The two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian puts the current war in Iraq in its historical context in terms of the exercise and expansion of Presidential power and the doctrine of unilateralism, or what Schlesinger terms the "Imperial Presidency."
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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New York Review Of Books James Chace
Humane and powerful.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Josef Joffe
If we make generous allowance for his politics while paying due respect to his preeminence, this elegant and learned little book... offers a luminous and provocative guide for the perplexed in times of war.
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Favorable
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Booklist Brendan Driscoll
This intelligent collection of essays... includes a compelling discussion of the challenges inherent to history's lens.[Aug 2004, p.1882]
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Favorable
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Boston Globe Michael D. Langan
'War and the American Presidency" is his elegant, cogent, and civilly argued contribution to the battle that is raging for the soul of the nation.
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Favorable
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Chicago Tribune Ted Widmer
Feels like a collection of pointed essays more than an organic whole, which may keep it from becoming a major addition to the Schlesinger canon.... Still, this impassioned jeremiad should be read by anyone wondering how American history fits with the perplexing problems of the present and a world that seems to grow more hateful by the day.
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Favorable
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Kirkus Reviews
A sharp, often effective brief against Bush that would be more convincing had Schlesinger not placed his historical objectivity in a blind trust. [1 Jul 2004, p.623]
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Favorable
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Library Journal Karl Helicher
Schlesinger presents cogent essays that provide historical background to the Iraqi War. [Jul 2004, p.104]
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Townsend Hoopes
His tone is personal, his language vernacular; the text as a whole seems to reflect a cranky disappointment at the dark present and prospective state of things. [10 Sep 2004, p.E1]
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Favorable
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The Economist
Briskly and elegantly, he covers a lot of ground.
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Favorable
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The Nation Michael Kazin
Although there's nothing particularly original about Schlesinger's argument, he does ground it in a more sober historical critique than most antiwar critics have offered.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Charles A. Kupchan
[Has] a hurried feel... containing analysis that is at times cursory and claims that go unsubstantiated.... Nonetheless [it contains] valuable appraisals of the Bush presidency.
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Mixed
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San Francisco Chronicle Daniel Kurtz-Phelan
Were it not for Schlesinger's erudition and the depth of his historical knowledge, this slim, stitched-together volume might amount to little more than a cranky rant.
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Unfavorable
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The New York Times Book Review Kevin Drum
A longer, more thoroughly researched study might have made the case Schlesinger wants to make -- a case that a longtime liberal stalwart like Schlesinger has earned the right to attempt. But this book is too much of a polemic.
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