MR

"Hold On, Mr. President!" is a product of its time, the late 1980s, with Sam Donaldson offering a view from the press trenches on two presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

The index to this book includes the following note, perhaps in jest: "There are three names mentioned too often in this book to index: Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and Sam Donaldson." And not necessarily in that order.

I had high hopes for this book. Donaldson was a character of television news when I was growing up, the late 70s and early 80s. Whereas other television newsmen offered various lighter shades of pale, Donaldson was a colorful bulldog, always ready to put the Leader of the Free World on the spot, whether the issue at hand was hostages in Iran or his wife's taste in china. Once Donaldson cornered Reagan when the president was a guest at an ABC function, grilling him about the latest embarrassing kafuffle at the White House. Network higher ups talked of firing him, but Reagan just chuckled: "Oh, that's alright, that's just the way Sam is."

That's from the first chapter, the best in the book. Donaldson analyzes his role and how he felt he served the causes of democracy and good television. He tells some funny stories, and makes some good points: "So when I cover the president, I try to remember two things: First, if you don't ask, you don't find out; and second, the questions don't do the damage. Only the answers do."

Donaldson was a good question-asker, too; not needlessly prosecutorial or opinionated like Helen Thomas, not pinheaded and trite like Chris Wallace or countless bottle-blondes. Donaldson had substance.

And ego, too. Boy, does that come across here. It could be a drinking game for a non-social drunk. Find two sentences in a row without the words "I," "me," or "Donaldson" in it, or else take a slug. Add the words "we" or "our" and you'd have an easier time climbing K2.

Another problem with this book is it's clearly not the work of a print journalist. There's little depth, even when the subject is the news business itself. That Harry Reasoner was a surly drinker who didn't put forward his best effort is great dish, but Donaldson doesn't do much more than throw that particular skunk out there and let the reader wonder. Jimmy Carter could be brusque, but he cared. Reagan is an amiable dunce, with some moments of clarity, but trapped by his own primitive ideology.

I found Donaldson's description of Reagan most interesting, not because I agree with it (I don't) but because it demonstrates the media mindset Reagan had to work through and around in securing the goals of his presidency, clearly the most successful one since FDR's. Donaldson takes Reagan to task for missing out on arms control agreements with the Soviets, noting that one such treaty would have left the U.S. with a decided advantage. But reading later Reagan bios like "Role Of A Lifetime" and "Dutch" demonstrates Reagan had vision where Donaldson and the rest wore bifocals. He didn't want to pass limits on nuclear weapons, he wanted to eliminate them, and the world's most dominant tyranny in the process. Donaldson shakes his head at Reagan's use of the term "evil empire," but 20 years later it is the majority view Reagan spoke the truth.

A shame this book fails to analyze the larger role of the media, including the ups and downs of covering stories that may be hot one day, ice-cold the next. Also, I've yet to read a good book on Frank Reynolds, ABC's sterling anchorman from the late '70s until his death in 1983. A better take of the Reagan White House's relationship with the press, in many ways more critical of Reagan but at least more probing, is Hendrik Smith's "The Power Game." Donaldson has some ideas about the future of the media, but they seem inseparable from Donaldson's career goals. He hardly deigns to notice, when discussing the future direction of presidential press coverage, the role of cable television, instead wondering aloud whether he might anchor the news himself. In fact, Donaldson may have been the cable revolution's Marie Antoinette, his style playing well for a 30-second soundbite in an evening news program but really fey and grating in the 24-hour news cycles of our post 9/11 world.

Big fizz, little belch. Well, it is about television after all.

Hold On, Mr. President is a chronicle of Sam Donaldson's years as a reporter until 1987. There is some coverage in the beginning of the book about how Donaldson got his start, which makes for interesting and sometimes amusing reading. The book focuses heavily on his time covering former presidents Carter and Reagen. Much of the information given about his time with Carter is hysterical. While a few funny quips are given over the Reagen administration, much focus is given to the apparent bumbling of Reagen's staff and Reagen's unwillingness to take control of things himself, resulting in many embarassing blunders by his adminstration. The latter part of the book sums up Donaldson's thoughts about network news, his plans for the future, and covers briefly his personal life (including two divorces).

Unfortunately, this book really bogs down after the first few chapters. The middle part of the book, until nearly the end, is a painfully detailed summary of many of Donaldson's experience covering the Washington Beat. Perhaps it was more immediate for the telling, and therefore more interesting, when the book was written in 1987. In the year 2002, it was simply too detailed to be anything but boring.

Still, this is a well written book, giving an insider's look at Washington, the presidency, and network news workings. Of considerable interest is Donaldson's descriptions of the early days of ABC.

Conyers Read's work is a very thorough biography of the life of Sir Francis Walsingham (1532 -1590).

Walsingham's life was of riveting interest (politics, espionage, war, exploration). Read misses some areas of this because of changing historical styles, and the availability of a wider range of sources.

However the primary problem is his absolute lack of nuance in approaching the subject; the book lacks real insight, and is very blind to the politics and factional manoeuvrings of Elizabeth's court. He also underrates the sophistication and professionalism of the people he is studying.

He is very useful for his thorough reading of the main English sources for the period and his efficient citation of them.

Mitchell Leimon MA (Glasg) PhD (Cantab)

C'mon, you had something going with this. A very good book in terms of facts. I really liked to read it, but you could have made it a little more interesting. good job though.

I ordered this game after reading Mr.Bunny Guide to ActiveX. That was a great one! But this game doesn't seem to be useful or at least ironic. Disappointed.

This is a fabulous game. My husband and I have played this one over and over again, and have dragged it to friends' houses to teach them the awesome power of Mr. Bunny.

A minute to learn, a lifetime to get all the jokes.

Seriously, folks, it's a fun little game, even though the pieces go all over the place when you're trying to play it on the plane.

I take my copy and go to the specified business/address and
find they are no longer there. This was true on 3 out of 5
entries. Needs to be updated or removed from circulation.

This book has saved me hundreds of dollars, starting with a computer program that I bought for $500 less than its list price. I find it indispensible for locating cheap sources for almost anything I want to buy, as well as good places to resell household items I no longer need. My only caveat is that since it's now 3 years old, I'd call first to make sure the business you want to visit hasn't closed. I'm waiting eagerly for the next edition!

This book is a good look at the NFL, and features lots of good geographical setting details about Kansas City and Saint Louis. The development of the story is predictable, but enjoyable.

What >IS NOT< enjoyable is the type setting and proof reading. I have never read >ANY< commercially published book so poorly executed.

Read it, anyway, if you like football.

A story that is strange at times, a bit disjointed and is obviously the writer's first work at pulling a group of sub-plots together. It is one of those you put down intending not to go back. Then, you keep thinking about what and where and you go back to see what happens. If you do that enough times you get to a very surprising ending. All in all it is not a great work but is a fun read, especially if you like football and antiques. It would make quite a movie.

While the first few chapters seemed to hold my interest, I found myself rather annoyed with most of the book. Harrison Montgomery made me angry with his pestering questions. Charlotte was a great character, and wondering who was picking off the travelers one by one was at first a good mystery, but lacked thrill and suspense after Mr. Montgomery seemed to figure it out halfway through the book. I enjoy Regency Romances, but this one I did not.

Miss Charlotte Pelham needs to earn some money quickly so that she can afford to send her younger brother, Jonathan, to university. And when she reads a newspaper advertisement for an opening as a guide for a walking tour across northern England, she eagerly applies. Charlotte, who is a seasoned trekker, believes that she is truly qualified for the job. However, she also realises that no one will hire a woman for such a job. So that when she applies for the job, she presents herself as 'Charles Pelham.' It is Charlotte's devout hope that she will be able to placate the participants of the walking tour into accepting her as a substitute for her absent 'brother.' And since she has also persuaded her brother Jonathan, as well as his best friend, Peter, to be assistant tour guides, Charlotte is fairly sanguine that she will be able to pull things off. However her enterprise starts off badly when the landlord at the very inn that the tour is supposed to start from refuses to allow Charlotte to stay without her brother 'Charles.'

Enter the mysterious Mr. Harrison Montgomery, who smoothes Charlotte's way with the landlord, but who expects Charlotte to include him in her walking group in return. And while Charlotte is grateful to Mr. Montgomery for his aid, his dismissive attitude towards her because of her gender, and the manner in which he forces her to include him in the tour, really grates. She has to keep reminding herself that it is this first walking tour that she is leading that is important, and not the very irritating but vastly attractive Mr. Montgomery. And if she intends for this trek to be a success, she will need to pay attention to everyone in the group, and not just the one person who sends her pulses racing, and whose behavior is mysterious and highly suspicious. Why, for example, is he so interested in Jonathan and Peter? And then a series of minor accidents begin to dog the group. With air positively foggy with mystery, Charlotte begins to wonder if this group is just ill-fated, or if something more sinister is going on, and if the mysterious and infuriating Mr. Montgomery is behind it all?

"Mr. Montgomery's Quest" is a really fun read. And I was truly tempted by Martha Kirkland's vivid descriptions of the Cumbria landscape and the Yorkshire moors -- I practically wanted to start out on an English walking tour at once! I liked the character of Charlotte Pelham immensely. Here was certainly a heroine that was not in the usual mode. What a refreshing breath of fresh air Charlotte, with her frank, humourous and intelligent ways, was! It took me a while to warm up to Harrison Montgomery, however. Though this was no fault of his (or the authour's). Being of Indian descent myself, I didn't exactly enjoy the sweeping generalisations he made when comparing Charlotte to the women he had known in India. It was only when I recollected that he probably only had traffic with courtesans (and probably not the cream of the crop either) that I forgave all and settled down to enjoying the rest of the novel. Fortunately, Ms Kirkland rehabilitates Montgomery a quarter way through the book, by making him realise early on that he has been doing Charlotte, and most women, a disservice, by dismissing their abilities. A very nice touch that. And the final chapter of the novel, when Charlotte and Montgomery finally declare themselves to each other, was probably one of the most unique and romanctic declarations I have ever read.

"Mr. Montgomery's Quest" is a nice mixture of romance and mystery. And was a completely enjoyable book.

Written by a angry woman who can't get a man, or maybe choosed the wrong man. Not helpful so mcuh as sad an angry.

I love the illustrations which add a touch of real whimsy to what could otherwise be an almost mean-spirited take on "using" men. Mehalko's stylish drawings keep the thing breezy and fun--just the thing for a friend (or for yourself) after one too many bad dates.

This book is written as though it was the 'Old Testament'. In fact it contains more 'scripture than details of the happenings.

True story of minister's daughter taken during Deerfield massacre in 1600's. Family tries for many years to rescue her. She had been taken at the age of 6 and was adopted into Mohawk family near Canada. The family finally finds her, years later but I'll let you read the book to find out what happens. A real glimpse into colonial American history.

If you're looking for a book with all the stats on Alaska, this is the place to find it. A handy ready-reference book, this interesting read covers everything from the average rainfall in Ketchikan to the population of the smallest incorporated community in Alaska (Adak Station, pop. 7, if you're interested)

While it does contain a number of interesting facts and figures, don't look here for a Cruisers guide to the Inside Passage or an insiders look at Denali. The various sidenotes and facts by "Mr. Whitekeys" make for an interesting, entertaining addition to an otherwise vanilla statistics book (i.e. Alaskans are the second-highest per-capita consumers of S.P.A.M in the country), but other than a rare chuckle here and there based on Mr. Whitekey's comments, I found this book generally to be a bland compilation of stats, meaningful only to a seasonal traveller to the state, or a seasoned sourdough, passionate about Alaska.

I collect different versions of the old story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and I expected this one to be a bit daring. In fact, it was more than so... The book is actually rather well-written, but the sexual content would be more exciting if it didn't happen so very often, and for no appearent reason, between anybody and everybody who just happens to be in the same room toghether! More story and less sex and this would have been a rather good version of Jekyll & Hyde.