A cautionary episode from a half-century ago that ends up sounding eerily relevant.
An indisputably timely account of the last time an American president thought the Constitution didn’t apply to him.
Pearson only mentions Trump’s name once, toward the end, but it’s hard to miss the parallels in her portrayal of President Richard M. Nixon as a man who won election through tactics many “would call unfair or underhanded, even criminal” and who used his office to go after perceived enemies, valued personal loyalty above legality, and stubbornly stonewalled both the legal and congressional investigations that proliferated in the wake of Watergate. Pausing to fill in necessary background, such as the ins and outs of the federal court system or what investigative journalists do, she strings together events, from the 1970 election’s “dirty tricks” through the climactic “Saturday Night Massacre” to Nixon’s resignation (and pardon)—detailing in a suspenseful way the chains of increasingly disturbing revelations that just kept coming to light in newspapers and on national TV and casting the crisis in ethical terms by damning Nixon and his associates as oath breakers as well as crooks. In line with that stance, she commends those who stood fast in their loyalty to their country and its Constitution as heroes and concludes by stressing that, as citizens, we the people are likewise obliged to inform ourselves and to act and vote responsibly. Smooth, clear writing makes this an appealing and accessible read.
A cautionary episode from a half-century ago that ends up sounding eerily relevant. (bibliography, timeline, cast list, endnotes, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8003-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
If Freedman wrote the history textbooks, we would have many more historians. Beginning with an engrossing description of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, he brings the reader the lives of the American colonists and the events leading up to the break with England. The narrative approach to history reads like a good story, yet Freedman tucks in the data that give depth to it. The inclusion of all the people who lived during those times and the roles they played, whether small or large are acknowledged with dignity. The story moves backwards from the Boston Tea Party to the beginning of the European settlement of what they called the New World, and then proceeds chronologically to the signing of the Declaration. “Your Rights and Mine” traces the influence of the document from its inception to the present ending with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. The full text of the Declaration and a reproduction of the original are included. A chronology of events and an index are helpful to the young researcher. Another interesting feature is “Visiting the Declaration of Independence.” It contains a short review of what happened to the document in the years after it was written, a useful Web site, and a description of how it is displayed and protected today at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Illustrations from the period add interest and detail. An excellent addition to the American history collection and an engrossing read. (Nonfiction. 9-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1448-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
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