Newjack – Ted Conover – Audio Book

Newjack – Ted Conover : Guarding Sing Sing is the story of Conover’s rookie year as a guard at Sing Sing. It is a nerve-jangling account of his passage into the storied prison and the culture of its guards – both fresh-faced “newjacks” like Conover and brutally hardened veterans. As he struggles to be a good officer, Conover angers inmates, dodges blows, works to balance decency with toughness, and participates in prison rituals – strip frisks, cell searches, cell “extractions” – that exact a toll on inmates and officers alike.

The tale begins with the corrections academy and ends with the flames and smoke of New Year’s Eve on Conover’s floor of the notorious B-Block. Along the way, Conover also recounts the history of Sing Sing, from draconian early punishment, to fame as the citadel of capital punishment, to its present status as New York State’s “bottom of the barrel” prison.

This book will become a landmark of American journalism – the definitive presentation of the impasse between the need to imprison criminals and the dehumanization of inmates and guards – that almost inevitably takes place behind bars.

“Newjack is an astonishing work by a gifted – and dedicated – journalist. Ted Conover takes us into the dangerous, sad, amusing and instructive soul of one of America’s best known prisons.” — Tom Brokaw

For the first time, I am not able to write down what I think myself about this book for it has been said in many ways by great journalists and in a much better way than what I would have been able to write. Below is what they had to say abizut this brilliant book:

“Compelling…. Fascinating…. ‘Newjack’ is an important cautionary tale…. Conover is to be commended for having the chops to venture where few others would dare to go.” The Los Angeles Times

“Profoundly eye-opening….He brilliantly demonstrates how life in prison brutalizes both the kept and their keepers.” Chicago Sun Times

“This book takes a reader inside one of the many locked doors of America’s penal system. It is clear-eyed and sympathetic, intelligent and engrossing. It reminded me of some of George Orwell’s admirable journalism.” Tracy Kidder

“Those who craft theories and make policy must read this book if they are to understand how those theories and policies affect people …” San Diego Union Tribune

“A devastating chronicle of the toll prison life takes on the prisoners and the keepers of the keys. You can’t get more inside than this … Conover brilliantly conveys the confusion and frustration of trying to use the lessons of the Academy [for training guards] in a real-time situation.” Minneapolis Star Tribune

Listen to the sound sample of this great book here: Newjack – Ted Conover- Audio Book

General Ike – John Eisenhower – Audio Book

General Ike – John Eisenhower : John S.D. Eisenhower modestly explains General Ike as “a son’s view of a great military leader — highly intelligent, strong, forceful, kind, yet as human as the rest of us.” It is that, and more: a portrait of the greatest Allied military leader of the Second World War, by the man who knew Ike best.

General Ike is a book that John Eisenhower always knew he had to write, a tribute from an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write about the “military Ike,” as opposed to the “political Ike,” because Ike cared far more about his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike’s relations with soldiers and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented, driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs.

Above all, General Ike was a man who never let up in the relentless pursuit of the  destruction of Hitler.

Here for the first time are eyewitness stories of General Patton showing off during military exercises; f Ike on the verge of departing for Europe and assuming command of the Eastern Theater; of Churchill tewing and lobbying Ike in his “off hours.” Faced with giant personalities such as these men and acArthur, not to mention difficult allies such as de Gaulle and Montgomery, Ike nevertheless managed to ull together history’s greatest invasion force and to face down a determined enemy from Normandy to the ulge and beyond. John Eisenhower masterfully uses the backdrop of Ike’s key battles to paint a portrait of his father and his relationships with the great men of his time.

General Ike is a ringing and inspiring testament to a great man by an accomplished historian. It is also  personal portrait of a caring, if not always available, father by his admiring son. It is history at its best.

John Eisenhower doesn’t just “copy” other historians works borned years after the war – he writes about he great military and political laeders of the war whom he met personally during war. To read only the chapter about his own father is worth reading the book.

People with a military background in particular will enjoy this book. All Americans should read this ook. So, I highly recommend this book to all who admire Eisenhower, who admire a well-written historical prose.

And when someone like Marshall said to Ike Einsnhower : “You have commanded with outstanding success the ost powerful military force that has ever been assembled. You have made history, great history for the ood of all mankind and you have stood for all we hope for and admire in an officer of the United States rmy.” what else do I have to say? A real good read.