
American Sketches
Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane
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Narrated by:
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Cotter Smith
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By:
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Walter Isaacson
In this collection of essays, Walter Isaacson reflects on the lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and various other interesting characters he has chronicled as a biographer and journalist.
The people he writes about have an awesome intelligence, in most cases, but that is not the secret of their success. They had qualities that were even more rare, such as imagination and true curiosity.
Isaacson reflects on how he became a writer, the lessons he learned from various people he met, and the challenges he sees for journalism in the digital age.
He also offers loving tributes to his hometown of New Orleans, which both before and after Hurricane Katrina offered many of the ingredients for a creative culture, and to the Louisiana novelist Walker Percy, who was an early mentor. In an anecdotal and personal way, Isaacson describes the joys of the "so-called writing life" and the way that tales about the lives of fascinating people can enlighten our own lives.
©2009 Walter Isaacson (P)2009 Simon & Schuster, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















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What did you love best about American Sketches?
Short reviews of many interesting people.What did you like best about this story?
He weaves the stories in coherent way.Any additional comments?
It is a compilation of Isaacson writings in TIME Magazine. He does a good job linking them and is honest about the source of the stories. You end the book learning few things about many people.Great Overview of Different Interesting People
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Isaacson about his favorites and himself too!
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I am a big fan of Walter Isaacson and this book is a great way to dive into more of his writing and learn about many subjects in a short amount of time per subject. Each individual explored in the book is approx. 45 minutes and very interesting.
I will be recommending this book to friends.
Very interesting read and phenomenal narration
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Captivating and Inspiring
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You can get through this book. I did.
It caused me to have tons of emotional reactions. Such a great read
Best book ever
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Must Read for American History Buffs
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Great history of amazing people
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This is an enjoyable book. It is told as a story, you don't feel like you are listening to chapters of discrete information. The stories are interesting, relevant and educational.
The last third of the book includes a random interview with Woody Allen about his affair with his stepdaughter and then a section on the future of publishing. Both chapters feel out of place completely, I have no idea why the author or the published would include them here. But, since the first two thirds were excellent, I will give them this one chance.
Enjoyable and Insightful - Get it
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informative without going to in depth. not too wordy and delved deeper into those great individuals who needed a little more coverage- those including Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein to name a few.
Refreshing, inspiring and not too boring. If you are looking to gain a better insight into a handful of great men and women who helped make this world a better place, take the time to listen.
if you have already read any of Isaacson's other books, just know he will cover a lot of the same material, so maybe skip the chapter/chapters that reference that individual whom you have already read up on.
Worth a listen.
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The variety of sketches.
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