Booknotes on American Character: People, Politics, and Conflict in American History

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Collection
Review: A wonderful collection of short articles and essays on the essentially American items from political biography to culture, politics and history. This wonderful study opens with short talking points by Ann Coulter and Michael Moore on the right and left in America. Most of these exerts are from talks by people describing their books they have written. Thus comments are made on people from Ben Franklin to the War in Vietnam. A wonderful collection in a beautiful binding, an essential piece for any Americana book shelf.

Seth J. Frantzman

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Collection
Review: A wonderful collection of short articles and essays on the essentially American items from political biography to culture, politics and history. This wonderful study opens with short talking points by Ann Coulter and Michael Moore on the right and left in America. Most of these exerts are from talks by people describing their books they have written. Thus comments are made on people from Ben Franklin to the War in Vietnam. A wonderful collection in a beautiful binding, an essential piece for any Americana book shelf.

Seth J. Frantzman

Rating:
Summary: Exploring the politics and modern issues shaping the nation
Review: The weekly program "Booknotes" is the flagship of the C-SPAN cable television network's book programming and has been popular viewing for over 15 years: its interviews have been the basis for three best-selling books already. Here CEO and host Brian Lamb provides a new and enthusiastically recommended collection of nearly eighty interviews with contemporary nonfiction writers in Booknotes: On American Character, exploring the politics and modern issues shaping the nation.

Rating:
Summary: Exploring the politics and modern issues shaping the nation
Review: The weekly program "Booknotes" is the flagship of the C-SPAN cable television network's book programming and has been popular viewing for over 15 years: its interviews have been the basis for three best-selling books already. Here CEO and host Brian Lamb provides a new and enthusiastically recommended collection of nearly eighty interviews with contemporary nonfiction writers in Booknotes: On American Character, exploring the politics and modern issues shaping the nation.

Rating:
Summary: American Characters, Quirks and Ironies
Review: This book provides over 80 brief summaries of what authors had to say about their books on Booknotes in recent years. In all but a handful of cases, the authors are historians or biographers. The topics are often tangentially related to "American Character." The summaries are grouped under the topics of Nation's Leaders, Social Movements and Political Visions, War, Law & Order, Inventors and Businessmen, and Cultural Heritage. The summaries vary enormously in quality with some authors being virtually inarticulate while others speak in close to written prose.

The best use for this book is to check out a book that you might want to read. The summaries allow you to go beyond what you would normally find in a book review and often reveal some of the juicier parts of the book.

A secondary use is as a gift to a young person who is interested in U.S. history but has not read much about it yet. Many of the perspectives could help such a young person develop an interest in learning more.

A few of the summaries are worth reading for their own merit, such as the ones by Dorothy Height on the civil rights movement, Vernon Jordan on his civil rights activities, Dennis Hutchinson on John Knox's observations about the 1936 Supreme Court, Isaac Stern on his musical career and James Loewen on teaching U.S. history.

Many of the authors seem obsessed with finding some little known factoid about a famous person or event. As a result, although the factoid is no doubt fascinating to the author, it may be irrelevant to you.

As I finished the many summaries, I found myself wondering why a cable television channel would devote so many hours of coverage to information of such limited significance and appeal.

I was also struck by how much more interesting it is to hear from the people who lived through significant events than from scholars who are studying them. Perhaps this show should consider doing many more autobiographies.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Accessible History
Review: This is the best of the Booknotes books yet. In a series of short chapters drawn from interviews on C-Span's Booknotes program, Brian Lamb and the many authors provide absorbing insights into American history. Some of the choices are a bit jarring (I would certainly not have chosen to begin such a thoughtful book with excerpts from Ann Coulter and Michael Moore) but all of them are provocative and ultimately thought provoking. This is a book to keep at hand and savor for months if not years.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Accessible History
Review: This is the best of the Booknotes books yet. In a series of short chapters drawn from interviews on C-Span's Booknotes program, Brian Lamb and the many authors provide absorbing insights into American history. Some of the choices are a bit jarring (I would certainly not have chosen to begin such a thoughtful book with excerpts from Ann Coulter and Michael Moore) but all of them are provocative and ultimately thought provoking. This is a book to keep at hand and savor for months if not years.

Rating:
Summary: Moments, Issues and People who Shape American History
Review: To hear commentators, one would believe our country has never been more divided. As this book demonstrates, the United States has a long history of highly partisan, often bitter and violent politics.

This book, the third in a series, offers the thoughts of 78 contemporary nonfiction writers whose topics span more than 225 years of American History. These essays were drawn from the author's original, thoughtful interviews on C-Span's Booknotes

Controversy is a common theme in American History. Writer Roy Morris recounts the Hayes-Tilden election of 1876, a contest which dragged on for four months of infighting and maneuvering. Hayes eventually took the oath of office at night to avoid violence.

On the other hand, Author Rich Perlstein writes about the rise of modern conservatism. The lingering memory of many of the LBJ - Barry Goldwater campaign was how hated the conservative was. Yet LBJ's support proved to be widespread but thin.

It contains essays on American exceptionalism and the leaders who promoted it. There are essays on American Ingenuity and technological prowess. Some authors demonstrate the benefits of American capitalism; others chronicle its downside.

On American Character is a great addition to the Booknotes series. It is a must read for any fan of the program and those interested in great historical moments, issues and the people who shaped our country.