
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
July 31, 2008
/ 28 Tamuz 5768
Summer reading
By
Bob Tyrrell
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It is vacation time, and this summer millions of Americans are going to take breaks from their daily toils. Many will seek out quiet spots to relax with family members. They will head to the beach or to campsites, and some will defy gas prices and head for the open road. The summer vacation is a perfect time to read a book, possibly two books. There are all kinds of books available: personal improvement books, how-to books, bad books, very bad books. For some reason, the books I have been reading this summer have been mostly history books. It is an election year, and possibly the approach of a historic decision explains my absorption with history. Then again, it might just be that the most interesting books available this summer are books about the past.
| BUY THE BOOKS |
|
Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.).
Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.).
| |
Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.).
| | Click HERE to purchase it at a discount. (Sales help fund JWR.).

|
| At the top of my summer reading list is "The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008," by the Princeton historian Sean Wilentz. There was a day when leading academic historians wrote about large issues: wars, the rise of great leaders, the fall of failed leaders and failed movements. Today most historians write about little and obscure things: homosexuality among 18th-century merchant mariners, gun ownership in early America. Possibly, scholarly work is being done on the condition of barnyard animals in the Old Northwest. Wilentz writes about the dramatic things that have affected the life of the nation. That is why he is one of the few remaining scholars of national stature.
In his previous book "The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln," Wilentz chronicled the political evolution that led to the Civil War. In his most recent book, he chronicles the rise of modern American conservatism, the presidency of Ronald Reagan, and how both influenced recent history. In so doing, he makes the case that Ronald Reagan stands with the Roosevelts as a 20th-century president who left a lasting mark. He gives Reagan full credit for the good he did, though Wilentz makes it clear that he does not share Reagan's politics and never has. If memory serves, Wilentz was a key figure in defending our recent Boy President during impeachment. Be that as it may, Wilentz's objective treatment of the past 3 1/2 decades of our history should renew our faith in a fine historian's intellectual discipline and fairness. "The Age of Reagan" is informative not only about the Reagan administration but also about the presidencies of Gerald Ford and his successors. This book covers a lot of ground.
Next on my summer list is a very peculiar history book, "The Pact," by Steven M. Gillon. I say it is peculiar because despite errors of fact, it is an informative history. As I coyly suggested earlier in the month, everything Gillon says about me in his book is wrong. For instance, I one of Bill Clinton's most exuberant critics did not, as Gillon claims, go to Georgetown University with Clinton. But the book is not about me. It is about the intriguing relationship between former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Clinton. The portrait Gillon paints of Gingrich is particularly vivid and, to my mind, accurate. What he and the president were up to in their meetings some of which was secret was the transformation of American politics and, most significantly, Social Security. Their failure was a failure in character both men's characters.
Two more books that make my list are Martin Gilbert's "Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship" and Claire Tomalin's "Samuel Pepys: The Unequaled Self." Gilbert is the author of the definitive eight-volume biography of Churchill, as well as many other superb works of history. In this book, he demonstrates how the great British leader, at the beginning of his long life, developed an admiration for the Jews that lasted through many trials, crowned, of course, by his support for a Jewish state. As often with Churchill, his heart deeply engaged, but it was ruled by his intellect. He believed the ancient Jews were responsible for the ethical foundations of Western morality. As Churchill conceived it, the Jews "grasped and proclaimed an idea of which all the genius of Greece and all the power of Rome were incapable."
Turning to Claire Tomalin's biography of Pepys, let me say that I never would have picked it up if Don Graham, the bookish chairman of The Washington Post, had not sent it to me. Don has high regard for the book, and now I do, too. Pepys is perhaps the greatest diarist in the English language, and he wrote his diary entries in the middle of 17th-century London, when great events were taking place that in time would shape the founding of our own country. Pepys gives us a feel for his time from a powerful office in government and a crow's nest over emerging British society. Tomalin is a superb biographer, and Pepys is an enthralling subject, part bureaucrat, part Puritan, part rogue.
Maybe this book can be your how-to book for summer reading, namely, how to serve in a high government position in Washington in the early 21st century. Some things never change.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Bob Tyrrell is editor in chief of The American Spectator. Comment by clicking here.
Archives
© 2008, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|