Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Revelations and Connections, July 11, 2004
By A Customer
No matter what one's political leanings are, a discerning reader will find both the factual and theoretical information presented in this book intriguing. The author writes in a style I can best describe as clear and powerful: he does not get bogged down in over-explanation of facts, and the unfolding events leading up to Secretary Brown's death read like a gripping suspense novel...except these events are well-documented NON-fiction. The author's exhaustive research and hours of interviews with the people in Ron Brown's world are thoroughly documented. As I read what had happened in the years prior to his death, I made my own connections and theories. The author, Mr. Cashill, did not preach, and did not press theories and proposed scenarios as truth. Mr. Cashill respects the reader...respects the reader's intelligence and deduction skills. I must highly recommend this book: you will not be bored, you will find it hard to put down, you will learn a lot, what you already know will be reinforced, and you will want to talk to others about it.
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92 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An American tragedy, May 18, 2004
Ron Brown looked like he had everything but in reality towards the end of his life, he had nothing. I don't think I've read anything this sad in ages. Here was a talented, charming and highly astute man who really could've made history but instead he almost came to social and political ruin.This book carefully explained what Brown blundered into and why it was so bad. The only criticisms I have are these: the author relies just a tad bit too much on one of Brown's companions for details (the natural urge to see oneself in the best light probably colors this person's memories) and overdoes it with the melodramatic foreshadowing. We all know what happened to Brown so there's no need to harp on what's coming in each chapter. One sensible thing Cashill does is that he didn't get bogged down in a conspiracy theory. He offers the reader a number of scenarios to explain why the plane crashed and how Brown's body got the infamous head wound. He then allows the reader to make up his or her own mind and he withdraws. For the most part it's a well written and surprisingly sympathetic book. The chapters on Brown's visit to a chapel before his death and the jockeying for position at his funeral are worth the its price alone.
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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I Found It Interesting....., March 7, 2005
I'm NOT a conspiracy buff by ANY means. One need only go look at my review of "Case Closed" to see that I strongly believe JFK was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. But Ron Brown's convenient demise certainly didn't hurt Clinton's re-election chances - although I suspect Clinton would have beaten "Boring Bob" Dole anyway since scandal rarely affects Presidential elections (consider the recent lack of WMDs for example).
But Ron Brown's death has always fascinated me because it was so timely. About a year after Brown's demise, I was listening to a radio show when a crackpot named Chuck Missler came on and told how Brown had been murdered by a wide conspiracy designed to keep Clinton in office. The central claim included a 'bullet hole' in Brown's head and the claim that one female passenger, TSgt Shelly Kelley, had survived the crash and died of a severed femoral artery on the way to the hospital.
Cashill - to his abundant credit - does NOT dismiss or pass over these issues. By the same token, he does not engage in the vilification of the Clintons at least not regarding Brown himself. I found the book rather sad and felt somewhat sorry for Brown that despite his monumental achievements - the first black to head a major national party among others - he was a lonely and depressed man.
Ron Brown was in one sense a kingmaker. His tight-fisted control of the Democratic Party put forth a united front that helped propel Clinton to victory in 1992. He had sought questionable monies (both parties do it so regard this as an observation as opposed to a slam) from the Asian community in San Francisco and Los Angeles. This wound up culminating in the John Huang/Charlie Trie scandals that were far more important to American security than Monica Lewinsky ever dreamed of being.
I remember the grand funerals of the crew as if it were yesterday. Clinton has contributed to his 'blame' in the so-called conspiracy theory; who can forget him leaving the memorial service at the church and laughing loudly - only to see a TV camera and fake shed croccodile tears on national TV?
Whatever the truth is regarding Brown's unfortunate death, Cashill has written a tome that peels away the layers of the personalities of many involved. Get the book and enjoy. And don't listen to the claims of "GOP wrote the book" because a simple sampling demonstrates that claim to be farcical.
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