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Ten American Biographies Everyone Should Read
Human Events Online ^ | 11-14-03 | Human Events

Posted on 11/16/2003 1:11:01 PM PST by Theodore R.

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To: Theodore R.
The synopsis of book number five on the list doesn't make it sound like a biography. Is it?

Thanks for posting this list.
21 posted on 11/16/2003 9:02:52 PM PST by Rocky
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To: billbears
I'd substitute Herndon's biography for all the Jaffa crap. At least it doesn't practice idolatry.

The problem with this list is that there simply aren't many truly great exclusively American biographies. Freeman's biography of Lee comes close and, of course, there are a couple decent autobiographies out there. Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery" is of a quality far superior than anything Frederick Douglass ever wrote.

But beyond that there truly aren't any American equivalents of a 12 Caesars or a Boswell's Life of Johnson.

22 posted on 11/16/2003 9:41:57 PM PST by GOPcapitalist
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To: billbears; GOPcapitalist
Pretty poor list to repeat a bio - there's only 10 entries. Some left off the list: Adams, Jackson, Burke, Calhoun, Reagan
23 posted on 11/17/2003 5:05:38 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: Theodore R.
Great list. I would add George Washington Carver - but only the original written by Dr. Carver himself. I have a copy and I would not part with it for the world. Dr. Carver was a devote Christian; he states that when he read "call upon Me and I will show you great and mighty things which you know not," in the Bible that he asked the Lord to show him the secrets of the universe. The Lord replied, "little man you are too small to know the secrets of my universe, but I will allow you discover the secrets of my peanut." Dr. Carver went on to discover over 350 uses for the peanut that have never been surpassed to this day. God is good!
24 posted on 11/17/2003 5:16:58 AM PST by TrueBeliever9
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To: Theodore R.
What ?? No Stonewall Jackson ???? That list sucks.
25 posted on 11/17/2003 5:19:00 AM PST by BSunday (I'm not the bad guy)
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To: Theodore R.
Here's the most important book I've read in the last three years.
"Investigating the Federal Income Tax, A Preliminary Report" - By Joseph Banister

available here http://www.freedomabovefortune.com/

26 posted on 11/17/2003 5:34:08 AM PST by patriot_wes
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To: Theodore R.; WOSG; SJSAMPLE; MoralSense; x
Great list, Thedore R.

For you readers of Theodore Rex, for a fuller understanding of the man and the times, I submit this title to your reading list, my own work on the presidency of his successor:

William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909-1913,
(McFarland & Co. Sep/2003).

A couple Freepers are preparing reviews. As it is newly out, major market or historical reviews haven't come in yet. You can ask your library to pick up a copy.

As for "Education," it's a polemic. Great book, nonetheless. Jaffa on Lincoln is a must, and the Grant auto-bio is the best of its kind.

27 posted on 11/17/2003 5:44:20 AM PST by nicollo
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To: Theodore R.
If anyone is interested in the Progressive Era, here's Nicollo's brief dos and don'ts list:

Wm. McKinley
- Margaret, Leech, "In the Days of McKinley, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1959

T.R.
- Morris, as already stated above
- Henry F. Pringle, "Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography," New York, Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1931 -- a great, great, and yet enduring work. Read it.
- H.W. Brands, "T.R.: The Last Romantic," Basic Books, New York, 1997 -- a good read and an easy overview of his full life.
- Carl E. Hatch, "The Big Stick and the Congressional Gavel: A Study of Theodore Roosevelt’s Relations with his Last Congress, 1907-1909," Pageant Press, New York, 1967 -- a little noticed but excellent book on the last year of the Roosevelt presidency.

Taft
- Henry F. Pringle, "The Life and Times of William Howard Taft," New York, Farrar & Rinehart, 1939 (reprinted by Archon Books, Cambden, Connecticut, 1964) -- the defining work on Taft and a great book. I challenged many of Pringle's views on the Taft presidency.
- David H. Burton, William Howard Taft: In the Public Service, Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida, 1986 -- a quick overview of Taft and his life mission of public service. Quite a career.
- None of the modern biographies of Taft are any good, such as those by Donald Anderson and Paulo Colleta. Stick with Pringle and my book.

Times of TR and Taft & others:
- Archie Butt, "The Letters of Archie Butt: Personal Aide to President Roosevelt, Edited by Lawrence F. Abbott, Doubleday, Page & Company, New York, 1924 and "Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt," Military Aide, Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1930 (reprinted by Kennikat Press, Port Washington, N.Y., 1971) -- personal letters written by TR and Taft's military aide. Great running commentary on the times, although awfully full of social gossip. The real fun stuff is in the letters that DID NOT get published, and which are housed in the GA State Archives.
- Philip C. Jessup, "Elihu Root," Dodd, Meade & Co., New York, 1938 -- Root is a central character to the period. A must read.
- Allan Nevins, "Ford: The Times, the Man, the Company," Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1954 -- gotta understand automobiles to understand the era. First read my book, then read Nevins. He entirely missed the politics of the era that led to the Model T. He is otherwise entirely correct on Ford.

Progressive Era autobiographies:
- Cannon, Joseph Gurney, The Memoirs of Joseph “Uncle Joe” Cannon, Transcribed by Helen Leseure Abdill, Vermilion County Museum Society, Danville, IL, 1996 -- Uncle Joe Cannon -- gotta read it! Mr. Standpatterism himself. Cannon has been badly mistreated in history.
- Clark, Champ, My Quarter Century of American Politics, Harper & Brothers, New York, 1920 -- Speaker of the House from 1910 to 1919 (approx). Great read and a fair autobiography. He has fantastic insight on the characters of his day. Clark was a good man.
- Mark Sullivan, Mark, "Our Times: 1900-1925," Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1936 -- multi-volume and long work. Often wrong, but there is good history in it.
- T. Roosevelt and Robert La Follette -- self-serving and often factually incorrect apologias and knives-in-the-backs of their enemies. Unfortunately taken as pure history, which they are not. Caveat lectur.
- William Howard Taft, "Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers," Columbia University Press, New York, 1916 (reprinted as The President and His Powers, Columbia University Press, New York and London, 1967) -- yet a classic, and a fundamental statement on the presidency. It is often studied in the context of Roosevelt's autobiography and his statements in it on the presidency, but these are entirely different works.
- William Allen White, "The Autobiography of William Allen White," The MacMillan Company, New York, 1946 -- an autobiography of a whacky Bull Mooser. Even White admits that 1912 was a mistake.
- HH Kohlsaat, H.H., "From McKinley to Harding," Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1923 -- good read, up there with Mark Sullivan's, but much easier to get through.

Must Reads on the Progressive Era, even if you disagree with the thesis:
- Richard Hofstadter, "The Age of Reform," Vintage Books, New York, 1955 -- great book, if too weighted on "reform" and missing politics.
- Gabriel Kolko, "The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916," The Free Press, New York, 1963 -- Kolko is a leftist and an ass. He comes "this close" to getting it about the Era, but his commie bias gets in the way.

For idolitry of the Progressives and other books to avoid:
- Claude Bowers, "Beveridge and The Progressive Era," The Literary Guild, New York, 1932
- Manners, William, "TR and Will: A Friendship That Split the Republican Party," Harcourt Brace Javanovich, Inc., New York, 1969 -- ugggh.
- George E. Mowry, "The Era of Theodore Roosevelt: And the Birth of Modern America, 1900-1912," Harper & Row, New York and Evanston, 1958 -- 1950's academic liberal / New Dealism idolitry of big government.
- Arthur S. Link, "Woodrow Wilson and the Progressive Era: 1910-1917," Harper & Row, New York and Evanston, 1954 -- same as the Mowry book. Go here only to understand how the Academy has it all wrong, and still does.
28 posted on 11/17/2003 6:22:46 AM PST by nicollo
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To: nicollo
Nice thread. Leech also did a book on Washington, DC during the Civil War, Reveille in Washington. I learned a lot of my history from reading Matthew Josephson, but don't imagine his conspiracy theories have held up very well (one of the risks in his muckraking trade is that people actually take his villains as heroes -- the creatures from Wall Street and Jekyll Island being far more exciting than the pious farmer, unfortunate immigrant or suffering widow). It's going back a long way but what about Thomas Beer on Hanna and The Mauve Decade? Constance Rourke was also a delight writing about the American Victorians in The Trumpets of Jubilee.

Freeman's Lee is more a work of mythology or hagiography than a reliable biography. Its inclusion on the list looks like a sop to the mint julep school. The Education of Henry Adams is a classic. Certainly worthy, but doesn't it deserve to be knocked off its pedestal every once in a while? By contrast, Adams's books on History of the United States During the Administrations of Jefferson and Madison are undiscovered and underappreciated classics. At their great length they are likely to remain unappreciated and unread (or at least unfinished), but it's good to see Adams try to say something solid, rather than simply hint at this or that conclusion or throw up his hands and sigh over his era.

I wish I could add some great biographical milestone here. Maybe Richard Brookhiser's recent books on Washington and other founders might qualify. Or Benjamin Thomas's Lincoln. My own favorite biographies were about more recent and troubled Presidents: the Roosevelts, Wilson, Harding, JFK, LBJ, RMN. Fascinating reading, but hardly what you'd give to kids to inspire them, anymore than you'd want them taking Hamlet, Othello or Macbeth as role models.

29 posted on 11/17/2003 8:37:45 PM PST by x
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To: x
...it's good to see [Henry] Adams try to say something solid, rather than simply hint at this or that conclusion or throw up his hands and sigh over his era.
Yes, yes! "Education" was just too easy. "Mont St. Michel and Chartres" is his great work. Doesn't fit this category.

Have you read the Pringle book on TR?

30 posted on 11/18/2003 11:49:59 AM PST by nicollo
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To: nicollo
Have you read the Pringle book on TR?

No, but I heard it was highly recommended. Looked into McCulloch's and Morris's books. They were okay, but didn't seem to be much more than that. Hofstadter's essay was funny, but made TR out to be a borderline lunatic (same with Gore Vidal's review of McCulloch's book).

I can recommend Robert Caro's books on LBJ and New York planning czar Robert Moses. Fascinating stuff. So far as politicans go, some of the recent ones have been closer to Caligula than Cincinnatus. But aside from the scandal stuff, it looks like better books right now may be getting written about tycoons and inventors than politicians. Including the scandals, writer's lives often read better than politicians. And some biographies should just be let alone for a while. Is anybody really interested in hearing about JFK's boat or prep school one more time, let alone his assassination?


31 posted on 11/18/2003 8:29:56 PM PST by x
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To: Theodore R.
BTTT
32 posted on 11/20/2003 8:56:50 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Theodore R.
John Adams by David McCullough

http://www.eraline.com/data/0_1_2_0_1_3_0684813637_1_2396_index.html
33 posted on 11/20/2003 9:02:08 AM PST by eyespysomething
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To: Theodore R.
Thanks for the list!


I have recently made it a mission in life to recommend the book released in the 70's named "A Man Called Intrepid."

It is about the life of William Stephenson who was the head of British Intelligence before WWII. It is written by William Stevenson (no relation!)

While the story is about a British organization and the events surrounding the use of the Enigma code machines, what I found fascinating was its recounting of the history of the anti-war/pacifist mechanations working so feverishly to keep America out of the war. I felt like I was seeing 'deja vu all over again!' as I compared it in my mind to what we are seeing today. The same lies, the same tactics.

While I personally think that FDR has a lot to answer for in bringing about unconstitutional changes to this country, nevertheless, the role he played in working to defeat the anti-war/pacifist lies was amazing. I was glad to get more insight into who he was, and how much character he really did have in the fight to defend our nation.

The book also gave tremendous insight into the role Churchill played. He relied deeply on William Stephenson every step of the way. They gave each other strength and encouragement, imho.

William Stephenson was truly an unsung hero. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. I urge everyone to learn about him. The book is very well written, imho, and full of fascinating information. Please consider reading it! I do not know if it is in print, but I suspect your library will have it.


As those who have been visiting the Troop Prayer Threads of late already know, William Stephenson wrote a magnificent prayer which he gave to Eleanor Roosevelt which he wrote after numbers of pilots had lost their lives, and just prior to the beginning of the real onset of the Battle of Britain.
34 posted on 11/20/2003 10:39:04 AM PST by TEXOKIE (Hold fast what thou hast received!)
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To: Theodore R.
BTTT
35 posted on 01/23/2004 10:54:22 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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