A superb book that greatly deepens our understanding of these founders.
A monumental account of a 50-year political partnership that shaped the early history of the United States.
In a dual biography of uncommon merit, Louisiana State University historians Burstein (Jefferson’s Secrets: Death and Desire at Monticello, 2005, etc.) and Isenberg (Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr, 2007, etc.) pierce the “poetic protection” that surrounds the Founding Fathers to create a clear-eyed view of the political careers of two remarkable elder sons of the Virginia elite. Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) and James Madison (1751–1836) emerge in a new light as individuals who made equal contributions to the early republic. The younger man, Madison, neither a shy dullard nor a junior partner, as often described, was a forceful legislator and a persuasive writer, and he orchestrated Jefferson’s career, acting like a sort of campaign manager. Jefferson, a man of great feeling with an almost retiring manner but a lyrical pen, thrived in politicized settings, seeking to crush his enemies. The two men first met in 1776. Both were affable, bookish intellectuals, both served as president and both were accomplished political thinkers and tacticians. Always remaining “Virginians first, Americans second,” they changed their young nation’s political discourse and direction. Against a sweeping and readable history of the era, the authors explore the lives and political thought of the two men as well as their shared affection for the land and farming, as evidenced by their beloved country seats—Madison’s Montpelier and Jefferson’s Monticello—which are 25 miles apart. Burstein and Isenberg bring vivid life to Jefferson’s work on the Declaration of Independence and Notes on Virginia, and demonstrate the ways in which his sojourns in France influenced his views on such matters as creating opportunities for the poor, the importance of individual rights and farming’s contribution to society. The authors deem Federalist Papers contributor Madison a bold legislator who, while hardly the “father” of the Constitution, was nonetheless outspoken at the Constitutional Convention.
A superb book that greatly deepens our understanding of these founders.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6728-2
Page Count: 832
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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