Book Description
The Weave was on the verge of winning a decisive victory after a milennia of war, thanks to their new allies from earth. But then the birdlike Wais scholar Lalelang found evidence that Humans might not adapt well to peace. Researching further, she uncovered a secret group of telepathic Humans called the Core, who were on the verge of starting another war, and then eliminating Lalelang. At the last moment, she was saved by a lone Core commander. He took a chance on her intelligence and compassion, and gambled the fate of Humanity on the possibility that together, they could find an alternative to a galaxy-wide bloodbath....
Customer Reviews:
Finally found this book.......2003-01-26
I had finished the other 2 books several yrs back...never finished the trilogy. I have been searching for this book in used book stores for awhile, finally found it...finally finished the series.
It was a very interesting series. Yes, the basic premise is sorta silly. A thousand yr war has been going on...basically by 'civilized' species that abhore war. Then, Earth is discovered, and humans, being insanely warlike and aggressive...are enlisted into this war and we turn the tide. If you can get over the silly notion that thousands of yrs of war has been perpetuated by species too civilized for it...and that humans are really the uncontrollable aggressive species in the universe...it's a very enjoyable read.
The way FOSTER delivers the series, you can suspend your beleif's about the obvious inconsistency in my first paragraph...and just enjoy the story and great characters.
Each book can basically be a stand alone story. Tho, I really wanted to get to the next one in the series...each book has a unique storeyline. If I remember correctly, even the first 2 books portrayed differing timelines. The first book was all about the initial encounter between humans and the "Weave". The weave being a consortium of races bound together to battle the "Amplitur" and their all encompassing expansion of a religious type of doctrine called "The Purpose".
The Second book had different characters and was further along the timeline of this war. This last book, the war (since first contact with humans) had been going on for hundreds of yrs...so again, you have a different cast of characters and a different storyline. The basic premise of the "Weave vs Amplitur" war is still going on...but, now, the war is coming to a conclusion.
This book is all about how the war ends, and...more importantly to this book...what to do about the overtly aggressive humans once the war is over.
Yes, humans are portrayed as primatively aggressive. But, we realize it, we understand this in ourselves. At the same time we are trying to come to grips with our aggressiveness, we are a little dismayed that the "weave" consortium is both afraid of us, and unwilling to accept us into their little club at the end of the war. After all the sacrifices we made to end it. We are portrayed as both thinking and intelligent...but also aggressive and primative. We scare the hell out of our allies, they want no part of us at the end of the war.
A unique "Wais" scholar...small, fragile and birdlike species...has been studying humans. She puts herself in battle situations with humans (completely unheard of from any other wais)... to study how we interract with other species. She forms a bond with a colonel, Nevan...and they both try to come to grips with who humans are, and how we can deal with life after the war. She is both an admirer of humans, and a critic...
Book has some unique twists...you really care about the characters and what happens to them. This is what saved me from putting the book down. I was able to overcome the implausabilty of the storeyline, by just enjoying the story and the people.
I still think the first 2 books were much better. Both of them being very good. This book tended to want to make a statement and talk more about social and evolutionary changes in human nature. Much of it I couldn't really agree with...but some of it I couldn't disagree with. Being the book it was...it just wasn't as fun as the first 2.
Still, I enjoyed it...had a good time reading it (2 days)...and it concluded the series in good fashion. I would recommend it for those who want to finish the series.
SF
Not the best, but yet..........2000-03-08
...yet it kept me reading for nearly 24 hours straight, complete with minimum of sleep and skipping the day at school.
I finished the whole trilogy with one go. Yes, as I already mentioned, it does not belong to the best series in SF, but it has an expansive world, well defined characters and rather interesting - even if sometimes too simplistic - storyline.
Great to spend some time with.
Readable. Implausible........1997-08-20
This is quite readable. You do find yourself caring what happens next, you do find the characters stay in character - even if alien. There is a flaw in the whole series, I believe. The galaxy is dominated by beings too timid to pick up a gun, yet alone shoot it. This seems contrary to any selection pressures in any environment. Also humans are blood thirsty and enjoy war - all of them. Compared to the suspension of disbelief needed for the Spell Singer series I guess we can't complain
Amazon.com
One of the most important stories that's rarely in the newspapers is the foreign sales activities of American defense contractors. But an important issue it is, as illustrated by this book. Spoils of War focuses on the overseas marketing of helicopters to Turkey, which results in nice profits for Sikorsky, but has awful consequences for the Kurdish refugees they're used against. John Tirman, active in left-wing think-tank and publishing circles, makes the case that the main result of U.S. arms makers' market-making for weapons that the Pentagon doesn't want is a Third World human rights fiasco--one that, despite the company line, doesn't really help state and local economies.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent contemporary summary which lacks depth.......2004-07-19
In Spoils of War, John Tirman makes an invaluable contribution to understanding the plight of the Kurds in Turkey. He does an excellent job of revealing the role of the US in contributing to their annihilation (there can be no other word.) However, Tirman falls down when it comes to conveying the broader context into which Turkey, and the Kurds, fit.
Like most journalists Tirman is most comfortable with contemporary facts and figures, but, when it comes to history, he tends to be credulous to the point of superficiality. His knowledge of the oil industry, for example, is surprisingly weak, given the importance of petroleum to his story. As a case in point, in the very first chapter of the book, Tirman sets the stage for his later argument by claiming that at the time of the oil embargo of 1973-74 half of US imports came from the Gulf. Had this in fact been true, then Tirman's later claims that the embargo panicked the US into fostering policies that established the Middle East as an area of national security would have had some basis. However, as a brief glance at Department of Energy data will show, (and it really only takes a minute), oil imports from the Gulf amounted to less than five percent in 1973. The misnamed "embargo" - actually a very small reduction in output -was largely a symbolic flexing of muscle by Saudi Arabia to prove to the rest of the Arab world that it was not a toady to the US. In terms of US oil consumption, the embargo was a mosquito bite. In terms of politics, however, it was a godsend. Carter used the "embargo" to justify a doctrine of military intervention in the Mid-East, and the convenient bogeyman of OPEC (now hopelessly conflated with "Islamic fundamentalists") was firmly established in the minds of the media - never again to be questioned.
Later in the book, Tirman compounds his error, referring to the "disastrous" price hikes of 1974 and 1979. Again, a little bit of oil industry knowledge would have gone a long way. Tirman fails to realize that crude oil prices are set by oil refineries - not oil producers. The "price hikes" (quotes are necessary, here) which OPEC demanded were actually an attempt to bring Gulf oil prices in line with the prices charged by American oil companies. (Historically, the so-called "posted price", the price of US oil plus phantom shipping charges from the Caribbean to Great Britain, has set the price of crude.)
In short, US oil companies hiked international prices, not OPEC.
In sum, Tirman misses a very important point. The reason oil-producing nations of the Mid-East have been deemed vital to our "national security" is not because our economy is dependent on Mid-Eastern oil (it isn't), but because our principle satellite, "our man in Asia", Japan, with its hundreds of US military bases, is dependent on Mid-Eastern oil. Europe, now a major competitor, also imports heavily from the Middle-East. China, with its burgeoning economy, and, incidentally, its control of most of our international debt, is also well on the way to becoming a heavy importer. The name of the game is not "national security," or "arms trade," or even "US economy," it's "eliminate the competition" (including pesky separatists like the Kurds, irritating nationalizers like Saddam, and uncooperative socialists like Chavez).
Placing Turkey within the world-wide picture of US oil interests would have made Mr. Tirman's argument much stronger. However, it also would have forced him to re-evaluate the importance of the arms trade. One can only hope that Mr. Tirman will make a stronger effort to delve into some of the underlying factors influencing Mid-Eastern politics in his future writings. A broader perspective is badly needed.
definitely worth reading.......2002-09-21
I read this when it was first published a while back. Tirman outlines how the U.S. defense industry, helicopters and small arms in particular, was kept alive by conflicts in the Middle East and Central Asia during President Reagan's administration, by the numbers. I'm not surprised the Turkish reviewer didn't like his take. Mr. Tirman accuses Turkey of persecuting Kurds much more than Saddam Hussein (the anti-Kurd in American mainstream media), with American hardware. But you don't have to listen to any academic discourse; he lets the numbers speak for themselves. Turkey was the biggest recipient of U.S. military aid until recently, and the only Middle Eastern country to be involved in F-16 fighter production.
Mr. Tirman also outlines American involvement in Iran while supporting the Shah (King), in Afghanistan while supporting the Mujahideen, and gives a very simple, believable explanation of why Israel has become the recipient of so much American military aid.
To my knowledge there has been no serious criticism of Mr. Tirman's book and certainly nobody has refuted his numbers, which are a matter of public record but startling to read as he puts them together.
Failure to understand a country, Turkey........1999-02-13
Tirman's book is a typical example of western intellectuals' failure to understand Turkey and her complex relations with European/western countries.
Tirman simply treats Turkey as an Islamic Eastern country that solely depends on western powers, essentially United States for survival in an hostile region. The major failure of the book lays in perception of Turkey.
Since early 60's different political parties with different political agendas have dominated Turkish politics. True, there were military coups and interruptions to democracy, but Turkey is the only moslem country where proper elections are held and most of the non-govenmental organizations enjoy the same level of freedom with the other European countries.
Most of today's inhabitants of Turkey are descendants from the lost territories in Balkans and Caucasus. Traditionally, todays Turks are not related to Arabic or Iranian people of Middle East. Without understanding the country, people and its internal dynamics, Tirman puts Turkey in the same basket with the despotic regimes of Middle East.
You can read this book and see how an American intellectual, who is living in a crystal castle without getting out for decades, sees the world.
solid review of u.s. foreign arms sales policy failures.......1998-04-28
Spoils of War
by Spiros Rizopoulos,
Senior Associate, The Western Policy Center
Spoils of War, John Tirman's analytical work on U.S. arms sales to allies, challenges the political and moral rationale behind U.S. foreign policy choices, particularly during the period from 1968 to the present, and criticizes the standards by which the United States has selected its "favorite" allies during this period. Tirman provides insight into the relationship between U.S. interests abroad and the aid Washington has given its allies, particularly Turkey. He also explores the role of pork barrel money in strengthening U.S. domestic industrial interests concerning the sale of arms to these allies.
Tirman begins the book by describing the historical rivalry between the civilizations of the West and the East, which began in 2,000 B.C. and led to the Crusades and the occupation of Christian Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, marking the beginning of the Ottoman Empire. According to Tirman, cooperation between Christian countries of the West and Muslim countries of the East, such as the alliance between the United States and Turkey, is not viable today because of historical antagonisms stemming from the Crusaders' efforts to contain the spread of Islam.
To illustrate this conclusion, Tirman describes Washington's relationship with Iran in the 1970s. Under the Nixon administration, the only way the U.S. was able to avoid being hurt by the Shah of Iran's proposal that OPEC members limit their oil exports to the West was to sell arms to Iran in exchange for oil. Additional factors justifying this policy, according to this administration, were the end of Britain's presence as a colonial power in the region, the decline of Russian intervention in the Middle East, and the hostilities between Egypt and Israel. However, as the United States was providing military aid to the Shah, he was engaging in acts of oppression against his people, creating negative public opinion! domestically and causing a strong anti-American sentiment within the country. This sentiment has dominated Iranian policies toward the U.S. since Ayatollah Khomeini succeeded the Shah in early 1979. A country that was once an important U.S. ally became a dangerous enemy. Khomeini lost no time showing how he could endanger U.S. interests in the region. In November 1979, he began holding diplomats from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran hostage for 444 days, indicating that he was ready to engage in hostile actions against the U.S. The irony in this situation was that this aggression was backed up by weapons supplied to his predecessor by the United States.
With the loss of Iran as an ally, Washington strengthened its relationship with fellow NATO member Turkey because of its ideal geographical location, bordering the Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and its history of military coups led by pro-Western generals who could serve U.S. interests without major political opposition. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a year after the Shah's demise also influenced the U.S. decision to enhance relations with Turkey.
Tirman clarifies the danger underlying this new strategic cooperation between the United States and Turkey. The United States, in an attempt to show its commitment to Turkey, turned a blind eye toward the Turkish military coup led by General Kenan Evren in 1980 and toward human rights abuses in the country. Washington's excuse for doing so was Turkey's willingness to side with the U.S. as circumstances that threatened American interests arose in the region and the dedication of the Turkish leadership to containing Islamic fundamentalism. Meanwhile, as the U.S. was strengthening its support for Ankara, Turkey was building up its military to serve primarily its own domestic and regional interests.
Global change came unexpectedly with the fall of Communism in 1989. Tirman outlines the changes that occurred in the 1990s as a result. The primary enemy, the East bloc, collapsed, and the! Bush and Clinton administrations had to redefine American foreign policy in the New World Order. Military assistance to Turkey had been a way to confront the Communist threat. The U.S.-Turkish alliance was to remain solid, however, because of continuing threats to U.S. interests in the region by Iran, Iraq, and Syria. With the U.S. military cutbacks that have accompanied the end of the Cold War, the export of military goods has become the ultimate means for ensuring the survival of the weapons industry in the U.S.
In this regard, Tirman stresses the importance of the emergence of the Black Hawk helicopter in the 1970s. As the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations were reconsidering U.S. foreign policy goals in the region stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, the weapons industry was attempting to adjust to the need that arose during the Vietnam War for an upgraded military utility helicopter that could combine transport and advanced attack capabilities, even in difficult terrain. This led a Connecticut-based firm, Sikorsky Aircraft, to develop the versatile Black Hawk.
Following the collapse of Communism, U.S. legislators from arms-producing districts needed to promote an increase in American arms exports to prevent financial disasters in their states. This was especially true in Connecticut, where the production and export of the Black Hawk helicopter was fundamental to the local economy and crucial to preventing a rise in the rate of unemployment in the state. As a result, Connecticut legislators played an important role in a long lobbying process to help Turkey finance its purchase of Black hawk helicopters, which were used to wage its military campaign against the Kurds in the southeastern part of the country. The legislators' constituencies and the helicopter industry expected lawmakers to make sure that the purchase was made to boost the state's troubled economy. Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd spearheaded the effort to conclude the deal, despite hi!s record of opposition to arms transfers as foreign aid.
The Black Hawk helicopter was Turkey's most effective weapon in its war against the Kurds. Nevertheless, the U.S. continued to avoid recognizing that its transfers of military weapons to Turkey, intended to serve U.S. interests in the eastern Mediterranean, were actually being used by Turkey for this war. The indifference of Washington policymakers to the human rights ramifications of Turkey's repressive acts against the Kurds provided the approval Ankara needed to continue these acts.
In this book, the depth of history, the policy analysis, and the revelations concerning behind-the-scenes developments in U.S. foreign policy are excellent. Tirman calls for an end to U.S. arms sales to governments that use these arms to commit repressive acts instead of to serve U.S. interests. But his argument is weakened by his failure to offer the reader a solution to the adverse economic impact on the U.S. economy that would result from the termination of such arms transfers. Tirman believes that the United States can choose to end arms transfers to Turkey and can keep the U.S. arms industry strong by redefining its means of production and turning "swords into plowshares." He believes that, if the U.S. reconsidered its arms transfer policies on the basis of moral considerations, other countries that manufacture arms would be motivated to follow the U.S. example. How can this occur, however, when countries such as France and Russia have never considered Turkey's human rights violations to be a hindrance to arms sales negotiations with Ankara? If such concerns have not been raised up to now, why would they be raised if the United States voluntarily withdrew from the arms selling race?
Tirman's call for challenging the conceptual framework of U.S. foreign policymaking by focusing on its lack of moral constraints is not the correct way to resolve the Kurdish problem. The answer to the problem might be redefining the U.!S. foreign policy framework in the eastern Mediterranean by expanding the dialogue on seeking alternative ways to serve U.S. interests in the region without ignoring Turkey's human rights violations. If this framework were to be reexamined, many other problems could be solved in the region, such as the differences between Greece and Turkey and the illegal occupation of 37 percent of Cyprus by Turkish forces.
Average customer rating:
- written just before the War on Terror
|
The Post-Cold War Order: The Spoils of Peace
Ian Clark
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 20th Century
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
War & Peace
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Relations
| International
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
World Politics, 1945 - 2000
ASIN: 0198776330 |
Book Description
What changed with the end of the Cold War? This book traces the main effects on Europe, Pacific Asia, the Middle East, and arms control. It considers the major developments in the global economy, patterns of security, and liberal human rights, providing the first comprehensive overview of the nature of the post-Cold War order. It argues that this order should be understood as a kind of peace settlement. How harsh was it, and what were its main provisions? Following a clear structure, Clark brings a clear historical perspective to bear on the existing debates about the post-Cold War order, looking at detailed studies of the settlement in Europe and other regions to explore the nature of the 'peace'. He develops a fresh way of looking at the global economy, international security, and the agenda of liberalism and human rights - all as aspects of the peace set in place at the end of the Cold War.
Customer Reviews:
written just before the War on Terror.......2006-06-28
Take a look at the book's publication date. 9 August 2001. We all know what happened a month later. Through entirely no fault of the author, we can see that the book was perhaps prematurely optimistic. The Spoils of Peace?! Nothing wrong with optimism, but as the author was drafting this book, some months earlier, Osama bin Laden and his cohorts were going to upend and obsolete significant portions of the text.
Yet, give Clark his due. The Cold War involved a very real danger of going nuclear. With both sides having tens of thousands of warheads. It could have destroyed civilisation. It is too easy to decry this book as obsolete. Keep some perspective. The terrorist attacks in 2001 killed some 3000 people. Even the protracted conflicts now underway in Iraq and Afghanistan do not contain in them the dangers of global nuclear war. For all the perils that Islamist terrorists pose, they do not have the nuclear armaments that the Soviets possessed.
So, yes, we are indeed in a relative age of peace, as Clark posited.
Customer Reviews:
The Definitive Guide to the War of Princes.......2003-12-16
Tactics, siegecraft, naval battle... its all described in this "war book" for the new Dark Ages line from White Wolf.
Just in case you are figuring that you don't plan to play Vampire, but are in the mood for another DA game, be it Mage, Inquisitor, or Werewolf; they have rules for all of them here too.
Frankly it is a brilliant move that is way to long in the coming: put out a source book that covers your entire spread of books. Not one book of combat abilities for each character type you have available to you.
This book delivers what it promises to: how to make war in the Dark Ages, particularly against other supernatural opponents.
Average customer rating:
|
Spoils of War
Peter Driscoll
Manufacturer: Corgi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Action & Adventure
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0552138274 |
Average customer rating:
|
Spoils of war
Charles J Levy
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Southeast Asia
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 039515460X |
Customer Reviews:
I Thought We Were The Good Guys.......2002-04-07
Wow, this was a very troubling book. The stories of solders stealing wedding bands and gold teeth fillings are very painful. I thought we were the good guys. I was always taught the stealing was the work of the Nazis and Russians. I found the book well researched and documented. The book is put together in a good order and is easy to follow. If you are interested in World War Two then this is an interesting and very disappointing view of the American solder.
Books:
- The Star: A Story to Help Young Children Understand Foster Care
- The Stars at War II (Starfire)
- The Stolen Child: A Novel
- The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman
- The World As Will and Representation (2-Volume Set)
- Thieves' World: The Threat of the New Global Network of Organized Crime
- Twelve Keys to an Effective Church (The Kennon Callahan Resources Library for Effective Churches)
- Twisters and Other Terrible Storms (Magic Tree House Rsrch Gdes(R))
- Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates (Harvest Book)
- Vanishing Acts: A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- This Year I Will...: How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution, or Make a Dream Come True
- Malicious Intent : A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists and Other Criminals Think
- He Who Fears the Wolf
- Herbal Antibiotics: Natural Alternatives for Treating Drug-Resistant Bacteria
- iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Paradigms Lost: Images of Man in the Mirror of Science
- Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico: Texas, Louisiana, and Adjacent Waters
- England in the Reign of Edward III
- European Marketing Forecasts 2003/04
The False Mirror (The Damned, Book 2)
A Call to Arms
Dirge (Founding of the Commonwealth, Bk 2)
Diuturnity's Dawn (The Founding of the Commonwealth, Book 3)
Phylogenesis: Book One of The Founding of the Commonwealth (Founding of the Commonwealth, Bk 1)
