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Critiques
Mudslingers: The Twenty-Five Dirtiest Political… par Kerwin Swint PhD
1
Signalé
Schmerguls | May 28, 2014 | Seldom do I review nonfiction, but certain topics are the flint stone to story making, the greatest of these being history, the elemental roots of literary magic in so much of my favorite fiction. In my world, history can make sparks fly so, you'd have seen me waving my hand eagerly in the air like a schoolgirl when Novel Publicity Blog Tours asked for participants to review Kerwin Swint's, The King Whisperers. Though I'm certainly not a schoolgirl anymore, I adore historical facts and any opinion, treatise, viewpoint or art form that stands on them.
As the byline of the title says, The King Whisperers explores the "power behind the throne, from Rasputin to Rove" and that's just the R's. Kerwin Swint, professor of political science at Kennesaw State University, offers a lightening hot approach to history by zapping together a compendium of historical figures, each in the context of their roles as political strategists, manipulators of every ilk and historical era.
The King Whisperers serves as an encyclopedia of political figures all while offering a system of categorizing them into ten different types, certainly no small feat considering these figures range from the ancients to modern day politicians and on every continent. Such a huge undertaking may be criticized for the surface treatment given to each figure, that quantity trumps quality, but it is this very aspect of The King Whisperers that makes it invaluable. How else could one present the totality of political history in one volume of 328 pages than by a method geared to the modern click-switch mentality of 2011? It's a patchwork, if you will, woven beautifully with the common thread of Swint's classification system.
The King Whisperers is an indispensable reference tool to be valued for years to come. Academics, writers and curious minds in general will find the ten classifications of the power players to be a telling lens, a sort of prismatic lodestone through which to reflect upon history, both in our past and in the making. The ten classifications are:
The Machiavellians (ex: Machiavelli, Catherine de Medici, Alexander Hamilton, Dick Cheney)
Empire Builders (ex: Otto von Bismarck, Bernard of Clairvaux)
King Makers (ex: Sir Richard Neville, James "Big Jim" Farley)
Spies (ex: Cardinal Richelieu, Lawrence of Arabia, Omar Suleiman)
Silver-Tongued Devils (ex: Cicero, Talleyrand, Leon Trotsky)
The Generals (Charles Martel, Oliver Cromwell, Hideki Tojo)
The Rebels (ex: Zhou Enlai, Che Guevara, Sakamoto Ryoma)
The Truly Evil (ex: "Young" Joe Stalin and Hermann Goering, Hitler's Right Hand)
The Fixers (ex: Larry O'Brien, Roger Ailes, Karl Rove)
Schemers (ex: Haman the Agagite, Grigori Rasputin)
Even if some of the classifications may provide fodder for debate, The King Whisperers will be a standard to hold onto long after you've finished reading it. If you find that the carpet ride Swint takes you on through history is too fast-paced, not a stitch of it comes without an invitation to delve deeper with a comprehensive set of endnotes, bibliography and index that will keep you in happily-ever-after cross-referencing mode, especially if you are a perpetual student like me...still a school girl at heart.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of the Novel Publicity Blog Tours and a copy was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review nor was there an obligation to write a positive one. All opinions expressed here are entirely mine and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, the book's publisher and publicist or the readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
As the byline of the title says, The King Whisperers explores the "power behind the throne, from Rasputin to Rove" and that's just the R's. Kerwin Swint, professor of political science at Kennesaw State University, offers a lightening hot approach to history by zapping together a compendium of historical figures, each in the context of their roles as political strategists, manipulators of every ilk and historical era.
The King Whisperers serves as an encyclopedia of political figures all while offering a system of categorizing them into ten different types, certainly no small feat considering these figures range from the ancients to modern day politicians and on every continent. Such a huge undertaking may be criticized for the surface treatment given to each figure, that quantity trumps quality, but it is this very aspect of The King Whisperers that makes it invaluable. How else could one present the totality of political history in one volume of 328 pages than by a method geared to the modern click-switch mentality of 2011? It's a patchwork, if you will, woven beautifully with the common thread of Swint's classification system.
The King Whisperers is an indispensable reference tool to be valued for years to come. Academics, writers and curious minds in general will find the ten classifications of the power players to be a telling lens, a sort of prismatic lodestone through which to reflect upon history, both in our past and in the making. The ten classifications are:
The Machiavellians (ex: Machiavelli, Catherine de Medici, Alexander Hamilton, Dick Cheney)
Empire Builders (ex: Otto von Bismarck, Bernard of Clairvaux)
King Makers (ex: Sir Richard Neville, James "Big Jim" Farley)
Spies (ex: Cardinal Richelieu, Lawrence of Arabia, Omar Suleiman)
Silver-Tongued Devils (ex: Cicero, Talleyrand, Leon Trotsky)
The Generals (Charles Martel, Oliver Cromwell, Hideki Tojo)
The Rebels (ex: Zhou Enlai, Che Guevara, Sakamoto Ryoma)
The Truly Evil (ex: "Young" Joe Stalin and Hermann Goering, Hitler's Right Hand)
The Fixers (ex: Larry O'Brien, Roger Ailes, Karl Rove)
Schemers (ex: Haman the Agagite, Grigori Rasputin)
Even if some of the classifications may provide fodder for debate, The King Whisperers will be a standard to hold onto long after you've finished reading it. If you find that the carpet ride Swint takes you on through history is too fast-paced, not a stitch of it comes without an invitation to delve deeper with a comprehensive set of endnotes, bibliography and index that will keep you in happily-ever-after cross-referencing mode, especially if you are a perpetual student like me...still a school girl at heart.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of the Novel Publicity Blog Tours and a copy was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review nor was there an obligation to write a positive one. All opinions expressed here are entirely mine and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, the book's publisher and publicist or the readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
1
Signalé
TheQuillGuild | 1 autre critique | May 11, 2011 | Some stories are so terrible, so fantastic, so unreal that you just know they had to have happened.
Take Aggripina the Younger, the devoted mother would stop at nothing to secure her son’s emperorship or Rome—incest, murder, cunning, whatever it took. Or Kautilya, the BC-era warlord who knew his most powerful weapon was a beautiful woman and a lovesick enemy. How about the monster Heinrich Himmler whose desire to build a race-based society of supermen led to the twentieth century’s most horrifying event, the Holocaust?
These figures were all wise, ambitious, determined. They knew what they wanted and, in most cases, they knew how to get it. Power was their motivation.
These are not the great villains of history; they are not the mighty rulers of nations. They are the King Whisperers, a special breed of politician that thrives behind-the-scenes. They are the power behind the throne, not that which is seated upon it.
Too often their stories have been discussed as they relate to those of the rulers they served; some have been overlooked almost entirely. The King Whisperers: Power behind the throne from Rasputin to Rove by Dr. Kerwin Swint introduces the reader to 47 figures ranging from biblical times to the modern day.
They are sorted into ten archetypal groups: Machiavellians, Empire Builders, Kingmakers, Spies, Silver-Tongued Devils, Generals, Rebels, the Truly Evil, Fixers, and Schemers. Each category is defined for the reader before delving into its explanations of the four to seven highlighted individuals.
The King Whisperers offers an in-depth look at these great manipulators, sometimes exploring multiple figures that shaped a single era or movement, sometimes juxtaposing enemies and highlighting their similar strategies. Swint explores his content in such a manner that it caters to both the historical expert and the ignoramus. He draws intriguing parallels across archetypal groups and poses questions which the reader may choose to ignore or to contemplate at length (this is especially true of the chapter on “the truly evil” King Whisperers).
The author’s careful attention to detail and fluid writing style make this book an intriguing and informative read. Its well-paced discussion and organized structure allows for the reader to pick it up at will or to read it straight-through in a single sitting.
The King Whisperers by Kerwin Swint tells the stories of some of the greatest power players and schemers in world history, from the ancient world to modern day.
Although they ruled from the shadows, history has not forgotten.
Take Aggripina the Younger, the devoted mother would stop at nothing to secure her son’s emperorship or Rome—incest, murder, cunning, whatever it took. Or Kautilya, the BC-era warlord who knew his most powerful weapon was a beautiful woman and a lovesick enemy. How about the monster Heinrich Himmler whose desire to build a race-based society of supermen led to the twentieth century’s most horrifying event, the Holocaust?
These figures were all wise, ambitious, determined. They knew what they wanted and, in most cases, they knew how to get it. Power was their motivation.
These are not the great villains of history; they are not the mighty rulers of nations. They are the King Whisperers, a special breed of politician that thrives behind-the-scenes. They are the power behind the throne, not that which is seated upon it.
Too often their stories have been discussed as they relate to those of the rulers they served; some have been overlooked almost entirely. The King Whisperers: Power behind the throne from Rasputin to Rove by Dr. Kerwin Swint introduces the reader to 47 figures ranging from biblical times to the modern day.
They are sorted into ten archetypal groups: Machiavellians, Empire Builders, Kingmakers, Spies, Silver-Tongued Devils, Generals, Rebels, the Truly Evil, Fixers, and Schemers. Each category is defined for the reader before delving into its explanations of the four to seven highlighted individuals.
The King Whisperers offers an in-depth look at these great manipulators, sometimes exploring multiple figures that shaped a single era or movement, sometimes juxtaposing enemies and highlighting their similar strategies. Swint explores his content in such a manner that it caters to both the historical expert and the ignoramus. He draws intriguing parallels across archetypal groups and poses questions which the reader may choose to ignore or to contemplate at length (this is especially true of the chapter on “the truly evil” King Whisperers).
The author’s careful attention to detail and fluid writing style make this book an intriguing and informative read. Its well-paced discussion and organized structure allows for the reader to pick it up at will or to read it straight-through in a single sitting.
The King Whisperers by Kerwin Swint tells the stories of some of the greatest power players and schemers in world history, from the ancient world to modern day.
Although they ruled from the shadows, history has not forgotten.
1
Signalé
Emlyn_Chand | 1 autre critique | Apr 8, 2011 | Liens
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