PositiveBookPageIt\'s not your father\'s Father of His Country at the forefront of Peter Stark\'s Young Washington. Think more along the lines of a rash nephew ... Stark, at one point using 11 uncomplimentary adjectives in one sentence, doesn\'t sugar-coat his subject. The young colonel is vain and frequently threatens to resign his commission, and he isn\'t above bending the facts in letters to authorities. He also unapologetically hangs two deserters \'for example\'s sake\' ... But that\'s just a sidelight in Young Washington. In the crucible of war, he learned to control his passion in more ways than one.
Eileen McNamara
PositiveBookPage\"McNamara wields a deft touch as she recounts Shriver’s role in the Special Olympics and extending rights for the developmentally disabled, which was surely influenced by the tragic story of her older sister Rosemary, who was born with intellectual disabilities and sent out of public view after a botched lobotomy. Audaciously titled or not, Eunice leaves no doubt that its subject truly changed the world.\
Daniel Kalder
PositiveBookPageTo say this was a tall task would be an understatement but Kalder delivers with this entertaining and highly informative book. It helps that he keeps his sense of humor ... 'Dictators usually live lives that are rich in experience,' he deadpans early on, and the quips are sprinkled throughout (including a shot at everyman author Bill Bryson). Given the subject matter, they are never unwelcome.
Zak Dychtwald
RaveBookPage...entertaining and instructive … Dychtwald develops insights about everything from the obscure (the hugely popular ‘double-eyelid’ cosmetic surgery, which creates a more ‘Western-shaped’ eye) to the well known (China’s now abolished one-child policy) to the inevitable (sex). He discovers that contemporary young people in China and the United States have essentially identical dreams. But the journey to this point is a fascinating story, and Young China tells it well.
Ann Hulbert
RaveBookPageIn Off the Charts, [Hulbert] peers into the formative years of 15 individuals, combining lively biographical sketches with serious analysis of the factors that contributed to their ascendancy in the public eye. Most of these prodigies we know, while some—such as precocious novelist Barbara Newhall Follett—have been virtually lost to history, but all offer important lessons … Wisely, Hulbert downplays judging the children’s genius and lets the facts—and often the prodigies—speak for themselves.
William Taubman
PositiveBookPageWith a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Nikita Khrushchev to his credit, Taubman is well-positioned to undertake the challenge, and he does so in a clear, direct style. Gorbachev’s cooperation no doubt helped, but cooperation doesn’t necessarily produce sympathy in this evenhanded work ... The narrative is enhanced by a vivid cast of characters, including Gorbachev’s wife, Raisa, and ally-turned-rival Boris Yeltsin, not to mention jousting foes such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Rarely seen photos made available by the Gorbachev Foundation add to the experience of reading this important book.
