Events Books

This seering uncompromising volume is one of the most important books published in the past thirty years.

The many excellent chapters penned by world-class historians and analysts destroy the mendacious rationale for the welfare-warfare state, that monstrocity at war with America itself and the world.

In particular, Murray N. Rothbard's two essays, "Two Just Wars: 1776 and 1861" and "World War I as Fulfillment: Power and the Intellectuals" are especially crucial to understanding how this messianic drive for empire and regimentation came about.

_The Costs of War_ thoroughly examines how the US has gone from being a peaceful republic to the empire it is today. From the Civil War to the Spanish-American War and the World Wars, the essays in this volume tell you about the individuals who deliberately turned the country against its long-standing isolationist tradition, and how and why they did it.

More importantly, in keeping with its title, the book also describes the high price we've paid for the warfare state, not only in human lives, but also in damage to the economy, the culture, and especially liberty.

This book is essential for anyone who wants to understand what's going on in the world today in the context of what has gone before. The information and ideas here are extremely important, now moreso than ever, and I give the book my highest possible recommendation.

~The Costs of War: America's Pyrrhic Victories~ is a compelling and powerful anthology directed against the imperial psychosis of our times. It offers a sweeping indictment of the costs of war in terms of loss of life, the effect on morality in the aftermath, inflation, mounting debt, statism, the loss of civil liberties and economic freedom. A multitude of collaborators have contributed to this powerful anthology including John Denson, Samuel Francis, Thomas Fleming, David Gordon, Paul Gottfried, Robert Higgs, Justin Raimondo, Murray Rothbard, Joseph Stromberg, Clyde Wilson, et al. In the words of Justin Raimondo, the "noninterventionist movement" has been "relegated to the margins of American politics, confined to pacifists and extreme leftists, on the one hand, and extreme rightists, including libertarians as well as members of the John Birch Society, on the other." Many of my nominally conservative friends have been of the mindset that a martial obsession is a novel conservative value. However, if they study history more objectively than they will find that there is nothing particularly conservative about being "warlike" and obsessed with "militarism," particularly within the Old Right conservative tradition at home in America. The neoconservative interlopers have led them astray. Notwithstanding our present-day abandonment of the non-interventionist tradition, its roots go back deep into America history. The founding fathers enshrined their commitment to non-interventionism in the Neutrality Act of 1793. "The Great rule of conduct for us," proclaimed George Washington, "in regard to foreign Nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible... It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." Thomas Jefferson further lauded the virtue of strategic independence, in proclaiming: "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." John Quincy Adams surmised, "America does not go abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." Some of our "monsters" in recent years whether Osama Bin Ladin or Saddam Hussain were actually considered our allies. Moreover, these "monsters" were foreign aid recipients and are actually "monsters" of our own countenance at one time. In my humble opinion, America's security lies in a foreign policy based on strategic independence and armed neutrality, not in reckless intervention abroad or in countless foreign entanglements, alliances, and commitments to international bodies like the United Nations.

Many people see the Second World War as a defining case against non-interventionism, but if they studied history more objectively than they would see how American intervention in the so called war to end all wars, the Great War, in fact paved the way for the Great Crusade in the Second World War. Woodrow Wilson's intervention in the Great War and his campaign to "make the world safe for democracy" actually served to make the world safe for both Hitler and Stalin. The seeds of Nazi Germany were planted by the forced abdication of the Kaiser and the vehement economic retribution perpetrated by the Western Allies like England and France against Germany, which only served to destabilise Germany and radicalise her body politic.

John Denson astutely surmises, "The greatest accomplishment of Western Civilization is arguably the achievement of individual liberty through limits on the power of the state. In the war-torn twentieth-century, we rarely hear that one of the main costs of armed conflict is the long-term loss of liberty to winners and losers alike." War for America, despite our overwhelming victories, has been one Pyrrhic victory after the other. "Beyond the obvious costs of dead and wounded soldiers, there is the lifetime struggle of veterans to live with their nightmares and their injuries; the hidden economic costs of inflation, debts, and taxes; and more generally the damages caused to our culture, our morality, and to civilisation at large." With this erudite anthology, Denson and many others illustrate the costs of war and the heavy toll that an imperial mindset unleashes on a nation. To encapsulate some of the brilliant content therein: Richard Gamble takes on the perennial champion of imperialism in the nineteenth-century Abraham Lincoln in a terse analysis of his sordid legacy, his war of aggression; Richard Raico sketches the costs of America's needless involvement in the Great War, in an essay entitled `World War I: The Turning Point;' Robert Higg's profound essay entitled `War and Leviathan' sketches a history of how war preparedness has led to a continual aggrandisement of power in the hands of the state while proving itself to be detrimental to freedom; and Paul Gottfried asks the most heterodox question of our time, in his essay `Is Modern Democracy Warlike?'

This book squarely challenges the prevailing myth that our sustained history of war in the twentieth-century has made us freer and secured more freedom at home. War is an engine for aggrandisement of power in the hands of state, centralisation, as well as sweeping cultural and moral changes. After WWII, Americans became acclimated to payroll withholding, a hefty income tax, and a mammoth centralised bureaucracy. Nonetheless, the idea that there is somehow salvific cleansing power in the spilt blood of the America G.I. continues to prevail. I whole-heartedly recommend this book. Thomas Woods put it best, "The Costs of War is easily one of the most important books to emerge from American conservatives in a generation." I whole-heartedly recommend this jewel, which is a reminder of the costs of war and a defender of the non-interventionist tradition which must be recovered.

Although soundly invested in the critiques provided in each of the contributions to "The Costs of War: America's Phyrric Victories," I find the refusal by Mises intellectuals to entertain extending the franchise of soldiering to the ruling classes (and even, now, to the comfortable middle classes) by way of compulsory service a hollow defense.

Mr. Stromberg (whose analysis here, as in his articles dating back many years, speaks truth to power most lucidly) himself has been heard dismissing the James Fallows assertion. To paraphrase: that until the mothers of soldiers in comfortable white suburban towns are ringing the phones off-the-hook screaming at their Congressmen "YOU KILLED MY BOY!" the lives of Fallows' working-class "Chelsea boys" will continue to be defiled in the name of state sponsored phyrric misadventures as they are marched off to slaughter.

What other than placing the incidence (costs) of warfare squarely in the laps of the decisionmaking class will stall the state-led rush to war? Surely not the scorn of intellectuals. Surely not the "mature restraint" shored up by our shuddering constitutional system, increasingly torn to shreds by means of "unitary executive" assertion. Alas, surely not the thoroughly "professionalized" "all-volunteer" armed forces, marshalled by increasingly unaccountable yes-man officers, themselves at the beck and call of revolving-door insider-intellectuals, presidents, congressmen, and captains of industry as they engage in the lapping up of the "political means to wealth"--the overwhelming majority "exempted" from their service on the battlefield.

John V. Denson edited a useful anthology that undermines the "popular history" (popular nonsense)of recent U.S. History and the rise of empire which is a term the Establishemnt does not like because empire is an honest definition. Denson chose excerpts which deal with the rapid growth of centralized government, the disintegration of constitutional rights, and an ever increasing national debt all of which is related to unnecessary war since the Civl War or the War of Southern Succession.

Denson's introductory essay is worth reading. This essay gives the reader a glimpse of the book's theme, and his essay is a good introduction to the rise of militarism in the United States since 1860. Denson's introduction presents the reader with a cause-and effect relationship between war and the erosion of rights.

The essays that examine the Civil War, especially Murray Rothbard's essay, gives a view of the Civil War that reveals that actual origins of this tragedy as opposed to the childish convention that somehow the Civil War began over the issue of slavery. Readers should note that Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson was opposed to slavery. Gen. Robert E. Lee emancipated his slaves. On the other hand, Gen. Grant had to free his slaves to take command of the Army of the Potomac. Gen. Sherman of the Union also owned slaves. As some of the essays clearly state, Pres. Lincoln antagonized the Southerners with manacing military actions especially on Virginia's border which resulted in the Virginians joining the Confederacy.

The essays dealing with World War I and World War II should be of particular interest to those not familiar with actual the origins of these wars. Textbook writers give the false impression that Pres. Wilson and U.S. authorities were neutral prior to April 6, 1917 when members of the U.S. Congress voted to declare on the Germans and their allies. The facts were that American bankers and powerful political fugures had given money and resources to the British and French espcially after 1915. Pres. Wilson had U.S. supply vessels sail into war zones to assist the British and French and to deliberately antagonize the Germans into provocation.

Murray Rothbard's essay regarding World War I is instructive. He chides Walter Lippmann for being a ferocious advocate of U.S. entry into World War I as well as a proponent of military conscription (slavery). Yet, when Mr. Lippmann realized that he was of draft age and in good health, he used his connections with Felix Frankfurter to avoid having to face angry gunfire. Lippmann's excuse was that he wanted to help shape the post World War I United States in line what the "intellectuals" thought was necessary for everyone else. Mr. Lippmann annointed himself as one of Plato's philosopher kings. This anecdote is indeed instructive. This is line with the adage that, "War hath no fury as that of the non-combatent." One should note that the current group of armchair patriots have never seen combat. Vice President Cheney had five (5) draft deferments and never saw one he did not like. Yet, he is similiar to Walter Lippmann in that Cheney wants war but never wants to face war's dangers. Lippmann and Cheney fit Andy Jacobs' descriptions of War Wimps and Chicken Hawks.

The essays dealing with the costs of war reveal that the plutocratic rich benefit from military expendatures, but the public never gets to see the bills until later when they come due. Those who prefer to remain ignorant and comfortable about the costs of war only protest when taxes and inflation damage their economic status. Yet, these folks may hold a key to stopping the war machine as suggested in one of the essays if they alerted their U.S. Senators and Representatives.

The appeal to "Demokracy" to initiate wars is ludicrous which Messers Gottfired and Hoppe make very clear. The fact is wars in the name of democracy or wars in the name of the people are the most destructive. A point well made is "Vox populi Vox Dei" applies to war. Modern political views state the voice of the public, no matter how stupid or wrong, is a substitute for reason and knowledge.

Mr. Denson's book is useful for those who are puzzled by the rise of the military state. Readers should also consult the bibliogrphy in this book. Harry Elmer Barnes' anthology titled PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE and James J. Martin's REVISIONIST VIEW POINTS are especially useful. Mr. Denson's THE COSTS OF WAR is timely and well worth reading.

An excellent, if somewhat dated book. And here in the South Pacific - complete with its coups and mutinies now - Luttwak seems downright wrong in a number of respects. Perhaps our region is different from 60s Africa. Still, an immensely readable and frighteningly enjoyable book

Edward Luttwak's first and finest work, Coup d'Etat is the product of the close study of how dozens of governments around the world were successfully overthrown.

By examining the successful and failed strategies and tactics of those who staged the coups, Luttwak synthesizes a step-by-step guide to oust a regime and install a replacement. The political technology he develops, like military hardware, is value-neutral - like a firearm, anyone can employ it for ends good or evil.

As long as there are tyrannical regimes, there will always be a need for good people to be able to stage or sponsor successful coups d'etat. This volume is a practical handbook of immense value to the planning, execution, and long-term success of a regime change. Likewise, it provides a real-world aid to devise defensive means of protecting a government against a coup d'etat.

Advances in information technology since the book was written enter new variables into the formula, but Luttwak's basic concept remains fundamentally sound. As long as there will be coups d'etat, there will be a need for students and policymakers to study and master this book.

Perhaps my impression is wrong but it seems to me that there have not been as many coup d'etats in the past decade as there were in the fifties and sixties. Nonetheless the subject remains one of perennial interest. Luttwalk here provides a kind of step-by- step guidebook for any would be coup-ist. He teaches that , "the coup d'etat uses precisely those parts of the state apparatus which are the prime target of revolutionary war: the armed forces, the police and the security agencies. The technique of the coup s the technique of judo : the planners of the coup infiltrate and subvert a small critical part of the security apparatus, which they then use with surgical precisionto displace the political leadership from its control of the rest of the state bureaucracy"
Luttwalk in this book describes and details the intelligence techniques required before the coup, the military techniques required during it and the propaganda techniques required to provide it with legitimacy afterwards..
He says it has no ideology behind it.
This is a compact richly informative work which makes use a variety of examples to establish its principal points.

With Coup d'Etats continuously occurring all over the world, this book is more relevant than ever in dealing with the subject. For example, using the framework developed in this book, it is easy to understand why the many recent coup attempts in Venezuela have failed (both by Chavez and the more recent one against him). Every time there is a coup I find myself referring back to the book in order to determine if there were any telltale signs to predict whether the coup will be successful or not.

His basic framework involves timing, media control and popular support, and government organizational structure. With these factors in mind, the author examines a large number of coups, both successful and failed. The inner stories of many of these coups is fascinating by itself, yet the author does a good job of telling the tale while drawing the main lessons from it.

I ran into this book at the age of 12. When I realized how much fun this book could be (a few years later) it had disappeared from the local library. Looking for years at many university libraries, later I found out that even when it was listed it turned out to be stolen!
Bought it on-line, read it and enjoyed it. Nice for an intercontinental flight and beyond.

Mr. Kiesling is of course famous for his notable letter of resignation at the beginning of the latest Iraq adventure after which he left a 20 year career as a diplomat. Hearing the backstory of his departure alone would have been interesting enough reading. But, surprisingly, that story is only the introduction to the real book.

Diplomacy Lessons ends up being a tour-de-force about the modern craft of international affairs, a book that transmits both the soul of the profession and the technical details that make up getting along in a world transformed by globalization. Befitting the archaeogical background of its author, the book delves into international relations with a much more sweeping view, starting with Greek democracy and projecting into the future. Diplomacy Lessons goes beyond the shallow headlines of our news sources into what's really going on - not just back room details, but simple stuff like "Hey, there are reactionary nationalists in EVERY country." You get the immediate sense that this is the backstory you need in order to understand current events.

Not that it's an easy read. Probably to the reader's benefit, the book has not been overly edited to meet mass appeal. The text can be quite dense at times, and the organization can seem a bit haphazard. Then again, to leave much out would detract from the value it provides.

The author also adds choice phrases that can only come from a man never again considering a career in federal government such as "the flies gathered in swarms like defense contractors." Who knows if a big publishing house would have let such zingers go - but it adds to the color.

If you follow the news AT ALL, then BUY THIS BOOK.

I recieved this book as a Christmas present. It is certainly the kind of book I'm fond of reading. This was no exception. As a career diplomat, Kiesling sees the importance of projecting American inflence, but as the subtitle suggest he is "realistic" is how far this influence can go. However, his presenation gets repetitive in places and is needlessly wordy. For example, he included, as an appendix, his letter of resignation. You can see in the personal document that his natural writing style is rather verbose. Some of that style made it way into this book. Still an important addition to the bookshelf library. Four stars.

Kiesling's cogently and convincingly presented lessons are a useful read for anybody who takes an interest in foreign policy, but all our politicians, of BOTH parties, ought to read it. Unfortunately, very few of them will.

I bought this book after seeing Mr. Kiesling speak about it in a bookshop on PBS. I was impressed by his sincerity and knew, from the chaos of our involvement in Iraq and elsewhere, that his insight was needed. As a career diplomat, he's seen first-hand how diplomacy has been shunted aside in favor of blundering military might. He isn't just defending his own field, however, since he demonstrates how arrogance actually loses ground for the U.S., both by making us more of a target and destroying our credibility with potential friends. While he's on-target as far as he goes, Mr. Kiesling stops a bit short in his criticism of the Bush administration. He sees it as incompetent but basically well-meaning, rather hastily dismissing any ulterior motives. I suppose this is due to residual loyalty, but the more credible doubts about the administration's motives should eventually be attended to.

This is the BEST BOOK I have ever read on real world diplomacy. The combination of his feet on the ground experience and clear eyed view of American diplomacy is most powerful. I started writing down pithy, pertinent quotations as I read it through the second time, but I filled up too many notebook pages. Perhaps it will be best to read it yet again! Here are a few: "A politician who obeys the dictates of a hostile superpower is toast." "..local nationalism and resistance to outsiders trumps the call of ideology or religion." "Someone whose ego has been sandblasted by the humiliations of learning a language successfully from scratch as an adult is bettter at risking the reciprocal vulnerability required for relationship building."

Once again, I didn't want to put this book down. These writers are EXCELLENT!!!

I started reading the Thoene's books several years ago and enjoy them with my heart and mind. They bring history to life. I started out with the Zion Legacy & went on to A.D. Chronicles. I couldn't get enough so I began the Zion Covenant and only need to read the last two of the Zion Chronicles. I have a total of 22 of their books. I just can't get enough of their writing. Their books bring out so many emotions - they are all about God and His son, Jesus, and how they intervene in our lives. Their books are about hope - don't we need that in these days, too?

This book is faithful to the Biblical message, but "fleshes out" the biblical narrative with fictional characters and events. It is very exciting, very inspiring, and very Biblical.

Loved the book -- continuing the fictionalized (but historically accurate) story of Jesus' time on earth.

I love Bodie Thoene's books...all of them and have read most everything she has written and recommended them to others. Brock does the research and it is super! The insight into the Scriptures is beautiful and very informative. This book gives you a lot to think about and has gotten me to not only think about what she has written, but has had me check out the Scriptures again. I have shared her books with friends and now they too are fans. I never start a series of her books until she has quite a few of them out as I hate to wait for the next one. 8th Shepherd doesn't disappoint and the C.D. Chronicles will be rated as among her best.

I became aware of this book from footnotes of another book I recently read. Mr. Kwitney also wrote the Introduction to "The Hoffa Wars" which was authored by his friend Dan Moldea.

"Endless Enemies" was printed in 1984, but remains very relevant to U.S. foreign policy yet today.
The fiascoes examined in this book are a matter of history repeating itself today, only with some new characters in the cast.

"The corruption of foreigners cannot be accomplished without the corruption of Americans." That quote from page 94 all too often accurately depicts the results of foreign policy.

Jonathan Kwitney exposes how Exxon, Mobil, and British Petroleum(Known than as Anglo-Iranian Oil) in collusion affected the overthrow of Iran's Premier in 1953 and what the motive really was. He got ahold of "journalist" Kenneth Love's correspondence with Allen Dulles regarding his involvement in the action.

He examines the power and influence of major oil companies dating back to pre-WWII agreements between Exxon and I.G.Farben. He details how oil companies in particular have set the agenda for U.S policy abroad often at the expanse of the taxpayer. That brought to mind the secret meetings between Cheney and the energy companies early in Bush's first term.

I found his investigating of the heroin sources and C.I.A.(Air America) transportation of it fascinating.

He used the Dulles brothers as prime examples of the allegiances of international businesses, large law firms like Sullivan & Cromwell, and the C.I.A. in setting foreign policy and covert actions.

"Endless Enemies" is a revealing, critical look at U.S. foreign policy in several countries covering many administrations. This is one of the more impressive books on the subject, I would put it in the same league as Chalmers Johnson's books. It's great as a history of this subject.

This book was published in 1984, and it's no longer in print, although there are plenty of used copies available. It deserves at least one new review every year. It appears as though I will be the first for 2008.

I agree with the first Amazon reviewer of this book (Marion Delgado in 2002) that reading it will increase your IQ significantly in any discussion of world events. That is even truer today than it was when the book was first published. It's that good. If there were only one book I would make required reading for every United States citizen, this would be the book. It has the advantage of being written and published before the occurrence of the absurdly extreme political polarization of our two party system. That's not to say that republicans and democrats weren't quarreling in 1984, they were. But they're not quarrelling today, they're demonizing their opponents and expressing desires to execute them for treason. That's a big change in just 25 years.

Unfortunately, this book demonstrates clearly and succinctly why today the United States is in extreme decline, and why it is probably too late to effect much reversal of fortune. Mr. Kwitny's concept of the United States is essentially the same one I learned growing up - that our country is fundamentally sound and noble, that it is fundamentally free and open, that it is fundamentally a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. Our strength and nobility derive from the fact that our government and culture are based on basic principles of freedom and democracy as stated in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. And from that basic concept, Mr. Kwitny demonstrates, with astonishing insight, understanding and documentation, how the US has almost systematically deviated from those principles since the Second World War with regard to foreign policy, substituting instead an extreme fear and hatred of communism. This displacement of our basic principles in favor of a shortsighted (indeed blind) conflict-by-conflict struggle against a largely mythologized enemy (the USSR), has slowly converted the world neighborhood into a very distrusting and sometimes even hostile planet. Our values, principles and way of life, rather than being well served by this deviation, have been severely damaged, with direct consequences (both political and economic) to the American people. Our foreign policy has been a total failure not only in terms of the harm it has done to the rest of the world, but also equally in terms of the harm we have done to ourselves. And world events since the time of first publication have shown dramatically how true that was then, and still is today.

What is frightening however, is that Mr. Kwitny showed us all this in 1984, when it still appeared possible to mend our ways and find our way back to our founding principles. Since then, US foreign policy has evolved from awful to terrifying. The evils perpetrated then as a result of a culturally ignorant, misguided and narrow-minded government, are being perpetrated today by willful greed, lust for power, and a completely conscious disrespect (bordering on contempt) for the very principles that Mr. Kwitny (and millions of Americans) hold out as our only hope.

The world today was eminently foreseeable in 1984. "Endless Enemies" saw it all too clearly, even predicting (unknowingly) very specific world events that actually unfolded (Afghanistan > the mujahadeen > 9/11). I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone with one caveat - reading it may induce a profound sense of loss, sadness and nostalgia for an American zeitgeist that was still present in 1984. The world that "Endless Enemies" warned us was coming if we did not rectify our foreign policy is upon us. But I don't think Mr. Kwitny is shaking his finger at us from the far side of the grave and mumbling "I told you so". I think he is weeping, as many Americans are, for the great light and hope in the world that has been extinguished.

One of the best books written about the true nature of US foreign policy. BUT if you are going to buy it get the first printing of the hardcover edition. The Rockefeller family got a judge to act as post publication editor and force the removal of a number of sections related to their activities in Iran in later editions.

As indicated in the other reviews, this book is superb. Do try to get the original Congdon & Weed print.

I met Kwitny at a book signing for the Penguin version. He explained why the book had a rather large number of blank pages. In 1953, Kennett Love was the New York Times's man in Tehran during the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of Mossadegh. Preparing for the book, Kwitny had obtained Love's notes on the event, which were archived at Princeton under the control of a former CIA officer. In his notes, Love had somewhat gleefully described his friendly advice to an anti-Mossadegh tank crew that was sitting on its collective thumbs at the height of the attack on Mossadegh's compound. Love also recounted his cooperation in distributing anti-Mossadegh "firmans" on the street.

Love sued Kwitny and the publisher for infringement of copyright. The Penguin edition came out during the lawsuit, and one condition was that any references to Love would be whited out. Kwitny had some remainders of the original edition, and for $10, I was able to get one from him. Kwitny made no mention of involvement by the Rockefellers, but this of course does not mean that they might not have been operating behind the scenes. The lawsuit was finally settled in Kwitny's favor, but I think by then Congdon & Weed had gone belly-up.
Somebody needs to reprint the original version.

I hate not being able to finish a book.

Jonathan Kwitny, a former NYT reporter, describes in excruciating detail U.S. foreign policy disasters in Zaire, Angola, Iran, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Cuba, The Philippines, China, Lebanon, El Salvador, Vietnam, Korea, Ethiopia and elsewhere -- and frankly after a couple hundred pages of this I was simply too dispirited to continue reading.

I'm probably naive or idealistic or both, but I want to believe my country stands for the principles expounded in our Declaration of Independence. Reading this exhaustive, carefully-researched, emotionally-detached and factual account to the contrary turned out to be painful and destructive to my civic pride.

Kwitny's book, written at the end of Reagan's first term, makes it clear that economic meddling has been going on at least since WWII, and so I guess it should come as no surprise that it's in full swing again, as detailed by John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." Stephen Kinzer's "All The Shah's Men" tells more of the story of Iran (which is heavily censored here due to lawsuits at the time of publishing).

One lesson taken from this book is that it's not just the conservative Republican administrations which have sent troops to further the economic interests of financial contributors. Apparently ALL politics is infected with the virus of economic imperialism -- a sad truth I'd rather not have learned.

Well I have to say after receiving this book yesterday at 6pm I was done reading it by midnight. I just couldn't put the book down. The writing is so good and the flow of the book so steady, that as a reader you can't help but remain on the edge of your seat. The other nice thing about this book is that while the subject matter is complex, it is presented in a way understandable to all. HIGHLY recommended.

I loved this book, and not just because I am a lifelong turtle nut. I couldn't put this book down although at times it made me cry. Great storytelling, intelligent without being dry, and I wanted to tell everyone I know to read it. A must read for anyone into turtles, marine biology and oceanography, ecology, commercial fishing, commercial agriculture, veterinary medicine, and medical research.

"It all rolls into one, and nothing comes for free" -Robert Hunter

I knew that sea turtles were endangered or threatened but never really investigated the reasons why. I found this book while perusing the book store and it caught my attention so I bought it and read it.
The book is well written and speaks to a non-biologist audience. It simply tells of the authors investigations into the reasons that they think the sea turtles are dying off at an alarming rate. It left me with my mouth gaping open and wondering why more people are not educated about the plight of this species.
While reading, the author makes you feel a part of their experiences, as if you were scuba diving with these creatures.
If the data from this book is any indication of the plight of the Earth's oceans, it is a very scary thought of what may be to come.
I recommend this book for ANYONE who is inquisitive about the hype surrounding "our dying oceans". It gives a detailed account of the afflictions affecting sea turtles and what we are trying to do to save them. The problem appears to go way beyond this mysterious virus. The book made me cry and get angry at the same time. We need to find out what is happening and target the source.
In the preface of the paperback edition, the author makes this statement: "If I could coin a blessing for a new world, it would be this: May your children swim in an ocean full of turtles." Amen to that Osha Gray Davidson.

Unequivocally, I loved this book! Parts biological mystery, turtle evolution, naturalist history and love story to the sea, it's wrapped up in very engaging prose. It made me fall in love with the creatures!! And apparently I'm not the only one...

In a book I read last year, "Costa Rica: The Last Country The Gods Made," the authors' dedicated the book to a green sea turtle!! It read:

"To the green sea turtle who twenty-five years ago bumped the bottom of a boat in Key West, Florida, scaring a little girl. Those tears and this book are for you and your descendants."

Here's hoping that turtle's descendants will STILL be around in another 25 years! But the more people who read this book, the more attention these endangered animals will deservedly get.

Fire In the Turtle House is a thorough, investigative account of many dedicated marine biologist, scientists, and turtle lovers trying to figure out how and why green sea turtles have become afflicted with fibropamillomatosis. The virus is killing off the specie in untold numbers and will lead to their extinction. By the reading the book not only did I learn about sea turtles, and how they live and breed, but I got an enormous education in marine biology and how the ocean is a precious habitat for these creatures. The author helped me understand by giving specific examples as to how man is contributing to the ocean's decline and thus sea life's decline. This isn't a diatribe on man but a well thought out provocative look at a very important topic told so that everyone can understand. There is a quote in the book by Arthur C. Clarke that says that our planet should not of been called Earth but perhaps "Oceana." Very true when most of the planet is made up of water, as are we. My eyes have been open to the truth of this statement after reading Fire in the Turtle House.

Nat Hentoff is one of the few writers who has not been selective in his defense of the First Amendment--the only absolute, no-exceptions law in the United States. As a result, he has been castigated by both the Left and the Right, depending on whose right to free speech is endangered.



He performs an invaluable public service when he exposes the inherent hypocrisy of groups claiming that their First Amendement rights are being disrespected. Evangelical Christians wring their hands ad nauseam and wail about how the ACLU would make it illegal for someone to sit under a tree riding the Bible. Even worse than the sheer idiocy of this prediction is the fact that the same evangelical Christian would happily take away my right to sit under the adjacent tree reading HUSTLER. Although it revolts me, I know that someone else can ride the city bus reading MEIN KAMPF and be 100% within their rights.



I encourage anyone who wants to keep the future of free expression alive--either as a consumer or as a creator, or both--to read FREE SPEECH FOR ME, BUT NOT FOR THEE. Hentoff spoke of his own brushes with it when, during his days as a VILLAGE VOICE commentator, he was censored

I first read this in college in the mid-1990's when a professor assigned it. It made me think and question about what it means when we say we protect freedom of speech. To truly protect that right, that means you have to allow speech even when you don't like or disagree with what is being said. Fast forward to the last 4 years. Americans of all people are responding to speech they don't like with death threats -- makes me wonder why we are so scared of others having a difference of opinion.

This is one of the most important books of our time. Hentoff is a passionate believer in free speech who recognizes that if speech is truly to be free, he must protect the expression even of ideas he abhors. He catalogs with equal regret the efforts of both the right and the left to censor speech they don't like. While being sympathetic to those who object to allowing bigots, racists, pornographers, atheists, and others of many stripes the right to lay out ideas that one group or another finds repugnant, he makes both an intellectual and an emotional case for allowing everyone to have their say, no matter how much this may offend some. He points out that suppressing speech doesn't get rid of the underlying thought, but merely drives it underground and gives it the benefit of martyrdom. His corrective to bad speech is good speech: those who believe in their ideas should not try to censor other views, but should openly confront and refute them with opposing ideas.

His prescription can be hard to accept at times, but the case he makes is persuasive that in the end, liberty of speech is the best guarantee of a free society and of the ability for that society to work through the all viewpoints to reach agreement on which opinions are social desirable and which are not.

Democracy and freedom are hard masters, but they are worth it.

Hentoff deals with the subject of free speech in the most objective manner I've seen. As a writer for the Village Voice, he could not be accused of being a right-winger, so criticism of the hypocrisy of the left is very credible. I've always thought it ironic that the left portrays itself as having a lock on being open-minded, yet it is all too happy to restrict speech that presents a contrary point of view.

Hentoff gives many examples, including some of his own, where both sides of the political spectrum attempt to censor the speech of the other. He discusses everything from efforts on college campuses to prevent non politically correct subjects from being discussed to censorship he faced while writing his columns.

Great book for people to read on both sides of the political spectrum. Perhaps it could move more people on both sides to actually listen to opposing points of view rather than trying to prevent the discussion. We have to understand that the 1st Amendment was not designed to protect speech we agree with--their would be no need for such protection. Being offended is really not a constitutional reason to preclude speech (in my view as well as Hentoff's).

Hentoff, one of the foremost free speech advocates, presents stories, many involving his own experiences, of individual examples of censorship initiatives from both the 'left' and 'right'. He doesn't really present a comprehensive philosophical case, but rather provides concrete examples of the necessity for rigorous protection of free speech.

I've read all the reviews of Schmidt's efforts on matter of European Integration. And here's what I think: She is destined to embrace the English model and the English model, I'm convinced, will embrace her. The two will be as one. They will be a European Union far more robust than anything concocted in Brussels. So I, for one, would like to celebrate that true union of politics and passion and hoist a glass to Schmidt and this English Model!

I've read all the reviews of Schmidt's efforts on matter of European Integration. And here's what I think. She is destined to embrace the English model and the English model, I'm convinced will embrace her. They will be as one. A European Union far more robust than anything concocted in Brussels. So I, for one, would like to celebrate that true union of politics and passion and hoist a glass to Schmidt and this English Model!

As I see it, the English model must be (and no doubt is, in Schmidt's extraordinary hands) smart, generous, and prone to displays of great good humor. The English model must display the kind of maganimous spirit that say, one brother-in-law might display to another brother-in-law if the latter brother-in-law were, say, a writer needing a place to stay in England.

I've read through the review string, and I must ask about the referenced English model. Please tell me more. I know of course of Schmidt's work on French models and German models and the energy she devoted to the models of Italy and America. Before I endorse this new effort, I think we should know more.

I agree with most of what the earlier reviewer stated. Schmidt is definitely 5-star material. But her most recent efforts have in point of fact focused almost exclusively on the English Model, and with amazing results.

I ordered the book for a class I'm taking. I find the book to be very interesting and it keeps my interest. Key points that I need to know are included in the text. Excellently written.

The book's content is precise, to the point and not repetitive in hard to understand grammer. The context was really reliable for the course I am currently taking. The chapters are not long and drawn out yet the examples the author uses are up-to-date, on point and target. I truly liked this book because it is a great read outside of higher education.

Kim Klein is a nationally known expert in the area of fundraising, and demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of fundraising in the book. She presents the information in an easy to understand format, and shares her expertise in a motivational manner. I highly recommend this book, even if you have been in fundraising for a number of years.

This is a must read for any staff member of a small not for profit organization. It's a bit freeky how she knows so much about my group, and then cuts to the chase on how to address the problems identified.

I love this book. It's been around for a while in one form or another. Currently it is in its 5th revision. And with each revision the author has refined it. As a result, it is very well written and outlined. It is also really good because the author is a fundraising practitioner and teaches what she does. She really knows her stuff when it comes to fundraising. At least that's the impression I get from reading her book.

Fundraising at a nonprofit, whether large or small, is basically a profit center. It's a business! This book treats it as a business and has the feel of a startup guide for that business. As a SCORE volunteer believe me when I say this book has the feel of a startup guide; I've read my fair share of startup guides for for-profits and counseled enough wanta-be entrepreneurs on how to start a business. This book is a startup guide.

So how is this book a startup guide? Well, it advocates preparing a written fundraising plan BEFORE you put together your fundraising office and start raising funds. It describes a "fundraising framework" that you must understand before you can prepare a sound and successful plan. Then it tells you about time-tested strategies for acquiring and keeping donors - the strategies that will enable your nonprofit to build a foundation or base of donors from which all successful fundraising will emanate. And next it tells you about the time-tested strategies for upgrading donors so they will (or can be expected to) give larger gifts as time moves forward. There are also sections that explain how to setup and manage a fundraising office, and how to prepare a budget and write a fundraising plan.

The book could have stopped there. That's all that a startup really needs to know and do to be successful at raising sufficient funds to provide its services and distribute its products. However, the author tells us more. She talks about feasibility studies and capital campaigns. And she talks about actually being a professional fundraiser, and about special or unique circumstances where traditional fundraising methods don't always work well.

I really have only one problem with this book. I would like it so much better if the author would change its title to something like - A Fundraising Startup Guide: The Nuts and Bolts to Building a Successful Fundraising Profit Center. I realize the author's background is in helping cash-strapped nonprofits that advocate social change, and that this book was initially created to help her help those organizations (and herself). But the book is not merely about nonprofits that advocate social change. And I wish the title would properly reflect what the book covers. 5 stars!

As of July 2008 pollsters have the American public's favorable opinion of Congress at 9%. Every American must take 5 minutes to read the [...] website and then buy this book. It is that simple.

GOOOH is exceptionally well written, although the author states he is not an 'author'. American's are frustrated and this book is going to stir that fustration, yet provide a plan to channel that frustration to successful action. GOOOH is a revolutionary plan to unseat the current members of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election with non-politians who will be vetted by their districts constituents. This book addresses every uncomfortable fiscal and social bancruptcy that we experience daily and more importantly the 2 party Representatives are not addressing.

This book clearly lays out the GOOOH strategy, by smartly contrasting the GOOOH plan to the failures the 2 political parties have been delivering for 60+ years. GOOOH's elegance is it's simplicity. All GOOOH candidates must commit to a legally binding contract that if elected they must align their congressional voting record with their pre-candidate voting position (legally binding). If there are any vote conflicts with their pre-election position, then the Representative must resign or be removed from office. GOOOH will deliver a U.S. House of Representatives that would be accountable to the People.

No matter how you label yourself politically (Liberal, Socialist, Libertarian, Conservative, Moderate ...); GOOOH gives each American a plan and more importantly a call to action. If you consider yourself an American; then you have a duty to yourself, your family and God to read this book and become involved with www.GOOOH.com.

Why GOOOH and why now? God has blessed America for 232 years, however God's blessings are surely running out on America as we continue to allow this treasonous path of not honoring Him as One Nation Under God.

Computer scientist Tim Cox has devised a revolutionary plan for putting ordinary patriots like you and me in every seat in the House of Representatives, taking control from the two political parties which currently run our country. He knows his history (the founding fathers are repeatedly cited), he's got his statistics down straight (95% of all elections are won by an incumbent - that's how often the outcome of a race is known), and he's got a plan in Get Out of Our House (GOOOH, which is pronounced simply "go").

His book makes a powerful impact by first outlining his plan at a high level. It is a reasonable call to action, asking all of us to find trustworthy candidates in our everyday life. He outlines the steps for sweeping November with grassroots action, and both the enthusiast and the skeptic can find plenty of details on the website named for the plan's acronym. Only after describing the movement at a high level does Cox make his case for the imperative need to evict the current legislature, sever special interest ties, and obliterate the restrictive two-party system. True to his scientific background, the plan centers on a 100-point candidate questionnaire, to which GOOOH's politicians would be held accountable in office. He has designed a democratic, self-funded system for electing leaders from among the many qualified citizens of our country.

Tim Cox's GOOOH plan has opened my mind, and I'll be passing my copy of the book along to friends and family in the next few months. He has made a compelling case for a revolution which is conducted entirely WITHIN the our Constitutional system.

This plan or movement by Tim Cox is one of those things you think to yourself, "why didn't someone do this before?". This book makes you think about all of the important issues that we, as Americans are facing today and what we can do about them. It makes you believe that you don't have to sit on the sidelines any longer but that you can actually do something about the career politicians who are ruining our country. Our United States of America can go back to being 'by the people, and for the people", we just have to act. Great book, great read! Buy this book!

Of couse we want change! Thank you to Tim Cox for doing something about it. In this book, he came up with a very workable plan and tells you how easy it is to follow it. It's not about what your political beliefs are, it's about giving the House back to the people, where it was always intended to be. With this plan, the people, not the politicians, have the platform they need to make the changes in policy that do actually benefit the people, not government or corporations. It's as easy or easier than just doing whatever your currently doing, and it makes so much sense, it is a shame not to read this book, even if politics do not interest you. It's about politics, but it's not political, and you don't have to understand politics to understand this book and learn how to help our country be as it should-in the hands of the people.

This is an outstanding book about a process to change the way US Representatives are elected. It will help bring about a way for ordinary Americans to make a positive difference in our government. This is an innovative plan and I encourage all to read it and become involved.