An excellent combination of history and biography with relevance to today’s political climate.
The complete story of the remarkable rivalry and union of two giants of American politics.
McClelland, author of Young Mr. Obama and Nothin' But Blue Skies, offers detailed and nuanced context to perhaps the most compelling and consequential rivalry in U.S. political history, which culminated in an alliance for a higher purpose. The most striking aspect of the book is the author’s approach to the long, complex personal and political relationship between Lincoln and Douglas in the form of his astute analysis of 19th-century Illinois politics. He examines its significance as a microcosm of the nation, with distinct regions dominated by varied perspectives about slavery, abolitionism, and the role of the federal government as embodied by Lincoln and Douglas, themselves ambitious transplants to the state. McClelland explains Douglas' vision and work during his political career to make Chicago the great railroad hub that connected U.S. trade coast to coast, which figured in to his championing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and concept of popular sovereignty that drew Lincoln in to the 1858 Senate race. McClelland takes readers on a vivid journey through Illinois and the sites of the monumental series of debates, during which Douglas walked the political tightrope concerning slavery that secured his reelection yet created the opportunity for Lincoln to become a national candidate and defeat him for the presidency two years later. Rather than undermining the man who bested him for the prize he most coveted, Douglas honorably supported Lincoln during the end of that presidential election and subsequent final months of his life in ways unimaginable in contemporary American politics. As McClelland thoroughly demonstrates, Douglas was not merely gracious in defeat, but truly magnanimous. The rendering of this unique political saga and its implications is top-notch and worthy of a wide readership.
An excellent combination of history and biography with relevance to today’s political climate.Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781639366378
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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