Book Description
Nir Rosen has been hailed by The New York Review of Books as the reporter who managed to get inside Fallujah "at a time when it was a death trap for Western reporters," and as one of the few Western reporters able to report the truth from Iraq. Still in his twenties, a freelancer who has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and Harper's Magazine, Rosen speaks Iraqi-accented Arabic and has managed to report from some of the country's most dangerous locales. Even The Weekly Standard notes that "he probably has more sources in the insurgency than any other American reporter."
Rosen knows better than anyone how much the Americans are hated, and how deeply the Sunni Iraqis hate the Shias and vice versa. He has listened to the insurgents, and he knows that they will never rest until the Americans are gone. Too many Sunnis and Shias are willing to use violence for Iraq to ever have peace. The overthrow of Saddam has proved to be nothing less than a triumph for the martyrs who use violence at every turn.
Ever since the fall of Saddam's regime Rosen has been in and out of Iraq, from north to south, listening to Friday sermons in mosques, breaking bread with dangerous men, interviewing political henchmen, joining Shia pilgrims, and listening to ordinary Iraqis who face American soldiers on raids in the Sunni triangle. He has had to plead for his life at times, and he has received more than one death threat. He has been pres-ent when bombs were detonated, and he has sat in meetings of insurgent leaders as they made policy decisions about territory they controlled. He has heard the double messages of Iraqi leaders -- the careful English messages for Western ears and the unvarnished hostility in Arabic -- and he has interviewed politicians and imams and seen how the insurgents and gang leaders create militias, private courts, prisons, security services, and more.
In the Belly of the Green Bird is a searing report, unlike any other book about the American experience in Iraq. Almost everything covered in the Western media has been at least one or two steps removed from the minds and acts of the people who will determine the future of Iraq. Some of them are peaceful, some are violent. Some of them hate one another with the intensity of ancient enemies. The depth of discord between Sunnis and Shias is difficult to fathom without listening to them. Their anti-Americanism is much more recent, but not much less intense. The divisions within this cobbled-together country, much like those within Yugoslavia after Tito, are simply too intense to contain.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing, Shallow.......2007-06-30
I was excited to read this book. I thought Rosen's movement outside of the Green Zone might have generated valuable insight into both Iraqi and resistance culture. Unfortunately, I found the book analytically shallow, skimming the public surface of the society without penetrating into the substance beneath it. He overwhelms the reader with details of his experience in Iraq, and emphasizes that his knowledge of the language and the culture aided his understanding, but these details are only compensation for his inability to actually explain much about the things he is describing.
As examples, I will use two themes that dominate Rosen's book: anti-Semitism and the rhetoric of religious leaders. Rosen is repeatedly pointing out Iraqis' tendency to blame the circumstances of the Middle East, and particularly the occupation of Iraq, on conspiring Jews, as well as the frequent use of the term as an insult. He does not, however, attempt any explanation for this phenomenon outside of brief references to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. How do Iraqis perceive of Jewish-ness? What explains their belief in the conspiracy? These questions are not addressed. Instead, he is content to simply quote a number of anti-Semitic slurs.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the book is the incessant quoting of speeches in mosques without providing any interpretive tools for understanding the rhetoric. Rosen spent a lot of time - the overwhelming majority of the book - listening to sermons and talking to religious leaders. While Rosen does a good job of indicating when a leader might be speaking to militants, he does absolutely nothing to contextualize the language, attitude or culture of political Islam. How do "ordinary" Iraqis interpret these sermons? What do the words mean to them? How does this language - shocking in a Western vocabulary of "tolerance" - actually shape itself within Iraqi society? The people of Iraq - the recipients of these statements - are rendered nearly invisible, leaving a crucial gap in the lifespan of this rhetoric. Rhetoric is, after all, only as meaningful as its interpretation. Rosen simply translates the statements and sermons, leading the reader to the conclusion that they - and their attending masses - are predominately irrational, bloodthirsty and violent.
In failing to engage in a more thorough analysis of these two themes, Rosen mystifies them, erasing all but the most superficial conditions from which they emerged and in which they have purpose (or "reason"). Anti-Semitism and vitriolic rhetoric, then, risk being "naturalized", perceived as conditions that are somehow "natural" or intrinsic to Arabic culture. This is not explicit in the book. I believe Rosen's desire to portray the Iraqi people was genuine. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line there was a failure. Rosen was not capable of gathering any real insight or he was not capable of putting it into his book. Either way, "In the Belly of the Green Bird" is a disappointment.
Further reading.......2006-12-10
The other reviewers have done a great job acclaiming this great piece of journalism. To get an idea of his substance and style check out the most recent account of his time in Iraq: "Anatomy of a Civil War: Iraq's Descent into Chaos," published in the Boston Review and read In the Belly of the Green Bird for an in depth alternative to the Iraq Study Group's imperialist apologetics.
For a complemetary perspective, Patrick Cockburn's articles from Iraq have been indispensable in charting the country's descent into civil war. His most recent, "Iraq Nears the 'Saigon Moment,'" can be read on the CounterPunch Web site. His most recent book is "The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq", and is also available from amazon.
I've found both of them completely consistent with the firsthand news, analysis, and opinions about contemporary Iraqi society found at the Electronic Iraq Web site.
Misses the mark.......2006-12-06
While I am immpressed with Mr.Rosen's desire to risk his life to get the real deal, I am unimpressed with the data he gathered, how he wrote it, and the analysis he provided.
This book fails on two accounts. It neither provides breakthrough journalism on the Iraqi insurgency, nor does it read well as an "Adventure-Travel-Writing".
Mr.Rosen does gather decent data which isn't forthcoming from most Western News sources; Namely the face behind the resistance. Unfortunatly, it appears Mr.Rosen's tour of Iraq only gave him a superficial understanding of the situation. Or maybe he wasn't able to articulate it well; Because in the end, I didn't gain much knowledge about the resistance. Just opinions, and a chronology of events.
The second disappointment, was casting the book as a travelogue, but missing the key elements of such a work. I could see that Mr.Rosen kept trying to work up his exploits, but his writing style, and pointless explanations/history of every person he met, threw me off.
Most of his interviews were colored with his own views. Sometimes presenting his views as facts.
Overall, I'd say this book has some useful information if you are seriously researching the subject. For general readers, I would steer clear. A better replacement would be Z.Chehab's "Inside the Resistance" or "Night Draws Near" By A.Shadid.
Mixed bag.......2006-10-11
The highlight of this book is, far and away, the inside-Iraq perspective it provides. Rosen was constantly out and about (often and great personal risk) and met with all kinds of people in Iraq -Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, in the governemnt, in the resistance and just ordinary people.
That's the heart of the book, and it's very, very good. We have enough books about the goigns-on inside the Green Zone (which were never particularly ilustrative of the reality of >95% of Iraq) and about the perspective of US soldiers there. This book brings a new, different and very valuable perspective.
The main downsides are an appaling lack of editing (particularly in Chapter 6, about Zarquawi), and a tremendous pro-Arab/anti-Kurd bias.
The latter is probably the largest shortcoming; it's quite clear that it comes from his perception of Kurds as being non-religious and disdainful of Arabs. In his portrayal, Kurd leaders come across as being rabidly anti-Islamic and anti-Arab, and that obviously does not sit well with Rosen (who is both).
He's entitled to whatever view he wants to hold, but his tut-tutting over how Kurds drink whisky, dont go to the mosque much and describe Islam is "the religion of the arabs" that was forced on them through invasion comes across as profoundly petty.
It comes across in all kinds of ways - he primly describes how he refused to have a drink with a Kurdish leader, tells us how another one who's doing the first translations of Zen Buddist texts into Kurdish is "a real fascist" who should entitle his book "Zen and the Art of Ethnic Cleansing" because he's in favour of the return of Kurdish families to their homes in Kirkuk, where they were expeled from by Saddam's "Arabization" campaigns of the 1990's.
This puts an extra-large question mark on his judgement regarding other matters. However, the rest of the books was good enough that it still merits 2-3 stars.
Need info on Iraq? Ask Rosen........2006-10-04
Nir Rosen is lucky to be alive. Travelling through Iraq during a very dangerous time, Rosen risked his life every day. He also got some great firsthand information.
Rosen's book really shows what disarray the country of Iraq is in. It also shows how much most Iraqis dislike Americans. And it is not a hidden, secret hatred, either. To read firsthand accounts of speeches, prayers, and calls to action is mind blowing. Rosen shows us an Iraq that we otherwise couldn't have known existed.
Rosen points out the difference between the Iraqi resistance, that just want the Americans out of Iraq, and the jihadis, that are looking for a final holy war between Muslims and... pretty much anyone who's not Muslim. All this violence adds up to a hard time for any Westerner in Iraq. It even makes it dangerous for Iraqis to walk the street as hundreds are killed each week in car bombings and shootings.
The Iraq Rosen portrays in this book is very different than the Iraq that you hear about on the news. We might hear about occasional bombings, but I don't think we realize how bad the situation is over there. I don't know what the solution is, and Rosen doesn't offer one; he objectively displays the information he gathered. But this information seems to point towards an inevitable civil war.
Anyone that is interested in reading about what life in Iraq was like between April 2003 and the elections in January 2005 should pick this book up. The afterword goes into late 2005, and gives you an idea of more recent developments. I didn't have any knowledge of Iraq going into this book and now I want to know more. This is the kind of news that we should be given on a day-to-day basis. Rosen covers the good and the bad in equal parts, and really shows us the opinions of different sects of Iraqis. This only serves to highlight how different they truly are, and how those differences could be leading Iraq to a Civil War.
Average customer rating:
- Violence is real, and literature reflects life in this case.
- A Terribly Beautiful Fiction
- Brutal and Brilliant.
- A Hoax, but does that matter?
- A Tour de Torture
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The Painted Bird (Kosinski, Jerzy)
Jerzy Kosinski
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Kosinski, Jerzy
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Kosinski, Jerzy
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ASIN: 080213422X |
Amazon.com
Many writers have portrayed the cruelty people inflict upon each other in the name of war or ideology or garden-variety hate, but few books will surpass Kosinski's first novel,
The Painted Bird, for the sheer creepiness in its savagery. The story follows an abandoned young boy who wanders alone through the frozen bogs and broken towns of Eastern Europe during and after World War II, trying to survive. His experiences and actions occur at and beyond the limits of what might be called humanity, but Kosinski never averts his eyes, nor allows us to.
Book Description
Originally published in 1965, The Painted Bird established Jerzy Kosinski as a major literary figure. Kosinski's story follows a dark-haired, olive-skinned boy, abandoned by his parents during World War II, as he wanders alone from one village to another, sometimes hounded and tortured, only rarely sheltered and cared for. Through the juxtaposition of adolescence and the most brutal of adult experiences, Kosinski sums up a Bosch-like world of harrowing excess where senseless violence and untempered hatred are the norm. Through sparse prose and vivid imagery, Kosinski's novel is a story of mythic proportion, even more relevant to today's society than it was upon its original publication.
Customer Reviews:
Violence is real, and literature reflects life in this case........2007-10-10
I have taken the time to read several reviews of this book. Some people seem to "get" it and others seem to think it's nothing more than some excuse to write "perversion" (how many classics were called perversions during the era in which they were written, I wonder? The answer; more than I care to count. )
Face it people. Life is violent. War is NOT pretty, nor are the effects of it. I do not much care if Kosinksi made up every scene in the book from his imagination and/or studies of the effects of war, or if he did live some of it. This sort of horror happens EVERY DAY in the real world to those caught in a country ravaged by violence. Don't believe me? Watch the world news. Go do some research. Even if he did "make this up" he didn't "make it up". I give the guy props (in his grave or not) for having the BALLS to write the gritty, nasty details of the horror that is war which many people are too cowardly to admit is -reality-. So much for the noblity of the struggles of war, eh? This is how it goes down for the little folks. This is what it does to people. These are the depths that humanity WILL and have lowered themselves to for survival's sake and for the base, cruel nature that lurks within humanity. It's not pretty. It's not nice. It's not "fun" to read but it should at least change your view on the world around you and how it is, has been, and probably always will be violence hidden under a golden, glittering surface created by the media and less gutsy authors into making you think everything is for a noble cause.
A Terribly Beautiful Fiction.......2007-09-03
Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird is, as other reviewers have noted, an unrelenting meditation on violence as it is filtered through the strange, superstitious world of Eastern European Peasant society. Although the time frame deals specifically with the years between 1939-45, the setting seems ancient (as opposed to merely backward) and often mythic. Thus, what some see as an uninterrupted string of grotesque brutalities is, in actuality, a fictionalized world that posseses greater dimensions. The unnamed "hero" of the novel--a dark-haired adolescent boy who may be a Gyspy or a Jew--emerges as a young everyman trying to find his way in a world that does not accept or understand difference. In classic bildungsroman formula, his adventures not only place him in the way of physical danger; they enable him to formulate his slowly-evolving theories of God and existence.
Two of the main charges against the book (at least in the reviews here) are as follows: 1) The events did not really happen to the novelist and are a product of an imaginative--and perverse--mind; 2) The author sought help with style and organization from other people and then affixed his name alone to the title.
With regards to the first charge, Koskinski himself explains in the book's afterword (published 10 years after the first edition) that the events are invented. He explains quite clearly that he wished to create a novel. It was through the fictive experience that he felt he commuunicate the truths orf the holocaust more humanely. That aside, the events recorded are a synthesis of observation, study, and personal experience.
With regards to the second charge, plenty of authors (especially ones struggling, like Kosinski, to write in a foreign language) have sought the expertise of editors, etc...
Most of the animosity towards the book seems, in fact, misdirected rage towards the unrelenting violence in the book. The writing succeeds, however, because, as Anais Nin has astutely noted: "It surpasses most of the books in which experience of terror and physical cruelty are told because by the great beauty of its style, it lifts the entire epxerience to philosophic, mythological realms of knowledge."
Brutal and Brilliant........2007-08-18
I have just revisited this book, having read it first as a teenager and was astounded once again by its potency, both as a story, and as a terrifying inditement of human nature. In view of increasing world conflict in the post world war era, this book is more relevant than ever.
A Hoax, but does that matter?.......2007-04-30
From the "cut-rate Elie Wiesel", Kosinski's own description of himself. Does it matter that this is a hoax manufactured from whole cloth? Apparently not. Feeds existing prejudices and so is welcomed as a revelation. Here's to Mr. Holocaust, Jr., the Sr. title having been appropriated by that lachrymose pseudo-saint Mr. Weisel.
History is replete with examples of man's inhumanity to man. Claims of this book being "semi-autobiographical" have been shown to be entirely false. Kosinski is just another of the feeders-at-the-trough of the Holocaust Industry.
The truth is quite horrible enough. Why then the hoaxes like the book at hand and "Fragments"?
See The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering, New Edition for a critical and honest evaluation of the duplicity embodied by this and similar books seeking to exploit for personal financial and political advantage. Those who think this book is within the bounds of decency may wish to seek out that now out-of-print other hoax "Fragments".
A Tour de Torture.......2007-03-29
I read Kosinski's masterpiece on the recommendation of someone who was reviewing Beah's "A Long Way Gone"--remarkable similarities between the two though one is fiction and the other memoir, one takes place in Europe WWII and the other a civil war in Sierra Leone. In this particular edition (1976), Kosinski added a fine afterward which is a must read. Though fiction, this work is fact-based. Also, though Kosinski never names the country of his setting, one can guess it must be Poland. Apparently, the Polish government recognized it also since they banned the book in that country, citing it as a serious insult to the humanity of the Polish peasant society. After reading the afterward and the story, I can only conclude if the shoe fits...
Still, there were a few things I thought to be unrealistic. Kosinski's ten-year-old protagonist is made to undergo some unspeakable tortures, tortures that would have reduced an ordinary kid to a psychological bowl of mush. Yet somehow this kid always pulls through, packing up his comet only at the last minute and heading into the Polish hinterland to rough it until he can hook up with his next tormentor. It got so bad that I began to look for parallels with Dante's Inferno. It seemed that each new torture was worse than the last, designed to atone for some imaginary sin that this innocent boy had committed. Dante borrowed from Greek mythology to formulate his keepers of hell--I wonder where Kosinski drafted his?
The damage to the boy only became apparent at war's end when he was placed in an orphanage. There he found himself in a community of similar victims his own age. The war was over, the peasants were safely locked outside the city, yet the cruelty went on, and on, and on. The gang-rape scene of the teacher was particularly poignant. Somehow the protagonist regained his humanity--at least I believe that was what Kosinski signaled his reader when the boy regained his faculty--though I never was sure how. Maybe his message was that immersed in evil a good child can be made to mimic evil--if for no other reason than survival--but when that need becomes obsolete, eventually his true nature will reemerge.
--Ejner Fulsang, author of "A Knavish Piece of Work" Aarhus Publishing 2006
Average customer rating:
- Swordbird
- A little book with a big moral
- Swordbird
- We love Swordbird!
- A group of young writers' comments
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Swordbird
Nancy Yi Fan
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Fiction
| Birds
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Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic
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General
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General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
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ASIN: 0061130990
Release Date: 2007-01-30 |
Book Description
The blue jays and cardinals of Stone-Run Forest have turned against each other. According to legend, only Swordbird, son of the Great Spirit, has the power to conquer evil and restore peace to the land. But is he real or just a myth? Can Swordbird arrive in time to save the forest . . . or will it be too late?
Twelve-year-old author Nancy Yi Fan has woven a captivating tale about the birds of Stone-Run Forest and the heroism, courage, and resourcefulness in their quest for peace.
Customer Reviews:
Swordbird.......2007-08-13
After my friend told me about this book (we're both the author's age), I was very excited to find a book that was written by someone who understands what the age group is like. Boy, were we in for a disappointment.
People all say "oh, this is a wonderful book for children!" but all the inaccuracies and predictable plotlines got annoying. It also didn't help that the book was like a spin-off from the Redwall series. Sorry, but the only good thing in it were the illustrations. Maybe there is a reason why most authors are adults.
A little book with a big moral.......2007-06-25
The story, simple as it might seem to be, contains something profound and meaningful to the world: it sows the seeds of peace and freedom in the hearts of children who read it. You can find volumes of bloody, gory battles for adults, yet you can hardly find such a story for children that, through an idyllic world of birds, so gently and yet so vividly illustrates the price of battle, the value of life, the weight of peace and freedom.
A book that's great all the way.
Swordbird.......2007-06-23
Nancy Fan is a 12-year-old author, and Swordbird is her debut novel. While reading Swordbird, I couldn't help but compare her work to that of another 12-year-old author, J R King who wrote Arianna Kelt And the Wizards of Skyhall.
Fan's book is focussed on birds who battle each other, and is mostly action-oriented. King's book is focussed in a thief turned wizard and her friends, and has action, adventure, and humor. Of the two, my family had the most fun with King's book. You can't help but laugh when Digorence the gnome makes an appearance.
I'd recommend both books to young readers. What a great time we live in when young writers like Fan and King can touch our hearts!
We love Swordbird!.......2007-06-09
A group of young writers like me regularly visit Nancy's website to chat on her message board. I want to quote some of us to share our thoughts with other kids!
I just want to say, your book was very enjoyable, and I have recommended it to all of my friends. I think you will be the most famous author in the world, next to Charles Dickens and J. K. Rowling. Well, it'll be really cool if you can email me back along with your probably other thousands of fans.
-Sunghyun Kim (10 yrs old, CA)
Isn't it just amazing to think that such an original story such as swordbird can come from someone of this age? She really captured a sense of freedom in this story and not many people can truly write from their hearts about how they feel about that kind of thing. Nancy will always remain a favorite author of mine and swordbird, a favorite book.
My favorite part of the whole book is the epilogue where Aska leaves swordbird's feather on Milton's grave and the grave seems to get brighter.
Long live Windvoice! Happy Writing!
- Emily R.
I would strongly recommend this book to ages nine and up. I think it is worth spending money for Swordbird. I enjoyed it very much. The book uses strong words that are very powerful.
This book reminded me of some events in history, slavery. I would recommend this book for those who like the Redwall and Warriors. I would also recommend this book to strong readers, people who like action, powerful words, and those who enjoy a great story.
- Kaitlyn (11 yrs old)
An outstanding book I've ever read before! Nancy Yi Fan has a amazing talent for writing. The plot was just outstanding! Brilliant work Nancy! It was worth it!
-Hazel H. (13 yrs old)
A group of young writers' comments.......2007-06-09
There are many kids like me who love Swordbird. We, a group of young writers, often visit Nancy's website to chat on her message board. I'd like to cite our comments:
I just finished Swordbird and it's an excellent book. I thought it was nice that I'm not the only one who has thoughts about peace and war. It was a powerful book. If the book becomes a movie, I think it would win an award. Great job. It gave me inspiration to turn my story into a book.
- Megan, 14 yrs old, Long Island, NY
I really like this book because it's exciting and different because the characters are all birds. The blue jays are battling the cardinals because an evil hawk is tricking them by stealing their food and eggs. The hawk is trying to build a fortress so he can rule the bird world and he makes the other birds into slaves. Swordbird is the hero in the story because he saves the other birds. The story is exciting because there are many different places in the bird world and the hawk is trying to rule it all. I also like this book because the author wrote it when she was in the sixth grade.
- Dalton Booker, 3rd grade
The book is an amazing tale filled with adventure, courageous characters and a message the whole world needs to hear: "Peace is wonderful; freedom is sacred."
Nancy Yi Fan uses such imagination and vivid detail in the story that you begin to feel as if you're in the book. Swordbird is perfect for any teenager with a good imagination and hopes for a more peaceful world.
-Taylor Glogowski (15 yrs old)
I was totally crazy about your book! I finished the book this weekend and it is amazing! I found it so amazing that Nancy Yi Fan wrote a novel that included both peace and violence. It was so impressive that Nancy wrote this when she was 11! The story is full of suspense and the characters are all birds. I would've have thought of that as a story. I hope Nancy Yi Fan continues to write amazing novels. This book should be sold in every language around the world! This book is truly 5 stars. I want Nancy Yi Fan to know that she has been a true inspiration and I hope in the future I could create a book just like this one!
-Sharon, 5th grader
Book Description
Louis de Bernières’s last novel, Corelli’s Mandolin, was met with the highest praise: “Behind every page,” said Richard Russo, “we sense its author’s intelligence, wit, heart, imagination, and wisdom. This is a great book.” A. S. Byatt placed the author in “the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh.” Now, de Bernières gives us his long-awaited new novel. Huge, resonant, lyrical, filled with humor and pathos, a novel about the political and personal costs of war, and of love–between men and women, between friends, between those who are driven to be enemies.
It is the story of a small coastal town in South West Anatolia in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire told in the richly varied voices of the people–Christians and Muslims of Turkish and Greek and Armenian descent–whose lives are rooted there, intertwined for untold years. There is Iskander, the potter and local font of proverbial wisdom; Karatavuk–Iskander’s son–and Mehmetçik, childhood friends whose playground stretches across the hills above the town, where Mehmetçik teaches the illiterate Karatavuk to write Turkish in Greek letters. There are Father Kristoforos and Abdulhamid Hodja, holy men of different faiths who greet each other as “Infidel Efendi”; Rustem Bey, the landlord and protector of the town, whose wife is stoned for the sin of adultery. There is a man known as “the Dog” because of his hideous aspect, who lives among the Lycian tombs; and another known as “the Blasphemer,” who wanders the town cursing God and all of his representatives of all faiths. And there is Philothei, the Christian girl of legendary beauty, courted from infancy by Ibrahim the goatherd–a great love that culminates in tragedy and madness. But Birds Without Wings is also the story of Mustafa Kemal, whose military genius will lead him to victory against the invading Western European forces of the Great War and a reshaping of the whole region.
When the young men of the town are conscripted, we follow Karatavuk to Gallipoli, where the intimate brutality of battle robs him of all innocence. And in the town he left behind, we see how the twin scourges of fanatical religion and nationalism unleashed by the war quickly, and irreversibly, destroy the fabric of centuries-old peace.
Epic in its narrative sweep–steeped in historical fact–yet profoundly humane and dazzlingly evocative in its emotional and sensual detail, Birds Without Wings is a triumph.
Customer Reviews:
Unforgettable.......2007-09-13
I have always been interested in modern history of Turkey and Greece, but never really had a chance to read up on it. This book is my first encounter with Turkey/Greece modern hystory, and I would say I learned a lot! Not just the history, but the religions and the relationships between Muslims and Christians in Turkey then, the cultures, etc. and how the wars affected them.
About the book, this is my first time to read this author's book, and I had to get used to his style. Each chapter is dedicated to one specific character, in relation to the events and to the other characters. In other words, one chapter is about Iskander the potter, another chapter is about Philothei, etc. Some chapters are written in 3rd person, some in 1st person. So at first, it was like bits and pieces, patches put together, and not continuous story. But once I got used to the style, it went pretty quickly, and I was so absorbed. Using both 3rd person and 1st person gave glimmering colors to the characters. YOu can see and understand the people in different light, which leads you to get to know them so intimately. They are so vividly alive that you almost think you've grown up with them since childhood.
He writes with absolute confidence and assurance, in an as-a-matter-of-factly way, but it's not dry like some books written by some of the modern writers. Instead, it is rich and powerful, and it contains good humor too. Some scenes are very moving, but he doesn't linger or make them emotional more than he needs to. And that makes those scenes even more precious and unforgettable.
The history is so complicated, and I don't know how he sorted everything out and put it into a story such as this one.
In any case, it's one of the best books I've read this year so far, and I will remember the characters and the story for a very very long time.
When and empire collapses all perish under it.......2007-07-07
This is the best novel I have read so far by a non turkish author displaying the human drama during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
You will not be able to put down the book until you reach its end.
Is Louis de Bernieres married?.......2007-04-07
If not, do you think he would consider marrying me? Or, if he is already married, I'd be glad to be his concubine. His prose is so heart-stirringly beautiful that it hurts. I could almost not stand knowing that this book was going to end, which is no mean feat when you consider that the eventual death of the town beauty is revealed in the beginning of the story, removing any sort of dramatic suspense of the sort lesser writers employ to keep their readers turning the pages.
Which is not to say that this book is not completely engaging and entertaining in the conventional sense, because it certainly is. One of the most enchanting things about this book, in fact, is that you are so drawn in to the lives of so many different characters, some of whom appear only fleetingly, and many of whom lead particularly uneventful lives. What is so compelling is the way de Bernieres weaves their narratives together, and conveys how all his characters are caught up in the historical forces that are swirling around them.
It is sobering to read this book and realize that the same historical forces are actually wreaking havoc in the very real and non-fictional world today. Were it not for having discovered de Bernieres and his glorious prose, I am not sure that I would have the strength to go on. His presentation of the inexorable chaos born of indefatigable nationalism may be spot-on, but it does not make one feel at all optimistic about an amelioration of the current state of World Events.
However, as long this is a world where books such as this can be read, there is some solace in being, as de Bernieres says, a "bird without wings" rather than a "[person] without sorrows".
your efforts will be rewarded.......2006-12-07
This is the best book I have read in a long time. Having said that, this book is not for everyone. I had read 'Corelli's Mandolin" 10 years ago so I was familiar with the writing style of this author, which I believed helped.
This book takes patience and work but I feel is well worth the great amounts of both. I am of Greek descent and rarely have I heard the "Turkish side" of the events of 1921 between Greece and Turkey. De Bernieres has a great knack for interweaving historical events with both fictional and factual characters. In doing so, he creates a novel much like Hemingway did in his war novels. Stories that are both international and personal. And, with much heartache. As usual, stories such as these say as much about the period they are depicting as today unfortunately. (I'm curious if George w. could even get through the 1st chapter of this book.) I hope they make this into a movie and that it does not become the catastrophe that the film version of 'Corelli's Mandolin" ended-up being. I highly recommend this book to serious readers.
A subject not often written about.......2006-09-11
Another reviewer described reading this novel as a beverage - the first half a fine cognac - a sip at a time. The second half more like cold water that one gulps down. I have to agree. I read the first 2 chapters over twice to become acquainted and remember the characters. The story develops slowly but holds your interest. As the book continued more characters were introduced and the reader is drawn into the town & country. There are many characters each representing a bit of knowledge about the time & place. Theodorus the merchant who built the town pump, Drusella a Greek who must leave Turkey, the town intellectual who reads greek, the Armenian apothecary, Tamara who is stoned for being unfaithful and becomes a prostitute etc. The muslim leader, Abdulhamid Hodja, gives someone who is not familar with the religous laws some insight so they do not seem as oppressive as imagined. The muslim Turks are not taught to read a disadvantage when compared to the Greeks and Armenians.
I'm not sure the biography of Ataturk was as insightful.
But this is a book I would not have missed reading.
Book Description
The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Their Ways of Life is a classic ethnography, originally published in 1928, that grew out of George Bird Grinnell's long acquaintance with the Cheyennes. In Volume I he wrote about the tribe's early history and migrations, customs, domestic life, social organization, hunting, amusements, and government. Volume II looks at its warmaking and warrior societies, healing practices and responses to European diseases, religious beliefs and rituals, and legends and prophecies surrounding the culture hero Sweet Medicine. Included are appendixes on early Cheyenne village sites, the formation of the Quilling Society, and notes on Cheyenne songs.
Download Description
Praise for Scott Simon’s Home and Away
“Home and Away may be the best memoir written by a fan I’ve ever read.”
–RON RAPOPORT, Chicago Sun-Times
“Extraordinary . . . a memoir of such breadth and reach.”
–Sports Illustrated
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Riveting story that unravels a bit at the end.......2007-06-10
To use the old cliché, this was a book I could not put down. From the first chapter, I found it to be a riveting and captivating story wrapped convincingly in the historical perspective of the siege of Sarajevo. I've heard Scott Simon many times on NPR and even heard him talking about this book when it was published (though for some reason I wasn't compelled to read it at the time), but I never had any idea that he is such a talented writer of fiction. Certainly his own knowledge gained through covering the war helps, but there's more to the book than simply a history lesson.
Simon takes the reader on an intriguing journey through war-ravaged Sarajevo seen primarily through the eyes (and scope) of 17-year-old Irena Zaric. The book is a heart-wrenching narrative about the horrors suffered by the people caught on the wrong side of the conflict (and the wrong side of the river) in Sarajevo, made all the more compelling by a story that lets us into the hearts, minds, and apartments of those who experienced it.
My one and only complaint with the book begins approximately three-quarters of the way into the story. After reading that much, it became apparent that there is a very obvious way for the story to end, so obvious that I found myself silently pleading for the story not to end so predictably. Soon it becomes apparent that there is a second way the story could go, and although it is less obvious than the first, it still seems too predictable. It is the second storyline, more or less, that Simon chose. And although he throws in a few wrinkles (probably because he too realized that it was a bit too predictable), doing so really only ended up diluting an otherwise strong story. If you will permit me a sports metaphor, I felt like Simon fumbled the ball on the one yard line. He was close - so very close - to making this a truly outstanding story, but just didn't quite close the deal.
Still, I don't want that to overshadow what is otherwise an outstanding work of historical fiction - really one of the better fictional books I have read in quite some time. If I could give 4.5 stars rather than 4 I probably would, because it was only the very end of the story that let me down in any way.
I wouldn't change a word!.......2007-03-22
I've seldom read a book in which I wouldn't alter one single word. This is one of those books. Mr. Simon gets it spot-on right. As I read it I did a sort of connect-the-dots thinking of storied he'd filed from his time in Sarajevo. When I'd listen to him I'd think this isn't simply a story for him. He's having a life-altering experience. Pretty Birds is the result of that amazing and terrible time.
This book stands as both a great work of historical fiction and a memorial to those wonderful souls ripped from this world by the hand of tyranny that swept through their lives. Read it and learn. Read it and remember. Read it and laugh as the human spirit struggles to find joy in a joyless slaughter pen. But, most of all, as the popular saying goes, read it and weep.
Simon draws from his war correspondent experiences,.......2007-02-04
and brings us this gritty, flinty, barren landscape-of-a-war story with (sometimes) very human people behind those ski masks and the other "masks" worn by snipers and bombers, who, before the war started, were classmates, neighbors, friends.
In some ways, Pretty Birds reminds me of Marjan Satrapi's "Persepolis", (another gritty war story told, this time, in a book filled with nothing but cartoon strips), by the way it portrays the human condition (including humor, wry or dark) and the consciences and all-too-human failings and needs that do not abandon us, whether they are confronted by the sights, smells, and atrocities of war, or are chewing on grass and lawn snails for supper.
The raw wind, the cold, dirt, isolation, -vs- the bits of "real" life as seen thru the pages of popular European/American magazines for teenagers, all bring together the contrasts that beseige those who, now at war, still try to conjure up the relative peace of their former lives.
Very little human emotion was conveyed at the (usually graphic) descriptions of the sight and sound of death -- adding to the all-too-real shell-shock that invades the soul and psyche of those trying to survive in war torn areas.
Irena's legendary prowess as a local basketball star helps her stay alive, but a pretty bird eventually brings about a startling ending, making the reader wonder if Irena's questions to Tedic and Molly about Hell were ever answered in full.
Great.......2007-01-17
For those who loved "Kite Runner" this is equally excellent.
This is the story of a teenage female basketball star in Sarajevo while it was under siege in 1992. She and her family were violently expelled from their home with nothing and fled to the Muslim side of the city that the Serbs kept under siege for years. Eventually Irena is recruited to become a sniper.
That is the bare outline of the plot. Irena is seventeen and she and her family are very much into pop culture in a city with no power and little food. In between foraging and dodging bullets and mortars, she relishes the finding of every old magazine so that she can keep up with the rest of the world. Her and her family's references to pop culture while surviving outrageous conditions are poignant and emphasize the "life must go on" attitude as they literally cling to life.
The characters are all deep and rich. There is the assistant principal turned militant who recruits Irena and other teens to fight the Serbs as best they can. Her father and mother are drawn sympathetically and believeably. He tries to find anything to accomplish of value and she displays strength that before the crisis would have been unbelievable. A widowed neighbor adds humor and Pretty Bird, their pet parrot, is emblematic of them all.
The author is NPR's Scott Simon. He brings unique qualities that add so much to the book. In his note, he reveals that he interviewed a teenage sniper upon whom he based the main character. It is clear he both liked and respected that girl, because Irena is a terrific "real person" hero. He was stationed in Sarajevo for at least part of the siege so his first hand view adds to the realism.
Also, Simon is a journalist and writes like one. His sentences are crisp and to the point without a lot of embellishment. This style fits the stark nature of the cityscape and story he is relating.
This is a wonderful novel of a teenage girl and her family fighting for surviving. She fights back against her enemies while the novel vivdly portrays a modern city under siege. A centuries old war technique moved to the 2oth century with some effect, but not enough to overcome the human spirit, especially the spirit of a vibrant teen.
Extremely highly recommended as one of the very best books written in 2006.
Excellent in all respects.......2006-07-10
I write my reviews before I read anybody else's. This is the first work, fiction or non-fiction, that I have read about the War in former Yugoslavia. But I feel I have an excellent taste for what the besieged citizens of Sarajevo went through from 1992-1996.
The book has made the war very real. The characters in the novel are well developed. The plot was not predictable; you actually think it is going one way and it ends in another. They could probably make a movie out of it, but they would probably ruin its excellence.
The story is that if Irena, a teenage Bosnian who escapes with her family from the Serbian controlled side of Sarajevo to the Bosnian side, which is a terror stricken enclave supposedly being protected by the United Nations troops.
Pretty Birds refers to Irene and her friends, who get caught up in the war effort in ways they would not have imagined, and it also refers to Pretty Bird, Irena's parrot.
The dialogue and depictions are realistic. The characters and moments memorable. The book flows fast and never bores.
It does only cover the Bosnian side of the siege of Sarajevo. With a small but important exception.
One feels one knows at least a bit of what the besieged residents of Sarajevo endured, and such knowledge makes one's personal problems evaporate into a mist--to use a term from the book.
I have heard first-hand anecdotes of what it was like to live in Sarajevo during the war, and the accounts of the book match those.
Customer Reviews:
A delightfully nutty perspective.......1998-11-20
I am reading this book, so I thought I'd check to see what others have said about it. As I expected, the reviews online come from cheerleaders of the revisionist camp. Personally, I find the book to be useful information from the leftist perspective. I keep thinking: yes, yes, all that is true enough, but from the information available to Truman in July 1945, did he have any alternative but to authorize the use of the bomb?
I'll post further thoughts on my website.
-- Dan Ford
Hiroshima's Shadows presents voices from all sides.......1998-08-24
Here is an extract from my review of 'Hiroshima's Shadows', that appeared in 'New Politics', no. 25 (Summer 1998):
'Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy' is an enormous, and aesthetically handsome work, bringing together nearly 50 essays between between 1945 and 1997 by scholars, military, political and religious leaders, independent intellectuals, and survivors of the atomic bombings. The book is unusual in that, though it has a strong editorial point of view, the editors unflinchingly present voices from all sides of the argument.
The contribors include Albert Camus, Dwight Macdonald, Lewis Mumford, Mary McCarthy, A.J. Muste, among others. Defenders of the bomb include Charles Krauthammer who says that we should "let the Japanese commemorate the catastrophe they brought on themselves" (rather than mourn the use of the bomb), and Paul Fussel, an English professor and ex-front line combatant, who raises the slogan, "thank god for the atomic bomb." An even wider range of ideological positions is represented on the side of the critics: Lifschultz and Bird have recovered an anti-bomb editorial from the paleo-right-wing 'Human Events' and placed it alongside the observations of Mahatma Gandhi and Norman Thomas. As the editors put it, "the usual distinctions of left and right on economic and social issues were not reliable guides which could accurately predict what people thought about Hiroshima."
A substantial section of the book contains memoirs of a few survivors. These memoirs underscore the enduring reality that it was civilians, not military objectives, who were then, and remain, the prime target of nuclear weapons.
Hiroshima's Shadows presents voices from all sides.......1998-08-24
Here is an extract from my review of 'Hiroshima's Shadows', that appeared in 'New Politics', no. 25 (Summer 1998):
'Hiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy' is an enormous, and aesthetically handsome work, bringing together nearly 50 essays between between 1945 and 1997 by scholars, military, political and religious leaders, independent intellectuals, and survivors of the atomic bombings. The book is unusual in that, though it has a strong editorial point of view, the editors unflinchingly present voices from all sides of the argument.
The contribors include Albert Camus, Dwight Macdonald, Lewis Mumford, Mary McCarthy, A.J. Muste, among others. Defenders of the bomb include Charles Krauthammer who says that we should "let the Japanese commemorate the catastrophe they brought on themselves" (rather than mourn the use of the bomb), and Paul Fussel, an English professor and ex-front line combatant, who raises the slogan, "thank god for the atomic bomb." An even wider range of ideological positions is represented on the side of the critics: Lifschultz and Bird have recovered an anti-bomb editorial from the paleo-right-wing 'Human Events' and placed it alongside the observations of Mahatma Gandhi and Norman Thomas. As the editors put it, "the usual distinctions of left and right on economic and social issues were not reliable guides which could accurately predt what people thought about Hiroshima."
A substantial section of the book contains memoirs of a few survivors. These memoirs underscore the enduring reality that it was civilians, not military objectives, who were then, and remain, the prime target of nuclear weapons.
The most comprehensive and balanced account to date........1998-07-31
Hiroshima's Shadow is perhaps the most comprehensive and balanced collection of essays to date on the decision to use atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
While some insist on a single interpretation of these events and label any reinterpretation as unpatriotic or unAmerican, the New York Times put it best: "The real betrayal of American tradition would be to insist on a single version of history or to make it the property of the state or any group. History in America is based on freedom of inquiry and discussion, which is one reason why Americans have given their lives to defend it."
Book Description
Despite our reverence for wildlife, many of our most favorite species raise havoc in lawns and gardens from city to suburbia. This book solves backyard problems with squirrels, raccoons, deer, crows, insects and a host of other "pests" who raid backyard bird feeders and garbage cans, nest in chimneys, eat shrubbery, dig holes and tunnels in lawns, and attack garden foliage. George H. Harrison, award-winning nature writer, photographer, book author and consultant in the field of nature and outdoors, provides a natural history of squirrels and other problem critters so that readers can better understand the enemy. Topics covered include squirrels and deer raiding bird feeders, eating shrubbery and carrying Lyme disease; woodpeckers drilling holes in siding and roofs; rabbits destroying young trees, shrubs and other cultivated lawn plants; ticks, yellowjackets, wasps and ants biting, stinging and dominating sugar water feeders meant for hummingbirds; bears; raccoons; and more. Informative tips, devices and methods are explained that will lead to a peaceful coexistence with all animals, great and small.
Customer Reviews:
Squirrel Wars: Not Just Squirrels.......2007-03-09
The book says Squirrel Wars but it's a book about keeping other creatures out of your yard/garden as well. I was hoping it would be more comprehensive but since it gives tips on other creatures, I thought it had more value. Haven't gotten thru the whole book yet...too busy trying to salvage the bulbs that survived the squirrel attacks.
a truly honest and practical guide.......2000-07-10
Finally, someone has published a guide to dealing with my backyard foes. For years, master gardners, nursery workers, etc. have told me there was absolutely nothing I could do to protect my flowerbeds and bird feeders from squirrels, pesky birds and roaming cats. After reading this book, I know what works and what doesn't. This book not only tells me what to do, I now have some good insight into what's going on in the minds of those little critters (I wish more authors would do this). Yeah!!
My only complaint: the title is a little misleading. I got this book so I could deal with squirrels. This book covers many more backyard critters than squirrels such as cats, crows, deer, raccoons, and so on.
Squirrel Wars Too?.......2000-07-08
An invaluable book for any homeowner who's ever had problems with squirrels (enemy number one), rabbits, racoons, skunks, possums, deer, cats, rats, dogs, even birds, etc. Each section is dedicated to solving a problem with your animal of choice. And that's just it. It could have easily been called "skunk wars" or any other "animal wars" mentioned in this book. I guess he chose squirrels because they seem to be the most persistant animals to invade our backyard. They are truly clever. However, there's another "Squirrel Wars" book that deals with squirrels only, written in 1996, and the author's attempt to outwit them from raiding his birdfeeders. It's funny and serious. I highly recommend both Squirrel Wars. Enjoy while learning.
"Must" reading for backyard gardeners & wildlife enthusiasts.......2000-07-03
Many favorite wildlife species wreck havoc on backyard gardens: Squirrel Wars tells how to solve a range of problems, from birds which raid bird feeders and squirrels which are geniuses at food to creatures which nest in chimneys and dig holes in lawns. Deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, skunks and opossums are covered, with some remedies more effective than others.
Great Book.......2000-06-09
this was a great book, hilarious funny, its very true
Book Description
Tall, handsome, charming Col. Richard Meinertzhagen (1878–1967) was an acclaimed British war hero, a secret agent, and a dean of international ornithology. His exploits inspired three biographies, movies have been based on his life, and a square in Jerusalem is dedicated to his memory. Meinertzhagen was trusted by Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion, T. E. Lawrence, Elspeth Huxley, and a great many others.
He bamboozled them all. Meinertzhagen was a fraud. Many of the adventures recorded in his celebrated diaries were imaginary, including a meeting with Hitler while he had a loaded pistol in his pocket, an attempt to rescue the Russian royal family in 1918, and a shoot-out with Arabs in Haifa when he was seventy years old. True, he was a key player in Middle Eastern events after World War I, and during the 1930s he represented Zionism's interests in negotiations with Germany. But he also set up Nazi front organizations in England, committed a half-century of major and costly scientific fraud, and -- oddly -- may have been innocent of many killings to which he confessed (e.g., the murder of his own polo groom -- a crime of which he cheerfully boasted, although the evidence suggests it never occurred at all), while he may have been guilty of at least one homicide of which he professed innocence.
A compelling read about a flamboyant rogue, The Meinertzhagen Mystery shows how recorded history reflects not what happened, but what we believe happened.
Customer Reviews:
A Man who Life wasn't Big Enough to Hold.......2007-07-20
Richard Meinertzhagen was a military hero, explorer, spy, friend of Israel, diarist, world renown Ornithologist and prevaricator. Unlike most people, he reveled in the lies that he told and the reactions of those he told them to. He left an 82 volume library of his 'life', much of which was wishful thinking or down right false, but like Dr.Goebbels he believed that if you tell "The Big Lie" forceful enough and long enough, people will begin to believe.
Why would a man who was respected as a world class ornithologist, get himself barred from the British Museum for stealing? Was it for the notoriety? Having re-written his diaries (in some cases many times) and destroying all the previous versions, did he want to be caught after his death? Like publicity, being remembered, whether for good or bad, is still being remembered.
Garfield, who admits the man was one of his heroes as a child, spends a lot of time trying to find back-up information to prove RMs tales. But the more his digs, the more his finds that it like digging a hole in the dessert, it buries you. When RM writes that he did so-and-so, Garfield is able to find that not only wasn't he involved, but that RM might not have even been anywhere in the area (much less on the same continent) when the event occurred.
Ian Fleming had written that RM was the archetype for "James Bond". He could not have known how right he was in basing his fictional spy on a real-life falsified spy. The sad part is, had RM just written about his real accomplishments, his story would still be one of an outstanding personality; it just wasn't outstanding enough for him.
A history lesson and a thriller all rolled in to one........2007-03-29
Col. Richard Meinertzhagen's exploits are those of either the greatest and most daring man ever to wear a British Military Uniform, or that of the most whopping fraud to walk the earth. Excellent research and a great read.
A Unbelievable Mess.......2007-03-17
Brian Garfield is a supurb writer. It doesn't matter if he is writing fiction (Death Wish, the book behind the Charles Bronson movie), military history (The Thousand-Mile War about the part of World War II in the Aleutians), or a non-fiction book like The Meinertzhagen Mystery. His writing style is captivating and even otherwise dull subjects come alive. Any book is highly recommended.
Col. Richard Meinertzhagen left a history of heroic deeds so dramatic that he was used as the model for Ian Fleming's 'James Bond.' Or at least it is so rumored. His diaries are full of stories so outrageous that you'd think they have to be made up.
It turns out that most of them now appear to have been made up indeed. The difficulty is to split out what is true from what is false. And then we need look at what historians have reported as fact based on what is now seen to be false. It's enough to make you wonder about all of history.
Book Description
Inciting Americans at home to do their part in producing for the war effort, the poster-inexpensive, accessible, and ever-present-was an ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen. From 1941 to 1945, government agencies, businesses, and private organizations issued an array of poster images linking the military front with the home front, calling upon all Americans to boost production at work and at home. The U.S. Office of War Information created the "Poster Pledge," urging volunteers to "avoid poster waste," "treat posters as real war ammunition," and "never let a poster lie idle."
This colorful collection of over 150 World War II-era posters focuses on the theme of wartime production on the home front. The range of designs and images will inspire graphic designers, while the descriptive captions and informative text will interest history and military buffs. Some of the famous slogans these posters introduced include "When you ride alone you ride with Hitler," "She won't talk-will you? The enemy has ears," "This is America... Keep it Free," and "Remember Pearl Harbor-purl harder!"
Customer Reviews:
Excellent with over 150 Colorful Poster Pics..............2005-02-02
This beautifully designed small coffee table paperback is the perfect guide thru US WW2 patriotic industrial and gov't posters. Yes, sometimes one may have felt "Big Brother" is watching, since these artistic posters decorated the walls of factories, building sides, and seemingly near everywhere during the war years. The message invariably was "Be A Nurse", "Help the Troops", "Contribute to the effort", and most important "Don'T SHIRK ON THE JOB..MAKE EVERY MOMENT COUNT FOR THE BOYS OVERSEAS!" Of course similar posters were designed and displayed by all combatants, and their messages were all near identical. The postwar industrial posters are also noted, and they were definitely childish at worst, compared with the noble and heroic aspirations sought in the best of the War Posters!
Delving Beneath the Surface of WWII Posters.......2003-02-25
"Are you doing all that you can?"
That simple question, asked in a popular WWII, finger-pointing poster, captures the patriotic spirit that pervaded America.
Posters, according to the authors, deserve credit as "the ideal agent for making war aims the personal mission of every citizen." Further, "Poster campaigns aimed not only to increase productivity in factories, but to enlarge people's views of their wartime responsibilities." Rockwell's enduring classic images, The Four Freedoms, illuminate this ideological trend.
How did wartime posters inspire military recruits, help increase domestic production, and sell war bonds during WWII? What were the different strategies used by government agencies to promote American ideals, self sacrifice, and gas rationing to a scared and confused public? Which advertising methods and artistic techniques worked best? Why?
This concise, colorful guide examines the power, poetry, and politics of American WWII posters in five thematic chapters. Delving beneath the surface of over 150 colorful posters, the authors showcase and analysis the zig-zag evolution of wartime posters.
Personally, I found chapter three (Art, Advertising, and Audience) to be a fascinating summary of vigorous debate among message makers. How should the war effort be framed? Is it a struggle for truth and democracy against terror and fascism? Is it a battle for survival? Should the focus be on personal fears, national achievements, or heroic freedom fighting?
George Gallup, later of pollster fame, urged posters be designed to appeal to "the lower third" of the population. Other analysts warned that the Office Of Facts and Figures early communication efforts were too abstract and contained too much information. "It would be wonderful indeed if the psychological war could be fought on an intellectual basis," warned two critics "if the American people who will win or lose this war were so educated and conditioned that we could bring them understanding on the terms we all prefer. But, through no fault of ours, they unfortunately are so educated. And in pitting the strategy of truth against the strategy of terror, we cannot stop to educate - we must win a war. We must state the truth in terms that will be understood by all levels of intelligence. Further, we must dramatize the truth." Powerful images soon replaced statistics in posters.
The considerable efforts to coordinate wartime messages across departments also generated vigorous debate. Eventually, the newly formed Office of Wartime Information identified six basic propaganda themes for general information programs: The nature of the Enemy; the nature of our Allies; the need to work; the need to fight; the need to sacrifice; and Americans and our ideals.
This visually appealing book also carefully examines the proliferation of wartime posters, full of patriotic messages, created by non-profit organizations, unions, and corporations. The last chapter, Postwar Aims and Private Aspirations, focuses on the impact of Sheldon-Claire company posters celebrating the middle class home, the traditional nuclear family, consumerism, and free enterprise. It also features a haunting gas mask poster produced and distributed by Kroger Grocery store chain.
The epilogue, the weakest section by far, argues that the change in postwar workplace posters reflected a more condescending air toward workers, explicit anti-union messages, and the renewnal of industrial conflict between management and labor. This thin section seems both out-of-place and a disjointed conclusion.
Design for Victory, despite this somewhat weak ending, should satisfy the curiousities of graphic designers, artists, historians, and scholars interested in advertising methods and persuasive communication.
A graphically interesting work not bogged down in history........1999-02-18
Anyone intersted in the graphic stylism, the stark imagery, the sometimes disturbing and sometimes hilarious generalizations made in American Propaganda during World War Two should check out this book. It contains many posters that I've not seen in print before, but unfortunately leaves many others out. From an academic, historical perspective the documentation and historical explanations for the U.S. propaganda machine are too brief. Still, the poster reproductions are fantastic, mostly in color. I would also reccomend Anthony Rhodes "Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion" for a look at other countries' propaganda from the same time period.
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- Intuitive Light: An Emotional Approach to Capturing the Illusion of Value, Form, Color and Space
- Jeep: Warhorse, Workhouse & Boulevard Cruiser
- John Carter of Mars - volume 2 - Warlord of Mars & Thuvia, Maid of Mars (John Carter of Mars)
- Lean Mean Thirteen (Stephanie Plum Novels)
- Long Day's Journey into Night
- Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years
- Lucifer: Crux - Volume 9 (Lucifer (Graphic Novels))
- Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
- Medstar I: Battle Surgeons (Star Wars: Clone Wars Novel)
Books Index
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