In the "Life and Legend of Jay Gould," historian Maury Klein seeks to resurrect the image of the archetypal -- but now largely forgotten -- early American industrialist.

The names Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan are familiar to nearly everyone, and in this 497-page biography Klein makes a convincing case that Jay Gould belongs in that pantheon of early American business giants. From his early maneuvers (which Klein claims permanently undermined his reputation) in fighting for control of the Erie Railroad and an attempt to corner the gold market, to his Herculean efforts to build and maintain a vast transportation and communications empire in the face of brutal competition and economic and political chaos, Gould emerges as a true pioneer in American corporate finance. Moreover, perhaps more than any of his contemporaries, Jay Gould was the personification of the so-called "robber baron"; the man and the myth were consummate.

Yet, for all of its promise, this book is a huge disappointment. Klein is a classically trained historian and accomplished professional academic, yet this book reads as if it were composed by a fawning amateur. A project that began as an effort to "set the record straight," ultimately degenerates into a frustratingly air-brushed portrait of a very complex and capable man. Rather than a balanced and objective review of Gould's character and business acumen, the book takes on the form of a giddy valentine. Seemingly every move Gould makes is judged by Klein as "brilliant, masterful and unexpected," while his long list of formidable rivals are portrayed as bumbling morons. For example, after Gould ascended to a leadership position in the Union Pacific railroad, he moved to thwart the ruinous rate wars in transcontinental shipping that had erupted with the Pacific Mail steamship company, the Union Pacific's sole competitor in that market at that time. Shortly thereafter the Panama Railroad, the critical nexus upon which all of Pacific Mail's business depended, was acquired by another speculator and the transit contract with Pacific Mail abrogated. Klein describes Gould's actions in acquiring Pacific Mail and in getting out of the Panama railroad jam in glowing terms, but not a word is said about how someone with his supposed perspicacity could leave such a obviously vulnerable flank exposed in the first place.

Also, the author almost totally neglects Gould's private life. Early in the book Klein confidently pronounces that "Two concerns dominated the rest of Gould's life, business and devotion to family." Yet, from that point forward, nary a word is spoken about Gould's relationship with his wife and family -- or specifically about his relationship with the son whose incapable hands the family fortune would be left to and squandered. In comparison to Ron Chernow's and Jean Strause's treatment of the private lives of John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan, respectively, in recent biographies, Klein's performance in this regard is particularly disappointing.

In closing, two things are clear after reading "The Life and Legend of Jay Gould": 1) Jay Gould was a giant of American business, easily on par with Rockefeller and Carnegie; and 2) the definitive one-volume biography of his amazing life has yet to be written.

This book gives a complete description of what it took to develop the American railroads to what it has become. What the author also tries to do is to fight some of the negative comments made by other authors and the press which were not warranted. This book goes into the necessary research to prove them wrong! Each chapter starts with about three quotes from other books or the press and then they are dealt with accordingly. One can also learn a great deal about how the politics of the day operated with its friends, bribery etc. However, I find that the book could have been about half the size and that 300-400 pages would have done just a good job without too much of excess material. This book might be more suited for railroad buffs rather than investors and speculators.

Jay Gould is remembered as the worst of the 19th century "Robber Barons" - a destroyer of companies - yet as Maury Klein so ably details, this reputation was almost wholly fabricated by the media and bears little resemblance to a man obsessed with building a transportation and communications empire. Klein's book is more than about Jay Gould, it's about the vast gulf separating all too common media generated myths and the truth.

I purchased the book hoping that it was a first person account of a Pacific WWII destroyer officer who was involved in much of the action prior to 1944. About 25% of the book is truly that and was exactly what I had hoped for. I really enjoyed his description of the people and organization and functioning of the USS Maurie. This and the physical descriptions of the power plants and related systems are also unique in my reading experience.

The Author,however, also attempts to interleave in the narrative a history of the surface actions in the South Pacicfic theater in 1942-1943. It appears that he liberally summarizes the Morrison hisory "Breaking the Bismark Barrier" without adding much if anything and deleting a lot. The presentation is certainly mechanical. Even the charts are cheap reproductions from the Morrision book.

For some reason the author does not describe his experinces with the destroyer from Pearl Harbor through Midway and etc. This to me would be much more interesting than a repeat of a book I have read several times and a lengthy discussion of the fallacies of the US torpedo program that thousands of authors have already covered ad nauseum. The torpedo problem was,though, a hugely important issue. What the author did add was that prior to the battle at Vella Gulf, he insisted that the Maurie's torpedo depth settings be set to mininum to compensate for faulty controls. This truly may have had a significant effect on the outcome of the battle.

This is the best account of destroyer actions in the Solomon Islands I have read; written from an authoritative viewpoint and filled with technical insights that could only have been furnished by someone who was there. If you find Roscoe enthralling but leaving you wishing for more detail, your book has arrived. Thank you, Capt. Crenshaw, for writing it.

In addition to his eye witness knowledge as Gunnery Officer and XO aboard USS MAURY(DD-401), CAPT Crenshaw is apparently an expert in Naval Science. The accurate technical detail excels that normally found in this type of book. "Snipes" and "Techs" will be impressed and entertained. The history is well researched and written with consummate skill, approaching that of John Lundstrom. I just wish he had written more.

In my review previously submitted I mentioned that Admiral Perry had written some of the introduction to the book. My mistake. It was Commander Richard Byrd who wrote the forward (making reference therein also to his anticipated Antarctic expedition).

The introduction of the book by Admiral Perry properly points out the advantages of reading the biographical histories of noted persons. Matthew Maury, as noted in the book probably didn't get his due from history. The text is a fascinating history of the man, though more thorough treatments might be found elsewhere. This book and its subject has been given renewed interest in large part because of the publisher's note at the end where the Maury statue in Richmond is described as well as the legend about his deciding to discover oceans had "paths" after hearing Psalm 8:8 read to him. While the statue does exist as stated in the note, many, over time, have been led to erroneously believe the statue depicts Maury with a bible in one hand. Others have actually been led to believe in the legend, even though history and Maury's life itself as recounted by Lewis is clearly evidence that we knew of ocean currents before Maury was born and he knew of them as well long before the legend incident is said to have taken place. Would that more folk would learn of the historical Maury instead of the popular caricature of the legend.

This was a very good life story of Roger Maris. You get a good look at his early baseball years with the Kansas City Athletics.
He is then traded to the New York Yankees.As a result of this trade he is able to play on several world championship baseball
teams.The year that Maris broke the all time season homerun record is well covered. You get a good coverage of the day to day events of his life until he breaks the record of 60 homeruns
set by Babe Ruth. You are also told of the 61st homerun by Maris in good detail. This is a very good book about a record setting
baseball player. Read this. You will enjoy it.

Maury Allen's book is a touching tribute to one of baseball's greatest players. Written in part to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Roger Maris' 61 in '61 home run feat, it honors the tormented athlete with memories from the people who knew him best. Family, friends, and teammates reflect on and remember the man who was loved and hated for toppling Babe Ruth's home run record. Most of the book understandably focuses on the 1961 season and examines his upper Midwest childhood and his post-'61 career from such perspective. While Allen doesn't hesitate to weave Maris' record-breaking year into any stage of the narrative, he is careful to expose a gentler Maris the press actively ignored and defiled. The numerous interviews, including ones from Maris' father and high school coaches as well as players Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Mike Shannon, bring great honesty to his tortured character. It also is a strong attempt to redeem a player who in life never rose to the glory he deserved.

This book serves more as a biography of Roger Maris the baseball player and man who broke Babe Ruth's home run record than Roger Maris the person, and there's little on his personal and family life, perhaps echoing on page the private man he was in life. Nevertheless, it more than adequately creates a portrait of a small town hero whose devotion to baseball was never bested by his love for his family and friends.

Ounce for ounce and for its' price tag you can not go wrong. This book lists all the information about Lionel trains that you will ever need when repairing trains.

The book is an autobiography, however it was also a little-how to put it-true crime like, he being a news journalist, one might exspect that. The style of writing seems to be that of someone who is very good at speaking out loud. He also had this habit of jumping from subject to subject-which I very much enjoyed-he was quick-but thourough. Something that I always enjoyed about Maury Povich is his humour. Hes quite witty-and you call tell that in the book. All in all-I found it interesting-and it kept my attention-it was good. And remember-Maury Povich is a fox!

Almost every literate American is acquainted with the basics of the coming of the War Between the States in the form of Lincoln's election and the firing on Ft. Sumter. Most Civil War students are also acquainted with the military sequence of events of the siege and surrender, followed by Lincoln's call for volunteers to invade the Confederacy and the resulting general hostilities. As far as I know, however, very few lay students of the War have much appreciation for the wide variety of political views on relations between the states at the time, on the possible approaches to the slavery situation (including proposals to guarantee protection for the institution made by some surprising individuals), on the subtle constitutional and other legal aspects of secession, and the actual process by which South Carolina's secession spread to ten other states, some of which were quite reluctant to do so initially. Prof. Klein sets all of this out in a very readable, fast moving text which is guaranteed to hold the reader's interest and attention. From my standpoint, the most interesting aspects involved the (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts by some of the most unlikely individuals to pull the situation back from the brink, and the cynicism of others who are often described in more altruistic and one dimensional terms. At many junctures in Klein's book the reader will get the irresistable urge to play "what if." The other reviewers who have described this as comparable to a mystery or other novel are not far off the mark and I recommend it very highly.

When we discovered plates, chairs and other decorative gadgets from Fornasetti some years ago, we did not imagine, my wife and I, that a real artist lied behind all these creations. I was really impressed when I discovered in that book the beautiful face of the artist and when I learned that he would never create any more because he already passed away. Fornassetti art is mainly decorative. It pleased every body because it is an harmonius equilibrium between classical inspiration and to-day printing technologies. If you do not know where to buy furniture inspired by Fornasetti, buy this book and place it on a coffee table. Everybody will want to read it.

I have read this book about 2-3 times. Maury Johnston does a good job of dealing with the major biblical issues surrounding the subject of homosexuality and Christianity. He doesn't shy away from criticizing both the church and the gay community when necessary. The book is logical and relatively clear in its presentation. While it does help in dealing with scriptural questions and providing some moral direction, it is a bit lacking in emotional and practical areas. In spite of this, it is definitely one of the best books I've read on the subject. It should be more prominent. I read Gays Under Grace again every few years and would recommend it. All-in-all it is balanced and pretty comprehensive.

Mr Klien has done it again. I read Mr. Klein's The Life And Legend of Jay Gould with much anticipation and found it to be very engaging. That is exactly how i felt about his latest endeavor, The Life and Legend of E.H. Harriman. Mr. Klien handles a complex person with much skill and depth. He brings to life a monumental person who was both very complex and yet very human. His use of the social and cultural aspects of the era help to put his subject in context without detracting from the person. Many biographies fail either because the subject is dimmed by the amount of background information on the social and cultural aspects of the era or just the opposite, the subject is not brought to life by too little backgroung of the forces that helped shapped his/her life. Mr. Klein succeeds in reaching a great balance. The book is a great read.