I've been waiting for three months to write this review, because I didn't fully understand Jefferson's points: on the one hand this biography resembles a cultural history of postWeimar era (he certainly is an expert in that field); on the other, he starts promisingly what seems is going to be a series of unveiled actions and secrets and deeds performed by Schwarzkopf in Berlin and elsewhere. But he doesn't honour his promise. He limits to suggest that she could've been Goebbels' favourite (lover); that she exercised her radiant and ravishing looks to gain the favour of producers, directors in Berlin and Vienna within a rapacious careerism. He doesn't go any further. Jefferson himself has responded to criticism in Amazon.com saying that he wrote about someone who's still alive and his pains with Editor Victor Gollancz, all of which didn't allow him too much room to display the "proof he has in his hands about Schwarzkopf's deeds with the Nazi Party". We all know if we read in Grove that Schwarzkopf was "cleared" by the Allies late in 1947; so I don't think Jefferson is saying nothing new. We also know that her marriage to perfectionist Walter Legge resulted in a master-slave relationship. But to my view, and as an admirer of Schwarzkopf's art, Jefferson's account is more a ratifying document about human frailty, in this case Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's. I hoped I was going to find in this book some sort of balance between John Steane/Alan Sanders' Schwarzkopf: A career on records and Jefferson's book. The formers put Dame Elisabeth under the light of a goddess. Well, I must say that a goddess of magic with words she was, and that she was quite capable of bringing tears to one's eyes when performing with her voice. Jefferson and Steane: The supreme artist and the very earthly creature. Jefferson's book has several merits: one of the strongest is his marvelous way with Schwarzkopf's interpretations. In spite of his tendency to be dry his reviews and metaphors are very good indeed. As formyself I rather keep in my mind, as when I heard her "in the flesh" and turned pages for Geoffrey Parsons, the memory of Dame Elisabeth's quintessence of femininity, of beauty of looks, of beauty of voice and of sounds that cannot be forgotten. THE BALANCE WAS LOST!!!

Alan Dershowitz has really outdone himself this time. Although it is true that the "Nature's God" of the Declaration of Independence is not the god of the Bible, and that Jefferson was a Deist,is true overall this book is awful. The most telling feature of this book is Dershowitz's politically correct deconstructionist attack on the concept of natural rights and his assault on Thomas Jefferson.

Dershowitz ridicules the concept of people being born with inherent rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". he believes rights are "man made" and have no sacred meaning. He trashed the Declaration's author in the typical modern bolshevik manner by applying the standards of the 21st century to the 18th. He clearly sets out to demolish natural law and the entire tradition of Anglo American libertarian ideals of which Thomas Jefferson was a subscriber. It is amazing that a man like Dershowitz can be so brazen and hypocritical in his evaluation of Jefferson. Dershowitz, critical of Jefferson on slavery, supports "torturing" terrorist suspects, and is a rabid supporter of Isreali despotism in the Middle East.

This book show how degenerate the entire history profession has become and how any evaluation of our Founding should be viewed with a jaundiced eye. Overall a horrible piece of nonsense.

This could have been a great book, as one certainly expects from Alan Dershowitz; unfortunately, it reflects the American belief that democracy was invented here rather than realizing this country is part of a long evolution of freedom.

Dershowitz, a renowned Harvard law school professor and frequent commentator on individual rights, wastes most of his effort refuting, rejecting and attacking the Religious Right rather than understanding such people are the bell weather of American freedom. He doesn't seem to understand the impact of the Religious Right (or the Radical Left) is in inverse proportion to the level of freedom in this or any other country -- as the absolute rule of the Taliban religious extremists certainly proved in Afghanistan.

However, zealots exist in very society. Perhaps they counterbalance each other; if they become part of the Establishment, they crimp the freedom of everyone. Dershowitz uses the massive artillery of his intellect to attack the limited acumen of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Alan Keyes -- as if Justice Louis Brandeis would have been profitably employed attacking Father Coughlin.

Dershowitz doesn't seem to understand that freedom and individual rights have constantly evolved in Anglo society for more than a thousand years. Democracy wasn't invented when Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, cribbing many ideas from the English Bill of Rights written in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Freedom and democracy is a constant and uneven struggle, not an accident or gift .

The Declaration of Independence was a quantum leap forward in defining some basic ideas of freedom, but it was not the end of the process. Before 1776, American colonists had legitimate complaints; the Thirteen Colonies were run by the English Colonial office, part of the executive branch of government. Colonists were ruled by King George III and his bureaucrats, instead of their own elected officials.

In response, the colonists said, in effect, "We're Englishmen. We have an absolute right to be represented in Parliament." If their rights were denied, according to the Bill of Rights of 1688, they had a right to overthrow the government. As Englishmen brought up with the Bill of Rights, the Declaration asserted their most basic rights.

Out of that came The United States of America, with a Constitution written to clearly avoid problems which led to the Declaration of Independence. Dershowitz recognizes the idea that freedom evolves in a society; his weakness is thinking there was an immaculate birth of freedom in America in 1776. He doesn't understand the Declaration of Independence was a bold and perfectly legitimate assertion of the basic rights of every free Englishman -- and from this a new form of "Democracy in America" (to use Alexis de Tocqueville's phrase) evolved.

There are two elements in society: a view that people are basically evil and must be restrained for their own good, as represented by the likes of Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Alexander Hamilton and the current Bush administration. The countering view says people are basically good and must be free of as many social restraints as feasible, as represented by Rousseau, Voltaire and Thomas Paine and the usual Democratic politicians.

Either view, if carried to the extremes of a Father Coughlin or Alan Keyes, or the excesses of the French or Russian revolutions, destroys our freedoms.

Yet, history shows an uneven but very real expansion of human freedom. When freedom is limited, the response in 1775 was the shot heard round the world; today, the response is often footsteps that cross half the world to find freedom.

This screed by Dershowitz is a rant against the Religious Right. His recognized talents would have been much better used to examine and explain the English origins of the Declaration, rather than bashing baleful bigots who are mostly irrelevant in a free society.

All in all, perhaps a useful book to demolish straw devils; but, it could have been immeasurably better with a different approach.

I second the motion in the review of Aug. 19, 2003, "A good idea -- but hardley original", that Alan Dershowitz could have put his incredible talents to even further use by laying out the philosophy of history behind America's founding, and examining and explaining how America did not just happen, but is the result of a long evolution of blood, sweat, tears, and suffering for freedom. But, that is not to take away from the fact that "America Declares Independence" is very well written, very interesting, and very much a 5 star book. It comes to you highly recommended by this reader. And, if you value my recommendation, I would also recommend that, after you read Mr. Dershowitz's book, read Norman Thomas Remick's book, "West Point: Character Leadership Education, A Book Developed From The Readings And Writings Of Thomas Jefferson", a book that does explain how America did not just happen, but was the result of a long evolution of blood, sweat, tears, and suffering for freedom.