Editors Books

In 1948, a year before the Kuomintang was chased out of China, but when the outcome was not in doubt, the widow of Vinegar Joe Stilwell published his papers from the war. Probably no indictment of any government's policy has ever been published that was so powerful and so timely.

Nobody paid much attention.

By that time, nothing much could have been done, and even in 1942, when Stilwell was appointed chief of staff to either Chiang Kai-shek or the Nationalist Army of China (it was never really clear which), China was beyond hope.

That, however, didn't stop Stilwell from trying.

He was, as these papers show, the most remarkable man to wear Uncle Sam's uniform in those days, as good a judge of men as Marshall, as daring a battle leader as Nimitz and as thoughtful as Spruance. Unlike those three, he could write a better than passable poem when the mood struck him.

Theodore White, later a best-selling policial analyst, but then a reporter in the China-Burma-India theater, put Stilwell's miscellanceous papers together shortly after his death. White says they are not an intimate diary, but in fact they are. No diary of any high commander of any nation during the war, that I know of, is more intimate.

Also included are several short papers -- some just incomplete drafts -- in which Stilwell attempted to explain to the politicos what was going on. These are remarkably well formed considering their brevity. Stilwell could not have known how Churchill demanded of his staff that position papers be limited to a page -- a crippling necessity for the top managers in a world-circling conflict -- but Stilwell was, obviously, a top-notch manager.

Lord, how he hated Peanut (Chiang) and despised the Limeys!

In one ruminative paper, written for himself and not others, he concluded that the prime consideration of a military commander in war was character. This was a very American thing to think and not so very original for a man who was young in the 1890s. American writers like William Dean Howells reflected on character obsessively in the Mauve Decade. The norms of that sort of character were captured on the stage in 1916 in a once-popular, now forgotten play, "The Man from Home," by Harry Leon Wilson and Booth Tarkington: Shrewd, tough, never laying all his cards on the table when playing with sharpers, smarter and more worldly than he looks.

Barbara Tuchman's "Stilwell and the American Experience in China" provides more background and was written to draw lessons for a people and a government that were blundering about foolishly and ignorantly in Southeast Asia. Hers is an excellent book, but though she tries, she does not capture the spirit of the man half so well as he does himself. Today, the American people and government are again blundering foolishly and ignorantly around Asia, making the same dumb mistakes that Stilwell was pointing out in 1942-44.

"The Stilwell Papers" is a book as thoroughly forgotten as Wilson and Tarkington's "Man from Home." Both deserve a second chance.

None of the American commanders of the 21st century, in Washington, Iraq or Afghanistan, comes up to Stilwell's belt buckle, but we can readily imagine them saying what Stilwell said about the Chinese Nationalists in January 1943: "These people are hard to help."

A man of no pretense and extreme bravery who played a key role in the China- Burma- India theater of World War 2. He refused a chance to fly out of Japanese offensive action in order to lead- that is to say walk out of Northern Burma to India with responsibility for a polyglot group including Americans, British, a contingent of Burmese nurses, and a few others numbering about 100. He led his group across mountain ranges with inadequate supplies, staying ahead of the Japanese, marching his group at a standard (Army) pace of 105 steps a minute, fording rivers such as the Chindwin, one of 4 principal Burmese rivers which empties into the irrawaddy. This all at an age of 59 or thereabouts. He lost not a single life in this arduous slash through the jungle and mountains. He was a favorite of Gen George C Marshall and Sec'y of War Stimson. He was key in developing the means and methods for the Allied return starting in late 1944.

My review is inadequate to characterize this relatively unsung hero of WW2. Should you have further interest in this remarkable man's life I encourage you to read Barbara Tuchman's "Stillwell and the American Experience in China" and follow it with this book. Both are page turners,and instill pride and admiration for Stillwell as America's top General in the CBI theater.

I purchased this book through a seller via Amazon and got a quality product. I am enormously pleased with the variety of items provided in this book and can't wait to make my own (actually started one project yesterday). Yes, some are very easy and great beginner projects, but even for someone like myself with art/fashion experience I know I can add even more flair using the design basics provided by the author. Other items stand on their own for a dazzling or one-of-a-kind item...I am sure my friends will want their own after seeing mine. I definitely recommend this to beginner and intermediate fabric artists - as for advanced designers, I think you will be bored by the projects provided in this book. But as I said, add your own artistic flair and who knows, you may put together a wardrobe accessory worthy of your creative abilities!

Stitch & Sizzle Accessories: Hot Handbags, Scarves, Wraps & Accents pairs bold hot colors with easy sewing instructions and show-off bags, boas, and scarves in a sassy, stylish presentation packed with color photos. Simple instructions show how to use a sewing machine to best advantage, how to preshrink wools for optimum results, and how to use templates and patterns for added impact.

As somebody interested in learning about journalism, I loved this book. The author is a warm, wise and very funny guide through weird and wonderful times. He really captures his love of reporting, and of reporting well - an inspiring thing these days, when there is so much cynicism about the media. He made me want to be just like him - and has inspired me to visit Eureka, too! A rich, rewarding read. And not just for people into journalism - it evokes a whole era and a whole way of life in a way that will steal into anyone's soul.

Mel Lavine's "A Strange Breed of Folks" is a well-written, readable, fascinating account, not only of his career as a newspaperman but as a witer and producer for NBC and CBS. For an intimate look and insights into the Media, the book is a must read. The reader will meet famous people in TV(such as Barbara Walters)and politics(such as Ronald Reagan)and learn more personally about their strengths and frailties as human beings. The reader will also discover the differences between television news of the past and that of today, the present that pales beside those who came before.
Several quotes are especially striking. 1.From Lavine's first editor, Norman "Red" McCann: "The press is the last outpost in a republic. Once the bastards get control of the government, once they get the courts, there's nothing left but the press . . . ." 2.Interview with James Farley, FDR's inside man and postmaster general: "Citing the Roosevelt landslide in the depression years of the 1930s, he said,'voters were motivated by fear, not hope. Today, in general, people vote against someone or something rather than for.' Although he claimed no special knowledge about television, he believed the principle still held true with the new technology." 3. Near the end of the book after mention of well-known journalists, Lavine writes, "Walter [Cronkite]was of the same generation and, with the possible exception of Murrow, the most famous broadcast journalist of all. But not even Cronkite could escape the consequences of growing old in a big machine that had become all process and no heart, all business and no mission."
"A Strange Breed of Folks" is a must read.

Richard Shain Cohen, author, former journal editor, Professor Emeritus

What's missing from the dry science education most of us receive in high school are the colorful details of real-life science and scientists. Edward Novitski shares such color in this down-to-earth book, which is a memoir of sorts. In addition to discussing the rift that he watched grow between the scientists named in the title, he talks about some of his own clever
discoveries and divulges some of his best pranks. This is not a glossy, heroic tale, but the story of a real person who enjoyed being a scientist. (For scientist-readers, there are more technical sections on Drosophila genetics at
the end.)

Growing up during the depression of the 1930's, the author discovers, early in life, his aptitude and love for work in the science of genetics. This leads to his eventual position as an internationally acknowledged contributor to this field. He recounts his experiences as a teenager, where his genetic experiments in high school with buddy, Edward Lewis, led directly to the Nobel Prize for Lewis for his contributions to the field of genetics. The author describes his unusual high school and college careers, along with a wonderful touch of humor appropriate to the subject matter. He also deals with weightier problems and controversies in the field of genetics, not of great interest to the non-scientist. These matters can't be overlooked in view of the intrinsic worth of the biographical account of his first-person memories of the relationship between Sturtevant and Dobshansky, as well as his recollections of these men, individually, having worked closely with each man at different times in his life. Well worth a read, even to non-scientists.

The U.S. News Stylebook has proven itself an indispensable reference worth every penny. As a public relations professional I extol its merits for making my writing tasks a bit easier. As an admitted "word nerd" I sing its praises for its insight into this crazy--and often very tricky--little thing called English.

It is my humble opinion that the stylebook is the best writing reference since the Strunk & White classic The Elements of Style and that the U.S. News Stylebook should be de rigueur for every home, classroom, and office. I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone of any age in any occupation who plans to put pen to paper. Bravo!

I was first introduced to this reference when I was in college as a journalism major. It is "the" book to go to when you are uncertain as to useage, spelling, grammar...but mostly, useage. Do you use numbers or spell them out...and when? How do you use locations - do you spell out the state or abbreviate? And what are the abbreviations for all the United States, anyway?

Just a taste. There are guidelines for addressing heads of state, various cultural idioms, holidays, etc.

I bought this book a couple months ago and in those couple of months this book has helped me numerous times. I fixed the hill holder on my Subaru and many others parts. If you own a 1970-1984 Subaru this book will really help and it just might save you a mechnic bill or two.

I like to fix my subaru myself

Terence White, for more than 15 years one of the kings of the Afghanistan press corps, writes a thriller that has the additional advantage of being true.

He starts by being gut-shot with shrapnel while covering a Kabul mortar attack gone wrong, survives Afghan hospitals and returns a few years later to see what's become of the country. All in all, White gives you a perceptive insider's look at the country from the fall of the Soviet-backed regime until the recent days of the US-led incursion.

Throughout this genuinely exciting page-turner, his wry, self-deprecating, Kiwi humour, and his often ironic take on the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan, make it the best book on Afghanistan that I've seen in the past decade or more. Gripping stuff and well written. If he starts writing fiction, order that too.

The 9/11 attacks prompted not just US military intervention in Afghanistan, but -- even more swiftly -- the descent of a Western-style media circus upon that benighted and war-torn land. In its turn, the 2001 media invasion yielded a spate of books by newly minted experts. Some were newcomers to Afghanistan: They pasted over the gaps in their experience with secondhand 'analysis' rooted in a conventional wisdom that was always mostly nonsense. Others were pseudo-'old hands' whose claims to expertise, or even marginally useful experience, were undermined by a variety of factors. Foremost among these were a refusal to spend serious time in-country, instead 'parachuting' in on brief trips to score a swashbuckling dateline; consequent ignorance of local languages and customs, and confusion over basic politico-military issues; and most of all, a profound lack of intellectual rigor.

'A Taste for Hot Steel' is not of that genre, and its author utterly not of that ilk. That alone makes Terence White's memoir a must-read for anyone hoping to grasp how things really were in Afghanistan when the Taliban and al-Qaeda rose to power. Among other differences, 'Hot Steel' saw print at a decent interval: far too late to capitalize on the post-9/11 window of publishing opportunity. White, it appears, has too much respect for Afghans to exploit them as a stepping-stone to fame. Moreover, this is a memoir first and foremost. Beyond providing a brief historical summary, 'Hot Steel' does not really set out to explain Afghanistan -- a refreshing break in itself. Lesser reporters and 'analysts' have lectured us (and Afghans) ad nauseam about the place, and have mostly gotten it wrong. White, on the other hand, clarifies much without really trying.

'Hot Steel' engagingly documents White's New Zealand childhood and his adventures in Southeast Asia, Indonesia and elsewhere, both before and after his time in Afghanistan. But his account centers on the years that he spent reporting from Kabul for Agence France Presse, from 1992 through 1997. No Westerner spent more time there, under more dangerous conditions.

Today Kabul is occupied and patrolled by Western troops. It is home to a community of perhaps 6,000 extremely sheltered foreigners, whose creature comforts include poolside parties and French restaurants. So it must be explained that reporting from Kabul in the 1990s involved daily legwork along the front lines that would have tested the nerve and eardrums of a trained soldier. The city was split violently down the middle: government loyalists on one side, a renegade alliance backed by unfriendly neighboring countries -- notably Pakistan -- on the other. Many frontline neighborhoods were left in ruins. Most neighborhoods were wracked by artillery, rocket and small-arms fire. Today's Western hacks -- glued all day to their computer screen while their Afghan stringers gather what passes for news -- could hardly have imagined, much less endured the conditions in which White immersed himself. Yet he did so day after day, year after year, through five years of warfare and political upheaval. In the end, he left only because paranoid Taliban officials kicked him out.

In those days, when Kabul was quiet, action often erupted in the countryside. One of White's more hair-raising war stories opens on an autumn day in 1993. The beleaguered Afghan Defense Ministry offered to fly journalists to a strategic rural district by helicopter, to prove they had just beaten back an attack by a particularly nasty renegade faction. White jumped at the chance. A gaggle of other journalists -- many of them based in the West, in Afghanistan only for a few days -- boarded rather more reluctantly. When the choppers touched down in Tagab district, sure enough, the enemy had abandoned the district headquarters. Hearing the rumble of artillery fire many miles to the south, White climbed aboard a government ammo truck headed down to the front -- just to find out what was really afoot. All the other hacks save one boarded the choppers to fly back to town. White and his colleague -- unsure when and how they would return to Kabul; with no interpreter, no entourage, no minder, and no 'security' except government troops defending tenuous forward positions -- arrived at the front line in the teeth of a renegade counterattack. Few reporters have survived adventures as terrifying as what ensued ...

Much of the narrative revolves around an even more harrowing incident that nearly cost White his life, and left him hors d'combat for several months: A Defense Ministry mortar tube malfunctioned, blowing itself and its crew to bits almost in his face, while he was photographing them in October 1995. Experienced Afghan surgeons at Kabul's military hospital saved White's life. (By 1995 they had been operating on wounded Afghans for nearly two decades.) They also understood that, while they could stabilize White, they could not protect him against the infections that would likely ensue. He was medevacked to France promptly after the Afghans pulled him back from the brink. It speaks volumes of both the man and his subject matter that it never occurred to him to steer clear of embattled Kabul after he recovered. Yet White avoids the self-conscious swashbuckling of certain Western 'adventurists' who have milked Afghanistan for fame and fortune.

'Hot Steel' also avoids two common but unfortunate Western attitudes toward Afghans. These stem from a profound lack of cultural sensitivity among the Western pseudo-intelligentsia -- reporters, diplomats and aid workers, especially human-rights activists -- whose collective views inform most of what the outside world thinks it knows about Afghanistan. Such Westerners gravitate toward Afghan 'technocrats,' mostly either urbanites once affiliated with the brutal 1980s communist regime, or wealthy scions of the pre-communist feudal establishment who spent decades in exile in the West. These Afghans wear suits, speak English or other Western languages, enjoy their whiskey, and have assimilated (or at least know how to parrot) politically correct Western shibboleths. Therefore they must be the country's natural leaders, right?

The first tendency is to portray Afghan 'technocrat' values as mainstream, and everybody else's as 'extremist.' The second -- arising when reporters come to grips with the 95 percent of Afghans thus rendered 'extremists' -- is a tone that makes it clear the reporter regards his subjects as one-dimensional, barely human: like animals in a zoo, or role-playing actors at a theme park. Pirates of the Hindu Kush, anyone?

White's account is free of such dehumanizing overtones. He knows who the real Afghans are; he likes them (or not) on the same basis as he would a fellow Kiwi. He doesn't always approve of their customs or behavior. But he regards them as his fellow men and women, not curiosities in funny headgear.

Though his memoir leans more toward action than contemplation, White should consider trying his hand at a serious political analysis of Afghan affairs -- which he understands far better than, say, US or UN officials. If anybody were actually willing to listen to him (hardly a foregone conclusion, of course), his wisdom and experience might actually help the West avoid another 1842 in Afghanistan ... a country that could yet make the Iraq war look like a squabble in a kindergarten sandbox.

I liked this book because it gives inside information from a variety of teachers. Since I don't know any teachers personally, this was the information that helped me to get a realistic feel for the job of being a teacher. I found out that there are a lot of other people who feel the same way that I do about the importance of education, and I think that I will fit into the world of teaching very well. I liked the fact that the book included information about teacher training programs and certification requirements because it seems like that type of detail is hard to find. I am going to use this book in the future too, once I begin applying for my first teaching job because it has good info. on how to apply and also succeeding on the job once you get one. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about how to become a teacher.

I liked this book because it gives inside information from a variety of teachers. Since I don't know any teachers personally, this was the information that helped me to get a realistic feel for the job of being a teacher. I found out that there are a lot of other people who feel the same way that I do about the importance of education, and I think that I will fit into the world of teaching very well. I liked the fact that the book included information about teacher training programs and certification requirements because it seems like that type of detail is hard to find. I am going to use this book in the future too, once I begin applying for my first teaching job because it has good info. on how to apply and also succeeding on the job once you get one. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about how to become a teacher.

Great book. Many wonderful insights in this book, I enjoyed this much more than his other book Technique of the Disciple, although that is also read worthy.

Raymund Andrea is truly a master of his subject. An occult library that does not contain his works is incomplete. "Technique of the Master," with its companion volume "Technique of the Disciple," are two remarkable works. I'm not completely sure I buy the Master/Disciple concept as anything other than analogy, but even so, the insights offered in these books are unique. Whether you really think the Masters are watching or you believe the Master is the Self Within, these books will deepen your understanding of that relationship. Andrea believes in the literal Masters, but this in no way invalidates his wisdom, gleaned from decades of working with spiritual students. Also, Andrea was a Rosicrucian, but you definitely do not need to be a Rosicrucian to appreciate these books.

Also, these books yield more and more information with subsequent readings. Andrea has the remarkable gift of writing for multiple experience levels. I've read each of them twice, and expect to read them again before the year is out.

Enjoy!

This is an excellent book if you have an interest in our postmodern culture, and how Christianity fits into this worldview. Specifically the challenge of applying a Christian worldview into a culture that has lost its foundations and is sliding down the slippery and illogical slope of moral relativism. While there are many great books out there on this subject including "Truth Decay", and "Steering Through the Chaos", this book takes a different approach in that it contains dozens of short essays written by numerous apologetic authors and teachers, which are then combined into sections to form this book. Of particular interest to me were the sections on "Critical Topics" and "This Relational Age". The "Critical Topics" section includes a writing by James Sire, entitled "Why Believe Anything at All?" a must read. The sections on "This Relational Age" includes some excellent work on bridge building and the importance of developing relationships as a medium to carry Christ's message of hope. I particularly enjoyed the fact that I could read several of these seven to fifteen page essays in a sitting and compare and contrast the different styles and approaches to evangelizing and "telling the truth" to a culture which is moving towards a belief that there isn't any truth.
I have deliberately kept this review focused on the style of the book and avoided overly stating my opinion on the subject matter. Whatever your opinion is, you will benefit from the wisdom and perspective of the various contributors to the book. A must read on the subject of apologetics and postmodern culture, and done in a way which doesn't require the effort and concentration level of most other postmodern discussions. I recommend reading this book first to get some framework and then move on to "Truth Decay" or other more in-depth works on the subject matter.

This book originated from the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School conference in May 13-15, 1998. The book has over 29 authors and is edited by D.A. Carson. It is divided into eight parts with each part having many essays describing the issues and challenges facing, mostly, but not exculsively, North American soceity and its post-modern culture (I say mostly because other countries are represtented).

Ravi Zacharias opens the discussions in part one about opening dialogue about truth and Christianity in a post-modern culture. The opening is great and dynamic. Other issues discussed are religious pluralism, epistemology, uniqueness of Jesus Christ, and the current state of our most hailed universities and how to effectively reach this group of young adults.

As with all books of this kind, having so many authors does tend to interrupt the flow of reading and sometimes ideas become redundant; however, this problem is not prevelant in this text and should not discourage the reader in any way. A great buy!