Mr. David Frum gets off to a strong start in his review of “That Used to Be Us,” by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, a book about the current state of the American nation and economy. He begins the piece, Does America Have a Future?  by providing the backdrop in which the book is set, the premise of the book and a bit of history about the authors thus managing to garner a small amount of interest in the reader. However, as one reads the two-page article, nothing much is said even though there are a lot of words.  Mr. Frum lists numerous examples from the book throughout his piece, seemingly trying to make different points about how the authors depict the current state of America and yet the reader comes away at the end of the piece knowing hardly anything more about the book than what he did at the beginning. This, in my opinion is the biggest shortfall of the review as it fails to provide the reader with enough information about different aspects of the book for the reader to form an opinion. Throughout the article he makes only a single point about the contradictory nature of the book which results from Mr. Friedman and Mr. Mendelbaum being “frustrated optimists” failing until the end to convey a final and decisive opinion. At the very end of the piece, Mr. Frum introduces an entirely new point about the authors being in support of the American elite, a point that seems to be based on personal opinion rather than any direct examples from the book. In the confusion, both Mr. Frum’s and the authors’ viewpoints are lost and the reader is left unsatisfied.

            On the other hand, Janet Maslin’s review of Candice Millard’s “Destiny of the Republic,” a book on former president James A. Garfield’s life and legacy and his place in American history, is engaging, to-the-point, well-written and comprehensive. In other words, Never Seeking the Presidency, Yet Swept Into Office Nonetheless is an excellent review that tells the reader all he/she needs to know to be able to decide whether or not to pick up Ms. Millard’s book. There is a clear viewpoint that is conveyed throughout the piece along with a rousing recommendation of the book that seems sincere and unbiased. A critic’s viewpoint can either be positive or negative, what matters is that the reader get a clear understanding of the critic’s opinion of the work along with additional information that might help the reader form his own opinion, either in agreement or contradiction to the critic’s opinion.  Ms. Maslin’s review does all of this as she uses many intriguing details from the book to strongly recommend “Destiny of the Republic” to her readers.