Double Standards

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Nick Sinclair, the charming and ruthless president of Global Industries, has it all. And when he hires Lauren Danner, he has every intention of having her, too. Used to conquering beautiful women, Nick is surprised to discover that Lauren is unlike any woman he has ever known. She is full of spirited independence and confidence--qualities that make her all the more appealing--and Nick soon loses his heart to her. But Lauren is involved in a dangerous charade, and as her deceit grows, so does her love for Nick. Can she save the man she loves without losing him? This is another Judith McNaught to add to your keeper shelf.

Book Description

In the exclusive, glittering world of business superstars, Nick Sinclair was a legend...

The ruggedly handsome president of Global Industries handled his business the way he handled his women -- with charm, daring and ruthless self-control. A man used to the very best, Nick hired Lauren Danner, and assumed the proud beauty would soon be another easy conquest. But Lauren's flashing wit and rare spirit dazzled him -- and slowly, against his will, he was intrigued, challenged -- and in love.

Yet Lauren was living a lie, a charade that became more dangerous with every passing moment. Trapped in a web of deceit, she fought her growing love for Nick. Her secret could destroy his fragile trust -- and the promise of life with the most compelling man she had ever met!

Customer Reviews:

A rather emotional guilty pleasure..........2007-04-30

Wow -- I never read romance until last fall. I had always seen the "historical" romance novels about Dukes and Earls...and responded with a "roll of my eye."

One day I found a Judith McNaught novel - a contemporary novel about corporate greed, insider action, and hot romace...and well, I was done!!

I have all of her contemporary books - this is my favorite.

Lauren is a wonderful heroine.

I absolutely LOVE the intertwining of characters from her novels - it is like hearing gossip that an old friend is doing well - it warms your heart and makes you want to see them again!

And that is how her books are - a great warm bath, and a drink of expensive wine...something to indulge in...and enjoy.

I would love the chance to thank Judith - you help me relax at the end of the day --- after the kids are in bed...and my husband thanks you too...because your books...well...you know how a romance novel effects a woman... ;)

Ok Book.......2007-01-01

I read this book in a day, but it was hard to read. The story went fast, but the story lacked so much.

Her cousin Philip Whitworth interviews her for a job, never intending to give her one. Until he sees how pretty she is and asks her to spy for him at Global Industries. The company that keeps out bidding him for jobs. Philip thinks there has to be a leak in his company, so he offers Lauren a salary she can't hardly refuse.

Lauren being the innocent girl from a small town doesn't want to spy on another company but her Father has been sick and he needs the money.
After intentinally failing the tests for the new job,so they won't hire her she runs into the most handsome man in the world, Nick Sinclair.
Thinking he is just a carpenter that works for Globial, she regrets not getting the job.

Nick puts in a good word for her and she is offered the job again.
She is thrilled to be working so close to Nick.

Nick invites her to a party for the weekend at a friends house. They sleep together and then he tells her she has to leave he is expecting someone, but to let him know if she is pregnant. JERK!!

It only gets better from there, she sees Nick in the paper with a woman at the house where they had spent the night together.

Nick tells Lauren it is natural to sleep with other people and not feel anything. He is one sick person.

Lauren has fallen for him and he keeps flaunting other women in front of her. But she still loves him. I was actually hoping she would be pregnant so she could take him for everything he was worth.

The story goes on from love, hate, betrail, and then back to love.

I think Nick was the toughest person to read about, he was a jerk,a fake, and every other bad word that you could associate with men who like to use power over women.

This book was not worth $7.99, it was a very short book with some awful characters in it. Get it from the library.

Jerk Gets the Girl.......2006-06-26

Speaking strictly from the romantic aspect of this book ~ it wasn't believable. The plot was a good one, but the lack of character development destroyed any and all hopes for a compelling story.

Nick Sinclair was a bastard, plain and simple. He was the modern-day rake but without the charm and charisma to make up for it. Nick's attitude was aloof and that was a turn-off to the reader. Lauren was a naive young woman who fell in love too easily with the first man to seduce her.

Unfortunately, even though there is a happily-ever-after ending, the reader is still left feeling rather ho-hum.

For the romantic at heart.......2006-06-26

O.K. First a disclaimer. I understand the many reviewers that complianed about believability and the fact that the characters are cut-out types from romances. With that said, I must say that this book is still a great romance for the romantic at heart. The very definition of romance is that it represents an idealized vision of something. With this is mind, most contemporary ( or I should say written withing the last 10 years) have moved away from what was considered classic romances. I think that is great because I Do look for believability in romances that are recently written. But this book represents a time when the dark and selfish hero was attractive because the heroine could reform him. Nick is a gorgeous business man. It is only implied that he is a playboy because the book is manipulated so close to Lauren's perspective. What we do know that he is damaged due to being rejected by his mother. Even though I would probably detest this plotting device if someone NEW wrote it, it is a standard in classic romances. Lauren then represents innocence (hence her youth and virginity), an innocence that can redeem Nick's clouded vision. I Know I Know "The misunderstanding" comes up in the plot to ruin the day but you know its coming. What I am trying to say is that when you read a McNaught (all of her books just about have the same plot)expect this. Thus I think that this book is for the truely romantic-- someone who can release disbeleif and embrace a romantic story. It is brief, so if you hate it, then you know that McNaught is not for you.

I am writing this review basically for New readers of romance and readers who have not come across Mcnaught. I think that this is the book to start with. Most people would probably say Whitney (but talk about the need for suspension of disbelief) or Paradise. If you are on the line after this read Paradise. If you don't fall in live with that book... then Mcnaught is not for you.

Enjoy

A relationship that can only end in divorce........2006-06-23

My main complaint is believability -

First of all, there just wasn't enough development of the two main characters; and because of that, I really didn't believe that they were truly in love. I think they were possessed by each other, or by the idea of each other.

Nick's character had the most potential for growth and development - but for some reason, McNaught only gives us a few tid-bits or "snacks" into his psyche. Basically, Nick is a stereo-type (well, they're all stereo types aren't they?); he was the rich playboy. However, one of the things that set other McNaught books apart from this one is a convincing reformation. She just didn't do that with Nick. I still thought he was a jerk at the end of the book.

As for Lauren... you know, I just wasn't rooting for this heroin. She was immature, shallow, and easily manipulated. I'll give her some credit, Lauren did grow a bit from her experience with Nick - but, not enough for me to like her.

Good plots and characters are some things that cannot be designed for convenience's sake. All the motives, excuses, and transitions in this story just seemed so constructed and forced by the author. Nothing felt natural. I was grateful when page 336 came into view.

Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-UP

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How much do you know about world war 2?
But if the cause be not good ....
But who is that double???

Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-UP
Lynn Picknett
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Pictorials | Military | History | Subjects | Books

The Hitler/Hess Deception: British Intelligence's Best-Kept Secret of the Second World War
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The Stargate Conspiracy: The Truth about Extraterrestrial life and the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt

ASIN: 0751532207

Book Description

For over 60 years, there has been an unprecedented cover-up by both the British Establishment and successive generations of historians about the flight of Hitler's Deputy Rudolf Hess to Scotland in May 1941. It has long been dismissed as the misguided attempt of a madman to make contact with a non-existent British peace party. Based on entirely new material from eyewitnesses, hitherto inaccessible archives, and intelligence sources, Double Standards reveals that despite official denials, Hess flew to Britain with Hitler’s full knowledge; that there is is substantial evidence that the prisoner who died in Spandau prison was not the real Rudolf Hess; and that Winston Churchill guilefully used Hess to influence Hitler and change Britain’s fortunes in the war.

Customer Reviews:

How much do you know about world war 2?.......2005-07-29

This book presents a convincing case that Rudolf Hess died in a plane crash en route from Scotland to Sweden in 1942 and that the "Rudolf Hess" jailed in Spandau was a brainwashed, mind-controlled double, who was assassinated on orders of the British government shortly before he was due to be released in 1987.

I would say this is worth reading in conjunction with Albert Speer's Spandau: the Secret Diaries. In that book Speer tells of the "blatant madness", memory lapses and bizarre statements (e.g. "I'm not the man I used to be") of the prisoner thought to be Rudolf Hess. Anyone familiar with MKUltra will be familiar with the name of Dr Donald Ewen Cameron, who happened to be "Rudolf Hess"'s psychiatrist at Nuremburg.

The book also contains interesting information about the rise of the Nazis and of how British high society was impressed with Nazi ideology and of how America came to be involved in the war.

But if the cause be not good ...........2003-10-19

There are not many German books about Rudolf Hess. By contrast, the book list presented in Double Standards" gives us a dozen British or US titles dealing specifically with the man and many more in which Hess plays a part. Is this due only to the well-known British love of mystery stories, or are there other reasons for the seemingly constant preoccupation with this particular subject?

In 1939, Britain and France were major imperial powers, the USA were still digging their way out of a home-made depression, Germany was trying to reconsolidate herself at the expense of some of her neighbours, and the Soviet Union loomed in the background. A mere six years later, the erstwhile empires were gone or nearly so, Germany was devastated materially, politically, and spiritually, but the Soviet Union had advanced its sway some 500 miles to the west, and for all intents and purposes the USA occupied the rest of Europe.

This was not at all the situation Britain had envisioned when she declared war on Germany after the German invasion of Poland, but, if we are to believe the authors of this book, it corresponded very closely to a picture which Rudolf Hess, after his daring and tragically unsuccessful flight to Scotland, repeatedly outlined to his captors as a possibility to be avoided at all costs. Even if the details of the proposals Hess had taken along on his flight are still locked away or lost forever, this outline matches perfectly the German assessment of the political situation of the day. Churchill, by himself, without even consulting his cabinet, refused to accept such arguments and brushed aside whatever Hess had proposed.

The question which is looming large behind the 500 pages of this well-researched book (and also behind the many others written on this subject) is why Churchill was so adamant in his negative attitude, whether he was aware of the possibly horrible consequences of his position, and to what extent he condoned the scenario that he was conjuring up. These are questions of political morality and in a way it would seem that the incessant preoccupation of British authors with our subject reflects the unease they are feeling with respect to major and in the end catastrophic decisions taken in their name and over their heads by less than a handful of people in Whitehall.

The authors of Double Standards" devote several pages to a discussion of the tragedies on all sides that could have been avoided if Hess' mission had been a success. With a marvellously tongue-in-cheek attitude they also consider, side by side, the kind of Europe that, in 1941, would have resulted from a reasonable peace, and the political structure we see emerging today in the same geographical area, finding little to choose between the two.

Such, then, is the backdrop against which the scenes of this tragedy are played out. Fate has it that once the two mighty monarchies confront each other across the perilous narrow ocean, there ensues an inexorable march to doom despite the courageous efforts of many noble souls on either side; there is a climax at which point the scales could have been tipped either way, there is the terrible act where the battle's lost and won, and there is the pitiful finale, with murders most foul and ghosts that will not go away.

In their description of Rudolf Hess, the four authors, like so many captains, bear him to centre stage and seem to say that, had he been put on, he would have proved most royal. With this regard it matters but little whether his final resting place is at Wunsiedel, next to his parents, or in Scottish soil, next to the poor fellows who may have crashed with him on Eagles Rock.

But who is that double???.......2002-09-24

It remains an intriguing fact: the trip of Rudolf Hess to England. There were no indications that he was mad (at least not madder than the other nazi leaders) and all of a sudden he decides to fly to England to start the peace negotiations...

The authors write a very stout book to investigate what happened or what could have happened. And that is my major problem with the book: on the basis of a number of very flimsy clues they draw far-reaching conclusions which they then present as the only possible truth in the rest of the book. They then use those conclusions as the basis for even more far-fetched conclusions etc.

I also think that there is more to the flight of Hess than the ravings of a lunatic, but this book is a very easy way to come with a fantastic story. And the major conclusion (the person in Spandau prison was a double of the real Rudolf Hess who died in WW 2) is not supported by the evidence presented in this book.

Double Standards
Average customer rating:

A Good Romance.

Not one of her best novels

enchanting book
Double Standards
Judith McNaught
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
McNaught, Judith | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 141653072X

Customer Reviews:

A Good Romance........2006-10-08

It is only recently that I have found Judith McNaught and so far I have not been disappointed by her work. This is a nice gentle read of tall, dashing, handsome man with troubled background and young attractive women, with maybe a few secrets of her own. If you don't always like a semi-predictable ending this book isn't for you but if you like the boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl live happy ever after? Then I would recommend this as a good read. I find Judith McNaught able to draw you into the novel and rush along the story path with intensity of her characters and descriptions to the conclusion, without feeling as though you have missed a beat. I found this a satisfying read and ready to delve into another of her works.

Not one of her best novels.......2006-06-26

This is a below average Judith McNaught novel, however, her worst efforts are better than most other romance novelists better efforts.

I just didn't buy in to the reason why it was soooooooo very @#!@ difficult for the hero and the heroine to tell each other the truth.

She is a bit of a doormat, and he is a flaming personality disorder- a match made in Axis II heaven.

enchanting book.......2006-05-20

This book was one of my favorite's by Judith. She can make the reader fall in love with the hero (usually a very attractive, strong male) and envy the damsel in distress (some innocent sexy female). I always enjoy leaving my life for a trip to Judith's world.

Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing Countries (Cambridge Law, Medicine and Ethics)

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Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing Countries (Cambridge Law, Medicine and Ethics)
Ruth Macklin
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

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ASIN: 0521541700

Book Description

This book examines the ethical controversies that have surrounded the design and conduct of international medical research sponsored by industrialized countries or industry, and carried out in developing countries. Is it acceptable to lower the ethical standards adopted in the industrialized world when carrying out research in developing, or resource-poor, countries? Ruth Macklin concludes that double standards in medical research are ethically unacceptable.

Enemy Aliens: Double Standards And Constitutional Freedoms In The War On Terrorism

Average customer rating:

Some good points, but flawed
A must read
Hidden Agenda at work
A thought-provoking study of civil rights challenged
An Excellent Book

Enemy Aliens: Double Standards And Constitutional Freedoms In The War On Terrorism
David Cole
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1565849388

Book Description

A revised edition of the award-winning civil liberties scholar's condemnation of the USA PATRIOT Act.

When David Cole was first writing Enemy Aliens, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the anti-immigrant brand of American patriotism was at fever pitch. Now, as the pendulum swings back, and court after court finds the Bush administration's tactics of secrecy and assumption of guilt unconstitutional, Cole's book stands as a prescient and critical indictment of the double standards we have applied in the war on terror.

Called "brilliantly argued" by Edward Said, and "the essential book in the field" by former CIA Director James Woolsey, Enemy Aliens shows why it is a moral, constitutional, and practical imperative to afford every person in the United States the protections from government excesses that we expect for ourselves.

Customer Reviews:

Some good points, but flawed.......2006-03-03

Professor Cole, whom I read frequently in the Nation, makes a strong case that our government is violating people's civil liberties in the name of national security. He goes through American history and mentions such incidents as the Palmer Raids and the Japanese internment to show how the U.S. government has been abusing its power for many years.

Cole savages the Bush administration for its policy of mass arrests of Arabs on flimsy grounds. Page 30 is the most damning, I'll briefly quote:

In June 2003, the inspector general of the Justice Department issued a scathing report. It revealed that over 700 foreign nationals were arrested on immigration charges from Sept 2001 to August 2002. Of these, not one was charged with any terrorist crime, and FBI officials cleared virtually all of connection to terrorism.

Cole makes the salient point tha detaining people based solely on ethnicity is not only unfair and unconstitutional, it is counterproductive. Muslim communities often regard the government as an enemy when it arrests scores of people on mere suspicion. The book makes a strong case and I would recommend it highly to any citizen concerned with maintaining freedom in America post 9-11.

I have two major problems with the book, however. One, the author is too quick to dismiss racial profiling as an effective anti-terror tool. The fact remains that the vast majority of terrorists are Arab males. To ignore that fact seems absurd and dangerous. While Cole is right that we should not overrely on racial profiling, he goes too far in completely opposing it.

My other objection is that Cole takes a politically correct view on terrorism. He does what so many liberals do- excusing terrorism as a symptom of poverty and Western repression. This is the weakest argument of the book. Cole doesn't see that Islamic fundamentalism is the real cause of terrorism, not poverty. Most of the 9-11 hijackers and other Al-Qaeda members- not to mention bin Laden himself- are in fact financially well off. As Samuel Huntington and other scholars have shown, religious fundamentalism in the developing world is not primarily a movement of the poor and uneducated. For more on the causes of terrorism, see Sam Harris' excellent book The End of Faith.

Notwithstanding these flaws, I still recommend reading this book.

A must read.......2005-08-10

A previous reviewer stridently denounces Cole's supposed reliance on "fabricated instances of government abuses." I wonder if he or she has even read the book, which is based on a law review article with several hundred footnotes. Perhaps he thinks all of the citations are to the liberal mainstream media and so cannot be trusted? The "Constitution is very clear about citizen/non-citizens," the previous reviewer also writes. I agree. The Fifth Amendment says, in relevant part, "no person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Person, not citizen.

The Supreme Court has resoundingly rejected the position that a state of war is a blank check for the President. The rule of law and the due process requires, at a minimum, that unlawful combatants be given a fair opportunity to rebut the basis for their classification as such before a neutral and independent decisionmaker, not a sham status review tribunal.

As citizens in a representative democracy, it is our obligation to be informed of what is being committed in our names. Cole's book offers a terrifying and timely glimpse into how the Administration is pursuing the global war on terrorism.

Hidden Agenda at work.......2005-01-12

Cole, a known anti-American radical, has outlined a dangerous proposal based on fabricated instances of government abuses. The Constitution is very clear about citizen/non-citizens. If he wants non-citizens to share the same rights as citizens, then he should support initiatives to topple dictatorships, or at least, trade up in them.

A thought-provoking study of civil rights challenged.......2004-06-06

David Cole's Enemy Aliens is a powerful testimony to the challenged freedoms which have taken place since 9/11. The rapid emergence of double standards in the war on terrorism is explored in a hard-hitting title which documents statistics about those being held prison without civil liberties rights, and the prevalence of ethnicity-based detentions justified as security measures. A thought-provoking study of civil rights challenged.

An Excellent Book.......2004-02-16

Professor Cole writes an excellent book, hitting many points that are usually left out. He examines the way Arabs and Muslims are being treated today post-9/11 and parallels it with our nation's past abuses of foreigners, bringing in examples of the Japanese internment during WWII and many others. Professor Cole is dead on when he writes about the loss of legitimacy faced by law enforcement in the Muslim community, stepping into a mosque shows it to be quite evident. Cole's analysis of what the United States should be doing to make our country safer rather than an indiscriminate dragnet of immigrants shows the professor's wisdom. This book was recommended to me by Wayne Cornelius, Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, an expert in his field...a recommendation that I would like to pass on.

Dictatorships and Double Standards: Rationalism and Reason in Politics

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PROPHETESS OF THE REAGAN REVOLUTION

Dictatorships and Double Standards: Rationalism and Reason in Politics
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
Manufacturer: Holiday house
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671492667

Customer Reviews:

PROPHETESS OF THE REAGAN REVOLUTION.......2005-10-14

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, former Ambassador to the United Nations under Ronald Reagan, is the author of one of the three most famous essays in the history of American foreign policy, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," Commentary (November 1979)--the other two being George F. Kennan's call for "containment" of the Soviet Union and The End of History by Francis Fukuyama. In it she argued that it was incumbent on the United States to differentiate between authoritarian regimes and totalitarian regimes. Authoritarian regimes she argued, like Iran and Nicaragua, though they obviously did not meet our preferred standards of democratization, were fundamentally just harsh, but traditional, governments of countries which had known no other type of government and were perhaps not yet ready for democracy :

"Traditional autocrats leave in place existing allocations of wealth, power, status, and other
resources, which in most traditional societies favor an affluent few and maintain masses in poverty.
But they worship traditional gods and observe traditional taboos. They do not disturb the habitual
rhythms of work and leisure, habitual places of residence, habitual patterns of family and personal
relations."

Essentially, the autocracies protect their own power and wealth, but leave most other aspects of life relatively untouched. As the name implies, they are more concerned with who in society will wield authority, i.e. themselves, than with imposing any particular ideology. Because this is the case, they in fact preserve many of the institutions upon which democracy can later be built, whether the Church or corporations or other civic organizations.

Totalitarian regimes, on the other hand, as the name implies, seek to totally reinvent and control every aspect of society. This requires them to so violate the existing institutions as to render the society nearly incapable of evolving into a democracy.

These fundamental differences between the two types of regimes suggest important reasons that we should be more rigorous in our approach to the one than the other. Because authoritarian regimes are less oppressive of their citizens and are more amenable to democracy they are more susceptible to pressure from without, but at the same time, particularly when Kirkpatrick was writing, at the very nadir of the Cold War, it was especially dangerous to destabilize these generally friendly regimes, particularly in light of the fact that they could be expected, over a period of years, to gradually transform themselves into more democratic societies.

Meanwhile, authoritarian regimes, like Cuba and Vietnam, though they tend to cast their ideology in the language of progressive democracy, which makes them seem somehow more akin to the U.S., in reality are much more oppressive of their people and, because they destroy traditional institutions, tend to create such devastation that it is extremely difficult for external pressure to aid the rise of democracy. They are both worse for their people in the short run and more likely to endure in the long run.

This leaves America in a difficult position. Neither type of government vindicates our ideals of liberal democracy. We would of course like to see both become more democratic. But the regimes we can most easily change are the less offensive ones, and ones that are likely to be our de facto allies. Those regimes which truly brutalize their populations, and which at that time were generally allied with our enemy, the Soviet Union, tend not to be easily pressured.

Further complicating matters is the fact that in countries with authoritarian regimes, there tend to be reasonably well-organized and very well supplied guerrilla movements. This was particularly true when the Soviet Union and the rest of the Warsaw Pact nations existed and stood ready to support them. Totalitarian nations, with their much more restrictive internal controls, and with the U.S. showing no interest in supplying indigenous rebellions, tended to be relatively free of organized civil unrest.

All of these factors combined in the late 1970's to bring about the bizarre and tragic situation whereby the government of Jimmy Carter basically helped to topple the Somoza government in Nicaragua and the Shah in Iran. In effect, this eliminated two friendly governments in important strategic locations, governments which while by no means ideal were hardly the two worst human rights offenders even in their own regions. In the ultimate perversity, it seemed that they were actually targeted by the Carter Administration precisely because they were so closely associated with the United States. Allies were destroyed, an action made possible because they were not as repressive as other regimes, and replaced by radical totalitarian regimes allied with the Soviet Union, with whom we were at war.

Looked at in the abstract like this, the Carter policy seems nearly suicidal. But Jeane Kirkpatrick traced it to a dangerous faith in Rationalism, as opposed to reliance on Realism, as the basis of foreign policy. The important thing to note here is that the critique of Rationalism that she offers is very similar to the general conservative critique of modern day liberalism. The Left has an almost alchemical notion of mankind, believing that any transmutation that they can arrive at rationally can be then be engineered socially. Able to imagine a utopian world in which Marxist guerilla leaders turn a illiterate, Third World, agrarian, nation into a liberal, egalitarian democracy (moreover, one that would be unfettered by such hoary institutions as the Church, the aristocracy, the military, etc.), they assume such an apotheosis to be imminent.

What Kirkpatrick was calling for was a foreign policy grounded in Realism. Hard experience has demonstrated time and again that revolutionaries who set out to completely transform a society end up imposing an even greater tyranny than the one they replace. Even more troublesome, they practically never fade away or evolve into democracies (at least they hadn't to that point--the collapse of Eastern European Communism offers a difficult counter argument), they are likely to endure until they in turn are overthrown by conquest from without or violent counterrevolution from within. For these reasons, we are frequently, if not always, better off opting for the devil we know, the kind of traditional autocratic regimes which, though not democratic, at least offer stability and domestic order, tend to be fairly trustworthy allies, and frequently evolve into democracies. Kirkpatrick's theory was ultimately vindicated at least in this regard as this was basically the process which occurred in places like Spain, the Philippines, South Africa, Chile, and so on.

In fact, the current case of Russia provides a really difficult test of some the implications of theory. The complete failure of capitalism and democratic institutions to establish themselves in post-Soviet Russia begs the question of whether a brief period of fascist rule there might not have a salutary effect. First, it would allow central authorities to reestablish the rule of law, both by curbing crime and corruption and by restoring the notion of property rights. This sort of functioning legal system it now seems fair to say is an absolutely imperative precursor of capitalism and democracy. Second, it would provide a period of relative physical security and cultural freedom during which civic institutions could be revitalized--the Church, political parties, corporations, the military, law enforcement, the judiciary, etc. Difficult as the prospect may be for us to accept, it may well be the case that a healthy Russian democracy will only flower in the wake of a period of authoritarian rule. This is not to suggest that we should aid Vladimir Putin in oppressing his own people or even that we should turn a blind eye, it is merely to suggest that it might be in our own best interests and ultimately those of the Russian people to allow him some latitude to restore order to that badly disordered nation, even if in so doing he sometimes offends our delicate democratic sensibilities.

Other essays in this collection range over a surprisingly wide field, including some perceptive observations on American domestic politics. The span of years and topics covered means that they don't necessarily fit together into a unified whole, but the dichotomy between reason and realism recurs often enough that they do present a coherent argument in the end. Thus, in an essay on the failure of the efforts to reform the political parties, she's essentially arguing that the reformers bought into an illusion that they could make the parties adhere to abstract principles, simply because they could imagine this happening.

Similarly, in discussing the failure of the New Right to capture either the presidency or the Republican Party nomination in 1976, as theorists like Kevin Phillips, Pat Buchanan, William Rusher, and others expected they would, she points out that their theories were based on a faith that would have required a genuine transformation in the American electorate. This faith, as the only incremental successes of even Ronald Reagan and the Republican Congress of '94 have demonstrated, was rather misguided. It may be true--I hope to God it is--that people are reasonably conservative at their core, but it is surely no coincidence that for the past seventy years they have consistently elected candidates who have promised them ever greater government benefits. While reason can build a case for why that should, even why it must, change, realism requires one to note the stubborn fact.

Today these essays are probably little more than a footnote to the history of the Cold War. But they among the more interesting footnotes. The fact that Kirkpatrick became a major player in the administration the defeated Communism and won the Cold War, the degree to which her ideas were turned into official U. S. policy, and the prophetic quality of much that she wrote, makes them well worth your while.

Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States

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The Best Follow-up to "Sicko"
Policy differences with a history
Double Standard-timely treatment of Europe vs. US policies
eye-opening book

Double Standard: Social Policy in Europe and the United States
James W. Russell
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Social Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Altruistic Imagination: A History of Social Work and Social Policy in the United States
Urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920
Welfare As We Knew It: A Political History of the American Welfare State
Power: A Critical Reader
Arrogant Beggar

ASIN: 0742546934

Book Description

Double Standard presents a historical and comparative examination of comprehensive Western European versus minimalist American welfare states. In this book, Russell analyzes how and why social policy and welfare states evolved differently in the two areas. He explores a series of common social problems-from poverty to family support to ethnic and racial conflict-to show how they are handled differently with different consequences. He argues that the European and American social models are in contention for the future of western societies.

Customer Reviews:

The Best Follow-up to "Sicko".......2007-07-20

Double Standard is the perfect complement to Michael Moore's film Sicko. Its author, sociology professor James W. Russell, provides the scholarly back-story to the film's claims that it is not variations in the functioning of market economics that gives Europeans better health care, more time off from work, and greater social equality, but rather the social policies rendered by their governments. Russell covers historical ground from the enlightenment to the present, institutional influences from church to state, and policy outcomes across the life-course from childhood to retirement. The book is well researched and documented, an easily read eye-opener for students and interested adults, and a handbook for the desk of every pundit and policy maker.

Policy differences with a history.......2007-04-15

James Russell's recent book, Double Standard, explores the many and considerable differences in public policies that one finds when comparing those of the United Sates with those of European countries. Dr. Russell traces the development of social, economic and political thought that brings each side of this comparison to the place where we find them today thereby placing current policy in its proper historic context.

This concise overview of historic thought would provide an undergraduate student the broad understanding required to grasp the full importance of the policy comparison and, therefore, makes the book an excellent choice as a text for studies in sociology, economics and political science.

Double Standard clearly demonstrates that the policy differences found between the U.S. and Europe did not originate with the divergence of foreign policy relating to the Middle East.

Double Standard-timely treatment of Europe vs. US policies.......2006-11-18

This is a timely book that compares social policy in European nations with that in the United States. It offers a concise comparison of a number of specific programs, such as health care, education, family support, and income security, showing how citizens of European nations enjoy social support and benefits far beyond those available to many Americans. Double Standard also discusses contrasting historic and philosophical backgrounds to examine why there is a broad consensus across Europe that government has a responsibility to provide extensive economic and social support for all citizens while in the United States the role of government is challenged and curtailed. Double Standard suggests that European social policies provide a higher standard of living than that now maintained by many in the United States. It presents sharp contrasts between Europe and the United States in such indicators of social well being as rates of poverty and incarceration, educational levels, and income distribution.

The author in the end argues that European social policies are based upon a national sense of inclusion and the common good, that they promote such democratic principles as egalitarianism and active participation in civic life, and that they provide a model that the United States would do well to follow. Double Standard provides important information and arguments that should enter into our continuing debate over the role of government and appropriate levels of services that it should provide in the United States

eye-opening book.......2006-11-16

James W. Russell's tools are clear writing, tight argumentation, and impecabble logic. He uses them to calmly and surgically dismantle the myth of American superiority as he explains how and why Americans receive far fewer social welfare benefits than their European counterparts. A real eye-opener.

The Double Standard: A Feminist Critique of the Social Sciences

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The Double Standard: A Feminist Critique of the Social Sciences
Margrit Eichler
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, Globalisation, and the Fight Against Poverty (Oxfam Campaign Reports)

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Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, Globalisation, and the Fight Against Poverty (Oxfam Campaign Reports)
Kevin Watkins , and Penny Fowler
Manufacturer: Oxfam Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Macroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Globalization | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0855985259

Book Description

Trade is one of the most powerful forces linking our lives, and a source of unprecedented wealth. Yet millions of the world’s poorest people are being left behind. Increased prosperity has gone hand in hand with mass poverty. Already obscene inequalities between rich and poor are widening. World trade could be a powerful motor to reduce poverty, and support economic growth, but that potential is being lost. The problem is not that international trade is inherently opposed to the needs and interests of the poor, but that the rules that govern it are rigged in favor of the rich.

If Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America were each to increase their share of world exports by one per cent, the resulting gains in income could lift 128 million people out of poverty. In Africa alone, this would generate $70bn – approximately five times what the continent receives in aid.

In their rhetoric, governments of rich countries constantly stress their commitment to poverty reduction. Yet in practice rigged rules and double standards lock poor people out of the benefits of trade, closing the door to an escape route from poverty.

Reform of world trade is only one of the requirements for ending the deep social injustices that pervade globalization. Action is also needed to reduce inequalities in health, education and the distribution of income and opportunity, including those inequalities that exist between women and men. However, world trade rules are a key part of the poverty problem; fundamental reforms are needed to make them part of the solution. Oxfam’s campaign, Make Trade Fair, aims to change world trade rules so that trade can make a real difference in the fight against global poverty.

This report gives comprehensive research findings and analysis, presenting a powerful case for changes in trade laws, and a reform agenda to make these changes happen.

How To Cheat On Your Husband And Never Get Caught: Defying The Double Standard

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How To Cheat On Your Husband And Never Get Caught: Defying The Double Standard
Bunny Wingate
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Marriage | Relationships | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 141845348X

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