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Review Date: 8/4/2018
Walter Williams would probably surprise a lot of people. He is an African-American who was raised by a single mother in the Great Depression and went on to become the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Virginia. He is also a free-market conservative who has written this book to debunk most government anti-poverty programs that he believes hinders rather than helps the poor. He cuts through the "do-good" rhetorical facade on such programs as affirmative action, the minimum wage, and farm price supports, and asserts that economic freedom will always create wealth and distribute it more efficiently than Washington's dealmakers ever will. It is must reading for anyone who wants to gain a different perspective on poverty from someone who has actually lived it.
Review Date: 9/5/2018
Helpful Score: 2
Bob Greene is an accomplished human-interest writer, and this book is a splendid example of his work. My impression of this book was that it could be broken down into 3 parts: (1) A heartbreaking account of his father's slow demise. (2) A rendition of the audiotapes that his father, a World War II veteran, left for him that detailed his youth and wartime experiences. (3) Green's interviews of Gen. Paul Tibbets, USAF (Ret), who piloted the "Enola Gay" bomber (named after his mother) that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The book gives the reader amazing insights into the minds of the so-called "Greatest Generation" (Great Depression/WW II era) that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. It is a fascinating and very readable book.
Review Date: 6/6/2017
Helpful Score: 1
The collapse of the French Army in the face of the German onslaught in the spring of 1940 was the most stunning military reversal of the twentieth century. In 1968, the late British military historian John Williams published an informative account of the events of those incredible weeks and an illuminating historical analysis of the disaster. He gave full weight to the political and social factors that undermined the French republic, but fixed primary responsibility for the defeat squarely on the adamant refusal of the High Command to adjust its strategic doctrine to the realities of mechanized warfare. This book is a valuable resource for readers who want to know more about this remarkable chapter in military history.
Review Date: 1/27/2019
Ronald Radosh & Joyce Milton have written a superbly researched book about what some have called "The Crime of the Century". The case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted atomic bomb spies, divided the country when it was tried in the 1950s, and still divides it in many ways today. The authors have written a fair and evenhanded book that demolishes many of the myths that surround the case and offers material that both sides will find informative. The central argument they make is this: Yes, they were guilty, but they should not have been executed. It is a must read for anyone who wants to seriously study the subject.
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