James Monroe: The The Quest for National Identity by Harry Ammon

James Monroe: The The Quest for National Identity
by Harry Ammon
Copyright 1990
University of Virginia Press
706 pages


Harry Ammon tackles a tough subject in his biography of James Monroe because Monroe left scant information about his life for historians to examine. Unlike the Adams, who were compulsive savers of correspondence and records, Monroe destroyed them routinely.

We don't really get to know James Monroe, the man. Nor do we get to know much about his wife, Elizabeth.

Monroe was born into wealth in colonial Virginia. Not a strong political activist during the pre-revolutionary days, he joined the Continental Army and rose to the rank of Colonel.

The book is aptly titled for no one did more to shape the national identity of the United States than James Monroe. He did it as a diplomat, as acting secretary of war, as secretary of state, and as president.

As president, he presided over the "Era of Good Feelings". Political rancor between the tattered remnants of the Federalists and the Democrats was at an all time low. Monroe was elected almost by acclamation. For the next eight years, the country experienced increased prosperity and peace after the struggle of the War of 1812.

Monroe was a protégé of Thomas Jefferson and part of a politically powerful Virginia political machine operated by Jefferson, James Madison, and himself. These three men, so different in their approach to government and personal conduct, were close friends and unwavering political allies through their entire careers. Jefferson the visionary; Madison the strategist; Monroe the statesman.

Monroe was an earlier version of Richard Nixon in his vision. In a time when global travel was a lengthy and dangerous journey and communications between countries took months, Monroe was able to examine the state of affairs in Europe and make a bold declaration to the continent. This was, of course, the Monroe Doctrine, developed intellectually by John Quincy Adams and put forward by Monroe as a bold statement to the world's superpowers. He told the powers of Europe that they were not to meddle in western hemisphere affairs. Neither France, nor England, nor Spain, who were constantly skirmishing, could afford to draw the ire of the United States and Monroe knew it.

Compare this to the Cold War strategy employed by Nixon. The Soviet Union and China skirmished and had a tense, uneasy relationship. Neither of them could afford a confrontation with the United States. Using this strategy of "triangulation," Nixon brought the Soviets to the negotiating table and established Detente while establishing our first diplomatic relations with China since Mao's forces ran Chiang Kai-Shek off the Chinese mainland in 1949.

Monroe's policies and popularity was able to assure that his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, was elected president. The succession to the presidency was traditionally from the Secretary of State position at that time.

Monroe suffered from his public service. His farm suffered from inattention. His law practice suffered from lack of time. And his personal finances were often tenuous because his pay from his diplomatic service did not cover the expenses of his job. Yet Monroe continue to give of himself up until his death.

Ammon is superb in his policy and political analysis. This is a good book for presidential biography wonks. Ammon comes up short in animating Monroe the man. He had only the commentaries of Monroe's contemporaries -- who all saw Monroe through their own biases -- to use. So Ammon can be forgiven his lack of “character development within his biography.

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life by Paul C. Nagel

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life
Paul C. Nagel
Copyright 1996
Harvard University Press
430 pages

Nagel's history of this historically controversial president is the most contemporary and best written biography of John Quincy Adams.

The Adams family has to be one of the easiest subjects about which to write a biography. They saved all of their correspondence and it provides a rich, detailed history of the family. All (including the women) were gifted writers and both the legendary Abigail and her daughter-in-law, Louisa, were also gifted with political and social insight.

JQA's childhood is well documented by his father's correspondence as well as his own early diaries. He craved knowledge from an early age and studied in some of the finest schools in Europe while his father served in various diplomatic posts in the early days of the Republic. He enrolled in Harvard and, shortly after graduation, emerged as one of its most distinguished and prolific alumni.

JQA kept a journal throughout his life and it reveals a young man tortured by two obvious personality problems. He was frightened and disdainful of women, and he was full of self-doubt and expressed a great deal of self-ridicule. He set impossibly high standards for himself.

Finding law tedious and time consuming, he entered government service near the top as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. He was a part of the tattered remnants of the Federalist party, but often broke with them on matters of conscience. This earned him many enemies in Boston where old guard Federalists still held sway. By alienating the old guard, Adams ended his senate career after just one term when he was defeated for re-election.

He would then embark on a diplomatic career that would send him to all corners of Europe, including France, England, Germany, and Russia. He was better received than most previous American diplomats, including Timothy Pickering who was a cantankerous, yet highly effective diplomat.

It's in his stint as Secretary of State that we really see JQA's strengths and glaring weaknesses emerge. He was the brains and the architect of the Monroe Doctrine which not only declared an end in European meddling in the Western Hemisphere, but retired the decades battle between the Federalist "Anglophiles" and Democratic "Francophiles".

But his emotional difficulties that would bedevil him for the rest of his life would also emerge during this time. He was not adept at playing political games in the cabinet. Eyeing the presidency, he knew he'd be in a pitched battle with Treasury Secretary William Crawford, who was much more adept at political infighting, and Henry Clay, who wielded great power as Speaker of the House. Adams had already alienated Clay by being named Secretary of State -- a position that Clay coveted to position himself for a presidential run.

His 1824 election to the presidency over Henry Clay was a matter of some controversy since, because of the divided nature of the Electoral college, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives. Political maneuvering by Adams' allies in New York carried the day for him.

Nagel only devotes one chapter to the Adams' presidency. He says this is because they were the most miserable years in the Adams' family life. JQA was mentally and emotionally ill-equipped to serve as chief executive. He was dogmatic, cantankerous, and politically unskilled. He faced a hostile Congress that thwarted every initiative he put forward.

Adams sought major federally-funded interior improvements == including roads and canals. Congress wasn't biting. He had a grander vision of scientific research and higher education being funded by the federal government. His ideas were scoffed at as "visionary" and ridiculous.

Adams suffered through horrible bouts of depression in his White House years. His two oldest sons were major disappointments, having fallen prey to the Adams' family's greatest adversary for generations -- alcohol. They caused him and Louisa great worry for years before they both met young deaths.

Adams was crushed by the Democratic wave of 1828, and was relieved to be released from his duties. His years off were full of grief as he lost his two sons, found himself near bankruptcy, and unable to focus in his idle time. He decided a re-entry into politics was just the solution for what ailed him and he ran and won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

While he served in the House, he enjoyed being a pain in the ass to his colleagues. He took up unpopular causes, made strident speeches, and made motions that irritated even his fellow Whigs. While not a particularly effective legislator, he was a gifted orator and a courageous (if not always correct) iconoclast.

Reading David McCullough's treatment of Adams followed by Nagel’s biography of his most famous son is reading the history of a political dynasty every bit as powerful and commanding in the 19th century as the Kennedys were of the 20th. Perhaps a better comparison is to the Bush family which dominated the last twenty years. JQA’s children would go on to hold important positions in government, but never rise to nearly the stature of their father or grandfather. Prescott Bush was a U.S. senator, father of a president, and grandfather of a president and the governor of a major state. While I seldom will write off an entire family’s future in politics, it would be a safe bet that the last Bush administration has damaged the Bush brand beyond repair much as the tribulations of Teddy Kennedy sullied that family and as much as the presidency of JQA ended his family’s dominance of the political landscape of America.

If you tour the U.S. Capitol today, the tour guide will take you to the old House chamber. On the floor is a mark where Adams' desk was placed. Approximately 40 feet away, is another mark on the floor where members of the Democrats would frequently gather to discuss legislative strategy during House sessions. If you stand at Adams desk, you can hear clearly the conversation going on some 40 feet away from you due to the strange acoustics of the chamber. Adams often feigned sleep at his desk whilst listening to his enemies plot against him. It was at that desk that Adams would be stricken by a stroke and die shortly thereafter.

Nagel's book is awfully thin on policy and politics. He is nearly as masterful as David McCullough in bringing to life this member of America's first political dynasty. Nagel draws heavily from JQA's journal to paint a portrait of this sensitive and temperamental statesman.

Also examined and intriguing is the relationship between JQA and his mother. Abigail was terribly domineering and JQA often avoided corresponding with her for fear of some sort of reprimand. The matronly Abigail did not care for Louisa when he brought his young bride back from Europe. However, time wore the edges off of the relationship and Abigail and Louisa eventually became close.

This is an entertaining and engaging book. However, I would recommend it with a companion book. John Quincy Adams by Robert V.Remini is dedicated almost exclusively to the JQA presidency. Nagel's examination of JQA's tenure in office is entirely lacking. Only with Remini as a companion does Nagel's book give you the complete picture of John Quincy Adams.

Third from the Sun by Richard Matheson

Third from the Sun
By Richard Matheson
Copyright 1954

This paperback collection of Matheson’s earliest work was published in 1954. It is a repackaging of an earlier collection of short stories entitled Born of Man and Woman.

Like Ray Bradbury and the other great writers of Golden Age Science Fiction, Matheson was a master of the short story and short novel. In Matheson’s early works, we can see that, even in his early twenties, he had mastered his craft. He was just a few years away from his groundbreaking work as a writer for the television series The Twilight Zone. Before that, he was working the same genre as the legendary Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, and Isaac Asimov. He would go on to literally invent the genre we know as post-apocalyptic fiction with his novella I Am Legend.


Born of Man and Woman
An eight year old child, deformed and inhuman, is locked in a cellar by “its” parents and left to suffer out of sight and mind. He observes the outside world and comes to resent the neglect and abuse heaped upon it by its parents. He soon becomes resentful and resolves the next beating will be his last. . .

Exceptionally well crafted narrative! Matheson tells his story with simple, primitive, gutteral prose. The creature in the basement is truly amoral and dangerous!

Note: This story is spoofed to a degree in The Simpsons in a Treehouse of Horror episode when Bart is locked in the attic and forced to eat fish heads.

Third from the Sun
A scientist, sure that the planet is doomed to atomic extinction, prepares his family and their best friends to leave in a spaceship he has designed and built at the military base where he works. They ponder the moral implications of fleeing the planet rather than helping to save it.

This is an average short story. However, Matheson retooled it when he went to work and made it into one of the most powerful Twilight Zone episodes ever. Instead of pondering the morality of their actions, the families instead deal with the tension of their plans being discovered and thwarted.

Lover When You’re Near Me
A warehouse manager is sent to manage a shipping facility on an alien planet. All of his workers are dull witted males. The only female of the race known to him is his maid and caretaker who calls herself, “Lover.” He finds his predecessor’s journal and reads a chronicle of a man driven to near insanity. Through Lover’s constant attention, he soon finds out what drove his predecessor to near madness.

What I appreciate about Matheson’s sci-fi – as opposed to the likes of Robert Heinlein, is his focus on character and emotion rather than technology. Like much of Matheson’s work, emotion is at the fore in this story and come to sympathize with the hero and his desire to be left alone.

SRL Ad
A college student answers and personal ad placed by a woman who claims to be from Venus. He becomes the subject of her ardor and, as is tradition, the wedding will be on her home planet.

Told through an exchange of letters, this is a deftly drafted piece of dark humor.

Mad House
A teacher becomes so bitter, angry, and depressed, that his rage is transferred from him to the inanimate objects within his home, making the most mundane and every day tasks untenable and maddening.

All I can say is sometimes, I can relate. . . What a wonderful story.

F---
A time traveler from 1954 to the future finds there is another “F-word” not spoken in polite company. It’s a word that you and I use every day for a substance that the fortunate of us encounter several times a day – sometimes more often than we should. This substance becomes an abomination because of an environmental cataclysm. The time traveler deals with his future shock and his cultural crime.

This story is best described as a farce. The title is designed to put our minds in a prurient place. But the source of the profanity is just a few inches north of the source of prurience. It’s a mildly entertaining tale, but a clever idea.

Dear Diary
Three diary entries by people of three different time periods. Each views his life as drab and uneventful.

Not really a story and there’s not much of a story here. Think sci-fi perspective piece.

To Fit the Crime
An arrogant, abrasive, overtly nasty poet lies on his death bed. As his final minutes tick away, he levels demeaning, hurtful, yet poetic insults at all who love him. For this, he finds the true nature of Hell when he passes to the next life.

Absolutely delightful! Matheson’s Hell is certainly how I would define Hell. . .

Dress of White Silk
A little girl lives with her grandma in the home where her mother died. When one of her friends comes to visit and pokes a little fun at her and her dead mom, our little heroine puts on a brutal fashion show for her tormentor.

Written in the patois of a six year old girl, Matheson tells a simple and inelegant tale of supernatural revenge with flair. Bravo! It was this story that, according to Ann Rice, inspired her to write horror.

Disappearing Act
A journal is found in a coffee house, three hours after its owner and writer left it there. It tells a story of a young man, in constant conflict with his wife about his inability to earn enough to support them. After a one night stand with a woman he meets in a bar, he chronicles the slow and random disappearance of all the people and places that make up his life.

This is the most straight forward horror in the book thus far. The tale is engaging and Matheson uses precious few words to tell a complex tale.

The Wedding
A young bridegroom, driven by superstition, takes great pains to make sure that nothing curses his upcoming nuptials to the love of his life. He forgets the most profound superstition about weddings – much to his chagrin.

Another straightforward horror story. This one not so compelling or interesting. Perhaps the weakest story in the book.

Shipshape Home
A woman is convinced that something just isn’t right with the apartment building she and her husband lives in. The rent is too low and the custodian is a strange looking fellow. When she investigates, she finds that there are rocket engines in the basement and a third eye in the back of the head of the custodian, she convinces her husband and her neighbors. But if you think their apartment building is an alien ship, you are wrong. . .

The twist, such as it is, is not well concealed. The story moves along nicely and its primary character is strong.

The Traveler
An atheist college professor volunteers for a time travel experiment. He is sent back to witness one of the most profound moments in Christianity and even though it doesn’t quite unfold as chronicled in the New Testament, he emerges a believer.

This is a strong story about Christianity and Christ’s final moments upon the Cross. Matheson shows he has the power to move his readers.

Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Black House
By Stephen King and Peter Straub
Copyright 2001


Black House takes place in 2001. Jack Sawyer, hero of the novel, The Talisman is just 31 years old, but retired from the LAPD where he was once one of its most successful detectives. His last case found him visiting French Landing, Wisconsin where he ties one of the local residents to a pair of grisly murders in the Hollywood area. Sawyer becomes a hero to most of French Landing and he decides to settle there in his retirement, living off of the wealth he inherited from his parents – his mother, Lilly, having died five years prior.

French Landing is bedeviled (much as Derry was in IT) by a serial killer who snatches kids and eats parts of their body. He is dubbed by the local newspaper “The Fisherman” – named after the notorious serial killer of children in New York of the 1930s, Albert Fish.

French Landing’s constabulary would very much like Sawyer’s help in nabbing the killer. He is reluctant, but finds himself drawn in when he meets the mother of the latest victim. He understands that this killer is of two worlds, just as he is, and that the fate of both worlds might lie in him finding The Fisherman and saving the young boy.

One chief complaint about The Talisman was how slow it started. Black House takes even longer getting started. The first fifty pages are the reader, traveling with a crow around French Landing, observing short scenes from the lives of the novel’s principle characters. This is never the best way to introduce characters and is the book’s greatest weakness.

As I said in my review of 'Salem's Lot, one of King’s greatest strengths is in the development of his settings. Be it Jerusalem’s Lot, Castle Rock, Derry, or the other fictional cities in which he has set his stories, the town itself becomes a character. Not French Landing. The first pages basically give us a road map and brief character sketches; nothing more. While the book has plenty going for it, including many hints as to what is coming in the Dark Tower saga, it never really recovers from this weak opening.

Nor are the characters nearly as sympathetic. Instead of the cleverly developed Wolf from The Talisman, Jack’s dearest friend is blind disc jockey and radio host, Henry Lyden. Lyden is not badly developed and the character serves as a worthwhile partner for Jack. But Lyden lacks a sympathetic personality. Wolf was one of King’s (or Straub’s) finest characters. Lyden pales in comparison.

The other poorly developed characters are the biker gang who become central to the story in helping Jack advance on the Black House to save young Tyler and the universe. The bikers are all professional brewmasters at the local brewery. They are also all college graduates who are given to discussing poetry and literature from time to time. One is a failed surgeon. That all works. However, This apparent conflict in personalities, while referenced and developed to a point, never seems to affect the character. They remain bullies and brutes, despite their education and profession. The juxtaposition of the diametrically opposed personality traits could have led to much deeper, richer, characters with internal conflict – again, something we get from King, even in his worst stories. Instead, we get two dimensional characters – smart guys who like to ride around on bikes and bully people.

The chief antagonist (other than The Fisherman himself) is a smarmy newspaper reporter named Wendell Green. The problem with this character is he’s just a little two smarmy. He’s a caricature of the reporter whose motivation is driven not by a love of the truth and a love of telling a story. His motivation is money. I suppose there might be a few who are truly like that. However, as I know from experience, one does not go into journalism to make money. Wendell Green is not complex. He is dull.

The story, once it get moving from its slow start, is engaging. Jack learns from his old friend Parker, now dead in our world, a gunslinger out of the mold of Roland Duschaine in another world, and our old friend Parkus in The Territories, tells Jack that Tyler Marshall is not the typical victim of The Fisherman. Tyler is special. Tyler is a “breaker” whose special powers will be used to destroy the beams upon which the Dark Tower rests as the crux of all existence.

Jack spend little time in The Territories except to meet Tyler’s mother, very happily married in our world, but a widowed queen of The Territories – having succeeded his own mother. He is compelled to help because of his strong attraction and love for this queen. He and his biker buddies discover that the Fisherman’s hideout is the most unlikely place in the entire city and his lair is a house, painted entirely black, hidden in the woods.

As they approach the house, Jack and his buddies know they’ve left our world and entered one dominated by an evil being known as The Crimson King who is imprisoned in the Dark Tower and would see it and the beams that support it destroyed so that he might be set free to unleash his will on all of the worlds of the universe.

While the story generally well paced, it suffers from the same difficulties as The Talisman. It could have been better edited. Although the two writers combine their work seamlessly so the reader has no idea who wrote what, there are simply too many words for several scenes. The scene where the bikers approach the Black House goes on for about 1,200 words too long. The final journey into the pits below the Black House becomes an epic quest in and of itself. Some critics noted that Jack’s journey into the Algincourt Hotel in The Talisman was way too short. They went the extreme in making this encounter too long. As a narrative, it resembles Mark Petrie’s desperate struggle to escape his bindings while the vampire Barlow awaits in the cellar. But King and Straub fail to develop that level of tension.

The ending is an unusual one for a King book. King doesn’t always write happy endings. Check out the endings of Firestarter, Cujo, or The Dead Zone. However, this ending, while I would not characterize it as dark, takes us a direction we did not expect. King and Straub should be applauded for their original twist at the end which was much different than The Talisman which a friend of mine compared to the ending of the first Star Wars trilogy with Ewoks dancing in celebration.

As a baseball fan, I did enjoy all of the reference to ballplayers from a decade ago. Many have names that will always be remembered like Mark McGwire. But other references to players such as Jeremy Burnitz and Richie Sexson are bound to fade with time. Most of the players referenced are members of a sad group of players known as the Milwaukee Brewers of the 2000 baseball season. One of the charms of Kings works is they reference the pulp culture of the time in which they were written, which is why I hate to see them "updated" when they are rewritten for the television or big screen.

Having read outside the chronology of King’s published order of books, I’ve jumped ahead in the development of the Dark Tower saga. The Crimson King was actually introduced in an earlier novel, Insomnia. He receives a great deal of development here to the point that it makes reading Black House integral to truly understanding The Dark Tower.

Besides The Territories, we visit Midworld which is Roland’s home world and where he spends most of his existence. Prior to Black House, Roland has already learned of the beams and the Dark Tower at the center. By the time Dark Tower was published, King’s time of slipping coy, obscure hints at the nature of Roland’s quest had passed and Black House becomes part of its narrative more than a simple sequel to The Talisman.

As a stand alone book, I would rank it as average in the library of King’s work. It’s not quite as strong as The Talisman, but much stronger than his worst stuff. For fans of The Dark Tower, it is essential reading. Because it is a sequel, it make The Talisman an essential element of the Dark Tower saga as well.

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

The Talisman
By Stephen King and Peter Straub
Copyright 1984

It is in The Talisman the Stephen King (and Peter Straub) introduce the concept of “other worlds” existing parallel to our own – the very crux of the premise for the Dark Tower. In the chronology of King’s publishing, this is our first real step into other planes of existence.

The book tells the story of 12 year old Jack Sawyer who must undertake a cross country journey to save his mother, an aging B-movie actress dying of cancer. Jack is bereft of moral support and assistance. His father is dead from a “hunting accident” at the hands of Jack’s uncle, Morgan Sloat. Jack and his mother are residing in a New Hampshire resort hotel in the offseason where Jack knows no one.

It is an old black amusement park caretaker (amazing how it is always worldly black people who dispense wisdom in King novels) who reveals to Jack the importance of saving his mother from the ravages of cancer. Speedy Parker, wandering minstrel and tinkerer of carousels, tells Jack that, in another existence, his mother is a queen whose life also hangs in the balance. Also in the balance are the fates of the residents of “The Territories” who will certainly suffer when their queen dies and the notorious “Morgan of Orris” (Jacky’s Uncle Morgan’s Twinner) assumes dictatorial power – power he will wield without mercy. The Queen’s son – Jack’s “twinner” or counterpart in the Territories died at a young age – and therefore there is no heir.

Jack uses Speedy’s “magic juice” which is a bottle of cheap grape wine to transport himself to the territories – a world similar to European Middle Ages in its culture and governance – to see the queen on her deathbed. He learns that somewhere on the west coast is secreted the Talisman – an otherworldly orb that has the power to rid his mother of her disease. More to save his mother than to save the Territories, Jack sets out on his journey.

Most of his travels out of New England and across the Midwest are undertaken in our world and he encounters many of the problems a 12 year old boy might encounter when traveling alone. Perverts who want sex. Lowlife businessmen who exploit him for slave labor, and eventually ends up as an inmate in a children’s home run by an demented Christian minister.

He also finds assistance in unlikely characters. In the Territories, the gruff chief of the queen’s guard provides assistance in setting him on his course. A werewolf who more closely resembles John Lennon and Larry Talbot joins Jack in his transcontinental adventure. His cousin, Richard, who is Morgan Sloat’s (Morgan of Orris) son joins Jack for the final leg of the adventure in the Territories in the area known as the Blasted Lands.

Jack arrives safely on the west coast and finds that the Talisman is held within a foreboding black hotel known as the Agincourt. Jack must enter this cursed building, emerge with the pink orb that is the Talisman, and return to his mother to save her – and her Territories counterpart – from the ailments that are certain to doom them both.

Peter Straub, who’s written many horror novels – most notably, Ghost Story and King decided to collaborate on the book while both were living in England in 1977. The collaboration did not start until four years later when both were back home in the states. Reading Straub (and I’ve only read two of his novels), he seems an unlikely partner for King. Straub’s text is dryer and his narrative more straightforward than King’s blue collar prose. I can’t help but believe this might have been a better book had King written it alone.

This is not a horror novel. Chronologically, it came on the heels of the horrific Pet Sematary. Just a few years prior, King took his first steps away from traditional horror writing in his novella compilation Different Seasons which are haunting and tragic, but not horror. After writing about a haunted car in Christine and the notorious Maine cemetery that brings the dead to life, King decided to delve into fantasy.

There are several things about this book that make it an enjoyable read. First and foremost is the character Wolf who is a friendly, jovial werewolf – except during that time of the month. But he is not the devious, ravenous, cunning creature brought to life in the Universal Pictures movies. His job in the Territories is to “protect the herd” which means sheep tending. Wolves are schooled in how to protect the heard when the full moon brings out their primal urges. To hurt the herd is to doom the wolf to damnation. When Wolf inadvertently joins Jack in our world, Jack becomes the herd and Wolf sees to his care and protection – even as he turns in the cycle of the moon.

Wolf is simple minded. He reminds the reader somewhat of Tom Cullen in The Stand, but his simplicity comes not from any physiological defect in the brain. Rather, he is simple because his purpose is singular – to protect the herd. He knows nothing more. But he is perceptive, intuitive, and singularly lovable. Wolf is one of King’s (or Straub’s) most memorable characters.

King and Straub also develop well the nature of the Territories – both its good and bad points. It is a simpler place than our world. Neither technology nor pollution befoul its air. It’s people are simple agrarian drones who live by the values put forth in their spiritual tome “The Book of Good Farming”.

The authors develop the theology of the Territories to show its similarities to our own Christianity. Their Bible, is called The Book of Good Farming. Their favorite saying in accepting something fated is "God pounds his nails" which is perhaps a reference to our own Savior's vocation as a carpenter. Their Jesus is referred to as Jason.

The Territories is not without its evil, however. There is the notorious Morgan of Orris – raper of women, power hungry usurper of good, and outright murderer. It’s Morgan’s single purpose to thwart Jack’s saving of the Queen in the Territories and his mother in our world. Both Morgan of Orris and Morgan Sloat of Hollywood, CA pursue Jack in his cross country odyssey. There’s also the Blasted Lands which geographically correspond to the area between Illinois and California. This land which one can infer was subjected to some sort of nuclear incident, is home to evil mutant beings who kill without remorse.

The book’s chief shortcoming is its slow pace. It takes 100 pages for the story to get started. Interludes are too weighty in text. The story frequently stalls and the reader is impatient for things to get moving again. We are not talking of character development interludes or subplot interludes. These are interludes that bear directly upon the story, but are too long in their telling.

This is not a typical fault in King’s writing. If King’s weighty tomes have a fault (and he has written some large books that will challenge your average Sauder book case to hold) it is the many words he dedicates to characters’ back story. Fans of King actually don’t find this as much of a fault as do critics. One must wonder if these overlong interludes are the writing of Peter Straub or the product of poor editing. Either way, the book could have been a tauter story with better editing.

In the body of King’s work, it would rank as second tier novel. It is not in the same league as truly great works like The Shining, 'Salem's Lot, The Stand, or IT. But it is certainly far better than many of his attempts to be an “important” writer with such substandard volumes as Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne, Rose Madder, Insomnia, or the horrific and nearly unreadable Lisey’s Story.

Like the earlier novels reviewed here, this book was written before King had developed the scope of his Dark Tower series. The links to that saga are few, but important. The Talsiman, we find out later, is one of 13 orbs – each with a different nature. We find out that healing is but a byproduct of its true purpose and that same Talisman will serve as the object that brings the important turning point in the life of a young Roland Duschaine in the fourth volume of the series, Wizards and Glass. We also know that the Territories are one of the other worlds on the many spokes extending from the Dark Tower. Roland visits the Territories in his journeys. The place he visits and its nature are revealed in the 2001 sequel King and Straub penned entitled Black House.

Serendipity had me reading this book when it was selected by my book/cigar/scotch club’s book of the month. Their critique was helpful to me in writing this one. Their feelings about the book were similar to mine, although some who are not fans of King felt the novel’s weaknesses a larger liability than I. Unfortunately, I am the only member of the club that has taken in the entire Dark Tower series and all its tangents. I tried to convey to them that this was but a small part of a much grander epic story. They weren’t impressed.

The Talisman is an enjoyable page turner to pass the time. If you’re not a King reader and want to find out why so many people love his work so much, this is NOT the novel you should read. For King fans, or fans of the horror or fantasy genres, It is worth the hours needed to follow Jack across the country and back.

The Life of Andrew Jackson by Marquis James

The Life of Andrew Jackson
By Marquis James
copyright 1938
Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1938

I acquired a copy of this book on ebay for just $6.00 and despite the fact that it is a first edition that is 70 years old, the dust jacket is still intact!

Despite the fact that it is dated, it still remains one of the most (if not the most) scholarly examination of the life of the man who invented "retail politics" and the modern presidential campaign.

The book is an amalgamation of two volumes -- Andrew Jackson: Border Captain and Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President. They won the Pulitzer when they were published as one volume in 1938.

The first volume details Jackson's childhood and early career as a lawyer. Like most politicians, Jackson's law practice suffered because of his obsession of politics. He was firm but fair and not averse to a fist fight after the case was resolved.

As a soldier, his career was spectacular. His victory at New Orleans, which was actually fought after the Treaty of Ghent was signed, was a classic example of soldiers, inspired by their leader, to rise up against adverse conditions to achieve a mission. Jackson and his troops spent their time in New Orleans in swamps and marshes, attacked by the British and their allies, the mosquitoes. It was at New Orleans that Jackson achieved his fame.

He started his military career at just 13 as a courier during the American Revolution. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war where a British officer slashed him with a sword, giving him an ugly scar along the right side of his face. That, and the privations of war visited upon his family during the war led him to a lifetime of hatred of the British.

He would earn some short term anger from the Washington political establishment by seizing Florida during the Seminole War. His charge from President James Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was to prevent the escape of runaway slaves to Spanish Florida. Jackson's solution was to seize the entire territory by taking its capital, Pensacola. He executed to British subjects for spying and destroyed many Seminole villages. He justified his actions by producing evidence that the British were using Florida to encourage Seminole attacks on the United States. Adams used the victory to acquire Florida and achieve a major diplomatic victory.

A native of North Carolina, Jackson moved west as a young man and settled in Sumner County Tennessee where he had a great deal of success in planting. He was a slave owner. But, despite his support of the South's "Peculiar Institution", he was well loved by his slaves. We was also an avid horse breeder and racer. He would later fight a duel (one of several he would fight) over a debt owed on a race, although the honor of his wife was also at stake.

James chronicles in great detail, the relationship and controversial marriage to Rachel Donnelson Robards Jackson. Rachel had married her first husband when she was just 17. He was an insanely jealous man. Whilst she was separated, but not yet divorced from Captain Robards, she met Andrew Jackson. Having been informed that her husband had obtained the divorce, she married Jackson. It was later determined that the divorce had not yet been finalized. The controversy would haunt Jackson long after Rachel's death.

James provides a rich narrative of the early life of this influential statesman in his first volume. James belies the commonly held belief that Jackson was a hot head giving to shooting first and asking questions later. In fact, he was a calm, rational man who only drew sword or gun when his wife's honor was at stake. He encouraged subordinates to provide advice, brooked dissention and was willing to admit when he made mistakes. These personality traits explain his rise and success in national politics.

We also learn that Old Hickory was prone to respiratory infections his entire life. These infections (probably bronchitis) troubled him horribly during his presidency.

He served as solicitor general for the Tennessee territory and was elected the first U.S. Rep for the State of Tennessee. He served just one term. He also served a partial term in the U.S. Senate. It was his military prowess and the desire of the emerging Democratic Party to seize power from the Federalists as the "Era of Good Feelings" was coming to an end.

Jackson's nomination as the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1824 was hard fought. The Tennessee delegation nominated him. However, Secretary of the Treasury, William Crawford, who was an exceptionally popular national figure, but had been debilitated by a stroke. However, Jackson would prevail in the vote and was joined on the ticket by Pennsylvania senator, Albert Gallatin.

Tradition in the 18th and early 19th century was an automatic procession of the Secretary of State to the presidency and James Monroe was determined to see Adams -- the architect of the Monroe Doctrine -- ascend to the presidency. House Speaker, Henry Clay, also threw his hat into the ring. The result was a three way split of the vote. Clay and Jackson split the southern and western vote and John Quincy Adams secured the New England vote. Although Jackson had received a plurality of the vote, no one received the necessary Electoral College votes. With the election sent to the House, Adams prevailed.

The John Quincy Adams presidency was an unmitigated disaster and the Democrats were eager to seize upon his failures to take the presidency in 1828. Jackson easily won the Democratic nomination and selected John C. Calhoun as his running mate. The campaign between Jackson and Adams was brutal by even modern standards. Jackson's campaign attacked Adams as a dreamy visionary for his "Lighthouses of the Sky" proposal to construct observatories and make other federal investments in the intellectual infrastructure of the United States. The Adams camp called Jackson a "warmonger" and carried out vicious attacks on Jackson's marriage. Jackson and the Democrats ultimately prevailed and a whole new era of American politics was ushered in.

Just a month after the election, Rachel Jackson died. Jackson attributed her death to the stress of the campaign and the withering attacks of the Adams campaign. He never forgave Adams or his subordinates. She was buried on Christmas Eve in the inaugural gown she never got to wear.

Jackson's presidency is formative for a number of reasons. First, he exerted executive leadership like no president before him. While other presidents had moments of strong leadership, Jackson entered the office determined to lead the country with his principles. His first battle was over the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States.

His adversary in this battle was Nicholas Biddle, the Chairman of the Bank. In Biddle, Jackson had an adversary who was coarse, nasty, and politically inept. However, the stakes were high and Biddle's allies many. Jackson portrayed the bank as a tool of the wealthy who restricted economic growth by control of the money supply it lent to state banks. The battle went on for months and the Bank prevailed in Congress. However, Jackson's famous "pocket veto" killed the bank. Without a central banking authority, new banks sprang up overnight, land speculators in the west got rich with the flood of currency in the form of bank notes. Unfortunately, these notes were not backed by specie.

Jackson's second major battle was over the doctrine of nullification, introduced by vice president John Calhoun. Calhoun stated that, if a state did not agree with a federal law or regulation, it could nullify it by vote of the state legislature. Calhoun and other southerners were angry over new tariffs on imported goods they felt hurt southern farmers' efforts to export their wares while favoring the industrial northern states. Prior to the Civil War, this was the greatest constitutional crisis the country had ever experienced. Jackson threatened to send troops to South Carolina to enforce the tariff. With tensions running high, "The Great Compromiser" Henry Clay, was able to negotiate lower tariffs and head off the sectional crisis.

Jackson's personal life in the White House was miserable. He missed his wife terribly. Social events at the White House were often tense. This was due to the presence of Secretary of War, John Eaton and his wife, Margaret. Margaret Eaton was a DC socialite whose first husband had committed suicide. She was brash, flirtatious, and outspoken. She was shunned by other cabinet wives. The Eaton's relationship with other cabinet members actually grew into a crisis as Jackson began to interpret the cabinet's snub of the Eatons as a snub of himself. Dysfunction reigned in the Jackson cabinet through much of his presidency, primarily because of the unorthodox behavior of the wives of one of its less important members.

Jackson also suffered from debilitating illnesses while in the White House and, on occasion, appeared to be near death with various respiratory ailments. He survived two assassination attempts. While he led with great strength and character, he came to loath the presidency and longed to return to his Tennessee mansion.

Jackson was, by all measures, a successful president. James is quick to give much of the credit for Jackson's political success to Martin Van Buren. Van Buren served in the cabinet and later as vice president. "The Little Magician" was a masterful politician who had survived and won various political battles in the always tumultuous New York. Van Buren's loyalty and political acumen earned him Jackson's unwavering support for the Presidency in 1836.

Jackson was the architect of the modern Democratic Party. He was the first to appeal to the "common man" for his support. He was the first to speak directly to the electorate about issues that affected their lives. His policies were developed not with the business of America in mind, but the lives of common people. The merits of such an approach can be debated (the banking crisis of 1837 was the deepest depression this nation has ever faced, brought about by Jackson's monetary policy), but its success can not. Jackson was a successful president by any measure.

I would recommend James' book over the highly touted The Age of Jackson by the venerated presidential historian, Arthur Schlesinger. James' book is a detailed recounting of the entire life of this important American statesman.