Get a lot of people to say it and it will be 'truth'...the theme of both this book and most political campaigns. But what are political parties other than today's incarnation of fraternal orders?

I would like to have liked this more...and I remember liking it more when I was a teenager. But as we age the energy we get from disproving our forerunners wanes. The book is good, and the story arc is interesting, but I fortunately have an ability to quickly glaze through long portions of a book that aren't really important...and there were a lot of those. I mean every historic character short of Santa's Little Helper had a role in this one.

I absolutely see why people love this book and think it's great. The intellectual aspects of it are compelling, but right now I can't forget that it's 200 pages too long.