Book Description
This history of the largest block women's organization in the United States is not only the story of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (DST), but also tells of the increasing involvement of black women in the political, social, and economic affairs of America. Founded at a time when liberal arts education was widely seen as either futile, dangerous, or impractical for blacks, especially women, DST is, in Giddings's words, a "compelling reflection of block women's aspirations for themselves and for society."
Giddings notes that unlike other organizations with racial goals, Delta Sigma Theta was created to change and benefit individuals rather than society. As a sorority, it was formed to bring women together as sisters, but at the some time to address the divisive, often class-related issues confronting black women in our society. There is, in Giddings's eyes, a tension between these goals that makes Delta Sigma Theta a fascinating microcosm of the struggles of black women and their organizations.
DST members have included Mary McLeod Bethune, Mary Church Terrell, Margaret Murray Washington, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and, on the cultural side, Leontyne Price, Lena Horne, Ruby Dee, Judith Jamison, and Roberta Flack. In Search of Sisterhood is full of compelling, fascinating anecdotes told by the Deltas themselves, and illustrated with rare early photographs of the Delta women.
Customer Reviews:
More than you can Imagine!.......2007-07-09
I am a memeber of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. I read this book the Summer before my Sophmore year at Texas A&M University-Commerce for enrichment. I was interested in Delta and wanted to know the background, history, and legacy. As a Delta I feel this book spreads more knowledge than you anticipate. It's informative, interesting, and beautifully written. I reccommend this book to everyone who is a Delta and anyone aspiring to become one, because this will broaden your horizons and give you and extended perspective and appreciation.
A Book To Keep.......2007-02-18
I loved this book. I went to the web site for Delta Sigma Theta Inc and learned that you should read this book if you are interested in the organization. I read this book and I did not put it down until it was completed. My sister who is a member of this organization was impressed to know that I was doing my homework and truly was interested in joining her organization. I can say that I have looked at all the other organizations out there and I have met members of them all but I know with out doubt that Delta Sigma Theta is the one for me. This book was well written easy to follow and had great photos detailing the history of the organization through out the 1900's. I also learned so much about how Delta Sigma Theta applied to become incorporated before AKA and was actually created by members of AKA and so many other details. This book is the best source of information for a person that is an outsider to this organization and though I have a sister who is a member she will not tell me anything , as she wants me to learn it for myself.
Looking into history.......2007-01-04
I thought this book was a very easy read. I really enjoyed the content. i highly recommend this for those just wanting to look into history.
Great book if your interested.......2006-06-23
This book is great if you're interested in how Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. came into existence, especially if you are interested in becoming apart of the organization. Another good book is The Divine Nine. Many people believe that there is animosity between DST and AKA because of the creation of DST. That is not so, and if you read this book you will find this to be true. Also, to dispel the complexion/color myth, if you look at the founders of both organizations you will see various, beautiful shades of brown, ranging from tan to sepia. There are pictures in The Divine Nine.
A wonderful Account of the History of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc........2006-01-25
The first time I read this book was Sophomore year of college at Clark Atlanta University. Once I began reading this book I realized that Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is an excellent example of what a sorority should be. The foresight of the founders to chart their own course and to consistently strive for excellence shines through even in the modern day activities of the sorority. Paula Giddings put her heart and soul into this book and it is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about sisterhood at its best. Although I am not a member, I will certainly make Delta Sigma Theta my first and only choice. Kudos to Ms. Giddings for a job well done!
Book Description
He called it one of the hardest things he ever did - as difficult as leading the D-Day invasion. When Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to integrate Central High School in September 1957, he couldn't know that he was fighting the last great battle of his career...one that would change forever both him and his country. This is the story of how one of America's greatest leaders confronted America's greatest sin. This is the unlikely tale of how Ike became a civil rights president.
Ike's Final Battle represents a revolution in scholarship on Eisenhower and civil rights. Though not uncritical, the book credits his steady personal advance on the issue as well as his accomplishments in the military and as president.
Drawing on thousands of primary documents (including newly released material), Ike's Final Battle builds to its climax at Little Rock - one of the most pivotal events of the civil rights movement. Little Rock is at the epicenter, but the book will also look at the cause, and the aftermath.
* With the 50th Anniversary of Little Rock approaching in 2007, the timing is perfect. This is the last priceless nugget of civil rights history.
* The book draws on thousands of newly released documents, many never before made public.
* This is the first book on the subject in 25 years. It disproves the claim that that Ike didn't care about civil rights.
From The Wall Street Journal
D-Day in Little Rock, A Civil-Rights Showdown
By FRED BARNES, March 8, 2007
In spring 1954, as the Supreme Court was deliberating on Brown v. Board of Education, President Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Chief Justice Earl Warren to a stag dinner at the White House. He seated Warren at the same table as John W. Davis, the lawyer who had argued against school desegregation before the court. Eisenhower proceeded to tell the chief justice what a "great man" Davis was.
As it happened, Eisenhower had authorized his Justice Department to file an amicus brief in the case opposing Davis and public-school segregation. And he specifically allowed his solicitor general, Lee Rankin, to tell the justices during oral argument that "separate but equal" schools were unconstitutional. Yet he sympathized with the segregated South. "These are not bad people," he told Warren at the dinner. "All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big, overgrown Negroes." Warren was appalled.
To put it kindly, Eisenhower was ambivalent on civil rights. "Conservative by nature, he hoped that the advance of the civil rights movement would be gradual, allowing time for the South to change," writes Kasey S. Pipes in "Ike's Final Battle." Most of all, Eisenhower didn't want to lead a civil-rights crusade from the White House. "The only crusade he had ever wanted to lead was liberating Europe in World War II," Mr. Pipes says.
But when necessary -- or when steps toward desegregation were relatively painless -- Eisenhower acted. He broke the color barrier in the military by deploying black soldiers alongside whites to win the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. As president, he integrated the schools and movie theaters in Washington, D.C., and federal installations around the country. Most important, he sent U.S. Army troops to Little Rock, Ark., in September 1957 to escort nine black students into Central High School after days of violent protest. It was a defeat from which segregationist forces never recovered.
"Little Rock represented something else as well: the culmination of Eisenhower's own attitude toward racial justice," Mr. Pipes writes. "Ike had enjoyed the luxury of endorsing civil rights in broad terms, knowing full well that much of segregation law was a state and local matter. Little Rock ended that."
Two days after the Army troops arrived in Little Rock, Eisenhower decided to address the nation on prime-time television. This surprised his attorney general, Herbert Brownell, who had been prodding Eisenhower for years to act more boldly on civil rights. The president wrote most of the speech himself, including a passage, suggested by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, arguing that violent opposition to racial integration was weakening America's influence and prestige in the world.
In the speech, Eisenhower lauded the desegregation efforts of other Southern communities and their willingness to comply with federal law. This was a new tack for the president, who had refused to endorse Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court's decision declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional. Nor had he denounced the murder of Emmett Till by racist thugs in Mississippi in 1955, despite pleas by the teenage boy's mother.
"He feared that moralizing from the bully pulpit would raise not only awareness, but also the collective blood pressure of the South," Mr. Pipes writes. "He saw no point in riling an already angry population. . . . To put it bluntly, Eisenhower had little interest in trying to change the minds of millions of Southerners."
But he had learned a lesson from Little Rock. His view had been, as Mr. Pipes puts it, that "segregationists and civil rights advocates were cut from the same cloth." In his dealings with Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus, he learned otherwise.
Faubus betrayed Eisenhower. In the midst of the Little Rock crisis -- as Arkansas's National Guard was blocking the nine black students from Central High -- Faubus had agreed to meet the president in Newport, R.I. At the end of their 20-minute talk, Faubus gave the president the clear impression that he would change the National Guard's orders, requiring it to protect the black students as they entered Central High. But Faubus didn't follow through. Eisenhower felt double-crossed and told Brownell: "You were right. Faubus broke his word." The president then took the next step, dispatching the 101st Airborne.
Mr. Pipes is not a professional historian. He is a public-relations consultant and speechwriter who worked in the Bush White House from 2002 to 2005. But he has written a highly readable and credible account of Eisenhower's struggle with race and civil rights. While sympathetic, he doesn't sugarcoat Eisenhower's qualms about desegregation or excuse his unwillingness to move decisively before Little Rock.
Eisenhower famously regretted his appointment of Earl Warren as chief justice. (Warren served in that role from 1953 to 1969.) Warren confronted Eisenhower about the president's feelings toward him when they flew together to Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965. Eisenhower explained that it was Warren's liberal rulings on national security that had upset him. He didn't mention Brown v. Board of Education, and understandably so: Years earlier Eisenhower had told an aide, privately, that he thought the Brown decision was wrong; by 1965, he had concluded that it was right.
Customer Reviews:
Pipes extracts the true Eisenower regarding civil rights.......2007-07-05
This book is a fast 300 pg. narrative on Eisenhower's nuanced positions regarding civil rights. The nuance is not whether equal rights for African Americans were right vs. wrong, but instead Eisenhower's struggle on how best to protect the rights of these Americans against the prejudice of southern conservatives who controlled the southern states and the relevant committees of the Senate.
Pipes begins with Eisenhower's experiences and contributions to the cause of equal rights in the military and ends in his retirement, with the climax happening 2/3 of the way through the book when Ike sends federal troops to Little Rock, AK to defend the right of African American students to attend a whites-only public school in spite of a bigoted governor who sends the national guard to keep them out. The book finishes with reflections on his contributions looking back from the time of Kennedy and LBJ moving the ball forward even further.
Pipes provides an incredibly fair report on President Eisenhower's policy positions and actions given the frequent opaqueness of his position depending on the situation and the company he was keeping. Many have attempted to paint Ike as a racist political opportunist or a courageous leader of the civil rights movement, with both positions given to hyperbole. Instead, Pipes portrays a man who respects majoritarian positions while realizing in his heart the wrongness of institutionalized bigotry even though Eisenhower, a man of his time, shares some prejudicial beliefs. The struggle for Eisenhower is often how to move the majority to his position without his having to depend on fiery rhetoric to change hearts and minds.
While Eisenhower was never a die-hard politico, he left the GOP with a wonderful legacy inherent in republicanism as a form of government instituted in 1787. Reading this book in 2007 shows how far the current majority of Republicans have mutated away from the principles of republicanism and Eisenhower, mostly due to the Southern Conservative Democrats who emigrated to the party after LBJ signed the Democratic party up to support civil rights as a party platform plank and due to his passing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts being the current majority within the party and their shunting aside traditional Republicans from the North.
Pipes only flaw in the book, so minor it's not worth knocking down a star, is a weak-hearted to attempt to define Eisenhower as a conservative even though all empirical evidence in the book and other studies on Eisenhower provide ample evidence that he was a moderate who "got it" regarding our founding ideal of republicanism that limits government power and that our liberty comes through each of us individually reserving our rights along with Eisenhower's actions following the examples of previous Republican presidents using federal power to protect individual and minority rights (e.g., Madison, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt).
An extensive bibliography, notes, and an index round out this welcome addition to American history shelves........2007-06-10
Written by former Bush White House worker Kasey S. Pipes, Ike's Final Battle: the Road to Little Rock and the Challenge of Equality is the amazing and unlikely true story of how Dwight D. Eisenhower became a civil rights president. Chronicling the landmark desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, which forced a historical confrontation between state and federal authorities and set an engraved precedent that the federal government would intervene for the sake of racial justice if necessary, Ike's Final Battle meticulously recounts events in unfolding detail, with an inset section of black-and-white photographic plates. An extensive bibliography, notes, and an index round out this welcome addition to American history shelves.
Ike's Struggle.......2007-05-29
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It tells President Eisenhower's story very well, and it kept my interest throughout the narrative.
Pipes' thesis, that Eisenhower went through a significant "struggle within himself" about his belief in civil rights (requiring significant social change) and majority rule (which did not support significant social change at that time), is also well argued. I especially appreciate the honesty in which the author tells Ike's story, including his strengths and weaknesses.
Also, Pipes does an excellent job of noting the number of significant Republican policy makers who were strong advocates of civil rights legislation during the 1950s and 1960s.
While I think everyone will benefit from reading this book, it especially should be read by all Republican office holders and candidates, today.
Outstanding.......2007-04-24
This is a very readable book from an outstanding young author. He gives an insight to Ike that most people don't remember. I can't wait for his next book!
A Good Man's Inner Stuggle .......2007-04-23
This is a very well written, highly engaging book about Eisenhower's inner struggle with racial equality. Generally, historians give President Eisenhower low grades for his handling of civil rights: too slow, too reticent, no vision or leadership. But this was not Ike's way, Kasey Pipes argues. He was a conservative, 19th century man who believed in low-key, incremental progress, in changing people's minds before changing laws. As a military man, he was taught to manage problems, not lead a revolution. The only crusade he was prepared to lead, Pipes says, was the one that liberated Europe.
Ike did boldly effect change where he could: giving African-Americans a combat role during the Battle of the Bulge, desegrating Washington DC as well as military bases in the South. These progressive moves were often made with little fanfare, as Ike believed (probably correctly) publicity would simply stir up a backlash of opposition. However, when the Big Test came at Little Rock, in 1957, he passed with flying colors, sending in the 101st Airborne. Indeed, Pipes observes, Ike's performance at Little Rock compares favorably with President Kennedy's five years later at Ole Miss. (There were no major casualties at Little Rock versus hundreds at Ole Miss).
Pipes, a Republican speechwriter, is a gifted wordsmith, and his first book has a brisk narrative pace. A terrific read.
Book Description
In America's long march toward racial equality, small acts of courage by men and women whose names we don't recall have contributed mightily to our nation's struggle to achieve its own ideals. This moving book details the story of one such little-noted chapter.
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, as Jackie Robinson changed the face of baseball, a group of African-American businessmen -- twelve at its peak -- changed the face of American business by being among the first black Americans to work at professional jobs in Corporate America and to target black consumers as a distinct market.
The corporation was Pepsi-Cola, led by the charismatic and socially progressive Walter Mack, a visionary business leader. Though Mack was a guarded idealist, his consent for a campaign aimed at black consumers was primarily motivated by the pursuit of profits -- and the campaign succeeded, boosting Pepsi's earnings and market share. But America succeeded as well, as longstanding stereotypes were chipped away and African- Americans were recognized as both talented employees and valued customers. It was a significant step in our becoming a more inclusive society.
On one level, The Real Pepsi Challenge, whose author is an editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal, is a straightforward business book about the birth of niche marketing. But, as we quickly learn, it is a truly inspirational story, recalling a time when we as a nation first learned to see the strength of our diversity. It is far more than a history of marketing in America; it is a key chapter in the social history of our nation.
Until these men came along, typical advertisements depicted African-Americans as one-dimensional characters: Aunt Jemimas and Uncle Bens. But thereafter, Pepsi-Cola took a different approach, portraying American blacks for what they were increasingly becoming -- accomplished middle-class citizens. While such portrayals seem commonplace to us today, they were revolutionary in their time, and the men who brought them into existence risked day-to-day professional indignities parallel to those that Jackie Robinson suffered for breaking baseball's color line. As they crossed the country in the course of their jobs, they faced the cruelty of American racial attitudes. Jim Crow laws often limited where they could eat and sleep while on the road, and they faced resistance even within their own company. Yet these men succeeded as businessmen, and all went on to success in other professions as well, including medicine, journalism, education, and international diplomacy.
Happily, six of these pioneers lived to tell their stories to the author. Their voices, full of pride, good humor, and sharp recollection, enrich these pages and give voice to the continuing American saga.
Customer Reviews:
A slice of history, well-told.......2007-02-21
What a fascinating book! I grew up in the 1960s when Pepsi and Coke were almost synonymous. Little did I know that the decade or so behind me had produced such a romp over the cola fields.
Stephanie Capparell's book, "The Real Pepsi Challenge" is terrific in many ways. She highlights the years circa 1947-1951 when Pepsi president Walter Mack, liberal and determined, set about to put together a team of black Americans to appeal to the burgeoning buying power of a group of people who represented a percentage of Americans equal to the entire Canadian population. Capparell then goes on not only to highlight the chief operating force for a team of twelve under the direction of the talented Edward F. Boyd but how they managed to be successful at a time when Jim Crow laws were still in effect and Jackie Robinson was just emerging. These men, talented, educated and from a variety of backgrounds, perfectly captured by the author, moved Pepsi-Cola within striking distance of rival Coca-Cola. It's an American success story at its best.
The thrust of "The Real Pepsi Challenge" concerns those post-war years and Capparell is at her best when she mirrors the times and the difficulties the team had in going out in the field. Given the times, her references to advertising and societal concerns are eye-popping. Subsequently, she gives a follow-up as to the new owner's decision to disband the group, and what happened to them after some of them left Pepsi, but others stayed.
"The Real Pepsi Challenge" is a highly recommended book. The author has done a great job in putting together the recollections of those who worked for Pepsi and how they connected with the era in which they lived. Congratulations, Ms. Capparell!
Customer Reviews:
A great book.......2007-04-16
Richard Milhous Nixon (1913-94) is well remembered for the Watergate scandal, but he is also remembered as one of the greatest foreign policy strategists that the United States ever had. Seize the Moment was President Nixon's next-to-last book, and was published in 1992. This was after the successful end of the Cold War and the first Gulf War, when talking-heads were talking about the "end of history," and/or that America was a declining power that needed to withdraw from world leadership.
In this book, President Nixon argues against these myths, and outlines the course that the United States must take in dealing with the rest of the world. Included are chapters on the former Soviet Union, Europe, the Pacific Triangle, the Muslim world, and the southern hemisphere. However, the best chapter is the final one - The Renewal of America - in which he discusses what needs to be done to renew the United States, and prepare it for the challenges of the future.
Overall, I found this to be a great book, one that really shows off President Nixon's abilities. Indeed, while reading this book I couldn't help but wish that Presidents Clinton and Bush the Younger had read it. This is a very interesting book, one that I highly recommend to anyone who wants to consider where the county is going from here.
World's view of a respectable politian.......2000-12-03
I think the previous review is a little bit unfair. Nixon was certainly an old man when he wrote the book but his mind was clear. Remember he had been there and he knew that it is not pretty in the international arena. Someone said he was a paranoid, but remember that these paranoids exist so that the normal people can be watching their mindless TV and buying their new cars. We don't want to believe that terrible things exist in this world when you are surrounded by the media. Actually it is everyone duty to fight against the "evils (many liberals nowadays considered that as a matter of opionions)." So, please give me a break when you have done nothing for your country but critized a respectable political view from a less-than-perfect politian (should be considered as flawless when compared to Mr. Clinton).
no wonder it's out of print...........2000-06-01
Historically useful but passe, the book is written with a friendly tone of Machiavellian paranoia. The constant emphasis on COMPETITION between superpowers is boyish as well as tedious.
Book Description
In his seminal work The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington argued provocatively and presciently that with the end of the cold war, "civilizations" were replacing ideologies as the new fault lines in international politics.
His astute analysis has proven correct. Now Professor Huntington turns his attention from international affairs to our domestic cultural rifts as he examines the impact other civilizations and their values are having on our own country.
America was founded by British settlers who brought with them a distinct culture including the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect for law. The waves of immigrants that later came to the United States gradually accepted these values and assimilated into America's Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently, however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of primarily Hispanic immigrants, bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and the "denationalization" of American elites.
September 11 brought a revival of American patriotism and a renewal of American identity. But already there are signs that this revival is fading, even though in the post-September 11 world, Americans face unprecedented challenges to our security.
Who Are We? shows the need for us to reassert the core values that make us Americans. Nothing less than our national identity is at stake.
Once again Samuel Huntington has written an important book that is certain to provoke a lively debate and to shape our national conversation about who we are.\
Customer Reviews:
Profound and insightful.......2007-08-31
This book helps enlighten those who deride as "racist" other Americans who are against illegal immigration. The dangers to our society are real. While Huntington didn't cover every aspect of "Americanism" throughout American history (the book would have been too long of course), he did touch on the essence of what it means to be an American.
Flawed reasoning.......2007-08-30
Dr. Huntington starts his book with 58 pages of American history but devotes less than one paragraph to slavery.
Considering over 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War (proportionally, that would be over 3 million Americans today), there is only one word for a Harvard professor who would try to describe "who are we" while disregarding the most significant issue of our country's history: Bigot.
Honest, Challenging Talkwise Political Correctness.......2007-01-30
Dr. Huntington's book caused alot of upheaval in academia because it dared to say what others will not out of fear of disrupting the multicultural establishment. This book asked the difficult questions which demand honest debate and tough answers. I would encourage anyone to read this who is interested in the cultural transformation our nation has undergone over the past fourty years and where we are heading.
talkwiseblog
The new political bible of neoconservatives?.......2006-12-14
I have read 'The Clash of Civilizations' few years ago, and it didnt make sense to me at that time. Of course after 9/11 the picture became clear. The Clash of Civilizations was the bible of US foreign policy during Bush Administration. Of course the book was faulty in theory and now it is clear how in practice the Bush Adminstration is suffering.
This applies for this book in hand. It is focused internally. I dont claim that I undestand the US internal politics. However, I can see from this book that the current governing minority senses a threat from a growing minority 'Hispanics', which will shift the power balance in the coming 10-20 years.
Again, the book theory doesn't make sense. It profess discrimination under new political titles by doing the following:
- He differentiate between immigrants based on the period of immigration, to conclude that since the early immigrants founded US then they have more rights to shape its future.
- He differentiates between immigrants based on their original cultures and relgion. Since US was founded by Anglo Protestant immigrants, it should continue with a storng Anglo Protestnat culture.
Any political leader who adopts this books theories will take US to a path of civil war.
....if you don't mind .............2006-10-23
A couple of interesting points:
To read about the transformation from Secular to Religious states, even in the developed countries, (Pages 355, 356/7/8) and that Islam and Christianity are `competing worldwide for converts and gaining them ......'.
Perhaps the reason is because people are beginning to realize how the gist of the teachings of any religion (Jewish, Christian and Muslim) as a restraining influence, which clearly proves the insanity of aggressive wars.
Generations of `Ideologies' fought each other's.
Religions did not fight each other's.
True, certain groups of Christians (the Crusaders) aggressively fought groups of Muslims but the real purpose was indeed political, not religious, because they did not fight `Islam' per se.
Even when the Christians fought Christians, and the Muslims fought Muslims (as recent as in the twentieth century) the real motivations were purely mundane - commercial, financial, greed, expansionism and power possessiveness.
The theory that `war is a biological necessity, it carries out among humankind the natural law of the struggle for existence' has failed. The world has lost millions of people in the last Century when the warring parties stood away from the deep teachings of their religion, and the victor actually suffered equally with the vanquished.
On Page 299 concerning intermarriages `the melting pot is working, but it is working at the individual, not the societal, level ....." It is proven that speaking the language of the country of `the new residence' is not enough for one to migrate into `the new societies', simply because there is not one society, instead there are different and dissimilar societies grappling to live in `one' country.
The advent of Anglophone (or Francophone) is more cultural and less social.
Some Muslim crowds, for example, milling in the streets and massed in hundreds in front of the mosque to pray is indicative that their `new' societies did not run so deep, and their instinctive attachments to their roots remain nostalgic, like telling everyone "by the power of `force-majeure' our fathers and grandfathers came here looking for better means of subsistence having waited in the ultimate dim in our countries of origin to find it, but couldn't".
On the `callers' announcement to the crowd, they are cheered up peacefully and rushed off here to vent their feelings in the course of lack of natural affinity for how the `new' societies live.
It is noticeable how Muslims and Christians from the Middle East flock together, cook and eat their food from `Home', and go back to their mother tongues as the means for two-way-communication.
The same applies to ethnic groups from Mexico, Ireland, and the Italians etcetera.
But the challenge in America (and the West) is when the different `ethnic' groups remain reticent, (or at most hate), from mixing with the so-called `white Americans', and take `Religion' as a `Shield'.
The danger though is when such groups transform themselves into fortresses, once the mobilization button is pushed.
Book Description
This second edition of Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest includes Stern’s 1992 reflections on the ten years of historical interpretation that have passed since the book’s original publication—setting his analysis of Huamanga in a larger perspective.
Customer Reviews:
Andean Indians - Cultural Adaptation to Spanish Colonialism.......2003-05-26
I was captivated by Mario Vargas Llosa's disturbing novel, Death in the Andes. It is structurally a mystery story, but it can be best characterized as a compelling portrait of political violence in contemporary Peru. Mario Vargas Llosa is a captivating story teller and I found myself wanting to know more about the people that inhabit the harsh mountains of Peru.
"Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest - Huamanga to 1640" by Steve J. Stern exactly met my needs. This scholarly text tells the story of how conquest transformed a resilient and vigorous people into an inferior caste of Andean Indians. The geographical focus is a mountainous region in southwest Peru dominated by the city Huamanga (today known as Ayacucho, a city not too distant from the fictional town of Naccos, the setting for Death in the Andes).
The lengthy title, "Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest - Huamanga to 1640", may be a little intimidating, but the book is well-written and is largely accessible without undue effort. The first chapter paints an intriguing view of a pre-Columbian society based on complex reciprocity relationships between members of extended families or kinships called ayllus. These arrangements allowed dispersed groups to exploit isolated, island-like, ecological niches like cold high mountain pastures or low dry valleys while depending upon others for products grown or created elsewhere.
The ethnic groups native to Huamanga welcomed the overthrow of the Incas and allied themselves quickly with the victorious Spaniards. "Local communities sacked warehouses once dedicated to the discredited Incas." Chapter 2 examines the rise and subsequent demise of these post-Incaic alliances with the Spanish.
Chapter 3, "A Historical Watershed", describes the revival of Andean religious fervor (the Taki Onqoy) and an unsuccessful effort to expel the Spanish colonizers. Remarkably, the Spanish, under the formidable leadership of Don Francisco de Toledo, within a decade had dramatically revised their colonial structure, and largely eliminated any possibility of future revolt by the Andean Indians.
Chapter 4 details the political economy of colonialism in the Huamanga region while chapter 5 investigates the contentious legal battles between the Indians and the colonizing elite under the Spanish judicial system. Both chapters are intriguing, but are more difficult for the non-specialist. I was surprised by how carefully the Spanish structured the taxation system; it siphoned away the maximum wealth without completely devastating the Andean economy. The Indians resisted this economic oppression through evasion as well as by tenaciously exploiting the Spanish legal system to protect their rights.
The final three chapters explore the ways in which the Andean Indians gradually adapted to Spanish colonization and how this adaptation fostered a political economy of dependence. Stern devotes chapter 7 to the "tragedy of success", the story of the successful few that escaped the burdens of the peasantry by becoming integrated into the ruling Spanish colonial structure. The final chapter, Huamanga's colonial heritage, admits that much has changed in modern times, but argues that "the present seems to superimpose itself upon the past, not destroy it."
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The Korean War: Challenges In Crisis, Credibility And Command
Burton I. Kaufman
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We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (A Council on Foreign Relations Book)
ASIN: 0070341508 |
Book Description
This concise and cogent text is a history of America's diplomatic and military involvement in the Korean War. Carrying the themes of crisis, credibility, and command throughout the book, the author emphasizes the diplomatic and political setting of the conflict, both domestically and internationally.
Average customer rating:
- Good Reference
- The Old Guard still wants our men to ride in deathtraps!
- Meremising
- Right is Might!
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The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard
James G. Burton
Manufacturer: Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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The Pentagon Wars
ASIN: 1557500819 |
Customer Reviews:
Good Reference.......2004-06-21
A very interesting book that not only details certain aspects of the defense procurement culture, but also goes into the politics of some of the different services. While the focus is primarily on the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, there are other great bits of information (such as the creation of the F-16) and amusing stories (any involving the "Blitzfighter" aircraft).
The DOD politics that the author experiences are fascinating, and remain relevant today. One example is the discussion of the A-10, its amazing record in the 1991 Gulf War, and how the Air Force really hates it and the close air support role it plays (today the Air Force is moving towards replacing the A-10 with higher flying, faster planes for the close air support missions).
Overall this book is an important read for anyone interested not only in defense procurement, but DOD politics and modern warfare as well. A good book to have as a reference.
The Old Guard still wants our men to ride in deathtraps!.......2002-10-28
The "Old Guard" of out-of-touch and can't-handle-the-truth milicrats still run the Pentagon--even after the 9/11 attacks clearly showed a "house-cleaning" is in order to meet the challenges of 21st Century asymmetric warfare by cunning enemies. Colonel Burton's book outlines how 1980s reformers sought to get reliable, safe and affordable weapons into U.S. military service and how these common sense efforts are opposed by the egotists with other agendas. The point is that the U.S. military culture BREEDS self-seeking, egotistical, vain milicrats not common sense warriors with values of honor and troop welfare and mission accomplishment.
The sad thing is that the 1980s military reformers are now gone and not on duty to stop the current round of Pentagon losers like the lav3stryker, V-22, AAAV and F-22 all stricken with the disease of Tofflerian gadgets while ignoring sound physical robustness, reliability and combat effectiveness at their own level. The current generals runnng DoD have simply transplanted their bureaucratic pass-the-buck mentality to the foot Soldier and pilot by hoping a computer "mouse-click" will deliver some magic firepower to solve the battlefield problem instead of empowering lower ranks to fight and win at their own level.
What makes this book so haunting is that its a true story that is repeating itself before our very eyes with the Army's thin-skinned, air-filled rubber-tired LAV-3 Stryker armored car boondoggle that will get our men killed in combat. The book shows the exact same PR tactics and lying "spin" the Army and DoD use to put people second and their programs/promotions first. The depiction of how the Army will cheat on tests to masquerade that "all is well" with a program is common as seen by the recent efforts to deceive the public by flying overweight lav3strykers a short distance by C-130 aircraft with less fuel inside to compensate--exactly how in the Bradley's fuel tanks were filled just with the minimum fuel to drive in front of the audience grandstands and to the aim point for the test anti-tank weapon to hit it.
The tragedy is that after 2 decades, the Army today is rushing the lav3stryker deathtrap into production without ANY live-fire testing against fully fueled and ammo loaded vehicles fired at by RPGs or 14.5mm heavy machine guns thanks to a loophole in DoD procurement. Too bad Colonel Burton wasn't on duty now in the Pentagon. When they make the movie sequel to this book, "Pentagon Wars II: the lav3stryker" it looks like the ending will not be a happy one with a better vehicle (upgraded M113A3 Gavins) going into service. The horror of hundreds of dead American Soldiers Colonel Burton wanted to prevent will be our "wake-up call".
If we ignored the film and Col Burton's book its based on, what makes us think the Pentagon Old Guard will change after needless deaths?
Meremising.......1999-04-23
This beast that we creat, "the Military-Industrial Complex," influence in shown in every instiution in this country. This tells the story from inside the Pentagon, and shows how insane it has got. CUT MILITARY SPENDING BY HALF. NO MORE 300 billion a YEAR! Oh Lord, help me. I am clear, for the future now lies in our hands.
Right is Might!.......1998-03-30
I read this book after seeing the HBO black comedy film The Pentagon Wars. It is all true!! I was part of the U. S. Army Chemical Research Development Engineering Center at Edgewood Arsonal back in the late 1980's. I assisted with the testing of the xm-22, xm-21, cadnet, nbc recon. vehicle (a m-113 that got its butt kicked by the then west german fuchs vehicle) and other systems. There were times that you just had to shake your head at the way the officers and civilians conducted some of the tests. The Col is right on the money.
Book Description
The twentieth century was one of profound transformation in rural America. Demographic shifts and economic restructuring have conspired to alter dramatically the lives of rural people and their communities. Challenges for Rural America in the 21st Century defines these changes and interprets their implications for the future of rural America. The volume follows in the tradition of "decennial volumes" co-edited by presidents of the Rural Sociological Society and published in the Society's Rural Studies Series. Essays have been specially commissioned to examine key aspects of public policy relevant to rural America in the new century.
The following sections provide the structure: o Who Lives in Rural America Today? o A Transformed Rural Economy o The Rural Community: Is It Local? Is It a Community? o People and the Environment: Tough Trade-offs in an Era with Vanishing Buffers o Changing National and International Policies: New Uncertainties and New Challenges o Challenges Become Opportunities: Trends and Policies Shaping the Future
Contributors include:
Lionel Beaulieu, Alessandro Bonnano, David Brown, Ralph Brown, Frederick Buttel, Ted Bradshaw, Douglas Constance, Steve Daniels, Lynn England, William Falk, Cornelia Flora, Jan Flora, Glenn Fuguitt, Nina Glasgow, Leland Glenna, Angela Gonzales, Gary Green, Rosalind Harris, Tom Hirschl, Douglas Jackson-Smith, Leif Jensen, Ken Johnson, Richard Krannich, Daniel Lichter, Linda Lobao, Al Luloff, Tom Lyson, Kate MacTavish, David McGranahan, Diane McLaughlin, Philip McMichael, Lois Wright Morton, Domenico Parisi, Peggy Petrzelka, Kenneth Pigg, Rogelio Saenz, Sonya Salamon, Jeff Sharp, Curtis Stofferahn, Louis Swanson, Ann Tickameyer, Leanne Tigges, Cruz Torres, Mildred Warner, Ronald Wimberley, Dreamal Worthen, and Julie Zimmerman.
Amazon.com
"Capitalism is the most successful wealth-creating economic system the world has ever known," declares Robert Gilpin. Yet it has skeptics. "Individual nations and powerful groups within nations that believe the world economy functions unfairly and to their disadvantage, or who wish to change the system to benefit themselves to the detriment of others, are an ever-present threat to the stability of the system." The task, then, is to ensure its survival through wise leadership that provides fair rules governing trade, investment, and currency. At a time when the economies of the world appear more linked than ever, and the tug of even further internationalization feels irresistible, Gilpin says nothing is inevitable. The whole system must rest on secure political foundations--foundations that Gilpin argues have weakened since the end of the cold war. "Growing concern over economic globalization and increased competition have intensified the movement toward economic regionalism and the appeal of protectionism," he writes. The Challenge of Global Capitalism was actually completed before the World Trade Organization's disastrous 1999 meeting in Seattle; after watching the protests unfold there, even the most Pollyannaish observers must admit that Gilpin warns of a real threat. His book will appeal mainly to economists, but serious nonspecialists will also find its sober prose accessible. --John J. Miller
Book Description
Many individuals proclaim that global capitalism is here to stay. Unfettered markets, they argue, now drive the world, and all countries must adjust, no matter how painful this may be for some. Robert Gilpin, author of the widely acclaimed Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton, 1987), urges us, however, not to take an open and integrated global economy for granted. Rather, we must consider the political circumstances that have enabled global markets to function and the probability that these conditions will continue. Gilpin's new book amounts to a magisterial inquiry into all major aspects of the contemporary world political economy. Beginning with the 1989 end of the Cold War and the subsequent collapse of communism, it focuses on globalization and rapid technological change and covers a broad sweep of economic developments and political cultures. Gilpin demonstrates the fragility of a global and integrated economy and recommends what can be done to strengthen it.
The international community has another chance to solidify the global market economy that collapsed with the outbreak of World War I. Yet, writes Gilpin, the full implications of this historic development for international affairs are not yet clear. Will socialist economies make a successful transition to market-type economies? What role will a dynamic China play in the world economy? Will the United States continue to exercise leadership or gravitate toward self-centered policies? Gilpin explores such questions along with problems in the areas of trade liberalization, multinational corporations, and destabilizing financial flows. He also investigates the struggles of less developed countries and the spread of economic regionalism, particularly in Europe, North America, and Pacific Asia, which directly threatens an open world economy.
The author maintains that global capitalism and economic globalization have rested and must continue to rest on a secure political foundation. However, this foundation has eroded since the end of the Soviet threat. To ensure survival of the global economy, Gilpin concludes, the United States and other major powers must recommit themselves to working together to rebuild its weakened political foundations.
Customer Reviews:
The Challenge of Global Capitalism: The World Economy in the 21st Century.......2006-11-05
Come in time for my college class. Arrived in excellent condition --- new book. Great price below campus book store prices.
To Free Global Capitalism or Too Free?.......2000-09-23
The main benefit of this book is to provide an overview of international economic forms of cooperation in the 20th century. That overview is, however, flawed by simplifications that often distort rather than illuminate that historical view. The argument about what must be done next is incomplete and unsatisfying. This book is written for the reader who has some college-level training in economics, and is interested in the interaction between national politics and international economics.
The basic argument is that free markets create excesses which can only be eliminated by international intervention. Such interventions were frequent and reasonably effective during the period just prior to World War I and in the free world after World War II. Professor Gilpin argues that parochial American leadership since the end of the cold war has undermined the international political system for stabilizing the international economy. He calls for stronger American leadership in forging a better coalition with the European Union countries and Japan.
The central thesis of the book is sound in one area: Unrestrained capital flows can create distortions in a world in which everything else (businesses, people, and trade flows) are not nearly so unrestrained. The problem here is that these rapid capital flows out of a country primarily occur because of years of earlier abuses (as I describe in The Irresitible Growth Enterprise) such as speculative spending on infrastructure and investments that are not needed (as happened in several Southeast Asian countries prior to their currency crises in 1998).
Virtually every problem that Professor Gilpin warns against and wants to solve with international authority is really created by poor national economic policies. We would probably create sounder world economic growth if we focused on encouraging all nations to pursue sound lending, appropriate national borrowing, and constructive trade policies (our attention is usually focused on the last). Where governments are weak or corrupt, abuses will always develop and linger. My counterargument would be that strong democracies will almost always pursue reasonably sound economic policies. Solve that problem of governmental form and effectiveness of political process at the national level, and the world economy will be sound. If this counterargument is right, then we may need a second generation of informational efforts in favor of effective democracy, in the same way that one was needed during the cold war through Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.
At another level, much of what is described here as weaknesses and problems can be attributed to weak currencies. Again, informational efforts and research could help countries with weak currencies appreciate how to strenthen those currencies. Certainly, pegging to stronger currencies is proving to be effective in many cases. Pegging to a basket of stronger currencies might work even better. There could even be a role for pegging to sound economic policies to change expectations, as some South American countries have done.
Many of the worldwide risks today relate to the U.S. trade imbalance. In the same way that greater public awareness and an economic boom led to eliminating the U.S. budget deficits, the trade imbalance can be solved. Again, this is a national issue, not an international one. The weak savings rate in the U.S. can also be solved by changing the tax laws, again at a national level.
Basically, the argument I am making is that the markets are having problems because national politics are impinging too much on free markets. In that regard, the free market of ideas that is democracy can then adjust the national politics to achieve more healthy, free market results. The U.S. should lead the way by improving the savings rate and reducing the trade deficit. That would take many of the strains off of the world economy, and create the basis for another ten years of economic boom in the United States. Can our U.S. politicians get together and work on this after the November election? I certainly hope so.
Another area where Professor Gilpin is misfocused is in his concern about the growth of trading blocs like the EU and NAFTA. Actually, these blocs are creating freer markets within them and are an unavoidable precursor to creating the same level of freedom internationally with all countries. If there were three trading blocs in the world, they would simply merge into one at some point. That would be progress.
Complexity science tells us that having many countries pursuing their own ideas of economic prosperity will work better than having an internationally coordinated system. And the more intelligent, responsive, and focused those countries are, the better the whole system will work.
After you have finished reading this book, can you think of other places where we rely on precedent too much in our thinking rather than potential? If you find any of this happening in your own thinking, how can you learn to seek out better solutions rather than simply aping past solutions?
Good start for a basic understanding.......2000-05-22
This is a higly readable and extensive survey of the major IPE issues facing Americans and the rest of the world today. It successfully analyzes and challenges the economists' arguments about the primacy of economics, or even economic theory, over politics or political science. This is an excellent book for someone just beginning to educate themselves about the nature and state of the international economy. It's significantly broad, but also does an excellent job of explaining complex phenomena. However, I have a few caveats. First, it moves too quickly and soflty over the larger issues, specifically, whether globalization has been helpful or harmful to the world polity. I agree with a previous review that it overestimates the threat of EU protectionism. In fact, he overestimates the threat of protectionism entirely. The greatest threat to, or promise against, globalization is the rise of social protest movements across the globe, being channeled in new ways not seen before. Therefore, I would urge most people to read this book, but then pick up either a contrarian book, like Grieder's One World: Ready or Not, or Globalization by Sasskia Sassen. Avoid Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree at all costs.
reasonable overview for graduate students.......2000-05-04
Prof. Gilpin has an excellent reputation in the field of IPE, International Political Economy, and I bought this book on that recommendation.
It gives a good overview of major developments in the globalization and globalization debate in the 90s, with political economy analysis and lots of references to economic analysis. I would recommend it for graduate students, but I must say i was a bit disappointed, not much new or inspirational there. I could read the book very quickly without ever really having to stop and think. Here i think it is only fair to reveal my own background, which is in international economic relations and history of EU integration. Some of his points on the nature and development of the European Union and the economics are frankly quite contestable, especially on the openness or closedness of the EU. The debate on 'Fortress Europe' is really out of date by now ever since it became clear that the Single European Act of 1987 and the '1992' project were not about closing the EU economy, quite the contrary. Do I detect an US bias here?
Yes, as prof. Gilpin points out, economists indeed disagree on many key issues. But you will find that strife also within IPE and political science and in any other social science discipline. So? It reflects the complexity of the issues rather than weakness of the discipline, i'd argue (but then, I would would I, as an economist...) A number of problems in globalization and the international financial system are presented as (relatively) new, but I'd argue that more often than not these problems were always there in history. Also, the point that regionalization threatens globalization is too strong as put there, and not necessarily correct and so clear-cut at all: many regional economic agreements were made in the course of the Uruguay Round trade negotiations at GATT/WTO out of frustration with the slow pace of negotiations and as a 'back-up' plan in case of UR failure. Hardly a threat to globalization which, in any case, throughout history never really progressed smoothly at all.
All that said, the book does do a solid job of pointing out some of the main issues and discussions and it will do well as a topical reference book.
Global Capitalism = American Corporate Imperialism.......2000-04-30
America began opening it's markets to the world in the 1970's. Since then, as the economy has grown steadily, most Americans have seen stagnant wages and the country has seen an increase in all types of inequality. The idea that the problems can be fixed presupposes a will to fix them. There is none. A palliative to this claptrap would be Chambers Johnson's book Blowback.
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