Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

A political leader's decisions can determine the fate of a nation, but what determines how and why that leader makes certain choices? William H. Chafe, a distinguished historian of 20th Century America, examines eight of the most significant political leaders of the modern era in order to explore the relationship between their personal patterns of behaviour and their political decision-making process. The result is a fascinating look at how personal lives and political fortunes have intersected to shape America over the past fifty years. One might expect our leaders to be healthy, wealthy, genteel and happy. In fact, most of these individuals - from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Martin Luther King, Jr., from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton - came from dysfunctional families, including three children of alcoholics; half grew up in poor or only marginally secure homes; most experienced discord in their marriages; and at least two displayed signs of mental instability. What links this extraordinarily diverse group is an intense ambition to succeed, and the drive to overcome adversity. would define their careers and shape the way they exercised power. Chafe probes the influences that forged these men's lives and profiles the distinctive personalities that moulded their exercise of power in times of danger and strife. The history of the United States from the Depression into the new century cannot be understood without exploring the dynamic and critical relationship between personal history and political leadership that these eight life stories so poignantly reveal.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction(p. 1)
• 1 The Roosevelts: A Partnership Unprecedented(p. 5)
• 2 Martin Luther King Jr.: Toward the Promised Land(p. 61)
• 3 John F. Kennedy: From Detachment to Engagement(p. 96)
• 4 Robert F. Kennedy: Despair and Commitment(p. 140)
• 5 Lyndon Baines Johnson: A Need for Consensus(p. 178)
• 6 Richard M. Nixon: Genius and Paranoia(p. 233)
• 7 Ronald Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime(p. 292)
• 8 The Clintons: A Flawed Co-Presidency(p. 327)
• Conclusion(p. 381)
• Bibliographical Essay(p. 393)
• Acknowledgments(p. 403)
• Index(p. 405)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In his lucid introduction to these eight biopolitical profiles, Chafe (history, Duke Univ.; The Unfinished Journey: America Since World War II) writes that although he has devoted his academic career to showing that social movements are the driving force of American history, modern American political leaders have made a huge impact by dint of their personal decisiveness and how they coped with particular life challenges. He analyzes the lives of FDR and influential wife Eleanor, Martin Luther King Jr., JFK, Robert F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. His vivid and revealing portraits illustrate how a life crisis (such as polio for FDR, JFK's assassination for Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King's wrestling with God during one particular night) gave purpose to his subjects' personal and political lives. Chafe deepens his essays by discussing the positive and negative influences of family role models upon these men. Most of this information has been published in other sources, but Chafe skillfully integrates it, showing the complex relationship between personality and political leadership. Although there are no endnotes, he includes a short bibliographical essay. Engrossing and informative, this book brings 20th-century U.S. history alive. For most public and academic libraries.-Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

For FDR, it was polio. For Martin Luther King Jr., a spiritual breakdown from threats to his life and family. JFK's was the heroic rescue of fellow sailors from the sinking navy vessel PT 109, and for Robert Kennedy it was the experience of his brother's assassination. According to Chafe, a professor of history at Duke University, these "moments of crisis" shaped the political framework of the 20th century's most notable leaders. Identifying such pivotal moments, and their resultant "patterns of behavior," appears to be the primary purpose of Chafe's eight biographical essays. For though he introduces this book with a lofty preamble on the relationship between the private and the political, his presentation is more gossipy than scholarly. He uses no formal notation from primary resources, and his psychological analyses, while likely grounded in some established fact, tend to make wild generalizations. Yet his collection succeeds as an engaging series of political portraits that condense a tremendous amount of historical material into short, opinionated essays. His depictions of Joe Kennedy's influence on his sons, LBJ's manipulations of power and Nixon's paranoia offer insight into their agendas and decision making, but it is the final essay on the Clintons that best exemplifies the blurry distinction between private and public. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Since the Great Depression, the US has witnessed an impressive run of political and social leaders who have proven to be exceptional, though often paradoxical. Chafe (Duke Univ.) has penned an interesting, well-written, insightful, and highly informative book that examines and discusses ten of these people in eight chapters: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill and Hillary Clinton. An outstanding feature is that Chafe deftly strikes a balance between focusing on and analyzing the private as well as the public persona of each of these fascinating people, and he does this without ax-grinding or canonization. The intelligent, elegant prose is filled with juicy quotes, and the 400 pages of text race. This is a shining example of masterful storytelling by a talented historian. The only criticism, a slight one, is that reference citations for the numerous quotes would have been a welcome element. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General collections and undergraduates through faculty. T. Maxwell-Long California State University, San Bernardino