Book Description
From ABC White House correspondent Martha Raddatz, the story of a brutal forty-eight-hour firefight that conveys in harrowing detail the effects of war not just on the soldiers but also on the families waiting back at home.
In April 2004, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division were on a routine patrol in Sadr City, Iraq, when they came under surprise attack. Over the course of the next forty-eight hours, 8 Americans would be killed and more than 70 wounded. Back home, as news of the attack began filtering in, the families of these same men, neighbors in Fort Hood, Texas, feared the worst. In time, some of the women in their circle would receive "the call"-the notification that a husband or brother had been killed in action. So the families banded together in anticipation of the heartbreak that was certain to come.
The firefight in Sadr City marked the beginning of the Iraqi insurgency, and Martha Raddatz has written perhaps the most riveting account of hand-to-hand combat to emerge from the war in Iraq. This intimate portrait of the close-knit community of families Stateside-the unsung heroes of the military -distinguishes The Long Road Home from other stories of modern warfare, showing the horror, terror, bravery, and fortitude not just of the soldiers who were wounded and killed but also of the wives and children whose lives now are forever changed.
Customer Reviews:
Thanks .......2007-09-29
Thank you i got the book today and have read a little bit of it .. it got here before i thought it would so thank you
Long Road Home is a quick read........2007-09-24
Martha Raddatz does a good job of making you experience an episode in Iraq from the viewpoint of the soldiers. She lets them tell the story. Perhaps it would have been good to include more of her viewpoint or some corollary material but it is fine book as it is written and portrays an important story in this horrible war.
PHENOMENAL.......2007-09-20
I don't ever write reviews on here but this is one of the best books I've ever read. Written from many different points of views between Iraq and the United States, it pulls you in and makes you want to keep reading. I have told all of my family and friends (and a few random people in the bookstore) they must read this book. it truely is phenomenal and makes me cry and support the soldiers and their families so much.
'Long Road Home' - remarkable view of War on Terror .......2007-09-03
The 'Long Road Home' captures a side to the War on Terror that Americans, or anyone for that matter, rarely glimpse.
Author and journalist Martha Raddatz takes us into the hearts and minds of some of America's sons (and their families) on one of the toughest days in modern military history. We witness a 'from top to bottom' look at how Soldiers, from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, respond in a series of deadly desperate circumstances - outmanned, outgunned and surrounded. The day - 4 April 2004, aptly became known as Black Sunday - in Iraq.
This is one of those rare insights, through the eyes of those who fought and died ...those who fought and lived ...and those who still fight each day with their demons. Martha Raddatz honored the Soldiers and families of the 1st Cavalry in this deeply moving record of what happened one day in April 2004.
Clearly, she takes the story telling to a higher plain. She's not one to embrace low-hanging fruit of political ax-grinding and blame-game antics. She keeps faith, in writing this book, with the valor of the Soldiers and families she introduces to us.
A harrowing war story, it is also filled with indelible marks of hope, conviction, compassion, determination and courage. Our family was deeply and forever affected by the events of this day of days. 'The Long Road Homes' signature is the telling of many Soldier's experiences - among them, my own son, Corporal Loren Haller.
Simply excellent.......2007-08-24
This is a wonderfully written and compelling book about a fierce battle in Sadr City, Iraq. One of the best war-time books I've ever read.
Book Description
The beloved actor and screenwriter’s first novel, set during World War I, delicately and elegantly explores a most unusual romance. It’s almost the end of the war and Paul Peachy, a young railway employee and amateur actor in Milwaukee, realizes his marriage is one-sided. He enlists, and ships off to France. Peachy instantly realizes how out of his depth he is—and never more so than when he is captured. Risking everything, Peachy—who as a child of immigrants speaks German—makes the reckless decision to impersonate one of the enemy’s most famous spies.
As the urbane and accomplished spy Harry Stroller, Peachy has access to a world he could never have known existed—a world of sumptuous living, world-weary men, and available women. But when one of those women—Annie, a young, beautiful and wary courtesan—turns out to be more than she seems, Peachy’s life is transformed forever.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Sensual Nuance!!!.......2007-09-26
Though the novel (length-wise) lacks a certain depth, the sensual interchange between Peachy and Annie is very provocative even in something as simple as a haircut. All of Wilder's works since the Richard Pryor days, seem to have this since of sensitivity that empathizes with the human condition. The creativity and adventure of this story is definitely worth a 5!!!
All's Fair in Love and War........2007-09-22
Gene Wilder has written a beautiful book with a simplicity of language that is rare. This is a book you can read quickly but don't let the size fool you. It deals with big issues like love and loyality and integrity and honour. I gave it only 3 stars because it was so small and easy-to-read and yet the price is hefty.
The ending is poignant and restrained.
A Treasure.......2007-08-18
This book is so simple and straightforward in its writing. Somehow, with a few broad strokes, Wilder creates rich, believable characters who embody the complexity of the human experience. The main character, Peachy, was fascinating -- disarmingly human and familiar. There is such honesty in how Peachy reports his experiences in his notebook. There is no pretension of being able to understand how and why he responds to events as he does.
Wilder proves himself to be a great storyteller -- I found it hard to put the book down. The story is full of surprises, intrigue and humor.
This is a wonderful love story, not just about the love between a man and a woman, but about love itself.
A Real Quickie.......2007-06-19
A real quickie...a short story/play for those who know life can change in an instant...a delightful read.
Little gem........2007-06-12
Don't let the small size fool you. Inside there is a big book about life and about a coward with a big courage to live.
As mentioned before, an awesome breather for some reading groups.
Quick, enjoyable, one sitting read. I love it, including the title.
Yeah,It's a little pricey gem, so I'm cutting off one star for that.
Get in the sharing spirit! It also makes a nice gift.
Book Description
In his explosive New York Times bestseller, top CIA operative Robert Baer paints a chilling picture of how terrorism works on the inside and provides startling evidence of how Washington politics sabotaged the CIA’s efforts to root out the world’s deadliest terrorists, allowing for the rise of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and the continued entrenchment of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
A veteran case officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations in the Middle East, Baer witnessed the rise of terrorism first hand and the CIA’s inadequate response to it, leading to the attacks of September 11, 2001. This riveting book is both an indictment of an agency that lost its way and an unprecedented look at the roots of modern terrorism, and includes a new afterword in which Baer speaks out about the American war on terrorism and its profound implications throughout the Middle East.
“Robert Baer was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field
officer in the Middle East.”
–Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker
From The Preface
This book is a memoir of one foot soldier’s career in the other cold war, the one against terrorist networks. It’s a story about places most Americans will never travel to, about people many Americans would prefer to think we don’t need to do business with.
This memoir, I hope, will show the reader how spying is supposed to work, where the CIA lost its way, and how we can bring it back again. But I hope this book will accomplish one more purpose as well: I hope it will show why I am angry about what happened to the CIA. And I want to show why every American and everyone who cares about the preservation of this country should be angry and alarmed, too.
The CIA was systematically destroyed by political correctness, by petty Beltway wars, by careerism, and much more. At a time when terrorist threats were compounding globally, the agency that should have been monitoring them was being scrubbed clean instead. Americans were making too much money to bother. Life was good. The White House and the National Security Council became cathedrals of commerce where the interests of big business outweighed the interests of protecting American citizens at home and abroad. Defanged and dispirited, the CIA went along for the ride. And then on September 11, 2001, the reckoning for such vast carelessness was presented for all the world to see.
Download Description
In See No Evil, one of the CIA's top field officers of the past quarter century recounts his career running agents in the back alleys of the Middle East. In the process, Robert Baer paints a chilling picture of how terrorism works on the inside and provides compelling evidence about how Washington politics sabotaged the CIA's efforts to root out the world's deadliest terrorists.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, the world witnessed the terrible result of that intelligence failure with the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the wake of those attacks, Americans were left wondering how such an obviously long-term, globally coordinated plot could have escaped detection by the CIA and taken the nation by surprise. Robert Baer was not surprised. A twenty-one-year veteran of the CIA's Directorate of Operations who had left the agency in 1997, Baer observed firsthand how an increasingly bureaucratic CIA lost its way in the post-cold war world and refused to adequately acknowledge and neutralize the growing threat of Islamic fundamentalist terror in the Middle East and elsewhere.
A throwback to the days when CIA operatives got results by getting their hands dirty and running covert operations, Baer spent his career chasing down leads on suspected terrorists in the world's most volatile hot spots. As he and his agents risked their lives gathering intelligence, he watched as the CIA reduced drastically its operations overseas, failed to put in place people who knew local languages and customs, and rewarded workers who knew how to play the political games of the agency's suburban Washington headquarters but not how to recruit agents on the ground.
See No Evil is not only a candid memoir of the education and disillusionment of an intelligence operative but also an unprecedented look at the roots of modern terrorism. Baer reveals some of the disturbing details he uncovered in his work, including:
- In 1996, Osama bin Laden established a strategic alliance with Iran to coordinate terrorist attacks against the United States.
- In 1995, the National Security Council intentionally aborted a military coup d'etat against Saddam Hussein, forgoing the last opportunity to get rid of him.
- In 1991, the CIA intentionally shut down its operations in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, and ignored fundamentalists operating there.
When Baer left the agency in 1997 he received the Career Intelligence Medal, with a citation that says, "He repeatedly put himself in personal danger, working the hardest targets, in service to his country."
See No Evil is Baer's frank assessment of an agency that forgot that "service to country" must transcend politics and is a forceful plea for the CIA to return to its original mission -- the preservation of our national sovereignty and the American way of life.
"Robert Baer was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East."
SEYMOUR M. HERSH, THE NEW YORKER
"Robert Baer [was] one of the most talented Middle East case officers of the past twenty years."
REUEL MARC GERECHT, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
Customer Reviews:
Right Diagnosis Wrong Prescription.......2007-10-11
Bauer gives a compelling account of his exploits as a CIA agent. For the "ripping good yarn" three stars.
He also offers his take on the reasons for serious deficiencies by our intelligence services. No argument that there are shortcomings, but no stars for his analysis of the causes.
Why? Some major thematic defects with the book on this score.
First, the underlying genre is a familiar one: the single honest and courageous protagonist fighting against apathy, stupidity and venality. Perhaps, understandable given Mr. Bauer's experience with the Agency's appreciation of his service. But a plot line more suited to fiction than serious analysis.
Is there bureaucracy, stupidity and even venality in the CIA? No argument here. But equally there should be no argument that this condition exists in any human institution. So then the right question becomes one of degree rather than kind. Were these factors so pervasive as to compromise the mission of the Agency? Was Bauer the only dedicated, selfless intelligent operative in the Agency? Or, if not the only one, one of a mere handful of such individuals? All in all this seems a bit far fetched.
The book does shed some light on why our intelligence services may be working at a suboptimal level, particularly in the Middle East, though perhaps not in the way the author intended.
Bauer's career is in some ways a "poster child" for suboptimal behavior.
Intelligence work is a not a particularly glamorous craft. At its heart it's rather mundane meticulous analysis and the routine work of running agents rather than flamboyant action. The heroes of fiction - James Bonds or "Jack" Bauers - are not particularly useful. Grey anonymity - an absence of footprints - is the most desirable operational trait.
Intelligence work requires a cold discipline. Actions in the field are undertaken for concrete objectives. Many of Bauer's missions seem to have been highly visible personal adventures with little apparent (intelligence) utility. They exposed a valuable asset to capture or compromise. No doubt the trips to the Beka'a, the Pamirs or the Yaghob Valley were ripping good fun as was driving T-72s and parachuting with Russian troops. How these advanced US intelligence interests is questionable.
Intelligence is also a team sport, contrary to popular fiction. In this critical game, it's very important that the players let the coach call the plays. Policy is set in Washington not in the field. Bauer's disingenuous actions in Northern Iraq - his attempt to make his own foreign policy - were not appropriate and really didn't serve our national interests well.
Intelligence requires careful discretion. Agents associate with a variety of people, many of whom are rather unsavory. The trick is to use the contact rather than be used. How our national interest benefited from contact with Mr. Tamraz isn't immediately clear to me. There is another danger here: the contact spinning such association as an American imprimatur.
Bauer does highlight some structural and political problems which affect the Agency's performance. That the national interest of the USA is often conflated with business interests, particularly oil, is distressing but not surprising.
However, all these points are at the margin of the central issue.
A more fundamental failure needs to be addressed. It is the same one which dogs the crafting of our foreign policy - a failure to think coldly and rationally about issues.
When we analyze domestic policies, by and large we accept that our government is influenced by popular perceptions with results shaped by the interplay between competing groups. However, when we venture to lands foreign, we abandon this nuanced view for one much more simplistic and simple minded.
We see our own interests as the only legitimate ones. Competitors must then be evildoers. Or, if we are in a charitable mood, suffering from some other serious moral or intellectual defect. The impulse for discovering grand conspiracies follows in train. Often we fail to recognize groups of our antagonists for what they are - temporary tactical alliances of convenience among groups with disparate constituencies and often competing ideologies rather than unitary blocs controlled by some grandmaster of evil who can compel his subordinates to take actions against their own very real interests. Imagine ascribing master/servant relationships and unanimity on all points among the Allies in WWII - the USA the master, or if your politics differ, the servant of the USSR and you'll understand this fallacy.
We also fall prey to the "great man" theory. If only we can remove the wrong man or install the right one, we can engineer a change in policy even if it is contrary to the wishes of the majority of that country. To use a domestic analogy, this is equivalent to believing that Al Franken or Fred Thompson could persuade the NRA to embrace gun control. Or NOW to abandon Roe v. Wade. In some extreme cases we believe we can manufacture leaders and parachute them into power. Delusions of this sort doom our actions and also reflect the poverty of our strategic thinking. As a result, we often associate with leaders who do our cause no good. The choice of the former head of the INC - a man with no discernible political support in Iraq as well as with certain other considerable negatives - as that country's putative Thomas Jefferson is an example of this pathology. No surprise that we fail and wind up being used.
And sadly often we also fail to marry our long term strategic interests to appropriate foreign policy. Foreign policy or intelligence "quick" fixes result in unwelcome blowback as history demonstrates time and time again.
Finally, perhaps an obvious point: a rational foreign policy in the long term interests of the US will promote the work and thus the success of our intelligence services. Rowing against the tides of history while perhaps heroic is at the end of the day rather foolish and so destined for failure. This is really the issue for reflection.
Real behind the scenes of how the spy agency worked.......2007-10-02
Only halfway through, but this book is great. It shows you in depth how the agency worked. Reveals how training was done, how missions worked. Includes real stories not just analysis.
Dispatches From the Pre-9/11 War on Terror Front.......2007-09-30
The stories and experiences of real life are often more gripping than fiction. Given that celebrated novels receive greater fame and publicity, it is rare to come across a book that captures the adventure of a captivating adventure novel and the benefit of a knowledgeable nonfiction author. A medley of suspense, wisdom from years experience, and formidable lessons from around the globe abound in former CIA officer Bob Baer's veracious story from the forefront of the US's struggle against international terrorism.
Baer recounts his professional life in one of the most riveting, true-life spy tales around. His first book is easy to follow and lively; even if you're not a James Bond suspense-novel junkie you'll likely appreciate "See No Evil." Baer's insight on the past and the state of current intelligence operations in a post 9/11 world with admonition for, what he sees as, the most potent gambit in the war against Middle Eastern terrorism, is vital for composing a winning strategy in the region.
The reputability of being the basis for George Clooney's character in the film "Syriana." shouldn't deter readers who actually watched the risible movie. George Clooney's Bob Barnes never amounted to the valorous character we become acquainted with in the book; his pitiful role is a real injustice to the real life Baer. There are no real parallels between the fictional movie`s plot and the book based on Baer's firsthand experiences.
With such a furtive job like a case officer, it is rare for an author to lift the shroud of secrecy for the public to behold some of these highly-speculated operations. An ordinary American youngster, full of guilelessness and vitality, finds himself leading an anything but ordinary life in an abstruse field that eventually takes him to the forefront of the nation`s interests in the Middle East. Ultimately departing an agency hampered by politicalization and putrefied by scandals, Bob holds back nothing in sharing passionate convictions, doubts, and solicitude in an earnest reflection of his entire espionage career. From the young operative's tribulation of his first assignment in India up to senior liaison orchestrating a coup against Saddam His story is gripping, his insight and perception on the challenges we face is indispensable.
Useful Stuff.......2007-08-28
After reading the book one can never be so ignorant!!!
It's pretty sad to watch these guys risk their lives for such dangerous missions and let go in the end...
"Why don't they listen to me?".......2007-07-27
Robert Baer
See No Evil
book review
The first half of this book is a great adventure story. The second reveals a personality.
We are treated to a sampling of the adventures of a vigorous, energetic, productive young case officer's (we learn that a CIA "agent" is the local who does the actual spying, "case officer" being the term for the professional recruiter and manager of agents) experiences during the birth and maturation of his productive years in southern Asia and the Middle East. For those of us interested in espionage procedurals, this part of the book is exhilarating. I couldn't put it down. It is written with vim and a touch of humor.
The second half of the book is in some ways more interesting, as it reveals through a change of style a man who needs rest. Mr. Baer's supervisors should have recognized it and brought him "in from the cold" from time to time, so that he could adjust in a healthy way back to normal life with a normal perspective. I saw this happen more than once in my own law enforcement career. Such seems to me what Robert Baer reveals to us, consciously or not, in the second half of his book.
The transition is marked by a curious re-call, which Robert Baer ("Robert Pope"?) resists vehemently, during which he is investigated as a suspect in a murder for hire. The portrayal of the burned out case officer in the movie Syriana, based on See No Evil, seems to be Robert Baer himself. The fictional character, Wilson, knows too much, or thinks he does. The fictional character in the movie blows up some bad guys, acting on his own authority in secret. The real Robert Baer in See No Evil is accused of plotting to assassinate Saddam Hussein, a weird story in itself. By is own admission, there are things he does not write up in reports.
It is as though he has arrived in the insane hell of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (a movie Mr. Baer refers to in his book). He wonders why "they" back at headquarters don't pay more respect to his on-the-spot reporting. As the fictional character, Captain Willard, says to himself in Apocalypse Now, "They didn't know I wasn't even in their f...ing army anymore."
But, you see, Robert Baer has been in the field so long and left alone to do pretty much as he sees fit, and it begins to tell. When he and his team are sent to northern Iraq, he interprets whole world scenarios through his team's emplacement. The whole course of world history depends on him and his team's mission. He blows their role out of proportion and takes on the role of the representative of the United States. He writes that the local Kurds think of him as the Untied States Ambassador.
He is turning into Colonel Kurtz. It is he whom they rely on, and he tells them lies about what Washington thinks and commitments he thinks they should make. Whether the Kurdish leaders really believe him or not is a matter of speculation. Robert Baer seems to think they do. Everything rests on Robert Baer, and Washington just won't do what he tells them needs to be done. It is time to be brought "in from the cold." He's gone over the edge, out of control, and control is what secret operations rely on most. He needs closer supervision. He needs to be watched. (Cf. the latter career of James J. Angleton.) His bosses order him back to the home office in Washington.
From there we get a phantasmagoria of life in the most unfathomable world imaginable, Washington, D.C. Robert Baer is out of his environment. He admittedly does not understand how it works. He is still "out in the field." He proceeds to engage this strange new world in the context of what he knows how to do. He runs into roadblocks wherever he turns. Why won't they listen to me?
In sum, read this book. Mr. Baer the author is a good writer and deserves a loyal audience for this and the other books he has written. For those interested in good-humored, adventurous spy stories, it is A-number-one. For those interested in the questionable practices and questionable values of unsupervised operators left to assume roles they should not, this is a perfect example of it.
Gary Berntsen, too, in his revelation, Jawbreaker, shows us another example of self-exaggerated importance among field people. Why does the CIA allow these people to publish and appear on television? In other recent histories written about these circumstances, nary a word is mentioned about the Gary Bernstsens' or Robert Baers's exploits. "Why won't they listen to me?" "I could've got Saddam Hussein." "I could've got Osama bin Laden." "If only I had two divisions of men with the will to cut off the arms of inoculated children ...." (Colonel Kurtz)
Maybe the operational side of the CIA should be abandoned. Maybe they are loose cannons. Maybe the CIA should be kept strictly to the business of gathering and analyzing information. Mr. Baer alludes to the establishment of FBI offices overseas. Maybe the CIA or at least its operational side should be folded into the FBI. There are just too many intelligence agencies. There is nothing central about the Central Intelligence Agency. There is not enough control. There are too many Robert Baers and Gary Berntsens out there doing too many things on their own.
I say all of this with all respect due to Robert Baer, Gary Berntsen, and those like them. As young men they enter into an adventurous world and ripen into the most sincere patriots one can find. They work hard and do good things. However, as mature men, they begin to think they know more than they do and that those with other responsibility know less. "Why don't they listen to us?" Why, indeed.
Book Description
American Mourning is the story of two American families whose sons died in the war on terror. Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson had been best friends since they first met at Fort Hood in Texas; they were killed within five days of each other in separate ambushes in Sadr City, Iraq, during Holy Week of 2004.
As the Sheehan and Johnson families have mourned their unimaginable loss, they have had little else in common and have taken entirely different paths as they mourned. Justin's father, Joe Johnson, followed his son to Baghdad, slogging through the open sewers of Iraqi slums to see where Justin had died and to avenge his death.
Cindy Sheehan wanted another kind of revenge. Blaming President Bush for Casey's death, she called the Muslim radicals who killer her son "freedom fighters" and brought an entourage of antiwar activists and a coalition of the willing press to the president's ranch outside Crawford, Texas. Demanding that the president meet with her in the sweltering Texas summer, she became a media phenomenon and America's best-known antiwar activist since Jane Fonda.
The Sheehans and the Johnsons represent the extremes of grief-stricken parents in war, both families reflecting the gap in how Americans view the war on terror. The Johnson family has bonded closer. Justin's parents have grown nearer; their faith has been strengthened; and their support for the war is stronger than ever. Meanwhile, the Sheehan family has fractured, and Casey's parents have divorced. Cindy says she is no longer a Christian, and her opposition to the war is deeper an dmore bitter than ever.
The bodies of Casey Sheehan and Justin Johnson lie in their hometown graves. Justin's final resting place is decorated with handmade flags and miniature Uncle Sams. Casey's had no marker for two years to tell the world that he lived, fought, and died a hero.
Both Joe and Cindy are shooting at ghosts. Cindy still is. This is their story. The story of American Mourning.
Customer Reviews:
Loss and hatred on opposite paths.......2007-03-22
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (2/07)
Justin Johnson was raised in Georgia where boys are taught how to use a gun from an early age. Justin enlisted after 9/11. "Mom, things aren't good. It's scary. You wouldn't believe this place. It's messing with our heads. Mom, you just never know. There are kids, ten- to-twelve year-olds and they got machine guns. You don't know: are they friendly or are they the enemy."
Casey Sheehan was raised in California. Casey's mother discouraged her son from enlisting in the army. He was loyal and loved his country. She offered to take him to Canada so that he could avoid Iraq, but he declined.
Casey and Justin met at Fort Hood, Texas. The two became quick friends although they didn't have a lot in common. "Both were quiet, strong, patriotic, and God-loving young men." "Both young men prayed to God and hoped they would make it home to their moms and dads, sisters and brothers."
Justin and Casey were both killed by radical Muslims.
Joe Johnson wanted revenge on the terrorists. He signed up with a unit shipping to Iraq and "swore to God and to Justin that I would go to Iraq and kill as many of them as I could." Joe was filled with hatred. "I could kill all the insurgents and it would never bring Justin back, I don't think I'll really get anything out of it except for maybe that one moment of satisfaction when I finally kill somebody. But as far as long-lasting feelings of satisfaction, I don't think I'll find it in Iraq. There's hardly a day goes by that I don't wish I hadn't a spent more time with him."
Cindy Sheehan was also filled with hatred but she took it a different direction. "She blamed President George W. Bush for Casey's death and called the Muslim radicals who killed Casey and Just "freedom fighters." "Cindy posted herself outside the president's Crawford ranch. She became a media phenomenon, thanks to a campaign by well-paid media experts from the Left." Her grief and the media destroyed her family.
"A parent should never have to bury a child."
Catherine Moy & Melanie Morgan expressively share the tragic story of two young men killed in Iraq, two families torn apart. Moy and Morgan capture and convey the pain and anguish the families are suffering. I found myself in tears as I read this book. The bravery of Justin and Casey is celebrated on these pages. I want to be careful not to state an opinion of the actions of the families for I would not add to their pain. After reading this book, the deaths become more than a news story. This book gives Justin and Casey a face and brings them into you heart. This book describes the divide in American opinion concerning the War on Terror. Regardless of which side of the divide you stand we must never forget the young men and women who are fighting this war. Ms Moy and Morgan are to be commended on their presentation of the heroic lives of these two young men. I highly recommend "America Mourning" to all.
Unfair to both sides.......2007-03-02
This book is one of the saddest pieces of "journalism" I have ever read. It is a smear job on both families. Not just Sheehan, but the ridiculous amount of personal stuff thrown out there on the Jackson's makes the reader wonder: What does any of this have to do with argument? All in all, a book that appears to be profiting from the death of two brave men. I am thoroughly appalled by the words and tactics of the authors. I am apolitical, so maybe I didn't enter this book with the frame of mind necessary to feel good about the dragging through the mud of two brave and decent soldiers families. Is this what they fought and died for? Flat ridiculous.
American Mourning was a great book.......2007-01-10
I mostly read just Stephen King books, but this book was one that I had heard about and decided to purchase. I was very glad to read about one family that cared so much for their son that his father enlisted to avenge his son's death. Unfortunatly, reading about Cindy Sheehan only wanted me to get a gun and shoot her. She did nothing but lie and kept her family from mourning their son's death. I really enjoyed this book.
American Mourning.......2007-01-10
If the authores would of just stuck with the story it would of been a 5 star for me. It had too many political judgements but all in all it was a good story. I heard they are thinking of making a movie out of this book. That I would like to see but I hope they focus more on the Soldiers and not so much on the politics.
A picture of the real heart of Americans........2007-01-10
A 'must read' for those who are only hearing the anti-America retoric of the liberal minority. There are still Americans who are proud of what our country still stands for. GP
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Chinese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Irish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Augustine, Saint
| ( A )
| People, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Doctors & Medicine
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Love, Sex & Marriage
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Early Civilization
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Historiography
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asian American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Asian American
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Victorian
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Epic
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
German
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Chinese
| Classics
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Conspiracy Theories
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
War on Drugs
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
English (All)
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Arabic
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Armenian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Czech
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Greek
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Hungarian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Korean
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Norwegian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Persian & Farsi
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Polish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Portuguese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Romanian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Swedish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Turkish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Science
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Online Research
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Native American
| Earth-Based Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Magic & Wizards
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Sailor Moon
| Popular Characters
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Pilates
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Fashion
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
-
History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
-
Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored
-
Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
-
They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Amazon.com
Veteran reporter and NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw went to France to make a documentary marking the 40th anniversary of D-day in 1984. Although he was thoroughly briefed on the historical background of the invasion, he was totally unprepared for how it would affect him emotionally. Flooded with childhood memories of World War II, Brokaw began asking veterans at the ceremony to revisit their past and talk about what happened, triggering a chain reaction of war-torn confessions and Brokaw's compulsion to capture their experiences in what he terms "the permanence a book would represent."
After almost 15 years and hundreds of letters and interviews, Brokaw wrote The Greatest Generation, a representative cross-section of the stories he came across. However, this collection is more than a mere chronicle of a tumultuous time, it's history made personal by a cast of everyday people transformed by extraordinary circumstances: the first women to break the homemaker mold, minorities suffering countless indignities to boldly fight for their country, infantrymen who went on to become some of the most distinguished leaders in the world, small-town kids who became corporate magnates. From the reminiscences of George Bush and Julia Child to the astonishing heroism and moving love stories of everyday people, The Greatest Generation salutes those whose sacrifices changed the course of American history. --Rebekah Warren
Book Description
"In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, to Normandy, to prepare an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, the massive and daring Allied invasion of Europe that marked the beginning of the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. There, I underwent a life-changing experience. As I walked the beaches with the American veterans who had returned for this anniversary, men in their sixties and seventies, and listened to their stories, I was deeply moved and profoundly grateful for all they had done. Ten years later, I returned to Normandy for the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion, and by then I had come to understand what this generation of Americans meant to history. It is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced."
In this superb book, Tom Brokaw goes out into America, to tell through the stories of individual men and women the story of a generation, America's citizen heroes and heroines who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War and went on to build modern America. This generation was united not only by a common purpose, but also by common values--duty, honor, economy, courage, service, love of family and country, and, above all, responsibility for oneself. In this book, you will meet people whose everyday lives reveal how a generation persevered through war, and were trained by it, and then went on to create interesting and useful lives and the America we have today.
"At a time in their lives when their days and nights should have been filled with innocent adventure, love, and the lessons of the workaday world, they were fighting in the most primitive conditions possible across the bloodied landscape of France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, and the coral islands of the Pacific. They answered the call to save the world from the two most powerful and ruthless military machines ever assembled, instruments of conquest in the hands of fascist maniacs. They faced great odds and a late start, but they did not protest. They succeeded on every front. They won the war; they saved the world. They came home to joyous and short-lived celebrations and immediately began the task of rebuilding their lives and the world they wanted. They married in record numbers and gave birth to another distinctive generation, the Baby Boomers. A grateful nation made it possible for more of them to attend college than any society had ever educated, anywhere. They gave the world new science, literature, art, industry, and economic strength unparalleled in the long curve of history. As they now reach the twilight of their adventurous and productive lives, they remain, for the most part, exceptionally modest. They have so many stories to tell, stories that in many cases they have never told before, because in a deep sense they didn't think that what they were doing was that special, because everyone else was doing it too.
"This book, I hope, will in some small way pay tribute to those men and women who have given us the lives we have today--an American family portrait album of the greatest generation."
In this book you'll meet people like Charles Van Gorder, who set up during D-Day a MASH-like medical facility in the middle of the fighting, and then came home to create a clinic and hospital in his hometown. You'll hear George Bush talk about how, as a Navy Air Corps combat pilot, one of his assignments was to read the mail of the enlisted men under him, to be sure no sensitive military information would be compromised. And so, Bush says, "I learned about life." You'll meet Trudy Elion, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine, one of the many women in this book who found fulfilling careers in the changed society as a result of the war. You'll meet Martha Putney, one of the first black women to serve in the newly formed WACs. And you'll meet the members of the Romeo Club (Retired Old Men Eating Out), friends for life.
Through these and other stories in The Greatest Generation, you'll relive with ordinary men and women, military heroes, famous people of great achievement, and community leaders how these extraordinary times forged the values and provided the training that made a people and a nation great.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
Like Charles Kurault, David Brinkley, and Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw is an outstanding broadcast journalist and a fine writer. In this stunning book, he goes out into America, to tell the story of America's citizen heroes and heroines, men and women whose values, and everyday lives of honor, courage, perseverance, and vision, created the America we know.
The greatest generation learned resourcefulness in adversity early -- the Depression -- and then they went to war against two of the greatest military machines ever created. They won the war, they saved their enemies (through the Marshall Plan, etc.), and then they came home to re-create America -- its communities, roads, businesses, government, arts, and sciences. And they never complained, and they never told their stories. Brokaw believes this is because in a deep sense they didn't think that what they were doing was that special, because everyone else was doing it too.
In this book you'll meet people like Charles Van Gorder, who set up during D-Day a MASH-like medical facility in the middle of the fighting, and then came home to create a clinic and hospital in his home town. You'll hear George Bush talk about how, as a Navy Air Corps combat pilot, one of his assignments was to read the mail of the enlisted men under him, to be sure no sensitive military information would be compromised. And so, Bush says, "I learned about life".
Customer Reviews:
Abridged, but still moving.......2007-09-06
My wife and I purchased the audio version of the book - our first audio book, but were disappointed that the book was not offered unabridged on the cd version. The book was very moving, especialy since the author, Tom Brokaw, was the narrator. We hated to hear it end! Please, please, purchase the unabridged, cassette-tape version if you can; you won't be disappointed!
A noteworthy read.......2007-09-01
The brokaw book is noteworthy in that he praises people from many diferent walks of life for thier WWII contributions. The only comment aboutthis book is that it is not writen by an author but sounds like an author reading from a teleprompter.
This really was The Greatest Generation!!!.......2007-07-21
If I could visit any other time in history this would be it! This was also my father's generation, so it captured my attention. He was a naval officer during the war and talks about that time often. Despite a horrible war going on, people from this generation talk about this time with great warmth. This was a time of innocence. People learned how to take care of themselves and their families no matter what the hardship. They were much less selfish, and weren't as concerned about only themselves. I loved to hear these stories of survival, and how they made do with what they had. It makes me feel like we have too much today, and wish we had a more simple lifestyle.
Hardcore American.......2007-06-09
Anybody who wants to know what being an American is all about, read this.
Stories with common themes.......2007-05-22
I noticed common themes in the stories that Brokaw wrote about in this book. These people were very patriotic. Most of these people grew up during The Depression. They appreciated family and survival. They worked hard and made something of themselves after the war. They endured discrimination and yet they were not bitter as a result. They did not want to talk about the war and if they were recognized as heros, they were humble and accepted their awards as a symbol of all those that fought beside them. This was a truly amazing generation. I believe the circumstances of the time influenced them to become what they were. They paved the way for the next generation to come . They didn't understand the younger generations and felt slightly removed but I don't think that made them any different then the generation that preceded them. I am glad I had the opportunity to read this book. Especially since a lot of them gone to their great reward. God Bless them.
Book Description
As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched, March is an extraordinary novel woven out of the lore of American history.
From Louisa May AlcottÂ's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, who has gone off to war, leaving his wife and daughters to make do in mean times. To evoke him, Brooks turned to the journals and letters of Bronson Alcott, Louisa MayÂ's father—a friend and confidant of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In her telling, March emerges as an idealistic chaplain in the little known backwaters of a war that will test his faith in himself and in the Union cause as he learns that his side, too, is capable of acts of barbarism and racism. As he recovers from a near mortal illness, he must reassemble his shattered mind and body and find a way to reconnect with a wife and daughters who have no idea of the ordeals he has been through.
Spanning the vibrant intellectual world of Concord and the sensuous antebellum South, March adds adult resonance to AlcottÂ's optimistic childrenÂ's tale to portray the moral complexity of war, and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism—and by a dangerous and illicit attraction. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine BrooksÂ's place as an internationally renowned author of historical fiction.
Customer Reviews:
Pulitzer's Reliability.......2007-10-10
As usual, any book selected by the Pulitzer Committee is a reliable horrible read. Too boring to waste my time on. . . Alcott would be mortified!
An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!.......2007-08-27
Geraldine Brooks has produced an ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times and has successfully drawn some of her principal characters from Louisa May Alcott's classic, 'Little Women,' creating in the process an elaboration of the life of the Revd. Mr March, father of the little women, who, whilst being an aggravating and hypocritical Yankee clergyman, nevertheless leads an extraordinary life, both in Connecticut and in The South during the American 'Civil War' (or 'War for Southern Independence,' depending upon personal preference: I prefer the latter). The fact that the author cleverly introduces Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even John Brown (he of the body and the soul that marches on), all most effectively but without particular surprise in the context, is a tribute to her story-telling skill. The fact that Mr March learns a lot of the complications of that frightful conflict of 1861-1865 is a reflection of the author's fine research and scholarship. The fact that the mid-19th-century language seems to be 'spot-on' to one who reads and enjoys such stuff also reflects well on Ms. Brooks: she has produced another riveting tale, which I could not put down, and I congratulate her!
Sometimes a Good Man Is a Weak Man.......2007-08-11
March is told largely in the words of Mr. March, father of all those "little women," and it encompasses the year that he spent as a Union chaplain during the early part of the Civil War. Ever the idealist, one who at times refused to recognize the demands of the real world or to compromise his principles in order to better get along with others, March quickly managed to get on the bad side of both the men to whom he hoped to minister and that of his superior officers. As so often happens during war, March lived a lifetime during his one year of service, a year in which he learned more about himself than he really wanted to know. He came to realize that his ideals and principles did not necessarily come with the courage to do the right thing when to do so put him in personal danger. He ended his year a broken man, one barely alive and, more importantly, one who considered his year of service to have been a disaster for himself and everyone he tried to help.
Along the way, March unexpectedly finds himself revisiting a plantation he remembered from his days as a young traveling salesman trying to build the nest egg he hoped to invest for the remainder of his life. Some twenty years after his first visit, the home is now an emergency hospital for Union troops and life there is nothing like the one he remembered from before. But one thing has not changed. Grace Clements, the mulatto slave woman he was so attracted to on his first visit, is still there and he is still powerfully attracted to her. Grace Clements comes to be one of the two most important women in March's life, in fact.
Having so consistently irritated the troops to whom he was assigned, March is assigned to spend the bulk of his war at a cotton plantation teaching liberated slaves to read and write. This is my one quibble with the book. While, in fact, some southern cotton plantations were leased to northern entrepreneurs during the war so that much needed cotton could be brought to market for benefit of the North, this did not occur nearly so early in the war as portrayed in March. Despite the fact that the heart of the story takes place on this plantation, I could never completely forget just how unlikely it would have been for March to find himself on such a plantation during his particular year of the war.
But that's a minor thing because March has so much to offer. It is filled with the kind of period detail that marks the best historical fiction and fans of Little Women will very likely find it to be the perfect companion piece to one of their favorite novels.
This isn't The Year of Wonders.......2007-08-08
I read The Year of Wonders and loved it. I bought this book specifically because it's the same author, and with high hopes. Unfortunately, this book is boring and slow moving. It could not hold my attention at all, and I didn't get engrossed with the characters like in her other book. I would not recommend this book.
An absorbing read.......2007-08-06
Mr. March is often exasperating but always believable in this vivid Civil War novel. Not so much about battles as about how the hardship of war shapes families. Chapter 2 involving Grace the beautiful slave reaches near perfection. Longer review available on my website Impatient Reader. Also available at Impatient Reader: a chapter-by-chapter summary of March. See My Amazon Profile for URL.
Book Description
In her much-anticipated new novel, the New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander saga brings back one of her most compelling characters: Lord John Grey—soldier, gentleman, and no mean hand with a blade. Here Diana Gabaldon brilliantly weaves together the strands of Lord John’s secret and public lives—a shattering family mystery, a love affair with potentially disastrous consequences, and a war that stretches from the Old World to the New. . . .
In 1758, in the heart of the Seven Years’ War, Britain fights by the side of Prussia in the Rhineland. For Lord John and his titled brother Hal, the battlefield will be a welcome respite from the torturous mystery that burns poisonously in their family’s history. Seventeen years earlier, Lord John’s late father, the Duke of Pardloe, was found dead, a pistol in his hand and accusations of his role as a Jacobite agent staining forever a family’s honor.
Now unlaid ghosts from the past are stirring. Lord John’s brother has mysteriously received a page of their late father’s missing diary. Someone is taunting the Grey family with secrets from the grave, but Hal, with secrets of his own, refuses to pursue the matter and orders his brother to do likewise. Frustrated, John turns to a man who has been both his prisoner and his confessor: the Scottish Jacobite James Fraser.
Fraser can tell many secrets—and withhold many others. But war, a forbidden affair, and Fraser’s own secrets will complicate Lord John’s quest. Until James Fraser yields the missing piece of an astounding puzzle—and Lord John, caught between his courage and his conscience, must decide whether his family’s honor is worth his life.
Customer Reviews:
Please, go back to Outlander Series !.......2007-10-14
I am a fan of Diana Gabaldon, and have loved all her Clare & Jaime books, and I will continue buying whatever she writes. But this Lord John series is getting predictable, confusing and must be seriously distracting her from writing what her fans are waiting for.
Much better than the first Lord John book.......2007-10-09
First Sentence: To the best of Lord John Grey's knowledge, stepmothers as depicted in fiction tended to be venal, evil, cunning, homicidal, and occasionally cannibalistic.
Lord John Grey's older brother Hal, now the duke of Pardloe since their father's death, has received a page from the diary of their father. Their father's death brought scandal to the family as he allegedly committed suicide. John, however, knows their father was murdered and it is now time to find the killer. Lord John's mother is about to marry for the third time which also means a step brother, Percy Wainwright. John and Percy are attracted to each other in an age when their sexual preference was a hanging offense, particularly for those in the military. When Percy is caught in the act, John is faced with trying to find a way to save Percy's life without exposing and risking himself.
This is the second book focused on Lord John, introduced to us through the Outlander series, and a much better book than the first. Although there are scenes between John and Jamie, the focus of this story is John, Percy and the murder. It is a wonderful depiction of the period, exciting, suspenseful and more emotional than I'd have thought. It's also nice as I believe it could be read as a complete standalone. But it is particularly wonderful for those of us who are huge Gabaldon fans.
Gabaldon Delivers Again.......2007-10-08
Diana Gabaldon's latest book, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, gives us another look at one of the peripheral characters in her wonderful Outlander series. Lord John Grey, formerly in charge of Ardsmuire Prison where Jamie Fraser was held, is now back in London and on a mission to restore his dead father's good name. We learn that Grey knew his father hadn't committed suicide all those years ago, but that the story was missing several pieces to determine exactly what did happen. Lord John follows the cold trail and discovers what did occur when he was a child of twelve, though much more is woven into the storyline than this short review can reveal. Suffice it to say that Lord John's life in the military and his family play major roles in helping him get to the bottom of a secret that's been taunting him for years.
Yes, Lord John is a homosexual. Gabaldon made that adamantly clear in her Outlander series, and it is an essential part of his character, but it does not define him as a man. The homosexual love scenes are indeed graphic and I'm unsure as to why Gabaldon decided they were so necessary to advance her plot. Some insight is given into Grey's character through them, however, and one of the main themes of betrayal certainly is shown through the relationship between Grey and Percy. Even less clear to me, however, is why Grey felt the need to confront Jamie about his own homosexuality toward the end of the book; it's not a spoiler to say that the scene in question left me scratching my head as to what exactly was accomplished, other than to make sure we had another glimpse of our favorite Scot.
In general, this is a well-written book that is not overly verbose as Gabaldon is sometimes accused of being, and the plot itself is tightly woven. I loved the characters, even the minor ones, and I was reminded of why Lord John was so compelling when I first met him in Voyager. Gut-wrenching at times, violent at times, and definitely emotional, this is a good entry in the series and an engaging historical mystery. Recommended with the caution that you won't find all the answers you're looking for, but definitely will enjoy the journey.
Gabaldon Does it Again!.......2007-10-05
How much do I love this Author? I am in so much appreciation of her writing, it has given me hours and hours of enjoyment and with this book.. is no exception. As soon as I bought the book, I could not put it down, I really enjoyed the characters and thought she did a nice job of showing love and steamy sex to gay males. I love the historical refrences and her detail to each scene. It is a fun read. Thanks for another enjoyable week of reading!
A book with limited appeal.......2007-10-04
I am an original Outlander Series fan and felt that with this offering of Lord John that I might have missed something. Maybe I need to go back and read Snow and Ashes. I did not enjoying this book and think it might have limited appeal. I do not find Lord John that much of an interesting character as to have his own book. I also found it necessary to push myself to read it.
Book Description
Over the course of a lifetime of service to his country, Colin Powell became a national hero, a beacon of wise leadership and, according to polls, “the most trusted man in America.” From his humble origins as the son of Jamaican immigrants to the highest levels of government in four administrations, he helped guide the nation through some of its most heart-wrenching hours. Now, in the first full biography of one of the most admired men of our time, award-winning Washington Post journalist Karen DeYoung takes us from Powell’s Bronx childhood and meteoric rise through the military ranks to his formative roles in Washington’s corridors of power and his controversial tenure as secretary of state.
With psychological acumen and a reporter’s eye for detail, DeYoung introduces us to the racially integrated neighborhood where Powell grew up, his courtship of and marriage to Alma Johnson, and his years as a promising young Army officer. We are witness to the pivotal events that helped shaped his world view, including two tours of duty in Vietnam, where he was disillusioned by a breakdown in leadership and the lack of a clear objective, and a 1988 meeting as President Reagan’s national security adviser with Mikhail Gorbachev, who looked at him dead-on and effectively declared an end to the Cold War. We are privy to his reasoning as the architect of Operation Desert Storm and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, a position that made him a household name and an international celebrity. And we experience his agonizing deliberations in the face of a groundswell of public desire that he run for the presidency.
Yet it was his capacity as America’s chief diplomat in the administration of George W. Bush that brought Powell the most renown—and criticism. Charged with the formidable task of making the case for war with Iraq, he convinced a wary nation that it was both necessary and right, only to find his own credibility hanging in the balance as the justification for invasion began to unravel. At odds with the White House on a range of foreign policy issues, Powell’s counsel went unheeded and his reputation was tarnished.
With dramatic new information about the inner workings of an administration locked in ideological combat, DeYoung makes clearer than ever before the decision-making process that took the nation to war and addresses the still-unanswered questions about Powell’s departure from his post shortly after the 2004 election. Drawing on interviews with U.S. and foreign sources as well as with Powell himself, and with unprecedented access to his personal and professional papers, Soldier is a revelatory portrait of an American icon: a man at once heroic and all-too-humanly fallible.
Customer Reviews:
Colin Powell: serving the USA for almost 50 years.......2007-06-30
This biography of Colin Powell is very impressive. It details both his career as a serviceman and then as a political appointee for a period totalling almost 50 years.
As a non-American, it is interesting to read a biography of an individual who is both influential in terms of the positions he has held, and a positive role model for many. Colin Powell comes across as a fundamentally decent human being in an environment where power can have a corrosive effect.
I recommend this biography to anyone who wants to know more about Colin Powell and his life and times, as well as to anyone interested in understanding the world events and political influences within which he served the USA.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
What a Man.......2007-06-28
One of the best biographies of a political character that I have ever read. There are times where I lose track of who the players are and what a particular politician or officer's title means. Yet, overall I was able to follow what was going on and how it affected our nation. Powell did an excellent job of speaking at the Speaker Series. He was smooth and easy to follow with quips and humorous antidotes throughout the evening. He reminded me of that member of everyone's family who is easy to talk to and one who people are drawn to. That is probably why he has been such a great leader of our generation.
Colin Powell: soldier of good fortune.......2007-04-24
With Colin Powell, what you see is what you get. Karen DeYoung's exhaustive biography of the former secretary of state reveals a man who prioritized loyalty and military values. The respect shown Powell over the years is a reflection of his deep-rooted strength of conviction, subdued yet commanding personality, and sense of decency. A career soldier who served two tours of duty in Vietnam and commanded the 1991 Persian Gulf War victory, Powell dealt in the power of the chain of command. How that served - or, late in his career may have disserved - him and his country is at the crux of this book. DeYoung, an associate editor at The Washington Post, flexes her considerable reportorial muscle as she whisks you past every security checkpoint, and into the midst of sensitive and historic meetings at the highest levels of government. We highly recommend this fascinating and riveting look at an American hero who played the game as best as he could - even though the other guys made the rules.
A Good Soldier to the End.......2007-03-19
While this is a biography about the man, I think the real importance of this book is the insight it gives into the decision made to attack Iraq. Colin Powell was in the middle of that decision, his speech to the United Nations mirrored the certainty felt at the time that Iraq had and was expanding their WMD's.
This is now known to be false, and the more radical Democrats have adopted as a mantra: 'Bush lied.' But it is becoming ever more clear that the beliefs in WMD's were simply wrong rather than 'Bush lied.'
The other aspects of the book regarding decision making in the Bush White House are also intrigueing. Ms. DeYoung is certainly no fan of V. P. Cheney. But this is not the main thrust of the book, it is instead on Powell, a decent, well meaning, very bright man, but a soldier of the 'shut up and follow orders school,' rather than the leader in his own right.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Powell in the future. He is now 70 years old, but certainly shows no outward signs of age. Would a more central Republican president want him somewhere in his administration? Would Obama? I can't see Hilary wanting him around. Ms DeYoung's book shows Powell to be a very bright senior manager, but not the insightful creative leader.
Service to the Nation.......2007-03-03
This is an unauthorized biography of Colin Powell but contains many excerpts from his autobiography, My American Journey, and includes interviews with him. Being that the author is able to interview other persons involved in his life, Karen DeYoung is able to analyze certain events from a neutral third person perspective. This is the strength of the book as she objectively presents both his critics view and his counter viewpoint. Events such as Mai Lai in Vietnam, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the response to the 9-11-2001 attacks on the United States are discussed.
The first third of the book presents pretty much the same information that was presented in his early life, pre- Vietnam, as written in is autobiography. The second third of the book covers his military years that is again similar to his autobio, but includes much more analysis.
Critics complain of Powell's lack of military command time and he spent too much time in Washington DC to have been promoted to a Four Star General. However, the author presents the events as they occurred and allows the reader to analyze the events and the working behind the US government to make their own decision. There is no doubt in my mind that he was successful as Chairman and that his military time spent in Washington DC benefited the nation as a whole.
It was truly enlightening on reading how President Reagan personally requested that General Powell return to the White House to correct the problems that resulted from Iran Contra. His interactions with the different Presidents from Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton along with how their staffs worked, or rather didn't work together in the case of Clinton, was very insightful. The basics of organization, professional courtesy (such as returning a phone call or personally replying to an email), and conducting a meeting are presented and can be compared between administrations.
The final third of the book covers the period of time after his military retirement. His thoughts towards running for President, his attempts to bring the Republican Party back to moderation, and why he did not run for office is discussed. The book also discusses his time as Secretary of State and the challenges it posed in dealing with the extremist views of the Vice President and Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Sec Def in 2002.
The book can be infuriating at times when one reads how certain politicians chose to ignore Mr. Powell's world life experience and advice after 9-11. Certain appointees have their views, but they are at times not in the best interest of this nation, its citizens, and the world community. Mr. Powell has been the voice of reason trying to prevent extremist views (of both political parties) from dominating our government's policies for the past three decades.
Was he the "odd man out" as Secretary of State? The reader can decide for themselves, but one thing is certain, Mr. Powell has served our nation with distinction and honor. This book presents a balanced viewpoint on his life, his accomplishments, and allows the reader to determine if the criticisms of him are fair or unjustified.
Some current readers may try to compare a senator from Illinois, Mr. O, to Mr. Powell, but to do so is unfair to Mr. Powell. Mr. Powell has served this country for decades while the other is a first term senator with little experience.
Recommend reading this book at least for at least the last two thirds regarding the insights into the inner workings and dynamics of our nation's government over the past few administrations. Am not sure about recommending ownership of this book, however as it is can be a bit dry and slow to read in certain portions. The last third of the book covers a lot of his life that was not included in his autobio and may be worth including into a supporter's collection.
Average customer rating:
- A Great Biography of a Little Known Historical Figure
- Spellbinding!!
- Amazing New Biography
- The Ultimate Man of the Delta
- Phenomenally intriguing, accurate, and detailed.
|
Holt Collier: His Life, His Roosevelt Hunts, and the Origin of the Teddy Bear
Minor Ferris Buchanan
Manufacturer: Centennial Press of Mississippi, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Roosevelt, Theodore
| ( R )
| People, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1893062376 |
Book Description
On November 14, 2002, the 100th anniversary of the world famous Teddy Bear will be celebrated. The origin of the Teddy Bear stems from an occasion when President Theodore Roosevelt visited the wilderness of Mississippi in hopes of killing a black bear. He was guided on this hunt by Holt Collier, a former slave, Confederate veteran (yes-amazing though it sounds), Texas cowboy, Mississippi lawman, and noted pioneer. He is known to have killed over 3,000 bear in his lifetime, more than Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett combined. Roosevelt, who also hunted with Collier in Louisiana in 1907, called him "the greatest hunter and guide I have ever known."
Collier killed many white men, several in Mississippi. One exciting incident in his biography is a detailed description of the gunfight at Washburn's Ferry where Collier out-drew the notorious Louisiana outlaw Travis Elmore Sage. He was prosecuted only once-for the murder of a Union captain after the Civil War-but he was acquitted. Collier was famous nationally during his lifetime, but the racial atmosphere in Mississippi for the last eighty years kept his remarkable story from being told. There is no detailed and authoritative work on Holt Collier or the origin of the Teddy Bear other than this book.
Customer Reviews:
A Great Biography of a Little Known Historical Figure.......2007-10-16
Although this book would probably be considered politically incorrect by the black community because it relate Collier's devotion to the South and the Confederate cause, it fills a void that's long existed in telling the true history of Mississippi's past. This book takes us through Collier's entire life from slavery through his final years in retirement when he became invisible and forgotten in the annals of history. It also does a good job in telling the story of Teddy Roosevelt bear hunt that led to the creation of the "Teddy Bear" as a result of the Nast cartoon. And it tells us that the legend that grew out of that hunt was in many ways incorrect or an oversimplification of the event.
Minor Buchanan does not approach this as a quick book project to make a few bucks by assembling a collection of anecdotes he collected around the state. He poured all his free time into research for quite a long time before even getting to the point of putting together a cogent retelling of Holt Collier's life. I've had the pleasure of knowing Minor for some years and can say that I have seen how devoted he has been to this project and how much he likes to talk about the history of this unique individual, especially things that he learned that simply couldn't be fit into the book's written word.
Spellbinding!!.......2003-07-15
This is a must-read book for anyone interested in any of the following topics: African-American History, hunting, Theodore Roosevelt, Southern History, the Civil War, and William Faulkner. As an avid Faulkner reader, I cannot help but conclude that Holt Collier is the real-life person upon which the pivotal character of Sam Fathers is based. Beyond this observation, the book is well researched and is an excellent read. You will not be disappointed. HOLT COLLIER deserves a wide audience and should be assigned reading.
Amazing New Biography.......2002-12-24
Brilliantly written non-fiction biography using countless primary sources. An amazing new character never before presented to the general public. If this book had not been sent to me as a present I would have never heard of it. Apparently it has been sold only as a regional book, but I can assure any reader, it will have a national following in due course. Very highly recommended. Well worth the read. You will come away from this book thinking about it for weeks, and frankly, you will soon pick it up to read it again.
The Ultimate Man of the Delta.......2002-12-10
As a history major in college I developed a taste for the truth that can only be found in biographies. Over the years I have kept a small library in my home and under my bed to read at night, prior to retiring. The book by Mr. Buchanan is a detailed, accurate account of this man and his relationships to the men around him and his world. Being a product of the Mississippi Delta, I can see Holt Collier in the deep bayou's of the old Delta, hunting the bears. I admire the writer's style in his ability to place me there beside Holt all along the way in this book. There, in the realities of Holt's world, the reader walks his paths, thinks his thoughts, and feels the anger he feels.
Finally I would like to thank Mr. Buchanan for this effort and look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.
Phenomenally intriguing, accurate, and detailed........2002-11-07
Minor Ferris Buchanan excells in this historical document of Holt Collier: an ex-slave, Confederate soldier, and excellent big-game hunter. I found the portrayal of this very accomplished individual more intriguing and inspiring than any other Afro-American biography I've ever come across (including those of Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X)
I loved it!
Books:
- The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)
- The Place We Call Home: Exploring the Soul's Existence after Death
- The Power of a Praying® Wife (Power of a Praying)
- The Private Life of Chairman Mao: The Memoirs of Mao's Personal Physician Dr. Li Zhisui
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
- The Vanderbilts
- The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty
- The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
- The Works of Jonathan Edwards
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals
- Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen
- The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress
- Taxes for Dummies 2001 Edition
- The World Is Flat
- City of Bones
- Affirmative Action
- Sbbi 2002 Yearbook: Market Results for 1926-2001
- The New Regional Economies: The U.S. Common Market and the Global Economy
- Hawaiian Forest Plants
In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing
On Call In Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story
Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team
Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
