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The only person who gets called Ballardesque more often than Chuck Palahniuk is, well... J.G. Ballard. So, does Portland, Oregon's "torchbearer for the nihilistic generation" deserve that kind of treatment? Yes and no. There is a resemblance between Fight Club and works such as Crash and Cocaine Nights in that both see the innocuous mundanities of everyday life as nothing more than the severely loosened cap on a seething underworld cauldron of unchecked impulse and social atrocity. Welcome to the present-day U.S. of A. As Ballard's characters get their jollies from staging automobile accidents, Palahniuk's yuppies unwind from a day at the office by organizing bloodsport rings and selling soap to fund anarchist overthrows. Let's just say that neither of these guys are going to be called in to do a Full House script rewrite any time soon.
But while the ingredients are the same, Ballard and Palahniuk bake at completely different temperatures. Unlike his British counterpart, who tends to cast his American protagonists in a chilly light, holding them close enough to dissect but far enough away to eliminate any possibility of kinship, Palahniuk isn't happy unless he's first-person front and center, completely entangled in the whole sordid mess. An intensely psychological novel that never runs the risk of becoming clinical, Fight Club is about both the dangers of loyalty and the dreaded weight of leadership, the desire to band together and the compulsion to head for the hills. In short, it's about the pride and horror of being an American, rendered in lethally swift prose. Fight Club's protagonist might occasionally become foggy about who he truly is (you'll see what I mean), but one thing is for certain: you're not likely to forget the book's author. Never mind Ballardesque. Palahniukian here we come! --Bob Michaels
Book Description
An underground classic since its first publication in 1996, Fight Club is now recognized as one of the most original and provocative novels published in this decade. Chuck Palahniuk's darkly funny first novel tells the story of a godforsaken young man who discovers that his rage at living in a world filled with failure and lies cannot be pacified by an empty consumer culture. Relief for him and his disenfranchised peers comes in the form of secret after-hours boxing matches held in the basements of bars. Fight Club is the brainchild of Tyler Durden, who thinks he has found a way for himself and his friends to live beyond their confining and stultifying lives. But in Tyler's world there are no rules, no limits, no brakes.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome!.......2007-09-06
The movie, amazing;
the book, a masterpiece;
after reading the book, you see what the movie was trying to do,
granted i think the movie did a good job, but the book was amazing, there's so much more detail, it has more of the love story element that the movie left out, it's has so much more of a grunge feel and it really makes you think;
it ends differently than the movie, and i'm not sure which ending i like better, but i love them both.
if you're a Chuck fan or a Fight Club fan, get this book.
s'all i have to say
Groundbreaking.......2007-08-16
Fight Club is an amazing book. It's very short and easy to read-- actually, I don't think you "read" Fight Club. I think you.. inhale it. If that makes any sense. Combine Nietzsche with designer drugs (a lot of designer drugs), and you have Fight Club. Reading it is an incredible experience; you feel as if you're part of something bigger than yourself, something revolutionary. After reading it, you just might feel the urge to go out and buy yourself all of the required items, and then try to locate the house on Paper Street so you can join Tyler's army.
Go. Read it, and you too can be a part of the Revolution.
the most quotable book ever.......2007-07-17
there are those who have read it and there are those who aren't worth talking to.
Better than the movie.......2007-06-27
Let me start by saying that Fight Club is one of my favorite movies, but I had never read the book. Chuck Palahniuk is an amazing writer- especially considering that this is his first novel. While it is very similar to the movie, I still found it very enjoyable despite the fact that obviously you know what is going to happen. I loved this book and just went and bought two more by Palahniuk.
Quick Read........2007-06-26
You just can not put this book down. It's amazing. The movie spoiled it for me a bit but not that much. The only dilemma was in knowing the movie's ending. If you watch that ending and read this one's then you'll be a bit disappointed. Chuck himself even claimed the movie's ending was better.
I love this book though. It's great.
Book Description
In the hours before the D-Day landing, their brilliant success behind enemy lines changed the course of history.
In the tradition of Steven Ambrose's D-Day and Band of Brothers, The First Men In tells the remarkable story of the American paratroopers who took on one of the most important and dangerous missions of World War II. On the eve of D-Day, the 82nd Airborne Division parachuted into key positions along the Normandy coast, spearheading the assault on Fortress Europe. Using extensive firsthand interviews with the men of the 82nd, Ed Ruggero vividly brings them to life. This "first-rate story-teller" (Denver Post) weaves their improbable achievement into an unforgettable narrative.
Only one unit of the 82nd -- the 3,000 men of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment -- had previously been tested in battle. These heroes of the brutal 1943 invasion of Sicily -- whose story was brilliantly told in Ruggero's Combat Jump -- were given one of the toughest assignments, that of securing the critical crossroads town of Ste. Mère Eglise, the gateway to Utah Beach, through which half of the U.S. invasion force had to pass. Within hours of landing in Normandy, the 505th had accomplished its mission and seized Ste. Mère Eglise, the first town in Europe to be liberated. But as the sun rose on June 6, 1944, and as the assault waves struggled ashore on fire-swept beaches, the airborne commanders realized that most of the nearly 14,000 paratroopers dropped on the extreme right flank of the Allied invasion area had missed their targets.
The scattered troopers fought in small groups, cut off from one another by the dense Norman hedgerows and cleverly dug-in German defenders. Putting themselves between the vulnerable landing beaches and repeated enemy assaults, the lightly armed paratroopers fought for no-name crossroads and isolated fields on the first few miles of the long road to Berlin. Their training, courage, and leadership paid off; with their blood, they purchased the critical hours the Allies needed to get ashore. Often outnumbered and frequently outgunned, the men of the 82nd accomplished every mission, held every piece of ground they gained, and thus helped secure the success of the greatest amphibious invasion in history.
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- Far Future CORPS!
- Philadelphia Flyers join the Marines
- Cliches -- more than a few, but...
- Jarheads Never Change
- It Still Takes a Marine
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First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1)
David Sherman , and
Dan Cragg
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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ASIN: 0345406222
Release Date: 1997-08-30 |
Book Description
"Marines, we have just become a low-tech deep recon patrol . . ."
Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day's water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds.
But the enemy didn't reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere--even to death. . .
"HARD TO PUT DOWN . . . Any book written by Cragg and Sherman is bound to be addictive, and this is the first in what promises to be a great adventure series. FIRST TO FIGHT is rousing, rugged, and just plain fun."
--Ralph Peters, New York Times bestselling author of Red Army
Download Description
"Marines, we have just become a low-tech deep recon patrol". Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day's water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds. But the enemy didn't reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere. Even to death.
Customer Reviews:
Far Future CORPS!.......2006-11-23
a scifi shoot-em up in the far future! good reading! beleiveable backgrounds! Mr Cragg & Mr Sherman makde me feel like I was there al over again! Very much worth the cost. Bought the whole set!
Philadelphia Flyers join the Marines.......2006-06-01
I was disappointed in this book. I expected something more like "Armor" or "Starship Troopers", but it read more like the 1970's Philadelphia Flyers join the Marines. There was Dave "Hammer" Shultz, Bob "Hound" Kelly, etc. Not a terrible read, but very foumulatic.
Cliches -- more than a few, but..........2006-02-24
An earlier reviewer talked of military cliches, and how everything seemed the same, that the writers couldn't imagine huge societal changes that will obviously have taken place by the time the 25th century arrives. That there will be changes is true, but it will be more along the lines of changes in the trappings of civilization. Over the millenia, since humankind has learned to fight in groups, very little has changed. Strategy, tactics, and technology has evolved of course, but one thing has remained constant. To succeed in war, a belligerant must take and hold ground. It's sometimes almost as valuable to deny ground to the enemy, but in the end it must be taken and held. Cavalry couldn't do it all, aircraft can't do it, tanks can't do it, and in the future whatever takes the place of these won't be able to do it, either. It has always been up to the ground-pounder, assisted by the other arms, sure, but only the ground-pounders can prevail in the end.
This first book in what has become a highly entertaining series is remarkable in its devotion to the ground-pounder, and especially the ground-pounder who makes it all happen: the guys at the sharp end, both enlisted and non-commissioned officers.
I highly recommend this saga, if you want realism at the small unit level. And if you're interested in what other Starfist fans are saying about the books of Sherman and Cragg, there's now a fan website available at http://www.starfisthq.org. Discussion forums, news of future books, and you can also make contact with the authors who do participate from time to time.
Jarheads Never Change.......2005-06-05
As military science fiction goes, this one is very readable. It is not crafted as tightly as some others, Weber's Honorverse comes to mind, but it is a good read that will provide several hours of enjoyable entertainment.
The story concerns a group of marines. These are not US Marines but are their ideological descendants. In the first part of the book, we a treated to the life of a recruit from his initial enlistment through boot camp. He is then assigned to an infantry unit which gets deployed to a backwater planet on a peacekeeping mission. Through the medium of best wishes, the high brass decide that a peacekeeping mission does not rate a full complement of combat equipment so the unit is somewhat at a disadvantage when it hits the fan. Under the tutelage of the more experienced men around him, the young marine gets his first taste of combat.
This is what Melville called a "potboiler". It may not stick in long term memory as a great work of literature but it was well worth the effort. I look forward to reading the next installment in the series to see what happens.
It Still Takes a Marine.......2003-03-15
First to Fight (1997) is the first novel in the StarFIST series. The 31st Fleet Initial Strike Team is issued a new item of equipment, a Universal Positionator Up-Down link, that will replace the radios, geo position locators, and vector computers throughout the companies. The UPUD has been field tested only at Aberdeen, but passed with flying color. When Gunnery Sergeant Charlie Bass questions such tests and suggests that his company take its current equipment along as backup, he is told that the company has been ordered to immediately turn in all of it. In the field, the UPUDs don't work as advertised, resulting in a number of unnecessary deaths. Back at the base, Bass thoroughly damages the company rep, Daryl George, before he is pulled off. Daryl drops charges against Charlie when told his company could be charged with criminal negligence due to his misrepresentations. Charlie, however, is convicted of conduct unbecoming a noncommissioned officer, demoted one level, and re-assigned to the 34th FIST.
In this novel, Joseph F. Dean joins the Confederation Marine Corps and is sent to the training planet, Arsenault. After many weeks in Boot Camp and Advanced Infantry Training, Dean is assigned to the 34th FIST on Thorsfinni's World, with Charlie as his platoon sergeant. His first liberty is even more exciting than the training courses. And then the 34st is sent to Elneal to provide humanitarian aid.
This novel gets off to a slow start after the initial UPUD fiasco (which most ex-service types will find familiar -- except Charlie gets in a few good licks), dwelling on the nature and peculiarities of military training, Marine style, but starts picking up the pace after Dean arrives on Thorsfinni's World. The other characters -- McNeal, Chan, Claypoole, Schultz, etc. -- are probably composite archetypes based on people the authors have known; nobody could be such a total goofball as Claypoole seems in his first appearance.
This series concentrates on the riots, raids, insurrections, and other relatively small incidents handled mostly by the Marines in our own history. Although the Marines have always been involved in the larger conflicts, the FISTs are the kind of ready deployment force that is the first to fight in most smaller actions. And, in this novel, they soon find themselves in a nasty fight.
Some reviewers have wondered why the Marines are not equipped with more futuristic weapons. First, the Navy has the planet-busters if these become necessary. Second, the Army has the tactical nukes, heavy artillery, and heavy tanks if these become necessary. Third, there are people who want to continue living on the planet after the Armed Forces leave. Thus, the Confederation sends in the Marines, light infantry capable of maneuvering in virtually any terrain and armed with weapons capable of taking out anything they face. Minimum force for maximum effect.
Recommended for Sherman & Cragg fans and anyone who enjoys small-unit combat in a SF setting.
Book Description
The story of Anton Dilger brings to life a missing chapter in U.S. history and shows, dramatically, that the Great European War was in fact being fought on the home front years before we formally joined it. The doctor who grew anthrax and other bacteria in that rented house was an American-the son of a Medal of Honor winner who fought at Gettysburg-on a secret mission, for the German Army in 1915. The Fourth Horseman tells the startling story of that mission led by a brilliant but conflicted surgeon who became one of Germany's most daring spies and saboteurs during World War I and who not only pioneered bio-warfare in his native land but also lead a last-ditch German effort to goad Mexico into invading the United States. It is a story of mysterious missions, divided loyalties, and a new and terrible kind of warfare that emerged as America-in spite of fierce dissention at home-was making the decision to send its Doughboys to the Great War in Europe.
This story has never been told before in full. And Dilger is a fascinating analog for our own troubled times. Having thrown off the tethers of obligation to family and country, he became a very dangerous man indeed: A spy, a saboteur, and a zealot to a degree that may have so embarrassed the German High Command that, after the war, they ordered his death rather than admit that he worked for them.
Customer Reviews:
"The Enemy Within".......2007-08-11
Robert Koenig's portrayal of Anton Dilger's mission to bring germ warfare to America during WWI is far more than just a gripping story of biological warfare and sabotage in one of its first modern instances. Koenig's work resonates to our own contemporary struggle against terrorism in a number of different ways. First, Koenig delves into the psyche and family history of Anton and with painstaking research presents to the reader the fascinating story of how an American born medical student becomes an agent for Imperial Germany. Second, we are reminded of the response of the US government in dealing with the supposed "enemy within", in both its indiscriminate nature and ineffective results. Finally, Koenig also reminds us of the societal response towards the supposed German-American "threat", one that had its own "liberty stakes" (taste great when combined with "freedom fries", one would assume).
This is a very well researched book that combines intrigue of the mysterious world of spies during WWI with a personal story of a man who chose to betray his country, one that his father served proudly during the Civil War. In a way, Koenig offers a reminder that our current predicament is not so unique.
A very well researched, well written book........2007-05-25
I've read the book a couple of times and have gotten more out with each reading. Bob Koenig has done a tremendous job in terms of the accuracy of his research. His writing style draws the reader into the story. Excellent and highly recommended.
Gripping book, painstakingly researched.......2007-04-06
To someone from outside the US, this book brought many revelations, foremost of which was the insight into the thriving German community that existed there prior to 1914, but now is no more. We are familiar with Italian, Greek and Polish influences, but the Germans, as the enemy after a bitter war, had to subsume their culture.
The anti-hero of this gripping book, Anton Dilger, belonged to a family which was more American than German already, but he felt the pull back to earlier roots. The personal letters and insights that Rob Koenig has painstakingly researched show how horrific incidents like the Corpus Christi Massacre in Karlsruhe can have far-reaching effects through people struggling with their identity.
Koenig tells this story in such a way that you do not know what is coming, and thus every chapter has an impact. Throughout, he reveals his mastery of scientific writing for the public. I've read some of his other work on contemporary science, and was delighted to see this historical work. I hope he does another book. This one, meanwhile, is highly recommended to those who like biography, travel, history, science and warfare, all rolled up in one.
Dogged Search for an Elusive Spy.......2007-03-14
My name is Tim O'Neil (husband of Christine). For a decade, Robert Koenig and I worked together as reporters at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I offer this as personal disclosure and testimony to my knowledge of Mr. Koenig's fine work. He is thorough in research and careful to confirm information. His writing is clear and absorbing. He applied those skills in writing The Fourth Horseman. He read family files and forgotten government archives. He searched hard for single documents to explain or confirm information on Anton Dilger, and then wrote a full narrative of the motivations and acts of a man who worked hard to cover his tracks. He took time to explain Dilger's era, especially its reliance upon horses, to provide the setting for one man's trail. The result is a fine book.
The Fourth Rider is Pestilence --.......2007-03-14
Because we now remember WWI for its industrialized slaughter, we have almost forgotten how important horses still were to the conduct of war -- so important that disrupting the shipment of horses from the U.S. to Britain and France was a priority for the German war effort. One of the first organized attempts at germ warfare was directed at infecting horses bound for Europe.
This story of Anton Dilger, an American surgeon who worked undercover as a saboteur for the Germans, has an historical sweep that will engage a broad audience -- particularly in light of our newly-heightened fears of biological warfare. The underlying research makes the book a resource for specialists in several areas -- WWI, military history, biological warfare -- and the graceful presentation also suits it to the general reader of history.
Dilger, the son of a Civil War cavalry officer, betrayed his family, his country and his profession in organizing the infection of American horses with anthrax and glanders germs. The author follows him from his childhood in rural Virginia through his education in Germany, his recruitment and work as an undercover agent, to his probable death -- never entirely confirmed -- in Spain during the flu pandemic in 1918.
Even after almost a century, a sad immediacy clings to many aspects of this story. The horses are gone, but much else remains the same.
Average customer rating:
- GREAT
- Good for Young Children
- A great lesson!
- what do you do when two bears get in a fight?
- Those battling Bears!
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The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight (First Time Books(R))
Stan Berenstain , and
Jan Berenstain
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
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ASIN: 0394851323
Release Date: 1982-04-12 |
Book Description
"The usually compatible Brother and Sister Bear are fighting--all day long! Mama Bear helps them realize that everyone argues once in a while, even with loved ones."--The Reading Teacher.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT.......2006-08-29
This book is great. It starts with Brother and Sister getting along. Then Sister has her feet in Brother's face and he gets angry. Then she runs off and hogs the bathroom. They act like total jerks to each other. Finally they make up at the end and talk to each other again.
Good for Young Children.......2006-03-12
I really enjoy reading the Berenstain Bears books to my two children (ages 5 & 7). They do a wonderful job of modeling important life lessons. This book shows how one little incident can snowball into a big fight, and sometimes even draw parents into an argument.
My only disappointment: I wish the authors had shown the cubs apologizing to each other. The story ends with, "So Brother and Sister Bear hugged and made up. And got along just beautifully-until the next time, anyway." The story shows them fighting, so it would have been better balanced if they had also modeled the "making-up" process. When the cubs realize that they don't remember what started the fight, they simply stop fighting. Mama & Papa do not have to sit through a whole "who wronged whom" session.
Anyway, it is a good springboard for discussion of "what would you do?" and "why do you think s/he did that?" with young children. I would definitely recommend it.
A great lesson!.......2002-04-14
Brother Bear and Sister Bear are in a big fight. They are not speaking to each other and if they are they don't say anything nice.
This teachs kids how even if you and a brother or sister are fighting how to work through it. It is a great book for kids!
what do you do when two bears get in a fight?.......2001-10-20
This book reminds me so much of my family, one day you'll be nice and the next you're picking at each other non stop!
this story is so fantastic because it's realistic and it happends to everybody! Brother & sister bear always get along but not today they're picky, sister bear takes too long in the bathroom and brother bear wont sit with sister bear on the school bus! but how does mama and papa bear stop them? read it and take some advise!
Those battling Bears!.......2001-03-24
"The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight," by Stan and Jan Berenstain, is another wonderful entry in this excellent series of illustrated children's books. In this volume, there's trouble brewing in the Bear family when Brother and Sister Bear start feuding. But, with a little helpful guidance from their caring parents, the sparring siblings learn some life lessons about fighting--and about making up.
This book pairs an easy-to-read text with colorful illustrations. These semi-human bears have an amusingly "cartoony" look to them, and the best of the book's illustrations contain delightful details. I especially love the pictures that show the Bears going through their daily routine--eating breakfast, riding the bus to school, etc. I give "The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight" an enthusiastic recommendation.
Book Description
Deftly blending history with autobiography, action with analysis, the legendary Marine general Victor "Brute" Krulak offers here a riveting insider's chronicle of U.S. Marines--their fights on the battlefield and off, and their extraordinary esprit de corps. He not only takes a close look at the Marine experience during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam--wars in which Krulak was himself a participant--but also examines the foundation on which the Corps is built. In doing so, he helps answer the question of what it means to be a Marine and how the Corps has maintained such a consistently outstanding reputation. First to Fight has been included on the Marine Corps's recommended reading list for many years.
Customer Reviews:
First to Fight...easy read.......2007-09-26
This is an excellent book written by Gen Krulak. It gives an inside/personal look at Marine Corps history that many historians don't have access to. The main focus throughout the book is how the Marine Corps has dodged the "chopping block" many times prior and the authors point of view of why the USMC is so important to national security.
A Quick and Interesting Read.......2007-04-11
I love this book. When it first came out, I passed it by in the book stores, thinking it was just another compilation of sea stories, but man as I ever wrong.
I had the pleasure of serving under Capt. Charles Krulak, who eventually became Commandant, for a brief period of time and I used to work with a man who was "Brute" Krulak's personal chef, so the name was not entirely new to me.
After having served four years in the Corps, including an abbreviated tour in Vietnam, I knew how the Corps was, but I had no idea how it really came to be the institution that it is, except of course, for the tales of glory I heard in Boot Camp.
Anyone who has ever served in the Corps should read this book. Anyone who is thinking of joining the Corps should read this book. In fact, anyone who has any connection at all with anyone who has any connection at all with anyone who is in any way connected to the Marine Corps should read this book.
Bureaucracy at it's Worst .......2007-01-23
Excellent book that narrates about what is rarely narrated about: How the Marine Corps had to fight government bureaucracy to survive. A very different perspective on the USMC's history. A true underdog/dark horse -type story. Very little about the wars fought, but about the intra-government conspiracies and maneuverings to neuter, eradicate, and destroy the USMC. It shows how the USMC had to do more with less and still excel. This one has a happy ending and a fortunate one for us all in the USA.
Old Corps to New Corps.......2005-10-01
In August of 1965, I was a slick-sleeved Marine Corps private stopping off in Okinawa on my way to Vietnam. During my short stay in Okinawa, my unit had the privilege to stand in formation for the then 3rd Marine Amphibious Force commander, LtGen "Brute" Krulak. Before his hasty troop inspection commenced, our company first sergeant warned all of us not to look down on the general as he passed in front of each of us. Brute was a giant of a man in legend and lore, but only about five foot six in stature. As a private who wished to gain a stripe or two sometime in the future, I kept my eyes straight ahead as the general not only stopped in front of me, but took my M-14 during my "inspection arms" movement. I remember holding my breath, deathly afraid that somehow I had ruined any chance for earning even one stripe in my Marine Corps career. Fortunately, he handed back the M-14 and moved on. I dutifully stared straight ahead and never saw anything but the top of his utility cover, with three stars tacked to it. To this day, I have no idea what he looks like.
Corps legend also has it that the Marine Corps fire base in Chu Lai was named after General Krulak. Sometime during his career, he had studied Chinese and because his name was so hard for his instructor to pronounce, "Krulak" became "Chu Lai" as his personal class name and that name was applied to our first fire base in Vietnam. Don't know if that's true or not, but that's what I heard long long ago.
In any event, General Krulak does an amazingly fine job of presenting Marine Corps issues from its inception up through the Vietnam War. His "insider" take on many crises faced by Marines, particularly its hardest battle to survive,not on Iwo Jima, but rather in the halls of Congress, makes this a very unique book for Marines and non-Marines alike.
My only complaints about the book are minor, but bear noting. First, on page 211 of the paperback issue, a picture is displayed showing a Marine under fire, moving out with a 3.5 inch rocket launcher round. The caption mistakenly ascribes the picture to the battle of Khe Sanh. Not so. This photo was taken in Operation Prairie in the summer of 1966. I know because I was in the battle, although not in that particular picture. Secondly,and this error I ascribe to the publishers, I'm disappointed that a book of this excellent caliber does not display the Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor anywhere on its cover. Come on, guys, get with the program!
Semper Fi.
Why's and How's, not What's.......2002-03-28
This is a not a battle memoir. Unlike many "We did this, then we did this," battle recollections, this work is a keen analysis of the US Marine Corps, its history, and America's reasons for having her.
The book starts from the premise "The U.S. doesn't need a Marine Corps," "Brute" Krulak articulates why America chooses to have one anyway. Not least among the gems of history in this book is the role Brute Krulak and others in the Chowder Society played in keeping the Marine Corps alive the last time the Executive Branch and Department of the Army conspired to kill her.
Book Description
The first comprehensive history of the evolution of Free Speech in America for a general readership, from a respected historian and free speech activist.
After Upton Sinclair, famed author of The Jungle, was arrested for reading the First Amendment on Liberty Hill in 1923, The Nation commented: "When we contemplate the antics of the chief of police of Los Angeles, we are deterred from characterizing him as an ass only through fear that such a comparison would lay us open to damages from every self-respecting donkey." In this lively history of our most fundamental and perhaps most vulnerable right, Chris Finan traces the lifeline of free speech from the War on Terror back to the turn of the last century.
During the YMCA's 1892 Suppression of Vice campaign, muttonchopped moralist Anthony Comstock railed against writing by that "Irish smut dealer" George Bernard Shaw. The burgeoning film industry of the early 1900s cannibalized its own reels as state censors dictated how many seconds on-screen kisses could last and refused to allow any references to birth, including a scene of a woman knitting baby clothes. In the midst of the country's first Red Scare, the government rounded up thousands of Russian Americans for deportation during the Palmer raids. Decades later, a second Red Scare gripped the country as Senator Joseph McCarthy spearheaded a witch-hunt for "egg-sucking liberals" who defended "Communists and queers."
Finan's dramatic review of such touchstones as the Scopes trial and Edward R. Murrow's challenge to Joseph McCarthy are revelatory; many of his narratives are entirely fresh and have as much relevance to our post-PATRIOT Act world as his final chapter on the twenty-first century. The story of the fight for free speech, in times of war and peace-when writers, publishers, booksellers, and librarians are often on the front lines-is essential reading.
Customer Reviews:
Good narrative of challenges to free speech.......2007-10-08
This is a wide-ranging and fairly comprehensive book about challenges to free speech in the United States. It is primarily a narrative and tries to make all the players come alive, and has only a little bit of analysis. It covers not only government attempts to limit speech but also boycotts and picketing of bookstores (usually ineffective) and pressure on advertisers to withdraw sponsorship of ill-regarded programs (usually effective).
It omits a few areas that have been important. There is a mention of Banned Books Week but no discussion of book banning in schools and libraries. The 1989 Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson that ruled that flag burning is protected political symbolic speech is alluded to (but not named) in a discussion of Justice Anthony Kennedy.
The book's biggest weakness is that it doesn't look at all into the reasoning used in the Supreme Court cases. This justices' written opinions are usually much more important in determining the course of the law than is the way the decision went. Most of the important free speech issues have gone before the Supreme Court.
My favorite quote in the book is from Judge Murray I. Gurfein, regarding the New York Time's publication of the Pentagon Papers: "A cantankerous press, an obstinate press, a ubiquitous press must be suffered by those in authority in order to preserve the even greater values of freedom of expression and the right of the people to know." Amen.
Book Description
While the seventy-seven-day siege of Khe Sanh in early 1968 remains one of the most highly publicized clashes of the Vietnam War, scant attention has been paid to the first battle of Khe Sanh, also known as “the Hill Fights.” Although this harrowing combat in the spring of 1967 provided a grisly preview of the carnage to come at Khe Sanh, few are aware of the significance of the battles, or even their existence. For more than thirty years, virtually the only people who knew about the Hill Fights were the Marines who fought them. Now, for the first time, the full story
has been pieced together by acclaimed Vietnam War historian Edward F. Murphy, whose definitive analysis admirably fills this significant gap in Vietnam War literature. Based on first-hand interviews and documentary research, Murphy’s deeply informed narrative history is the only complete account of the battles, their origins, and their aftermath.
The Marines at the isolated Khe Sanh Combat Base were tasked with monitoring the strategically vital Ho Chi Minh trail as it wound through the jungles in nearby Laos. Dominated by high hills on all sides, the combat base had to be screened on foot by the Marine infantrymen while crack, battle-hardened NVA units roamed at will through the high grass and set up elaborate defenses on steep, sun-baked overlooks.
Murphy traces the bitter account of the U.S. Marines at Khe Sanh from the outset in 1966, revealing misguided decisions and strategies from above, and capturing the chain of hill battles in stark detail. But the Marines themselves supply the real grist of the story; it is their recollections that vividly re-create the atmosphere of desperation, bravery, and relentless horror that characterized their combat. Often outnumbered and outgunned by a hidden enemy—and with buddies lying dead or wounded beside them—these brave young Americans fought on.
The story of the Marines at Khe Sanh in early 1967 is a microcosm of the Corps’s entire Vietnam War and goes a long way toward explaining why their casualties in Vietnam exceeded, on a Marine-in-combat basis, even the tremendous losses the Leathernecks sustained during their ferocious Pacific island battles of World War II.
The Hill Fights is a damning indictment of those responsible for the lives of these heroic Marines. Ultimately, the high command failed them, their tactics failed them, and their rifles failed them.
Only the Marines themselves did not fail. Under fire, trapped in a hell of sudden death meted out by unseen enemies, they fought impossible odds with awesome courage and uncommon valor.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Vietnam Vet Approved!.......2007-01-12
I bought this book for my father-in-law, who is a Purple Heart winner from the Vietnam War. He loved it so much, he bought five more to give to other Vietnam vets he knows.
Excellent, but maps would have helped.......2006-08-19
A good book, but maps that showed the locations of individual units and the topography would have enhanced the understanding of the battles. When the author talks about ridges, crests and valleys, I found it difficult to visualize who was where. The few maps in the front of the book offer little useful information. And, the type is so small, reading the maps in the paperback edition proved to be a challenge.
Very well written.......2006-04-19
This is one of the best compilation of personal accounts that I've read on Vietnam. I like how the author chose to present the information and how the author presented the political issues (both inter-branch and Congress) that occured in regards to bases and the M16. I'm surprised by some of the things presented in this book. One of the main surprises was the attitude that several of the NCOs supposedly held towards the junior enlisted men. It always struck me that Marine NCOs were some of the best and didn't hold the superior attitudes that were described in parts of this book.
There were a few things that could have been improved in the book, but they did not detract from the telling of these Marines' stories. The things that I think could have been improved were:
1. A couple of abbreviations were never explained (BLT and the naming of Marine units (i.e. 2/3, is that 2nd battalion, 3rd Marines or something else)).
2. It was nice that the author listed in the Appendix what happened to some of the Marines involved in the Hill Fights after the events in the book. However, I think that he should have included everyone he named within the book. It would have meant a longer list, but it would have been helpful.
Overall, this is a very well written and well informed account of what happened around Khe Sanh.
I fought on Hill 881 S and Hill 861.......2004-05-10
A profoundly detailed account of what we lived through and the often bitter circumstances that we faced in combat. Murphy lets you taste the bitterness of circumstances gone wrong and smell the sweet victory when it works well. I could never understand why we were given the M-16 rifle with serial no's that began with EM16-E1XXXXXXXX (experimental model) until the truth of the politics behind it was revealed in this work. They were next to worthless as originaly issued. The research on the book was exhaustive and done with a heart to reveal the truth without being mean spirited in conveying the truth. When Ed interviewed me and I had a foggy recollection, he challenged me with facts that made the memory come clear or proved to me that I was not recalling it correctly. Brilliant insight into why we fought some of the battles we fought and who thought we had to fight over what turf and why. The names in print alongside mine are all correct, a testament to the authors thoroughness. He did a good job weaving our comments together into an integrated story that is exciting to read. I've enjoyed reading it and still go back to it. Have given it as a gift on several ocasions.
Forgotten in the Longrass.......2003-12-20
At last some daylight comes to this forgotten chapter of marine corps history. The 3/3 marines were rendered combat ineffective by this series of vicious and wicked fights north of Khe Sanh. The very tool (M-16) the marines were given to do the job jammed after several hundred rounds were fired. Although this book does not go into exacting details for the failure of the M-16 rifle, it does an excellent cover of the men involved in the fighting. Be not deceived, marines are trained to clean their rifles as needed. I am glad to hear that the U.S. Marine Corps is finally giving the men who fought these battles the long overdue recognition they so richly deserve. My brother Thomas Wheeler and the 3/3 marines, fought hard for their lives on those lonely hills north of Khe Sanh not so long ago. This book indeed does justice to the men who did the job they were told to do not so long ago.
Book Description
Private detective Joe Hannibal makes a welcome return to mystery fiction in The Fight in the Dog, his newest adventure by Wayne Dundee. When his reporter girlfriend, Jan Mosby, is viciously threatened in an attempt to keep her from investigating a wave of mysterious dognappings, Joe Hannibal becomes both personally and professionally involved. He is enlisted as a bodyguard to ensure Jan's safety as she digs deeper into the thefts to find out why they are occurring and who is behind them. Together, Hannibal and Jan sift through a series of diverse leads that take them from secret animal research labs to the dark dealings of a Satanic cult. They are aided by representatives of an animal rights group. They encounter a menacing motorcycle gang, the Hellraisers. Before they arrive at the final startling answers, they will uncover more than the slaughter of dogs - human bodies are cropping up as someone tries to hide the truth. With their own lives literally on the line, Hannibal and Jan hurtle toward a shattering climax that once again begs the question of whether or not the most savage of animals is truly man.
Wayne D. Dundee is the author of nearly twenty short stories, three novellas, and four previous novels in the detective/mystery genre, most of them featuring his blue-collar private eye Joe Hannibal. His work has been translated into several languages and has been nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, and six Shamus Awards. He is the founder and original editor of Hardboiled Magazine.
Customer Reviews:
exciting and thoguhtprovoking.......2005-11-17
I am an advid Hannibal fan and this one is thoroughly exciting! There are twists and turns and thrills. Wayne Dundee is a very descriptive writer, his descriptions help you see in your minds eye what is going on in wonderful detail. I highly recommend his work to anyone who asks!
terrific private investigative journalist thriller.......2005-04-06
She started her inquiries seeking information on her neighbor's lost dog, who vanished from a supermarket parking lot. However, her inane investigation obviously disturbed someone because a thug assaults her in her home warning reporter Jan Mosby to back off or else. Jan refuses to let the punks win so going along with her editor's one demand, the C-2-C magazine editor Cybill Deming hires a bodyguard for her reporter, who happens to be Jan's boyfriend Joe Hannibal.
Someone nails a badly mauled canine carcass to Jan's home as a final warning. Still Joe and Jan make inquiries into recent canine snatches and soon find a disturbing pattern. Numerous dogs have being taken throughout the Chicago metropolitan area as fodder for the training of pit bulls as killers. Could this be the work of the deadly head of Hellraisers, a dangerous biker gang? All Joe cares about is that his beloved Jan is safe and he is willing to die or kill to insure that remains so.
This private investigative journalist blend is a terrific tale that readers will appreciate due to the fine likable lead couple. The story line moves at fast clip as the dynamic duo makes the rounds and begins finding evidence of inhuman abuse towards animals especially dogs, but nothing that ties back to the culprit. Wayne D. Dundee provides an exciting tale in which his two Js prove it's the fight in the people that make for a fine thriller.
Harriet Klausner
JOE HANNIBAL RETURNS.......2005-03-30
Joe Hannibal keeps getting better and better. The character has been around for nearly twenty years, and this new adventure has the blue-collar private detective up to his ears with canine kidnappers, psychics, and a dangerous biker gang. Although Joe Hannibal has been compared to Mike Hammer, take note that the oft-nominated (Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony awards) Wayne Dundee writes with a depth of character not found in most hard-boiled novels. Dundee manages a suprise on every page right up to the explosive climax. You won't want to miss this one.
Books:
- Force Heretic I: Remnant (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, Book 15)
- Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Glory Of Unicorns
- Grey Knights (Warhammer 40,000 Novels)
- Harrington on Hold 'em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
- Hattie Big Sky
- Hinds' Feet on High Places
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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