John Engler: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy (General Reading) [Hardcover]

Gleaves Whitney (Author), G. Whitney (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 421 pages
• Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press; 1St Edition edition (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585361275
• ISBN-13: 978-1585361274
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,940,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Political Tripe, February 3, 2005

By 

David F. Lamb "Disgusted Michigander" (Lansing, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Engler: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy (General Reading) (Hardcover)

Just finished this work and I have to say the author and the other reviewers must now live somewhere else besides Michigan. John Engler left this state in a fiscal crisis caused by his politicians desire not to cut spending in spite of falling revenues. His legacy of junior conservatives gumming up the political works with
ill thought out programs and fiscal gerrymandering, continues to haunt us.

8 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Engler: Education Reformer, December 17, 2002

By 

W. C. Rice (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Engler: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy (General Reading) (Hardcover)

People who believe that public education, despite its woes, can be made to reform should read Gleaves Whitney's rich new documentary biography of Michigan's three-term Governor John Engler. Whitney provides street-level political evidence--personal testimonials, inaugural addresses, newspaper stories, op-eds, policy studies, and myriad interviews--that shows how a determined, clever, and duly elected leader can bring about long-term change. Readers can savor Engler's shrewd call, early in his tenure, to eliminate an inequitable state property tax that funded schools, his insistence on rigorous student testing as a guide to effective policy, his championing of charter schools and other choices for families condemned to failing schools. Engler achieved his successes against the demonizing tactics of the Michigan Education Association and other opponents who, interviewed here, seem chagrined at their failure and naivete. Whitney covers many more topics in this authorized yet evenhanded biography--welfare reform, the Governor's family life, economic boom, the three elections--but the thread of renewed educational opportunity runs throughout. The book is a valuable resource, giving a multifaceted view of the man who made Michigan a leadership state for education reform.

5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Entirely ridiculous account, March 31, 2006

By 

Gaither Cobalt (Flint, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Engler: The Man, the Leader, the Legacy (General Reading) (Hardcover)

What Engler did do is leave us in a worse situation than when he came into office? His bloated stories and accomplishments are only figments of him, his friends and buddies, and those that he so deftly enchanted by this so-called politician. What is correct, is that Engler channeled the funds from public schools, and out of the taxpayers hands, and into the business minds, private sector, and the rich and very powerful folks that still hold some of the keys. We were all told, and it was reported in the Free Press and Lansing State Journal shortly before his departure, that the state of Michigan had billions in it's coffers, and that Michigan could confront any 'rainy day' if need be. Where's the money at? Where did it all go? A week after Granholm came into office, she found the state in a fiscal crisis and has had to make cuts ever since just to catch up. So there goes Engler, and soon to follow we're his buds. By the way, anyone who thinks we're better off now, with fewer unions and a republican stuffed government, needs to have their head examined. GM is about ready to leave, possibly Ford in the near future. Job security is a thing of the past, and the folks who want to change us once again, are the very people helping to ship America overseas and keep us in wars that should have never happened. Thanks, we love you... Until the next Civil War!!!