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All of the books in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series begin in media res, in the epic tradition of Homer, with a highpoint from the President's career. In the case of James Madison we are talking about his role in American history as the Father of the Constitution. This means that Madison's greatest achievement in life was accomplished long before he was elected President, a truth usually reserved for war hero generals (e.g., Zachary Taylor and James Garfield) and Herbert Hoover (best Secretary of Commerce we have ever had). This is also reflected by the fact that Clinton devotes only two of the book's ten chapters to Madison's two terms in the White House, one for the First Term and the other for the defining event of his Presidency, The War of 1812.
The illustrations are mostly etchings and paintings contemporary to the life of Madison, including a couple of political cartoons, which are always a treat. But the chief strength here is the biographical detail. Clinton does a good job of contextualizing the Constitutional Convention and emphasizing the pivotal role played by Madison in the writing and adoption of the nation's most important political document. As far as juvenile biographies go this is not the first book I would recommend to a student, particularly a younger one, but once they have picked up a basic understanding of Madison's life and times from a smaller book, then this one is great for providing additional details and a more advanced understanding of Madison's importance as a Founding Father.
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All of the books in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series begin in media res, with a highpoint from the President's career. In the case of James Madison we are talking about his role in American history as the Father of the Constitution. This means that Madison's greatest achievement in life was accomplished long before he was elected President, a truth usually reserved for war hero generals (e.g., Zachary Taylor and James Garfield) and Herbert Hoover (best Secretary of Commerce we have ever had). This is also reflected by the fact that Clinton devotes only two of the book's ten chapters to Madison's two terms in the White House, one for the First Term and the other for the defining event of his Presidency, The War of 1812.
The illustrations are mostly etchings and paintings contemporary to the life of Madison, including a couple of political cartoons, which are always a treat. But the chief strength here is the biographical detail. Clinton does a good job of contextualizing the Constitutional Convention and emphasizing the pivotal role played by Madison in the writing and adoption of the nation's most important political document. As far as juvenile biographies go this is not the first book I would recommend to a student, particularly a younger one, but once they have picked up a basic understanding of Madison's life and times from a smaller book, then this one is great for providing additional details and a more advanced understanding of Madison's importance as a Founding Father.
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As a skilled journalist, Mann writes clearly and to the point. But this book is more than a journalistic tour de force. Mann has been following the China story since he was posted by the Los Angeles Times to Beijing in 1984 and his experience has produced a depth of knowledge unmatched by any academic China watcher I have read. That knowledge not only shines through in the main text but it is testified to in a notes section full of sources and corroborating detail.
What I particularly like about this book is its uncommon commonsense. Mann refuses to be swept off his feet by the "romance of China" -- a romance that repeatedly over the last century has discombobulated the thinking of American policy-makers, business executive, scholars and journalists. Stolidly eyeing the authoritarian reality behind all the fine words and sumptuous banquets that Beijing bestows on influential visitors, Mann constantly reminds us how sorry has been China's record on human rights in recent decades -- and how cravenly Washington has sought to sweep that record under the carpet.
This book is important too for its worldly wisdom in repeatedly showing the ease with which the Chinese system can manipulate America's money-driven and short-sighted political system. None of this is particularly surprising to those of us who have been watching U.S.-Japan relations in recent decades -- but it is rare for China experts (and still rarer for Japan experts) to highlight how the East runs rings around our Western democratic institutions.
Essentially this book is characterized throughout by a show-me attitude to the American intellectual community's vapid determinism on East Asia. As Mann repeatedly points out, China is far from being "bound" to converge towards Western values. Quite the reverse, thanks to the comprehensive mismanagement of American trade policy in the last fifteen years, China is now in a stronger position than ever to flaunt its rejection of those values.
First published in 1998, this book has already been around for a while. Don't be put off. "About Face" has no sell-by date. It is a modern classic.
-- Eamonn Fingleton, author of "In Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity ."
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Canadians might get a kick out of a quintessential "American discovers Canada actually exists and is also pretty neato" story.
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However, Steyer distorts a grim picture to make it appear even worse than it is. Yes, Colin Powell may be friends with the chairman of AOL Time Warner, and maybe that had something to do with his son being appointed to the head of the FCC, but Steyer neglects to point out that Michael Powell served as an FCC commissioner for years beforehand, and that his father was a board member of AOL/TW until he resigned to join the Bush administration.
Furthermore, Steyer's suggestions of what parents can do lacks the specifics that would lead to action. He advocates increasing "media awareness" in our children, but doesn't suggest many sample activities that might help our children control their media intake themselves. Our children will grow in an environment where they will not be isolated from the mass media no matter what we do in our own homes. They will see and hear about terrible things, like it our not. We need to provide them with the tools to cope which they will use the rest of their lives.
James Steyer does a fabulous job examining how sex, violence, and commercialism in the media affect children; why the media is full of these things; and what can be done about it. Steyer, a parent, child advocate, and Stanford professor of constitutional law and civil liberties/head of a children's media company, is well qualified to address these issues. His data comes from studies, personal interviews with key media figures and politicians, personal experience in the media industry, and parenting 3 children.
Many of Steyer's points really made me think. Here are just a few:
* Over the past 30 years, more than 1,000 studies by reputable sources which Steyer names, have concluded that media violence impacts children in four ways, specified on p. 72.
* PG-13 rated movies have a lot of sexual content, foul language and violence, that would have been restricted to R rated movies prior to 1984. p. 57
* Children who play with media action figures "are bypassing their own imaginations, substituting prepackaged commercial characters and story lines for their own creative efforts." p. 105.
Steyer's solution to protecting children from harmful effects of media, begins at home with his 10 steps for parents, whom he calls the "first line of defense." Children I know, who are brought up in homes where parents follow most of these steps, are more engaged in activities other than TV and video games, and pester their parents less frequently for toys and junk food advertised to kids. An earlier review complains that one of these steps, "teach media literacy in school and at home" fails to provide specifics on how to do this. This is true, but Steyer explains that these techniques are well documented in other books which he names. He also provides 10 steps each for the media industry and citizen activists.
After reading this book, I feel a lot more knowledgeable about what goes on the other side of the TV and other media. I learned more about how to protect children from harmful media effects, and felt supported in what I do know. I highly recommend this book to all adults who have an influence in a child's life.
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In a time when each colony had its own "constitution," the Federalists believed in creating one strong centralized government (with one Constitution) that could effectively represent the people. The authors and supporters of the Constitution knew that they could not afford to lose the vote in the state ratifying conventions. In an effort to win over his home state (New York), Alexander Hamilton, with the assistance of James Madison and John Jay, began a collection of 85 essays and published them under the pseudonym of "Publius" (named after one of the founders and heroes of the Roman republic, Publius Valerius Publicola). The Papers, published in 1787 and 1788, analyze and defend the proposed Constitution of the United States.
Obviously, the Federalists succeeded in winning the colonists' support. But even though the anti-federalists lost, their ideas were also brilliant and made an important contribution to the history of our government, which is why you should also read "The Anti-Federalist Papers."
This book is a must-read for all Americans. After reading this book, you will have a renewed appreciation and admiration for the wisdom and vision of our founding fathers.
In a time when each colony had its own "constitution," the Federalists believed in creating one strong centralized government (with one Constitution) that could effectively represent the people. The authors and supporters of the Constitution knew that they could not afford to lose the vote in the state ratifying conventions. In an effort to win over his home state (New York), Alexander Hamilton, with the assistance of James Madison and John Jay, began a collection of 85 essays and published them under the pseudonym of "Publius" (named after one of the founders and heroes of the Roman republic, Publius Valerius Publicola). The Papers, published in 1787 and 1788, analyze and defend the proposed Constitution of the United States.
The Federalists succeeded in winning the colonists' support. But, even though the anti-federalists lost, their ideas were also brilliant and made an important contribution to the history of our government, which is why you should also read "The Anti-Federalist Papers."
This book is a must-read for all Americans. After reading this book, you will have a renewed appreciation and admiration for the wisdom and vision of our founding fathers.
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The book also suffers from the fact that it was published before Clinton actually left office so issues like his last minute pardons are not touched on. In contrast to The Natural, where Hillary comes off as a villain, here, for virtually the same reasons Klein criticizes her, she is the star of the Clinton Era. An oasis of ideolgical purity, striking in its contrast to the vacuous desert of the"the Third Way" centrism that enslaved Clinton and Gore. A bit hyperbolic, but that's the gist of the epilouge, incidentally written before Hillary's run for the Senate so perhaps Burns and Sorenson were on to something.
The book deserves kudos for focusing on substantive policy issues and evaluating Clinton on those rather than getting caught in the trap of focusing the many personal scandals and confusing them with his professional failings. Burns and Sorenson on one page offer one of the best retorts to the vicious, partisan and very often malicious attacks on Clinton. Yet,they aren't soft on him themselves and therefore one can not dismiss this book as propaganda. Rather, it is a truly substantive study that may be driven by the authors policy concerns but makes evaluations based on substance not smoke.
A good academic book. The Natural's conclusions, I think, will stand up as being more historically accurate than Dead Center's but for a really detailed look at the Clinton Presidency this book is indispensible.
However, I think the authors miss the point that whilst Clinton did promise change and succeeded in some ( balancing the budget, welfare reform, NAFTA) and failed in others (health care reform,arguably race, campaign finance), the political environment he was in and also the post cold-war era constrained such sweeping changes. The Gingrich revolution forced Clinton to think more pragmatically and more tactically as re-election loomed. Impeachment (his own doing) poisoned Congress to a standstill in enacting any later reforms. In fact, whilst I agree that Clinton failed to deliver the high hopes he had promised from the start of his presidency, the situation changed to such a degree, that to survive politically, he had to govern from the centre ( see his triangulation). To a small degree, Clinton's presidency was a product of its times; there was no Cold War or major crisis to display "principled" leadership as with Reagan.
Not everthing is bad news of course. They outline Clinton's foreign policy successes in Ireland and the Middle East but also his hesitant meandering in Haiti and Bosnia.
The overall picture is one of a work in progress - a President learning on the job, trying to enact "bold change", later displaying tactical and political skill and subtly reforming the people's view of government. At the very least, this book strongly initiates the debate on the Clinton legacy and his leadership. It is by no means the end.
The authors contend, rightfully, I think, that Bill Clinton tried to please everybody, and ended up pleasing no-one (well, almost no-one). Pulitzer prize winning historian James MacGregor Burns and his co-author Georgia Sorenson argue that the price of centrism is high. They state that in choosing a centrist strategy, Bill Clinton rejected the kind of leadership that might have placed hiim among the historic "greats."
They review Clinton's presidency (which they imply was a failed presidency), and state that Clinton lacked creativity in fashioning new policies, the courage to press for reforms and other changes despite popular apathy and opposition, the conviction to stick to grand principles no matter how long their realization might take (they imply Clinton was a notably mediocre President, and that he must really be grouped in the unprestigious ranks of Presidents who were fence sitters).
Most interestingly, Burns and Sorenson contend that Clinton (and by association, Albert Gore) was notable for his lack of commitment to the people to fight for their welfare at any personal cost. This is quite a charge considering that the main Gore Presidential candidacy battle cry was "I will fight for you!"
Burns/Sorenson review the disasterous faillure of Clinton's 1993-94 health bill and ascribe the failure of it to Clinton's centrism. They remind readers that Clinton rejected the highly intelligent Canadian health plan model, which has been successful for decades in attaining a liberal good, universal health care. Clinton tried to avoid alienating highly paid doctors and insurance companies. The result was that his health plan had no particular idology, pleased nobody, really, and failed miserably. The ironic thing was that Clinton's health bill was the most noble effort he made in his Presidency, which went downhill from that point.
Buy and read this excellent book. It's a good read, and great discussion of how not to be a U.S. President.
PS: I haven't checked the Study Guide yet, which is (by the way) not available through the Amazon.com, but I've heard it's pretty good and helpful.