A History of the American People, Part I

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: I re-submit my review so it will be linked to my new account:

A much needed remedy to the apotheosis of JFK, a comprehensive survey of 400+ years of history, a vindication of Nixon, and a very flowing narrative from a marvelous writer/historian. It also includes much needed light on just how important a role traditional religion has played in the shaping of America.Every student in our public school system should be required to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Reader Beware: Paul Johnson is No Historian
Review: If there is any book that is going to make me question every history book I will read from now is A History of The American People by Paul Johnson. I have to admit that when I enthusiastically picked up this book from my local bookstore, I had no idea who Paul Johnson was. If I did, I probably would have put it right back on the shelf. A warning from the publisher alerting us to the personal and reinterpretive nature of this book would have been nice. Better still a less misleading title like 'Gratifying reinterpretration of U.S. History for the staunchily conservative' would have been welcome.

Totally unprejudiced against this author since I didn't know who he was, I read on, stumbling on one innacuracy after the other until I put down the book and asked myself what the hell I was reading.( The first innacuracy I caught was Cotton Mather encouraging vaccination against smallpox 100 years before it was discovered (!) in 1796 by Edward Jenner, a compatriot of no less than Mr. Johnson!)

Although well written and entertaining, Mr. Johnson's brand of staunch conservatism permeates and severely clouds every historical fact he presents. His frequent references to 'contrary to what is popularly believed' and 'according to classified files' renders his book a monumental exercise in wasteful and unsubstantied prose.

Even though I had my doubts about Mr. Johnson political leanings all throughout his book, it wasn't until I hit his blistering attacks on FDR and Kennedy as well as his interpretation of the Vietnam war that I put the book down and looked up Mr. Johnson on the Internet.

And then it all became clear. I had been duped into reading this book thinking all along that it was a respectable 'partisan-free' history book. Still, I blame myself. The caption underneath the Reagans stating that they were one of the most formidable couples to hold court at the White House should have tipped it off. No sane semi-intelligent person would have had the nerve to make such a statement expect for the right-wing impaired.

Excuse me for being old-fashioned but I have always believed that history books are written by qualified scholars and not by highly-politicized former military personnel who have an axe to grind with the 'liberal' media.

Reader beware!

Rating:
Summary: Should Have Stopped With 1960
Review: I find it very disappointing that most people have a kneejerk reaction to Paul Johnson. It seems as though if you are a conservative you love him and if you are a liberal you hate him. I find this very unfair. Mr. Johnson is always entertaining and frequently thought provoking. After reading this book I have already bought biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison because Mr. Johnson has brought them to life and has caused me to want to learn more about them. For example, did you know that Mr. Edison would frequently sleep under the table in his workshop so as to be able to go right back to work when he woke up? Or that Calvin Coolidge once summoned some of his staff in the White House and then hid under his desk so that they couldn't find him? But this doesn't mean that this book is full of fluff either. Mr. Johnson also gives you much "straight" history and is not afraid to give you his opinions of the people and their policies. He clearly thinks that Jefferson, FDR and John Kennedy were overrated and Coolidge underrated, for example. He greatly admires Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Probably one of the great lessons of this book is that some distance is needed before a person or an event can be judged fairly. Years ago one heard almost only positive things about Thomas Jefferson. In recent years the pendulum has somewhat swung the other way especially where Jefferson's writings on slavery are now seen to diverge quite a bit from his practices in real life. But the beauty of this book lies in the uncovering of personality. We also learn that Jefferson had no sense of humor and that though he was a compulsive record keeper and wrote down everything that he bought and sold he had absolutely no idea of his financial situation, which was always getting worse, throughout his life. He liked to present himself as a common farmer but spent vast sums on fine wines and fancy clothes. He was a compulsive book buyer. He tended to get migraines when under pressure. He was a minimalist as far as believing in the power of the national government but did not hesitate to make the Louisiana Purchase. In short, like all interesting people he was inconsistent and quirky. I have dwelled on Jefferson but Mr. Johnson brings numerous historical figures to life in the same way. I found the last 100 pages of the book disappointing in its handling of events since 1960. I understand that many negative things about JFK have come to light in the last 20 years or so but Mr. Johnson has nothing positive at all to say about him. The space program, for example, is not shown in a positive light at all but as a Kennedy obsession about "competing" and "having to win". Likewise, Mr. Johnson has nothing to say about the serious personal flaws in the personality of Richard Nixon. It is clear that Mr. Nixon throughout his life got a very unfair deal from a lot of the press but is it not true that he was a bit paranoid about his perceived enemies and therefore worsened the situation? Mr. Johnson states as a blanket fact that Mr. Nixon knew nothing of the Watergate break-in beforehand. This is possible, but then Mr. Johnson has nothing at all to say about the coverup, which Nixon clearly did know about. The job of the historian is to present all sides of an issue and not to ignore unpleasant facts that do not support what you are trying to prove. It is also curious that Mr. Johnson makes no attempt to analyze whether or not the U.S. should ever have been in Vietnam. He faults the politicians for not listening to the military in saying that an all-out massive effort was needed or the war could not be won. In short, more discussion of both sides of the issue was needed. But if you forget the last 40 years or so, the bulk of this book is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough but Biased
Review: It took me 5 months to complete this book. Actually, it was an monumental task for Mr. Johnson and for the most part, very interesting and informative. However, I was extremely disappointed to read where he blamed most of our country's problems (from the early '60's to now) on Democrats and Liberals. His title should of been "A Conservative Viewpoint of America's History." He even managed to call Nixon's Watergate scandal an Eastern Media witchhunt totally excusing the ex-President of wrongdoing. This isn't the approach of a historian.

Rating:
Summary: A Balanced History
Review: At last, we have a balanced treatment of the history of the United States. Most histories available today are products of politically correct liberal historians who are more concerned with an ideological treatment than an impartial treatment. Johnson does not think that FDR and JFK are the greatest presidents that ever lived. The nitpickers love to point out the small factual errors that Johnson made. However, they fail to note that he captured the spirit of the American people.

If you enjoy the editorials in The Wall Street Journal, you will love this history of the American people.

Rating:
Summary: A disgusting farrago of propaganda and lies
Review: I gave up after 757 pages of gritting my teeth and plowing through this muck. While it is fluidly written and very readable, the combination of extreme right wing propaganda, hyper-class consciousness typical of the Brits and downright utter lies, often confounded within a few pages, is too sickening to persist with.

When 'Mr' Johnson isn't falsly pumping one of his heroes up (such as Calhoun, described as "born a penniless boy" & on the next page revealing his father as a tax-collector serving for 30 years in the state legislature and owner of 31 slaves), he is using every oratical trick to slur, smear and insult his ideological enemies, notably FD Roosevelt - maligning him at every possible opportunity, and basely insulting his assistants with no factual support, just a litany of insulting terms and phrases. Add to this his casual and overwhelming dismissal of any social movements he regards as wrong - such as dismissing the people who fought against the sweatshops of the 1880's and 1890's as 'muckrakers' and 'unAmerican': presumably 'Mr' Johnson would prefer to see these working conditions reinstated - and you have a book which is utterly worthless, as there is no way of knowing whether any so-called fact he includes is correct, erroneous, or a deliberate fabrication.

After reading most of this book, my honest opinion is that if 'Mr' Johnson told me the sun was rising in the east, I would go and check for myself rather than believing him.

One of the very few arguments in favour of book burning - a fate I intend to consign my copy to, resigned to the squandering of my hard earned cash.

Rating:
Summary: Lost track along the way
Review: When I first started reading this book I thought I would stand the fact that is was too long. It was well informed, interesting and at times entertaining. My feeling was that I would rate it with at least 4 stars. Somewhere along the way I think Johnson lost track of his argument. He started covering too much material with no structure and stating very personal points of view as facts. When I got to the Great Depression I decided to quit. I realized there were more better informed books out there and that I was wasting my time. It was unfortunate, the book promised much more than it delivered.

Rating:
Summary: A great one value history, but beware small errors
Review: Johnson is a great writer of history. Even after reading his History of the American People, however, his finest book remains Modern Times. HOTAP is a comprehensive, one volume US History that is well written and interesting to read. Few important things are omitted (e.g. baseball), and Johnson's perspective as an English historian who has a great respect for America is an interesting one. He reminds us of the vital contributions made by business leaders at the end of the 19th century and debunks the "Robber Baron" myth, tracing the bogus historiography responsible for that term. The book is marred by small factual errors. A couple examples are his confusing two confederal generals with the same last name and his misattribution of the quote: "The American people be damned" to Commodie Vanderbilt rather than his son. The next edition will assuredly correct these, but Johnson should have had the book fact checked first. Among Johnson's observations (which have obviously raised the ire of some readers below) of importance is the impact of religion on American history.

Rating:
Summary: A right-wing tract; more ideological than historical.
Review: No, Edison did not invent the telephone. No, Stonewall Jackson was not shot in the back. No, Norman Rockwell is not America's greatest artist. And, no, Richard Nixon's major flaw was not that he had, "a passion for public service that masqueraded as a lust for power." He wasn't that tricky. If you have any decent knowledge of American history, you turn Johnson's pages wincing over his numerous factual innacuracies and laughing as he struggles with obstinate facts to create the Gospel According to Thatcher, wherein the irredeemable demons are people such as FDR and Kennedy, and the holy and wise are Harding, Hoover, and those poor, misunderstood robber barons. Where a biased selection of facts or events doesn't serve this purpose, the author constantly imputes motives to individuals that he takes no pains to substantiate, motives which are, as Barbara Tuchman has said, pure inventions not worthy of an honest historian. I don't think that other great historian, Newt Gingrich, went so far as to see Lincoln's wit eclipsed by the one-liners Reagan stole from Clint Eastwood movies or read off teleprompters after they'd been prepared by Peggy Noonan, et al. Paul Johnson, bless his true-believer's heart, does. This book will warm the heart of other such true-believers, but it is "history" only in form and structure. More accurately, it is an ideological tract masquerading as history; it should be labeled as such in big letters on the front cover.

Rating:
Summary: A fine narrative generously sown with intriguing nuggets
Review: To all the tenured radicals libeling America as the enemy of humanity, this book is a decisive refutation: America _is_ humanity. This book follows the familiar Johnson formula of telling history: An adverbial phrase summing up a generation's attitude here, a half-page biographical sketch illustrating a trend there, and so on, with plenty of astringent value judgements inviting further investigation. Yes, there is "bias" here, but it is a corrective one. Of course he goes overboard in spots--one can agree that Nixon was unfairly smeared by liberals his whole career without excusing him entirely of wrongdoing, as Johnson does. But it was news to me that many of the people baying Nixon's heels themselves covered up wrongdoing by Lyndon Johnson in the '60s. And it's good to have it made plain that there was indeed a Kennedy conspiracy--to get him into office, not out. Throughout, many of the ills we deplore nowadays are shown to have been with us since the beginning--the endless Presidential campaign is as old as the early 1800s, for instance. And Johnson's ventures into mass-psychologizing are funny. Or unsettling, depending. Particulary novel in a modern history book is the way that agitators and radicals are nearly absent here. Instead, pride of place is given to ordinary working people and the industrialists and inventors who drove the astonishing engine of progress and innovation that America became after the Civil War. Johnson well understands that complainers are present in every age, but that such a sunburst of accomplishment is a rarity. All in all, an informative, entertaining and inspiring read.