Events Books

If you have read any of the works by William Least Heat-Moon such as Blue Highways and River-Horse, it will be helpful to know that what he does for byways and rivers resembles in certain respects what Mattia does for 25 men named George Bush. She locates them throughout the United States, visits them, has lengthy conversations with them, and then shares her experiences (and theirs) in this book. I am impressed by the nature and extent of the variety of differences between and among the 25 as well as the nature and extent of differences between them and two other, more famous men who share their name. Mattia is to be commended on the care with which she organizes and then presents the material. Least Heat-Moon enables his readers to explore the byways and rivers with him as he travels throughout the United States. Mattia enables her own readers to explore the hearts, minds, and souls of 25 fellow human beings who share the same name, obviously, but who reveal their individuality with style, grace, and eloquence. I sincerely hope that the current occupant of the Oval Office reads this book.

Martha Boone Mattia has an astonishing ability as an interviewer! People give her the most intimate and fascinating details of their lives in America. She captures their courage, humor, and charm, making each person jump off the page. I did not want the book to end! G,T, Barnhart

The only thing that's remotely deficient about Mattia's text is the potentially misleading title. I was on a crowded beach, totally absorbed, when a passerby remarked "a conversation with George Bush...is that even possible?" "Conversations" should be on a required reading list for all Americans, especially those who think they know their country. Together, the author and her subjects paint a picture of the real America, not the distorted, media-blasted version that inundates us every day. Mattia says, "...I believe that I stumbled upon some truths along the back roads of the United States." Agreed.

... you will love this book. Extremely well-written, insightful, bittersweet, patriotic, pointed -- one to pass on to friends and family.

I don't read non-fiction as a general rule, because it doesn't hold my interest. This book grabbed me on the first page and didn't let go until the end. The lives of the Georges are so interesting that I quickly forgot they share a name with a President I don't particularly like. These are, as author Mattia concludes, quiet heroes whose inspiration is in not just in surviving life's trials and tribulations, but in triumphing over them. Mattia has a remarkable ability to step back from both herself and her subjects to allow the stories to command our attention without judgment or apology. The author's own internal journey as she travels from coast to coast is every bit as compelling as nearly 100 years of history told by the people who lived it. This is story-telling at its finest.

For a number of years now the U.S. government has abused the extension of allowing Immigrants to enter the United States. 'Crowded Land of Liberty: Solving America's Immigration Crisis' is an excellent book on this subject. Author Dirk Chase Eldredge does a fine job in examining the way pro-immigration enthusiasts extend new waves to unassimilated aliens streaming into the country. We are reminded of clichés that "this is a land of immigrants" only to a degree. The true origin of the founders of the original 13 Colonies were very much alike coming from Christian Europe, especially from British Isles, France and Germany. The flood of third world immigrants with the help of multinational corporation, arrive with very low economic and educational levels. They keep their native languages and take longer to assimilate into American culture and send back wages to their families residing in their home country.

The book examines how the dimensions of immigration growth and how it has contributed to a very serious major crisis facing the United States. The fact that what passes for American has ceased to be American people. Now, America is a state and government, it being a nation is a thing of the past. Even under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 those who sought reduction of immigration made a compromise with opposing forces in a foolish bargain only to create more illegal "chain" immigration and mass amnesty. To eliminate this problem the U.S. government needs to look into these immigration policies and revise the Immigration Act. With this out of control and if they continue at this rate the United States will end in disaster. With the trend in states like California being 52 percent Third World and Texas having 50 percent Third World, it's no doubt what the consequences will be. The future of our children and grandchildren will be very grim. Our only hope is America-first voice to take control of sensible policy. The policy should include an absolute freeze on new immigration, deportation of all illegal aliens in America, no extensions or visas. In order for the United States to correct this it will take a few years to solve it's overpopulation and invasion of mass cultures. It's up to the American people to have the will power to make their politicians to implement a solution.

This book woke me up to the threat of lax enforcement of immigration laws. The author has punctuated his arguments with convincing data and he proposes realistic solutions to the immigration problem. He shows how Canada has a program that could be a starting model for the US. He seems to have indirectly prophesied the 9/11 event.

This is no political book; it is of serious concern to US citizens.

This book woke me up to the threat of lax enforcement of immigration laws. The author has punctuated his arguments with convincing data and he proposes realistic solutions to the immigration problem. He shows how Canada has a program that could be a starting model for the US. He seems to have indirectly prophesied the 9/11 event.

This is no political book; it is of serious concern to US citizens.

Crowded Land Of Liberty: Solving America's Immigration Crisis by former Reagan campaign official, banker, entrepreneur, and public policy issues expert Dirk Chase Eldredge is a challenging social commentary for modern times. Eldredge examines America's population boom and how work can be done to improve quality of life for born citizens and naturalized citizens alike. Individual chapters address the pitfalls of assimilation, the essence of asylum and amnesty, and the very real need to balance an influx of people with a broader social service and school base. Crowded Land Of Liberty is highly recommended as a sincere, timely, and thought-provoking treatise on a critically important social issue, especially in a time of increased concerns for public safety, national security, and immigration policies.

great book. have to admit the author is 100% correct

While this might not be the best book to read if you've never before met this astounding intellect in print, it still serves to succinctly elucidate the most salient hallmarks of Chomsky's approach to world affairs and, more specifically, his country's foreign policy. These hallmarks include an incisive dissection of the subservience of intellectuals to state power, the flagrant hypocrisy of the US government, in this case the Reagan administration, as their public pronouncements project an image of inviolable nobility while their actions tell quite a different story, and the concentration of private power in a few hands which underpin, thus making possible, these disturbing aspects of American intellectual and political culture.
The book began life as a "postscript" to a number of foreign editions of Chomsky's Turning the Tide, which dealt with many of the same points raised in this book, though The Culture of Terrorism deals with the Iran-Contra scandals at some length which the earlier text did not. Although the actual facts detailed in often exhausting rigorousness are well out of date, one is thoroughly exposed to the brazen dereliction of basic journalistic duty by those that Chomsky derisorily refers to throughout as representatives of the Free Press. They fall so effortlessly in line with state doctrine that the achievements, again noted by Chomsky, would make a totalitarian regime proud. That this happens in one of the freest countries in the world is nothing short of sickeningly scandalous. In case there are those that think Chomsky is a conspiracy nut or a devotee to the school of hyperbole he provides ample evidence which shows that even the so-called liberal press, namely the New York Times and the New Republic, are guilty of obscene apologetics for, and often advocates of, aggressive state terror.
The Culture of Terrorism deals predominantly with the campaign of subversion and harsh repression conducted by the Contras in Nicaragua who were armed, trained, and constantly supplied throughout this terrible period by the US government. There were flights over the countryside on an almost daily basis and the examples of their weaponry cited in the book would put most armies in other third world countries to shame, let alone the guerrilla forces who were fighting in nearby El Salvador, a country Chomsky also sketches in much socio-political detail. In 1979 the Nicaraguans overthrew the brutal dictator Somoza, a member of a dynasty stretching back to the middle of the 1920s, whose reign ended with a "paroxysm of violence claiming the lives of 40-50000 people". This tiny Central American nation elected the leftist Sandinistas regime which immediately caused the big neighbour to the North considerable consternation. The Reagan Administration proceeded to destabilise this government by employing the Contras, many of them previously employed as members of Somoza's abysmally vicious National Guard, to raid innocent villages, destroy houses, steal livestock, and even kill Americans who had come to aid this miserably poor country that was improving dramatically under the Sandinista regime. These leaps ahead in terms of health care, education and reduction of poverty were documented by such aid agencies as Oxfam at the time who compared the situation in this country with that of Guatemala and El Salvador. The picture created in the US media was quite different, however, as that charnel house Guatemala, along with El Salvador where political violence, including rapes, mutilation, tortures, and `disappearances', were endemic, were described as "fledgling democracies". Conversely, Nicaragua under the Sandinistas was portrayed by the Free Press as a totalitarian state who was one of the tentacles of the Soviet Union. How interesting that by ordering an economic embargo of Nicaragua, and forcing allies to do the same, the Sandinistas are forced to turn to Russia for help which provides a retrospectively convenient basis for the Reagan Administration to scream from the roof tops that the Evil Empire is upon them. Also very intriguing, illuminated by copious quotations from leading journals and newspapers, that a country such as Guatemala, where it is estimated that around 150000 people may have been killed during the Reagan era, and El Salvador, the site of 50000 politically motivated murders during the same period, raise no impassioned denunciations of their odious socio-political conditions, or even an acknowledgement of these figures cited by human rights organizations and specialists of the region. Ignorance is indeed strength, as Chomsky notes in a very apposite evocation of Orwell, whom he often refers to throughout the book as the noted linguist creates for the reader a truly terrifying Orwellian world, all the more horrifying because it actually exists and is not only an acutely perspicacious exercise in allegory, where "democracy" implies regimes friendly to US business interests and "moderates" are people such as El Salvadoran president José Duarte who just happens to preside over a regime that assassinates Archbishops, union leaders, students, journalists of opposition newspapers, and just about anyone who dares to question the economically polarising policies of this staunch proponent of the US "development model", another term Orwell would be proud of as the development in question applies to rich folk while the poor become demonstrably poorer, as is still much the case today in our world of ever "freer" markets.
The picture, as usual with Chomsky, is bleak, though when you have this much factual knowledge at your command, and have none of the necessary illusions required of the mendacious elites, then it is a tall task to be sanguine about world affairs, particularly those directed by the biggest terrorist state. The problem with reading a book published almost two decades ago about events that were then much publicized, is that much of the currency is unavoidably lost. At the very least the book provides an abundantly extensive historical overview of a time not all that different from our own, the primary deviation being the names of the victims and perpetrators, and at its most elevated altitudes of significant scholarship The Culture of Terrorism cogently demystifies the key characteristics, established by the voluminous historical and documentary record, of the most influential institutions in US society. This has always been Chomsky's greatest gift and this book amply, though not definitively, showcases his remarkable ability to not only render events in breathtakingly astounding detail, but always ensures that they are related to a wider context of previous incidents and current practices.
This is not a book for those individuals who still foster illusions that the United States is the most benevolent super power the world has ever known. For those willing to look beyond the purposely constrained bounds of the mainstream media, as well as the limits of their own often self-willed ignorance, the book provides ample insights into past practices and their very grave implications for future conduct by the globe's sole remaining hegemonic force. Chomsky may be less a voice in the wilderness than he was when the book was published, but still not enough people are hearing his extremely vital message.

I am a true fan of Noam Chomsky. I have a collection of most the books written by Noam Chomsky. I like the writing style of Noam Chomsky and the way he presents his research, facts, and analysis regarding the subject. However; recently I read a book
"Terrorism or Awakening" ISB number: ISBN: 969-8898-00-X
One can check the introduction of the book from the website
http://www.terrorismorawakening.com.pk

The author of this book is so direct and to the point that it is a must have book even by Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky once again holds the mirror up to America and shows how blatantly hypocritical and disingenuous our foreign policy actually is. In this book his primary focus is on the Reagan administration and Central America, where corporate and military interests were promoted at the expense of the indiginous people and "true" democracy. Recent events (the 2000 Bush "coup", Webb's book on cocaine and the contras, the Columbia "aid" package, etc.) show how truly relevant this research is. Also, do not let the simpletons of the right and the mainstream (is there really a difference between the two anymore?) critique Chomsky without comment or evidence. His research, unlike theirs (on those rare occasions when they actually engage in true journalism) is meticulously documented and uses their own words and documents as source material. One last thing, if you don't get this book then get any book from Chomsky on American economic and foreign policy (I recommend his work on Israel and the Palestinians as a particularly contemporary selection).

Enlightening for those who suffer it; outrageous for those whoprofit from it. The culture of terrorism (overt and covert) is verymuch a global reality to deal with. A bad book for those whom the culture of terrorism has managed to brainwash into blind denial and self-censorship. An excellent book for us, 99% of the world oppressed by that culture.

It has become impossible to write a review of a Chomsky piece without focusing a large content of the review on Chomsky himself (witness ... slew of one-star versus five-star reviews of all his books, which often feature personal opinion rather than genuine, responsible argument). Being something of a free-thinker with an interest in politics and psychology, I've understandably been drawn toward the debate surrounding Chomsky and his stunning claims about the nature of Western (usually US) policy -- and have been very disappointed with the childish nature of that debate, as it has declined hopelessly toward name-calling and a ridiculous skewing of facts and quotes. How does a person know who to believe? (I should reiterate that it really has become a case of "who", not "what", as if the merit of an argument has anything to do with its author.)

With that state of mind I decided that the best way to get a handle on these astonishing claims about Western policy would be to actually read a book by its most prominent critic. Deciding which book to read wasn't a problem, since, of the two bookstores and one library in my area, an obscure 1980's text called "The Culture of Terrorism" was the only of Chomsky's publications that I could find.

The first two chapters, in introducing the main thesis -- that, unlike the US government's claim to "further the cause of democracy" worldwide, the US's policy is actually to maintain control of as much of the Third World as possible via manipulation of its governmental systems -- assume a familiarity with the Iran-Contra dealings and the US invasion of Nicaragua, and, since I was rather ignorant of these matters, at first the book only served to alienate me.

But from Chapter 3 onward, the book is a focused exercise in intense -- and superior -- fact-finding, very effectively discrediting the popular, US media-supported claims that America was doing Nicaragua a favor by funding a guerrilla movement to destroy its government and replace it with a more America-friendly one. The book argues that the Sandinistas, far from being a perfect government, were certainly a step in the right (or, rather, left) direction for Central America -- making Nicaragua an intolerable ideological exception to the US's (unstated) insistence that the world remain effectively owned by businesses and the upper-class, at the terrible expense of poor people's rights and living conditions. Chomsky provides a thorough and shocking contrast of American media reports of the Central America situation (with even the "respected" media -- e.g. the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. -- acting as a virtual mouthpiece for US government propaganda) and the disinterested overseas media and human rights groups that reported much more objectively and responsibly on the same incidents.

Half the book is about the reality of the US invasions of Nicaragua, while the other half is about how horrendously the submissive domestic media was able to butcher the facts. I found both parts of the book to be extremely well-researched and persuasive -- not to mention surprisingly hilarious in parts (nobody writes with more humor about state-sponsored terrorism than Noam Chomsky).

Being born in America, and having grown to be very critical and cynical of it, I'm certainly susceptible to the idea -- as forwarded by most of Chomsky's critics -- that a major reason for his appeal is not because he is a great historian, but that he provides endless fodder for anti-American views. In other words, for people who call themselves "free thinkers" (as I did above), it becomes tempting to cling to the opinions of like-minded souls, regardless of the fact that their arguments may lack merit. I will allow that, to a certain extent, this phenomenon does apply to me. However, having finished "The Culture of Terrorism", I returned to the same old websites featuring the same slew of Chomsky-bashing, and tried to find coherent arguments to the effect that Chomsky's analysis of the US invasion of Nicaragua was anything but dead-on. I could find nothing. For this reason, I should stress that I wholeheartedly enjoyed "The Culture of Terrorism", I think its conclusions are extremely well-supported, and I have every reason to believe it is a landmark piece of nonfiction. As for other books by Noam Chomsky -- I haven't read them yet, so I'd feel ludicrous if I were to join all the cheering Chomskyheads in claiming that he can do no wrong. I apologize for writing a review that was probably too lengthy, but unfortunately I felt it necessary to emphasize that my complete, unreserved endorsement for this excellent book was actually a recommendation for the book's argument, not its author. This is a phenomenal study of US domestic and international policies regarding its dealings with Central America in the 1980's -- simple as that.

In meticulously chronicling US/German relations before the Great War, Mitchell has managed to reveal that there never was any German designs on the Americas, and that she was used as a bogeyman and cover for US imperialism under the guise of the Monroe Doctrine. She also exposes the innate anti German bias of the Fifth Estate, as well as the perfidy and treachery of the British in sowing/fanning the flames of US hatred for Germany, while appeasing the US by bending over backwards, in Venezuela, Mexico and Panama

Actually what was most interesting was the last pages when Mitchell cursorilly mentioned the blatant land grabs, occupations and annexations in Carribean and South America in 1915 and thereafter by that hypocritical, amoral imperialist, Wilson once the Euroepean Powers were heavily engaged in mortal combat, all under the name of protecting freedom, democracy and human rights (sound familiar?).

Prof. Mitchell has written a very good, well-paced and well-argued treatise on a particular situation (German-American relations vis-a-vis Latin America at the turn of the last century), that is relevant to broader, more current issues. American exceptionalism has always required demonization of a perceived villain or adversary, the Devil if you will, in order to mask our neo-imperialist ambitions. As Mitchell argues in her concluding chapter, Imperial Germany and its bombastic monarch made convenient demons to suit the ambitions or moods of particular institutions, such as the Navy or the yellow press, and even Woodrow Wilson conjured up the Teutonic bogeyman when it suited him.
In reality, the central theme of her book is of inconsequential historical significance, since the German dog had no bite to support its shrill bark (as one German wag deftly remarked.)There simply never was any credible German threat to American security or even the ambiguous Monroe Doctrine to worry about. But what is more relevant today is how perception can be manipulated to justify imperialism in the guise of some nobler ideal. If you need any modern evidence of this proclivity of ambitious politicians, look at the Iraqi Tar Baby and the President that's struggling to break free of it today.
This book is a must-read for any serious student of international relations, especially of the tense situation prior to WW One.

This is a splendid book. It is extremely well researched, yet it reads like a novel, because the author writes so well. It illuminates US-German relations in the 1890-1914 period, as well as US and German policies toward Latin America in those years, providing a subtle and nuanced interpretation that is based on an impressive amount of evidence culled from the US, British and German archives. And, again, it combines the rigor of a superb historian with the grace of a first-class novelist.

A superb read. If I were a dog, I would be salivating.

I re-read this book recently, which allowed me to place it on my list of books worthy of review. To begin, Dr. Nancy Mitchell is an outstanding professor. Having sat in her classroom several years ago as a graduate student, I can now look back and add that she is one of the best teachers I've ever had.

The Danger of Dreams is exceptional because it is timeless. In the early twentieth-century, there was a political game being played between the US and Germany; but, as Dr. Mitchell clearly demonstrates through careful research, "the uncertainty of it all, of perception and reality," allowed policy makers to distort and twist perception until it could become reality. In this case, it was the dreams of a kaiser versus the ambition and intent of a rising power.

As a history book, Mitchell stepped to the plate and knocked the ball out of the park. She writes like she teaches (grabbing your attention and pulling you in), using such a wide range of sources that any student of history will be both envious and enlightened. As a careful analysis of diplomacy and policy making, she has added a great volume to the shelves of political scientists as well. For those who read purely for pleasure, here too she rounds the bases because this book is a great story and it is exceptionally told.

In the games that nations play, "perhaps there is a constant ratio of power to sense of threat," and perhaps there are some powerful and very modern lessons here. Perception is reality, isn't it?

Major Allen C. Boothby, Jr.
Infantry Officer
US Marine Corps

This is a splendid book. It is extremely well researched, yet it reads like a novel, because the author writes so well. It illuminates US-German relations in the 1890-1914 period, as well as US and German policies toward Latin America in those years, providing a subtle and nuanced interpretation that is based on an impressive amount of evidence culled from the US, British and German archives. And, again, it combines the rigor of a superb historian with the grace of a first-class novelist.

This is an excellent book, a long awaited and much needed factual account of a group of courageous men whose activism had major impact on the movement. Hill has produced a wealth of documentation to prove the history he has brought to the fore.
This account does tribute to those brave and unsung (heretofore)
heroes who refused to further degrade themselves and thier communities by turning the other cheek! Must reading.

This book kept me up reading all night. I had in the past heard that their had been a group that pre dated The Black Panther Party, and were operating in the deep south. However there was not much information on this clandestine group. Well there is now. This is the book. My chest burst with pride as the tears fell down my cheeks. If you read nothing else this year please read this book if you want to know what our people were really doing during the "movement". The media had been lying to us about our role in our own history! This book is about us!

excellent coverage of a little-known but very important part of the civil rights movement. if you're tired of the conventional view of the crm with everyone on their knees praying, this book is for you.

An important corrective to the nonviolence theme that domninates most histories of the Civil Rights Movement. The Deacons were mostly home grown Black Veterans from working class neighborhoods in small southern towns like Bogalusa and Jonesboro Louisianna. When the Klan and Police beat on civil rights workers and local protestors the Deacons fought back. In July 1965 when a mob of whites attacked a group of civil rights, mostly children, marchers in Bogalusa a Deacon shot a Klan member sending him to hospital. This incident had a profound impact on the response to Black demands for equal rights in Lousianna. Finally, the White Establishment began to make changes that led to a better life for Louisianna's Blacks. Professor Hill's(History, Tulane Univesity) book is full of such incidents and proves that the Deaon's impact on the souhtern Civil Rights struggle must not be overlooked.

you have to speak the language of the wolf." - Henry Austin, Deacons for Defense

This is truly a lost history of the civil rights movement that author Lance Hill has found under the layers upon layers of mainstream narratives which conveniently dictate false truths that - when repeated enough - become larger than life.

Following the organized self-defense philosophy espoused by Robert F. Williams in Monroe, N.C., a small group of men in Jonesboro, Louisiana, founded an organization that had great influence in the civil rights movement of the mid-1960s. The success the Deacons had in defeating the KKK and other haters on the streets by standing up, moving forward and staring them down with guns loaded brought a new sense of empowerment in demanding that justice truly be served today.

Hill explains how he became aware of the Deacons and then began his quest to research the history. Initially founded to protect civil rights workers, the Deacons' influence in the Deep South grew with a regional organizing campaign in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with chapters being founded in several Northern cities.

The success and expansion of the program brought interest from the FBI, coverage by an oftentimes adverse media and linkage - oftenetimes quite temporary - with a number of revolutionary organizations.

But through the comparatively brief time the Deacons operated - about four years - Hill successfully argues that the organization forced the federal government to aggressively enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act and was the bridge to the Black Power movement that emerged later in the decade.

The Deacons' legacy continues, as former members have strongly stated over the years that the group has never actually gone away. And, as Hill writes, "Finally, there is something inspiring in a story of people who stood up to injustice when everyone around them was afraid. That is a fable that will always serve us well."

The Deacons for Defense lives in the souls of those who do their part on a daily basis to bring real justice to this country.

Lynn Suzanne has a hit on her hands! Now let's see who is brave enough to promote this book and who will ignore it out of fear or ignorance. It has been years and years since I read a book that did not feel formulated or boxed. I am very pleased that the author of Dear God/Jesus took the risk she did in the way she has delivered this amazing book.

Usually I don't find myself buying spiritual or self-help books because I don't feel the author goes deep enough or strong enough. I also get exasperated with books that seem to come from a high-n-mighty viewpoint and assumes to know it all. (I like how Lynn Suzanne terms this 'stupid-consumer-false-spirituality.') I like how she intertwines words and viewpoints. Each page was an adventure and I never knew where she would take me next. But, after I got 'there' I was delighted to have relaxed and trusted her to take me on a path that wasn't set in stone.

I was not disappointed in this book, I was left wanting more, more, more of her verbage and intuition. She is truly a teacher at heart. I look forward to reading all future books by Lynn Suzanne and I am hopeful that I will hear her speak live one day. It was wonderful to read an opinion that truly took real courage to share.

This book is written in a way that is both artistic and real at the same time. My guess is that this book will not be promoted in the mainstream because it doesn't follow the rules. And that is precisely why I believe this book is imperative for us all to read (whether you agree with the ideology or not). Lynn Suzanne speaks in a manner that would serve us all to communicate. The main point of this book is one mother's desire to protect her children and to walk her daily walk fully alive. This book transcends gender and demographic by the tenacity and honest conversations with her Higher Power.(I admire her willingness to swiftly kick me in the butt!)

There isn't a topic that this book doesn't address and I found myself thinking of different entries throughout my day at work. I also found myself more keenly aware of those around me and my potential impact to others. It has been a long-time since I learned this much about my own journey by reading someone elses.

Dear God/Jesus is exceptionally written and is at times heartbreaking, quiet, sad, beautiful, creative, and very funny.

Since reading this book I have visited the author's website frequently to read more of her thoughts and opinions. www.lynnsuzanne.com

Lynn Suzanne asks us to wake up and shed our silence and apathy and I couldn't agree more. If more individuals like this author had a platform I believe that revival she is seeking WILL take place before it is too late.

Reviewed by Helen Fischer


I have to say right up front that I am hoping this book lands Lynn Suzanne an interview with someone like a Rosie O'Donnell or an Oprah - I haven't heard someone take on the women's movement or social issues in such a wickedly terrific way in years. I would dearly love to see this author in a live debate with some of our self-appointed gods (we all know who they are). And Lynn Suzanne takes on the Church Leaders, the Political Parties and their Leaders (particularly the Secular Progress/far Left),and Mainstream Media. And she takes everyone on AFTER she thoroughly shows willingness to skewer herself. I find this author's writing breathtakingly refreshing!

I could feel this writer's soul in this manuscript. I heard her absolute mandate to herself that she will continue to 'march forward' in her search for those who share her belief system. Lynn Suzanne is grieving the fracturing of our children and has come to the conclusion that being quiet about what she is witnessing is not the solution. In addition to her vast life experience, her personal recovery from addiction, eating disorder, and violence coupled with her professional clinical experience makes her voice that much more compelling.

What Lynn Suzanne is saying to us all is to get off the fence and look around at the chaos taking place around the globe. What moved me the most was her unapologetic pride in being an American citizen and her absolute determination to not remain silent while her country faces critical obstacles.

There was so much offered in this book -- Lynn Suzanne has offered up a whole boatload of treasure and we only benefit from her conversations with God.

I found myself chuckling, gasping, sighing, and reminiscing while reading this tremendous manuscript. I placed no expectations on this book and thought I might read excerpts -- three days later I emerged from my home having read the entire book front to back. And I plan on reading it again and again until I have gleamed every last morsel of unparalleled experience and hard-earned wisdom of a woman of substance.

Have you ever "accidentally" overheard an interesting, intriguing, and powerful conversation? This book is just like overhearing such a conversation. You will smile, laugh, and experience some provocative, powerful thoughts as you listen to the conversation between Lynn Suzanne and God/Jesus.

Both "witty and light" and "thoughtful and intense". This book was a surprise in that it presents multiple layers of meaning as clear as having a conversation with the writer herself. I found that I could read the entries easily, and glean simple, yet powerful, insights to my own life and walk on this earth. I was also able to read the entries (many times the very same entries) and work through some intense thoughts, attitudes and experiences. The uniqueness of the book covers many topics that either we don't speak with each other about today, or topics that are simply "not spoken about". Yet for my own life and those of my children, I must, and for our culture, WE must, consider the topics covered in the book and yes even have conversations around these same topics.

Read this unique, courageously and excellently written work. You will find that you look within yourself, and look at others differently. You will evaluate your own thoughts and attitudes making changes or, hopefully, being more confident in the ways that you are walking today. You will be able to read it multiple times and experience different thoughts on different levels each time. It is such a fun read, I highly recommend this book as it created many self-help thoughts and attitudes without telling me how to do it.

I am telling all my friends about this book, the blessings that I have received through reading it, and the laughter, thoughtfulness and open attitude that she uses as she approaches the topics and yes God Himself!

In this great country of ours we are all holders of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion; for this I am grateful. When asked to review Lynn Suzanne's book, "Dear God/Jesus," I was looking forward to seeing a result of those freedoms, and I wasn't disappointed. Here is one woman who is standing up for her rights and what she believes in.



The book reads like a journal, a blog, and letters written to her higher power all wrapped up together. Add a sprinkling of political commentary, a touch of editorial essay and some heartfelt real life stories and you've got an offering that might seem to stir up trouble but will also get you thinking. The reader will see what they will; some may come away enraged and others may feel uplifted.



Lynn's life has not been an easy one and as a result she is a strong person who wishes to reach out to others. "Dear God/Jesus" is a culmination of many different aspects of her story, giving us a broad picture. Lynn speaks to God of her recovering addictions, the needs of others in similar situations, her work, her hopes, her fears, and a great deal of her deep concern over what she sees as a war between Neocons and the Secular Progressive. (My personal opinions on this matter are not what is up for review but suffice it to say that I disagree with the author's stance on a few things.) This particular issue seems to be most important to Lynn, along with apathy, to which she wishes to say, "Witness or Deny; Just Please Do Not Ignore."



I've always enjoyed the diary form in books. Often it leads to a light read, though not quite so with this one. The feel of being able to open the book to any page and come away with a glimpse of the author is key. The overall tone of Lynn's book is one that many will be able to relate to. Her personable writing is sure to sound familiar and comforting to those who have felt the same way. Her openness is refreshing, even though we might not agree with her on some topics. An interesting read to me may be a rave for some, a thumbs down for others, but for the writing itself, the process is complete and the result a testament to our freedoms.

I am a sixty-seven year old grandmother who found Dear God/Jesus a refreshing book to read. Despite being a practicing Catholic all of my life, I did not read this book from a rigid religious perspective; rather, I read it as a means of going even further in my prayers to God.

I have become disenchanted by the course the Church has taken in the past several decades particularly in the realm of politics and social issues. I found that this book, Dear God/Jesus, expressed many of my own observations and perceptions of what is taking place in the world. I was surprised to read a book by someone else who shares the very same concerns for the condition of our country.

My faith in God has only grown deeper as I have grown older and yet I have found that I don't want to have to pray with a predetermined form. I still recite many prayers but I like how Lynn Suzanne talks to God. I also speak to Him as if He is sitting right next to me. I want to share with God my thanks and gratitude as much as I need to express worry and angst with Him at times. I do not want to recite words written by somebody else; I want to pray from my heart. As the world grows colder and harsher, I find solace in the quiet moments alone with God.

This book, Dear God/Jesus, is an important tool in a time of unease, change, and stress and I encourage people of all ages, religions, politics, and demographics to read Dear God/Jesus with an open mind. I believe you will find great blessings as a result of listening to one woman speak her heart to God.

Could a second American Revolution be required to set America on the correct path once more? "Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic without overthrowing the Government" is a deftly written call to action - not to overthrow the government, no, but to do whatever they can to set our democratic institution on the right path once more, to cut through the oceans of false information and misrepresentation that do no right for it's citizens. Offering advice and protocol to save America while there's still time, "Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic without Overthrowing the Government" is highly recommended to community library political shelves everywhere and for anyone who wants an honest look at today's government.

What can you say about someone who gets it right? Once you see through the veils, it's all too painfully clear. The author of this hard-headed, warm-hearted book gets it right, and right on the nose. His dissection of our "fearless leader" in debate -- with prompting from a device wired to his back, giving him facts to use in the debate -- is alone worth the price of this book. He has painstakingly researched what happened and how it could technically have been done (the author is a trained engineer); and his discussion of the silence of the mainstream media describes a national scandal that never happened, but one that keeps happening, day in and day out, on our pablum maintstream "news" broadcasts.

I run an executive resume service in the Pentagon. I hear and see a lot of spinning and worse about enough to make any citizen sick. The country is being hypnotized, and the Red and the Blue are each being convinced of their righteous wrath. No one listens, everyone yells. Here is a book that deconstructs the delusion and din, and offers sound ideas about how to move forward in rebuilding our national democracy. We could all do a lot worse than to spend a few illuminating, but disturbing, hours with the author as he takes us step by painful step through the mists and minefields of our delusions toward the profile of a clear-eyed vision for a possible future. Books like this deserve an audience. Authors like this deserve readers.

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know what really is happening in our country today. I don't see how we can continue to ignore the trampling upon our freedoms and rights as Americans.

The best book i have read this year. Joel Hirschhorn tells it like it is.

A must read book!

This book is well written and concise. It serves as a fantastic wake-up call to the American people. It succinctly describes the anti-democratic practices, tendancies, and directions in society, the economy, the mass media, and government that have been eroding our participatory institutions by distracting citizens for decades.

It is an indictment of the corruption that flourishes at all levels of society and particularly in government. It exposes the culture of lying and spin and describes how untruth damages democracy.

This book gives form and focus to the discontent shared by people around the country. It is a clear call to arms against the status quo in our time and offers thought-provoking and unconventional ideas for how to reform the system through citizen action.

"Democracy in America", published in two parts (the first in 1835, the second in 1840), is the great work of Alexis de Tocqueville, a young, aristocratic Frenchman, who traveled through most of the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern United States during a 9 month period in 1832. Tocqueville had originally set out to study the U.S. prison system but what he saw inspired him to write about much, much more.

The foresight he had for such a young man is really impressive to read 160 years later. What he saw in the morals, work ethic and government structure of the United States led him to accurately predict many of the ways in which the U.S. would lead and has led the world. At the same time Tocqueville was not oblivious to many of the ills in the America he saw. He very wisely writes of the cancer that the institution of slavery was to not only all black Americans, but to the white, Southern farmers and workers as well.

I hate having to give these books "stars" for ratings because in many cases it takes away from the ultimate importance and classic status of a book like this one. Tocqueville does tend to jump around and venture off into different topics that don't fit with the rest of their chapter, which could be attributed to his youth. Also, a few of his predictions, naturally, were way off. A native Texan, I had a good laugh at his view that "the province of Texas is still part of the Mexican dominions, but it will soon contain no Mexicans." But overall Tocqueville's view of America was honest, accurate, and the perfect explanation of why, on a daily basis, people continue to risk their lives to gain the freedom that only the United States of America offers.

for any gov., hist., econ., soc., anth. student a must read

This is one of the greatest books ever written on politics! Toqueville analyzes American democracy and its inherent strengths and weaknesses from the view of a foreigner, thus giving the reader a balanced view of the situation. A definite must-read for anyone concerned with politics and American politics in particular.

to read democracy in america is to confront greatness itself, to follow the reflections of one the greatest political thinkers of all time, a man of balanced rationality, with a passionate concern for the fate of democracy--true democracy, that is, not the kind we see politicians preach on tv everyday. personally i prefer volume 2 of this great work, where the author summons up his astonishingly penetrating power of analysis and prophesy

De Tocqueville was simply of one of the great social scientists writing about America and Democracy. From reading the book I deduced that De Tocqueville was a social scientist before Marx! He compares European culture and government with the fledgling culture and democracy he observes in America. He is very much impressed with what he sees taking place in America in the 1830's and hopes it will spread to Europe. He at first believed that America's prosperity was simply due to geography and their distance from powerful neighbors, he abandons this idea after his visit to America. He comes to realize that the West is not being peopled "by new European immigrants to America, but by Americans who he believes have no adversity to taking risks". De Tocqueville comes to see that Americans are the most broadly educated and politically advanced people in the world and one of the reasons for the success of our form of government. He also foretells America's industrial preeminence and strength through the unfettered spread of ideas and human industry.

De Tocqueville also saw the insidious damage that the institution of slavery was causing the country and predicted some 30 years before the Civil War that slavery would probable cause the states to fragment from the union. He also the emergence of stronger states rights over the power of the federal government. He held fast to his belief that the greatest danger to democracy was the trend toward the concentration of power by the federal government. He predicted wrongly that the union would probably break up into 2 or 3 countries because of regional interests and differences. This idea is the only one about America that he gets wrong. Despite some of his misgivings, De Tocqueville, saw that democracy is an "inescapable development" of the modern world. The arguments in the "Federalist Papers" were greater than most people realized. He saw a social revolution coming that continues throughout the world today.

De Tocqueville realizes at the very beginning of the "industrial revolution" how industry, centralization and democracy strengthened each other and moved forward together. I am convinced that De Tocqueville is still the preeminent observer of America but is also the father of social science. A must read for anyone interested in American history, political philosophy or the social sciences.

Veterans For Peace is in the forefront of the vast majority waging peace in our times. If you have a sense of humor you'll be putting this book down often due to uncontrollabe laughter. If you don't (have a sense of humor) you'll laugh anyway. If you are a peace monger, send this to your congresspersons. If you are from Minnesota, they probably have it already.

Fun and educational, especially for those free thinkers that can't get up to speed in the post 911 world. Shine up your value systems with the Department of Homeland Decency guide book. Go forth, secure that you know what IT is. You will be able to impress your conservative friends with your understanding of the new rules. There is a chuckle in it for everyone.

Department of Homeland Decency is funny. Not just ha-ha funny but laugh out loud hysterical. Hysterical because what else is there to do when there is W in the White House? This decency manual reads like something W actually did scheme up. I mean, it is good. G-O-O-D. Very good. Brilliant.

The structure is concise and covers decency guidelines for home, work, TV, medical issues, and, of course, for doing "it." Each section consists of snappy articles with goofy subtitles-- "How to Prevent Insertion, " "Frozen Embryos," and "Abstinence Bake Sale." At the end of each section there is an "Ask Yourself This!" which brings up tasty issues such as "ask yourself this: What could my children learn at the library that I don't know and that would make me feel stupid if I didn't know it before they did? Why wouldn't I rather have my children do research at home where parental locks have been placed on the internet and on the television?"

There are many ways to tell a story, to get at the heart of an issue. Michael Moore goes for the jugular and leaves me feeling worked up, manipulated and annoyed. Susan and Frank Fuller's approach is also direct but not like I just got punched in the gut with political dogma. The writing is accurate, consistent, and direct.

Although the writing is funny it's not like the Fuller's tip toe around charged issues. "Decency in the Lunchroom" snowballs into "Suddenly the workplace is filled with languages other than English, including Black, Spanish, Indian and the like. The workplace lunchroom is no longer a restful spot to consume a hamburger or doughnut; instead, foods like hummus and salsa take up space in the company refrigerator." This is so brilliantly written I feel as if I could give this book to any right winger and they would sanction it as Truth. The Truth. This book rings true. And the truth hurts. If I couldn't laugh about the Truth, I'd cry. I'll take a good laugh any day.

Buy this book NOW. It's the perfect size to tuck into a picnic basket, beach bag or carry on. Enjoy!

Ask yourself this: are you tired of liberals, weak-willed Democrats and manly looking females who are eroding the decency of our homeland? Do you desire to "go backward into the future" into a new "Age of Decency", leaving behind all those who are not decent (free thinkers, PBS viewers, people who buy free range eggs, people who wear religious head coverings , people who do not like to watch NASCAR on TV)? If you have recently fallen off the decency wagon or just want to take your decency to the next level of separation from the indecency around you, this rule book is for you. All of the instructions are supported by years of research by the DOHD scientists who are gifted at making their data easy to understand even if their findings are not true. With this book, the DOHD helps us comply with decency standards and live decently, thus avoiding both painful punishment and rich fulfilling lives. Expect to see authors Frank and Susan Fuller with their own FOX News show soon!

Contained within the covers of this clever, cynical little volume are instructions for living an exemplary Homeland life ruled by decency. Issued by the Department of Homeland Decency (DOHD), it covers key life areas, including home, sex ("it"), work, entertainment, health, and worship. The book is filled with inspiring mottos, for "Mottos help decent Homelanders remember the rules of decency." One favorite is "It's not how much it hurts but for how long afterwards", from the appendix on Punishments. My favorite feature of the USA Decency Act (UDA) is the LookSee. DOHD agents patrol everywhere in big black SUVs, ferreting out and reporting acts of indecency. Your actions could trigger, at any time, a Home LookSee, "It" LookSee, Workplace LookSee, Medical LookSee, or any other number of LookSees. The authors, Frank Fuller and Susan Fuller, treat their subject with the silliness and disrespect it deserves. Inspired surely by the current US government's topsy-turvy priorities and self-righteous judgments, they shred the myopic and naive pronouncements of the powerful right with their simplistic, yet stern, language of a government manual. The book's design is beautiful, and it's small enough to take with you, in case you need a reminder of what is decent. Humor is often an outlet for anger, and this book wittily lampoons the cause of so much frustration in a time when many of us feel faceless and powerless.

This was one of the best books I read in graduate school. After 20 years this is still a great reference for anyone interested in the development of American universities. This work is an essential part of the intellectual landscape to anyone navigating the currents of the reactionary neocon thought, which developed in large degree in opposition to the legacy of the Frankfurt School. While the Frankfurt School's students seemed to dominate academe for a generation or more, the new invisible college is dominated by the reaction to this major stream of thought.

A wonderful introduction to and overview of the works of one of the only coherent intellectual "schools" of the 20th century. Jay describes the penetrating insights (and weaknesses) of the thought of Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse et al., with mercifully little of the psychologizing that one often finds in intellectual history. Ideas and their relation to historical context are the focus, rather than personalities and psyches. The book is readable enough to be attractive for non-academics and academics alike. It would have been nice to have more on the post-1950 period, but the as the subtitle makes clear, this is beyond Jay's purview for this book.

Even though a few years old by now, this is still the finest volume on the (at one time) subversive and all-encompassing attempt at rewriting the understanding of man, with special emphasis on reconciling Marx with Freud. The movement was known as The Frankfurt School, and its leading lights are examined here, both in life and thought, with a special emphasis on the former. Other books have come out since then, some had greater access to previously unavailable documents. Even so, no other book beats Martin Jay's scholarly and eminently readable account. If you must read just one book on the movement, read this one.

28 years after its initial publication, Martin Jay's "The Dialectical Imagination" is still the best introduction and most indispensable guide to the Frankfurt School's history and thinkers. Jay can easily be forgiven his occasional historiographer's dryness and insistent reminders of the boundaries of his project (I would be a rich man if I had a nickel for every time he writes that "such considerations fall outside of the area of the current inquiry" or something to that effect). Moreover, even if subsequent publications of the translated correspondence and unpublished papers of figures like Benjamin and Adorno have robbed Jay's book of some of its potential for novelty and scoop, Jay still provides the best and most pithy assessments of the major points, and he does so without sacrificing the scholarly rigor that organizes "The Dialectical Imagination."

The book could certainly better fulfill its role as research tool if the publishers would sponsor an updating of the notes and citations; now that everything has been published and republished by presses like Fischer and Suhrkamp in Germany and by the likes of Continuum, Columbia, Harvard, etc., in the English-speaking world, Jay's opus might be more helpful were it not to insist on citing the original issues of the institute's journals, to which most of us simply don't have easy access.

That's a small bone to pick, though, with such a thorough book. Jay's chapter on the philosophical roots of critical theory moves quickly but surely (despite the occasional dependence on disciplinary argot that may slow down readers not steeped in the vocabulary of "isms"), providing a crucial backdrop to his reading of the Frankfurt School's entire intellectual contribution. This chapter grounds Jay's book safely, and the subsequent chapters make good on this very promising start.

"The Dialectical Imagination" is sure to remain the best available introduction to the thought of the Frankfurt School on the whole. I cannot recommend it highly enough for those interested in the history of philosophy in the 20th century, in radical politics, or in developments in literary theory.

Frankfurt school is now a part of history. Not much of its arguments are reproduced now a day. For example, their critical cultural theory opened up the vast terrain of cultural study in capitalism. But their characterizing cultural consumer as dumb passive receiver is too much extreme to be real. Now nobody hold up such a position. Its perspective seems locked in the interwar period. Indeed, the power of the school comes from the distinctive problematic derived from such a peculiar era. But the strength is the source of weakness. But even we don¡¯t follow their lines, we should know what they said at least in cursory manner, for their theories are now classic in each field.
This book must be still the most authoritative history of Frankfurt school from its inception to 1950. but it deals with not only chronological events but also what the first generation of the school, such as Horkheimer, Adorno, Marcuse, Walter Benjamin, and Fromm, worked. This book is the intellectual history of the school. The author illustrates the school against the time of school. As Hegel said, thought is the child of its time. So the thought should be located in the right context to understand. The society of Western intellectuals faced a crisis in the interwar period. The impact was severe especially to German intellectuals. The thought of Frankfurt school is one of the reactions to the crisis. Marin Jay succeeds in reconstruct their time in front of us. This book is the ¡®must¡¯, if you want to be oriented to Frankfurt school.