Customer Reviews:
Political Science at a discount........2007-09-11
Buying this product (We the People: Shorter Sixth Edition) off of amazon was an excellent choice. Considering that the campus bookstore charged 3x more, this was an outstanding value for such an in depth look at American Government.
Great price.......2007-09-10
The book is in perfect condition and is the edition that I needed. I also believe it was brand new and it was cheaper than what my bookstore was selling it used.
Wow.......2007-09-07
I saved lots of money buying here and it was still new i couldn't believe it
Good for undergrads and good review for grads.......2007-07-28
Easily applies governmental fundamentals to real world issues. Allows for quick and easy understanding
Book Description
Emphasizing the relevance of politics and government in everyday life, We the People provides tools to help students think critically about American government and politics. The Sixth Edition has been carefully updated to reflect most recent developments, including the ongoing conflict in Iraq and the 2006 midterm elections. Complemented by a rich package of multimedia tools for instructors and students, including a new video-clip DVD, We the People is now more pedagogically effective than ever.
Book Description
A political science text for the 21st Century, DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE has provided well over a million students with a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of American Government. Milton Cummings, a respected scholar and academic, and David Wise, a best selling author and political analyst, bring their talents to bear on a text that conveys a balanced, realistic guide to American politics while describing the institutions of American government. In this 2006 election year update edition, the theme of "democracy under pressure" is highlighted fully in the narrative and in the boxed features. The text includes a discussion of the systems approach--a framework of analysis that discusses the political process in terms of inputs and outputs--as well as a key question and related questions to consider in each chapter. DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE focuses throughout on the gap that exists between rhetoric and reality in government today. Streamlined content in this edition makes the book even more accessible and appealing to students and instructors alike.
Book Description
The first comprehensive textbook on political psychology, this user-friendly volume explores the psychological origins of political behavior. Using psychological concepts to explain types of political behavior, the authors introduce a broad range of theories and cases of political activity to illustrate the behavior. The book examines many patterns of political behaviors including leadership, group behavior, voting, race, ethnicity, nationalism, political extremism, terrorism, war, and genocide. Text boxes highlight current and historical events to help students see the connection between the world around them and the concepts they are learning. Examples highlight a variety of research methodologies used in the discipline such as experimentation and content analysis. The "Political Being" is used throughout to remind the reader of the psychological theories and concepts to be explored in each chapter. Introduction to Political Psychology explores some of the most horrific things people do to one another for political purposes, as well as how to prevent and resolve conflict, and how to recover from it. The goal is to help the reader understand the enormous complexity of human behavior and the significant role political psychology can play in improving the human condition.
Designed for upper division courses on political psychology or political behavior, this volume also contains material of interest to those in the policymaking community.
Customer Reviews:
This isn't Pop Psychology.......2006-10-15
Two years ago, while doing research to teach an undergraduate course in Political Psychology, the choices were slim and none. Several books of edited chapters were available, but for an undergraduate course, I wanted a textbook that would provide structure to the field. Cottam, et al have done an admirable job of marrying basic psychological processes to political applications. Well written and informative, I would recommend this as a textbook for upper division students in Psychology and Political Science. WARNING: take Social Psychology first. You won't understand the theoretical underpinnings without Social Psychology.
Great introduction to Political Psychology.......2005-11-12
This book is very recommended for anyone interested in politics, psychology, the reasons behind political actions and of course those taking beginner classes in political pschyology. The book is in an easy readable style and motivates you to learn various psychological concepts such as perception, emotions, cognition, group, etc. The book is well structured in focusing on the individual and then on the group. A chapter on leadership helps better understand presidential behavior.
In the second part (Ch. 6-10) many of the concepts are applied to specific areas of interest to political scientists: voting and the media, race and ethnicity, nationalism, political extremism and international relations. Each chapter concludes with a list of key terms (which are also bold within the text). At the end of the book, all terms are listed for quick reference.
However since this book is merely introductory, it will make you want to read more on the interesting topics. The literature lists at the end of each chapter give a good start for further research!
Definetly recommended! 5 out of 5 stars
Average customer rating:
- Publisher Notes:
- not bad, but not good
- An easy to follow introduction
- A Little TOO Short
- An almost ideal introduction to the subject.
|
Marx: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions X)
Peter Singer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0192854054 |
Book Description
Peter Singer identifies the central vision that unifies Marx's thought, enabling us to grasp Marx's views as a whole. He sees him as a philosopher primarily concerned with human freedom, rather than as an economist or a social scientist. He explains alienation, historical materialism, the economic theory of Capital, and Marx's ideas of communism, in plain English, and concludes with an assessment of Marx's legacy.
Customer Reviews:
Publisher Notes:.......2006-10-10
The Past Masters Series is a concise, lucid , aythoritative introduction to the thought of leading intellectual figures of the past whose ideas still influence the way we think today. ... sees Marx as a philosopher, rather than as an economist or social scientis. ' an admirably balanced portrait of the man and his achievement' says Philip Toynbee, Observer.
not bad, but not good.......2006-02-10
Very little of the text is devoted to analyzing Marx's most important work. For example, a total of one chapter (~30 pages) is devoted to Das Kapital, Marx's seminal work.
On the other hand, excessive attention is paid to unimportant aspects of Marx. For example, most of the book is spent analyzing Marx's philosophical background, his obscure earlier works, his philosophical predecessors (Hegel & Feuerbach), and the effects of his doctrines. The chapter devoted to Singer's mediocre economic analysis is as long as the chapter devoted to Das Kapital!
Although the book has some good material, that good material constitutes only ~30 pages.
An easy to follow introduction.......2005-04-13
I am doing an MA in political science and my professor screwed his nose up a bit when I showed him this, because Singer is not a name that one associates with Marxism. I bought it because I liked his anthology on Ethics so much. I must say that I don't agree with some of the conclusions that Singer draws in his assessment of Marxism at the end of the book, but his strength is his ability to write at a level that is easy to understand. He avoids jargon where possible and that in itself takes a lot of the mystery out of this stuff. I recommend this book as a good place to start when looking at Marx.
A Little TOO Short.......2005-02-28
I felt the later chapters of this book were well developed, but the first few chapters on how Marx developed his philosophy from Hegel's left me with more questions than answers. Overall, the book provides are decent foundation on which to critique Marx as a philosopher, social scientist, economist, etc. Singer brings up many common objections to Marxist thought, but he also presents Marx's ideas in a non-bias way and gives credit where he sees credit is due. I found the biography of Marx to be interesting along with the subtleties of his relationship with Engels. But in the end, I wish this book had been a little more detailed, especially with regards to Marx's early works and philosophy.
An almost ideal introduction to the subject........2003-08-22
Peter Singer's "Marx: A Very Short Introduction" is a superbly lucid and concise introduction to the subject of Marx and Marxism. Assuming the reader has no background in Marx's thought, Singer covers most of the important issues of Marxism and then assesses Marx's achievements and shortcomings in a refreshingly balanced manner.
What makes this book such a valuable introduction is Singer's clear understanding of what lies at the heart of Marxism: the issue of human freedom. Too many works on Marxism reduce it to a merely economic philosophy, which has the destruction of capitalism (and subsequent liberation of the world's workers) as its end. This is a gross misrepresentation of Marx's thought. Marx saw the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of a classless society as means toward the true end which he sought: the liberation of humanity from oppression and exploitation and a return to our true nature as creative, self-actualizing beings rather than mere laboring appendages to an economic machine. Marx envisioned a world in which humanity toiled with its individual and universal fulfillment as the goal, rather than a world in which a few grow rich while the many dig ditches or work in Asian sweatshops for Nike. Freedom, true freedom, was the purpose behind Marx's work and also his life.
I highly recommend this book as a serious, thorough, and fair introduction to this complex subject. Apart from Terry Eagleton's "Marx," there is no better guide than this.
Book Description
This substantially revised third edition of the leading text on political ideologies takes full account of the impact of the post-Cold War world order, the challenge of postmodernism, the advance of globalization, and the advent of global terrorism, and includes additional coverage of the prospects for ideologies in the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Good Introduction to Political Thought.......2004-11-30
This book makes a nice introduction or review text to the world of political ideologies. The author gives a wealth of information on the history, key themes, and current status of each ideology discussed. Sidebars presenting brief biographical sketches of important names within each ideology are also helpful in providing a more complete picture of where ideas come from. My only complaint is that this book seems to have skipped past the editing process and has made it into print filled with glaring grammatical errors and typos. You can find at least two on any page (I've made a game out of it). Although the information is still valid, it is nevertheless annoying.
A great introduction to political philosophy.......2001-06-28
It was my Political Studies teacher at school who first showed me that life is about ideas. Different views of human nature, ways in which we believe society and the state should be organised, these are eternal debates that have enslaved and emancipated countless numbers over the centuries. Andrew Heywood's `Political Ideologies' served me well then at school and continues to do so - I recently went and bought a copy to read over again. The author manages to combine complexity of thought with simplicity of presentation that opens your eyes to why politicians can't ever seem to agree, even when the answer seems obvious to us. The new edition contains new sections that reflect the collapse of communism, the emergence of a global capitalist system, the rise of ethnic nationalism, religious fundamentalism and the advent of postmodernism. The only criticism that I can level at this textbook is that it isn't really designed for an international audience. The author is a British academic and so it isn't that surprising that, for example, the section on conservatism is more relevant to the UK Conservative Party than the GOP. But still, for anyone who cares about life and the way that people should be treated by the state, this is a great introduction that will open up a new world of political possibilities.
Book Description
Compact and jargon-free, this book focuses on the major issues and themes of comparative politics. It limits its focus to ten major countries so readers won't be overwhelmed by excessive details. Democratization and globalization. Political issues and changes in developing countries. Alternative institutional frameworks. The effects of socioeconomic cleavages. Non-western cultures and values. Electoral systems. New directions in comparative research. For anyone wanting a readable introduction to comparative politics and a broader understanding of world politics.
Book Description
Generally regarded as the definitive work on totalitarianism, this book is an essential component of any study of twentieth-century political movements. Arendt was one of the first to recognize that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were two sides of the same coin rather than opposing philosophies of Right and Left. “With the Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt emerges as the most original and profound-therefore the most valuable-political theoretician of our times” (New Leader). Index.
Customer Reviews:
Got Time?.......2007-03-08
There's no question Arendt is brilliant and inspired, but I should read the Arendt for Dummies or choose a shorter book. I began to read this volume, which covers Origins of Antisemetisim and Origins of Imperialism also, and got bogged down, so I began skimming. Definitely important stuff in there, and I did glean information that was new to me, but in the end I shelved the book because it is too long. Choose it if you are "studying", not just an inquiring person.
More relevant than ever.......2006-12-24
Though this book was written in the 1950s, there is much in it that is relevant to politics as we know it today. In the wake of the disinformation we now know to be the basis for the debacle of the current war, some of the statements made by Arendt regarding totalitarian regimes sound a very loud warning bell. A case in point:
"Totalitarian politics....use and abuse their own ideologies and political elements until the basis of factual reality, from which the ideologies derived their strength...have all but disappeared."
There is a disturbing similarity between the refusal of some of our government officials to admit their mistakes and the description of some of the methods used by totalitarian leaders to manipulate facts and discernible reality in order to produce outcomes they have previously predicted. Totalitarian leaders never admit to error. If the reader finds no other relevance in this book but that, it will have been time well spent.
A Book to be read now.......2006-08-08
I'll keep this simple: look at what is going on in the US, in the MId-East, in China. If that doesn't alarm you, you need to read this book even more carefully than the rest of us, as Histaory is about to repeat itself because our xenophobia knows no limits. This is as critical today as it was when Arendt wrote it.
A real classic.......2006-03-24
This is a must read for anyone interested in understanding popular history, values, and structures of modern western society, and how they relate to modern political power in the twentieth and twenty-first century. It challenges many values that are often taken for granted in national and international power play and politics. The Origins of Totalitarianism will remains relevant to current events, and a warning to those who advocate change without taking into account the mistakes committed by our forbearer. This book explains in detail the dangers to liberal democracy that the scourge of racism has been and could be again. On a darker note it could also be used as blueprint by those who wish to abuse power. A true classic.
At first glance one could be drawn into making close parallels between modern Pan Islamist movements and the Pan European movements of the twentieth century, but the analysis would be far from complete. The Pan European movements where primarily tribal in nature, where as the Osama's Pan Islamist movement forms a superset without full integration of racial components. The dangers and the cold bureaucratic cauculas are similar, however Islam spans many races and cultures. Race therefore cannot form the primary glue required to hold it together. Also Islamist movements are not progressive, they are reactionary in nature. On the other hand close parallels can be drawn to the Pan Slavic movement with regards to Saddam's Iraqi nationalistic movement. Osama's concept of Pan Islam differs in many ways from Stalin's or Hitler's base, the primarily glue is religious ideology and fear, not race or nationalism. Furthermore his ideology is not anywhere close to being shared by the masses within Islamic countries, and as a result terrorism is a requirement from start, not so much against the west, but against moderate elements or differing sects within the countries where this movement thrives. This is not to say that they do not use terrorism in all of it's traditional roles. Euro style nationalism is counter productive to the Pan Islamist movement, and one of it's objectives is to break down nationalism. In short if one must make parallels, they can be made to the books third section and Osama's Islamist movement operations, but only very weak correlation to sections one and two.
This book is written in a way that requires the reader to work hard, but it is worth the effort.
A Frightening Warning about Mass Man and "Virtue" of Thoughtlessness.......2006-01-16
Haannah Arendt's THE ORIGINS OF TOTAITARIANISM(TOT)is both a thoughtful book and a frightening view of both the background of totalitarianism as well as the practical application of this political phenomena. The reader should realize this book requires time and careful thought to appreciate the book's importance.
The first section of the book deals with antisemitism which Miss Arendt argues was a cornerstone of later totalitarianism. She argues that the gradual development of mass culture and mass politics resulted in targeting and scapegoating any target minority such as Jews. She explains that antisemitism was a gradual political movement that exploded in the late 19th and especially in the 20th century. A different thesis could have been presented, but thus far this is the best one this reviewer has read.
Part two of the book explains how imperialism and racism merged especailly during the Age of Nationalism. Religious discord was replaced by sociological and political theories that not only extolled nation but also race and blood. This section deals with these two concepts both in Western Europe and Eastern Europe. One must remember that persecution of Jews was particulary lethal in Eastern Europe between World War I and World War II and espeically during The Second World War.
Part three of the book is the best section of THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM. If readers have difficutly with sections one and two of this book, they owe it to themselves to at least read section three.
Miss Arendt makes a frightening assessment that the liquidation (mass murder of people of race or class) was not so much personal vendetta as these mass murders were bureaucratic operations that were done as a matter of political policy and "normal" bureaucratic operations. She warns readers that totalitarian leaders changed enemies almost weekly. In other words, those who were innocent one time were "enemies of the state or people" later. In other words, totalitarian leaders never never exhausted their enemies' lists and kept the masses alert for supposed enemies regardless of the rapid changes in those designated for mass murder. One quote that should alert thoughtful readers is, "The aim of totalitarian education has never been to instill convictions but to destroy the capacity to form any." The serious implication is that totalitarian leaders suspect that thoughtlessness is a virtue which benefits the leaders of the mass political movements. The fact is that once innocent people were arrested, they were "non-persons" whose memories were altered and then forgotten.
This book is a serious warning to anyone who takes pride in individual liberties and appreciates individual achievement regardless of their religious convictions or ancestry. Miss Arendt is clear that totalitarian leaders do not recognize talent except as talented individuals may threaten their arrogant self importance.
Readers would do well to also read Orwell's 1984 and Hoffer's THE TRUE BELIEVER to have a better grasp of THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM. This reviewer highly recommends this book with the reservation that this book is not "light reading."
Book Description
Edmund Wilson's magnum opus, To the Finland Station, is a stirring account of revolutionary politics, people, and ideas from the French Revolution through the Paris Commune to the Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917. It is a work of history on a grand scale, at once sweeping and detailed, closely reasoned and passionately argued, that succeeds in painting an unforgettable picture--alive with conspirators and philosophers, utopians and nihilists--of the making of the modern world.
Customer Reviews:
Takes time to read it, but pays off tremendously.......2007-03-26
It has been several months since I finished To the Finland Station, and I'm still in awe of the scope of this book and its sensitive author. To the Finland Station is a world-class work of scholarly non-fiction. It reads like a novel partly because there are no endnotes or footnotes--though a handy index--but largely because the highly-perceptive writer, Edmund Wilson (1895-1972), mastered three elements of the novelist's craft: the narrative arc or rising and falling action, the reader's need for sensory language which shows the characters in action, and the relationship of geographic location to action and character. Through Edmund Wilson, we "see" Karl Marx courting his wife, the daughter of the Baron von Westphalen, in Trier, Germany; we "see" Lenin in a harsh Siberian winter, we "see" the cast of hundreds of thousands oppressed under absolute monarchies.
Keep in mind that the subtitle of To the Finland Station is "A Study in the Writing and Acting of History." This book is just as much about the historical actors as it is about Edmund Wilson's ability to trace the history of an idea. In order to understand the later chapters on Marx and Engels and Lenin, one must understand this "idea"--the main character of the book--and why Wilson begins his narrative with Jules Michelet and Giambattista Vico. Quite simply, Wilson wrote a modern history with which the world should now be familiar: that idea is that the development of democracy is inevitable, particularly because industrialization enabled people to organize based upon their economic class, which was partly determined by their relationship to industrial development. Edmund Wilson says that Michelet, who loved to read and write, was looking for a way of writing history that would account for how people feel about their lives, how industrial life, and the new, ugly slums affected the formation of nations--as well as the individual person. In a phrase--though I'm being very brief--thinkers from Michelet to Marx and Lenin were looking at ideas of human progress: how can people improve themselves, become better people, have justice served, what is the capacity for human beings to govern themselves, and what stands in the way of human development? What I'm writing here can't give you the beauty of Wilson's succinct prose, his ability to capture the essence of human history.
All my questions were answered by To the Finland Station: What were the working conditions for factory employees such that they had to revolt? How did rich people respond to these conditions? Was it inevitable that the Czar of Russia and his family be executed in 1917? What was Lenin trying to do that was perverted by Stalin? How or why was Communism different in Russia than in England or Germany? What is the difference between Communism and Socialism? Why do the people of France still seem proud of their 19th-century revolutionary history? How might Europeans today think of their history with each other such that the United States would be affected?
If you are not a specialist in 20th-century history, and do not have time to consult the original documents written by everyone Wilson mentions--from Giambattista Vico and Hegel, Jules Michelet, and Robert Owen to Karl Marx--To the Finland Station sorts it all out and sheds light on so much.
Months after I finished reading this book, I'm still typing up my notes on the sections where I left little x's in the margins to note areas of critical, topical concern. But knowing bits of To the Finland Station is more than about being conversant in American and European history; it's about knowing who we are and have been and where we are going. Wilson concludes: "To accomplish such a task will require of us an unsleeping adaptive exercise of reason and instinct combined."
At once an excellent and dismal overview of socialism.......2006-05-05
The American critical writer Edmund Wilson attempted in this book to give an overview of the historical development of socialism, or rather the many socialisms, until the 1930s. However, the result is a very mixed bag: sometimes Wilson reaches great heights, but sometimes it is bare nonsense too.
The best description I can give of the nature of the work is that it is very much a literary overview of socialism rather than a political-historical one. Wilson concentrates in all mini-biographies of early socialists as well as the pieces on Lenin, Marx & Engels on the particulars of their life. Larded with many details and amusing anecdotes revealing the personality of the main socialist leaders, this book is very much at its best when describing the human interactions between various socialists and the world around them, and in portraying how their ideas were formed by their life experiences.
The big downside to this book is, however, Wilson's complete lack of understanding of any theory whatever. He clearly has neither knowledge of nor interest in any of the real tenets of socialism, Marxist, Lassallean or otherwise, and has not taken any trouble to look it up either. The result is that the passages which mean to give quick overviews of the Marxist or Leninist positions on certain issues are almost invariably simplistic, confused and wrong. The worst example of this (as a prior reviewer also mentioned) is the chapter on the dialectic, which immediately reveals to the reader that Wilson didn't have the slightest idea what dialectics is, and the childish simplicity of his view on it makes one think he probably got his information from a dictionary or something equally useless.
For these reasons, it is hard to say whether the overall result is positive or negative. If you are looking for a good insight on the development of the theoretical aspects of socialism or the political issues of those times, absolutely do not rely on this book. If you are however interested in the personalities and life histories of the main socialists until WWII, then Wilson's book will be a high-quality, pleasant and sympathetic guide. If there were a 3.5 star rating, I would give it that; but I will err on the side of a positive review here since I suppose most people reading popular literature about socialism are not going to be interested in the the technical details of the theory, unless they are socialists themselves - in which case they should read Marx & Engels directly anyway.
One final word of warning: the introduction by Louis Menand is terrible, and is best skipped altogether.
Interesting perspective on the Marx/Engels relationship.......2006-04-21
I didn't make it the whole way through this densely written and intimidating book, but I was absorbed by one aspect: its portrayal of the human interaction between Marx and Engels.
Karl Marx was a psychologically warped semi-genius who continually begged money and favors from his hardworking and enabling friend Friedrich Engels. Sometimes Marx would agree to write articles or essays that he couldn't produce - he manipulated Engels into ghostwriting, and still collected the pay himself.
I also found it interesting that Engels developed his ideas on the class system while he was in England, observing the human experience in industrialized Manchester, which was at that time economically depressed and in a state of social unrest, with a great disparity between the factory owners and workers.
Marx and Engels wrote each other numerous multi-language letters over the years, and _To the Finland Station_ does a nice job tracing this correspondence. It was interesting to learn that spreading their doctrine into Russia was sort of an incidental afterthought, but I'm afraid I could not bring myself to sift through the intricacies of the development of socialism/communism.
This is a weighty book, and will not be of interest to every reader.
You mean the 1917 October Revolution??.......2006-03-26
A fine example of the sort of journalistic impressionism that doesn't get written any more. Just make sure you don't actually think you're getting a guide to Marxist thought or the Russian Revolution (& don't trust reviewers like the one below who can't be bothered to get one of the most important dates of the 20th century right - the revolution was one year old by 1918). This is an impressive book for its scope, as an examination of the writing of history, but certainly not as a philosophically astute account of socialism. Wilson famously detested abstract thought, & manages to bungle everything from the Hegelian dialectic to Marx's own historical materialism. (The chapter on "The Myth of the Dialectic" should be read with a salt shaker at hand.)
Become a fly on the wall.......2005-08-27
of Marx's study. That's how this book makes you feel. Wilson's mastery of prose, artistry of language and clarity of vision draws you into the lives of his subjects so you feel you're there. You can almost smell the smoke from Marx's pipe as he writes, feel the boils on his butt, and hear his grandkids whinning on his knee as he plugs away at Kapital.
And this is just one of his subjects. Wilson has given us a living, breathing history that reads like an epic novel. One of the, if no THE best histories I've ever read. Once you dip in you won't be able to pull yourself out.
Allow me now to address a previous review which says Wilson just skims over Marx's "most important" idea of value. That being that value is determined by the amount of labor that goes into an item. Wilson clearly states the idea and dismisses it. Rather than being a great contribution to the world of ideas it's one of Marx's most obviously flawed ideas. You can spend a million man-hours making something no one wants and it'll be worthless. Marx overlooks Demand (as in supply and demand) in his analysis, as Wilson points out. For those interested in a more detailed critique of Marx's ideas I refer you to Karl Poppers "Open society and its enemies" part II about Hegel and Marx.
But Wilson's aim wasn't so much to critique the ideas as it was to present them clearly and give the reader a riviting understanding of the environments from which they sprang.
Also, the reviewer complains of Wilsons sympathetic approach towards Lenin. Finland station was written in the 30's. Wilson had travelled in the Soviet Union but of course accurate materials concerning Lenin were not made available to him. Thirty years after writing the book he addressed his Lenin chapter in a prolog. But even so the Lenin material is riviting. One reads along with Wilson, arriving at Finland Station with Lenin in the wee hours of the night and through Wilsons lense one can almost feel history unfolding, the fate of Russia (and the world) feels palpable.
The reviewer also complains that Wilson didn't go into the revolutions of 1848 et al enough. Once again this misses the point of the book. Wilson is exploring the personalities and lives of the men behind the ideas that shaped the movements. He is not writing to analyse the tactics or outcomes of the Hungarian or Italian or French or polish revolts circa 1848. There are many other books whose intent are just that, but not this one.
This is about the lives of individual men who shaped history and Edmund Wilson with his literary sensibility has done us an astonishing service by creating a port of entry for us into their lives and times.
History that reads like a novel that you can't put down. You can eat it with a fork but use a spoon, you'll want to get every drop. Thank You Edmund!!
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