false 14 611 443 true 5715391 read 4 true 4652433 currently-reading 146 true 4652432 to-read 77 false 4656836 general-fiction 73 false 4656780 american-history 47 false 4663559 horror 39 false 4663558 sci-fi-fantasy 39 false 4656763 presidential-bios 31 false 4656995 military-history 28 false 4675882 biography 27 false 4656781 european-history 25 false 4662997 philosophy 18 false 4675926 general-non-fiction 10 false 4663430 politics 8 false 4663084 asia-india-history 5 false 4662963 middle-east 4 false 4662991 self-help 3 false 4664310 parenting 3 false 4664011 africa 1 false 4682398 religion 1 false 7184031 asia http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/236117-2-a-lincoln-chapters-4-6-43-98-11-08-09-11-14-09-no-spoi Bryan made a comment in the The History Book Club group:

FYI Lincoln fans, I'll be heading over to Springfield next week to visit his home. Looking forward to it. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/194364-introduce-yourself Bryan made a comment in the The Founding Fathers Group group:

I understand what you are talking about, Wes. I keep thinking how the FF would handle today. Would many go into public service or go to business? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/170936-what-other-presidential-history-are-you-reading Bryan made a comment in the Presidential Reads group:

David, how did you like American Sphinx? McFeely is a good one; I read that 4 or 5 years ago, and it should be a good candidate when we reach U.S. Grant next year. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/171998-welcome-introductions Bryan made a comment in the Presidential Reads group:

Great, David, welcome aboard. We hit a group of more obscure presidents like Harrison, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk, so it should be good. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77566741 Ravens (Hardcover) by George Dawes Green
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/61701-the-history-book-club-new-spotlighted-book-discussion-begins Bryan said "maybe" to attending the event: THE HISTORY BOOK CLUB - NEW SPOTLIGHTED BOOK DISCUSSION BEGINS.
date: February 21, 2010 08:00AM
location: The United States
description: The History Book Club currently has as its spotlighted book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front to World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This event notification is, however, for the next Spotlighted book discussion beginning February 21, 2010 titled The First World War by Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan OBE.

PW said that the book was a "riveting narrative that puts diaries, letters and action reports to good use, British military historian Keegan ...more The History Book Club currently has as its spotlighted book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front to World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This event notification is, however, for the next Spotlighted book discussion beginning February 21, 2010 titled The First World War by Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan OBE.

PW said that the book was a "riveting narrative that puts diaries, letters and action reports to good use, British military historian Keegan (The Face of Battle, etc.) delivers a stunningly vivid history of the Great War. He is equally at ease and equally generous and sympathetic at probing the hearts and minds of lowly soldiers in the trenches or examining the thoughts and motivations of leaders (such as Joffre, Haig and Hindenburg) who directed the maelstrom.

In the end, Keegan leaves us with a brilliant, panoramic portrait of an epic struggle that was at once noble and futile, world-shaking and pathetic. The war was unnecessary, Keegan writes, because the train of events that led to it could have been derailed at any time, "had prudence or common goodwill found a voice." And it was tragic, consigning 10 million to their graves, destroying "the benevolent and optimistic culture" of Europe and sowing the seeds of WWII.

While Niall Ferguson's The Pity of War offers a revisionist, economic interpretation of the causes of WWI, Keegan stands impressively mute before the unanswerable question he poses: "Why did a prosperous continent, at the height of its success as a source and agent of global wealth and power and at one of the peaks of its intellectual and cultural achievement, choose to risk all it had won for itself and all it offered to the world in the lottery of a vicious and local internecine conflict?"

We hope you can join us to discuss these questions during our book discussion on The First World War by Keegan beginning February 21, 2010.(less)
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/238498-clinton-tapes-discussion-nov-dec-chapt-4 Bryan made a comment in the The American Presidency Group group:

The long-time presidential adviser Clark Clifford says, "never write anything down." Branch doesn't say who Clifford told this too, but it is interesting statement. Nixon, perhaps?? ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77533630 Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam (Hardcover) by Gordon M. Goldstein
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/49949912 Martin Van Buren : The Romantic Age of American Politics (Signature Series) by John Niven
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75878063 The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President (Hardcover) by Taylor Branch
bookshelves: to-read
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