Reviews for The Life and Times of G. D. Birla

The average rating for The Life and Times of G. D. Birla based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-11 00:00:00 Kevin Oliver Harpsters biography of William B. Ogden offers a view on the life of - as Harpster puts it on the last page of the book - "...a towering figure in nineteenth-century America who is today virtually a forgotten man." The work provides acounts on all parts of Ogden's life, family, work, pleasure and character. This, combined with a full-sacle bibliography make this book a well-researched biography. However, in my opinion the author, from time to time, strayes too far from the topic. So, when Harpster writes at some length of the architectual history of Chicago, it is clear to me that he tries to provide a connection between Ogden and the building of the city. With the lengthy excursions the author achives the opposite: At some time I just started wondering: "What has all that to do with William Ogden?". That's why this relatively small book took me quite a while to read. So I evaluate it as an important pice of Chicago history (as it is the only modern biography of William Ogdon) but much less entertaining than it could be.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-05 00:00:00 Erica Proctor Informative. Timeline a little jumbled. Deeds and actions documented, but still feel that the man eludes us.