MixedThe New York Times Book Review\"
Philbrick’s survey of Washington’s journeys draws on his own knowledge of the period, and on his eye for detail ... Philbrick’s present-day experiences and thoughts are skippable, except when he wrestles with problems, some of Washington’s vintage, that continue to afflict us. Of greatest concern to us now are slavery and its child, racism. Philbrick introduces us to several enslaved people whom Washington owned ... We might have heard more about the 123 others he owned whom he freed in his will. The descendants of one of them, Nancy Carter Quander, hold an annual family reunion. Philbrick could have attended.
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Bob Spitz
MixedThe Wall Street JournalMr. Spitz’s prose is business casual: no tie, collar unbuttoned, blazer, loafers. It keeps his many pages turning, and it knits his many venues—small towns, sound stages, summit meetings—smoothly together...What Reagan: An American Journey sometimes misses is a sense of urgency, beyond the immediate concerns of its hero and his circle...a handsome, handy introduction to the 20th century’s last hero.
William Trevor
PositiveNational ReviewThere was no human wallpaper in the story, instead a frieze of 3-D figures ... I was astonished by his batting average, and by his slugging percentage. Most of the stories were hits, and all the hits were for extra bases ... When I think about these stories after reading them, I can recall interesting things.
Gordon S. Wood
RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewThis is an engrossing story, which Wood tells with a mastery of detail and a modern plainness of expression that makes a refreshing contrast with the 18th-century locutions of his subjects ... Wood acknowledges the force of Adams’s fears. He also clearly admires him as a contrarian: 'In all of American history, no political leader of Adams’s stature, and certainly no president, has ever so emphatically denied the belief in American exceptionalism'...Jefferson he finds too sunny for this world...In the end, however, Wood, almost against his inclinations, declares Jefferson the winner of this philosophical smack-down. The proof of the theory is in the eating. Jefferson explained, as well as anyone, how democracy could work; since America has endured, it is at least possible that Jefferson was right.
