Rating: 
Summary: "... I have stayed the course"
Review: "Vernon Can Read!" is a joy to read for anyone with the slightest interest in the serious issues in American life for the past fifty years. This is an amazing book. As a very young man, Vernon Jordan deftly understood what America's potential could be. He continued to express the ordinary angers at the injustices commonplace after only "one biblical lifetime (seventy years) after slavery". But, most importantly, he had the savvy and personal intuition that constitutional democracy and life's natural transit through time-space could be leveraged in ways yet unattained. Here is an engaging memoir of the personal journey through that reality. Like others who knew Vern from old school days, we can attest that it is told with modest, personal authenticity of those events and relationships and their choices that shaped the future of a brave, decent and honorable man who has become a legendary figure of our time -- too often a rare combination. In addition, some readers may find here another testament, "food for thought" in his family's tradition, on nurture versus nature. It is one of the greatest stories of Coming of Age in America, and America is by far the better for it.
Rating:
Summary: "... I have stayed the course"
Review: "Vernon Can Read!" is a joy to read for anyone with the slightest interest in the serious issues in American life for the past fifty years. This is an amazing book. As a very young man, Vernon Jordan deftly understood what America's potential could be. He continued to express the ordinary angers at the injustices commonplace after only "one biblical lifetime (seventy years) after slavery". But, most importantly, he had the savvy and personal intuition that constitutional democracy and life's natural transit through time-space could be leveraged in ways yet unattained. Here is an engaging memoir of the personal journey through that reality. Like others who knew Vern from old school days, we can attest that it is told with modest, personal authenticity of those events and relationships and their choices that shaped the future of a brave, decent and honorable man who has become a legendary figure of our time -- too often a rare combination. In addition, some readers may find here another testament, "food for thought" in his family's tradition, on nurture versus nature. It is one of the greatest stories of Coming of Age in America, and America is by far the better for it.
Rating:
Summary: Vernon Can Read! A Memoir
Review: A wonderful book by a great man. Vernon has shown all of us how to raise above obstacles and succeed mentally and financially. He is an American icon and hero. A must read for all Americans.
Rating:
Summary: An Inspiring American Icon
Review: An awe inspiring American dream and triumph. A spiritual uplifting from a living icon. Vernon Jordan shares the depths of his life story, the obstacles of life and how he has continued to create opportunities which lead to success. An amazing lesson by his mother Mary Belle Jordan to impart the significance and expectations of reaching one's dreams whatever they may be. You can't help but feel motivated after reading this memoir. Vernon E. Jordan's life is an inspiration for us all.
Rating: 
Summary: It could have been SO much better
Review: As an American white male of similar age and childhood circumstance as Mr. Jordan, I looked forward to reading the "secrets of his success" with considerable anticipation. Unfortunately, I came away only partly satisfied. The first third of the book, covering his childhood and college education, is excellent. There were spots where I actually laughed out loud, and many more where I nodded my head in concurrence with his apt description of the times and attitudes. However, when the book entered into his working career, it became much more superficial, and was almost a recitation of his resume, with very little personal insight. Additionally, there was little contextual reference to the circumstances of the times: he worked for the NAACP in the '60's, but there is not much sense of the "feel" for being inside one of the premier Civil Rights movements in that tumultuous era. The narrative is descriptive, but not compelling, and curiously flat and emotionless. What is worst, I think, is that we all KNOW that Vernon Jordan is a very accomplished man, and a skilled communicator. This book, especially the latter half, does not bear that out: he comes across as an aggressive careerist, ever seeking higher level positons. That Mr. Jordan actually reached those positions, and by all accounts, served in them well, clearly suggests that there is much more to him than this book relates. The book trails off in the 1980's, so we can only hope that the next installment in this gifted American's life story will finally allow him to open up to the reader and provide more insights into the underlying beliefs, motivation and aims that led him to his successes.
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Summary: But Vernon Can't Write ( A Biography)
Review: At one point Vernon reflects on a gathering of contemporaries during the 1970s. Asked to speak openly about himself and his emotions during a gathering (Author quips~ in a very seventies fashion) Vernon got so fed up at the gathering and being asked to open up to others that he said "This isn't going to happen" got up and left. And I think the same mentality carried oven when Vernon Can Read was written. Mr Jordan never had the propensity to open up and let the reader feel emotionally involved in this book, and in his life. As we watched him hop job to job and talk in acronyms(for entirely too long), we got a very two dimensional character, as if we were being led on a slide show of Vernon's life. He comes off as being brash, self-important and rude in some spots, but the reader never got to appreciate his rudeness or infact to really get to know him. His reputation led me to read the book, but this was also the downfall of Vernon Can Read, the author tried to uphold his reputation while witholding frankness and vulnerability. In the end I was left clamoring for the guy who got drunk at Katherine Graham's house and was belting out tunes with Clinton (picture in the Book), but instead I got a lawyer showing slides of his life.
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Summary: Just heard an Inerview with the Author!
Review: I have not read this book yet but after hearing an interview with the author, I am very excited to read his memoir - "Vernon Can Read".Based on the interview, I have given this book a rating of 5 stars. But as I have mentioned, I have not read the book.
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Summary: This book should be in every African American's home
Review: I listened to the unabridged audio cassette version of Vernon Can Read! This is a wonderful book. It has many dates and events in African American history of which Mr. Jordan contributed to, experienced and/or witnessed. These events are not only significant in the life of Mr. Jordan but also in the history of African Americans. The book is well written and easy to read and/or listen to. I told my five year old son about the experience of young Vernon Jordan and Mr. Maddock. It was inspiring to my son and we often listen to that portion of the tape while driving home from school. Mr. Jordan wanted the book to inspire his children and grandchildren and I suspect that it has. The book has also inspired my son. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: Vernon Tells It Like It Is
Review: I love history and this was a wonderful walk through history. I actally lived these episodes along with Vernon Jordan as have millions of other Americans. I'm a year younger than Mr. Jordan so we traveled many of the same experiences. His was a little toughter than mine as I was born in the west, but not that much different as I'm still black. His book is refreshing and cleared up a lot of rumors I'd heard about him through the years. It was wonderful to learn of his devotions to his wife Shirley. I too did the Madison and shook many a tail feather back in the day. I'm proud of Vernon Jordan and I'm proud of his accomplishments. I am in politics and wish I had been as wise as he was and is, because pro bono gets tired after while. But somebody's got to do it, sometimes. He has been a wise man and had wise and wonderful counsel from his parents and friends. Glad he was able to separate the wheaat from the chaff though. I just loved the book and will recommend it to everyone. I have some Caucasian acquaintainces who need to read it. Perhaps they will recognize themselves in some of the portraits Vernon has painted. They are still practicing the same stuff. Good book. In fact I ordered it on tape but couldn't wait for it to arrive. I'm going to give the tape as a gift to someone else. I had to get the book and read it. Did it in two days. Clever and wonderful title! Annette Gordon-Reed helped him do an excellent job.
Rating:
Summary: Vernon can climb
Review: I saw on television part of a lecture the author gave at UC and was very impressesd with him and wanted to read his book. The highlights of his life given in the lecture covered the only interesting parts of the book, his childhood. The book is poorly written which might be acceptable if he wrote it alone, but he didn't, he had help. His childhood experiences growing up in a segregated society are interesting and his perspectives on segregation are, too, but once he graduates from law school he moves from one position to the next, seemingly moving up by being the right person in the right place at the right time knowing the right people. He must have been capable and a hard worker to handle those positions and, clearly, he learned people skills but there is nothing to indicate his thoughts or positions on any of the issues with which he was confronted except in the most general way. Nothing comes across as showing him as being inspiring, charismatic, or even interesting other than his being where he was, with the people he connected with and the times he participated in. The people he dealt with were giants, Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley as two examples in the legal profession, but he gives no insights into any of these people or even interesting anecdotes. Just a list of who they were. His reportage of his contacts with the Clintons, early on, after Bill lost his bid for re-election to the Governorship was that he told them that Hillary should stop using her maiden name and start using Clinton and when she did Bill got re-elected. There is absolutely no sense of the man, or of his contemporaries or, even, really, his times. Having lived through most of them, myself, I can place his story in the context of the times but for younger readers without a sense of the historical context it can't seem very inspiring. I'm glad I didn't buy the book but only borrowed it from the public library.
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