WordPress tells me that I only uploaded 50 posts during 2011 which brings my total up to 349. However, I know I uploaded 51 which brings me up to 350. Regardless, I seek to post ever more in 2012.
The first book to review this year is Taft 2012 by Jason Heller. As everyone knows, Taft was President of the United States a hundred years ago. After the Presidency, he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the job he wanted all along.
This book negates the post-presidency Taft, instead having him disappear just before the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. His disappearance is seen at first as a snub at Wilson, then one of the great conspiracy theories of the day.
I was saddened that the book sought to negate the work he did in the Supreme Court, as work he did there makes the world of today, well, today. No doubt some cases he heard while there would have turned out differently had he not been there to hear them. How different the world would have become without Taft in the Supreme Court is unknown.
Taft’s desire to become the Chief Justice does, however, make an appearance in the book.
It does play on a question that has plagued people since the earliest days of our country, “What would [insert former President here] do about [insert problem of today]?”
How would Jefferson handle WWII? How would Lincoln handle Iran-Contra? And on and on.
This book is a “What if” of course, but the author has definitely done his homework, and it shows.
That video, while not made for the book, uses Taft’s own, actual campaign song.
Intellectual Economy 