Book Description
This international bestseller is a completely updated edition with new information on adventure hiking and land travel. With coverage of ports from Seattle to Anchorage and the Bering Sea, this book is the benchmark of cruise guides to Alaska. The author covers all areas of interest, including new itineraries, port attractions, history, wildlife and native culture. Includes all Alaska cruises, land tours and shore excursions. Detail on Denali Park and tours to far north of Alaska as well as the Yukon and Canadian Rockies. Full-color photos and maps throughout. 368 pp. Updated in 2005
Customer Reviews:
Excellent !!!!!!!!.......2007-10-06
We are going on our dream trip...An alaskan cruisetour.We are investing a lot of time and money...we needed help with details...I am so grateful that we found this perfect guide book. It is helping us choose excursions and educating us to the opportunities available.We have such a little amount of time to see so much..we have to choose wisely..and with "Alaska by cruise ship" we can.Alaska by Cruise Ship: The Complete Guide to Cruising Alaska with Giant Pull-out Map (5th Edition)
Fanctastic Trip Planner.......2007-10-03
What a wonderful resource! Terrific information that helped us plan - and enjoy a wonderful trip.
A little ponderous for my taste.......2007-09-12
This book contains a ton of information. However, it's very "text-booky". I found it hard to stay engaged while reading it.
Alaskan Cruise.......2007-09-03
My business is travel and many of my clients enjoy cruising. This book was very helpful is assisting me with my clients in planning their Alaskan Vacations. My family and I do plan to go to Alaska in the near future, sounds like an exciting vacation!
Billy Wannyn
A little dry.......2007-06-26
The map is good, but overall, I didn't find the book very engaging -- a little bit dry.
Book Description
Marking a major development in Foucault's thinking, this book derives from the lecture course which he gave at the Collège de France between January and April, 1978. Taking as his starting point the notion of "bio-power," introduced in his 1976 course Society Must be Defended, Foucault sets out to study the foundations of this new technology of power over population. Distinct from punitive, disciplinary systems, the mechanisms of power are here finely entwined with the technologies of security, and it is to 18th century developments of these technologies with which the first chapters of the book are concerned. By the fourth lecture however Foucault's attention turns, focusing on a history of "governmentality" from the first centuries of the Christian era to the emergence of the modern nation state. As Michel Sennelart explains in his afterword, the effect of this change of direction is to "shift the center of gravity of the lectures from the question of biopower to that of government, to such an extent that the former almost entirely eclipses the former ..." Consequently, in light of Foucault's later work, it is tempting to see these lectures as the moment of a radical turning point at which the transition to the problematic of the "government of self and others" would begin.
Customer Reviews:
Biopower and Governmentality.......2007-06-08
A must for understanding the notions of biopower, biopolitics, and governmentality in Foucault's corpus.
Average customer rating:
- Much more than a "coffee table" book!
- AWESOME
- Excellent book!
- An excellent book on Antarctica!
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Antarctica and the Arctic: The Complete Encyclopedia
David McGonigal , and
Lynn Woodworth
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
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Antarctica: The Blue Continent
ASIN: 1552975452 |
Book Description
Antarctica has not always been a place of ice and snow. Once part of the supercontinent of Gondwanaland, it is believed to have enjoyed a warmer climate in which plants and land animals thrived. However, nowadays less than one percent of the surface is ice free, and at bedrock level the ice can be up to a million or more years old. In comparison, the Arctic consists entirely of pack-ice which breaks into ice floes in summer and floats on the Arctic Ocean.
While the ice gives rise to spectacular scenery, both on land and sea, these regions also have an astonishing variety of wildlife. The two Poles have few common species (apart from some birds and whales) but many unique endemic ones - polar bears, walruses and puffins in the north, penguins and elephant seals in the south.
The content will cover the following topics, among others:
Geography and geology
Climate and weather
Ice, icebergs, glaciers and land formations
History and exploration
Wildlife and flora - how unique life has evolved in a very harsh environment
Polar science - the scientists who live and work in Antarctica, the research bases
Icebreaker shipping and tourism
Politics and treaties and the interested parties, including the 1988 Minerals Convention
The people of the Arctic
Conservation and the future (specific Polar issues, such as melting of the ice caps and ozone depletion).
Both regions have long been associated with tales of great heroism in their exploration, and here too there are common links. Roald Amundsen was first to the South Pole and died in a rescue in the north (at that time his ship, the Fram, had been furthest south and furthest north). Frederic Cook, who lodged a false claim to being first to the North Pole, was the first to winter over in Antarctica, as part of a Belgian expedition. Nowadays, tourists can visit in cruise ships and see the almost impossible task the explorers set themselves.
Both areas are of concern ecologically. For several years there has been a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica; one is now opening over the Arctic Circle. Ecologists watch both Antarctica and the Arctic for any signs of change that may have implications for the planet as a whole. They join scientists from all over the world conducting research in these unique conditions.
With interesting and authoritative text written by a team of international experts, accompanied by over a thousand superb photographs, this book will fascinate all with an interest in the Poles and their wildlife.
Customer Reviews:
Much more than a "coffee table" book!.......2005-01-01
This is a beautifully produced and wonderfully comprehensive book. If you want a book which concentrates on wildlife then look elsewhere (eg Antarctic Wildlife by H Shirihai) - better still get both as complementary to each other!
The layout and structure is well conceived, the maps are clear, the photos are always good and often magnificent, the writing is aimed at intelligent readers, the index is good and above all the coverage is all-embracing within its subject. There is a nice section on Antarctic related Web links but, a minor criticism, no Bibliography. As the title indicates it is 90+% about the Antarctic with the Arctic as an "add-on". I was at first a bit negative about the inclusion of the Arctic but have come to the view that it is useful as a comparator - but you wouldn't buy this book for its Arctic content.
AWESOME.......2003-11-30
I been looking for a whille for a great Antarctica book.
this is by far the best.
wall to wall photos topics on everything explorations,wildlife,marine life, you name it.
spectacular coffee table book dont miss.
it even covers the artic "north pole" also
Excellent book!.......2002-02-14
I am an Earth Science teacher and I have done research in Antarctica. The book has many wonderful photos and highly informative text about the geologic, oceanographic, atmospheric and biologic features of the polar regions. I recommend this book for anyone interested in these areas, especially teachers.
An excellent book on Antarctica!.......2002-01-28
I recently took a cruise to Antarctica and this book was in the ship's library. This is an excellent book on Antarctica and the pictures are fabulous! This makes a great coffe-table book!
Book Description
Listen for church bells and the call to prayer as the golden light of late afternoon illuminates Jerusalem, p. 88.
Dig your feet into the sand at a Tel Aviv beachside bar, p. 175.
Tend organic vegetables and fertilize your mind at Kibbutz Lotan, p. 344.
Start a conversation in the West Bank - how do you pickle olives? p. 295.
Six authors, 234 days of research, 12 army roadblocks, countless falafels.
History and Environment chapters by renowned experts.
The only guidebook with detailed coverage of the West Bank and Gaza.
You asked for it, we researched it: more sustainable travel experiences than ever, from eco-hotels to hiking trips.
Customer Reviews:
Lonely Planet Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories........2007-07-04
Up to the usual great quality, Lonely Planets travel guides are generally the best reference tool for travellers. However, there is a beautiful and brilliant guide that was published about 20 months ago near Bethlehem by the Alternative Tourism Group which is currently only available on AMAZON UK for under 18#, called Palestine and Palestinians a 6star rating surpassing any travel book published thus far on the oPt and Israel where now razed villages or lost histories now exist. It will make any trip to the unholy Holy Land a more enriching and meaningful experience and highly recommended.
Lonely Planet Israel & the Palestinian Territories (Lonely Planet Israel).......2007-06-28
It looks easy to me to go around this country, even under Israel's attack with missile.
Average customer rating:
- BAD BAD BAD!
- Loved it
- No No No
- A cool idea, but it could have been much better.
- awesome artwork
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The Guide to the Territories of Halla (Pendragon)
D. J. MacHale
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Quillan Games (Pendragon)
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Pendragon Book Six: The Rivers of Zadaa (Pendragon)
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The Pilgrims of Rayne (Pendragon)
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Black Water (Pendragon, Book 5)
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The Reality Bug (Pendragon Series #4)
ASIN: 1416900144 |
Book Description
All there ever was; all that will be.
For the first time, see the amazing sights of Halla as only Bobby Pendragon has. From the watery depths of Cloral to the rugged mountain ranges of Denduron to the jungles of Eelong, from the Earth territories to the decaying fantasy world of Veelox, it¹s all here. So are the Travelers: Uncle Press, Vo Spader, Loor, Aja Killian, Alder, Gunny, and Kasha, and of course, Bobby Pendragon and Saint Dane.
This is your private flume to Halla. Enter and discover old friends while you learn new secrets. But remember one thing: This is only the beginning.
Customer Reviews:
BAD BAD BAD!.......2007-06-01
I really like the Pendragon book series, and I thought this book would be equally good. However, I was very wrong. The illustrator of 'The Guide to the Territories of Halla' must be different from the book illustrator because these drawings aren't all that great. Bobby looks... terrible. And Spader looks enormous (across). Plus, the book does not include pictures of 2 of the main characters: Courtney and Mark.
DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! It is short. 48 pages of not-that-great drawings. I am serious. If you buy this book, you will think: 'Why didn't I listen to that kid telling me not to buy this book? It's a RIP-OFF!!'.
Loved it.......2007-01-16
My 10 year old son couldn't put this series down. He loved it. Highly recommend it!
No No No.......2006-06-17
I am a huge fan of this series, and this really was disappointing. The writing bit was decent, but the illustrations didn't meet my standards whatsoever. i was thoroughly disappointed with a few of the drawings as they didn't even follow the author's descriptions. It was irritating reading a book in a series I enjoy immensly that was so dismal.
A cool idea, but it could have been much better........2005-09-02
I picked this up in a bookstore the other day. I had almost purchased it once, but I am now very glad that I didn't. I looked at the pics. and they were pretty good. (although I do really prefer to view characters and scenes in my own head) I preceded to read the text, which I finished reading in about ten minutes! I'd say that this book was a really cool idea, but for a price around $7, I don't think that this is worth it.
awesome artwork.......2005-08-20
this book brings to life everything i imagined when reading the first several books. i know many people complained about this book not covering all of the territories. i am kind of glad it hasn't covered the books that have not yet been written. i would prefer to use my own imagination first. i believe there will be a follow-up to this book when the rest of the series is written.
Book Description
A profound and personal journey to the heart of a shattered nation.
In March 2003, Patrick Cockburn traveled secretly to Iraq just before the invasion, and has covered the war from Baghdad ever since. In The Occupation, Cockburn describes the fighting on the ground as Saddam's armies collapsed, the looting of Baghdad, the failure of the US occupation, the springs of the resistance and how it turned into a full scale uprising. Explaining how the three main Iraqi communities, the Kurds, the Shia and the Sunni, responded to the growing conflict, he gives us a nuanced portrait of daily life in Baghdad, of how Iraqis themselves reacted to the invasion and the long war and occupation that followed.
Customer Reviews:
Gripping, Horrifying.......2007-08-12
Patrick Cockburn is a British journalist who has lived in Iraq for a long time--and who supplements that with having been close to and covered the similar occupation by Britain of Northern Ireland.
So he is miles ahead of U.S. journalists who were "embedded" with the U.S. military.
The "embedded" journalists saw only what the U.S. military wanted them to see.
The U.S. military had learned an important lesson in Vietnam: NOT to avoid invading a country and alienating its people, but to avoid letting journalists see it and report it. One of the big factors in opposition to the Vietnam War was that every night on TV, people saw burning villages, killed civilians, wounded and dead U.S. soldiers.
Cockburn saw what he wanted to see.
But even in that, he was limited--because Iraq has become so dangerous that even journalists are fair game for kidnappers and killers.
Still, he does a good job.
His reporting (because of the danger of traveling) is anecdotal, but it is telling.
And he understands the politics and ethnic dynamics in Iraq--which the U.S. administration either did not understand or did not care about.
He also understands nationalism: no nation, no matter how bad its government, likes to have outsiders invade and take over.
This lesson is all-important. It is the lesson of Vietnam. It is the lesson of the American Revolution. And, now, of course, it is the lesson of Iraq.
Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds hate each other and without Saddam's fierce repression, civil war was inevitable. But they all hate the invading U.S. soldiers and administrators (and contractors, who take their work, when Iraqi unemployment is 50% to 70%) more.
Cockburn states that the U.S. occupation was bound to fail, given the tribalism and sectarianism of Iraq. Be he also outlines how the stupendous arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence of the Bush administration made it far worse.
On the other hand, we should all be glad that Bush IS incompetent. If he were competent, he would be Hitler.
Anti American point of view of our effort........2007-08-04
From the spelling and from the total contempt of American and Americans I gather that the Author is British. And that is mainly what this book is about, contempt for American actions, and to a certain extent contempt for British actions where the Brits are allied and trying to help our noble cause.
What the book is about:
`The Occupation', is mainly a list of things that we have done wrong, and how terribly bad Iraq is after American liberation. And the truth is things are bad here, and there have been mistakes and misdeeds, and there is plenty of sad events and misery, enough to write this short book.
If the book had been written by an educated insurgent, I don't imagine it would be much different. The author writes of no American successes, as though for the entire war that has gone on for four years, that nothing has ever been done right. I expected at least a notional objectivism so the author could claim journalistic integrity or something, but he makes no such attempt. He does write plenty about the successes of the insurgents and how they are undefeatable.
The author writes that the only reason for American success in Fallujah was our superior and overused firepower, but that it was really a success of the insurgency because they learned not to fight us that way. He seems to think that the only reason we ever win anything is because of our superior firepower.
The author concedes nothing to us in terms of good will, stoic effort, any talent or ability. He offers not one example of anything that we have done right. He offers no useful suggestions of what we could do to improve the situation. No useful or non-useful suggestions really. Just that we are bad greedy, incompetent, amoral and corrupt. And the Brits in that they are on our side, are only slightly better, but are also bad on average in all those categories, because they are on our side.
Readability:
The book was fairly easy to read, and I read the whole thing, so there must have been some parts of interest. There are some interesting personal stories. But really I have probably had my fill of tragic human interest stories in Iraq. When reading the book, I was hoping for something useful, some suggestion or idea about how we could be doing things better over here. But I came up empty in that regard.
My first exposure to any book by Patrick Cockburn.......2007-06-01
I won't give it 5 stars because the writing style is too informal and he doesn't follow a chronological line; he jumps back and forth in time between chapters. Still, this is a valuable account of daily events in the lives of Iraqis, which have largely escaped our news services. It's tragedy piled upon tragedy, and if it weren't a situation full of death, destruction, desperation, and horror, it'd almost be comical.
It is certainly an easy read and it's hard to put down... you'll be done with it in no time.
Definitely a valuable contribution to anyone with an interest in the history of the second war against Iraq.
Excellent survey of a disaster.......2007-01-05
Patrick Cockburn, the Independent's Middle East correspondent, has written a vivid first-hand account of the US-British occupation of Iraq. He notes of the war's prelude, the 1990s sanctions on Iraq, "Imposing sanctions on all ordinary Iraqis was a cruel collective punishment, one of the great man-made disasters of the last century."
He shows that opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq radicalized most of the suicide bombers in Iraq. An Israeli study also concluded that almost all the foreign fighters in Iraq had been radicalized by the invasion. A Saudi investigation showed that few suicide bombers had any contact with al Qaeda before 2003.
Cockburn details the brutalities of the occupation, the imperial arrogance, the use of mercenaries, the deepening religious divisions, the vile sectarian killings, the lawlessness and insecurity, the rampant corruption and the economic chaos (oil, electricity, water and sewerage are all still worse than they were pre-war). All lead to growing national resistance.
The Bush administration claimed that toppling Saddam would stabilise the Middle East. Instead the invasion and occupation have destabilised all the region's countries. The war has destroyed Iraq, worsened the prospects of peace and justice for the Palestinian people and strengthened the al Qaeda terrorists.
The war was `a terrible mistake', as the Royal Institute for International Affairs recently noted. US General William Odom, a former head of the National Security Agency, called the war `the greatest strategic disaster in American history'. We need our troops back home, to defend our borders against the terrorists, people-smugglers and drug-runners generated by the Labour government's criminal wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
excellent.......2006-12-29
Very well written, detailed and inciteful, highly recommended for anyone who wants more than the "embedded" corporate media perspective.
Book Description
Where does the nation-state end and globalization begin? In Territory, Authority, Rights, one of the world's leading authorities on globalization shows how the national state made today's global era possible. Saskia Sassen argues that even while globalization is best understood as "denationalization," it continues to be shaped, channeled, and enabled by institutions and networks originally developed with nations in mind, such as the rule of law and respect for private authority. This process of state making produced some of the capabilities enabling the global era. The difference is that these capabilities have become part of new organizing logics: actors other than nation-states deploy them for new purposes. Sassen builds her case by examining how three components of any society in any age--territory, authority, and rights--have changed in themselves and in their interrelationships across three major historical "assemblages": the medieval, the national, and the global.
The book consists of three parts. The first, "Assembling the National," traces the emergence of territoriality in the Middle Ages and considers monarchical divinity as a precursor to sovereign secular authority. The second part, "Disassembling the National," analyzes economic, legal, technological, and political conditions and projects that are shaping new organizing logics. The third part, "Assemblages of a Global Digital Age," examines particular intersections of the new digital technologies with territory, authority, and rights.
Sweeping in scope, rich in detail, and highly readable, Territory, Authority, Rights is a definitive new statement on globalization that will resonate throughout the social sciences.
Customer Reviews:
An ambitious undertaking.......2007-02-06
Famous Chicago sociologist, Saskia Sassen, returns with an ambitious new book on cities as the main locus of globalization. Despite being quite long (almost 500 pages!), it's quite an engaging reading. For someone interested in expanding his/her knowledge on the various facets of the process of globalization, including its economic, political and cultural dimensions, this volume is a must. In particular, I found very persuasive the way Sassen combines historical analysis with the most up-to-date reflection on modernity - the subtitle, "From Medieval to Global Assemblages", couldn't more accurate a description of what this book is really about.
Customer Reviews:
This book is an exceptional training program for financial services wholesalers........2007-09-26
This book should be mandatory reading for all external and internal wholesalers. After reading this book six months ago my territory sales have increased by 128%. The author has been a top producing wholesaler for over 10 years. The territory management and technical sales skills that are taught in this book allow wholesalers to work efficiently and effectively towards the goal of exceeding sales targets. The book is comprehensive in that it trains wholesalers on all aspects of the business. This is a must read for any veteran or aspiring wholesaler.
A Must Read for all Financial Services Wholesalers!.......2007-05-18
This book is an amazing resource in helping wholesalers or wholesalers to be figure out THE BEST WAYS to be valuable to their clients. The book details the best way to organize your schedule (may be the most important part of a wholesalers job), how to work with your internal partner and how to organize follow up conversations with advisors that can benefit from your ideas. In addition, the 2nd part of the book focuses on actual selling techniques.
When you think about the financial services industry, you realize that most investment firms use wholesalers to market their mutual funds, annuities or etf's. As Financial Advisors are quick to point out, a large number of those wholesalers range in the awful to poor range and detract value rather than adding.
All in all, Drew Zinman has created a very effective methods to help wholesalers add value to their clients and increase their business.
It helped me when I first got out on the field and is still helping me now.
A MUST HAVE FOR ANY WHOLESALER!
Book Description
“Perhaps one day I may forgive you for putting
us under curfew for forty-two days, but I will never forgive you for making us live with my mother-
in-law for what seemed, then, more like
forty-two years.”
Irreverent, darkly funny, unexpected, and very unlike any other writing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Sharon and My Mother-in-Law describes Palestinian architect Suad Amiry’s experience of living in the Occupied Territories.
Based on diaries and e-mail correspondence that Amiry kept to maintain her sanity from 1981 to 2004, the book evokes, through a series of vignettes, the frustrations, cabin fever, and downright misery of daily life in the West Bank town of Ramallah, with its curfews, roadblocks, house-to-house searches, and violence. Amiry writes about the enormous difficulty of moving from one place to another, the torture of falling in love with someone from another town, the absurdity of her dog receiving a Jerusalem identity card when thousands of Palestinians could not do so, and the impossibility of acquiring a gas mask from the Israeli Civil Administration during the first Gulf War in 1991. There are also the challenges of shopping during curfew breaks, the trials of having her ninety-two-year-old mother-in-law living in her house during a forty-two-day curfew, and thoughts on Israel’s Separation Wall.
With a wickedly sharp ear for dialogue and a keen eye for the most telling details, Amiry gives us an original, ironic, and firsthand glimpse into the absurdity——and agony——of life in the Occupied Territories.
Customer Reviews:
Superb book - you can't put it down........2007-07-04
I read this book within a day, I just couldn't put it down, it was so beautifully written, and so easy to read.
Suad Amiry has a remarkable ability to say in one sentence what other writers take three pages over. A single sentence can be so thought-provoking, you consider all the many implications that follow from just one statement.
Despite the misery of her situation, Suad's defiance of her occupiers is hilarious - what a courageous and spunky woman! Her frankness and honesty of her own feelings, including her failings, are also very impressive.
Well done to Suad Amiry, I eagerly look forward to her next book - I hope she will write one!
arafat and my hot flashes.......2006-12-26
Arafat and my hot flashes - an Israeli response to Suad Amiry's Sharon and my Mother-in-Law.
After reading Suad Amiry's novel Sharon and my mother in law I was extremely moved ... as an Israeli, living in Tel-Aviv at ta time when all around me people were "bursting at the Seams" or merely committing suicide at their leisure while taking other people's lives, limbs, children and women with them, I could identify myself with her agony at not being able to move freely...
It was Saturday eve; I always felt weird on Saturday eve, uneasy. On a verge of a panic attack. Maybe it was to do with the gloom I experienced at home, as a child on Sat. eve (My mother was a BA -graduate of Auschwitz). It was exactly 2 years ago, me and my not-such-a-great-hero, husband, who was an extremely gifted and intelligent man but the biggest coward if there's ever was one, were having a row, after a long week ... I wanted to venture out. Out of doors...out of our building; living in Tel Aviv had become a Russian roulette ... the streets were very quiet and empty ... not a dog in sight, the stray cats had totally disappeared, everyone was waiting for the next one, and we didn't know where it would come from. I wanted to go to the movies.
"Are you out of your mind?!!!" Gideon screamed. I couldn't sit at home anymore I had to go out. To a coffee place, "A coffee place?!!! Now?!!" Only yesterday one of the most popular coffee places in Tel Aviv blew up.
"Ok then, the bar around the corner is always empty! Why would a suicide bomber come there, to kill us and the barman?". I thought that was reasonable enough.
"I don't know why?" argued Gideon back "he might just get fed up half way to the Hilton, did you think about that?".
I tried the movies, again.
"Crowded places?!!! Hello? Anybody home?", pointing at my head.
"but we never had a suicider at the cinema!!", I tried to reason.
"Exactly!!!", exclaimed Gideon with a big smile, winning the argument.
I felt a hot flash coming on. It was August and I just had to have some air. "I don't care!!!", I screamed, "I am going out!!! Now!"
All of a sudden a siren was heard, and another one and another one, a string of sirens always meant a suicide bomber, and the ambulances were rushing to the scene. We looked at each other with terror and turned on the TV. There was a suicide bomber at Michael's Pub, a few minutes away from us. It was my son's favorite hang out; thank God he had been living in Holland for the last few years. He didn't even come home for a visit; I wouldn't let him, my only son...
Gideon, quickly rushed to the phone to ring his three children (from his 2 ex wives) they were all in their twenties ... that was his usual routine, every time a bomber hit the town. Then he would take his clooney (Cloonex - a tranquilizer) I was always angry when he took it, being a practitioner of Chinese medicine, it was totally against my principals. But he couldn't care less. He was slowly becoming addicted to clooney.
We stayed at home glued to the TV watching the horrible scenes of children, women, blood, screaming, etc etc. Gideon began his usual snores beside me, the clooney had knocked him out!
The next day we heard on the news that Palestinians were under curfew ....
There are always three sides to every divorce: the wife, the husband and the truth...
We are having a terrible, endless bloody row: it's time to stop talking about the past. I would expect an educated person like Suad not to live in the past, but to accept our existence in Israel and to start talking from that point. We have no where else to go, and the experience of living as a Jew outside Israel has not been very successful ... I could attach a picture of my mother's green number tattooed on her arm, she is only 74, she was 12 when they took her to the camps, one of the last survivors in the world ... Tell me Suad, the truth: this is not about the occupied territories. Barak begged Arafat to take it back. This is about Jaffa...according to your book. Do you expect my mother to go back to Czechoslovakia? And look for her confiscated home? And what about me? I was born here, am I to take a dive in the sea?
Yours sincerely,
Yael Stern O'Dwyer
Worth reading with some caveats for the uninformed reader.......2006-09-16
I enjoyed reading this book but was chilled at the author's inclusion of "1929" as a year of Palestinian "pride" without mention of the atrocities of the Hebron pogroms. "Text without context is pretext" as the PLO's old friend Jesse Jackson used to remind us. Tom Segev's One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (which alot of Amazon reviewers think has an anti-Zionist bias) would be a good corrective for the reader new to these issues.
Amiry is not a fanatic or a fundamentalist and this is her P.O.V. and her life. Can she address the moral failures of the Palestinian leadership, beginning with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and ending in Hamas? Maybe, but this is not that book.
Our hope for peace? We're in trouble.......2006-09-03
I picked up this book at Ben-Gurion airport at a time when I could have used an uncommonly witty look at life under the Occupation, but alas, I found nothing witty or uncommon about Suad Amiry's wonderfully named but lazily written screed -- and if you are a thinking person, you'll find nothing funny about her bigotry.
Some parts rattled me, but it wasn't her so-called reportage, which anyone familiar with the region will recognize as the usual embroidering. I am not saying that life under occupation is not difficult and sometimes brutal. However, my editor's antenna went up more than once. Naturally, Amiry's stories are impossible to verify.
No, it was her attitude throughout the book that unnerved me. For instance, Amiry dismisses out-of-hand the very public military inquiry into reports of looting by Israeli soldiers. And yet she cheerleads without shame for Palestinian thievery, and even opines that Palestinians aren't stealing enough from Jews.
And the child-free Amiry treats us to a charming vignette, her tacit approval ringing loud and clear, of Arab mothers warning their mischievous children: "Behave or the Israeli soldiers will shoot you."
Interestingly, on my flight to Israel, just in time for the Israel-Hizbollah war, I read Amos Oz's new book, an essay, really, called "How to Cure a Fanatic." And one of his cures is humor. If you can laugh at yourself, you are in no danger of becoming a fanatic. Sadly, Amiry can make fun of her neighbors and relatives, and she can indulge in the most racist of rants against Jews, knowing someone will find them funny. But she cannot laugh at herself. I suppose we should be grateful that she left out the hilarious phenomenon of suicide bombers.
In the end, I pitied Amiry -- an obviously unstable middle-aged woman who I suspect would have been unstable even if she had stayed in her native Jordan. If the Israeli occupation hadn't driven her to distraction, something else most assuredly would have. But if you can blame the Occupation for your woes, so much the better. How good and pleasant it is to be a victim. How little responsibility you bear.
Life OVER the Occupation.......2006-07-09
Suad Amiry's book is very witty and easy to read. The book is based on a compilation of emails, letters and Amiry's recollection of the various events. Amiry offers a portrayal of life of a relatively well off Palestinian family under Israeli occupation. The Israeli occupation and the siege of their city feature prominently in the book but almost as natural disasters or "Act of God" ..so they are there thrown into the mix making ordinary complex life even more complicated. The politics of the occupation are touched upon but clearly what is central is just the day to day life.
The title of the book is very much a reflection of the light hearted style of the book but also of the very menacing undertones. In the United States Sharon largely has(d) the reputation of being a tough minded and determined leader and with the Gaza withdrawal in 2005 as a peacemaker; whereas in most of the world outside of the US Sharon is seen as a ruthless cruel man responsible for the death and destruction of many who was sanctioned by his own country and was even wanted for trial on war crime charges in Europe. For the Palestinians I imagine Sharon had simply been a brutal merciless monster; the title Sharon & My Mother in Law with that background is therefore very ironic! A daughter - mother in law relationship in a middle eastern environment is never straight forward ..the very words mother in law carry a whole world of conations. The very title of the book comes across funny to any Middle Eastern; equating or even putting Sharon & mother in law in the same sentence carries with the wit and the determination that comes across in Amiry's words.
Many reviewers of this book talked about the book illustrating the humanity of the Palestinians, I doubt if that has been on Amiry's mind; for those who doubt the humanity of the Palestinians better read John Grisham or watch Pirates of the Caribbean; this book celebrates the humanity of the Palestinians and the triumph of their spirit.
Book Description
How partisan politics lead to the Civil War
What brought about the Civil War? Leading historian Michael F. Holt convincingly offers a disturbingly contemporary answer: partisan politics. In this brilliant and succinct book, Holt distills a lifetime of scholarship to demonstrate that secession and war did not arise from two irreconcilable economies any more than from moral objections to slavery. Short-sighted politicians were to blame. Rarely looking beyond the next election, the two dominant political parties used the emotionally charged and largely chimerical issue of slavery's extension westward to pursue reelection and settle political scores, all the while inexorably dragging the nation towards disunion.
Despite the majority opinion (held in both the North and South) that slavery could never flourish in the areas that sparked the most contention from 1845 to 1861-the Mexican Cession, Oregon, and Kansas-politicians in Washington, especially members of Congress, realized the partisan value of the issue and acted on short-term political calculations with minimal regard for sectional comity. War was the result.
Including select speeches by Lincoln and others, The Fate of Their Country openly challenges us to rethink a seminal moment in America's history.
Customer Reviews:
This book sucks........2007-09-20
Holt, from page one, takes a special interest in noting the failures of the northern "Republicans", but yet refers to the pro-slavery politicians in the south as "Southerners"---who were really Democrats! It was the Democrats who embraced the slavery issue, wanting its inclusion in the new territories in order to gain power in the Senate. The Democrats showed their true colors by not embracing the right thing to do, that is, to denounce slavery. Lincoln did everything he could do to preserve the Union, even if it meant allowing an amendment that would prevent the government from infinging on the Southerners (Democrats) right to have slaves. Don't waste your time reading this trash.
A young Historians outlook..........2006-08-02
Michael F. Holt makes a great argument on past historical events leading up to the Civil War. He states clearly in the preface that he is writing this book to reach a wider audience. (And from the other reviews I can see he did!)
It is a resource book containing thoughts he previously used in his books on the Whigs and the 1850's, but if you're an American History teacher or professor this book could be used in the classroom. It is a great addition to my library and would easily work in an academic setting to hit on all the major "coming of events" before the War.
The only probably I have with this book is that Mr. Holt portrays John C. Calhoun as a radical. While me might have been in the 1830's by the Mexican War and the Compromise of 1850 Calhoun predicted the future of our Contry and in his address to Congress in 1850 urged for compromise over disunion.
I still would recommend this book to anyone who wanted some straight answers to the Antibellum period of United States history.
Clarifies the reasons for the war.......2006-07-02
I have been visiting Civil War battlefields for over 20 years. The more I learned about the war, the more I wondered how it had ever happened. Michael Holt's book discusses the issues that rocked the country during the 1850's. But it also discusses how these issues affected the thinking of ordinary people in the North and the South. It helped me understand why the events from John Brown's raid to the firing on Ft. Sumter aroused such anger in the country.
A Story of Politicians and the Affect of their Actions.......2005-09-20
This short book by Michael Holt is the story of politics in America leading up to the Civil War. On the one hand, Holt makes a convincing argument that political leaders between 1820 and 1860 often acted out of raw political ambition rather than what was best for the country. In calculating the risk of taking certain actions Democrats, Whigs, and nascent Republicans took into account how their decisions would most affect their own political fortunes.
While principle sometimes played a part, this can be seen in Calhoun's staunch support for slavery no matter what and Republican's anti-Southern stance in 1858 and 1680, in too many instances all that mattered was how issues can be leveraged to gain the most support for you in the next election.
This is not a new idea in Civil War histories, but Holt makes an impressive case for it in just over 100 pages. The other theses of the book, the danger of sectionalism and the need to compromise, are also portrayed well. However, it is the danger of putting one's personal interests above the national that is the main lesson of this book. I don't believe another civil war is in any way imminent, but it would be wonderful if today's politicians would relearn that lesson. This book would be a great place for them to start.
partisan politics at its peak.......2005-03-14
Holt describes the dark period leading up to the civil war brilliantly, with new ideas instead of the normal canned answers. He uses support from the great thinkers and leaders of the time including president Abraham Lincoln. Holt continues his famed career of historical insights with this amazingly insightful story of one of the most important topics in our nations history.
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