Security Books

Steven Toushin has written a very important book, a must-read for anyone interested in Freedom of Speech issues, sexuality and alternate sexualities, particularly BDSM, and the legal issues surrounding obscenity and pornography. His first hand account of his arrest and trial for the distribution of pornography is a fascinating and educational view of the excesses of government's attempts to control morality.

Toushin's book may in fact be unique, in that it is a defendant's document of his obscenity trial, and includes transcripts of the actual trial. It also includes transcripts of the development of the legal defense, interviews with possible witnesses that run the gamut from participants in the films seized, to mental health experts and sociologists.
Prosecuted under an insidious plan developed by the Meese Commission on Pornography, Toushin defended himself against the full brunt of the Federal Government. Most of the other businesses charged in this particular sweep of adult film companies closed, paid fines, and kept a low profile. To his lasting credit, Toushin fought to save his businesses, his personal freedom, and First Amendment rights.

The government's plan was brilliant, although it's legality was questioned by many, including the FBI. Smaller cities in conservative states were chosen as a venue where it was felt there would be a greater probability of conviction for obscenity. Postmasters in the chosen cities ordered and bought catalogs from adult businesses, then frequently purchased additional "specialty" catalogs. They then ordered films depicting acts that were determined most likely to offend a jury. It was actually stated the outcome of the trial was not crucial to the prosecution's plan. The real intent was to charge the defendants in as many states as possible at the same time and to make legal defense impossible financially. The adult companies would be bankrupted or closed even if it was later determined by the court the material they sold was legal and protected.

`Moral Fabric' reads like a good thriller. The reader is lead through the defense team's discovery process and then the trial, not knowing in advance what the outcome will be.
As the defense lawyers educate themselves on the BDSM lifestyle and it's wide variety of sexual practices, this reader was also informed. There are brow raisers and chuckles.

The book's true value is as a social document late 20th Century sexual practices, ideas on morality and individual rights, and legal precedent. It is fascinating now and surely will also be equally so in 50 years.
We live in a society where every art form, every kind of media, every kind of entertainment and even our advertising is directly influenced by pornography. Our ideas about sex and sexuality are in constant transition. If the financial numbers for the pornography business are correct, the creation, sales and consumption are a huge business that rivals or surpasses Hollywood. Someone is enjoying a lot of erotica. The success of "moralists" to shame some into submission and denial leaves a conflicted populace that want to continue consuming porn with pleasure, but must also punish...someone. It is telling that "someone" is not the creator, the participants, or the consumer, but it is the distributor.
Steven Toushin is to be commended for his insistence on personal sexual freedom, free speech, and his willingness to share his own life experience.
There are many memorable ideas and quotations. To paraphrase and quote a few favorites:
"The right to view legal adult material in one's own home is meaningless if there is no way to purchase or otherwise obtain it."
-Judge

"It is not popular speech that needs protection, but unpopular speech."

"The Gothic idea that we were to look backwards instead of forwards for the improvement of the human mind, and to recur to the annals of our ancestors for what is most perfect in government, in religion and in learning, is worthy of those bigots in religion and government by whom it has been recommended, and whose purpose it would answer. But it is not an idea this country will endure."
-Thomas Jefferson 1800

October 20, 2005 - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has announced that his office will specifically target "bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior" in pursuing new obscenity prosecutions. The Department of Justice began recruiting in late July for a new anti-obscenity squad to pursue obscenity prosecutions, and the FBI announced in September that it was forming an anti-obscenity task force to crack down on pornography. Any website that has content containing...these acts...should be forewarned that prosecution is possible. Additionally, Federal sentencing guidelines state that any obscenity- related punishment should be "enhanced for sadomasochistic material..." from The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom website.

As some may recall, President Ronald Reagan tossed his religious conservative base a prize in the form of Attorney General Edwin Meese in the late 80's. Meese plunged headlong into controversy when he appointed the "Meese Commission" to investigate pornography in the United States; their report, released in July 1986, was highly critical of pornography and the effects it had on people. Essentially rewriting earlier government studies that pronounced that there were no harmful links between pornography and behavior to suit their conservative agenda, Meese gave the Reagan Administration license to attack the adult entertainment industry and they did so with zeal. Toushin became one of their primary targets.

In 1987, Toushin was arrested as part of "Operation PostPorn," holding him and his staff for twelve hours as some 40-odd shotgun and handgun toting FBI agents searched and stripped his office (after some two weeks of covert surveillance on your tax-dollars.) Under Meese, the Department of Justice had made pornography crackdowns a priority, and had arranged for men in two states to order the hardest of hard-core SM videos. This forced the trials to meet the "community standards" of the locations the items were mailed to (Tennessee and Utah) and eventually laws were amended to include pornography under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations).

What follows in "Moral Fabric" is a panorama of how the government turned all of its energies on Toushin using movies that were as far afeild or disgusting to a jury of vanilla citizens as the times probably had (including fisting and scat), and how the prosecution was perfectly willing to exaggerate their claims in order to make their case. (The Attorney General of Utah claiming that Toushin was selling child-porn and bestiality being the most flagrant.)

Toushin is more documentarian than judgmental (but not completely outside the realm of zinger-tossing). The bulk of the book deals with how Toushin winds through the court system and prison, yet is also willing to name names. "The Destruction Of The Moral Fabric Of America" is not a light read. In fact, it isn't even an easy read. But frankly, Toushin made history and set precedent for those of us who may forget that battles were fought and at the cost of lives ruined and liberties compromised. While he may still be around to run a successful Theater in Chicago, his book is a reminder that not everyone walks through fire unscathed.

Wow! The Destruction of the Moral Fabric of America has me speechless. Where to begin talking about this volume? You could say it's about the history of gay porn, or BDSM, or it is a memoir of Steven Toushin's colorful and intensely lived life, or an expose by someone dedicated to their principles no matter what morality police do. All are correct. It is about all these things, needless to say it is not a light read but it is an important one.



Steven is well-armed with historical facts, trial transcripts, and interviews. The reader is led circuitously through his first-hand experience with governmental repression and intimidation, his arrests, trials, jail time, his ruminations on pornography, BDSM, and the government. He covers a lot of territory. It is sobering! One cannot walk away from this book without feeling a little queasy about our government and its insistence on overseeing American's sexuality and desires. Steven likes to let the actual correspondences, court documents, and interviews speak for themselves; not that he doesn't express his opinions, there is plenty of that, but he backs up those opinions with cold hard facts. Be warned, nobody is off the hook in this book. Steven takes a cold hard look at the BDSM culture and lays out what he sees as the pitfalls and what his suggestions are for remedying these problems. Including what a certified Master/Mistress may look like and what the criteria for such a certification would entail.



Toushin has waited over 30 years to spill the beans so there's quite a mess of beans on the floor! What are we going to do with the mess? My suggestion, keep this book as a reference point for the long fight ahead...it is far from being over. Those that forget history are doomed to repeat it is the phrase that comes to mind. If we are to fight for our rights, to live our lives as we see fit then we have to build upon the blood, sweat, and tears of those who sacrificed and fought so hard because they had not other choice if they were going to lead life on their own terms. Sleep with one eye open America. As the government likes to keep parroting "freedom isn't free". Damn straight, we've got an internal war going on folks, right here in our bedrooms. Be prepared to fight! Don't worry, there have been warriors that have gone before us. We are not alone...read and prepare yourselves.

By and large, Steven Toushin's latest book is about legal problems revolving around four SM films made in the 1980s which accumulated in a trail in 1989. There are a lot of primary documents included in the book that should be of great value to anyone interested in the legal system and how it is used to try and regulate adult sexuality. It may also be interesting to anyone wanting to know more about SM's history and legal standing. It is a massive book and not for a casual reader however. I have some problems with how sections are arranged but the overall excellent value for anyone doing research into these subjects outweights those concerns.

This story is amazing from the first page to the last. From Burke's rough childhood through her riveting years as a cop, it is impossible to put the book down. Hirschfeld delivers some powerful writing and allows every character to come across as they were, for better or for worse.

A female SERPICO story if there ever was one.

This story kept me in the edge, I couldn't put the book down. Thankfully it wasn't 1,000 pages, I stayed up all night just to finish it. ALL NYPD cops should be mandated to read this book.

"Detective" belongs on the same shelf as Robin Moore's "French Connection" and Peter Maas's "Serpico." Kathy Burke's career with the NYPD was exciting, contentious, tragic--yet ultimately groundbreaking and triumphant. Burke battled crooks, killers, corrupt cops, nasty superior officers, and her own demons. That she had the guts to deal with all that--and more--is the fuel that propels this compelling book.

This is a straight forward, kick you in the balls book of what it is like to be a woman cop.
The book concludes with a revelation of the two NYC rogue cops, Eppolito and Caracappa, who sold their souls to the Mafia and thus affected so many people's lives with their corrupt actions. This officer, Kathy Burke, was adversely affected in lifelonghorrible way. There's a great deal of undercover stories detailed here, sexual harrassment, love between cops--both plutonic and sexual. Officer Burke describes so much, including receiving the medal of Honor from Mayor Koch.
But in the end, she concludes, she has her self esteem and dignity. For the reader, its those two good for nothing turncoat cops that betrayed all that was good around them.

Privacy means radically different things to different people as it is an abstract and often elusive term that is often difficult to effectively define.

In a nutshell, privacy is the ability of an individual or organization to decide whether, when, and to whom personal or organizational information is released.

While defining privacy is difficult, ensuring on-line privacy is even more challenging. Those required to ensure that their corporate systems and web sites are secure against prying hackers will find Developing Trust: Online Privacy and Security to be an important resource.

Curtain writes in an entertaining and easy to read style; especially when he introduces topics such as attack models, privacy concepts, and threats.

The book suggests prevention mechanisms and includes a few real-world case studies. If you have anything to do with electronic privacy, Developing Trust: Online Privacy and Security is a great book to read.

This book examines the social, legal and technical issues surrounding online privacy. Not only is the consumer side of privacy examined, but the business side from a marketing point of view is also discussed to present a balanced view of the key issues from both sides of the equation.

Mr. Curtin is an expert in privacy and security issues, as well as cryptography and security technology. The approach he takes in the book is to explain both the theory and concepts of privacy in social and legal contexts, and to examine the threats and exposures.

From there he leads you through the design of a solution that starts with principles, then a thorough examination of the underlying online technologies and how they work for and against you. An obvious example of one technical element that works for and against is the 'cookie' which can provide a major convenience (it remembers you and your preferences) and an invasion of your privacy (it remembers you and your preferences - and can also 'stalk' you in a manner of speaking). How to best balance the strengths and weaknesses of not only the technology, but the business imperatives driving commercial uses of the internet are addressed.

My personal vuiew is that this book blends the best of Bruce Schneier's Secrets and Lies and Richard Hunter's World Without Secrets. Schneier's book covered the full range of security issues, social and technical. Hunter's book is more focused on social aspects of privacy. What sets this book apart from those two are the focus on privacy and the multiple contexts in which the book addresses it: social, legal and technical. If the author keeps this book up to date it is destined to become a classic. The challenge is to remain abrest of emerging legal issues and technical breakthroughs - both of which are inevitable.

Written in 2002 and with scarcely two years passing, Curtin's message is more timely this year. He warned of the perils of malware and of cracker attacks on corporate databases. Especially by social engineering.

He presents several case studies of insecure privacy applications. He analyzed the commercially deployed systems of Alexa, DoubleClick and others. Showing how cookies and server side bugs could lead to users being tracked. In some cases, as they perused many different websites that reported their activities to a central site. Other books have talked about how cookies could be misused in this way. But Curtin's analysis goes beyond a typical generic treatment and can be more instructive to you.

The malware of 2002 that he warned of has increased in sophistication and danger. No sign of abatement, so keeping the book's ideas in mind is a good idea.

Security and privacy are not "sexy" subjects and I was ready for a dry dissertation but this book was anything but.

Although the subject matter is serious and is treated seriously, Curtin has a light and deft touch that make the book a pleasure to read.

And while this book's target audience is programmers responsible for dealing with the issues of Privacy and Security, I would recommend this book to a much wider audience. Every top manager of a company that has a web site should read this book so they can understand how Online Privacy and Security could affect them and so they can ask the questions that someone needs to be asking the folks who are running and developing websites.

I would also recommend the internet savvy who are curious about these two buzzwords because this book will provide them a much better understanding of the stories that have and will appear in the news related to privacy and security. The real world examples are ones that we all can relate to.

One of the better NYPD memoirs written in recent years. Excellent little stories from life in the NYPD Emergency Services Unit. Very interesting and a rather short book that is easy to read in a couple sittings. Two thumbs up for Officer Al Sheppard! =) Thank God for men and women like him in blue...they are America's true heroes!

Retired NYPD Det. Al Sheppard is too humble to say so...but he is a True Hero! E-Man is an excellent book...a riveting account of his years with the prestigious Emergency Services Unit of the NYPD. There is an old saying "When a Civilian needs help, they call the Police. When Cops need help...they call the Emergency Services Unit...ESU!" I've known Al for some 17 years...and although I knew a lot about his 20 years of service with NYPD, even I didn't know most of his (and his fellow officer's) courageous exploits...detailed in this book. Buy it, read it, but be warned...You will have trouble putting this book down! --- Dr. J. Hill, Professor of Criminal Justice & Retired NJ Street Cop.

I just reread the book in its new edition. I have to say it is by far the best description of life on the mean streets of the Big Apple that I have ever read. You can not put this book down and I can see myself reading it over and over as I try to remember the people who make our country great. Al Sheppard is a true hero and the funny part is I bet he doesn't even realize it. Read this book!

This book truly captures the unselfish service of our emergency men and women. They price they pay is to place their job before their family as they risk their lives. I can only imagine climbing to the top of a bridge or talking a suicidal person down from doing something crazy. Dealing with the gruesome medical emergencies that would make your skin crawl. Being the backup for cops confronting the most dangerous of situations. These E MEN should be applauded for the work they do.

In the end, this book makes you realize just the ultimate price they do pay to protect us against harms way. Further it demonstrates the unselfish nature of our service men and women. In a world that seems to focus on the negative, I love this book which focuses on the heroic acts of countless service providers. It was a pure inspiration to me and I would be shocked if they didn't turn this book into a movie or TV series.

I doubt that one American in a thousand has heard about how the Poles cracked the inscrutable German Enigfma code, and thus contributed mightily to the Allied victory.

Unfortunately the code-breakers were unable to help Poland, their native land, but unselfishly transferred their knowledge to their British and French allies.

This book deserves wider publicity !

Enigma: How the Poles Broke the Nazi Code (Polish Histories) This is an adsorbing and fascinating account of how the Polish cryptanalysis team started after WWI in intercepting and decoding German secret radio transmissions by developing their own "enigma" machine. It details the history of French involvement and British aloofness toward something that was NIH (not invented here) and therefore deemed of no use to them. It also shows the distrust between the Allied partners in WWII of sharing the decoded information and how to apply it. It shatters the belief that the British broke the "Enigma" code.

The author Kozaczuk summarizes the facts: "As far as the first phase--fundamental to all further work--is concerned, it has been shown that the solution to ENIGMA, in all its manifestations during the years 1933-39, was a purely Polish achievement. The mathematical methods, Polish ENIGMA doubles, and ancillary technology, when passed on to the British, enabled them to exploit this achievement in record time." (p. 95). Among non-Polish sources that recognize the fact of the Polish achievement (although not necessarily without errors), Kozaczuk, in an Appendix to the book, discusses two books reviewed by Marian Rejewski (p. 257). In another Appendix, Christopher Kasparek and Richard Woytak provide further evidence for the same (p. 225). Finally, this book goes beyond ENIGMA by providing a good deal of auxiliary historical information.

Much of what has been written in the west about the German codes is sheer nonsense. For instance, the account of Poles physically stealing an ENIGMA machine from the Germans is a cock-and-bull story (p. 292). Unfortunately, the British seemed to feel no need to acknowledge their ENIGMA debts to the Poles (pp. 207-208). It is even more disturbing to read that, after Polish agents had stolen the components of a fallen V-2 rocket in German-occupied Poland and had arranged for these to be flown to England, British agents attempted to forcibly take away these components from the Polish agents. (p. 192).

There were about 10 to the 103 power different possible combinations in ENIGMA (p. 24). But, although machines may be ostensibly infallible, humans are not. The Germans had designed ENIGMA with certain intuitively-likely internal configurations, entered information into ENIGMA a stereotypic manner, and often got careless. Evidently, the Germans never had a clue that ENIGMA had been broken (p. 89).

There are ironies in this book. One of these is the fact that the Polish General Staff, thanks to ENIGMA having been solved by the Poles years earlier, had been able to identify 80-90% of the Wehrmacht forces surrounding Poland in August 1939 (p. 61, 66), yet this was of little military benefit to Poland in the massive ensuing German attack, as the promised French attack on Germany (p. 75) never materialized. Later, the Polish cracking of ENIGMA probably had played a more important role in the Allied victory in the Battle of Britain than the disproportionate number of "kills" inflicted by skilled Polish pilots (p. 187). The successful sinking of the Bismarck may owe to the Polish solution of ENIGMA no less than the tiny Polish destroyer Piorun having drawn the Bismarck's fire and thereby stalled for time. (p. 202). Still another irony is evident in Photo 13, which shows Hitler at his victory parade in Warsaw. The Fuhrer was strutting within sight of the building in which the Polish mathematicians had solved the ENIGMA before the war, thus sealing Hitler's eventual doom.

No account of espionage would be complete without discussion of traitors and collaborators. Of course, not all Polish service to the Germans was consensual. Far from it: "Volksdeutsche were citizens of various European countries, of German extraction, who, during the German occupation in World War II, officially declared themselves to be of German nationality and served the German authorities. In Polish Silesia and Pomerania, the Germans also used terror to force the populace of Polish descent to sign the Volksliste." (p. 221). Also, Kozaczuk writes: "Surveillance of a person suspecting of collaborating with the Germans was very difficult under occupation conditions." (p. 215). Although of course not written in this context, this fact addresses those who attack the Polish Underground for not assassinating more Polish informers involved in the denunciation of fugitive Jews.

It is clear that renewed German aggressive plans against Poland had long predated the rise of Hitler to power. Already by the late 1920's, all of the German political parties supported the wresting from Poland of those territories that had been under Prussian rule beginning with the time of the Partitions (p. 2). By the early 1930's, the Germans were actively and openly undermining Poland's half-rights to Danzig (Gdansk) (p. 11).

Finally, Kozaczuk provides a good description of the infamous Pawiak prison during the German occupation: "Named for its proximity to ulica Pawia--Peacock Street--the old czarist prison, built in 1829-35, would be blown up by the Nazis in August 1944, after they had processed one hundred thousand Poles--20 percent of them women--through it, murdering 37 percent of them outright and sending nearly all the rest to concentration camps." (p. 214).

Poles were instrumental in breaking the German Enigma code. I am glad that this part of not really known history is being popularized in English language. I have to admit I am not a person who likes reading a military history. But this book is so interestingly written - with the whole background of the impending war and also with some sense of humor whenever possible. It tells the story of how Polish mathematicians got involved (much earlier than the mathematicians of other countries, also Great Britain) into the work on breaking the code and how they build the machines which were helping to solve the codes. When the war n Poland became imminent they simply gave these machines to their French and British allies. Their difficult stories how they continued working on decoding German secret messages and how some of them survived while others died during the war. The book contains also a separate chapter about English code breakers and how they helped to win the war. Even their personalities are described. Interesting read!

Steve's first book (Advanced Project Portfolio Management and the PMO with Gerald Kendall) transformed the perception of a PMO from a project cost management/efficiency cop to a potential profit center, raising the bar for most organizations. He (along with Richard Lanza) has pushed the envelope again making the case for the PMO as the best qualified entity for preventing financial losses to the corporation due to project fraud.

The term project fraud may at first seem a harsh characterization of the poor project success rates that most management accepts as the status quo. However, Rollins and Lanza do an excellent job of mapping the COSO Control Framework to the execution of project objectives and the performance of project personnel. They include diagrams, descriptions and questions to assist in the performance of a Project Fraud Risk Assessment. The underlying conclusions are that poor manmagement of project fraud can seriusly hurt corporate business objectives and that the PMO is best suited to perform this function.

This is must reading for PMO Directors struggling to get the visibility and executive blessing needed to effectively fulfill their mission.

This is a necessary reference for effective project management and Section 404 compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley. The book provideds an abundance of checklists and questions that will make this an ongoing well used reference for ensuring continued corporate governance. The reality of project fraud and its widespread impact is clearly spelled out. Rollins and Lanza accomplished their objective with well stated structures for breaking down the work steps needed to prevent fraud and establish effective internal controls for managing projects. You get your money's worth with this book.

Sub-Title: Preventing Project Fraud And Ensuring Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Sarbanes-Oxley is one of those things that you really wish Congress had to apply to themselves rather than just imposing it on the rest of us. It has certainly made life interesting. In terms of project management, it's intent is to ensure that a project proceeds to work on its stated mission, correctly utilizing the projects resources, and eliminate improper dealings with project vendors for personal enrichment.

A key problem is to distinguish between fraud and mismanagement, conspiracy and incompetence. An interesting project discussed in the book is the California State Welfare Automation Project where the project was so confused that they still can't say if fraud ocurred. From this example the reporting procedures that may prevent the reocurrance of such situations is developed by looking as many areas where fraud can at least be expected to occur.

This situation wouldn't be so critical if the law weren't written so that people can be put in jail for not instituting proper controls where proper controls are a matter of opinion. This book gives the best analysis of current thinking, subject to change of course as the courts deal with the problem.

As a project manager, I was very interested to read this book. The consequences of unchecked fraudulent activity in the public and private sectors does more than affect the "bottom line." It erodes public confidence in the ability of managers to protect the assets assigned to their care.

Within organizations, fraud robs employees of the resources they need to fulfill their obligations. This book gives project managers, auditors, and fraud investigators a "blueprint" for taking effective collaborative action to both uncover and prevent fraud during the life of projects. Since so much business activity is project-based, it's a wonder we had to wait so long for it.

The book's organization makes it easy to follow the argument that fraud can be dealt with effectively. The Preface clearly states the purpose of the book. Each chapter is divided by important topics within. This is accurately reflected in the table of contents. Each chapter is also neatly summarized at the end. It has a helpful index at the back of the book as well.

The Appendices are helpful, too. They supplement the text by providing a "List of Sarbanes-Oxley Act Sections," "Decision Tree for Software Development Projects," and "Project Fraud Management Policy Template."

The authors have the necessary professional credentials and the extensive experience needed to synthesize the subject matter. They have the all-important credibility to support their contentions.

I thought the book brought together the best of project management and financial auditing to offer concerned professionals a "roadmap" to more control. It provides checklists and guidelines that enable project managers and internal auditors to work together.

The book should, of course, appeal to the above-mentioned professionals. It should also be read and understood by top-level corporate managers who want to make use of available professional skills to effectively fight fraud.

The author recounts his command at the initial battle of Khe Sanh village, a shockingly one-sided precursor to the better known siege of the Marine fire base, which was again the prelude to Tet, the culminating point of the Indochina war.
By way of full disclosure: I know the author and think highly of him, but had no idea of his involvement in this battle, so long ago now.
This is a small book mostly intended for military professionals, but full of interesting detail for the outsider. It appears neither as literature nor as a scholarly work, but more as a collection of eyewitness accounts, anchored by the author's recollections, to cast new light on the whole Khe Sanh debacle. Together, they fill a void in history, and the book will surely be welcome among both veterans and professionals.
Colonel - then Captain - Clarke states that his goal is to offer lessons that should be heeded today. I found that his and his compadres' plain narratives are the strongest part of the book, and the lessons more subject to controversy. A body of opinion holds that you can't learn from history; it is countered by the observation that there is nothing else to learn from. My view is that we must learn from history, but if we try too hard we sometimes learn the wrong things.
Those of us who haven't been shot at have to be cautious in commenting on such matters, so I will stick with general observations. Clarke felt that missing Unity of Command was a millstone for the Allied combatants; specifically that the USMC, the US Army, and the ARVN were fighting different wars and did not aid and inform each other as needed. Clearly, as an advisor working with ARVN and Montagnard forces, he did not see eye-to-eye with the USMC at the fire base, nor apparently with General Westmoreland's general strategy of attrition and the obsession with body count.
For my part I never understood why the USMC is fighting land battles. I thought the Marines were supposed to board enemy ships. Perhaps they are not the first choice for COIN (counterinsurgency) duty.
Clarke and his hard-pressed, multinational team did not have this problem with the Air Force. If I saw a lesson here it was surely to not even think about "trying stuff like this at home" unless you have a superb FAC (I suppose UAVs today) and air power on demand, night and day. And clearly, that was Westmoreland's idea: let Giap try his Dien Bien Phu Nr. 2 and he'll see what difference B-52s make. Indeed, the report included calls Khe Sanh a "Dien Bien Phu in reverse." Air Power is usually oversold, but not when used in tactical support of troops. Just look at the "wrong lesson learned" by Israel in Lebanon, thinking to duplicate NATO's air-only campaign in Kosovo, a big enough disaster in itself.
Cpt. Clarke was most upset that his village was evacuated after having withstood a ferocious onslaught of three NVA battalions over 36 hours. It seems logical though - the place would either have to be majorly reinforced, or it was a goner eventually. And it bears mentioning that the NVA thought it was their victory, not Clarke's, as they forced the Allies to withdraw. (A 50-1 kill ratio means nothing to the Politburo.)
The lessons I was most interested in were classical COIN methods like the CAP (Civil Action Program) and the strategic villages concept. Clarke implies that these were the true path to victory, not "body count." Because of all the propaganda out there, it is worth noting that the ARVN fought bravely, the Americans had especially trusting relations with the Montagnards, and few in this area at least seem to have wanted to be under Communist rule. As in 1975, almost all headed for the helicopters, or the road to the coast.
When the first reports came back from Iraq of US soldiers kicking in doors and confiscating weapons, I thought of the praised CAP effort in rural Vietnam and went uh-oh, not good. Surely in COIN you work with the people, as Clarke did, not against them; you don't take their weapons, you give them weapons. If they turn them against you, you shouldn't be there to start with.
As everyone knows, William Colby got his idea for the strategic villages from the Rif-Kabyl situation; but in a general sense it is really the cornerstone of colonial or civilizational development. It was the idea behind the Roman colonias. It may be the only thing that works for Western governments, genocide being off-limits. Thus the ink-blot theories from Iraq - secure the people first, then agonizingly slowly, institutions can take hold. And no one can occupy the whole place. So when Westmoreland asked for 206,000 more troops, he might as well have said: My strategy (attrition) sucks.
Has there ever been a general who thought he had enough troops? When Clark Clifford became SecDef, he asked "what's the strategy for victory?" - There was none, except more of the same. Colonel Clarke reinforces my suspicion that it needn't have been that way. The VC was crushed during Tet, and there was no uprising. The rest was basically NVA against ARVN with diminishing US support. Before the 1972 offensive, it appears the Republic of Vietnam had the wind with it, except that American determination had collapsed at home.
Clarke sheds new light on an old plan. It always seemed that certain moves were critical to win: cut across to the Mekong and stop the NVA directly in Laos; close Sihanoukville, which turned out to be more important for resupply than first thought; and interdict the two railways to China and the harbors (which did happen in 1972). I remember Westmoreland writing (A Soldier Reports) in an offhand way that he thought the Laotian panhandle was the key to victory, but it was never tried. Or at least not until 1971 (Lam Son 719), which was a bloody nose for the ARVN, who could not do this by themselves. Clarke recounts how the plan for such an operation was floated in continuation of Khe Sanh, only to be shot down when LBJ went on TV and declared that he'd had enough, both in office and in Indochina. Thus Vietnam became a disaster squared - dumb to go in, wrong to leave. McArthur is always quoted as warning against getting sucked into a war of attrition on the Asian continent (and he should know) - but his point was that if you're not going for victory, you shouldn't be there in the first place.
I found lots new and interesting in this book: The Royal Laotian Army joining in with the Allies; Cambodian mercenaries being used by the USMC; close combat with rats and rabies, and so on. When all this was going on I was just a boy listening to the news, but I recall that this was expected to be culmination point of the war, which it sort of was; and I recall the posturing about "escalation" by going into Cambodia (and secretly, into Laos). Clarke makes clear what nonsense that was. The first rule in guerilla warfare is you cannot defeat an enemy who has sanctuary. Do the niceties of diplomacy apply to us but not to the enemy?
Finally, some words about presentation. This is a poorly edited book. Dropped punctuation,"it's" as a possessive, "Calusewitz", open-ended quotations, repetitions - you don't expect this from a major publisher. It makes for choppy reading in places. The author's practice of referring to himself in the third person can be disorienting, especially as he slips into the first towards the end. Some trivial errors: The O-1 is not a Piper Cub, and the speed of sound certainly not a kilometer per second. Reviews would have caught things like that.
One non-trivial slip stands out: Not once, but twice - as bookends, so to speak - the Colonel refers to Coventry as an example of how Churchill sacrificed a city to protect the Ultra secret, just, as he asserts, Westmoreland left the young captain exposed so as not to alert the NVA that he knew what was coming. Army folks might not have heard this, but this is one of the hoariest old saws in air power history; it is such a good story, like that of the Danes with their yellow stars, that no matter how many historians you throw at it, it will not go away. There's not a shred of truth to it, and if you thought about it, it couldn't have. The PM could not have saved Coventry if he had tried, and he couldn't have tipped off the Germans; for, unlike the RAF fighters, radar does work at night, and the enemy would have been none the wiser.
Just had to get that out! But it is irrelevant to the book's purpose. It is very good and interesting, and recommendable to all with both a general and specific interest in the subject.

Being born only months before CPT Bruce Clarke was to become a district advisor in Khe Sanh, it would be understandable for this ultranationalist and patriot not to understand the meaning of the book Expendable Warriors: The Battle of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War. But, the way the story was told allowed this reader to become part of that time in history. Having served with Colonel Bruce Clarke later in his career, I witnessed his leadership skills first hand. Yet, as depicted in the book, even in 1968 he already possessed these skills, no doubt refined even further by the time I met him. This book is part memoir, part tactical assessment and part history clarifier. You need not be a career army or marine officer to appreciate and understand this book. I highly recommend it.

Richard Charles Dewees
Douglassville, Pennsylvania
President, The Dewees Group, Inc.
Former member of the "Fighting First"
Dagger Brigade, 1st ID - Big Red One

I was stationed not far from Col. Clarke, although in a usually more tranquil area. I met him on a few occasions, including on a trip to his Khe Sanh village. I also knew several of the headquarters leaders he wrote about. Let me say, that, although I have not finished Clarke's book, almost every page gives me the chills, and - no - I don't suffer from flashbacks. I keep saying to my wife - "Are you asleep?; I've got to read this to you!" Hard to believe almost 40 years have gone by. The story is incredible.

Bud Stevenson Fairfield, CA

First the disclaimer. I am mentioned very briefly, actually 2-3 times, in the book. I was one of the three American officers in the compound during the NVA attack. You'll have to decide whether this review is completely objective in light of my direct involvement.

I was there. That's the way it happened.

It is a very little known part of the Vietnam War. Everyone's eyes have been focused on the Marine Corps Combat Base at Khe Sanh and the months that it was under constant artillery and mortar bombardment. Without taking away from the bravery of those who had to withstand it, there is only brief mention at most in the history of Khe Sanh that the District headquarters compound, consisting of a mix of 175, mostly Vietnamese paramilitary and Montagnard tribemen troops under the direction of US Army and Marine Corps Advisors, and the Vietnamese military District Chief, repulsed an attack by a North Vietnamese regiment-sized force of about 2,000 fresh troops with brand new equipment that had just crossed from North Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The attack lasted for a period of about 36 hours before the defenders were ordered to abandon the District Headquarters. We were able to survive because the author of this book, a West Point graduate, called artillery "air-burst" rounds directly over our position at the height of the attack. The book describes the bravery of the Army medic, the Air Force spotter who directed jets to bomb the enemy positions, the failed attempt to bring in reinforcements who were ambushed by NVA lying in wait, and the "Puff the Magic Dragon" plane circling during the night firing its Gattling guns to protect the defenders. The defenders were eventually evacuated by helicopter on the second day or had to traverse enemy territory by foot to make it to the Marine Corps Base.

Having been ordered to abandon the District HQ, the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) took control of the area between the Marine Corps Combat Base and the Lang Vei Special Forces Camp, which the NVA later attacked and overran with amphibious tanks, thereby totally isolating the Marine Corps Base Camp.

If you want to know the full picture of the Battle of Vietnam, especially the complete story of the Battle at Khe Sanh, you need to know how the NVA planned and executed an objective that was intended to be the American version of the defeat of the French at Diem Bien Phu. The NVA, ultimately, lost the Battle of Khe Sanh militarily but "won the war" through its continued insurgency and the resultant media attention and reporting back home.

Are there lessons to be learned for our present military operations? I'll leave that for the reader to decide.

A solid, fluid look at experimental economics! In these turbulent times on Wall Street (and really in markets around the world) this proves to be a great source of how we've come to this point, but more importantly, where we can go from here.

Miller provides in-depth insight into past financial market events and by doing so sheds light on what might happen today on several fronts. Three examples: His discussion of the 1998 Long-Term Capital Management debacle is relevant for understanding current risks in hedge funds. His analysis of 1980s portfolio insurance should add to concerns about the proliferation of capital guaranteed notes. His take on market circuit breakers, which he describes as regulatory folly, raises the question of what would happen today if these were triggered.

While the book reviews a large and varied body of academic research, focusing heavily on the experimental economics that the author subscribes to, it offers practical conclusions that anybody interested in finance will find worthwhile. As a financial journalist, I found it very useful.

However, because it covers a lot of ground, readers may want to pick and choose what they want to read from the index. The chapter and section headings, while entertaining, are not good guides for this purpose.

But that's not my only reason for thinking this a great book.

Ross M. Miller makes three large claims here. I think he makes good on the first two. I'm not so sure about the third, but even there he makes a case that needs to be made.

First, he explains that one branch of economics has become an experimental science.

Second, he says that this variant of economics has produced important results - theorems disclosing how markets might best be structured or restructured, and how the privatization of now-public goods might be accomplished, in ways that could produce enormous productivity gains.

He more pessimistically claims though, thirdly, that these theorems probably won't produce such gains, because in doing so they would hurt politically powerful interests.

The idea of "experimental economics" is simple enough: a college professor need only ask his students to co-operate in a simple auction-based game, so that he (and they) can observe the process by which prices come into existence under simplified conditions. Once a body of observations has developed, he and other experimenters can vary the rules and conditions of the game and observe the effect the changes have upon the trading strategies of the players and the game outcomes.

It was at Harvard University, in the 1940s, that such experiments got their start, in the classroom of Professor Edward Chamberlain. In the decades since, a body of observations has developed that in some respects supports neoclassical economic theory, but that in one crucial respect calls for its modification. Neoclassical theory needs to be modified to account for the possibility of irrational price bubbles. What is of greater policy importance, though, is that post-Chamberlainian experiments have given us a good idea of how markets can be structured to prevent bubble formation.

About 1975, when Ross Miller and I were grad students in economics, there was a consensus "economic view of the world." Economists who had to deal with the real world -- policy makers and development types -- didn't really believe it, but the mainstream did. Not only believed it, but took it for granted.

That's not true today. The consensus is fragmenting. If you want to understand the underpinnings of this intellectual shift, read Ross's book. It's written clearly, even excitingly, with well-chosen examples. And it is written by a real economist, who's trying to understand what's right and what's wrong about how we think about the economic world.

This was another one that I am glad I read, new stuff,and things you won't find any other place. A must read.

When you get involved in studying political events and movements, ultimately there is going to be some disagreement on interpretations. While the Civil Righs Movement has suffered less revisionist history than many events of the last century, it is still valuable to go to the source documents and read about events in the words of those who participated in history or who made history. I agree that this book works well in tandem with another more narrative history, such as Eyes on the Prize, or Partin the Waters. But the compilers have done an excellent job of grouping by topics, with clear introductions putting the pieces that follow into proper place. I was surprised - I feared that this would be more dry of a read than it was. Instead I found myself pulled along, especially by some riveting first hand accounts of events such as the Attica riots. Another big plus for the book is that it brings the documents and the struggles into the 1980's, when first published. Many books ont he Civil Rights Movement cover until 1965, or 1968, this one keeps events in the 1970's and 80's relevant to what came before. I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking to feel as if they were there for these struggles, and understand our history.

I think that this book is a valued companion to Taylor Branch's epic work "Parting the Waters". Together, they make an unbeatable pair of study aids for one of America's most turbulent periods.

While P.T.W. is a more dispassionate third person chronicle, E.O.T.P. is more personally driven. It brings to life individuals like Bayard Rustin, Stokley Carmichael, John Lewis and other giants (known and obscure) of the movement. Events from the Till lynching to the Attica riots as seen through the eyes of those on the scene (sometimes, those making the scene).

Fascinating reading.

This is a great book to get get a background on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 60's. I read it when I began trying to learn about the CRM and some of the key players.

I completed this 369 page "story book" in two days. It had been so interesting that I just could not put it down.

It's no exaggeration to regard it as a story book. Somehow the reality is more harsh and crueler than fictitious TV drama and movies, and the history of the investment world is surely no exception.

Back to the book. This is in fact an excellent collection of writings from books, journals amd newspapers of different witnesses to the author's selection of major debacles of the past four centuries. There are twelve parts of unequal period, with a timeline of critical incidents in the beginning of each part, followed by selected witness reports as mentioned above. Certainly, not everything could be accounted detailedly (so I would like to recommend "Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation by Edward Chancellor", a book that dug deeper but not as wide) but readers certainly would have a very correct idea of what went wrong.

As a CFA charterholder (not yet, passed all three levels of exam but not paid the fees), I strongly recommend AIMR to put this book into the required list of reading to warn its members of the limitation of the financial techniques or theories or calculations or integrity stuff we try to preach. Anyway, a must read for anyone, especially serious players!

p.s. One minor drawback: Soros was not there. He should have been.

this book gives you a window look into the brilliance of wall streets finest players , as well as the big scammers. this book gave me a better knowledge of how the market works and how the economic cycle is always repeating itself. it gave you a nice history into how wall street was established and how it evolved into the market it is today.

Editor David Colbert collected a multitude of printed source material - diaries, private letters, memoirs and articles - that spans 400 years, and, as the title promises, provides plenty of accounts from eyewitnesses to Wall Street. Organized chronologically, the book also includes Colbert's timelines and his original introductions for each piece. Divided into sections that reflect every era, the book is an insightful and often hilarious romp through financial history. We [...] recommend this book to all readers - there's something here for everyone, even if you don't think you give a hoot about the stock market. Colbert's collection is a sweeping, unusual look at social, economic, political and cultural history.

I don't work in finance, but I found Eyewitness to Wall Street very enjoyable and informative. It's a sweep of stories that captures the impact of Wall Street over the centuries -- and this subject seems even more relevant after the terrorist attacks that attempted to end the Street's intense vitality. This book does a wonderful job of defining and explaining, and thoughtfully celebrating, that vitality.