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Coolidge (2013)

by Amity Shlaes(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0061967556 (ISBN13: 9780061967559)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Harper

review 1: This was a detailed account of the life of Calvin Coolidge. However, it is fairly obvious that the author supports the small government and free market ideas of the modern day Republican party and attempts to hold Coolidge up as a hero for supporting these ideas nearly 100 years ago. There is no mention of how his laissez-faire attitude and policy may have caused and/or contributed to the Great Depression that nearly destroyed the nation.
review 2: When people think of the 1920s, everything from Prohibition to speakeasies to the mob all come to mind. However, how much do we as Americans really know about the President who guided us through the majority of that decade? In "Coolidge", Amity Shlaes takes a detailed look into the life of our nation's 30th chief e... morexecutive in a way that is both fascinating & tedious at times with detail. From his humble roots in Plymouth Notch, Vermont to his time at Amherst college to the Massachusetts legislature & beyond, Shlaes goes into great detail telling the story of Coolidge as if we were there witnessing history along the way. Each chapter takes on this journey with an insight into the person who was a solid believer in what he thought & also that brevity was the key to getting a point across. His time as president is marked by trying to reduce government as he also worked on bringing faith back to the American people after the scandals of the Harding administration. What makes Coolidge interesting is that while he presided over one of the greatest periods of prosperity in the American history, he also was able to foresee potentially the Great Depression & governed in a way that was appropriate for that time. At over 500 pages, the book itself at times gets caught up in the details of his life & certain specific events a little too much, but overall this is an enjoyable read & one that offers a new insight for this reader both into the 1920s but also the man forever known to history as "Silent Cal". less

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