History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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.

Finding The Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy

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A focused lesson on the spotty history of transforming the military and how it needs to be tied tightly to reality, not theory
Key to understanding the military's strengths, weaknesses and choices and makes FINDING THE TARGET an important pick.
Stick to your level of competence.
Transformation !!!!! What is it.
Makes sense of the current state of the US military

Finding The Target: The Transformation of American Military Policy
Frederick Kagan
Manufacturer: Encounter Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594031509

Book Description

In Finding the Target, Frederick Kagan describes the three basic transformations within the U.S. military since Vietnam. First was the move to an all-volunteer force and a new generation of weapons systems in the 1970s. Second was the emergence of stealth technology and precision-guided munitions in the 1980s. Third was the information technology that followed the fall of the Soviet Union and the first Golf War. This last could have insured the U.S. continuing military preeminence, but this goal was compromised by Clinton's drawing down of our armed forces in the 1990s and Bush's response to 9/11 and the global war on terror.

Customer Reviews:

A focused lesson on the spotty history of transforming the military and how it needs to be tied tightly to reality, not theory.......2007-08-13

Frederick Kagan is an influential thinker on the American Military. This book is his history of how our military has come to realize its need to change. He recounts how it has failed, at times, in those adaptations and how it has succeeded in others. It is when the theory of what the military should become gets divorced from the reality of what the actual threat in the world currently is that the greatest failures occur. The problem with these failures is that we can't afford them strategically or financially.

Kagan has pointed out that we have been under funding our military for more than a decade. Now that we are in a hot war in Iraq that shortage of personnel, the aging equipment that has not been replaced is causing a larger net depletion and leaves us less well defended.

While Kagan is disliked in some quarters and hated in others, he is influential because there are those in power who hear his words and appreciate what he is saying. Whether or not you agree with him, his influence requires you to read this book and make your own judgment. I found the history valuable and the arguments involving. Still, I wonder how billions of dollars in new jet fighters are going to help us against IEDs and suicide bombers. I do like his insistence that the military make its transformations intelligently and in light of both history and what we are actually facing around the world. I like his point that no one can prepare for a future war with future weapons because we are always trapped in the present and the future is never what anyone expects it to be.

Interesting book.

Key to understanding the military's strengths, weaknesses and choices and makes FINDING THE TARGET an important pick........2007-02-09

Collections strong in both military history and politics and international relations - particularly at the college level - will find FINDING THE TARGET: THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN MILITARY POLICY an important guide. It comes from a leading military analyst who reviews the history of U.S. national security strategies and the latest debates about military changes, offering a reasoned guide to analyze the problems facing the American military and the different paths it may take in the future. Such analysis is key to understanding the military's strengths, weaknesses and choices and makes FINDING THE TARGET an important pick.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Stick to your level of competence........2007-01-15

Kagan needs to stick with his level of competence which is Napoleonic war. His NeoCon political beliefs have distorted this book beyond belief and he ends up just being another spokesman for American military might well beyond any kind of reality. No wonder he is an ardent proponent of the "surge" in Iraq. Read this bok and you will see just how out of touch with the modern military he is.

Transformation !!!!! What is it........2007-01-04

As a retired Colonel of Marines I have been bothered by the loose use of the generally undefined term "TRANSFIRMATION" as applied the military. In these writings, Frederick Kagan does more to set the definition of military transformation than any other I have read. For military professionals and those interested in national defense matters, this is close to a must read. It is not always an easy read; thus the 4 stars. Thought and content 5 stars. This book will not please some, but it may, hopefully, open their eyes. For all it will provide the understanding that military transfirmation is neither new, nor is it a magical solution for defense of a mation.

Makes sense of the current state of the US military .......2006-11-25

Militaries are shaped by intellectual and technological developments over periods of decades or more, and Frederick Kagan's new book chronologs those developments that have given birth to our current force fighting the war on terror. In tracing the arc of the transformation of the US military from the ashes of the Vietnam force to the one currently on the ground in Iraq he finds a tale of both spectacular success, and cautionary failure.

Shaken to the core by the Vietnam experience and rightfully concerned over a growing Soviet threat in the 1970's, the US military reformed itself to face some stark realities. The conscription system died as something socially unacceptable, as did the concept of fighitng future Vietnam like conflicts, and with it the ability to rapidly increase force size in response to the start of conflicts. Potentially smaller than historically normal US forces would then be left to face overwhelming Warsaw Pact numerical superiority in Europe. The result of this shock was a deep and sophisticated intellectual movement to prepare the US military for just such a war, the war that looked most imminent considering the state of the World in the mid-1970's. With a strong and clearly perceived organizing purpose, and a healthy impetus of fear, the US military developed the concepts that currently define it: The ability to completely tear apart a "conventional" enemy military with lightning fast, devastating, pinpoint strikes on critical centers of gravity that defeat the enemy as a system.

The fruits of this intellectual and technological drive served our country well in preventing the cold war from going hot and in repulsing Saddam from Kuwait in the first gulf war. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, its relevance to the current world disintegrated as well. From 1989 to 9/11 the US military perceived the world to be in a "strategic pause" and thus shifted from a threat based military to a more amorphous capabilities based military, trying to take advantage of such a lull to leap ahead of potential adversaries with an information age based "revoultion in military affairs."

However 9/11 and the ensuing events in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown the limits of trying to develop a military in a vacuum in a sense, as opposed to in response to the current world environment. In the course of developing a military to save Europe from the Soviets the US eschewed the consideration of political objectives and nation building from its doctrine and intellectual energies. After all, there'd be no need to transform liberal, democratic, western Europe after a war there with the Soviets. No need for occupation, just for destruction of Soviet divisions and air forces. This inertia carried forward into the strategic pause of the '90's and the military basically focused on how to dismantle enemy conventional forces more efficiently, i.e. to do so more quickly and with fewer and fewer American troops that can be put in harm's way, threatening popular support for military operations.

This explains why the US was so amazingly effective in the first part of both the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, but has been unable to really pacify and achieve the political objectives of developing those countries into stable, peaceful democracies so far. American military doctrine, training, manpower, and technology are not really designed to envision the political objectives of "regime change wars" and plan the whole operation, from initial hostilities to the subsequent occupation, to achieve those objectives. Kagan makes an extremely convincing argument that this is the largest problem facing US national security, and the one that needs to be fixed quickest. He also convincingly shows that since war is a strategic (i.e. more than one actor interacting) scenario, developing a threat based military based on what potential enemies are doing is the only way to successfully transform, and the current potential of conflicts in North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan argue for a US military designed to fight and win the type of regime change wars that are still taking place in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Kagan offers some solutions as to how the military can better transform, including massive doctrinal changes to include political objectives explicitly in missions, back to front planning for wars as opposed to the more current front to back planning, and a fairly large increase in the number of US ground troops. However the focus of his book is to explain the current trajectory of US military thinking, show why it has recently gone awry, and show the problem that really needs solving, and less so on exactly how to solve it. In this he succeeds brilliantly.

Highly recommended

Average customer rating:

A very advanced book
Read it!
Recommended Reading
Not that great
Amazing!!!

Transformation of War
Martin Van Creveld
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0029331552

Customer Reviews:

A very advanced book.......2007-08-07

This is one of the best books that I have read on war. The book covers history, government, religion, economics, law (both domestic and international). All of these areas are apart of warmaking. The author writes the book with the assuption that the reader as an indepth understanding of all these areas. If you do not have a good understanding of each of these areas, then reasoning of this book will be lost on you.

The age of this book having been written in the early 90's is what caught my eye. That made this author not one of the current glut of the new trend of writting on counterinsurgency, Islam, and the current trends of warfare now. The author speaks of many of the same techniques as the new Army/Marine's counterinsurgency manual. Again this was written 16 years ago.

I only gave this four stars because with the obvious knowledge that the author has, the conclution that the modern state and its military is going to come crumbling down is completely wrong. Even given the date of this book I find the conclusion too large of a stretch, making it an emotional arguement and one not based on sound scholary work. Which completely surprizes me with it being set in the middle of such an amazing work.

Over all this an excellent work and is a must read for those who want to learn about war and how it is wage. It is also superior to most of all the new books that have been published in the last five years.

Read it!.......2006-08-10

This is NOT a book for the military leaders - their eyes will glaze over. This is a book for everyone NOT in the military so you can think about what is meant by "war." Is what's going on in Lebanon right now "war?" Ask the next three people you meet. It's a history, of sorts, of "war" but it's really about how violence has evolved (devolved?) from relatively chivalrous to brutally awful to chivalrous and then - with Clausewitz's pronouncements - to "total" and "no quarter." Until we get to where we are today. "War," we learn used to be a lot like it is now. Then it became Clausewitz's trinity of Government, Governed and Armed Force. Governments waged war - including "total" war as in the world wars - for the people through the armed forces. But now we're back to the idea of "small" and local and esoteric - at least some are. Clausewitz said it was a terrible mistake to temper warmaking with "rules" or "laws" other than what was expedient on the battlefield and his views became doctrine. Whole cities were burned and converted to dusty rubble. But there was a point - it was "good" against "evil." Worldwide. Now, though, we see "terrorists" waging "war" and we respond with a "war on terror." But the "terrorists" are not a nation - they cannot be fought as other wars were fought and they can't be defeated as other armed forces were defeated. They are applying the "new" rules of warfare while we and Israel and Great Britain and France and Germany continue to apply the Clausewitzian principles. That's why this book is not for the military reader - the military reader is steeped in his traditions and controlled by the government on how, when and where he will fight. This book is for the rest of us - how do we want to conduct our violent confrontations with other people in the world? Do we do as Clausewitz preached and use overwhelming force with no quarter given? Or do we do something else. Since it appears the overwhelming force idea may not be working all that well anymore, it's worth considering something else.

The book will sharpen your thinking about current events - help to understand the inexplicable by understanding a little how the "leaders" who are conducting the violence may be thinking.

Recommended Reading.......2006-07-06

I highly recommend this book be on the US Army's Chief of Staff reading list for officers (if it has not already been done). This is one of those rare books whose message is not only important, but presented in a format that is easily understood. Creveld's message does help put wars like Iraq into proper context.
I would compare this book (of the same topic) with others like James Dunnigan (of How to Make War fame) or books by Peter Drucker (who write books about management, but can also be applied to war). Again, I highly recommend this book not only for its important message, but also for its clarity.

Not that great.......2005-08-05

read this book with very high expectations based on the reviews. There is a lot in it. Some of it is right, some is not (e.g. the workings of the Roman Army are oversimplified). My major gripe is that it equates the modern state to a war making organization: when classic armies disappear, the state disappears too. The modern state probably was born as the most effective warmaking organization of his time but others could argue that it was born as the most efficient task collecting organization of his time. In any case today it does a lot more than putting armies in the field and collecting taxes. Plus it has infinite resources compared to a small group of, say, terrorists. A state that is well led and aware of the dangers of low-intensity conflicts can survive by
adopting the same techniques and exporting the conflict as much as possible. Unfortunately, on one thing van Creveld may be right, that this will force the state to adopt terrorists' techniques.

Amazing!!!.......2004-12-10

When I finished reading this book I could hardly believe that a writer could prophesize the future war events in such a clear way. Van Creveld's thesis is that war as we know it in the last 3,5 centuries (waged between states and organized armies) has reached its end and is now in a process of radical tramsformation. Analyzing many examples from the military history he suggests that we are entering into an era where states lose the monopoly of waging war and confront non-state actors who do not embrace the same philosophical values. Van Creveld overturns Clauzewitz's traditional views one by one, using very convincing arguments, and unfortunately he is confirmed by international events today. While reading the book there were many cases when I was dumbfounded by the fact that a writer completing his work near the end of the Cold War could see our era with such a clarity, and I was really amazed by the fact that the book was written in 1991. It is more modern than anything else I have read on the subject of modern war and surpasses even contemporary analysis. Van Creveld does not avoid to touch even hot topics, like the sheer joy of fighting (paraphrasing Clausewitz he states that war is more the continuation of sports by other means than politics) the taboo of introducing women in the armies, the role of religion in the motivation of war and the very important argument that war does not begin when someone is willing to kill but when he is willing to die for a cause. The accuracy of his predictions is often so amazing that it becomes terrifying, especially when he states that in the future the war leaders will not be legitimate government officials but something like "The Old Man in the Mountains", meaninig the kind of warfare waged by assassins in the Middle Ages. He is also very critical against the current military-industrial complex and its super-expensive creations of high tech weapons, saying that all this paraphernalia of old war are like dinosaurs about to face extinction. This is a highly recommended book and it is sure that it will change many of your establised views on war.

The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe (History and Warfare)

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Defining the Debate
The Classic RMA Debate
'revolution'ary?
A must for reference work

The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe (History and Warfare)

Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0813320542

Book Description

The debate about the "Military Revolution" has been one of the most controversial and exciting areas of discussion and research in the fields of early modern European history and military history. Scholars have long sought to explain the massive changes in European military techniques and technologies that took place between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the industrial age-changes that transformed the armies and navies of the West into the most powerful war-making entities the world had ever known. Historians have disagreed about and vigorously debated the importance of these changes for European politics, for the process of state formation, for the rise of the West, and for warfare itself. This book brings together, for the first time, the classic articles that began and have shaped this debate, adding important new essays by eminent historians of early modern Europe to further this important scholarly interchange. The contributors consider topics ranging from the battlefield to the gunmaker's workshop, from England to India, and from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The Military Revolution Debate will be required reading for anyone interested in what is undoubtedly one of the hottest areas in military history today.

Customer Reviews:

Defining the Debate.......2001-09-03

This book is a collection of essays and articles on the Military Revolution in early modern Europe. Eleven prominent historians contributed to the collection with original works or reprints of earlier articles. Taken together the anthology is not the sum total of the debate, but an excellent compilation of the several positions that military historians have taken and defended with regard to this topic.
The editor, Clifford J. Rodgers is now a contract professor at the United States Military Academy. When this book was created Rodgers was an Olin Fellow at Yale University. The book, according to Rodgers, was inspired by events during a conference at the 1991 meeting of the American Military Institute in Durham, North Carolina. During that conference Rodgers, Geoffrey Parker, John Guilmartin and John Lynn gave short presentations on the topic after which the discussion was opened to the audiance. The spirited debate and discourse that followed served as the catalyst for this book.
The Military Revolution was first put forward by Michael Roberts in the 1950s. Twenty years passed before Geoffrey Parker took a poke at the thesis. The fundamental idea here is that there are (or have been) times when something, be it technology, doctrine, social changes or economic changes, changed and caused one military to surpass all others such that the others had to adapt, adopt, or perish. That's a "Military Revolution" in a nutshell, and these historians argue (admittedly over, and over, and over...) as to what the periods that should be considered "revolutionary" actually were.
Informed and scholarly, this book is worth the cost from an intellectual standpoint.

The Classic RMA Debate.......2000-12-15

"The Military Revolution Debate" is the magnus opus on the revolution in military affairs representative of early modern Europe. Editor and author Clifford Rogers presents a series of compelling articles designed to revisit one of the classic debate topics among military historians and contemporary theorists. The art and practice of warfare changed significantly during the period addressed by Rogers and others, a revolution in military affairs unlike any in previous history and only rivaled by the events of the past quarter-century.

This masterpiece is a necessary addition to anyone seriously researching the revolution/evolution of military affairs in the western world. The changes that occurred in early modern Europe and discussed at length by the various authors had an unimaginable ifluence on the wars of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries and will continue to shape events far into this millenium.

Rogers has collected the most serious and noteworthy essays by the foremost authorities on the subject. Readers will not be disappointed with this exceptional book.

'revolution'ary?.......2000-04-18

This reviewer has extensively analyzed this book as part of a course in late medieval and early renaissance military history. My usual subject is the early Crusades, and I had hoped to broaden my understanding of later centuries' conflicts through this work.

Rogers' introduction sums up the general theme of the book, that the demands of late medieval and early modern military (hen) required societal change on an broad and varied scale (egg). This is the one concept upon which the contributors agree.

The medievalist is going to find this work difficult in many respects, too numerous to investigate properly in this forum. Simply put, misconceptions abound. The basic thesis goes so far as to denigrate the medieval military era and divorce the modern from these roots entirely! Fortunately there are other contributors to counter this argument and even to argue the revolution was strictly a medieval phenomenon.

The essays herein are essentially divided into two camps of pro- and anti-revolution, and the book really demonstrates the evolution of the concept. The reader sees the genesis and construction of the idea, then its evaluation. Finally we see the demise of the concept in several vivid examples. The penultimate essay contributes a fine idea; the 'military revolution' is a line of inquiry, not a discrete event. (Unfortunately this is that essay's only redeeming feature.) The book closes with a defence by a long-standing subscriber to the revolution theory, thus failing to achieve any synthesis. It is a very disappointing end to what is a problematic but considerate effort.

Scope of the essays ranges from Sweden to the Ottoman Empire, from the Hundred Years War to the 18th.c., from the vast Spanish kingdom to the tiny county of Gonzaga. Focus varies from the general to the minute; there is an excellent analysis of the gold futures mortaging by the late medieval Spanish Crown.

In all it is a very long read for anyone not actively interested in the early modern period or the niceties of academic debate; indeed this reviewer is left with the impression that the revolutionary construct has had a long life and needs replacing.

However this book is certainly useful as a reference on the corpus of thought on a difficult subject, and crucial to understanding the last 50 years of research on the subject of medieval vs modern military practise. The revolution is now such a prevalent subject that it continues to be applied in completely different areas, so it is useful to be familiar with this work.

A must for reference work.......2000-04-06

This is an incredible book that provides a single point of reference on the major interpetations of the Military Revolution. For the Military Revolution novice, like myself, this is the book to begin research with. The hypothesisses are complimentary and provide for an easy, interesting read.

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life (Problems in American History)

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A Review of Vietnam
Review of Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life
Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life-Review
Thumbs up for Buzzanco

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life (Problems in American History)
Robert Buzzanco
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1577180941

Book Description

In this concise and lively volume, award-winning author Robert Buzzanco examines the role America played in the Vietnam War and how the consequences of this involvement dramatically changed American politics, culture, and society at a period when the United States was most vulnerable.Divided into two sections, Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life begins with a history of the emergence of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese nationalist movement and explains why the United States intervened in Vietnam despite pessimism over American military prospects there. Buzzanco then traces the repeated escalations of the war in the Johnson and Nixon years, and, finally, the causes and consequences of American defeat. Part Two focuses on the major political and social movements of the 1960s: liberalism, civil rights, women's liberation, student activist movements protesting the war, and other youth culture movements. The book demonstrates how domestic mobilization against the war changed US political and social life and these changes gave rise, in turn, to other movements and consequent changes of great significance to American society.The Vietnam War, which dominated American life during the 1960s, helped to create, radicalize, and alter social and political life in the US. In Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life Robert Buzzanco generates fresh and intriguing insights that will inspire both students and general readers as they approach this dramatically divisive, volatile, and ultimately crucial period of American history.

Customer Reviews:

A Review of Vietnam.......1999-12-21

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life, is very interesting and informative. It was definitely worth the time and the effort reading and working on it. Audiences of all backrounds should benefit from the information, including those of who lived during that time period. Many younger generation kids are oblivious to what actually happened during the Vietnam War, and should be educated about the historical importance of the war. The book itself helped the audience, especially those of who are of Vietnamese decent, understand how their ancestors survived and what they went through during the course of the war.

Review of Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life.......1999-12-14

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life designates the aspects of the Vietnam War as well as the political and social movements of the American people during the 1960's. Dr. Buzzanco's main thesis that he is trying to convey is divided into two parts, the Vietnam War and the issues of the 1960's. His first theme on the Vietnam War subject is the United States after World War II tried to become the world leader during their foreign affairs in the Indochina region but failed. The second theme, which deals with the domestic problems in America during this time period, is how the people of the United States erupted into its domestic problems and how they are linked with the war in Vietnam. In the first half of the book, Buzzanco announces his thesis statement, letting the reader know that the first half was all the details of the war. Then he comes back in the second half of the book and describes what was happening at home on American soil. In essence, he has written two documentaries and combined them quite well. He has two points that he is trying to convey, broken up into two halves. Dr. Buzzanco did an astounding job in proving his points. He clearly and strongly showed examples that lead people to believe him. In every major point in both parts of his book, he used clear and precise examples to prove his words correct. He used all second hand information due to the fact that he was born too late to participate in the actual war. But his information was all very accurate and strong. He really did not use any points that criticized anything he was trying to convey in his book. But there could be some rival opinions on various subjects throughout the book. For example in the second part of the book, on page 202 he is trying to blame much of the domestic uprisings on Martin Luther King and the march on Washington. He claims that the march got the African-Americans to strongly disapprove of the war. But the march was more or less strictly on the civil rights issues, not on the war. He was, however, extremely successful at effectively using his sources in a convincing manner. Starting on page 104 and continuing, he shows how American foreign policy on the countries surrounding Vietnam essentially escalated the conflict even further. He does not however; use any examples of others that would give evidence that his points are not true or inaccurate. Some of his issues are controversial and he leads the reader to think that they are not. For example on page 68, he makes it clear to the reader that the war was inevitable even in the early 1960's under JFK's policy. But in reality much could have been done to prevent the conflict from escalating. More or less he is trying to convince the reader that his points are one sided and are not controversial. He seems biased on the fact that he offers nothing on the opposite side of him. All good writers usually give points to satisfy both for and against. All of his points, especially the first half of the book, help to prove his thesis. He pretty much uses strong logical reasoning and uses evidence to support that. Due to Dr. Buzzanco's education level and his astounding credibility and awards his information can be trustworthy. He uses strong examples to prove his thesis and also uses several other points throughout the book.

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life-Review.......1999-12-10

Vietnam and the Transformation of American Life is an intelligent and informative look into the Vietnam War and how it influenced American life. This book helps you understand better the people, issues, problems, and times of the 1960's and early 1970's and how Vietnam influenced the people, issues, and the problems of that time.If you are not knowledgeable about the Vietnam War, this book explains in great detail the events leading up to the war and the repercussions of the war on Americans and American life and, it will make you understand and create your own opinions about the war.

Thumbs up for Buzzanco.......1999-12-08

The first part of the book explains the war itself. It starts off with a brief explanation for the war, which was to "...preserve an anticommunist government in Southern half of Vietnam." Buzzanco does a great job of telling both sides of the war in great detail. He spends a lot of time explaining to the reader how Ho Chi Minh emerged into a great war and political leader of the DRVN and maintained his popular support from most of the Vietnamese society. He also tells of the events which led up to the Vietnam War from the US point of view starting with WWII to the unrevealing exception to defeat. Buzzanco also does an exceptional job of telling why the US felt the need to be involved with the Vietnam conflict. He also talks about the US supporting the French, who were against Vietnam. He further explains that the US did this in order to maintain French support in the European Cold War, to contain Communism in Asia, and to encourage economic development in the US. Throughout his book, he does the same thing, which is to give an extensive informational explanation of the events, and then get to the main point at the end with just a simple sentence or two. Buzzanco also goes into Vietnam's communities and the people's aspect of the war. He lets the reader know that the Vietnamese people were for the most part on Ho's side, letting the truth of the matter shine through. The truth being that the DRVN was corrupt, and the Vietamese people knew it, thus they mainly supported the DRVN. Among the best aspects of the book was the detailed explanation of military moves and decisions on both sides. He explains why each side made each move in the long war, as well as the political moves. Which brings us to the second part of the book, "The Movements of the 1960's." Buzzanco uses several sources throughout his book. He lists them all at the end, far too many to list. He used books as well as papers. He even used comic strips that were published during that period of the war. He also lists his sources in a bibliography as well as a notes section. Buzzanco does not choose sides in his book. He merely tells the story and the events how they happened. He does not skip around either, and it was easy to follow as well as to understand. For every point in the book, he marks it with a source, which only enhances what he has already said.

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

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

The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny
Vincent Casspriano Jr.
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Buddha | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1847285783

Book Description

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

Customer Reviews:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

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

And later in the same chapter:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

· World oil supplies are running out.

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

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

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

· Time is running out..."

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

Now that's a meme worth feeding.

Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slaver & Prostitution during World War II & the US Occupation (Asia's Transformations)

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The Aftermath of the Comfort Women
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Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slaver & Prostitution during World War II & the US Occupation (Asia's Transformations)
Yuki Tanaka
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415194016

Book Description

Japan's Comfort Women exposes the story of Japanese women who were forced to enter prostitution to serve the Japanese Imperial army, often living in appalling conditions of sexual slavery. Using a wide range of primary sources, Tanaka uncovers new and controversial information about the role of US occupation forces in military controlled prostitution, as well as evidence of a subsequent "cover-up".

Tanaka asks why US occupation forces did little to help the women, and argues that military authorities organized prostitution to prevent the widespread incidence of GI rape among the Japanese women and to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. This groundbreaking book reveals new material relating to this highly controversial and contentious issue and is sure to have a deep impact on the ongoing international debate on this highly emotive issue.

Customer Reviews:

Balanced and fair.......2007-05-12

Yuki Tanaka's work on the topic of comfort women was a good eye opener.

His writing, based on fairly extensive research, and not on his or someone else's opinion will add to the depth of understanding for any student of Japan.

This book does not fall into the category of "Japan Bashing", instead helps the reader to understand that first, the use of comfort women was incredibly more prevelant than one might have otherwise thought, second, the effects of this practice are still very relevant today as Prime Minister Abe continues to deny the practice ever occurred, while many other parts of Asia still feel the pain caused by the practice.

Modern Japan still seems comfortable portraying women in a manner that would not be acceptable in the west. Any student of Japan, should be interested in understanding the "why" of such phenomenon, and this book may help toward that end.

Highly recommend this book for people who have a strong interest in Japan, Asia, psychology, war or peace for that matter.

It is not a light read, it is a thought provoking one.

The Aftermath of the Comfort Women.......2005-04-04

This is one of the few books that deal with what happened to the "comfort women" after Japan's defeat in WWII. Namely that they switched to serving American GIs - for reduced pay.
It sort of hits you in the gut after being indignant about the comfort women issue for a while and then discover that your grandfather probablly had a good time with them too.
This book, however, does not go into the extent to which the women were abused in American hands when the Japanese army was no longer there to protect them. It was an "out of the fryingpan and into the fire" story. It is a tragic end to a tragic story that we all should know about.

Already Published.......2002-02-02

This book was already published in December last year, under the new title "Comfort Women: Sexual slavery and prostitution during World War II and the US Occupation."
The book is available both in hardcover and paperback.

The Dark Arts of Immortality: Transformation through War, Sex, & Magic

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Get an editor!!!
don't loose your time...
dark and dank
This Lord needs an editor....
Interesting

The Dark Arts of Immortality: Transformation through War, Sex, & Magic
Ross G. H. Shott
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1420880543

Book Description

If you had the power within your reach to insure your own immortality, would you risk all to grasp it? Think about it. No longer would you plead for the mercy of others. No longer would you bow to invisible masters. No longer would you struggle for table scraps. You could become master of your own destiny. You could become as God. Drawing on the findings of science, religion, sociology, psychology, philosophy, mythology, history, ancient texts, and metaphysics, The Dark Arts of Immortality explains how to harness and augment the energy of our innate drives. Through personal combat, sexual fantasy, and mystic rituals the death drive (mortido), sex drive (libido), and growth drive (physis) can provide doorways to supra-consciousness. These core altered states of being (fury, ecstasy, and exaltation) grant preternatural physical, mental, and spiritual abilities. The synthesis of these attributes will elevate personal power in this world and allow one to manifest a divine Being in the afterlife.

Customer Reviews:

Get an editor!!!.......2007-08-18

One of my personal grumblings, especially when reading nonfiction, is when someone proclaiming to provide valuable information on Magic(k), is a lack of correct punctuation and grammatical accuracy... mostly no question marks. The overall tone of the book lacked a cycle of good points mirrored with some scholastic understanding beyong modern interpretations of magickal systems that I usually look for. He was able to emphasize original ideas among the many quotes of accomplished masters, but Shott wanted to 'shoot' (pun intended![inside joke for those having already read it!]) all of his accumulated knowledge at me at one constant stream of regurgitated LHP philosophy with, again, an overabundant measure of quotes from LaVey, Flowers, etc. It just seemed to 'skim the surface' mostly and the recipe for attainment of the esoteric sort can be found in most Chaos Magic treatises and within LHP organization literature. I made the mistake of bypassing the homework one should normally embark upon about authors of books of this nature, as I was hungry for something new. This is the only book this guy's written, and it shows. His understanding of the origin LHP and RHP is skewed when drawn from Hindu Tantra's definition of the two. LHP tantra is not so much 'antinomian' but more the difference between performing the Pancha Makra, for instance, literally (LHP) or figuratively (RHP). Norse mythology does not appeal to me personally due to the extreme unlikelyhood of finding enthusiasts beyond neo-national socialist movements and wiccans... blah!... aside from Runa Raven publications and Stephen Flowers' cryptic writings. Nonetheless, it is a contribution to a cohesive western LHP philosophical system, and in that regard only, would I pescribe this book.

don't loose your time..........2007-08-10

I bought this book thinking and waiting to learn something.. there are only history.....its a real waste of money, I dont believe people write something like this....unreal

dark and dank.......2007-03-09

I bought this book as I thought there would be some practical exercises included to attain states of altra-consciousness. Most of the book (more than half) consists of the author explaining and justifying why you should use his approach to magic. The last 1/3 is his "how-to" which breaks down to fight as much as you can, have as much sex as you can, and consider flagellating yourself so as to experience rapture.
Some of his psychology is accurate. But for the most part this book was not helpful to me. It is dark. My intuitive reaction was that this is not the path (at least not for me).

That said if you are a "HE-man", into combat, into kinky, have an affiliation to Norse mythology or are just dark yourself, this might be the book for you.

This Lord needs an editor...........2007-02-22

It always amuses me when I pick up a book of this sort, written by some self proclaimed "Lord of the Left Hand Path." Every author in this field goes out of his way to take on this "oogey boogey" imperious tone with the reader. LaVey does it, Webb does it, Flowers does it, and Shott does it as well. There's just one problem. When I read such proclamations from someone claims to be working on their own self-deification, and I find glaring grammatical errors, extremely awkward sentences, and the total abandonment of correct punctuation, it makes me wonder exactly how careful such an individual is with other areas of their life. Yes Ross, grooming is important, but so is the ability to facilitate coherent communication. The Dark Arts of Immortality is an absolutely necessary book for someone traversing the Left Hand Path, and it's full of thought provoking and useful information. It is clear that Shott knows what he is talking about and that he's been on the path for some time. That being said, the overall delivery of the information in the book stinks. One of two things is the case. The diction of the work is deliberately twisted to force the reader to untangle it in order to understand it and/or to force them away from it because of their own lack of intelligence if they don't (which is the answer that I'm sure you will get if someone pins him down on this subject; these guys love to think that their inability to write well is actually an obstacle to weed out the "stupid") or, the work suffers from hasty assembly and a lack of editing. My money is on the second one. So, if you are on the "via sinistrae" buy the book, use it and grow. Just be forewarned that even your high school English teacher would cringe at Shott's butchery of the English language.

Interesting.......2006-12-19

I picked up the book or a relative lark, and managed to read it. It isn't a large tomb, about a day of energized reading. All in all I found it entertaining but a bit too much of an overly quoted essay. Obviously a lot of time was spent finding good quotes; they make up maybe a third of the total text. The fact I was encouraged to drop and do some push-ups was entertaining and I like the stance of physical fitness locked within an occult model. I disagree perhaps with the idea that the Church of Satan is in any way a 'school' and that LaVey was quoted extensively in an antinominalist arena with the tenants of a promulgation of a post death 'soul' or ego. I didn't give it 4 stars though because I disagree with the author. I specifically rated it higher because I liked being challenged. I couldn't give it a full five stars though because it didn't really have a stabilized content in the way it sold itself. It has some facets of a `system', but is more a philosophical presentation with suggestions. The author is obviously a runer and uses the philosophy of such as a backbone of the presentation while suggesting the reader find there own system to stick to. Some decent content, and a good bibliography. Read it between a history or a fiction choice and you probably wont regret it as a whole.

Constituting Empire: New York and the Transformation of Constitutionalism in the Atlantic World, 1664-1830 (Studies in Legal History)

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Constituting Empire: New York and the Transformation of Constitutionalism in the Atlantic World, 1664-1830 (Studies in Legal History)
Daniel J. Hulsebosch
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0807829552
Release Date: 2006-02-23

Book Description

According to the traditional understanding of American constitutional law, the Revolution produced a new conception of the constitution as a set of restrictions on the power of the state rather than a mere description of governmental roles. Daniel J. Hulsebosch complicates this viewpoint by arguing that American ideas of constitutions were based on British ones and that, in New York, those ideas evolved over the long eighteenth century as New York moved from the periphery of the British Atlantic empire to the center of a new continental empire.

Hulsebosch explains how colonists and administrators reconfigured British legal sources to suit their needs in an expanding empire. In this story, familiar characters such as Alexander Hamilton and James Kent appear in a new light as among the nation's most important framers, and forgotten loyalists such as Superintendent of Indian Affairs Sir William Johnson and lawyer William Smith Jr. are rightly returned to places of prominence.

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