Book Description
This Special Edition of The Art of War by Sun Tzu presents this timeless classic in two forms:
Section I contains the complete thirteen chapters of Sun Tzu's masterpiece in Chinese together with the English translation of Lionel Giles without notes or commentary. This presentation avoids the objection that commentary tends to clutter and obscure the clarity of thought of the ancient military genius.
Section II contains the complete translation by Lionel Giles including his extensive introduction and the fully annotated text with explanatory notes and critical commentary. His Introduction includes an historical account of Sun Tzu's work, evaluations by and of early Chinese commentators, an essay examining the traditional Chinese attitudes toward war and a bibliography that details Giles' source materials. The text in this section includes critical commentary and notes by both the Chinese historians as well as by Giles himself.
Lionel Giles, as the Keeper of the Department of Oriental printed Books and Manuscripts of the British Museum, was uniquely qualified to translate and explain this great classic Chinese work to Western readers. First published in 1910, Giles' translation is widely considered to be the definitive English version.
Other Special Editions in this series which deal with the subject of warfare and strategy include:
The Art of War By Mao Tse-tung - Special Edition
The Art of War By Baron De Jomini - Special Edition
The Art of War & The Prince By Machiavelli - Special Edition
Customer Reviews:
The Best !!!.......2007-07-12
This is the best edition of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" I have ever seen. It solves all the problems of reading this classic masterpiece in translation. If you wish, you can just read the first part, the straight translation, which is decorated with the Chinese characters at the beginning of each chapter. Or, if you really want to understand what Sun Tzu wrote, in context, you can read the second part that contains Giles' annotation and comments by several ancient Chinese scholars.
There is no doubt that Sun Tzu was a military genius and that his book has a well-earned reputation as the best (in addition to being the first) treatise on warfare ever written. This book is so important; in terms of its historical relevance, philosophic world-view, strategy instructions and what it has to say about human nature; that I feel it ranks among the dozen or so best books in the world.
The Art of War.......2007-07-12
The Art Of War is one of the oldest books ever written, yet it is still used today.The Art of War is one of the most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on Eastern and Western military planning, business tactics, and beyond. The book had possibly influenced Napoleon and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm. it has 13 very interesting chapters.
The Art of War helps focus problems in such a way they can be solved sistematically. It is important to keep in mind that it's better to beat the enemy without fighting.
It is an amazing book. Try it!
Excellent Edition - A Masterpiece.......2007-07-12
This particular edition of Sun Tzu's Masterpiece is excellent. It presents the Chinese text together with the plain translation and then it presents the full Giles translation, with the complete set of notes and annotation. It doesn't get any better than this.
Over the years, Sun Tzu's book has received a great deal of attention for a reason: Sun Tzu was a military genius. His rational approach to warfare has been a model that has been applied to all manner of activities and, simply because it is rational, it has generally been helpful. But, make no mistake, the real subject is warfare.
From the outset, Sun Tzu's message is that war is too serious to treat lightly. It is destructive and costly to all involved. A good general, according to Sun Tzu, is one who can win by peaceful diplomacy, and intimidation if necessary, but who minimizes the inevitable casualties and destruction by applying force only when and where it will accomplish the objective. Sun Tzu makes a great deal out of obtaining and using intelligence, spies, and every available resource to the best advantage - which is invariably to bend the enemy to your will without unnecessary death and destruction.
This particular edition, with its full set of explanatory notes tucked away in the second part of the book, provides a better feel for Sun Tzu's message than any of the plain, unexplained versions. It provides the background necessary for understanding the full extent of Sun Tzu's genius. After you think have mastered the message and begin to re-read the plain translation in the front of the book, you will appreciate having the insight of the scholarly Lionel Giles just a few pages away.
Excellent Edition !!!.......2007-07-11
This particular edition of Sun Tzu's Art of War is really excellent. It contains three separate copies of Sun Tzu's book:
1. The original Chinese text (in modern simplified Chinese characters),
2. A facing version of Lionel Giles' superb translation into English (without notes or comments) and
3. The complete Giles Translation with an extensive introduction and notes throughout the text that provides detailed insight into the meaning and intentions of the text.
Lionel Giles's translation is the gold standard for Sun Tzu. His deep understanding of ancient Chinese culture and his own roots in Western culture gave him a unique opportunity to bridge the gap and present native English speakers the opportunity to really understand and appreciate the mindset of this voice from antiquity.
Of all the versions of Sun Tzu's book on the market, this one is undoubtedly the best. The scholarship and detail to attention of this edition pays the respect and gives the credit to the great work that it deserves. Other, abbreviated, versions of Sun Tzu's book have their place, but not for those who actually want to understand the lessons of history that have been passed down through the centuries. The meaning of the text, after 25 centuries, requires the perspective of an oriental scholar with Giles' credentials. It is unlikely that the bare English translation, without notes or commentary, can convey to a modern reader the real meaning and intentions of a 2,000 year old Chinese genius.
This edition has both impact and insight.......2007-07-11
Of the several available editions of "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, the Giles translation is clearly the best. This edition, which contains two separate versions of the Giles translation, one with and one without commentary, resolves the main sticking point with other editions. They either just give the stripped down version or the fully annotated version.
When I first discovered "The Art of War", it was the full Giles translation. As most students of philosophy do, I found it fascinating. After reading it several times, and appreciating the explanations in the running commentary, I began to think that I really understood what Sun Tzu was saying and began to feel that the commentary had become cumbersome. Consequently, I obtained a different translation, with no notes or commentary - a booklet really - which simply didn't have the flavor of the Giles Translation. Finally I found a copy of the Giles translation, without the notes and commentary, which I could read and enjoy without being put off by the interspersed commentary that I had begun to find distracting.
Needless to say, I ultimately found it difficult to read the uncommented version without feeling a need to refer to Giles' notes in the full version, which I had given away. When I discovered this edition, I immediately understood that I wasn't the only one who appreciated not only Giles' scholarly translation but also his insight.
This version: The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition; is the one you want. Otherwise, you will be missing out on the impact of the unadorned translation or the insight of one of the world's great oriental scholars.
Average customer rating:
- Good Book!
- The little book G.W. should have read
- beautiful little book!
- The Art of War for Lilliputians......
- Too Small
|
The Art of War: (Miniature book)
Sun-Tzu
Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Military Science
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Eastern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Eastern Philosophy
| Other Eastern Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
All Deals
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
Religion & Spirituality
| Blowout Books
| Stores
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Military Science
| History
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Eastern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Eastern Philosophy
| Other Eastern Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Prince (Bantam Classics)
-
Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy
-
The 48 Laws of Power
-
The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition
-
The Art of War (Shambhala Classics)
ASIN: 0762415983
Release Date: 2003-07-29 |
Book Description
The ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu is universally recognized as the greatest military strategist in history, a master of warfare interpretation. This condensed version of his influential classic imparts the knowledge and skills to overcome every adversary in war, at the office, or in everyday life.
Download Description
The art of war is an excellent reference for anyone who commands a military force and needs guidance.Perhaps a buisiness owner or manager would find similar qualities between the book and their situation.
Customer Reviews:
Good Book!.......2007-08-10
The book arrived in the mail very quickly and in great condition. The book was a lot smaller than I thought it be, but that is ok.
Thank you
The little book G.W. should have read.......2007-05-14
Wisdom in a little book, what more can I say. Required reading at any military Academy,worth a damn {G.W. AWOL} Oh well. It translates thur the technological advances.
beautiful little book!.......2007-04-10
a must-have classic sent in great conditions! a collectable item without a doubt!
The Art of War for Lilliputians.............2007-03-19
I'm sure the text is fin, however wha I received was a 3" x 3" micro book that's all but unreadable. What's worse is there was no indication in it's listing that I could find that said it was a book for munchkins.
Not happy.
Too Small.......2007-03-10
Alot of the important writings were left out of this book. It was a bad idea not to read the review before buying.
Average customer rating:
- War master piece.
- The Ultimate Version of the Art of War
- Sun Tzu: Cleary vs Giles
- Comprehensive Translation of One of the Most Popular Chinese Classics
- Well Worth the Small Price
|
The Art of War
Sun Tzu
Manufacturer: Shambhala
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Military Science
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Eastern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Eastern Philosophy
| Other Eastern Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Military Science
| History
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Eastern
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Eastern Philosophy
| Other Eastern Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Prince (Bantam Classics)
-
The Book of Five Rings
-
The 48 Laws of Power
-
Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers; 50 Strategic Rules
-
The Art of War: (Miniature book)
ASIN: 1590302257
Release Date: 2005-01-11 |
Book Description
Conflict is an inevitable part of life, according to this ancient Chinese classic of strategy, but everything necessary to deal with conflict wisely, honorably, victoriously, is already present within us. Compiled more than two thousand years ago by a mysterious warrior-philosopher, The Art of War is still perhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy in the world, as eagerly studied in Asia by modern politicians and executives as it has been by military leaders since ancient times. As a study of the anatomy of organizations in conflict, The Art of War applies to competition and conflict in general, on every level from the interpersonal to the international. Its aim is invincibility, victory without battle, and unassailable strength through understanding the physics, politics, and psychology of conflict.
Customer Reviews:
War master piece........2007-09-16
This book is used as the war tactics by Napoleon Bonaparte, need I say more?
Buy this book will change your view of life. It is philosophy, strategy, battle, combat, science, classic, history, politics, military strategy.
The Ultimate Version of the Art of War.......2007-08-23
The Art of War is a timeless masterpiece of interaction of power and politics. It is about war and not war. This version is the one you want if you are interested in the simple, yet profound wisdom of Sun Tzu. I have tried several other versions edited and commented on, thoughts and ideas spun left and spun right by other authors. There is no spin here simple staright forward thought and principles.
Sun Tzu: Cleary vs Giles.......2007-08-18
I like Cleary's translation better because I think that his chosen dialogue is closer to the written Chinese text. His translation shows discipline in military strategy and calls attention from the reader while Giles' translation seems to circulate in a much more personal and poetic interpretation that although is easier to read does not execute command from Sun Tzu. Giles' interpretation is scholarly but Cleary's interpretation gets the reader to think deeper word for word into ones' psyche.
Comprehensive Translation of One of the Most Popular Chinese Classics.......2007-08-12
The Art of War is a must-read book by anyone who love The Romance of Three Kingdoms, popular chivalry story based on the history of 3rd century China.
I think it is a wise idea to read this Chinese classic from Thomas Cleary Translation. Had I encountered this from Archaic worded Japanese version I might not get so immersed into it. Cleary translation is really understandable even to non-native English speaker like me. Also it is great idea that the interpretation of notables including Cao Cao comes after the Master Sun's text. Comparing interpretation is really a fun.
What I am impressed most about this book is it says that if you can avoid the war better not to fight. And its idea of how to manage an army is really close to modern idea of organizing groups particularly business corporations.
Verdict: Nice gateway to Chinese classics
Rating: 90 out of 100
Recommended for wide variety of Chinese literature and classic books fans.
Well Worth the Small Price.......2007-07-24
I recently purchased a copy of this version of The Art of War to compare to my new Hardcover copy of The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition (Hardcover) and was pleased to find that it is actually pretty good. To be honest, I don't think that Cleary's translation is as good as the Giles Translation, but it has some good points.
For example, in this edition Cleary presents Sun Tzu's lessons as a series of dialogues rather than as straight exposition as with the Giles translation. It casts a different light on the maxims of Sun Tzu. Even just a minor re-wording of the text can and does help reveal some points which might otherwise escape notice. Perhaps this edition's best feature is Cleary's introduction. I think it is worth the small price of this book by itself.
However, if I could only have one copy of this great Chinese classic, it would have to be the special edition that gives you two copies of the Giles translation, one without commentary and another that is fully annotated with extensive commentary. Perhaps I am prejudiced, but even from the first sentence, on comparing the different translations:
(Cleary's) "Master Sun: Military action is important to the nation - it is the ground of death and life, the path of survival and destruction, so it is imperative to examine it."
(Giles') "Sun Tzu said: `The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.'"
I find that the Giles translation flows rather than bumps along. It seems to resonate with a more of an ancient Chinese tone that allows me to mentally time travel closer to the heart of the matters at hand. Although the Giles translation, even in Paperback [The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition (Paperback)] is more expensive that this edition, I think it is money well spent. If you have to read any classic in translation, it really should be the best translation available.
Book Description
“War no longer exists,” writes General Sir Rupert Smith, powerfully reminding us that the clash of mass national armies—the system of war since Napoleon—will never occur again. Instead, he argues in this timely book, we must be prepared to adapt tactics to each conflict, or lose the ability to protect ourselves and our way of life.
General Smith draws on his vast experience as a commander in the 1991 Gulf War, in Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland, to give us a probing analysis of modern war and to call for radically new military thinking. Why, he asks, do we use armed force to solve our political problems? And how is it that our armies can win battles but fail to solve the problems?
From Iraq to the Balkans, and from Afghanistan to Chechnya, Smith charts a stream of armed interventions that have failed to deliver on promises of resolution. He demonstrates why today’s conflicts must be understood as intertwined political and military events. He makes clear why the current one-size-fits-all model of total war, fought out on battlefields, that politicians still cling to must be abandoned in favor of new strategies that take into account the fact that wars are now fought among civilian populations. And he offers a compelling new model for how to fight these battles—and secure our world.
Clear, incisive and provocative, The Utility of Force will fundamentally change the way we understand war.
Customer Reviews:
An essential perspective on the use of force around the world.......2007-10-08
General Rupert Smith has written an essential introduction here to the problems and paradoxes of modern warfare. I recommend it very highly. I especially liked Smith's analysis that in today's wars information is much more important than firepower.
The book does have a few omissions. Most important, I felt it had too little to say on the role of natural resources, overpopulation, and environmental degradation in causing war and civil unrest around the world. There is a substantial argument to be made that the U.S. military has become little more than a global oil-protection service. Changing the American lifestyle from fossil-fuel to renewable energy sources could make a substantial contriubution to the peace and security of the world. Such a transition might well reduce U.S. economic growth; however, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Economic growth sounds great--a rising tide lifts all boats--but it is necessary to keep in mind how it is calculated. Economic growth is generally measured by GDP, which as a measure of well-being is so inaccurate as to be almost laughable. GDP is measured by counting up what is spent on various items. This works more or less OK if you're counting food bought by hungry people, but very poorly indeed if you're counting money spent on bombs or automatic rifles, or on parking garages for rich people's cars. GDP is not corrected for increasing population, pollution, exhaustion of natural resources, or declining quality of life. More accurate measures of economic growth, such as the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare or Genuine Progress Indicator, tend to show that there has been little or no genuine economic growth in the U.S. since the 1970s. For more on this, see McKibben's book "Deep Economy," Daly's "Beyond Growth," Brian Czech's "Shoveling Fuel for a Runaway Train," or Jared Diamond's "Collapse."
In Agreement with the Five Star Reviewers.......2007-10-05
And not much to add to some excellent reviews that are already posted.
This guy knows his stuff and has done some excellent analysis providing us a chronological exposition of "industrial war" from its Naploeanic birth in mass and operational mobility. Sidelighting the defeat at Jena which gave birth to Clausewitz as French POW and his thinking on war along with the development of the Prussian General Staff that developed into the best modern field army of World War Two. I agree some editing would help the book, but it stands on its own without need of apology. Another title to add to the new military academy curriculum and foreign policy wonks reading list. Bravo.
A "Next Generation War" Concept That Makes Sense.......2007-07-20
Rupert Smith reviews the last 200 years of military history and clearly defines the nature of interstate, industrial war. He correctly identifies the end of the utility of such war as August 5th, 1945 - the day before the Enola Gay dropped her atomic bomb - and goes on to describe the dissonance between defense planning and actual conflicts in the ensuing 60-odd years. He uses the concept of War Among the People as an umbrella concept to describe the actions of guerrillas, revolutionaries, terrorists and other non-state actors; and identifies the people as the key objective in post-industrial war.
He believes that failure to understand the change in the nature and purpose of conflict - on the part of both policy makers and the military - has been at the root of the failure of nations, alliances and coalitions to effectively employ force over the past half-century.
Smith goes on to identify a model for political/military interaction in fighting War Among the People. The model itself is revolutionary, in that it departs from the concept of handing diplomatically insoluble problems over to the military and calls for the employment of diplomacy, force, aid and assistance as an integrated effort. In effect, he calls for 'force structuring' which would include elements of several cabinet departments - not just the military services - under a single theater commander (who probably would not be an officer of any service).
Smith's work is a useful antidote to some of the less disciplined and more technologically oriented discussions of "Fourth Generation Warfare" and "Transformation" that have appeared over the past few years. It is an important work - one that should be required reading for all of the 2008 Presidential candidates.
The book is, as others have noted, not an 'easy' read. It certainly could have been improved by better/more editing; but the content is more than worth the 'slog'.
To Be Fair I Only Made It Through 50 Pages.......2007-07-11
I heard about this book when Jon Stewart did an interview with Rupert Smith, who is a former high-ranking general in the British army and NATO Commander. I was intrigued by what the general had to say about the future of warfare. Namely peace being ushered in through policy and diplomatic relationships. And how those two factored into "force". Essentially, how and when to apply "force" in a situation. I also decided that if I'm going to explore pacifism in any detail, I should probably be well-rounded in my reading and research. Which is why I decided to pick this book up (as well as Generation Kill and Empire's Workshop). Anyway . . . all of that to say . . . that I got about 50 pages into the book before I had to put it down. The overall writing style was way to heavy on details instead of big picture philosophy of war. I also think it may have had something to do with it being written by an intelligent English man. I don't mean that in a disparaging way. He was certainly a warm and engaging person in his interview. I just think that when you intelligent people write books . . . there is a strong tendency for it to feel cold, boring, and detached. That's what I got in the first 50 pages which is why I put it down.
Coming from a seasoned general.......2007-05-08
"War no longer exists" states author/general Rupert Smith, who spent some forty years in the British Army and retired in 2002. Indeed, confrontations between mass national armies are unlikely to occur, replaced by diplomatic efforts that hold more promise than military force. Modern examples from armed interventions that have failed to deliver resolution show why modern conflicts need a different kind of analytical focus -one that blends political and military events - rather than a traditional model of warfare fought on battlefields. Coming from a seasoned general, THE UTILITY OF FORCE: THE ART OF WAR IN THE MODERN WORLD holds much hope for the modern world and is a pick not just for military libraries but for general-interest lending collections and college-level holdings strong in social issues, as well.
Amazon.com
Author Simon Weisenthal recalls his demoralizing life in a concentration camp and his envy of the dead Germans who have sunflowers marking their graves. At the time he assumed his grave would be a mass one, unmarked and forgotten. Then, one day, a dying Nazi soldier asks Weisenthal for forgiveness for his crimes against the Jews. What would you do? This important book and the provocative question it poses is birthing debates, symposiums, and college courses. The Dalai Lama, Harry Wu, Primo Levi, and others who have witnessed genocide and human tyranny answer Wiesenthal's ultimate question on forgiveness.
Book Description
While imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, Simon Wiesenthal was taken one day from his work detail to the bedside of a dying member of the SS. Haunted by the crimes in which he had participated, the soldier wanted to confess to--and obtain absolution from--a Jew. Faced with the choice between compassion and justice, silence and truth, Wiesenthal said nothing. But even years after the way had ended, he wondered: Had he done the right thing? What would you have done in his place?
In this important book, fifty-three distinguished men and women respond to Wiesenthal's questions. They are theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China and Tibet. Their responses, as varied as their experiences of the world, remind us that Wiesenthal's questions are not limited to events of the past. Often surprising and always thought provoking,
The Sunflower will challenge you to define your beliefs about justice, compassion, and human responsibility.
Customer Reviews:
Gets you thinking.......2007-08-25
A wonderful short story of 100 pages, written very well. The opinions of all the commentators afterwards on Wiesenthals dilemma is very intriguing. This book gets you involved, and could be the best book ever written on the topic of forgiveness. You just can't help but think deeply about the author's decision to forgive, and also about forgiveness in your own life.
Wonderful book!.......2007-08-13
This book is a must for anyone who wants to understand the mortal dilemas which affected those who suffered so much from the violence of the holocaust. Amazing that ther author was able to retain his huaminity in the face of such evil, and a testament to his moral character.
The Sunflower.......2007-02-19
This book focuses on a cogent question by way of a true story and invites response from all sorts of people with pertinent experience, providing biographies of these respondents. The topic is forgiveness. I found the analysis by Dennis Prager, an L.A. talk show host, the most understanding of Christian/Jewish outlooks and Jose Hobday's perhaps the best of the Christian contributions. I am eager to discuss it with members of my theology group.
A must read on forgiveness.......2007-02-14
The title of the book comes from the tall, bright sunflowers placed upon the German soldier's graves who are buried just outside the concentration camp where the Jewish prisoners must pass daily on their way to work projects. Each grave had one "as straight as a soldier on parade . . . . " The tall golden flowers stand in contrast to the unmarked, unidentifiable mass graves, in which most of the prisoners will end up
.
This revised edition was issued in honor of the twentieth anniversary of its publication. It is divided into two sections: an extraordinary request to Simon for forgiveness by a dying 21 old SS man and the 53 responses (ten from the original volume) from prominent theologians, political leaders, writers, jurists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, Holocaust survivors, and victims of attempted genocides in Bosnia, Cambodia, China, and Tibet. Their answers reflect the teachings of their diverse beliefs - Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, secular, and agnostic - and remind us that Wiesenthal's question is not limited to events of the past. Certainly there are fundamental lessons that are as essential today as they were 60 years ago.
Who can forgive crimes committed against others asks Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century.
Are there any similarities between the national guilt faced by the German people for the Holocaust and ours for the institution of slavery and the genocide of Native Americans wonders Martin E. Marty, religious scholar and Lutheran Pastor.
Are followers in committing atrocities as guilty as their leaders inquires Dith Pran, photographer and subject of the film, "The Killing Fields," about Cambodian genocide.
Is silence its own answer if we could but learn to listen to it? Are there questions that are unanswerable queries of the soul, matters too awe-full for human response, too demonic for profound rational resolution poses Hubert Locke, Dean Emeritus, Evans School of Public Policy, University of Washington
By not forgiving do we somehow remain victims wonders Harold Kushner, Rabbi and best-selling author.
One day as part of a detail working at a hospital, Simon it taken by a nurse to see a dying young SS officer named Karl Seidl, who wants forgiveness and absolution from a Jew for the terrible things he had done, in particular an incident in which he murdered 150 Jewish men, women and children who were herded into a small house that was set on fire and when those trying to escape or jump to safety were all shot. Simon has no answer and leaves. He refuses a package of clothing the officer wants him to have telling her to ship it to the deceased's mother.
During the next two years, Wiesenthal shared this story with fellow camp mates, ending each time with: Was my silence at the bedside of the dying Nazi right or wrong?
After the war, Simon visits the officer's mother living in a bombed-out apartment in Stuttgart. All she has left are the memories of her "good son." Wiesenthal wrestles with whether he should tell her the truth about her son, but leaves saying nothing about the atrocities he took part in. She is allowed to keep her memories.
Simon addresses the reader with this critical question: "You, who have just read this sad and tragic episode in my life, can mentally change places with me and ask yourself the crucial question, 'What would I have done?'"
Simon Wiesehthal died on September 21, 2005 at the age of 96. He and his wife Cyla lost 89 relatives during the Holocaust. Simon helped to bring more than 1100 war criminals to justice, including Eichmann, Stangl, and the Nazi who took Anne Frank from her home and sent her to her death. He has been honored with numerous awards for his work, including "Commander of the Order of Orange" in the Netherlands, "Commendatore della Repubblica" in Italy, a gold medal for humanitarian work by the United States Congress, the Jerusalem Medal in Israel, and sixteen honorary doctorates. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, located in Los Angeles, is named in honor of him.
The Sunflower will force you to think deeply about issues we rarely discuss but which are essential to building and maintaining relationships, with each other and with ourselves.
Beautiful, horrifying and sad, but beautiful........2006-12-14
I didn't read this book so much as experience it. Not meant, I think, to be read from cover to cover in a sitting, but to be reflected over - or if you are like me, pondered for a long time after. I thought I could define forgiveness until reading this; I was wrong. it's many things to different people. I guess that I am in the same camp as those writers who subscribed to the idea that it is a rank act to pontificate about what a man in Simon Wiesenthal's position should have done. Most of the contributors transcended "preachiness", however, and have shared their ideas with compassion, anger and insight.
A wonderful, truly worthy read.
Book Description
In 2003, David Horowitz began a campaign to promote intellectual diversity and a return to academic standards in American universities. To achieve these goals he devised an Academic Bill of Rights and created a national student movement with chapters on 160 college campuses. Take No Prisoners is a riveting account of the reaction to Horowitz's campaign by professor unions and academic associations, whose leaderships have been taken over by the political left.
Customer Reviews:
Horowitz exposes the left-wing academic cabal.......2007-09-06
Northwestern University is just down the road from me. I see evidence of the political tilt of the academy all around me. In the seemingly endless numbers of posters espousing an endless variety of left-wing causes, including protecting terrorists who murder innocent civilians. I see it in the daily university newspaper which is distributed in town. I see and hear in the academics I encounter in daily life.
Why parents pay to send their children to a political indoctrination machine which will ultimately destroy the United States is beyond my comprehension.
David Horowitz was once a leftist. He came to his senses and has been combatting left-wing ideology since. In 2002 he "drew up an Academic Bill Of Rights whose purpose was to promote intellectual diversity on college campuses and restore academic values to university classrooms."
Any reasonable person who follows the news knows of Ward Churchill and dozens of other college professors and even high school and middle school teachers who are blatantly anti-American and use their classrooms to influence their student's thinking if not force them to regurgitate left-wing political views.
In this book, Horowitz relies heavily on his personal experiences in campaigning for his proposal to illuminate how the left-wing suppresses any poltical thought that doesn't agree its notions.
Unwittingly, though, Horowitz demonstrated the dangers of left-wing academics. In 2006, Horowitz appeared on the Duke campus. There a small group of demonstrators led by a tenured left-wing academic named Diane Nelson disrupted his address, clearly violating faculty rules of conduct. Shortly thereafter the same Diane Nelson literally signed on as one of the infamous Group of 88. The Group of 88 are a collection of mostly tenured academics at Duke who simply ignored any concept of judicial innocence and condemned three Duke lacrosse players who had been accused of sexually assaulting a black exotic dancer. The Group of 88 made it clear that race and gender trumped judicial process. In their eyes, the accused were guilty until proven innocent, a complete reversal of American Constitutional precepts.
The Group of 88 for months maintained an offensive against anyone who disagreed with them.
Even after the North Carolina Attorney General took the highly unusual step of declaring the three accused completely innocent and that no crime of any kind had occurred and even after the prosecuting attorney was disbarred for witholding evidence, Diane Nelson and the rest of the Group of 88 maintain their left-wing position.
Therein is the danger of allowing political demgogues to hold America's children hostage to their poltiical views. (It should be remembered as well that one of the Group of 88 members flunked two lacrosse players in her class, forcing Duke to settle a lawsuit with one of them.)
Horowitz succeeds in making his point - and he was helped along by circumstances. The hegemeony of the left-wing in academia is a dangerous thing and something similar to Horowitz's Academic Bill Of Rights is required to bring independence back to American academia.
Jerry
INDOCTRINATION U provides an eye-opening argument........2007-07-09
In 2003 the author began a campaign to promote intellectual diversity and a return to academic excellence in American universities, devising an 'Academic Bill of Rights' and launching a nation-wide student movement to support it. INDOCTRINATION U: THE LEFT'S WAR AGAINST ACADEMIC FREEDOM presents a case for the intellectual corruption of American universities by faculty activists who have turned classrooms into political causes. Such academic radicals have no real interest in intellectual discourse deserving of university status, Horowitz maintains: INDOCTRINATION U provides an eye-opening argument.
Addresses a serious problem.......2007-05-31
There's plenty that I like in this book. But there are some things that I would have said differently.
I probably would have used a smaller percentage of the book for anecdotal information. Sure, there are some professors who are abusing their positions and using their classrooms to propagandize. And students in those classes who disagree with such professors may be intimidated, given that their grades are at stake. But anecdotes are not always the best way to present evidence.
To explain what I mean, imagine that you are in a debate about which side the United States fought on in World War Two. You claim that we fought against Japan, while your opponent says that we and Japan were allies against China in that war. Anyway, the evidence that we fought against Japan is overwhelming, and you say so. In addition, you use some anecdotes to confirm it. But to your annoyance, your opponent cites some anecdotes that purport to show the opposite! The discussion gets into details about the anecdotes, and the whole issue looks controversial. Well, that's one reason I am less than enamored of anecdotal evidence.
Continuing my example, your opponent may then attack you as an untrustworthy person. Suddenly, the topic has changed. The issue is no longer World War Two. It's you! That is when you realize that when one has no case, the rules appear to change. You, with an overwhelming case, have truth and logic on your side, so you need to be careful to respect truth and logic. Otherwise, you will cede your advantage in a reasoned discussion. However, your opponent is under no such restrictions!
All this is a little like the theme of this fine book. Yes, there are some anecdotes. And there are discussions about unwarranted ad hominem attacks that are often used by indoctrinators to avoid having to discuss the truth. And we see that although free speech is protected, there are consequences for it. Horowitz says that "a pastor who goes into church on Sunday to preach a sermon that God does not exist will be looking for work on Monday, free speech rights or no." I agree. A person who makes elementary misstatements about mathematics may be entitled to do so, by their rights of free speech. But that in no way says that there will be no penalties. A student who does this may get a bad grade on a math exam. A professor who does so may be subject to disciplinary measures. The issue here is not academic freedom but simply academic standards. And I think these are occasionally at stake when a few professors simply substitute political propaganda for what is supposed to be scholarly work.
I don't need to debate a few anecdotes to see that there is a problem in some universities. In a field I know something about, namely the Arab war against Israel, I can see what material some professors assign in an assortment of universities. And I can see what is in the college bookstores on this topic. There's a manifest problem in quite a few of these universities.
The main point of Horowitz's book is that we should support an academic bill of rights, which he shows us in Appendix 1 of the book. These rights include ensuring "intellectual independence of professors, researchers and students." And they include demanding that faculty hiring be based on competence and knowledge of a field. In many areas, I think we already have this. But in some fields, I think competence may be of secondary value compared to "political correctness," and that is totally contrary to what ought to be the charter of our academic institutions.
While Horowitz wants to avoid political indoctrination by either liberals or conservatives, he makes it clear that the liberals look to him like the bigger problem at the moment. After all, in this book he reports that the number of "self-described `liberals'" in university positions outnumber the "self-described `conservatives'" by more than seven to one. Well, that may be a good point. But I think that the solution would be to recruit plenty of academics who might support such academic standards, and that means trying to appeal to a group of people, the majority of whom call themselves liberals.
I'm strongly against the indoctrination that Horowitz complains about. However, I think that it is not easy to make rules about it. Indoctrinators can often attempt to claim that you, not they, are in violation of your own rules. I also feel that "balance" is a tricky concept. In many classes, it is important to illustrate concepts by showing dissenting opinions. And professors should use their skills to determine what sorts of material to use in these situations. But at other times, the dissenting "opinions" are simply unreasonable, insincere, or gross propaganda. I'm not so sure what benefits there are, educationally speaking, to systematically assigning some of that subject matter in the name of "balance." To Horowitz's credit, that's not what he has in mind either.
I think this book raises some important issues, and I recommend it.
Horowitz's argument is fundamentally wrong. Here is a simple refutation of it..........2007-05-17
The view of "intellectual diversity" that Horowitz promotes should NOT be seen as a goal of education. The kind of research and teaching that goes on in universities should be guided by the pursuit of truth. Intellectual diversity, in the sense of a variety of viewpoints, is INSTRUMENTALLY useful for this goal of increasing knowledge, because more beliefs gives us a greater chance to defend our ideas and view different sides of an issue. But such diversity of beliefs should not be confused with the goal of truth or knowledge. Yet, this is the confusion that Horowitz makes when he promotes "intellectual diversity." People may be tricked into believing this argument because he appropriates the language of "diversity" from liberals' promotion of racial, gender, and ethnic diversity in affirmative action and hate speech codes. Yet, this kind of diversity is a diversity of identities, while the kind of diversity that Horowitz wants to promote in the classroom is a diversity of beliefs. The former is a plausible goal, while the latter is only instrumentally valuable, (because identities cannot be shown to be mistaken, while beliefs can be). Horowitz exploits the ambiguity between these two senses of diversity in order to make his argument. (Note: in this critique, I am drawing on Stanley Fish's critique of Horowitz's "intellectual diversity" arguments in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education from 2004, and for the distinction of diversity of beliefs vs. diversity of identities, I draw on Walter Benn Michaels' The Trouble with Diversity: How We Learned to Love Identity and Ignore Inequality).
Same tired argument.......2007-04-23
David horowitz should be commended for making a comfortable living dragging out the same tired argument. If you already agree with Horowitz's argument then you'll agree with the content of this book. If you don't, you won't. I think my one star rating makes it pretty clear that I find Horowitz's argument lacking. If you need to know why, seek out Horowitz's debates with legitimate scholars like Stanley Fish or Michael Berube.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Chinese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Irish
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Women
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Augustine, Saint
| ( A )
| People, A-Z
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Doctors & Medicine
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Lawyers & Criminals
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Love, Sex & Marriage
| Humor
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Early Civilization
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ancient
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Historiography
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asian American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Asian American
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
French
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Victorian
| Erotica
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Epic
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
German
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Chinese
| Classics
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Conspiracy Theories
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
War on Drugs
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
English (All)
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Arabic
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Armenian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Czech
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Greek
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Hungarian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Japanese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Korean
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Norwegian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Persian & Farsi
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Polish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Portuguese
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Romanian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Russian
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Swedish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Turkish
| Foreign Language
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Science
| Dictionaries & Thesauruses
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Online Research
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Native American
| Earth-Based Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Magic & Wizards
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Sailor Moon
| Popular Characters
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Pilates
| Exercise & Fitness
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
History
| Fashion
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
-
History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 3
-
Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored
-
Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory
-
They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
As a veteran war correspondent, Chris Hedges has survived ambushes in Central America, imprisonment in Sudan, and a beating by Saudi military police. He has seen children murdered for sport in Gaza and petty thugs elevated into war heroes in the Balkans. Hedges, who is also a former divinity student, has seen war at its worst and knows too well that to those who pass through it, war can be exhilarating and even addictive: “It gives us purpose, meaning, a reason for living.”
Drawing on his own experience and on the literature of combat from Homer to Michael Herr, Hedges shows how war seduces not just those on the front lines but entire societies, corrupting politics, destroying culture, and perverting the most basic human desires. Mixing hard-nosed realism with profound moral and philosophical insight,
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning is a work of terrible power and redemptive clarity whose truths have never been more necessary.
Customer Reviews:
Busting the Myth of Redemptive Violence.......2007-09-01
This book and its message is NOT an assertion that all war is inherently wrong and that there is no distinction between the administration of justice and the return of evil for evil. It is an assertion that aggressive militarism, the glorification of warfare, the failure to recognize that it is born of sin and human failure and the pimping of it by religious and political institutions is misguided at best and possibly disastrous when not discerned and/or allowed to go unchecked by Godly, moral reflection.
Very often, pacifism is equated with passiveness, even though there is no linguistic link between the two words. Therefore, the application of pacifism, or anything approaching pacifism, is regarded as disastrous.
In a certain sense perhaps pacifism and passiveness are similar. To be passive means to receive or be subject to an action without responding or initiating an action in return. But passiveness also implies that one is not participating, that one is inert. In this sense nothing could be farther from the truth.
At any rate, Hedges does not profess to be a pacifist- although I believe in a certain sense of the word that he is. Nowadays I consider myself a pacifist or peacemaker with regards to warfare. What that means to me is not a belief that all violence is always wrong no matter what. It does mean that I judge any given situation with a spiritual discernement. It means that I choose violence as a solution last... not first. It means that I do not hate my enemies, but rather love them and consider my ultimate enemy not my fellow man... but the spiritual forces of darkness in the celestial realm as the Bible teaches. It means that I know that the power to give life is far greater than the power to kill and destroy. It means that I think eternally and act spiritually inasmuch as I am able as a weak and pitiful sinner and carnal man. It means that I leave room for God's plan and God's sovereign right to vengeance before my own. It means that I do not fear death... and am thus not controlled by fear in my actions or reactions... inasmuch as I am able. I believe that this book ul;timately reveals that Mr. Hedges feels essentially the same way.
Chris Hedges is the son of a Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Thomas Hedges. He has a B.A. in English Literature from Colgate University and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, where he studied under James Luther Adams. Thus, Mr. Hedges' view of the world and of warfare are undoubtedly colored by theology. Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City and a Lecturer in the Council of the Humanities and the Anschutz Distinguished Fellow at Princeton University. He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than fifty countries, and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, where he spent fifteen years.
Hedges' has a stinging, no punches pulled, no holds barred style of writing that I personally find very strong and inspiring. This book "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning", is one of the few books that so deeply inspired me that I read it straight through as quickly as possible. The book left me a bit disenchanted and in a brooding mood in the end. The realization of the validity of Hedges' perspective and cultural commentary is a bitter pill to swallow for anyone who values true freedom and moral truth. This is heavy material for a moral, freethinking person to reflect on.
Here are two excerpts from the book that I discovered when skimming through it at the bookstore that made me buy this book:
1. "We make our heroes out of clay. We laud their gallant deeds and give them uniforms and put colored ribbons on their chests for acts of violence they commit or endure. They are our repositories of glory and honor- of power, self righteousness, patriotism and self worship - all that we want to believe about ourselves. They are our plaster saints of war- the icons we cheer to defend us and make us and our nation great. But they are part of our civic religion- our love of power and force. Our belief in our right as a chosen nation to wield this force against the weak and rule. This is our nation's idolatry of itself- and it has corrupted our religious institutions just as it has corrupted religious institutions in other nations- fusing the will of God with the will of the State to create a potent and deadly form of idolatry."
2. "War from a distance seems noble. It gives us a feeling of belonging, of comradeship, of power, a chance to play a small bit in the great drama of human history. It promises to give us an identity as a warrior, a patriot, a believer- as long as we go along with the myth- the one the war makers need to wage war. But, up close, war is a soulless void. The world of war descends to barbarity, perversion, pain and an unchecked orgy of death. It is a state where human decency and tenderness is crushed- where those who make war work overtime to reduce all love and sensitivity to smut and filth.
In war the moral order is turned upside down. All that is repulsive and feared in peacetime is lauded and cheered in war. The noise, the stench, the cries of pain, the eviscerated bodies, the bloated stinking corpses spin us into another universe. And in this moral void, often blessed by the church or the mosque or the synagogue- the hypocrisy of our social conventions, our strict adherence to religious edicts and virtues and utter refusal to honor others comes unglued. War, for all its horror, has the power to strip away the trivial and the banal, the empty chatter and self righteous obsessions that fill our days. It lets us see."
Whether you agreee with Mr. Hedges' take or not... his offering is/should be an important part of the dialog on these topics. I give the book my highest endorsement.
Prescient.......2007-08-12
A well argued work, the most amazing thing about it in hindsight is how while written before the Iraq invasion, and without once referring to its immenence, Hedges predicted so much of what has occurred in Iraq--how the 9/11 victims would become martyr fodder, the destruction of Iraqi culture, the connection between torture and pornography, the inciting of latent and rather benign ethnic differences into endless blood feuding by those who wish to perpetuate the fighting. Utilizing classic literature, an in depth understanding of conflict throughout history, and his own first hand experience as a war correspondent for decades, Hedges makes his argument that war is hell not a video game, and, while no, it's not a new one, we shouldn't as a result be going to war every time a kid who is well known for lying cries "wolf."
Thoughtful meditation on the wages of war.......2007-06-14
This book is basically a philosophical, psychological essay/meditation on war and its role in human life. At times it reads like a whirlwind tour of the atrocities and cruelties that humans have visited on one another. Hedges was a war correspondent for over a decade and traveled to many of the world's war zones, including Central America during the 1980's, the Balkans, and the Middle East. Hedges' experiences in these places obviously had a profound impact on him, and this book is essentially a collection of his impressions. Hedges seeks to situate war within the human consciousness. Using literature and actual political proclamations, he demonstrates that war is often depicted as the highest human calling, in which young men and women gain the opportunity to achieve heroism and fight (and often die) for lofty ideals. This is contrasted with the humdrum and monotony of everyday life in which many people struggle vainly to find some meaning in their lives. One of Hedges' goals is to shatter this romantic myth of war by exposing the carnage and emotional and physical destruction that it unleashes and the lies, foisted by political leaders, that undergird it. A good portion of the book follows a particular pattern. Hedges will make a general observation about "war," such as, "In times of war, such and such thing tends to happen." He then provides specific examples to back up his generalization. Probably my favorite aspect of this book was Hedges' savage indictment of nationalism. I have studied nationalism and its origins from an academic point of view (Gellner, Benedict Anderson), but Hedges here provides a compelling and damning depiction of the ways in which nationalist sentiments serve to mobilize people to commit the most barbaric acts. He provides numerous examples of how political leaders have exploited nationalist rhetoric to stir up animosities among communities for their own political gain, and how these communities far too gullibly often fall for this tactic. While fundamentalist religion in recent years has justifiably gained attention as a source of conflict, nationalism, which also creates artificial us versus them distinctions, has not garnered as much criticism.
This book is not a policy manual. Hedges concedes early on that, despite the cruely and barbarism of war, he is not a pacifist and that military action is often necessary. However, he is infuriatingly vague about what those conditions are under which war should be regarded as justified. He also takes pains to argue that he is not a moral relativist; in most conflicts, one can justifiably identify one particular side as being morally superior (or, at least, less immoral) than the other, but he doesn't clarify what criteria to use to make that distinction. In sum, this isn't the book to read if you are looking for any sort of moral guidance on when war is justified. But alas, this is probably an unfair criticism, since Hedges seeks here to write a more meditative reflection on the costs of war. Overall, I would recommend this short book (I read it in a couple of sittings) to anyone seeking such a philosophical reflection.
war is a force that gives us meaning.......2007-06-04
Chris Hedges uses past experiences to describe the reality of war. He uses what he calls "sensory reality", where people look at war in terms of what it really is as opposed to trying to justify it, making it a heroic movement. In one of his chapters he also describes "mythic reality" which he says is unfortunately used throughout the majority. Mythic reality is where people sugar coat the war in order to turn it into a success for their people. Hedges describes how the people of today try to use our constant need to fight as something to enlighten our country, they use this mythic reality in order to make themselves either the victim of the war or the heroic figure which textbooks constantly portray. As he's experienced a lot through war, he uses facts from what he himself has witnessed in order to prove that war is not a heroic event, it's rather just a brutal fight that our modern day justifies in order to be proud.
As the media today is trying to recruit, Hedges also discusses how the war is taught to the youth as something exciting, heroic and worst of all something to look forward to in order to find yourself.
Hedges is a magnificent author, ready to back up all of his points with facts from his past experience. I have nothing negative to say towards any of his theories as he has proven reality and is the one person who has let the world read the truth rather than what the textbooks say.
A Book for the Times.......2007-05-30
Prompted by reading Mr. Hedges' article on the same topic in The Nation, I wanted to read more. His book should be a 'must' reading in today's world; I have yet to read a better treatment of this timely and emotional subject.
Book Description
Presented here together for the first time are the greatest of the ancient Chinese classics of strategic thought: The Complete Art of War. Probably the most famous work of strategy ever written, Sun Tzu's Art of War has sold millions of copies in many languages around the world. Lost for more than 2000 years and only recently recovered, the Military Methods of Sun Pin (Sun Tzu's great-grandson) is a brilliant elaboration on his ancestor's work. Only The Complete Art of War brings the wisdom of these two ancient sages into a single volume and gives the reader a unique opportunity to master the essentials of Chinese thought on strategy, organization and leadership.
The Sun family writings on strategy have proven their value through the ages, and they continue to reward careful study. By unveiling the complex, often unexpected, interrelationships of armies locked in battle, they reveal the enduring principles of success in the struggle of life itself. With a practical index to the essential principles of strategy, and Ralph Sawyer's thoughtful chapter-by-chapter commentaries, The Complete Art of War is designed to bring the reader new insights into the nature of human conflict.
Whether it is playing the game of politics or building a successful marriage, closing a deal or managing a large organization, making war or even making peace, The Complete Art of War stands as one of the ultimate guides to a deeper understanding of human affairs.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2006-01-01
Bought a copy. Lost it. HAD TO buy another to replace it. An excellent book, Sawyers commentaries modernize and place in context applicable to today's managers. Clearly a lot of work went into his explanations. A must have, must read, must study. Provided me with months worth of reading material at lunch.
The teachings of the greatest military geniuses of all time........2003-11-10
Sun Tzu collected his teachings into the ancient Chinese treatise on military strategy known as "The Art of War" about twenty-five hundred years ago. Afterward his teachings were passed down through the Sun family, or a group of disciples, who edited or expounded upon the original writings until they assumed their current form. Sun Pin was the great-grandson of Sun Tzu, and he used the teachings of his brilliant ancestor to develop his Treatise "Military Methods". This wonderful translation by Ralph D. Sawyer includes both of these ancient texts.
"The Art of War" has been studied the world over by military, political and business leaders seeking to understand the nature of human conflict in all it's forms. Although thousands of years old, the teachings of Sun Tzu remain relevant even today. The maxims of Sun Tzu have been applied by students of "The Art of War" to such modern conflicts as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Sun Tzu's teachings range from the seemingly simple, such as "Someone unfamiliar with the mountains and forests cannot advance the army", to the more complex and thought provoking, such as "In order await the disordered. In tranquility await the clamorous. This is the way to control the mind." The manual covers such diverse topics as training, supplies, terrain, the seasons and the use of spys, and includes detailed commentary by China's greatest military leaders through the centuries.
"The Art of War" should be read by anyone who studies military history or strategy, and is part of the curriculum of many of the world's military academies. Studying the teachings of Sun Tzu can help you to form strategies for conflict resolution or negotiating in business, political or social endeavors through a greater understanding of human interaction.
Sun Tzu and Sun Pin are timeless.......2001-06-18
The Art of War is the oldest and best military treatise this world has seen. It is amazing how Sun Tzu can talk about strategy and warfare in thirteen short chapters. His book is just the best about competition and strategy. And now we get to Sun Pin, the military strategist. I have awesome respect for him. He was betrayed and mutilated by his best friend, and still, he survived. He defeated his nemesis in a great strategic way that Sun Tzu would have mostly likely done. These two are the best and if they were in this world today, they would won every war that we fight, by their ability to adapt. If you want to get Ancient Strategy and Chinese Culture, get this book.
Excellent.......2001-06-04
The publishing of both Sun Tzu's and Sun Pin's works together makes for a valuable purchase. I've found that this translation is also quite easy to follow, and the comments assist with interpretation. These works represent awesome insights into the nature of warfare.
suffering.......2001-04-20
The text does not remotely fill the entire page to lengthen the book and suggest a happier price. Sun Pin's addition is severely garbled because the original text was damaged and it's contadictory. The most likely reason that Sun Pin's methods were forgotten and preserved only in a tomb was because (GEE GOLLY) people believed it wasn't worth reading. The commentary uses the word obvious extremely often among various other uneeded lengthening exercises.The author describes himself as an imaginative entrepenuer.(Sun Tzu flirts with perfection)
Book Description
Hannah ArendtÂ's authoritative report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann includes further factual material that came to light after the trial, as well as ArendtÂ's postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account.
Customer Reviews:
A Classic that Elaborates on the Genocide of Jews and Others.......2007-09-20
I am delighted to see this classic back in print. Jewish author Hannah Arendt has provided a wealth of timeless information that goes far beyond the trial of the German war criminal Adolf Eichmann. This review is based on the original (1964) edition.
Arendt (p. 39) gives the readers a taste of the scale of the Kristallnacht (November 1938): 7,500 Jewish shop windows broken, all synagogues burned, and 20,000 Jewish men incarcerated in concentration camps. In common with many others who wrote during the first two decades after WWII, Arendt (p. 5, 11-12) addresses the issue of Jewish passivity in the face of death during the later roundups and transports to the death camps.
Arendt briefly discusses the fate of Jews of some individual European nations. She mentions the conniving of the Bulgarians (with, of course, the implied freedom to do so) performed in order to avoid sending their Jews to the death camps, and the fact that Finland, Germany's ally, was never seriously pressured to turn over her 2,000 Jews to be murdered (p. 170). Clearly, the latter part of the oft-repeated statement, "Not all of the victims of the Nazis were Jews, but all Jews were victims of the Nazis" is incorrect.
Throughout this work, Arendt gives various biographical details of Adolf Eichmann. For example, she mentions that he was a Gottglaubiger (p. 27), a Nazi term for those who had broken with Christianity, and which Eichmann maintained right up to the very moment of his hanging, having refused the solace and Bible reading of a Protestant minister (p. 252).
Arendt briefly discusses Hitler's flouting of the Versailles treaty and his rise to power. While Jan T. Gross has asserted that there were Poles who praised Hitler in the 1930's, Arendt makes it clear that this was far from limited to Poland during that time: "...Hitler was admired everywhere as a great national statesman." (p. 37).
While most recent Holocaust materials focus on the real or imagined collaboration of locals in the sending of Jews to their deaths, Arendt is unsparing in her criticism of Jewish collaborators in this regard: "Without Jewish help in administrative and police work--the final roundup of Jews in Berlin was, as I have mentioned, done entirely by Jewish police--there would have been either complete chaos or an impossibly severe drain on German manpower. (p. 117). She adds that, because of this collaboration, only a few thousand Germans, most of whom furthermore only did office work, were able to send hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths (p. 117). Finally, Arendt concludes that: "Wherever Jews lived, there were recognized Jewish leaders, and this leadership, almost without exception, cooperated in one way or another, for one reason or another, with the Nazis. The whole truth was that if the Jewish people had been unorganized and leaderless, there would have been chaos and plenty of misery but the total number of victims would hardly have been between four and a half and six million. (According to Freudiger's calculations about half of them could have saved themselves if they had not followed the instructions of the Jewish councils..." (p. 125).
Arendt (p. 42, 118, etc.) elaborates on the actions of a Jew, Rudolf Kastner (Kasztner). He made a deal with Eichmann in which 1,684 Jews were allowed to go to Palestine in exchange for Kastner's silence before and during which 476,000 Hungarian Jews were sent to the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
Jan Tomasz Gross, who has gotten a great deal of publicity for his books (NEIGHBORS and FEAR), has stated that the 2-3 million Poles who died in the hands of the Germans were largely the collateral victims of military action. Arendt knows better: "...Eichmann knew that right behind the front lines all Russian functionaries ("Communists"), all Polish members of the professional classes, and all native Jews were being killed in mass shootings." (p. 95). "At no point, however, either in the proceedings or the judgment, did the Jerusalem trial mention even the possibility that extermination of whole ethnic groups--the Jews, or the Poles, or the Gypsies--might be more than a crime against the Jewish or the Polish or the Gypsy people, that the international order, and mankind in its entirety, might have been grievously hurt and endangered." (pp. 275-276). Arendt realizes the alternative future: "The measures against Eastern Jews were not only the result of anti-Semitism, they were part and parcel of an all-embracing demographic policy, in the course of which, had the Germans won the war, the Poles would have suffered the same fate as the Jews--genocide. This is no mere conjecture: the Poles in Germany were already being forced to wear a distinguishing badge in which the "P" replaced the Jewish star, and this, which we have seen, was always the first measure to be taken by the police in instituting the process of destruction)." (pp. 217-218).
Arendt praises the Danes for saving Jews during WWII and then, without mentioning the incomparably more difficult conditions under which Polish rescuers of Jews labored, nevertheless gives the Poles their due. After listing some individual examples of Polish assistance to Jews, Arendt adds the following: "One witness claimed that the Polish underground had supplied many Jews with weapons and had saved thousands of Jewish children by placing them with Polish families. The risks were prohibitive; there was the story of an entire Polish family who had been executed in the most brutal manner because they had adopted a six-year-old Jewish girl." (p. 231).
Beneath the thin layer of civilization.......2007-07-19
In covering, from a moral and ethical rather than legal standpoint, the trial of former Nazi Adolf Eichmann, Arendt must have known she was jumping head first into certain controversy. While I disagree with her insistence on international law, as opposed to an Israeli-ran trial (unlike Arendt, I have the hindsight of the Milosevic trial, not to mention pretty much every other pathetic joke of international law flouted by the U.N. but to which no nation honestly adheres outside Belgium), I must say that she made a rather convincing case regarding the "banality of evil".
Her point seemed to be, to the outrage of her critics, that seemingly normal men are capable of doing terrible deeds. It doesn't take a monster to act monstrous. Her critics accused her of attempting to humanize a Nazi war criminal, but I think what most people were secretly offended at was her assertion of the duality of human nature. We like to think of history and sociology in terms of black and white, good and evil. There are good guys, and there are bad guys, and there is no blur between them...
What Arendt is saying is that, save the occasional saint, we are all capable of committing the crimes that Eichmann did. It may take years of systematic propaganda, carrots and sticks, career enhancements, and whatnot, but in the end, the leap Eichmann took from ethical civilization into barbaric genocide wasn't a far leap at all. Weimar Germany wasn't a Third World country. For an industrialized, cultured, and Western nation to descend so rapidly into the dark age of Nazism is not a sign of any inherent flaw in German civilization, but rather of how thin the line between humanity and barbarism truly is.
Whether you agree with Arendt or not, the book will make you think. There's nothing wrong with hearing a fresh and opposing viewpoint, even for debate's sake.
Books:
- The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II
- The Book Thief (Book Sense Book of the Year Children's Literature (Awards))
- The Death of a President: November 20-November 25
- The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored Fighting Vehicles: The Comprehensive Guide to over 900 Armored Fighting Vehicles from 1915 to the Present Day
- The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate
- The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
- The Jacobite Wars
- The Journey of the Lost Boys: A Story of Courage, Faith and the Sheer Determination to Survive by a Group of Young Boys Called "The Lost Boys of Sudan"
- The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living
- The Maps of Gettysburg: The Gettysburg Campaign, June 3 - July 13, 1863
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Infidel
- Cold Blooded
- Sperm Competition and Its Evolutionary Consequences in the Insects.
- The Mediterranean Heart Diet: How It Works and How to Reap the Health Benefits, with Recipes to Get
- West of the Imagination
- Earth-Sheltered Houses: How to Build an Affordable Underground Home
- At Bertram's Hotel
- The Harvard Five in New Canaan: Midcentury Modern Houses by Marcel Breuer, Landis Gores, John Johans
- The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus
- Illustrated Guide to Pollen Analysis
The Art of War & The Prince by Machiavelli
