This text covers a swath of antebellum history and the lives of the unfortunate human beings enslaved by John Randolph, which hang in the balance. There is no justice there is no free freedom for many of them. Decades go by before any of them get even a modicum of what they had coming to them. I don’t really recommend you read this unless you want a long sorta narrative version of a wikipedia article. I recommend that you read the Wikipedia article on John Randolph.
A detailed portrait of Founding Father, Dr. Joseph Warren, examines his work as an architect …
Dr. Warren was shot in the face by the British Army?
5 stars
Maj Gen Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Provisional Assembly was shot in the face (and he was also beheaded and mutilated) at the Battle of Bunker hill. The Revolution of the mind which occurred before Lexington and Concord was led by men like Warren. Had he lived his story would be more well known. This brief text is an excellent easy to absorb, if tragic, primer on his life before and through that fateful day in June 1775 when he gave his last full measure for what would one day be The United States.
Maj Gen Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Provisional Assembly was shot in the face (and he was also beheaded and mutilated) at the Battle of Bunker hill. The Revolution of the mind which occurred before Lexington and Concord was led by men like Warren. Had he lived his story would be more well known. This brief text is an excellent easy to absorb, if tragic, primer on his life before and through that fateful day in June 1775 when he gave his last full measure for what would one day be The United States.
16 Jahre trug Angela Merkel die Regierungsverantwortung für Deutschland, führte das Land durch zahlreiche Krisen …
Raised in the GDR, freedom is clearer
5 stars
Dr. Chancellor Merkel’s view of freedom is a refreshing one. Democracy as viewed from the perspective of someone raised under dictatorship is not perfect, often a frustrating, but the only path to freedom. I enjoyed this text and it highlighted for me the massive difference between the experience of integrating East Germany to international order as contrasted with many other former Warsaw pact countries. Dr. M’s steadfast desire to maintain a rules based international order is laudable if difficult to imagine here in early 2026.
She knows him inside and out. It is unique in my experience for a historian to have as much exposure to their subject as she had with LBJ. This text tells the whole tale from the Hill country of Texas to the White House and back. After the tale is told, Doris takes us on a tour of her conclusions which are razor Sharp and as applicable today in 2026 as any, I have read, especially useful, are her conclusions about the power of the presidency and how the human beings who occupy that office influence its role in the world.
"A British historian and author investigates the final years of the Cold War from both …
Great man theory etc
4 stars
It’s a good summary of events but what it lacks is a critical analysis of Soviet economics and the very influential role their failure played in the end of the first Cold War.
In this New York Times bestselling “imperative how-to for creativity” (Nick Offerman), Adam Savage—star of …
The philosophy of making according to Adam
4 stars
Adam… a familiar voice in the world of making leads you on a brief journey through his philosophy of making. From what it is, to how his own methods have evolved over the years. A quick and pleasant read. I’d say nearly any maker worth their multitool could learn a thing or two from this text.
"A magnificent new biography that revolutionizes our understanding of Stalin and his world. It has …
A creature of the system
4 stars
This is volume two of a three volume set on Stalin. At the time I have read volume two volume three is not yet in print. The author clearly took great care in researching this book. Many of his statements are backed up by factual documentation including many handwritten notes in blue or red pencil by the man himself, which must only be available in the archives in Russia. The period of time from 1922 until moments before Germany invades Russia in 1941 are a defining period for the Soviet Union, as well as for its de facto ruler the subject of this book. Earlier last year, I read the Gulag Archipelago which obviously tells a parallel story, but from the viewpoint of those on the receiving end of the terror. The contrast with the subject here is stark.
The author does go to great effort as well to …
This is volume two of a three volume set on Stalin. At the time I have read volume two volume three is not yet in print. The author clearly took great care in researching this book. Many of his statements are backed up by factual documentation including many handwritten notes in blue or red pencil by the man himself, which must only be available in the archives in Russia. The period of time from 1922 until moments before Germany invades Russia in 1941 are a defining period for the Soviet Union, as well as for its de facto ruler the subject of this book. Earlier last year, I read the Gulag Archipelago which obviously tells a parallel story, but from the viewpoint of those on the receiving end of the terror. The contrast with the subject here is stark.
The author does go to great effort as well to not really take sides and merely presents events as they happened. This to me is all the more impressive due to the brutality discussed.
I’ve read biographies of many of the major figures from this period of time, and this is great in comparison because much of what Stalin was doing and even his rationale was hidden from public view. He did not govern by rhetoric, but by the gun, unlike many of this contemporaries.
All that said, he was no super man and knew that he had made errors, but leaned into his ideology as his only true guide.
Ok so hate him or deplore him, it’s worth knowing how he came to be who he was, and how that personality put him in the chairmanship of the general secretariat of the CPSU.
Kotkin left no stone unturned and compiled a great narrative of Stalin’s formative years. Stalin himself isn’t center stage for a lot of time as the events of the 1917 revolution and civil war swirl around him, but he sure ends up in the center of centers in a personal dictatorship within the Bolshevik dictatorship. It’s an improbable journey.
