A featherweight campaign autobiography that is too revealing of the candidate's limitations.
An unlikely presidential candidate introduces himself to the nation.
If nothing else, many readers will agree that Herman Cain is, in many ways, a remarkable man. He has set high goals for himself and consistently achieved them because he was willing to "work a little harder, and a little longer." He grew up in the segregated South, but his enterprising father never let him use racial barriers as an excuse for failing to pursue his dreams with dogged determination. His business acumen is beyond question; he has been president and CEO of several large corporations and chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He is an ebullient and rousing public speaker with a strong religious faith and love for America. However, his debut book shows that Cain is neither a skilled writer nor a deep thinker, as he might readily admit. The text rolls on like unedited oral history—imagine Cain on his porch reminiscing about a long career in business, shaking his head in wonder at how it all turned out. There are a few odd, embarrassing sections, as well—e.g., the chapter on his fascination with the number 45, or his "Leadership History" table going back to high school. Of course, this is a campaign biography, written to motivate the reader to imagine the author as CEO of the United States. While Cain tries to make a virtue of his lack of ready answers on every conceivable issue, his political positions never go deeper than conventional pieties like his wish "to create reasonable regulations that cut down on bureaucracy while helping business to succeed" and conservative slogans like "replace Obamacare with a patient-centered free-market approach." His famous "9-9-9" program does not even make an appearance. The resulting impression is of a well-meaning and well-spoken man with enormous self-confidence and a vision inspiring to many, but no real sense of the depth and complexity of our foreign and domestic issues, and no practical knowledge of how to accomplish effective change within our political system.
A featherweight campaign autobiography that is too revealing of the candidate's limitations.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-6613-7
Page Count: 242
Publisher: Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
One of the great pitchers in baseball history (and one of the most outspoken and disagreeable), Gibson recalls his storied career with the capable help of Wheeler (I Had a Hammer, not reviewed) and shows he's not done being ``difficult.'' A ferocious competitor who made his living pitching high and tight, Gibson had a reputation throughout his 17 years with the St. Louis Cardinals for being just as uncompromising and angry off the field, especially concerning racial matters. Gibson was raised in an Omaha, Nebr., housing project, where his older brother was hero, mentor, and coach. After college, Gibson, who claims that he was better at basketball than baseball, signed a contract with both the Cardinals and the Harlem Globetrotters, playing one year for the latter. He calls his first professional baseball manager, Johnny Keane, ``the closest thing to a saint that I came across in baseball.'' When Keane replaced Solly Hemus (whom Gibson despised) in 1961, it turned the Cardinals', and Gibson's, fortunes around. Known for his extraordinary performances in the postseason, Gibson had a World Series record of 7-2, with a 1.89 ERA and an incredible 92 strikeouts over 81 innings. He won 20 games in five different seasons and in 1968 posted a 1.12 ERA in 305 innings. Gibson offers some fun and insightful recollections of big games, friends, and teammates such as Tim McCarver, Joe Torre, and Bob Uecker, and legendary matchups with Juan Marichal (``the best pitcher of my generation''), Sandy Koufax, and Don Drysdale. Despite his Hall of Fame credentials, Gibson claims he's been ostracized from the game and hasn't held a baseball job since 1984. Though he grouses a lot about being slighted by major league baseball and rehashes all-too-familiar racial difficulties, it is refreshing to get the fiery Gibson's take on the grand old game. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) (First printing of 75,000; $75,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-670-84794-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
A Wall Street trader exercises a rich man’s prerogative and offers financial advice and his life story. “See how much money I made!” is the message. “I’m pretty smart and damned tough, too.” To be sure, Schwartz (“Buzzy” to his pals) is the prototypical hard driver, a truly successful day trader, buying and selling in lightning strokes for his own account. His is a talent for exquisite market timing, a tricky game for even the most proficient professionals. His specialty is S&P futures, a technique using the marvel of leverage to greatly multiply the chances for gain—or loss—on each tick. It requires an inordinate amount of research as well as stamina, acumen, and nerve, but it can be worth millions every year. The alternative, as Buzzy frets, is “going tapioca.” Buzzy dearly wanted his kids to say, “ ‘My daddy’s the Champion Trader!’ That was all I cared about,” he admits. With success came Lutäce lunches, expensive artworks, Armani suits, Bally alligator shoes, and other trophies. Schwartz essays a little false humility, but the book’s evasive charm is based on chutzpah. In an effort to leverage with OPM (other people’s money), the author established his own hedge funds until investors (the bastards) pestered him about their money. Don’t be surprised to learn the result was heart disease. Now in Florida, trading again for himself, the quondam Champion Trader reveals, with some repetition, his story. It moves nicely, though, with a certain egomaniacal verve. An appendix gives the author’s daily schedule (e.g, “7:20-7:30 Clean out the plumbing”). His investment methodology is also appended, but only the most devoted professional will utilize this rigorous lesson. An archetypal text, true to life on the Street, destined to be discussed over drinks at trader hangouts after the market closes—and better than going tapioca. (Author tour; radio satellite tour)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-88-730876-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1998
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