War and Politics Books

I read this book in the early 1990's. There was considerable interest in the subject back then. There were numerous other books about the U.S. war on Nicaragua at the time. I believe that this book will endure as the best book about that era. Ms. Sklar paints the picture, entirely documented with exacting precision of the U.S. undeclared war against this tiny state, population of 3.5 million. The U.S started it and maintained it. How many Americans know that the World Court in the Hague found the U.S. guilty of war crimes in Nicaragua in 11/84. What was the U.S. response-we walked out of the World Court, rather than obey it's verdict. Read about it in this book-p.170. Only three countries ever walked out of the world court in it's entire history, Iran,Iceland and Albania. I don't know about Iceland but the other two put us in pretty undistinguished company. In this latter day, when Iconization of Ronald Reagan is the mode people should read this book to see just how obsessive the man was on the subject of Nicaragua and the Contras. Ms. Sklar shows how illegal and ruthless that obsession was.

The war against Nicaragua is staring into the same memory hole that other unpleasant chapters of American history get dropped into by politicians, much of the media, and ultimately the people.

Way, way back in the 80s, the US launched an illegal war OF terror against the mighty Central American empire of Nicaragua, which was threatening to destroy the United States and our very way of life. So evil was this nation, so dangerous, that they had to be crushed, to the point that it's easily one of the most dirt-poor nations in the hemisphere. Starting up their own Reich, eliciting the support of the Evil Empire (since no one else would help), Nicaragua is a classic example of what happens when puppets no longer follow orders and want to go off on their own.

Holly Sklar has written an in-depth, meticulously researched book that betrays little bias, since the well-known and easily verifiable facts speak for themselves. The story is very ugly, indeed. So egregious was the US that we were condemned by the World Court for 'unlawful use of force', a nice euphamism for, well, aggression, terrorism, etc. After hearing this unacceptable verdict, the US responded by walking out of the World Court, and escalating the war. The contempt for international law continues unabated.

The book is very detailed, and well-indexed. You can focus on certain chapters without losing the overall story, and indeed many Americans will recall all the hoopla, nicely spun by the media then and now. Of course, some of the very players are still on the scene today, with Oliver North now a respectable Fox News employee, and John Negroponte displaying his characteristic dedication to the Third World in his new role in Iraq.

Highly recommended reading for any American, this book will not be found next to your latest fashionable pundit's 'book'. It does, however, give an insight into how world powers behave, then and certainly now.

I am a son of Steve Monsees and this book was a clear look into what happened and is still happening. I remember very well what it was like to watch the events unfold. My father started the water war with the idea that one man if he tried his hardest could make a difference.. now that isnt true for him anymore, with a great sadness in his eyes he told me that we dont have a voice.

Driven and commited to the cause he worked giving speaches and finding facts when the agency that was supposed to protect us tried their hardest to bury any evidence that might have protected the environment in Pasco county, they destroyed files and made excuses why the public wasnt allowed to see the "public" records. I remember a day that my father came home broken, high paid lawers had snubbed him saying that we could never raise enough money to compete legaly with the people stealing the water.

Sure there is a lake out there now, fake and pathetic, the government put wells there to shut him up. Driven into depression my father had to sell the house and move to a different part of Florida, to escape the pumping and to enjoy some of his retirement. Now they are tring to come here because they want more, the same people that took the water in Pasco county. I am tired of watching the land and animals die and I wonder if there ever will be enough money for those people that take everything and give nothing to stop this madness and greed. I hope the thieves find their own ways to be miserable and feel some of the pain that they all have caused my father.

No matter where in the country (or world for that matter) you are, this book tells a fascinating story about a key geo-political issue facing us all. You are seated at the table viewing power of communication in molding the perception of issues and responses. Not only an important contribution to Florida's history the book shows the reader the intricate interactions between the citizenry, the controlling politicians and the power of large agencies. Water Wars, A Story of People, Politics & Power is a must read for those who want to make a difference, those studying the process of communication and change and anyone interested in the power and critical nature of water in our world today.

It's kind of funny about how I never really identified with the hippies and the counter-culture when all this was going on. I was more inclined to believe the "establishment" version. Now, after all these years, I see that the counter-culture was more often right, or at least on the right track, than not. They tried to warn us- now look at the world....

The author starts out with a brief nod to the bohemians and beats before moving onto flower power, acid tests, and the Summer of Love. He points out that it is really the same sort of people involved. All through history you had your outsiders that chose to go furthur: philosophers, poets, artists, yogins, hermits, hippies, gypsies, magicians, shamans. It was just that in the sixties the Spirit infused itself into a large part of a generation and didn't have to confine itself to a bohemian underground. It even dared to expose the truth about the surrounding society- and suggest that things could be different. It looked for a time that things might really change for the better- and then corporate power struck back with a sledgehammer....

For an admitted pot smoker the author has written a well-organised and detailed account stretching well into the Reagan-counterrevolution. I see nothing too paranoid here. Indeed, just about all these claims have been verified to my satisfaction over the years. But, as the author points out, no one really cares anymore. The corporations are more powerful, greedy, and destructive than ever- and those Lost Angels that sense the truth are once again driven underground and to the fringes....

I borrowed a copy of this book from a friend of mine about a year ago and ended up reading this book from front to back in one sitting. It details many of the shady tactits used by the US gov't in the 60's to disinform and whitewash the American counter-culture(i.e. hippies, and beatniks) of it's dirty dealing here and abroad. Needless to say, after staying up all night and finishing this book I was slightly paranoid for a short while and forever interested in the undert-belly of this nation of ours. the book was very thought-provoking and deserves a place in any fledgling conspiracy theorist's bookshelf as a jumping on point.

Declaration of Independence, the first draft. Esaays by historians; some insightful and direct you to learn more, some ... do not come to my mind right now. The first draft with all the corrections in it is by itself worth the price of the book.

Quick. To the point. Very awesome. Buy two.

One great thing about this book is that the original draft by Thomas Jefferson is included. One can easily compare and contrast what Jefferson wrote to the document that was signed by the men who created treason on July 4, 1776.

The articles written after the documents are very interesting and can get one thinking about many different aspects of the Declaration of Independece.

Very good read, and it is very concise and to the point. One of those books that can get you thinking about the document inside and out.

As usual Ellis is insightful and one of the best historians about this time period in American History. Almost all of Ellis' books are highly readable and educational.

Occasionally, long held beliefs are shaken by a bold new look at old theories.

While many feel that all possible causes for the Civil War have already been proffered and dissected, a new voice is refuting principles that some Civil War scholars assumed were absolute.
Daly argues that there were no sharp moral differences between North and South. He finds the causes of the war were identical, differing only in the perspectives of a widely separated people hampered by insufficient communication.

With myth-shredding clarity, When Slavery Was Called Freedom suggests that the virtue claimed by North and South stemmed from the same evangelical thought. Both sides appealed to the power of God to prove them victorious, and above all, morally superior.

A Northerner by birth and a Southerner by assimilation, Daly takes an objective look at the economy, religious thought and passions of the times that drove a great nation asunder and launched the bloodiest of all wars.

Rather than a backward South peopled by cruel slave owners, Daly presents sound evidence that the South was much the same as the North when it came to commerce and morality. Common to both was the idea that riches were God's way of rewarding good people. Many believed the end result of accumulated wealth was a higher moral plane.

Virtue equaled wealth and wealth equaled power. Although the power of the South was bolstered by slavery, Southerners theorized that slavery was an integral part of the American System and the genius of American commerce.

Concerning religion, Dally offers an example of thwarted Northern idealism involving God's own representatives. Evangelical ministers from the North clad in the armour of righteousness arrived at Southern plantations as if at the gates of Hell only to find the same sort of people they knew back home.

Bound to do battle with the evils of slavery, it was a short skirmish. Although the ministers recognized some evils, many found that slaves were regarded as "laborers" under the protection of Christian gentlemen. They met forward-thinking Southerners who were certain that slavery would gradually dissipate into a laboring class of free men. Slaveholders were quick to point out that under the Southern system , even in its present form, slaves were better treated than workers in Northern sweatshops.

These same ministers who came to reform, found plantation life pleasant and Southern women charming. Some married the heiresses to plantations and changed their views, allowing that it was just for good people to own slaves.

While Daly's research is not likely to completely displace the idea that a division in ideology and morality brought about the War, an excursion into his Virtue as Power theory is worth taking.

Focusing on the similarities of thought held by both sides preceding the War, Daly leaves the reader wondering if more Northerners and Southerners had discovered their commonality before 1860, perhaps secession and the Civil War would never have occurred.

Still, one question looms large: without the Civil War, would slavery have dissolved of its own accord?

By Anne Battle

This interesting snapshot of pre-bellum Southern evangelicalism struck me as less controversial than advertised and, in any case, a telling portrait of the 'actuals' of religion in American history. The parallel appearance of abolitionism and pro-slavery evangelical apologia is a difficult dialectic to reconcile, and the historical image refresh rate is essential for an archaeologist of ideology. One need not undergo a paradigm shift to find this a useful angle on a multidimensional subject, and a shadowy one at that.

I found this book to be incredibly insightful. This book not only explores al-queda, but several other terrorist organizations around the world. This book is based on numerous studies, spanned over 3-4 decades, and gives psychological, sociological, economical, and educational profiles of people who choose this lifestyle. The Appendix of the book lists many major terrorist groups, their leaders, and what each particular groups ideals and goals are.

I do not suggest buying this book if you find reports or statistics boring, as this book has plenty of them. (This was a report published by the U.S. government in 1999) However, if you are very interested in psycholog and what it entails, it is still worth a read as the percentages and stats are relevant to the information in the book.

This book also includes an excellent study on female terrorists, which I found to be particularly startling. I was quite unaware of the number of female terrorists formerly or currently involved with these groups, as the most known terrorists in the Western world are male.

Some of the statistics in this book were quite surprising to me, such as the education level of these people. This book shows the growing trends in terrorism, and shows how terrorism has evolved over many decades. This book was very helpful in understanding why people commit acts of terrorism and how it may be possible in the future to deal with such people.

Anyone who wants to get a glimpse of just how much is "knowable" should read this book.

Though many will find the academic style of this book somewhat daunting, it provides an incredible vantage on just how much our government discovered about international terrorism BEFORE September 11th. If you read this book bearing in mind that its contents are not classified, you can begin to imagine how much specific intelligence the FBI, CIA, and NSA must have -- and now we're creating an Office of Homeland Security?

This book will convince you wholly and completely that tragedies like 9/11 are avoidable -- it's not the information that's the problem, it's wether or not that information informs policy. I sure hope this is required reading for our Congress.

This book is extremely well researched. Its what you might expect from a professor. It is better documented than Rise and Fall of the Third Reich that is considered the Bible on the subject but is shorter in length. Some of the intricate details however seem dubious, such as, the reference to the Soviet autopsy report on Hitlers body that states that Hitler had only one testicle. I don't doubt that the Soviets wrote such but there has never been DNA proof that his body was ever identified. As a result of the authors research it does seem to refute the notion that Hitler, in his early years, was a bum with relatively no financial resources compared to others during that period. His book is nevertheless spellbinding for those in search of Why Hitler, the high school dropout, rose to lead a nation with 12 Nobel Prise winners in Berlin and the worlds greatest opera, a nation that was elitist by any standard.

"Reasonably happy and prosperous people", Mitcham notes at the outset, "regardless of nationality, do not elect extremists like Hitler to high office in normal times".
Normal times were but a memory to the hard-pressed Germans, with economic chaos, daily political violence, and an inept government which compounded their misery. Into this political maelstrom strode Hitler, with plausible answers - and hope.
Mitcham's very readable history makes it clear that the advent of Hitlerism was the product of a particular set of circumstances; not so mysterious, and not so unusual as to rule out the possibility that another desperate people might risk dancing with the Devil.

(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)

First of all, I'd like to praise Roy Gutman's for being an example of what an honest man should be. This is a book about
serbs and their terrifying crimes they've done in Bosnia, before they did the very same to Kosovo, and after they've done the very same in Croatia, and just a bit before that in Slovenia.As a Kosovar, and a serb victim too, the more I learn about
what might have spurred the serbs expose their long hidden cruel
fantasies towards Croatians,Bosnians,and Albanians too - the more I get confused. I mean I keep asking myself "Hey, did it really have to come to Bosnia...no less my country Kosovo, after
all we have seen what happened to Croatia. Well, it is more than
obvious that they were backed up and it would be most unfair even though everything is fair after all we have been through from their cruel unimaginable crimes - to label a western country
if not all of them - for letting this happen. I mean it is just as if I am a millionaire and in my doorsteps I see a dead-starved
beggar in my doorstep and not help him. I mean, come on, not that
I would actually give him some food but I'll make him a honoured member of my family...anyways...it's all blood (not water) under the bridge of west's silence. GO WEST!!! Serbs, regarding Bosnia
and Croatia will be forever grateful for that silence of yours. I mean how can they not??? But I am so sorry to say that because
you know your profession, I mean I am clueless what is it like to be a politician or a diplomat...but yeah anyways...what really
provoked tears was the writer's love for humanity and for what is right. He created an honest book even though he lived and considered Serbia as his homeland and he wasn't at all as the
corrupted gen.Lewis McKenzie who was paid to be a darkness to the (bosnian) serbs crimes by serbs themselves.I am so happy at the thought that McKenzie can not possibly enjoy the money he got from the serbs because that's the way it works, but the thing I am not sure of is "how can he sleep at night?", is he buying medicines to cure his then corrupted mind and clear his
consciousness of what he has done to thousands of children ( I am not mentioning the old people and other hundreds of thousands
victims). Goodness me, how safe are we when UN Generals can get in the payroll of the most dreadful criminals. If I was the law,
now when the waters have been cleared, general McKenzie, and some others who could have prevented genocides on innocent people (am not mentioning old people and hundreds of thousands civilians) I would all make them next door neighbours to where Milosevic is.At least, it wouldn't be that bad for them at all, because they may have missed him a lot - so it would have been a win-win situation. The justice would have been served and as I said they would have enjoyed being with each other. I wonder,did anyone ever thought about this that a non-serbian might be responsible for its irresponsibalities too??? I don't know, it makes to much sense to me that yes - someone else is responsible
too because it was obvious what the serbs are after.
Anyways, reading this book is just like reading all the books in Eastern European wars all caused by serbs. This book gives the very reason why did it all happen because it was written by a man who knew their language,their history,traditions, their everything and above all he was a witness to the genocide they committed. So,yeah, if you really want to know what spurred the serbs expose their true selves READ THIS BOOK and you'll see how and why did it all happen.

This book provides excellent examples and background information about the tragedy that has occurred in Bosnia and is continuing in places such as Kosovo. It also pinpoints the cause of this genocide - The Yugoslav government and the Serbs. It is absolutely necessary for anyone interested in current affairs and the conflict in Bosnia.

This is a solid look at President Wilson and the failure of the Versailles Treaty in the U.S. Senate. Bailey examines Wilson's vision, his 14 points, and most importantly, his destructive rigidity and self-righteousness. ¨The Senate will take its medicine,¨ Wilson said about Senate passage after signing the Treaty in June, 1919. That line alone speaks volumes, given Senate opposition from the irreconcilibles (led by Bob La Follette), Henry Cabot Lodge, and perhaps most importantly, the nation's weariness for foreign adventure. The author also examines the effects of Wilson's stroke, when the ever-inflexible President deferred to his wife and probably should have resigned. All in all, readers come away with a firm understanding as to why the Versailles Treaty failed in the Senate, which many believe led to future disaster.

Historian Thomas A Bailey (1902-1983) has given us a very good, and surprisingly readable look at one of history's great IFs - What IF the U.S. had entered the League of Nations.

It's a shame this book is out of print because it's absolutely superb. It's a history book that is fast paced, written with all the drama of a novel and even has an elment of supsense. Great Betrayal tells the story of how the League of Nations treaty fell apart. It brings all the players from the proud and inflexible Woodrow Wilson, to Henry Cabot Lodge and Lord Grey. And it includes includes comments from editorial pages from around the country and Europe at the time. Woodrow Wilson was an extremely difficult man and particularly after his illness (the book makes it clear that Wilson should've resigned) he may have been one of the prime reasons why the treaty failed. I really enjoyed this fascinating look into a piece of our country's history that still affects us to this day.

One of the editorial reviews of the book is that it is like the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan". In a sense that is true, however there are some major differences. Only a few the chapters in the book deal with actual soldiers doing armed combat in a somewhat organized fashion. Most of the chapters deal with war from another perspective. The book highlights the lengths that some reporters go to to report "the story". Most of the stories in the book are not so much about traditional armies doing battle on battlefields, but tell the story of those who live on battlefields with no defined borders. The stories told here are not for the meek. They are horror stories of the worst kind, they happened (and are still happening). Families watching family members tortured, raped and/or killed. Children being coerced into murdering others to save their own lives. Prisoners being humiliated for the shear amusement of their captors only to be slowly killed in the end. "War IS Hell", is the only thought that kept crossing my mind. The stories ar vivid and move fast, and do not leave a romanticized vision of war in your mind that many movies or books do. The stories take place all over the world and range from military atrocities to civilians in Chechnya, to genocide and the killing of 800,000 people in 4 months in Rwanda, to US soldiers dealing with the fact that they killed Iraqi civilians in the heat of battle. These stories were not written in a cushy office with survivors sitting on a couch telling there story. These were written in real time, with the reporter in the dirt, standing on bodies in some cases, living the stories and putting their own lives at risk. Some were even bold enough to seek out and interview the perpetrators of the crimes, and in some cases be witnesses to them.

One may ask, why read this then? This book will not be for everyone, but for those who read it, it will be an educational tool used to remind them of the true and sometimes unseen costs of war. Also, that there are truly evil people in the world and war (violence) may be the only way to be rid of them (think Hitler). International tribunals for war crimes has not been a factor in dealing with many of these war criminals. It is also a reminder of the the sacrifices made by the soldier who is sent in the name of good, to do the deeds necessary to eradicate evil.

There are many stories in here and each chapter/article is unique in its outlook, writing and ideas. This book is a must for anyone interested in history related to the military or war itself.

It's not Guadalcanal Diary. It makes Michael Herr's Vietnam stuff seem tame. It is not a CNN war correspondent asking guys where they are from amidst whizzing bullets and making it seem a glorious adventure. This is brutal stuff. These are stories of the wars that only get a few inches (if that) in your local paper, written by people you've never heard of. The book has selections from the civil wars of Africa, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and the Middle East. The tales, often written by the victims, or told by them to the author, are of mines, maiming, senseless massacres, genocide, rape, pillage and murder in the name of a cause. They aren't fun stories, and there are few happy endings. They are exposes, not adventures, and confessions, not bragging. So why do you want to read it? Because you have to, unless you want to pretend these things didn't happen, and won't happen again. There's nothing wrong with the writing - it probably is what the cover says - the best on this distasteful topic. The rest of the world knows so much more about this stuff than we do, shielded by two oceans. Read this book and say, 'yeah, I remember hearing something about that,' and maybe increase your awareness when you read the paper tomorrow. They aren't pleasant stories, but they are important stories that need to be told.