The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World

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America won the cold war, what Derek Leebaert calls a "muffled world war" in The Fifty-Year Wound, but the cost of victory--psychically, morally, and financially--was beyond frightful. The Soviet Union collapsed peacefully; civilization survived "more or less" intact; the world was "liberalized," and the cold war period was the longest "great power" peace since Rome fell. But a half-century "pattern of alarm" and the "industry of national security" curbed freedoms, diverted talent into "fundamentally unproductive" fields, postponed research, "trammeled" investment, and caused a national "waste of spirit." As well, Leebaert suggests the Cuban missiles were primarily psychological threats; American involvement in Vietnam led to OPEC's economic muscle; Kennedy was perhaps the most hawkish of post-WWII presidents, and that the events of September 11 were a direct cold war legacy. This massive, comprehensive, and stern but guardedly optimistic overview will reward the determined reader with its insights and hundreds of telling, sometimes shocking, details. --H. O'Billovitch

Book Description

America won the cold war, what Derek Leebaert calls a "muffled worldwar" in The Fifty-Year Wound, but the cost of victory--psychically,morally, and financially--was beyond frightful. The Soviet Union collapsedpeacefully; civilization survived "more or less" intact; the world was"liberalized," and the cold war period was the longest "great power" peace sinceRome fell. But a half-century "pattern of alarm" and the "industry of nationalsecurity" curbed freedoms, diverted talent into "fundamentally unproductive"fields, postponed research, "trammeled" investment, and caused a national "wasteof spirit." As well, Leebaert suggests the Cuban missiles were primarilypsychological threats; American involvement in Vietnam led to OPEC's economicmuscle; Kennedy was perhaps the most hawkish of post-WWII presidents, and thatthe events of September 11 were a direct cold war legacy. This massive,comprehensive, and stern but guardedly optimistic overview will reward thedetermined reader with its insights and hundreds of telling, sometimes shocking,details. --H. O'Billovitch

Customer Reviews:

What A Long Drawn-Out Cold War, for What?.......2005-11-22

More alternative history -- this time it's an "imaginary Berlin summit" in June, 1988, which didn't ever. The writer takes an event and plays around with it, warping times, places, people, even events to please his urge at the time. The actual summit in Moscow, where the U. S. President Ronald Reagan appealed to the Russian leader, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,' the Soviet evil was not apparent. Reagan will always be remembered for this one "request" -- you notice: he didn't say "please."

The Cold War forced America to live in the past, having started with the nuclear and missile ages, after the atomic bomb and Cuban missile crises. It ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union fifty-odd years later. This august government consultant describes it as the Fifty-year Wound (1939-1989). "Everything from 'Doctor Zhivago' to undersea exploration had a political dimension. More and more spheres of live were intruded on by politics -- from which Americans have historically sought their distance as a necessary condition of well-being." It was more like a cancer growing.

Along the way, we had the Korean War, Viet Nam War, Gulf Coast War, not Cold War. Jeff asked Senator Sasser about "star wars" and infrastructure back in the early '90s. Professor Leebaert divides his discussion of the causes into three parts, #1 was 1946-61, #2 was 1961-81, and #3 covered 1981-89, when Eastern Europe 'raced to freedom and democracy replaced dictatorship' and tyranny. The Berlin Wall crumbled in November, 1989. The failed coup in Russia took place in August, 1991, and he feels was the real end of the Cold War. Americans "gave as little attention to the end of the Soviet Union as they did that December to the fiftieth anniversary of Pearl Harbor."

The Soviets were burdened by $90 billion in debt at the end of 1991. He points fingers at past government officials and his alma mater's AID project where funds were "outsourced"-- Harvard, and the Pentagon for receiving big bucks over Russia's fall. I liked the way he used the word "unambiguous."

"Sometime after Appomattox, a Union major standing in a cemetery overlooking the ruins of Charleston was asked the way 'to Mr. Calhoun's grave.' "Madam," he answered, "the whole South is the grave of Mr. Calhoun." A hard commentary, but he spoke for the aroused power that had made it so. And so, too, is the whole post-Soviet sphere the grave of Lenin." Russia is no longer a danger. Now, it appears to be China. Lee, the convicted spy, was reminded "You know what happened to [the Rosenbergs]? They electrocuted them, Wen Ho." Nowadays, anyone can obtain secure documents from the Internet. U. S. Intelligence materials have been declassified and is there for the viewing of spies, terrorists, anyone with a computer.

An Engaging Mess.......2004-07-04

Considering the author's weighted interest toward technology and business, it is surprising how well much of this book reads. It is nothing if not quotable, brimming with insight-packed sentences and entertaining character sketches. Leebaert definitely knows his stuff: this doorstop-worthy tome is loaded with information.

Perhaps too much information. The main flaw of the book is its rather bogus thesis: The Cold War was filled with "costs." Yes, I suppose any forty year endeavor would be filled with its share of expenditures, many mistaken, but this is hardly the most enlightening point to make about the superpower conflict. Unfortunately, it is Leebaert's point, and he desperately tries to tie every nugget of info he tosses at the reader into his great theme. Every chapter, no matter how diffuse the subjects covered, is rounded off with a monotonously pedestrian "these mistakes could have been avoided" conclusion a harried undergraduate would have been ashamed to employ.

Many of Leebaert's mini-analyses of various arenas of the conflict are fascinating: his emphasis on the economic and technological subplots of the Cold War are particularly insightful. But the attempt to weave these analyses into an overarching narrative ultimately undo much of the coherence of the book. His appraisal of many of the power players in the struggle often come across as bitchy or unfair (as he spends little time examining the reasons for their actions, but nonetheless tallying their "mistakes" to play up his theme).

Another problem is that many of his assessments come to contradict each other: while showing how the Soviets ground their economy into the ground preparing for a "winnable" nuclear pre-emptive strike, Leebaert condemns the US "mandarinate" for advocating the essentially common sense theory of mutual assured destruction, rather than dangerously aping the Soviets in constructing ABM defenses (which, Leebaert refrains from explaining, are built to fire nuclear weapons at incoming ICBMs in the atmosphere. In which case, a city will suffer double the number of thermonuclear airbursts it would without the defense. The ABM Treaty of 1972, which the author does not hide his disdain for, was set up with the understanding that MORE offensive nuclear weapons around cities does not constitute a "defense," but rather, a furthering of an offensive arms race. Later in the book, it appears that Leebaert's ambiguous attraction to the SDI program has influenced his judgement). At various times, weapons build-ups are deemed wasteful, or necessary, depending on Leebaert's opinion of the administration calling for the build-up. JFK's triumphalism is derided as reckless, Ronald Reagan's is applauded as decicive---though the author considers the Soviet war scare of 1983, which Reagan's rhetoric precipitated, the most dangerous time of the Cold War. The ambiguities and inconsistencies in Leebaert's assessments need more development to explain them, but, given the scope of the work, the reader is usually left with a stream of brief anecdotes.

These contradictions, along with a thesis so broad as to be practically meaningless, often make the reader pause and wonder if the author has not taken on more than he can handle. A reader looking for a clear, introductory narrative of the period is advised to look elsewhere (Martin Walker's book is quite good). But for Cold War nuts looking for an engaging new spin on familiar material, as well as a deeper appreciation of the less-reported aspects of this apocalyptic time, this is a good addition to the literature.

Sweeps out 60 years of cobwebs..........2004-04-10

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. The writing is crisp and thought-provoking and the research is exhaustive.

After reading Leebaert, it is a little easier to see how the "sins of the fathers" have laid the foundation for the world we are currently living in. The Osama bin Ladens of the world were spawned from the cold warriors and Quixotic missions that Leebaert so excellently profiles.

The reading is sometimes difficult, and I found myself re-reading sections to make sure I understood where Leebaert was trying to go. Even so, it remains one of my top 20 favorite books.

A Critical Review.......2004-01-01

The book, The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Shapes Our World, maintains a focus on the half-century's flow of events. Two recurrent themes are non-support of allies for US overseas efforts, and disparaging the CIA's inability to mold information into proper intelligence. The primary, often unstated theme is lost opportunities of paths not taken. From the Introduction, (pp. xi - xiv):

"The price of victory...was levied during the most creative half century ever...in which countless opportunities fostered by...new awareness of scientific power were waiting to be pursued. ....
"...the price of victory goes far beyond the dollars spent on warheads, foreign aid, soldiers, propaganda, and intelligence. It includes...time wasted, talent misdirected, secrecy imposed, and confidence impaired. ....
"...the country was starting to speed into a future in which it could have used its resources...not deployed to fund a fleet here or an embezzled subsidy to some tropical gangster there, but to support the development of improved food strains, better means of teaching, a sleek national transport system, or an economic momentum that might have persisted after the 1960s boom. ....
"....
"Ultimately the cost of America's effort was felt as a waste of spirit."

Privileging effectiveness over morality shows author Derek Leebaert also suffering from the Cold War's ultimate cost:

"...an entire chapel of influential voices in Europe tried to turn military weakness into a virtue, attempting to seize the moral high ground always available to the ineffectual," (p. 473).

Polished by wit and enhanced with metaphorical argument and illustrations from popular culture, the writing frequently requires re-reading to comprehend the divergent flows of ideas. By the end of the book the pattern of wittiness, with the aggression latent in all humor, has helped to reveal his biases.

The book repeatedly details US collaboration with corrupt and inhumane governments, criticizing the CIA and the "abominable actions" of both it and those regimes. It is less well organized-and explicit-on these particulars than Blum's Killing Hope, but offers more comprehendible patterns-organized into historical periods rather than into Blums's country-based format. Leebaert offers greater depth though reliance on primary and knowledgeable sources; Blum's ferreting out sympathetic political understanding primarily from news reports is impressive.

The tone changes between the treatment of events toward which the author can look back on as history, and the more subjective and ideological treatment of those in which he was involved as participant or observer. Overall, Leebaert gives a favorable image of vigorous post-war economic rectitude, diminished by the repeated errors of the many misguided public servants in governments of the day. He sees these as caused by rhetorical and theoretical thinking rather than direct perception of situations.

One serious imbalance is his presentation of the cruel public treatment of parents of a slain Vietnam war veteran (p. 356), yet only a passing mention of war crimes by US Vietnam war participants. He states, "There is no evidence that the My Lai atrocity was repeated elsewhere, which is surprising in such a war," (p. 410). A diligent historian could reconsider in light of the transcript, book, and film of the 1971 Winter Soldier Investigation; the October 2003 Toledo Blade newspaper documentation of atrocities in the central Vietnam highlands; Lifton on the psychology of Vietnam war veterans; and generally the information on Vietnam in Charny's Toward the Understanding and Prevention of Genocide.

Regarding 9-11's use of hijacked airliners as weapons, Leebaert states that the President and Secretary of Defense, "...each told the nation that no one had imagined the prospect...," (p. 617). Yet the topic was known to the US intelligence community since at least January 1995 when Al-Qaeda's plans for Project Bojinka to implement "the prospect" were discovered by Philippine police. Again in February of that year FBI agents were told of such a plot by the mastermind of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and at the individual's 1997 bombing trial the strategy was discussed, as documented in Ahmed's The War on Freedom.

Though repeatedly disparaging post WW-II theoretician George Kennan, Leebaert doesn't call for an end to his dictum to maintain preeminence over the world's resources through military force. Rather he diverts attention by voicing a belief in the American myth of itself as a justly-emulated city-on-a-hill, "...the American supremacy that arose during the second half of the twentieth century was not a cumulative darkening of the sun but the recognition...of the plain facts of international life," (p. 640). He repeats, within the context of global terrorism, the lack of comprehension that economic exploitation and its enforcing militarism are unwelcome by the exploited and oppressed, claiming instead rejection of the US is motivated by unwholesome values: "...mass murder, surprise attack, and hatred borne by envy are inseparable from thousands of years of history," (p. 640). That Kennan's economic dictum is hidden by neo-Jacobian enforcement of the universality of American values goes unremarked. Instead he writes, "The goal since 1947 of wiring together the world by general prosperity...distances the U.S. presence...from all previous centuries of imperial ambition," (p. 642). The World Trade Organization, World Bank, and the "imperial ambition" of corporate globalization have missed Professor Leebaert's lesson that general prosperity, as opposed to US economic preeminence, has been the goal.

Throughout there is a negative view of state ownership of enterprise at any stage of the enterprise's development, or of the state's development. The last paragraph of the book that equates privatization of government with U.S. Cold War victory is unsupported. Much of the Conclusion diminishes the author's accomplishment by layering his ideology onto informative content.

Exhilirating and Exasperating.......2003-07-21

I bought the paperback version of this book because it had blurbs on it from both the Washington Times (conservative) and Washington Monthly (liberal). I thought a book on the Cold War appealing to both sides of the political spectrum might have something to offer.

It does. This is a book well worth reading. It is also a bit of a mess.

For the liberals, there's a sound thrashing of the CIA; a dim view of our involvement in Vietnam and other lesser countries hardly worthy of our notice; and a harsh assessment of talents, resources, and money wasted in frantic stop-and-start waves of over-reaction to dimly understood but sensationalized events like the Cuban missile crisis, for example.

For the conservatives, there's the claim that massive amounts of defensive spending notwithstanding, we were never a militarist society; the trashing of wimpy and wistful detente policy; and, most of all, there's Ronald Reagan, striding manfully onto the scene like, yes, John Wayne, with a resolve and vision lacking in all his predecessors combined, it seems, driving the Soviet Union to ruin at long last.

So how did Reagan do it? Well, he spent the Soviets into ruin. On Star Wars. Leebaert makes a good case for this. But massive spending on Star Wars - a still unproven defense strategy some 20 years later - is just the kind of military-university/academic-science/research-thinktank-policy wonk boondoggle he has such fun ridiculing for most of the book.

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The most important spiritual writings of Christian history are available on this Classics CD by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at Calvin College. It contains 118 Christian classics, including three versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Bible dictionaries, readings, spiritual guides, sermons, poems and journals -- all in a convenient, searchable form. Books are available in HTML and PDF formats. The easy-to-use CCEL Desktop software powering the CD enables users to browse and print books and install additional books from the Web. The top-of-class search engine can search for words or phrases in books, in authors works or in the whole library. In addition, it can search for dictionary definitions of words and commentary or references to scripture passages. The interface is a Web browser. The CD is compatible with Windows 2000+, Macintosh 10.3+, and most Linux versions.

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Less than the sum of its parts, unsatisfying conclusion
An interesting, yet flawed debut with lots of potential and little execution...
A new type of fantasy
Strong imagination, but weak plot and inconsistent writing
Inventive, bitter, funny, and oddly moving.

The Year of Our War
Steph Swainston
Manufacturer: Eos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060753870
Release Date: 2005-01-18

Book Description

Unique among his fellow immortals and mortal folk alike, Jant Comet can fly. His talent is a gift and a curse that has earned him a place in the Castle Circle as Messenger to the Emperor San -- soaring high and free above the bloody battlefields of his world, carrying word back to his master of progress and regress in the ever-escalating conflict between man and the awful armies of giant, flesh-devouring insects.

But while Jant's duty is to remain neutral in the petty squabbles and power plays of the fifty who will neither age nor die naturally, bitter rivalries that have festered for centuries now threaten to incite a savage civil war. And Jant may be the only being alive capable of stemming the onrushing tide of destruction and the unstoppable insect infestation. For only he can gain entrance -- through extreme doses of the narcotic that owns his soul -- into a place of darkest wonders and revelations; a strange and horrific alternate reality that none but Jant Comet believes exists.

A literary triumph of the first water -- bold, stylish, and breathtakingly original -- Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War ascends like a rocket to the upper reaches of the imagination and loudly heralds the arrival of a true modern master of the fantastic.

Customer Reviews:

Less than the sum of its parts, unsatisfying conclusion.......2007-08-17

This book certainly breaks out of the standard fantasy memes.

- Jant, the narrator, is a drug-addicted immortal with a shady past, so-so fighting skills, lots of self-pity and dubious morals.
- The world is in the throes of an implacable war with alien insects.
- There is an immortal emperor who bestows the gift of immortality upon his chosen champions, who are classified by archetypes.

Let's start out with Jant. Some reviewers dislike him because... he is so easily dislikable. For me, Jant is the best thing in the book. Elric of Melnibone was worse in his vices, if not his whining and it worked very well there. The _idea_ of Jant is a masterfully daring stroke, especially for a first novel. The actual development of Jant's character is weaker but still quite acceptable. Ata and Mist are also refreshingly flawed and complex. This is fiction after all - it is perfectly ok to be an evil jerk and get away with it.

The world and the insect war. Supposedly, that's what the whole book is about. Why then does it feel so contrived? Static trench warfare for centuries, without either party collapsing??? And the human nations are sometimes "not too motivated to fight"? (this is at the start of the book, before Staniel's paranoia btw). Like they really have a choice if their species' survival is at stake?

By the middle of the book, almost all the human territories (but not the castles) have been overrun and destroyed, but somehow they still keep fighting. Excuse me - supply problems, famine, population collapse? What do the insects eat in their lands? Even in the middle ages you needed some kind of economic base to wage wars. Doesn't help that the book's map looks like it was drawn by a fourth grader, with matching geographical credibility. Heck, if it had been left out, I wouldn't quite have picked up on the extent of the humans' territorial losses.

The immortal court and their bickering? The author could have done much, much more with the imperial court but got mostly side-tracked in the Lightning/Ata/Mist intrigues. Still, that intrigue, along with Jant, is the best part of this book.

One thing I found especially irritating at the beginning of the book was the almost perverse need to tease the reader with intriguing tidbits of info, without elaborating on them right away. A _bit_ of teasing can work wonders. But there was so much of it that it felt like the author worried that readers would abandon the book without her gimmicks. Indeed some concepts (the source of immortality for example) are not explained at all, presumably to motivate folks for the sequel. Mind you, there is no real conclusion/ending either which feels like sequelitis to me as well.

An interesting, yet flawed debut with lots of potential and little execution..........2007-02-09

Being a huge fan of fantasy in all of its varied forms - and with so many of today's books tending to follow tired formulas - I'm always drawn to material that is described as `fresh, original or inventive.' So when I was introduced to Steph Swainston and her highly praised fantasy series (The Year Of Our War, No Present Like Time), I was eager to delve into this fascinating new world starting with Ms. Swainston's debut The Year Of Our War. Unluckily for me, it wasn't quite what I expected.

Set in The Fourlands, The Year Of Our War focuses on three races (humans, winged yet flightless Awians and the mysterious Rhydanne) who have been at war for almost 2000 years with the giant, carnivorous, ant-like Insects. Aiding the Zascai (mortals) in their constant battle against the Insects are Emperor San and his chosen Circle of fifty Immortals (Eszai), each of whom are masters in a certain area (The Swordsman, The Sailor, The Blacksmith, etc.). While the majority of the book centers on battles against the Insects, the plot also includes court intrigues, marital disputes and doomed passions.

Narrating this entire story from a first-person point of view (and the occasional newspaper article or letter) is Comet Jant Shira, The Messenger, a half-Awian/half-Rhydanne Immortal unique in his ability to fly. As a central character Jant is not the most likeable fellow. First of all, he is not very well defined with only the occasional flashback or glimpse into his background, which is a shame, because there does seem to be a lot of exciting opportunities to explore here. Secondly, Comet has a weak personality, dominated by his addiction to the drug scolopendium (cat). While this adds a unique dimension to Mr. Jant, it's not enough to overshadow the weak dialogue or the schizophrenic manner in which the story is told. Worst of all, though portrayed as the main character, Jant rarely moves the tale forward on his own and seems to always be embroiled in the machinations of secondary players (Archer Lightning Micawater, Dunlin Rachiswater, Sailor Shearwater Mist, Ata Dei, Swallow Awndyn, etc.) who are even more one-dimensional than Comet.

As a whole, The Year Of Our War just wasn't my kind of fantasy. Part of it was the world itself, a cluttered amalgam of ideas that excelled in some areas like the land/sea battles versus the Insects and particularly the Shift - the highlight of the book, a highly imaginative alternate world where Jant goes to when he takes enough cat, though unfortunately is visited only rarely throughout the novel - while other themes either fall flat (the dramatic scenes involving mortals & immortals) or are just undeveloped (the Circle, the Rhydanne, the Insects, etc.). Personally, I think the main problem I had with the book was the writing itself. While I felt that the concept behind The Year Of Our War was solid enough, the execution with which it was brought to life was just too erratic, with Ms. Swainston's strengths lying in her descriptive prose of battles, scenery, etc., and her weakness sorely evident in the characterization, dialogue, plotting, and to some extent, the pacing. In the end, The Year Of Our War is a book that I'm not sure I can recommend, and in all honesty, I probably won't be reading its follow-up No Present Like Time anytime soon, though I will keep an eye on Steph Swainston, who I believe possesses the potential to become a much better writer...

A new type of fantasy.......2006-12-23

After a while, one grows tired of elves and orcs and barbarians and the typical fantasy stories. Steph Swainston has invented a new and unique world with none of the normal suspects in it, with great imagination that still leaves a lot to the readers to ponder.

She creates a world with mortals and immortals, where the immortals must earn their place by being the best at what they can do: the best swordsman, the best sailor, the best archer. Immortality is betowed upon them by the Emperor San...where he got the ability to do this is one of the mysteries of the series.

Jant Comet is one of the immortals, called the Messenger because of his unique ability to fly. Because he is the Emperor's Messenger, we get to see the politics of the realm, and even see Jant change a few things.

The Emperor's realm is at war with the Insects, who look like bugs many times the size of humans and who build paper nests out of counqueorer lands. Where the Insects have come from is yet another of the mysteries in the book and series.

Jant is an addict to a substance called Cat. Ms. Swainston's portrayl of Jant's addiction, in this book and the next, is dead on...she must have known or studied addicts quite closely.

Jant's addiction gives him entrance into a parallel world, a world he and we the readers are not sure is real until we explore it further. Then it becomes tied in with the Emperor's world and the Insects.

Ms. Swainston mixes political intrigue (immortals battling each other for position; non-immortals vs. the Emperor; mortals vying to become immortals), war (vividly imagines human vs. insect fighting scenes, shades of Stormship Troopers!), addiction and Jant's journey of self-discovery into an excellent fantasy novel. As an author, what I most admire about the writing is her ability to not tell the reader what is going on (at least for the big stuff) but to let us figure it out. The novel held me in suspense till the end, made we eager for the next (which is equally good).

Highly recommended.

Strong imagination, but weak plot and inconsistent writing.......2006-05-11

There can be pitfalls in coming to a book that has already received considerable notice. So it was for me with Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War, which has been received with extreme enthusiasm upon its 2004 UK publication. Now the book has a US edition. Had I come to the book without preconceptions, I suspect I would have been impressed by it as a promising first novel. But in the face of the praise it has received my first reaction is "Is that all?" In sum, The Year of Our War is an interesting book, with some fascinating ideas and images, but it is also a book that doesn't really work. The prose is acceptable but not outstanding, occasionally a bit clunky. The plot is rather a mess, with a terribly disappointing ending. (I wonder if the rest of the story that seems necessary is being held back as a sequel.) And the worldbuilding is a mix of some really neat stuff with some slapdash and unfinished-seeming aspects. None of this is surprising in a first novelist, and the weaknesses are just those things that I suspect will be much improved in subsequent outings.

The story is narrated in the first person by Comet Jant Shira, one of a Circle of Immortals in the Fourlands. The Immortals, or Eszai, are so created by the Emperor, and their duty is to help the Mortals (Zacsai) in the absence of God, who is taking time off. The Eszai have existed for about 2000 years, and Comet is the youngest. Each Eszai is deemed to be the best in the world at a certain vital talent. Comet is the Messenger. He is very fast, for two reasons: his half-Rhydanne ancestry, and his ability to fly. (There appear to be three interfertile species in the Fourlands: humans, the winged but non-flying Awians, and the near-feral Rhydanne. Comet is half-Awian/half-Rhydanne, and apparently the combination allows him to fly.)

All this is quite interesting on the face of it. Add to this the encroaching Insects, who have already occupied much former human or Awian territory, and who continue to advance. The War of the title is against the Insects. The novel opens with the Awian King, Dunlin Rachiswater, leading a suicide charge against the Insects. This leaves his throne in the hands of his very weak brother. His brother's disastrous mistakes lead to further Insect advances, which also lead to dissension in the ranks of the Eszai, particularly among two women who each wish to become Immortal in their own right, rather than by marriage.

The story also concerns Jant Shira's addiction to a drug called Cat. Much of this is a reasonably standard addiction story (with flashbacks to his pre-immortal life, his troubled upbringing as a [...]halfbreed, his love for his Awian wife and his lust for a Rhydanne girl). But the drug has a unique affect on him: it sends him to the Shift, apparently a parallel world, where he meets some already dead friends, including Dunlin Rachiswater. The sections in the Shift are gloriously fascinating, linguistically inventive and thoroughly weird in the best way. But they are a brief part of the book, and not really used very well. Other aspects of the plot are dribbled away -- the musician Swallow's quest for membership in the Circle is key for a while then more or less dropped, while the sailor Ata's feud with her Immortal husband takes over the end of the book. All these aspects promise to be interesting, but the book's structure doesn't really properly resolve any of them.

What we end up with, then, is a book that is rather less than the sum of its often fascinating parts. As presented, it drags for much of its length, and (for this reader at least) The Year of Our War was excessively confusing. And as I said the end is flat and inconclusive. That said, Swainston shows a really intriguing imagination, and there is every reason to hope that her imagination coupled with improvement in her craft will result in some first-rate work in the future.

Inventive, bitter, funny, and oddly moving. .......2006-04-08

I am in awe of Swainston's imagination and skill with prose. The Fourlands is a vivid place, and the readers are not insulted with too much exposition or contrived explanation. I like that she does not feel the need to work within typical fantasy tropes and that newspapers are as much a part of the Fourlands as swords are.

Many people compare Swainston to Mieville. With the exception of the genre-busting details. I do not think that the metaphor holds. I actually saw quite a bit of Zelazny in the book, with more than a few echoes of the Princes in Amber in the Circle and its inhabitants. Those are good echoes, by the way.

Jant is an immortal messenger, at least temporarily immortal-- so long as he can keep the favor of the Emperor. His mission is to help stop the bugs from taking over the Fourlands while negotiating the minefield between his wife and his lover. In between life-threatening events, he tries to find a moment to get a fix in peace. He is a clever and charming anti-hero and one of the strongest things in the book.

One of the finest new speculative fiction authors that I have read recently. Highly recommended.

Too Deep Were Our Roots: A Viennese Jewish memoir of the years between the two world wars

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Too Deep Were Our Roots: A Viennese Jewish memoir of the years between the two world wars
Sonia Wachstein
Manufacturer: Harbor Electronic Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Born just before World War I, Sonia Wachstein's earliest memories of her childhood in Vienna revolve around her family's house looking out over the peaceful Vienna Woods. She also recalls a post-war time of rampant inflation and unemployment. Long an intellectual and cultural capital, the city was also a place where the well-established Jewish community prospered.

But as the European political situation changed during the 1920s and 1930s, life for the assimilated Jews in Vienna began to change. Propelled by the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and later by the Nuremberg laws, Sonia's family and friends face increasing discrimination. Her travels to England, Italy, and Palestine-where there is little mention of the "Jewish problem"-underscore the dangers of ingrained anti-Semitism. When Austria is occupied by the German army in 1938, Sonia faces the tough choice of deciding whether to stay or leave-before it is too late to do so.

This riveting first-person account includes the stories of Bernhard Wachstein, Sonia's father, a prominent Jewish scholar; her brother Max, a doctor who is sent to Dachau; and many other friends and family members. And woven throughout are the themes of roots and identity, and the stark question: "what is to be done when homeland is no longer home?"

69 illustrations.

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A vibrant memoir of Jewish life in Vienna between the two World Wars. Woven throughout are the themes of roots and identity, and the stark question: ?what is to be done when homeland is no longer home? ?I read Sonia Wachstein?s memoir with a great deal of interest. It is a worthwhile story and she tells it well!? ?Peter Gay, author of My German Question: Growing up in Nazi Berlin.

Viet Nam: Front row center : the true-life account of a woman war correspondent's six-and-a-half years spent with our troops in South Viet Nam

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A rare and collectible book
Vietnam front row center

Viet Nam: Front row center : the true-life account of a woman war correspondent's six-and-a-half years spent with our troops in South Viet Nam
Patches Musgrove
Manufacturer: Patches Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Southeast Asia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0941751015

Customer Reviews:

A rare and collectible book.......2005-05-23

Gotta disagree with Russ McDonald on the pricing. This scarce collectible currently starts at $379 on the non-Amazon Internet book search engines. Perhaps is was $40 in May of 2004, but things change, and some books become rare. This is one of those books.

Vietnam front row center.......2004-05-10

Great lady, great book.This book tells a story about the war never before told. A must read.Book selling for 30/40 $$ on net, this price a big rip off.

History of the American privateers, and lettersofmarque, during our war with England in the years 1812, '13 and '14. Interspersed with several naval battles ... British shipsofwar. By George Coggeshall.

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History of the American privateers, and lettersofmarque, during our war with England in the years 1812, '13 and '14. Interspersed with several naval battles ... British shipsofwar. By George Coggeshall.
Michigan Historical Reprint Series
Manufacturer: Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | History | Historical Reproductions | Formats | Books

Australia & Oceania | History | Historical Reproductions | Formats | Books
ASIN: 1425557279
Release Date: 2005-12-22

Book Description

This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program.

A Cause for Our Times: Oxfam: The First 50 Years

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A Cause for Our Times: Oxfam: The First 50 Years
Maggie Black
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Nonprofit Organizations & Charities | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Oxfam is one of the best known and most successful charities in Britain. It is also one of the most controversial. This immensely readable history explores Oxfam's evolution from a small, local, wartime charity to Britain's largest overseas aid agency. From its initial mission to bring relief
to Greece during the darkest days of the Second World War, to the recent Charity Commission investigation into its campaigning activities, Oxfam has rarely been out of the news. Widely respected and supported, but sometimes regarded with suspicion, its humanitarian mission has never been "safe,"
whether in Africa or Vietnam, Central America or the Middle East; whether in hard-hitting fund-raising or educational activity, in nagging governments into helping famine victims or flying mercy cargoes into the teeth of conflict. In keeping with that tradition, Maggie Black, an experienced author
and journalist, explores those engagements with a critical eye. In so doing, she projects Oxfam's own development against a backdrop of changing ideas in international affairs and charitable giving of which its growth is both an inspiration and an expression.

The War Years, 1939-1945 (A Nonconformist History of Our Times)

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The War Years, 1939-1945 (A Nonconformist History of Our Times)
I. F. Stone
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (P)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0316817775

1849-1865 The Civil War Years (Our Great Heritage...from the beginning, 6)

Average customer rating:

Marvelous!

1849-1865 The Civil War Years (Our Great Heritage...from the beginning, 6)

Manufacturer: Consolidated Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000DZM7GM

Product Description

ISBN= 0832624020

Customer Reviews:

Marvelous!.......2006-04-24

This is a marvelous, easy to read 12 volume series covering the Civil War years. It's appropriate for young adults, middle grade children, and adults.

The Best Years of Our Lives: The Good Old Days

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The Best Years of Our Lives: The Good Old Days
Ken Tate
Manufacturer: House of White Birches
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1592170536

Product Description

They were the best years of our lives. The World War was over, and so was the Great Depression. The GI Bill put millions of returning servicemen and women in college -- the largest proportional boom in college ranks in history. The growing economy was equaled by a growing populace as wartime sweethearts married and started a boom of their own -- the Baby Boom. Maybe peace wouldn't last forever, but we thought it would. And in those golden days we enjoyed the best years of our lives.

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