Congress Book Reviews Samples For Students

Written and published after his release in 1990, Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom gives precious insight into the life of the heroic South African president. Though his long-standing devotion to the fight against racial oppression won him both the Noble Peace Prize and the position as president of his country, the book reveals the less agreeable aspects of his life choice as political and moral leader. A Long Walk to Freedom provides not only an intimately reflective account of Mandela’s life, but also unmasks the grander story of the efforts of South Africans of color ...

Chapter 11 Review

On the issue of the size of federal service, the author provide figure to demonstrate that the size has been declining for the last 35 years, contrary to views expressed by politicians. Consequently, the fear that bureaucracies are expanding is misplaced because the number of people working for these agencies have been reducing. According to the author, the last time the public service was very large was in 1968 when there were 3.0 million civilian employees plus 6.0 military officers. The number declined to 2.8 million in 2010. Besides, the author argues that the ratio of federal employment to ...

Chapter 1

NOTE 1 A
The government is defined by different branches that form the government which are distinguished and identified by the power and freedom that each of them exercises. Power is defined by the one who rules while freedom is determined by how much control of the government is allowed in a particular form of government. There can be an authoritarian system of government whereby the power is exercised through violence. A totalitarian system of government is a system of government whereby the extent of violence is far beyond that exercised by the authoritarian government (11).
The contrast of ...

Book review Breach of Trust by Tom Coburn

In his book, Breach of Trust, Tom Coburn narrates some of his experience in the US House of representatives as a congressman. He is a former businessman and a practicing physician with equally ardent views about the congress, religion and implementation of the constitution. Tom Coburn is a true legislator and he even honored his pledge of serving for only three terms as a congressional representative then leave Washington. Breach of trust offers a candid look at the internal workings of congress, and why ‘Washington turns insiders into outsiders’. The reader’s are served with shocking behind-the-scenes stories and why the reforms that the country ...

1. Article I vests the Congress with the legislative making powers. It establishes provisions for who is eligible to serve as a Congressional member, both in the Senate and the House. Article I also enumerates specific powers of Congress and contains the Necessary and Proper Clause to provide Congress with the legal authority of carrying out such enumerated powers.
2. Article II sets forth the Executive powers in the President and the Vice President. It provides that the President is the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces and dubs the President the head of all commissions of the ...

Great Black Women of the World

Part I: (Please Add where in your textbook to find the appropriate topic: Slavery, racism, women’s issues) I have written about two African women sold into slavery Abina and Ama and about Mary Church Terrell. Terrell is a great African-American woman who not many people know about. I did not know about her until I started browsing the web links that were suggested for this assignment. Ama and Terrell show the same strength and spirit as Abina. They are all women with a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong in the world. Two were born in Ghana ...

There are many events and problems faced by Americans in late seventy’s and early eighteen’s. Few of those issues led the Americans to the revolution in late eighteenth century. Many authors presented the revolutionary story of Americans. One of those authors is Jeff Wallenfeldt, who wrote this book to highlight the issues of that era when Americans faced various problems to due to the British. The main issues discussed in this book are related to unjust taxation in which Congress noticed taxation without representation. Then British related the other one to the intervention in colonial affairs. It ...

Under the Constitution, the only federal court that the Framers specifically created was the US Supreme Court. Envisioning that the needs of the people would change over time, the Framers left it to Congress to set up additional federal courts. The Judiciary Act of 1789 was passed in the first session of Congress. The Judiciary Act established six Justices for the Supreme Court, with one Justice presiding as the Chief Justice (Judiciary Act of 1789). The Judiciary Act also established 13 judicial districts within the then 11 existing states (Judiciary Act of 1789). Furthermore, circuit and district courts were ...

America’s Vaguest Conflict

Donald Hickey’s history of the War of 1812 closely examines the international diplomatic incidents and political infighting that shaped what would essentially become America’s second war for survival. The international situation, dominated by the conflict between Britain and France, complicated the exchange of commerce between the new American republic and Great Britain. Hickey’s account of the prelude to war, and the war’s prosecution, reveals that the war’s desultory outcome, which ended in America’s survival, was remarkable in itself considering the incompetent military and administrative performance of the Americans.

Keywords: Donald Hickey, War of ...

Summary of the highlights of the subject covered by the book

The book George Washington in the American Revolution by James Thomas Flexner is a book that covers the period of the revolutionary war in the United States of America. The book captures the key moments of George Washington; from the time of his selection as the commander of Continental Army to the moment he resigned and handed over his sword to the American Congress in the year 1783. The author covers that period and places much focus on the personal experience of George Washington in the army, while at the same time dwelling a little on the revolution in other colonies.
...

The Civil Rights Movement

The Movements of the New Left, 1950-1975:
A Brief History with Documents by Van Gosse
Hannah Wilson
In the 1960s, America underwent a monumental change, and everything changed in terms of its culture, status of specific population categories, domestic and foreign policies, and many other aspects under the large-scale, massive, and irreversible influence of the New Left movements. The 1960s were obviously a highly revolutionary period in the US history, mainly due to the rise of many fundamental social movements such as feminists, civil rights protectors, anti-Vietnam war pacifists, and voting rights. For example, Gosse (2005) noted that “ ...

Book Review on

This book review has been written by Name of Student of Class of Student of Name of College on Date of submission
The book” How Democratic is the American Constitution” is written by Robert A. Dahl's who is a political scientist and teaches political science at Yale university. He is author of many books on political science and other text books, and has earned many honors and awards as an author. The book was published in 2001 and covers a discussion on the undemocratic elements of American constitution. The author has highlighted the continuity in development of democratic practices and ...

REGULATORS

Published in 2003, Cindy Skrzycki’s book entitled The Regulators: Anonymous Power Brokers in American Politics collates her interesting column articles in her widely-read Washington Post and Bloomberg column, The Regulators which has been into print for the more than 20 years. A seasoned journalist and columnist, Cindy Skrzycki puts together her most compelling and most controversial columns that tackled issues of regulation and the influence of various administrations in shaping the regulations.
Skrzycki’s book gathers her insights on different issues on the regulatory system in the Washington and its impact on the American citizens. In the ...

Introduction

In the past, the place of women in the society was only recognized as that next to the man. Her roles and responsibilities clearly defined as that of being a home-maker, the support for her husband, a mother to her children, nothing more, nothing less. Girls that eventually became women grew up with these facts as they were taught and instilled in them from a tender age hence did not expect any more from life. However, there are those that challenged these societal expectations. Questioned these roles and responsibilities that they were expected to live by. These individuals went against the grain ...

Expectedly, many people in the US are still vague on who Benjamin Harrison really was. Some confuse him with his grandfather, William Harrison, while others confuse him with his great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison. Well, it is this kind of confusion that Charles Calhoun seeks to demystify in his book Benjamin Harrison: The American President’s Series: The 23rd President, 1889-1893. Not only does the author succeed in giving a clear picture of President Benjamin Harrison’s life, but he also does this in a convincing way. The book is rich with vivid details, and gives a good account of the events that led ...

The book Wolf by the Ears authored by John Van Atta explicitly describes the events of the sectional conflict that proliferated to the American Civil War and later triggered the balkanizing war over Missouri statehood (Atta 30). The author notes that the Louisiana territory purchase was organized to position it entirely on the Northwest of Ohio and West of Mississippi; however, the Missouri crisis bore a strategic significance based on anti-and pro slavery movements. In particular, the congressional representatives from North supported the expansion of slavery, while those from South expressed outrage and fired sectional attack to the Northerners. ...

1. How did the Cold War emerge after W.W.II? How did the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. view actions such as the Berlin Blockade and a policy stance such as the Truman Doctrine differently?
First off, after WW2, the U.S emerged as the sole superpower, mostly because of its nuclear bomb capacity. In addition, the Soviet Union had millions of citizens and was in no position to engage in any new militaristic operations. At that time, the US and the Soviet Union were uneasy allies, because of their mutual fear of the Nazi influence. Their partnership was “born of a ...

1. What is Angela Davis’s overall objective (purpose) in writing this book? What is her overall THESIS (argument—her position on prisons)?
Since the 1970s, the growth of prisons has been exponential, and Angela Y. Davis worries why the community allows such a thing to happen. The growth is associated with the larger economic and social situations of the country. Davis argues that the growth of prisons is rarely seen, but it creates a cycle of incarceration and joblessness. She argues that prisons permit individuals to disassociate from the issues in their community (such as social, economic ...

Chapter 2 Raymond Speciale’s Fundamentals of Aviation law discusses the historical evolution of the US Constitution and how this document that came way before the airplane was invented has come to have such a significant influence on the US aviation industry. It shows the challenge of establishing a federal g that faced the US after gaining independence. The US Congress commenced by adopting the Articles of Confederation, but these were later found to be inadequate to fully govern all the states. This then led to the Constitutional Convention convened in 1787 in Philadelphia and yielded the current US ...

Book Review:

George Washington Bush stands as the 43rd president of the United States of America who led the country for two elective terms each consisting of four years. Like most of the other International players, he wrote a memoir after his constitutional term in the presidency office. The memoir captures his life, the presidency choices made and their consequences. The title of the memoir is Decision points. The book was launched on 9th November 2010 and in less than two months more than two million copies had been sold out, also at this time it topped on the New York Times ...

History indicates that the British defeated the French together with their Indian allies in the war of (1754-1763) called the French and Indian war. The war resulted in British controlling the better part of the North America. However, the British realised they had used a lot of money during the war and hence, they decided through an act of parliament that it was high time the colonies pay the big share of their own defence. As a result, parliament passed the Stamp Act in the year 1765 for them to raise money. The Stamp act was a law enacted that required the ...

Thesis: Chronology and the perspectives of slavery in the past society of United States of America

Analysis of the book, “American Slavery by Peter kolchin,” gives a critique, and incisive detail on the journey that the American people as far as the clamour for slavery are concerned. The term slavery in the basic ad most common sense refers to the circumstance where a person is subjected to torture, unfair treatment, persecution and/or maltreatment to a person. A person who is subjected to slavery is usually captured or obtained forcefully through military incursions or bought at designated markets. In the United States of America, there was a period when the issue of slavery in totality was the order of the ...

Book Review:

46 pages: Tom Paine, Common Sense and the Turning Point to Independence by Scott Liell
Scott Liell’s book wants to understand ‘How did Tom Paine’s pamphlets inspire a nation to revolution?’ If Paine felt empathy with Americans due to his own experiences he would have written the pamphlets in a way that would help them understand the urgency of the problem.
Chapter 1 gives a good example that shows how influential Paine’s pamphlets were. In 1775 the Congress was friendly towards King George and happy with the way trade and the relationship with England were progressing; however ...

Introduction

In the book by Keith Finley Delaying the Dream explores gradations in the opposition and examines how the United States senators tackled the question of civil rights and developed a resolute plan of action to frustrate legislation by using strategic delay. Finley’s analysis passes beyond traditional descriptions of the pursuit of racial equality. He analyses heroic struggle, the filibusters, and the southern extremism to reveal the other side of the conflict. This paper discusses the evolution of southern resistance to civil rights legislation in the U.S. senate. It expounds on what worked, and what failed to work giving reason ...

Robert W. Merry's "A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, The Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent."
Robert Merry’s book is a firm but fair appraisal of James Polk’s much maligned Presidency where the Mexican American war occurred and where the United States managed to expand its territory quite vastly. The overarching theme of the book is the misinterpretation of James Polk as a President who perhaps was heavy handed in his tactics but managed to secure considerable expansion for the United States.
In the book, Merry describes Polk as a one term President ...

Healthcare in the United States has been a center of controversy for a long time. Access to quality healthcare has been limited to the rich at the detriment of the poor. The current infrastructure in the United States requires the citizenry to own health insurance, which will aid in reducing the cost of healthcare. However, it is worth noting that despite the United States being one of the strongest nations in the world, a reasonable proportion of its population remains poor. A large number of people in the United States do not earn wages that can allow them to access quality healthcare. ...

Robert V. Remini's Andrew Jackson and the Bank War: A Study in the Growth of Presidential Power, published in 1967, discusses the Bank War of the early 1800s, in which the controversy of re-chartering the Second Bank of the United States (BUS) during Jackson's administration left Democrats and Republicans quarreling with each other over issues of social equality and the role of government in the economy. Remini's thesis is that Andrew Jackson's resistance to the re-chartering of the BUS is seen by Remini as no mere historical footnote, but "the single most important event during the entire middle period ...

The revolutionary war, taking place from April, 19, 1775 and ending on September, 3, 1783, is one of the important turning points in the history of United States of America. Anne M. Todd gives a thoughtful insight into the circumstances leading to war, the battle locations, weapons used during the war, and the crucial authorities leading the war in her book (The Revolutionary War). According to Todd, the Revolutionary War occurred because the colonists wanted to separate from the Great Britain, and form an independent nation. A series of legislative mistakes by the British parliament emboldened the revolutionaries call for ...

ABSTRACT

Karl Jack Bauer’s The Mexican War (1974) does describe the United States as the aggressor in the conflict and concedes that President James K. Polk was motivated by the desire to expand the borders to the Pacific. Indeed, there was never any real question about this in either the U.S. or Mexico at that time—or later. He justifies this action by asserting that that this type of expansion was inevitable, and if it had not been carried out by Polk’s administration then some other one would have done it eventually. Although the U.S. president preferred to ...

What does the author mean by India’s strange rise?

India’s ‘strange rise’ is a phrase which is the reader encounter on the title of the book, In Spite Of the Gods: the Rise of Modern India. It is hard to explain what the author meant by the phrase without looking into the detailed meaning of the whole title. It is also proper in the outset that the author wrote the book while living in India where he worked for the financial times in the period 2001 to 2006 in New Delhi. The contents of the book, In Spite Of the Gods: the Rise of Modern India, are therefore a ...

Every citizen is entitled to fundamental rights. Freedom is part of the bill of rights that every citizen is entitled. This is a provision that should not be taken away from anyone unless in some exceptional circumstances. Freedom of speech for instance has been misused by various people and in some cases led to prosecution in the court of law. The ‘infamous’ Maclean’s article published in the Canadian magazine took the world by storm as the author allegedly published an article which was considered a violation of British Columbia ate speech as it incited animosity towards the Muslims. The Congress ...

Hawaii's story by Hawaii Queen is a historical autobiography that tells the story of Hawaii in a very interesting way. The book provides very vital information about the Hawaii to its readers. The book carries some very significant and exclusive information because it is written by the queen of Hawaii, Liliuokalani herself. She has beautifully and profoundly discussed her childhood, her upbringing, her youth, family life, her succession to the throne, oust from the monarchy and several other aspects of her life as Hawaiian queen. Queen Liliuokalani also discusses about other kings, queens and informs about several aspects of their personal ...

Book Review: Ratification, The People Debate the Constitution

In Pauline Maier's Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788, the author gives a detailed and interesting account of the convention surrounding the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, and the people and decisions that surrounded that vital document. The process and the politics behind the creation of the document that created the laws behind which America has stood for centuries are addressed by Maier with great detail and accessibility. In particular, the objections that many opponents had toward the Constutition are detailed, especially the debate regarding its stance on slavery.

Before the Constitution was created, ...

Book Review: A Slaveholder's Union

A Slaveholders' Union, written by legal scholar George William Van Cleve, presents an historical account of the forming of the Constitution and the early days of the United States of America through the context of slave policy and its subsequent politics. Van Cleve's book is an incredibly detailed and well-researched document that sheds new light on the motivations and true intentions of the founding fathers during the creation of the Constitution.

Van Cleve attempts to examine the politics of slavery throughout the Constitution and elsewhere in various forms. However, his broad thesis is that slavery was, despite many accounts ...

LIFE AND WORK OF ABIGAIL ADAMS BASED ON TWO BIOGRAPHY BOOKS: "ABIGAIL ADAMS - WITNESS TO REVOLUTION" AND "MY DEAREST FRIEND".

Abigail Adams was one of the most intriguing historical figures in American history - the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States, she was witness to the founding of the country itself, as well as the beginnings of its government. Despite being a woman in a new country in the 18th century, she held a remarkable amount of political power, as well as an incredible influence on her husband, John Adams. She is most well known for her correspondence with him during the Continental Congress - their debates on politics and government remain a fantastic eyewitness account of the ...

Book Review: Republicanism and Democracy

The American Revolution was a complex political process that was inevitable. This is because the wave of the revolution was shaped by logical forces and circumstances that faced the American colonists leaving them with no other choice than revolting against the tyranny of the absolute monarchy that extended its hand to the Americas. However, the pressure to revolt on the colonist was not only experienced in Northern America but also was evident in other parts of the world. This accounts for other historical revolts like the French revolution. Gordon Wood the author of this book focuses of the progressive interpretation ...

Republicanism and Democracy in the 18th Century

A Book Review
Introduction
Some of us have learned the history of the American Revolution in a way which leads us to think the revolution was inevitable. There were logical forces and circumstances leading to the revolution and like other people in other revolutions the American colonists reached a point where they had no other choice but to revolt. Some of us have learned that the revolution parallels the French Revolution. The author, Gordon S. Wood, takes aim especially at what he describes as the Progressive interpretations of the American Revolution and demonstrates neither the revolution nor the revolution’ ...

Joseph J. Ellis Day and Time

The main idea of the book is that the early history of the new republic of the United States was not as trouble-free as we are sometimes led to believe. Ellis argues that in the popular imagination, the break from the British and the ideals of the American Revolution are seen as inevitable – almost part of what we might call America’s manifest destiny. However, he reveals that the unity of the early republic was a very fragile thing and that it almost broke up because of disagreements between the different states. Ellis further argues that the Union of the ...

On the brink: Inside the race to stop the collapse of the global financial system is an account of the events that took place prior to and during the global financial crisis and the federal governments’ efforts to save some of the major banks in the united states. It zips through Paulson’s career (with a political stint as an aide in the Nixon White House) and then concentrates on his extraordinary 30 months in treasury. When Hank Paulson (the then chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Goldman Sachs) joined the Bush administration as the treasury secretary of state July ...