Reviews for Careers in Focus Politics

The average rating for Careers in Focus Politics based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-05-16 00:00:00 Lee Morin In the spring of 1853, Elisha Kent Kane led a group of 17 men on a small sailing ship into the Arctic to look for the lost Franklin Expedition. Through a combination of unreasonable optimism, bad judgment and bad luck, Kane's Quixotic expedition was locked into Arctic ice and forced to spend not one, but two winters huddled on its small ship. Among other problems, the expedition had embarked with insufficient supplies even for one winter. Gales, temperatures of fifty and sixty below zero, ice floes, perpetual night and insufficient food were their daily lives. The harrowing story of how all but three members of the expedition survived more than two years in the Arctic and were able to return to civilization on small boats is one of the most harrowing I have read. Honestly, the travails recounted by Kane are so daunting that one doubts anyone could have lived through them. Yet, even if Kane has exaggerated the details to some extent, the simple fact of their survival in such conditions must be true and--but it's still almost unbelievable. Kane certainly was a flawed leader, but he brought most of his men home and was rightly welcomed as a hero. Recommended, if you can find it.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-08-14 00:00:00 Rich Ghazarian A collection of short essays (or excerpts) about the childhood of famous and inspiring people. Broken into several sections - artists, scientists, politicians and businessmen, and athletes - the book relies mostly on excerpts from biographies and autobiographies with a handful of original essays. Nothing very long or substantive, but enough to hopefully grab the interest of a kid reading the book and inspire him to look for more. I wasn't familiar with a few of the people featured, but for the most part these are universally known success stories. A good introduction to biography, and I appreciated the short format geared towards younger readers. I was also happy to read first person accounts of the childhood rather getting it from a removed narrator.