I made it through the first part, The Vineyard of Liberty, but it took me six months to do so. It is very informative and very well written, but you can't just read a quick chapter now and then. You have to COMMIT to a chapter. Yes, I'm a slow reader, but it often took me up to 45 minutes to read one chapter. I don't know if I'll read the next two parts just because of that. I need bite-sized pieces on something this dense. ( )

1978 The American Experiment: The Vineyard of Liberty, by James MacGregor Burns (read 10 Feb 1986) This is a wonderfully enjoyable and excellent book. It was published in 1982. It is superlative history, covering American history from 1787 to 1863. I can't think when I have enjoyed a book more. My knowledge of American history inevitably has as its reference point my grade school wide-eyed enjoyment thereof, and the superiority of this book's treatment over that of grade school texts makes the subject just so much more interesting. Furthermore, this book shows American history is a far cry from simplistic. This book shows how complex things were, and are, in American history. The book emphasizes what of course our texts in grade school ignored--the inequality of freedom: the slaves, women, were entirely left out. This book gives sources, including many secondary sources, but has no bibliography as such. But each period seemed the most interesting , as I read about it. If I read a better book this year, I'll be surprised. ( )

Prof. Burns is a presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies, teaching Political Science at Williams College, and running the MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1971 for his Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom 1940-1945.

His key innovation in leadership theory was shifting away from studying the traits of great men and transactional management to focus on the interaction of leaders and led as collaborators working toward mutual benefit. He is best known for contributions to the Transformational, Aspirational and Visionary schools of leadership theory. ( )