I had great expectations for this book as the role of women in ancient Rome is sadly underrepresented or understood.  Unfortunately, this book did not quite come up to snuff; it was aimed more at the academic in that if you do not have a basic command of Latin, or a good Latin to English dictionary handy, or, if you do not have a basic understanding of Roman history and society, the book will fall short of your expectations.  In fact, it seems to me that the author was trying to burnish his academic credentials by writing this book.

Marcus Tullius Cicero was well known during his life (and for centuries afterwards until the decline of a classical education), for his work as an advocate and speaker during dangerous times in Rome as it moved from a weak Republic, through Dictatorship and into the beginnings of the Empire.  Why do we know so much about Cicero?  Mostly because so much of his legal and philosophical writings survived through the ages, much of it written by himself, naturally putting himself in the best of lights.  He loved to write about himself so much that he managed to write two biographies of himself (sounds like a certain President we know) concentrating on the one major accomplishment, his actions in putting down the Cataline conspiracies.

Vicious Indian Fighter, Slave trader and owner, duelist, adulterer, devoted husband (to the woman he stole from another), General, Andrew Jackson had all of the traits to make him one of the most disliked and by many, respected Presidents of our country.  He was, a man of his time and location; born in what was the frontier, his drive and energy, plus his sense of honor drove him to fight a duel on the slightest pretext, but often over the defense of a woman’s honor. Despised by the East Coast elite who had run the nation since it’s founding, he represented a challenge too that elite and also represented the fact that the United States was going to grow outside of the ideals of the old elite.

This was the first Glasnost biography to come out of the then Soviet Union using many new resources and archives.  The author, the son of an agrarian specialist who was purged in 1937, went on, despite his questionable background, to become a Colonel General of the Soviet Army. Dedicated to his profession, he was shocked by the 1956 denunciation of Stalin by Khrushchev and began to gather material for this book at this time.  In addition to early access to archives, the author also was able to speak to many individuals who were associated with Stalin; although Stalin did not have any close relationships after the suicide of his second wife, these individuals were able to provide tidbits of information about Stalin’s habits, techniques, etc.

Although I enjoyed this novel, it was not up to the standard of some of his other works (When Nietzsche Wept, etc.).  Addressing the philosophy of Schopenhauer, who is often called the “pessimistic German” in the form of a novel is difficult, for unlike other philosophers, it would be difficult to apply Schopenhauer’s view of life and do anything other than commit suicide (in my view).  Schopenhauer’s outlook on life reflected his life experience; brilliant, yet rude, self-centered, dogmatic and ill at ease in society and rejected by the two “loves” of his life, he lived a life alone, unloved and unloving.  Any attempt by anyone to reach out to him was viewed with the utmost suspicion and mistrust, even to the point of rejecting the advice of his publicist who suggested his changing the overly long and non-descript title of his works.  It was not until late in his life that he was “discovered” and when that happened, financial security was his for the first time in his life.  As often happens, that security did impact his life and he became moderately more sociable, etc.  He strongly influenced European intellectual thought, unfortunately not for the best.

Mr. Bradley has written a number of excellent histories, including Flyboys and Flags of our Fathers.  This volume covers the interesting history between the United States and China, from the time of the Yankee Clippers through the “opening of China” by President Nixon.  In this book he unveils many interesting facts such as:

• That much of the money of the Eastern Establishment was made selling opium to the Chinese.  In fact, the fortune that propelled Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the White House was based on the illegal trade of opium.
• The fabled “China Lobby” which helped to guide our Asia policy was based on an idealized vision of the average Chinese peasant wanting to be an American, believing in democracy and wanting to have a nice house with a beautiful lawn, etc.
• That due to the “China Lobby”, the U.S. spent billions to prop up the corrupt regime of Chiang Kai-shek and that he and his circle were responsible for the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars while not contributing to the war against Japan
• Finally, that U.S. Presidents, from Teddy Roosevelt to FDR to Truman were fooled by the Chinese, the “China Lobby” and their own ignorance of the world into believing that they could remake China into a western democracy.

Originally written in 1947, this was the first comprehensive account to the trial of the major Nazi leaders after World War II.  The desire to create some type of trial (there was no international precedent) in a speedy manner (the beginning of the Cold War and the normal desire of the average citizen to get on with life) were two of the major challenges facing the judges and attorneys who had their own motives and goals.  Although the Nazi regime kept efficient records, the sheer volume of those records and the seemingly complex relationships between departments and organizations made errors unavoidable.  No one even within the Nazi regime could always explain the power differentials between the State and Party organizations, for example, responsible for the administration of any given area (the SD was a party organization while the Reich Foreign Ministry was a State organ but they each had administrative duties in some of the occupied territories).  Add in the duties of the Wehrmacht, the SS, the Todt labor organization, etc., and the judge’s confusion is understandable.

While historians believe that after the victory at Midway Island the course of the war in the Pacific was set, this excellent history of the naval battels around Guadalcanal shows that had the U.S. navy not prevailed, the marines on the island would have been defeated, displayed in captivity and a serious setback handed to the overall strategy.  That the U.S. naval forces were not defeated was not due to the brilliance of the naval leadership, but rather due to luck, a technological advantage that was nearly thrown away, sheer luck and the misunderstanding of the Japanese military which was focused on tactics instead of logistics.

This is one of those rare books which gives excellent descriptive detail of a battle that is little known, but which had a major impact on World War I.  There were actually two sieges of the fortress city of Przemysl; the first unsuccessful while the second did much to break both the physical and morale back of the Hapsburg army. Largely forgotten today, these sieges helped to bring to a head the nationalistic feelings of the mixed communities in the area and was a precursor to the killing fields by the Nazi and Soviet regimes.

Years ago, when China was beginning to come out of its Maoist straight jacket, and inviting in foreign capital and expertise, I was discussing the process with some Japanese engineers who had been to China as part of the investments by Japan.  I asked them how it was to deal with the Chinese, and they said with a very straight face, “they are very difficult to understand”.  I thought that if the Japanese could not understand the Chinese, woe to our business and government leaders who were making the pilgrimage to China.