Sweden Books

The first two-thirds of the book is quite detailed and helpful to any actor needing to get their first of second agent. Most of the info is learned by the time you get going with your career. The list of agents at the end did not seem updated or complete. Also, Ms. Callen seems to have a favorable view of most of the agents, but that has not been my experience when I have met some of them.

In 1944 Raoul Wallenberg, a businessman, playboy and member of one of Sweden's most wealthy and aristocratic families, volunteered to go to Budapest as a diplomat for the purpose of saving Hungarian Jews from Hitler's Final Solution. During the next six months, through espionage, bribery, threats, and, when all else failed, stirring acts of personal courage, he managed to rescue tens of thousands of Jews.

Lost Hero describes Wallenberg's metamorphosis from diplomat to guerilla fighter; his alliance with the beautiful Baroness Kemeny, the wife of one of Hungary's most prominent fascists; his frequent duels with Adolf Eichmann over Jewish lives; and the many occasions on which he personally rescued individual Jews from Eichmann's death trains. Wallenberg's crusade was suddenly halted when, after a mysterious meeting with Soviet officers, he vanished. Repeated sightings of him in the Gulag since the war have led many to believe that he is still alive.

Through sources exclusive to the authors, Lost Hero discloses for the first time the truth about Wallenberg's disappearance and the international scandal and cover-up surrounding the Wallenberg affair, and reveals at last what really happened to the imprisoned Raoul Wallenberg in Russia.

I love these Map-Easy guidemaps HOWEVER I lost mine on my trip to Sweden and couldn't use it. Oh well....these are still great maps!!

Here are some practical ideas and projects for creating the Swedish Look. Some such as the instructions for creating a "Roller Blind with Lace Trim", are useful, some, such as "The Garden Gate Radiator Cover", are of dubious utility and inspiration. Authentic this book is not, but if you are interested in the Swedish style and wish to transform a room or apartment into a semblance of the Gustavian look on a tight budget, it may be of use to you.

This book takes the history of Sweden from earliest times to the date the book was written (1972). Skimming very lightly over the period prior to 1523 (and the rise of Gustav Vasa), the author then begins to examine Swedish history with increasing depth. Covering a broad range of subjects from politics to art and literature, the author succeeds in giving the reader a real feel for the changes (and consistencies) that run through Swedish history. The final chapters go into great depth on 1960s Sweden, providing as much information as any reader could possibly want.

One of the things I liked about this book was the author's habit of giving the birth and death dates of various people mentioned, allowing the reader to place that person within a generational context. Unfortunately, she did allow this practice to trail off about halfway through the book. Overall, though, this is a good book for those who want information on Sweden from between 1523 and 1972 (especially the latter years). The author's stress on literature was quite fascinating, and makes this book a good read.

A nice book to browse if you want to get a feel for old world swedish style & creativity. This is a book with few words and loads of images. Not a wasted investment. I am sure I will refer to this many times in the next few years.

Martina Sprague in her book Sweden: An Illustrated History, brings the story of this Nordic country to those who don't have a background in the basics of Swedish history. She opens the door quite elegantly for the outsider to the exciting battles, wars, adventures and hardships the Swedish people had to endure over numerous centuries. Starting at the very beginning Sprague (a native of Sweden herself) takes the reader on a brisk yet absorbing journey from the Ice Age, circa 10,000BC, all the way up to the assassination of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in September of 2003. This book is a very fast paced introduction to the basics of Swedish history, where the author tries to touch on as many subjects as possible, but does not by any means go in depth. The reader learns about the Viking Age (circa 800 to 1050BC) and about the independent farmers who overthrew King Albrekt in 1389 because of high taxation in favor of the Danish Queen Margereta, who then goes on to establish the Kalmar Union (a dynastic union between Sweden, Denmark and Norway) in 1397. She then goes on to lightly discuss Sweden's struggle to throw off the Danish yoke in the 1523 Gustav Vasa Revolution, in which the nation finally became fully independent and actually had an empire of her own, with Finland, Poland, parts of Northern Prussia and Estonia under her control. Then comes the stories of the numerous northern wars fought against Denmark, and Poland. Sprague moves into the Twentieth Century (after Sweden lost her empire, with the exception of Norway 1814-1905) criticizing Sweden's decision to stay neutral in both World Wars, while at the same time staying very balanced as an historian should be. Overall this balanced approach to introduce Swedish history to the masses is welcomed, but don't expect to become very well versed in the different tides of Swedish history by reading this book alone. I would recommend this book not to the serious students of history, but to those who would like to learn a little about a subject they rarely hear anything about.

Overall, this is a decent book. Gives a good basic overview of American & Swedish history, along with some good comparisons. If your new to Swedish history/politics &/or American history/politics, & want to learn more, then this would be a great starter book.

If your like me, and are familiar with the Swedish system (been there 3 times) & the American system (history, politics, etc.), then you may find this book somewhat redundant. Mostly covers the basics. The main complaint I have is that its too short (180pg.) & mostly concentrates on American history, while being brief on the Swedish parts (and dosn't get into heavy comparison, or "what we can learn" mode till the last 50 pages). I feel for an American audience, it should be the other way around.
~Hej då

I served with Mr. Whitmore in Viet Nam. He was only in the field a month and tried to "slide" and get out of duty. He is simply a coward and made up a fictious life to justify his desertion and collaboration with the enemy. You would be better served by donating the money you might spend on this book to your favorite charity.

I found this book too expensive. How is it possible that average book could be worth so much? Any explanation?

This is a very well written and engrossing story of a man who was wounded in action in Vietnam and after recuperating in a hospital in Japan decided to opt out before he was sent back into combat. He found his way from Japan through Russia to Sweden where he received asylum. The story is about what it was like to be a black soldier from the south caught up in the war, and what it was like to end up in a country which was as passionately against the war as any place in the west. It is a worthy addition to the literature about the American experience in Vietnam.

That man is a traitor and should have been shot.

Why was this thing resurrected? "Memphis, Nam , Sweden" was fraudulent when it was first published many years ago and it hasn't gotten any more true in the intervening decades. Terry Whitmore's assertion that he participated in a planned atrocity-the killing of upwards of 400 Vietnamese non-combatant villagers was and still is a total fabrication. Mr. Whitmore first peddled this bilge to Mark Lane for Lane's book "Conversations With Americans", published by Simon and Schuster in 1970. Neil Sheehan-of Pentagon Papers fame-shredded this tale for a review of Mr. Lane's book by interviewing men who had served with Mr. Whitmore and by examining Mr. Whitmore's service records, records which showed that Mr. Whitmore's battalion operated in an unpopulated area near the DMZ. Mr. Whitmore could not have helped kill 400 people who never existed; the next person who comes forward to corroborate Mr. Whitmore's fantasy will be the first.

Mr. Whitmore was wounded in combat and deserted rather than return to his unit after his recuperation in Japan. He was spirited from Japan by the Soviet Navy, and lived for a time in the Soviet Union before settling in Sweden. His tale not worth telling is told in a writing style that alternates between comic book adventure and low pornography. Crude racial and gender stereotypes abound; Mexicans and Puerto Ricans are "...hot-headed and always ready to fight"; women are "broads", and "...they're all alike". Mr. Whitmore also advocates the violent overthrow of the American government. This is a truly awful book.

I wanted to learn about racism and xenophobia in Sweden.
I didn't learn much from this book.
It is not a study at all -- it isn't really even social science -- but rather, a whimsical and often psychedelic collection of random quotes from people like Kant and Myrdal, various pseudo-intellectual poems (yes, poems), and stream-of consciousness musings on the nature of racism and "the Other." The pomo style is truly annoying.
I am certain that that author put his heart into this book, and I give him credit for trying to do something "new" and "original" -- but the result left me extremely bummed. I regret buying the book.

I just finished reading Even in Sweden and I found it fascinating. Given the political and social history of this country one would not necessarily thinks of race or racism as a factor. I came to understand that a young woman from Ethiopia or from Iran is seen a exotic screen where native swedish men project fantasies of sexual freedom. This is also the case in America. I also gained insight in terms of how the progeny of African men and white Swedish women are looked at in terms of not being European or Swedish enough.This was fascinating.

While Pred's discussion of race and sexuality was interesting,it was a bit limited to me. I failed to get a clear sense of how women and men of African descent from the US are looked at (or treated in the swedish context). Given that some of the offspring from black deserters during Vietnam grew up in Sweden it might be interesting to find out.

Other than these questions, the book is excellent. I highly recommend it!

Allan Pred is a professor of Geography at the University of California at Berkeley, but has spent some 40% of his time since 1960 in Sweden. Over the period of the 1990s, Professor Pred saw a profound change in how Sweden saw and welcomed immigrants and refugees. Prior to the 1990s, economically prospering Sweden, facing chronic labor shortages proclaimed itself a "moral superpower," acting as conscience in racial matters to the rest of the world. During the 1990s, when Sweden was hit by economic forces that raised unemployment to near-record levels and sapped money needed for the maintenance of the welfare state, Sweden began to turn against foreigners, making life difficult for those already there.

This book traces the history of this historic change in Sweden's policies, and shows how non-European and Muslim minorities are mistreated in a country that has always prided itself in its enlightened racial policies. It shows what racism can do...even in Sweden.

I find myself of two minds about this book. First off, I must say that this is a fascinating and enlightening look at modern Sweden. If you are interested in race relations in Europe, then this is definitely a book that you should read.

On the other hand, this book does have its problems. First of all, in trying to give weight to his words, the author makes extensive use of quotations from manifold sources; in fact, far too many quotations are presented. The quotations in this book, sprinkled throughout the text, often run to two pages, giving the text a disjointed feeling. Second of all, the author goes far in assigning racist motives to people, counting any anti-immigration sentiment as de facto racism. The book begins by referencing the 1962 book, An American Dilemma by Gunnar Myrdal, a Swedish book that documents racism in America, and then turns the author's words back against Sweden, with a seeming sense that Sweden's comeuppance has finally arrived.

But, that said, the author does do an excellent job of describing present day Sweden. I was also quite intrigued by his showing that many of Sweden's modern race problems are a result of well-intentioned laws passed in the past. I give this book 3 stars, which stands for "Good," as I do think that its flaws hold it back from being the very good or even excellent book that it could have been. I give it a somewhat guarded recommendation.

On the surface, this might seem like a good sociology book, looking at conditions in Sweden, but that surface is misleading. First of all, Berkeley professor and self-proclaimed Marxist Allan Pred is NOT a professor of sociology, but of geography. But let's move on.

Pred's book is heavily footnoted, but many of his claims about Swedish police, news media, and so forth are unsubstantiated. That is to say he will make a claim of certain actions or opinions, but provide few if any footnotes giving a source; the book is highly anecdotal, with Prof Pred not hesitating to list himself as a resource. Therefore, what you are reading in this book is NOT the disinterested and impartial examination of Swedish culture by a trained sociologist, but instead the deep felt opinions of an opinionated sociological layman.

That leads me on to another point - culture. Prof Pred toes the line when it comes to liberal orthodoxy - he denies the very existence of culture. To him any country is a herd of humans, constantly changing with no past and no future. Have you read about Japanese culture, or Indian culture? Well, forget it, there are no such things! To Prof Pred there is no Swedish culture, only a group of people living in a geographic area, who should not reference anything that came before.

What is the meaning of all this? The West (yes, there is such a thing) is in a state of crisis, where people from other cultures are arriving in unprecedented numbers, changing the very nature of the culture penetrated. Why did the good prof not discuss the Sami (Lapp) people? This is because he is part of the liberal establishment that actually wants to see Western culture shattered and replaced by that of third-world cultures. The book points out that Swedish unemployment is running at 12-15%, and yet prof Pred identifies anti-immigration sentiment as racist, never bothering to explain why that is.

Do not read this book, it is nothing but a bunch of biases that the author brought to his (untrained) examination, reaching conclusions that slavishly conform to university Marxism and distort the truth.