Ronald C. White, Jr., A. Lincoln

In this full-scale biography of Abraham Lincoln, Ronald White does a great job of conveying both the brilliance and the humanity of this great president. As you would expect, White chronicles Lincoln's upbringing, his education (or lack thereof), and his entry into the law profession. It is clear that these years set the stage for what is to come, as you can see the character that will become so essential to his success being formed. White chronicles Lincoln's early forays into politics, his time in the state legislature, and his early involvement with the nascent Republican party. He carefully reports on the famous debates with Stephen Douglas, as well as Lincoln's meteoric rise to the presidency. Lincoln's time in office is then reported with great care, showing not only Lincoln's important stances on slavery (though those are carefully discussed), but also how Lincoln operated as a politician and as a commander-in-chief (a role he felt mostly unprepared for, so he took up a reading program to educate himself, in true Lincoln fashion).

I loved this book, and am happy to recommend it. I think one of the components that intrigued me most about Lincoln the man was how he balanced his strong principles with political pragmatism or realism, knowing for instance how hard to push various abolition laws while at the same time being sure to not alienate border states that were on the fence about sessession and thereby imperiling the union further. A second element that intrigued me was how the political campaign system operated differently. Candidates for president didn't "campaign" for office: instead, others spoke on their behalf, and their record, speeches, and writings spoke for the candidates. It is intriguing to think how our political scene might be different if politicians were judged by what they've actually accomplished or the principles they have articulated over time instead of the promises they make and the persona they portray (not that these things were unimportant in Lincoln's day; it's naive to think of his era as an idyllic one, as White points out at various points).

Ted Bell, Spy

In this action-adventure thriller, Ted Bell features his hero, Alex Hawke, a wealthy independent spy and paramilitary operator with ties to the British intelligence service. We find Hawke a prisoner in a work camp deep in the Amazon rain forest.

A short time after a narrow escape from the Amazonian camp, and the tyrant, Syrian Muhammad Top, Hawke finds himself enlisted by the British intelligence agency to both discuss his perspective on the threat posed by Top and his organization and also to head up a mission to disrupt Top's plans. Top is the leader of a secret military organization, supported by Islamic militants, whose intent is to combine with Latin American rebels to both incite violence against and war with the United States, as well as to strike fatal blows at strategic locations in the US. An important component of the strategy, especially of the Mexican government, is requonquista, retaking the lands lost to the United States in previous centuries through recolonizing them, with both legal and illegal border crossings. This silent army will rise up and join with Mexican forces when the time is right to reclaim territory for Mexico.

It is up to Hawke to travel up the Amazon, in his heavily armed and custom-built cruise ship, to take out Top's jungle fortress before the attack can occur. Along with Stokley, his trusted side-kick and deputy, and his friend Inspector Congreve, as well as a group of international mercenaries, Thunder and Lightning, Hawke heads right into enemy territory, encountering UAV drones as well as unmanned tanks that defend Top's headquarters. They must hurry to cut the head off of the snake before the plans come to fruition, in a huge remotely controlled attack centered on Washington DC at the time of the inauguration of the President.

Bell stirs up quite a brew, playing off a number of issues current in the news, especially immigration and Islamic terrorism, and striving to combine them into one super plot. It makes for a novel with a lot of bad guys, but it certainly strains the realm of plausibility. And not only that, it certainly implants nefarious motives and plays off fears with regard to immigration.