A fine, objective portrait in paradox, shrewdly detailing how Jefferson Davis's character flaws rendered him woefully unsuited to be President of the Confederacy. The author (no relation to his subject) brings to bear the military acumen one might expect from a former editor of Civil War Times Illustrated and author of more than 25 books on the Civil War and southern history, including Duel Between the First Ironclads and The Battle of New Market (both 1975). Yet his discussion of strategy is also informed by a firm grasp of Davis's extremes of character. It seemed logical in 1861 that the South would turn to Davis. He was, after all, its major military hero (as a colonel in the Mexican War, he helped win the Battle of Buena Vista); the natural successor to John Calhoun as the Senate's chief States'- rights advocate; and, under President Franklin Pierce, one of the most innovative secretaries of war ever. Yet, as early as his two courts-martial while a West Point cadet and army lieutenant, Davis manifested negative traits that proved fatal as a chief executive: anger, pedantry, vanity, indecision, and, as his future second wife noted after their very first meeting, an overbearing ``way of taking for granted that everybody agrees with him.'' He had the diligence and intelligence of a bureaucrat, but none of the interpersonal skills of a politician. Author Davis examines how these strengths and weaknesses affected the Confederate leader's relationships with his strong-willed second wife, Varina, and his mentor, brother Joseph; his unusually benevolent treatment of slaves; and his mismanagement of the western theater of operations, aggravated by petty squabbling with Generals Pierre Beauregard and Joseph Johnstone and foolish loyalty to incompetents like Braxton Bragg and Leonidas Polk. A dispassionate, well-researched, and skillful biography of a complex and controversial figure. (Sixteen pages of b&w illustrations—not seen.)
Pub Date: Dec. 4, 1991
ISBN: 0-06-016706-8
Page Count: 792
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1991
Spry and readable, this first major Johnson biography delivers the goods on the puckish 87-year-old godfather of American architecture. Although Johnson granted architectural historian Schulze (Mies van der Rohe, not reviewed) extensive interviews, he demanded no editorial control over the project. Consequently, the portrait that emerges is fresh, candid, and relatively free of flattery. Schulze tells how Johnson, born to a wealthy Ohio family, learned early how to ply privilege into power (a gift of stock from his father made him a millionaire by the time he graduated Harvard). Johnson's ``inglorious detour''—his 1930s travels to Germany and dabblings in fascist and Nazi ideologies—are described in detail for the first time. Back stateside, an unrepentant Johnson is shown supporting Father Charles E. Coughlin, as well as forging and deepening influential bonds with Museum of Modern Art director Alfred Barr, author Henry-Russell Hitchcock, and architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It wasn't until 1945, though, that the still- unlicensed Johnson opened his architectural practice. A quick tour of his eclectic output starts with Johnson's own New Canaan, Conn., home, the Glass House of 194849, a homage to Mies van der Rohe, with whom he would later co-design New York's influential Seagram Building. Schulze analyzes Johnson's schemes for Houston's Pennzoil Plaza, California evangelist Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral, and New York's Chippendale-topped AT&T headquarters as products of brilliantly dandyish whim and historical pastiche. A master at self-positioning, Johnson is seen in the 1970s and 1980s gravitating away from modernism to a new generation of postmodernists and deconstructivists—notably, Michael Graves, Robert A.M. Stern, Frank Gehry, and Peter Eisenman. Throughout, Schulze pays ample attention to the architect's personal life, including his relentless social hobnobbing and extended romantic relationships with a series of distinctive men, such as artist David Grainger Whitney. An expansive view of Johnson's prickly intellect, ambition, and shifting aesthetic core. (125 photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 17, 1994
ISBN: 0-394-57204-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
Another work of Boston sports hagiography from one of the jock beat's leading home teamers. For nearly 40 years, Arnold ``Red'' Auerbach ran the show, trademark cigar in hand, for the emerald-clad Boston Celtics. Serving as coach from 1950 to 1966, then as general manager and unopposed despot until 1990 or so (he is still on the payroll as a consultant), Red guided the Hub's beloved Jolly Green Giants to 16 NBA championships, including an amazing streak of titles running from 195966. So successful was the team that Auerbach's effective coaching and astute talent assessment—he acquired many of the game's greatest players, including Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, and Larry Bird (who wrote the book's foreword)—were dismissed by foes as ``The Celtics Mystique.'' During Red's time at the top, the NBA grew from a barnstorming curiosity to a multi- billion-dollar global enterprise, and it would be hard to overstate his influence on the game—but Shaughnessy (The Curse of the Bambino, 1990) very nearly succeeds. While he does show Auerbach's cantankerous and occasionally pig-headed side, the author essentially presents to readers little more than a mash note loaded with anecdotes about Red's cigar-chompin', ref-baitin', hell- drivin' virtuosity. Not merely a great x's and o's guy (the NBA annually presents the Red Auerbach award to its outstanding coach), he is in Shaughnessy's presentation basketball's Moses, the man who led the game out of darkness. Non-Celtics fans might want to skim many passages to get to the parts where Red sagely catalogues the game's changes—for example, his observation that ballplayers ``used to come to practice with gym bags; now they come with attachÇ cases.'' At 77, Red has slowed a bit: He's no longer the preeminent judge of talent, and he's down to two or three stogies a day. But as long as guys like Shaughnessy can hold a pen, it's always Red's game; anyone else just came to play. (8 pages photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 9, 1994
ISBN: 0-517-59680-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
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