Central America Books

This is a valuable book. "Footprint Colombia Handbook: The Travel Guide," highlights Colombia's many wonderful assets. It also warns of its potential pitfalls.

In regard to travel...this book covers all the bases. Colombia is an immense nation with outstanding hotels, magnificiant places to eat and wonderful people. Moreover, its parks and natural beauties can hardly be matched anywhere else in the world.

However, one must not ignore the subtle warnings in this text. Colombia must be approached with open eyes. It can be a wonderful experience and this book allows one to take a bite of the best the nation has to offer.

I was in Colombia for three months and used this guide continually.

Peter Pollock writes for a broad audience, but he excels in providing insightful caveats for the adventuresome and ecologically focused traveler. He has information on shipping motorcycles and automobiles to Columbia. He has an excellent section on health, and his 'Background' section is succinct and informative (History, Culture Etc.). He covers the normal tourist destinations and encourages exploration of places that 99% of visitors to Colombia would miss (Tayrona National Park, Ciudad Perdia, etc.).

His accommodations and dining recommendations are adequate, generally accurate, reliable but are becoming outdated. Luckily, although this guide has been out for three years, the prices for lodging in Colombia have stayed relatively stable and accurate and eight out of the ten hotels I selected to visit in Bogota were still open.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: A serious omission for this 2000 guide is the absence of hotel web pages and hotel email addresses. Electronic addresses have become a "must have" for any competitive guide book. A good hotel web page allows you to view the property, get current rates (and specials), view the
property and rooms and make an on-line reservations. This is a must for the next edition.

Good maps are essential in a guide. Bogota, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Cali and Medellin are sprawling cities that desperately need good maps. Bogota has four maps, but they are upside down! Normally maps are oriented with North at the top of the page, not so here, North is at the bottom and South at the top. I had a hell-of-a-time orienting myself, until I got my compass out and discovered this wacko lay out.

Also confusing are references to map numbers that don't exist. Pollard mentions a number, IE in the Bogota section, 'Hacienda Santa Barbra #3 on the map', but the publisher did not print the numbers on the map. His recommended sleeping locations are noted on the maps, but not restaurants. Needless to say, this is an important area that needs significant improvement.

The above shortcomings notwithstanding, you will not want to go to Colombia without this guide. I strongly Recommend it.

I bought this book previous to my first vacation to Colombia to visit my wife's parents this year. This book is truly amazing because it explains the social and economic climate as well as providing detailed listings of destinations throughout the book, including small towns and remote destinations. Pollard's book does not ignore the fact that using common sense is important when visiting this beautiful country, but contrary to the US State Department warnings, he reminds us in his own words that this is indeed a wonderful country to visit and the people are as open and friendly as anywhere in the world. My friends and family who live in Colombia were truly impressed with the wealth of information presented in this book. The only criticism is that the book is now over three years old and some of the information regarding specific locales need updates. Overall, this may be the best travel book I have ever used.

I was in Colombia in 2000 and will go back next year. I checked on the places I know and really liked the stile and information provided. I liked the positive outlook, it warns of dangers but also makes you feel comfortable of going. I liked that. The book is compact, well organised and includes lot of unlikely and not too obvious places. It also hast lots of tips and adresses for nature travel, trecking, rafting etc.

I bought this book previous to my first vacation to Colombia to visit my wife's parents this year. This book is truly amazing because it explains the social and economic climate as well as providing detailed listings of destinations throughout the book, including small towns and remote destinations. Pollard's book does not ignore the fact that using common sense is important when visiting this beautiful country, but contrary to the US State Department warnings, he reminds us in his own words that this is indeed a wonderful country to visit and the people are as open and friendly as anywhere in the world. My friends and family who live in Colombia were truly impressed with the wealth of information presented in this book. The only criticism is that the book is now over three years old and some of the information regarding specific locales need updates. Overall, this may be the best travel book I have ever used.

"In 1949, Alexander Foote wrote a small book, "A Handbook for Spies" which contains all one needs to know to conduct espionage. Now comes another small volume, "Contra Cross", by William Meara which contains much of what one needs to understand to counter or for that matter support an insurgency. Based on his experience in El Salvador and with the Contras in Honduras/Nicaragua during the 1980's, Meara provides a crisp, thoughtful exposition of the problems and requirements for the winning of such conflicts. Meara's thoughts and experiences are well worth pondering as our nation takes on its current adversaries."

Duane Clarridge - Thirty-three year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service, Chief of CIA Latin American Division 1981-84, conceiver and chief of CIA Counterterrorism Center 1986-88, author of " The Spy for All Seasons."

The ongoing Coalition conflicts against insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated just how difficult a challenge conventional expeditionary forces face in adapting to asymmetric threats. Nowhere is this difficulty of adaptation greater than within the US Armed Forces, currently the most powerful and technologically-advanced military in the world.

What is significant is that failure to adapt at a theater, or even tactical, level engenders dysfunction at a strategic level, and creates deeply-paralyzing or divisive morale problems which eventually pervade the political structures of democratic societies. Indeed, the damage to (or impact on) the society is often evident even before the damage caused by the failure to adapt to asymmetric warfare shows up in the overall capabilities of the military forces itself. The result can often be a "hollow force": a monolithic defense structure, incapable of acting against the adversaries who besiege it daily, and yet waiting, becoming more bureaucratic by the day, for a "worthy [symmetric] adversary" who may come but once in a lifetime, if at all.

It is the persistent failure of much of the US conventional military leadership as well as the US political leadership to understand how to successfully prosecute warfare against a fluid, informal adversarial structure, operating within a broader psychopolitical environment, in Iraq (and Afghanistan) which is the Achilles Heel of the US as a strategic power into the 21st Century.

These are lessons which should have been learned after the Vietnam War ended in the 1970s. After all, the Vietnamese, the Soviets, and the leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC) all emphasized that they had defeated the US in the media, and by sowing disenchantment (and narcotics) within US and Western society; in other words, by irregular, contextual, and psychopolitical stratagems. But peace after the Vietnam War -- as with the peace which followed World War I and World War II -- merely allowed the rump of the conventional US forces to re-assert the formal, highly-bureaucratized doctrine and methodologies which suit a rigidly hierarchical command and control system. Today's "Net-Centric Warfare", for example, is designed to use modern technologies, such as computerization and communications, imagery, and the like, to give true battlefield advantage to the field commanders, down to platoon level. Instead, it has been used repeatedly to afford centralized, remote micro-management of conflict, denying fluidity and cultural insinuation in the conflict zone by the forces there, where field officers should be able to exercise the command mandates of their commissions.

Significantly, many of the failures attributed to outgoing US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were caused by his determination to bring change and greater flexibility to the US defense structures. He may have had other failings, but his attempt to force change on the services is what created many of his enemies within the uniformed leadership, those who are reluctant to change, and to learn the lessons of history.

What better time, then, for a book about an aspect of the "lost history" of the Cold War to emerge, giving profound lessons from the battle front on the business of asymmetric warfare.

William R. Meara's new book, Contra Cross: Insurgency and Tyranny in Central America, 1979-1989, is a profound contribution to thinking about strategic doctrine, as the US -- and all major industrial powers -- face a watershed of introspection following the US electorate's decision to essentially retire from the global battlefield. Meara's great contribution is the fact that his book recounts the impact of doctrine and the strategic environment on the battlefield of that "small" war against the Nicaraguan Sandinista leadership which projected one of the last aspects of the Soviet grand strategy against the West before the end of the Cold War.

The book is also timely in that it reminds a new generation of strategic thinkers of the real origins of the Sandinista Government which has now returned to Nicaragua, following the re- election of former Sandinista Pres. Daniel Ortega -- now 60 years old -- with the November 5, 2006, Nicaraguan Presidential election. But more than that, Meara's book, told from the perspective of a "boots on the ground" true Cold Warrior, has the true grit of realism. It is not a book of theory, but a book which shows how theory translates on the ground in an asymmetric conflict.

William Meara was a US Army Special Forces officer who trained as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO), and then specialized in, and relished, psychological operations. His field of expertise was Central America. His book cover, and the name of his book, reflect the "Contra Cross", the Contra crucifix memento made from a neutralized M-16 5.56mm ammunition by wounded Contra veterans in the hospitals which housed them after their personal war was over. Meara carried with him the memento, and the draft of his book, for a couple of decades before deciding to finally publish his writings.

The US Armed Forces and Government -- operating mostly from Honduras, supporting the Nicaraguan Contras against the Sandinistas -- were at this time still nursing their wounds after Vietnam. Many of the US military policies being pursued in Central America were based on either lessons learned from Vietnam and other Cold War theaters, or on a stubborn persistence in the view that a monolithic military machine -- the Green Machine of the Army, as Meara reminds us -- could roll over any adversary with "superior firepower" and technology. Clearly, the mainstream US Army had little time for psychological warriors or for grubby little wars. But there were those who understood this kind of warfare, such as the "crusty old SF (Special Forces) team sergeant" who embraced what he called "Low Intensity, High Per Diem War".

Meara, who left the US Army for the US Foreign Service (he remains a US diplomat) where he essentially continued his liaison and support work with the Contras of the ERN (Army of the Nicaraguan Resistance) until the end, highlights the profound importance of understanding the language and culture of the environment in which any war is being conducted. He knew that he had made the breakthrough when, as he put it, he was able to "swear like a Contra", and be able to converse at a truly meaningful level with the forces and cultures in which he had to operate. His time in Nicaragua, before he became part of the US-supported war supporting the Contras, gave him a good understanding of the Sandinistas, who took their name from the 1920s nationalist Nicaraguan fighter, Augusto César Sandino.

But before he was engaged in supporting the Contras, Meara was also engaged in US Army support operations in El Salvador where he also learned not only how Latin American armed forces shaped their priorities and doctrine, but also how guerilla forces, such as the Faribundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), functioned. He also faced the more enduring adversary: US Army "milicrats".

Apart from the profound timeliness of the book, as Sandinista Daniel Ortega returns to power in Nicaragua -- this time ostensibly within the framework of an ongoing process of democratic elections (we have yet to see whether he abides by the process, or whether he continues to think of "one-man, one-vote, once" as the process of re-entrenching pseudo-marxist-leninist governance) -- Contra Cross has real lessons for war- fighters and planners considering Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, or Sudan.

William Meara also highlights the distinctions which often exist between the actual combatants in the guerilla wars and their political leaders, citing the case of the Contras, whose political leadership was based in Miami, Florida, where sophistry and political expediency prevailed to the detriment of the forces in the field. Meara highlights the disservice done to the Nicaraguan rebellion by the Contra political leadership in Miami, which was the principal interface with the US political system.

Meara's final chapter, Contrarian Conclusions, outlines some of his maxims for conducting irregular or asymmetric warfare, and particularly the aspect of this which is conducted by great powers at arm's length: surrogate warfare. But before that, Meara had to defend, even resurrect, the image of the Contras, noting: "My positive sentiments about the Nicaraguan resistance put me clearly in contrarian territory. It would be hard to exaggerate the extent to which the contras were vilified in the United States."

He added: "But I think the world should be proud of the contras. The young peasants of Nicaragua refused to be enslaved by communism. They waged a courageous struggle against great odds. They persevered when the situation looked very bleak. They sacrificed for the good of their people and the future of their country. They were noble and honorable freedom fighters. The mucos refused to be like Longfellow's `dumb, driven cattle'. They were heroes in the strife. ... I give the contras most of the credit for the elections held in Nicaragua in February 1990."

Equally, in saying that he felt that "Americans should be proud of what the Reagan Administration did and tried to do in Central America", he added: "But I don't think that everyone has the right to feel good about their actions during the Central American conflict. I think those Americans who gave aid and comfort to the Sandinistas and the Salvadoran communists should feel guilty. They were on the wrong side in the Cold War." These were, he said, what Lenin called "useful idiots".

In his "lessons learned" in that concluding chapter, Meara notes: "Cultural factors really are the equivalent of a terrain feature that cannot be ignored [in surrogate wars]."

And: "Fluency in foreign languages is the indispensable key to understanding." "Regional expertise and experience are crucial. People working on insurgencies shouldn't be doing so on their first trip to the region."

He went on: "Americans need to be aware of the institutional biases and shortcomings which make it difficult for us to deal with foreign insurgencies. We need to realize that our big, high-tech military machine -- our big catapult -- might not be much use against an insurgency built around people like Miguel Castellanos [real name Napoleón Romero García, an El Salvadoran FMLN guerilla who later defected to the Government]. I saw many signs of our weakness in this area: the tank traps we were building in the `Choluteca gap' [in Honduras, to face literally a non-existent cross-border threat from Sandinista tanks]; our big bucks, high-tech approach to support for the Salvadoran armed forces; our army's conviction that `any good officer' can work on insurgency. I came to the conclusion that our powerful military is a blunt instrument. It is very capable of performing its primary mission (destroying enemy military forces), but is poorly-suited for cross-cultural battles for foreign hearts and minds."

"Finally, when we get involved in foreign insurgencies," Meara says, "we should always strive to conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with our national values ... we should remember our history. We should remember that we were helped by foreigners when we were fighting for our independence. We should remember that we too were once embattled farmers. ... we should not think of these people [the surrogate fighters] as dis- posable pawns."

Contra Cross is full of personal insights and anecdotes "from the field", and is an inspiring and timely read. It is, in fact, essential reading, not just for those psyops and special forces practitioners who already embrace asymmetric warfare, but for the policymakers and those who have found their careers in the bureaucracy of military leadership. That is where the lessons need to be learned.

We all should thank William Meara for carrying this document with him over the decades, and giving it to us at this particular time.

[Reviewed by Gregory R. Copley, Editor, Defense & Foreign Affairs Publications, at the International Strategic Studies Association, Washington, DC area.]

Contra Cross is unique among personal memoirs of former soldiers, government officials, diplomats, and intelligence officers. The author is humble. He had a front row seat at the numerous Central American proxy wars the United States engaged in during the 1980s. Despite this experience, the author never believed he was as important as the events around him, a trait that so many memoirs lack. He was a Cold War grunt and he knew it.

The numerous insurgencies and counter-insurgencies fought in Central America are slowly being forgotten. Located between the large and divisive Vietnam War and the even larger Global War on Terror, the proxy wars in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador are now seen as the last gaps of the Cold War. Despite this hindsight, during the 1980s it was where the action was.

Since the author was involved at the ground level, he is able to give the people of the area a real human feel, which is lost in the Cold War rhetoric of policy makers from Washington.

The author makes several outstanding points about the need for cultural and language skills when dealing with local conflicts. While our current conflict is called the Global War on Terror it is the really combination of thousands of local conflicts tied together. Having the deep local cultural knowledge is the real key to winning our current war. While the book is far from being the seminal book on U.S. involvement in Central America, it never tries or claims to be. Its true strength is how it depicts dedicated Americans, whether military or Department of State, attempt to implement strategic policy made thousands of miles away in Washington into actual action on the ground amongst real people.

The book is part memoir, part analysis. It begins with a chapter on the author's experiences working at a Catholic missionary school in Huehuetenango, Guatemala in the summer of 1979. It was here that Meara began to gain a "grunt's eye' view of Latin American culture and the deep, underlying social, political, and economic problems confronted in many of the countries. Two weeks after he departed, a right wing death squad assassinated one of the school's teachers, Brother Jim Miller. This event partially radicalized Meara and made him deeply suspicious of the government in Guatemala at the time. It also spurred him to visit Nicaragua, which had just witnessed the victory of the Sandinistas. Meara traveled to Managua with romantic visions of the revolution and left there disillusioned by the totalitarianism he experienced. Nicaragua transformed him from a left-leaning college student to a more center-oriented future military advisor and diplomat.

Meara's career with the U.S. Army began at the age of 17, when he joined the National Guard. In college, he attended Officer Candidate School, and decided to become a full-time Special Forces officer soon after returning from Nicaragua. The Special Forces "impressed him" with its combination of adventure and foreign culture immersion. After completing the "Q" course and the Foreign Area Officer training program at Fort Bragg, Captain Meara began his first real-world assignment as a psychological warfare instructor for the El Salvador Armed Forces (ESAF).

In 1986, El Salvador was mired in civil war with the Faribundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), an umbrella group of five Marxist organizations trying to overthrow the government. Meara's job entailed training his Salvadoran counterparts in Communist ideology, tactics, and strategies. This role put him in close touch with several FMLN defectors, whom he invited to his class as guest instructors. Through these courses, Meara gained a complex understanding of the institutional culture of ESAF. For example, he learned that it was just as preoccupied with Honduras, an historic enemy, as the FMLN. Furthermore, the Salvadoran officer corps resembled a social club more than a traditional military hierarchy. This club-like system fostered tolerance for officers who failed to perform and bred paranoia within the corps. It also made it extremely difficult for the U.S. Military Group (MILGRP) to convince the Salvadoran military to punish human rights violations. In the end, however, U.S. influence did convince the Salvadorans to clean up their act and in 1992, the FMLN laid down its arms in part because of assurances from the United States that it would "keep the Salvadoran military in line."

The second half of the book covers Meara's work as a State Department Liaison Officer to the Contras in 1988 and 1989. In that role, he oversaw United States Agency for International Development aid to the Honduras-based Contras and served as a de-facto ambassador to the insurgency during the waning days of the struggle. Meara shuttled between the Contra base area at Yamales and the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, trying to secure adequate humanitarian assistance for the insurgency, and bridge the cultural gap between the troops in the field and their foreign benefactors.

As a fluent Spanish speaker with extensive experience in Latin America, Meara developed a close rapport with the Contras, but struggled to maintain emotional distance from the insurgency. This became particularly challenging towards the end of his tour when the U.S. began to cut off support to the fighters. In the end, Meara saw the Contras as embattled farmers similar in some respects to the colonial militia of the American Revolution--poor farmers whose way of life was threatened by the economic policies of the prevailing government. Meara had profound respect for the difficult odds under which they struggled but in the end never forgot that his primary loyalty lay to the U.S. and its policies. Meara's description of the isolated situation at Yamales reveals how easy it is for special operations types to succumb to Joseph Conrad-like influences of the field and become advocates of the insurgents as opposed to mere advisors. It takes a very special type of person to keep these impulses in check.

The main lesson of his book is that only people well-versed in foreign languages and cultures have any hope of successfully waging insurgency or counter-insurgency wars in the third world. In order to be effective in special operations, you need to be able to "curse like a Contra," and in this regard America is still woefully unprepared, not just in the U.S. Armed Forces but government-wide. The strength of Meara's work is its first-hand look at insurgency and counter-insurgency, and the author's nuanced understanding of the local cultures in El Salvador and Nicaragua . Contra Cross also stands out as one of the few published accounts of America 's struggle against Communism in Latin America in the 1980s, and for this reason is important.

It is often quipped that the mark of a brilliant man is that he agrees with what you believe; I read Bill Meara's book Contra Cross yesterday and I would use the words brilliant and brilliantly delivered to describe it.

Let me back up in time a bit. In 1988 just back from UN duty in Lebanon and Egypt I sat down in my 15-man section at CGSC and we did the "where I have been and what I have been doing" confessional. My section leader looked at me and quipped, "you have not been in the Army." I simply asked him and the larger group, "Have any of you been shot at lately?" No one answered. Later the same guy in discussing low intensity conflict remarked, "I cannot see anyway the US Army will ever get involved in a counter-insurgency again after what happend in Vietnam." I asked him what exactly he thought was going on in Central America at the very moment. He suggested that what was happening was not really the US Army. Six years later I greeted that same individual as he arrived in Goma with a water truck task force. He had a stunned look on his face. I said, "Welcome to my world."

Contra Cross is about Bill Meara's world, one like and at once unlike my own. The book is from the foot soldier's perspective and it offers unique insights on the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Bill was a Special Forces officer trained in psychological operations and as a regional specialist. He served in uniform with the Military Advisory Group in El Salvador and later as a Foreign Service Officer as liaison to the Contras from Honduras. Like any good read, Bill's book offers key themes and messages, weaving them through the pages, repeatedly exposing the reader to them in the hopes they will imprint. I will list some here:

Culture and Cultural Understanding is Critical

Language is Fundamental

COIN and Guerrilla Warfare Target the Minds of the Population, Not the Enemy

The Greatest Cultural Gap is Between DC and the Field

The Unconventional Warrior is Indeed From Venus and the Conventional Warrior Refuses to Visit From Mars


I tell every Soldier that I coach, teach, and mentor that I have two fundamental rules for cross cultural understanding:

They do not think like you do

They have an agenda in every interaction with you

Bill's narrative hammers home the first point and his story reinforces the second. His self-reflection on his role as an US government representative while serving as liaison to the Contras is one of the book's greatest strengths.

I would recommend this book to all from Strategic Corporal to the White House. I only wish that it had come out earlier.

Great job, Bill!

Sincerely,

Tom Odom
Author Journey Into Darkeness: Genocide in Rwanda

I agree with the earlier reviews but I'd like to provide some details about this book's strengths.
First, Payne places the people who made the Mississippi movement at the center the story. He tells the story of both the original local leaders who made it possible for the civil rights movement to happen in Mississippi and the activists who followed their lead in the 1960s.
Second, he extends the time span of the civil rights movement, showing that it would not have been possible without the "organizing tradition" referred to in the subtitle. Payne expertly traces the relationships and linkages between different generations of heroic troublemakers in Mississippi.
Third, he shows that the original radicals, and I mean those who wanted to change Mississippi from its roots, were those who had already challenged the system to achieve personal gain. "Bourgeois" blacks in Mississippi weren't uniformly complacent or fearful. Wisely, Payne does not use this fact to justify any notion of a "talented tenth" that ought to lead the masses.
Fourth, the chapter on Ella Baker is a stunning and riveting account of one heroic troublemaker who didn't receive enough recognition for her efforts.
Fifth, when Payne writes about what we typically consider the civil rights movement, he places you in the midst of the activists and makes you feel their exhileration, exhaustion, frustration, fear, and courage. Scholarly books never have this quality. At the same time, he does this in a historical context and with a critical eye which absolutely illuminate the raw material in a way that first-person and journalistic treatments rarely approach.
For these reasons, and many more, this is clearly the best of many excellent books on the civil rights movement. Some could fault Payne for placing less emphasis on the national and institutional dimensions of the freedom struggle. But, in the case of the black American struggle for freedom, Payne shows us the story begins with, and is carried by, people who tried to change their communities, not their nation.

Two years ago the author taught a short course at my college on the Mississippi civil rights movemement. He used this book, and I've been recommending it to people ever since. His style and content are both amazing, and I feel really lucky to have had an opportunity to read this book in a course structured around it. _I've Got the Light of Freedom_ offers a new perspective on the way history is taught and remembered. Organizing and people's history are emphasized in what happens to be one of the best movement books out there. It's everything scholarly writing should be. Kudos to Charles Payne.

The real history of the civil rights movement. Who really made the difference in a day to day way on the front lines. Not only that, a description of how to organize from a working class, feminist perspective in the context of the African-American freedom struggle. A must read for anyone who is trying to build the movement we need today to make a world free of oppression.

I'd pair the book with a more nationally-oriented one, such as the Taylor Branch trilogy, which give a better sense of national politics, but Payne's book is both profound and profoundly moving in its depiction of local communities and Ella Baker's "Organizing Tradition", which turns a number of assumptions about the movement on their head. I've read the book a few times with students and never fail to be personally engaged and to have invigorating classes with students. Great, great stuff!

As a history major, I have various interests. One of my favorite things to study is the civil rights movement. Of all the books that I have seen, few match the caliber of this book. It takes the state of Mississippi (which may be the book's greatest irony)and shows how powerful a grassroots movement such as the civil rights movement can be with the proper forms of leadership. I urge anyone who is interested in learning about the civil rights movement should start with this book!

A very readable book on modern history of a segment of society that might go unnoticed. We all know about the Stonewall Riots and the importance they played in the history of gays and lesbians in the United States. THE LAVENDER SCARE puts that event in perspective and points out how this was only a part of the fabric started by brave men and women who finally decided to speak out against government oppression long before Stonewall.

David K. Johnson's history is an excellent, well documented, and captiviating account of a largely forgotten aspect of the Cold War and McCarthy period. While the reputation of Senator McCarthy is alive today, few people are aware of how the anticommunist and anti-gay purges affected life for all Americans, creating a bitter climate of fear and recrimination that felt nation-wide. The political spirit of that time will resonate for everyone who reads the news today, as political leaders are motivated not by a sense of justice, but by a fear of getting branded as being on the "wrong side" of a political issue. As Mr. Johnson points out, the only blackmailing government workers were subject to was that from their own employers. The fear, ignorance, prejudice of that time is brought vividly back to life in Mr. Johnson's book, as is the extraordinary intellence and bravery of the few souls who sought to make a just change in thier country. This is truly an important tale of freedom in America.

Cold war and McCarthyism are familiar topics from historians as America's fear of Communists and its reaction to this fear are interpreted from every side of the political spectrum. David K. Johnson does something different and, in its special way, far more important. The author, in The Lavender Scare, looks at how the cold war fears were used to hound gay men and women out of the federal service and how this continued unabated long after the Communist hysteria died down. It is fascinating, and horrifying, to witness how politicians used their fear and ignorance of "the perverts" for their own political ends and used the fear of Communists as a cover for their attacks. The case presented in this book is well researched and the voices from both sides are used, even from those voices of the gay men and lesbians which had to be silent at the time. This books holds valuable lessons (and warnings) for our own fraught times. A valuable addition to the literature of the history of the Cold War.

Rarely does a work of history both capture a particular moment in time and resonate so deeply with issues alive in contemporary public culture. As the country debates the possibility of gay marriage and the possible meanings of these unions, David Johnson's The Lavender Scare reminds us that homosexuality has at least one other time been conjured up as the nation's "bugaboo" during a period of political shifts and broad cultural change. In an account that is as riveting as it is sobering, Johnson shows how "containment of sexuality was as central to 1950s America as containment of communism." The issue of homosexuality sat at the center of discussions about "national security" during the Cold War period, resulting in the persecution and ouster of hundreds of gay (and suspected gay) federal workers.
The book is written with marvelous grace and sensitivity. Johnson's brilliant skill at research and powers of analysis are in evidence on every page. Much to his credit, Johnson has used those skills to give voice to those from whom otherwise we might never have heard. The impressive narrative structure of The Lavender Scare makes it read like a fine novel. And the callous devastation, the lives lost and ruined by the tactics of a government in search of a moral center after WWII, makes one wish it were a work of fiction. But it is far from that.
The Lavender Scare, rather, is a work of consummate historical research and writing. The enduring contribution of the book is that it shows how the "McCarthy Era" had much less to do with "the Communist threat" and much more to do with homosexuality and "moral panic" than we could have possibly imagined. We will never again be able to think of the Cold War period in quite the same way. Johnson has complexified and clarified perhaps the most vital time in Post WWII American history. The book is certain take its place alongside George Chauncey's magisterial Gay New York.

What a great book! I never liked any type of history. I almost failed it in high school. This book has changed that for me. The only reason I read this book in the first place was because the author is a friend of mine, so I felt obligated to read it. Otherwise I never would have considered it. Well, I was glued to it the entire time reading it. Not only did I find it riveting, angering, thought provoking and scary, but I actually learned a lot about history that I never paid attention to in high school! I also found it quite timely, and I feel like we're going through many of the same things in politics now. (John Ashcroft = Joe McCarthy)

This book is a must read!

A Natural History of Trees is a compilation of a rich resource of material on native U.S. Trees. While you'll do better with a Peterson's Field Guide for identification, I don't think you'll find more fun.

Grouped by Family(beginning with Pines and ending with the Ashes) the stories are king here. Just pick your favorite tree and sit back and enjoy. The history of the White Pine, for example, seems almost mythic in its sheer height and size back in colonial days. It very well helped build near most of colonial America, too!

From White Pine to White Oak to Redbud to Sycamore, this is a fascinating and informative read. There is an index of both scientific and common names, plus a glossary and a section called Keys to Species and Genera (which is much easier to decode with a Peterson's Guide at hand).

Also recommended, Petrerson's Field Guide to Eastern Trees(ISBN: 0395904552) and National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees(ISBN: 0394507606) for IDing and Trees in my Forest(ISBN: 0060929421) and the Man Who Planted Trees(ISBN: 1570625387) for more great stories.

What an extraordinary book. You might not think it possible, but this book about trees reads like fine literature. It is full of stories, legends, and facts about these giants in the earth, not to mention the author's interesting ruminations. Here's a sample of Peattie's writing on the bur oak, after the pages devoted to its Latin name, range, characteristics, and the like: "[W]hen we are gone the rippling fox squirrels and the jeering crows will not remember us; the big dull yellow leaves of the Bur Oaks will cover the paths of our autumns. But these same trees will see our children and our children's children, and look to them the mansions that they are."

Wonderful stuff. In addition to all this the book is chockablock with anecdotes of specific trees and their histories, and how our forefathers and the American Indian viewed the various types of trees. Tree lover or not, you'll enjoy this book.

This is a great book for tree lovers.Though not very good for identification(one of the field guides would be better for that),this is an excellent book for the reader who has already learned to identify the various trees and now wants to learn something about them.The short,non-technical articles cover a host of topics,from botany and historical reports to the author's personal acquaintance with the various trees discussed.

This book and its companion volume, "A Natural History of Western Trees," are by far the most detailed accounts of the trees of North America. It's truly too bad the author didn't have the chance to complete the third book in this series: "Southern Trees." Never have I read a richer, more lovingly or enthusiastically written description of trees. Aside from being packed with facts, the books offer a glimpse of man's interaction with trees and teaches one how to interact with them and respect them. The author's enthusiasm is contagious!

This is the essential book for anyone who cares for the trees and forests of the USA. The writer has a talent, unmatched as far as I know, to spin a tale on trees, bringing to life not only the trees of North America but also the people who walked among them.

It also is an essential book for anyone interested in the history of the USA. Fittingly the book starts off with a description of white pine and the birth of what is now the USA. In short anyone who claims to care for trees or to be interested in how the USA came to be and who is not familiar with the contents of this book is in serious danger of appearing to be a charlatan.

[Quality of the reprint could be better; actually this book deserves to be in hardcover. However, the quality of the reprint could also be a lot worse, or -horrible thought!- the book might go out of print altogether]

Great book whether you are from Texas or not. The author's artwork is superb and gives you the real feelings of these "old Texas friends". The stories are right out of history and very entertaining. Whether you are young or old, the past is always a great place to visit and Mr. Morgan's book is a wonderful time machine with which to travel there. Highly recommended.

The prose is remarkably uplifting and allows one to look at history in a unique fashion. The stories are interesting and some local people with firsthand knowledge about one particular story told me the article was correct to the letter. The drawings are amazingly accurate to the finest detail. An excellent gift for the upcoming holidays. Your friends or relatives would greatly appreciate this book.

This book provides an entertaining historical account of the grand old courthouses of Texas. The author takes you back to days when the county seat was the center of activity and the letter of the law was a bit dusty. The drawings are spectacular in detail as are the tall tales of Texas lore. It is an excellent gift book and very reasonably priced.

Very good book.Lots of Texas history. Well written. I enjoyed the tales of Texas lore.Superb art work with excellent details.A great book to have in your library. B.

This is a fascinating work on a fairly esoteric topic. Although I usually don't usually encounter such works unless I am looking up specific information, I came across this book and had a difficult time putting it down. The illustrations are a magical blend of art and fact. When I have visited the courthouses, I felt as if I had been there - from both the prose and the drawings. If this topic (Texas history and culture) sounds interesting, get the book - you'll love it. If you are not sure, get the book - you'll love it. This will make a wonderful gift.

I read the Spanish version of this book, which I am still trying to find. It is very moving and interesting as it gives the reader who lacks knowledge of the atrocities that occurred in El Salvador a vivid and real insight from the individuals that experienced it. As an educator in a very diverse area in California, I would defenitely recommend this book to any of my students interested in learning about the history of their people. It is a very simple yet moving book which will make you think about how people struggle to survive yet are determined to do so against all odds.

This book's story is a little example of how cruel power could be against a people. El salvador gave the world some decades ago one of the most gallards fights in order to preserve freedom, justice, wealth, independence, work. Power, land and money inside a fisk and in the other hand a defendless people, armed only with reason. The resulting damages of salvadoran pro- USA death squads are horrendous: massacres, sexual violations, catholic nuns, union leaders, peasants, teachers, children killed. And the School of the Americas is still open :)... And still current El Salvador government refuses to cooperate with justice.... ... A great homage for those killed.

"Rebel Radio" is inspiring, moving, and impossible to put down, and not just for radio fans. It's the story of how a small band of young rebels put a guerrilla station (like a pirate station) on the air and kept it there for years against all odds, told in their own voices. We see them develop as journalists, as artists, and as revolutionaries. The Salvadorans are resourceful, creative, and audacious beyond belief. They tear down the station at a moment's notice and carry it off on their backs, staying just ahead of the government forces who want to destroy them, then taunting the generals on the air, like Wily Coyote and the Roadrunner. You'll fall in love with these people; they're fearsomely brave and committed, yet they have their funny and deeply human moments too. You'll want to run off to El Salvador immediately to see the museum that honors Radio Venceremos.

I bought this book in El Salvador in one of the few visits that I have made to my natal land, the strugles that all the fighters have to go thru to keep the radio waves opened for all the listeners was horrendous. The book tell the story of the freedom fighters moving all the equipment from site to site and hiding it from the attacks of the salvadorean army. The heroism displayed or let's say described in the book is to be admired. I am not a former guerrilla member nor do I like comunism in any form, but being salvadorean myself I could not hold some tears after reading some of the chapters in the book.

Hola Marvin, me llamo R. Manolo Mendez,24 años, vivo en Canada, Montréal.Leí este libro y me pareció fantastico, increíble, no sabes cuanto lo disfruté. Bueno, solo quería saludarte, soy un gran admirador de la gente que pelió por nuestro país, me han recomendado un libro llamado: Carceles Clandestinas, dicen que es muy bueno, pero no lo encuentro en ninguna parte.Bueno, fue un placer saludarte, adios.

"The Shaman's Apprentice" presents more information about the relationship between people and nature than many much larger volumes. The story of Kamanya, Gabriela, and the shaman Nahtahlah, educates children about the important roles of all living things. The text is supported by rich and colorful illustrations which easily maintains the interest of children from four to 14. If you want the children in your life to understand the importance of rain forests and the need to preserve them, you must have this book.

It was a really good book. I'd recommend it. It is about a boy in Kwamala that wants to be a Shaman. He becomes the Shaman's apperentice. Read this book if you want to know if he becomes a Shaman himself. This would be a good book for 10 year olds.

I saw this book on Reading Rainbow today, and I was enthralled by the story and the beautiful illustrations. The episode took Levar to the village the book was about and introduced us to the apprentice, now grown, being teacher to the village and his twin sons. My daughter is only a year old, but just the colors kept her attention. I look forward to when the words will have the same effect, as I'm sure they will.

This beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written book is that rare children's story that teaches and says something important while preserving the wonder and magic of how children (grown and otherwise) view the world.

The Shaman's Apprenctice is one of the rarest of books. It combines an engaging true story with beautiful illustrations. The result in an aural-visual experience that transcends the age of the audience and presents a valuable message to all. It should be required reading for every planetary denizen.

Sleeping with the Toucans proved to be the perfect companion for our 1 month trip to Costa Rica in February. Travelling with two 6 year old children can be a bit of a challenge - but this book took the guessing out of what to see and where to stay for our family. This is not just a book filled with lodging ideas - as each section begins with very detailed information about the area, towns and sights. I love the descriptions of all the geographical areas and made several changes in our route based on reading such clear and personal descriptions. The lodging sections have great places to stay on any budget - and calls attention to different lodging categories and amentities - honeymoon, get away, kid friendly, wildlife viewing etc... I am so pleased to find this book and hope that travelers following the authors suggestions are as excited as we are to visit beautiful Costa Rica.

This is a fabulous book that explores the tiny, eclectic, out of the way lodgings that aren't included in other guide books. The authors provide a snapshot of each place with a substantial description to give you a good idea of what kind of atmosphere each one evokes. Definately a good choice if you're planning that trip to Costa Rica!

Its nice to read a guide book by people who have actually been there and write it as they see it - nice comfortable writing about where and what - and a big help in finding the places you want to stay in

Read this wonderful book before you visit Costa Rica; more importantly, carry it while you're in country. Costa Rica residents and world travelers, Chris and Alison bring a unique and entertaining perspective to the art of getting off the "Hilton circuit" and onto the trail of the "real" Costa Rica. Sleeping with the Toucans offers a trove of crisply written, beautifully photographed options for comfortable accommodations, tasty dining and more. Whether you're seeking a massage, world class birding, boating or beachcombing or butterfly watching, or simply a good night's rest - Sleeping with the Toucans has it all. And if you can't visit Costa Rica, read this book; it's the next best thing to being there!

We have traveled to Costa Rica many times since 1993. A guide book like 'Sleeping with the Toucans' is the 'missing link' we could have used while planning our trips. The places in this book are exactly the kinds of places we searched for during our many vacations in Costa Rica. With each visit our love of the people, the land and the culture grew. In 2006 we left our life in the USA, packed our bags and opened Leaves and Lizards Arenal Volcano Cabin Retreat. We are featured in this wonderfully descriptive, well researched and up to date guidebook. Chris and Alison have compiled a list of small hotels and inns that anyone traveling to Costa Rica will find invaluable. This book thrown in your back pack as a companion to a guidebook with - what to do- and - where to hike- will assure a memorable and authentic trip to Costa Rica.

The world has known the American West as the wild and untamed land of cowboys and Indians that Hollywood brought along with it's movies. The real story of the West is much more amazing than at first sight. Ward's story is beautifully illustrated with magnificent text that makes it a worthy successor to the movie series. He tells the story through the eyes of those who lived it and that is something very important in the history of the west. Without first hand accounts our knowledge would be vague, but this book captures the essence of all the west had and has to offer: adventure, a beautiful landscape, and a great mysterious past...

This book is well organized and written. It would make a
perfect reference for a class project. There are vivid scenes
from the American West; such as, a majestic portrait of
the legendary Davey Crockett. The Devil's Tower is depicted
in a picturesque Wyoming scene. There are beautiful still
photos of a Snake Priest and Hopi dancer. The author researched
this work thoroughly. It is representative of the early
West. The purchase is recommended as a top rated historical
reference book well-suited for students of all ages and
backgrounds.

The promos for "The West" series on PBS seemed to imply that Ken Burn's following up to his incredible "Civil War" epic would be as good as the Civil War was.

And it was. Burns was able to capture the whole panorama of the history of the West, and left no stone unturned. Here was the saga of the pioneers, the cruelty of the buffalo hunters, the tragedy of the Native Americans, the bravery of Custer - and of Crazy Horse and Chief Joseph, the terrible "die up" where thousands of poor cattle froze to death in the Montana blizzards, and the courage and perserverence of settlers like the Loves. The musical score too was perfect, capturing every dramatic movement, every nuance just right.

And the book too, while perhaps not as comprehensive as Geoffrey Ward's earlier "Civil War" volume, provided the viewer with a superb text and many, never-before-seen illustrations. The reader can sense the drama of the Earps and Wild Bill Hickok, can hope that Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce reach Canada and safety (which they didn't) and feel the heartbreak when Joseph was cruelly denied the return to his homeland. The reader can also cheer for the courtship of the Loves, and almost live the toil, the disappointments, and the determination of that family through the text, the first-hand accounts, and the marvellous illustrations. I found myself getting angry over the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the Mormon scapegoating of the Paiutes; being sickened and almost in tears over the slaughter of the buffalo, and the old Native American woman's tale of how the last buffalo went into Mount Scott, never to return; and in appreciating how Buffalo Bill Cody and Theodore Roosevelt did their level best in trying to save the West that they loved - Cody through the Wild West shows, and Roosevelt through his conservation efforts.

It is all here in Mr. Ward's excellent text, and more. There may be other books on the West, but for the perfect introduction to anyone interested in Western History, or even for the grizzled enthusiast, this book is not only the perfect companion to the series, it is also a perfect coffee table pictorial history of a history and a lifestyle that is all but gone.

The West : An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan has got to be one of the most "Can't put down" type of books I've had the wonderful pleasure of owning, ever! The illustrations, to many to count are of the finest quality I've ever seen in a book not to mention that the editorial choices were perfect. The photos depict the exact expressions that capture those lost moments in time... If you can get this book - buy it! It is for all ages and you could never grow tired reading it, as well. A certain coffee table type book! I rate this book a 5 STAR!

As a book based on a PBS documentary, it's a big coffee table affair with plenty of photos (I had the hardcover version). And there are some extraordinary pictures in there - while much of the period of history they're looking at (from November 1528 with a some shipwrecked Spaniards washing ashore on Galveston Island to the early 1900s) was pre-camera, much of it was post. Moreover there are maps, paintings and photos of relatively untouched landscape to illustrate earlier times.

That being said, there's also plenty of text. And being that they've consciously chosen to largely illustrate the time by retelling the stories of extraordinary and/or typical individuals of the times, there are many engaging and fascinating stories. C'mon, the whole interaction between European settlers and the native Americans is chock full of tragedy, adventure and colour - you'd have to work hard to make this sort of content boring (although it's been done). It's a very palatable way of reading history, not getting bogged down in statistics or alternate interpretations. Of course in their selection of material you're definitely getting only one version of events, and the bias, while generally subtle, is unavoidable. But, hey, given that I hardly had any version before, this gave me a lot more of an idea than I had.

You have to suffer the odd overblown essay thrown in here and there, where guest writers try to outdo each other for sentimentality and bogus psuedo-spiritual flapdoodle about (FX: turn the reverb right up) `The West'. At least it's not quite as silly as the religious fervour some attach to Baseball as some sort of sacred ritual - but it is still silly. Sure, the West is an amazing place, it's more than just some rocks and sand - we get it. You going on in with some gushy mysticism really just cheapens it - let it speak for itself.

Well, that's what I reckon anyway. But, as I said, the self-conscious attempts at grand writing are only aberrations, most of the time you are treated with amazing but true stories. If that's the sort of history you're after, it delivers.