Intro Welcome back to Roll For Book, the series where I let random chance decide what I’m going to read next (as always, this is inspired by Adventures in Ardia). If you are unfamiliar with the layout of my library and how I decide which dice to roll check out my last “Roll For Book” post or check out the video in the link below. For this episode my wife is rolling since we are using her dice. Floor Roll (D6) – 5 Row Roll (D80+D10) – 63 (But for some reason I counted 66 shelves, go figure) Shelf Roll (D6) – 2 Book Roll (All the dice) – 96 The Results – A Glorious Disaster by J. William Middendorf II Plot Synopsis & Initial Thoughts This non-fiction book tells the story of the United States presidential election of 1964. More specifically it tells of the attempts by the republican party to draft uber conservative Barry Goldwater and get him elected which some historians consider the start of the modern republican party with future presidents like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush getting their start during this time. This book was a bit tedious to get through for me personally. With that said I do appreciate the history lesson given and even though I consider myself apolitical I can appreciate the insider look to what a grass roots campaign and the inner workings of a political party looked like during the 1960’s. Full Review Plot & Characters
While these are true historical events, the account given here carries a very obvious personal slant towards the righteousness of the republican party, and more specifically towards a more conservative, less middle of the road ideals that the author hold in very high regard. How you feel about this book will probably depend highly on how you align with those beliefs. The author does give a very thorough account of all the events leading up to and immediately after the election of 1964 giving an inside look at what running an election campaign can look like including the humdrum everyday doings of the background people. However that attention to detail can also make this book drag a little with chapter after chapter giving details upon details, and names upon names of people and events important to that election. Your enjoyment of the story the author is choosing to share here will really depend on how into politics and or the republican party you are I suppose. As previously mentioned that attention to detail also extends to the people involved with these historical events. The most entertaining people tend to be the ones that are already larger than life in our history books like Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the main subject of the book Barry Goldwater himself. I do find it interesting to get the authors initial impression of these and other people only to re-evaluate them as he gets to know them better (or once they perform some deed that the author agrees or disagrees with). With that said the author mentions and includes a LOT of people in this story and it’s really easy to forget who is doing what from chapter to chapter. Themes As previously mentioned the righteousness of the republican party circa the 1960’s is a very prominent theme throughout the book. Also once again your alignment with that viewpoint can really make or break your enjoyment of this book. However a deeper look does reveal a lot of introspection on the nature of volunteer organizations. Also we see some of the pitfalls of those same organizations when upper leadership is not on the same page as the people actually doing the grunt work on the bottom, something I’m sure almost anyone can relate to. Another major theme is what does and doesn’t win a presidential election with many of the lessons learned shedding a light on how many modern political campaigns are ran, for better or for worse. Final Thoughts A perfectly fine historical account but maybe not my first choice when it comes to leisure reading. Plot & Characters: 1.5/3 Themes 1.5/3 Overall: 1/3 Final Score: 4/9 Check out the video of this review in the link below!
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