David Maraniss

Intense and frightening, from the Spanish Civil War and Franco to Leo Frank
and on into World War II, HUAC, and Wisconsin's Joseph McCarthy.

The author gives more of a break to Baldwin and the Southern overseers of HUAC...
where many readers may respond with hatred, horror, and disdain.

It was ultimately welcome to see Madison and [THE CAPITAL TIMES] standing up for a Maraniss respite and a rescue!

George Crockett is my new American Hero!

What is nearly impossible to understand is how Mary and Elliot Maraniss would choose to remain communists
for so long in the face of all the tortures and murders committed by Stalin and Russia.

Equally incomprehensible is their non-reaction to the Truman Atom Bombs unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki:
there were so many alternatives that could equally have saved the lives of Elliot and his men.

Chronology at times a challenge.… (mer)

David Maraniss dives deep into the life of a man whose name many people know without knowing why he is famous. Along the way, he exposes the abuses of the residential schools for native Americans and of the abuse and exploitation of native Americans who excel in sport. The years of Thorpe's development and ascendancy make for wonderful reading but the story of his long life of disappointments and exploitation is grim despite his efforts to help other native Americans and to pursue his case for justice.… (mer)

What can you say about a book like When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss? The book, like the subject, is an American classic. I suspect almost everyone knows the story about how Vince took an also-ran team in a frigid backwater city, Green Bay and molded it into a powerhouse. This team's time in the sun began and ended with Lombardi's stewardship. The author skillfully weaves the Green Bay Packers story, as well as his earlier years as a deeply Catholic alter boy, mediocre player, great High School and college coach, great assistant coach to the New York Giants and his Packer days into a tale of its times. The U.S. rose from Depression ashes to a sunny post-WW II "Leave it to Beaver" era, and then, during the Packer days into its troubled Vietnam and counter-culture era.

The author posits that perhaps his untimely cancer death mirrored the growth of an America he could not abide. While politically a liberal Democrat and ardent JFK and RFK supporter, he believed in ordered, structured liberty, and not the free-for-all that America was evolving into. Perhaps his death mirrored the death of a promising era and a descent into malaise. We''ll never know.

Now, a slightly personal note. He was diagnosed with virulent colorectal cancer almost a year, to the day, prior to my Dad's diagnosis and surgery. Both would not survive.

Yes, I left out of my review his insignificant period coaching the Washington Redskins, but for some things, you'll just have to read the book.… (mer)

Many biographies of the “greatest athlete of them all” have been written over the years, and Maraniss’ has to be among the very best. Scrupulously researched, Maraniss gives the reader deep insight into not only Jim Thorpe’s incredible talent in many sports, but he also educates the reader about Jim’s battle with his Indian culture and the obstacles placed in front of him by white society. I learned much about both and feel those lessons are worth the time it took to read this lengthy book. I noticed the few negative reviews on Amazon seem to center on the feeling by those readers that Maranass is attempting some sort of “political correctness” in setting the record straight about the white man’s treatment of Native Americans throughout history. Those reviews shouldn’t distract other readers who want to know the truth about this issue.… (mer)