In this timely and eye-opening book; noted political analyst and media commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson traces the root cause of the White House's failure to protect the rights of African Americans. Drawing extensively from public and private presidential papers; private correspondence; personal interviews; and national archive documents; Hutchinson gives a rich historical account of the racial philosophy; policies; and practices of successive presidents from Warren G. Harding to Bill Clinton.Franklin D. Roosevelt is one example. The popular view is that Roosevelt was a friend to blacks because of his enactment of New Deal programs. But he was also a prisoner of the biased racial thinking of his times. He refused to actively support antilynching legislation and repeatedly curried political favor with racist southern Democrats.Lyndon B. Johnson is yet another example. He is known as a champion of civil rights; but Hutchinson details two crucial moments when Johnson shrank from using the full force of executive power to push Congress to enact new and tougher federal criminal civil rights statutes to punish racist violence.In this book; Hutchinson reveals that no American president has ever signed into law a federal antilynching bill despite a fifty-year campaign by the NAACP for presidential and congressional action. He documents how Nixon; Reagan; and Bush rolled back civil rights and affirmative action; failed to fully enforce equal protection provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment against police abuse and racial violence; encouraged conservative legal obstructionism; and fueled the rise of a repressive domestic security state. These actions in turn have reinforced institutionalized racism and continued the historical pattern of devaluing black lives in law and public policy.Finally; Hutchinson warns that the century-old failure by the White House to enforce federal law to protect black lives still has dangerous consequences for American society.
#80171 in Books Michael R Veach 2013-02-18Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .70 x 6.40l; .85 #File Name: 0813141656224 pagesKentucky Bourbon Whiskey An American Heritage
Review
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful. Must Read for Bourbon Afficianados!By D_shrinkThis book imparts a substantial bit of knowledge about bourbon and whiskey in general while being a light and fun read with the statistics woven into the narrative. The author beings the history by explaining that whiskey became popular in America as the populace moved from the East Coast inland and found that rum and gin; the alcoholic beverages of choice at the time; were too expensive to transport; leading to small batch distilling on a far more local basis.The author also gives a nice discussion of how sweet and sour mash differ and why they yield slightly different end products. One of the bits of trivia included that I found interesting was what the difference in spelling of WHISKY and WHISKEY implied. The lore is that WHISKY spelling supposedly implied distillers who originally had ties to England as Canada and Scotland; while those allied with the colonists as the Irish spelled it WHISKEY. It turned out to be marketing lore; but it still makes for a good story.The manufacturing principles of distilling with many early recipes are given.What I found to be a most interesting section was on some of the early innovators in the business of making bourbon and even how bourbon supposedly got it name. For instance we learn that a Louisville physician named Jim Crow made several improvements to the distilling process and was credited with using a thermometer to record the temperature which allows greater accuracy in distillation and allows various cogeners to be included thereby affecting the desired end flavor; he also was credited with using a hydrometer to more accurately assess the true ABV level; and he used litmus paper at various steps in the process to prevent bacterial buildup from spoiling a batch. We also learn that central Kentucky is famous for its bourbon due to the limestone filtered water which is low in iron content thereby giving it its distinctive taste. We even learn how Kentucky whiskey differs from Tennessee whiskey; again this is marketing hype more than anything else.We are introduced to George Remus; called "the King of bootleggers." He was a lawyer who owned a string of pharmacies; and after prohibition was enacted; he decided he could make much more money making his own booze than buying from the few legal distillers enabled to sell to pharmacies; which could only dispense the precious spirits with a doctor's prescription. George also thought of a neat gimmick of hijacking his own insured shipments and then reselling it at much higher prices than he could in the pharmacies. He made about 40 million in the 1920s. He was eventually sentenced to two years in jail; during which time his wife Imogene filed for divorce. George wasn't too happy about what Imogene had been doing while he was behind bars. He got out before the divorce could be finalized; hunted her down; killed her then pleaded insanity and got off. He died of natural causes in 1952. Is that a cool story or what.We learn about Hiram Walker and how his Canadian whiskey morphed into a club whiskey [and what that means] called Canadian Club. There is much more in the story of bourbon whiskey than I briefly covered in this short synopsis. Highly recommended and greatly enjoyed while sipping my own favorite Kentucky bourbon.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Must Have Book if Interested in BourbonBy RWKIf you are interested in bourbon this is a must have. Michael Veach has spent much of his career working in or studying the bourbon industry and presents this excellent overview of bourbon and its makers in an independent way without any allegiance to a particular sect of the industry. He does a masterful job covering the history of the industry in a factual way but still includes the many interesting stories that have become part of the lore of bourbon and discussing how these traditional claims may or may not be true. When you finish the book you will have a thorough understanding of the early history of bourbon; how the government with its taxation; prohibition and world war negatively impacted the bourbon industry and almost brought it to its knees. How business decisions made by the bourbon industry in the 60's and 70's harmed its image and impacted its market share. You will leave with an understanding of many of the key players that were critical in bringing bourbon back to a leadership role in the whiskey industry and the huge growth it is experiencing today. I found this book to be an interesting; well written; and factual book that addresses many of the myths of bourbon in an entertaining manner. I highly recommend it.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Excellent history; wonderful stories; told by one of the best at telling the real story of bourbon.By johnjorgThe current boom (some say "bubble") in the popularity of bourbon has precipitated a rash of articles and a few books on bourbon recently. Michael Veach has been writing and lecturing about bourbon and its history for years - long before the rash appeared. This is one of; maybe; three or four on the subject that I consider a "must read". I could be wrong; now; but several decades (more than three) of reading books on American history tells me otherwise. His writing is easy to read and his stories and historical reports; although straightforward; are entertaining and informative. I know that bourbon aficionados (some call us Geeks) love this book; and I expect that the casual bourbon fan as well as those interested in the growth of the US in the 1800s would like this book - at least the ones I've talked to like it.
