Calculated Risk: The Extraordinary Life of Jimmy Doolittle-Aviation Pioneer and World War II Hero

Book Description

Famous for leading the Tokyo Raid, America's first strike against Japan in World War II, Jimmy Doolittle lived a remarkable life as an American pilot. This firsthand account by his granddaughter reveals an extraordinary individual—a scientist with a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from MIT, an aviation pioneer who was the first to fly across the United States in less than 24 hours and the first to fly "blind" (using only his plane's instruments), a barnstormer well known for aerobatics, a popular racing pilot who won every major air race at least once, recipient of both the Congressional Medal of Honor and Presidential Medal of Freedom, a four-star general, and commander of the 8th, 12th, and 15th Air Forces. This memoir provides insights into the public and private world of Jimmy Doolittle and his family and sheds light on the drives and motivation's of one of America's most influential and ambitious aviators.

Customer Reviews:

Must Read.......2006-11-01

I can sum this up in a very short space. This is a well written book that not only gives an insight into General Jimmy Doolittle's contributions to our nation and the world, but also into his family and his wife's contributions on the home front during WWII. As far as I am concerned, no history class should be taught without this book as required reading.

Calculated Risk:.......2006-03-02

This book was purchased for my son who is interested in WWII planes and fliers, and since I was a civilian during WWII and lived through that era, this book was definitely to be read (especially after watching Life and Times on our local KCET station and the granddaughter was interviewed regarding this book). Both of us enjoyed reading the life of this remarkable man and it was a must for his growing library.

The behind the scenes of this famous American hero........2005-05-28

This book is about the family life of Jimmy Doolittle written by his granddaughter. It's touching in every aspect of what a family goes through over the years. After reading this book you will understand why his biography is titled " I Could Never Be So Lucky Again" by CV Glines, and why he is known as "The Master of Calculated Risk."

Book Description

In the twentieth century alone, military deaths totaled over 35 million, including 29,700,000 slain in international wars and almost 6 million killed in civil wars.

This completely updated and revised edition of the acclaimed 1992 two-volume work (“belongs in the reference collection of almost every library”—ARBA) presents a record of casualties of modern warfare in the last four centuries. New information pushes back the beginning date to 1500 from the first edition's 1680 and pushes 1992 out through 2000. Arranged roughly by century and then subdivided by world region, the entries proceed chronologically and vary from paragraph to chapter-length. Each entry provides the name and date of the conflict, precursor events, strategies and details, the outcome and its impact. A history of weaponry is easily traceable, as casualties mounted according to their improvement.

Customer Reviews:

The single best reference book on war.......2002-04-16

As a scholar who has been collecting statistics on all civil wars fought from 1816 to 2000, I can heartily recommend this book to serious students seeking reliable figures on casualties, battles, and armies during the period under study. I paid [$$$] for a USED copy of the 1st edition and still feel the money was well-spent -- though for the casual reader, this book is simply far too expensive to justify. The format is a brief description of each war (with much more thorough sections on the big ones from a European/American perspective: 30 Years, World Wars, Napoleonic, Vietnam, etc), followed by lists of battles and statistics (for very minor wars, the only statistics he provides are some figures in the war descriptions). What makes his work especially valuable is that he generally does a very good job at digging up the most reliable estimates for use in this volume. This second edition expands a small amount of the 1648-1990 material that was in the first, but generally makes few revisions, instead opting to add new material for 1500-1648 and 1990-2000. The 1985-2000 material is nothing to write home about, but then again that's available in lots of other places and the 1500-1980 stuff is fantastic. If obscure wars interest you, or if you are a scholar researching war and peace, this book is really a must-have reference work. For anyone else, it's likely to be expensive overkill.

Book Description

Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism is a treatment of the major events of Lyndon Johnson's career with a central focus on his role as the emblematic figure in the rise and fall of postwar American liberalism. The volume contains 15 documents - Johnson's own speeches and assessments of the president and his programmes by contemporaries and later scholars - that give students the opportunity to read about LBJ's career and to evaluate his impact.

Customer Reviews:

Great short bio on LBJ.......2007-07-18

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.

From the New Deal of the 1930s to the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, liberalism was the dominant political philosophy in the America for half a century, believing that active government was the cure for what ailed the nation. During a period when many Americans, in the wake of the Great Depression, believed in the federal government's capacity-indeed, responsibility-to provide prosperity, social justice, relief from economic depression, security in old age, education for their children, homes for their families and safety from foreign menace, Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973) was the architect of its most important legislative achievements. He was also a major agent in its eventual enervation and demise. More than any other politician of the past six decades, Johnson not only embodied the contradictions of political liberalism in post World War II America, he also orchestrated its triumphs, and endured its agonies. Johnson and other liberals believed that government could and should improve the lives of citizens; they had little sense of the limits of political action, and the unintended, self-defeating consequences of some well-intentioned policies. Ironically, Johnson's presidency alerted Americans to those dangers and shook their faith in the capacity of their president and their government to meet the challenges of modem life (pages 1 and 2). A friend and one time protégé, Texas Governor John
B. Connally, said "there is no adjective in the dictionary to describe him. He was cruel and kind, generous and greedy, sensitive and insensitive, crafty and, ruthless and thoughtful, simple in many ways yet extremely complex, caring and totally not caring .... As a matter of fact. . .it would take every adjective in the dictionary to describe him" (2).

Johnson was born and raised in the Hill Country in and around Johnson City, Texas to a family of modest to desperate means. His mother, Rebekah, was a woman of refinement who hated anything dirty or shabby; his father, Sam, was a six term member of the state legislature whose passion for liberal politics nearly matched his apathy toward farming and the real estate work he pursued to support his family. Young Lyndon absorbed his father's passion for liberal politics, accompanying Sam on the campaign trail, or on his rounds visiting the isolated homesteads of constituents throughout his district, trading gossip, listening to problems, and helping widows and veterans apply for pensions. Persuasion for Sam Johnson frequently involved getting up really close to someone, virtually nose to nose until they were "convinced"(pages 6 and 7). Unfortunately, for Sam Johnson, the Texas legislature was a fulltime job without a full-time salary and he fought cleanly. Texans distrusted government so much, that their state constitution insured that the legislature would seldom meet, quickly transact their business when they did meet, and just as quickly leave town; e.g., legislators earned five dollars a day for the two month long regular session and if they stayed longer, they received two dollars a day. Although most of Sam's colleagues were having their votes bought by oil, railroad, and big business lobbyists, Sam Johnson himself never accepted a dime from a lobbyist; he paid for his vices with his own money. The collapse of cotton prices financially ruined Sam Johnson: he lost the family farm and was able to keep the home only because his brothers guaranteed the mortgage; eventually Sam Johnson found a menial job on a road crew that helped to build the same highways he had fought for in the Texas legislature pages 7 and 8). The loss of status his father suffered among Hill Country folk affected Lyndon Johnson for the rest of his life; he resolved not to repeat his father's mistakes, and to be guided as much by political savvy as political passion. After several false starts, Johnson attended and graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos. Johnson slowly, inexorably worked his way up the political ladder in Texas. After successfully managing the state senate campaign of Wally Hopkins, in 1931, Hopkins recommended Johnson to newly elected congressman Richard Kleberg for the position of congressional secretary (the title for the person who ran the congressman's office in Washington) (page 10 and 11).

As congressional secretary, Johnson immersed himself in the rules of the house, worked himself and his assistants mercilessly, and ingratiated himself with influential older men on Capitol Hill-especially Sam Rayburn-and in the executive branch (a colleague called him a "professional son"), but he was not content. The sudden death of James B. Buchannan in February 1937 provided the Johnson with the opportunity to seek and win elective office. Once in Congress, Johnson worked himself and his staff relentlessly, positioning himself as a Roosevelt man, and fighting successfully for cheap public power, rural electrification, and flood control and relief through the construction of several massive dams on the lower Colorado and Pedernales Rivers (pages 17-20). Johnson also met the acquaintance of Herman Brown, owner and operator of Brown and Root. The firm was the immediate beneficiary of millions of dollars worth of federal construction funds. Their collaboration on the dams' construction had convinced Herman (and his brother George) that the two men could "play ball," and Brown threw in his lot with Lyndon Johnson. Herman Brown bankrolled everyone of Lyndon Johnson's campaigns and greased the wheels for LBJ's rise to power. In 1940, bankrolled with Brown and Root money, Johnson headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which directed campaign funds and political support to Democratic candidates facing tough congressional races. With war raging in Europe and the New Deal stalled at home, everyone expected the Democrats to lose seats in Congress. Although the party did lose three seats in the Senate, Democrats actually gained several seats in the House of Representatives, and the strong showing made Johnson a force to be reckoned with on Capitol Hill (pages 23-25).

The death of Texas Senator Morris Sheppard in April 1941 offered Johnson an opportunity to set his political sights even higher. Thanks to Brown and Root dollars, Johnson mounted an impressive special election campaign against his opponent, Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. The initial election returns had Johnson as the winner by five thousand votes, but Johnson blundered and reported the vote totals of his precincts too soon. This enabled 0' Daniel's forces to furnish just enough additional votes for their candidate to win. In many areas of the state, political machines controlled the balloting and delivered large sums of votes to the highest bidder. If your candidate fell behind, the machine could "find" a few more votes. In the 1941 Senate race, both candidates made such arrangements with the political bosses around Texas. It was the first-and last-election Lyndon Johnson ever lost (pages 25 and 26).

For the 1948 Senate primary and campaign, Johnson used his strong support for the war effort and military preparedness-and his opposition to race and labor issues-to win support among conservative Texans. His principal opponent was Governor Coke Stevenson, a conservative who had built his reputation by starving state services, cutting school funding, blocking river management programs, eliminating old age assistance, and aid to the blind. Stevenson garnered the most votes in the primary with 40% of the vote, while Johnson qualified for the runoff with 34%. Johnson had five weeks to close his deficit with Stevenson; he relentlessly attacked the
Governor and slowly eroded Stevenson's lead. Stevenson controlled east Texas, while Johnson depended on the support of the Boss George Parr and the powerful Parr machine in south Texas. Before 1948, Parr had always supported Stevenson until he broke his promise to let Parr hand out patronage appointments in south Texas. Parr was determined to punish Stevenson and demonstrate his political clout. After the runoff, the ballot counting stretched for five days. In the end, Johnson won election to the Senate by 87 votes (pages 30 and 31).

Schulman observes that during the post World War II period, liberalism evolved in three crucial respects: 1) postwar liberals developed a new attitude toward business and the economy, i.e., they wanted to improve the lives of ordinary Americans without requiring the well-off to sacrifice through the use of Keynesian economics in fiscal policy to ensure economic growth; 2) postwar liberals, seeing that individuals could only respond to accomplished facts, rather than influence polices, championed pluralist politics, in the belief that the constant building and rearranging of coalitions on different issues, for the sake of consensus, ensured that representative democracy would flourish, even if individual voices were not heard; and 3) postwar liberals focused their energies on the struggle against international communism (pages 36-38). Burning with national ambitions, Johnson walked this tightrope as a Cold War Senator, establishing anticommunist credentials (by supporting Truman's military buildup) while working tirelessly for the oil and gas industry and accepting their financial support. For LBJ, winning elections, passing bills, and implementing policy were the stuff of government (page 41). Before Johnson assumed the position of Senate Minority Leader in1952, and later Senate Majority Leader in 1955, senate leadership positions required a lot of time and frequently tedious effort.
They were largely ceremonial and procedural posts with little authority and lots of political risks (like being vulnerable to charges that they were neglecting the needs of their home state). Real power in the Senate was vested in the senior members who controlled the congressional committees and decided which bills the full body would consider (page 43). That changed with Lyndon Johnson. Central to Johnson's leadership was his personal style called "The Treatment." It was a combination of according to Evans and Novak, "supplication, accusation, cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, the hint of a threat (page 43)." But the Treatment demanded more calculation than most observers realized. Johnson had mastered policy, parliamentary procedures, and personalities: he had statistics and memos bulging out of his pockets, details of bills and programs on the tip of his tongue, arguments for and against every measure. He also knew the Senate, speeding up votes when he knew he had a majority on the floor and delaying action when the opposition had the upper hand. He expanded the office of majority leader, taking responsibility for doling out ceremonial assignments so senators would be indebted to him (pages 45 and 46).

By the time of the 1960 presidential campaign, Johnson had not only become a political force to be reckoned with, but also a serious contender for the presidency. That he found himself as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate was due to the need to try and attract the votes of the white South as a counterpoint to John F. Kennedy, a Roman Catholic from Massachusetts. After winning the presidential election, Johnson frequently felt left out of the loop of trusted Kennedy advisers, although, Kennedy himself treated Johnson cordially. The 22 November 1963 assassination of John Kennedy thrust Johnson into the presidency. Determined to continue Kennedy's legacy, Johnson appealed to citizens and legislators to "let us continue" the domestic legislative agenda of the late president. He simultaneously sought to forge his own presidential legacy through his proposal for a "Great Society" through the passage of legislation that sought to address environmental, health care, senior citizens, education, and civil rights issues, among others. For Johnson the key to success was the passage of law; however, the passage of law frequently involves compromise among national, state, and local institutions. Worse, Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam war without a tax increase (guns and butter) and steadily building opposition to the war, combined with an increased sense of domestic resentment about the cost of funding the Great Society programs, fractured the liberal coalition and muddied the legacy waters of Lyndon Johnson's presidency.

The issue, finally, is not the program but the vision, the angle of the view. A huge constituency may be coming up for grabs, and there is considerable evidence that its political mobility is more sensitive than anyone can imagine, that all the sociological determinants are not as significant as the simple facts of concern and leadership. When Robert Kennedy was killed ... thousands of working-class people who had expected to vote for him-if not hundreds of thousands-shifted to Wallace. A man who can change from a progressive democrat into a bigot overnight deserves attention (page 245),

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.

unsettling parallels to our time.......2007-02-03

The writings that Schulman has gathered together in this book take on new piognancy in these years, as the US is bogged down in Iraq. Roaming through the various essays that deal with the Vietnam War, an American reader might be unable to avoid gleaming unsettling parallels from 40 years ago. The alternatives confronting Johnson, of escalating or de-escalating the war, were both unpleasant. Especially as a withdrawl was feared to lead to the fall of other dominoes in south east Asia. Just as some suggest that a withdrawl from Iraq would destabilise its neighbours; an argument put forth most recently in Bush's 2007 State of the Union address.

To be sure, not all the documents are about Vietnam. Many pertain to American society, and to the so-called Great Society that Kennedy and Johnson sought to build. There are still pertinant discussions on civil rights, including the Watts riot.

An Invaluable Perspective of an Intriguing President.......2005-02-23

I've had the honor of taking two courses with Professor Schulman at Boston University and, as an American History major, I find him to be one of the most astute commentators of post-World War Two American society. Though Professor Schulman never assigns his own works in his courses, many of his students often read his books at their leisure and are never disappointed. His concise biography of President Johnson is an impressive feat and is my personal favorite of his works. Schulman's critique of Johnson's presidency, and it's role in America liberalism, is pleasantly surprising relative to its moderate length; it is enourmously informative and offers a refreshing perspective on a topic that historians have spilled much ink evaluating. Professor Schulman is a renowned professor, closing out his classes of over four hundred students, and is an equally engaging author. Those who read this book will undoubtably hold similar sentiments.

Good work on LBJ.......1999-07-03

This is a fine and targeted work on LBJ. For anyone who is looking to find a quick read on LBJ, this one is a winner. Also, for anyone looking for a quick read on LBJ who already has a great deal of knowledge about him, this one is still a winner.

The text itself by the author is great. Yet, what really shines are the essays and documents which come later. They provide for a truly non-partisan insight into the career and Presidency of LBJ. They show a flawed man who gave us Medicare, Medicaid, 3 civil rights laws, Head Start, labor law reform, environmental protection and other renewal programs, but also gave us the Vietnam War. What comes out is a great paradox of power and a strange view on political compassion.

Average customer rating:

Excellent short bio of LBJ

Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism: A Brief Biography with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)
Bruce J. Schulman
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Johnson, Lyndon | ( J ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OT5YNK

Customer Reviews:

Excellent short bio of LBJ.......2007-07-18

Book Description

When commercial overfishing sent striped bass

populations into free fall in the 1980s, Dick Russell

emerged as a key spokesman in a long-shot crusade

by dedicated fishermen to save them. Striper Wars is

RussellÂ's vibrant account of their thrilling, yet tenuous

victory, complete with heroes and villains. In one

of natureÂ's great comebacks, groundbreaking moratoriums

allowed the striper population to rebound

more than tenfold. Yet today, the striper faces new

threats, including a deadly bacterial disease. While

perils persist, Dick RussellÂ's inspiring account offers fundamental lessons

about the power of civic action and the necessity of a holistic

approach to conservation.

Customer Reviews:

Good book with some caveats.......2006-04-29

The author was a critical part of the movement in the 1980's to establish conservation measures for the East Coast Striped Bass population. The first chapters provide a historical background for the near collapse of the bass population in the early 1980's. Persons interested in environmental movements will find interesting Russell's description of how he along with other environmentalists caused first increases in the minimum capture length, and then a moritorium on landing the bass in several states. The first part of the book also reveals with honesty, the sport fishing bias of the author. There is also a touching story about a handmade surfcasting rod.

Blaming commercial fishing on all of the bass's ills, is misguided. The author shows plenty of evidence that land based agriculture and development have huge impacts on the bass's spawning grounds, but strangely his efforts do not lead him to action wrt this aspect of the problem. Indeed, he shows little real interest in the California population of the Striped Bass, which hasn't been landed commercially since the '70s.

Further, implying that a restricted fishery practiced only in NC and VA can be the cause of alleged problems with the Menhaden population of the entire east coast is silly.

Overall, though, this is a good read for a recreational fisherman or anyone with an interest in the environment.

Game Fish or Not? Read it and You Decide!.......2006-03-24

Excellent, comprehensive history of the fight to save this magnificent fish. If your a die hard striper fisherman, you should read this book. Also speaks to the present challenges facing the striper.

Understanding the love of fishing.......2005-12-28

If you fish, you'll love this book. If you don't fish (but have a loved one that does) you'll love this book. Dick Russell chronicles the history of saving the bass in a noncomplicated, factual, way. He also includes the personalities of members of both sides. It makes you stop and wonder what humans are doing to our environment. If you do stop and think, it can be downright scary. Anecedotes are included about individual fisherman that let you recognize your own fisherman in your family. You wonder who wrote the anecdote(Russell or your fisherman). You end up appreciating the fish and its waters and hopefully understand that it is everyone's responsibility to protect all. Catch and release!

Stars & Stripes Forever.......2005-08-17

Combine well honed invesigative skills with the passion borne of a life long love affair with the sport of pursuing, catching, releasing, nurturing and learning from the noble Linesider and you have a read, courtesy of Mr. Russell, that anyone who cares about the continued health of the Striped Bass, its habitat and the continued reclamation of our coastal waters will tear through then pick up and read once again. Bravo!

A must read for striped bass conservation.......2005-08-04

This is a great book, full of history on the never ending fight to save the striped bass. Even a better read for me as I've met and spoken to a couple of the folks in the book. Striped bass game fish status now!

Fishing for the future.(Striper Wars: An American Fish Story)(Book Review): An article from: American Scientist

Average customer rating:

Fishing for the future.(Striper Wars: An American Fish Story)(Book Review): An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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