Just And Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations

Book Description

This classic work of political ethics has radically reconfigured the way that we think about war. From the Athenian attack on Melos to the My Lai Massacre, from the wars in the Balkans through the first war in Iraq, Michael Walzer examines the moral issues surrounding military theory, war crimes, and the spoils of war. He studies a variety of conflicts over the course of history, as well as the testimony of those who have been most directly involved--participants, decision makers, and victims. In his introduction to this new edition, Walzer specifically addresses the moral issues surrounding the war in and occupation of Iraq, reminding us once again that "the argument about war and justice is still a political and moral necessity."

Customer Reviews:

Very good. It defines some concepts which are absolutely essential in wartime and even before someone decides to go to war.......2007-06-28

This book is one of the most significant modern restatements of just war thinking and also a passionate defense of the old principle of noncombatant immunity. The author is both thorough and persuasive in his exploration of a very intricate subject, although some times he loses his objectivity, especially when he's treating the Israeli military responses to various challenges from state and non-state actors. Some other times he takes some sharp legalist turns whish are really difficult to follow. Of course there are many points which really impressed me with their clarity, fine logic and moral soundness: "The state that goes to war is, like our own, an enormous state, governed at a great distance from its ordinary citizens by powerful and often arrogant officials. These officials, or at least the leading among them, are chosen through democratic elections, but at the time of the choice very little is known about their programs and commitments. Political participation is occasional, intermittent, limited in its effects, and is mediated by a system for the distribution of news which is partially controlled by those distant officials and which in any case allows for considerable distortion". "Soldiers, it might be said, stand to civilians like a crew of a liner to its passengers". " I have argued that soldiers in combatcannot plead self-preservation when they violate the rules of war. For the dangers of enemy fire are simply the risks of the activity in which they are engaged, and the have no right to reduce those risks at the expense of other people who are not engaged".

In his afterword, Mr Walzer gives a chilling idea of how a population (even an unarmed one) can tear down and defeat an occupying force. "Nonviolence has been practiced (in the face of an invasion) only after violence, or the threat of violence has failed. Then its protagonists aim to deny the victorious army the fruits of its victory through a systematic policy of civilian resistance and noncooperation: they call upon the conquered people to make themselves ungovernable... They treat the aggressor in effect as a domestic tyrant or usurper, and they turn his soldiers into policemen". If you add to this recipe some dozens of IEDs daily, you have the nightmare of Iraq!

What is just and what is unjust.......2006-11-04

This is a very legalistic look at history. It helps one understand many of the words used in talking about wars.

As a required text book, it fits my MA degree program........2006-11-03

It is the best book sold by the Amazon and at a cheaper price

All Is Not Fair in Love and War.......2006-06-16

Walzer's historical approach to examining just war theory is, I think, the most useful way to understand morality in war. That is so because empirical facts back up all the philosophical evaluations. Walzer describes experience and draws conclusions here; he is laying a philosophical foundation and implying, if not prescribing, moral norms from which the rules have been extracted. Be forewarned, he does not cut the reader any slack. This book requires some serious attention to the author's train of thought.

Just war theory has two categories: the justice of going to war, and the justice of fighting once in a war. Walzer's discussion usefully and clearly separates the two and examines via historical events what we regard as right and wrong within each sphere. In doing this he has done the modern world a tremendous service. His logical breakdown speaks to thousands of years of tradition about what thinkers have considered right and wrong in war. One of the best outcomes of this landmark work is the complete debunking of the notion that "all is fair in love and war." That is the path of least moral resistance (or as Clausewitz would say, "friction"), yet we all know that soldiers are honored for fighting well and loathed for behaving like armed thugs and murderers. What is amazing from the discusion is the realization that Walzer knows he has to attack that age-old notion, something our collective sense of justice has historically always rejected. Yet it remains a prevailing idea for many. Originally coined by the Romans it seems (Walzer quotes them, "In war the laws are silent"), they themselves were self-consciously contrite over the fates they inflicted on the Greeks and Carthaginians. The book rates five stars for rigorously addressing this issue alone.

Some make the mistake of thinking Walzer is a pacifist--far from it. On the otherside some critics find his argument about "supreme emergency" a moral failure and a cop-out. The case of Nazi Germany is his paradigmatic case of supreme emergency, one where normal rules may be relaxed, if ever so little, because of the especially pernicious nature of state-sponsored genocide. In contrast Walzer does not see Imperial Japan, for instance, as having represented a supreme emergency, and so the atomic bombings and the fire bombings of cities could not be morally justified. Readers may want to compare his view to Paul Fussell's perspective in the essay "Thank God for the Atom Bomb." Walzer's argument here has lent unintended tacit support to many ideas about torturing terrorists at Gitmo and elsewhere. It's pretty obvious Dick Cheney, for instance, thinks the same relaxation of restraints would apply to Islamic terror (but the analogy seems weak). I recommend readers to Tim Challans' book Awakening Warrior for a critique of Walzer's idea of supreme emergency and a very impressive logical attack upon the recent trend toward torturing POW's in prisons outside the USA.

Significantly for current events, readers interested in the distinction between pre-emptive and preventive war will find a well articulated argument in Just and Unjust Wars. The US attack on Iraq was and still is often justified as pre-emptive. That impulse on the part of the neo-conservatives who devised or whipped up the casus belli reflects, I think, a need to cloak a morally questionable war in the robes of legitimacy. There is no way that attack can be justified under the historically accepted norms of "pre-emption." Michael Walzer's well-thought distinction between pre-emption and prevention makes sense even in the milieu of asymmetric warfare against terror and Islamic radicalism, and it clearly shows why the Iraq war was a moral mistake from the start, regardless of its practical success down the road, if we are fortunate enough to see that. The moral precedent of engaging in preventive war will continue to haunt America long into the future. The fact that Iraq was not even on the spectrum where the fine line between pre-emption and prevention exists is a telling aspect of the overall ongoing strategic fiasco. Where one fails to recognize the moral high ground, one is doomed to moral failure. Walzer was vocal about the run-up to war in 2003, and those who read his book would do well to find his comments about the Iraq invasion; they are edifying in terms of understanding the overall argument in this book and, not coincidentally, where we are going in this role as the world's police force.

This book is ultimately not very instructive about just war.......2006-06-11

At a lecture at West Point United States Military Academy April 6, 2006, Naom Chomsky argued, "Just war theory" literature "deserves special attention but is ultimately not very instructive about just war". "Just war theory" is "declarations of personal preference", which "never tells you anything. It doesn't tell you when it is proper to intervene, what it tells you is 'I think it is proper to intervene'...there is a big gap between assertion and argument, between surmise and evidence." "We learn very little about just war from 'Just war theory'" what we do learn is "mostly about the prevailing moral and intellectual climate in which we live." Walzer's book relies crucially on such premises as "Seems to me entirely justified, or I believe, or no doubt." Chomsky then discusses scientific studies on human behavior which is noticeably absent from Walzer's book.

Walzer uses the term "I think" at least 52 times in the book. "I don't think" 7 times. "I believe" twice, "no doubt" at least 41 times, and "seems to me" 12 times (I write "at least" because the same phrase twice on one page would be counted once.)

Walzer's hypocricy

In a book which suffers from terribly bad organization, on page 62 Walzer finally systematically lays out his arguments, stating that "Once the agressor state has been militarily repulsed, it can also be punished."

On December 29, 2005, in an interview on NPR Morning Edition ('Just and Unjust Wars' Author Critical on Iraq.) Walzer stated that the Iraq war was not a just war:

"If you are going to use military force in someone else's county...There has to be a cause of some urgency, a massacre in progress. A massacre in memory is not a just cause."

Therefore, if you follow Walzer's assertions to its obvious conclusion, the Iraq war was not a just war and therefore "the agressor state", the US, should "be punished."

But Walzer signed and endorsed The Euston Manifesto, which states in part:

"We are also united in the view that, since the day on which this occurred, the proper concern of genuine liberals and members of the Left should have been the battle to put in place in Iraq a democratic political order and to rebuild the country's infrastructure...rather than picking through the rubble of the arguments over intervention."

Therefore in Just and unjust wars, Walzer argues that "agressor states" should be "punished" but yet Walzer signs a document which criticize those who "pick through the rubble of the arguments over intervention."

Although the Iraq War is not covered in this book, Walzer's inconsistent views on the Iraq war should give serious students of International affairs pause before subscribing to his arguments. It is one mans opinion, full of statments such as "Seems to me entirely justified" "I believe" or "no doubt."

Walzer's arguments are unscientific rablings of one intellectual which are "ultimately not very instructive about just war".

Average customer rating:

So that we all may be Just
An astounding and unforgettable piece of literature
Moving, Funny, Tragic, Romantic... Amazing
shattering
a piece of real literature

The Last of the Just
Andre Schwarz-Bart
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

The Faithful Spy: A Novel
The Thirty-Nine Steps (Oxford World's Classics)
The Thirty-Nine Steps (Penguin Classics)
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen (Penguin Classics)
Badenheim 1939

ASIN: 1585670162
Release Date: 2000-01-31

Book Description

In every generation, according to Jewish tradition, thirty-six "just men" are born to take the burden of the world's suffering upon themselves. This powerful and austere novel tells the story of Ernie Levy, the last of the just, who died at Auschwitz in 1943.

Customer Reviews:

So that we all may be Just.......2007-09-22

The Last of the Just
THis novel ,in my opinionis the greatest,most moving and most unllifting book about the holocaust ever written; about a jewish boy ,a just man ,in the midst of NAzi Germany and finally the concentration camps.The belief that there a a finite number of Just men ,who keep the balance of goodness in the world, in any given generation and the holocaust ,by killing them tipped a cosmic balance is a powerful . I first read it over 20years ago and I have never forgotten it .It is one of the world's great books .
I have just replaced my copy { my old one stolen by book lover]because it bears a re read often to remind us all of us may be "just men/womenTHe world can then will be a better place . Read this book to remind yourself of your humanity and that of others who suffer .

An astounding and unforgettable piece of literature.......2007-09-11

My father got me this book and it took me a few years to get around to reading it. After I did, I found "The Last of the Just" to be quite a memorable story, to say the least. Once you get a couple of chapters into the story, it becomes emotionally gripping as you begin to get to know the characters. The story weaves together fiction and legend against a historical backdrop. The writing is poetic, haunting and beautiful. To me, the spiritual and emotional depth of this novel is unmatched. I plan to read this again some time, after taking some time to digest the entirety of this story. This book is definately a first-class work of art in my opinion.

Moving, Funny, Tragic, Romantic... Amazing.......2007-01-14

This book is a deeply personal account of a Jewish family in the 19th and 20th centuries. Part of it's power comes from following the lives of the family well before the holocaust began... thus showing that anti-semitism was not only a Nazi trait and making the continually worsening conditions even harder to bear in contrast to their lives before. Ernie Levy, our main anti-hero, is so real. Every moment of his roller coaster of life is so charged with real emotions and desires that you cannot help but be 100% invested in what happens to him. The paragraph on the final page is possibly one of the most powerful in all of literature. I finished this book two days ago, and am already ready to read it again. It is a cleansing, miraculous experience.

shattering.......2007-01-11

An immensely illuminating and personal history of the Jewish people. It educates and elicits emotional response. Brilliantly written. Essential for anyone interested in Jewish history.

a piece of real literature.......2007-01-04

Brilliantly written, and shockingly touching.... It will have an effect for much time after you've put it down.

They Just Don't Get It: How Washington Is Still Compromising Your Safety--and What You Can Do About It

Average customer rating:

good, common sense-based book
They Just Don't Get It
Hunt Should Be The Secretary of Defense
A Must Read To Understand Winning The War On Terror
Good views expressed poorly.

They Just Don't Get It: How Washington Is Still Compromising Your Safety--and What You Can Do About It
Colonel David Hunt
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

On the Hunt: How to Wake Up Washington and Win the War on Terror
Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the United Nations, Congressional Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade Protection, and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off . . . And
Culture Warrior
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
The U.N. Exposed: How the United Nations Sabotages America's Security and Fails the World

ASIN: 1400097428
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Book Description

Brand-new chapter exclusive to the paperback edition

Colonel David Hunt has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism. A U.S. Army veteran for nearly thirty years, he has helped take out an active terrorist camp, trained the FBI and Special Forces in counterterrorism tactics, and served as security adviser to six different Olympic Games.

And Colonel Hunt is angry. Why? Because even after the attacks on our country and on Americans around the world, the people charged with protecting us—the politicians and the bureaucrats in the military and in intelligence—still aren’t getting the job done. In They Just Don’t Get It, you’ll learn:

• How many of the government’s recent “reforms” are actually counterproductive

• How we can fight this war and still safeguard our civil liberties and the American way of life

• What you can do to keep your family safe

• How to fix the intelligence disaster (and yes, the politicians in D.C. still haven't fixed it)

As politicians posture and pundits bicker, we’re losing sight of the problem: We’re still not equipped to win the war on terror. Hunt shows us there are changes we can make at every level—as individual citizens, as a government, and as a military power—in order to win the war on terror and ensure our survival as a free, proud, and strong nation.

Customer Reviews:

good, common sense-based book.......2007-09-05

Col. David Hunt's book is a good read. He is not the most polished writer around -- the book is written more like an extended conversation -- but he gets his points across. The book tends to get redundant at times, but it remains an interesting book to read which one can easily complete in one evening or two. If even a small fraction of what Hunt alledges is true, Americans should be very concerned about our safety and the glaring lack of leadership in our country.

They Just Don't Get It.......2007-06-12

Of the 30 books I've read over the last year, this is the worst. If I were to equate this with anything written in the last 5 years it would be the last book by Ann Colter. I'm glad I forgot the title of that book. An uneducated person may like books like this, but can come away from the experience with a pedestrian view of history.

Hunt Should Be The Secretary of Defense.......2006-09-14

Col. David Hunt has written a superb plan for fighting the war on terror. It is bold, decisive, and politically incorrect. It is also far better than what we are doing or anyone else is talking about.

The author traces the history of terrorism from the 1972 Munich Olympics through 9/11 and beyond. He shows how our leaders have been ineffective in responding. He is not partisan. He reviews botches by Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush.

He also critiques many problems with our current approach to dealing with terrorists. Some of those include the following: Failing to use the best troops (special ops.) effectively and fully, allowing Pakistan to harbor bin Laden, failing to secure the Iraqi borders allowing the Syrians and Iranians to continue to supply terrorists, continuing to be cozy with the Saudis in spite of their financing of terror, having too much bureaucracy interfering with decision making, and many more.

Along with the problems, the author also presents numerous solutions. Some of those are politically incorrect; Some may seem outrageous. Most are worthwhile and should be pondered and discussed. Some of his ideas (including some highly controversial ones) are as follows: a total reorganization of intelligence with unity of command, de-bureaucratizing the defense and intelligence arenas, creation of a 'Terrorist Killing Agency', mandatory national service (not necessarily military) as a way to overcome personnel shortages, and the elimination of the ill conceived and nonsensical color coding system that the Homeland Security Dept. created. There are many more as well.

While I certainly don't agree with all of his ideas, I do think that every American elected official and voter should read this book. Its ideas should be debated and considered. If several of these were implemented, we would all be much safer.

A Must Read To Understand Winning The War On Terror.......2006-08-26

In his mundane, conversational style, Colonel Hunt cites many of the terrorist attacks which have killed innocent citizens, profiles the killers responsible for these atrocities and offers political as well as logistical solutions to combat terrorists in this insurgent style of war.

Detractors will hurl insults at the messenger and his message to complicate his clearly stated, basic premise: This is not a traditional war. We must retaliate against these killers using our special forces, trained to defeat terrorist aggression without bureaucratic interference from politicians and the military hierarchy.

This book is must read for all who understandably feel confused by the doublespeak of our politicians, military leaders and journalists.

Good views expressed poorly........2006-08-23

Much of what Col Hunt has to say is quite interesting and I agree with his views and arguments, however, the book is more like a +200 page rant and rave than a well written book. I felt like he was just complaining most of the time about what's wrong with politicians and he offers "simple" solutions to all of our problems which are entirely unrealistic. It's a good example of why are our government is not run by the military and why we need civilians ultimately in control. A great man, who has served his country with great honor, but in my view is not a very good author. Ultimately, I did not enjoy this book, and struggled to force myself to finish it.

Stuka-Pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel: His Life Story in Words in Photographs (Schiffer Military History)

Average customer rating:

My Favorite Book on Rudel!
Good Book.
Mislead
A Great Historical Account Tarnished
The autobiography of the greatest soldier

Stuka-Pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel: His Life Story in Words in Photographs (Schiffer Military History)
Gunther Just
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Blond Knight of Germany
The First and the Last
Sniper on the Eastern Front: The Memoirs of Sepp Allerberger, Knight's Cross
German Fighter Ace: Erich Hartmann : The Life Story of the World's Highest Scoring Ace
German Fighter Ace: Hans-Joachim Marseille : The Life Story of the "Star of Africa" (Schiffer Military History)

ASIN: 0887402526

Book Description

The life story of the highest decorated soldier of the Wehrmacht. Many photos of Rudel's aircraft., 8 1/2" x 11"

Customer Reviews:

My Favorite Book on Rudel!.......2007-06-09

Printed by Schiffer Publishing, an assurance that it is top quality. There are other books that deal more in Rudel's life, both the good and the questionable post-war, but this one pretty much has everything that all but the most ardent reader would. Enough text to please, and many, many splendid photographs. Most people don't realize that the greatest Lufwaffe pilot didn't fly fighters, but the Ju-87, and man, did he ever fly it! He had no equal. Whatever his post-war activities, I'm not here to judge, but this is a splendid book of perhaps the most accomplished pilot of WWII.

Good Book........2006-07-04

THis is a wonderful book. So many photographs telling his life story. This is a must book fro any person who likes history.

Mislead.......2006-05-05

I purchased this book after hearing about Hans Ulrich Rudel some years ago, I actually thought the book was going to be a full story about the man, but the book has mainly photo's so out five the photo's rate a 5/5 but the biography 2/5

A Great Historical Account Tarnished.......2006-03-13

I found this book to be both facinating and detailed. Rudel's bravery and skill can not be debated. I came away from the book with a better understanding of how and why the Germans fought. Rudel writes effectively that the German fighting man was fighting for his family and country--not the ideals of the Nazi party and derived his courage from his comrades. Towards the end of the war, he claimed to have known nothing of the Nazi attrocities that were committed upon the Jews and many other ethnic groups.

With this in mind, my experience with the book was considerably diminished to learn that Rudel was actually one of the leading Germans who continued to finance fugitive Nazis living in South America after the war. At first denouncing the Nazi attrocities in the book, he went on to financially support and conceal the very people responsible for these attrocities. It leads me to question some of the accounts in the book, but still reccommend it as "must read" for WW2 history buffs.

The autobiography of the greatest soldier.......2005-01-23

Despite his post-war political activities, Rudel still stands out as the most noteworthy soldier of the war, arguably the greatest combat pilot (Marseille was probably the best fighter pilot) in history and possibly the greatest pilot. He was apparently known to some as arrogant and unpleasant. He was the only soldier in the German armed forces to receive the Knight's Cross with golden oakleaves swords and diamonds, and was by far the most successful dive bomber. He destroyed, among other things, 519 tanks, over 1000 other vehicle, 70 landing craft etc. He flew 2530 sorties, was shot down 32 times but never by an enemy aircraft and survived the war less a leg. Many of his incredible exploits are in this book. His story is good reading on the war and is a compelling story. One can only imagine how much his signature would cost had he been killed in action. Book is well-written & translated, and the pictures are good. Well worth it.

Average customer rating:

The REAL DEAL
Sometimes the truth hurts - Col Hunt beats you over the head with it!!!!
Required reading for every American
On the mark
Fact vs fiction

They Just Don't Get It: How Washington Is Still Compromising Your Safety--and What You Can Do About It
David Hunt
Manufacturer: Crown Forum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Law Enforcement | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

On the Hunt: How to Wake Up Washington and Win the War on Terror
Major Bob Unvarnished: Why We Keep Making the Same Mistakes
Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America
Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper
The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Islam (and the Crusades) (Politically Incorrect Guides)

ASIN: 140009741X
Release Date: 2005-04-12

Book Description

No more politics—just the truth about what we can and must do to protect ourselves.

Fox News military analyst Colonel David Hunt has dedicated his career to fighting terrorism. A twenty-nine-year U.S. Army veteran, he has helped take out an active terrorist camp, trained the FBI and Special Forces in counterterrorism tactics, and served as security adviser to six different Olympic Games.

And Colonel Hunt is angry. Why? Because even after the terrorist attacks on our country and on Americans around the world, the people charged with protecting us—the politicians and the bureaucrats in military and intelligence—still aren’t getting the job done.

They Just Don’t Get It provides a much-needed wake-up call to all Americans. As politicians posture and pundits bicker, we’re losing sight of the fundamental problem: We’re still not equipped to win the War on Terror. In fact, the terrorist threat is far worse than we feared, as made frighteningly clear by the fifty pages of documents published here for the first time—including a shocking manual taken from the terrorists themselves.

But instead of just complaining, Colonel Hunt tells us exactly what we must do—without regard to political game-playing—to emerge victorious in the challenge that history has given us. These are changes we can make at every level—as individual citizens, as a government, and as a military power. As he shows in this book, while the government and our military lead the fight to protect us, ordinary citizens can and must contribute.

They Just Don’t Get It reveals:

• What you can do to keep your family safe

• How many of the government’s recent “reforms” are mere window dressing or, worse, counterproductive

• How we can fight this war and still safeguard our civil liberties and the American way of life

• How to fix the intelligence disaster (and yes, the politicians in D.C. still haven’t fixed it)

• How we got into this mess in the first place: it’s mostly because our government let the problem fester for three decades

Colonel Hunt is no cautious bureaucrat or finger-pointer looking for political gain. He is a straight shooter with deep insight into what’s happening in the War on Terror—on the ground and in the government. They Just Don’t Get It lays out in clear and compelling terms the steps we must take—all of us—to win the War on Terror and ensure our survival as a free, proud, and strong nation.

From They Just Don’t Get It

We’re fighting a war for our very survival, so we’d better figure out how to win. That’s why I’m writing this book—to show us how we can win, how we can protect ourselves. As a Fox News military analyst, I’m paid to offer insight into how our armed forces are conducting the fight against our enemies. But this book shows that to win the War on Terror we need to concern ourselves with more than just military tactics.

For one thing, we need to look at what our political leaders are doing. The sad truth is that they still don’t get it.

Then there’s intelligence. You’ve heard about our intelligence failures, but I doubt you know how bad it really is—even after the “reforms.” I’m going to tell you.

And another critical dimension to this story usually gets overlooked—what you can do. The fact is, you can do a lot. Hell, you must do a lot.

A selection of American Compass

Customer Reviews:

The REAL DEAL.......2007-05-12

Great book for those interested in reality, versus the political garbagr being spewed by our "representatives" in Congress and the stories being relayed by the media outlets...Colonel Hunt is correct "They Just Don't Get It"... and neither does the majority ...

Sometimes the truth hurts - Col Hunt beats you over the head with it!!!!.......2007-05-10

This is required reading for those who have doubts about terrorism and our ability to deal with it. This is required reading for those who believe we are doing what is necessary to win. This is required reading for the spineless masses following the "leadership" of this country (from both sides of the aisle) down a path of death, destruction, and failure.

Col Hunt's ability to speak frankly and lay it on the line in this very Non-PC manner really speaks to everyday Americans. It is boldly written, in your face, and so scary that it will leave you shaking your head in disbelief. His resume/qualifications to speak to this topic are above reproach, he's been there, he's seen it first hand, the good and the bad. 10-20 years from now, if things do not change, this man will be looked at as one of those bold enough to say what needed to be said. It will be a shame to allow his words to go unnoticed. READ THIS BOOK!

Required reading for every American.......2006-10-31

Easy to read, full of common sense, this book should be read by every American.

On the mark.......2006-09-11

I think that Col. Hunt has written a superb book of the challenges facing the US regarding the terrorist threats to us all. He writes in a very deliberate and to the point style that I find refreshing.

Fact vs fiction.......2006-04-26

Col Hunt spells out the truth of the war we're in as compared to the bias of the media.

Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War

Average customer rating:

Confusing and not what I expected
A De-Romanticization of the American Civil War
Cornerstone Civil War History
a new twist on the Civil War
Racism, God, and Destruction

Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War
Harry S. Stout
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Ethics & Morality | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

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The Civil War as a Theological Crisis
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ASIN: 0670034703

Book Description

A timely reconsideration of “just war,” this landmark history closely examines the moral underpinnings of the War Between the States

When the nation tore itself apart during the Civil War, the North and the South marched under the banner of God. Yet the true moral aspects of this war have received little notice from historians of the period. In this gripping volume, Yale religious historian Harry S. Stout demonstrates how both groups' claims that they had God on their side fueled the ferocity of the conflict and its enduring legacy today.

Proceeding chronologically from the election of Lincoln to the start of Reconstruction, Stout explores how the fundamental moral conduct of the war shifted from a limited conflict fought over constitutional issues to a total war in which slaughter both on and off the battlefield was justified as the only means to unconditional victory. As North and South alike enshrined their causes as sacred, a kind of national religion emerged based on martyrdom and rebirth through violence.

Drawing on a fascinating array of Civil War letters, sermons, editorials, diaries, and battle photographs, Stout reveals how men and women were ensnared in the time's patriotic propaganda and ideological grip and how these wartime policies continue to echo in the debates today. Sure to provoke a major reevaluation of this bloody and tormented period and appeal to readers of James McPherson, Garry Wills, and David Herbert Donald, Upon the Altar of the Nation is a provocative and surprising examination of motive and conduct, both on and off the battlefield.

Customer Reviews:

Confusing and not what I expected.......2007-07-20

When I picked up this book I was eager to learn about the moral reactions to the Civil War. I wanted to know how the public responded to major battles, and in return Stout drabs on and on about what this minister said and what that minister said. This book should be re-titled "a religious review of the war." The actual moral side does not seemed to be touched on succinctly because it seems that the author doesn't know when to wrap up a chapter.

So, I guess it could be considered that I wasn't too happy with this book. You know when I was happy? When the end of the war was coming along and I knew the book would be over. I enjoy when people that aren't experts like Gallagher or Sears or Phanz write about the battles and such, but when they drone on and on about ministers spitting fire from pulpits, it really defeats the purpose of the book.

Some accounts of soldiers are included and are interesting. In fact, there's not enough of that. It would have been more interesting if the author took more accounts of soldiers and generals responding to the horrors of battle rather than a few paragraphs about the fight and then pages upon pages of how the religious responded.

I wouldn't recommend this book to the general armchair historian since it would probably fail to hold your interest.

A De-Romanticization of the American Civil War.......2006-08-13

This book is clearly written, informative, and brutally honest in that it asks questions about the morality of the Civil War that were not asked during this great conflict, and have many times not been addressed in subsequent histories of the war. This book does a great service to all humans made in God's image who struggle to understand what precisely this war was about, how this war still affects us all intellectually and emotionally today, and how we will tell this important story to our children. There were many sacrifices made in God's name and for the good of these United States in the Civil War, but there were many gross sins, intentional and unintentional, that blurred the vision of many church leaders, politicians, soldiers, and citizens in this watershed war that defines us all today! I agree with another reviewer that Professor Stout's honest and superbly written moral history of the American Civil War is the best place to start when considering this important war that has been told from many different perspectives. I highly recommend this book to all interested in history, ethics, and those seeking to better understand exactly it means to be an American. As a Christian, who also is an American citizen, this book truly helped me to look beyond my regional identity to identify myself with Christ's Kingdom made up of every tribe, tongue, nation and people. As the Bible teaches so clearly in every historical "hero" there is also a villain lurking in our flesh, and in every historical "villain" there is oftentimes an unexpected hero to be found within. As Professor Stout writes candidly in the introduction: "'Upon the Altar of the Nation' tells difficult stories of unjust conduct on both sides of the struggle. Understandably, most Americans prefer not to face the evidence of an immoral war, especially when the war in question is the American Civil War. But I believe that if we are to understand the meaning of America today, then face it we must....Only when the reader hears the anguished cries of the suffering - -My God, why have you forsaken us?- -will the full moral dimensions of 'America's costliest war' be revealed for him or her to judge and, in judging, to learn timely lessons for today."

Thank you Professor Stout, you deserve great praise for all of your excellent historical work, and particuarly the Pulitzer Prize for this one!

Cornerstone Civil War History.......2006-07-29

Since the history of the Civil War fills libraries, it's difficult to know where to begin to study the vast subject. Stout's superb work is an excellent place to start. The book's subtitle, "A Moral History of the Civil War", is an accurate description of what the book is about. Rather than just a history of battles, Stout supplies the context that stands behind the combat and the politics. The reader gets an appreciation for civilian life as the war continues from year to year. You come away with a sense of how and why the opposing sides justified their actions. Unlike many historians and other authors, Stout does not feel compelled to make every judgment for the reader. He lets his meticulous sources and endnotes speak for themselves, while he covers the war's biggest themes. This is a book to take your time on and linger over - it's not a history to skim, but the effort is worth it. Helpful maps and illustrations. Highest recommendation. If you always wanted to do some Civil War reading, I suggest pairing it with E. L. Doctorow's "The March" (which is excellent in audiobook format).

a new twist on the Civil War.......2006-06-05

I have read so many books about the Civil War that I didn't think there was anything interesting left to say, but I was wrong!

Racism, God, and Destruction.......2006-05-21

While tempted to add some moralizing of his own, Harry Stout leaves final judgement up to the reader. When I first browsed this book, what struck me was the sheer volume of "moral history" that the Civil War generated for future generations to sort out. I had never seen all of the issues compiled in one volume before.
Although religion is naturally a recurring theme throughout, it pales in comparison to the issue of race. And the author does a great job describing how neither side could easily claim the moral high ground on racial matters. From the Emancipation Proclamation, to the recruiting of black units, to the assignments of those units in the field, to the ultimate morality or leaving black troops out of prisoner exchanges, and the final exclusion of black units in the grand review at the conclusion of the war. Lincoln's genius is in large measure portrayed as the ultimate moral arbiter who could balance racial issues with affairs of war and politics.
The role of religion and the religious press is explored in detail in the book. One thing I never realized before is that the traditional Thanksgiving Holiday was created out of the Civil War religious observances (and was later coopted by New Englanders)
The closest any book has come to exposing the ambiguous nature of moral claims by both sides.

The Price of Peace: Just War in the Twenty-First Century

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The Price of Peace: Just War in the Twenty-First Century

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521677858

Book Description

Lively political and public debates on war and morality have been a feature of the post-Cold War world. The Price of Peace argues that a re-examination of the just war tradition is therefore required. The authors suggest that despite fluctuations and transformations in international politics, the just war tradition continues to be relevant. However they argue that it needs to be reworked to respond to the new challenges to international security represented by the end of the Cold War and the impact of terrorism. With an interdisciplinary and transatlantic approach, this volume provides a dialogue between theological, political, military and public actors. By articulating what a reconstituted just war tradition might mean in practice, it also aims to assist policy-makers and citizens in dealing with the ethical dilemmas of war.

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny

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Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited"
True, but gimmicky
A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call
Challenge Consensus Reality!
A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us"

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny
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Book Description

The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.

Customer Reviews:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22

After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.

I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."

The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.

"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.

As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."

I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.

This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.

True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09

Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.

All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.

And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.

A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10

This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.

While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.

If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.

A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13

I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.

I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:

From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"

Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.

If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."

And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.

One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.

Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.

From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."

And later in the same chapter:

"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."

For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."

Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.

The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.

Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.

This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:

· World oil supplies are running out.

· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.

· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.

· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.

· Time is running out..."

Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.

Now that's a meme worth feeding.

Just War: A Wadsworth Casebook in Argument (with InfoTrac®) (Wadsworth Casebook in Argument)

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Just War: A Wadsworth Casebook in Argument (with InfoTrac®) (Wadsworth Casebook in Argument)
Sharon K. Walsh , and Evelyn D. Asch
Manufacturer: Heinle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1413000142

Book Description

Just War, the first volume in The Wadsworth Casebooks in Argument Series, includes coverage of the forms of argumentation, an overall discussion of the theme, and a groundbreaking collection of readings.

Just War or Just Peace?: Humanitarian Intervention and International Law (Oxford Monographs in International Law)

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a tour de force
tightly argued and complex ... riveting
Humanitarian intervention or inhumanitarian nonintervention?

Just War or Just Peace?: Humanitarian Intervention and International Law (Oxford Monographs in International Law)
Simon Chesterman
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society
International Law and the Use of Force (Foundations of Public International Law)
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ASIN: 019925799X

Book Description

The question of the legality of humanitarian intervention is, at first blush, a simple one. The Charter of the United Nations clearly prohibits the use of force, with the only exceptions being self-defence and enforcement actions authorized by the Security Council. There are, however, long-standing arguments that a right of unilateral intervention pre-existed the Charter. This book, which won the ASIL Certificate of Merit in 2002, begins with an examination of the genealogy of that right, and arguments that it might have survived the passage of the Charter, either through a loophole in Article 2(4) or as part of customary international law. It has also been argued that certain `illegitimate' regimes lose the attributes of sovereignty and thereby the protection given by the prohibition of the use of force. None of these arguments is found to have merit, either in principle or in the practice of states. A common justification for a right of unilateral humanitarian intervention concerns the failure of the collective security mechanism created after the Second World War. Chapters 4 and 5, therefore, examine Security Council activism in the 1990s, notable for the plasticity of the circumstances in which the Council was prepared to assert its primary responsibility for international peace and security, and the contingency of its actions on the willingness of states to carry them out. This reduction of the Council's role from substantive to formal partly explains the recourse to unilateralism in that decade, most spectacularly in relation to the situation in Kosovo. Crucially, the book argues that such unilateral enforcement is not a substitute for but the opposite of collective action. Though often presented as the only alternative to inaction, incorporating a `right' of intervention would lead to more such interventions being undertaken in bad faith, it would be incoherent as a principle, and it would be inimical to the emergence of an international rule of law.

Customer Reviews:

a tour de force.......2001-10-31

'Chesterman has written a tour de force that exposes the weaknesses of the arguments supporting a doctrine of unilateral humanitarian intervention in international society ... Chesterman rejects the claim that states have a legal right to act as vigilantes in support of Council resolutions, even if they believe that this is the only means to stop a genocide. The powerfully argued thesis of this scholarly work is that accepting this proposition in law is "a recipe for bad policy, bad law, and a bad international order".' -International Affairs

tightly argued and complex ... riveting.......2001-10-31

'a tightly argued and complex presentation, with numbered, easily referenced topics in the style of a doctoral thesis (which it is). A more textured work [than Christine Gray's International Law and the Use of Force], it is arguably a more interesting read for an audience that does not already have at ready access the historical background or international law perspective to this difficult subject. It is also a more accessible work for students, and decidedly less dry and fragmented than many standard international law texts ... Dr Chesterman gives us a fairly riveting review of the history behind the modern rise of humanitarian intervention.' -Books-on-Law

Humanitarian intervention or inhumanitarian nonintervention?.......2001-07-07

From the author: This book critically examines the right of humanitarian intervention, asserted most spectacularly by NATO during its 1999 air strikes over Kosovo. The UN Charter prohibits the unilateral use of force, but there have long been arguments that such a right might exist as an exception to this rule, or linked to the changing role of the Security Council. Through an analysis of these questions, the book puts NATO's action in Kosovo in its proper legal and historical perspective.

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