Wendy McElroy

Inspiring and depressing...studying the American Revolution is like learning about a completely different country. The only thing that can reverse our current decline is a return to the principles this country was founded on, as embodied in the Declaration of Independence.

There is no political solution to our problems---another term of Obama certainly won't help, but neither will any of the current Republican candidates...unless a new one who actually understands our founding principles show more emerges (which is extremely unlikely) and secures the Republican nomination (which is practically impossible)---because the problems are not merely political. Can you imagine any of our politicians today taking the kinds of actions the American revolutionaries did? What we need is another cultural revolution, a revolution "in the minds and hearts of the people" as John Adams put it. And that end cannot be achieved by any political measure, but only through education.

This is a good place to start. Smith focuses on the *ideas* that led to the revolution, and those ideas are exactly what need to be understood---and have been largely forgotten---today. show less

There are plenty of books out there on logic and reason. So why should women get a book of their own? Because women have been granted a special place in society, where we are "supposed to be" irrational, emotional, and intuitive. Wendy McElroy (a role model of mine) has expanded not only on the principles of reason, but also on the special challenges women have in a world where we are frequently put down, abused, and raised to be non-thinkers.

McElroy herself was a teen-runaway, who later show more married an abusive man. She is an inspiration that she could break away from those patterns and lead a successful, independent life of her own.

In this book, McElroy gives us permission -- then the instructions -- on how to be rational in an irrational world. show less

Part of a series on political hotspots around the world, this brief history of the Philippines (narrated by Harry Reasoner) summarizes the early origins from tribal Malays as well as more than 400 years of Spanish occupation, which not only united the islands as a nation, but also turned it into the seat of Catholicism in the far east. During the Spanish-American War, The Philippines were taken with the help of rebels opposed to the Spanish regime. They had hoped for independence, but the US show more was determined to exercise their Imperialistic muscle, and decided to keep them as a base of Asian operations. This led to further unrest -- and, well, I'm somewhat surprised they've forgiven us for our bad behavior around the turn of the century. Our soldiers and military commanders had a tendency to act poorly, although future president William Howard Taft, governor of the Philippines for a while, tried to encourage cooperation between the two peoples.

The Philippines contributed a regiment to the US war effort during WW1. It was famously the site of an early-war invasion by Japan, driving US forces under Douglas MacArthur off the islands, but the general vowed to return -- an action he made good on several years later, landing on the island of Leyte (which, incidentally, was also the site of the largest naval battle in history). By WW2, the Philippines were already on the road to self-government, and joining MacArthur was their defacto president, Manuel Quezon.

The remaining chapters chronicle the rise of the popular yet terribly corrupt Ferdinand Marcos, and his partner in crime, wife Imelda, and the assassination of popular senator and political challenger Benigno Aquino, Jr. It was Aquino's wife, Corazon, who over threw the Marcos regime to become the first-ever female head of state in an Asian country.

On one hand, the Philippines are a young country as far as independent rule goes -- and the US occupation has provided the greatest impact on the history leading to the nation's development. I would have like to have seen a little more information on the years of Spanish rule, since that had a great impact on culture and even language. I do love ancient history, and I would have liked a little more info on the tribal history, what is known, anyway. The audio presentation was very good, although some of the accents seemed a little contrived. show less

I guess I should have read the bookjacket before starting this book - it is actually 2 really short books: (1) korean war and 2) vietnam war. The audiobook format was excellent, worth reviewing since it was so different from most audiobooks. Each quote was read by a different person so it was more like a "living history" book. I wish longer, more in-depth books on the wars, could be read in the same manner but it's probably price prohibitive. The book itself... well, it's OK... super short show more review of some of the major factors in each war and quick stories of events. Patton was a good narrator as were the other readers. I just wasn't expecting the overview format - I was expecting in-depth books - so I was kinda disappointed that it was so short. show less