Lions of the West

Book review time - I had seen this book a long time ago and thought I would like it. I didn't get it then and then I forgot about it, including the name. But I stumbled on to it. It is about winning the west - The west being places initially like Kentucky, then later places like Oregon.

Each chapter featured a different person - Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Davy Crockett, etc.

Several I love - Davy Crockett and Kit Carson. If I could ever have traded places with them, I sure would have. There were real heroes. Kit Carson literally had to walk through a desert barefoot. Seriously. He had to clip the ears of his donkey so he could drink it's blood just to stay alive. Seriously. OK, I'd rather trade places with Davy than Kit.

James K. Polk was an interesting chapter. He's probably our most underrated president. He obtained the Oregon Territory which was all of the Pacific Northwest, and through the Mexican War he obtained all of the Southwest. The Southwest, after all, has California. California adds like a billion to our gross national product, and then there is all of the rest of the southwest, which brings the grand totally to slightly more than a billion. Granted, the Mexican War was not our finest moment. We kind of tricked Mexico into it and then sucker punched them. But Polk got what he wanted. I always that was his low point in another impressive career. But actually, he was, overall, a bit of a jerk.

Rudest presidents in history. Here is my list in no particular order:

James K. Polk - If you weren't for him or his hero, Andrew Jackson, buckle up. You were about to get slandered, libeled and hear words you never heard in the Bible (Paul Simon song lyric). Kind of a jerk. He might have been our first really hard working president. They used to take the summers off, etc. He kind of worked himself to death. He served one term and died just weeks after leaving the presidency. Very commendable. A jerk nonetheless.

Andrew Jackson - Again, don't get on his bad side. He killed a bunch of people. Yes, he was a general. But he would also get ticked off for some personal slight and kill people in duels. Not cool, Andy. Not cool.

Andrew Johnson - He would give speeches and get into arguments with the crowd and try to fight people that were heckling him. Oh and he was drunk when he was inaugurated as vice president. A few AA and anger management meetings and he would have been just fine.

Donald Trump - I don't want to get political, so no comment.

Lyndon Johnson - He would make his aides meet with him while he was using the restroom. Enough said on that. He became a better person after he became president and did a lot for people en masse. But individually, you wouldn't want to pal around with him.

I diverged from the book. But to sum up - really good book.