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Great President, Even Better Father…”41: A Portrait of My Father” by George W. Bush

Only twice in history have a father and a son both served as President of the United States. As an admirer suggested to “W”…….. You and John Quincy are the only sons of former Presidents to become President…..I think you should write a book about your father.

It is in this vein that the 43rd President wrote a very personal biography of his father, the 41st President in his book, 41: A Portrait of My Father. It should be stressed that it is a personal account of family stories and experiences, not any type of foot noted biography. “W” had one purpose in writing, and that was to show the love, respect, and admiration that he had for his father.

There will be many books analyzing the professional aspect of President George H. W. Bush, from his life events to his political policies. But, it is very special to have a book written by your son, who walked in your same shoes in the most powerful job in the world. According to “W”, “this book is a personal portrait of the extraordinary man who I am blessed to call my dad”. His purpose was to show why George H. W. was a great President, and an even better father.

There were several rare circumstances where this father/son were connected. One being that the father and mother were present when their son was sworn into office as President. The only other instance of that occurring was when Joseph and Rose Kennedy were present at the oath ceremony of President John F. Kennedy. A truly special occasion for both the Kennedy’s and Bush’s. And then there was the record set by the elder Bush’s of surpassing John and Abigail Adams once they passed their 54th anniversary. Another milestone in Presidential history came when the elder Bush’s were still living as Bush ’43 left office. The only time that has happened in history.

As George W. would explain, this book by a prominent political figure is in no way political. He also adds some humble self- deprecation, and tells some hilarious stories about his first visit to the White House and other anecdotes. He relates how his father influenced his life from childhood, to campaign trips, to his decision to go into politics resulting in a two-term Presidency. John Quincy quote might have influenced the writing of this book…….

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The Worst of Humanity…”Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History” , by Bill O’Reilly

In all of human history, people have never had such torment and torture as those who were led to the death camps in Germany during the Holocaust. It is almost unimaginable how those Jewish ancestry people were herded like animals on trains to the death camps. How did the Nazis convince so many to first participate? The new offering by Bill O’Reilly delves into a lesser known subject……that of four of the SS Agents, the worst of the worst, who managed to escape to another country, primarily Argentina and Brazil. The four that O’Reilly tracks are Josef Mengele, the “angel of death”, who performed hideous medical experiments at Auschwitz; Martin Bormann, Hitler’s brutal personal aid; Klaus Barbie, “Butcher of Lyons”, and possibly the most evil of all, Adolf Eichmann, who coordinated and organized every aspect of the “final solution”, which ended up torturing and killing millions of Jews.

A group called the Nazis Hunters, consisting of Israeli Mossad, a French husband and wife team, an American lawyer who served during D-day, a German prosecutor who had signed a Nazis Party note, and a death camp survivor. Over decades, this group tracked down not only the four worst, but the many, many others who were monsters involved in the satanic plan.

The book is told by O’Reilly as he is very descriptive of the horrendous atrocities that were committed against the Jewish people, Gypsies, Homosexuals, and Special needs people. All who Hitler and his minions determined to be defective people. The book has been extensively researched and organized in its formation. It is a very graphic book, because it is a very graphic subject, following the worst of humanity as they perpetrated monstrous and evil crimes against those they despised.

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Accomplishing What His Predecessors Could Not, “Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire by Bret Baier

Three Days in January, Fox News anchor and author, Bret Baier, gives an enlightening description of the leadership style of President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the beginning of the Cold War. In Baier’s new book, Three Days in Moscow, he gives a detailed look into the previous and post view of the Soviet Union, then Russia. President Ronald Reagan was able to accomplish what his predecessors could not.

On May 31, 1988, Reagan was the first American president to stand on Russian soil with thousands of people listening to him talk about human rights and freedom. He begged the Soviet people to join him in completing his new vision for the future. Less than a year later, the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union began disintigrating. That end to the Cold War was a defining historical moment not to be forgotten.

Baier’s writing style is easy to read, and his research is very detailed without getting in the way of presenting the picture of Reagan and his accomplishments. It also shows the change made in American reporting of the news. It was with Reagan that news media started putting their own interpretation of the events happening in the Reagan administration. Prior to that time, the media sheltered Presidents from negative reporting and covered mostly positive situations. But, with Reagan, they all but ignored his great accomplishments and many times made him out to be an aging old clown. Of course, he was anything but that fraudulent description. Many would say that the “fake news” sources are doing the same to President Trump now. And they did the same to President George H. W. Bush. They always made their readers and audience think that he was not very intelligent. A very sad commentary for the importance of the truth.

President Ronald Reagan brought down a murderous, debilitating, and horrific regime without bombs or huge numbers of human lives being lost. It has been said that for that, he can never be given enough credit.

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Complex Genius…”Leonardo da Vinci”, by Walter Isaacson

Most literate, and perhaps some not so literate, people around the world know Leonardo daVinci for his two most famous paintings…….The Last Supper, and Mona Lisa, but there was so much more to be learned about this complex genius. As with most extremely creative people, DaVinci had an insatiable curiosity for just about everything. He used his curiosity about many subjects….. anatomy, engineering, the heart, flying, machines, botany, geology, weaponry……. just on and on……to give a dimension to his art work that very few other artists, if any, could accomplish. He was much ahead of his time displaying just as much interest in science and technology as he did in his art. Being able to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, which was illustrated by his famous drawing of Vitruvian Man, led his critics to think of him as one of history’s most creative geniuses.

How many times do you hear children ask inquisitive questions such as where does rain come from? But, as children grow older, that inquisitiveness seems to lessen and lessen until it all but disappears. Isaacson found that the childlike trait in Leonardo daVinci never did disappear. DaVinci kept many notebooks about all of his thoughts on subjects, and all of his drawing collections, making a perfect source for Isaacson’s biography. He found him to be a very complex man, but very comfortable in his own skin. He was born illegitimate and was known to be homosexual, so it was used to his advantage. Nobody had set ideas that he was expected to live within or parameters that he was expected to honor. He was very at ease with himself, and gave himself the freedom to take his imagination in many directions. The biography of DaVinci is the newest for author Isaacson who is well-known for his acclaimed best sellers…….Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin. It is a lengthy, beautifully illustrated book that should be savored.

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The Great Motivator…”Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink”, by Anthony McCarten

It has been said of Winston Churchill, “He was speaking to the nation, the world, and indeed to history……..Author, Anthony McCarten, has written a very descriptive non-fiction novel, The Theory of Everything, about Winston Churchill, the man, the politician, and the Prime Minster of Great Britain. He faced many daunting and stressful moments during the Nazi terrorism in Europe. His main goal was to make sure that Great Britain retained its sovereignty, even secretly giving a passing thought that a peace treaty with the Nazis Regime might have to be a consideration.

Many of our oldest citizenry can remember as children, their families huddled around a radio which had a very weak signal, causing it to sound like a scratched record. They were waiting on the next speech from either our President or Winston Churchill as to what was happening in the war. Churchill was known for his inspiring speeches. Those speeches were not in any way impromptu, but instead were rehearsed and revised as needed before being given publicly. One reader said that one speech made them.want to sign up for a war that happened even before their parents were born. Churchill was most definitely a great motivator when it came to his speeches.

We tend to place such people as Churchill on a pedestal, thinking they do everything with perfection, but McCarten’s novel shows the human side of such a leader, the side that we all have of human vulnerability. The vulnerability of a man on whose shoulders rested the fate of the world during the spring weeks of 1940. He, like every other human being, wrestled with self-doubt, actual failures, and the baggage given to him from a distant and judgmental father.
The Theory of Everything is considered by most reviewers to be a very interesting and worthwhile read about Churchill, World War II and just in speech writing in general. The book is slated to become a movie starring Gary Oldman.

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Reinforcing the Idea That We Owe our Forefathers Much Respect….”Killing England”, by Bill O’Reilly

It has become a very popular series of books from authors, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, and the latest, Killing England, is considered by some to be the best yet. Some readers say that this book about the Revolutionary War, told through the eyes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and King George III, is a true chronicle of America’s battles to become independent of England. A protest resulted in a world war that would bring many casualties and create complete chaos.

It has always been a horrendous thought of how savage the combat in such a war must have been. Fighting face to face, hand to hand until death is the true brutality of such a war. The authors give realistic accounts of some of the iconic battles such as Yorktown, Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Long Island. The real characters come to life as they are either brave Americans or known traitors. The book demonstrates how people who really want their lives bettered can accomplish the impossible.

Some readers may get a better idea of the roots of American Democracy, and why so many are so angrily defending the National Anthem and Flag. Killing England reinforces the ideas that we owe our forefathers the respect for all they endured to create our independent country. Being a former history teacher, O’Reilly is adept in presenting the subject with historical accuracy. Not only is the book narrative given from the American leaders, but also from the points of view of the English Monarchy, and even explains French society at the time of the war. In the words of one reader……..it is both an amazing and very instructional read.

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Untold Heroism…”Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned With the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler”, by Bruce Henderson

There have been numerous books written about Nazis Germany and the Holocaust, but the non-fiction book, Sons and Soldiers, is a very unique story among all others. It is the little known story of ten teenage, German Jews, and their fight to survive by escaping to the United States. Once safe, they wanted to do something to help, as well as be able to search for the families they left behind.

The U.S. Army considered the German-born Jewish boys to be an invaluable secret weapon in defeating Adolf Hitler. There were 2,000 of them who joined with small, elite interrogation teams throughout Europe. They would interrogate POWS, obtaining crucial information that ultimately helped save American lives and assisted in the victory over Hitler.

The ten who were featured in Sons and Soldiers, were called the Ritchie Boys, because they went through training at Fort Ritchie in Frederick, Maryland. Their interrogations provided key tactical intelligence on the strength of the enemy, troop and armored personnel movement, and defensive positions. It was discovered after the war, that the Ritchie Boys alone were responsible for 60% of the intelligence information collected!

Reviews for Sons and Soldiers are glowing from readers who previewed the novel. The subtitle gives the description pretty accurately…….The Untold Stories of the Jews who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the US Army to Fight Hitler. Henderson writes the true story behind these ten brave young men, and their mission to defeat Hitler, and to also search for relatives who had been left behind.

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The Miracle Of Dunkirk, “Dunkirk”, by Joshua Levine

We have all heard about the battle of Dunkirk with the Allied troops against Hitler’s Nazi army. It was truly a miracle that 400,000 Allied troops were trapped against the coast of Dunkirk, and sure to perish. However, 338,000 of those troops were rescued, and within eleven days were evacuated into England. Many wondered how that was possible against such a forceful army as Nazi Germany.

Author, Walter Lord took on the task of laying out the happenings of May 24, 1940 in the same methodical, deliberate method with which he wrote his most famous, acclaimed book, Titanic: A Night to Remember. It is said that he is so precise in his detail that he documented the sound in Titanic by counting the number of plates, cups, and pieces of glass that were breaking all at once. Some have said that had Lord only written that one book, he would still be the favorite author of many.

The Miracle of Dunkirk is a fast paced novel, with no explanations of how the Allied troops got themselves into that position in the first place, but jumps right into the rescue. Lord’s “in the weeds” perspective is focused on individuals, not a chain of events leading up to the battle, which some critics find to be problematic. But many wholeheartedly agree with the author’s method because he introduces interesting characters, from the soldier waiting to be rescued, to the captains dodging German torpedo boats, even including civilian day-sailors crossing the Channel to lend assistance. This rescue of so many by non-military transports surpasses any other similar attempt. Lord was totally immersed into the experiential aspect of the situation.

The Miracle of Dunkirk will be adapted to screen by Dark Knight director, Christopher Nolan. The film will be called Dunkirk and was shot in IMAX, and is a big budget film, retelling the BEF’s remarkable escape.

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