Central America Books

Phillip Heymann offers a clear-minded, if somewhat cursory, appraisal of the difficulties terrorist activity presents democratic and "open" societies. He manages in just a little over 150 pages to clearly identify the dangers over-reaction to either terrorist threats or actions can pose to a society, as well the risks posed when a terrorist incident involves more than one country, without burdening the reader with too much detail.

This is not, however, an intellectual treatise or theoretical work. Heymann very clearly illustrates his points by examining specific incidents and their consequences involving not merely the US, but Italy, the UK, Germany, Israel, Columbia, and others. Perhaps most illustrative is his examination of the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, which drives home the complications arising when multiple governments and competing policies become involved, and Chapter 7 on the criminal just system, which touches on everything from the difficulties of investigation to witness intimidation to the use (and possible abuse) of deadly force to the issue of civil rights.

By the end, Heymann delivers on his promise of a "common sense" strategy for dealing with both domestic and international terrorism. Pragmatically admitting the danger of terrorism can never be completely eliminated, it can at least be minimized by a combination of steps, including more targetted intelligence gathering, greater sharing of information with our allies, resisting giving into terrorist demands, and better training of law enforcement in dealing with terrorism.

The book has two small failings however. First, it provides only a cursory examination of what terrorism itself involves. While he devotes an entire chapter to the phenomenon of political violence, Heymann gives only passing mention to the motives and actions that could be involved and almost no examinaiton of the differences between them. This leaves the reader with little appreciation of the differences, both in motive and method, between the decades of bombings committed by Basque Sepratists in Spain and the more sinister activities of the Aum Shinrikyo cult between 1994 and 1995. An in-depth analysis would have actually detracted from Heymann's intent, but a few pages on these distinctions wouldn't have hurt the text.

Secondly, he concentrates almost exclusively on conventional forms of terrorism. He mentions the threats of nuclear, chemical, and biological (NBC) terrorism, but does so in context of conflicts between states, stating the prospect of NBC terrorism is "unlikely". While this is certainly true now, this may well change in coming years. And the specter of an incident like that of the Tokyo subway gassing done by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995 can significantly change a government's options in terms of response. This is actually a minor point given the number of excellent books on the subject already out there, but even a short examination of the dangers NBC presents would have helped here.

In summary, Terrorism and America makes an excellent starting point for readers interested in either terrorism or government's response against it. It should not be mistaken for any ground-breaking analysis on the subjects or a grand strategy for making society impervious to terrorism; the former would take a book easily three times its size, and the latter is quite simply impossible. This is as clear-headed and pragmatic an work on the subject you're likely to find. I highly recommend it.

Phillip Heymann offers a clear-minded, if somewhat cursory, appraisal of the difficulties terrorist activity presents democratic and "open" societies. He manages in just a little over 150 pages to clearly identify the dangers over-reaction to either terrorist threats or actions can pose to a society, as well the risks posed when a terrorist incident involves more than one country, without burdening the reader with too much detail.

This is not, however, an intellectual treatise or theoretical work. Heymann very clearly illustrates his points by examining specific incidents and their consequences involving not merely the US, but Italy, the UK, Germany, Israel, Columbia, and others. Perhaps most illustrative is his examination of the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, which drives home the complications arising when multiple governments and competing policies become involved, and Chapter 7 on the criminal just system, which touches on everything from the difficulties of investigation to witness intimidation to the use (and possible abuse) of deadly force to the issue of civil rights.

By the end, Heymann delivers on his promise of a "common sense" strategy for dealing with both domestic and international terrorism. Pragmatically admitting the danger of terrorism can never be completely eliminated, it can at least be minimized by a combination of steps, including more targetted intelligence gathering, greater sharing of information with our allies, resisting giving into terrorist demands, and better training of law enforcement in dealing with terrorism.

The book has two small failings however. First, it provides only a cursory examination of what terrorism itself involves. While he devotes an entire chapter to the phenomenon of political violence, Heymann gives only passing mention to the motives and actions that could be involved and almost no examinaiton of the differences between them. This leaves the reader with little appreciation of the differences, both in motive and method, between the decades of bombings committed by Basque Sepratists in Spain and the more sinister activities of the Aum Shinrikyo cult between 1994 and 1995. An in-depth analysis would have actually detracted from Heymann's intent, but a few pages on these distinctions wouldn't have hurt the text.

Secondly, he concentrates almost exclusively on conventional forms of terrorism. He mentions the threats of nuclear, chemical, and biological (NBC) terrorism, but does so in context of conflicts between states, stating the prospect of NBC terrorism is "unlikely". While this is certainly true now, this may well change in coming years. And the specter of an incident like that of the Tokyo subway gassing done by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995 can significantly change a government's options in terms of response. This is actually a minor point given the number of excellent books on the subject already out there, but even a short examination of the dangers NBC presents would have helped here.

In summary, Terrorism and America makes an excellent starting point for readers interested in either terrorism or government's response against it. It should not be mistaken for any ground-breaking analysis on the subjects or a grand strategy for making society impervious to terrorism; the former would take a book easily three times its size, and the latter is quite simply impossible. This is as clear-headed and pragmatic an work on the subject you're likely to find. I highly recommend it.

This book was originally written by my Great-grandfather, Robert Vaughn, who came to this country from Wales. He wrote the book for his daughter, Arvonia Elizabeth Vaughn Sprague. The original book is extremely interesting, as it gives a very graphic view of what life was like in Montana during the latter part of the 1800s. I am intentionally spelling Vaughn this way because it was altered when he was getting a title for some land that he purchased. In Robert Vaughn's original book, the spelling of his name is the same throughout the book. I have not read Walter's reprint of Robert Vaughn's book, but the incorrect spelling of Vaughn's name and the fact that none of the descendents of Robert Vaughn were ever consulted about this book raises concerns about the accuracy of this book. My rating reflects the quality of the original book.

This book was originally written by my great-grandfather Robert Vaughn who came to this country from Wales. He wrote the book for his daughter, Arvonia Elizabeth Vaughn Sprague. The original book is extremely interesting, as it gives a very graphic view of what life was like in Montana during the latter part of the 1800s. I am intentionally spelling Vaughn this way because it was altered when he was getting a title for some land that he purchased. In Robert Vaughn's original book, the spelling of his name is the same throughout the book. I have not read Walter's reprint of Robert Vaughn's book, but the incorrect spelling of Vaughn's name and the fact that none of the descendents of Robert Vaughn were ever consulted about this book raises concerns about the accuracy of this book. My rating reflects the quality of the original book.

Excellent book. James M. McCaffrey weaves the facts of Granbury's Texas Brigade from the beginning of the Civil War to after. Along with his facts that are documented very well, he puts in each chapter quotes from actual troops to better illustrate from those who were there, the points of the book. It starts from the mustering in Texas, to life in the Army of Trans-Mississippi, to prison life, to life in the Army of Tennessee, including all the campaigns and battles. The leadership of the struggling Southern Army is covered well. Not only is the history of the brigade covered, but it is an excellent reference book as well. McCaffrey's work in the appendices, which are chapters in themselves, cover; The flags of Granbury's Brigade (with line drawings), the weapons of Granbury's Brigade, and the regimental rosters of the men in Granbury's Brigade. This includes the names of the troops in the Sixth Texas Infantry Regiment, Seventh Texas Infantry Regiment, Tenth Texas Infantry Regiment, Fifteenth Texas Calvary Regiment, Seventeenth Texas Calvary Regiment, Eighteenth Texas Calvary Regiment, Twenty-fourth Texas Calvary Regiment, and the Twenty-fifth Texas Calvary Regiment. There are also maps of the battles with troop movments and pictures of some members of Granbury's Brigade, including a page of weapons and another of the flag of the 17th and 18th Texas Cavalry. The best review I could give this book is that the kin of mine who fought in this unit would be proud of this work. If you are studying Civil War history, Texas troop's Civil War history, or had ancestry in this brigade, this is a very good book to add to your library. I salute the author,James M. McCaffrey, for bringing the history of Granbury's Brigade alive.

This book has been an indespensable guide to the recruitment, training, engagements and other events of my ancestor and his brother James N. and John S. Hamilton in Co. I of the Texas 18th Cavalry (dismounted). I highly recommend as an excellent account of not only Granbury's Brigade, but a great short introduction to battlefield circumstances and tactics for the "uninitiated", such as myself. A VERY readable book !

Thrashin' Time is an undeservedly unremarked slice of Americana posing as a children's book. Chronicling the advent of steam thrashers in North Dakota circa 1886 from the perspective of a 12-year-old boy, this story will delight all model railroaders and live steam operators with its scrupulously researched description of steam tractor ops, along with the pen-and-ink illustrations that range from superb to dazzling. It is a deft exercise in regional writing. It is a food book: the descriptions of the collective meals prepared for the wheat harvesters are worthy of Faulkner. In the end, it is a vivid illustration of American life before automobiles, suburbia, and television, when a day in school was a restful privilege compared to the real demands in the life of the young. Do not get this book figuring to read it aloud to young ears. It's pitched at least at the middle school level.

My 8-year-old son is a machine maniac, and he loved his story of a boy in 1912 helping to harvest wheat in North Dakota by learning to run a steam engine. Lots of info and great drawings of the steam tractor and thresher, plus fanscinating details about life on the prairie. Mom enjoyed it too, and often had a tear in her eye.

This and it's sister publications are some of the most detailed, informative tour guides you will find! We simply love this series and the way it is written. There are few commercial details, i.e. hotel recommendations, restaurants etc.If you need that buy the Frommer's or Fodor's books but this one will take you way off the beaten path and bring you back again much more informed than when you left. You can't go wrong with any of the books in this entire series.....I know, I have them all!

This is a must for anyone wanting to see East Tennessee and get everything you can out of it! The book is easy to read and very informative. Maps are at the beginning of each section showing your possible journey, so you can take the entire journey or a portion and know exactly what you will find and see. The directions are excellent so you can't get lost. Now the only downfall...it is very similar to another book I purchased so don't waste your money this book has it all.

Tucker's collection of case studies involving the use or attempted use of chemical or biological weapons is truly excellent. It not only gives in-depth histories for each of the cases, but it also presents an analytical approach to their interpretation. The book is concluded by comparing all of the case studies in order to determine potential patterns and characteristics that would be useful in identifying potential terrorists and thwarting their efforts before they could come to fruition. Each case profiles the people that are involved, including the personalities of leaders, technicians, and of the actual cadres. It evaluates where and why successes occurred, and also where failures prevented perfect execution. From this book you will learn what certain groups have targeted, what as led them to violence, and how they attempted to use CBW. The book also examines a few cases where it has been believed that CBW was used, but the evidence has indicated otherwise. This book is perfect for people who desire to study terrorism in-depth, and for the reader who would like to be informed of many cases of terrorism throughout the 20th century.

Tucker's collection brings together analyses of all known historical usages of chemical and biological weapons (including toxins) by terrorists, as well as debunkings of three popular but apocryphal stories of such use. The book is absurdly thorough, and an invaluable historical resource, whether one agrees or not with the conclusions the editor draws from the collection.

A very good, concise history of some of the mountain men and fur trapper/traders of the early American West. It is along the same line of thought as Robert Utley's "A Life Wild and Perilious". Whereas Utley's book is more of a chronological history of the fur trappers, this one is based more on geographical location. Each chapter is devoted to an individual character and the life of that person. Many of these early trapper/traders' lives interweave with each other and therefore you have more of a tendency to remember who knew who and who did what with who, etc. After reading chapter after chapter, it humbles one when looking back at these mens' lives and how much they accomplished, whether it be in how many places they traveled, what sort of trade they were involved in, their relationships with the Indians and each other, how some were involved with the initial founding of the west, etc. It is simply amazing what went on so long ago. I have much respect and admiration for these men.

I believe five separate collections of mountain man biographies have been published now by Bison Books, all containing biographical essays culled from LeRoy R. Hafen's ten-volume series THE MOUNTAIN MEN AND THE FUR TRADE OF THE FAR WEST, published between 1965 and 1972. This was the second of the five. Sixteen biographical essays are produced here, detailing the lives of some of the most important figures of the early American West, including Etienne Provost, Milton Sublette, James Clyman, James P. Beckwourth, Robert Campbell, and Lucien Fontenelle among others. The essays are written by various experts of the Fur Trade period. The biographies read like long encyclopedia articles, and relate as much of each man's life as is generally known (including specific movements across the West on yearly trapping expeditions); footnotes abound. The book, as is the entire series, is an excellent research tool, as well as a great jumping off source for more specific investigations (many of the trappers written about kept journals or wrote accounts of their experiences). Anyone with an interest in the pre-Gold Rush American West will find this book (and the series) indispensable. Highly recommended.

The Travelers' Tales series is a set of anthologies of short pieces, typically 5-20 pages each, assembled around a particular theme. Many of the volumes are dedicated to a particular travel destination (e.g., the Southwest, Thailand, Italy), while some are thematically organized (Food, Spiritual Gifts of Travel, Women on the Road, etc).

The collections run from the passable to the magnificent: reading them reminds of how terrific writing becomes when inspired by an exotic, memorable place. The best of these volumes bring back the flavors, the smells, and the breezes of distant places with an immediacy that your vacation photo album can't by itself match.

This southwest volume is probably one of the better ones in the series, owing largely to the fantastic quality of the region. I consider myself a fairly experienced world traveler, and for my money the unspoiled beauty of the landscape in this part of America is unsurpassed anywhere in the world. (I haven't yet seen New Zealand, the Alaskan wild, or the Himalayas, so I'm still reserving an absolute final judgment.)

I am a lover of desert landscapes, but I've come to understand that I don't love all deserts equally: I've seen deserts ranging from the Gobi to the Sahara, but have found nothing quite like the American southwest, with its canyons, its hoodoos, its towering red rock formations like so many giant goblins, its endless views, its rock labyrinths, its lizards, the peaceful shade of its cliffs, its scents of juniper, sage and pinion. The introduction to this book compares a journey into the desert southwest to a breath of fresh air in the soul, and that certainly fits.

With such inspiring material, a collection of pieces by skilled writers could hardly miss, and this one delivers. The best piece in here is probably the excerpt "Water" from "Desert Solitaire," by the incomparable and curmudgeonly Edward Abbey. This piece is, however, closely rivaled by the also-magnificent "Bridge Over the Wind," a tribute to Landscape Arch in Arches National Park, vividly capturing not only the gorgeous improbability of that particular arch, but also the feel of a hike through Devil's Garden to reach it.

Other fine pieces in the collection explore the hidden treasures of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, the fascinations of Navajo country, and activities ranging from flying solo over Monument Valley, to hunting for obscure pictographs.

It's not a flawless collection: there are a few too many New Age-y pieces for my taste. The southwest seems to draw a fair number of spiritualist pilgrims, so for every Edward Abbey withdrawing to the wilderness to see himself and the society around him more starkly, there are plenty of folks who luxuriate in reducing Native American culture to a collection of comforting but absurd talismans and superstitions. A reader with a perfectly healthy respect and appreciation for Native American cultures might well come away, as I did, annoyed at some of the insipid romanticization of their folkways.

But, in a sense, it is what it is; this phenomenon is definitely part of the southwestern cultural landscape, and it's therefore appropriate that it be reflected in this book.

The collection is a pleasant read throughout, and will inspire both real and armchair travelers to direct their attention to this most beautiful of American places.

This is just a fabulous book. It will bring the Southwest to life for all discerning readers.

My entire family read this book during the Christmas holidays. My kids range from age 5 to 15 and all four enjoyed it. The stories gave a wonderful picture of growing up in the Caribbean and made us want to visit. We also loved the authors' telling about themselves. The activities at the end of each story kept my children occupied. I think these activities are a good way of getting children to really understand and enjoy the stories. Great family reading.

This book kept my 6 year old cousin and myself hooked. The stories were fun, and the illustrations engaging, and at the same time, I also learned a little more about Caribbean life. I could even relate some of the stories to things that I went through as I was growing up. Overall, a great book to include in your library at home.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Firsly the illustrations are lavish, both in quantity and in clarity and colour, and alone are worth buying the book for. The ancient Andean world was a colourful place and this book does it full justice with wonderful photographs of textiles, ceramics and metal work. There are many photographs of artefacts and sites that I have not seen before which was makes the book refreshingly new. Even when familiar sites are photographed (Machu Picchu for example) the choice has been made to include shots from unusual but interesting angles.
I was also impressed by the written content. I know of Jeffrey Quilter through his work with Gary Urton editing Narrative Threads - a book on the Khipu (Quipu). His account in this volume is very readable and gets across some key points regarding Andean culture well. The difficult balance of providing some detail on each culture whilst avoiding generalisations is successfully achieved. The theme of building from the earliest cultures to the lastest shows both the variety and the continuity of Andean cultures and what a creative place the ancient Andes were.
In short, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient Peru.

The editorial reviewer and customer Dave Essery have accurately summarized what awaits one between the covers of this book. I would, however, add the following specifics about its stunning photography. Of its 202 colored photographs, 69 are one- to-two-page spreads; only 55 are smaller than a third of a page. Panoramic views, monumental sites and their architectural details comprise approximately 25% of the photos, which is to say that textiles, ceramics, and metalwork are not slighted.

As for the appeal of the text-- Because my interest in pre-Columbian cultures and their artistry/craftsmanship has only recently been sparked, I wanted a book that gave me a basic understanding of them without overwhelming me with voluminous detail. And this is precisely what Jeffrey Quilter does, in well-written, non-academic prose. Yet the text may also appeal to those who have studied them. Said one such friend to whom I loaned my book, "I enjoyed reading it because it was like a refresher course that jogged my memory and brought to mind other things I'd read but had forgotten."

TREASURES OF THE ANDES, in other words, is a book that many will treasure. I have, however, detailed the contents of it in Comment #2 so that you will be better able to determine if it is a book you want to purchase.