Recent Biographies

I have been inundated with messages of appreciation from readers for my Clemenceau review, and I wish I could thank every one of you. Unfortunately, that would be impossible. I would have no time to eat or sleep.

But, I thought you might be interested in knowing what other biographies I have recently read. Let me know if you wish more detailed reviews of any of these books, and I will see what I can do.

I have read, over the past few months, a fair number of interesting biographies and memoirs. Here goes.

Until you read a biography of Churchill, it is impossible to realize the unique combination of human and superhuman traits in him. The biography that I read was by Roy Jenkins. It is interesting that Jenkins has been a major English politician over decades and decades, while writing scholarly book after book, as well as serving as Chancellor of Oxford. Just like his subject Churchill, who was basically a writer and journalist, starting with his coverage of the Boer War in South Africa, and including his multi-volume History of the English People, and History of World War II, while he was saving Britain and western civilization, and giving vent to his many idiosyncracies.

Jenkins has written massive biographies of a multitude of political and literary personages. Were they all 800 pages, like his Churchill biography? I don't know. But, what is even more amazing, is that Jenkins wrote his Churchill biography, when he was already in his 80s. (Roy Jenkins, Churchill: A Biography, Plume (Penguin), New York 2002)

And, of course, remember the Churchill comparison with Clemenceau, another politician/journalist/author, and, in his case, the embodiment of France, as Churchill was of England.

But I also read the second volume of Edmund Morris's prize winning biography of Theodore Roosevelt, which started with the death of McKinley, and Teddy's ascension to the presidency. Roosevelt was another man, whose strengths and pecadillos both seem super human. After reading Morris' book, I turned to a biography of Edith Kermit Roosevelt, Teddy's second wife, written by, of all people, Morris' wife, Sylvia Jukes Morris. (Sylvia Jukes Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady, Modern Library Paperback, New York 2001, originally published 1980) Her biography is as much the story of Theodore as of Edith, and paints not a conflicting, but a complementary picture of the president. What is interesting is that Sylvia wrote her book almost twenty years before Edmund wrote his. Did Sylvia influence Edmund in his subject matter? Perhaps. Sylvia's biography is quite well written; but Edmund's prose is superior.

All biographies are not well written, and not about world famous people. I read Wayne Brown's "Edna Manley: the Private Years 1900-1938", the story of the wife of Jamaica's first prime minister, Norman Manley and mother of its fourth, Michael Manley. Edna Manley was a first class sculptor, and their story is one of a mixed race marriage, when such were almost unknown. The story was interesting, and the pictures of Manley's works inspiring. The writing was pedestrian and my guess is that the author was not originally planning on stopping in 1938, but just got tired. But had I not picked up and read the book, think of the stories I would have missed. On the other hand, had the book continued, I am not certain that I would have. (Wayne Brown, Edna Manley: the Private Years 1900-1938, Andre Deutsch, London 1975)

As some books appear pedestrian, others appear extraordinary. Such as Amos Oz's new memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness, which is the story of much of Jewish settlement in Palestine and Israel, as it is an autobiography of author and journalist Oz. (Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness, Harcourt, New York, 2004). I know many people who have already read this book. Everyone raves about it. It is not to be missed.

I also read an interesting biography of Theodor Herzl, which gave him a very human "boy next door" persona, by Desmond Stewart. I do not think it is one of the more widely read biographies of Herzl, and I recommend it highly (Desmond Stewart, Theodor Herzl, Doubleday, New York 1974)

One more recent biography was worth reading. That is T. J. Stiles' biography of Jesse James. (T.J. Stiles, Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, Knopf, New York 1996) Jesse James as outlaw, to be sure, and not a very sympathetic character. But also Jesse James as a Confederate soldier, and southern patriot. As a participant in the Missouri-Kansas border wars. As a symbol of the Confederacy and of the vanquished Confederates, an immediate and lasting folk hero.

I also did not know much (other than the obvious) about recent Indian history. I knew a little about Ghandi, but about the Nehrus. I read a volume by Prime Minister Nehru's sister, which is a family biography, and was just fascinating. The Indians and the English, the Hindus and the Moslems. A peaceful revolution based on universal brotherhood, followed by a split based on religious persuasion and extraordinary cruelness and violence. Like Clemenceau, Roosevelt, and Churchill, both Ghandi and Nehru were bigger than life. (Krishna Nehru Hutheesing, We Nehrus, Holt Rinehart Winston, New York 1967) Very much worth reading.

And there were a few I found to be klinkers (klinkers or klunkers? is there a distinction?). The most disappointing perhaps was the memoirs of Bob Schieffer, CBS newsman (Bob Schieffer, This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV, Berkeley, New York 2003). I had great hopes (based I am sad to say on Don Imus' review). Then I saw that Schieffer, in his book, thanks Imus for giving him the encouragement to write the book. Something amiss, I thought. And the book did not keep my interest for more than 20 pages or so. I gave up.

And finally, I could not get beyond five or six pages of Bernard Kerik's The Lost Son. Remember Kerik, the NYC police commissioner who was Bush's Homeland Security secretary nominee for about 3 minutes? His book appeared to me to be worth 3 minutes, as well.

All of these books (with the exception of the last two, but - who knows - maybe if I picked up the last two again, I would think about them differently) are worthy subjects of future articles on this blog. Let me know what you want to hear about.