I quite liked this book—it provided me with an authoritative (plenty o’ endnotes!) yet very accessible introduction to life in Washington, DC during the Civil War. Furguson’s book acquainted this relatively new to DC (ten years) reader with all the major figures of the era, events both great and small, and a general feel for […]
Benjamin Busch, Dust to Dust: A Memoir (...
If you crave a book filled with comic youthful yarns or riveting war tales, this one is not for you. Dust to Dust is not so much a memoir as a meditation, an effort by a man to understand life. We go, we do, but why, and whither? Busch essays his philosophy through retrospective chapters […]
Lewis L. Gould, Theodore Roosevelt (Oxfo...
The March 12, 2012 copy of The Weekly Standard magazine carries my review of Lewis Gould’s Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s reputation as a president has rocketed upward in recent decades. Gould’s book is a good reminder that Roosevelt’s presidency was pivotal—Teddy helped turn the office into the imperial institution of today. Gould also makes plain that […]
Niall Ferguson, Civilization: The West a...
Civilization: The West and the Rest By Niall Ferguson Penguin Press, 2011, 402 pp., $35.00 Niall Ferguson is the bane of much of the academic world. His crimes are many. Whereas most academics toil in anonymity, glacially plopping out inscrutable, esoteric articles for little-read academic journals, Ferguson is a supernova. He has joint appointments at […]
Paul Manna, Collision Course: Federal Ed...
Over at the Federal Education Policy Hitory website, I have posted a review of Paul Manna, Collision Course: Federal Education Policy Meets State and Local Realities (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011). I think highly of the book, noting: “In Collision Course, Manna, a professor at William & Mary, has judiciously considered the evidence to date […]
Diane Ravitch, The Death and Life of the...
This book arrived in spring 2010, and from the moment I saw it I knew I had to read and review it. A decade ago I was Diane’s research assistant and she served on my dissertation committee. I learned much from her, and I long have admired her intellect and intensity, and that she made […]