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Cannon never explains numbers here. Yet, this is the history of a group of revolutionists who went from two or three leaders of
the Communist party who learned of Trotsky's critique of Stalin, to a group of a few dozens--The Generals without an Army theywere called. They went from only a few to merging and mixing with new currents of workers who came forward as the CIO Upsurge came forward. Their principles helped spark the organization of workers in the great strikes in Minneapolis in 1934 and aftewrards, then to influence workers in the sit down strikes in Flint and Dearborn and Detroit, and to lead demonstrations of tens of thousands against American Nazis. Then to find hundreds of young workers, intellectuals, and student youth in the Socialist party and battle the reformists there, to build Found the Socialist Workers party, founded with more than a thousand members in 1938. But this is not about those numbers. Through most of history, real revolutionists real communists have been forced to fight in small organizations like the movement Cannon built. What this is about is the principles,the ideas, the lessons, the history, how to do things theoretically, how to do them practically, and how to do them right.

Like all of Cannon's writing, there is so much humor, wit, and much wisdom about not only politics but life on this planet in general.


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Aquí se ve la historia temprana de cómo construyeron el núcleo de un partido revolucionario de las masas que participará en la revolución norteamericana que viene. También es la historia de la lucha por la continuidad comunista internacional con su guía de acción frente la más grande obstáculo a la victoria revolucionaria que hubo desde los veinte hasta los cuarenta ( y más despues ): el estalinismo, el contrario del comunismo.

También aquí se cuenta la historia de la participación de este núcleo en la lucha dentro de la clase trabajadora norteamericana como dirigentes de algunas de las huelgas más militantes de esos años.

Finalmente se explica la estrategia para vencer el fascismo: seguir el ejemplo del frente unido, como hizo el partido bolchevique en la Rusia en 1917 durante su trayectoria al poder. ¡Nosotros los trabajadores necesitamos hoy y necesitáramos mañana entender esta experiencia en todos nuestros países para vencer sobre la marcha capitalista actual hacia fascismo y la guerra mundial!

Sufrimos una época de guerras y revolución porque el sistema actual, fundado en la avaricia individual, padece cada vez más de sus trastornos mortales. Ya que año con año se avecina la Tercera Guerra Mundial, la editorial Pathfinder nos aconseja aprender de las otras dos ocasiones en que nos llevó al borde de la barbarie.

Los libros de Cannon no son sobre el pasado, sino cómo sacar mayor ventaja de las aperturas y oportunidades que necesariamente se van a presentar en el camino para forjar partidos de los trabajadores de común acuerdo en aprender de las luchas de los explotados donde sea que surgen y unidos en la trayectoria de construir un mundo libre del capitalismo.

Cannon era miembro fundador del movimiento del Obrero Mundial (IWW), los antecedentes del Partido Comunista y el Partido mismo. En los 20 era dirigente de la Defensa Internacional del Obrero (ILD) y fue representante norteamericano en el presidio del Internacional Comunista con Lenin y Trotsky.

Dado que el estalinismo ya no trompea el camino para que los luchadores se reúnen, hoy en día el movimiento comunista no necesita valerse del nombre "trotskista" para diferenciarse de los estalinistas; con este simple cambio de nomenclatura el contenido de La historia del trotskismo estadounidense sigue en pie de lucha. Traza la continuidad ideológica y marca la pauta para que detengamos la marcha de los explotadores hacia su tercera guerra mundial, que ellos mismos no pueden parar debido a su permanente caída en la taza de ganancias.

"El trotskismo no es un nuevo movimiento, una nueva doctrina, sino la restauración, el renacimiento, del marxismo genuino tal como se expuso y se practicó en la Revolución Rusa y en los primeros días de la Internacional Comunista."

Así comienza esta magnifica historia del movimiento revolucionario obrero en EEUU en los años 1920 y 1930. El libro se puede leer como novela: una historia estimulante, vivaz, inspiradora --pero por su contenido exige un estudio cuidadoso para sacar provecho de todas sus riquezas.

Redactados de charlas presentadas por James P. Cannon en 1942, los capítulos ofrecen ricas lecciones de liderazgo obrero, de cuestiones de teoría y programa en la fundación y desarrollo de un partido proletario, del trabajo de masas y la vida interna de un partido revolucionario. Presentan a los activistas y dirigentes más importantes en los primeros años del movimiento comunista en los Estados Unidos. Analizan acontecimientos de suma importancia a nivel mundial -- desde el triunfo de la revolución bolchevique hasta la gran crisis económica del los años 1930 y el auge de lucha obrera en aquellos tiempos; el fascismo en Alemania; el desarrollo del estalinismo en la Unión Soviética; la Guerra Civil en España; la lucha por la continuidad revolucionaria del marxismo. Todo con el propósito de ayudar a nuevas generaciones de obreros y jóvenes a conocer nuestra historia para organizarnos mejor en el presente.

Y por primera vez disponible en español-- ¡aprovéchalo hoy!

Page & Volz have created a very usable even-handed historic/geographic/cultural guide to where specifically in the Holy Land religious/political things have happened over the past 8000 years. Conflicting opinions/myths are noted, but the authors rarely choose sides. Great illustrations and index. Good primer for an upcoming trip.

This book helped introduce me to the many historical sites mentioned in the Bible. It is a valuable guide for people visiting the Middle East. Charles Page's book Jesus and the Land is also a wonderful and inspirational book about Jesus' life and times. This boook is a must for people who want to learn more about the ancient Biblical sites and an excellent companion for Biblical studies.

This book was used by our study-group in Israel 3/00. It was part of a group of books recommended and I found it very illuminating. Lots of info available in easily readable writing style. I would strongly recommend this for anyone going to Middle-east/Israel and for those studying here for a more complete picture of the role of geography, etc in the development of the Bible. The impact of this facet becomes "alive" to the reader using this text.

Mr. Page came to our university (University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas) to lecture and is going to be our tour guide on a trip to Israel that our Biblical Geography class is going on. He was very knowledgeable and the book is well written and will give you great insite to the lan.

After having traveled in the Caribbean as a tourist for years, I always wanted to read a good analysis of tourism in the Caribbean. This book is the best. It explains how very little of the economic benefits of the money we spend in as a tourist reaches the local people. Pattullo explains how deep this exploitation goes and has tons of data to support her conclusions.

Last Resorts: The Cost Of Tourism In The Caribbean, second edition, updated and revised by Polly Pattullo is an in-depth study of the economic and general effects of tourism upon the Caribbean area. Knowledgeably written, Last Resorts covers the overall economic effects of employment, history, government, social impact, culture, as well as an informative prediction of future probabilities for the Caribbean. Highly recommended for the vast coverage it provides, as well as its highly acute and accurate analytical content, Last Resorts is an excellent read for economics advisors, Caribbean trade executives, and non-specialist general readers, local citizens and vacationers with an interest in the Caribbean.

"Last Resorts" by Polly Pattullo is an excellent history and analysis of the Caribbean tourist industry. Ms. Pattullo examines the myriad social, environmental, economic and cultural changes that tourism has produced in the region. Along the way, the reader gains insight into how the promotion of the Carribean as a place of carfree escapism may be endangering the region's future unless vast inequities both within and without the Carribean are addressed in a meaningful way.

Ms. Pattullo explains that mass tourism emerged as an economic development strategy that was defined by the Caribbean's dependent relationship with the colonial powers of the 20th century and especially the United States. When air travel opened tourism to the middle classes in the 1960s, post-colonial governments turned to Western corporations to develop destinations that might attract foreign capital and thereby prop up local economies. However, the islands have gradually become ever more dependent on outside forces as airlines, cruise ship operators, and hotel chains have come to exercise near-monopolistic control over tourist itineraries. In order to maintain their privileged positions in the struggle for market share, most Carribean governments have found it necessary to concede the majority of tourist revenues to the procurement of foreign goods and services.

For example, Ms. Pattullo discusses how top jobs in the tourism sector tend to go to foreigners while locals get mostly dead-end jobs; many are resentful about earning poor wages despite working in a highly profitable industry. As street vendors and other freelancers seek to aggressively sell drugs and their bodies to tourists, more destinations have chosen to offer all-inclusive experiences that shut the dangers of the outside world away. Yet the coccoon-like world of the all-inclusives only serves to reinforce privilege, depriving locals of their own beaches and insulating visitors from the discomfort of viewing the socio-economic deprivation that often surrounds them.

Ms. Pattullo addresses that most pernicious of all tourism, the cruise ship industry which largely treats the Caribbean as a parking lot and waste dump for its 20 million annual passengers and where island culture is experienced in its most sanitized and commodified form. Most passengers spend little time onshore but frequently purchase goods at duty-free shops that are aligned with the ships, providing little revenues for the islands -- who, for their part, have found it impossible to impose reasonable rates of taxation on the industry for fear of being dropped from itineraries.

Whereas the path of corporate-controlled mass tourism is leading towards the Disneyification of island culture and the degradation of its environment, Ms. Pattullo believes that the Caribbean can secure a better future by embracing the principle of sustainability. The author contends that the region must begin to celebrate and preserve its unique history, culture and natural environment by implementing sustainable development strategies that are designed to empower local governments, businesses and people. To that end, she cites many examples of successful alternatives to the typical mass tourism model of sand and sun, including: eco-tourism, health spas, music festivals, living history, art and architectural appreciation, and other alternative vacation experiences. Indeed, it seems that the ideas advocated by the author might go a long way towards helping this remarkable part of the world both retain its uniqueness and gain a measure of the long-overdue success that it so richly deserves.

I highly recommend this book to everyone.

- Everyone's tropical paradaise might be a victim of its own success. This book reviews the tourism industry and explores how to bring greater benefits to the region. Excellent! Ron Mader / El Planeta Platica

I always believe Nixon is "misunderestimated" among the Americans. No matter what he had done in Watergate, he was still a great leader who changed the world overnight by shaking hands with Chou En-Lai and ended the Vietnam war.
He was also a great writer and political critique, as you can see in his books. "Leaders" is one of his best and you can learn a lot about leaders who ruled and shaped the post WWII era.

Richard M. Nixon with his "Leaders" not only master the understanding of leadership, but also writing in general. The book treats several leaders of the 20th century, Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenaur, Shigeru Yoshida, Charles de Gaulle, Nikita Khruschev and many more with granduer. What one should particularly pay attention in this book is that the author himself, has personally known every single leader in the book, which adds a great deal of invaluable personal reminiscences which at the same time analyse each person. The book is a must read for those interested in history, politics, biography, and of course leadership in general. The numerous personal advices which the author present as indispensable to great leader, pinpoints the weaknesses and qualities a leader has. At the same time, Richard Nixon, with his outstanding political career which spans over much of a lifetime, tells the reader what to do and what not to do as a leader, how and why leaders have failed in history and how and why they've reached the top. A magnificent piece of work, which will live in my memory for a long time.

The book Leaders by Richard M. Nixon showes how to make you fit for your business as a leader. Is political leaders happy for their lives? Is it interesting to be a leader in the country? What are most important characters to you if you want to become a great guy? How to make you stand up once you failed? Richard Nixon told you all by his own experience and his study of many great people in other countries. It won't disappoint you, but satisfy you. Read it, learn it, study it, and then make you fit for the challenges!

There is no reason, whatsoever, for any student of politics not to read these amazing insights from one of the greatest political minds in American history.

I loved this book. Anne Bruce doesn't waste any time re-inventing the wheel. She gives solid suggestions based on best practices from some of the world's leading organizations. I especially liked the action based exercises designed to implement change immediately. Anne also has a great sense of humor which comes through in this easy to read and easy to follow road map for leaders.

Leaders - Start to Finish is an exceptional hands-on, comprehensive approach that can be used to develop leaders at all levels. Anne Bruce "gets to the point" quickly and offers real world tips, techniques, tools and strategies to develop leadership competencies. The book takes an interactive approach by including case studies, exercises, checklists, discussion questions, assessments, etc. that helps the reader apply the content within each chapter. A must read and a great resource for those who want to develop their own leadership capabilities as well as those who coach or train leaders.

Anne Bruce's latest book is a practical and useful guide for the impementation of a leadership development strategy. Thoughtfully formatted, "Leaders..." is a straight forward road map for training professionals and general managers who are searching for ways to fill critical leadership holes. Anne Bruce has a wonderful gift for cutting to the point and making a complex subject easier to grasp. "Must reading" for organizational development people!

This is so clearly written that even a business idiot like me can understand what "authenticity" and "the 10 competencies" and "values-led approach" mean. "Leaders Start to Finish" is accessible and clear, a workbook and journal, as well as a manual. It's also very inspirational. Altogether much more than "just a book" and invaluable for the group leader. I just hope Anne Bruce's next book takes on the lonely entrepreneur.

This book is a must.Two thumbs up!The author demostrate with scholar accuracy the colonial reality of the people of Puerto Rico.

A book that should be read by those who are interested in understanding Puerto Rico's present-day colonial reality.

A book that should be read by those who are interested in understanding Puerto Rico's present-day colonial reality.

"Legal Construction of Identity: The Judicial and Social Legacy of American Colonialism in Puerto Rico" by Efren Rivera Ramos is a fascinating book on the legal and historical analysis on the colonization of Puerto Rico.

This book is not for the casual reader on the topic of Puerto Rico. However, the book provides a wealth of knowledge for those interested in the colonization of Puerto Rico and its effects on its political, economical, and cultural identity. How the American colonization of Puerto Rico has affected the relationship between them ? a bond that has remained fragile from its very beginning is well depicted by the author. Ramos writes of the United States ideology of expansionism that was so prominent during the nineteenth and the twentieth century. As a professor of law, he examines how the American judicial system was utilized in the creation of colonial Puerto Rico and the subjection of its people.

Ramos examines the Foraker Act of 1900; the Jones Act of 1917; and the Insular Cases, whereby the Supreme Court of the United States instituted the framework for applying the US Constitution to the Philippines, Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The topic of American citizenship imposed on Puerto Ricans in 1917 is covered in detail along with both positive and negative consequences of that action. The struggles that Puerto Rico confronted after American colonization and the difficulties it continues to face today in maintaining its cultural identity are well emphasized by Ramos.

"Legal Construction of Identity: The Judicial and Social Legacy of American Colonialism in Puerto Rico" is an intensely written and convincing book. A worthy and welcome blend of judicial, political, and social history. It is intelligently researched and written - it's an eye-opening piece of work that entices the reader to think about the phrase "truth, justice and the American way". This book deserves its place on the shelves of the best of Puerto Rican historical literature.

Jay Atkinson is to New England what William Faulkner is to the South (or, specifically, Yoknapatawpha County). Here, in similar fashion to his crowning achievement (to date), "Ice Time," Atkinson demonstrates an impeccable ability to chronicle the talking, walking, living, and dying of New Englanders in such vivid description where every page crackles with rich imagery and sounds.

Just as Ice Time isn't REALLY about hockey, Legends isn't REALLY about cops and con men. Both are about relationships and traditions. And, even where Atkinson puts himself in the stories being told, he always retains the position of discreet voyeur; demonstrating beneath his masculine persona a remarkable talent to convey the innermost joys and melancholy of his characters. That is where Atkinson lives, and he invites us all to come along. Any fan of great writing will accept the invitation.

Jay Atkinson is to New England what William Faulkner is to the South (or, specifically, Yoknapatawpha County). Here, in similar fashion to his crowning achievement (to date), "Ice Time," Atkinson demonstrates an impeccable ability to chronicle the talking, walking, living, and dying of New Englanders in such vivid description where every page crackles with rich imagery and sounds.

Just as Ice Time isn't REALLY about hockey, Legends isn't REALLY about cops and con men. Both are about relationships and traditions. And, even where Atkinson puts himself in the stories being told, he always retains the position of discreet voyeur; demonstrating beneath his masculine persona a remarkable talent to convey the innermost joys and melancholy of his characters. That is where Atkinson lives, and he invites us all to come along. Any fan of great writing will accept the invitation.

Okay, the title is a bit much. But I enjoyed this book tremendously. Some of the criticisms point to the elements I liked best. The routine cases, how they were approached, and the results were a revelation to someone who has no real idea of police work except what I've seen on "Cops" (constant action and crisis!). There was a new story on every page, and I wound up reading until 1 a.m. on a work day because I just couldn't help reading "one more page". The descriptions of the surroundings, the characters, the sounds and smells of the settings, conjured up a real sense of being there. I was fascinated by the character faults and virtues of the people in the book, as Atkinson tried to remain true to McCain's philosophy that most people aren't entirely good or bad. As a resident of the area, I finally understand the gang wars that were taking place when I was growing up (I remember the old Boston Record American newpaper with the crime scene photos splashed across the front). I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who lives in the Northeast, and to others who'd like a glimpse into how Boston politics are practiced in every profession!

I could not disagree more with the review by Publisher's Weekly! I thought that Atkinson did an outstanding job in depicting the Boston area and some of its most important members of the law enforcement community. Atkinson's vivid depictions of setting and his uncanny ear for authentic dialogue help to create a mesmerizing and hypnotic narrative about cop life and private investigation. In today's society, in which we find organized crime figures to be charming and endearing, and our heroes are limited to vapid low life reality television stars, Atkinsons tale of Joe McCain, a police officer to be truly admired, is a breath of fresh air.

If you want to understand the world of today you have to work at understanding how it got to be the way it is. This is one of those books that is critical to doing that, I don't say that lightly. This book is what is known as a primary source. It is the record of one, actually several, of the crucial political battles of the last century, told by some of the leading participants in their own words. It is not a history written decades later by someone to explain what went wrong, but a record of a battle as it progressed.

Reading this book you get a better understanding of the following: How it was that the domestic and foreign policy of the new Soviet Union began to deteriorate from a revolutionary one to one that put the narrow needs of day to day diplomacy and deal making first. How the Chinese Communist Party was formed and how it developed. What type of revolution was it's leadership trying to make? Why were the U.S., England, Japan and France so hostile to it? How and why did the Stalinists and Maoists gain leadership and themselves come into being? And much else.

This book is made up of an impressive number of documants, speeches and reports principally by Trotsky, one of the central leaders of the Russian revolution who would not sell out and died fighting Stalin and the destruction of the revolution. The introduction adds much to the book in bringing things up to date. I think this book is useful for historians, anyone wanting to know more about China and the revolution there, and any revolutionaries of today who want to learn from one of the best. It can be particularly useful to political minded workers and young people from Asia

What impresses me about this book is Trotsky's impassioned duty and determination to build a world revolution of the oppressed and to clear the way for the working people of China from the waste, confusion, and defeats that Stalinism of the Stalin and Mao varieties have imposed on them.

Thirty years ago many people would have thought reading a book about the liberation of a country from semicolonialism would no longer be necessary as we enter the 21st Century. However, it seems that lead by the USA, the imperialist powers of Western Europe and Japan are in a growing drive to deepen their control over countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Sadly, the lessons in this book drawn from the struggle of peasants and workers in China in the first 40 years of this century, are becoming more and more applicable around the world.

The Chinese Revolution was one of the great developments of the 20th century, and the challenges and lessons it provides remain of great importance today. Imperialism and imperialist war, colonialism, revolutionary Marxism vs. Stalinism and Maoism, concepts of armed struggle, mass struggle, of constructing a revolutionary party, the character of a workers and peasants government, of a workers-peasant alliance-- all were tested in the turbulent, living experience of social crisis, repression, war and massive worker and peasant uprisings.

This lengthy collection brings together the writings of Leon Trotsky on China from 1925 to his death in 1940. Trotsky was, along with V. I. Lenin, a central leader of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the early years of the Communist International. After the death of Lenin in 1924, Trotsky led the fight against the degeneration of that revolution and the rise of a conservative, privileged bureaucracy headed by Josef Stalin. Revolutionary policies in China at the time were at the heart of the differences between revolutionaries and Stalinists. Trotsky gives detailed and extensive analysis very useful today, both for the issues covered and as an example of how to use the Marxist method to orient revolutionary fighters in the living world.

The collection includes a substantial introduction by long-time Chinese revolutionary Peng Shu-tse, covering the history of China during these years, which I found useful for putting Trotsky's writings in context.

Also recommended: The Chinese Communist Party in Power, by Peng Shu-tse; The History of the Russian Revolution, by Leon Trotsky; and Capitalism's World Disorder, by Jack Barnes.

rotsky's Discussion of China is one of the most masterful discussions of the dynamics of revolution in a country underdeveloped and exploited by imperialism that has ever been made. It centers on the Chinese revolutionary events of the mid and late 1920s, though it continues into the 1930s when the Stalin Bukharin leadership in the Communist International forced the Chinese revolutionists to subordinate their struggle to a block with bourgeois militarist Chiang Kai-shek It is not surprising that when it was made, the founding central leaders of the Chinese communist movement were won to Trotsky's Left Opportunism. In letters and articles and political documents for the Russian Communist Party and the Comintern, Trotsky explains how the only road forward for Chinese workers and peasants was asserting their own power and independence and how only the struggle against capitalism could solve the problems facing China.

As such, it provides an adequate background to the middle class and Stalinist nature of the Chinese Communist party that headed the revolution in 1949. As such

It can be read now, as a new generation of fighting workers, peasants, and youth in China looks for real communist alternatives to both capitalism and the pseudo-Communism of China's Stalinist Communist party.


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Eugene V. Debs the socialist revolutionist was fond of saving, "it is better to vote for what you want and not get it, than to vote for what you don't want and get it." Malcolm X was fond of simply pointing out that at every key point in the history of Black people, the Democratic party "has sold us out." This book explains why real revolutionists are trying to chart a course of indepedence for workers, farmers, and the oppressed from the twin parties of capitalism, the Demnocrats and the Republicans.

Can the Republicans and the Democrats help us. Or do we need some new kind of party like the Green party, whichis a more liberal or more progressive party but still built on the model of the Democrats and the Republicans.
The responses that leaders of the Socialist Workers Party give here to people who believe that working people can work in the Democratic party or build other capitalist political parties answer these questions. They point out that the fundamental problem in this society is not liberal ideas or non liberal ideas, but the existence of a capitalist class, the big corporate leaders, and a capitalist system. They explain that politics is a question of taking power out the hands of those people and that system.

What strategy is needed to advance the cause of the working class and progressive people? Since Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s, many labor, Black, and other progressive movements have supported the "lesser evil" -- usually the Democratic party candidate. Debated here is whether working people should dump this course and seek instead to replace the system which is alternatively administered by "lesser evil" Democrats and "greater evil" Republicans. Read the book and consider the consequences of "coalitionism" vs. independent working class political action.

A lively and thought-provoking book. Lively because of the format -- the actual transcripts of live debates -- and because of the importance of the questions posed: should activist and militant workers fighting to change U.S. society work for or within the two-party system, specifically for the Democratic Party (the so-called Lesser Evil)? In each case, leaders of the Socialist Workers Party championing independent political action take on prominent social democrats arguing for working within the Democratic Party.

These debates took place in the midst of political struggles in 1959, 1965 and 1976. They are shaped by the tremendous labor upsurge of the 1930s and 1940s that forged the industrial unions of the CIO, the massive civil rights movement and the movement against the U.S. war in Vietnam-- times when millions of working people and youth took to the streets and challenged the policies and rulers of this country. I find the historical examples cited and the lessons drawn very relevant for today.

Read these debates, weigh the arguments, and decide for yourselves! I'd also recommend some further useful reading including: Labor's Giant Step: 20 years of the CIO, by Art Preis; Out Now! A participant's account of the movement in the United States against the Vietnam war, by Fred Halstead; and the collection of speeches by Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary.

This book chronicles a series of debates between supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties and leaders of the Socialist Workers party who believe that working class people, Blacks, Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, women, and all who fight for change need to break from the Republican and Democratic parties and the wanna be capitalist parties like the Greens to form a working class political party, a labor party, a party that can fight for power to be placed in the hands of workers and farmers in this country and the world. Its simple, a system is something that seeks to preserve itself. The SWPers demonstrate that Democratic party and other capitalist parties are part of the capitalism system and are not vehicles for liberation, but traps

David Fleishhacker uses his personal experience in the Peace Corps in Afghanistan as a framework to teach us about that country's history, topography, and culture. His sense of humor and his affection for the people of Afghanistan make this a fun book to read, but Fleishhacker also has a strong message--urging everyone to gain more knowledge and understanding of other cultures and places in the world. A wonderful book!

Three cheers for David Fleishhacker, a wonderful writer! And, three cheers for the Peace Corps! Far more than a collection of reminiscences, this little book contains the sort of philosophy, based on history and experience, that should be the underpinning of our foreign policy everywhere. I devoured it at one sitting and only wished he had written more. Clear, funny, honest and tender, this book should be required reading for our entire State Department, the Military Establishment, the "Lords of Poverty" (international aid/relief organizations)and literally every American involved in overseas activity. For that matter, it should be required reading in every high school and board room in the country. Great stuff.

David Fleishhacker's "Lessons from Afghanistan" is based on the author's experiences in the country as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960's. This brief account is, however, more than just a memoir of a vistor who was in Afghanistan forty years ago. Fleishhacker deftly connects his experiences with current events. Unlike many of the "instant experts" whose views on Afghanistan appear daily in the media, this book gives one a feel for what the country is really like. This slim book is a good way to get a sense of the country as experienced by someone who was there and who had an opportunity to observe the way average people live their lives.

This is a most entertaining and enjoyable book to read about a part of the world which is virtually unknown to most Americans. It is well written and contains many anecdotes and amusing incidents relating to the author's personal experience in the Peace Corps in Kabul and Mazar-I-Sharif in the 60's. Beyond that, however, it provides comment which should be food for thought for anyone who wishes to follow or who seeks to implement American foreign policy in the future. The comments on basic issues faced in Afghanistan are timeless and universal in nature and provide much food for thought.