American Sketches

Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane

De: Walter Isaacson

Narrado por: Cotter Smith

One of America's most versatile writers, author of bestselling biographies such as Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin, has assembled a gallery of portraits of (mostly) Americans that celebreate genius, talent, and versatility, and traces his own education as a writer and biographer.

In this collection of essays, the brilliant, acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson reflects on lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, and other interesting characters he has chronicled both as biographer and journalist. The people he writes about have an awesome intelligence, but that is not the secret to their success. They had qualities that were even more rare, such as imagination and true curiousity.

Isaacson also reflects on how he became a writer, the lessons he learned from various people he met, and the challenges for journalism in the digital age.

He also offers loving tributes to his hometown of New Orleans, which offers many of the ingredients for a creative culture, and to the Louisiana novelist Walker Percy, who was an early mentor. In an anecdotal and personal way, Isaacson describes the joys of writing and the way that tales about the lives of fascinating people can enlighten our own lives.©2009 Walter Isaacson; (P)2009 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Great Overview of Different Interesting People

What did you love best about American Sketches?

Short reviews of many interesting people.

What did you like best about this story?

He weaves the stories in coherent way.

Any additional comments?

It is a compilation of Isaacson writings in TIME Magazine. He does a good job linking them and is honest about the source of the stories. You end the book learning few things about many people.

Isaacson about his favorites and himself too!

Isaacson about his favorites and himself too! Great narrative and inspiring characters! Really worth listening.

Very interesting read and phenomenal narration

The narrator, Cotter Smith, keeps you engaged throughout the entire book. He could make the iTunes user agreement sound interesting.

I am a big fan of Walter Isaacson and this book is a great way to dive into more of his writing and learn about many subjects in a short amount of time per subject. Each individual explored in the book is approx. 45 minutes and very interesting.

I will be recommending this book to friends.

Captivating and Inspiring

Each profile I listened to taught me so much about the person, the time she or he lived, her or his struggles and triumphs, and about the people and subjects they knew. The writing is personal and insightful. Walter Issacson and Hampton Sides are my favorite writers now!!

Best book ever

But it makes you realize how insignificant you are.
You can get through this book. I did.

It caused me to have tons of emotional reactions. Such a great read