Book Description
Charlie Wilson's War was a publishing sensation and a New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller. In the early 1980s, a Houston socialite turned the attention of maverick Texas congressman Charlie Wilson to the ragged band of Afghan "freedom fighters" who continued, despite overwhelming odds, to fight the Soviet invaders. Wilson, who sat on the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee, managed to procure hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mujahideen. The arms were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an out-of-favor CIA operative, Gust Avrokotos, whose working-class Greek-American background made him an anomaly among the Ivy League world of American spies. Avrakotos handpicked a staff of CIA outcasts to run his operation and, with their help, continually stretched the Agency's rules to the breaking point. Moving from the back rooms of the Capitol, to secret chambers at Langley, to arms-dealers' conventions, to the Khyber Pass, this book presents an astonishing chapter of our recent past, and the key to understanding what helped trigger the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and ultimately led to the emergence of a brand-new foe in the form of radical Islam.
Customer Reviews:
Hopefully, the movie doesn't screw up this story.......2007-10-05
There will be three main kinds of people who won't read this book. The first are those who see no reason for military intervention anywhere, ever. The second are those who are hypersensitive to any speaking of ethnicity, race, gender, etc., within a kilometer of earshot. The third are those who don't like long books, and "Charlie Wilson's War" is certainly longer than most. All this would be too bad, because the book is a wealth of little known and critical current history, as well as a real rip-snorting adventure. The most intriguing icing on the cake is that Charlie Wilson, one of the boldest and effective national-interest congressmen of the last century, was a Democrat. He was a Democrat who pushed Republicans forward for a decade, mostly to do the right things. How many right things, of course, remains to be seen in coming decades.
Much of the book is written in colloquial style, as the author reproduces many discussions among a very wide variety of people. This sometimes comes out sounding a little coarse, but the reader should see this quickly as a writer trying to be accurate. Charlie Wilson, the man himself, also might turn many readers off. He abused his body with food and drink, mostly drink; he was a maverick to the point of almost being a loose canon; wild, he certainly was. No one, though, can deny that he was one of those rarest of politicians. Here was a man who did not stop with saying what he wanted to do, he found ways to do what needed to be done. Then he kept at it, and at it. Here was a man of his word.
This interesting story suffers only a small weakness as a narrative, and only if the reader minds. The action chapter by chapter, even section by section, does not always tell us what was happening at the same time with other people, and at other places. Rather, the author likes to keep a thread of a theme or thought and follow it to the end. This can be irritating and a little confusing if you are trying to keep things straight for any particular group of years at a time. If this does not make a problem for reader, then so much the better. A last suggestion: this book goes down especially well by audio CD, and the voice narrator does well with dialogs and accents.
A great true story.......2007-10-04
This is a truly amazing tale. Never told until now and soon a movie. Buy this book and read the true story about how a "wild" congressman and a rogue CIA agent changed history. Better by far than all those fictional adventures!
four and 1/2 stars........2007-10-01
steve coll's excellent book "ghost wars" whet my reading appetite for more on the soviet war in afghanistan. since that military action, with the unanticipated consequences it spawned for the united states, was such a catalyst for the 9/11 attacks, it seems essential for an american to get a grip on what took place there. "charlie wilson's war" is a thrilling account of that international drama. though much of the book deals with funding america's covert involvement through congressional appropriation subcommittees, and with CIA office politics, the narrative is interesting page for page throughout this long work. not once did i find it a chore to continue, or feel an urge to skip past anything. george crile brings the colorful personalities of those involved to vivid life through his clear prose. he actually makes appropriation subcommitees, and their methods of work, interesting. and his portraits of afghanistan and pakistan, and their respective political environments and key political players, is brilliantly executed. the story is told completely from the american perspective, true. you will have to seek elsewhere for a more balanced view (by this i mean one that takes into account the soviet soldiers side of things). but this book being what it is, is a fascinating read, and one you can learn much from.
Great.......2007-09-08
One of the most intriguing stories of American foreign policy making. This book was recommended to me by a staffer for a military oriented Congressional committee. He was quite emphatic in stressing that this book, better than any other, offers a great perspective on the influence Congress can have on foreign and war policy. I don't know how representative it is of the day to day activities of members of Congress, but it certainly shows how a dedicated member of Congress CAN get seriously involved in an issue.
Charlie Wilson is one of the most interesting politicians to have walked on the stage in the past 50 years. Part JFK, Nixon, LBJ, and Clinton - both good and bad parts - Wilson was a smart and dedicated defender of CIA efforts to support the mujaheden in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. More than any supposed hardline conservative, including President Reagan, Wilson, a socially liberal Democrat from Texas, was the most agressive elected official to back the CIA in its anti-Soviet effort in Afghanistan. Wilson was also wildly able to get in the worst kinds of trouble: womanizing, drunk driving, and questionable uses of public money. I guess it goes to show that people are incredibly complex and contain a much more dynamic mix of good and bad within them. Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, but with less green.
Hard to read.......2007-08-29
Content was OK, I'm sure acurate, but about 210 pages into this 500+ page book I had to give in - I just couldn't make myself want to read it. I am only 31, so I do not know of Charlie Wilson, or the political temperature in the 80s, but this book was recommended to me so I tried, but couldn't make myself do it.
Book Description
John Perry did two things on his seventy-fifth birthday. First he visited his wifes grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce and alien races willing to fight for them are common. Far from Earth, the war has gone on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding. We fight to defend Earth from our new enemies and to stake our claim to planetary real estate. On Earth, the bulk of the resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Only those of retirement age can join the CDF; they want people who carry the skills from decades of living. CDF members are taken off Earth to serve two years at the front. If they survive, theyre given a generous homestead on hard-won colony planets, never to return to Earth. John Perry is taking that deal with only the vaguest idea what to expect.
Customer Reviews:
Another Life for the Colonies.......2007-10-10
Old Man's War (2005) is the first novel in a new series. Sometime in the future, the Colonial Union controls access to the colonies. Some Earth citizens -- mostly losers in the Subcontinent War -- are allowed to migrate at any time. The rest are restricted to signing up for the Colonial Defense Forces at age seventy-five. Either way, only CU officials are allowed to return to Earth, so none really knows what happens to the recruits.
The colonies were originally surveyed and settled by Earth using the skip drive. Somehow the colonies gained technological advances that they did not share with the home planet. The outward symbol of this is the Nairobi beanstalk, which is neither economically feasible for any nation on Earth nor technology possible within their knowledge base.
In this novel, John Perry makes his final visit to the CDF recruiting station to complete the paperwork and receive his tickets. Since his wife died almost eight years before, John had severed all his ties on Earth to prepare for this event. Now he is ready and even eager to leave.
Leon Deak is also reporting for duty at Colonial Station. Leon has attached himself to John in Chicago and is clinging to him like a leech. Leon is a bigot and proves it every time he speaks. He doesn't like blacks or tans and has a special aversion to the colonists who are migrating outward. John thought that he had escaped the man by taking the early beanstalk shuttle, but Leon is also aboard.
Jesse Gonzales is another CDF recruit who happens to be Leon's next victim after John temporarily avoids the man. John joins their argument by disagreeing with Leon. Then John and Jesse manage to convince Leon that they are hopelessly liberal.
After Leon abandons them, John and Jesse are joined by Harry Wilson, a former physics teacher. Before teaching, he had worked in the civil engineering department at General Electric. He has some interesting things to say about the beanstalk.
After the beanstalk shuttle reaches Colonial Station, the recruits are met by two CU apparatchiks who poke and prod them along to the space shuttle that will take them to the CDFS Henry Hudson. The recruits pass colonists and even aliens on their way through the station. Once they pass a Gehaar eating chicken wings and Harry almost has to be dragged away from the alien.
In this story, the recruits are taken directly to the mess hall aboard the Henry Hudson, where they are invited to eat donuts and drink coffee. They are gradually joined by more than a thousand others who have arrived earlier. After a long while, a Colonial Union diplomat greets them and provides an initial briefing.
After the briefing, John discovers that his bunkmate is Leon. The next morning, he tries to wake Leon for breakfast, but is told to leave him alone. In the mess hall, John meets Thomas Jane, Susan Reardon and Alan Rosenthal. When he returns to his cabin, he finds Leon dead in his bunk from a heart attack.
After this excitement, John reports for his physical examination. The physician encases him in a creche -- an all encompassing container -- and examines the findings. Except for a minor testicular cancer, John is in good health for his age. Then the doctor places a cuplike attachment to his head and the pain starts.
When John returns to his messmates, he -- and they -- are wearing a dusty speckled gray field of twenty thousand sensors embedded in the skull. Then they are put through some very strange tests. They only discover the purpose of these tests when they receive their new bodies.
This story tells of John's subsequent training and experiences as an infantryman in the CDF. It seems that most of the other spacefaring species are not very passive. Some even like to serve man . . . for dinner.
John almost dies in during a landing, but is rebuilt back at the base. However, he has one memory that haunts him: hearing the voice of Kathy, his late wife. Later, he discovers his rescuer and finds her wearing Kathy's body, but with a different personality.
This tale presents a convincing case for individual combat in limited wars. Nonetheless, the author has loaded the dice against wars of mass destruction. The more advanced species apparently are not interested in sheer destruction, but limit combat to individual weapons. One species -- the Consu -- seems to have incorporated individual combat into their religion.
This work has much in common with Heinlein's Starship Troopers. However, Heinlein included weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear and chemical -- within his work. Also, the individual protection in this story is much less effective than Heinlein's armored suits. Naturally, Heinlein's troopers were not old people. And his troopers were unmodified humans.
Highly recommended for Heinlein fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of armed combat, geriatric mindsets, and a very unusual romance.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Old Man's War.......2007-10-09
I picked this book up at my library because the first line really caught my attention. The whole book was well written and seemed like it could really happen. (at least, if we could travel through space!)
This would have been a four star book,(not five stars because it's not a book that I would read over and over.) I gave it a three, however because it was crude with quite a lot of bad language. Most of it went with the story, but I still found it disturbing.
I would have pursued the sequal, but didn't because I didn't want to be exposed to more sex and bad language.
Fun read........2007-10-05
I really enjoyed this book - a very fast fun read. The only negative I will mention is that the Heinlein influences are not -all- good. Some of the chummy chit-chat is a bit cloying and artificial-sounding, but, also like Heinlein, it's easy to get past it to the really good stuff. This doesn't seem to be much of an issue in the 2nd book, The Ghost Brigades, which I'm enjoying even more.
Great Read.......2007-10-05
I was very impressed with Old Man's War - and I defy the average reader to NOT want to continue reading the series once this book ends (and it does have a good ending, with no overt call for it being a series except for popularity and the bounty of stories the vehicle offers).
I loved the pace and the characters - the voice was right on for me.
About 3/4th of the way in, there was a bit of a lull - and some awkward exposition - but this was balanced by the pleasure of reading the rest of the story.
I'll be following Scalzi's other work, and also trusting the jury for the Hugo awards, for the foreseeable future.
Great read!.......2007-09-30
I was looking for some good "pulp" sci-fi and somehow stumbled across this book. I thought "sure, it will probably be a fun read" but I was really unprepared for how much I enjoyed this book. My wife and I typically describe books and movies in a "writer meets writer" format and I described this book at Robert Heinlein meets Joss Whedon. Great setting and action plus really snappy and clever dialog.
I liked this book so much that I immediately ordered the next two books set in the series (which I also loved).
I highly recommend this to anyone who likes sci-fi.
Book Description
In May of 1940, the armies of Nazi Germany were marching through France. In the face of this devastating advance, one of World War II's greatest acts of heroism would be a retreat: the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk.
In Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man, we are given an unprecedented vision of these harrowing days. Hugh Sebag-Montefiore has created a bold and powerful account of the small group of men who fended off the German army so that hundreds of thousands of their comrades could exit this doomed land. These brave troops, members of the British Expeditionary Forces and the French army, held a series of strong points inland, allowing the rest of the battered battalions to escape to the coast. Those that remained were ordered to fight to the last man.
Much has been written about the efforts of the Royal Navy in shuttling soldiers to safety, but here we are given an unparalleled look inside this massive operation and the invaluable role played by the BEF. Without the ferocity and bravery of the officers and ordinary soldiers on the ground, the German army would likely have encircled nearly half a million Allied soldiers. The loss of these battalions, Sebag-Montefiore argues, could have dramatically changed the direction of the war,and enabled Hitler to invade a weakened Britain.
This is military history at its best: a judicious analysis of the movement of the war, and a vivid feel of what it was like to be on the front line. Sebag-Montefiore brings these men—the forgotten heroes of Dunkirk—to life, and it is their valiant exploits and devotion to their brethren that form the heart of this important book.
Customer Reviews:
2 stars for compiling the information.......2007-08-24
Sebag-Montefiore's book is a tedious chronology of the events leading up through (and a bit beyond) the evacuation of the BEF from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. I would have thought that a press like Harvard would be more discerning, but apparently not.
History is the critical assessment and analysis of past events. It seeks to explain why things happened. This book is not history, but merely chronology. This too can be useful, if one needs a reference source to look up dates, names, places, and things. But reading a list of events that runs 500 pages is a long slog.
It does not help that Sebag-Montefiore's writing style is frustrating. There is no continuity whatsoever to the story. This is probably the result of not having a theme or point he is trying to make. Literally, the reader can skip entire pages of every chapter and not miss important developments or assessments. Any explanation of events that would provide some context are buried in the end notes, some of which are several paragraphs long. Explanations of locations and setting are dismissed with a brief command to the reader to look at the maps. The maps themselves are excellent, but no map can ever stand in for text.
In the end, the book reads as a vehicle for the author to quote the source material he found. What we're left with is 500 pages of diary entries and anecdotes with no obvious point to be made. The true contribution of the Sebag-Montefiore is indeed to have collected this material. Now all we need is another author to use it and write a better book.
needs work.......2007-06-14
For my purposes, there are two types of books, those I want to read again and those I don't. Sebag-Montefiore's I won't read again. While the subject is interesting, the battle maps ample and detailed, and the notes copious, the author has no feel for telling a story or making multiple stories hang together. He can't describe settings, scenes, and characters, or plot the action. He can't write interesting sentences. It seems as if he used the maps and notes to remedy the deficiencies of his writing style. Rather than describe a setting, he says, "Look at the map." Rather than organize the story, he says, "See the notes." He's collated a mass of new primary sources--a worm's eye view of the war--but doesn't himself work very hard at making the material come alive. About the only time the author perks up and gets a pulse is when he describes some minor English aristocrat's cavalier approach to combat--and cavalier seems to be the approach to his job the author favors.
10,000 anecdotes don't equal history.......2007-06-01
This book tells how hard British troops often fought in the battles for the approaches and perimeter of Dunkirk. However, once the author has finished with the anecdotes, he gives NO ANALYSIS of the story.
If the Belgians and Dutch had given the British time to reach the "true" Dyle River line, could the British and French have stopped the Germans (not just the few troops sent through Belgium, but the whole German Army as anticipated)? An important question, and from the anecdotes the author has selected, I think the answers are probably NO and NO--the Germans were just too good. But I would really like to read the author's analysis on this issue.
And why couldn't 400,000 of the best British and French troops hold on to one strip of land (Dunkirk)? Were they totally out of ammunition and unable to resist? Since defense is supposed to be more powerful than offense, they should have been able to fight off the Germans for weeks, not days. Why? Again, no analysis.
Forgive me, readers, but I don't like the Martin Gilbert approach that "history is a million facts listed one after the other". I may disagree with the author, but I would like to know what he thinks!!!!
challenging but rewarding.......2007-05-19
The amount of research done to produce the book is staggering indeed. It seems as if every British unit has been displayed, most in favorible, even heroic, terms, but a few do show up in disgrace. The French Army, from its chain of command to its troops actually facing the Germans, receives far fewer compliments. The author has placed his maps at the back of the book, requiring the reader to flip back and forth which sometimes results in a loss of place in the vast array of pages. It would have helped to have sketch maps throughout the text, especially for readers not that familiar with the geography of the battle zone. Some other terms were confusing to an American reader. The "carrier" referred to often was finally discovered to be a brother to the Bren Gun Carrier, just not ready-equipped with the Bren Gun. The Boys Anti-Tank Rifle is also a weapon with which Americans are not easily familar, especially for fending off heavily armored tanks. Among the watercraft, the "Drifter" is still a mystery, even in its common role in carrying troops out to larger vessels. Another mystery was the "Fairey Battle" fighter-bomber about which American readers would have heard very little since it was already obsolete when it was inserted into the fighting. This is not a book to undertake lightly. It details a number of the massacres done by German troops not only of surrounded and even surrendered soldiers, but also villagers uninvolved in the fighting. Overall, however, the picture painted by the author draws on extensive research of both old and newly discovered sources, It contributes much to a fuller picture of how close the Dunkirk Evacuation was to a complete disaster, and how many risked their lives to salvage enough of the Allied Forces to ultimately face-down Hitler and the Whermacht.
Capturing the Horror of Battle.......2007-05-13
By piecing together war diaries, personal recollections and regimental after- action reports, Mr. Sebag-Monitfiore manages to capture the personal horror that was man to man combat in the Second World War. Although the story of Dunkirk has been told several times, this effort adds a lot of personal detail that is incredibly informative.
Book Description
Jeff Shaara has enthralled readers with his New York Times bestselling novels set during the Civil War and the American Revolution. Now the acclaimed author turns to World War I, bringing to life the sweeping, emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and established America as a world power.
Spring 1916: the horror of a stalemate on Europe’s western front. France and Great Britain are on one side of the barbed wire, a fierce German army is on the other. Shaara opens the window onto the otherworldly tableau of trench warfare as seen through the eyes of a typical British soldier who experiences the bizarre and the horrible–a “Tommy” whose innocent youth is cast into the hell of a terrifying war.
In the skies, meanwhile, technology has provided a devastating new tool, the aeroplane, and with it a different kind of hero emerges–the flying ace. Soaring high above the chaos on the ground, these solitary knights duel in the splendor and terror of the skies, their courage and steel tested with every flight.
As the conflict stretches into its third year, a neutral America is goaded into war, its reluctant president, Woodrow Wilson, finally accepting the repeated challenges to his stance of nonalignment. Yet the Americans are woefully unprepared and ill equipped to enter a war that has become worldwide in scope. The responsibility is placed on the shoulders of General John “Blackjack” Pershing, and by mid-1917 the first wave of the American Expeditionary Force arrives in Europe. Encouraged by the bold spirit and strength of the untested Americans, the world waits to see if the tide of war can finally be turned.
From Blackjack Pershing to the Marine in the trenches, from the Red Baron to the American pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, To the Last Man is written with the moving vividness and accuracy that characterizes all of Shaara’s work. This spellbinding new novel carries readers–the way only Shaara can–to the heart of one of the greatest conflicts in human history, and puts them face-to-face with the characters who made a lasting impact on the world.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
"To The Last Man".......2007-10-06
My dad reads history books for fun. I'm sure many of you can relate, but I, however, have often found my dad's hobby perplexing. For Dad, the best books present the down-to-the-minute detail of battles, examine every word of a president's letters to friends, follow the explorer each painful step of the journey. Yes, it's interesting, but I'm talking 1,000 pages of details. A daunting task for even us dedicated readers.
When I was growing up, my dad, the lifelong history major, took us to battlefield memorials instead of to amusement parks. As a child, I drew pictures of civil war soldiers more than doodles of Mickey Mouse. I'm sure this pleased my dad, the way this interest in history soaked into me. What didn't please him was my desire to read historical fiction. I was enamored of the TV mini-series "The Blue and the Gray", and soon after, began reading John Jakes' "The North and the South" trilogy. Dad frowned upon this. Too many Southern belles with bosoms heaving and laudanum addictions, I think. Not enough "hard" history, not enough fact. The fact of the matter is, I still prefer fiction. Ironically enough, to make history most real to me, I need it connected to the stories of individual people, and no one seems to do that better than novelists.
Enter Jeff Shaara. My dad introduced me to him by way of the author's personal life history. Jeff's father was Michael Shaara, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Killer Angels. Michael Shaara was at work on the second book in his trilogy on the American Civil War when he died. Not a writer or historian himself, Jeff vowed to finish his father's work. And the books Jeff finished for his dad are excellent, critically-acclaimed. But when he spread his wings and started his own work, with books on the American Revolution, World Wars I and II, and the Mexican-American War, he surpassed his father. I have just recently finished To the Last Man, Jeff Shaara's book on WWI. Mind you, it is, technically, historical fiction. But just barely. Bestselling history writer Joseph Persico praises Jeff Shaara's "rarest of writing gifts, making literature read like history and history read like literature. He brings ... [history] to pulsating life." His books are "fiction" only in that Shaara creates thoughts and dialogue for these historical figures, based on impeccable research, but ultimately, on his imagination.
In most of his books, Jeff Shaara focuses mostly on the events surrounding the major figures - the generals, the leaders of the countries involved. Shaara explains in his preface of To the Last Man how this book is different: he tells about WWI through the perspective of just four people. In this way, the story isn't comprehensive or all-inclusive, but it is incredibly powerful. The four people are General John J. Pershing, THE commander of all U.S. forces when America finally enters the war; Baron Manfred von Richthofen, "the Red Baron"; Raoul Lufbery, of the Lafayette Escadrille; and Private Roscoe Temple, U.S. Marine Corps.
Well, if you're like me, the only reference I have to "the Red Baron" is ... Charles Schultz's Snoopy fighting him from the Sopwith Camel. It turns out Richthofen's life, just his personal history and career alone shed tremendous light on the war and the time period itself. And I had never heard of the Lafayette Escadrille - the Americans who went to France to fly the airplane, just in its infancy as a weapon of war, way before the U.S. reluctantly decided to join the fray. Now, I'm hooked on every word I can find about these guys. (Yeah, go ahead and rent the movie "Flyboys"; the fight scenes in the air are quite realistic, I think. But then do yourself a big favor and read about the REAL people. As far as I can find out, all the characters from the movie are fiction.)
And there it is: did you see that? I crossed over. Maybe historical fiction isn't as engaging as fact, after all. Certainly, it depends some on who is conveying the story. I, obviously, give Jeff Shaara an enthusiastic recommendation. With him, Dad and I both win.
Editor, "Of A Predatory Heart"
Excellent. A history teacher's review........2007-07-23
Shaara's writing just continues to improve as far as I'm concerned. Like many people, I was led to Jeff Shaara by way of his father's book "The Killer Angels." While he has never achieved that level of mastery, this is a very strong book - at times poignant, at times repugnant and always interesting.
Shaara's opening is strong and serves as a tremendous introduction to the vast devestation and inhumanity of the war. He focuses about half of the book on the new world of air power and the other half on an average foot soldier in the war. Pershing and other generals are thrown in from time to time to give the reader a wider view of the war. Those are essential as a plot device, but are not nearly as interesting as his portrayal of the fighting.
I give this one an enthusiastic grade of A.
Very dissapointing.......2007-06-01
I expected a lot from this book, hearing so much about Shaara and how he makes history read like literature. This was not the case at all though. The characters are all so stereotypical, the plot is stereotypical. I read a quarter of the book and had to stop because it got so tedious. He is more concerned with the history of what happened, not exploring the minds of the men that fought in the war.
to the last man.......2007-05-06
This is a not to be missed "novel", based on actual participants in the
Great War! I couldn't not put it down, I recommend highly this book to all who have an interest is the war or merely would like to learn more about the history of the war that changed the map of Europe
Key to understanding 20th century history.......2007-04-26
I never read any of Jeff Shaara's previous works and I knew very little about the Great War beyond the basics. This book follows very different aspects of this struggle from the horrors of trench warfare to early air warfare. The evolution of the AEF's leader General Black Jack Pershing is also contained therein showing some of the complex politics involved in the relationship between France, England and the fledgling AEF. Real people are the focus and the contrast of brutality and chivalry as well as the unbelievable waste of humanity is mind numbing.
It testifies to an effective end game strategy in a conflict to truly conclude a war rather than to sow the seeds for future conflict.
Amazon.com
Little is known--and less has been published--about American submarine espionage during the Cold War. These submerged sentinels silently monitored the Soviet Union's harbors, shadowed its subs, watched its missile tests, eavesdropped on its conversations, and even retrieved top-secret debris from the bottom of the sea. In an engaging mix of first-rate journalism and historical narrative, Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, and Annette Lawrence Drew describe what went on.
"Most of the stories in Blind Man's Bluff have never been told publicly," they write, "and none have ever been told in this level of detail." Among their revelations is the most complete accounting to date of the 1968 disappearance of the U.S.S. Scorpion; the story of how the Navy located a live hydrogen bomb lost by the Air Force; and a plot by the CIA and Howard Hughes to steal a Soviet sub. The most interesting chapter reveals how an American sub secretly tapped Soviet communications cables beneath the waves. Blind Man's Bluff is a compelling book about the courage, ingenuity, and patriotism of America's underwater spies. --John J. Miller
Book Description
For decades American submarines have roamed the depths in a dangerous battle for information and advantage in missions known only to a select few. Now, after six years of research, those missions are told in Blind Man's Bluff, a magnificent achievement in investigative reporting. It reads like a spy thriller -- except everything in it is true. This is an epic of adventure, ingenuity, courage, and disaster beneath the sea, a story filled with unforgettable characters who engineered daring missions to tap the enemy's underwater communications cables and to shadow Soviet submarines. It is a story of heroes and spies, of bravery and tragedy.
Customer Reviews:
Blind Man's Bluff.......2007-10-02
I worked alongside the members of the submarine service and can testify that their deeds were harrowing, critical to national security, and seldom appreciated. I applaud the authors (despite a little downplaying of the true nature of the HORSE COW Bar in Vallejo, California) for their tenacity in digging out the truth, their wisdom in choosing to leave out some interesting stories they doubtless heard, and their honesty in portraying the whispered role of the "silent service". My heartfelt thanks to all concerned!
G. L. Spears
Finally the Silent Service has a voice.......2007-08-15
I ordered "Blind Man's Bluff" because of a friends reccomendation. I retired from the Navy in 1992 and during my active duty time, I served on three submarines. This book brought back many memories and emotions. I want to thank Sherry Sontag for telling our story. As I read the book, I felt like I was back on my boat. I began to remember some of my deployments and my shipmates. The times at sea, the boredom and the panic. I would reccommend this book to anyone who has an intrest in submarines or submariners. I especially reccommend this book to the families of submarine crews. Finally you get a picture into our lives on the boats. For years, I could not tell my family what I did, now they can read for themselves. Please read this book and get to know some of the heros of the Silent Service.
Finally!.......2007-08-08
After years of not being allowed to tell friends or familty about what we did on submarines, this book lays out some of the missions. Now I can tell my family "Just read the book."
Well Researched and Written.......2007-06-12
As a former submariner, I have mixed feelings about this book. I am still not convinced it should be publicly available, but the book is well-researched and written.
I particularly like that there is none of the Tom Clancy hype - no supermen here - just ordinary guys doing their jobs under difficult and dangerous conditions.
The authors portray more 2nd guessing among the crew than I ever personally encountered. "Is it worth it?" is a useless question when you are doing what is necessary. Now that the first Cold War is over, I think it is easy to forget that the outcome (the West winning) was neither obvious or inevitable. I am convinced that it is only because of sacrifices like the ones portrayed in this book that we enjoy the security that we do (yes, we are much safer today, war on terror and all, than we ever were in the 50's - mid 80's)
Parts of the book were illuminating to me. I've had friends who served on all the subs discussed, but submariners don't discuss these things even amongst ourselves. The description of being stuck in the mud on the bottom of a Russian harbor is riveting and perhaps the most frightening thing I have ever read. Submarine disasters usually happen in an instant, but the really nasty ones take hours and days and maybe even weeks...
So, as I mentioned, I don't know that the book should have been written. I personally applaud the men who turned the authors over to the NIS. But, now that it has apparently been cleared for publication, I highly recommend it.
Blind Man's Bluff (Book Review).......2007-06-06
Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage by Sherry Sontag & Cristopher Drew
The book is basically about submarine espionage undertaken by the United States Navy during the Cold War. I initially thought it had a relatively boring topic, after all, what is so exciting about submarines undertaking espionage missions, which I initially thought just involved listening or gathering signal data?
But I bought it anyway, because I felt it should be well-written since it was a New York Times bestseller. So no matter how boring the topic may be, it should still be good read, because the authors know how to spin a good yarn.
Well, it turned out I was wrong about submarine espionage being boring. Yes, they do gather signal intelligence, basically listening for signals in the USSR, most of time during weapons launch, & following other subs.
The story was written so well you learn a LOT about soviet subs, underwater sea technology, etc.
Aside from signal intelligence, the USN subs also undertook even more daring missions: Tapping Soviet submarine cables (which is probably one of the best intelligence coups ever), & retrieving submarine & missile parts from the depths of the ocean.
If you are interested in military naval topics, then this book is a M-U-S-T read. You learn just SO much about submarine military technology in general just by reading it.
Book Highlights:
- Stories of the first signal intelligence gathering missions into the USSR.
- How American submarine commanders had to develop new tactics & procedures on tailing the then newer, more stealthier & more capable nuclear ballistic missile submarines of the Yankee-class.
- Secret programs to develop unmanned deep sea submersibles to locate Soviet missiles that splashed down to the sea during live-fire testing, & located sunk Soviet missile submarines.
- Additional & more accurate details on the recovery of an Echo-class submarine that sunk in the Pacific by the CIA using the "Glomar Explorer".
- How the program to tap Soviet undersea telephone line cables got underway, & resulted in perhaps one of the best intelligence coups of all time.
- Details on submarine disasters all throughout the Cold War.
Customer Reviews:
Bringing the Atrocities of War Home.......2005-08-21
BEHIND THE LINES is a powerful collection of fragments of thoughts that were initiated over the past two hundred plus years of war scars. Andrew Carroll continues his commitment to bring the reality of war to the forefront of our attention and I know no better manner for anti-war statements than the words found in this illuminating and horrifying book.
Carroll approaches war as a panacea - an evil that has been with us around the globe for centuries and just continues unabated. Many poets and writers are struggling to make the public cognizant of the horrors of war, but Carroll scans American involvement in wars from the Revolutionary War to the present and in doing so he demonstrates the madness that we must learn to stop.
Letters, documents, memos, soldiers' notes as well as civilians' responses fill these pages, some eloquent, some simply pitiful, and some stoic as well as some encouraging. The messages are not skewed in a way that makes Carroll seem like he is ranting. Rather he lets the words of the living and the dead speak truths far larger than fiction.
This is a beautifully conceived volume that for the sake of the survival of civilization belongs on the reading desks of everyone. Tough reading, this, but enormously informative and important. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, August 05
Excellent book.......2005-06-30
This is a great book!! I really enjoyed reading it, and found myself unable to put it down. The book gives readers a better understanding of what soldiers and their families go through. After reading this book, I believe I have a better appreciation for our Veterans and our troops serving our country. Definately a recommended book in my opinion.
The reality of war revealed.......2005-05-22
Andy Carroll's last book - War Letters - showed what war is like by reprinting letters of American combatants who had ac-tually fought those wars. (I should confess that one of my letters about Vietnam was reprinted in that book.)
Andy's new book - Behind The Lines - shows what war is like with reprints of letters from both combatants and non-combatants - civilian women and children. This book also in-cludes letters written by non-Americans as well as Americans.
Andy limited the letters to those from the wars in which America was involved. Thsee wars range from the Revolutionary War (there's a great letter from a Hessian soldier [Hessians were German soldiers "leased" to Great Britain to fight as mer-cenaries] giving his impressions of America and the poor fighting ability of the rebels), the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam (there's a good letter from a soldier asking his parents to forgive him for having killed a man in combat), Kosovo and Gulf Wars I and II.
While many letters deal with combat, other letters show the many faces of war. At times, war can be terrifying, funny, ab-surd, touching and hilarious. (You know you've been fighting too long when the same incident strikes you as both terrifying and hilarious.)
One letter was a love letter written by a California woman to a Swiss national. In fact, the letter was complete fabrication. The Swiss national actually was a German spy traveling in Great Britain during WWII. The letter was created to make his cover seem more believable.
One letter was from a brother who had enlisted in the Union army in the U.S. Civil War. He wrote to berate his brother for having enlisted in the Confederate army.
One letter was from a German wife to her husband's company commander. She requested that her husband be given a leave "because of our sexual relationship." She wanted her husband to come home so they can have sex. The commander's sym-pathetic reply is included in the book.
One letter writer came up with a list of "The Army's Ten Commandments," which should bring a smile to anyone who served in the Army. Commandment number four is, "Thou shall not laugh at second lieutenants."
One writer came up with a letter filled with multiple choice op-tions. By checking various options, he could either proclaim his undying love or write about an upcom-ing/imminent/current/recent military offensive.
Several letter writers tried to warn their families that they should prepare for a slight adjustment period when the men come home. One Vietnam writer warned, "If it should start raining, pay no attention to his joyous scream as he strips naked, grabs a bar of soap, and runs outdoors for a shower." (As a Vietnam veteran, I found that letter puzzling. Doesn't everybody shower that way?)
The book is divided into several themes that illustrate the dif-ferent faces of war: friendship; combat; laughing though the tears; civilians caught in the crossfire; and the aftermath of war.
As a Vietnam Infantry pointman and squad leader, I view a book about war differently from most people. Andy's book showed me a side of war I had never considered - its impact on non-combatants - who could neither run away (what any sane person does when people are trying to kill him) nor fight (if you're going to die anyway, why not die fighting?).
The book also showed me what I already knew from my own experience: that war changes forever those touched by it.
One Vietnam veteran was haunted by the fact that several of his comrades had died rescuing him after he was seriously wounded. So decades after the end of the Vietnam war, he left a letter at the Vietnam Memorial thanking those men for their sacrifice. That letter is included in the book.
Don't buy this book if you are looking for stories about triumphant soldiers marching in victory parades in front of cheering, grateful crowds. That's not the side of war that Andy wanted to show. Instead, the book shows the side of war that doesn't make the 5:00 TV news.
You will need to read this book in small doses because the emotional impact of the letters can be overwhelming. In Los Angeles I attended a reading of selected letters from the book. One of the speakers read a letter he had written as a Jewish teenager while riding in a sealed railway car on his way to a German concentration camp. The letter told his sister how much he loved her. He pushed the finished letter through a hole in the side of the railway car and hoped that a kind peasant would find and mail it to his sister. One did.
incredibly moving book.......2005-05-12
This compilation is marvelously well-edited and includes an incredible variety of letters from soldiers and civilians from numerous wars. The author has put together a very nuanced, clear-eyed, resonant and moving collection and has written helpful, insightful descriptions throughout the book. This book would make a great gift.
Book Description
Originally published in 1955, As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me has seen international success ever since. It has been translated into fifteen languages, sold more than 12 million copies, and is the basis for an award-winning German entry at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Recounting an incredible real-life adventure, it tracks the destiny of German soldier Clemens Forrell who, in the aftermath of WWII, was sentenced to twenty-five years of forced labor in a lead mine in the barren eastern reaches of Siberia. Subjected to the brutality of the camp and the climate, Forrell dreamed continuously of escape—and then daringly effected it. From East Cape across the vast trackless wastes of Siberia, for thousands of miles and three years, with fear as his most intimate companion, Forrell fled treachery and endured some of the most inhospitable conditions on earth. In a long series of taped interviews with esteemed German author Josef M. Bauer, Forrell unfolded his remarkable story of survival. Bauer not only reconstructs Forrell’s arduous journey to the Iranian frontier and freedom; he also poignantly evokes the emotional content of Forrell’s brave quest—emerging as an affecting portrait of a man who strove and triumphed against all odds.
Customer Reviews:
Don't even think of buying this junk.......2007-09-22
I was very, very dissapointed with this book. After having read the amazing story of Theodor Kröger (a German who survived not only the Tsarist prisons but also the communist gulags) I wanted more of this and so I ordered this book. But what I got was a kind of telegram-style book with so much ommisions in the story, that you wonder why did somebody write it at all. If you can't get the story right, then don't tell it. Also, this is supposed to be a non-fiction story, but the dialogues between the lead character and his captors and/or fellow-prisoners are put on paper like they were held yesterday. If you're looking for a Papillon story, you better look somewhere else. I didn't even finish the book, it was a waste of my time.
a wild ride.......2007-07-26
I found this book to be inspiring and motivational. It is the amazing tale of a daring escape and a treacherous journey across the frozen Siberian north. They only thing that disappointed me was that the ending was anti-climactic in my opinion. Just a simply amazing book, there is a reason why it has been translated in to 15 languages and sold more then 12 millon copies.
Amazing .......2007-05-07
All the superlatives belong to this tale: remarkable, daring, unbelievable, amazing, incredible, beyond belief, extraordinary. That a person could 1. escape from a Soviet labor camp, 2. in the dead of winter, 3. from the farthest eastern point of Siberia, 4. after suffering from hunger and brutal treatment for three years, and still 5. make it home to Germany safely after another three years is a story for all lovers of survival dramas. The author expertly and faithfully chronicles Josef Bauer's account without glossing over the details of what it took to survive. I didn't come to like Mr. Bauer from this telling, however, I did feel a deep respect for his perseverance and stamina. Two other books of escape and survival that I recommend even more highly are: The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom by Slavomir Rawicz and We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance by David Howarth.
As Far as my Feet will Carry me.......2007-01-29
Incredible story of survival and the will to live.
This book was excellent, I couldn't put it down........2006-04-28
As for the other half negative reviews, like it being for a young reader, don't pay any attention to that. Obviously those reviews are written by people that can't look or think beyond their own egos nor actually try to imagine what it must have been like, what the permanent affects were after such an altering event, and obvious emotional scars that must have continued on and on... After I finished the book, I re-read the preface and understood why there seemed to be pieces "I" wanted answers to, but understood why they weren't there.
I recommend this book to anyone of all ages. It's absolutely an amazing account of someone accomplishing a journey home with EVERYTHING against him and the beckoning door of death at every turn. How he survived? It's beyond me....
Now, I will hunt for the DVD....if anyone knows where I can find the DVD, please find a way of letting me know. Thanks!
Book Description
In every band of brothers, there is always one who looks out for the rest.
A soldier. A leader. A living testament to the valor of the human spirit. Major Richard D. Winters finally shares his amazing story.
They were the Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Army Airborne, the legendary fighting unit of World War II. And there was one man every soldier in Easy Company looked up to-Major Richard D. Winters.
Here, for the first time, is the compelling story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero-from Winters's childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, through the war years in which his natural skill as a leader elevated him through the ranks in combat, to now, decades later, when he may finally be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day.
Full of never-before-seen photographs and the insight that family, friends, fellow veterans of Easy Company-and only Winters himself-could provide, Biggest Brother is the inspiring life story of a man who became a living testament to the valor of the human spirit-and America.
Customer Reviews:
A must-read for Band of Brothers "Buffs".......2007-09-05
This is a very well written book about Major Winters' life.
Reading this book has also been a fantastic exercise in having multiple perspectives on historical topics. I'm happy to have read it, because it shows how important it is to get multiple perspectives on any situation if you seek full understanding.
For example, from Band of Brothers, during the "Crossroads" charge in Holland, where Winters faces the young SS soldier (and then shoots him...and others). This book puts Winters heroism in more proper perspective. He did not simply scale the embankment to find a surprised (and unarmed) soldier on the other side. In reality, the two had already exchanged grenade tosses. Winters forgot to remove the tape from his grenade lever. The German was still cowering from a grenade that never exploded, and it gave Winters the advantage. This is quite important to know.
This book demonstrates how Ambrose had to "cut corners" in order to condense the memories of many men into one singular tale. I believe this book should be required reading for anyone in academia that is doing research on the 501st and their activity in Europe. I also suggest you read "Parachute Infantry" by Daniel K. Webster.
Gripping biography of a 20th century warrior.......2007-08-25
After seeing the HBO Band of Brothers series a couple of times, I ran across this book about Major Winters. This is an engaging and well-written account of a true American hero. However, if you have read Ambrose Band of Brothers book (that started the recent surge of interest) or have seen the HBO mini-series, you will find much of the content here matching those accounts. In fact, you will be able to predict what aspect of the story will come next through about 80% of this book as it tracks Easy company from Tacoa to The Eagle's Nest. It tracks Winters throughout his whole life, up to the present.
Easy company is fascinating for many reasons, but historically because they were at the tip of the spear for so much of the European theater of WWII. The stories here are told from Major Winters perspective however, and that tends to personalize them more than I experienced from the HBO mini-series. For example, in this book, Winters writes many of his experiences to a lady named DeEtta. These letters and the long distance relationship, forlorn romance etc. add a very human dimension to the crazy things happening as he was leading Easy company. He is very transparent with DeEtta in the letters.
There are other interesting personal observations Winters makes throughout the book. For example, the arrogance and ineptness of many high-ranking officers is repeatedly described. Winters gives names and accounts in this area. Their aloofness and inability to admit they aren't well suited for war is placed in contrast to Winters, who is practically tailor made for the job he is thrust into by the needs of history and his own capabilities. He also generally holds a low opinion of British soldiers in the field of battle, finding them repeatedly impractical and detached from what is important. One aspect of this book that is also present in the mini-series is Winters approach to leadership. Winters is friendly with his subordinates, but not actually friends. This is a tricky line to walk but it seems natural to him.
Winters conveys an unwritten, and unpopular, theme about war in the book, especially in the area of death. It is this: Don't be foolhardy. Many soldiers will die due to no fault of their own. But, many others will die due to lack of clear-headed thinking or foolhardy/misplaced bravery. Winters is frequently brave, but he is always deliberate and calculating in his actions. That doesn't guarantee survival, but it certainly helps. I've never been to war, and I'm glad of it, but I think there is a life-lesson there for all of us.
Some other interesting observations about Winters I like:
- Underachiever in high school.
- Became very disciplined physically and mentally during college.
- Grew up in a Mennonite community. When the war seemed inevitable, he could wait for the draft to start, or
"beat them to the punch and enlist, and satisfy his one year military obligations to his country. Winters chose the latter... At one point he considered drawing on his Mennonite background...Winters soon realized he was not a conscientious objector and to say so would be a lie." p29
Later chapters of the book cover Winters occupations after the war, becoming older and essentially acting as the historian for Easy company for decades while hardly anyone seemed to care. The book then comes closer to the present and talks about meeting Ambrose, reunions with surviving Easy members, Tom Hanks and others for the HBO mini-series. This is pretty fascinating material not found in the Ambrose book, or the TV mini-series.
The book tells about the strange tensions, sacrifices (both large and small), horrors, and insanity of war through the eyes of a genuine American hero. If it were about anyone else, I would find the combination of integrity, heroics and insight into difficult situations hard to believe. But, the Easy company story and Winters are well documented and have living testimonials to back them up. There have to be some feet-firmly-on-the-ground heros that actually help win giant wars, and Winters is one. If you like Major Winters and want to learn a lot about him, this is your book.
A great read about a great man.......2007-08-08
It's refreshing to read about someone with principles in a leadership position. The book was well written, uses sources that weren't available in the Band of Brothers (112 letters) and paints a picture of what Major Winter's and Easy Company went through. It also talks about after the war and the process of writing and later producing the Band of Brothers. If you liked BofB, you will like this...great book!
Outstanding soldier and leader...yet a humble man.......2007-07-27
What a fantastic biography this is about Richard Winters the leader of the 506th Easy Company. This starts off with the hair-raising account of his encounters over Normandy on June 5th and 6th 1944. This quiet yet focused man from Pennsylvania led a bunch of hardened steeled soldiers thru the thick of the fighting in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in 1944 and 1945. After the war the book recounts Dick Winter's troubled transition back into civilian life and how he started a family yet kept correspondence with his soldiers after WWII.
The book also pays attention to Major Winters contribution to HBO's "Band Of Brothers" mini-series, the recoginition this outstanding series got, and what Major Winters is doing today (as of 2004).
I salute Major Winters for his leadership, compassion, insight and focus.
Excellent Read!
Curahee!.......2007-07-09
For anyone who follows or is interested in the stories of Easy Company, Company E/506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division, this book is a must! It is a treasure. Thanks to Larry Anderson for writing this book on Major Dick Winters and the men of Easy. Anyone reading this will be deeply moved and never forget what the "Band of Brothers" of Easy sacrificed on D-Day up to V-E Day. Get to know the man behind the leader/hero so many were willing to follow without a blink. An timeless story. A must for any book collection!
Book Description
A true story of espionage.
Customer Reviews:
amazing.......2007-09-11
What a great and interesting unknown ( to many of us ) part of WW2.
I fascinated by the BSE story, and the fact of being headquartered in New York. This is a must for the history or intelligence student. What a creative and intelligent mind, Sir William from being a canadian teen, WW1 trench fighter, WW1 fighter pilot, becoming a millionaire in the 20's and did not hesitate to use his life and fortune to fight evil, nazi Germany and comunist Russia.
His creation, the British Security Coordination, led to the CIA and one of his staff members, a Royal Navy officer named Ian Fleming, wrote all the scripts for James Bond 007. The beautyful female agents in 007 can be traced back to Cynthia, code name for a super sexy BSE agent.
Just read the book, I enjoyed page by page, and paid my respect to the Room 3603 at the Rockfeller Center, the former headquarter of BSE and Sir William.
THE REAL JAMES BOND.......2007-05-13
The book is a real page turner and it's a true history. The fact that the book has been in print since 1976 tells a lot.
Gripping Spy History, but read skeptically.......2007-01-04
This gripping narrative describes the British (and Allied) secret service and its activities during World War primarily in the days before Pearl Harbor. Canadian-born William Stephenson (1897-1989) was INTREPID, one of the great spy-masters of all time. Stephenson shows readers how British agents engaged in many vital fronts, including attempts to influence U.S. policy and public opinion prior to Pearl Harbor. Readers see that Nazi agents were also at work in the USA and elsewhere at similar activities. Stephenson describes the doings of appeasers like Joe Kennedy (father of JFK) and Charles Lindbergh, and claims that President Roosevelt knew about Pearl Harbor in advance - a debatable claim, although most historians agree that by December 1941 Roosevelt expected Japan to attack U.S. (plus British and Dutch) interests in the Far East.
This compelling 1976 book left me wondering about some of the author's claims and if Stephenson might occasionally have mixed fact with opinion. For these reason I rated the book at just four stars. Still, Stephenson reportedly advised Roosevelt on the OSS (fore-runner of the CIA), and he was a trusted confidant of Winston Churchill - upon recommending Stephenson for knighthood the Old Lion wrote, "This one is dear to my heart."
Interesting but sketchy.......2006-08-17
Perhaps the very nature of the subject results in a history that is sketchy. It has many fascinating chapters that fill in the gaps of other WWII histories, and person who is well read in WWII histories will find this an important title for the collection. But reading this without a good WWII background may be misleading.
The author makes numerous statements that are not backed up with facts. For example, in a reference to a daring theft of Vichy French naval ciphers, the author claims that without these ciphers the North Africa landings in 1942 [Torch] wouldn't have been possible. Really?
Another example is the Dieppe landings. We're lead to believe that there were a number of spin-off missions from the "failed" Dieppe invasion in 1942, including the rescue of 19 French secret agents locked up in the landing area, and investigating German radar capabilities. But the author never convinces me that these were worth the cost of over 5,000 men lost in the battle.
I think Stevenson gives the reader the impression that secret ops were responsible for preventing the Nazis from building atomic weapons. From other books I have read on the subject, Hitler had little interest in devoting the resources required for this project. The German scientists had pursued the wrong path early in the war and never got back on the correct path. If BSC had done nothing in this field, the Germans would still not have built an atomic bomb before the war ended. Of course the Allies didn't know this and I don't fault them for making the effort to disrupt German atomic research, but it was really just overkill.
I found the first half of the book much more intersting, especially where the author reveals the treachery of the appeasers and Nazi sympathizers like Joe Kennedy and Charles Lindbergh. I take issue with the previous reviewer (Rob "Coolerking") in his comparison of today's 'War against Terror" with WWII. The Bush administration has created a negative environment in the American intelligence community where the operatives are only listened to if they provide information that supports the Administrations goals or beliefs. Anything contrary is ignored. In the case of the Valerie Plame case, when she gave contrary evidence to the case Bush was making for attacking Iraq, she was exposed. This abuse of intelligence is not what intrepid had in mind. In fact, he speaks about this very issue in his forward when he writes, "So there is the conundrum: How can we wield the weapons of secrecy wihout doing damage to ourselves? How can we preserve the secrecy without endangering constitutional law and the individual guarantees of freedom?"
I recommend this book for WWII buffs, but having a broad background on the subject is a perequisite.
This book is ageless.......2005-07-25
How can a book about WW1 written in 1976 be so alive today? I never knew there were such brave Brits, Americans and Canadians working together to save our countries from terror. If not for them, we might all be speaking German right now. This book shows FDR as I and many never knew him. How timeless this book is as We still have brave men working and fighting for us. But how scary (as in those years before and during the war) that there remains that 5th column A great book for anyone who likes history and wants to be informed of the behind-the- scenes happenings. It also tells about so many well knowns that were either heros or part of that 5th column. I highly recommend this book. An eye opener.
Amazon.com
In this fast-paced memoir, Ken Alibek combines cutting-edge science with the narrative techniques of a thriller to describe some of the most awful weapons imaginable. The result will remind readers of The Hot Zone, Richard Preston's smart bestseller about the Ebola virus. That book focuses on the dangers of a freak accident; Biohazard shows how disease can become a deliberate tool of war. Alibek, once a top scientist in the Soviet Union's biological weapons program, describes putting anthrax on a warhead and targeting a city on the other side of the world. "A hundred kilograms of anthrax spores would, in optimal atmospheric conditions, kill up to three million people in any of the densely populated metropolitan areas of the United States," he writes. "A single SS-18 [missile] could wipe out the population of a city as large as New York."
Chilling passages like these, plus discussions of proliferation and terrorism, make Biohazard a harrowing book, but it also has a human side. Alibek, who defected to the United States, describes the routine danger of his work: "A bioweapons lab leaves its mark on a person forever." An unending stream of vaccinations has destroyed his sense of smell, afflicted him with allergies, made it impossible to eat certain kinds of food, and "weakened my resistance to disease and probably shortened my life." But it didn't take away his ability to tell an astonishing story. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Anthrax. Smallpox. Incurable and horrifying Ebola-related fevers. For two decades, while a fearful world prepared for nuclear winter, an elite team of Russian bioweaponeers began to till a new killing field: a bleak tract sown with powerful seeds of mass destruction--by doctors who had committed themselves to creating a biological Armageddon.
Biohazard is the never-before-told story of Russia's darkest, deadliest, and most closely guarded Cold War secret.
No one knows more about Russia's astounding experiments with biowarfare than Ken Alibek. Now the mastermind behind Russia's germ warfare effort reveals two decades of shocking breakthroughs...how Moscow's leading scientists actually reengineered hazardous microbes to make them even more virulent...the secrets behind the discovery of an invisible, untraceable new class of biological agents just right for use in political assassinations...the startling story behind Russia's attempt to turn a sample of the AIDS virus into the ultimate bioweapon. And in a chilling work of real-world intrigue,
Biohazard offers us all a rare glimpse into a shadowy scientific underworld where doctors manufacture mass destruction, where witnesses to errors are silenced forever, and where ground zero is closer than we ever dared believe.
Customer Reviews:
Awakening Terror.......2007-07-17
I bought and read this book years ago and was astounded with the information that was revealed. It's a dangerous world we live in knowing what various governemnts have created in order to destroy humans etc... This story is coming from the Author who was behind some of the most deadly biological, chemical weapons created in Cold War Soviet Union. he defected from the Soviet Union and then went to work for the U.S. governemnt applying his knowledge of weaponized biological agents and how to combat them etc... It's a true story with lots of information. It's a Great Book.
A factual but not fun read........2007-01-14
It many ways this is necessary reading in today's world. Lots of facts, but not a particularly passionate story. It's not a fun page turner. And the author's regret for the demons he created seems too late and too little. The book also ends in 1999 and is due for an update or adddendum. After reading this, one could make the arguement that if there was only a 10% chance that the Soviet bioweapons technology made it to Iraq, then the Iraq invasion was justified. The book is not an exciting or particularly good read; but it may be a necessary read.
Hard To Sleep After Reading This Eight Stars .......2006-10-28
The author for once and for all exterminates the propaganda that the USSR was not involved in the large scale production of biological weapons. He also reminds us that our college campuses are filled with what Stalin termed , " Useful Idiots", those who want to think the US is the eternal villan.
The scale of the USSR bioweapons program was almost beyond what we could imagine both in the quantities produced and the variety of agents exploited. The author leaves little doubt as to the consequences of the use of these materials.
Written before 9-11 the book helps to understand the threat bio-weapons pose when in the hands of unstable nations or terrorist groups. The ease of production and of deployment ( expecially if the humans are willing to die for the cause) is the foundation for restless nights.
The book is also enlightening in how a huge program was shielded from US penetration through conventional Soviet security measures and our scientists unwillingness to consider the possiblity that the Soviets were developing and deploying such weapons.
As terrorist organizations race to be the first to use chemical, bio or nuclear weapons against the US homeland the lessons of the book take on more importance.
Highly recommended .
I love this book!.......2006-07-25
This is one of my top 3 favorite books. It is so addicting you cannot put it down! Most of the statments in this book have do evidence to back them up contrary to what another reveiwer said. I learned a lot from this excellent book!
Dark side of microbiology.......2006-06-16
This book covers the production and development of bioweapons in the Soviet Union. Reading the book is an unique chance to have a peek in the paranoid bureocratic society, in which production of mass murder technologies becomes a norm. In a way, the book is another example how ideological (in this case state sponsored) propaganda can subvert humans to do incredible, inhuman actions.
The book is equally important as a warning for humanity of the self destructive potential of scientific knowledge when harnessed into usage as weapons of mass destruction.
The book is written in readable, professional (from microbiologists viewpoint)and what appears a sincere way. It even seems that the book could be a part of a personal salvation process in which the author wants to deal with his past. I recommend the book for those intrested in soviet history/society, and especially for microbiologists and politicians who should get a deeper understanding of the issues covered in the book.
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- Damsels in Distress: A Claire Malloy Mystery (Claire Malloy Mysteries)
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- Fundamentals of General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry
- Outfoxed: A Novel
- Logo Font & Lettering Bible: A Comprehensive Guide to the Design, Construction and Usage of Alph
- Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every Gardener
- Nannies Maids & More: The Complete Guide for Hiring Household Help
- Inside Fashion Design, Fifth Edition
- Malinche Spanish Version: Novela
- Into the Mirror: The Life of Master Spy Robert P. Hanssen
Afghanistan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism
First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan
