American sketches: great leaders, creative thinkers, and heroes of a hurricane

Conventional wisdom is stoutly defended in this staid collection of essays, mostly culled from the author's newspaper and magazine articles. Isaacson (Einstein) has a knack for finding the middle ground and the incontestable truism in any topic. Thus, Benjamin Franklin's life shows us that "democracy requires pragmatic people who can find common ground," but also know when "to take a stand." Colin Powell is "an exemplar of the balance" between realism and idealism that foreign policy demands. A piece on Time cofounder Henry Luce extols "common sense" over "knee-jerk ideological faiths." (The one extremist the author wholeheartedly supports is Albert Einstein, a "rebel" against received notions of time and space, who receives several glowing hosannas.) Isaacson also mines a vein of cautious and sometimes dated business futurism-the collection includes breathless profiles of moguls Bill Gates and Andrew Grove-that yields such banal prognostications as "Among the few things certain about the [21st] century are that it will be wired, networked and global." It's hard to argue with Isaacson's pronouncements-and harder still to stay awake for them. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Journalist and biographer Isaacson (Einstein: His Life and Universe, 2007, etc.) on various great Americans. The author, former managing editor of Time magazine, collects essays and other journalistic pieces focusing on the personalities behind significant figures in American history. Brief, illuminating portraits of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams set the tone, as Isaacson delves into the quirks of temperament that drive history as surely as political forces. The author explores Einstein's complicated relationship with God, Henry Kissinger's preoccupation with realpolitik at the expense of "sentimental" ideals and values and Bill Gates's boyish love of games and competition. Woody Allen's famous defense of his relationship with his girlfriend's adopted daughter"the heart wants what it wants"occurred in an interview with Isaacson, and the author has interesting things to say on the complex balance of strengths and flaws that complicate the legacy of Bill Clinton. A New Orleans native, Isaacson movingly addresses the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and advises a slow rebuilding approach in order to retain that city's strange, delicate magic. Other figures profiled include Ronald Reagan, McGeorge Bundy, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell. In each piece, Isaacson identifies an essential value or quality in the individual and analyzes the ways in which it influences political policy, social change or scientific or technological advancement. It's an effectively engaging approach, and the short, punchy essays make their points quickly and sustain interest over the course of the book. A few piecessuch as a remembrance of Time editor Henry Grunwald and a couple of prescient op-ed piecesfeel inessential and a bit self-indulgent, but, on the whole, this is a compelling, highly readable collection of fresh perspectives on some of the most significant names in American history. A fresh, lucid and lively volume of profiles and analysis. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Conventional wisdom is stoutly defended in this staid collection of essays, mostly culled from the author's newspaper and magazine articles. Isaacson (Einstein) has a knack for finding the middle ground and the incontestable truism in any topic. Thus, Benjamin Franklin's life shows us that "democracy requires pragmatic people who can find common ground," but also know when "to take a stand." Colin Powell is "an exemplar of the balance" between realism and idealism that foreign policy demands. A piece on Time cofounder Henry Luce extols "common sense" over "knee-jerk ideological faiths." (The one extremist the author wholeheartedly supports is Albert Einstein, a "rebel" against received notions of time and space, who receives several glowing hosannas.) Isaacson also mines a vein of cautious and sometimes dated business futurism—the collection includes breathless profiles of moguls Bill Gates and Andrew Grove—that yields such banal prognostications as "Among the few things certain about the [21st] century are that it will be wired, networked and global." It's hard to argue with Isaacson's pronouncements—and harder still to stay awake for them. (Dec.)