Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy

Book Description

In this powerful and far-reaching indictment of George W. Bush's White House, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the country's most prominent environmental attorney, charges that this administration has taken corporate cronyism to such unprecedented heights that it now threatens our health, our national security, and democracy as we know it. In a headlong pursuit of private profit and personal power, Kennedy writes, George Bush and his administration have eviscerated the laws that have protected our nation's air, water, public lands, and wildlife for the past thirty years, enriching the president's political contributors while lowering the quality of life for the rest of us.

Kennedy lifts the veil on how the administration has orchestrated these rollbacks almost entirely outside of public scrutiny -- and in tandem with the very industries that our laws are meant to regulate, the country's most notorious polluters. He writes of how it has deceived the public by manipulating and suppressing scientific data, intimidated enforcement officials and other civil servants, and masked its agenda with Orwellian doublespeak. He reports on how the White House doles out lavish subsidies and tax breaks to the energy barons while excusing industry from providing adequate security at the more than 15,000 chemical and nuclear facilities that are prime targets for terrorist attacks. Kennedy reveals an administration whose policies have "squandered our Treasury, entangled us in foreign wars, diminished our international prestige, made us a target for terrorist attacks, and increased our reliance on petty Middle Eastern dictators who despise democracy and are hated by their own people."

Crimes Against Nature is ultimately about the corrosive effect of corporate corruption on our core American values -- free-market capitalism and democracy. It is about an administration, the author argues, that has sacrificed respect for the law, public health, scientific integrity, and long-term economic vitality on the altar of corporate greed. It is a book for both Democrats and Republicans, people like the traditionally conservative farmers and fishermen Kennedy represents in lawsuits against polluters. "Without exception," he writes, "these people see the current administration as the greatest threat not just to their livelihoods but to their values, their sense of community, and their idea of what it means to be American."

Download Description

In this powerful and far-reaching indictment of George W. Bush's White House, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the country's most prominent environmental attorney, charges that this administration has taken corporate cronyism to such unprecedented heights that it now threatens our health, our national security, and democracy as we know it. In a headlong pursuit of private profit and personal power, Kennedy writes, George Bush and his administration have eviscerated the laws that have protected our nation's air,water, public lands, and wildlife for the past thirty years, enriching the president's political contributors whilelowering the quality of life for the rest of us.

Kennedy lifts the veil on how the administration has orchestrated these rollbacks almost entirely outside of public scrutiny -- and in tandem with the very industries that our laws are meant to regulate, the country's most notorious polluters. He writes of how it has deceived the public by manipulating and suppressing scientific data, intimidated enforcement officials and other civil servants, and masked its agenda with Orwellian doublespeak. He reports on how the White House doles out lavish subsidies and tax breaks to the energy barons while excusing industry from providing adequate security at the more than 15,000 chemical and nuclear facilities that are prime targets for terrorist attacks. Kennedy reveals an administration whose policies have ""squandered our Treasury, entangled us in foreign wars, diminished our international prestige, made us a target for terrorist attacks, and increased our reliance on petty Middle Eastern dictators who despise democracy and are hated by their own people.""

Crimes Against Nature is ultimately about the corrosive effect of corporate corruption on our core American values -- free-market capitalism and democracy. It is about an administration, the author argues, that has sacrificed respect for the law, public health, scientific integrity, and long-term economic vitality on the altar of corporate greed. It is a book for both Democrats and Republicans, people like the traditionally conservative farmers and fishermen Kennedy represents in lawsuits against polluters. ""Without exception,"" he writes, ""these people see the current administration as the greatest threat not just to their livelihoods but to their values, their sense of community, and their idea of what it means to be American.""

Customer Reviews:

Which pill would you like to take the blue pill or the red pill(CAN).......2007-08-19

Metaphorically speaking, Do you live on in ignorance (The blue pill) or do you lead what Aristotle called 'the examined life'(Red Pill). Do you read CAN or do you live in ignorance?

Crimes Against Nature was a real eye opener for me. You have to read this book. So much of the truth that should be available to the American public is squashed by various laws and phony junk science produced by special interest groups who want to control what we think. This book is filled with the facts.

For years I have read in the paper or heard on the news how various Bush appointed people have revoked various laws that protect our natural resources. Then once I read this book it all made sense and fully list all of the damaging laws that have been passed allowing for destruction of our natural resources.

There are so many shocking things in this book. The fact that so much of our country is controlled by the people who give money to our elected officials. I was very surprised to read in this book that Condoleeza Rice has an oil tanker named after her.

If I were to have named this book, I would have named it "Organized Crimes against Nature". Because everything I read has lead me to the conclusion that the acts perpetrated upon our natural resources have been pre-meditated.

I strongly recommend reading this book. God Bless Mr. Kennedy.

Not only is Mr. Kennedy an excellent writer, but he is a great Orator as well. You can check out his speaches on YouTube:

[...]

My Eyes Were Opened To The Truth.......2007-08-11

I gave this book 5 stars, because this book opened by eyes to things that I had no idea were happening. I knew some of the things that were happening, but not to the extent that it is happening. I know in my heart that Robert Kennedy Jr is telling the truth about the true condition of this country.

I would encourage all people who are interested in the truth to read this book. I know that many people will feel that Republicans are being attacked, but I don't think that is the intent at all, but RFK jr is exposing the reasons why we as Americans are being mislead to voting for people who lie to us. When is the last time Americans were encouraged to be the best they could be and put what was best for this Country first and make a positive change? Now we have Americans who are being scared and out of fear approve of policies that have led to America being hated across the world. For those who would think I am a die hard liberal Democrat I am an Independent. I just believe in shining the light on the darkness and believe that America is fighting for her very soul and I want to see America saved for future generations. So yes, I agree with RFK jr on his accessment and encourage this book to be read and passed on so that more people will be awaken to the truth.

My Nephew is in Law School and will be an Enviromental Attorney in Hawaii and that is just one reason I have started to really look into the issues of global warming, the enviroment, etc. I wanted to be informed so I could with knowledge encourage my nephew to choose a path that makes a difference for good. I hope that when my nephew is graduated that he will follow in the footsteps of Robert Kennedy Jr who is fighting for the American people. I do not want my nephew join the energy companies or others who have no concern about the future of this country. Anyway, I plan to give this book to my nephew which I hope will inspire him to choose the right direction when he graduates next June.

This book also answered questions about the Media. I know in my heart he is telling the truth about that as well. With the end of the free press we are in danger of loosing our Democratic Republic. We no longer have an informed citizentry who votes from knowledge of the facts, but bases their decision on misinformation and sound bites.

It takes great courage to be willing to shine the light on the darkness. Robert Kennedy is doing that, not only with this book but with his life long work.

I look forward to reading more books on this issue and passing them on to my nephew while he is in Law School as he is making up his mind as to what direction he will go when he graduates this June.

Eating your own words.......2007-08-03

I loved this book when I read it. "Yes! Finally a real expose!"

But then I read Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound, which tells about how the Cape Cod elite, which of course includes the environmentally enlightened Kennedy family, and was appalled once again how NIMBYism could blind even the most devoted people.

Certainly read this book, because it is very much worth your time, but read Cape Wind afterwards, for even more insight into the politics of the environment!

impeach bush.......2007-07-03

If the allegations about corruption and lying described in this book are true, which they probably are because there where no denials from the white house, why is Bush still in office ? Why are the Democrats such toothless whiners, not taking action to rid the US of Bush and restore the values America was once respected and admired for? This Administration is kicking your values with their feet and is destroying your country and your kids heritage. Look at libby, why isnt there a huge Uproar in the US ? Be a patriot, impeach Bush !

Ground Zero.......2007-05-15

Why would I tell you this book is a bunch of liberal nonsense? Could it be that I am on the payroll of one of the plundering industries? Could it be that I think that a healthy economy is better than safe water or safe air? Could it be that I am one of the many many accused who have committed one or several of the crimes in this book? Could it be that I hold a position in government that is meant to serve you, but all I have really done is benefit a major polluter? Could it be that due to some toxic pollutant we are all exposed to thanks to wealthy profiteers that my thinking process is greatly impaired? Could it be that I just don't want you to know the truth? Could it be that I love Bush and worship the dollar? Maybe it could be one or all of these, that is if I were to tell you that it is anything but something you NEED to know.

This book will guide you to the real "ground zero". It will make you wonder who is the real "axis of evil". Should you be concerned? Let me put it this way, using the words of Benito Mussolini, "Fascism should rather be called corporatism, as it is the merging of government and corporate power."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lists names of offenders and industries and what and how they have managed to screw you, everyone of you out of your right to a healthy environment and your taxes pay for this to boot. He exposes the "Wise Use" based environmentally "friendly sounding" organizations that have been spawned by every offending industry solely to deceive you and lull you back to sleep. To these wealthy criminals, you are nothing more than cattle to be slaughtered at the alter of profit. And to those who think this book is nonsense, all I can think of to tell you that might even remotely make any sense to you is "moo".

Average customer rating:

Borrring....
Timeless battle of the sexes
An Elizabethan treasure
Callen, once again, delivers.
Not all bets are straighforward...

His Scandal (Avon Historical Romance)
Gayle Callen
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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His Bride
No Ordinary Groom
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The Knight's Vow

ASIN: 0380821095
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Book Description

Taming a Rogue

Lady Emmeline Prescott is shocked when Sir Alexander Thornton, the most incorrigible scoundrel in England, suddenly notices she even exists-and starts flirting with her! The dashing cad has a well-earned reputation for carousing that brings a blush to checks, but more distressing still I is the unwanted desire he arouses in her!

To win a wager, Alex must win a kiss from an innocent maiden, But first he must get past the giggly girl's chaperone-her straitlaced older sister, Lady Emmeline. And to his dismay, it is the enchanting, levelheaded Emmeline who intoxicates him with her soft sensuality and eminently kissable lips. Yet such a conquest is unthinkable-unless Alex abandons his cherished reprobate ways... and surrenders to his heart's traitorous yearning for a true and passionate love.

Customer Reviews:

Borrring...........2007-01-11

It's hard to believe that a 16th century virgin of noble birth would be allowed to be alone with any man to whom she was not related - and especially not such a known scoundrel as Alex. Yet Emmaline manages to do just that with Alex, again and again. Alex gropes Emmaline, she goes along with it for a while, then she puts a stop to it. Variations of this scenario play out over and over again - it was like Groundhog Day! I got so sick of it, while thinking, "Isn't anything ever going to happen?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they didn't just jump into bed together, which would have been pretty unbelieveable for the time period. But let's have some story here, not just a string of makeout sessions.

Other problems with this book are numerous (I still gave it 2 stars because, believe it or not, it's not the actual bottom of the barrel - there are some real stinkers out there) For example, in one scene Alex unbuttons Emmaline's bodice. Her gown would have been laced, not buttoned. In 16th century Europe, functional buttons were used in men's clothing almost exclusively. There were many other anachronisms such as this. Once again I say, come on authors, if you're going to write historicals, do a little research. Stop insulting our intelligence!

And for the kicker,(warning: spoiler territory here)in the last pages of the book Emmaline and Alex are finally going to get married, and what happens the night before the wedding? He sneaks into her room and they have sex!!!??? After waiting all that time wouldn't they just wait one more night for their wedding? I find it hard to believe a woman of Emmaline's time wouldn't wait til the ring was on her finger.

There are a lot of books out there, and unless you're trapped in an elevator and happen to have this book with you, don't waste your time on it.

Timeless battle of the sexes.......2005-08-31

After living his twin's life for a year and a half, Sir Alexander Thornton has returned to his courtier's life. However, the pleasures of Queen Elizabeth's court have grown pallid compared to the challenges of overseeing his brother's estates during his masquerade. In an attempt to end his ennui, Alex and his best friend Edmund Blackwell wager that each will be the first to steal a kiss from a virtuous lady of the other's choosing. Edmund chooses the Lady Blythe Prescott, a daughter of the Marquess of Kent. What the rogue didn't count on, however, was Blythe's older sister, Emmeline.

Lady Emmeline Prescott has resigned herself to never marrying nor raising a family. Now, she is determined that her sister marry her perfect match. Sir Alex Thornton is definitely NOT Blythe's perfect match. He is too experienced, too scandalous and too handsome for his own good. Sir Alex is trouble and Emmeline is going to prove it, even if she has to follow him everywhere. From tavern carousing to bear baiting dens, the rake finds himself shadowed by the determined spinster. Soon, Alex finds himself obsessed with Emmeline rather than Blythe, and Emmeline finds herself with a chance for happiness after all. Will she dare to risk all to get it?

With HIS SCANDAL, Gayle Callen continues the story of the Thornton brothers which began with HIS BETROTHED. This diverting tale is a classic battle of the sexes made all the more interesting by Alex's flashes of vulnerability and Emmeline's blossoming spirit. The story moves along at a brisk pace with additional storylines that set the stage for the final story in this trilogy. With its vivid portrayal of Elizabethan life and the simmering sensuality of its main characters, HIS SCANDAL is a tale to savor.

TheSchemer

An Elizabethan treasure.......2004-05-27

This was my first book by Gayle Callen, but it won't be my last. I loved this book! I admit I was a little leery of the Elizabethan setting, but Callen's writing makes it come alive with amazing approachability.

Alex is a marvelous hero: gorgeous, tortured, hiding his hurts and broken dreams behind a laugh and a devilish smile. He's just out to steal a kiss from Emmeline's sister in order to win a bet, but he has to get past the big sister first...only to discover how intriguing she is. Then he only wants to make her see her own worth, until he realizes her can't get enough of her. Emmeline is an excellent heroine as well, thinking herself undesirable and living to see her sister well-married, but quite capable of standing up to Alex, until she begins to realize that she's falling under his spell.

Callen delivers, with plenty of laughs, emotional depth, and intrigue, plus well-developed secondary characters. And the chemistry between Alex and Emmeline sparks right off the page. Great book!

Callen, once again, delivers........2004-01-14

Alex Thornton is back in London and bored. He decides to spice things a little by challenging his good friend Endmund Blackwell to a little harmless wager. They must find a maiden to kiss...and only to kiss. Of course they choose for the other the maidens that they thought would be the most difficult to get a simple kiss from. But Alex is surprised that his good friend has just choosen Blythe Prescott a very flirtatious girl...until he meets her sister, and then he understands that to get to Blythe Prescott he must first charm Emmeline Presscott, a plain spinster.
Funny thing is that Emmeline amuses him more than Blythe does. That is until Alex realizes that the plain spinster is not plain but beautiful and witty and smart and charming and... Now he just can't get her out of his system. But he must fight hard to keep his feelings and lust at bay becuase he is only a sencond son ( even though they are twins) and has not much to offer. He also has many scandals under his belt and he has decided that he does not want to marry anyone...too bad Emmeline has him thinking differently latetly. Emmeline with her dresses that cover all of her luscious body, Emmeline with her wit and charm. Emmeline with her innocent kisses full of passion.
And worst of all, Alex is blinded by jelousy every time a man comes near her.
To complicate matters Emmeline is also terribly attracted to Alex despite herself. And he is making her feel something, not even the poet that used to court her, made her feel.
Through out the book we uncover Alex and Em and their passions and secrets. It is a wonderful story full of wit and charming moments. Although the storyline seems simple enough and done already, Callen has a way with words and accomplishes her mission to captivate her readers to this fantastic romantic tale. So far this is my favorite of the trilogy and it was the only one I bought because I thought "I might as well read it since I already read 1 & 3". Definitetly not dissapointed but actually surrpised at how much I liked it. Very tender story.

Not all bets are straighforward..........2002-09-30

The story starts out with Sir Alex placing a bet with his friend Sir Edmund that they could get a kiss from someone the other chose. This is apparently what happens you have bored ton members. But what Sir Alex doesn't count on is his chosen mark's sister Emmaline. Emmaline has decided spinsterdom is for her mostly due to her fathers sly manipulations, and she is going to see her sister wed well. Well Sir Alex has quite the reputation and she sets out to make sure that he doesn't interfere with her sister and at the same time feels quite an attraction for him herself. There is also intrigue, talk about twins, service to the Queen, and even some misunderstandings. It is a fun story to read and follow how the "opposites" attract.

The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents

Average customer rating:

Well detailed and researched book
A chilling look at US sponsored state terror in the Southern Cone
Good book but a little dry
Documents what we thought we knew
State-sponsored terrorism patronized by Nixon and Kissinger

The Condor Years: How Pinochet and His Allies Brought Terrorism to Three Continents
John Dinges
Manufacturer: New Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Predatory States: Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America

ASIN: 1565849779

Book Description

The headline-grabbing story of the covert, international "anti-terrorist" network responsible for South America's worst human rights abuses.

Throughout the 1970s, six Latin American governments led by Chile formed a military alliance called Operation Condor to carry out kidnappings, torture, and political assassinations across three continents. It was an early "war on terror" initially encouraged by the CIA which later backfired on the United States.

Hailed by Foreign Affairs as "remarkable" and "a major contribution to the historical record," The Condor Years uncovers the unsettling facts about the secret U.S. relationship with the dictators who created this terrorist organization. Written by award-winning journalist John Dinges and newly updated to include recent developments in the prosecution of Pinochet, the book is a chilling but dispassionately told history of one of Latin America's darkest eras. Dinges, himself interrogated in a Chilean torture camp, interviewed participants on both sides and examined thousands of previously secret documents to take the reader inside this underground world of military operatives and diplomats, right-wing spies and left-wing revolutionaries.

Customer Reviews:

Well detailed and researched book.......2006-08-17

The first thing we have to make clear in these types of books is who the author is and the author of this book is John Dinges. Dinges is a serious journalist who worked as the editorial director for National Public Radio for over ten years (1985 to 1996). He has worked as a foreign correspondent for Time, ABC, and most notably the Washington Post. And he is currently a Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

This book is well-researched, documented, and in it Dinges is himself extremely careful about what he states as fact and is not afraid to acknowledge when there simply is not enough documentation to make clear judgments. He frequently cites cables sent between the White House and the U.S. embassy in Santiago and as well as information from his own interviews with major players within Condor and embassy/government officials during the period.

He makes clear how important Operation Condor was in the context of South American politics such as the fact that traditional enemies like Argentina and Chile were co-operating fully for the first time in contemporary history. And, initially at least, the real fear amongst the military dictatorships of guerilla movements united under the "Revolutionary Co-ordinating Junta".

Dinges shows how DINA (the Chilean secret police) was created with U.S. support and turned from a small intelligence department to the hand of Pinochet under the leadership of Manuel Contreras. More interesting is how the book documents how operations were run in Europe headed by American-born DINA operative Michael Townley along with Italian fascists to eliminate the exiled Christian Democratic/Socialist Party opposition. All of this, of course, climaxs with the Letelier assasination in D.C.

This is perhaps the best book you will find on the subject of Operation Condor. Documents obtained by Dinges in making this book are frequently cited by institutions such as the National Security Archive at George Washington University. It deserves all five stars I am giving it.

A chilling look at US sponsored state terror in the Southern Cone.......2006-05-05

In "The Condor Years", Jonh Dinges does a wonderful job documenting US complicity in overthrowing the democratically elected Popular Unity government in Chile and instituting Operation Condor, a network of right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America's six southernmost countries with the aim of crushing popular movements for economic democracy, social justice and political freedom. As such, it is an essential text for activists and scholars interested in human rights, civil liberties, union organizing, political repression in the Americas, corporate globalization and peace. The book also delves into the role that pro-business, reactionary Cuban exiles played in hunting down Chilean dissidents living in the US. Given current events in Colombia, Iraq and elsewhere, this is an urgent and frightening book!

Good book but a little dry.......2005-10-28

I think this was a very good book.It gives you an excelent report on the atrocities committed by the military in countries like Chile,Argentina and Paraguay.Mr Dinges did a great work in gathering all the information and evidence necessary to present a clear and bullet-proof case against all the parties involved.I was fascinated by all the evidence and information that clearly connects Henry Kissinger with this military goverments and the uncontested proof of his knowledge about the situation in this countries.The only thing i didnt like about this book is that sometimes it gives you the impression that you are reading a goverment report.Because, at times, the author is just giving you facts, dates and names with a certain dryness that sometimes bored me.It felt like you were lectured like in a class room.But,again, the book is full of fascinating tales and information that makes you wonder about our own goverment and the way it manages information.Good work!

Documents what we thought we knew.......2005-05-10

John Dinges first wrote about the terrorist activities of the Pinochet dictatorship as long ago as 1980 (in Assassination on Embassy Row, written with Saul Landau), but, however much one might have suspected at that time, it was impossible to support it with much documentary evidence. A great deal more is available now, in part because of the case brought by the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón in 1998, and in part because the declassification of many US Government files in the years from 1999 onwards. Dinges has therefore returned to his subject, and has written a detailed count of the years of terror in the southern part of South America, in which numerous military dictatorships -- led by Chile, but with enthusiastic participation of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- conspired to murder and torture many of their own citizens, transferring them between secret prisons at their convenience.

Despite the emotional and dramatic nature of the events that he describes, and despite his clear commitment to democracy, Dinges has written a balanced book, allowing the facts to speak for themselves and refraining from the sort of exaggeration that can easily convert a good case into an incredible one. Despite the much higher profile that the Chilean dictatorship had in the European and North American press than the even more vicious ones in Argentina and Uruguay had, he recognizes that -- contrary to what most people think -- there were far fewer murders in Chile than in most of the other countries involved, around 3000 in total, compared with around ten times as mant in Argentina. At one point he talks of several orders of magnitude more in Argentina, implying several millions, but that is clearly absurd, and is probably not so much an exaggeration as a careless use of words: certainly, there is nothing in the surrounding text to suggest that this means what it literally says.

Dinges concludes his book with the words "the history of the Condor Years is not one we are condemned to repeat." Let us hope that he is right.

State-sponsored terrorism patronized by Nixon and Kissinger.......2005-03-31

This is a true story of terrorism and international terrorism patronized by the US government, then led by such honest and law-abiding statesmen as Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger (I guess Gerald Ford was also there, but permanently asleep). In this case the terrorists were not marxist revolutionaries or religious lunatics, but seven or eight South American rogue states - all of them military dictatorships and impeccable US allies. When in September 1976 the Chilean state terrorists choose Embassy Row, Washington DC, as the background for another assassination (in the person of ex-Chilean foreign minister and ex-ambassador to Washington Orlando Letelier), the US government coughed twice to cover its embarrassment, then coughed a third time, then ordered the US diplomats and secret services to cancel their almost manifest collaboration with the state terrorists, who still had plans to eliminate Ed Koch and other dangerous revolutionaries like him in the USA and Europe. These actions were canceled, but Operation Condor (the serial killings' corporate name) continued secretly at least until 1981. Some of the military have been tried and a few are still in jail now, but Operation Condor's top responsible Augusto Pinochet avoided any punishment till this day and Kissinger, though innocent and free at home, is on the run in half planet Earth.
We still don't know everything about this shocking story, but John Dinges' book The Condor Years is a great breakthrough. The only reviewer here who rates this book four stars tries to absolve the South American military dictatorships from their crimes, saying that they were fighting communism. Hitler always said the same.

The Air Loom Gang: The Strange and True Story of James Tilly Matthews and His Visionary Madness

Average customer rating:

An intriguing true 'whodunnit' mystery
Most Fascinating History
Madness with Meaning

The Air Loom Gang: The Strange and True Story of James Tilly Matthews and His Visionary Madness
Mike Jay
Manufacturer: Four Walls Eight Windows
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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This Island Earth

ASIN: 1568582978

Book Description

London, the 1790s. Europe is in turmoil, and mysterious forces seem to be edging England into a disastrous war with France. Not quite at the center of the political maelstrom is James Tilly Matthews, a Welsh tea merchant and antiwar advocate who holds covert meetings with the leaders of both countries. But Matthews also believes his mind is being controlled by a gang of revolutionary "terrorists" and their diabolical secret machine called the Air Loom. The only man aware of the Air Loom's existence, Matthews is promptly declared mad and exiled to Bedlam, where he is held against his will for the rest of his life — by order of England's home secretary, Lord Liverpool. At Bedlam his "delusions" are celebrated as the most complex and bizarre ever recorded, but the truth of his case is even stranger than his doctors realize: many of the incredible political episodes in which he claims to have been involved are entirely real.

Customer Reviews:

An intriguing true 'whodunnit' mystery.......2004-11-08

James Tilly Matthews lived in London in the late 1700s and was a respected Welsh tea merchant who intended to preserve the peace of an increasingly dangerous city out of control in its conflicts with Paris. Arrested and sent to a mental hospital for his accusation of a lord, Matthews became convinced his mind was being controlled by a secret machine called an 'air loom' hidden in a London basement and run by a gang of revolutionaries: Air Loom Gang sets out to pinpoint the political foundations of his 'madness' in an intriguing true 'whodunnit' mystery

Most Fascinating History.......2004-06-18

The Air-Loom Gang by Mike Jay is a book about the most incredible events. It is about one James Tilly Matthews who was declared insane for his beliefs about treason at the highest levels of the British Government during the French Revolutionary/Napoleonic period. As it turns out, Matthews was actually right to some extent and as a former spy, was in a good position to be able to determine if there really was treasonous activities in the British government at the time. Matthews's case became a cause clebre and he was eventually released from the insane asylum and eventually started an architecture magazine and even submitted plans for an insane asylum.

This is an excellent book dealing with a most fascinating episode in British history.

Madness with Meaning.......2004-03-24

Any psychiatrist has treated patients who thought their minds and wills were being controlled from the outside, perhaps from mysterious rays or hidden machines. This cannot sound so strange now as it must have a couple of centuries ago. We may not be used to mind control of that type, but we live in a world powered by invisible rays and hidden machines. When James Tilly Matthews entered the famous hospital for the insane, London's Bedlam in 1797, his complaints must have sounded bizarre indeed. He told his doctor that he, and many of the powerful in England and France, were being manipulated by a mysterious gang who were using invisible gases and rays from an unimaginably complex machine called an air loom, and that his thoughts were being altered and controlled and his body was being painfully punished. Matthews's bizarre story is the subject of a surprising and novel-like history, _The Air Loom Gang: The Strange and True Story of James Tilly Matthews and his Visionary Madness_ (Four Walls Eight Windows) by Mike Jay. What is especially peculiar is that although Matthew's ideas were clearly delusional, his complaints stemmed from real persecutions he was made to undergo. As the old joke says, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

Matthews was a wholesale tea dealer who wound up shuttling between Britain and revolutionary France with a peace proposal. It is not surprising that Matthews had little effect; but it is surprising that at the time of the Terror, all he had to endure on the French side was a spell in a French Revolutionary prison. In 1796, after his return to England, he entered the public viewing area of the House of Commons, and yelled "Treason!" into the hall. This got him into Bedlam, and he was to be incarcerated for the rest of his life. His rooms were unheated, he would have straw to sleep on, and for some years he would be chained to his bed. It is quite possible that pummeled first by peculiarities of world events and then by the cruelties of incarceration as a lunatic that he began weaving contemporary ideas about pneumatics, electricity, and Mesmer's animal magnetism into a widespread delusional explanation of just how he got persecuted into such a position. We know about his delusions in detail because in charge of him was the apothecary John Haslam, and Matthews was Haslam's star patient. Jay shows that the delusions can possibly be seen as Matthews's response to persecution, with Haslam as co-creator.

This is a tangled tale, expertly told. There are parts of it that are deeply mysterious, and for which there is no documentation, only speculation; how Matthews came to be running secret diplomacy, and who was paying him to do so, and what he really was doing, can only be guessed at. The gripping story of Matthews coming to delusional terms with his predicament is actually moving, and his eventual (if posthumous) triumph over Haslam is convincing. Best of all Jay has gone a long way in successfully trying to explain the politics, science, and history of the time. His picture of treatment of the insane in the crumbling Bedlam, at the cusp of instituting sympathetic "moral" treatments of Philippe Pinel, is unforgettable. There may not have been a real air loom, but that doesn't keep it from meaning something; and Matthews may have been an incarcerated schizophrenic, but that doesn't keep him from being a bit of a hero.

Blind Justice: A Murder, a Scandal, and a Brother's Search to Avenge His Sister's Death
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Blind Justice: A Murder, a Scandal, and a Brother's Search to Avenge His Sister's Death
Ray Gibson , Edie Gibson , and Randall Turner
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Shattered Hopes: A True Crime Story of Marriage, Murder, Corruption and Cover-Up in the Suburbs

ASIN: 0312063067

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KEEPS YOUR INTEREST.......2002-04-17

The authors tell the story of Dianne Masters in an interesting prose that will keep you entertained, which is necessary because the book is over 400 pages.

Apparently, this book was the basis for the 4-hour movie that periodically shows up on TV. While the movie presents a one sided view of Dianne Masters as the victim of her husband, Alan Masters, the book does point out some negative aspects of her life.

The biggest drawback of the book is the lack of access to anyone close to Alan Masters. Therefore, the author provides a rather shallow picture of Alan Master's viewpoint.

Book Description

The gangland-style slaying of State Senator Warren G. Hooper on 11 January 1945, three days before he was to testify before a grand jury investigating alleged corruption in the Michigan legislature, forced coverage of Allied war triumphs from the state's newspaper headlines. National media representatives flocked to Michigan to join local reporters in following the efforts of grand jury special prosecutor Kim Sigler and the State Police to apprehend the killers. Because no arrests ever were made, a 1951 journalistic prediction has proven true: "The Hooper case will continue to come back to remind the people and politicians of Michigan in the black days of 1945 when almost every official of the state had his price." For this reason, the Hooper murder has endured as one of the most intriguing unsolved mysteries in the annals of Michigan crime.

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Capitol sleaze continues, but 3 bullets unlikely.......1996-07-28

The legislature has been the focal point of public outrage in Michigan, as newspapers across the state have described graphically years of unrestrained pillage of the House Fiscal Agency's budget, the dubious role of legislators in administrative decisions conferring million-dollar windfalls on garbage barons, resort developers and snake-oil "technology" peddlers, and the revolving doors between legislative offices and lobbying dens.

Historical perspective can be useful as you confront concerned and disenchanted constituents. While it is difficult to judge comparative degrees of depravity, as bread-and-circus drama the Lansing scene of today pales by comparison to the Lansing of the mid-1940s, when the high-powered deal-making among lobbyists and legislators implicated some of Michigan's most powerful political, business and criminal figures in the murder of a state senator.

In 1943 the executive secretary of the Michigan Medical Sochety was convicted of bribery for a 1939 offer of a free California trip to a member of the Michigan House of Representatives in exchange for support of legislation barring osteopaths from certain medical practices. In the meantime, the representative, Warren Hooper of Adrian, had become both chairman of the House Public Health Committee and paid executive secretary of the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons! Hooper reported the Medical Society's bribe offer only after an official inquiry into legislative corruption had been forced on Attorney General Herbert Rushton (himself a former state senator) by reports of an independent Detroit Citizens' League investigation and by another representative's unwitting revelation of a bribe when he told reporters that a man in a gray suit had stuffed $1,350 and a note instructing him to vote against an anti-chain-bank bill into his overcoat pocket in the Capitol cloakroom.

In August 1944 a jury convicted 20 current or former legislators and four finance-company officials of bribery involving a 1939 automobile financing bill. A key witness was attorney and lobbyist Charles Fitch Hemans, who was also to be a witness in the anti-chain-bank-bill case. By late 1944, the principle witness in the chain-bank case was Representative (and Senator-elect) Warren Hooper. Under intense grand-jury interrogation, Hooper had crumbled, admitting that he was on the payroll of Grand Rapids political boss Frank D. McKay and accusing McKay of bribery to kill the anti-chain-bank bill and legislation to curb corruption in horse-race betting.

Indicted in December 1944, McKay became the primary target of the corruption investigation. Michigan's Republican national committeeman and founder of General Tire Company, McKay had served three terms as state treasurer (leaving office in 1931 under the cloud of a grand jury investigation into his handling of state funds). As treasurer, McKay had insured that the state purchased only General Tire products (including inventories of obsolete and flawed tires). Later, he was reputed to have used his influence over Governor Frank Fitzgerald to protect illegal gambling operations and to have his cronies appointed state purchasing director and chairmen of the Liquor Control and Corrections Commissions. In the early 1940s federal grand juries indicted McKay for shaking down distillers to get their products into state liquor stores, for defrauding the city of Grand Rapids through rigged bids on municipal bonds, and for extorting $10,000 from Edsel Ford, supposedly to pay party campaign debts. But, all of McKay's trials ended in acquittals.

The testimony of Senator Hooper and lobbyist Hemans was expected to bring McKay's run of legal luck to an end. However, on the evening of January 11, 1945, en route from Lansing to Adrian, Senator Hooper was murdered in what authors Bruce Rubenstein and Lawrence Ziewacz (THREE BULLETS SEALED HIS LIPS, Michigan State University Press, 1987) concluded was a plot involving McKay, Jackson State Prison officials and Purple Gang members in and outside of Jackson Prison.

Further dooming McKay's prosecution, Hemans refused to testify in the anti-chain-bank case, eventually fleeing to Washington, D.C., where he was arrested for unlawful flight from Michigan, convicted and sentenced to a year and a half in federal prison. On his release Hemans was rewarded with a high-paying position by Charles Bohn, president of Bohn Aluminum Company and a member of the board of directors of Michigan National Bank, the state's largest chain bank; Bohn was one of those against whom Hemans had refused to testify.

From the vantage point of the 1990s, observing the blatant buying and selling of legislative influence and votes involving auto insurance, medical malpractice insurance, telecommunications, "economic development" grants and loans, landfill and other environmental regulation, state contracts, criminal investigations, ..., it is difficult to conclude that anything has really changed in Michigan.

Consider a 1992 incident eerily reminiscent of Hooper, his public health committee, Medical Society bribes, the anti-chain-bank bill and related scandals of the 1940s: Senator John Pridnia adjourned a Public Health Committee hearing on a bill favorable to chiropractors, crossed the street from the Capitol to the Michigan National Bank's tower, a lobbyists' den, to pick up checks at a chiropractor-sponsored fund-raiser, and later reconvened the hearing and favorably reported the chiropractors' bill.

As in the 1940s, criminal investigations, occasionally, are initiated, as in the case of the House Fiscal Agency, and convictions, occasionally, are obtained, as in the Michigan Tech Ventures case. Sufficiently dangerous lips might again be sealed by a sweet-heart job or, if necessary, by three bullets.

However, one contrast can be drawn between the prosecutions of the 1940s and those of the 1990s: In the earlier cases the 62 people convicted included a former lieutenant governor, 12 state senators, 11 state representatives, and scores of prosecuting attorneys, police officials and lobbyists. In the 1990s it is very unlikely that the lieutenant governor, legislators or lobbyists will be either indicted or convicted for anything other than the simplest fraud (for example, billing the state for bogus travel expenses).

The legislature learned the lesson of the 1940s corruption prosecutions. No longer do lobbyists surreptitiously place instructions and $1,350 in coat pockets in the Capitol cloakroom. Rather, they openly tell legislators what legislation they want and openly hand legislators their checks, payable to "campaign accounts" and "office holder expense funds," which the legislators then use to pay for their own trips to California (and elsewhere), to compensate their wives for "secretarial services," to pay their children for "shoveling snow" at "district offices" (their homes), to purchase clothing, to buy presents for supporters, ... Legislators and lobbyists no longer need fear prosecution for what would have been bribery in the 1940s, for the very simple reason that the legislature legalized that bribery.

Postscript to Legislators: Read THREE BULLETS SEALED HIS LIPS and relieve your constituents' fears: It is less likely today that you will be so dangerous as to warrant three bullets.

4 Book Collection of Richard Milhous Nixon & his Presidency: 1)- The Memoirs of Richard Nixon / 2) - The Real War / 3) - The Final Days (by Woodward & Bernstein) / 4) All the President's Men (Woodward & Bernstein) (Unboxed Set of Watergate Years Books)
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4 Book Collection of Richard Milhous Nixon & his Presidency: 1)- The Memoirs of Richard Nixon / 2) - The Real War / 3) - The Final Days (by Woodward & Bernstein) / 4) All the President's Men (Woodward & Bernstein) (Unboxed Set of Watergate Years Books)
Richard Nixon , Bob Woodward , and Carl Bernstein
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VQ1X7C

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4 Book Collection of Richard Milhous Nixon & his Presidency: 1)- The Memoirs of Richard Nixon / 2) - The Real War / 3) - The Final Days (by Woodward & Bernstein) / 4) All the President's Men (Woodward & Bernstein) (Unboxed Set of Watergate Years Books), in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one package to save on shipping costs.

Celine and His Critics: Scandals and Paradox (Stanford French and Italian Studies)

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Celine and His Critics: Scandals and Paradox (Stanford French and Italian Studies)

Manufacturer: Anma Libri
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0915838591

Cry scandal (His A Timothy Dano mystery)

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Cry scandal (His A Timothy Dano mystery)
William Ard
Manufacturer: Rinehart
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ASIN: B0006AUMK2

EVERY ARTIST HIS OWN SCANDAL, A Study of Real and Fictive Heroes

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EVERY ARTIST HIS OWN SCANDAL, A Study of Real and Fictive Heroes
Parker Tyler
Manufacturer: Horizon Press
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VBBOI0

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