| The Gray Stopgap DL Tolleson Fiction: Paperback, 360 pages Publisher: The Lighthouse Press, Inc. ISBN: 0971191565 Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces |
DESCRIPTION: Plagued by hellish wartime memories and
betrayal at the hands of his fiancée, government agent
Karns Gray volunteers for an experiment with
"bio-chemical synthetic intelligence." But the
experiment goes awry by killing its creators and
attempting to commandeer the body of agent Karns Gray
while altering his DNA.
An atypical espionage thriller, The Gray Stopgap
is a psychological and emotional tapestry seamlessly
woven between flashbacks and reality. Double agents,
assassins, underwater adventure and sub-orbital dogfights
are but a few facets of this adrenaline-driven, pell-mell
rush. Adventure aside, this is as much a story about
relationships and integrity, as it is international
intrigue.
DESCRIPTION: In this reasoned argument against the
prevailing orthodoxies of the right, left, and center,
Krannawitter takes on all of Lincoln's detractors and
reasserts his contemporary relevance. A heady mix of
narrative history and political insights, Vindicating
Lincoln reveals a man whose political and moral
example sets him apart as the greatest President of the
United States of America.
TOLLESON'S REVIEW: Two pages into the 6½ page
Acknowledgments I realized I was reading clarity of
thought. This book is one of the finest examples of
critical thinking that I have ever read. I have long
heard that Lincoln's sole purpose for freeing the slaves
was that it was expedient for the Union. To that end,
Lincoln’s own words are usually cited. And indeed,
everyone with whom I have spoken (and who have at least a
passing familiarity with history) speaks of Lincoln in
terms of a moral man essentially exercising moral
relevance. Either that or Lincoln is spoken of in terms
more akin to a tyrant. Krannawitter effectively
demonstrates that both of these presumptions could not be
any further from the truth.
The error made by contemporary critics and
"historians" in general is a failure to
recognize and analyze Lincoln’s statesmanship and
the political realities of the atmosphere in which he
governed.
Krannawitter clearly illuminates that the ambiguity with
which Lincoln is portrayed is the result of the
President's carefully crafted dialogue whenever presented
with audiences hostile to his agenda. As Krannawitter
points out, in many cases had Lincoln actually said what
he wanted to do, the man wouldn't have been able to get
elected as dog catcher.
As a writer I am well versed in saying what my audience
may like to hear while not expressing my contradictory
views: This is a case of going on record as saying a
particular thing and then later saying, "well yes, I
said that, but what I didn't say is this..."
According Krannawitter, Lincoln was a master at doing
this very thing--a man who attempted to shape the
thoughts of his audience while not invoking their ire.
Every example this book illustrates shows that Lincoln
never violated his own principles while trying to
mitigate the damage of citizens practicing a moral
relevance of equality in a nation whose charter is upon
the foundation that all men are created equal.
This book does not address Lincoln in the battlefield,
which, as I understand it, resulted in less than stellar
results for the Union. But insofar as Lincoln in most
other aspects, this book is a remarkable exercise in
analyses and logic.