Robert

About the second or thrid best book I've listened to.

It is hard not to sympathize with Charles Ponzi, who had a brilliant idea put forgot to put the paperwork in the mail. And forgot to do the real work too. But by selling his efforts as "Helping the little man", became everyone's hero.

His reading speed is brilliant, and the subtle way in which he emphasizes important quotes makes listening very easy and entertaining.

Yes.

The intertwining of the stories about Garfield, Bell, Bliss, Conkling and Guiteaux is done superbly. The involvement of Bell and his own thoughts about his inventions were totally new to me and give the biography an unsuspected depth.

The description of the struggle for reform of the civil service, i.e. the power of the spoils system. It never occurred to me that patronage was that decisive a factor in American political life in the 19th century.

The different voices, pitches and accents of the main characters in the biography is well done, and never annoyes.

The description of the treatment of the wounded Garfield and the ignoring of Listers concept of anti-scepsis by the doctors. The passage about how to prevent Garfield from being killed at the hand of his doctors is great.

Eye-opening. Remarkeable. Entertaining.

The tale of the desintegrating relationship of Lincoln with Salmon P. Chase and what resulted from it for both men.

No, I haven't

Some parts of Team of Rivals cover ground that has been extensively written about. For instance, in different chapters, there is a rundown of the Civil war, as a reference of the time the events took place in.

The biography is a tale of Roosevelt's life. It gives great insights, but is always positive about Roosevelt. Critical notes are not te be found/heard. That makes it a bit one-dimensional and unbalanced.

Only if it is on a person or subject I know nothing about. That would make a good starting point of a discovery.But otherwise, no.

It is a good performance. His impersonation of Roosevelts voice is funny.