I will soon be starting another volume in Robert Caro's masterful series on Lyndon Johnson but first need to wrap up Jonathan Fenby's fascinating book on Charles de Gaulle. The Amity Shlaes book on Calvin Coolidge also awaits.
This blog has covered the subject of biographies before simply because there are so many great ones out there and many are packed with information that can be helpful in our own lives.
It's time for an update. Give me your recommendations.
4 comments:
I recently finished "Eisenhower, the White House Years." Since 1) he was in office a couple of decades before I was born, and 2) his legacy was likely deliberately downplayed in an effort to make his successor shine more, I was less aware of his mark than many.
I'm now ranking him a lot closer to Reagan in terms of being a top 20th century president than I expected. I suspect as he becomes farther removed from current political issues his star will shine brighter.
Daniel,
Eisenhower's reputation has risen in recent years and deservedly so. He was an extraordinary leader.
Michael
I found The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge to be very well written. I would read any biography written by Paul Johnson (Churchill and Mozart at the latest two I read; both were excellent). Terry Teachout's The Skeptic is a great portrait of Mencken. Van Wyck Brooks' The World of Washington Irving is also very good. My two favorite biographies are Maynard Solomon's Mozart and Martin Anderson's Revolution, about Ronald Reagan. A surprisingly good biography is Charles Janeway Stille's Major General Anthony Wayne. Wayne was a brilliant strategist.
Michael
I'll put in a word for Robert Coram's 'Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War'. Boyd's integrity is a wonder to behold.
Phil
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