Amazon.com
Fiasco is a more strongly worded title than you might expect a seasoned military reporter such as Thomas E. Ricks to use, accustomed as he is to the even-handed style of daily newspaper journalism. But Ricks, the Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post and the author of the acclaimed account of Marine Corps boot camp, Making the Corps, has written a thorough and devastating history of the war in Iraq from the planning stages through the continued insurgency in early 2006, and he does not shy away from naming those he finds responsible. His tragic story is divided in two. The first part--the runup to the war and the invasion in 2003--is familiar from books like Cobra II and Plan of Attack, although Ricks uses his many military sources to portray an officer class that was far more skeptical of the war beforehand than generally reported. But the heart of his book is the second half, beginning in August 2003, when, as he writes, the war really began, with the bombing of the Jordanian embassy and the emergence of the insurgency. His strongest critique is that the U.S. military failed to anticipate--and then failed to recognize--the insurgency, and tried to fight it with conventional methods that only fanned its flames. What makes his portrait particularly damning are the dozens of military sources--most of them on record--who join in his critique, and the thousands of pages of internal documents he uses to make his case for a war poorly planned and bravely but blindly fought. --Tom Nissley
Making a Fiasco
Thomas Ricks spent five tours in Iraq during the war, reporting for the Washington Post and researching and writing Fiasco. Like many of the officers he most admires, when he wanted to understand what was happening as American troops encountered stronger and longer-lived resistance to the occupation than expected, he turned to recent and classic accounts of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, from the U.S. occupation of the Philippines through the lessons of Vietnam, and he reports on his favorites for us in his list of the 10 books for understanding Iraq that aren't about Iraq. You can also get a glimpse into his writing process with a much different list he has prepared for us: the music he listened to while writing and researching the book, from Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell to Ryan Adams and Josh Ritter. And he took the time to answer a few questions about Fiasco:
Amazon.com: As military correspondent for the Post, you have made five trips to Iraq over the last four years. How has it changed over that time?
Thomas E. Ricks: It has been markedly worse each time, in terms of security. On my first trip, in April-May 2003, we would walk out on the streets of Baghdad at night, albeit with caution. Even on my second trip, in the summer of 2003, I would feel comfortable hopping in a car and driving 100 miles north from Baghdad to Tikrit. To do either of those things now would be suicidal. In January and February of this year, Baghdad felt worse to me Mogadishu did when I was there in 1993 or Sarajevo did when I was there a few years later. It appeared to me that there was no security, except what you provided for yourself with armed men and careful planning. One Army major described the city to me as being in "the pure Hobbesian state" in which everybody is fighting everybody.
By the way, contrary to what I see asserted occasionally, most reporters don't live in the Green Zone, the walled-off area in central Baghdad that is the headquarters of the American effort in Iraq. Reporters live out in the city, and I think generally have a better feel for what is going on than do people living in the Zone or on big American military bases. In the area of Baghdad I stayed in, I constantly heard gunfire and explosions. Yet an American colonel told me that my neighborhood was deemed "secure." I think that really meant that U.S. troops could drive through it while heavily armed--say, with a .50 caliber machine gun atop a Humvee--and usually not be attacked.
I worry that what the Americans measure are threats to U.S. troops and the killings of Iraqis. That neglects a huge spectrum of other significant activities--rapes, robberies, kidnappings, acts of extortion, and, most importantly, acts of violent intimidation.
Amazon.com: You cite many strategic errors in the planning and execution of the war, but perhaps the central one is that the U.S. military leadership failed to recognize that they were fighting an insurgency, and their methods of fighting in fact helped to create that insurgency. Can you explain those methods, and their effects?
Ricks: The U.S. military that went into Iraq in 2003 was the best military in the world for fighting another military. But it was woefully unprepared for the task at hand. For example, U.S. military culture believes in bringing overwhelming force to bear. Yet classic counterinsurgency doctrine calls for using only the minimal amount of force necessary to get the job done. U.S. soldiers and their commanders, untrained and unschooled in the difficult art of counterinsurgency, tended to improvise. So in the summer of 2003, some soldiers in Baghdad decided that the best way to deter looters was to make them cry--and they sometimes did this by threatening to shoot the children of looters, and even conducting mock executions.
More broadly, the Army in the fall of 2003 fell back on what it knew how to do, which was conduct large-scale "cordon-and-sweep" operations. These missions scarfed up thousands of Iraqis, most of them fence-sitting neutrals, and detained them. U.S. military intelligence officials later concluded that 85% of those detained were of no intelligence value. The detention experience frequently was humiliating for Iraqis, a violation of another key counterinsurgency principle: Treat your prisoners well. (Your readers who want to know more about this should read a terrific little book by David Galula titled Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice.)
Not every unit was ineffective or counterproductive. I was struck at how successful the 101st Airborne was in Mosul in 2003-04. And some units showed remarkable improvement--the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment had a mediocre first tour of duty in Iraq, but when it went back in 2005 for a second tour, it did extremely well. Col. H.R. McMaster, the regimental commander (and author of a very good book about the Vietnam War, Dereliction of Duty) told his troops that, "Every time you disrespect an Iraqi, you are working for the enemy." I was especially struck by how his regiment handled its prisoners--it even had a program called "Ask the Customer" that quizzed detainees when they were released about whether they felt treated well. This recognized the lesson of past wars that the best way to end an insurgency is to get its leaders to put down their guns and enter the political system, and to get the rank-and-file to desert or switch sides. But it will be harder to discuss the sewage system with the new mayor next year if your troops beat him in his cell when he was your prisoner last year.
Amazon.com: But today's military leadership was formed in Vietnam, when all of those lessons of counterinsurgency were supposedly learned before. Why didn't that experience translate into a preparation for the current conflict?
Ricks: Military experts, such at Andrew Krepinevich (The Army and Vietnam) and Lt. Col. John Nagl (Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife) say that after that war ended, the Army washed its hands of the entire experience and essentially concluded that it was never going to do anything like that again. It was almost as if the very word "counterinsurgency" was banned from official Army discourse.
In Iraq, there was a tiny minority of American soldiers early on who understood how to win the occupation. These generally were civil affairs officers and other Special Forces types. But their wisdom often was disregarded. "What you are seeing here is an unconventional war being fought conventionally," one Special Forces lieutenant colonel glumly commented one day in Baghdad.
Amazon.com: You've been writing about the military for the Post and the Wall Street Journal for years now, and Fiasco is built from the testimony of a remarkable array of sources up and down the chain of command, some off the record but many more on the record. Can you talk about your sources? Is this level of public criticism of a war from within the military precedented??
Ricks: Yeah, reporting the book was a pretty emotional experience. Even having covered this war as it unfolded, I was taken aback by the rage that some officers felt toward the Bush Administration, and especially toward Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. And also toward Paul Wolfowitz, who was then the no. 2 guy at the Pentagon. I think the rage is probably like what the military felt about Robert McNamara during the Vietnam War. What is unprecedented, I think, is that many officers had doubts about the wisdom of invading Iraq, especially in the way we did it.
The emotions also hit me pretty hard at times, especially when I was writing my chapter 13, about how widespread abuse was by American soldiers in 2003-04, often because they hadn't been trained for the mission they faced. I have spent more than 15 years covering the military. I tend to like and admire these people. So when I learned about a 4th Infantry Division soldier shooting an unarmed, handcuffed Iraqi detainee in the stomach, and the investigating MPs saying the soldier should be charged with homicide, and instead the commander simply discharged the soldier from the Army--well, that bothered me.
Another thing that struck me with sources was the mountain of information that was available. I read over 30,000 pages of documents for this book. At the end of one interview a guy gave me a CD-ROM with every e-mail he had sent to Ambassador Bremer, who ran the civilian end of the first year of the occupation. Other people showed me diaries, unit logs, official briefings, and such. Also the ACLU did a great job of obtaining and releasing piles of official U.S. military documents related to abuse--so I could see the time stamp on an e-mail in which an intelligence officer stated that "the gloves are coming off" in interrogations, and one soldier recommended blows to the chest while another wrote back recommending low-level electrocution.
Unfortunately the Army wouldn't release the details of citations for valorous acts by soldiers, which means that the Pentagon made it easier for me to learn about the sins of soldiers than about their acts of bravery. The Marine Corps did give me those "narratives" that support the bestowing of medals, which I really appreciated. Those documents really brought home to me the fierceness of the two Battles of Fallujah, in April and November 2004--probably the toughest fighting American troops have seen since Hue and Khe Sanh in the Vietnam War.
Amazon.com: In the last section of the book, you project a variety of possible scenarios for the next 10 years in the Middle East, mostly grim ones, and just in the past two weeks the sudden violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is leading to talk of a wider regional conflict. Where do you think those events are leading us?
Ricks: We are really in unexplored territory. We are carrying out the first-ever U.S. occupation of an Arab nation. This is also almost the first time we have engaged in sustained combat ground war with an all-volunteer force. (I think the suppression of the Philippines insurrection might count as a small precedent.)
Even more significantly, I think the Bush Administration doesn't really like "stability" in the Middle East. In its view, "stability" has been the goal of previous administrations, but pursuing it led to 9/11. It is not the goal, it is the target. So they are for rolling the dice, both in Iraq and in Lebanon. I think the big worry is those wars spilling over borders. Fasten your seat belts.
Book Description
The definitive military chronicle of the Iraq war and a searing judgment on the strategic blindness with which America has conducted it, drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time.
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondant Thomas E. Ricks's Fiasco is masterful and explosive reckoning with the planning and execution of the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq, based on the unprecedented candor of key participants.
The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.
As many in the military publicly acknowledge here for the first time, the guerrilla insurgency that exploded several months after Saddam's fall was not foreordained. In fact, to a shocking degree, it was created by the folly of the war's architects. But the officers who did raise their voices against the miscalculations, shortsightedness, and general failure of the war effort were generally crushed, their careers often ended. A willful blindness gripped political and military leaders, and dissent was not tolerated.
There are a number of heroes in Fiasco-inspiring leaders from the highest levels of the Army and Marine hierarchies to the men and women whose skill and bravery led to battlefield success in towns from Fallujah to Tall Afar-but again and again, strategic incoherence rendered tactical success meaningless. There was never any question that the U.S. military would topple Saddam Hussein, but as Fiasco shows there was also never any real thought about what would come next. This blindness has ensured the Iraq war a place in history as nothing less than a fiasco. Fair, vivid, and devastating, Fiasco is a book whose tragic verdict feels definitive.
Book Description
FIASCO is the shocking story of one man's education in the jungles of Wall Street. As a young derivatives salesman at Morgan Stanley, Frank Partnoy learned to buy and sell billions of dollars worth of securities that were so complex many traders themselves didn't understand them. In his behind-the-scenes look at the trading floor and the offices of one of the world's top investment firms, Partnoy recounts the macho attitudes and fiercely competitive ploys of his office mates. And he takes us to the annual drunken skeet-shooting competition, FIASCO, where he and his colleagues sharpen the killer instincts they are encouraged to use against their competitiors, their clients, and each other.
FIASCO is the first book to take on the derivatves trading industry--the most highly charged and risky sector of the stock market. More importantly, it is a blistering indictment of the largely unregulated market in derivatives and serves as a warning to unwary investors about real fiascos, which have cost billions of dollars.
Customer Reviews:
Super Read.......2007-09-15
Anyone one who invests in the stock market or debt instruments must read this. If you are planning a career in investment banking or any other job on Wall Street, this book is a must.
Worth the Used Book Price - Three and a Half Stars.......2007-05-30
I wouldn't buy it new. I really wanted to give it three and a half stars. The book is entertaining and does give one an insider's look into Wall Street and the derivatives market. However, the tangents the author takes the reader down often had no purpose. They were more the type of story the author and some of his cronies would enjoy laughing about over a cold beer, but they lost something in print. Overall I have a better understanding of the derivatives market and enjoyed hearing about Wall Street in the early 90's.
A failed attempt to be the new Liar's Poker.......2007-04-09
Though the book is entertaining, it's hard not to find stories about fresh undergrads making their name on Wall Street at least mildly interesting. This book attempts, rather tastelessly, to be the "new Liar's Poker" (the comment about munis is a rather pathetic attempt to coin a new version of the ubiquitous phrase "Equities in Dallas"). Alongside this, it paints a rather skewed, inaccurate and poor picture of derivatives trading desks by taking much of what goes on there out of context. Technically speaking, the book leaves out a lot of the particulars and over-simplifies many concepts, which is probably a good thing considering that most will find derivatives rather complex and boring. What bothers me is his nonchalant attitude about failing to understand some of the basic fundamentals of derivatives trading. For example, I doubt any interest rate derivatives trader lacked a solid understanding of the not so complicated topic of convexity. I guess you can't expect much from a derivatives salesman besides some smoke, mirrors and a lot of hot air.
Specifics aside, not nearly worth the $10 - $15 you can get it for, but if you're looking to waste an afternoon with a less entertaining version of Liar's Poker, give it a read. My market on the book is $0/$3.
An average Wall Street tale sensationalized by anecdotes .......2007-02-25
This book was an average tale of Wall Street with some very entertaining quotes. It provides a good explanation of several complex structured products but loses credibility when hammering clients for the positions they took and the banks for the role the play in the financial markets.
Supercharged, Super Leveraged and Super Lethal .......2006-02-01
I love starting a review with a few memorable quotes because if you read the book the quotes will bring it all back no matter how long its been since you read it, and if you did not read the book and are intrigued by the quotes you'll buy it on the spot (at least I do). So here it goes:
Pg. 126 Frank quotes Warren Buffett, "If you don't know who the sucker is, it is you".
Pg. 130 Quoting another bond salesman, "Let me tell you something, If a bond can not be sold with two hockey tickets and a good bottle of wine, the bond can not be sold"
Pg. 176 "The involvement of European issuers seemed fitting. The first active derivatives market had opened in Europe in 1688, when traders on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange began writing derivative contracts...Derivatives were returning home"
Pg. 182 Talking about Mexican Banks, "They craved risk...they wanted to gamble. They wanted, they demanded, "leverage"-the ability to borrow to take on greater risk"
Pg 205 "Out of curiosity I asked everyone what other jobs they would be willing to take instead of their current jobs at Morgan Stanley if the pay remained the same...Would you rather work at McDonalds or at Morgan Stanley? For the same pay - McDonalds, without a doubt...Shoveling manure or Morgan Stanley? Manure sounded pretty good to everyone."
Pg 226 Talking about packaging a product for the purpose of creating an illusion of a gain, which happens to create the largest fee's ever ($75 million), "Of the $571 million, the investor immediately realized a huge gain, roughly $400 million."
- This was a totally smoke and mirrors gain done strictly for the purpose beefing up returns.
Pg. 247 At the end of his 3 year stint on the Street, "I now believed everything was a fraud, and I had a well founded basis for my beliefs. Derivatives were a fraud, investment banking was a fraud, the Mexican and the Japanese financial systems were frauds..."
Epilogue Pg 251 "What lessons did I draw from my experience selling derivatives? I believe derivatives are the most recent example in the history of finance: Wall Street bilks Main St."
Pg 252 "Could a $70,000-a-year Securities and Exchange Commission investigator ever catch a $700,000-a-year derivatives salesman?"
Pg. 256 "70% of derivatives professionals say they expect big losses in the coming year"
Pg 277 "If the SEC and the U.S. Attorney's office are busy prosecuting basic cases-insider trading, the mafia selling non-existent stocks-how can they possibly compete against the big boys, especially when the big boys are tucked away in Grand Cayman, protected by special tax legislation, insulated from disclosure requirements and hidden from the public view with a P.O. Box address?"
Charlie Munger, who is Warren Buffets partner in Berkshire Hathaway recommends this book highly. (See my other reviews and my blog for a complete list of his recommendations ( bloglines.com/blog/KevinKingston ). This book gives you a great understanding of the products that Wall Street firms are putting together and the reasons they are doing it. For example a LIBOR-Cubed Hedge and other supercharged, super leveraged and super dangerous, for those that don't understand them, which is most people. It also describes the frequency that even the packager, Morgan Stanley could not put a value on the complex derivative products.
By Kevin Kingston, Author of: A 20,000% Gain in Real Estate
Book Description
From the Washington Post's two-time Pulitzer-winning senior Pentagon reporter, the definitive military chronicle of the Iraq War-and a searing judgment of its gross strategic blindness-drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time.
Unabridged CDs - 20 CDs, 24 hours
Customer Reviews:
Excellent CD; Well Read; Fascinating but grim story. .......2007-08-07
I commute 64 miles a day by car and this CD made my commute fly by. The narrator helped me keep all the general straight-- all of whom were saying in one way or another: "This isn't going to work" or "What is Plan B once Plan A fails?". I sat in my office driveway listening to "Fiasco"!
I highly recomend it..........now I need to buy something else.....or wait for Tom Ricks to write a follow-up.
a rave from the author of the book.......2007-05-18
I wrote 'Fiasco' and was pleasantly surprised by how well it was done as an audiobook. I actually listened to it on my commute and enjoyed it. I recommend it highly.
Illuminates some of the mistakes.......2007-02-10
This book provides a good analysis of some of the mistakes the U.S. made in the war in Iraq. I would classify the problems he describes into two main mistakes. First, the Bush administration imagined that WWII is a good analogy for the threat that the U.S. faces from the mideast. That wouldn't have been a particularly unusual problem in a war if they had corrected their worldview when they saw evidence of enemies using a very different strategy.
The biggest and least excusable problem was that the lack of anything clear enough to be called a military strategy. It almost sounds like Bush thought the sound bites used to market the invasion to voters amounted to an adequate description of military goals. This left various parts of the U.S. forces pursuing conflicting strategies that ranged from attempts to aid Iraqis in building a democracy to attempts to conquer Iraq for its Al-Qaeda connections, leaving U.S. forces to a confused pursuit of conflicting strategies that guaranteed increased Iraqi hostility toward the U.S. without accomplishing much else.
This book suffers somewhat from a narrow scope and an over-reliance on opinions from within the U.S. military. Ricks and his sources seem to be too optimistic that they've learned a strategy that has some chance of working if U.S. voters are patient enough, but they show no familiarity with the analysis in Robert Pape's book Dying to Win which suggests that the strategy advocated in Fiasco will perpetuate the conditions under which suicide bombings increase.
The book implies that a sufficiently wise set of leaders could have produced a strategy with a reasonable chance of success, but I'm left doubting that any U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein could have produced a good result.
The book is mostly cautious about historical events that the author can't verify, such as Bush's motives, and the extent to which U.S. policy was manipulated by Iran.
I'm curious why Fiasco doesn't devote much attention to the current Iraqi government. Possibly it is sufficiently tainted by its association with the U.S. that it is irrelevant, but if so I would have expected an argument to that effect.
Average customer rating:
- Great blow-by-blow account of movie making
- No better book to describe how a movie is produced
- Students of the Industry Only
- Excellent Read for Hollywood Biz buffs
- Great read if you're curious about the movie business
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The Devil's Candy: The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco
Manufacturer: Da Capo
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ASIN: 0306811235
Release Date: 2002-05-28 |
Book Description
When Brian De Palma agreed to allow Julie Salamon unlimited access to the film production of Tom Wolfe's best-selling book The Bonfire of the Vanities, both director and journalist must have felt like they were on to something big. How could it lose? But instead Salamon got a front-row seat at the Hollywood disaster of the decade. She shadowed the film from its early stages through the last of the eviscerating reviews, and met everyone from the actors to the technicians to the studio executives. They'd all signed on for a blockbuster, but there was a sense of impending doom from the start-heart-of-gold characters replaced Wolfe's satiric creations; affable Tom Hanks was cast as the patrician heel; Melanie Griffith appeared mid-shoot with new, bigger breasts. This riveting insider's portrait provides a timeless account of an industry where art, talent, ego, and money combine and clash on a monumental scale.
Customer Reviews:
Great blow-by-blow account of movie making.......2007-01-16
First rate account of the making of Brian De Palma's Bonfire of the Vanities. Salamon, at the time a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, received what appears to have been total access to director De Palma, the actors, costume designers, cameramen, and practically everyone else involved in the making of the movie. The level of detail may be too much for someone looking for a quick account of what went wrong in the making of this film, but I found it all fascinating. The only other book I know of that provides a comparably detailed inside look at the making of a movie is Lillian Ross's Picture, which was an account of the making of John Huston's Red Badge of Courage in 1951. A fair amount has changed in movie making since this book was written. For instance, Salamon devotes considerable time to following the second unit director as he attempts to set up some difficult shots, one involving the landing of a Concorde jet at sunset. These days, I imagine most movie goers would assume such a shot was actually cgi. I read the Da Capo Press 2002 reprint. (Interesingly, the subtitle of the book changed from "The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood" to "The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco." Probably an indication that this film had been largely forgotten by 2002.) The reprint edition has an afterword that briefly discusses the reception of the book -- Bruce Willis was livid -- and the impact of the film on the careers of De Palma and the other people who are the focus of the book. Unfortunately, the photos from the first edition are not reproduced and the quality of the printing is a little off. Whatever reproduction technique was used imparted a bit of waviness to many of the lines of text.
No better book to describe how a movie is produced.......2006-07-22
The Devil's Candy is the story of the making of The Bonfire of the Vanities. It is the best (and possible only) book in recent times to describe how a movie is made, in depth, from inception to casting to production to editing to screenings and focus groups through release and box office.
The subtitle, "The Anatomy of a Hollywood Fiasco" is misleading. This is not a book that analyses why a movie production went wrong. It is a journalistic look at how a movie is made, any movie, and this book uses the example of the Bonfire of the Vanities because that happened to be the production Julie Salamon was invited to observe from beginning to end. Tellingly, the original version of the book was subtitled instead "Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood" and the new subtitle was obviously added for the paperback version to try to pump up sales.
Most of the other reviews have said this book is for industry insiders, but it isn't. For insiders, there is nothing new here. This book is for people on the outside who want to know how the movie industry works. And what we learn is that for all the glamour, movie production is mostly meetings and sitting around sets doing endless takes of scenes that eventually get cut.
Assuming you're interested in learning how Hollywood works, from the endless scouting of locations to who is responsible for carrying the director's thermos of coffee, you will be educated. This book, at more than 400 pages, goes into gory detail, from just about everyone's point of view, from the director to costume manager. It's written as you would expect from a journalist on the banking desk at the Wall Street Journal (before she became the movie critic) - straightforward, inclusive, and accurate, not the breathless style with plenty of italics and exclamation points characteristic of showbiz books. But it is also the weakness of the book. There is too much detail that isn't important, too much describing the color of every carpet in every room visited, what kind of shoes everyone wears, and who is holding De Palma's coffee thermos at at every moment, too many people's points of view to keep the narrative flowing.
Overall, if you're looking for a juicy, fast flowing story about Hollywood disaster, you will be entirely disappointed. However, if you want a textbook on how a movie gets made, want to learn how Hollywood really works, this is *the* book.
Students of the Industry Only.......2004-06-18
This is an exceptional documentary analysis of what goes on in the making of a film. The author, Julie Salamon, was given the opportunity to follow Brian De Palma for the total duration of a very difficult film project, Bonfire of the Vanities, the remake of the famous Tom Wolfe novel. It is an exceptional replay of everything that happened from original purchase of the rights to the novel, to the publicity and reviews of the famous movie, to the ultimate collapse at the box office. One only wonders how this book would have read had the movie been a success.
While I really enjoyed this book, I would not recommend this book to anyone that does not have an intense interest in Hollywood and the making of movies. Excessive time is spent poring over the roles of line producers, second unit directors and production assistants. The book gives you a great understanding not just of the stars but also what it takes to break into the business and what the career path can be. Particularly as it relates to De Palma's assistant looking for an assistant producer credit and the second unit director looking to break out and become a director of his own films. In addition, it does touch on the stars, both actors and director, and how their idiosyncrasies shape the movie and its making.
This is not a short book. So if you are looking for an exciting page turner, this is not for you. You will spend many pages following the tale of obtaining rights to shoot at certain locations, tales of screen tests of local judges, and boycotts and publicity by Bronx politicians.
Overall, this controversial book detailing separation of the haves and have-nots of the 80s becomes an even more controversial movie with screw-ups in producing of the movie and casting of the roles. But if you want to know what Hollywood is really like and not what just is on the screen, this is the book. You will learn why making movies is so personality driven. For the movie fans, Tom Hanks comes off as the incredible good guy he appears to be. Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis are not so lucky. But maybe the most interesting personal portrayal is of De Palma. A creature of the 70's decade of the auteur, his portrayal is of a troubled genius that struggles with communication skills.
I strongly recommend this book if you have a detailed interest in the business of film. If not, take a pass as it will be too detailed.
Excellent Read for Hollywood Biz buffs.......2003-01-10
If you are like me and you like books on the business of Hollywood you will love this one. I do not like books by Hollywood "insiders". They tend to write the books for nothing more than to pump themselves up and trash actors/studios, however books by journalists tend to be more even handed. Hit and Run is probably the best book on Hollywood ever written, The Devil's Cany is now second. What makes this book great is that it explains what the jobs of certain people are. For instance I didn't know what a second unit director was till I read this. Not to mention that the story about the adaptation of Bonfire of the Vanities makes for a great tale.
Great read if you're curious about the movie business.......2002-04-18
Julie Salamon was lucky enough to get in at the beginning of what was anticipated to be a great film, and turned out to be one of the biggest critical and financial failures for Warner Bros. The book Bonfire of the Vanities was so popular and written in such a style that taking on the task of adapting it to film was a true challenge and doomed to fail. And fail it did. Salamon also gives a background of the steps it takes to get a picture made from buying the rights of the book to marketing the finished picture. She details the different roles of the movie set, answering the age-old question, "What does a grip do?". You gather a great understanding of how difficult it is to make a picture by studio standards and how the hierarchy on the set works. Fascinating insight from an outsider let into the circus of making a major motion picture. Brian De Palma must curse the day he agreed to let her chronicle the journey.
Also, I have to recommend reading Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. You can understand why he wanted no part of making the film adaptaton of his infamous book.
Book Description
A longtime industry insider and acclaimed Hollywood historian goes behind the scenes to tell the stories of 15 of the most spectacular movie megaflops of the past 50 years, such as Cleopatra, The Cotton Club, and Waterworld. He recounts, in every gory detail, how enormous hubris, unbridled ambition, artistic hauteur, and bad business sense on the parts of Tinsel Town wheeler-dealers and superstars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Clint Eastwood, and Francis Ford Coppola, conspired to engender some of the worst films ever.
Customer Reviews:
Lightweight, Entertaining Look At Hollywood's Disasters.......2007-09-08
Fiasco is a good overview of some of Hollywood's most notable failures. Parish spares no one in describing the unchecked egos, ulterior motives, and inability of anyone in charge to say no that made these failures as spectacular as they were. While it could get monotonous reading the same mistakes being repeated endlessly, Parish does his best to keep the stories interesting by making his writing unchallenging and light. In fact, if it weren't for his annoying habit of changing a person's possessive description from their first name to their last name and back (often within the same paragraph), Parish's writing style could be described as perfect for the topic.
Film and business students could probably gain additional insights for their fields of study by reading this book. But, for most of us, Fiasco is a gossipy, enjoyable read about very bad decision making.
Another solid book from the prolific Mr. Parish.......2007-07-02
When I see James Robert Parish's name in the "by..." line on a book cover, I know that whatever else it is, it's going to be solidly researched and sharply written, with lots of clear-eyed and often pungent observation. It is even so with _Fiasco_, wherein Mr. Parish chronicles the history of many of the most notable multimillion-dollar bombs of the last four decades, from "Cleopatra" to "Town and Country". Parish is both sympathetic and unsparing in his analysis of the decisions and actions that led to these movies' failures, and he spices his reportage with loads of anecdotes.
My only quarrel - and really, it's more of a quibble than anything else - is that Mr. Parish didn't cover the flops of the pre-1960 years (of which, he notes, there were plenty). Then again, as he states in his foreword, those older movies are really outside the scope of his thesis, which is that the decline of the old studio system is one of the major factors that has led to so many out-of-control movie budgets over the last forty years (even when the movies in question are big hits). As such, he's chosen, quite reasonably, to limit his analysis to films made since 1960, and by golly, he's got plenty of material to work with! Incidentially, another reviewer questioned why "Heaven's Gate" and "Bonfire of the Vanities" weren't considered in this book. Mr. Parish explains why in his foreword; those stinkers are already the subject of books - which he highly recommends - and he wanted to cover movies that hadn't often been considered in the context of fiascoes (which is why he devoted a chapter to "The Wild Party", which he himself acknowledges is not really a _terrible_ movie but includes as an example of out-of-control filmmaking).
If Mr. Parish were in the habit of issuing online updates to his books, he could probably write a whole new chapter on the current movie "Evan Almighty" (as of early July 2007). That film is shaping up to be the big flop of 2007, and judging from the reported budget alone (as well as from other things I've heard about it), it's proof positive of the propositions he advances in this book. A must-have for anyone interested in why movies do or don't succeed. (And Mr. Parish even quotes one of my all-time favorite aphorisms about movies, William Goldman's "Nobody knows anything". :) ) He might also have pointed to the success of "Transformers", which, even though it had a $150 million budget, its makers also exercised close control over the spending (in fact, director Michael Bay reportedly cut his own portion of the budget by 30 percent in order to reallocate the money to improve other portions of the film), and has been rewarded with a smash first week.
Entertaining and informative.......2007-05-14
FIASCO is certainly not for everyone, but it's a book that definitely and deftly illuminates some of the mishaps of "modern" (post 60's) cinema. The real joy of this tome of cinematic miscarriages is that Parish's style is so breezy and easy to read, that the reader can take in the vast historical, biographical, and economic data in a way that remains accessible and, dare I say, fun.
What really impressed me about the book is the fact that Parish so effortlessly condenses so much information into such concise vignettes. He breaks off into little modes of expository anecdotes about a particular star or producer or moment in history that he's brought up, gives you the gist of what you need to know (including various tidbits that I would imagine are difficult to drudge up elsewhere), and then goes back to the main point without a lurch.
Surely, most cineastes already know about the movies Parish discusses in his book, but there's a lot more there than you'd expect...
flopola in more ways than one.......2006-09-20
An interesting concept semi-doomed by a few built-in flaws and not a few glaring typos.
Yes, you can hardly write a book about disastrously expensive films without including movies like Cleopatra, whose financial follies have already been covered ad nauseum for decades. But where are the chapters on such spectacular misfires as Myra Breckinridge, Hello Dolly, The Little Prince, Jonathon Livingston Seagull, Howard the Duck, Heaven's Gate and Bonfires of the Vanities?
Case in point: As interesting as its offscreen travails may have been, The Wild Party (a scarely-remembered Raquel Welch "art" picture budgeted at under $1 million) was simply an unsuccessful film, not even in the same ballpark as the monumental bombs that are supposedly the book's focus. (And can this picture really have been shooting, as the author claims, from May 1974 to July 1975?)
Typos aside, this book's biggest problem is that most of the material is old news to readers most likely to want to read it.
Fiasco is a Fiasco.......2006-08-04
I really anticipated reading this because I'm fascinated by Hollywood failures. Unfortunately the pedestrian writing style and the use of the same format to describe the story of each film very quickly grew irritating. The author's constant switching between protagonists' given names and surnames 'Kevin decided to star in.... followed a sentence later by 'Costner now felt' or whatever, and the peculiar use of the words 'entry' and 'performer' for 'film' and 'actor' left me unable to concentrate on the stories. The endless potted biographies of scriptwriters and producers appeared to be padding. The later chapters on Hollywood stars' inflated egos had potential but because of the stilted writing style, it never got anywhere. Very disappointing.
Average customer rating:
- What if alien life doesn't want to be contacted?
- SETI gone mad
- Stanislaw Lem: The Moral Conscience of Science Fiction
- A TAle for the Ages
- The best of the best with an excellent translation by Kandel
|
Fiasco
Stanislaw Lem
Manufacturer: Harvest/HBJ Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Lem, Stanislaw
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ASIN: 0156306301 |
Book Description
The planet Quinta is pocked by ugly mounds and covered by a spiderweb-like network. It is a kingdom of phantoms and of a beauty afflicted by madness. In stark contrast, the crew of the spaceship Hermes represents a knowledge-seeking Earth. As they approach Quinta, a dark poetry takes over and leads them into a nightmare of misunderstanding. Translated by Michael Kandel. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Customer Reviews:
What if alien life doesn't want to be contacted?.......2006-01-15
Almost all of Lem's science fiction centers around one or two variations of one theme. The theme is "What is intelligence?" and the two variations are "What would robotic life be like?" and "What would a truly alien intelligence be like?" "Fiasco" is in the latter category. An expedition from Earth approaches and attempts to contact an alien race that does everything it can to avoid being contacted. The humans use their technological advantage to slowly escalate their efforts with ultimately catastrophic results.
"Fiasco" is a brilliant read on its own, and very approachable, but should really be considered part of Lem's larger set of works on this theme: "Solaris", "Eden" and "His Master's Voice" being the most obvious...with "Fiasco" being the most approachable, "Solaris" the best known and "His Master's Voice" the most challenging.
SETI gone mad.......2005-02-20
Contrary to an impassioned and misplaced review Lem isn't arguing against space-travel, nor is he being morbidly sensitive about the death of traditional cultures. Lem is holding up a mirror of introspection about the human race and our technological future - the aliens the expedition sets out to contact are in many ways us, at least the collectivised Communo-Capitalist version of ourselves. The key to understanding is the "mini-novel" cleverly embedded in the main-story as a bit of VR entertainment for the crew. An expedition into an inhospitable African desert to find the control centre of the kingdom of the termites. And a centre that, in the end, doesn't exist. Lem has frequently pitted massive hulking machinery against techno-biological collectives, and usually the big machines fail. Bottom-up collective action defeats top-down command-decision hierarchies. But the collective doesn't make right either - Quinta's collectives are engaged in apocalyptic Cold-War, countering each other's espionage efforts so violently that the EM spectrum from the planet is full of noise and all space-vehicles are autonomous AIs. The planet is ruined and the populace seemingly enslaved to the war effort. The expedition is attacked by the machines, but instead of retaliation more vocal contact efforts are attempted. When contact is made the Quintans are too distracted to care about the newcomers. All that matters is countering the enemy, or so it seems. That's where the whole thing unravels. SETI and CETI become a fiasco when we don't fit in the mental space of the aliens. Yet Lem is really telling us about the futility of war, hot or cold, and the dangers of the collective, the hive, and technology that enslaves. He's written a book packed with ideas and new ones will stick in your head with each re-read.
Stanislaw Lem: The Moral Conscience of Science Fiction.......2004-01-26
In my opinion, Fiasco is an even more damning statement of the folly and pretense behind space exploration than Solaris is, and thank God for that. I believe Stanislaw Lem is one of the most aware authors in the whole field of science fiction. What some readers seem to perceive as his cynicism is, I believe, nothing more than the deep disappointment of a sensitive and truly optimistic man who is sick to death of the evil that men do to each other through the agency of science. Yes, he appreciates scientific inquiry, but he also understands fully how the emotional coldness of scientific inquiry has had the undesirable consequence of freezing our hearts dead, doorknob-stiff.
Furthermore, I think that what righteously enrages Mr. Lem is his ruthless recognition of the fact that for mankind, the primary benefit of technological advancement has been the acquisition of power, and we sure can't get enough of THAT. The indisputable proof of his sensible, knowledgeable, and historically validated cynicism as regards man's rush to technological godhood is written in the blood-splattered pages of the history of this planet.
Christopher Columbus' expeditions to the New World were followed up by a holocaust that engulfed the North and South American continents in a firestorm of genocidal warfare and deliberately introduced disease, resulting in the near-extinction of the peaceful, innocently welcoming Indians that he `discovered' in 1492. In 1853-54, Commodore Perry on three visits to the Ryukyu and Bonin islands before going to Japan and while waiting for a reply from Japan, arrogantly dismissed the native's desire to be left the hell alone and made a naval demonstration by way of a volley of cannon-fire and landed his Marines twice. Of course, all of this preemptive violence was only to secure facilities for commerce, henceforth known as the "opening of Japan." Hurrah! So much for `free' trade. Makes you think about the attack on Pearl Harbor in a new and interesting light, doesn't it?
In Fiasco, Mr. Lem has the courage to state plainly the true reason why we want to run out to the stars: to conquer them, to steal them, and claim them as our property. Listen, just listen, will you, to the thoughts of Tempe, the main protagonist in Fiasco who, after landing his capsule on the planet Quinta, wanders over a landscape utterly devastated by the cataclysmic assault that was launched from the orbiting mothership, Hermes, to punish the Quintans for not welcoming contact with the Earth-men:
"It was not his belief that communication with the Quintans was senseless, based on false assumptions---it was not that which oppressed him, but the fact that they had entered into a game of contact where violence was the highest suit. This thought he kept to himself, because more than anything he wanted to see the Quintans. How could he, despite all his reservations and doubts, turn his back on such an opportunity? Arago (the priest onboard the mothership) had taken a dim view of their policy even before the phrase "show of strength" came up (and) had called a lie a lie, had repeated that they were entering into a contest of deceit; that they were pushing so forcibly toward communication that they were actually abandoning it; that they were covering themselves with masks and stratagems---safer thereby, perhaps, but more and more removed from any genuine opening up of a view into an Alien Intelligence. They jumped upon Quinta's subterfuges, struck at Quinta's every refusal, and made the goal of the expedition less attainable the more brutal the blows they used in its attainment."
The way I see it, if we ever get as far out into this universe as some of us would like, and if we ever encounter any form of life that could respond in any way to our presence, I hope to God almighty that they are advanced enough, powerful enough, and angry enough at our uninvited intrusion into their space to send us back here with the quickness, with our tails between our rocket exhausts, humbled and ready to look into the mirrors that Stanislaw Lem advises us to look deeply into, before we go slinging our slop all over the cosmos again.
A TAle for the Ages.......2003-12-07
One reviewer said it best when he said the book asked how we could ever hope to communicate with alien beings who have a completely different evolutionary history and psychological makeup. One of the worst aspects of some sci-fi is their justaposition of our value systems, wants and needs onto an entirely (forgive the word) alien culture.
Lem seems to delight in writing about these encounters and all the misplaced hopes, dashed dreams, incorrect assumptions and not so surprising outcomes. His irony is so thick one could spread it on morning toast. In the end, of course, the book is all about us and our nature.
The best of the best with an excellent translation by Kandel.......2002-12-18
The cover art has nothing to do directly with the story. Simply the artistýs idea of what the story was about in a metaphorical way.
What IS the story about? Set in a future when humankind finally acts on the basis of a scientific ideal not personal gain a planet is discovered in a distant solar system that has a high probability of supporting life. An expedition is sent and seemingly noble efforts are made to make contact with the inhabitants. The story illustrates, in my own opinion, that no matter how 'evolved' we think we are, no matter how noble and honorably we think we can be, our pride in ourselves and our accomplishments has a way of causing us to ultimately act in barbaric ways.
The beginning of the story is astonishing and relates the re-animation of a man frozen on Titan a century earlier. The scene painted by Lem of this manýs technique in saving himself, his death, and his eventual return to the living are all astonishingly well-written and full of imagery. Lem is a master at getting the reader to imagine a very realistic and plausible scenario. All of this takes place in the first few chapters. This introductory story also serves to acquaint us with the 'evolved' and noble human of the distant future. The human we all hope our childrenýs children become.
There is also a short description of manýs mastery of gravity and cybernetics. This is related in a short description of an ýsmartý probe vehicle and the probeýs independently deduced attempts to avoid capture by the planetýs inhabitants.
Iýve read other readerýs comments regarding Lemýs use of science as a tool only and that he is not a true science fiction writer. I completely disagree. Perhaps Lem does not display a firm understanding of science to some readers, but it is obvious to me that he not only understands the science behind his ideas he is capable of explaining that understanding in the way he can illustrate the possibilities and limitations of his machines.
Lem's stories are unusual in that there is rarely a happy ending or any ending at all. When the message is delivered the story ends often without a climactic scene. Also, it is rare (except for Ijon Tichy or Kris Kelvin) for Lem to make any of his characters more important than any others in a particular story.
I would love to see this story made into a movie. In fact I think this particular book is much better subject matter than Solaris for movie material. With the recent advances in CGI and special effects I think this could be done very well.
Finally, Lem is a science fiction writer like no other. No one in the west comes close and Michael Kandle's translations are absolutely the best.
Average customer rating:
- A. D. Tarbox, Freelance Book Reviewer for Midwest Book Review
- Dodgeball review from Raistlyn
- Education and Fun!
- THIS BOOK IS OUT! AND SO ARE YOU READ IT NOW
- Adults will enjoy this book also.
|
The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco
Janice Repka
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0525473467 |
Book Description
Phillip comes from a circus family, but all he really wants is to be a regular kid. After persuading his parents to let him move in with his aunt and uncle, he winds up in Hardingtown, where everyone is wild about dodgeball. When he gets slammed in the face with a speeding ball in gym class, he decides to take the dodgeball bully to court. But can a circus boy take on the Unofficial Dodgeball Capital of the World?
This uproariously funny middle-grade novel carries an inspiring message about sticking to your beliefs, however unpopular they may be.
Customer Reviews:
A. D. Tarbox, Freelance Book Reviewer for Midwest Book Review.......2005-11-02
THE STUPENDOUS DODGEBALL FIASCO is an excellent first juvenile book by lawyer, Janice Repka. Using her expertise in the law, Ms. Repka has woven a clever story of circus facts, dodgeball, and a boy who tries to seek justice through the legal system. The book is humorous, clever, and different with its approach. All good things, especially for the age group it is intended for. I would use this book as a read-a-loud chapter book for second through fourth graders, because adults will not want to miss this story. THE STUPENDOUS DODGEBALL FIASCO is of course a well written and age appropriate book for the child or fluent reader who chooses to read this book alone. I hope to see more books by this talented, new author.
A. D. Tarbox, author of ALREADY ASLEEP (fall 2006)
Dodgeball review from Raistlyn.......2005-08-26
I liked this book because this kid from the circus, a nobody went against the dodgeball capital of the world and tried to get things fair, and he did.
Education and Fun!.......2005-05-03
The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco is a must read for every pre-teen in the country. Not just because it's a cute story filled with wonderful insight into the lives of circus people, but because it's a book about finding one's own niche in the word, believing one deserves better than life's circumstances, standing up for oneself, and really, it's about standing up for others when they're too afraid to stand up for themselves.
THIS BOOK IS OUT! AND SO ARE YOU READ IT NOW.......2005-04-27
THE STUPENDOUS DODGEBALL FIASCO IS TOTALLY AIR HEADED AND FOR PEOPLE WHO... WE'LL GET TO THAT LATER. THIS BOOK IS BY JANICE REPKA. THE MAIN CHARACTER IS PHILLIP EDWARD STAINSLAW. HE IS A CIRCUS BOY. HE WAS ACTUALLY BORN INTO A CIRCUS. NOW I THINK THAT'S TOTALLY AWESOME AND OUTSTANDING... BUT NOT PHILLIP. HE THINKS IT'S MISERABLE. NOW I KNOW THAT MOST BOOKS START OUT WITH A BORING BEGINNING, BELIEVE ME!!! BUT NOT WITH THIS BOOK, JUST START THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THE BOOK AND WALLA, IT'S CAPTURED YOUR ATTENTION. ANYWAY BACK TO THE STORY, PHILLIP'S JOB IN THE CIRCUS IS TO.... OH MY GOSH THIS IS FUNNY, HIS JOB IS TO SCOOP UP ELEPHANT DROPPINGS WITH A POOPER-SCOOPER. NOW THE PROBLEM OF THIS "STORY" OR AS I WOULD SAY IT A "COMICS" IS THAT YOUNG PHILLIP DOESN'T LIKE LIVING IN A CIRCUS AS A CIRCUS BOY. FOR HIS BIRTHDAY, WHICH JUST PASSED, HE GOT A SWALLOWING SWORD. HOW WEIRD IS THAT. MOST KIDS WANT A DIRTBIKE OR A XBOX OR VIDEO GAMES. PHILLIP GOES TO LIVE WITH HIS AUNT AND UNCLE. THATS WHERE THE REAL STORY STARTS, IN HARDINGTOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL. I WOULD RECOMEND THIS STORY TO PEOPLE WHO LIKE SPORTS AND ACTION. I WOULD RATE THIS BOOK A 5 STAR BOOK BECAUSE OF THE PLOT AND THE RESOLUTION. WHEN YOU FIND OUT THE RESOLUTION YOU WON'T PUT THIS STORY DOWN.
GOOD LUCK BOOK LOVERS. THANKS FOR READING MY REVIEW
Adults will enjoy this book also........2004-11-27
I'm 70 and loved The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco. It is brilliant, funny, and taught me more about circus life than I can use in a lifetime.
Point is, it's advertised for 9 to 12 year olds. I'd say it's more for 9 to 90 year olds. It's a page turner and one fun read.
Book Description
The number of children being diagnosed with ADD/ADHD has skyrocketed, along with prescriptions for Ritalin and other powerful amphetamine drugs to treat these problem children. This pharmaceutical answer to a behavioral disorder is one of the most controversial subjects in parenting today, and Dr. David Stein offers parents a safe, foolproof alternative.Challenging the disease theories of ADD/ADHD, Stein discusses the conditions in modern society and the American family that cause so many children to hate schoolwork and behave disrespectfully to all authority figures. Rejecting the pill solution, he presents a truly effective parent training program called the Caregivers' Skills Program that helps children learn appropriate behavioral and cognitive skills permanently, without drug therapy. Parents are trained to teach their children to love reading and learning, and to respect authority at home and at school. Stein presents case studies from his own highly successful practice that demonstrate the remarkably effective CSP that can help parents, educators, physicians and therapists treat today's problem children.
Customer Reviews:
Life altering.......2006-10-10
Every parent should read this book. The author points out how societal changes have impacted our kids, i.e. TV, working moms and dads. We all need to reflect on these issues and how they affect our kids. I took my daughter off her medication, turned off the TV on school nights, and used his discipline method. She's doing fine in school and is listening much better.
life changing.......2006-03-24
This book changed our family. If you're willing to work hard, change as a parent, and truly see the changes you want in your family, this is the book for you. It's extremely practical and easy to use.
Drug Free Behavior Modification Works!!!!!!.......2006-03-16
What an amazing book!!!!!!!!!!!!! My life and my child's behavior has changed so dramatically!! The book states that you will see results in 2 weeks, we saw results in one!!! It is hard work to stick with this program but if you do the results are amazing!!! There is so much less yelling and nagging and reminding in our home. There is actually peace. Once I did the research about the commonly used ADHD drugs and there potential side effects I was mortified and resolved to find a drug free way to help my four year old before she starts kindergarten this fall. Things are not perfect but there is such a dramatic change that even her preschool teachers are asking me what I did to bring about this change. DO THE RESEARCH ABOUT DRUGS!!!!!!!!! IN MY OPINION THEY SHOULD BE USED ONLY IN THE MOST EXTREME OF CIRCUMSTANCES! Try this first. If you can stick with it it works. Sometimes its hard. I even had to put up a "How to to discipline my daughter" reminder on the refridgertor to remind me not to go back to the old ways. But if I stick to it, it really works. To be honest I did not really enjoy my child very much before, She was so hyper and unfocused and didnt seem to listen to anything anyone said. We had tried everything. I read several other books, gave her time outs, took toys and privaledges away, sent her to bed early and about everything else I could think of and it never phased her. I almost gave up and figured and ADHD child really couldnt control herself and this was just the way things were going to be. I had nightmares of her entering kindergarten and the teachers calling every day to complain about what a disruptive and uncontrollable child she was. Now we speak. Her self confidence has increased and she is actually cute again. She is proud of herself and her behavior. Thank you to the author for literally changing my and her life. I STRONGLY URGE ALL PARENTS TO GIVE IT A TRY!!!! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE? IF YOU WERE LIKE ME YOU TRIED EVERYTING ELSE ALREADY.
Needed for some parents, but..........2005-02-19
"If you're going to err then err on the side of toughness"(p166)
"Do not give warning"
Have you ever known a really hyper and misbehaving child who you thought just needed a little bit of discipline in his/her life? This is the book for them. I would not, however, recommend this book to 95% of parents whose children have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD.
When I read this book, it scared me. The kind of "parenting" described done to a child with ADHD is abusive, and leads only to frustration, anger, rage and despair, and possibly eventually to life long trauma. How do I know? I have ADD, and so did my brother. No, I am not taking medication. Any medication. And my father believed in the kind of methods described in this book. My ADD has only led me to have trouble in school, and daydream constantly, but my brother who had childhood ADD was not so lucky.
Every day, for twelve long years, my father faithfully followed the methods described in this book, with my brother. Extremely smart and argumentative, my brother could be a terror, and was. He "recovered" at puberty like a third of children with ADHD, and luckily has no long term mental damage from the methods supported in this book. But I do. Almost every day I fled outside, to my room, to the neighbors, anywhere, because of the screams of my brother. Even at age 10, when he was given a "time-out", he really did not understand what he had done. The spankings, the immediate, no excuses, no bargaining, no reasoning attitude could of destroyed him. The house would be filled with screams, pleas, wails, that I was helpless to stop, not from physical but from mental abuse. To my brother, he would at any point be snatched away to be padlocked in a room for no apparent reason, even spanked. He had ADD, and it did not work. Period.
ADD is not a disease; it's just a different way that a human brain can work.
There are lots of methods of dealing with ADD without medication then the ones in this book. If you want to treat a child with ADHD without using medication, get another book about it. It might work, and at least it won't be abusive. If your child does not have ADHD, this book is for you. It really does work, just not for kids with ADD. This book is also not for those who do not believe in spanking kids nine times a day.
Dr. Stein's Caregiver Skills Program Works.......2003-11-26
My wife and I read Dr. Stein's books outlining his CSP program because our 8 year old son had a number of behavioral issues, at home and at school, that made some of his teachers ask us if we knew about ADHD. Well, I did, as I took a PhD in psychology from Wisconsin in 1988, and what I knew was that it didn't exist except as a label for a complex of recalcitrant, noncompliant behaviors and a low tolerance for frustration. I also knew that use of psychoactive stimulants, such as Ritalin, amphetamine, and methamphetamine, is especially inappropriate for children as they are very likely to permanently change the structure of the brain, lead to depression and other real diseases, and eliminate any valid basis for the child to experience true self efficacy and pride, not to mention genuine higher order creative thought. So, we read Dr. Stein's books and began applying the techniques with our son. We were astonished at how quickly our child progressed! The dawdling in the morning, frequent emotional outbursts, refusals to comply with directives to do whatever - all these - declined dramatically. Were they completely eliminated? Well, did I say he was 8 years old? If you want to get a true scientific picture about the whole ADHD fiasco, and you also have a child who you desperately want to help and not inadvertently hurt, then I strongly recommend that you start with this and Dr. Stein's other related books, then read Peter Breggin's "Talking Back to Ritalin." Dr. Breggin, an MD and psychiatrist, provides compelling proof not only that ADHD doesn't exist, but that stimulant drugs like Ritalin cause serious physical and psychological harm, and that an extremely powerful industry works hard to perpetuate the mythology of ADHD. Some of the other reviewers here need to read these books, and actually try the CSP program, which is an effective method for addressing the difficult motivational (aka "attentional") problems that many pefectly normal children face.
Book Description
If a generation is defined by what it wears, what does the “I’m With Stupid” T-shirt craze say about the 1970s? Nothing, Maureen Valdes Marsh explains, that wasn’t already hinted at by palazzo pants and topstitched leisure suits. In this picture-packed book, she examines these and other fashion imponderables of the decade. Through text, photos, and trivia, the book leads readers through the closets of an era that took a great leap forward, fashion-wise. Style disassociated itself from the past as self-expression took hold. Women, entering the work force in droves, exchanged their mothers’ housecoats for pants suits and maxi dresses. And men, determined to keep up, stepped out in vivid Quiana dress shirts and ties of incomprehensible width. 70s Fashion Fiascos documents it all — from thankfully brief fads like roller disco and feathered hair to styles that endured such as graphic tee’s — and does it with wit and affection.
Customer Reviews:
Worth it for the photos.......2007-06-04
This book is much smaller than I expected it to be looking at it on the computer screen when I ordered it. However, it does have lots of great photos and resources and I'd say its worth getting for your collection or it would make a great gift. I wish it would have gone by year, rather than style. Also I hoped that by the name "fashion fiascos" we would see more extreme styles of platform boots and shoes and other stereotypically 70's styles. Don't get me wrong, there are some, but not nearly as many as I'd thought and most of the book focuses on the "Marsha Brady" era of clothes, more so than the later 70's when you had a totally different style that was more 80's than 60's. The style of hair worn by somebody like Pam Dawber on Mork and Mindy in 1979 was radically different than the hard, sculpted styles of the earlier 70's. Clothes changed as radically as music did in the 70's. Even the sound of disco between the early stuff like "That's the Way I like it" was radically different from the later Disco sounds, such as Donna Summer and that change took place within only 5 years. Perhaps the author would do a Fashion Fiascos Vol 2 to include the onset of Disco to the end of the 1970s. This book doesn't even feature a John Travolta white suit. Still, aside from everything, it is a nice book for my collection and reference for those who sew period clothing.
The fashion police as their best........2007-05-07
Very funny fashion overview of the 70s fashion fiascos.
AWESOME and FUN book!! .......2007-02-13
This is a fantastic, high quality book in full color (wouldn't get the effect if it was in black & white, that's for sure!). It brings back memories of when I was a kid in the 70's. It's like looking through the old photo albums and making fun of what mom and dad were wearing. The color pictures, the ads, the history, the little tidbits of info.. what fun! Sure to bring back memories for anyone who was around in the 70's, and some of the fashions will.. well.. make you cringe. :) The book even gives some shopping resources on where to find some of these vintage 70's fashions if you'd want to dress like that. Overall, a very fun book! I love it! I hope Maureen Valdes Marsh comes up with an 80's fashion book.
A Marvelous Book About Horrendous Fashion!.......2006-11-16
When first 70s Fashion Fiascos: Studio 54 to Saturday Night Fever by Maureen Valdes Marsh crossed my desk, I admit, I screamed in horror. The caftan on the book cover alone was enough to put me in a swoon. But a pleading letter came with it, begging me to give this book my imprimatur.
Look it up.
Little did I know that I would be swept up by its contents: a blend of American social history, wit, and truly hideous clothes! Ms. Marsh is a marvelous writer, with a knack for the mot juste. Of leisure suits, she writes, "Color became the key to individuality, and no shade was too effeminate for the 1970s man to wear."
Since the youth of today has taken a great interest in the clothing of the decade, Ms. Marsh has even provided an up-to-date Shopping Resource Guide in the back.
- excerpt from my review in my blog, "Diary of a Mad Fashionista" at blogspot dot com.
[...]
A Trip Down Memory Lane.......2006-10-25
What a cool book! It brought me back to the optimism of the 70's. Ms. Valdes Marsh really knows her stuff and has the ads to prove it. The book is well laid out with an incredible array of fashion photos from the 70's (when fashion don'ts were fashion do's). Sadly, I must admit I actually thought I spotted a couple of my own fashions from high school days...
Book Description
A disenchanted government insider's take on the planning that did go on for postwar Iraq-planning that the Bush administration willfully ignored
According to conventional wisdom, Iraq has suffered because the Bush administration had no plan for reconstruction. That's not the case; the State Department's Future of Iraq group planned out the situation carefully and extensively, and Middle East expert David Phillips was part of this group. White House ideologues and imprudent Pentagon officials decided simply to ignore those plans. The administration only listened to what it wanted to hear.
Losing Iraq doesn't just criticize the policies of unilateralism, preemption, and possible deception that launched the war; it documents the process of returning sovereignty to an occupied Iraq. Unique, as well, are Phillips's personal accounts of dissension within the administration.
The problems encountered in Iraq are troubling not only in themselves but also because they bode ill for other nation-building efforts in which the U.S. may become mired through this administration's doctrine of unilateral, preemptive war. Losing Iraq looks into the future of America's foreign policy with a clear-eyed critique of the problems that loom ahead.
Customer Reviews:
Mistitled- the fiasco was in pre-war planning.......2007-08-21
This book has some insight on the early stages of pre-war planning, particularly as it pertained to the Kurds. The Kurds considered the years after the first gulf war to have been a "golden age". They enjoyed the implicit military guaranty of the U.S., and an economic boom from controlling border crossings used by smugglers evading the embargo. The Kurds were at first ambivalent about the invasion, but became supporters in the hope that Iraq would follow them in secular politics and economic development.
There is also some material on the Democratic Principles Working Group (AKA The Mother of All Working Groups). That was a committee of Iraqi opposition groups that sought to develop a plan of the postwar Iraqi government. The committee suffered from infighting and distrust, and was dominated by groups with limited constituencies in Iraq (i.e. Kurds and exiles). The group also suffered from an academic focus- developing a theory of an Iraqi government when they needed to BE the Iraqi government. As dysfunctional as it was, the administration discarded its work and transferred the responsibility for postwar government to an even more unqualified and incompetent group: the Defense Department's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance under Doug Feith. And things went downhill from there...
The rest of the book is a readable but generic account of the occupation and the failure to confront the insurgency.
Recommended primarily for the Kurdish material.
Losing Iraq: Inside the Postwar Reconstruction Fiasco.......2006-03-08
Losing Iraq illustrates what went wrong with planning for post-liberation Iraq although not for the reasons its author, a Council on Foreign Relations staffer, intends. In the run-up to the Iraq war, the State Department hired Phillips to moderate seminar discussions among Iraqis. He uses this limited experience to conclude that the cause for difficulty in post-liberation Iraq was not lack of planning but rather a failure to listen. "How could such noble intentions [Iraq's freedom] go so wrong?" he asks. "The White House and Pentagon political appointees thought they could liberate a county without talking to those they were liberating," he replies.
Phillips appears unaware that every Iraqi who met with him also visited the Pentagon, National Security Council, and Central Intelligence Agency. U.S. officials would meet almost daily at the National Security Council, chaired by officials such as Zalmay Khalilzad, then the president's special assistant for Iraq, and Stephen Hadley, then-deputy national security advisor.
Rather than researching and analyzing prewar planning, Losing Iraq becomes a testament to the author's ego and pettiness, features that caused Iraqis and U.S. officials alike to push Phillips aside. He describes Kanan Makiya, with whom he clashed on issues including de-Baathification, as poisoned by neoconservatives who transformed him from an academic to a polemicist. Most Iraqis and Americans differed and questioned whether Phillips's hostility was due to jealousy of Makiya's prominence in fields in which Phillips sought to compete. Phillips also writes that he initiated ideas like a Kirkuk commission to adjudicate competing property claims but was ignored. Actually, such a commission was up and running weeks before his epiphany.
Phillips revises events liberally, saying, for example, that he and Ryan Crocker, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, opposed the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority because it did not empower Iraqis. Actually, Crocker opposed the transfer of sovereignty.
The irony of Phillips's argument is hubris. He chides Bush administration officials for not listening to Iraqis, but he himself did not bother to travel to Baghdad in the wake of Iraq's liberation. Rather, as revealed in a Wall Street Journal review by Rob Pollock, he lifted descriptions from newspapers. His experience in Iraq was limited to a few brief trips to Iraqi Kurdistan before the war, the sheltered guest of a Kurdish politician.
Losing Iraq may try to castigate the White House but instead becomes an example of the arrogance about which so many Iraqis complain. Phillips treats Iraq as a template upon which to lay down his theories. The Iraqi voice is subsumed to his own. If the White House really lost Iraq-the success of the Iraqi elections suggests otherwise-it was because it subordinated the voice of Iraqis to outside advisors like Phillips, more interested in pumping up their own importance than in the welfare of Iraq.
Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2006
Enormous Incompetence!.......2006-01-02
To foster partnership and enhance legitimacy, the Future of Iraq Project (FOIP) tried to engage Iraqis representing the country's diverse ethnic and religious groups. However, it was clear from the beginning that empowering Iraqis was antithetical to the Pentagon's goal of pushing Chalabi into power (faster?). Advocates of military action grew increasingly concerned that further planning would reveal difficulties and weaken the case for war. Defense believed that after a brief transition period, authority could be handed to an interim government dominated by Iraqi exiles (subsequently strongly resented by Iraqis). After dismantling the Ba'ath party, Iraq's technocrats would transfer their loyalties for a new administration and function like before. The cost of reconstruction would be paid almost entirely from oil revenues.
Iraqis could not believe that the formidable U.S. military was able to vanquish Saddam's Republican Guard yet lacked the capabilities to prevent looting and control civil strife. More than any other factor, the coalition's inability to curtail the escalating violence poisoned Iraqis against the U.S. and turned the "liberation" into an "occupation."
General Garner was sent into Iraq prior to Bremer and just after the invasion for humanitarian assistance. Garner did not even learn about the FOIP until just before he left the U.S. He also desperately needed qualified staff. Though wanting to incorporate parts of the FOIP into his planning, he was prohibited from using many of those involved in its construction and leadership.
Then, in came Ambassador Bremer, with his own inexperienced team. Of the 1,147 Americans employed by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), only 34 were Foreign Service Officers. Bremer then made a series of catastrophic decisions that compounded problems. While the Future of Iraq Project anticipated that war criminals in the Iraqi armed forces and intelligence services would be prosecuted, it envisioned untainted elements working in partnership with coalition. When Bremer disbanded the army and then failed to pay the salaries and pensions of army personnel, he transformed 400,000 Iraqis and their families from potential partners into antagon
State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III
The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11
Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (Vintage)
