As someone who grew up in the Midwest U.S., I first gained some awareness of the 'Polar Bear Expedition' of 1918-19 --- in which a U.S. Army regiment was sent to Northern Russia in the summer of 1918 ostensibly to guard stores of Allied military equipment at the port of Archangel, but was later used in battle against the Bolsheviks as part of a larger Allied (i.e. British) scheme to overthrow the Bolshevik government in Moscow and bring Russia back into World War I as a way to force Germany to recommit military forces there --- from a story I read in the late 1970s in a local paper about an elderly gentleman in Detroit whom mention was made of as having served in Northern Russia with the U.S. Army in 1919. I never forgot that newspaper story. And so, when I became aware of this book, I was determined to read it.    And I'm glad I did, because I learned so much.    For instance, who knew that, in addition to the U.S. and Britain, French, Canadian, and some Chinese military forces were involved in military actions against Bolshevik forces in Northern Russia in 1918-1919?

I highly recommend "THE POLAR BEAR EXPEDITION: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919" for anyone interested in learning about a long overlooked chapter of U.S. history that can provide valuable lessons for policymakers, academics, U.S. civilian and military leaders, and the general public as to the need (as stated by the White House) to deploy military forces in any part of the world identified as vital to U.S. security interests. 

Lester Hyman has written a fine book of remembrance of his friend and political mentor, President Kennedy, as well as of Robert Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and the Kennedy family with whom he has been acquainted for close to 60 years. This in itself conveyed to me the specialness they hold in the hearts of millions of people as proponents and exemplars of public service as an agency for social and economic justice.

Given that today marks what would have been President Kennedy's 102nd birthday (GOSH!), I want to thank Mr. Hyman for this book.

"JACK: A Life Like No Other" is a fairly straightforward biography of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States. The reader is taken through the various phases of JFK's life and career. It was a life fraught with many challenges and perils, highs and lows. Throughout his life, JFK suffered from a variety of illnesses (e.g. chronic back pain which became steadily worse over time, jaundice, scarlet fever, malaria, and Addison's Disease) than would have humbled a lesser person. Indeed, on 3 different occasions, JFK had been administered the final rites by the Catholic Church. And as if by a miracle, JFK not only survived but endured. "From an early age he had known something that few rich men's sons ever learn this side of serious illness: there is no wealth but life." 

While this was an easy book to read, there were some glaring errors in it that were enough for me to give it a lower grade than other books about President Kennedy I had enjoyed reading and valued for the knowledge they gave me about this singularly unique individual and statesman who had the capacity to inspire millions of people to their best efforts, and in the process, become better human beings. (Furthermore, the author's contention that President Kennedy's death was attributable to a single assassin - Lee Harvey Oswald - I don't agree with at all. Perret leaves the reader in the midst of that fatal motorcade in Dallas, TX, which the President and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy took center stage on November 22, 1963, summing up the book with a novelistic flourish that struck me as somewhat overwrought.)

I bought this book at a used book sale on Constitution Ave., NW, in Washington DC many years ago and was enthralled with it. Here is a book that gives a reader access into former President Lyndon Johnson as he was, mainly during his Presidency and shortly after his return to Texas for the last time. Doris Kearns Goodwin first met Johnson when she came to the White House in 1967 to serve an internship from Harvard. And after Johnson left the White House in January 1969, she also worked with him on his presidential papers. All in all, it was a very rewarding experience to read this book, which I recommend highly

"STRANGER IN THE HOUSE: Women's Stories of Men Returning from the Second World War" is made up of multi-layered stories spanning generations of the adjustments women in Britain had to make upon the return of their husbands or sweethearts from war.   Many of these men had served in the military in places as diverse as France, Italy, India, Singapore, and Java during various stages of the war.   Indeed, a large majority of these men ended up as POWs of the Germans (most of them ended up in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany and Poland for almost 5 years) or the Japanese.   The ones who were prisoners of the Japanese suffered the worst in terms of physical and psychological abuse.

Many of these stories I found deeply moving.   Julie Summers is to be commended for her research into an aspect of the war and its impact on families that has been little explored by historians.     It is my hope that a similar book will be written, detailing the impact of the Second World War on returning American veterans and their families.