War and Politics Books

I'd like to round up all of the Washington D.C. policy-makers and lock them into a big room and make them read "The Islamic Shield." Then we'd discuss what they read, without the usual patriotic and political flatulence filling the air. We'd discuss Professor Elhadj's six strategies to defeat the Jihadists, plus the three political and moral strategies that the United States must follow in order to get ourselves out of the Middle-East quagmire that we helped create. There are also three strategies that Arab rulers must follow (they do not include democracy and free elections), and the United States needs to lend a hand (perhaps in the form of a few discreet shoves) in this effort, too.

As President Eisenhower might have remarked, it's time to take our foreign policy back away from the military-industrial-big-oil complex, and earn the respect of our neighbors, again.

"The Islamic Shield" is brilliant, but pessimistic. If you read the leaked National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq that came out yesterday, describing Iraq as the 'cause celebre' for Jihadists, this book will expand on that theme in excruciating and maddening detail. Professor Elhadj concludes by asking, what is the likelihood of a terrorist defeat? He answers:

"On the short-term, the likelihood is rather slim. The confrontation today involves fundamentalist politicians brandishing the Quran and the Bible, bent on crushing each other into submission."

The author of "The Islamic Shield" was born in Syria, and had a thirty-year banking career in New York, Philadelphia, London and Riyadh before he decided to return to London University's School of Oriental and African Studies at age 54, "seeking answers to questions on cultures and religions, politics and developmental prospects of Arab countries." This book is the result of his personal experiences (with the emphasis on Syria and Saudi Arabia), and his seven years at London University. He presents a very unique perspective on Arabic religious and cultural history, and on the differences between the Shiis, the Sunnis, the Wahhabis, the Ismailis, the Druzes, and the Syrian Alawites.

Believe me, you will not be bored. Most likely you'll be gritting your teeth with rage at the ignorant, arrogant Middle Eastern policies implemented by our government. You will learn why suicide is such an attractive option to the Jihadists. You'll find out how (this is the one that maddens me) "...on April 9, 2003 the US army won the battle against a tattered Iraq. But, Iran, without firing a shot won the war for Iraq."

This is an important, fascinating book even though the US government is exposed as inept and foolish. I suppose we can take comfort in the knowledge that the author is even harder on the Ulama class (mullahs) and their needlessly archaic interpretations of the Islamic Hadith (the traditional sayings and actions of the Prophet Mohammed).

My only wish is that "The Islamic Shield" had been proof-read a bit more closely. There are many misspellings, and at least one egregious statistical blooper. Hopefully, future editions will correct these problems.

Most of us are uneducated about the religion, culture, domestic and foregin political factors, and history of the region that is now so important to our future. Reading this book explains a great deal that is missing in our history books and periodicals. Dr. Elhadj has written a pessimistic book that exposes our attempt to use democratization as a main weapon of the War on Terrorism as a fantasy. His use of history, academic literature, Islamic law and references to the Quran is illuminating, as well as a good read. He offers solutions at a critical juncture of time. We can only hope the Baker Committee has read this excellent book.

Flowers and cheers for the US troops marching into Baghdad -- this is what Vice President Cheney blithely promised. It was a pleasing thought to entertain on the eve of a problematic war. However, the author of The Islamic Shield, with his intimate knowledge of the Middle East, would have found the frivolity of such a thought appalling: "Arab frustration over American Middle Eastern policies since the late 1950s have gradually transformed Arab admiration and affection towards American egalitarianism, sense of justice and fair play into dislike, and then into hatred. It is as if each one of the victors' triumphs has scarred the collective memory of the Arab generations. It is as if the effects of the events that humiliated Arab pride and sensibilities have been accumulating in the Arab minds and psyche well after the victors had thought that they got away with their attack. It is as if every man, woman, and child killed, every young man's bones crushed, every home bulldozed, and every tree uprooted kept accumulating in the Arab collective memory and psyche until a critical mass of humiliation and anger was reached." Obviously, there is dissonance of memory between the victim and the victimizer. The US troops marched in, and were met by bullets and bombs. They still are. It was insane to expect flowers to grow and cheers to rise on such a terrain.

Had The Islamic Shield been in print a few years earlier and had certain key decision makers actually had the curiosity to read it, perhaps we would have been spared the glib litany of democracy and freedom overnight, if not the war itself. Briskly and incisively, the author lays out a whole gamut of Arab behaviors, practices, and institutions that stubbornly keep the Arab world what it is now, or rather what it has been for centuries. The problem of the undemocratic political culture of the Arab world is compounded by the pervasive influence of an immobile religious orthodoxy. Repeated foreign intrusions only made matters worse. Needless to say, this way of shorthand summation does not do justice to the author's finely discriminating handling of the subject. For example, he highlights the contrast between the Arab Muslim states and the non Arab Muslim states and rejects the careless generalization of the Muslim world at large. He also compares the political tyranny of Saudi Arabia with that of Syria, and shows why the most violent expression of Arab frustration had to come from a particular religious ideology nurtured in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Elie Elhadj, the author, had a successful career in banking before he decided to immerse himself in a scholarly pursuit. The way he conceived this book reveals a cast of mind fashioned in the crucible of the world of practical affairs. He doesn't seem particularly interested in exhaustive description or analysis for its own sake; rather he is intent on determining the nature of the problems and on how to solve them. Part I is a comprehensive analysis of the various forces which have shaped the contemporary Arab reality. This is followed in Part II by a discussion focused on today's most burning issue, namely, the Jihadist terror. The author offers four possible strategies to counter Jihadist terrorism. These are: (1) taming religious orthodoxy; (2) removing the domestic spark through democratic governance and poverty alleviation; (3) removing the foreign spark by solving the Arab Israeli conflict; and (4) removing the foreign spark by ending the US occupation of Iraq. These are, to say the least, daunting propositions. To begin with, where are the necessary political wisdom and courage to be found? The author does not say. All the same, we are indebted to him for the questions he asks. Without consideration of them, there is no path out of the conundrum of the Middle East.

Although this book could use a good editor and some serious proofing--there are needless repetitions, some quizzical expressions, inconsistent spellings and capitalizations, hard-to-read tables, and a whole slew of typos--I still give it five stars because it is otherwise a great piece of work.

Elhadj writes with a penetrating clarity that eschews most of the usual biases--both Middle Eastern and Western--about what is happening in the Middle East, and explains why democracy and religious reforms are not about to happen there any time soon. His thesis includes the important insight that it is Arabic culture that is resisting change as much as, if not more than, Islam itself. After all, there are Islamic democracies--but they are not in Arab lands.

Elhadj makes the case that it is the interpretations of clerics more than the content of the Quran itself that has inspired the Islamic terrorists. He draws a distinction between moderate Muslims, orthodox Muslims, and jihadist Muslims. He says that there are three factors--Islamic extremism, tyranny by Arab rulers, and the Israeli and American occupation of Arab lands--that are "driving moderate Muslims into orthodoxy, and orthodox Muslims into Jihadism and terrorism..." (p. 13) He presents solutions to this "vicious-cycle" including reforms by the Ulamas who interpret Islam, reforms by autocratic regimes, and a one-state solution to the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict.

However, the reform of the clerics is not likely to happen, and certainly autocratic rulers do not voluntarily give up their power, and a one-state solution has never been acceptable to the Israelis and the Palestinians. Result? The situation in the Middle East is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Elhadj is particularly critical of the America invasion of Iraq. He gives the American "objectives" as seen from an Arab perspective:

"The first objective is to control Iraq's 113 billion barrels of proven oil reserves." In support of this objective (denied by the Bush administration and its supporters, but obvious to just about everybody else in the world), Elhadj notes that on the day Baghdad fell, "US troops proceeded to protect the Ministry of Oil while mobs nearby were not prevented from looting and burning other government ministries and libraries, museums, and colleges." (p. 199)

The second objective, "is to hand US corporations billions of dollars in business contracts to reconstruct Iraq's war ravaged infrastructure..."

"The third objective aims at bolstering Israel's security. To the Arab mind, destroying any Arab asset would benefit Israel."

"The fourth objective is to use Iraq as a base to change the regimes in Damascus and Tehran and to warn other countries not to oppose US interests."

"The fifth objective is the Arabs' belief that American Evangelists [sic] interpretations of the Old Testament to expedite the second coming of Christ plays a major role in influencing the Bush Administration's policy against Iraq."

Elhadj sees the sixth objective as a personal vendetta held by President Bush against Saddam Hussein since Hussein plotted to kill his father.

And finally, he believes Arabs see the invasion of Iraq as the beginning of a war against Islam to replace the Cold War and to foment sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiis. (pp. 170-171)

For the record I agree that objectives one, two, five, and part of seven are likely true, but tend to disagree with the others. Certainly a replacement for the Cold War is an enticement for Bush and the military establishment. After all, a war unites the populace at home behind the government. And of course the military and those who supply the military like to see their soldiers and equipment tested under actual combat conditions. On the other hand, sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiis does not further American interests in the Middle East. What America really wants in the Middle East is stability.

Elhadj explains some of the many fine distinctions made between what the Prophet said or didn't say, and what he really meant, as interpreted by various Islamic Ulama. For some this is an important part of the book. For those of us who hear this sort of thing all the time regarding Christianity, it tends to make the eyes glass over. The difference between the largely symbolic and the literal interpretations of the Bible as well as the differing spins are rather too well experienced, and largely irrelevant to our problems. The real solution--as Elhadj suggests--is to abandon the parts of these religions that are out of step with the modern reality and especially those that call for violent solutions.

Of more interest are the chapters comparing Islam in Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Islam in more secular Syria. Elhadj allows us insights into the political, social, and economic realities in those countries.

However I thought the chapter on solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was less than convincing. Elhadj proposes a one-state solution but doesn't show how that might come about. There is also a slight Muslim bias in his expression. For example, he writes, "The fact that 850,000 Jews emigrated from the Arab world on the eve of Israel's creation is an indication that these people must have found it agreeable to live with Muslims under Muslim rule for centuries before leaving." (p. 158) A better interpretation would be that the fact that they left their homes for an uncertain place in a new land suggests just the opposite.

Elhadj sees the "root cause of the Arab Israeli dispute...in the fear that grips the Arab World..." He says that Arabs believe that the two lines on the Israeli flag indicate that Israel wants to occupy all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates rivers and that this frightens Arabs. (p. 158)

I could argue against this notion but I am running out of space. The best thing to do is read this important book yourself and experience a different point of view, some with which you may agree, and some with which you may not.

Grinker's book is one of the deepest and well-researched contributions to the broad issue of Korean Unification. From an anthropological perspective he transcends the purely International Relations dimension of analysis and goes deeper into questions of the adaptation of North Korean refugees and their problems that they confront in the South. He illuminates how the division of the peninsula is not only a purely political division but also, by its long "durée" and severe institutions like the National Security Law (NLS), is severly implanted in the Korean citizens' mind. It impacts the Korean identity (Koreanness - What does it mean to be Korean?)) and penetrates the way how Korean people understand themselves and the respective 'other' in case there is such an otherness.
I think everybody who a genuine interest in the Korean unification beyond the political and economic sphere of figures and datas, i.e. in the social and cultural realm of the individual level, should read this monograph.

In this exceptional book, Roy Richard Grinker argues that South Korean discourses on division and unification actually work against reconciliation between the two Koreas and stand as a barrier to future unification. He claims that South Korean discourses on division and unification presume that the nation's division in 1945 unnaturally split a historically homogeneous people (minjung) and that unification would mean the recovery of this temporarily lost Korean homogeneity. Where Grinker finds fault with these assumptions is that South Korean discourses on division and unification do not consider the "constructed" nature of modern notions of Korean homogeneity and that there is also no consideration of how North Koreans may have become significantly different culturally, socially and linguistically since division. Grinker's aim is not to prove the fact that North and South Koreans are different, but that the avoidance of even considering heterogeneity in Korea could lead to great disappointment and social upheaval when unification finally occurs.

Based on these main ideas, Grinker explores the construction and presentation of south Korean discourses on division and unification by focusing on such topic areas as the state/people dichotomy, South Korean thoughts on north Koreans, han and the "inability to mourn" division and loss of homogeneity, depiction of north Korea in school textbooks, the "ritual" of student demonstrations, the stories of south Korean idealists who illegally traveled to north Korea, and the problems of north Korean defectors in adjusting to life in South Korea. By exploring these various aspects of the division/unification discourse in south Korea, Grinker paints a portrait of a South Korean state that has defined its national identity solely in contrast and opposition to North Korea - and could thus lose this national identity if unification actually happened. Additionally, viewed from this perspective, Korean division was and remains the responsibility of Kim Il Sung and external powers - not of South Korea or the Korean minjok - and unification means nothing less than the absorption and assimilation of the North Korean people into the South Korean state. Grinker criticizes this perspective as being the main factor aborting any notion of a practical and realistic unification policy that recognizes and respects the actual heterogeneity of the North and South Korean people.

Grinker's approach to the issue of national division and unification discourses in South Korea is a refreshing break from the volumes of studies on the political and economic discourses on this issue available in the field of Korean Studies. As a solution to the issue he highlights, Grinker advocates a mourning process for the Korean nation and people whereby the heterogeneity of the Korean people is accepted as an immutable reality. With this idea in mind, then, one could deduce from Grinker's argument that a mutually-respectful, but permanently divided Korean peninsula could just as well be a result of the mourning process as a unified, but socially diverse, Korea. Although Grinker does not state this, it would appear that even a permanently divided (but non-hostile) peninsula would be preferable to a Korea unified by the South under the principle of assumed and uniform ethnic homogeneity.

While I feel that Grinker makes a strong case for his argument, his study is not without question or fault. For instance, if Grinker is so strongly striving for readers to view the Korean peninsula as a "heterogenous" grouping of people, then why did he chose to use the narrative convention of naming the two Koreas "south Korea" and "north Korea" in his book using small letters? This only seems to underscore that there is really only "one" Korea that is, in fact, one homogenous nation.

Another weakness, that Grinker himself admits, is his use of psychanalytical concepts such as "the inability to mourn" and han (resentment) to describe South Korean societal issues. The problem is whether concepts more useful for describing an individual's personal mental problems are really appropriate to describe to issues of a collective society. Granted, these concepts can be enlightening as analogies - but risk being to essentialistic or simplistic when applied as descriptions for an entire society of people.

All in all, though, this book is a worthy addition to the field of Korean Studies and deserves the careful reading of anyone with a serious interest in Korea. Even though I wonder how differently Grinker would have presented his argument if this book were written after the July 2000 summit meeting between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-Il, Grinker does illuminate a topic of discussion generally ignored by the political and economic writers on Korean division and unification issues. With that said, I believe that Grinker succeeds in convincingly showing how South Korean discourses on national division and unification have actually served to block serious contemplation on how to effectively achieve national unification. I highly recommend Korea and Its Futures and can only hope that South Korean policy makers give Grinker's argument serious consideration when formulating their unification policy.

You don't necessarily need to have an anthropology degree to read this "psychocultural analysis" of Korea--the author is an excellent writer and I found his approach, style and analysis to be very intriguing, provocative and powerful. At any rate, a work like this is precisely (desparately) what is needed. There is such a dearth of material that examines how north and south Korea think about each other as similar/different in terms of unification. Most people just assume it is a given without looking at it more closely. I found it fascinating and informative to catch a glimpse of how post-war south Korea problematically depicted the north through school books, student demonstrations, and museum exhibits. And yes, I agree with the other reviewer: The chapter on the thoughts of north Korean defectors was something I was hungry to learn about it and it didn't let me down.

It is so hard to think about the two Koreas--they are placed in such a reductionist, bi-polar context that any nuanced or multifacted view or outlook is hard to discuss. The author demonstrates how complicated, contradictory and ultimately unprepared Koreans are for this "sacred goal" of unification. I was struck by how limited and "stuck" Koreans have been in their assumptions about national identity, defining themselves in opposition to each other all the while pushing for unification. A great virtue of this book is that it avoids the typical approach of other scholars, pundits and news commentators who take a dry, "political science" approach to north Korea, limiting their analysis to geopolitics, regional power dynamics, diplomatic strategies, nuclear prolliferation issues, blah blah blah. The author uses museums displays, children's textbooks and TV shows, as well as real life interviews with defectors. Quite a good book with excellent analysis that will leave you feeling that you learned to realize something oh-so-human and fascinating about a deadlocked political situation in an illuminating way.

I'm not aware that there is an comparable book on Korea. Some may find it too "academic" (I don't) but the prose is still lucid and it is a unique book. Anyone interested in north-south Korea relations should read this. The material on defectors is especially good.

I have not yet read this book. However, I am the author of Old Comrades, a poem for which the author and/or publisher has advised the author is unknown. This poem was presented to the Mount Hope Memorial Cemetery in Bangor, Maine, in August 1995.

Fascinating tales all 201 of them. Narratives which encompass a varied and comprehensive kaleidoscope of men at War. Each yarn a gem in the overall picture of combat: its lethal firefights, the macabre comic moments, and the tedium, all blended to paint America"s forgotten combat troops, the true heroes they really were. While this maelstrom raged on,back home an apathetic American populace, dulled by the [ post WW2 ] Harry-Truman and his cohorts in DC & United Nations, as they tried to sweep the true signifigance of the WAR under the rug,the sour little WAR refused to just go away. In summation, these 201 combat campaigners saw the WAR for what it was - they were in it, up to their eyeballs nite/day. Buy this unique book, read it and you tell me [ yeah, I"m one of the 201 stories ]. We can forgive, but we will never forget!! END

It hit me with the impact of a burst of burp gun fire, leaping off page 406 like the dancing muzzle flash of that same burp gun in the dark of night. My God! I was there. Forty-five years ago, I was there. T-Bone Hill, with its valley to the east that led to the gaping "V" of the Alligator Jaws.

Yes, I'm one of the 201 who were privileged to contribute to this remarkable work. And what variety and diversity it has. What differing perspectives each contributor brings with him. One will write about banality, another brutality. It's all there -- courage and cowardice, fear and terror, boredom and horror, torn bodies and death, frost bite and heat exhaustion, blisters and thirst, brilliance and stupidity. All that and more, for all that and more is what war is all about.

Five stars are not enough. 201 stars hardly do it justice. Nor is one picture worth just a thousand words. Each picture here is priceless. Thanks, Norm, for bringing the faces of war to life. Thanks, Art, for bringing the Korean vignettes to print. And thank you both for making it possible for all to remember this decisive conflict that turned the tide of the Cold War and started communism on its road to self-destruction.

These are true-grit memories from the soldiers who fought in the foxholes of the Forgotten War. Worth reading for anyone interested in knowing what it really takes to keep our country free.

Just a line to say I have just finished reading Kosova/Kosovo and found it very enjoyable, interesting and well written. I have also read Mary Motes orchid fiction "Orchid Territory" and highly recommend both books.

I grew up with my parents telling me stories of Kosova that sounded almost exactly like those of Ms. Motes. It's always an amazing event when a writer manages to take such a vivid snapshot of reality in their writing that you feel like you have experienced the things they have. That is what reading this is like. I felt like I was sitting down and having tea with my aunt and listening to a story. While politics always play a role in life (especially in the Balkans), Ms. Motes manages to convey the flavor of the society without demonizing either side. The prejudices of both sides are made clear. Whether it's the Serbian "rusty bottoms" or the Albanian "Siptars" I think it's clear that everyone suffers from ignorance and misconceptions. Thank you Ms. Motes for reminding everyone that the people of the Balkans are just that, people.

Real life, real experience communicated so clearly it is palpable. Excellent writing.

If you think you know anything about Kosova, this book will rid you quickly of that notion. If, however, you wish to LEARN about Kosovo, and cut through all the BS and BALONEY that's being published today (East and West), then read this book. Do you know why it's spelled two ways? If you don't read this book, you won't have a clue. The author has been there, done that - she has bravely gone where no one has gone before. She was a pen-pal in the mid-1950s with Yugoslavs (Serbs) who have since become lifelong friends. She visited Yugoslavia in the 1950s and 1960s. She was an English instructor in Kosovo from 1966 thru 1971, pre-Brioni (the plenum which ousted Tito's Security Police chief Rankovic, and which made the Albanian language legal, among other things), during which she acquired more K-Albanian and K-Serb lifelong friends. She witnessed Tito's first visit to Kosovo (they were commanded to participate) and heard his speech. She witnessed the 1968 demonstrations in favor of Albaniazation. Pre - Milosevic, definitely pre - NATO. She was the only non-native, Westerner there; no other dared brave living there until many years later. Her insight is UNIQUE. And she was there in 1974 - 1976, 1988, 1994, and 1997. You want to read about a four - hour pony trek to a village in the Prizren region, where she is the only woman to sit around with all these men drinking tea and smoking cigarettes on a carpeted bracken floor with the mice running around above? Or picking up a local child who was so dirty and smelly she had to toss him down and wash herself? Or a bus trip to Turkey with suitcases stuffed with tea, waiting for the bribed guards to appear? Or Serbs preparing a cup of coffee with a candle because there is no electricity? Or how her mother back in England had noted that she slowly but surely had become Balkanized and just about as surly and testy as the rest of them? Or about the Serbs helping the Albanians and the Albanians helping the Serbs? Yes, the Serbs and Albanians actually GETTING ALONG with each other? Get this book, and discover that people everywhere at the fundamental level really get along, it's just the buffoons in high places that muck everything up. (And Meri, I hope your friends are OK. By the way, when will the sequel be coming out?)

Cannon never explains numbers here. Yet, this is the history of a group of revolutionists who went from two or three leaders of
the Communist party who learned of Trotsky's critique of Stalin, to a group of a few dozens--The Generals without an Army theywere called. They went from only a few to merging and mixing with new currents of workers who came forward as the CIO Upsurge came forward. Their principles helped spark the organization of workers in the great strikes in Minneapolis in 1934 and aftewrards, then to influence workers in the sit down strikes in Flint and Dearborn and Detroit, and to lead demonstrations of tens of thousands against American Nazis. Then to find hundreds of young workers, intellectuals, and student youth in the Socialist party and battle the reformists there, to build Found the Socialist Workers party, founded with more than a thousand members in 1938. But this is not about those numbers. Through most of history, real revolutionists real communists have been forced to fight in small organizations like the movement Cannon built. What this is about is the principles,the ideas, the lessons, the history, how to do things theoretically, how to do them practically, and how to do them right.

Like all of Cannon's writing, there is so much humor, wit, and much wisdom about not only politics but life on this planet in general.


While Amazon may not always have this book available for regular order it is always available from booksfromPathfinder which you can find by clicking on new and used books on the top of the page!

Aquí se ve la historia temprana de cómo construyeron el núcleo de un partido revolucionario de las masas que participará en la revolución norteamericana que viene. También es la historia de la lucha por la continuidad comunista internacional con su guía de acción frente la más grande obstáculo a la victoria revolucionaria que hubo desde los veinte hasta los cuarenta ( y más despues ): el estalinismo, el contrario del comunismo.

También aquí se cuenta la historia de la participación de este núcleo en la lucha dentro de la clase trabajadora norteamericana como dirigentes de algunas de las huelgas más militantes de esos años.

Finalmente se explica la estrategia para vencer el fascismo: seguir el ejemplo del frente unido, como hizo el partido bolchevique en la Rusia en 1917 durante su trayectoria al poder. ¡Nosotros los trabajadores necesitamos hoy y necesitáramos mañana entender esta experiencia en todos nuestros países para vencer sobre la marcha capitalista actual hacia fascismo y la guerra mundial!

Sufrimos una época de guerras y revolución porque el sistema actual, fundado en la avaricia individual, padece cada vez más de sus trastornos mortales. Ya que año con año se avecina la Tercera Guerra Mundial, la editorial Pathfinder nos aconseja aprender de las otras dos ocasiones en que nos llevó al borde de la barbarie.

Los libros de Cannon no son sobre el pasado, sino cómo sacar mayor ventaja de las aperturas y oportunidades que necesariamente se van a presentar en el camino para forjar partidos de los trabajadores de común acuerdo en aprender de las luchas de los explotados donde sea que surgen y unidos en la trayectoria de construir un mundo libre del capitalismo.

Cannon era miembro fundador del movimiento del Obrero Mundial (IWW), los antecedentes del Partido Comunista y el Partido mismo. En los 20 era dirigente de la Defensa Internacional del Obrero (ILD) y fue representante norteamericano en el presidio del Internacional Comunista con Lenin y Trotsky.

Dado que el estalinismo ya no trompea el camino para que los luchadores se reúnen, hoy en día el movimiento comunista no necesita valerse del nombre "trotskista" para diferenciarse de los estalinistas; con este simple cambio de nomenclatura el contenido de La historia del trotskismo estadounidense sigue en pie de lucha. Traza la continuidad ideológica y marca la pauta para que detengamos la marcha de los explotadores hacia su tercera guerra mundial, que ellos mismos no pueden parar debido a su permanente caída en la taza de ganancias.

"El trotskismo no es un nuevo movimiento, una nueva doctrina, sino la restauración, el renacimiento, del marxismo genuino tal como se expuso y se practicó en la Revolución Rusa y en los primeros días de la Internacional Comunista."

Así comienza esta magnifica historia del movimiento revolucionario obrero en EEUU en los años 1920 y 1930. El libro se puede leer como novela: una historia estimulante, vivaz, inspiradora --pero por su contenido exige un estudio cuidadoso para sacar provecho de todas sus riquezas.

Redactados de charlas presentadas por James P. Cannon en 1942, los capítulos ofrecen ricas lecciones de liderazgo obrero, de cuestiones de teoría y programa en la fundación y desarrollo de un partido proletario, del trabajo de masas y la vida interna de un partido revolucionario. Presentan a los activistas y dirigentes más importantes en los primeros años del movimiento comunista en los Estados Unidos. Analizan acontecimientos de suma importancia a nivel mundial -- desde el triunfo de la revolución bolchevique hasta la gran crisis económica del los años 1930 y el auge de lucha obrera en aquellos tiempos; el fascismo en Alemania; el desarrollo del estalinismo en la Unión Soviética; la Guerra Civil en España; la lucha por la continuidad revolucionaria del marxismo. Todo con el propósito de ayudar a nuevas generaciones de obreros y jóvenes a conocer nuestra historia para organizarnos mejor en el presente.

Y por primera vez disponible en español-- ¡aprovéchalo hoy!

...this is an extraordinary book in any number of ways, and ought to be widely read....it's a book that almost anyone could read profitably, even many times. It's complexity is quite astonishing, but it's not the sort of complexity that is off-putting. In fact, it is so well written, so well organized, that it's complexity is almost unnoticeable. Still, it is a confession as well as an indictment, autobiography as well as analysis, cooly restrained and deeply moving often in the same paragraph. It is objective while being prfoundly personal. It wears it's Jewish spectacles (a phrase from the book) very lightly indeed.... More often it is wryly funny. It is its own evidence of the degree of assimilation (and blindness to the terror that was being prepared for them) of educated Jews in Germany prior to the rise of Nazism. It further substantiates, from a different angle, Arendt's famous insights into Nazi behavior. It contains in its preface an extraordinary statement of love, which, once read, informs the entire book. It is heartbreaking without once being sentimental. Indeed, it is heartbreaking in part because it resists the sentimental....

A professor recommended this book by Victor Klemperer to me several years ago, before his 1933-45 Tagebücher were translated into English by Martin Chalmers. At the time, my apprentice German was not equal to the work in the original language, and I read it in its French translation, ably translated by Elisabeth Guillot. I have since reread it in German, and, on publication, read this English edition. As far as I can tell, Martin Brady has done a masterful job of rendering Klemperer's informal and easily parsed style into addictably readable English. Before his career in the academy, Klemperer was a journalist, and in all of his writing, this tone prevailed.

Klemperer wrote his "LTI: Notizbuch eines Philologen" in 1945 and 1946, mostly from notes he kept in the diaries that later became the wildly successful "Ich will zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten" (I Will Bear Witness). He carried on his work despite the danger, and with an impressive amount of conscious objectivity. The work is an excellent, if impressionistic, study of the modes of Nazi language and their development in popular speech and culture. I would emphasize the _impressionism_ that colors this work, because Klemperer was only able to study a limited amount of presently accessible material; most of his work is based on the editions of newspapers, leaflets, and books that fell into his hands in Dresden during the war. He was a Jew in the Third Reich, and banned from possessing books written by "Aryan" authors. As well, over the course of the war the restrictions on Jews listening to radios, reading newspapers, and even talking in public became too great for Klemperer to realize any truly comprehensive study.

I do not wish to seem like I am condemning the man with faint praise: Klemperer wrote the first postwar study of Nazi language and linked it directly with the operation of the regime. Subsequent researchers have borne out Klemperer's thesis: the euphemisms and barbarisms in the Nazi tongue exerted a considerable influence on popular culture and personal expression. It is not necessary to go back to the Forties to find this influence - it exists today in modern German. The contemporary quibbles over such words as "ausrotten" or "endlösung" mask the considerable reformation of German that occurred during the Third Reich.

Students of twentieth century history cannot ignore this book. It is a must read.

just a note about this book. reading it will not only help you understand history of the 20th century and of Germany under the Nazi Party's sickening rule, but will inform your hearing of the news and of governmental communications today. it will make your infuriation listening to the propaganda that has infiltrated culture at almost every level a much more informed infuriation. :-)

this is an excellent, excellent book and the two other reviews accurately describe it to a potential reader.

Victor Klemperer,a Professor at Dresden University,catalogued words used by the Third Reich from 1933-1945.Klemperer was stripped of his tenure at the University when the Nazi's declared that Jews could not hold such positions.In that time,Klemperer notated the words that became the "catch" phrases and "now" words of the Fuhrer's thinking.These words,he noted,were the "language of poverty" and appealed to the common masses,i.e "dummying-down" the language.This language,though,as he referred to it as the "L.T.I", the Language of the Reich,became the words used on the bourgeois lips in order to enflame German people against the Jews, and to embolden them to rise up for their Fatherland.
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who seems to "parrot" back what they have heard; nothing is an original thought, but only some form of "propaganda" or "mind-controlled" speech? I have! Perhaps this is why this book upset me so.I see and hear this everyday and it scares me to see how propaganda and word use in a very particular way can all of a sudden take on a new and more sinister meaning.
I read this fascinating book after seeing LANGUAGE DOES NOT LIE: The Victor Klemperer Diary on The Sundance Channel.
Other suggested materials concerning Klemperer,whose Diary was not published until 1995 include I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941 (Modern Library Paperbacks), I Will Bear Witness 1942-1945: A Diary of the Nazi Years,and Biography - Klemperer, Otto (1885-1973): An article from: Contemporary Authors,and The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror.
ANYONE WHO VALUES LANGUAGE, will undoubtedly find these books invaluable,fascinating,riveting and quite disturbing.

I owned this book for three years, and after only recently picking it up to read it, I realized what I was missing out on during that time. This is a fresh and descriptive analysis of the young Virginia generation before, during, and after the war. As one who has read dozens of books on the Civil War, it was this one more than any other that best explains how and why Virginians formed their fundamental opinions of their native state, the Southern region, and Northern industrialism during the antebellum period. Through their viewpoint that Virginia's reputation and standing in the Union was diminished during the period prior to the war, it becomes clear that the war gave these young Virginians an opportunity to improve the status of their commonwealth while cementing their place among men in their state. Though one often gets the perception through Carmichael's writing that these were overzealous, egotistical young men, their conduct in the war brings to fruition their importance in the New South.

Carmichael's writing is interesting and well-detailed with a wide variety of excellent material from both primary and secondary sources. His inclusion of statistics on the members of the last generation provides ample insight into the professions, religious affiliation, and other important data on the members of the last generation. Even more than "For Cause and Comrades" by James McPherson, this book will expose why a reluctant Virginia joined the Confederacy and explains clearly how the young Virginia generation almost pushed the South to ultimate victory.

Like most readers of history, the significant figures of the Civil War have taken on almost mythic proportions. Some times they seem almost to be gods stepped down from Mt. Olympus. In The Last Generation, Peter Carmichael manages to shed new light onto the lives, interests, and beliefs of many of the young Virginians that were so caught up in the cause of the day and in the process makes them human once more.

I found The Last Generation to be full of information that is new...at least to me. I've done my share of reading about the major characters involved in the Civil War, on both sides. Yet Carmichael seems to provide the reader with new insights on almost every page.

I also found the tables in the appendix to be full of useful and eye opening facts. Trust me, they're worth the time it takes to study them. Finally, I spent more time than usual studying the notes provided by Carmichael, a compliment of the first order.

For the casual or serious Civil War buff, The Last Generation will be a memorable read.

In his book, "The Last Generation," Peter Carmichael explores the psyche, values, goals and visions of the young caucasian men of Virginia who came into adulthood just as our nation descended into the Civil War. Born to privilege in the 1830s and early 1840s, these men were in colleges and schools across Virginia and the nation when the crisis of secession reached its apex in 1860 and 1861. Once the war started, they served as junior officers in the Army of Northern Virginia, leading their peers into combat and fighting alongside them.

The book is a generational study and an examination of Confederate nationalism in the young Virginians. Carmichael first takes us through the 1850s, a time when young Virginians worried about the future of their state and their place in it. They watched as the North increasingly distanced itself from Virginia through industrialization and internal improvements. They feared that Virginia, the home state of four of the first five U.S. presidents, was becoming moribund under the leadership of its elders, "old fogies" who lived on past glories of events such as the American Revolution and who encouraged unthinking opposition to change even at the expense of educational and economic reform.

At the same time, the young Virginians had to find a way to reconcile slavery, the system upon which they depended for their wealth and social standing, with the free labor system of the North. Some of the strongest points in Carmichael's book delineate how these men did just this. Their belief that slavery was sanctioned by the Bible as necessary because God had created races to be inherently unequal, coupled with their belief that Southerners were God's chosen people, sustained many young soldiers throughout the war. Even as it became clear in 1864 and 1865 that the war would be lost, Carmichael cites examples that show these men could not distinguish between their religious beliefs and political nationalism. To the end, many young Virginians believed that God would not allow the North to be victorious. Young Virginians sincerely believed that theirs was a unique Christian society trying to survive in a godless world. The book is careful to point out that young Virginians gave considerable thought to secession and do not fit the traditional stereotype of secondary scholars who say young Southerners were drawn to the flame of secession like boys playing with fire.

The book looks at the leadership style of young Virginians once the war started. Examples are cited of how they maintained order and discipline in the ranks, what they thought of battle and death, and how they maintained their morale through defeats. Some colorful anecdotes are also included in "The Last Generation": Jeb Stuart's thoughts on women while he was a cadet in West Point, NY; the president of Washington College and his comical attempt to control the secession frenzy sweeping his campus; the notion of body building by young Virginians in college as a way to "muscularize" and "masculinize" their Christianity.

In the final chapter of the book, Carmichael examines the fate of various members of the Last Generation who managed to survive the war. He explains how they adjusted to Reconstruction. The romanticized, "Moonlight and Magnolias" view of some ex-Confederates is contrasted with those who wished Virginia to take a new role of leadership and have the economy of the state resemble more closely that of the North.

This book contributes greatly to the discussion of why some Southerners fought the war- a question which will probably always be debated. Through diligent research and thorough explanation, Carmichael presents a new picture of a generation of Southerners of the Civil War era. His book takes into account many factors that made "The Last Generation" distinct from their Northern counterparts and from the older Virginians who preceded them. It is an important book on dispelling stereotypes of the young Confederates and in understanding the complexity of the South as a whole.

In this fascinating book, author and historian Professor Peter S. Carmichael takes a generational look a particular group of American men who fought in the Civil War, selecting 121 men who had been born in Virginia between 1830 and 1842. These men were mostly highly educated, from the slave holding class, and formed the junior officer core of the Virginia military units. These men were part of the last generation to grow up in Virginia with slavery, and the story of their journey of life is one little studied, until now.

As a fan of the works of Messrs Strauss and Howe ("Generations" and "The Fourth Turning"), I was intrigued to see another book that looked at American history with an eye to generations. The book is eminently readable, and is quite fascinating. The author does an excellent job of telling the story of the "last generation," bringing them and their experiences alive. I was interested to watch the "last generation" move through the 1850s fostering a inter-generational conflict, assume capable and pragmatic managerial control of the armies their elders led, and then move into leadership positions after the War.

In relation to the Strauss and Howe generational theory, this book focuses on a part of the Gilded Generation. Overall, I thought that the book complemented it very well, showing that side of the generation that lost the war.

So, let me just say that this is a fascinating look at a generation that lived during a fascinating time in American history, one that will captivate anyone who is interested in generations, the American Civil War, or just plain history. I loved this book and highly recommend it to you.

Part literary criticism, part poetry, part memoir, Letters To Virginia Woolf is associate professor of literature Lisa Williams' deeply personal examination of Woolf's writings. Presented in the format of letters that Williams wrote to Woolf about modern issues and the September 11th attacks, Letters To Virginia Woolf tells of the sad end to the author's pregnancy, reflects on how Woolf's ideas of war, memory and childhood reverberate through time, and strive to know how Woolf herself must have felt. A handful of poems intersperse the brief text passages, adding their own poignant touch to the quest for understanding. Miscarriage: You must be / covered now / by moonlight, / and sleeping, / sleeping so peacefully / in starlight / sleeping / in a place where the dead / wait patiently / to become what is alive / once again.

Through letters to Virginia Woolf, whose work
she has specialized in over the last decade, Williams
discovers her own perspectives on 9/11, motherhood,
her parents' divorce, among other things. An
insightful book, where she explores the relevance of
Woolf's nonviolent philosophy, and in fact all her
beliefs, through her own life as a mother of a small
child. A very good, fast read--even if you don't know
Virginia Woolf from Tom Wolfe.

Lisa Williams is an eloquent writer whose writing style makes you want to finish the book in one sitting. I got caught up in the complicated mind of a teenager and I shared the anxiety of the same woman's desire to become a mother later in life. Ms. Williams' book is a collection of the character's life events that provoked me to reexamine my own life and emotions, especially post 9/11. It is creatively written as letters to the writer, Virginia Woolf. Even those whose are not very familiar with Woolf's work could enjoy Ms. Williams' writing. I would highly recommend this amazing piece of writing.

Few write with more honesty and lyricism about tough issues than Lisa Williams in _Letters to Virginia Woolf_. Williams faces the complexity of adolescence, divorce, childbirth, death and war with heartfelt intelligence, reminding us that struggle and loss often lead to an appreciation of life's wonder. Like Woolf who grappled with "the angel in the house" almost a century ago, Williams continues to wrestle with the luminous presence of the past as she peels back "layers of selves we outgrow but never discard." _Letters to Virginia Woolf_ guides us through this world of contradiction and offers hope for the dangerous time in which we live.

Chella Courington
Author of _Southern Girl Gone Wrong_

This is a great historical resource. I found it to be a great source for insight into the man and the beliefs of Abraham Lincoln. I highly recommend this book.

I have started reading & relaying information to reinactments I have on tape. Really accurate so far. Worth the buy.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates have justly been celebrated in American history as one of the milestones in Abraham Lincoln's rise to the presidency. However, Lincoln's own well-meaning assembling of the received text of these debates used only transcripts from papers friendly to either candidate--transcripts which, Harold Holzer argues, were smoothed over and revised by reporters eager to make "their" candidate look good. Holzer insists that we must go to the transcripts of Lincoln's speeches by the pro-Douglas paper, and vice-versa, to get a true sense of what was said off the cuff by the debaters. His edition portrays vividly not only the high-sounding rhetoric of Douglas and the noble ideals of Lincoln, but also the hesitations and mis-speakings of both men. In this way, the reader gets a better sense of what it was like to be in the crowd listening as history was being made

The series of debates in Illinois between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate are one of those legendary political encounters of which everyone has heard but few have gone back and actually read. However, since Lincoln never kept any of his papers prior to winning the Presidency, we do not have autograph copies of his Cooper Union or House Divided speeches, let alone his handwritten notes of the great debates. The claim made by Harold Holzer for his edition is that this is the first complete, unexpurgated text of the debates to be published. Holzer notes that what we have relied upon previously for debate transcripts were copies taken down by stenographers for intensely partisan newspapers. Holzer's hypothesis is that the editors and transcribers for these newspapers would improve the remarks by their own candidates while leaving those of his opponent alone. Supporting his idea are the unedited texts of the debate he uncovered. Of course, Holzer provides his own useful additions to the texts of the seven debates in the form of extensive notes (often covering the audience reactions as detailed by various papers). As a two-time winner of the Lincoln/Barondess Award of the Lincoln Round Table and the first Award of Achievement given by the Abraham Lincoln Association for his hundreds of articles and books on Lincoln, Holzer is certainly in a position to make such judgments.

You should be warned that reading these debates will both exhilarate and depress you. These debates lasted three hours and forced the candidates to develop comprehensive proposals and to respond in detail to the attacks of their opponent. The thought of Bore or Gush trying to talk from notes for even fifteen minutes is enough to make you laugh, cry or bang you head against the wall. Reading the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in this or any other edition, will certainly give you more of a feel for the issue of Slavery circa 1858 than you will ever get from a history book from which you may get a few choice quotes (what the back cover would call "volleys"). For those of us who want access to primary documents, who read court decisions rather than let talking heads on the tube tell us what they think things might possibly mean, books like this are a great joy. For those who admire Lincoln, the right man in the right place at the right time at the worst moment in our country's history, the Lincoln in these debates who is speaking extemporaneously from notes rather than reading from a carefully crafted and fine tuned text is arguably the closest we get to the real man.

The Library of America's collection of original Lincoln source documents in two volumes is a wonderful addition to the library of any person interested in this portion of American history. The two volumes represent the best scholarship available today in terms of organizing and duplicating Lincoln's own words as they are found in personal letters, speech transcriptions, notes, memos, and other forms of written communication. This is a collection that is a fascinating look at the inner thoughts of Lincoln as he progresses from a congressional candidate in the 1850's, then as a candidate for President in 1860, and then as he prosecutes the war of the states until the time of his assassination.

The Library of America represents a rare and welcome to the world of print publishing. Funded from a continuous trust that is structured to keep every single volume perpetually in print, the Library prints only on the finest paper, using only the best inks, and implementing the best binding technology available. These books are true library quality, with ultra-high quality paper from Germany and bindings from the Netherlands, and truly represent the finest book quality typically seen in today's book world. The perpetual trust of the Library nevertheless keeps the price of these volumes at a reasonable level, with most volumes available between $24 and $40 dollars. Once you handle one, you'll undoubtedly see what a real value this series represents.

Lincoln's writings and recorded speeches are incredibly interesting to read. These works provide remarkable insight into this most unusual of people, and posterity is pleased that so much of these items were saved and eventually collated for later review. Can we make ourselves belief that this is largely a self-educated man who writes English prose at a level rarely seen even in the most educated of individuals? Following the logic posed in many of these letters, coupled with the piecing insights into human nature that Lincoln seemed to exude, can give us an experience that extends our thinking and challenges our views. Because Lincoln is canonized in history, we really don't understand the real man all that well. These personal writings of Lincoln help de-mystify the true person behind the persona, and make us see the man, not just the legend.

This volume provides Lincoln's speeches, writings and selected letters from 1859 through 1865. This period is the year leading up to his election in 1860 through his assassination in 1865. You will get to read amazing letters from the commander-in-chief trying to get his generals to fight and win the war, letters to all kinds of people covering topics public and personal, proclamations suspending habeas corpus and emancipation, his addresses to congress (our State-of-the Union Addresses used to be delivered by letter to Congress), and some of the greatest treasures in American history: the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. It is stunning that in all this writing, so much of it powerful and worthwhile, that these two brief speeches so obviously deserve to be engraved in stone for all ages to read and take into their souls.

It is awfully moving to read the material related to the conduct of the Civil War. He was very strong in his determination to destroy the Rebellion, yet he has very touching notes about his sick child and is very human in his communications with intimates.

This volume also has a chronology of Lincoln's life and great notes on the texts. Note particularly the Associated Press copy of the Gettysburg Address that was contemporary with its delivery. The version most of us know is a finished copy prepared for publication. The differences are subtle and not all that important, just interesting to note for style and rhetorical power.

I strongly urge you to have these two volumes on your American History bookshelf. Simply, they are important and you will learn a great deal reading through them.

I purchased this collection of speeches and letters knowing little about America's most beloved president other than what I had learned in my high school history classes. My first impression was "Boy, where have all the good presidents gone?" Aside from the famous speeches we're all familiar with, Lincoln was a prolific man of letters and an amazing presenter of ideas ahead of their time. Our sixteenth president wasn't perfect, but neither was our nation. During perhaps the most crucial period in U.S. history, thank God there was Abraham Lincoln. I grew up as a Democrat, but if Lincoln were running for the presidency today, he would be the first Republican to get my vote. This Library of America edition of Lincoln's speeches and writings is a beautifully bound volume that I will cherish for years to come.

This is the second volume of the Library of America Project devoted to the works of Abraham Lincoln. It covers the period after the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and includes many of the records of the Lincoln Presidency and the Civil War. The standard Lincoln materials are included, of course, such as the Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Inauguaral Addresses. But there is immeasurably more. We see Lincoln writing to his Generals, Cabinet members, and other national leaders in his attempt to hold the Union together. We see a lincolns agonizing over military discipline and frequently pardoning deserting soldiers. We see Lincoln dealing with Indian issues in his day; and we see him supporting the use of black troops in the War effort. This volume is highly useful in uderstanding the Civil War. Equally important it teaches the nature of leadership and fortitude. Finally, Lincoln is one of our Nation's great prose writers and the book deserves reading for that reason alone. The Library of America is to be commended for this volume and for its ongoing series.