American Sketches : Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane (Paperback)

from JBD1

A collection of Isaacson's reviews, interviews, and biographical sketches. Some are almost too glib or trite to be taken seriously, but a few were interesting, including those on Bill Gates and James Baker. I do wish, though, that he had kept to the biographical sketches and left out the last sec...

from bigmoose

I had previously enjoyed Walter Isaacson's biography of Ben Franklin, so I was looking forward to reading this one. The format was less biographical and much more of a commentary as Isaacson compiled here a number of past editorials, essays and introductions written about presidents, cabinet secr...

from buffalogr

I was all ready to give this book five stars. Discussions about the author's choice individuals who influenced history in the 20th century: I learned a lot about Albert Einstein, for example. That's the reason that I got the book in the first place. However....during the last 20% of the book; the...

from ronsea

Most of these pieces were written while Isaacson was an editor with Time magazine. I found most of the pieces well written and was left wanting to know more. I have read his book on Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin. Isaacson writes in a clear and precise fashion. I can see that he works very hard...