Events Books

Demetrius D. Jackson opens his book TRANSITIONS: Through Tumultuous Events...A Man Will Rise with a six page poem that reads like a short story and continues these long narrative poetic pieces throughout the book. The book details the life of Marcellous Thompson as he proceeds through childhood, starting with the separation of his parents and on through other high points of his life.

Adjusting to the format was a little hard at first as I've never read such long pieces of poetry, but the more I read, the more I began to enjoy the story being brought to fruition in the pages of TRANSITIONS. What I really enjoyed was the author's open display of emotion from piece to piece. The anger and pain was pushed onto the reader, just as heavily as the love and happy times. Yet, time after time, he kept coming back from whatever issue faced, growing as a result. It shows the commitment of one to take life by the horns and make the best of it, to reach the top.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I really enjoyed reading an entire book in poetic form. It was refreshing to see the story unfold uniquely with pure heartfelt honesty. It definitely left the reader wanting more. Great job!

Given a glimpse into Marcellous' life, readers will be emotionally provoked as they travel along through his journey. Taken from a male perspective, readers of all ages and genders will able to identify and have insight into the Black male's world. Transitions is an inspirational read for anyone facing adversity. It is a confirmation that God is awesome and dreams do come true.

Creatively written with a modern day twist. I've recommended this book to many friends and family

Great read! I've never experienced an entire story being told in poetic prose. Very creative. Great storyline! I can't wait to see what becomes of Sasha! Even those who aren't interested in poetry will love this book!

I have given this cook to many people. It has some incredible insight on leadership, especially the positive impact that African Americans can make in their communities.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. The further I read into it the more I was moved by the narrative, and the stories.

The book has very few statistics and is not heavy in technical detail. But whatever its perceived fault could be, it pales in comparison with the passion, power and truthfulness of its message.

Learn about the small, scattered and underresourced groups of men and women that are transforming the inner cities of America and the implication that this has for the social renewal of all of our socieity.

This book is inspiring, practical, and immensely moving. I believe it should be read by every person in United States who has even a bit of honesty to face the problems of our communities, even a little strength to care about others, and a desire to have their eyes opened to the powerful solutions that are available in very humble quarters!

The Triumphs of Joseph is simply one of the most important books to be written since the Civil Rights Movement. I teach diversity classes and I use Triumphs as a primary text to offset the constant presentation by black leaders (often self-proclaimed) and the media that African Americans are somehow deficient in ordinary resilience and social strategies and need the paternalistic help of governmental and private agencies. Why do so many people who are not disadvantaged feel free to define for the disadvantaged what their needs, wants, and goals are? Dr. Woodson is sure to offend those who are the vicarious victims and parasitic victimizers of the poor but the validity of his message cannot be denied. Coming from a disadvantaged background myself, I have lived some of the situations he describes yet today I hold a doctorate and teach at the college level. Dr. Woodson is definitely a winner with a winning plan. If you want to be a winner, stick with the winners.

Dr. Woodsen gives an eloquent and powerful case for the endurence and ingenuity of the individual human soul versus the shocking waste and disregard of people caused by government social programs. He is definetly not "politically correct" in his assessment of the stark failure of the "poverty industry" to stop the tide of death and despair. Dr. Woodsen offers an inspirational solution that really works and takes the reader along to meet the brave and ordinary people who make a difference.

Every black person in the United States ought to devote an evening or two to reading this book. It shows in a concise 100-plus pages that "Black History" includes the triumphs of self-sufficiency which were considered ordinary before the Civil Rights movement taught the race that "progress" meant handouts and lowered standards of evaluation. The inner cities are slowly rising out of the ashes, not through government charity but through residents working the system to change their own destinies, making their peace with an unfair past. No book says this better. Everyone -- buy this book and regain your hope.

A great book for understanding what really shapes foreign policy and for also explaining todays foreign conflicts. Keylour covers everything from WW1 to the present reaching from the US, & Europe to Asia and the Middle East. If you want to know more than what CNN will tell you, check this book out.

The Twentieth Century World opens with a prologue that examines international relations at the outset of the twentieth century and sets the stage for the rest of the book. The book's three major sections then examine the period bracketed by the two world wars, which was characterized by German expansionist aspirations and attempts by the other major powers to contain them, the cold war era characterized by superpower rivalry, and the post-cold war era characterized by increasing disorder in international relations.

Author William Keylor is consistently strong in describing how geopolitical forces - geography, demographics, technology, and finance - affect national development and international relations. He shows that political arrangements need to be consistent with the operation of these forces to be successful. But he does not imagine that international relations are determined entirely by objective forces: he recognizes that ideas are important too. For example, because it holds itself out as a model of democracy, the United States is judged by the same ideals that it professes. The ideologies of democracy and national self-determination advanced by the United States have not eliminated its self-interested behavior but they have constrained it. Keylor also recognizes the role of leadership in international relations. For example, he describes how competent and farsighted leadership in many Asian countries has helped produce impressive economic growth over a period of many decades, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and exerting pressure on neighboring countries to adopt similar export-oriented policies.

In fact, I found his explanation of development processes in East Asia to be particularly illuminating. He describes how Japan pioneered a development path based on trade and government coordination of large, oligarchic export companies. Japan first specialized in textiles and other manufactures that relied on cheap labor. By postponing consumption and sustaining a high rate of savings and investment over an extended period of time, the Japanese achieved a comparative advantage in accumulating capital for investment in capital-intensive manufacturing industries. Finally, having developed a cadre of highly qualified scientists, technicians, and engineers, the Japanese became world leaders in high technology industry. This same developmental path was successfully replicated by the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong), and is being followed now by the ASEAN countries.

The Twentieth Century World, now in its fourth edition, is suitable for lower-division undergraduate courses and will also be of interest to the general reader. It includes many useful and attractive maps but no footnotes. The book also includes a 23-page critical bibliography, two glossaries, and a detailed, reliable index. Since I finished the book a couple months ago, it has served me as a reference several times.

The Twentieth-Century World: An International History, by Dr. William R. Keylor, has been recognized as one of the foremost sources for a historical account of the twentieth century by several professors, students, and other applicable parties alike, and for good reason. There are several factors to take into account when determining the merit of such a text, including the tenability of the text, the efficiency of its organization, the cogency of its material, and its physical practicalities in terms of design and dimension, not to mention the price. This text is an assessment, in narrative form of twentieth-century world history which provides comprehensive coverage of affairs related to the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, all of which is up to date as recently as the year two thousand. Dr. Keylor presents the political, diplomatic and military history of the twentieth century while putting an appropriate significance on the effects of economics as well as on the bearing that geopolitics has over a country, both of which are often overlooked. In doing so, this text sheds light on important yet presumably subtle factors that have played important roles in the development of twentieth-century international history. While this account of international relations in the twentieth century is not only concise and depicted with convincing sensibility, Dr. Keylor manages to accomplish this with coherency and clarity, which substantiates a prepossessing flow from page to page. Perhaps one of the most appealing factors of this text is the language, which is straightforward and understandable without diminishing the quality of the material or compromising its effectiveness. In fact, this method likely affords Dr. Keylor to reach a wider audience that ranges from the individual with only an intermediate comprehension, to the educated and experienced history buff. Furthermore, another important element of this text is its ability to cover the history of the twentieth century concisely and clearly, in an intense analytical framework without boring the reader. This fact is among many of the others which separate it from many of its rivals.

This concrete account of international relations in the twentieth century stands out in its clarity and coherence. And unlike many history books, it's not BORING, perhaps because it offers more than merely a narrative account; it is also set within an analytical framework. My attention was thoroughly held as Professor Keylor imparted his insight into the struggle among the major nations in the world for power, prosperity and prestige. Everything seemed to click into place, and the chapters just flow into one another. As Paul Kennedy said of it: " ...The style is pleasing and extremely lucid, and the emphasis on economic and geopolitical trends is greatly to be welcomed... An excellent synthetic work, and one which can be recommended to students and to interested laymen alike."

Dr. Keylor portrays the political, diplomatic and military history of the twentieth century in the most understandable and straightforward language. He shows how history is responsible for what is currently happening around us, and why we should know the causes of the conflicts he writes about. He pays special attention to World War One, the rise of facism, World War Two, the rise of the Cold War, Latin America and the US, Africa, the Cold War in Asia, Israel and the Middle East, the triumph of and expansion of capitalism throughout Latin America and East Asia, the end of the Cold War, arms control and many other topics. The book is a very valuable reference for any student of law, international relations, politics or anyone else who wants to know more about the world that we live in.

Jennifer Van Bergen has written a most important book that is a must read for all Americans who cherish freedom.
Miss Van Bergen,a member of the ACLU and The National Lawyers Guild,is a most articulate spokesperson for the point of view that under the leadership of President Bush America is drifting slowly,but surely,toward a corporate state(read fascism).She points out that it is NOT only the so called "Patriot Act"that threathens the rights of Americans(circumventing the 4th amendment)but also such things as The North Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA) and the lesser known The Free Trade of (the) Americas Agreement(FTAA),both of which deny benefits to the average person,curtails labor rights,but also hands over all kinds of new "rights" to "corporate bloodsuckers"(my term), so that they can continue to plunder the environment and enforce "wage slavery" on 90%+ of the population.She examines the state of the courts,and the three separate,but equal branches of our government,and with the GOP already claiming The Presidency and a having a majority in both houses of Congress the independence of the judiciary is in great question,and with the Democrats sitting back and allowing Bush to stack the courts with hard right thugs,the future of this country as a free democratic republic is in great jeopardy.For all their talk about opposing "judge made law",and being in favor of "strict construction"(original intent) the GOP members of Congress are making the road to fascism easier by NOT OPPOSING Bush's vision(as if he ever had a vision concerning anything)of a unitiary goverment,which if allowed to proceed will only lead to dictatorship,slavery,and death. Ms Van Bergen book was written before the (anti)immigration debate really started with its harsch provisions conerning "aid to illegal aliens".These provisions are so reactionary and hateful that key leaders of the Catholic Church(Cardinal Mahoney,of L.A.for one) urge Church members NOT to cooperate with these fear-mongering articles,of the new immigration bill.For once a Church leader standing up for the teachings of Jesus!
This 228 page book includes the very helpful Britt's List -the fourteen points common to fascist regimes,and "The Cheney Plan for Global Dominance,a truely frightening scenario.
As I write this CBS News reports that the governments wants all internet companies to keep the records of ALL internet users,in order to fight terrorism and sexual abuse cases.I sure believe that one!1984 is here!!
Ignorance is Strength.
Slavery is Freedom!
War is Peace!
This is an excellent book!!!

An attorney with the South Florida Branch of the ACLU and an adjunct faculty member at the New School for Social Research, Jennifer Van Bergen understands that making the case for her position is essential to having the American people understand the danger which we and the country remain in.

Van Bergen uses factual evidence to demonstrate how the Bush administration is eliminating democracy under the guise of 'homeland security'. Using very loaded flag-waving rhetoric, this government is attempting to have people believe that any criticism of their actions is infact support for 'the terrorists'.

The problem is that 'the terrorists' are never actually identified and remain annoymous masses in this same scenario. After all, the real focus of the Bush administration is keeping people scared so many will not question the actions of their government and there is a greater chance that those who do dissent can be labeled as 'troublemakers'.

During the 1960's the federal government used 'red menace' rhetoric to justify the wiretapping and surveliance of left wing activists. The 'remote' possibility of communist infiltration (and subsequent social impacts) in these organizations were considered enough to justify the actions. Following Hoover's death, Congress placed long-needed restrictions on the FBI's ability to place American citizens under surveliance and made that information available through public request. To read the administration's support for the PATRIOT Act honestly feels like we are ignoring all of this history and failing to learn from the past.

This failure is also how a 'conservative' administration squares the obviously expanded bureacracy against their public promotion of limited government. PATRIOT Act expansions are a big exception to their usual rules specifically because the conservatives are the ones who are doing the government expansion and surveliance. The ultimate impact on citizen freedoms is secondary (if weighted at all) to the president and his buddies getting and maintaining their absolute power over everybody else.

The conclusions in this book are chilling---and ever more accurate with each passing day. It is an accessible read for people wanting affirmation that they are not reading into things, but is also important for audiences who need to know what their government is really doing.

The one point on which Jennifer Van Bergen as author of "Twilight of Democracy" and George W. Bush agree is over the assertion made by the latter that "America has been changed forever by the tragedy of 9-11." From that point forward Van Bergen, an attorney active in the South Florida branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Bush travel widely disparate ideological paths.

Van Bergen shrewdly delineates the path traveled by the Bush Administration in the wake of September 11, 2001 as it declared war against terrorism and sought to acquire powers held by chief executives in totalitarian states and denied them in democratic nations. Only Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California voted against granting the executive branch the sweeping powers it sought in the wake of 9-11 as the House and Senate voted in an otherwise unanimous manner.

One important point that Van Bergen makes that has been mentioned all too infrequently is that the entire war on terror announced by Bush after 9-11, and used as an immediate basis to launch a fierce military attack in Afghanistan, is predicated on spurious constitutional and common law grounds. In any military or police action a specific nation or organizational entity needs to be identified. Bush's war on terror does not meet that important criterion since its fails the specificity test.

As Van Bergen carefully delineates, by declaring war on a non-specific entity and stating that such a conflict has no measurable end in sight, the opportunity is ripe for an octopus-like executive branch to, in the interest of preserving democracy, bring about its demise in the interest of safeguarding the nation and its people from terrorism. The instrument of accomplishment was the infamous Patriot Act, which left the Bill of Rights in tatters.

The sweeping arm of the law swooped down on innocent citizens and aliens in America who were Arabs and practiced Islam. The umbrella expansiveness of the Patriot Act permitted them to arrest suspects without a warrant and detain them for non-specific periods of time without charging them. The dangerous abrogation of rights extended beyond this slippery slope and into the constitutional guarantee of right of counsel. In instances where attorneys were permitted to speak with such defendants, authorities were permitted to listen in on the conversations, rendering the privilege of counsel essentially null and void through destroying confidentiality. Again, these tactics are hallmarks of totalitarianism and anathema to democracy.

A tactic used to circumvent dealing with defendants in traditional constitutional circumstances is to declare any individual suspected of terrorist acts or giving support to terrorist groups as enemy combatants. This has been used in the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison to evade American constitutional or international safeguards such as the U.S. Constitution and the Geneva Code. Democracy is denied on the pretext of saving the institution, a tragic contradiction through which freedoms have been trampled and America has come closer to representing apartheid South Africa than a constitutional democracy.

In addition to laying out the legal case against the usurpation of democracy by the Bush Administration, Van Bergen also lists fourteen basic points cited earlier by Lawrence W. Britt as dangerous common threads associated with Fascism.

They include such totalitarian hallmarks as excessive nationalism, media control, pervasive scapegoating, obsession with militarism and national security, protection of corporations and denial of workers' basic rights, obsession with crime and punishment, rampant cronyism and corruption, and fraudulent elections.

Americans should remember with caution the words spoken by Benjamin Franklin when he left Constitution Hall and was asked what kind of government had been bestowed on the new nation called America, t o which he responded, "A Republic if you can keep it."

Jennifer Van Bergen has given us a book that should be must reading for every American. If you think we might be on our way towards a Fascist state in America, you need to read this book. Ms. Van Bergen explains how the PATRIOT Act has damaged the United States Constitution. She also tells us what we must do to correct the current state of America.
The book is very well done, in easy to understand language. This book should be on the reading list of every American.

Author & lawyer Jennifer Van Bergen's thought provoking book "The Twilight of Democracy" "ferrets out principles of constitutional law and juxtaposes them with ... statutes, regulations, international laws, legal strategies and actions of the Bush administration." There's no love lost here for President Bush, and the author isn't shy about giving her personal opinion. With blistering criticism of the Bush administration, Van Bergen argues that America is well on the road to fascism, and that we are experiencing an erosion of democracy through a systematic attack on the constitution. Taking Laurence W. Britt's handy-dandy 14-point guide to fascism, Van Bergen systematically examines current trends in American political, social and legal systems.

The book is subdivided into two distinct categories: Book One "Deciphering the Democratic Code" and Book Two: "The Bush Plan." Book One is basically an overview of various aspects of the constitution, international law, due process, the 1st, 4th and 6th Amendments, types of courts, etc. In Book Two, the author tears into (amongst other things) the Patriot Act, America's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, the Abu Ghraib scandal, detentions in Guantanomo Bay, the coup in Haiti, and the Free Trade of Americas Agreement.

Of particular interest is Van Bergen's argument that there's a movement underfoot "to clear the way for the concept that 'activists = terrorists'." According to the author, it's all about the administration's goal to achieve "control, suppression, and eradication of opposition." And there are some mind-boggling examples here--including the "sailor-mongering" charge levied against the Greenpeace protestors, and the use of the Patriot Act against activists who simply express their beliefs. Van Bergen also touches on the Lynne Stewart case. Ms Stewart was the court-appointed attorney for Sheik Abdul Rahman, who was subjected to electronic surveillance, and her offices raided. This, Van Bergen argues, is a direct challenge to the Sixth Amendment rights. (Interestingly enough, after finishing the book, I looked up Stewart's case on the Internet, and I did discover that many in the legal profession are indeed concerned about exactly how one is supposed to represent a terrorist suspect after what happened to Stewart. I found many sites pro and con Stewart's case, and found it much more difficult to find out what she is actually accused of.)

The book also includes information about the MATRIX "data mining system" (Multistate Anti-TeRrorism Information exchange)--a system which according to the ACLU "is controversial because it involves not the attempt to learn more facts about known suspects, but mass scrutiny of the lives and activities of innocent people ... to see whether each of them shows any signs of being a terrorist or a criminal." The MATRIX creates a "terrorist quotient" that "measures the likelihood that individuals in the databases are terrorists." In theory, we could all have our own "High Terrorist Factor" (HTF). According to the author, those with the highest scores have their names passed on to such agencies as the INS, FBI, and the Secret Service. MATRIX is "financed and managed" by the Dept of Homeland Security. The book goes into detail about the MATRIX system, and the information here is startling. The ACLU states that the MATRIX system "constitutes a massive invasion of privacy, and a violation of the core democratic principles."

Another fascinating chapter is devoted to the Patriot Act, which, the author argues, allows the government to stomp on the Fourth Amendment (right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures). By redefining the standards of "terrorist investigations", categories are expanded and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Acts (FISA) allows investigators "without probable cause to get your library records, your educational, financial, or medical records as long as an FBI agent" claims the records are required "in connection with an ongoing foreign intelligence investigation."

The book finally, and appropriately ends with a chapter on torture and abuse, and the author touches on the historical significance of the Geneva Conventions (they were never called the Geneva Suggestions).

There's a mine of information here, and it's a good thing the author follows the text with scrupulous chapter-by-chapter notes. I'm not a lawyer, so I can't defend or oppose the merits of the legal arguments here, but I would be fascinated to see how lawyers feel about the book's arguments. As a non-lawyer, however, I can honestly say that I learned a great deal from reading this well-written, eye-opening book---displacedhuman

I will try to avoid getting involved in the heated debate that the two previous reviewers wrapped themselves in. Instead I will focus my attention on giving my opinion pertaining to the quality of Ian Shapiro's work. The book itself is laid out beautifully. As a poli-sci student it is a blessing to have such a well laid out book to use in my studies. The choice of font only serves to amplify the intensity of Locke's ideas. Ideas that inevitably shaped the society we live in today. If you are studying the works of this man, or just reading for leisure don't hesitate to read this version, you will not be disappointed.

John Locke (1632-1704) wrote "Second Treatise of Government" in 1690, it was the main political philosophical source that our "Founding Fathers" went to in writing the "Declaration of Independence" and in forming our government. I think you should know something of Locke to understand what influenced his thinking. His father was a small landowner, attorney, Puritan and his political sympathies were with the Cromwell Parliament. Like Hobbes, Locke attended Oxford Univ. and did not think much about the curriculum or his professors. Most of his education came from reading books in the Univ. library. Renee Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton's writings greatly influenced Locke. Like Hobbes, he took a tutoring job teaching the son of the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, and traveled Europe. His friendship with the Earl was beneficial in obtaining government appointments. During the political unrest in England, (1679-83) he fled to Holland because his liberal notions put him at odds with the government.

Locke writes the "Second Treatise of Government" to justify the Revolt of 1688 and the ascension of William of Orange to the English throne. The book argues against two lines of absolutist ideas. The first is Sir Robert Filmer's "patriarchal theory of divine right of kings; secondly, Hobbes argument for the sovereign's absolute power in his book "Leviathan." Locke argues that government emanates from the people. Locke's treatise rests like other political writings on its interpretation of human nature. He sees our nature opposite the way Hobbes did, decent and not as selfish or competitive. Man is more inclined to join society through reason and not fear. Man prefers stability to change.

His very important contribution to "law of nature" theory was his bias toward individualism. In state of nature, before government, men were free independent, equal enjoying inalienable rights "chief among them being life, liberty, and property." Where have you read that before? Property rights receive much attention in this treatise. Locke argues that government based on consent of man can still preserve freedom independence and equality.

His political writing had immediate influence in the world and influenced our founding fathers in their struggle against tyranny. He is an excellent writer and his theories are easy to understand by the laymen. As a graduate student of political philosophy, I recommend if you have an interest in politics, philosophy, or government then you must read Locke's "Second Treatise of Government"

I'm no genius. A pedant, perhaps, and an arrogant jerk, but not a guy with the kind of education it seems other reviewers have. I can't tell you who Locke's friends were or what his political connections were, either. I have some vague notion that Locke's and Mill's ideas influenced the philisophical basis of the American founding documents, but I'm just a soldier who sometimes likes to bite off more than he can chew--I wan't to know the stuff them smart people do, and don't see any reason I shouldn't!

So if you're like me, let me encourage you to get this book. Your friends will almost certainly call you a nerd (after all, who reads 17th century political philosophy for FUN?), and it'll take a few pages to cut your teeth on the language, but after you get going, this book is a breeze. I can't tell you the philisophical doctrines nor their framework in several distinct points, but I can tell you this: the language, to one of average education, was a little hard to wrap my brain around, but what worked for me was just to set a pace and trudge through it without getting hung up on the one sentence that twisted my mind into a pretzel. After a few pages (maybe 10 or 15) I found that my brain was correcting for the nature of the wording, and for the rest of the book, I swear, I understood what was going on through the second treatise and the Letter, too.

After I got going, I was all highlighters and folded corners, but it had too many profound and simple statements to save them all in my head. If you're even vaguely political, this book will make points as absolutely applicable to today's world politics as it did to those of the bygone time. It applies from everything from the crazy long haired hippie communist democrats to the crazy power-mad Neocons, but it'll make you wish with all your heart that both ruling parties of American Government would give it a quick read over the recess.

Anyhow, I rate this work as 4 stars out of 5. Mostly that's because I have absolutely nothing to compare it against, and am therefore hesitant to give it 5 stars, because it's the first political philosophy I've ever read. But dammit, it seems like a pretty good one to me. Just don't let it scare you off, you don't need to be a genious to understand this. Let's even the playing field between us regular people and the academic jerks (love you guys, really, just making a point) that like to write reviews even Locke wouldn't understand :) This stuff is great, and it's great for even those who, like me, are only moderately intelligent readers.

John Locke died nearly ninety years before the constitution was written. The likes of Jefferson and Hamilton referenced this book in their respective endeavors to frame our constitution and sunbsequent government.

John Locke did not "steal" his ideas from the constitution; his writings were the basis for many of Thomas Jefferson's ideas in the Declaration and subsequently influenced the American constitution. His treatise is a defining moment in political writings and a must read for anyone who is interested in history, politics or philosophy. This is a good book that covers his key writings.

John Taylor of Caroline was arguably the best farmer in Virginia during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, carrying out experiments and advocating scientific farming techinques. In addition, he was a sometime politician and constant cultural critic. Tyranny Unmasked argues that the moneyed class in the north and especially in the cities created conditions that would eventually destroy American freedom as conceptualized by Thomas Jefferson: the freedom created by the independent "yeoman farmer" beholden to no higher power for his livelihood. According to Taylor, the emerging finance-oriented capitalist economy developing during this period distorted the "pure" capitalism in which an unmanipulated market provided the best measure of price for goods offered by productive workers. In this work and others, and especially in his uncollected congressional speeches, Taylor rails against the "pecuniary aristocracy" of big financiers that he saw as having undue influence on American laws and policies.

The main caveat I refer to for potential readers has to do with Taylor's advocacy of slavery. Some commentators have justified this advocacy with the typical appeal that southern culture demanded that he support his region's beliefs. While the pressures of social and cultural acceptance were intense, even admirers of Taylor should be disturbed by his (as well as Jefferson's) promotion of a type of American freedom founded not only on denying African Americans any freedom at all but also on horrendous treatment that literally worked many slaves to death and made even those in less oppressive situations live in constant fear.

Taylor was truly a genius in critiqing the society in which he lived but he also supported the continuation of a monstrous blight on American life and identity.

John Taylor of Caroline is one of the most brilliant political philosophers that America has ever produced. This work in particular demonstrates a compelling critique of government interference in economic matters that also demonstrates Taylor's firm grasp of political economy. Above all, this book is an absolute joy to read.

Taylor's Tyranny UnMasked opened my eyes to the difference between where we have gone, and the course our nation's founders sought to follow. I never considered myself a conservative before reading it, and I still do not - today's conservatives are the descendents of the very radicals whose policies Taylor condemns. I do think of myself as the wiser and better for it.

John Taylor of Caroline's " Tyranny Unmasked" is a brilliant analysis of enonomic and political economy in the early 1820's. Taylor points out the injustice and folly of protective tariffs and their effects. He astutely shows how by " protecting" an industry from competition you effectively raise the price of the product and foster a government- business alliance destructive of liberty. He shows how financial interests use tariffs to unfairly gain advantage over other competitors and also how they
attain dominence over the representatives of the people through
their influence. Taylor recommends a Jeffersonian ideal of free trade, low taxes, and an abolition of protective tariffs. Overall a great Jeffersonian read.

Once upon a time, educated Americans could be presumed to be familiar with the writings of the Greeks and, especially, the Romans. This familiarity prepared them for republican citizenship in a way that today's smorgasbord approach to post-secondary education manifestly does not prepare contemporary Americans. Read _Tyranny Unmasked_ for evidence of the first of these assertions: John Taylor of Caroline, self-consciously provincial Virginia planter, foresaw the following 150 years' course in America with great clarity, and he lamented it the whole way. This is a great book by one of America's all-time great political thinkers.

Brilliantly new! An historical perspective that you don't get in history classes, and it explains and probes the present mess we are in. Also musical to read.

This is a very interesting book, particularly on the early restrictionists. It gave me a new perspective on why Americans restricted immigration in the early 20th century, and gave me historical insight into today's immigration policy crisis.

If you don't think 400 million people living in the US by the year 2050 are too many, then I guess you don't have to read this book. But if, like me, you are tired of gridlock, crowded everything, degraded schools, unpaid hospital bills, crime, etc., to say nothing of the loss of civic duty and responsibility, then Graham's book explains how we got here.

The last part of the book is expecially good at explaining how elites and vested interests keep the discussion of immigration control out of the public forum. Every poll says Americans want less immigration, but it never happens. Why?
Graham explains why.

Surprisingly, he also explains why 9/11 hasn't made that much difference in the immigration flow.. What is it going to take for the public's voice to be heard?
He discusses the entire issue very convincingly. This is a great book. If you read only one book on immigration, this should be it.

In Unguarded Gates Professor Graham provides a much needed corrective to what passes as the history of immigration restrictions from the 1880s to the present. Any suggestion in the current debate that perhaps the lifeboat of immigration is nearing capacity is sure to be greeted by a reminder that the Statue of Liberty stands as a permanent testament to our historic invitation to the world's "huddled masses yearning to be free."
In truth, in the view of the generation which placed the statue in New York harbor it was seen "as a symbol of America as a model to inspire other lovers of freedom," rather than some sort of illuminated welcome mat. It was not until the 1930s, Professor Graham informs us, that journalists and history text book writers began to link the statue not with liberty but with immigration.
Such distinctions are particularly relevant as the nation again comes to come to grip with the consequences of virtually unchecked immigration amidst emotionally laden charges that any suggestion to moderate the flow is akin to racist exclusion policies of the past. Indeed, the book shows that there was much more than racist exclusion to account for immigration limitations in the past and that the authors of the 1960s immigration reforms got much more than they bargained for on this account.
The book is a must read for anyone interested in where we came from, and, more importantly perhaps, where we are going as a nation of immigrants if the discussion is not properly addressed.

Professor Graham provides the reader with a master's class in American immigration history. Cutting cleanly through a lot of the emotional hokum that surrounds this volatile issue he presents American immigration history with an eye to debunking popular yet false myths that have cropped up over the last several decades. A must read !

Joan Veon was at first confused by the conflicting messages from the U.N. and its advocates. So she attended the Cairo Conference on over-population and began her education. Many conferences later, she has done her homework, gives professional quality analysis in a no-nonsense way, and exposes the United Nations for what it is -- a burgeoning One World Government. You can think yourself educated on this subject if you are not familiar with her work, but you are cheating yourself of hard-core information to not add it to your reading list.

If you are a Christian this is a must read. Joan M. Veon has had a hands on experience with the UN. She extensively goes deep into what are the real goals of the UN which are sugar-coated to the general public at the moment. With actual UN documentation, and very reliable info resources; Joan M. Veon presents without question that the main aim of the UN is a NWO One World Government. Get this one - prophecy students !!!!

Joan has done much better with first hand
info than phoneys like Cliff Kincaid and
Don McAlvey. I heard her first on Tom Val-
entine's fine Radio Free America show spe-
aking on this subject. I highly recommend
this work!

Very comprehensive book with a lot of documentation. An excellent book to have in your library, as well as "The Unseen Hand" by A. Ralph Epperson.

Joan Veon has been studying the internal workings and the politics of the United Nations for a great portion of her life. If there is anyone in the world that can be considered an expert on the U.N. she is it! She attends every UN-connected meeting in the world and she reports in-depth on all of them. Through her research it has been discovered that the United Nations is not the "good guys." As a matter of fact, when one reads about the UN and finds out the truth it becomes downright frightening.

Now, if anyone reviews this book (and any other anti-UN book) and calls it a "right wing nutcase conspiracy junkie" book you will know which side they are on. And it won't be the good side.

As a native of industrialized Pennsylvania I'm perplexed by how little is known of the tragedy of Centralia. I was unfamiliar myself until some years ago when I innocently passed through the area on route 61. I found a ghost town with an orderly street grid, with city blocks completely devoid of all but one or two lonely buildings, and vast abandoned fields covering what could have been orderly neighborhoods. I thought, what in the world is this? I also witnessed what I thought was a natural hot spring emitting steam from a hillside. Only over time did I learn that the hot spring was really smoke from the underground mine fire that wiped out what was once a normal small town.

DeKok's book is probably the most extensive investigation of the Centralia tragedy, especially with his coverage of the political ineptitude over decades that made a minor problem into a major disaster. Dekok reveals that the town started the fire itself in 1962 by burning trash in a landfill that had an unknown connection to an old mine shaft, which ignited the slow-burning coal in the mines beneath the town. For 19 years the slow fire affected more and more people with toxic fumes, until by 1981 tragedy struck when a gentleman had to be hospitalized and a boy fell through a flaming cave-in behind his house. DeKok covers the years and years of political and bureaucratic ineptitude that merely led to "studies" of the fire rather than action, as the people of Centralia were pawns in a game between apathetic agencies with overlapping jurisdictions, plus buck-passing between the state and the Feds. Even the citizens were torn apart by divisiveness caused by stress and anger. Eventually most of the residents chose to be relocated to other towns by the government, and DeKok's most moving coverage concerns the social agony caused by this final abandonment of the town.

As an update since this book, the fire is still slowly burning beneath much of the area. For their own strange reasons, a few residents are still hanging on in their lonely houses and still dealing with fumes and cave-ins. St. Ignatius church was demolished recently and route 61 has been permanently re-routed around the section that kept collapsing. This is the legacy of uncaring politicians and bureaucrats.

The title of my review says it all. A good read but one that will get your dander up about how this was handled.

This is a great book! I recomend it to anyone who likes learning new things and to people who enjoy nonfiction.

This is a fascinating book, and a very easy read for one that delves into the mires of local and state government officials dropping the ball. DeKok's attention to detail paints a picture comparable to a Stephen Soderburg film. And despite the clarity he brings to a tragic situation, he never strays far from the real story: Real everyday folks caught in a quagmire of safety issues, home ownership, health and politics.

I first found out about the underground coal mine fire at Centralia PA and the devastation of the town above it while surfing the Web, looking for information about urban ruins. The photos I saw on various websites were eerie: where a small town once stood there was now only streets and sidewalks. A sliver of a dwelling that had once been part of a string of row houses stood alone, propped up on either side by brick chimney-like buttresses that provided the support that other dwellings, now torn down, once gave. Steam rose from cracks in a twisted and abandoned highway or from patches of scorched earth surrounded by dead vegetation. While these photos were very creepy and intriguing, I didn't stop to read much about the story of Centralia; I was on a quest to find out more about abandoned sites closer to my home in New York State's Hudson Valley region that I have seen for myself and visited: the Lente house, Bannerman's Island Arsenal, and the Cornish Estate.

Years later but a few weeks ago I happened across the last five minutes of a segment on C-SPAN's Book TV that caught my attention. Joan Quigley, author of "The Day the Earth Caved In" was talking about the Centralia mine fire. From the little bit I saw of the show it was clear that there was much more to the Centralia story than what I gathered from the photos on the Web. I eagerly wrote down the name of the book and its author so that the next time I visited Amazon I could order it. After adding the book to my shopping cart, Amazon suggested that I also might want to check out David DeKok's "Unseen Danger", an earlier volume on the same subject. I ordered both.

As chance would have it, "Unseen Danger" arrived about a week before "The Day the Earth Caved In" and now, having read both books, I'm glad it did. I have a busy life and don't have a lot of time to read but I found Mr. DeKok's telling of the story so compelling that I neglected a lot of my duties around the house to make time for it. I took it to work and read it on my lunch and dinner breaks. I stayed up into the early morning hours, far longer than I should have, to finish it in a couple of days instead of the weeks it usually takes me to read a book.

As the blurb quoted on the cover from the New York Times Book Review states, there are "enough bureaucratic villains [in this story] to fill a Dickens novel." I would add that there were some Centralian citizens (especially one infuriatingly obnoxious homeowner in particular who I kept hoping would disappear into a subsidence) and the local Catholic church (who should have also suffered the same fate) who deserved to be included in that category as well. This is a story of missed opportunities, inter-governmental squabbles, denial of the present realities and local feuds all working together to turn the lives of the residents of this beleaguered town into a living hell. Mr. DeKok does a fine job of telling the story and it is obvious that he put a tremendous amount of effort into researching it and a lot of detective work into trying to separate fact from fiction, especially when it comes to the matter of how the mine fire got started in the first place. He paints a clear and terrifying picture of what the residents who were most effected by the danger had to go through before they got some relief, and the unconscionable indifference that government officials showed to the plight of their constituents in order to protect their own political behinds. The cast of characters in "Unseen Danger" is large and varied and includes the above mentioned villains and a few heroes too. The attention to detail is astounding and makes for extremely compelling reading.

However, in my opinion, the book is not without its flaws. While the above mentioned attention to detail is most welcome, at times it can be confusing, especially when trying to picture the relative locations of the events. Three small maps are included in the paperback edition that I read; one showing where Centralia is located in relation to large East Coast cities, a local map indicating local landmarks and some street names along with the locations of the fire's origin and the site of one especially scary event, and a third map that indicates where the fire hot spots were located in 1983. These graphics are only helpful in a minimal way and don't go far enough toward clarification.

Photographs appear at the start of each chapter and there are a few in the bodies of the chapters. In terms of graphic clarity (not subject matter) all leave much to be desired and in many cases they are of such poor quality as to be useless. They have the appearance of being photocopies of photocopies of photocopies and are of such high contrast that the very features that they were intended to illustrate have become invisible. I do not blame Mr. DeKok for this - his publisher should have done a better job. As for the type of photos included, there are many of Centralians effected by the fire, some of the government workers who had to deal with the situation on almost a daily basis, one of the fire itself, and many of the government figures involved. However there is one glaring omission: aside from the cover photo which is obscured by the bold lettering of the book's title there are no pictures of the town, either as it was at the beginning of the story, during, or after. For those, one must go to the various websites dedicated to the subject.

Ms. Quigley's book generally does not suffer from these kind of setbacks. Even before her Prologue we are provided with a nearly full page map which clearly indicates street names, locations of local landmarks, locations of the principal character's homes, indications of the sites and scope of efforts to stop the fires, and a distance scale to help us better grasp the relative proximities of the places and events described. I wish I had this map while I was reading "Unseen Danger", it would have increased my appreciation of that book all the more. "The Day the Earth Caved In" contains eight pages of black and white photographs, all well reproduced, including one of the authors' grandparents row home from 1984, and one taken in 2000 of a tourist observing a cloud of vapor emanating from a non-descript area in the woods, as well as photos of mine workings from the 1880's and pictures of some of the people central to her telling of the story. As with "Unseen Danger" wide angle photos of the town before and after are absent and their inclusion would have helped drive home the immense scope of this catastrophe. Again, one has to search the Internet to find those kind of pictures.

While David DeKok relates the Centralia story by presenting an almost day by day account of the events that occurred he does not get inside the heads of the principals too deeply. He doesn't have to - anyone who has an atom of imagination can empathize or sympathize with the horrors that these people must have been through. But what left me scratching my head in bewilderment after I finished his book was why the Centralians were so reluctant to leave their homes and flee the danger. I suppose this is because I was born and raised in New York City and have moved to new homes five times since I left my parents house - once because the dangers of living in a loft on NY's Lower East Side became too much to bear. It wasn't until a few days ago while discussing the matter with a co-worker who grew up in a small town in upstate New York (population about 2000) that I really began to understand what made Centralians want to cling to their homesteads so tenaciously. Joan Quigley, by telling her version of the story through the eyes, histories and emotions of a few of the key players attempts to explain that sense of attachment, but is only partially successful. Ironically enough, it is DeKok's sparse explanation that comes closest to what my co-worker told me and what I've observed since moving from NYC to a small town: that many people living in small towns are fearful of the outside world and are much more likely to cling to surroundings that are much more familiar and therefore comforting.

Quigley's device of presenting the story by delving into the personal histories and feelings of her selected subjects is a welcome supplement to the mine fire disaster story as told by DeKok but ultimately it falls short in conveying just how desperately dangerous their situation was. At times I got the impression that she feels that the personal relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children or neighbors and neighbors is the interesting part of the story and the mine fire and its dangers were just a backdrop to that soap opera. Major events, like one man's close encounter with death by carbon monoxide poisoning while asleep in his bedroom and the circumstances leading up to it are described in great detail in "Unseen Danger" while Ms. Quigley mentions it almost in passing, preferring to more often dwell on what clothes a person was wearing. (What bearing does who wore what color pants suit on a particular day have on the story at hand? Inexplicably, these kind of observations appear far too frequently.) This is generally indicative of both authors approach to their subjects.

Similarly, Mr. DeKok tends to speak with authority and presumably understanding on technical matters while Ms. Quigley shows some lack of comprehension. For example, at one point she states that oxygen was the fuel that kept the mine fires burning. Just for the record: coal is the fuel that is consumed by the fire while oxygen needs to be present for oxidation - burning - to occur; oxygen in and of itself does not burn. This is elementary Junior High school science. While I realize that the point Ms. Quigley was trying to make was that some scientists proposed that if the mine fire were to be deprived of oxygen then it might go out, it is this misunderstanding of basic physics that influences me to trust Mr. DeKok's opinions over hers.

One rare instance where Ms. Quigley's narrative excels over Mr. DeKok's is in her scathing indictment of the Reagan administration and of the local Catholic church, an institution highly revered and trusted in Centralia, who let their parishioners down as shamefully and grievously as the government had. Mr. DeKok also criticizes these institutions, but instead mostly relies on the method he employs when dealing with other facets of the story, that of letting the facts speak for themselves. Ms. Quigley does this as well, however, she goes one step further on this one point by including examples of government official's blunders not cited in "Unseen Danger", in particular those of the lunatic James Watt (who was Secretary of the Interior near the end of the story) whose public statements were so insane that President Reagan gladly accepted his resignation, and none too soon: after Watt left office he was indicted on charges of influence peddling. None of this information about Watt was in "Unseen Danger" and I strongly feel it should have been.

Both books tell pretty much the same story (though from different perspectives and not equally as well), but one disagreement between the two is about how the fire started in the first place. In my opinion Mr. DeKok presents a far more plausible explanation, citing specific evidence in chapter 3 of his book while Ms. Quigley covers the subject in an author's note at the end of hers. While she states that her research provides strong evidence for her version of the events, she reveals very few specifics of it and appears to rely heavily on the testimony of residents living near the ignition site, claiming that they had no reason to lie. I view this claim with a lot of skepticism. Her own depiction of the character of the Centralia residents (especially some who lived near the dump) leads me to conclude otherwise. Also, Ms. Quigley seems to overlook one gigantic 500 pound gorilla in the room: Why would the town dump be set on fire if it was already burning? It seems painfully obvious to me that they wouldn't. In any case, the cause of the fire is only one part of the story and either scenario would have led to the same result.

If one is interested in reading about this subject my advice is to get both of these books. Read "Unseen Fire" first (it is by far the better of the two because in part it tells the horrific story in much more frightening detail) but keep "The Day The Earth Caved In" handy so you can refer to its superior map. Then read Ms. Quigley's book as a supplement, to flesh out some of the characters involved and to learn a handful of interesting but not necessarily essential facts that were left out of Mr. DeKok's. Some may find her more personally intimate and emotional method of storytelling preferable to DeKok's somewhat dry, fact based delivery but I for one did not. For as much as I enjoyed "The Day The Earth Caved In" on a certain level I think I did so because I already knew the facts ahead of time. Much to her credit, Ms. Quigley invoked in me even more sympathy for the people she chose to focus on than I had before, (at least those who were deserving of it,) especially one young couple's story of being pulled apart because of wanting different things out of life, which paralleled my own personal experience. However, I feel that this concentration on the private lives of a select few takes too much attention away from exploring and understanding the broader picture of governmental incompetence that any one of us could fall victim to under similar unfortunate circumstances.

Hope that nothing like this ever happens in your town.

I recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand this very complex and beautiful region of the world.

I recently visited Bosnia and I couldn't find any travel books, so I bought this instead. Even though it's not intended as such, it served quite well, at least in terms of giving a history of the situation, and describing the various places.

It's now a few years old, and it could use some updating as the situation has now changed. But in general, a very good read.

Untangling... is a great read--incredibly succint and informative first section putting Balkan geographics, politics, historical,religious, and ethnonational concepts into perpective for an average american guy like me, larger main portion a real fascinating page turner by a great American writer with a hell of a lot of guts for a solo, freelance journalist traveling all around Bosnia and Hercegovina during these tumultuous times! chilling. talk about timely expose' ! this guy was still over there just as the bombs were about to fly in the Serbian/kosovo conflagration. highly recommended.

This is a very special book. It offers a unique snapshot of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the nineties, at the end of the most difficult decade and at the same time at the beginning of a very long (as Gale Kirking says, maybe even not yet found) road to democracy.

The book is not written for an average reader. In fact, I believe that an average reader would not even finnish it. But it brings a great value to everyone interested in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the whole region or in the events at the end of the last century. The book is very descriptive and documentary. It has a great historical value. Never more will Bosnia look the same again as pictured in this book. Things are moving very fast in that part of Europe. But if anyone wants to know, what it looked like in 1998 and 1999, it is in Gale's book.

I had the pleasure to work with Gale for several years and I always admired his writting skills. And again, in Untangling Bosnia and Herzegovina, Gale's ability to picture places, people and events is amazing.

Based upon Gale Kirking's extensive travels and conversations with Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, Untangling Bosnia And Hercegovina: A Search For Understanding is an up-to-date, "reader friendly" survey of the civil war between the Serbians and the Moslems in Bosnia that lead to United Nations, NATO, and American interventions. This 400 page historical and political compendium is enhanced with maps, a bibliography, glossary, and index. Untangling Bosnia And Hercegovina provides both the historical background and contemporary context to achieve an accurate and insightful understanding of the root causes and consequences of this bloody European conflict marked by ancient hatreds and modern politics, ethnic cleansing and religious warfare, shattered economies and blighted landscapes. Untangling Bosnia And Hercegovina is highly recommended reading for students of international studies, political science, 20th century European history, those with friends or family affected by this modern tragedy, and anyone seeking a proper understanding of the conflict and what to expect next.