Events Books

As a nation we have just closed a trying chapter on American Government in action. A determined Special Prosecutor, with an unlimited budget, turned loose with no one holding the reigns, almost brought the Presidency crumbling to the ground.

Many people railed against the depth of intrusion that was imposed on the first family. But if you stop to think about it, perhaps government was only getting a dose of their own medicine: being repaid for their intervention and intrusion into the private life's of its citizens.

In Edmund's book this intrusion is explained and outlined in such a fashion that readers can understand and follow. In the early part of this century America experienced huge creative and inventive leaps. These advances made the inventors and the producers (makers) rich, giving birth to the American Dream.

Seeing this, government decided they needed more of a share- "for the greater good". Contoski details how the takers (government and big business) have since intervened and taken a larger piece of the pie by passing laws that benefit them and which keep the "makers" plodding along a treadmill, chasing after an "American Dream" that as been quietly stolen away from us bit by bit. Never a fan of economics or finance- I wondered if I could provide a good or objective review of this publication. Edmund has made this easy to understand and an interesting read. You'll find yourself nodding your head as you read his examples, and saying to yourself, " Yeah, I can see that now."

He fully explains the origins of the American system and how it fed and nurtured an unprecedented number of "makers.Then, just as deftly he highlights the subtle changes in our political belief system and orientation. These changes often so subtle that they have, until now, remained unnoticeable.

This book should be required reading for every registered voter in the U.S.

Amazing facts you can read about in the book MAKERS AND TAKERS

1200 people die unnecessarily because of the Food and Drug Administrations 5 year delay in approving the drug nitrazepam;

Over 100,000 people die from the FDA's 7 year delay in approving beta blockers;

The federal government-while posing as the protector of the environment-is the nation's largest polluter. The Defense Dept. alone generates more hazardous waste than the five largest chemical companies combined. Other sources of pollution include federal prisons, hospitals-and even the EPA itself.

A million Peruvians became infected with cholera-and 10,000 died-after chlorination of drinking water was stopped because of EPA policy.

Read how EPA falsified sulfur dioxide emission studies in order to force stringent regulations on utility companies and other coal-burning industries. Leslie Blanchard

Editor A Writer's Choice Literary Journal ISSN: 1521-2319 http://members.spree.com/writer/ & The Bear's Den- Spoken Word Poetry http://members.tripod.com/bearpoet icq# 33958401

Contowski marshalls an astonishingly usefull array of facts (from taxation to environment) in support of human freedom and agaist governmental intervention. Especially good at explaining why human ingenuity trumps fears of resource depletion.
This is the book that Bjorn Lomberg needs to read to understand why the statistics he understands so well, support a wholly different world view than he still clings to.

I read this last year, and have been trying to buy extra copies from Amazon ever since to send to friends. This is a book that could convert a lot of people from statists to Libertarians, if they would only read it. I rank it with my favorites from Thomas Sowell, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and Henry Hazlitt.

There are an astounding number of facts on health, the environment, industry, education, economics and practically everything classical liberals and libertarians need to refute arguments for increased government control over every aspect of our lives.

In spite of the huge amount of information, it's exceptionally well-organized, and it's also fun reading, with "Ahaas!" on every page. I couldn't put it down. In fact, some of the descriptions of government bungling, unintended consequences and dirty dealing are entertaining enough to make you laugh (or cry) depending on your mood.

I'm going to try again to order several copies for Christmas presents, because I have a few friends who have been seduced by the dark side who could be saved by this book, and a few friends who already "get it" who could use the ammo.

The book makes understandable the essense of the struggle between the left and right in the United States and throughout the world. It starts with the beginning of civilization and leads right up to today.

Contoski review

Assigning a single rating to any book, let alone this one, is an exercise in frustration. Does one go with thematic-informational integration (5 stars), wealth of detail (5 stars), reference potential (5 stars), breadth of scope (4 stars), level of readability (4 stars), or documentation of facts (3 stars, maybe 4)? Or does one consider prose style (2 stars or at best a "C" for "clear"), conciseness, particularly in setting forth the unifying thesis (2), or usefulness as a reference as derived from the quality of the index (sorry, Amazon's system doesn't provide for minus grades)? Or does one demonstrate one of the author's points about egalitarianism by assigning an average (3.6 points), thereby slighting a valuable and frequently fascinating book?

Mr. Contoski has achieved an admirable synthesis from myriad historical and economic facts and observations, adding up to both a moral and a practical affirmation of individual freedom as the source of progress in all its aspects, spiritual, intellectual, and economic. Readers of Ayn Rand will quickly recognize the theme of the mind as the "mover" in human advances. Indeed, the statement of the author's overall theme could be described as "Galt's Speech"-- and indeed, his own "Manifesto of Infividualism" -with supportive facts and without the poetry, but also without Rand's unfortunate shrill moralizing and didacticism. (That being the case, I would have liked to see Rand given a bit of credit in the text.) Without the poetry, however, the thematic statement is very tough going indeed-first because this section is so repetitious and second because Mr. Contoski, obviously by choice, excludes my half of the audience by persistent use of "man" and "men" when in 99.44 percent of the cases "humans" or "people" would serve more accurately and grate less on the millennium-tuned ear. I confess I made it through the theory eventually by reading only the topic sentence of each paragraph.

But sticking with it pays off bigtime. Most of the book-and certainly the most riveting part--is devoted to a once-through-each-type-of-purpose-defeating interventionism from currency manipulation through environmental regulation through education in a staggering demonstration of its counterproductivity in every guise and every sense of the word. Here are facts in profusion. One could wish that more statements had been documented with footnotes (though many have been), and that more had been obtained from primary sources. But as an act of synthesis, "Makers and Takers" is a marvel in its marshalling of the facts that support its thesis. Many of these facts are little known. For example, that private industry spends more annually on training and education than the entire U.S. budget for same--$240 billion versus $210. Or that rain is more acid over the ocean and some uninhabited places. Or that only one kind of asbestos is dangerous. Or the original intent and design of the Electoral College. Or ... If only the index permitted my re-finding more examples in the time I can allot to writing this review.

Lillian R. Rodberg, Allentown, PA lrrodberg@rcn.com

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

Knowledgeably written by Mohammed M. Hafez (Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri, Kansas City) Manufacturing Human Bombs: The Making Of Palestinian Suicide Bombers is an insightful and chilling study of the Palestinian suicide bombers during the Al-Aqsa intifada that began in the year 2000 and continues to be a primary weapon among Islamic fundamentalists. Providing western readers with an in-depth understanding of the deaths, war, killings, and reasoning and rationale to these terrifying and seemingly indiscriminate attacks, Manufacturing Human Bombs creates an intricate detailing of Middle East mentality, lifestyle, honor, and progression of those who elect to become suicide bombers and those who elect to employ them. Manufacturing Human Bombs is very highly recommended reading to all students of the Middle Eastern culture, the suicidal extremes of the bombers themselves, the attitudes of the victimized society that breeds them, and the issues surrounding phenomena of suicide bombers in countries such as Iraq, Israel, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.

I also recomend Murray Rothbard's "Education: Free and Compulsory" for in depth historical analysis of government involvement with education. Any politicians that truly give a darn should be reading these books. Democrats rhetoric about "helping the poor" is sickening when you realize how much government involvement in education has specifically hurt the poor.

Many people have proposals for what should be done about education today. Few have looked into history to see what has been successful in the past. This book does that. Few have hard data to back up their theories. This book does. It cites more than one thousand authentic historical and statistical sources. Half of these are original documents (or translations thereof).

The bibliography alone is worth the price of this book. I had been searching for statistics on literacy, and I found so much more here! This book is not only an excellent survey of educational methods throughout history, but also a comprehensive list of sources for future research.

The author is biased toward completely privatized education, and in this book he explains why. He starts where democracy started, in Ancient Greece. Most of us have heard of Athens and Sparta. We know Spartans were dedicated warriors. We know they had to come home from war "with their shield or on it." We know the city state of Sparta was everything, and each individual citizen was dispensable.

We know that Athens, not Sparta, became the capitol in Greece's Golden Age. What I did not know before reading about it in this book was that Athens had no official school system, no regulation of teachers, and no required curriculum. Athenian teachers simply charged parents directly for educating their children. Each teacher specialized in a subject, and the parents simply chose teachers with good reputations who taught the subjects they wanted their children to know. Competition for students kept prices down. Some excellent teachers were wealthy and did not charge, notably Plato and Aristotle. The result of this free market education method was a city that became its country's leader in art, philosophy, and science.

This is but the first exploration in this timely book that examines what has worked in education. My BellaOnline School Reform Forum will be full of references to this book. So far it is the only one of its kind!

I have been doing research on what can be done about the sad state of public education. I read this 391 page book gripped by fascination. Any lover of history, ideas, civilization, or America should read this book. Why are our schools in serious decline? For some of the same reasons the Soviet Union collapsed. Andrew Coulson examines our current system of public education, and argues for revitalization through direct parental control. He looks at times in history when education has been free from state control, and shows that those have been some of the times of greatest cultural flourishing, such as Periclean Athens. He also looks at education in other countries, historically and currently. Public vs. private education in England, and Japan and the Netherlands are particularly of interest. He examines the history of American education, and dispells myths like the idea that people were illiterate until publicly funded education came along. The truth is that the literacy rate was much higher BEFORE Horace Mann first started promoting the idea of state schooling based on the Prussian military model of that time. Coulson also looks at constitutional questions, and deals with the legitimacy of government compelling belief. Anyone who supports the ailing status quo of public education is going to have to come to terms with the formidable research and persuasive arguments presented by Senior Research Associate and former softwear engineer, Andrew Coulson, who devoted four years to producing this book. They will also have to answer the other growing advocates of education liberation, among whom are Thomas Sowell (Inside American Education: The Decline, The Deception, The Dogmas) Stephen Arons (Compelling Belief: The Culture of American Schooling) and Sheldon Richman (The Separation of School and State). I salute Andrew Coulson as having done a magnificent job in writing this well documented and thoughtful study.

We know that our public schools are not providing the quality of education that they should. Market Education does an excellent job of analyzing what the problems with public education are and making thoughtful recommendations for how to improve it. The book should be required reading for anyone interested in improving our children's education.

An intriguing, highly original account of how government-funded schools have driven out superior private schooling, going back to the ancients and concluding with our failed U.S. schools of today. I haven't seen any other book that presents the history of this takeover of the educational market, and how harmful it has been to students in virtually every country and era in which it has occurred. Anyone interested in improving the education of children really needs to read this book. It's a compelling argument for school choice, and it's written in an appealing style by an author who is obviously passionate about his subject. My guess is that public school teachers will find this book particularly enlightening, since it explains a great deal of their frustration with bureaucracy getting in the way of educating kids. Coulson presents many suggestions for moving our educational system towards greater freedom for students, parents, and teachers.

Medals of Blood is truely destined to be a classic. Even though the author claims it is a fictional tale you can see the truth screaming out at you from between the lines. I believe many untold truths have been exposed in ths book. It's a clever way to tell the world how so many of our tragic events came about. This is a must read!

This book was a great reading experience. The author tells the story as being fiction but I believe there is much more truth than fiction here. perhaps the author had to call it fiction to keep big brother off his case. I hope to see more books by this author. This book needs to become a movie fast.

Medals of Blood
B. L. Watkins Jr.
Have you ever wondered what really happened to the POWs left behind after the Vietnam War? Did they die in captivity, or was there something far more sinister behind their total disappearance? Could their existence have embarrassed the U.S. government to the point that they took action to see that no evidence of these captured soldiers would ever be discovered? What about other so-called terrorist actions over the last twenty-four years? Join Colonel B.L. Watkins and the soldiers of the elite third Black Ops. detachment and learn of their involvement in the removal of threats to our national security. Learn the truth behind the American POWs, along with other buried secrets of our government. Find out about the covert missions of the Special Forces, such as the doomed flight over Scotland, the truth about the death of the world's most loved princess, the assassination of a president's son, and who really may have been behind the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center. Learn why Saddam Hussein was allowed to live instead of being assassinated during Desert Storm, and what really goes on while America sleeps. Medals of Blood answers these questions and many, many more.

Have you ever wondered what really happened to the POWs left behind after the Vietnam War? Did they die in captivity, or was there something far more sinister behind their total disappearance? Could their existence have embarrassed the U.S. government to the point that they took action to see that no evidence of these captured soldiers would ever be discovered? What about other so-called terrorist actions over the last twenty-four years? Join Colonel B.L. Watkins and the soldiers of the elite third Black Ops. detachment and learn of their involvement in the removal of threats to our national security. Learn the truth behind the American POWs, along with other buried secrets of our government. Find out about the covert missions of the Special Forces, such as the doomed flight over Scotland, the truth about the death of the world's most loved princess, the assassination of a president's son, and who really may have been behind the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center. Learn why Saddam Hussein was allowed to live instead of being assassinated during Desert Storm, and what really goes on while America sleeps. Medals of Blood answers these questions and many, many more. This book is great. If you want to know more about what the US Special Forces do then this is the book to open your eyes to the truth.

Medals of Blood is one of the most interesting books I have read in a very long time. It tells the reader of the horror behind war and the effects it leaves on a soldier. It also reveals the more believable side of ths US Special Forces. They have been painted as heroes who never do anything wrong. This book shows the reader that even America has its share of dark secrets. There is a sense of reality being hidden by a cloak of fiction that makes you wonder if this book is more of an autobiography of the author rather than fictional tale. ????? I would highly recommend this book to all.

Excellent text for the communication specialist or media analyst in search of background on how the American public gets its news about breaking stories -- especially those in which the US Government has a clear policy interest. "Media Access and the Military," using the 1991 Gulf War as a case study, gets as close to "tell it like it is" as we are likely to get on this subject.

For someone who experienced the Gulf War on assignment in Israel and got the report of the Iraqi attack through CNN moments before hearing the first Scud missiles slam into Tel Aviv, "Media Access and the Military" by Judith Raine Baroody is a fascinating read. An extremely insightful, carefully researched analysis of the Gulf War, the study looks beyond the pyrotechnics and smart and not-so-smart bombs that captured public imagination at the time to the crucial role of the press and its interface with the warriors. It's a story not often told, but told here extremely well -- by a seasoned diplomat who is also a scholar and former TV anchor. It is clear that this book will be the definitive statement on the subject for years to come and an absolute must-read for the military and embassy professionals who are called upon to handle public affairs issues during our next war.

Readers in international affairs will greatly benefit from reading "Media Access and the Military." The first and last chapters offer a lively discussion of freedom of speech, of what is considered for public knowledge during a war and how this issue is resolved from the point of view of the press and also from the military point of view.

Journalists and researchers will find the appendix very useful, as it includes the research questionnaire and the list of interviewed persons.

The book also offers a concise history of the Gulf War. Scholarly books have no obligation to be "a good read," but I found it extremely interesting.

For someone who experienced the Gulf War on assignment in Israel and got the report of the Iraqi attack through CNN moments before hearing the first Scud missiles slam into Tel Aviv, "Media Access and the Military" by Judith Raine Baroody is a fascinating read. An extremely insightful, carefully researched analysis of the Gulf War, the study looks beyond the pyrotechnics and smart and not-so-smart bombs that captured public imagination at the time to the crucial role of the press and its interface with the warriors. It's a story not often told, but told here extremely well -- by a seasoned diplomat who is also a scholar and former TV anchor. It is clear that this book will be the definitive statement on the subject for years to come and an absolute must-read for the military and embassy professionals who are called upon to handle public affairs issues during our next war.

The definitive study of this important issue, written with clarity, effective argumentation and comprehensive research. The oral history or the negotiations between the press corps and the Department of Defense is perhaps the most interesting and accessible portion of this TEXT, and gives an insight into the evoling nature of government/media relations.Overall, a valuable contribution to the field.

I love everything this author puts out. This book is no exception. I call it and anointed imaginaton.

This was a fascinating book on events and lives immediately after the flood. It's sad how men's hearts are unchanged. Envy, jealous, pride, self-righteousness, and selfish ambition (among a host of other sins) are clearly portrayed in the lives of Noah's off-spring.

I liked how Canaan was portrayed as a very humble man who desired to know God, even though he was cursed due to his father's sin.

I highly recommend reading the book Noah (by the same author) prior to reading this. It will fill in many details.

Melchizedek is one of the most intriguing people in the Bible. I think because so little is said about him. Mrs. Traylor brings him out of the Bible and into your home. Even though this book can stand alone, I would recommend that you read it as a sequel to "Noah" (ISBN: 0970027419). One of the things that I admire about Mrs. Traylor is her research. And you can tell that she has done a lot of research on him from how well the story flows together. This book is also a great lead in to her book "Abraham" (ISBN: 0842359753). But be prepared, no matter if you read this book as a stand alone or with the others, to be entranced, entertained and to enjoy this book and to be saying, "HHMMMMM" a lot. I have read this book several times and have enjoyed it each and every time. Along with always finding new "stuff" in it. For anyone, Christian or not, I would recommend this book.

This book is superb! Ellen Gunderson Traylor is a very talented author who makes the story about Noah and his descendants so interesting! This was the first book I have read written by her and I found it impossible to put down. I recommend this book to all Christians and I know I will read her other works too

I have read most of the others in the series and this is one of my favorites. It fills in some of the gaps of the life of Melchizedek that are mentioned the her other book 'Jerusalem, City of God'. Starts from the time when he was born, as a grandson to Noah, and we trek through the journay of his founding of Jerusalem. Recommend it to all readers. Tremendous book!

This is the first book I would recommend to anyone wanting to understand (1) the agenda of Muslim extremist groups, and (2) what draws people to their "cause".

Kepel argues that the extremist groups have been around since the departure of the European imperialist powers, seeking to create a "pan-Muslim" state as an alternative to the secular nation-states that occupy the region today. Naiive, groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood were easily subverted, repressed and generally thought of as harmless until the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

Citing the poverty, lack of opportunity and political repression as the fertile ground that created these groups, Kepel sympathetically goes on to discuss their agenda - essentially that "secular" "nation-states" are alien and counter to the history and culture of the Islamic world. Truly and outstanding book.

This is the work that made the now imminent French scholar of Islamism famous. Kepel was more or less the first scholar to frame "Muslim Extremism" as 1) an extremist phenomenon and 2) a real political threat to the region in such an explicit fashion. As such, this work has been much debated and criticized; however, it still remains a classic in the field.

Ideally, Kepel's work should be read in tandem with Mitchell's work on the Muslim Brothers as Kepel himself seemed to see this work as the follow-up to Mitchell's groundbreaking work. Mitchell's work stopped at the incarceration of the Brotherhood after the Free Officers now longer found their support politically desirable or expedient, and basically, Kepel's picks up at that point-the inhumanity of the prisons, the gallows, and the torture rooms.

Unlike Mitchell's work, however, Kepel's study is not confined to a study of the Muslim Brotherhood but is a study of the radicalization of the Islamic trend in Egypt which splinter into many factional, competing parts-at times as a result of state initiatives as under Sadat. The differing policies of the Nasser and Sadat regime are compared, the influence of Sayyid Qutb emphasized, the moderation and political compromise of the Muslim Brotherhood emphasized, and the desperation and impoverishment of the violent groups such as al-Jama'at al-Islamiyyah and Takfir wa-l-Hijrah are cited as their sources. These all became classic themes in the field. Kepel's work demonstrates that the sources of political Islam are as varied as its social manifestations.

This is one of the most comprehensive and well-documented study and analyses of the islamic fundamentalist groups in modern Egypt that has seen the light up to the present. I read it from start-to-end in a run, so involving is the matter it researches as the way in which it is written. An authoritative essay and a source of information on one of the most shocking issues of the last (and present) century, focused on one of the less known areas about religious terrorism. The translation from the French edition is accurate and confiable. A title you can not miss if you are engaged in studying the subject or merely in knowing more about it. Highly recommended!

This book was written over 20 years ago, long before anyone focused on the possible consequences of a growing menace to humanity in the guise of Islamic fanatics calling the masses back to the founding tenants of Islam. Kepel lived in Egypt and spent a lot of time researching and reading what was happening in the 70's and 80's as well as examining the causes and consequences of Islamic calls to jihad and having Muslims continue their conquest of the earth in the name of Allah.
This book shows how Egypt's experiment with socialism resulted in a corrupt, dishonest, and totally failed state. Kepel points out the costs of this experiment by showing that the state created a horrific perfect storm, using the establishment of Israel as the ultimate bogeyman to deflect the masses attention away from the failures of socialism. Essentially the Egyptians were no different than the other kleptocracies in the Middle East and held the hand puppet of Israel as the focus of attention while the other hand deprived the general population of any semblance of a decent standard of living. Kepel's insights into the assassination of Sadat because of his overtures to Israel were most enlightening, essentially showing that Sadat was killed by forces he had nourished with years of hatred toward modernity. Carter and his advisors probably still do not understand to this day what damage they did in the Camp David accords when Sadat traded Soviet handouts for American ones. The view held by the vast majority of Muslims in the Middle East of the American-Zionist plot to overtake the Middle East was cemented and fermented in the accord. It took another generation for it to come to fruition in 9/11, but it all started there. Kepel was not aware of Carter's funding of the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan in the 70's at the same time so is not able to link the beginnings of bin Laden's lunatic fringe groups as well. Another interesting observation by Kepel, which is now becoming more apparent is that the Islamic social code of the separation of the sexes lends itself to sexual frustration on the part of the massive numbers of young and horny Muslims so that the lure of 72 virgins may well be the primary recruiting tool for the jihadists to get them to be a "martyr" by committing suicide and getting the sex they cannot get in their own societies.
Having traveled throughout Egypt many times myself, I can say that the classic "jelly bean" theory has come to pass. Feed the bear a jelly bean to ward him off will only work as long as you still have jelly beans. When you run out, be prepared to be the next meal of the bear.
A great book, especially given its date of publication. It was far ahead of its time. If only the idiots in the US State Department, CIA, or FBI had read it, the prime instigator of the first attack on the World Trade Center would have been banned from the US instead of being allowed entry after the Egyptians arrested him for his terrorist activities in the 1980's.

This is without a doubt one of the best and most readable texts on the subject of the rise of Islamist movements in Egypt. It also works as a fitting sequel to Doanld Mitchell's groundbreaking volume - the only one of its kind ever translated into Arabic - on the Ikhwan al-Muslimin, the Muslim Brotherhood written almost two decades earlier. The book describes the social, historical and economic context behind the Islamist movements neither resorting to apologetic arguments or righteous accusations. Kepel shows that Egyptian Islamist organizations have adopted a variety of approaches that are, more often than not, peaceful such as to effectively constitute what may be civil society in Egypt. Indeed, such organizations as the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt have recently shown that some compromise is possible with the representatives of the status-quo as well as with rival factions by participating in national elections, such as to avoid a civil war scenario. The Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt now opposes government policy from a legal and regulated official position but it faces pressure from more radical Islamist groups.
Nonetheless, intractable socio-economic problems have made it ever more difficult to contain unrest. The continuing reduction of the public sector since the late '70s and the failure to stimulate private economic enterprise has made it even harder for Egypt to sustain the precarious economic conditions that stimulate Islamist unrest. Although the Egypt achieved significant development in the '50s and '60s, it has pursued misguided economic policies that have fallen short of their potential. The benefits of the oil boom after 1973 and the Sadat-Mubarak economic liberalization policies that followed were mismanaged. Economic liberalization was primarily directed in the speculative construction and real estate sectors and failed to attract foreign investment in other labor intensive and professional areas. Unemployment persisted as the State reduced spending in conformance to IMF debt re-structuring that by 1986 brought about a gradual erosion of the human development achievements of the '50s and '70s. The series of economic reforms benefited the already wealthy. Islamist organizations have also gained popularity by absorbing the void left by the declining State.
Support and membership for such organizations has cut across class and income barriers and is representative of the frustration of a large portion of society, and youth in particular, with the current political establishment in Egypt. The government has not offered viable solutions to problems of unemployment, housing shortages, deteriorating municipal services or the poor quality of health care and education. Kepel also shows that Islamist organizations have solved problems that the government has been unable or unwilling to confront. Unlike government and private banks, the Islamic Brotherhood has operated Islamic Investment Companies (IIC) since the mid-'70s that have provided a real positive rate of interest. Ultimately, in view of chronic economic difficulties and the Government of Egypt's inability to adopt serious reform and tackle the problems of poverty and unemployment seriously makes Egypt very vulnerable to the zeal and violence of militant Islam.

Maybe "Context of No Context" was a good book, but "My Pilgrim's Progress" isn't even a bad book. It's a hoax on the reader. It's one long, repetitious, self-justifying bleat! Is the author senile, or just soused? He should have called it "My Long Day's Journey Into Night."

I'm torn about this book and don't really know what to rate it, since I found it wildly uneven. But ultimately I think there are enough interesting insights and thought provoking ideas to warrant 4 stars.

Trow meditates on cultural values and attitudes, using examples such as the front page of the NY Times as jump-off points for his reflections. Many of these are very penetrating and allow you to see the development of the country since 1950 in a new light. In particualr, his analysis of the major cultural threads operating at 1950, and the way that TV ended up winning almost by default, was excellent.

On the down side, despite the title the scope of the book is very narrow. There is little coverage of anything that has happened since 1960 or so. The book is also rather geographically limited, as Trow is very focused on New York City, upper class intellectual NYC, to be exact.

I also found the style to be very distracting. Trow writes in a stream of consciousness fashion, which to me really cripples the book and was almost enough to make me knock off another star. He rarely comes out and states an idea, but instead dances around the issue for 15 pages, constantly getting sidetracked and going off on tangents. In the end, you are forced to go back and fill int he blanks to figure out what he was actually trying to get at. Maybe it makes me old fashioned, but in non-fiction I like writers to actually spit out what they're trying to say, rather than playing games and being cutesy.

And as another reviewer mentioned, he has a bad habit of coining new phrases and terminology, which is annoying and makes the book harder to follow than it needs to be. The fact that he often dances around the definition of his terms in the same way he does other things only makes this habit more obnoxious.

But on the whole, I'd recommend the book, since it will challenge you and make you think about recent history, as well as restoring a bit of perspective to modern society and its roots in the post-war period.

George Trow pointed out elsewhere, in somebody else's context entirely, that a truly privileged, a privileged-from-birth, person was able to, well, analyze, assimilate, interpret remarkably quickly---quickly enough; that quickly---questions of power and privilege in a way that someone who had merely been stunned by them (someone who hadn't had the "privilege" not to be stunned by them) was not. Trow has the grace and congeniality in "My Pilgrim's Progress" to make clear that he's not as privileged as he might sound, or was not at all privileged in the way the Roosevelts, or even the Eisenhowers (whose cultural shock waves he documents), were. Neither was he irremediably stunned. Since his father's position (as an East Coast journalist of a certain vanished kind) was wiped out at the same time the Roosevelts "disappeared"---as forces to be reckoned with, in government or in ethics---or Eisenhower (a military man who'd sensed something wrong in the military and in the country as early as 1959, '49?), Trow is able to describe, because he's seen, several kinds of illusion at close hand, and a deeply contemporary, deeply American denial. (Call it longing.)

In this book Trow is the same stylist he's always been--with greater or lesser irony--in all his writing. He still plays around with Mrs. Rittenhouse (except she's last year's Mrs. Vanderbilt, or this year's Diana Vreeland). And he still, sometimes, defines his vocabulary while he's first using it in a sentence, or not long before--while you're still catching up. But "My Pilgrim's Progress" (the title goes right back to Louisa May Alcott, and then some) is the clearest and the most self-declaring of any of his satires, essays, "speeches," or plays. And maybe also the funniest. (It would be a trip and a thrill to hear someone reading the entire book out loud.) The origins of "Perhaps you can force me to tell you" (one of the great Trow-satire sentences) are here, but in their own clothes. The 1963 World's Fair makes another appearance, kittycorner to where it clearly was in "Context of No Context." That book's fedora hat is redefined--or refined. Questions of irony and emotion turn out not to have been easy questions in the interim--for any of us.

In short, anyone who worries what some very specific changes---in America, in the media ("hyperactivity," Trow calls this one), in the world---have been doing to our insides (our "selves") should read this book. It's short itself, given all the information--the reporting--that it sums up. It is in no way a "self-help book"; just a very clear diagnosis, no more baffling than any other specialist's. But this specialist is with us in our sense of urgency. He's been trying to take the time; and here he does.

Having been raised by television, it has been pretty hard for me to focus on reality, that is, the human exchanges of power that must have, in the first place, created television (right?). I was born in a sub-suburb in the middle of the midwest, with one or two cultural roots that abruptly stopped after my grandparents, who don't really talk about stuff like cultural roots anyway. Well, then I read Mr. Trow's book and it blew my mind clean off. It did this because it demonstrated to me precisely why it has been so bloody hard to find something in life and language deeper than television and hollywood movies. The linguistic way out of TV and Hollywood was, of course, the liberal arts. But as thrilling, interesting and mysterious as the liberal arts were, I never managed to make them as central a part of my consciousness as is, say, Star Wars. This is why: the liberal arts have always flourished in an environment of cultural connectedness to the flow of history and of real human power in terms of values "deeper" than money. To George Trow, who is perhaps the only real old world Harvard-educated WASP alive who is able to watch television alongside folks like myself--speak both languages, as it were--the liberal arts are visceral. To me they are mostly obscure and dry, with flashes here and there of accessibility. The polyglot author of "My Pilgrim's Progress" showed me, in cruelly stark relief, just what my cultural and lingustic coordinates are on the world-historical grid. For that, I thank him--I think.

In "My Pilgrim's Progress," George W. S. Trow abandons the impersonal, incantatory voice of his celebrated 1981 essay "Within the Context of No Context" for a free-flowing, deeply intimate act of performance art on the page. If the astounding "No Context" was a late 20th century "The Waste Land", then Trow's newest book is his "Krapp's Last Tape." With razor-sharp wit, brilliant insight, and what can only be described as a broken heart, Trow pours into a tape recorder his analyses of an eclectic series of "Mainstream American Cultural Artifacts" (everything from the front page of the February 1, 1950 edition of The New York Times to the films of Alfred Hitchcock to the documentary "Elvis 56") in order to achieve the possibility of compassion and forgiveness for what he understands to be five decades of personal, cultural, and spiritual "abandonment." The depth of pain and urgency - the life and death personal stakes - behind the author's voice raise what might have been merely a rambling, anecdotal memoir into a work with enormous power. "My Pilgrim's Progress" resonates with the intimacy and significance of a death-bed confession. It is a gut-wrenching, remarkable, "feverish" monologue about our contemporary American history. An extraordinarily moving book.

A deeply thoughtful and lovingly written exploration into the mysteries of Christianity and the true beauty of this spiritual path.

Although I am faithful in attending church and in studying Christianity through ordinary instructional materials, I feel strongly that something is radically missing in my own understanding and experience of the Christian Mysteries. As I began reading this book, my prejudice was that it would probably be [bad]---more or less. In seeking better understanding, I am willing to look down different dead end streets. After reading the book, I cannot reasonably say it is a dead end.

One strong departure of the author's understanding from Orthodox teachings (here, I don't mean the Eastern Orthodox religions, but more populous, American versions of Christianity) is "physicality." Both the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection are ordinarily understood as physical events. This author understands neither as a physical event. However, in his approach or understanding, the non-physicality of these events does not actually make them "less real." Certainly, the numerous theologians from my church will object to that.

According to the author, most of us receive only the "outer" teachings of Christianity. These are not substantially complete. The more fully developed understanding was made available only to an Inner Circle of believers, originally consisting mainly of The Twelve (apostles). The inner circle experienced greater teaching, both in a theoretical sense and in an experiential or transformational sense. From ancient times to the present, these inner teachings have been brought forward continuously, but only to a restricted audience of Occultists of the tradition. That is the view propounded here. While outlines of the deeper teaching are stated or at least hinted in the text, it does not really give them in a very direct or explicit way (not as in a textbook). Many convincing scriptural citations and citations from the Fathers of the Church are provided to support the thesis that the message itself is carried mainly in elite secret societies. In a sense, the author sounds almost like a Mason in his writing.

For more details or "how to" the reader is refered to the author's book on Gnani yoga and others of the author's writings. On the one hand, the author writes in a credible and mostly self-consistent way and supports a creditable, if quite alternative, view of Christian history. On the other hand, I'm not sure that it is very useful. For the practical-minded reader, it does relatively little good to have the "real" teaching locked away in some secret society somewhere (of course, somewhere secret). If we can't learn it, too, isn't something unsatisfactory or something missing? For me, it is. To be entirely satisfactory, the reader should have a good way to get in on the good stuff, too. Christianity is not a spectator sport.

This book explains Christianity as it was in its early days, before teachings were added or removed. "Mystic Christianity" was passed down from generation to generation of occult teachers & helps to explain why the teachings of modern Christianity are contradictory. It is a very powerful book.

I first read this book 15 years ago and have just finished reading it for the nth time(lost track). This is one of those books that you will want to read over and over because each time your eyes will be opened in new ways. Mystic Christianity will give you a new vision to the concepts and misconceptions taught about the Christ. If your are someone who believes there is more to Christianity than they teach you, if you want to see "the bigger picture" then this book is a must.

This book fundamentally changed my viewpoint on Christianity. I would recommend it to any who are truly interested on learning more about the life and spiritual development of Christ. It will help you on your spiritual journey. However, I didn't agree with every theory put forth. Nonetheless, it is a good read.

To try and describe the content of the book is futile. You have to read and re-read it several times to get the full impact.

God Bless.

This story of a city government responsive to community people and empowering them to build better communities through small grants and support is inspiring and hopeful...both for our neighborhoods (especially those so often left out) and people, as well as for a kind of government that partners with people to make things happen. Stimulating and gives ideas that can be replicated elsewhere. Mary Nelson

Neighbor Power is an excellent book! Smart. Funny. Inspiring. If you're interested in Seattle---or if you're interested in community building---or if you're interested in how local government works (and sometimes fails to work)---or if you're just interested in people and you like hearing good stories---read this book.

As a resident in a transitional neighborhood, I find the example and stories in this book inspiring. The book is informative with examples of individual contributions make a difference as well as the power when people organize.

This book is both inspiring and full of practical information. I recommend it to anyone interested in working at the grassroots level to make cities better places to live.

It was cheering to learn that, in a city obsessed with reaching impossible consensus before acting, things are actually getting done here. I also learned some delightful details about when, where, and how certain Seattle landmarks were born.

If you're an activist, you'll find some concrete, useful theories and techniques on how to accomplish your goals. I'm no activist. But reading about these small, very important changes--made by common citizens--could make an activist out of anyone.