Donald

I would enjoy this book in either audio or print.

The in-depth look at the reign and purported affairs of Ann Boleyn are very well done. You do not really know if any affairs were actually consummated, just as history does not really know. It is a mystery for which we will never really know the answer, but as told here the probability is low. The characters are well fleshed out and believable. Cromwell of course is portrayed as a very complex and deep individual. You come away from the book with a nuanced look at the period and its characters. I especially like the examination of the thought processes Cromwell goes through in dealing with the events of the time.

My primary reaction is a feeling of sadness for the fate to which so many individuals get caught up in as a part of the court intrigues surrounding Henry the 8th. It reminds me of insects getting caught up in a spiders web. They struggle but the outcome is foreordained.

I liked the level of detail which is included in this volume. It contains many details which I have not encountered in either biographies of Churchill or accounts of the 2nd World War. An example is the descriptions of the ebbs and flows of support for Churchill during his time as prime minister during the war. Also, the information about the people who surrounded and assisted him during this period is very well done and informative.

All of the descriptions of his personal quirks, which were many and fascinating. Examples of this are his drinking and the schedule which he kept during the blitz. Also, the scenes which describe his single minded determination to defeat Germany once he was given responsibility for the war give real insight into his greatness.

This is must reading for anyone interested in Churchill and/or the 2nd World War.

For anyone who is interested in the information technology revolution this is a must read. I recommend it highly. It combines a great story about the development of the communications revolution and a very revealing description of the personality of Steve Jobs. I especially enjoyed the detailed description of the intensity and focus which Jobs brought to his efforts to build Pixar and Apple. His excursions into the distortion reality field and explosive outbursts are examples of this intensity. His development of 1 or 2 outstanding products at a time are examples of his focus.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Apple as the company moves forward without its visionary leader.

The audio version is very well done and moves along well.

All three of the major characters in the book have diverse and compelling stories which represent a broad range of migration experiences.

If you are not familiar with this major event in US history this book is a must read.

This book attempts to flesh out the relatively one dimensional view of Calvin Coolidge which has been provided to most students of American history. It is generally successful in this regard, however the book relies too much on various verbatim readings of his speeches and writings. This gets a bit tiresome. Overall however the book does provide a better description of the personality and political philosophy of President Coolidge than found in other books on this era.

Obviously the personality of Coolidge dominates the book.

I loved this book. I would certainly recommend it to someone who likes the personalization of war. It contains many little details of how the war in North Africa was conducted by individual soldiers, especially the Australian troops. It has a definite Aussie slant.

The portrayal of the "Desert Fox", Irwin Rommel was especially good and well balanced. It did not dress him up and make it look like he did not make mistakes. He certainly did and they are well illustrated in the book.

Not necessarily, it is a book which can be broken into parts and does not suffer from leaving it for a few days.

If you are interested in the personal lives of famous people this book is for you. It contains information which is not in most history books and fills out the personality profiles of Winston and Clementine Churchill. I found the information about their children and the relationships between these famous parents and their offspring most interesting. It also provides a good look at the life of privilege which the upper class in England experienced during the late 19th and early 20th century.

I especially liked the portrayal of Randolph Churchill. It pulled no punches.

I liked breaking it up and enjoying each generation in turn over time.

Right Wing Republicans would probably enjoy much of the book.

I was very disappointed that Bennett totally abandoned any objectivity and just reflected a totally biased Republican viewpoint in this last volume. The first two volumes of the series were interesting in that they were a bit slanted to the right of center, but still contained good insights into the events of each era. Unfortunately as he got to the comtemporary period he just went overboard in defendning the Republican position on virtually everything and being totally unsympathitic to everything that the Democrats accomplished. Totally unbalanced presentation.