Arthur M. Schlesinger (1)Critiques

The book gives an overview about the life of one of the most famous people in American history, Benjamin Franklin. It gives information about his family life, his inventions, his policies - everything he had done for the United States of America.

For people who assume there can be no legitimate criticism of multiculturalism except from the xenophobic right, this book is a must read. This is a genuinely thoughtful critique of multiculturalism and its discontents, and why pluralism is a better goal for society.

The foreward to this slender volume states its premise:
"Every Presidential campaign has its facile and fashionable cliches. The favorite cliche of 1960 is that the two candidates, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, are essentially the same sort of men, stamped from the same mold, committed to the same values, dedicated to the same objectives [...] this essay is an attempt to explore these cliches."

You'd be hard pressed to come up with two modern-day presidents that play such different roles in the American consciousness than Kennedy and Nixon, so it's an historical object lesson to realize there was a time when they were perceived to be virtually identical and interchangeable. That anyone would feel the need to write an essay forcefully arguing that Kennedy and Nixon have personalities that are poles apart is literally inconceivable today.

From our vantage point in time, some of Schlesinger's observations have uncanny prescience. Regarding Nixon, he writes: "He seems not to understand that he is the only major American politician in our history who came to prominence by techniques which, if generally adopted, would destroy the whole fabric of mutual confidence on which democracy rests." (Watergate anyone?) But his description of Kennedy is full of surprises: " Kennedy himself is a bookish man" (Football on the beach?) "Kennedy's political manner is studiously unemotional, impersonal [...] "he presents himself as he is, giving his critics who cry 'cold' and 'machinelike' the target they desire" (cold? machinelike? -- the man who romped in the Oval Office with his little children and fought passionately for civil rights?)

This essay is a time tunnel into a world that is by turns entirely familiar and utterly foreign. It's a fascinating and fresh view from a period when events that are now seared into the American psyche hadn't yet taken place. Kennedy or Nixon allows you to shuffle off fifty years of memory and step into 1960 as though it is a new day.½

1570 History of American Presidential Elections 1789-1968 Volume II Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Editor (read 24 May 1980) This volume, which is the only volume of this four-volume work I've read, covers the elections from 1848 through 1896. Since National Conventions have been of extreme interest to me since I discovered there was such a thing when the Republican Convention of 1940 was on the radio and I spent the rest of my youth trying to get out of farm work so I could listen to the conventions on the radio, I read this volume (1874 pages) word-for-word. It is uneven, since each election's account is by a different author, and each election account is followed by platforms, speeches, and editorials concerning that election. But in general each account was absorbing reading, and I slogged through platforms and speeches because they too had some interest. I would think this one of the best books I've read this year. It is true the subject matter is very familiar, but it has been quite a while since I've read in the field and so much was like a visit with old friends. Among the speeches reported was my old friend, Bryan's Cross of Gold speech, and I was thrilled to re-read those so familiar lines.½

This is a pretty nice survey book of American history. I haven't read it cover to cover yet but I have flipped through it from time to time and I have always liked what I read. And I'm a huge fan of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. so I'm not surprised I enjoy this.

I absolutely love Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. I believe he was one of the greatest political scientists/historians in our generation. He is a fantastic writer and he is thorough in his research.

This book is probably one of the shortest he has ever written (at least of what I have read thus far) but it is no less important. It is interesting and he really gives his observations of American society and the different cultures that are in it.

I would classify this as a "must read" because it is a quick and easy read and his observations and reflections are on point and true.

4030. War and the American Presidency, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. (read 28 May 2005) This 2004 book says perceptive things about the preventive war policy of the present Administration, and discusses other interesting things, including a solution for the electoral college failure at times to reflect the popular vote. He suggests an electoral vote bonus for winning the popular vote. The book has no footnotes and no bibliography but says some wise things.

630. Kennedy or Nixon: Does it make any difference? by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (read 12 Oct 1960) I read this even though I knew the answer to the question. I knew it made a lot of difference and voted enthusiastically for Kennedy.