A well-wrought tale of how the American empire came to be born on the balance sheet as much as by the gun.
A lively if overlong history of the origins of federal power.
A reader of a QAnon-ish bent might come away from this book convinced that Alexander Hamilton founded the so-called deep state. That person would have a point. As Revolutionary War–era historian Hogeland writes, Hamilton was committed to founding a strong, even imperial national government; to achieve it, he crafted instruments of a national economy. One of them was public debt, the “driving wheel” for a great nation. Without debt, the fledgling nation could not have funded any number of endeavors, not least the first foreign war against the pirates of the Barbary Coast. Much as Thomas Jefferson disliked the specter of a federal power stronger than that of the states, without that debt, the Louisiana Purchase could never have been completed. As Hogeland shows, the struggle between Hamilton and his states’ rights–minded opponents was an existential one “over the fundamental meaning of American government,” and in many respects, it continues today. Hamilton had a talent for making enemies, though friends such as Declaration of Independence signer Robert Morris, wealthy and powerful, helped him survive politically. Morris’ great lesson was one of “commercial domination,” to which Hamilton aspired more as a national than a personal accomplishment. Hogeland’s story is lengthy and circumstantial, but marked by plenty of drama: Hamilton’s stepping out from under George Washington’s shadow to become the foremost “Continentalist” politician of his day; his pitched battles with Albert Gallatin, “treasury secretary to two presidents,” over the structure of the national economy; and Thomas Jefferson’s eventual dismantling of “the Hamilton scheme” and subsequent returns to it until the hybrid called “Jeffersonian ends by Hamiltonian means” took root.
A well-wrought tale of how the American empire came to be born on the balance sheet as much as by the gun.Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9780374167837
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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