Governments

Bindas found a subject largely ignored by all Americans: the FMP. We've all heard about the other projects, the FWP, the FTP, and the FAP, but history has ignored music. Bindas records an invaluable piece of Americana that could soon be lost forever.

I believe this book to be the only of its kind, a sad indication of what Americans find noteworthy about their heritage. Reading it is worthwile and fulfilling.

The autobiography of Ralph Wright, Vermont's longest serving House Speaker, provides valuable insights into how legislatures operate. As Speaker Wright describes the legislature, "there is no IQ test to gain admission to the legislature. The place would not be full if there were." The author presents personal insights with critical and blatant honesty of what thought of many Governors and fellow legislators with whom he served.
Ralph Wright was a political oddity in that he was a Democratic Speaker in one the nation's more Republican states while Republicans held a majority of legislative seats. Further, he was a liberal Democrat generally at odds with Republican philosophies. Yet, he was able to swing enough Republican legislators to not only elect him Speaker yet continue to keep him in office.
This book offers what Mr. Wright claims was his secret to success: Listen. He would observe what other legislators said and learn what their goals are. He won the confidence and approval from others by being a good listener. With this book, we learn what he was thinking while listening.
Ironically, Speaker Wright states his least favorite years in the legislature were when Democrats won a majority of legislative seats along with there being a Democratic Governor. He tells of nearly winning an uphill struggle to win single payer universal health care coverage for all Vermonters, only to have it killed by fellow Democrats.
In sum, as the book is titled, the author argues that "all politics is personal". Most campaigns he has observed rested on the personalities and composition of the candidates themselves. He proudly states he never spent more than $250 on a legislative race. In small legislative districts in Vermont where legislators represent about 3,750 voters, it is easier for legislators to develop persoanl contacts with constituents. The lessons of the personal nature of politics do offer important lessons for all. Unfortunately, the lessons may be more attuned to a different, although perhaps more refreshing, era. Ralph Wright's legislative career came to an end when an opponent spent 75 times more than did Wright on the campaign. Perhaps all politics WAS personal.

This is the 1996 edition of the famous book by Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa who have teamed every two years since 1971 to bring us the very latest of information on all the members of the United States Congress and the Senate.

Voting records and districts of the members are analyzed in this book to provide the very latest political profile of every member of the Congress and Senate.

Additionally, the book provides the latest information on the governors of all 50 states as well as the names of all the constitutional officers and the political makeup of the legislatures of all 50 States.

Even though the researcher/lobbyist or citizen owning this book will want to upgrade the book every two years to stay current, old editions of this book are also valuble as historic records on how a particular long-term member may have voted on a particular issue years before. All with an eye towards predicting how that member will vote on a current issue before Congress.

The Almanac of the Executive Branch provides important, detailed entries on the major players of the executive branch of the U.S. Government, providing extensive coverage of the agency, its history, and its chain of command. While the information on individuals will become dated over time, this reference's fourth edition will prove invaluable to current researches in the field.

Francis Jennings, long associated with the Newbury Library American Indian collections has brought his vast knowledge to bear on the subject of the Iriquois as the fearsome 5 or 6 nations who independently cowed both their fellow tribes and the English and French colonists. He proves it wasn't so with so many documents of which we have never heard in our schoolbook history texts that I wonder how such material escaped notice previously. In the process he slays some American Sacred Cows such as Francis Parkman. One learns that the Indian frontier was no such thing and didn't exist but was a commonly inhabited piece of terrain, peopled by various tribes and the European invaders who traded with them. Relations were, for the most part, reasonably amicable, which accounts for the fact that during later wars the Eastern Indians frequently exhibited what we call civilized treatment of enemies and prisoners. (Of course there were the exceptions, usually well justified.) But in the beginning, the Dutch, Swedes, English and French, all found it necessary to deal with the various tribes quite diplomatically in order to survive, and use them in their wars of empire with one another. Furs in return for trade goods were king. The undoubted reality is such a vast contrast with the accepted picture of our frontier that this book, as well as Jennings others in this series, should be required reading to repair the damage done in our schools by claptrap such as Parkman and other revered historians who followed his lead, writing off the Indians as barabarians and the frontier as a clearly delineated line across which whites stepped only if they were willing to take their lives into their hands. Instead we find two cultures living amicably in common communities up until the first half of the 1700's when the balance was upset by driving out the Indians such as the Delewares and Shawnees so that they located in the Ohio country and became relatively independent. The Iriquois had a large hand in this and it was their undoing. Read the book. It is a complicated subject but well worth digesting. I recommend reading it in small doses and having an atlas nearby.

This book is the best analysis of Austrian identity on the market. If you have ever wanted to know what the relationship between Austrian and German is all about and what the term Austrian has meant in different historical periods, you will find the answer here. The book combines sophisticated historical methods with accessible language and is written in an admirably objective tone. It is innovative history writing at its best and has become an instant favorite of mine.

I drafted the Supreme Court petition questioning the legality of a people's initiative which purportedly sought to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution which was our first democratic constitution after the dictator President Ferdinand Marcos was exiled (Santiago v. COMELEC). One of my main references for the petition was this book of which I am deeply indebted for valuable research in U.S. constitutional law and legal history. It discussed exhaustively and in a very provoking manner, the challenges posed by amendments to the immutable nature of the constitution as fundamental law of the land. Our petition, which sought to deny the proposed amendments by way of a people's initiative, differentiated between piecemeal amendments and a revision of the Constitution. I argued that if the amendments sought would ultimately change the form of government, then it should be considered a revision. Our petition was granted by the Supreme Court and became a landmark case in Philippine history. It also found its way as a bar exam question. This book was my guidepost as I drafted the petition in the wee hours of morning in view of the urgency for a Supreme Court ruling on the matter and to avert an impending national crisis and another coup d'etat. The legal luminaries of this country have hailed Richard Bernstein and Jerome Agel's book as the most persuasive and thought provoking treatise on the subject.

In 1950, Joe McCarthy started telling USAmericans that there was a Great Communist Conspiracy that had infiltrated the U.S. govt., the Press, the churches, you name it. One of his prime exhibits was the AMERASIA case, where what started as an espionage conspiracy suddenly, mysteriously collapsed. "It's true," said the Right and the Republicans. "Nonsense you're all paranoids," said Democrats, liberals, and the Left. Now, thanks to Klehr and Radosh, we have the truth, and it is stranger than anything either side ever suspected. There were multiple, independent, overlapping conspiracies, at AMERASIA magazine (to spy for Stalin),in the State Dept. (to undermine FDR's China Policy), in the Communist movement (to shape U.S. policy) in the Justice Dept. (to cover up political embarrassments) and in Congress (to cover up the other conspiracies). Had the truth been told then, we might have been spared some of the worst political messes of modern times. Highly Recommended.

I am not a big fan of Neuhaus, with his magazine (First Things)'s defense of the Branch Davidians and conservative-reactionary tilt. In this book, though, I found little to disagree with and much to my liking. Neuhaus shows why religion should be integral to American life and does a good take on several key issues like abortion. Father Neuhaus avoids his usual political slant in this book, showing the intelligence and skill he is capable of when detatched (sp?) from his usual ideologue status. I would certainly recommend this book, no matter how much I may disagree with him on other matters.

It would be wonderful if every citizen had the opportunity to see that there is recourse to justice for those without funds to be able to bring a case to court by means of contingency fees. Herman does a wonderful job in making this clear to the ordinary reader. Herman is cool!