were the direct quotes from newspapers of the period. About the only downside is that almost too much detail is given to the average reader. It got rather confusing to follow the congressional debates.

Great american saga