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Rating:  Summary: An excellent book on civil rights and politics Review: Having grown up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Hubert Humphrey is remembered and revered, and then living in Atlanta, Georgia for 14 years, the land of Martin Luther King and Richard Russell (and the region of LBJ), I was very intrigued by the subject of this book. I also found it refreshingly evenhanded, yet an intimate and personal view into one of the most important periods of American history, written about a subject that not only is in the forefront of out collective attention, but has been so since before our nation was founded. Not only that, it was a good read, with as much excitement and plot twists as the latest from Grisham. If you are at all interested in Civil Rights, or you just like reading about politics, this is a very good place to start.
Rating:  Summary: A Must Read Review: Robert Mann writes the definitive book on the inner workings of Washington. The story of how the civil rights legislation passed in the mid 60's got its start at the 1948 Democratic convention is compelling. It is difficult to put down once you've started. The characters are larger than life, Humphrey, the passionate and visionary liberal, Johnson the pragmatic magician of the senate and later president, Richard Russell, the dean of the southern conservatives, Strom Thurmond, Richard Nixon, Everett Dirksen all provide color for the book and show the deal making, cojoling and outright intimidation that was used to achieve these milestones in legislative history. Mr. Mann shows the human side of all the players while providing an excellent overview of how legislation is borne, cultivated and finally passed. If you want to understand how the system works, read this book.
Rating:  Summary: Story of struggle and inspiration Review: The Walls of Jericho offers a riveting, close-up and personal review of the political struggles of the Civil Rights movement, seen through the eyes of three is its major protagonists. Author Robert Mann carries us to know and understand southerner, racist Richard Russell, southerner human rights supporter Lyndon Johnson, and northerner firebrand liberal Hubert Humphrey. We agree with them, or disagree with them, Mann allows us to understand where they are coming from. In the end, they are good men trying to do good things, as they see them to be good. I was emotionally struck in reading about the personal, political, and social interplay.
Rating:  Summary: A highly perceptive and well written account. Review: This is a clear discussion of the process whereby civil rights legislation passed the Senate in the late 1950's and the 1960's, despite the filibusters threatened and actual of the Southern Democratic senators. It could easily have been a book about political re-alignment as well, but it would probably need to be twice as long. Many of the trends that dictated the course of American politics in the 1960's are seen in microcosm in this book - Would the South bolt the Democratic Party? Would the Democrats capture the African-American vote from the party of Lincoln? Could a Southern Democrat win the Whitehouse? Would the Dixiecrats throw the presidency to the GOP? It is an extremely clear narrative, that occasionally looks at the bigger picture of American politics, and records the force of personality in parliamentary politics. It clearly records the seismic changes that the wily and calculating LBJ, as an otherwise unelectable Southern Democrat, wrought to the Democratic Party after President Kennedy's death, in the search for a personal victory in the 1964 presidential election.
Rating:  Summary: Historic Power Gambit. A Story That Needs to be Remembered Review: This truly is a monumental period of American history - ending segregation and giving blacks the right to vote. It was often violent. It took a few timely events and the masterful skills of a handful of people to make this happen, like LBJ. Hubert Humphrey must be recognized as one of America's most important leaders. When he died, Humphrey was lain in state with the ceremonial honors of a president. It's no surprise that the airport, stadium, and University of Minnesota government campus in Minnesota, among others, are named after Humphrey. Yet this story is also told in a balanced way. You get to know the characters and why they move as they do. Read this for the fascinating drama... and the history.
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