The Communist
ByPaul Kengor★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | |
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ | |
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ | |
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ | |
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
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Readers` Reviews
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
st expeditus
Dr. Kengor writes well with good grammar and syntax. His research appears thorough and his footnotes are copious. I would have rated his work higher but for the fact he notes his earlier works rather than original sources.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
eugene
After seeing an interview with the author on television, I felt that I must read this book. Mr. Kengor has done much research, and has put his findings into a very informative book. Now I know the background of Barak Obama and his appointees in this administration. I am only on chapter nine, and have much more to consume. The book is lengthy, but there is a lot of information. I recommend this book to anyone who is going to vote this November.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
betty watts
A book like this comes along, and demonstrates such a media bias in regards to vetting one of their own. This information should have been huge news in the lead-up to the 2008 Presidential election, and Obama should not have been given a free ride before answering this information.
How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You :: Greenglass House :: An Unconventional Approach to Achieving Positive Results :: Just Not Mine (Escape to New Zealand Book 6) :: Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
derrick
I bought The Communist to learn more about Barack Obama. The book offers so much more. I had no idea of the extent of communist activity in the US from before the first world war through the 1950s. Clarity on one of those who shaped the thinking of Obama as well as the involvement of so many from the entertainment industry is valuable reading for anyone who cares about the direction the US is headed.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
jessica kintner
Read this book. Just read it. Page by page, the enigmatic presidency of Barack Obama will all come into focus. Like a cipher to a cryptic code, this book reveals the WHY and the MEANING behind so much. From returning the Churchill bust to Great Britain to his battery of slogans (Change, Forward, et al), you'll finally figure this man out. And will be very afraid if he isn't denied a second term.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
david b
This book was definitely enlightening to say the absolute least. I read Paul Kengor's book, 'Dupes', so I kind of expected nothing but extreme due diligence and unbiased work from him. He certainly did not disappoint.
What struck me the most is how much one can see "Frank" in Obama. Frank Marshall Davis's path to Communism was well documented and illustrated in this book. But do not assume that - by reading the title - this is an attempt to completely defame the man. Kengor goes out of his way on many occasions to highlight the challenges "Frank" went through in his younger years: when racism and segregation was still openly accepted. Kengor tells of various experiences highlighted in Davis's memoirs which one could have pushed Davis into the belief system he eventually adopted.
While he was never openly Communist, reading through his articles published as far back as the 1930's serve as strong evidence that he - at minimum - sympathized with the Soviet modus operandi.
It was not until his records - along with many others involving the Soviet ComIntern (Communist International), CPUSA (Communist Party USA), and many other communist front organizations - were released for public viewing, that it would be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Frank Marshall Davis was indeed a card carrying communist.
Now, I am definitely late to the show, as I was not aware of the connections up until recently (hence my surprise when reading this book...I have seen reviews that establish the cat has been out of the bag for quite some time...it has!). So, forgive my shock in finding out that Obama openly acknowledged the "Frank" he spoke of in 'Dreams...' was Frank Marshall Davis. Additionally, I find it crazy how one would NOT be able to see the correlations between the path of Obama and that of Davis. I find this to be hardly coincidental, especially when you take into account how much POTUS' position on many issues also align with Frank's views several decades earlier.
The connections made in this book are a testament to how much research Kengor put into this book. It seems as though The Windy City should be called Teamster Town instead, with as much corruption as has been explained throughout this book.
There is one point that not many people who support Obama would bother to consider...if POTUS no longer associates himself with his beliefs in the past, why does he not speak of his transition to a different belief system? You have seen many public figures describe such events in avid details, even recounting the precise day or timeframe of this transition: and yet, not a peep in this regard from Obama. Could it be that he is still much further left than he wants America to believe (despite the fact that he was already considered the most left leaning politician in the Senate at one point)?
I say Paul Kengor is unbiased in his approach because he has highlighted people from all political spectrums, even highlighting in 'Dupes' that even Ronald Reagan was a progressive dupe at one point during his acting career. It was not until he realized the truth about Communism that he finally transitioned to become a conservative and run for political office.
I would recommend this book to anyone in a heart beat, but mainly to those who would normally oppose a book of this nature. It is always easy to deny the truth when it goes against everything you thought President Obama to be. I know, I voted for the guy in 2008. I can assure you I am not blind this time around.
What struck me the most is how much one can see "Frank" in Obama. Frank Marshall Davis's path to Communism was well documented and illustrated in this book. But do not assume that - by reading the title - this is an attempt to completely defame the man. Kengor goes out of his way on many occasions to highlight the challenges "Frank" went through in his younger years: when racism and segregation was still openly accepted. Kengor tells of various experiences highlighted in Davis's memoirs which one could have pushed Davis into the belief system he eventually adopted.
While he was never openly Communist, reading through his articles published as far back as the 1930's serve as strong evidence that he - at minimum - sympathized with the Soviet modus operandi.
It was not until his records - along with many others involving the Soviet ComIntern (Communist International), CPUSA (Communist Party USA), and many other communist front organizations - were released for public viewing, that it would be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Frank Marshall Davis was indeed a card carrying communist.
Now, I am definitely late to the show, as I was not aware of the connections up until recently (hence my surprise when reading this book...I have seen reviews that establish the cat has been out of the bag for quite some time...it has!). So, forgive my shock in finding out that Obama openly acknowledged the "Frank" he spoke of in 'Dreams...' was Frank Marshall Davis. Additionally, I find it crazy how one would NOT be able to see the correlations between the path of Obama and that of Davis. I find this to be hardly coincidental, especially when you take into account how much POTUS' position on many issues also align with Frank's views several decades earlier.
The connections made in this book are a testament to how much research Kengor put into this book. It seems as though The Windy City should be called Teamster Town instead, with as much corruption as has been explained throughout this book.
There is one point that not many people who support Obama would bother to consider...if POTUS no longer associates himself with his beliefs in the past, why does he not speak of his transition to a different belief system? You have seen many public figures describe such events in avid details, even recounting the precise day or timeframe of this transition: and yet, not a peep in this regard from Obama. Could it be that he is still much further left than he wants America to believe (despite the fact that he was already considered the most left leaning politician in the Senate at one point)?
I say Paul Kengor is unbiased in his approach because he has highlighted people from all political spectrums, even highlighting in 'Dupes' that even Ronald Reagan was a progressive dupe at one point during his acting career. It was not until he realized the truth about Communism that he finally transitioned to become a conservative and run for political office.
I would recommend this book to anyone in a heart beat, but mainly to those who would normally oppose a book of this nature. It is always easy to deny the truth when it goes against everything you thought President Obama to be. I know, I voted for the guy in 2008. I can assure you I am not blind this time around.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
lisanne
If you read this book about Obama's communist party member mentor, you will better understand Obama and what he has in store for the United States. You may like the concept of communism, or you may hate it. But you will come away from this book understanding a lot more about what this current President of the United States wants to do with our society. If you understand more about the workings of government, you might be more inclined to act.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
david diuco
Goes into a lot of detail about Frank Marshal Davis background and his life long ties to the communist party in Russia. He was an anti-American, anti-constitutionalist, anti-capitalist and Obama chose to be led and advised by him for years; he made Obama what he is today.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
sakib
If you want to know about President Obama and his political ideas this is one book that you should read. I also learned a great deal about the communist movement in the U.S.A. during the Great Depression and World War II. It is frightening to learn that we have a group of people in this country that can give support to the Communist movement. These people are well educated but they can ignore or justify the millions of people that were killed or enslaved by this brutal movement.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
dawna
Provacative. Frightening. Serious. I can only imagine how many current polititions and others in high positions consider this philosophy correct and Frank Marshall Davis their mentor. More Americans should read it and gain a better understanding of what is happening inside our own country, then DO something to stop it!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
natalia mu oz
"The Communist" is not an easy read because Kengor goes over board substantiating the facts. But the knowledge you gain makes it well worth the struggle. A Quiz - What do Obama, Jarrett, and Axelrod have in common? Who is President Obama's real Daddy? Have you ever wondered why the President looks so unlike his "Kenyan" father? the store Will Verify That I Purchased This Book in Hardcover.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
lindsey
Few realize that Frank Marshall Davis, a close friend of Obama's mother's family was also a card-carrying (yes, he had a number) member of the Communist Party most of his adult life. He was also Obama's most important, if only, "mentor" during his most formative years and the closest thing to a father figure that BO had. Many beliieve he was also Obama's biological father since he was closely involved with Stanley Ann Dunham while she attended university in Hawaii.. This is a biography of Davis, and as the book progresses and Davis beliefs become more radical and left-wing, one realizes that t the policies that Obama aspouses and holds dear to his heart are almost word-for-word the beliefs stated by Davis in his verbal statements and written works. If you want to know where Obama's policies and beliefs really originated, I wholeheartedly suggest everyone read this bio.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
gary garot
After reading this book I now understand why so many questions were never answered. If this book had been writened a year earlier and more people read it, the 2008 election for president would have turned out completly different.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
debra brownstein
After reading this book I now understand why so many questions were never answered. If this book had been writened a year earlier and more people read it, the 2008 election for president would have turned out completly different.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
jordy
This book provides information relating to: communism in the United States between the early 1920's and up to the 1990's; the associations of one documented, vocal communist with many other members of the Communist Party USA; the family relationships between those individuals and individuals now implementing the earlier Communist Party USA goals from positions of importance within the current President's executive branch.
It is highly informative to note that the same non-substantive arguments made by the principle subject of this book in his writings are being used to silence and suppress open and frank discussion of today's political issues and discussion of the sharp turn the USA has made toward a socialist/communist "utopia" under the current President.
Just remember, history has shown repeatedly that a socialist/communist utopia can only be sustained by forced labor and the use of terror against its own citizens. Whether the switch from a representative-democracy form of government to a socialist/communist form is made at the ballot box or through Marx' preferred method of bloody revolution, it will lead to the same forced labor and population controlled by terror.
It is highly informative to note that the same non-substantive arguments made by the principle subject of this book in his writings are being used to silence and suppress open and frank discussion of today's political issues and discussion of the sharp turn the USA has made toward a socialist/communist "utopia" under the current President.
Just remember, history has shown repeatedly that a socialist/communist utopia can only be sustained by forced labor and the use of terror against its own citizens. Whether the switch from a representative-democracy form of government to a socialist/communist form is made at the ballot box or through Marx' preferred method of bloody revolution, it will lead to the same forced labor and population controlled by terror.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
bob lehto
Must for anyone who is voting in November. Best work to date into Obama's early life that molded his political mind and the impact on the American way of life. Also exposes the blatant mainstream media's bias in keeping the past of the man who exposed Obama to the Marxist way of thinking.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
tyler menz
HAVANA... lilting rumbas, cafe con leche, sultry sea breezes. Sparkling white beaches by day, scintillating nightclubs after dark. This sophisticated, international capital was the crown jewel of an island paradise--until the idealism that fed the Cuban Revolution, and the stupidity of numerous Cubanos, who like me believed in the Cuban Messiah, yielded a nightmare of soul-wrenching dictatorship.
Yes, I have heard of Mr. Davis but never gave the man any importance until I read "The Communist" by Paul Kengor. After all, why be concerned on whether or not Fidel was right when in his enlongated speeches he predicted almost to the date, the impending political debacle awaiting our American democracy?
Was Castro right saying that no democracy in history has lasted over two hundred years and therefore America was next in line? Were we right in electing President Obama? Just think, but think hard; What would happen to our beloved country if we reelected the wolf in disguise again?
No Way! I often think. My adopted country cannot fall into the hands of communist predators, because Americans, no matter how much Football, or sitcoms they may watch, are not like Cuban pinheads who like me swallowed the entire pill until I vomited it in shame.
Before escaping the Cuba of the early sixties I always thought my absence will be for three weeks at the most. After all, with John Wayne and the Lone Ranger shooting bullets ninety miles away, how could the world's strongest, most respected democracy allow a communist cheat, to rule a former friendly neighbor for let's say; two more weeks? One month? Oh, come on; How about fifty one years?
Cuba, a communist country? No way, my socio! We're one of Uncle Sam's closest neighbors, and the American giant will never allow communist gangsters to control the Gulf of Mexico, much less the Panama Canal.
"The Communist" presents loads of previously restricted information that sheds an accusatory beacon of light on Barack Obama's resentful look at today's world. In fact, I've always wondered about the cowardice of American journalists for not exposing the man whose skin is not black, but red.
When I see Pelosi, Reed, Biden the Orator, and the Clintons, fully support our president's re-election, I can see in retrospect why Cuban prominent politicians also swallowed the damn red pill.
Kengor depicts in his book an exact caricature of the man who may have exerted the strongest influence in younger Barack Obama, just the same as Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin et al. exerted such a lasting influence in an obscure young lawyer named Fidel Castro, a fellow who never held a real job but knew how to charm the masses with well articulated poison, and yet inside the harmless revolutionary lived the ruthless murderer he is today.
The story of self-admitted communist Frank Marshall Davis, aka Obama's mentor should be read by all responsible Americans before election day.
In the words of Jorge Santayana: "Those who ignore history, are condemned to repeat it."
ANDREW J. RODRIGUEZ
AWARD WINNING AUTHOR: "ADIOS, HAVANA," a MEMOIR
Yes, I have heard of Mr. Davis but never gave the man any importance until I read "The Communist" by Paul Kengor. After all, why be concerned on whether or not Fidel was right when in his enlongated speeches he predicted almost to the date, the impending political debacle awaiting our American democracy?
Was Castro right saying that no democracy in history has lasted over two hundred years and therefore America was next in line? Were we right in electing President Obama? Just think, but think hard; What would happen to our beloved country if we reelected the wolf in disguise again?
No Way! I often think. My adopted country cannot fall into the hands of communist predators, because Americans, no matter how much Football, or sitcoms they may watch, are not like Cuban pinheads who like me swallowed the entire pill until I vomited it in shame.
Before escaping the Cuba of the early sixties I always thought my absence will be for three weeks at the most. After all, with John Wayne and the Lone Ranger shooting bullets ninety miles away, how could the world's strongest, most respected democracy allow a communist cheat, to rule a former friendly neighbor for let's say; two more weeks? One month? Oh, come on; How about fifty one years?
Cuba, a communist country? No way, my socio! We're one of Uncle Sam's closest neighbors, and the American giant will never allow communist gangsters to control the Gulf of Mexico, much less the Panama Canal.
"The Communist" presents loads of previously restricted information that sheds an accusatory beacon of light on Barack Obama's resentful look at today's world. In fact, I've always wondered about the cowardice of American journalists for not exposing the man whose skin is not black, but red.
When I see Pelosi, Reed, Biden the Orator, and the Clintons, fully support our president's re-election, I can see in retrospect why Cuban prominent politicians also swallowed the damn red pill.
Kengor depicts in his book an exact caricature of the man who may have exerted the strongest influence in younger Barack Obama, just the same as Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin et al. exerted such a lasting influence in an obscure young lawyer named Fidel Castro, a fellow who never held a real job but knew how to charm the masses with well articulated poison, and yet inside the harmless revolutionary lived the ruthless murderer he is today.
The story of self-admitted communist Frank Marshall Davis, aka Obama's mentor should be read by all responsible Americans before election day.
In the words of Jorge Santayana: "Those who ignore history, are condemned to repeat it."
ANDREW J. RODRIGUEZ
AWARD WINNING AUTHOR: "ADIOS, HAVANA," a MEMOIR
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
anjali gopalakrishnan
I find the book informative, a window of revelation, exposing the concealed events and actors, who have influenced the left political agenda. In my opinion, the enemy then, is the enemy now. The Author presents a clear and comprehensive chronological genesis of the communist insurgency in America.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
peter laughlin
I am half way through the book. However, from what I have read so far,it is shocking to me, that this information was not made available prior to the 2008 elections. Resource material such as this book is more valuable to me than any news media talking heads. Every American should have a copy of this book so they can make their own judgment call regarding this Administration. Next book for me will be, The Price of Politics.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
lisa konietzko
Since I know Dr. Kengor personally and have read some of his books, I can attest to the fact that he researches thoroughly for his books. This one is no exception. It's a must read for all Americans...especially before the 2012 election.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
m thomas
I highly recommend anybody, who loves this country and the freedom that we enjoy, to get this book! So far I have only read the first 60 pages and I have learned so much about the direction that this country is heading too! I can not put this book down! Amazing work by the author!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
tajja i
"Frank Marshall Davis was a pro-Soviet, pro-Red China, card-carrying member of Communist Party USA (CPUSA). His Communist Party card number was 47544. He did endless Soviet propaganda work in his newspaper columns..."
Thus begins Paul Kengor's exhaustively-research, just-published book The Communist Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mentor.
Kengor does the grunt work of digging through three decades of Davis' Chicago Star and Honolulu Record (both CPUSA fronts) columns; digging through his 600-page FBI file; digging through reports by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (what the Left refers to mockingly as HUAC--the House Un-American Committee, believing that investigating those who want to overthrow the government and institute a Soviet satellite nation as somehow un-American).
Davis was indefatigable in his work for the Fatherland, echoing everything coming out of the Kremlin without question. When Stalin joined hands with Hitler, Davis was pro-Hitler. When Hitler betrayed Stalin and invaded Russia, he was anti-Hitler. When Roosevelt joined hands with Russia, he was pro-Roosevelt. When Truman fought the Russian Beast spreading its Iron Curtain across the world, Davis excoriated the "fascist and Nazi" Truman. And it went on and on for four decades.
Per the ongoing Congressional Investigation, Davis was over the years part of so many CPUSA front groups that it was hard to keep track of them all. One longstanding front group was the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (ACPFB), of which Davis was a part of for literally decades. Per Congress the ACPFB "was founded by the Communist Party in order to exploit racial divisions in the United States for its own revolutionary purposes." One of ACPFB's constant refrains when any criticism was lodged against it, whether of communist ties or anything else, was the cry of racism.
Sound familiar?
Anytime Barack Hussein Obama is criticized, the cry of racism rears its head.
So of course the purpose of Kengor's book is to tie Barack Hussein Obama with Frank Marshall Davis. Obama sat at the feet of Davis for literally years, and it may have been as long as a decade, drinking in his communism, his pro-Soviet, anti-American rants, so that upon arriving at Occidental in 1979, Obama was a full-fledged Marxist, as Kengor's research shows. Kengor for the book interviewed a friend of Obama's at the time, John Drew, who positively states Obama was a fervent Marxist-Stalinist who was anticipating a literal proletariat revolution in the United States that he believed was immanent.
Of course Obama was presented as a "moderate" to the American public. Yes, he admitted to hanging around with Marxists at Occidental; yes he admitted to going to socialists conferences in New York, but those were the musings of a young man, not of the more mature Barack Obama.
Yeah, right.
If that was so, which Kengor asks at the end of the book, where was the conversion from Marxist to moderate? What does Obama point to as an epiphany that shattered his juvenile musings of a communist revolution? As Kengor points out, there was none.
Enter the Politburo.
In May of 2008 after the Kincaid and Rommerstein press conference exposing Davis' FBI and Congressional file where literally thousands of pages on Frank Marshall Davis were released, the Obama campaign had to acknowledge that the "Frank" in Dreams from My Father was Frank Marshall Davis.
The mainstream media then went into crisis mode, distancing Obama from Davis or outright lying about Davis' communism.
The mainstream media quickly mocked Rommerstein who was literally the U.S. point man in deciphering the Soviet-CPUSA archives when the Soviet Union fell, portraying the press conference as a "gathering of right-wing wackos," a "UFO convention."
Oddly, that is the same line we hear whenever anything relating to Obama's past is broached.
With Davis' communism revealed, the mainstream media got busy.
As Kengor documents, a name we are familiar with today, David Maraniss, who recently published his "definitive" biography of Obama Barack Obama: The Story, wrote an excruciatingly long piece (10,000 words) for the Washington Post three months before the election, detailing Obama's years in Hawaii and failed to mention one single time Frank Marshall Davis.
An oversight?
Nope.
And that was just the cherry on top of the American Politburo.
There were literally hundreds of articles and blogs sugarcoating and ignoring Davis' ties to Obama so that by the time of the election, Davis' communism was in the rearview mirror of the electorate, out of sight courtesy of the mainstream media.
When Obama ascended the throne, David Remnick sugarcoated Davis' radicalism in his "exhaustively researched" and "definitive" book The Bridge, as a "civil rights crusader," when in fact Davis actually stoked racial division as a way to further CPUSA goals. Remnick even goes so far as to say that Congressional/FBI documents of Davis showed McCarthyite Red-Baiting, and more pointedly was at core racist. This when Davis' CPUSA connections were well-known and publicly available on the web.
What Kengor's book shows is that the entirety of the mainstream media were colluding in suppressing Barack Obama's ties to communism. That in 2008 we had what amounted to a Politburo.
And that this Politburo exists to this day.
Why?
Because as Kengor documents, the pro-Soviet rants that Davis spewed for decades in his newspaper columns mirror the anti-American, anti-capitalism rants that infect Obama's rhetoric daily. That Davis called for a stimulus. Called for universal healthcare. Called for draconian cuts to defense. Daily lambasted Wall Street, Big Business, millionaires. All eerily echoed by one Barack Hussein Obama.
Newsflash:
America, we have a communist sitting on the throne.
And it all began in the living room of a man by the name of Frank Marshall Davis.
Thus begins Paul Kengor's exhaustively-research, just-published book The Communist Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mentor.
Kengor does the grunt work of digging through three decades of Davis' Chicago Star and Honolulu Record (both CPUSA fronts) columns; digging through his 600-page FBI file; digging through reports by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (what the Left refers to mockingly as HUAC--the House Un-American Committee, believing that investigating those who want to overthrow the government and institute a Soviet satellite nation as somehow un-American).
Davis was indefatigable in his work for the Fatherland, echoing everything coming out of the Kremlin without question. When Stalin joined hands with Hitler, Davis was pro-Hitler. When Hitler betrayed Stalin and invaded Russia, he was anti-Hitler. When Roosevelt joined hands with Russia, he was pro-Roosevelt. When Truman fought the Russian Beast spreading its Iron Curtain across the world, Davis excoriated the "fascist and Nazi" Truman. And it went on and on for four decades.
Per the ongoing Congressional Investigation, Davis was over the years part of so many CPUSA front groups that it was hard to keep track of them all. One longstanding front group was the American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born (ACPFB), of which Davis was a part of for literally decades. Per Congress the ACPFB "was founded by the Communist Party in order to exploit racial divisions in the United States for its own revolutionary purposes." One of ACPFB's constant refrains when any criticism was lodged against it, whether of communist ties or anything else, was the cry of racism.
Sound familiar?
Anytime Barack Hussein Obama is criticized, the cry of racism rears its head.
So of course the purpose of Kengor's book is to tie Barack Hussein Obama with Frank Marshall Davis. Obama sat at the feet of Davis for literally years, and it may have been as long as a decade, drinking in his communism, his pro-Soviet, anti-American rants, so that upon arriving at Occidental in 1979, Obama was a full-fledged Marxist, as Kengor's research shows. Kengor for the book interviewed a friend of Obama's at the time, John Drew, who positively states Obama was a fervent Marxist-Stalinist who was anticipating a literal proletariat revolution in the United States that he believed was immanent.
Of course Obama was presented as a "moderate" to the American public. Yes, he admitted to hanging around with Marxists at Occidental; yes he admitted to going to socialists conferences in New York, but those were the musings of a young man, not of the more mature Barack Obama.
Yeah, right.
If that was so, which Kengor asks at the end of the book, where was the conversion from Marxist to moderate? What does Obama point to as an epiphany that shattered his juvenile musings of a communist revolution? As Kengor points out, there was none.
Enter the Politburo.
In May of 2008 after the Kincaid and Rommerstein press conference exposing Davis' FBI and Congressional file where literally thousands of pages on Frank Marshall Davis were released, the Obama campaign had to acknowledge that the "Frank" in Dreams from My Father was Frank Marshall Davis.
The mainstream media then went into crisis mode, distancing Obama from Davis or outright lying about Davis' communism.
The mainstream media quickly mocked Rommerstein who was literally the U.S. point man in deciphering the Soviet-CPUSA archives when the Soviet Union fell, portraying the press conference as a "gathering of right-wing wackos," a "UFO convention."
Oddly, that is the same line we hear whenever anything relating to Obama's past is broached.
With Davis' communism revealed, the mainstream media got busy.
As Kengor documents, a name we are familiar with today, David Maraniss, who recently published his "definitive" biography of Obama Barack Obama: The Story, wrote an excruciatingly long piece (10,000 words) for the Washington Post three months before the election, detailing Obama's years in Hawaii and failed to mention one single time Frank Marshall Davis.
An oversight?
Nope.
And that was just the cherry on top of the American Politburo.
There were literally hundreds of articles and blogs sugarcoating and ignoring Davis' ties to Obama so that by the time of the election, Davis' communism was in the rearview mirror of the electorate, out of sight courtesy of the mainstream media.
When Obama ascended the throne, David Remnick sugarcoated Davis' radicalism in his "exhaustively researched" and "definitive" book The Bridge, as a "civil rights crusader," when in fact Davis actually stoked racial division as a way to further CPUSA goals. Remnick even goes so far as to say that Congressional/FBI documents of Davis showed McCarthyite Red-Baiting, and more pointedly was at core racist. This when Davis' CPUSA connections were well-known and publicly available on the web.
What Kengor's book shows is that the entirety of the mainstream media were colluding in suppressing Barack Obama's ties to communism. That in 2008 we had what amounted to a Politburo.
And that this Politburo exists to this day.
Why?
Because as Kengor documents, the pro-Soviet rants that Davis spewed for decades in his newspaper columns mirror the anti-American, anti-capitalism rants that infect Obama's rhetoric daily. That Davis called for a stimulus. Called for universal healthcare. Called for draconian cuts to defense. Daily lambasted Wall Street, Big Business, millionaires. All eerily echoed by one Barack Hussein Obama.
Newsflash:
America, we have a communist sitting on the throne.
And it all began in the living room of a man by the name of Frank Marshall Davis.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
shahab
The Communist
This is a GREAT book! If you think you are a product of your upbringing, then you should read about who our President mentioned 22 times in his book "Dreams of My Father" and who raised/mentored him.
This is a GREAT book! If you think you are a product of your upbringing, then you should read about who our President mentioned 22 times in his book "Dreams of My Father" and who raised/mentored him.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
david w
I would throw any reviews - pro or anti - out that were written on the 17th of July. I preordered and just received the book on July 18th. A brief scan shows that the book is at least well researched and documented, with accurate quotes, but actual complete reading and review will take more than a few hours after release.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
smitha sanjay
First I think that when reviewing a political book A person should state their Own political opinions.
I consider myself a Moderate, But I feel many of the fans of this book would probable consider me a
Liberal. With That Being said I will now Give my thoughts on this book...
I didn't expect to like this book but to my surprise I found it to be a pretty good book
It's well written but it does have a tendency to be on the dry side.
The Reason that this book exists is best said by the author Himself...
''''The people who influence our leaders matter.'''
Whether we Like President Obama or we dislike him it still matters who he grew up around or was
influenced by in his youth or early adulthood.
Some people think that Davis had a major influrence on Obama and some think that he had little influence but either way there
should be no problem with an author taking a closer look at Mr. Davis's life.
I consider myself a Moderate, But I feel many of the fans of this book would probable consider me a
Liberal. With That Being said I will now Give my thoughts on this book...
I didn't expect to like this book but to my surprise I found it to be a pretty good book
It's well written but it does have a tendency to be on the dry side.
The Reason that this book exists is best said by the author Himself...
''''The people who influence our leaders matter.'''
Whether we Like President Obama or we dislike him it still matters who he grew up around or was
influenced by in his youth or early adulthood.
Some people think that Davis had a major influrence on Obama and some think that he had little influence but either way there
should be no problem with an author taking a closer look at Mr. Davis's life.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
yolan
The book increased my respect for Frank. I had to leave aside my deep disdain for the communist part.
He started, ran, and wrote content for a couple newspapers. Unlike Obama, he actually had some real, non government jobs. The book delves into the likely reasons the party moved Frank to Hawaii.
The book deliberately leaves out the homosexual and pornographer aspects of his life.
He started, ran, and wrote content for a couple newspapers. Unlike Obama, he actually had some real, non government jobs. The book delves into the likely reasons the party moved Frank to Hawaii.
The book deliberately leaves out the homosexual and pornographer aspects of his life.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
mariza
While Dr. Kengor's book is revealing, what I think many of us are missing today is that "communism" as a label has little impact on America's current national psyche. Communism as an armed threat ceased to exist when the Berlin Wall came down. Most young people don't have a clue about the difference between democracy and communism. Many of them can't even tell you what the Constitution is. History is no longer being taught, so any attempt to talk to people who are clueless about the struggle between America and Communist Russia falls on deaf ears. Ideology is meaningless, because iPhones, Facebook, and Twitter matter more than having a red president. It's especially cool if he can sing off-key and dance a few steps and has Bruce Springsteen and JZ on stage with him. Those who actually think know that Obama's a communist, but his cheerleaders in the press gloss that over with glitz and never a discouraging word. Until the problem of leftist control of education and information is addressed, this book will have little impact on the status quo, i.e. the communization of America.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
peter laughlin
Obama ran his presidential campaign on "Change". Not once did he mention what change meant. This book will tell you how and why he thinks the way he does. Ideology rules every move he makes and make no mistake about it. His auto biography "Dreams of My Father" is a perfect companion to this books. You will never wonder what "Change" means again. It is all there.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
mengki norman
This book is exceptionally well researched and written, as might be expected from a Ph.D. Paul Kengor has clearly established with facts that Frank Marshall Davis was the most important mentor to Obama as a young teenager during the time he was living in Hawaii. This is a timely book for conservatives and independents to get a better insight into Obama's mostly hidden life story, which has been suppressed by the leftist press.
Kengor does NOT dwell on Davis' salacious activities as a pornographic author and photographer. This is where the reader should google Davis' many internet entries that deal with the lascivious activities of Davis' life in Hawaii. Some of photographs of a young woman in lewd poses that look just like Obama's mother appear to be authentic; either that or an expert Photo Shop forgery. Look and judge for yourself.
Davis' adult life was devoted to achieving a communist takeover of the American government and destruction of capitalism, which was unsuccessful. He did achieve success in indoctrinating a young Obama with hatred for American values and a belief that Marxist principles should replace the American constitution. If Obama is re-elected then he will leave behind a third world country in 2016 as his legacy, just what Frank Marshall Davis dreamed of for so many years.
I gave this book five stars for the quality of Paul Kengor's research and writing ability. It will offset any of the Obama zombies that attempt to trash quality conservative authors with poor ratings. Buy this book and read it before the November election.
Kengor does NOT dwell on Davis' salacious activities as a pornographic author and photographer. This is where the reader should google Davis' many internet entries that deal with the lascivious activities of Davis' life in Hawaii. Some of photographs of a young woman in lewd poses that look just like Obama's mother appear to be authentic; either that or an expert Photo Shop forgery. Look and judge for yourself.
Davis' adult life was devoted to achieving a communist takeover of the American government and destruction of capitalism, which was unsuccessful. He did achieve success in indoctrinating a young Obama with hatred for American values and a belief that Marxist principles should replace the American constitution. If Obama is re-elected then he will leave behind a third world country in 2016 as his legacy, just what Frank Marshall Davis dreamed of for so many years.
I gave this book five stars for the quality of Paul Kengor's research and writing ability. It will offset any of the Obama zombies that attempt to trash quality conservative authors with poor ratings. Buy this book and read it before the November election.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
stebby julionatan
This book will most likely not be vilified by the leftist culture. More likely it will simply be ignored, a tactic of fostering ignorance that has been most helpful to Barack Obama's ascendency in American politics. Yet, author Kengor's thesis statement is striking and true: "The people who influence our presidents matter."
So, who was Frank Marshall Davis, and what evidence is there that he had any shaping influence on Barack Obama's philosophy or politics? Kengor's sources are many, and range from Barack's Obama's own words, as expressed in Dreams from My Father, to documents and blogposts of the Communist Party USA, which proudly and aggressively assert the connections. Obama, in his autobiography, does not so much outline Frank's ideas as he asserts the deep influence that he had on him as a youth. In his concluding chapter, Kengor demonstrates how Obama's political rhetoric contains clear echoes of Frank Marshall Davis's poems and articles written for the Chicago Star and the Honolulu Record, both journalistic organs of Soviet-dominated journalism in the forties and fifties. Kengor establishes the clear fact that Davis was a lover of the Soviet utopia, a member of the Communist Party in the U.S., and a vigorous defender of Stalin. Along the way, he presents copious examples of Davis's printed articles, which today sound eerily familiar to anyone who listens carefully to the rhetoric of the president. Indeed, from the insulting return of the White House's bust of Winston Churchill to the British, through the nationalizing of General Motors, to the race-baiting and class-warfare rhetoric of Mr. Obama and his minions, one can see the enduring impact of Frank Marshall Davis on American politics through the young man he mentored and seems to have been a "second father."
What is most fascinating about this book, however, is the larger history of American communism in the forties and through the post-World War II years. Interestingly enough, Davis launched diatribes against President Harry Truman and the Marshall Plan, as they adopted tactical measures to rebuild a devastated Europe and contain the Soviet advance. It is also almost shocking to realize, in view of the leftist dominance in today's Democratic Party, that the major investigative committees looking into Frank Marshall Davis and the Communist movement were run by Democrats, not Republicans. Thus, the author evokes a time in which both parties had agreed that politics end at the waters' edge. Davis's writings reveal a mixture of ardent pro-Soviet rhetoric with a deep scorn of America as a nation devoid of virtue.
Kengor's story also reveals significant insights into the left-wing origins and backgrounds of people who surround the president today, and who constitute his closest advisors, such as David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, the latter of whom plays a role of Obama's mind, as described by words of Michelle Obama and Barack Obama himself. The narrative also touches upon the tragic naivety of countless dupes in American culture, from Hollywood stars to ecumenical churchmen, who proved useful to the Soviet attempts to infiltrate and undermine American life and turn it toward an increasingly statist enterprise. It is a tale of egregious duplicity, lies, and mendacity that, tragically, is now a mainstream feature of our public life. Ironically, much of this operates under the cover of high-sounding bromides like "social justice," a technique of deception played to a professional tee by Frank Marshall Davis. Indeed Davis, like today's race hustlers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, "fought racism" by attempting to stir up racial strife, all the while claiming that Stalin had established a society free of injustice and inequality!
To those who would argue that Kengor is an extremist right-wing wacko, it is worth noting that the activities of the Communist Party USA are no longer matters of conjecture or undisciplined fantasizing. The files of the party and the Soviet KGB have been opened and studied for twenty or so years now. The people who mentored Mr. Obama and the people who surround him today were clearly agents of a foreign totalitarian government dedicated to radical "change" in America along the lines of increasingly totalitarian control of American life.
Finally, Kengor notes the role that today's media establishments have worked to cover up or gloss over the radical, pro-Communist ideology of Frank Marshall Davis, by way of providing cover for Mr. Obama's questionable connections to the ideas that have shaped his outlook (which would include Vernon Jarrett and his daughter-in-law Valerie, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Frantz Fanon, and the communist singer Paul Robeson). Kengor summarizes his goal in writing:
"The primary goal of this book . . . has been to reveal the mystery and the man behind the `Frank' in Dreams from My Father. Never before, to my knowledge, has a president (gingerly) acknowledged such a radical influence only to have the dominant press utterly ignore that influence, if not downplay or dismiss that influence altogether. It was my lot as a Cold War researcher to find all of material on Frank Marshall Davis. With this book, readers can now glimpse that material themselves. . . . There were hundreds of thousands of American communists like Frank who agitated throughout the twentieth century. They chose the wrong side of history, a horrendously bloody side that left a
wake of over 100 million corpses from the streets of the Bolshevik Revolution to the base of the Berlin Wall--double the combined dead of the century's two world wars. And they never apologized.Quite the contrary;, they cursed their accusers for daring to charge (correctly) that they were communists whose ideology threatened the American way and the greater world and all of humanity. They took their denials to the grave, and still today their liberal/progressive dupes continue to conceal their crimes and curse their accusers for them. We need hundreds and thousands more books on American communists like Frank, so we can finally start to get this history right--and, more so, learn its vital lessons. . . .
The people who influence our presidents matter."
So, who was Frank Marshall Davis, and what evidence is there that he had any shaping influence on Barack Obama's philosophy or politics? Kengor's sources are many, and range from Barack's Obama's own words, as expressed in Dreams from My Father, to documents and blogposts of the Communist Party USA, which proudly and aggressively assert the connections. Obama, in his autobiography, does not so much outline Frank's ideas as he asserts the deep influence that he had on him as a youth. In his concluding chapter, Kengor demonstrates how Obama's political rhetoric contains clear echoes of Frank Marshall Davis's poems and articles written for the Chicago Star and the Honolulu Record, both journalistic organs of Soviet-dominated journalism in the forties and fifties. Kengor establishes the clear fact that Davis was a lover of the Soviet utopia, a member of the Communist Party in the U.S., and a vigorous defender of Stalin. Along the way, he presents copious examples of Davis's printed articles, which today sound eerily familiar to anyone who listens carefully to the rhetoric of the president. Indeed, from the insulting return of the White House's bust of Winston Churchill to the British, through the nationalizing of General Motors, to the race-baiting and class-warfare rhetoric of Mr. Obama and his minions, one can see the enduring impact of Frank Marshall Davis on American politics through the young man he mentored and seems to have been a "second father."
What is most fascinating about this book, however, is the larger history of American communism in the forties and through the post-World War II years. Interestingly enough, Davis launched diatribes against President Harry Truman and the Marshall Plan, as they adopted tactical measures to rebuild a devastated Europe and contain the Soviet advance. It is also almost shocking to realize, in view of the leftist dominance in today's Democratic Party, that the major investigative committees looking into Frank Marshall Davis and the Communist movement were run by Democrats, not Republicans. Thus, the author evokes a time in which both parties had agreed that politics end at the waters' edge. Davis's writings reveal a mixture of ardent pro-Soviet rhetoric with a deep scorn of America as a nation devoid of virtue.
Kengor's story also reveals significant insights into the left-wing origins and backgrounds of people who surround the president today, and who constitute his closest advisors, such as David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, the latter of whom plays a role of Obama's mind, as described by words of Michelle Obama and Barack Obama himself. The narrative also touches upon the tragic naivety of countless dupes in American culture, from Hollywood stars to ecumenical churchmen, who proved useful to the Soviet attempts to infiltrate and undermine American life and turn it toward an increasingly statist enterprise. It is a tale of egregious duplicity, lies, and mendacity that, tragically, is now a mainstream feature of our public life. Ironically, much of this operates under the cover of high-sounding bromides like "social justice," a technique of deception played to a professional tee by Frank Marshall Davis. Indeed Davis, like today's race hustlers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, "fought racism" by attempting to stir up racial strife, all the while claiming that Stalin had established a society free of injustice and inequality!
To those who would argue that Kengor is an extremist right-wing wacko, it is worth noting that the activities of the Communist Party USA are no longer matters of conjecture or undisciplined fantasizing. The files of the party and the Soviet KGB have been opened and studied for twenty or so years now. The people who mentored Mr. Obama and the people who surround him today were clearly agents of a foreign totalitarian government dedicated to radical "change" in America along the lines of increasingly totalitarian control of American life.
Finally, Kengor notes the role that today's media establishments have worked to cover up or gloss over the radical, pro-Communist ideology of Frank Marshall Davis, by way of providing cover for Mr. Obama's questionable connections to the ideas that have shaped his outlook (which would include Vernon Jarrett and his daughter-in-law Valerie, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Frantz Fanon, and the communist singer Paul Robeson). Kengor summarizes his goal in writing:
"The primary goal of this book . . . has been to reveal the mystery and the man behind the `Frank' in Dreams from My Father. Never before, to my knowledge, has a president (gingerly) acknowledged such a radical influence only to have the dominant press utterly ignore that influence, if not downplay or dismiss that influence altogether. It was my lot as a Cold War researcher to find all of material on Frank Marshall Davis. With this book, readers can now glimpse that material themselves. . . . There were hundreds of thousands of American communists like Frank who agitated throughout the twentieth century. They chose the wrong side of history, a horrendously bloody side that left a
wake of over 100 million corpses from the streets of the Bolshevik Revolution to the base of the Berlin Wall--double the combined dead of the century's two world wars. And they never apologized.Quite the contrary;, they cursed their accusers for daring to charge (correctly) that they were communists whose ideology threatened the American way and the greater world and all of humanity. They took their denials to the grave, and still today their liberal/progressive dupes continue to conceal their crimes and curse their accusers for them. We need hundreds and thousands more books on American communists like Frank, so we can finally start to get this history right--and, more so, learn its vital lessons. . . .
The people who influence our presidents matter."
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
jl smither
Paul Kengor has constructed a readable and documented look into the Frank mentioned by Barack Obama many times in Dreams from my Father. It provides insight into the man, the times, the CPUSA and its motives and tactics. More importantly, this mentor of Obama, this very influential person in Obama's life lives on in the ideas they share.
A measure of Kengor's effectiveness is that the audiobooks of Dreams, in Obama's own voice, have been re-released with all references to Frank scrubbed.
A measure of Kengor's effectiveness is that the audiobooks of Dreams, in Obama's own voice, have been re-released with all references to Frank scrubbed.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
cassandra d strawn
This is a well researched book with an apparent iron clad bibliography.
.....The popular musicians of the 30's, 40's, 50's that supported groups supported by the Soviet Union and the people like Langston Hughes, Margaret Sanger who were champions of communist groups if not outright registered communists is stunning. This stuff comes from biographies, US congressional hearings, old KGB files etc.
.....Valerie Jarrets grandfather was a strong communist party and association supporter.
.....Frank Marshall Davis, Obamas mentor mentioned only as Frank in Obamas books, was a card carrying communist from the 40's till the end of his days, unrepentent even in the years he was a mentor to obama.
.....Axlerod even has connections through his mentors to certifiabile communists.
.....It goes on and on and makes you wonder what the Hell did we put in the White House.
.....Many of the beloved organizations fot he left including minority organizations, planned parenthood, unions, etc were funded, founded by or were outright communist at the start.
.....We need to bring back teaching Capitalism Vs. Communism in our public schools ASAP cause the commie sympathizers are still out there despite the fact that hard line socialism or communism has never worked anywhere.
.....The popular musicians of the 30's, 40's, 50's that supported groups supported by the Soviet Union and the people like Langston Hughes, Margaret Sanger who were champions of communist groups if not outright registered communists is stunning. This stuff comes from biographies, US congressional hearings, old KGB files etc.
.....Valerie Jarrets grandfather was a strong communist party and association supporter.
.....Frank Marshall Davis, Obamas mentor mentioned only as Frank in Obamas books, was a card carrying communist from the 40's till the end of his days, unrepentent even in the years he was a mentor to obama.
.....Axlerod even has connections through his mentors to certifiabile communists.
.....It goes on and on and makes you wonder what the Hell did we put in the White House.
.....Many of the beloved organizations fot he left including minority organizations, planned parenthood, unions, etc were funded, founded by or were outright communist at the start.
.....We need to bring back teaching Capitalism Vs. Communism in our public schools ASAP cause the commie sympathizers are still out there despite the fact that hard line socialism or communism has never worked anywhere.
Please RateThe Communist