The Forever War

Amazon.com

In the 1970s Joe Haldeman approached more than a dozen different publishers before he finally found one interested in The Forever War. The book went on to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, although a large chunk of the story had been cut out before it saw publication. Now Haldeman and Avon Books have released the definitive version of The Forever War, published for the first time as Haldeman originally intended. The book tells the timeless story of war, in this case a conflict between humanity and the alien Taurans. Humans first bumped heads with the Taurans when we began using collapsars to travel the stars. Although the collapsars provide nearly instantaneous travel across vast distances, the relativistic speeds associated with the process means that time passes slower for those aboard ship. For William Mandella, a physics student drafted as a soldier, that means more than 27 years will have passed between his first encounter with the Taurans and his homecoming, though he himself will have aged only a year. When Mandella finds that he can't adjust to Earth after being gone so long from home, he reenlists, only to find himself shuttled endlessly from battle to battle as the centuries pass. --Craig E. Engler

Book Description

Private William Mandella is a hero in spite of himself -- a reluctant conscript drafted into an elite military unit, and propelled through space and time to fight in a distant thousand-year conflict. He never wanted to go to war, but the leaders on Earth have drawn a line in the interstellar sand -- despite the fact that their fierce alien enemy is unknowable, unconquerable, and very far away. So Mandella will perform his duties without rancor and even rise up through the military's ranks . . . if he survives. But the true test of his mettle will come when he returns to Earth. Because of the time dilation caused by space travel the loyal soldier is aging months, while his home planet is aging centuries -- and the difference will prove the saying: you never can go home. . .

Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction

Average customer rating:

AN EYE OPENER!!!!
An Excellent Primer on Reconstruction
Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights
An Introduction to Reconstruction
Recycled text; pictures excellent

Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction
Eric Foner
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0375702741
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Amazon.com

A Timeline of Emancipation

In Forever Free, Eric Foner, the leading historian of America's Reconstruction era, reexamines one of the most misunderstood periods of American history: the struggle to overthrow slavery and establish freedom for African Americans in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. Forever Free is extensively illustrated, with visual essays by scholar Joshua Brown discussing the images of the period alongside Foner's text.

1787 The United States Constitution is ratified, containing several protections for slavery, including the Fugitive Slave Clause, three-fifths clause, and a cause prohibiting the abolition of the slave trade from Africa before 1808.

1829-31 Publication of Appeal ... to the Coloured Citizens of the World by David Walker and The Liberator, a weekly newspaper edited by William Lloyd Garrison, marks the emergence of a new, militant abolitionist movement.

Diagram of a slave ship from an 1808 report

1831 August 22 Nat Turner launches a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, resulting in the deaths of 55 whites persons before the uprising is crushed.

1846 August Congress adjourns after intense sectional debate over the Wilmot Proviso, a proposal to prohibit slavery in all territory acquired in the Mexican-American War.

1860 November 6 Election of Abraham Lincoln as president, representing the anti-slavery Republican Party

1861 February 4 Seven seceded southern states form the Confederate States of America

April 12 The Confederate attack on South Carolina's Fort Sumter begins the Civil War.

A woodcut published in an 1831 account of the Nat Turner uprising

May 24 Gen. Benjamin F. Butler declares fugitive slaves at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, "contraband of war," who will not be returned to their owners.

August 6 First Confiscation Act provides for the emancipation of slaves employed as laborers by the Confederate army.

1862 April 16 Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation to loyal owners, and also appropriates funds for "colonization" of freed slaves outside the United States.

July 17 Second Confiscation Act frees slaves of disloyal owners.

September 22 Five days after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which warns the South that if the rebellion has not ended by January 1, he will emancipate the slaves. It also promises aid to states that adopt plans for gradual, compensated emancipation and refers to colonization of freed people outside the country.

1863 January 1 Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in areas under Confederate control. It exempts Tennessee and parts of Louisiana and Virginia and does not apply to the border states, and also authorizes the enlistment of black soldiers.

"Contrabands" in Cumberland Landing, Virginia, May 1862

July 30 Lincoln insists black Union soldiers captured by the Confederate army be treated as prisoners of war, not escaped slaves as Confederate president Jefferson Davis has threatened.

December 8 Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty of Reconstruction, offering a pardon and restoration of property (except slave property) to Confederates who take an oath of allegiance to the Union.

1864 September 5 New constitution of Louisiana abolishes slavery; new constitutions in Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee follow suit in the next six months.

November 8 Lincoln reelected as president.

January 16 Gen. William T. Sherman issues Special Field Order 15, setting aside land in coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida for settlement by black families in 40-acre plots.

March 3 Congress orders emancipation of wives and children of black soldiers.

March 13 Confederate Congress authorizes enlistment of black soldiers.

April 11 In the last speech before his death, two days after Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox, Lincoln favors limited black suffrage in the South.

Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln, Washington, DC

April 14 Assassination of Lincoln.

December 18 Ratification of the 13th Amendment irrevocably abolishes slavery throughout the United States.

1866 April 9 Over the veto of President Andrew Johnson, Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, establishing citizenship of black Americans and requiring that they be accorded equality before the law, principles later written into the Constitution in the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868.

John Wilkes Booth assassinates Lincoln, April 1865

1867 March 2 Congress passes the Reconstruction Act, again over President Johnson's veto, extending the right to vote to black men in the South and inaugurating the era of Radical Reconstruction, America's first experiment in interracial democracy.

1877 February After intense bargaining to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876, Democrats agree to recognize Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president, and Hayes agrees to end federal support for remaining Reconstruction governments.

A March 1867 cartoon, following the passage of the Reconstruction Act, shows President Johnson and his southern allies angrily watching African Americans vote.

Book Description

From one of our most distinguished historians comes a groundbreaking new examination of the myths and realities of the period after the Civil War.

Drawing on a wide range of long-neglected documents, Eric Foner places a new emphasis on black experiences and roles during the era. We see African Americans as active agents in overthrowing slavery, in shaping Reconstruction, and creating a legacy long obscured and misunderstood. He compellingly refutes long-standing misconceptions of Reconstruction, and shows how the failures of the time sowed the seeds of the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s. Richly illustrated and movingly written, this is an illuminating and essential addition to our understanding of this momentous era.

Customer Reviews:

AN EYE OPENER!!!!.......2007-08-15

As a Civil War Buff, I never read very much about Reconstruction, unless it was an appendage to a book about the Civil War or the years following th Civil War.

However, this book opened my eyes to the true facts of the Reconstruction - in painstaking detail and with much informative narrative, Eric Foner, quoting specific individuals and presenting historical facts about Afro-American conventions and gatherings -- tells us about the part that proud Afro-Americans, newly and joyfully liberated from their former slave years, met, convened, conferred and became leaders in their community -- statesmen, lawmakers and governors of towns, and VOTERS.

However, this freedom, this growth, this liberty was short lived, as President Johnson and the Democratic party of that time effectively put an end to this, not only squashing the Afro-American right to be citizens, but to amend a Constitutional Amendment to further deprive them of their rights and liberty.

The North, as well as the South was to blame for this.

Illustrations, quotes, anecdotes and supporting documentation as well as related input from the early Women Suffrage leaders make for a fascinating historical document that should be in every library and on every reading list.

An Excellent Primer on Reconstruction.......2007-06-16

Author Eric Foner's Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction focuses on the period of United States history from before the Civil War through the period of Reconstruction, with an epilogue that speaks to Civil Rights in the modern era. Throughout the text are six essays written and illustrated by Joshua Brown, the executive director of the American Social History Project. Five distinctive areas are highlighted throughout the text which include the following: the period before the Civil War, mainly concentrating on slavery and the lives of slaves; the Civil War itself, including Abraham Lincoln's strategies and the Emancipation Proclamation; Presidential Reconstruction with President Andrew Johnson; Radical Reconstruction directed by Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant; and the aforementioned Civil Rights in the modern era. Essays written by Brown highlight artwork and photography of the era and attempt to show the mood of the print media with regards to racism and the struggle to integrate American society. Noteworthy is the fact that the book was written in the politically correct times of the early twenty-first century when blacks are described as African-Americans, though Caucasians are described as whites and other ethnic groups like Asian-Americans are described as Chinese.

The life of the average slave is correctly described as dismal throughout the opening chapters. "The Peculiar Institution," as it is called, focused on plantations where slave labor "...was far more demanding than in household slavery, and the death rate among slaves much higher." Descriptions of slavery permeate the text, even listing the hardships slaves endured while being transported to the United States from Africa. One such passage states that the decks on the ships were "`...only 18 inches, so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides...and here they are usually chained to the decks by their necks and legs.'"

Battles and atrocities of the war itself are not mentioned in much detail; rather the political battles are the point of focus. On the opening page of the text, General William T. Sherman's "March to the Sea" is described thusly: "Less than three weeks earlier, Sherman, at the head...had captured the city [Savannah] completing his March to the Sea, which cut a swath of destruction...." Not mentioned is the mayhem and criminal behavior exerted by his army which most historians regard as fact. Although many believe the Civil War was exclusively about slavery, Foner does point out that even Lincoln was slow to embrace emancipation and could not support a biracial living arrangement post-war with black leaders. He suggested emigration to Central America or the Caribbean and in December 1861 "...signed an agreement with a shady entrepreneur to settle former slaves on an island off the coast of Haiti." Moreover, the Emancipation Proclamation, "...perhaps the most misunderstood important document in American history," does not have a purpose. Due to Constitutional constraints, it only freed slaves who were held in areas controlled by the Confederacy. It did not free slaves in Border States that did not secede from the Union but still practiced slavery.

Following the surrender of Confederate forces in April 1865, the period termed "Presidential Reconstruction" began in 1865 and ran until 1868. This was President Andrew Johnson's, "...promise of a quick restoration of the Union... [and] a return to normality...." Since Johnson was a Southerner and a true federalist, not much changed under his leadership. Johnson's failures led to a period known as "Radical Reconstruction" and lasted until 1877. This tumultuous period was "...the only attempt by a national government in league with emancipated slaves to fashion an interracial democracy from a slave society." During Radical Reconstruction, three Constitutional amendments were passed; the President of the United States was impeached for the first time in the nation's history; and the radical group named the Ku Klux Klan was formed. Furthermore, the federal government gained the ability to override states' rights with regards to the principle of equal civil rights.

Forever Free concludes with an assessment of the failure of the Reconstruction era, saying that blacks briefly left the servitude of slavery, then quietly returned, being only slightly better off than before. Segregation and discrimination still remained throughout the country, but was especially strong in the south. This failure to properly develop the country in a biracial way has caused many of the issues that are still faced by the United States, including segregation that lasted until the 1960s and discrimination that still exists to this day. The author attempts to show that the failures of Reconstruction are the causes of racial tensions and the reasons for failures of blacks to attain equality. Unfortunately, he fails to hold the black community accountable for some of its own shortcomings, like the high out-of-wedlock birthrate, the greater occurrences of fatherless homes, and the increasing high school dropout rate. The "Second Reconstruction" of the mid-1960s was abandoned just as the first Reconstruction was due to economic and political necessity with still more work to be done.

Overall, one cannot help but feel that Reconstruction was an abysmal failure and that many whites in the South were outright racists. It is difficult to imagine how another civil war did not take place, albeit on a smaller scale, during the two years immediately following the cessation of hostilities based upon the climate that existed in the South. Although Forever Free details events during the almost twenty year period from the beginnings of the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction, very little is written about that is positive. Further, fuller explanations of certain events are not included. For example, as mentioned earlier, Sherman's "March to the Sea" is only referred to casually without descriptions of the pure horror his army unleashed on parts of the south that might have affected the behavior by some Southerners after the war. Foner also fails to fully expand upon Andrew Johnson's impeachment, a historically significant event which led to the loss of power by the president and for all practical purposes, the country being run by Congress. This resulted in the election of another corrupt president, Ulysses S. Grant, in 1868. Finally, one is struck by the negative portrayals of black Americans throughout the period. According to Brown, there was little, if any, artwork or photographic images of blacks that did not exploit them or show them as lazy or less than intelligent. The tone of the book was negative and will lead those who are unknowledgeable about Reconstruction to believe that very little good came of it.

Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights.......2007-04-29

Forever Free, by Eric Foner, is a condensed telling of how African-Americans went from slaves to full citizens. While not as detailed as his book on Reconstruction, or even as detailed as his Short History of Reconstruction, Foner's Forever Free does a good job introducing the reader to the struggles the freed blacks faced after emancipation in the 1860s, and the hardships they faced through a hundred years of Jim Crow and intimidation, north and south, to the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th Century.

An Introduction to Reconstruction.......2006-05-25

As a result of Ken Burns's famous television series, "The Civil War" many Americans learned about this seminal event in our history. For all its virtues, Burns's series was properly criticized for deemphasizing the role of slavery in the conflict and for not focusing on the impact of the Civil War on African Americans.

Eric Foner's "Forever Free" is part of an ambitious project designed to carry forward the Civil War story with emphasis on Emancipation an on the attempt to reconstruct the South to produce a true multi-racial society. The book is part of an ongoing effort by the Forever Free Foundation to produce a film to make the story of Reconstruction accessible and understandable to a broad audience. Foner is Professor of History at Columbia University and the author of among other things, "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863 -- 1877 a detailed scholarly study of this controversial period. He is assisted in this book by Joshua Brown, executive director of the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at the City University of New York. In the book, Brown complements Foner's text with six chapters of photographs, drawings and other artifacts of popular American culture illustrating the changing perception of African Americans.

Until relatively recently, many historians treating Reconstruction saw it as a tragic mistake -- as an attempt by Radical Republicans to foist corrupt governments on the defeated South dominated by unscrupulous whites and uneducated African Americans and to take vengeance on the South for the Civil War. The African American historian W.E.B. DuBois was among the first to challenge this view with his book "Black Reconstruction" and Foner, and many contemporary historians, follow in his footsteps. While recognizing the failings of Reconstruction, Foner sees it as a noble effort to end slavery and to give all Americans, white and African Americans, political and economic rights and to create, for the first time, a society truly approximating ideals of equality. Reconstruction ultimately failed due to the war-weariness and indifference of the North and to resistance and frequently terrorism within the white South.

Foner tells a complex story simply and clearly. This is not a book that breaks new scholarly ground. The book is intended for a large public which, in general, lacks a detailed understanding of our Nation's history. Foner begins with a brief discussion of slavery in the pre-War South and follows this with a discussion of the Civil War focusing on President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863), its importance and its effect. But the heart of the story lies in the Reconstruction years, as Foner describes President Andrew Johnson's conciliatory policy of Presidential Reconstruction followed by the Constitutional Amendments of the Reconstruction years and Congressional Reconstruction's attempt to give meaning to ideals of freedom and equality. The story draws upon difficult events on the national arena and on complex events in each of the Southern states. Ultimately, Reconstruction was defeated, or rather postponed, following the disputed Presidential election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877. Foner describes the reinstitution of Jim Crow in the South which aimed to keep African Americans in subjection. An all too brief concluding section discusses the Civil Rights movement and America's ongoing struggle to secure racial equality.

The photographic commentary, both in Foner's text and in Brown's essays, adds a great deal of immediacy to the book, not the least of which derives from showing the reader some of the popular culture of the day. Many will find this unfamiliar and fascinating.

The Reconstruction era remains a too-little known and highly controversial area of our history. It will encourage the reader to engage with the topic and to think about freedom and its significance and of the promise of America. The book includes a brief bibliography for those moved to further reading and study.

Robin Friedman

Recycled text; pictures excellent.......2006-04-30

This is a rehash of Foner's earlier books on Reconstruction. Nothing new there, except that his Marxism is finally out of the closet. (His main criticism of Reconstruction is that it was not seized as an opportunity for land redistribution and the introduction of socialism in the US). The alternating chapters on photos by Joshua Brown are, in pleasant contrast, fascinating, new and well-done. Foner chapters: 0 stars; Brown chapters: 5 stars; thus average rating.

Race Forever/Escape/Lost on the Amazon/Prisoner of the Ant People/Trouble on Planet Earth/War with the Evel Power Master (Choose Your Own Adventure 7-12) (Box Set 2)

Average customer rating:

Choose Your Own Adventure
Great reading for people of all ages
NOT the original books
Paths Too Short
My 9-year-old LOVES these

Race Forever/Escape/Lost on the Amazon/Prisoner of the Ant People/Trouble on Planet Earth/War with the Evel Power Master (Choose Your Own Adventure 7-12) (Box Set 2)
R. A. Montgomery
Manufacturer: Chooseco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

All Children's Boxed Sets | Children's Books | Boxed Sets | Formats | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Boxed Sets | Formats | Books

Literature | Children's Books | Boxed Sets | Formats | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1933390921

Product Description

This 6-book boxed set of interactive, children's classics include: Race Forever * Escape * Lost on the Amazon * Prisoner of the Ant People * Trouble on Planet Earth * War With the Evil Power Master

Customer Reviews:

Choose Your Own Adventure.......2007-09-10

These books are fantastic - I have fond memories of them from my childhood. As a school teacher, they are a wonderful read aloud. I let the children vote everytime there is a choice. They think they're great!

Great reading for people of all ages.......2007-09-03

We have read Choose Your Own Adventure 1-6, and our 7 year old son, my husband & I were glued to every book. The books are well written, interesting & intriguing. Not too scary but gripping. We highly reccomend these books to everyone. They can be read & reread, a real plus.

NOT the original books.......2007-04-20

My children have been enjoying some of my old Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 80's, so when I saw this rerelease of several classic books for such a reasonable price, I bought it for them. Well, apparently R.A. Montgomery wasn't able to get the rights on the original illustrations, so he had a bunch of freelance designers from Thailand draw replacement pictures for each of them, and they are AWFUL. Not just 'different,' but shockingly, unignorably BAD -- they look like cartoons drawn carelessly by teenagers, with no sense of proportion, anatomy, lighting, or anything else. The drawings in "Mystery of the Maya" are not bad but most of the others are so terrible they render the books unreadable. Leaving them unillustrated would have been better than this. Find used copies of the originals (most of which are for sale cheap on Amazon) or just pick something else to read.

Paths Too Short.......2007-03-30

You make one or two choices and the book is over. They should only have a few endings and make each path longer.

My 9-year-old LOVES these.......2007-01-10

We bought these books for our son because we remembered how much we loved them at his age. They are much quicker reads than I remember, but he loves them, so they get 5 stars. One book takes him less than 45 minutes to get through. He hasn't gotten to the stage where he goes back and makes different choices yet, but I'm sure he'll become even more fond of them then.

We Saw It Through: History of the Three Thirty First (331st) Combat Team - Today Tomorrow Forever. [World War II]

Average customer rating:

We Saw It Through: History of the Three Thirty First (331st) Combat Team - Today Tomorrow Forever. [World War II]
Jack M. Straus
Manufacturer: Printed By F. Bruckmann K.-G.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KCXLPE

The Politics of War: The Story of Two Wars Which Altered Forever the Political Life of the American Republic 1890-1920

Average customer rating:

A fantastic study in American history
Lao Tzu & Janet2
A Great Bit of Contrarian History
Wars that destroy Republics
A great history book.

The Politics of War: The Story of Two Wars Which Altered Forever the Political Life of the American Republic 1890-1920
Walter Karp
Manufacturer: Moyer Bell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spain | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1879957558

Customer Reviews:

A fantastic study in American history.......2006-12-06

Walter Karp's "The Politics of War" is simply the most concise and powerful study in history I've ever read. Simply by sticking to the premise that history is made not by anonymous "forces" but by men of power acting out of self-interest, Karp turns stuff that was frankly dull in your high school textbooks - you remember the names: the Progressive Era, the gold standard, William Jennings Bryan, the Lusitania - into something not only gripping, but eerily reminiscent of what our nation is currently experiencing. Karp's portrait of Woodrow Wilson as a self-deluded, self-righteous, vainglorious would-be messiah determined to drag an unwilling nation into war to suit his own dreams of glory is especially powerful and damning.

The final chapter, "The Old America That Was Free and Is Now Dead," is simply the most powerful piece of writing I've ever read in a nonfiction work, comparable only to the conclusion of Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem." No one could ever accuse Walter Karp of hating his country; he hated what a few people had done to it, and that, as all too many would like us to forget these days, is something very different.

Lao Tzu & Janet2.......2006-03-24

I am a student of history and enjoyed this book. It gives a real good look at behind the scene at political manipulation on a national level and you can draw comparisons to the present administration.

A Great Bit of Contrarian History.......2005-03-22

This book is most provocative in its treatment of the generally revered Woodrow Wilson and the story of how (according to Karp) he cynically engineered our entry into WW I, motivated by Anglophilia and a messianic (and in Karp's view delusional) conviction that he could bring a new era of peace and justice to the world.

A number of books have made similar allegations about FDR and our entry into WW II, but at the end of the day, who cares? Does anyone really think the world would be a better place if the U.S. had stayed out of World War II?

WW I was quite a different kettle of fish, as Karp points out. It was not in any way clear that the U.S. had something to gain from involving itself in a sordid struggle in which neither side held the moral high ground. And Karp argues rather convincingly that Wilson was played for a fool -- he tipped the balance to Britain's Lloyd George and France's Clemenceau, only to see these enormously cynical and skillful politicians torpedo his "just peace" in favor of viciously punitive terms which ultimately led to the rise of Adolph Hitler.

Karp also discusses Wilson's suppression of free speech and his aggressive use of propaganda in favor of the war effort.

Karp was a frequent contributor to Harper's magazine who unfortunately died quite young a number of years ago. This little-known book should be read by anyone interested in America in the WW I era and in the development of modern American political culture. It's also worth studying if you want to understand better why U.S. public opinion was so resolutely isolationist up until the attack on Pearl Harbor. Wilson got his war, but the experience left a very bad taste in the mouth of the American public.

Wars that destroy Republics.......2004-12-12

Karp, author of the brilliant book Indispensable Enemies, comes through again in this fascinating history book. Karp's underlying premise is that polticians start wars to destroy internal reforms wanted by the people. Here he shows how the Progressive movement was stymied by the Democrats and Republicans, with war as their chosen instrument.

Part I is a history of the Spanish-American War and here Karp shows how both parties colluded to bring on an unnecessary war. He firmly disagrees with the traditional historians who blame the war on the press. Part II continues this analysis, applied this time to the years leading up to another unnecessary war, World War I. Karp shows how Wilson drags the country into war, while all the time talking of peace. Once again the motivation is the same: thwart reform at home. Once the war has begun, Wilson uses the fake threat of German treachery to suppress the press and free speech of the American public. The last chapter is particularly chilling, as Karp gives the example of a woman jailed for saying the government is for the profiteers.

No political history has ever been done better. I am proud to give this book a 5 star rating and encourage anyone interested in history or politics to read this book.

A great history book........2004-04-01

This is one of the best history books I have read in a long time.The first part of the book is about America's involvment in the Spanish American War and is very interesting,but it is the rest of the book,which deals with America's long slide into WWI that makes the book great.Karp totally demolishes all the old fairy tales about "peace loving" Woodrow Wilson being reluctantly forced into declaring war on Germany in 1917.Instead we see a Wilson who worked tirelessly for three years to drag the US into the war against the wishes of the vast majority of his nation's people.As Karp shows,Wilson and his ambassador in England,Walter Hines Page,virtually committed treason in their efforts to get the US into the war,routinely ignoring British violations of America's neutral rights and generaly putting the interests of England ahead of their own nation.The resistance of the American people was able to block Wilson's ambitions for almost three years,but in the end the wishes of the people didn't matter and the politicians(plus the press and Wall Street) got the war they had been hoping for.Sounds familiar doesn't it?

Average customer rating:

Would have made good short stories.
With delicacy, sensitivity and extraordinary imagination.
Almost Forever
Beautiful!

Almost Forever
Maria Testa
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0763633666
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Book Description

"Rapt readers don’t need to know anything about Vietnam to understand love, loss, fear, and waiting. A tour de force." — KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

When the six-year-old narrator of this lyric novel watches her father march off to serve a year in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, a year seems like a very long time. A year is a long time when you’re waiting for letters, waiting for word. A year is almost forever when you’re wondering . . .and forgetting. Maria Testa has written a taut and tender American ballad of one family’s experience in the year 1968 — an ultimately heartening novel that has much to say to a new generation of readers.

Customer Reviews:

Would have made good short stories........2006-04-21

Maria Testa, Almost Forever (Candlewick, 2003)

First off: the sentiment that lies behind these pieces is not a bad one, certainly. This probably would have made a good book of short stories (or, god help us, this decade's literary buzzword: "flash fiction"). When reading a book of poems, a reader should be looking at the sentiment behind the pieces last of all.

Why? Because writing, and poetry more so than most writing, only starts off being about the conveyance of sentiment-- or ideas, or feelings, or anything else. Reading solely from the perspective of gleaning the sentiment, the ideas, the feelings, etc. is not a bad thing-- after all, if you're reading for pleasure at all, you're still ahead of the game-- but you may not be realizing what you're missing.

I'm not talking about all that stuff they told you in English class when you were in high school about symbolism, deeper meanings, that sort of thing. That's all analysis that you do consciously. And while deep reading makes that sort of analysis easier, I'm talking about something even deeper: the way you experience reading on an instinctual level, how you read subconsciously. How you feel the words, rather than simply how you process them.

No book has ever conveyed a feeling perfectly, and certainly not to every person. However, some books, without doubt, convey feelings better than other books to the vast majority of people who read them. Think about the enduring significance of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Whether or not you're a fan of Shakespeare's, you have to admit that four hundred years after its premiere, Romeo and Juliet has stood the test of time; snatches of its dialogue have been cultural touchstones for the idea of forbidden love for centuries. Now compare it with the flash in the pan that was Robert Gover's The Hundred-Dollar Misunderstanding. This, too, was a piece of writing about forbidden love. It has been out in the wild for about a tenth of the time that Romeo and Juliet has, and there are, perhaps, as many people alive in the world today who remember it as there are number of dollars mentioned in the title (and I can guarantee you at least one of us does not remember it with anything approaching fondness). Why has Romeo and Juliet endured and The Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding died a relatively quick and painful death? Because of the way in which each is written, more than anything. Romeo and Juliet is full of insight into affairs of the human heart. It's witty, clever, it coined some phrases the we still use in common speech. It presents its young lovers as Everyman and Everywoman and surrounds them with a strong cast of supporting players; no one who has ever read the Nurse can forget her. Shakespare tells his story by telling his story; while his characters are wont to pause and explain a point or two now and again, the amount of time spent explaining points compared to the amount of time telling the story is small. (Compare to, say, Moby-Dick, in which a full, and horrible, third of the book is devoted to stopping plot for advancing theme-- one of the single most unreadable passage in the history of literature. But I digress, and as I'm already inside a lengthy digression... but I digress. Again.) The Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding first makes the mistake of being half-told in thick, garbled dialect, and is fully concerned with relating the events as they're being reflected upon by the participants. (Yes, folks, nothing actually happens in this book, we're just told about it.) When you stop and reflect on something that's happened to you, what do you do? You editorialize in your head. Of course you do; this is human nature, the mind's way of attaching significance to memory. What this style of presentation allows an author is a way for said author to also editorialize. This leads to the "message novel," where the author, believing you are an uneducated imbecile, will assume that you are incapable of understanding anything presented subtly, and proceed to ram his points home with all the style and grace of someone hammering a dead mackerel into your eye with a rubber mallet. Romeo and Juliet, to get back to the original point of this never-ending paragraph, is a play that allows its viewer to feel what Romeo and Juliet are going through; The Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding is a book that is quintessentially incapable of making its readers feel anything but annoyance and disgust with its writer that he could have produced such forgettable, inane, unreadable tripe.

"What does all this have to do with a young adult book of poetry?", you're likely asking yourself. Well, it's a very long way of saying that some forms of writing are more effective than others. Writers down through the ages have identified effective ways to write-- things one can do that heighten the conveyance of emotion to the maximum number of readers. And while it's an easy enough thing to list them, it's more effective to point them out. Consider:

"Mama was listening
carefully
to the news
on the radio
as she drove,
and raindrops were
drumming
loudly
on the roof
of our car,
and my brother was humming."
(--"Backseat Conversation")

First off, adverbs (here, "carefully" and "loudly") are widely, and correctly, considered weak words: they're easy to throw in and convey their feeling in the laziest of ways. Can you think of a better way to say "carefully" or "loudly"? Of course you can. Second, putting a single word on a line gives that word a sense of great importance in a poem; being set off by itself, a single word on a line requires great weight, often being the crux of the poem. (This is a great way to get one's point across subtly, by the way.) In this case, in a single strophe of this poem, we have three single-line words. How important can any one of them be? (And two of them, to top it off, are adverbs.)

Most importantly, perhaps, is the prose test. Take the poem and rewrite it as prose. If it does not lose any of its power being presented as prose, what you have is not a poem:

"Mama was listening carefully to the news on the radio as she drove, and raindrops were drumming loudly on the roof of our car, and my brother was humming."

What you have is a run-on sentence.

The book jacket calls Almost Forever "...a taut and tender American ballad...". First off, "ballad" is a particular style of poem, not a synonym for "poem." And were this actually a ballad, which involves a strict rhythm and rhyme scheme, it might well have been a better book. That it is tender is not something that can be disputed (and shouldn't be); "taut," on the other hand, is very much a function of form, and here the book fails. The single passage quoted above should be more than enough of an example of why, for the reasons stated.

Testa has good raw material to work with, but these poems are first drafts. They have the potential to be extremely effective, but at this point, potential is all they have. **

With delicacy, sensitivity and extraordinary imagination........2004-07-01

It is Christmas time in 1967 and a family is decorating the Christmas tree. Out of the blue a letter arrives telling the family that "Daddy" must serve in Vietnam as a doctor to the soldiers fighting there. Christmas seems to disappear. In fact, the warmth of life seems to vanish and is replaced with "Do Not" signs and worry for Daddy.

Each small chapter tells a story about what that year was like, as seen through the eyes of a child. The young narrator and her brother observe so many small things that an adult probably would miss. For example, the children notice that all of Daddy's army things are green. The brother asks his sister "What's not your favorite color?" to which she answers "Green." They hate the color that is taking their father from them.

As we read the short 'pictures' of that lonely year, we get a feel for the family's daily life. For the two children and their mother, the highlight of their days becomes reading Daddy's letters. The letters are their way of knowing that he is safe and doing well. For their mother the newsman on television becomes someone special because he gives her news about what is happening in Vietnam. Sometimes, when the family goes to the park to play, they see demonstrators there. These are the kinds of things that happen from day to day and from week to week.

But then normality and routine cease and Daddy is declared "missing." What follows is a dreadful time. Testa takes us into the hearts and souls of this terrified family and we can only sit on the edge of our seats and hope. We are able to feel the suffering and despair of this family and understand how war is the servant of generals and the heartbreak of civilians.

With delicacy, sensitivity and extraordinary imagination, Testa once again proves herself to be an exceptional wordsmith and has created a book that could be telling the story of any family, at any time, living through any war.

--- Reviewed by Marya Jansen-Gruber (mjansengruber@mindspring.com)

Almost Forever.......2004-04-23

I liked this book for many reasons,but I wont talk about all of them.I liked this book because it was short. Almost Forever was only 69 pages.The book was about a dad that goes to vietnam and leaves his family behindand this is another reason I liked this book , it makes you relize what life without a dad is like.This book talks about what the children think and since I am a child I thought that was interesting.

The worst part of amost forever was when they talked about the old man at the second window giving them lollipops .I didnt think that was very important it had nothing to do with the theme of the story.

The most vivid part of this bookwas when the little girl was saying how her brother would kiss the picture of their dad until you couldnt see his face anymore.Another vivid part was when the little girl was asking her brother if he thought their dad knew what they were doing.The brother would always say no bout the little girl just kept asking more and more questions.

Beautiful!.......2003-12-31

I was intrigued by this book's cover and quite touched by the excerpt on the back, but I didn't read it until a coworker told me how much she enjoyed it. I was surprised and delighted to find a children's book written in verse; children get too little exposure to poetry these days, it seems.

This little story could have easily been sappy and overly sentimental, but it is not. It is truthful and affecting. I like the way the lines are put together, the imagery used and the raw emotions conveyed with such touching understatement. I think this is an excellent read for children and adults.

Average customer rating:
The Forever War

Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739453432

Product Description

SFBC 50th Anniversay Collection This book looks rather "science fiction" in nature someone had quite an imaginative idea of what 1997 would be like...here you can read about distant planets and how you jump from one to the other all in the year 1997...did I miss something??? This is rather comediac rather than SciFi because you and I have lived through 1997...Still a good read and I would recommend it to anyone!!!

I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War

Average customer rating:

Excellent account
story of the nez pierce
A Heartbreaker!
A Story of How Everything Went Wrong
A well-done piece of Native American history.

I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War
Merrill D. Beal
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0295740094

Customer Reviews:

Excellent account .......2006-12-31

A tremendous amount of study involved; Beal received help from National Park services, College officials, archivists, and historical societies. There is an extensive bibliography for further study. Keep a dictionary close. Through eye witness reports we observe the details of the battles, the strategies used, the men who fought, the traversing of the land, the heartache, the despair, and the sadness. Descriptions of the chiefs and officers are also detailed. Misconceptions will be laid to rest.

Joseph was considered the leader of the Nez Perce, but there were many chiefs. It is not till towards the end of the book where we hear most of his words. He was a man of great wisdom; a diplomat, and a man of faith. He blames his men and the white man for the war; he tried to avoid it. "Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

The officers were amazed by the outstanding leadership, the resiliency and the exceptional fighting ability of the Nez Perce. By miscellaneous observers we understand their way of life: they were prosperous, welcoming, good natured, thoughtful, and forgiving; comparably more than other tribes. We get a good description of their physical appearance, early history, character, and home land.

The war began because of Indian retaliation against local minors. The military had difficulties tracking the bands down. The Nez Perce fought well and were able to allude the military throughout the northwest. The battle of the "Big Hole": some say one of the most bitterly fought in the annals of warfare. Indian Woman and children were killed, but some woman engaged in the fight. The story ends of course with their eventual surrender, for the purpose of saving his (Joseph) people. We follow their journey by land and river too the reservation (see "Trail Of Tears"). How they survived so weakened is a true testament to the will to survive. Some honored the treaty some did not. When will white man learn tell truth.

The white man has been called wicked for his actions, but this may not be justified. Settlers were quite sincere to treaty terms. Indians lacked unity, some committed murders and there was fighting between tribes. Although there were atrocities committed on both sides, there were few. It was destined to happen, although sad the way it went down.

Wish you well
Scott

story of the nez pierce.......2003-04-12

a good history of the nez pierce
this work could have been stronger if the author would had defined the nez pierce relationships with the other indian tribes better and whether or not the nez pierce became indian scouts themselves.

A Heartbreaker!.......2001-12-30

This book is gut-wrenching and difficult to read at times. It is packed with so much emotion. The book also helped me in understanding more about the Indian Wars and how they were fought on the Western Frontier. Good Book!

A Story of How Everything Went Wrong.......2001-09-04

Written in a vivid way which allows you to follow the flight of the Nez Perce as they struggled to survive, Mr. Beal keeps you reading until the heartbreaking end. This story of how a people were forced into battle, chased by the army and eventually shipped away, shows the errors of our past and adds perspective to the present. Mr. Beal's writing not only presents history, but helps to identify a culture that america tried to destroy within our own boundaries. A must read for anyone interested in the history of the American West.

A well-done piece of Native American history........1999-05-13

I Will Fight No More Forever is an excellent telling of the Nez Perce and their flight to escape destruction. The story shows the real maening of the Indian wars,and the real people behind the legends. A must-read for anyone interested in American history.

Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism between the Wars

Average customer rating:

Forever England: Femininity, Literature and Conservatism between the Wars
Alison Light
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0415016614

Book Description

Most studies of the interwar years have focused on literary elites, rendering the era and its literature in almost exclusively male terms. Alison Light argues that we cannot make sense of the English character in the period, or understand the changes within literary culture, unless we recognize the extent to which the female population represented the nation between the wars. br br From the traumatic aftermath of the First World War, b /b b i Forever England /i /b traces the making of a conservative national temperament which could be defensive and protective, yet modernizing in outlook. In a series of literary analyses, Light defines this new version of "Englishness"; in particular, she looks at new kinds of readership and fiction, at the historical and emotional significance of the "whodunit," the burgeoning of historical romance, and the creation of a middlebrow culture. br br As a feminist inquiry, b /b b i Forever England /i /b argues for a social and political history that connects the interior structures of private life with their more public and national forms. It also makes the controversial proposal that feminism should come to terms with conservative, as well as radical, desires and their place in women's lives. br br Scholarly and passionate, b /b b i Forever England /i /b will appeal to those interested in the boundaries between literature and history and their different forms of story-telling, as well as the changing shapes of national and sexual identities.

Average customer rating:

Not a bad read, but...
On the Verge of Extinction!
A fascinating revisiting of Haldeman's classic themes
Just could not stop reading it...
Another Haldeman repeat

Forever Peace
Joe Haldeman
Manufacturer: Ace Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

High Tech | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0441004067

Amazon.com

Julian Class is a full-time professor and part-time combat veteran who spends a third of each month virtually wired to a robotic "soldierboy." The soldierboys, along with flyboys and other advanced constructs, allow the U.S. to wage a remotely controlled war against constant uprisings in the Third World. The conflicts are largely driven by the so-called First World countries' access to nanoforges--devices that can almost instantly manufacture any product imaginable, given the proper raw materials--and the Third World countries' lack of access to these devices. But even as Julian learns that the consensual reality shared by soldierboy operators can lead to universal peace, the nanoforges create a way for humanity to utterly destroy itself, and it will be a race against time to see which will happen first. Although Forever Peace bears a title similar to Joe Haldeman's classic novel The Forever War, he says it's not a sequel.

Book Description

In the year 2043, the Ngumi War rages. Limited nuclear strikes have been used on Atlanta and two enemy cities, but the war goes on, fought by 'soldierboys' -- indestructible war machines operated by remote control by soldiers hundreds of miles away.

Julian Class is one of these soldiers, and for him war is truly hell. The psychological strain of being jacked-in to his soldierboy -- and the genocidal results -- are becoming too much to bear. Now he and his companion, Dr Amelia Harding, have made a terrifying scientific discovery, which could literally take the universe back to square one. Except that for Julian, the discovery isn't so much terrifying as tempting....

Customer Reviews:

Not a bad read, but..........2006-09-12

I found myself having 2 issues with this book. First was the timeline of action. I found it difficult to determine if the scene I was reading was a flashback, a flashforward, or a 'here and now'. The first half of the book was very strange in this way. Made things a bit difficult to follow, but I plowed through it.

My other issue was the acceptance of what the 'good guys' were trying to do in this book. When you find yourself completely disagreeing with the 'good guys' method of 'fixing things', I think it jades you against the outcome of the book. No, I wasn't pro world destruction, but I found Haldemann's premise that humanity would simply 'accept' being 'jacked' as ridiculously stupid. "Fix" the human race by surgical modification and electronic manipulation. No thanks, I'll stay broken. I don't buy in to it. And that's where the book fails me. It ends mired in stupidity.

While the story had promise, and the book is worth a read, the utopian vision of "fixing humanity" is too much of a stretch for me to garner much pleasure from the read.

On the Verge of Extinction!.......2006-06-21

Joe Haldeman (1943) wrote two "Hugo" & "Nebula" awarded novels: "The Forever War" (1975) and the present one "Forever Peace" (1997).
This is not a minor achievement. He produces high quality sci-fi as his "Worlds" trilogy, his also "Hugo" & "Nebula" awarded novella "The Hemingway Hoax" (1990) and a number of excellent short stories.
Both novels show Haldeman's war experience, he saw action at Vietnam where he was seriously wounded. Joe shows his intimate knowledge of suffering and senseless killing and the devastating effects they produce on combat personnel.

The story centers on Julian Class who's a complex character.
His vocation and main interest is physics, researching & teaching. He is Afro-American and maintains a serious relationship with his white mentor & elder colleague Prof. Blaze Harding.
On top of all that he is a military "mechanic" with ten days service and twenty days leave allowing his academic activities. Being a "mechanic" means he control and operate a "soldierboy" a mechanical soldier remotely droved with an almost telepathic connection. Even if "mechanics" suffer no physical injuries, they feel the pain of any damage on their "soldierboy".

The first half of the book describes Julian everyday life and the world backdrop reflecting an endless war between First World vs. Third World nations, with lots of innocent casualties on both sides of the line. In this part of the story there are some very interesting meditations about war, justice, human nature, economic inequality and some other serious topics.
The second half of the novel focuses on two axis: the danger of universe extinction due to a mega-project trying to recreate the Big Bang situation and a conspiracy to attain endless peace for Humankind (at a high price to be sure).

"Forever Peace" is a high quality sci-fi novel deserving the awards obtained.
Do not let it pass by!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

A fascinating revisiting of Haldeman's classic themes.......2006-03-25

"Forever Peace" is not a sequel to "The Forever War," but it revisits many of the same themes with a quarter-century's further perspective. Here again are the questions of war and death; the guilt of being forced to commit unspeakable acts against one's will; freedom and servitude. And some new themes are touched on as well, such as race, wealth and poverty, and the danger of religious extremism. All of this plays out against a fascinating science fictional background, with nanoforges, "soldierboys," and brain-computer interfaces. The story lurches a bit as it progresses, but on the whole I found it a compelling read; and given the events since September 11, a prescient one as well.

Just could not stop reading it..........2005-11-29

When you buy a book that was written by a Nobel Prize winner or awarded with some prize you put a lot of expectations on it. It may not give no pleasure at all. This is n ot the case. To science fiction readers , used to Isaac Asimov's books, this one is really new and thrilling.
Mr. Haldeman's made me read for hours. So I thank him for the pleasure this book brought me. Even the hot scenes are hot.
Don't miss it.

Another Haldeman repeat.......2005-07-14

Hey, here's an idea for a good Haldeman sci-fi novel: how about yet another story about a jaded war veteran/physicist who has sex about ninety times during the course of the novel and teaches us a valuable lesson about the futility of war? Sure, add another one to the pile, Joe.

My gosh, I really wish Joe Haldeman would get off his pedestal and cut the preachy, hippie bull. I hate war as much as the next guy, but reading his rhetoric, you'd think that the solution to all war is simple.

Politics aside, this novel disappointed me just because it was the same as every other book he's ever written. It has everything: the bleak version of the future, the physicist main characters, the 1960's-esque free love, the tirade about the futility of war, and every other Haldeman cliche that he managed to scrape up. Also, the characters were as thin as paper, and the dialogue was really unrealistic and overly preachy. Not to mention the fact that every character talked pretty much the same way.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books