John Charles Fremont: Character As Destiny

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Work on and Unsavory Character.......2002-12-10

John Charles Frémont is history's version of an unscrupulous, morally inverted Forrest Gump. In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, Forrest was the affable idiot-savant who constantly became intermingled and unwittingly influential in larger than life world events. John Charles Frémont's life runs a somewhat darker parallel. Highly intelligent and ambitious, Frémont crashed head long into the historical events of his day but was consistently overwhelmed by them precisely because of his own self-serving inscrutable morality. Andrew Rolle's choice of Frémont as a subject for psychobiography is akin to taking pot-shots at the broad side of a barn. However, it is the subject's vulnerability in this vein that makes Rolle's work a tremendously interesting, dishy read.
Actually, Rolle's psychological observations are more muted than one might expect. He saves most of his thoughts in this regard for the final chapter, which psychologically deconstructs the subject using the case heretofore constructed. Rolle's two primary psychological analyses of Frémont reside in the loss of his father. As a result of this loss, Rolle examines his ongoing hostility in his relationships with older male authority figures and his narcissistic streak. The older male hostility thesis, while well argued, doesn't quite hit the mark. It seems more likely, through Rolle's own presentation of the facts, that Frémont's precocious early successes meant that those he would inevitably clash with were naturally older in age. Therefore, it is merely circumstantial that those who held sway over Frémont's life happened to be older. On the other hand, Rolle provides a highly compelling case for Frémont-as-narcissist by delving into Frémont's mounting odd behavior during the Civil War.
Frémont's narcissistically driven ambition led him to make rash and often self-destructive decisions, according to Rolle. Frémont's third and fourth expeditions are damning evidence of this aspect of his character. Try as he might, even Rolle is unable to penetrate Frémont's thinking deeply enough to untangle some of the unconscionable decisions made by Frémont regarding these expeditions. Rolle again and again uses the lack of male authority figure as a bromide for Frémont's actions. Although compelling to a certain extent, it simply cannot explain the entire mountain of poor decisions made by the man. Frémont simply placed himself in situations in which he was out of his element and insolated himself so successfully from potentially helpful guidance that he was doomed to remain out of his element while in the eye of many storms. Lack of a male authority figure cannot wholly account for this inability to perceive the difference between right and wrong. In addition, having allowed so many others to defend him in the court of popular opinion, Frémont only singled himself out as a man who, in reality, required much defending. Rolle notes a conversation between Abraham Lincoln's secretary John Hay and Lincoln:
"Frémont would be dangerous if he had more ability and energy," grimaced Hay.
Abraham Lincoln responded with one of his typical anecdotes, "Yes. He is like Jim Jett's brother. Jim used to say that his brother was the d---dest scoundrel that ever lived, but in the infinite mercy of Providence he was also the d---dest fool."
As Virginia J. Lass notes in her review of Character as Destiny in The Journal of Southern History, Rolle posits, perhaps, a more illuminating aspect of Frémont's character and personality. Lass gleans from Rolle that "Frémont suffered from arrested emotional development that influenced his actions and decisions as an adult." In other words, Frémont was born on third base and went through his life honestly believing he had hit a triple. Well, to be fair, allotting due for overcoming the financial and societal obstacles of his early years, perhaps he hit a bloop single to center field.
To his credit, Rolle makes every attempt to outline Frémont's contributions to the exploration of the American West. He attempts, to a certain extent, to justify the American public's adoration for Frémont, much of which seems to originate in the propaganda from Jessie's pen. Despite this noble attempt, Frémont remains a lemon and not lemonade.
How does Rolle's psychological analytic approach differ from other contemporary biographies of similar historical figures? Not much. It seems as if Rolle is aware of the desire of his reading audience not to get lost in psychobabble. He treads carefully in this area and, as mentioned before, reserves most of his psychological analysis for closing. However, it is clear that Rolle is necessarily far more interested in Frémont's decision-making process in relationship to the events that formed his life than the events themselves, as previous Frémont historians have done. And, while not especially groundbreaking, it appears to be the most appropriate approach to take with a subject such as Frémont, as opposed to John Wesley Powell, for instance, whose actual achievements in geology and exploration of the America West far outweigh any overriding aspects of personality.
Character as Destiny is a very well written and a highly enjoyable read despite its rather despicable subject. Rolle says of Frémont halfway through the book "Once more nothing had gone his way." On the contrary, everything came easily to this unsavory character, John Charles Frémont, on a silver platter. He simply had a grand knack for consistently knocking the darned thing over.

Finding the Pathfinder.......2001-01-31

There were few Americans of the nineteenth century with greater name recognition than John C. Fremont. His five controversial treks across the uncharted Rockies aroused interest and controversy. His military exploits in Mexican California brought him a court-martial. He struck gold in California, became an outspoken abolitionist, and ran as the first Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Married into one of America's most powerful political families, he won and then lost a major command in the Union Army. He habitually cheated investors on several continents out of millions of dollars, only to be bankrupted himself by bigger sharks. There is a great story here.

Unfortunately, Andrew Rolle's biography of Fremont is a bit flat, perhaps because of the author's announced intention of probing the psychological motivations behind this life of stupefying behaviors. Rolle states in his preface that he studied psychiatry and psychoanalysis to prepare himself for this work. Most readers will find themselves wishing he had spent more time with cartographers. In a work whose hero is called "The Pathfinder," there is not a single map! It is no exaggeration to say that for literally half the book the reader is never certain exactly where the Pathfinder is.

It is equally fair to say that despite the author's best efforts, we don't get an unprecedented roadmap of Fremont's inner psychological journeys, either. It is clear from the simple factual narrative that Fremont, like Hamilton, was ashamed of his humble origins, that he was blessed or plagued with wanderlust, that he instinctively rebelled against authority figures, that he was addicted to risk taking and suffered significant deficiencies of empathy and moral character. This personality profile would have emerged easily enough from a straightforward telling of the tale, without the baggage of psychoanalytic spin. Curiously, the psychodynamics of Fremont's marriage to his lover/promoter Jessie Benton, are not addressed. The story of the remarkable Jessie, however, is one of the redeeming features of this work.

Since very few readers are likely to be millionaires, there are probably many like me who would like to know how one loses a million dollars. Fremont accomplished this several times, with different commodities, different economies, different schemes, and even different countries. He was a master of losing money imaginatively. Rolle is spotty in his accounts of Fremont's financial empire. The reader is left to surmise that investors were attracted to The Pathfinder's name recognition and that the Fremonts lived beyond their means, but obviously there is much more to this ongoing financial soap opera that can only be guessed at.

The good news for the reader is that warts and all, this is still a reasonably captivating biography. Rolle's style is professional and his character compelling. If at times the reader feels as lost as the disastrous Fourth Expedition, the views from the top and the bottom of Fremont's career are still quite spectacular.

Average customer rating:
Whitehead's Philosophical Development: A Critical History of the Background of Process and Reality
Nathaniel Morris Lawrence
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press Reprint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Philosophers | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0837101395

Book Description

The Power of Commitment

What is commitment and what's so scary about it? How can we better understand and appreciate the value of commitment and make it last—for a lifetime?

In his new book, Scott Stanley, best-selling marriage expert, reveals that the secret ingredient for finding lasting love is understanding commitment. Too often, men and women find themselves in half-committed, Maybe I Do, relationships that lead to frustration, sadness, and, in many cases, divorce. But it doesn't have to be this way. Scott Stanley offers a five-step plan—based on his groundbreaking marital research and uniquely spiritual approach—for understanding commitment, including learning to handle the pressures of everyday life, moving through the pain of unfulfilled dreams and hopes, overcoming attraction to others that might endanger a marriage, transforming your thinking from "me versus you" to "we" and "us," and capturing the beauty and mystery of lifelong devotion, loyalty, teamwork, and building a lasting vision for the future.

"Nobody is more qualified to write this book than Dr. Scott Stanley."
—Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott, Seattle Pacific University; authors, Love Talk

"This book should be mandatory reading for dating, engaged, newlywed, and not-so-newlywed couples. Bravo!"
—Michele Weiner-Davis, author, Divorce Busting and The Divorce Remedy

Customer Reviews:

Commitment is the Key to Marriage Success.......2005-08-15

I believe that this book is must reading for people who are starting to get involved in a relationship. The dismal success rate for marriages in this country is related to the lack of commitment. The author calls this the "Maybe I do" generation. People don't make commimtment and don't even plan to make a commitment. I have given copies of this book to two young couples who will be getting married in the next twelve months.

Book Description

Over 130 pages of tasty recipes designed for optimum health, plus sections on protein myths and facts, calcium, cutting the fat, equipping your kitchen, and more. A great book for novice or veteran cook.

Customer Reviews:

Great gift book.......2006-02-02

Friends keep asking me what to get for someone who has just started cooking or turned vegan. Hands down, this is the one and only book I recommend. I bought it four years ago and still use it weekly. It has fool-proof cornbread, hummus, split pea soup, tacos, masoor dal, Thai noodle salad, oatmeal cookies---all the vegan stand-bys. For breakfasts, the scrambled tofu is good, though I had bad luck with the french toast and sourdough pancakes. I really appreciate the nutritional information provided for each dish. The pantry-stocking pages are excellent, as is the overview of nutrition and veganism. For beginners, the book's chief asset is its brevity: my first vegan cookbook was too big, and it took me way too long to sift through it and plan the week's meals. This has everything you need for months of great cooking, without much fuss. And its wide pages lay relatively flat, which makes it easier to use in the kitchen. A must for the new vegan or cook in your life.

If you're new to Veganism, this book is for you........2005-08-26

I recently went vegan and asked a vegetarian friend if they could recommend a starter cookbook. She let me borrow her copy of "Peaceful Palate". Since I've read it, I've been hooked. My favorite recipes are the "Dolphin-Friendly Mock Tuna Salad" and the "Neat Loaf". It has opened my eyes to the world of Veganism and I don't think I would have been as successful without it. The recipes are easy to make and the tastes are incredible. The first 20 pages are also loaded with helpful hints, kitchen staples and other interesting information. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to start a vegan cookbook library.

Quick, easy, and delicious!.......2004-12-20

Raymond easily could have titled this cookbook "Quick, easy, and delicious"! The split pea soup is one of my favorite cold-weather recipes, and just about everything I've tried in this book has been great. Highly recommend.

Easy to read recipes with simple, common ingredients.

It's my #1 cookbook.

my favorite cookbook.......2004-05-11

I have been a vegetarian for 24 years, and a vegan now for just over one year. Last year I ordered a number of vegan cookbooks, but this is the one I return to again and again. It is a very simple cookbook - it truly does feel peaceful - no fretting over unusual ingredients or fussy preparations. It is just simple, delicious food. If you are a new vegan this is a great book to start with, and, as I've found, a great one to stick with.

One of the best.......2003-03-22

This is a fabulous cook book. There is nothing overly exotic so it was very easy to find all of the ingredients. I served the Tempeh salad sandwich to my meat eating family and none of them knew the difference, infact they said it was the best sandwich they've ever had! The carrot cake with tofu cream frosting was incredible and was finished all in one evening. My mom loved the coffee cake and insisted I not forget to give her the recipe. I can't wait to try all of the recipes. Thank you Jennifer Raymond!

Customer Reviews:

THE Industry Standard(or it should be!!!).......2003-05-06

I have groomed for over 30 years and taught grooming for nearly 20. This is the book that all basics of professional grooming come from. Perhaps a more modern blade emerges from time to time or a pattern may differ slightly in the midwest or northeast but for a basic reference that is clear and simple, this is THE book to have. There are several newer books that explain basically the EXACT same methods described in this manual. It is simplicity in its finest form.

Poor format, good information.......2000-04-19

This is the book that I used in dog grooming school. It gives good information about how to groom dogs in both show and pet clips, and also covers bathing, brushing, and other areas of grooming. However, the black and white photographs are very hard to see, and the layout of the book (tables, formatting) seems unprofessional. Even though my grooming professor thought that it was the best book in terms of content, I would caution buyers that this book has a dated look and feel.

Book Description

This handy little manual teaches you everything you need to know to legally manufacture a silencer for any .22 - without a lathe or welder. These inexpensive homemade silencers give you all the suppression you need, thread on solidly, do not affect your accuracy or the gun's functioning and last for hundreds of rounds. For academic study only.

Customer Reviews:

SILENCERS ARE NOT ILLEGAL!!!!.......2006-11-17

I am tired of reading all of those reviews who say silencers are illegal, they are NOT! You can get a permit for one (which is expensive and takes a couple months, and you must be photographed and fingerprinted) But you can do it. However, there are 16 states in which you cannot get a permit. those states are CA, IA, KS, MA, MO, and MI. If you live in one of those states and you want a silencer, MOVE! By the way, this is interesting... It is legal to own an M82A1 in every state EXCEPT california, where it is also illegal to own a silencer as stated in above list. I guess most liberals are against guns. Too bad for California residents who like guns.
Anyway, the book serves its purpose well, and as long as you live in AL, AR, AK, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MS, MT, NE, ND, NV, NH, NM, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV, WI, or WY, then GET YOUR PERMIT and make a silencer. Or buy one if you are lazy.

The .22lr is 850-1000 fps from pistol barrels, subsonic .......2005-03-18

speeds. In a .22 rifle, you can use special subsonic ammo. Consider that the author of these 3 "how-to" silencer books wrote them while he was actually serving Federal prison time for making silencers. They were typed on manual typewriters, while looking over his shoulder for snitches and guards. So the somewhat less-polished language and drawings are forgivable.

Won't silence a .22.......2004-08-25

When I saw this book (decades ago) in a friend's collection, I was inspired to make my own silencer.

There are 2 components to sound coming from a gun:
1) The muzzle blast
2) The sound of the bullet traveling at super-sonic speeds as it breaks the sound barrier!!!

A 22LR shell exits the muzzle at over 1300 feet per second. Do the math! That translates to 886 Miles Per Hour - well over the sonic barrier (500 to 700 MPH depending on altitude and barometric pressure).

You can suppress the blast, but when you do, you still hear the crack as the bullet breaks the sound barrier.

A few other cartridges that are super-sonic are: 9MM, Super 38, .357, .41Mag and .44 Mag. So how do you totally eliminate any tell-tale sound? Use a lower velocity cartridge.

As a rule of thumb, don't use a revolver; you should use an automatic pistol. The ideal pistol: .380 AUTO.

One other thing to consider. Silencers are illegal. If you are caught you could be shot or embark on an extended vacation at Club Fed.

Dangerous at any speed.......2003-12-22

As this book is only supplied for academic purposes you would think that it would actually be written well and include information that would be useful for academic purposes revolving around silencers, unfortunately it supply's nothing of the sort.

The information contained is inaccurate to the point of being absurd.

Look elsewhere for academic study material on this topic.

Total Crap.......2003-12-18

Poorly written with difficult to follow instructions that involve poor techniques and designs.

Possession of items described as parts in this book and/or making items described within without first obtaining permission from the Federal and State governments are felony crimes punishable by $10,000+ fines and 10+ years in prison. You can ask the author he spent years in prison himself.

There are better books available if the study of this topic interests you.

Book Description

A wealth of creative experiences for building a well-rounded childhood.

This hands-on, imaginative book offers 101 experiences every child should have as they grow toward adulthood. Each entree provides practical suggestions that help you make each of these experiences a reality. The examples include:

o Every child should believe in things that can't be seen—which offers details on how a child can create a special drawstring bag for the nap fairy or elf who can leave behind small rewards.

o Every child should catch snowflakes on his tongue and eyelashes—which explains how a child can also capture a snowflake using cardboard.

o Every child should publish a book—which describes how your youngster can go about becoming his or her own publisher.

o Every child should camp out in the backyard—which also shows how your youngster can do precisely that in his or her own living room if no yard exists.

o Every child should have a dream for the future and an adult who believes in that dream.

Customer Reviews:

Hmm - not that great!.......2006-01-30

I was really excited about this book because of the other positive reviews, but was not very impressed. A lot of them require money and resources not everyone has (if you live in Phoenix it is hard to build snowmen!). Also, depending on your own personal values of what is important in life, several of these won't matter for you.

An excellent resource!.......2002-09-05

This is an excellent resource for kids, parents, and teachers. My kids and I loved it!

A "must have" for all parents and parents-to-be.......2002-06-18

Alecia has captured the true meaning of childhood, putting together a comprehensive collection of activities that will captivate children and take their parents back to their own carefree days. A "must have" addition to the library of parents and parents-to-be!

Book Description

Japanese women's diary literature (nikki bungaku) was labeled confessional and apolitical by twentieth-century scholars who established the modern canon of Japanese literature. Bringing together five works of the genre (three previously unavailable in English), Joshua Mostow makes a new argument about the political and social function of women's autobiographical writing in the Heian period (795-1185). In a detailed introduction, Mostow demonstrates how, through a consideration of seemingly minor works that appeared between such landmarks as The Tosa Diary (c. 935) and The Kagero Diary (c. 971), the political function of women's supposedly "confessional" writing can be discerned. He argues that many of these texts can be seen as works commissioned by successive leaders of the "Regents' House" of the Fujiwara, designed to present these men as accomplished lovers and skilled poets, the kind of cultural capital essential for a successful politician of the day.

The collection begins with The Takemitsu Journal (also known as The Tale of the Tonomine Lesser Captain, c. 962), an important precursor and model for the famous Kagero Diary, and Tales of Toyokage (c. 971), a fictionalized re-working of his own poems by Regent Koremasa himself. It also includes the first complete English translations of the Hon'in no Jiju and of the narrative section of The Collected Poems of Lady Ise. Ironically, Mostow shows that this latter work, long considered the ancestor of Heian women's autobiographical writing, is clearly a text edited by a hand other than Ise's and was designed primarily to display the cultural talents of male members of the Regents' House. The volume concludes with the Tales of Takamura, which Mostow places in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and describes as a site of struggle between masculine and feminine narrative styles.

The selections have been gracefully translated and extensively annotated, with annotation appearing on the facing page of the text. At the House of Gathered Leaves not only explains the development of an important genre of Japanese writing, but also provides a new and politically engaged way of reading other major texts such as The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and The Diary of Murasaki Shikibu.

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