Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden

Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A year in the life of Joe Biden. It cover's not only his personal life but is interwoven with his job as Vice President. He still manages to do his job meanwhile his son, Beau Biden, battles cancer that doesn't have a good prognosis, to begin with. Unfortunately, the world doesn't stop for that stuff. He deals with the crisis in Ukraine and the middle east. Back home there is a church shooting and police are gunned down in New York City.

Unfortunately, Beau Biden loses his battle with cancer and he is heartbroken. This coincides with the 2016(pretty much starts in 2015) campaign season ramping up. As much as he knows people are understanding of his personal loss pressure mounts for him to decide to run for President which his prospects looked excellent to be the next President. As we all know he eventually decided not to. The book goes more into why he didn't.

The book gives us a picture of what Joe is like and is heartwarming without being overwhelmingly sugar-coated like a Hallmark movie. It also shows in his job he can be tough when needed. In contrast, he can show empathy and decency when called for. With a deluge of books about the current President, this may give you a glimpse of what could be.

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WATCH: Joe Biden’s full speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention

1776 by David McCullough

1776 by David McCullough
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I listened to this on Audible but I had read it before. A large part of it was that I love listening to David McCullough talk about history, I could listen to him for hours(which I did in this case). I'll just do a quick summary of the book here.

In short this is the first year and half of George Washington's taking command of the American forces in mid 1775 in Boston in which British forces are surrounded by the American forces. and ends in early January 1777 after Washington exceeds expectations and defeats Hessian's at Trenton, New Jersey and the British at Princeton, New Jersey. These were relatively small engagements but served as morale boost for the American's in general and solidified Washington's leadership(and perhaps his mythical status in American history). It also forced the British(and mercenary Hessian's) to take the Continental Army seriously.

We also meet a variety of people of the revolutionary period. We meet his two most trusted General's Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene whom would serve Washington for the duration of the war. It was Knox's idea and follow thru to get the the artillery pieces at Fort Ticonderoga and trek them all the way to Boston which helped brake the siege. We also meet future Presidents John Adams and James Monroe(who served in Washington's Army). We also meet another founding father who was a young Artillery Captain, Alexander Hamilton(who's popularity has exploded in recent years).

The book only gives a passing glance to political goings on elsewhere outside of Washington's military actions. For anything leading up to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776(which unsurprising is probably what people first think of when you say 1776) you'd have to go elsewhere like David McCullough's epic biography of John Adams. This is pretty much a military history of George Washington during this time period.

David McCullough's storytelling is masterful and I highly recommend the audio version. I've read other military books and they can be dry and overly serious without much context, this is none of that. His descriptions are colorful and we get to know more about the people involved which point out the good and the bad of each side in this case(yes Washington had his faults). For those wishing to read about the American Revolution I'd certainly put this on the essential reading list.

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Enduring Vietnam by James Edwards Wright

Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War by James Edward Wright
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was born in the midst of the American War in Vietnam and it was over by the time I became aware of it. I had uncles that were there, one seriously wounded. The war itself wasn't if at all, discussed very much. In my reading the past year or so I've taken an interest in exploring this tumultuous event in our country's history. I've read many viewpoints from military and political narratives. I've also read personal accounts of the boots on the ground from the patrols to the large scale battles that went on. This one though seemed to blend those together to give an overall picture of the war not only overseas but how it was experienced on the home front without being politically charged one way or the other.

One particularly moving moment was how the government was unprepared to notify families of soldiers who were wounded or killed, especially early in the war. The movie "We Were Soldiers" shows this too where taxi drivers dispatched with telegrams to give to family's telegrams of their loss. As you can imagine that didn't go over well. It was later changed that a member of the military and usually a local clergy member wound do it. Even then it was a harrowing experience not only for family members but those tasked with notifying usually didn't last long doing it as it was an emotionally draining experience. I have an 18-year-old son and couldn't imagine hearing that kind of news myself.

The book came closer to my personal quest in finding something about the Vietnam War to sort of paint a before and after picture about how it affected attitudes and society in general. It seems it started with high ideals with a sense of duty and obligation. What seemed to happen during the course of the conflict was those ideals seemed to drain away when the war, which didn't have clearly defined goals, dragged on and on and on. It wasn't a more traditional war of territorial goals but became a war of attrition and patience in which the opposition had more of.

It is an excellent book about this era and can be a good starting point to go deeper into a given area as it covers a lot of subjects and viewpoints that could be booked on their own. Anyone looking for a deeper understanding of this historic period should put this on their reading list.

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The Company of the Mad: The Stand Podcast

I binged this podcast the other night which talks about The Stand by Stephen King. It's fascinating and interesting to listen to if you're a fan of King and the book. This is just the first episode. Enjoy!

Trump Nation: The Art of Being The Donald by Timothy L. O'Brien

TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald by Timothy L. O'Brien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting look The Donald before he got serious about politics. In short he's been much about selling an image rather than an a tangible item. To paraphrase someone else he's the poor man's image of a rich man. A weak man's image of a tough guy. The late iconic movie star John Wayne did this as he became a character all his own in an almost self parody. Instead of Wayne playing a part, the part was Wayne. It was John Wayne the sailor. It was John Wayne the Marine and of course John Wayne the cowboy. In turn it was Donald the real estate mogul. It was Donald the airline owner. It was Donald owning a football team. It was Donald owning(and bankrupting) casino's. It was Donald the deal-maker and so on.

The book ends just as he is riding the initial success of "The Apprentice" which is said to reinvent and repair Donald's image after the 90's beat him up a bit. This is before his start with birther-ism and one could say his spiraling towards his more darker side in politics. Up to this he had been relatively harmless minor celebrity riding a wave of popularity due to his show. His legacy may have gone relatively untarnished had his celebrity peaked here but obviously it didn't.

It's not a bad book if you're looking for a relatively unbiased look at Donald before he became politically decisive and controversial. He was no angel up to this point but he wasn't the leader of the free world either. It doesn't have the feel of an overly serious look at Donald himself or any of his shadier business practices or his outdated personal beliefs that would later come to life. The book sort of treats him as a modern day(as of 2005) P.T. Barnum which isn't meant as a dig but it was pretty much where Donald was at that point in history as he was sort of taken as a joke. It seems the joke was on us.



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Reading summary for July

Reading summary for  July:

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo - Excellent thought provoking book on racism and White fragility. I highly recommend this one for incite into recent reaction to the murder of George Floyd and protests that exploded in it’s aftermath. It was helpful for me to begin to understand my own place in it.

The Fifties by David Halberstam - I had been on a reading journey of sorts regarding the 1960’s but wanted to look back into the 1950’s to see what influenced the turbulent 1960’s. It covers issues such as the development of the hydrogen bomb(AKA: “The Super” in the book), Korean War, MacDonald’s, Eisenhauer, Nixon, French War in Vietnam( which turned into our problem a decade later, Brown versus Board of Education, Little Rock, Rosa Parks, Rev, Martin L. King Jr, Elvis Presley, Joseph McCarthy and so on. Some of the beginning was a bit dry but got more interesting as it went along. It’s not just a chronological history but one in which many of the stories intertwined with each other. Each one of them could be a book onto itself (which most have I imagine). It’s sort of a book that can be a good starting point or reference for the decade. 

Books in progress:

Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump PH.D. - I’m about ¾ of the way through this and it’s certainly one of the better books on the subject of the current President. 

Enduring Vietnam by James Edward Wright - An interesting look at the American War in Vietnam. It’s neither a political or military historical but an overall look at how it affected society and how it had been different from our other wars, especially World War 2.

Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden - It’s seemed I was over saturating with Trump books so I thought I’d take a look at who will hopefully be our next President. In short Joe is a complete 180 from the current White House occupant as far just being a decent human being. The book is set around the time his son Beau was diagnosed with the cancer that would eventually take his life. It is very good so far.