Middle East Books

This is an excellent book and anyone with an interest in the Viet Nam War should read it. The events of July and August 1964 are thoroughly examined and analyzed step by step. There are interviews with many of the people who were involved in the incident on both sides. It has a good technical discussion of the military equipment(ships and radar/sonar systems) that greatly contributes to an understanding of what happened on those "dark and stormy nights". This is definitely the best book about the Tonkin Gulf incident. The author is a History Professor at Clemson University and I had the priviledge of taking his Vietnam War and Modern Military History courses back in 1993. He told our class that he was writing a book about the Tonkin Gulf incident so it was great to finally read it after all these years.

Sometimes the details that matter aren't captured on videotape and broadcast around the world, like more recent events in the year 2001. What history doesn't have to show what was going on is a picture of how things were set up for this book. "Around noon on August 2, at the White House, President Johnson discussed the American response to the August 2 incident with Secretary Rusk, George Ball, Cyrus Vance, and Tom Hughes of the State Department; General Wheeler; Colonel Ralph Steakley of the Joint Staff; and Winston Cornelius of the CIA. At this meeting the president not only confirmed the decision that sent the Maddox back into the Gulf of Tonkin along with the Turner Joy, he authorized the continuation of OPLAN 34A raids (definitely the one scheduled for the night of August 3-4, and perhaps also those for the night of August 4-5; the procedure of waiting for the results of each raid to be evaluated, before approval of the next was initiated . . . would not have been practiced when there were to be raids on consecutive nights)." (pp. 103-4).

The amount of detail in this book could support a view that secret operations are those things which are not revealed in order to create the greatest spin in the direction of the psychological warfare advantage desired by whoever is keeping the secrets. To get a full appreciation of the kind of restraint which the American government displayed in this incident, the whole picture should be compared to how well the participants in World War II responded to the order given by the president in August, 1945 (a mere 19 years before the Tonkin incident) not to drop any more atomic bombs on people whose government exhibited any hostility toward military activities directed by the United States of America. President Truman's order was followed by massive conventional bombing, much as the history of American bombing in Vietnam shows how long a superpower can maintain a campaign of destruction against anyone who knows the truth about something which is supposed to be secret. This book shows great deference to the feelings of the anonymous secret operations experts who would never say anything that wasn't in the best interests of the powers that be. "Escalation" is an understatement for the overt actions taken against North Vietnam in August, 1964. Adopting a bombing routine as a conditioned response to false accusations in anticipation of making the bombing a regular routine, in the absence of any debate on why things happened as they did, was the real policy. Even now, most people who ought to know better are pretending that a lot of things revealed in this book are still secret. What people don't believe now is the preamble to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which stated that the United States was going to be maintaining peace there, where it had no territoreal, military, or political ambitions. My ambition was to get the Combat Infantryman's Badge without getting killed, so I could be the CIB who failed to agree with whoever thought this ought to be. Check the facts in this book for a truly tortured bit of not being able to see a forest because the treehouse doesn't have any windows, and the trap door in the floor is closed.

This excellent book demonstrates that the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" was not really an incident at all. It explains in detail the events that lead up to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the escaltion of the war that followed. My only complaint is that the author says that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was based on a "misunderstanding" and not "knowingly faked." Even if that is true, the fact remains that it was used as a convenient excuse to escelate war. In addition, the fact that there was no effort on the part of the government to determine the facts behind the Tonkin incident demonstrates that the government wanted war, and were just looking for the right excuse.

Having read several of the many books about the Gulf War, I have discovered that all of them contain (as you would expect) elements that are biased by the author's viewpoint. This book is no exception, exhibiting the bias of the reporter's perspective that the military/politicians un-necessarily restricted access by the public (ie the press corp). However, by a lot hard work in utilizing the extensive resources widely available after the conflict, it does overcome this bias and thereby provide the broadest and most complete overall description of the origins, political manuervering, military planning, and actual execution of the initial defensive and subsequent offensive phases of the war, of any account I have read. And it does so in a very interesting and informative manner.

I am especially impressed with the personalized style of the presentation of both the political and military events, and also with the excellent graphics and tactical/strategic analysis used to explain the overall context of those events. The combination of broad scope, professional graphics, and personal accounts of individual participants placed in the context of overall tactics/strategy really brings the "history to life".

This book has become my "baseline" for understanding / interpreting the other very good (and not so good) accounts of the war. It provides the timeline and outsider "truthline" of the events of the war from which to put into perspective, and base my own opinions of, the accounts of the war by the various individuals with a more personal stake in their presentation. I do not take the "facts" presented in this book as "absolute", but feel they probably contain less "self interest" than other accounts by other authors with "reputations" to foster or protect.

In that respect, this book has increased my "enjoyment" of the other books on the subject as I compare and contrast the "issues" of the war as described by each of the involved individuals who have a particular axe to grind concerning those issues: "a tactical versus a strategic air war campaign", "functional versus by service organization of the coalition forces", "who was responsible for establishing the 'left hook' strategy of the ground war", "did we start the ground war too soon and not give airpower a chance to 'win the war'", "was the progress of the VII Corps too slow ?", "was the progress of the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions too fast ?","who stopped the Khafji excursion (airpower, marines, or Saudis)", "did we learn and then utilize the right lessons from the Khafji fight", and - last but most importantly - the key question: "did we stop the war too soon and therefore fail to accomplish the goals established at the outset of the war ?"

Buy this book to get a very interesting, readable, and definitive overview of the Persian Gulf War. Then sit back and form your own opinions of both the big and little issues from the accounts by Schwarzkopf, Powell, Horner, Franks, Boomer, et al

(Bye the bye ... I find it fascinating that the same above issues (as they applied at the time) were hotly contested in accounts of the WWII Central Pacific and SW Pacific campaigns! Truly, if we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it. )

U.S. News & World Report was founded in 1933, and has built a reputation for their thorough and evenhanded reporting. This book was compiled by the magazine's staff, drawing on their many resources, and is probably the most thorough treatment of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War that you are likely to find. The book traces the conflict from Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, through the diplomatic maneuvering between Iraq and the United States, and on to the final Iraqi surrender.

I must say that I found this to be an excellent book on the Gulf War. The writers of the book go a long way towards being fair and evenhanded, reporting on Iraq's sponsorship of "some of the world's most deadly terrorist organizations..." and yet discussing America actions, including the attack on the "highway of death." Plus, I found the detailed information on the individual battles of the war made the war come alive in the reading.

Overall, I have not read another book on the Gulf War that comes close to this book for overall detail and readability. This is my favorite book on that war, and I give it my highest recommendations!

Triumph Without Victory is the best account and review of how the Gulf War happened. This book is filled with amazing details and facts that make it a true corner stone in the history of this War. From the international effort to restrict Iraqi weapons access to the planning room of Gen. Schwarzkopf, this book recordes what happened. Having been in the Gulf War I was truelly amazed at the amount and scope of information contained in this book. I read this book when it was first published and will never forget it. The true testament of this book is its recording of many of the important facts that some governments would like to forget. The authors obviously went to great lengths to research, corrolate, and record not only the most famous events but the small and possibly most important events. The secret effort to bomb Saddam Hussein, the US destroyed chemical weapons facility and its toxic cloud, and the CIA computer virus in the Iraqi radar system. The purpose of this book was to record history, it did just that and it did it well.

In the decade since the breakup of the Soviet Union, we
were witness to the maneuvering and positioning of various
neighbor states and global powers as the battle for world
energy grows hotter.

I found this book to be a great introduction to the Caspian
region. Before this book, researchers and policymakers had
to look hard(and in many places) to find objective sources
of information that answered all their questions. This book
contains all that one needs to quickly learn about the region,
its history, politics, current problems, and perspectives for
the future.

Policymakers around the world recognize the strategic
importance of geopolitical control of the region. What I found
most striking is the equal attention given to all of the
political players in the world and not just the point of view
of Moscow or Washington.

I also appreciated the attention given to the Caspian's
environment, which is currently threatened to become another
Aral sea.

This book is for everyone starting from diplomats to
individuals who have an interest in the region and anyone
in between. I'll be recommending it to journalist friends
of mine who are covering or aspire to cover the region
in the future.

I knew a few things about central asia and the caspian region before reading these compelling pages. The authors knowledge is spread into this short book, giving all the information necessary to be aware of the geography, politics and economy of the countries in this part of the world. As you will see, the region is of main interest of "external actors" such as the United States and Europe, and big internal players such us Russia and Iran, all well depicted by the authors.

Energy is the main business of the caspian countries of course, but due to the geography in where those countries lay and the politics and different interest that mark the region, render difficult to pump that gas and oil off to new markets. Hence, everything here is long pipelines through different countries that help to make the price of the product less competitive, also affecting new projects (for example, a pipeline through Afghanistan). Thing is, these countries have plenty of gas resources that need to have markets. This book is a great read for those interested in the subject.

The two authors are very knowledgeable about the region and give the most comprehensive and updated analysis of the Caspian area, covering both the political and economical parameters. The book has an impressive bibliography, which makes it an excellent research tool for whoever is interested in expanding on the subject. Very well written.

In her book, Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq, Farnaz Fassihi presents a heart-wrenching portrait of the Iraqi people as they come to terms with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the rebuilding of their war-torn country. Drawing on her experiences as a Wall Street Journal senior correspondent living in Iraq, Fassihi portrays a compelling story of the struggles of the regular citizens and their families. At first they cheer the Americans for tumbling a brutal dictator, but then weep in despair as the free life they dreamed about becomes a nightmare.

This book is not a discourse on military tactics and political blunders, but readers need to know that many of the Iraqi people interviewed relate disturbing stories with heavy overtones of anti-Americanism and criticism of the President, and at times, Fassihi finds herself voicing her agreement. Descriptions and conversations, framed by the author's own pain and compassion, focus on the lives of people she has befriended. Many are affected by the overthrow, occupation and subsequent collapse of an Iraqi society that blames not only the two major ruling religious sects (Sunni and Shi'ite), but also the foreign occupiers. In Fassihi's words, "Sometimes I find myself wanting to cry while I'm interviewing people and other times I feel detached, like a machine recording misery and death."

During all this turmoil, Fassihi finds love with a fellow correspondent in this war-torn land. When they are on separate assignments, she is tormented by fears of separation. Her family begs her to come home and give up her position as head of the Baghdad bureau of the Wall Street Journal, but she is drawn in by the plight of the Iraqi people and was even accused of being addicted to the job's constant threats of bombings, shootings and bloodshed. She is persecuted as a woman, shunned for being American, but loved because of her compassion for the people. Under threats of kidnapping, murder, torture, Farnaz attempts to take care of her workers and friends while dodging bullets and car bombs.

The Iraqi people dedicate their lives to regaining their dignity, preserving their art and culture, sustaining their religious beliefs and most of all hoping that some day they will indeed see an ordinary day. Their homes are bombed and searched while loved ones are forcefully detained and spirited away at the slightest rumor. Those detained often don't return, leaving families desparate to know their fate. If they do return, months later, the tales of torture, persecution and deprivations are horrendous. Fassihi's employee, Munaf, sums up their daily lives with the comment, "We are like animals in the wild. We eat, sleep and try not to get killed each day."

This powerful account of life in Iraq helps us understand why stability has been so elusive to the people of a beleaguered country. The details are rich, the story well written, and throughout the book, the true voices of the Iraqi people are heard because of the an empathetic, insightful woman who is not afraid to put herself into the middle of the story.

by Rhonda Esakov
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Farnaz's account of events are heart breaking. I have been following the incredible sad story of Iraq before the war started. No news of the war over the years have brought the sadness and misery of the war home so clearly. Farnaze's understanding of the culture, traditions and religion particularly makes her account of the events easier to understand. The fundamental factors which the war architects have so badly overlooked and foolishly underestimated and as foolishly they continue the rhetoric's for an even worst war with Iran.

...you knew everything about the shameful war in Iraq, along comes this beautiful book about the war's impact on ordinary citizens. We are fortunate in the US that we have never seen occupiers. Not so in Iraq, and this book makes us realize just how we are perceived. The Bush administration, in all its customary arrogance, thinks that we are 'heroes'. Just read this book to realize just how wrong they were, as usual.

Everyone should read this book for a beautifully written--vivid and nuanced--account of the situation in Iraq. It will break your heart, but it's essential reading for thinking Americans.

This is a wonderful book that offers many insights into the development of Japanese politics in the first half of this century. Dickenson carefully and convincingly shoots down much of the conventional wisdom about who were supposed to be the cautious elder statesmen in the early 20th century. This debate has important implications for properly understanding Japans expansionist policies in the 1930s. Many people who have been hailed as supposed cautionary leaders are shown to be (soemtimes extraordinary) expansionist. As Dickenson shows, these foreign policies can all clearly be traced back to domestic politics and a clash over the direction the state between the genro and the Kato Takaaki, where the latter aimed for parliamentary overnment. The book is alo very well written with many fascinating quotes and clever and funny illustrations from the Tokyo and Osaka Puck. Political scientists who have read Jack Snyder's "Myths of Empire," should find this a particularly fascinating and elucidating book.

World War I, the event that changed everything in European and American history, left Japan little touched -- or so it had long been thought. Frederick Dickinson's book stands many accepted truths on their heads. But it is not a book of wooly revisionist speculation. All of his arguments and interpretations are carefully drawn and meticulously documented. All are thought-provoking and plausible, and most seem to me entirely convincing.

As realist theory would predict, there were few prominent leaders who failed to support Japanese expansion in the favorable circumstances offered by the European conflict. But there was a very crucial divide between those who looked to British-model expansionism of a primarily economic sort and those seeking military-led territorial expansion on the model of Wilhelmine Germany. The struggle for power among (and within) these camps is one major theme of the book. The other is the response of Japanese elites to the wholesale change in the structure of international relations brought by the War, and its domestic correlates. As it shifted from a European power struggle to a world crusade against totalitarianism and the use of force to change the international order, World War I attacked the very foundations of the Meiji state.

I hope that those who (like me) have only slight knowledge of Japanese history will not be put off this book. It is inevitably somewhat dense, but Dickinson avoids academic obscurity, introduces his characters carefully, and pauses frequently for reflection and summary. His concluding chapter ties all his strands together and places the story in a larger context. His contention that it is a vital key to understanding everything in modern Japanese history rings true to me. The book does not require great effort to read, and what effort there is will be well repaid.

There is a wonderful bonus in the book's rich trove of Japanese political cartoons from the period. These speak in a mordant voice that was, tragically, to fall silent as democracy was smothered in the 1930s. They add a great deal to the book.

No doubt many will look at the subtitle, "Japan in the Great War," and conclude that this is too specialized a topic to engage them. In doing so, however, they will miss an important book whose interest extends far beyond the specifics of its subject.

In a field where hardly anyone seems to bring the threads together, this is perhaps the building block to better and more thorough understanding of japanese history during the war. A sound well researched piece which never forgets to be reaable to the average postgraduate and with plenty of resources noted in bibiography for further study.

Politics and international relations of japan pre-1945 require a thoroughgoing understanding of the period before 1931. thisbook offers a great portion of this for the serious scholar beginning or reviewing that quest.

Unfortunately their is so much revisionist junk history about the atomic bomb and the cold war. Nuclear diplomacy, racism and other unfounded theories about the bomb have found their way into textbooks and classrooms. Anyone who does not think Truman used the bomb to end WWII quickly and with less lives lost is simply ignoring the obvious and the evidence. This book helps set the record straight. The decision to use the bomb was simple: to get Japan to stop fighting. Truman wanted to save lives and end the war: end of arguement. This book helps set the record straight.

Mr. Maddox has done a great service in analyzing the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan. He systematically demolishes the arguements used by those who (for whatever reason) think that the bombing was unjustified. He shows through intercepted transmissions how the Japanese were ready to commit themselves to a bloodbath to fight off an invasion and how the Japanese military still wanted to fight even after Hiroshima was destroyed. Overall, the book is great work and should be required reading in schools and the Smithsonian Museum.

Some of the most popular books on the atomic bombing of Japan are filled to a depressing extent with distortions and incaccuracies. These books argue that there was no military necessity to use the bomb. Various nonsensical theories are offered to explain its use e.g.: The bomb was deployed to provide diplomatic leverage against the Soviets or as a result of American racism. These authors routinely take many indisputable facts and ignore or twist them beyond recognition in order to justify their arguments.

Robert James Maddox does a great public service by exposing these abuses of truth in Weapons for Victory. Point by point the tendentious butchering of historical source materials is exposed until there is little doubt that the methods used by these writers are the historian's equivalent of junk science. Various quotes, documents and other pieces of information are often used selectively and taken out of context. This process drastically alters the real meaning of these sources as facts are chopped up and forced to conform to predetermined conclusions. Maddox reproduces many of these misused sources in their full context and thereby shows their true meaning to be something quite different than what these authors claim. In addition, many basic facts that contradict the revisionists' claims (and that are usually ignored by them) are recited. For example, it's often said that the Japanese would have surrendered by mid-1945 if they had only been assured that their emperor could remain in place. Drawing on U.S. intercepts of Japanese diplomatic communication, Maddox shows that the Japanese wanted the emperor to remain the actual ruler of Japan, not the figurehead that he became after the surrender. Many other revisionist arguments become farcical after Maddox compares them to the documentary evidence.

This book is an indispensable antidote to such widely known and wrongly respected travesties as The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb by Gar Alperovitz and Hiroshima by Ronald Takaki. Weapons for Victory clearly exposes the malpractice of the historian's profession contained in these books. A similar work of equally high quality is Truman and the Hiroshima Cult by Robert P. Newman.

The issue here is not about varying interpretations fo history, which are completely legitimate. It is about the proper and responsible use of source materials by certain authors who hold themselves out to the public as careful historians. We should all hope that despite the popular appeal of conspiracy theories and gratuitous America bashing that has propelled many revisionists to fame, good scholarship like Maddox's will still prevail.

Doctor Russell is without equal ..Unmatched ...in his Brilliant Book ...he answers so many questions that I had been pondering for years ,especially the Saudi \China Ballistic missile connection ...anyone looking to make a career in the Goverment or Criminal Justice \Homeland security has to read this ..I could not put it down ...

This book probably will be as readable as his Kennan book. Russell writes clearly and edits relentlessly.

It is only when the books begin to come out that we really understand what was happening in the world. This book is on weapons of mass destruction (WMD's) in the Middle East and in selected parts of the far east.

Perhaps the most intriguing part is the discussion of Iraq and Saddam Hussein and the part that WMDs played in the decision by President Bush to go to war. While his reporting isn't likely to change the opionions of the Democrats who are convinved that Bush lied, he reports on the discussions between Saddam and representatives from Russia and France and the belief of intelligence agencies that were happening at the time.

Other parts of the book cover the plans and activities of countries like Saudi Arabia (who has lots of money) and Pakistan (who has nuclear technology), Iran and of course North Korea.

With the current state of the world and the changes from a bi-polar world where the U.S. and the Soviet Union held things in a kind of stasis, we now live in a multi polar world complete with terrorists organizations that seek WMDs. This well written, exhaustively researched book clearly reflects a lot of thinking and analysis that provides a welcome bit of understanding in a confusing area of current internaional relations.

In this unique volume, the author - who leads annual tours of the Holy Land - uses geography to provide important insights for understanding the meaning of Scripture, particularly the messages of Christ.

Complete with outstanding photography, Where Jesus Walked is an ideal devotional guide for travelers and non-travelers. It is also a valuable tool for use in group study or as a reference source for teachers.

- Baptists Today, September 2001

Wonderful companion to an actual visit to the Holy Land. Good format which starts with the historical and geographical information, followed by the appropriate scripture passage telling the biblical significance, and followed by a short story type meditation. I used this book throughout my visit to the sites named in the book.

its those kinds of books when you read them, you just cant get enough of it.
it's written so well with such an intense emotional wisdom into it.
every one who's slighetly interested in christianity or in religion as a broad subject should own a copy. at least one, if not more...

great great book. enjoyed every second of reading it.
lihi.

This is a quality piece of work, as are all products by National Geographic. Great articles and fantastic photography.

Powerful photographs that are the trademark of National Geographic in collection of timeless articles over past 90 years in National Geographic Magazine fully shedding important light on this highly relevant subject

Excellent series of articles which clearly highlights the changing bias against Islam and muslims by the West, in the 20th century.
Articles written in in the early 1900s show the insulting attitude of Western writers against Muslims. This attitude changes to mutual respect and understanding in post 1980 articles.
These articles show the progress we have made as a nation against racism and discrimination.

Excellent edition of the Anabasis.I recommend it to anyone interested in Greek history and literature.The commentaries are informative and really add to the experience.

This is an excellent edition for those who are studying Greek on their own. The Anabasis is a fine second year book because its Greek is easier than the "Apology of Socrates" by Plato. This edition also has grammatical notes and a Greek-English dictionary of all the words you will need for translation. You do not have to spend hours looking them up in the Liddell-Scott lexicon. Also, it lists interesting cognates and borrowings for most words. I strongly recommend this edition for those working on Greek as a hobby or outside of an academic environment.

Mather and Hewitt's edition of the Anabasis is self-contained in a way that very few Greek texts currently in print are: not only does it have a very detailed line-by-line commentary, map and complete vocabulary, it also has a fulsome introduction to Xenophon and the Anabasis, including what the ancients thought of Xenophon, Xenophon's personality and subsequent literary career, and the organization and equipment of the Persian and Greek armies. The introduction and commentary are both pre-multiculturalist and therefore unabashedly discuss such things as the moral lessons to be drawn from the Anabasis, and the Anabasis as a model of democracy. Throughout, the text is furthermore illustrated with delightful little reproductions of Greek and Persian art, technology, monuments, coins, weapons, etc.

And of course, if you're looking to brush up on your Greek without the aid of a classroom and instructor, this edition is a great choice. Not only does it have the advantages enumerated above, but the Anabasis itself is relatively easy and clear Greek with a historical rather than philosophical vocabulary.