2018: The Year in Books
I have to confess that in 2018 my 
potus_geeks reading slipped and the number of books reviewed in this community in the past year declined from previous years. There are a number of good books still on my "to read" pile from the past year that I regret not getting to, in part because I devoted a lot of my discretionary reading time to other genres. Even some of the potus_geeks reads crossed into the genre of historical fiction. So with this disclaimer, here are my top 10 reads of 2018 for potus_geeks:
1. TR's Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy by David Pietrusza (reviewed here): The bar is always set pretty high each time David Pietrusza comes out with a new book, because the quality of his writing has been so exceptional in the past (as evidenced by his previous works 1920, 1932, 1948 and 1960). Pietrusza doesn't disappoint his readers, as he tells the story of Roosevelt's battle for military preparedness, as well as his efforts to unseat Wilson as president in the 1916 election, despite the residual resentment over his splitting of the Republican party four years earlier which led to Wilson's election. The author capably describes his subject's unsuccessful efforts to lasso the 1916 Republican presidential nomination for himself, while keeping progressives in the fold. Following Wilson's re-election and the nation's entry into the war as a combatant on the side of the allies, Pietrusza describes the old warrior Roosevelt's efforts to get himself "over there" as a military commander, and his encouragement of his four sons to serve in the contest, with the accompanying anxiety, tension and lamentable results. He also details Roosevelt's plans to retake the White House in 1920. One of Pietrusza's many strengths as a writer is his ability to convey to the reader a clear picture of his subject's personality, making us feel as if we have an understanding of who the complex and multifaceted Roosevelt really was, as if we know TR intimately. His description of Roosevelt's last days and the detail of his suffering and incapacity is exceptionally set out. Saving the best for last, the author concludes with a unique yet well-considered theory about Roosevelt's last days, one which Pietrusza acknowledges to be nothing more than speculation, submitted for the reader to consider and do with what he or she will. It is delicious food for thought and is a fitting dessert to a delectable historical biography.
2. The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper (reviewed here): Set in the early months of 1954, The Hellfire Club tells the story of freshman New York Congressman Charlie Marder, an academic and WW2 vet, whose introduction into the unseemly world of Washington DC politics has all the subtlety of the ice-bucket challenge. As the McCarthy hearings are reaching a crescendo, Marder sets out with an idealistic agenda, only to learn that deceit and self-interested horse-trading are what makes the congressional world go round. Marder soon comes to learn that life as a congressman can be every bit as dangerous as storming the beaches of Normandy. Although Tapper reminds the reader several times that this is a work of fiction, history geeks will love his interspersing of many forgotten historical events such as the 1954 Capitol shooting incident by Puerto Rican Nationalists and the ghosts that haunt the capitol. (Don't just read the book, read the source notes too, they're fascinating.) Real-life contemporary political figures find their way into this book, including Senators Estes Kefauver, Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Joe McCarthy, as well as Bobby Kennedy, Roy Cohn, Richard Nixon and even President Dwight Eisenhower. Tapper combines cerebral political history with a rough and tumble thriller story-line. He blends the two worlds superbly, and produces a work that will thrill mystery lovers, political history geeks, and most importantly political history geeks who love a good mystery. Add this to your summer reading list and look for it in theatres. I smell a movie!
3. The Moralist - Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made by Patricia O'Toole by Patricia O'Toole (reviewed here): This is an outstanding account of the life and presidential activity of the 28th President of the United States that is well-researched and deeply and brilliantly analytical. The book draws from a number of contemporary historical sources including the diaries and autobiographies of many of the key players in the Wilson administration, in Wilsonian Washington, on the world stage and in Wilson's very small and close-knit inner circle. O'Toole portrays Wilson as a "moralist", a leader driven by a rigid if imperfect moral compass. Any notion that the author intends to serve as apologist for Wilson's more offensive policies and positions is quickly dispelled. She is quick to expose Wilson's moral shortcomings that are apparent in his racist civil service segregation policies and his curtailment of free speech, especially speech critical of the president. The author is exceptionally fair in her criticisms of her subject, letting Wilson's actions speak for themselves. Wilson's posing as a champion of democracy, while shutting out all opinions but his own, his thin skin and refusal to consider points of view that conflict with his own, and his surrounding himself with advisors who would not challenge him, show the hypocrisy and contradiction that Wilson was made of. The point is clearly illustrated as Wilson sacrificed the interests of smaller nations during treaty negotiations because doing so was an expedient means to getting his way. O'Toole cleverly finds many elegant and eloquent ways of describing Wilson's petulance.The author concludes with an excellent analysis of how Wilson's foreign policy goals may have been well-intentioned, especially when viewed in hindsight. It was Wilson's egocentric personality, exacerbated by the effects of his stroke, which made Wilson a flawed moralist. This is an excellent work, both for its insightful look at Wilson himself and for its big picture analysis of how subsequent US foreign policy was shaped by Wilson and how it has effected the world today. Even at 493 pages, it holds the reader's interest without sacrificing any of its historical integrity or analytical brilliance.
4. The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World by A. J. Baime (reviewed here): Wall Street Journal contributor A. J. Baime tells the story of Harry Truman's remarkable transition from county politician to leader of the free world in The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World. This is a remarkably well-researched account of the beginning of the Truman Presidency and the end of the Second World War, a war that was ended by the most controversial wartime decision likely made by any president: the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan in August of 1945. Baime serves up excellent history in telling a remarkable story of unique circumstances that placed the under-estimated ordinary guy from Independence in the position of having to shape the world that we live in today. He does so in a manner that is thorough and complete, informative and insightful, and which makes the reader feel present and close at some of the most interesting events in recent history.
5. William Howard Taft (American Presidents Series) by Jeffrey Rosen (reviewed here): The American Presidents Series has strayed from historical writing to political commentary in its recent volumes of the lives of more contemporary presidents. The series returns to its former standard of objectivity in its most recent volume. Professor Jeffrey Rosen is an excellent choice as Taft's biographer. Taft had the distinction of being the only person thus far to serve as chief executive of both the Executive and the Judicial branches of government, serving as President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (the job he really wanted for all of his life) from 1921 until just before his death in 1930. Rosen does an outstanding job of capturing the essence of Taft's approach to both jobs. A fish out of water when it came to politics, Taft was a man with a clear and principled vision of what he understood his role as president to be, guided by the dictates of the Constitution, untethered by populist demands or political expediencies. It was this moral compass, hitched to a sensitivity to criticism, that guided Taft through all of his major decisions as president, popular and (more often) unpopular, leading to his split from his former friend and political sponsor Theodore Roosevelt, and to one of the most humiliating defeats experienced by an incumbent president. Rosen concludes with a fascinating analysis of how Taft's value system is especially relevant in today's political environment of populism in which twitter followers and facebook likes are mistaken for a well-reasoned consensus on important issues. As Rosen so eloquently puts it, "The fact the all three branches [of government] are institutionally equipped, if they choose, to resist these populist threats and to defend the rule of law is an inspiring tribute to Taft's constitutional legacy." This edition has been a long-time coming, and the finished product is well worth the wait, making this one of the best volumes in this series.
6. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (reviewed here): Bob Woodward is an iconic investigative journalist and associate editor with the Washington Post who became famous for his 1974 expose of the Nixon White House entitled All the President's Men (co-authored with his friend and colleague Carl Bernstein), which detailed their investigative reporting which broke the Watergate scandal and led to the downfall of a President. Woodward once again utilizes his ability to amass an impressive array of sources to give the reader a front-row seat to the most private and intimate policy discussions between the President and his senior advisers and cabinet members, discussions so frank that it is as if Woodward had the Oval Office bugged. The book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews had with senior members of the White House Staff. Writing a book about perhaps the most polarizing president in history makes objectivity an impossible task. Trump supporters are apt to write off any criticism as "fake news" while Trump haters are out for blood and likely to magnify any transgressions or flaws, rather than see them in their proper perspective. For the reader interested in seeing current events through as future history (and therefore concerned about the absence of bias or agenda on the part of the narrator), Woodward comes as close as possible to presenting an objective picture of life in the White House. He gives the reader a good sense of what is overblown and what we should be concerned about. In this day and age of twitter wars and cyber-incivility, that's a pretty amazing accomplishment.
7. Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin (reviewed here): Renowned author Doris Kearns Goodwin has written best-selling biographies of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, the last-named of which she worked for and helped to write his autobiography. In her most recent work Leadership in Turbulent Times, she compares and contrasts the leadership qualities and styles of the four iconic chief executives, in a comprehensive examination of how each of the four prepared for and confronted the challenges that each were faced with as president and how each developed and implemented his vision of a better America as president. For those who had read the author's previous works, this will be a refresher, focusing on the most interesting parts of these subjects' lives. For those who have not read Team of Rivals, the Bully Pulpit, No Ordinary Time, or Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, this book provides an excellent encapsulation of four unique figures in American history. What many may find lacking is a summary of the important leadership qualities that can be wrung from these lives, although these lessons are there to be found by the discerning reader and student of history.
8. Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times by Joel Richard Paul (reviewed here): There was much more to the book's subject than his illustrious tenure as the first among equals on his nation's highest court of law. Marshall was also a Revolutionary War veteran who served under Washington at Valley Forge, he was a member of the House of Representatives, a successful lawyer, a diplomat in France at a time of great corruption and unrest in that nation, and Secretary of State at a time when President John Adams struggled mightily to keep America out a war with a former ally that it could not win. He was also a dedicated Federalist at a time when his cousin, Thomas Jefferson, was undermining much that Marshall stood for. He was also a devoted husband to an ailing wife (albeit one who may have strayed from his marriage vows on occasion), and a father to problematic children. But it was the three and a half decades that he spent as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States that distinguished Marshall in the history of his nation as a brilliant jurist and a leader who was capable of confronting the unique challenges facing his nation. Paul has tremendous admiration for his subject, but he has no hesitation in disclosing Marshall's shortcomings and the times when Marshall was inconsistent in his judicial pronouncements and when he compromised principle for pragmatism. Despite a well-earned reputation as a brilliant jurist, Paul convincingly makes the case that John Marshall was first and foremost a pragmatist who was also a strong consensus builder. Marshall was determined to build the Judiciary into a co-equal branch of government and his judgements were crafted not with a blind fidelity to legal precedent, but with a deep regard for keeping the nation united and for maintaining a strong central government.
9. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (reviewed here): Michael Wolff portrays the Trump himself as a deeply troubling portrait of a megalomaniac intent on making sure that no one else gets too much attention or credit, who hates reading, who constantly mocks his staff in front and behind their backs, who chooses the wrong advisors and doesn't take their advice any how, and who has an unrealistic understanding of his constitutional authority. Should you read this book? That depends on where you are on the political spectrum. Trump haters will love this book. Trump supporters will see it as a political hatchet job. If you're looking for objective contemporary history, it's more likely that Wolff is closer to a Kitty Kelly than a Bob Woodward. We live in a time when it's becoming harder and harder to tell what's real and what's "fake news", but Wolff seems to have an impressive array of sources. The book is a product of its times. Those who relish this kind of thing will love it. Those who can do without hearing about Machiavellian political infighting should give it a miss.
10. Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H. W. Brands: The review is coming, as I'm not quite finished this one yet. One of my favorite historians, H. W. Brands, traces the careers of "the great triumvirate", three giants of the senate, from their political sunrises through to their political sunsets. These three strode onto the national stage as part of the second generation of political leaders, elected to Congress at the time when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a great orator known for his eloquence, represented New Endland and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, personified the bright future of the new west. South Carolina's John Calhoun became a staunch defender of the South and of slavery. Brands tells the story of how these heirs of Washington, Jefferson and Adams took the country to war, battled one another for the presidency and shared the growing pains of a young nation destined towards a clash over "the peculiar institution". Their careers were marked by duels, debates, scandal and political intrigue. Each in his own way sought to address the two glaring flaws in the Constitution: its refusal to specify where authority ultimately rested, with the states or the nation, and its unwillingness to address the essential incompatibility of republicanism and slavery. Brands chronicles the parallels and contradictions of these three titans in his usual masterful style.
Honorable mention goes to The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (reviewed here) and Right Here Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption by Stephen Harper (reviewed here).
There you have it, a top 10 list for 2018. There were so many great books that I didn't get a chance to review and there are more to come in 2019. So many great books, so little time!
potus_geeks reading slipped and the number of books reviewed in this community in the past year declined from previous years. There are a number of good books still on my "to read" pile from the past year that I regret not getting to, in part because I devoted a lot of my discretionary reading time to other genres. Even some of the potus_geeks reads crossed into the genre of historical fiction. So with this disclaimer, here are my top 10 reads of 2018 for potus_geeks:1. TR's Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy by David Pietrusza (reviewed here): The bar is always set pretty high each time David Pietrusza comes out with a new book, because the quality of his writing has been so exceptional in the past (as evidenced by his previous works 1920, 1932, 1948 and 1960). Pietrusza doesn't disappoint his readers, as he tells the story of Roosevelt's battle for military preparedness, as well as his efforts to unseat Wilson as president in the 1916 election, despite the residual resentment over his splitting of the Republican party four years earlier which led to Wilson's election. The author capably describes his subject's unsuccessful efforts to lasso the 1916 Republican presidential nomination for himself, while keeping progressives in the fold. Following Wilson's re-election and the nation's entry into the war as a combatant on the side of the allies, Pietrusza describes the old warrior Roosevelt's efforts to get himself "over there" as a military commander, and his encouragement of his four sons to serve in the contest, with the accompanying anxiety, tension and lamentable results. He also details Roosevelt's plans to retake the White House in 1920. One of Pietrusza's many strengths as a writer is his ability to convey to the reader a clear picture of his subject's personality, making us feel as if we have an understanding of who the complex and multifaceted Roosevelt really was, as if we know TR intimately. His description of Roosevelt's last days and the detail of his suffering and incapacity is exceptionally set out. Saving the best for last, the author concludes with a unique yet well-considered theory about Roosevelt's last days, one which Pietrusza acknowledges to be nothing more than speculation, submitted for the reader to consider and do with what he or she will. It is delicious food for thought and is a fitting dessert to a delectable historical biography.
2. The Hellfire Club by Jake Tapper (reviewed here): Set in the early months of 1954, The Hellfire Club tells the story of freshman New York Congressman Charlie Marder, an academic and WW2 vet, whose introduction into the unseemly world of Washington DC politics has all the subtlety of the ice-bucket challenge. As the McCarthy hearings are reaching a crescendo, Marder sets out with an idealistic agenda, only to learn that deceit and self-interested horse-trading are what makes the congressional world go round. Marder soon comes to learn that life as a congressman can be every bit as dangerous as storming the beaches of Normandy. Although Tapper reminds the reader several times that this is a work of fiction, history geeks will love his interspersing of many forgotten historical events such as the 1954 Capitol shooting incident by Puerto Rican Nationalists and the ghosts that haunt the capitol. (Don't just read the book, read the source notes too, they're fascinating.) Real-life contemporary political figures find their way into this book, including Senators Estes Kefauver, Jack Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Joe McCarthy, as well as Bobby Kennedy, Roy Cohn, Richard Nixon and even President Dwight Eisenhower. Tapper combines cerebral political history with a rough and tumble thriller story-line. He blends the two worlds superbly, and produces a work that will thrill mystery lovers, political history geeks, and most importantly political history geeks who love a good mystery. Add this to your summer reading list and look for it in theatres. I smell a movie!
3. The Moralist - Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made by Patricia O'Toole by Patricia O'Toole (reviewed here): This is an outstanding account of the life and presidential activity of the 28th President of the United States that is well-researched and deeply and brilliantly analytical. The book draws from a number of contemporary historical sources including the diaries and autobiographies of many of the key players in the Wilson administration, in Wilsonian Washington, on the world stage and in Wilson's very small and close-knit inner circle. O'Toole portrays Wilson as a "moralist", a leader driven by a rigid if imperfect moral compass. Any notion that the author intends to serve as apologist for Wilson's more offensive policies and positions is quickly dispelled. She is quick to expose Wilson's moral shortcomings that are apparent in his racist civil service segregation policies and his curtailment of free speech, especially speech critical of the president. The author is exceptionally fair in her criticisms of her subject, letting Wilson's actions speak for themselves. Wilson's posing as a champion of democracy, while shutting out all opinions but his own, his thin skin and refusal to consider points of view that conflict with his own, and his surrounding himself with advisors who would not challenge him, show the hypocrisy and contradiction that Wilson was made of. The point is clearly illustrated as Wilson sacrificed the interests of smaller nations during treaty negotiations because doing so was an expedient means to getting his way. O'Toole cleverly finds many elegant and eloquent ways of describing Wilson's petulance.The author concludes with an excellent analysis of how Wilson's foreign policy goals may have been well-intentioned, especially when viewed in hindsight. It was Wilson's egocentric personality, exacerbated by the effects of his stroke, which made Wilson a flawed moralist. This is an excellent work, both for its insightful look at Wilson himself and for its big picture analysis of how subsequent US foreign policy was shaped by Wilson and how it has effected the world today. Even at 493 pages, it holds the reader's interest without sacrificing any of its historical integrity or analytical brilliance.
4. The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World by A. J. Baime (reviewed here): Wall Street Journal contributor A. J. Baime tells the story of Harry Truman's remarkable transition from county politician to leader of the free world in The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World. This is a remarkably well-researched account of the beginning of the Truman Presidency and the end of the Second World War, a war that was ended by the most controversial wartime decision likely made by any president: the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan in August of 1945. Baime serves up excellent history in telling a remarkable story of unique circumstances that placed the under-estimated ordinary guy from Independence in the position of having to shape the world that we live in today. He does so in a manner that is thorough and complete, informative and insightful, and which makes the reader feel present and close at some of the most interesting events in recent history.
5. William Howard Taft (American Presidents Series) by Jeffrey Rosen (reviewed here): The American Presidents Series has strayed from historical writing to political commentary in its recent volumes of the lives of more contemporary presidents. The series returns to its former standard of objectivity in its most recent volume. Professor Jeffrey Rosen is an excellent choice as Taft's biographer. Taft had the distinction of being the only person thus far to serve as chief executive of both the Executive and the Judicial branches of government, serving as President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (the job he really wanted for all of his life) from 1921 until just before his death in 1930. Rosen does an outstanding job of capturing the essence of Taft's approach to both jobs. A fish out of water when it came to politics, Taft was a man with a clear and principled vision of what he understood his role as president to be, guided by the dictates of the Constitution, untethered by populist demands or political expediencies. It was this moral compass, hitched to a sensitivity to criticism, that guided Taft through all of his major decisions as president, popular and (more often) unpopular, leading to his split from his former friend and political sponsor Theodore Roosevelt, and to one of the most humiliating defeats experienced by an incumbent president. Rosen concludes with a fascinating analysis of how Taft's value system is especially relevant in today's political environment of populism in which twitter followers and facebook likes are mistaken for a well-reasoned consensus on important issues. As Rosen so eloquently puts it, "The fact the all three branches [of government] are institutionally equipped, if they choose, to resist these populist threats and to defend the rule of law is an inspiring tribute to Taft's constitutional legacy." This edition has been a long-time coming, and the finished product is well worth the wait, making this one of the best volumes in this series.
6. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward (reviewed here): Bob Woodward is an iconic investigative journalist and associate editor with the Washington Post who became famous for his 1974 expose of the Nixon White House entitled All the President's Men (co-authored with his friend and colleague Carl Bernstein), which detailed their investigative reporting which broke the Watergate scandal and led to the downfall of a President. Woodward once again utilizes his ability to amass an impressive array of sources to give the reader a front-row seat to the most private and intimate policy discussions between the President and his senior advisers and cabinet members, discussions so frank that it is as if Woodward had the Oval Office bugged. The book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews had with senior members of the White House Staff. Writing a book about perhaps the most polarizing president in history makes objectivity an impossible task. Trump supporters are apt to write off any criticism as "fake news" while Trump haters are out for blood and likely to magnify any transgressions or flaws, rather than see them in their proper perspective. For the reader interested in seeing current events through as future history (and therefore concerned about the absence of bias or agenda on the part of the narrator), Woodward comes as close as possible to presenting an objective picture of life in the White House. He gives the reader a good sense of what is overblown and what we should be concerned about. In this day and age of twitter wars and cyber-incivility, that's a pretty amazing accomplishment.
7. Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin (reviewed here): Renowned author Doris Kearns Goodwin has written best-selling biographies of Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson, the last-named of which she worked for and helped to write his autobiography. In her most recent work Leadership in Turbulent Times, she compares and contrasts the leadership qualities and styles of the four iconic chief executives, in a comprehensive examination of how each of the four prepared for and confronted the challenges that each were faced with as president and how each developed and implemented his vision of a better America as president. For those who had read the author's previous works, this will be a refresher, focusing on the most interesting parts of these subjects' lives. For those who have not read Team of Rivals, the Bully Pulpit, No Ordinary Time, or Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, this book provides an excellent encapsulation of four unique figures in American history. What many may find lacking is a summary of the important leadership qualities that can be wrung from these lives, although these lessons are there to be found by the discerning reader and student of history.
8. Without Precedent: Chief Justice John Marshall and His Times by Joel Richard Paul (reviewed here): There was much more to the book's subject than his illustrious tenure as the first among equals on his nation's highest court of law. Marshall was also a Revolutionary War veteran who served under Washington at Valley Forge, he was a member of the House of Representatives, a successful lawyer, a diplomat in France at a time of great corruption and unrest in that nation, and Secretary of State at a time when President John Adams struggled mightily to keep America out a war with a former ally that it could not win. He was also a dedicated Federalist at a time when his cousin, Thomas Jefferson, was undermining much that Marshall stood for. He was also a devoted husband to an ailing wife (albeit one who may have strayed from his marriage vows on occasion), and a father to problematic children. But it was the three and a half decades that he spent as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States that distinguished Marshall in the history of his nation as a brilliant jurist and a leader who was capable of confronting the unique challenges facing his nation. Paul has tremendous admiration for his subject, but he has no hesitation in disclosing Marshall's shortcomings and the times when Marshall was inconsistent in his judicial pronouncements and when he compromised principle for pragmatism. Despite a well-earned reputation as a brilliant jurist, Paul convincingly makes the case that John Marshall was first and foremost a pragmatist who was also a strong consensus builder. Marshall was determined to build the Judiciary into a co-equal branch of government and his judgements were crafted not with a blind fidelity to legal precedent, but with a deep regard for keeping the nation united and for maintaining a strong central government.
9. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff (reviewed here): Michael Wolff portrays the Trump himself as a deeply troubling portrait of a megalomaniac intent on making sure that no one else gets too much attention or credit, who hates reading, who constantly mocks his staff in front and behind their backs, who chooses the wrong advisors and doesn't take their advice any how, and who has an unrealistic understanding of his constitutional authority. Should you read this book? That depends on where you are on the political spectrum. Trump haters will love this book. Trump supporters will see it as a political hatchet job. If you're looking for objective contemporary history, it's more likely that Wolff is closer to a Kitty Kelly than a Bob Woodward. We live in a time when it's becoming harder and harder to tell what's real and what's "fake news", but Wolff seems to have an impressive array of sources. The book is a product of its times. Those who relish this kind of thing will love it. Those who can do without hearing about Machiavellian political infighting should give it a miss.
10. Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants by H. W. Brands: The review is coming, as I'm not quite finished this one yet. One of my favorite historians, H. W. Brands, traces the careers of "the great triumvirate", three giants of the senate, from their political sunrises through to their political sunsets. These three strode onto the national stage as part of the second generation of political leaders, elected to Congress at the time when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a great orator known for his eloquence, represented New Endland and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky, personified the bright future of the new west. South Carolina's John Calhoun became a staunch defender of the South and of slavery. Brands tells the story of how these heirs of Washington, Jefferson and Adams took the country to war, battled one another for the presidency and shared the growing pains of a young nation destined towards a clash over "the peculiar institution". Their careers were marked by duels, debates, scandal and political intrigue. Each in his own way sought to address the two glaring flaws in the Constitution: its refusal to specify where authority ultimately rested, with the states or the nation, and its unwillingness to address the essential incompatibility of republicanism and slavery. Brands chronicles the parallels and contradictions of these three titans in his usual masterful style.
Honorable mention goes to The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis (reviewed here) and Right Here Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption by Stephen Harper (reviewed here).
There you have it, a top 10 list for 2018. There were so many great books that I didn't get a chance to review and there are more to come in 2019. So many great books, so little time!