Reviews for The President and His Biographer: Woodrow Wilson and Ray Stannard Baker

The average rating for The President and His Biographer: Woodrow Wilson and Ray Stannard Baker based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-09-17 00:00:00 Denise Bartlett This would probably be a relatively good book for someone interested in Woodrow Wilson to learn a lot about him without having to wade through the more dedicated biographies that have come out in recent years (while they they are quite excellent and readable works, they are also substantially longer texts). I was drawn to this particular book, even though I have been familiar with Wilson for over 60 years since college, because I just recently finished Ray Stannard Baker's autobiography, "American Chronicle." Baker is, by the way, the "biographer" of this book's title. One of the better reasons to know something about Wilson and his times ' the exciting Progressive Era of substantial domestic reform in the first part of the last century, as well as the horrific WWI and Wilson's failed efforts to realize a truly just peace ' is that here we are, just a century later, once again apparently rushing back into the competitive, Uber-nationalistic world that was the cause of both WWI and the failed peace. If you already know a fair amount about this period, then I would recommend going directly to either one of the dedicated biographies of Wilson and/or Baker's autobiography.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-10-10 00:00:00 Rob Granado A snotty, dismissive piece about Studs in the NY Times which said paper of the establishment's record reserves for effective radicals [] prompted me to both throw the damn paper across the room and vow to read a Terkel volume as soon as possible. Glad I started with this one, it's a treat. Studs's enthusiasm and love of life and art is infectious, and unlike too many interviewers, he came prepared. The interviewees span an impressive gamut of film and theatre people, from Zero Mostel to Fellini to Jacques Tati to Arthur Miller. Not a bad lineup. I don't know why I've never read other books by Studs, as I've been listening to him on the radio for years. I loved him when I saw him onstage with Jessica Mitford in the 1990s, what a pair. Here's to Studs. I'm looking forward to his Great Depression and WWII books.