Really well written, concise and enjoyable read

books:

	• Coolidge Robert Sobel Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2000 - 462 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Excellent Coolidge Biography

If you want to learn about Calvin Coolidge the man, the father, the husband, the politician and the President this is the book to read. Sobel does a excellent job at presenting Coolidge in a blanced way showing his strengths, accomplishments and achievments as well as his shortcomings, weaknesses and failures. Unlike some historians who like to just say Coolidge did nothing or slept through is Presidency silently, Sobel shows he had achievements, was active in reducing government, its taxation and spending while bringing in surpluses that he successfully pushed to have refunded to the taxpayer. Sobel also shows that while the rich benefitted from the tax breaks given under Coolidge's Presidency that in the end the vast majority of people did not have to pay taxes under his tax plans. Unemployment was down to almost 3%. Was there problems? There are always problems no matter how good times are and Sobel explores these as well. Farmers struggled under Coolidge's administration and Sobel does a good job of showing why. Sobel's book shows all of these things in a balanced light bringing forth Coolidge, his life, his Presidency as they were with the roaring 20's in full swing and being potrayed in this book as a backdrop to what Coolidge was doing at the time. The book is well written, I was never bored and never found it tedious to read and enjoyed every page. Excellent job by Sobel in presenting us with one fantastic biography of Calvin Coolidge! 5 Stars!
[...]

for more information click here

Fair assessment of an elusive man

I purchased the late Robert Sobel's "Coolidge: An American Enigma" by happenstance. I had no particular opinion of Calvin Coolidge, beyond the general impression that he was one of the very few "caretaker" presidents of the 20th century. After completing this biography, that impression remains unchanged. Despite Sobel's infectious enthusiasm for his subject, Coolidge remains a cipher: likable, decent, honest, but very deliberately lacking in color or discernable personality.

Sobel knows how to write an entertaining biography, especially in light of how dry his subject is. He skillfully follows Coolidge from his childhood in Vermont, his education at Amherst, his governance of Massachusetts, and finally his rise to the office of first vice-president, then president. Through this, Sobel paints interesting portraits of the man and his times. Indeed, some of the most exciting parts of the book occur when Sobel shifts his focus away from Coolidge and focuses on the events that affect the outcome of Coolidge's life. While some of the examination of the Massachusetts political machine seem a little tangential, the passages recounting the Boston police strike and the 1920 Republican convention are particularly gripping. His overview of the scandals of the Harding administration are paticularly instructive.

Still, Sobel never loses sight of the fact he's writing a book about Coolidge. His examination of Coolidge as president is intriguing, if a little sparse. Sparse, because Coolidge himself is difficult to pin down. He was very much from the laissez-faire school of government, taking great pains to limit federal intervention in state and local matters, as well as business. The downside of this was, as Sobel does note, Coolidge did very little beyond pay lip-service to social issues of the country, e.g., the plight of African-Americans and Native Americans. He was also not terribly interested in international matters, although as Sobel points out, Coolidge was able to handle tensions with Mexico. He is also very explicit that the tendency to lay the Depression at Coolidge's feet is totally unfair, as Coolidge was only in the vaguest awareness of what could happen to the booming economy, and was far less equipped to do anything about it.

The most substantial problem I had with this book is Sobel's tendency to allow too much of his own bias show. Sobel, from what I can tell, was very much a Reagan Republican. This was obviously a reason for his decision to attempt to rehabilitate Coolidge. However, that often leads to awkward editorializing. The most overt example is a lengthy dissection of previous Coolidge historiography, including an an attempt to reutt the works of Arthur M. Schlesinger on the failure of the Harding-Coolidge-Hoover era. While I realize that Sobel's intent was to take on the popular view of Coolidge as some sort of failure, I felt that Sobel's decision to place this argument in the beginning of Chapter 9 inappropriate. This would have made perfect sense in the introduction or the epilogue materials. Including it in the body was distracting, and caused me to set it down for a little while.

Another concern was Sobel's copious use of block excerpts, particularly in the opening of the book. It felt like Sobel was padding a little. As the work progresses, the quotes seem more useful, and less intrusive.

On the whole, I surprised by "Coolidge: An American Enigma". I found Coolidge the man appealing. While he would have been horribly out of step with this day and age (indeed, just years later he would have been quaint), Coolidge was a man of his time, lending further credence to the idea that times make men as much as men make times. Had Sobel distanced himself a little more from his subject, it would have been about perfect. As it stands, it's an excellent single volume about a caretaker president.

for more information click here

Only a Beginning. . .

How interesting that as we look at the last century, President Coolidge has become a polarizing figure. After smears from William Allan White, Arthur Schlesinger and others, Coolidge has finally merited re-evaluation. While not an activist President in the vein of, say, Franklin Roosevelt, Coolidge was far from indolent or passive. He gave more press conferences than any other, inaugurated the use of radio, and sponsored airplanes in the military. However, it was indeed his belief that government should exist for the people, not the other way 'round. Interestingly, he was the last President to refuse to have a telephone in the Oval Office--he considered it undignified. He supported women's suffrage and his wife, Grace, was the first First Lady to smoke in the White House. I have undertaken to read many accounts of Coolidge; he does remain a mystery to us in so many ways. Regardless of the slant of the source, though, his deep sense of decency and honor in performing public service always shines through. I'd recommend purchasing a copy of 'Grace Coolidge and Her Era' from 1962 to give a more human side to both the President and his wife. Another characteristic of this man is that despite his reserve, his overriding love for his wife and sons remains there. The heartbreak that he and Mrs. Coolidge endured with the needless death of their youngest son in the White House cannot be overstated. Especially since we know now that the Staph. infection from which young Calvin died would nowadays have certainly not been fatal. I think part of the reason the Coolidge times have become fascinating for those of us interested in history is the obscurity to which these years have been consigned. The terms of FDR with his extensive radio and movie coverage has overshown the previous three Republican administrations, not by accident. I have concluded that no one book can cover all the aspects of President Coolidge, and he deserves further reading.

for more information click here

Coolidge alive

Author Sobel creates an interesting read, bringing to life an obscure President, obscure from the fact historians and the general media have tended to ignore him. Cooledge exhibited an unusual degree of statesmanship, while cognizant of the politics that got him to the highest elected office in the land.
Much of Sobel's writing is in a matter of fact vain. While helpful, I found the constant insertions of Cooledge quotes to be distracting at times.

Really well written, concise and enjoyable read

I read this book based on recommendations that this is the bio to read regarding Coolidge. Those reviews are right on point. This is an outstanding book, well researched, moves quickly and keeps the reader engaged throughout.

It is obvious that the writer liked Coolidge and thinks he is an underrated President. That said, he did acknowledge Coolidge's shortcomings, almost all surrounded his dry demeanor.

The book was well researched and gave me a really good taste of the times that Coolidge grow up in. It talked about the issues that led to his Presidency (The Teapot Dome Scandal) and gave enough detail to explain the entire situation to better understand why Coolidge could've been implicated in the events that led to Harding's downfall...but ultimately the author explained why he wasn't implicated.

I've read a lot of Presidential bios and I would rate this against any I've read so far. It is a difficult task for an author such as Sobel to write a bio about a little-known President who didn't serve during the "sexiest" events in American history. However, the author wrote in an interesting way about the issues Coolidge had to face and by the stats and details provided it appears Coolidge did overcome and manage the events that needed his expertise during his Presidency. And, it appears he gets blamed incorrecly for laying the foundation that led to the depression. As a side note, I think Hoover is wrongly blamed for the depression as way. The economy has an ebb and flow to it and Coolidge served during a downturn, while Hoover rode the worst economic times in our history that I feel he is wrongly blamed for.

Great book and really an underrated President that I am glad I know a lot more about.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

In 1998, the late Robert Sobel, author of more than thirty books on business and politics, wrote the first biography on Calvin Coolidge in a generation.

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Calvin Coolidge and the Great Depression
Presidential Biographies: Part II
Presidential Biographies
Keep Cool With Coolidge
Butt Chin Men!

search for books
coolidge

Impressum / about us