Weather Books

In this 305 page book the author gives an insightful look at the culture of the old East Germany as it has been changed after the reunification of Germany. Characters are presented representing the ones who enjoyed their old isolated lives under communist rule and are contrasted with persons who follow the capitalist ideologies. The time period of the book is the winter of 1999 and the scenes reflect that troubled time in the reunification process. This is a pleasure to read for those who have traveled in Germany in Berlin and the surrounding countryside. A familiarity with the locations and cultural atmosphere certainly enhances the pleasure. However, a map of Berlin and the surrounding area certainly would be a help to persons not very familiar with the locale. Another source of pleasure for me was the view into the mind of an American movie director, specifically how he has to be able to imagine all he ideally wants and then to try to reproduce that ideal with the fallible humans at hand. The narrative of the book wanders in and out of reveries by the principal character Dixon Greenwood as his imagination works with a story that he has to direct as part of a German television series.

Ward Just's leading men are likely to be middle-aged to elderly gents of some renown who favor Borsalino hats -- hats under which some intriguing ruminations are to be found. "The Weather in Berlin" finds our man to be an accomplished Hollywood movie director in Berlin to spend time at an institute. His renown is based largely on a film he shot in Germany several years earlier, and this gains him acceptance into a group of filmmakers shooting episodes of a highly popular sort of period soap opera in a house near the institute. The book has to do with this relationship, which occasions a discussion of the shooting of his notable film and other things of concern and interest to Germans and filmmakers.

The author writes so well that it's easy to forgive the improbably high quality of dialog some of his characters utter. What is presented as extemporaneous conversation often seems a bit too insightful and well edited. Notable is a scene in which a 15- or possibly 20-year-old village girl who claims little knowledge of films reels off a concise and astute summary and evaluation of Werner Herzog's "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" during a casual chitchat with our director protagonist. Of course, this is his recollection of a conversation from years earlier, which might excuse its literary quality.

I'd almost given up hope. With so much fluff out there, I finally read a story about a middle-age adult who isn't wading in gore or reliving his adolescent sex fantasies. He actually has complex thoughts, a complex life, and moves in communities of people with opinions. A great book. How did he ever get it published?

There's a big hole in the center of this book where the personality of the protagonist ought to be. It seems that the author, after having spent time in a German think-tank and needing to mine some gold out of it, hobbled together a novel from his impressions of Berlin, to which he added an incredibly thin plot revolving around the crisis of his 60ish film-making hero. The writing is very, very pretty, but not always clear. Sentences don't just run on but run amok. Everone talks alike. The action, what there is of it, is poorly motivated. There are numerous digressions, while seeming essentials are absent. The saving grace is what one learns about political and cultural thinking in today's re-unified East Germany.

The Weather in Berlin offers a tight portrait of post-war(s) Germany and strangley, current day Hollywood. How are dreams realized and at what expense? How different is the psyche of a director or a dictator within their self-generated worlds of audiences/volk, leader and led?

Explore the subtle words and beauty of this fine novel. The Prussian past is really not that far from Hollywood and Vine.
Well worth the read and well worth the work.

I enjoyed this book very much. This topic was new to me and I found the book quite easy to understand. De Villiers also told the story of wind well, the sequence of information was very good and promoted understanding. Some issues can be contentious, such as global warming and alternate energy supplies. I found de Villiers to be brutally honest, giving the pros and cons of each side. There were certain weaknesses in the book however, that interfered with my enjoyment. A discussion of the various winds and their locations was complex and the one map in the book was inadequate in helping me understand. Additionally, the author recounted some personal anecdotes which added to neither the understanding nor the warmth of the book. And finally, the editing was very weak: there were many run-on sentences which hampered readability. At many places in the book, the English was just of inadequate quality, e.g., use of the word "astonishments" as a noun. This distracted from the reading experience as I had to decipher the writing before I could decipher the science. Overall, this book was a good addition to my library of science non-fiction and was worthwhile reading.

As another reviewer wrote, I too would suggest you look elsewhere for an introduction to weather, probably by a meterologist. Villiers isn't really that strong on science and a few howlers have crept into the book that rather show it (p. 44 mentions -1000 degrees C!). Otherwise, it's a bit of a tedious fact dump rather than a synthesis of a wide acquaintanceship with the subject matter. I gave up after a hundred pages.

Windswept is the definitive explanation of weather, the answer to all my questions. Mr. de Villiers delivers science with a very human touch.

Long on appendix and on anti-God, pro-environmentalist boilerplate, and short on real substance, this book is not the best value for someone wanting to truly advance his knowledge of wind and weather. Granted there are many interesting ancedotes, and the author will deepen your knowledge of the latest advances in the science of understanding and predicting weather. But pound for pound, you don't get all that much. This kind of book keeps a publishers press running and pays the authors mortgage (on his oceanfront home). I would look for better value elsewhere if I were you.

WINDSWEPT: THE STORY OF WIND AND WEATHER joins others on the topic of weather but here provides an award-winning nature writer's survey of how weather has been perceived and described through the ages: wind, in particular. From wind's ability to influence world patterns and paths to how wind influences health and crime in human affairs, WINDSWEPT is much more than the usual meteorological analysis: it blends people's encounters and experiences with wind and storms with scientific fact to make for a lively read.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

While I will agree that the earth may be warming slightly, it is part of the ever changing planet on which we live. I don't believe for one minute that any change is due to humans and emmissions. It is fine for kids to want to explore new and better alternatives to help us in the future, but please stop making it sound like the planet will be ending soon.

A great book for children. Clearly illustrates the science of global warming in a way that is easy for children to understand. A Clean Sky shows children what is happening to our planet and gives many positive solutions to solving this growing issue. Highly Recommended!

My 11-year old daughter is discussing global warming in school and what we can do about it as individuals, a family and as a school. I was amazed to read about the kinds of things that are being done, including this whole idea about generating electricity using hydrogren and then capturing carbon dioxide. This makes so much sense, I don't understand why we aren't doing this everywhere. Thank you for your book, which was very informative and helpful -- for both me and my daughter. I think we both better understand about using hydrogen, capturing carbon dioxide and what we can all do about global warming.

As a parent of a 14 year old, I feel this book would be a wonderful addition to the library of a Junior High School level science class. This book is very informative and would definately spark young minds to take action and would also be an excellent resourse to suggest science projects. Children these days are definately in tune with these global issues and this book provided some answers and suggestions on how we can help the state of our planet.

It is refreshing to see science and engineering presented to children with the aim of interesting children in science and engineering, rather than trying to get them to adopt some particular point of view. This book is not at all a "scare story" about global warming, but instead is something much more interesting and much more valuable: an explanation that children can understand about what happens (good and bad) when we burn fuel, and attempts to engage their interest in the fact that science and engineering are the only real path to understanding and improvement.

I found this book to contain many useful tidbits of information, especially about prevailing weather conditions. The author gives insightful and non obvious ways for determining the approach of Santa Ana's which itself is probably worth the price of the book

This is a good book for those interested in cruising the west coast, you can always get something out of the book if you plan to make that trip up the coast, lots of good information to research and make plans from.

After cruising in the Pacific NW for the past two years using the Douglass and Hemingway guides and the Waggoner Guide, we were admittedly spoiled. If that's the quality you expect, you won't get it here. On the other hand, we couldn't find an alternative, and this is better than nothing. The harbor diagrams were nice, but there aren't enough of them and what there are don't provide enough detail. The landmarks mentioned in the text often don't appear in the diagrams. We also noticed inaccuracies, but this could be due to time. For example, the fuel dock in Morro Bay wasn't where the guide said it was. However, the woman at the Visitor Information Center also thought it was in the direction indicated in the book. (For others looking for it, it's across from marker 12, not beyond 18.)

From a recent sailing trip out of Santa Barbara through the channel islands I can tell you that this book is invaluable. His treatment of safe ports and refuges (arranged very well but conditions) was fantastic and kept us out of danger.

We have used Brian Fagans guidebooks from SD to SF for many years, but this is the best of the lot. We recently led a cruise to the Channel Islands, and made this a "must" for the cruisers, all of whom praised it highly. Really THE guidebook to coastal cruising in Central-Southern California---and a bargain!

A mix of a novel and science text, neither which is worthy of reading.

Floridians tend to associate El Nino with hurricanes, but the Pacific -born weather system also brings droughts and mudslides, even firestorms and epidemics.

Nash, a former Time magazine correspondent, explores the "teleconnectiveness" of wind, water and the world's ecological systems as she tells the story of the 1997-98 El Nino. She profiles scientists who research the mysterious weather pattern even as she describes it's effects.

Warm wet winters, hot dry summers - calling cards of the weather pattern El Nino. How something so huge, impacting so many lives across the globe was not recognized truly until the past couple of decades is one of the points that Nash tries to make. After the first few chapters, looking at historical meteorological records and the understanding of El Nino, she continues on and places this weather maker in a larger historical, social and political context. How El Nino and La Nina patterns can affect disease spread, the life cycles of other animals and coral, and the growth and destruction of civilizations are topics for exploration. For El Nino truly defies the traditional way of thinking about climatology and pulls back the view to the global scale.

Despite being so focused on a weather maker, the book is fairly jargon free. You don't need to know you isobars from your relative humidity. Some basic science knowledge makes it easier to follow many of her points, but you are not lost in geek speak. I did find that often she would talk about glacial formations using words that she never defines, which makes it harder to make a mental picture, but these problems are few and far between. I walked away with a better understanding of what is going on, and understand the how far we have to go in truly understanding this climate controller. A must for anyone who watches the Weather Channel.

Ms. Nash has done an admirable job of reconstructing the research background on this topic. Her book will certainly increase the public understanding of El Nino and meteorology in general. A downside for me was writing the book as if it were an article in a waiting room magazine e.g. p113 "Painted a gay red and white, these doughnut-shaped buoys sported whirligig instruments known as anemometers for measuring wind speeds and jaunty antennas....)" This is annoying to someone who is seriously intersted in this fascinating phenomenon.

Nash brings a complex subject to life through stories of the maverick, and occasionally ridiculed, scientists who hunted El Nino over the centuries. She has a delicate touch and paints vivid images of El Nino's glory and its fury, effortlessly explaining seemingly impenetrable science to make it relevant and, more importantly, interesting to the lay reader. Nash has a journalist's way of getting to the point, so there's nothing extraneous is this tightly written narrative. If you liked "Longitude", "Cod", or "Guns, Germs & Steel", or you're simply a fan of the Weather Channel, "El Nino: Unlocking the Secrets of the Master Weather-Maker" is one you don't want to miss.

This book was really well written, but i expected stories about people riding out hurricanes, not research flights. If you like knowing about how a hurricane is researched and forecast, you will like this book. I did enjoy the descriptions of damage done by hurricane Mitch, I just wish there had been more of that.

"Inside the Hurricane" is far more interesting than several other recent weather books (the horrid "Tying down the Wind" and the ho-hum "Eye of the Storm"). Author Pete Davies provides an exccelent account of Hurricanes Mitch and Floyd and the horrendous damage they wrought. He also sounds a dire warning about the near certainty that the Gulf or East Coasts of the U.S. will someday experience a catastrophe of epic proportions. Imagine, writes the author, if Mitch had followed the same storm track as Hurricane Irene, a Catagory 1 storm that deluged Miami not long after Floyd made headlines.

A lion's share of author Pete Davies's narrative involves the stories of the forecasters and storm chasers who track these meteorlogical beasts. And while their stories are somtimes interesting, they don't have the same power as the descriptions of the hurricaines themselves. Overall however, "Inside the Hurricane" is a decent book for weather-philes.

"Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face With Nature's Deadliest Storms", is worthwhile for anyone interested in learning more about hurricanes. This book concentrates on following the 1999 hurricane season, with an examination of the horror inflicted by 1998's Category 5 Hurricane Mitch, which killed at least 9,000 people in Central America. The author gives a riveting account of the power of Mitch, telling of its absolute devastion to the nation of Honduras.

The author concentrates on the Hurricane Research Division (HRD), the scientists who try to learn more on these powerful storms, and who fly into them for first-hand scientific observation,and the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the people responsible for making the forecasts as to where these dangerous storms will go. This is interesting stuff, especially when the scientists fly into the storms.

Unfortunately, it seems that that the author simply took info off his tape recorder and stuck it into the book, beacause a lot of the heavy science conversations which are included in this book do not have enough explanation or context.

This book is also hindered by certain editorial decisions. This book suffers from the lack of maps showing the tracks of the hurricanes the author discusses, especially because the author spends a great deal of time discussing the meandering nature of the hurricanes.

The book also contains some minor errors, some of which can be chalked up to the author not being a native American (e.g., describing as one of the highest points in Florida as "Disney's Magic Mountain", when everyone knows that he meant Disney's Space Mountain.) While these minor errors do not really detract from this book, and the above-average number of typos is not much of a problem, the real problem comes from the feel that there are times when this author does not go into needed detail. For example, the author talks about the rapid intensification of Hurricanes Opal and Camille, but while the author examined the rapid intensification of Opal, he made no such prior mention of Camille.

The author fails to provide detail in other areas. While expalantions are provided for some criticism of the media, we really don't know why the huuricane jocks at HRD are so critical of the Weather Channel's staff, especially weatherman Jim Cantori. This book has a slap-dash feel.

However, the descriptions of the hurricanes themselves surpass the author's limitations in other areas of writing. As a native of New Orleans, I've seen my share of hurricanes. One of my earliest memories is of Hurricane Betsy. I lost family in Hurricane Camille. I was one of the tens of thousands of people who evacuted, with my family, from 1998's Hurricane Georges, which was a near miss. I've done research on hurricanes for school, so I have a bit more scientific and personal knowledge than the general public. There are flaws in this book, but the postives far out weigh the negatives.

The author has not written the perfect book on hurricanes, but he is to be commended for spelling out the dangers these massive storms pose, for pointing out the lack of funding which goes into hurricane research, and for his skill in relating the tragedy which is inflicted on hurricane victims, especially the devastation of Hounduras.

Well worth the money, well written, very factual; one of the better books dealing with current science of Hurricanes.

Pete Davies spent the 1999 hurricane season with the scientists of the National Hurricane Center in Miami as they studied a series of fascinating and intense hurricanes and struggled with budget limitations that are, in these times of surplus, increasingly inane and unforgivable. Davies' writing is vivid and gripping; his descriptions of the devastation of Hurricane Mitch and the experience of people in the midst of the storm are absolutely unforgettable. Davies also flew missions with the NOAA's P-3 hurricane hunter aircraft and gives a good feel for the combination of raw excitement, pure terror, and occasional boredom of these epic flights. One thing missing from the book were any charts, maps, or diagrams; an appendix containing the Saffir-Simpson scale would have been nice. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in hurricanes, which should be anyone who lives in the United States. Even if your state is out of the reach of hurricane damage (and few actually are), the devastation caused by these vast and increasingly dangerous storms can cause economic disaster and human suffering on a scale not exceeded by any other natural disaster. And after reading, contact your congressional representatives and express to them your dismay that funding for important research remains at pittance levels. Too often Americans brainlessly run around chanting "We're Number One!" when what is really needed is a good long look at how money is spent in this country and who truly benefits from government funding.

great pocket guide to forecasting the weather in the near-term future. (ie, 2-4 hours in advance) this would be an excellent companion for any outdoor enthusiast.

"Instant Weather Forecasting" reads like a zen field guide to weather prediction. It begins like most books of its kind with basic weather terminology and definitions with a few black and white diagrams and a couple of nifty charts of cloud types and wind force.

But the heart of this book is the 24 color cloud pictures which follow, each with its own chart to tell you what type of weather is following based on wind. visibility, precipitation, cloud covering, temperature and air pressure. The pictures are grouped by weather (i.e Sky associated with bad weather, sky associated with no immediate change, etc.) By no means exhaustive, it still makes for an excellent field companion.
Also recommended, Basic Essentials: Weather Forecasting, 2nd Edition(ISBN 0762704780) and Braving the Elements (ISBN 038546956X).

This is a short, pamphlet book with 20-30 full page pictures of clouds, accompanied by technical information that would supposedly allow you to look at the sky and predict the weather. I don't think so. The weather wizards book discussed the progression of cloud formations and is a much better book for this purpose. I found this book to be at one too technical and too simple. Had the author placed the photographs in the order one typically observes the change from high to low to high, or warm cold warm, and discussed what is happening within these systems and how the clouds reflect that, this could have been much better.

This book rates 5 stars IF you use it for its intended pupose only.

Very fast. No mounds of text to crawl through. Find the photo and sky that most closely matches what you are seeing, factor in a couple of additional points, and your predictions for the next several hours, or a bit more than that, are likely to be as reliable as any other source you may have.
This little book should be an essential resource at sea.

Downside? More than half a day or so, and accuracy of your prediction will decrease. While this is always true in looking at weather forecasting tools, be certain to keep this in mind when using this very nice quick resource.

Highly recommended.

INSTANT WEATHER FORECASTING by Alan Watts (NOT the philosopher Alan Wilson Watts, by the way) is a handy and important quick reference guide that's simple to use. Simply match the sky you see with one of the photos in this book and you have a dead reckoning weather prediction for the next six to twelve hours.

It may not be a weatherfax, but for those of us who sail and depend on our informed instincts INSTANT WEATHER FORECASTING can be a lifesaver---especially in having a sense for local conditions.

I purchased this book specifically for technical information on creating outdoor mosaics. I was particularly interested in recommendations for grouting, adhesives, materials, etc. The majority of the book is taken up with lovely pictures and projects, but the technical portion is given the short shift at the end of the book. I'd recommend other books if you are just starting out and are looking for good, detailed information.

The book is mainly devoted to showing various projects made by the authors. Very nice and inspiring, as they do wonderful work, but if you are looking for in-depth instructions or practical knowledge, this is not the book. Try Encyclopedia of Mosaic Techniques by the same authors, instead.

This book had a great chapter on technical information and weather proofing outdoor mosaics. Was extremely helpful in determining which products I should be using on my own water feature and protecting it. Well worth the effort and time to have it sent to Australia for this chapter alone.

Brilliant book written by two of the most experienced mosaicists in the UK. I was so impressed, I attended a Mosaic Workshop course in London in October 2002 which was taught by Emma Biggs. I am now using this book as a reference for the techniques demonstrated on that course, and I thoroughly recommend it. It contains some very specific technical advice regarding weatherproofing. The advice is based on years of experience, so the techniques are eseential to follow to ensure longevity of the mosaic works. I was a total beginner last month, but feel competent and full of confidence with outdoor mosaic now. I certainly recommend this book for inspiration and reference for those who have done a bit of mosaic work.

This is a fabulous book! I have been a creating outdoor mosaics for over 15 years, and I have finally found a book that gets it correct! They have great step by step instructions, and suppliers listed as well as fabulous pictures! Five Stars!!!

Right from the acknowledgement --"David [Gilbert] has been a close friend . . ." we learn the author has a pro-radical viewpoint. Who is Gilbert? From Wikipedia -- "After eleven years underground, he was arrested in 1981, along with members of the Black Liberation Army and other radicals, after they killed three people in an armored car robbery. He is now a well-known prisoner in upstate New York, serving a 75 years-to-life sentence for his role in the robbery."

Gilbert in the book is quoted as saying he is a "political prisoner." I wonder how the families of the dead Brinks workers feel about that statement.

I've read many negative things during the 2008 election race about William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. You will not find them in this book.

An example of the bias. During the Days of Rage, a Chicago city lawyer named Richard Elrod ended up paralyzed. See page 112 of this book and you will be told that Elrod missed a flying tackle against a running protester, injuring himself. This is a one-sided and cursory explanation. Elrod, now an Illinois judge, has an entirely different story. The alleged perpetrator of the stomping on a prone Elrod maintains his innocence, and a jury acquitted that person. But thorough discussions of the incident are available on the web that discuss the case in detail; I came away with the feeling from independent reading that the prosecution botched the case by allowing a biased witness to take the stand. I suggest the reader interested in the issue should do some internet research if he/she wants to properly evaluate the case.

Unless I missed it, I did not see any of the eloquent statements attributed to Dohrn over the years. The book discusses the "Flint War Council" and says that Dohrn "praised the recent murders" committed by the Manson family. That's all. Why did the author not note her infamous quote: "Offing those rich pigs with their own forks and knives, and then eating a meal in the same room, far out! The Weathermen dig Charles Manson." As others have noted, those victims were Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, a middle-aged couple -- Leno was stabbed 12 times with a knife, and 14 times with a carving fork. Rosemary was stabbed 41 times. Perhaps a more careful researcher can verify the internet allegation that Dohrn also once led a celebration of Elrod's paralysis by leading her comrades in a parody of a Bob Dylan song -- "Lay, Elrod, Lay."

The author, Dan Berger, is said to be a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. I hope his dissertation committee scrutinizes the work he presents there. This is a book with only one view, and apologia for the Weathermen. This book has limited usefulness.

a fascinating recounting of one of the more exciting, fresh, and daring movements of individuals known as the weather underground. This book recounts the early history, motivations, and background of social struggle taking place during this period of social struggle.

Particularly interesting was the authors discussion of racism and the role it played (and plays) in American society. As well as the very deep analytical attention towards class and priviledge and the role it plays in a class seperated society.

The individuals in this story are real with all their strengths and weaknesses intact. The author leaves us, the reader, to make our own conclusions about what the movement known as the Weather Underground means to our current reality.

This was a thorough history, drawing on a number of sources and directions; but Berger keeps it rather readable. Casual? No. But approachable. Scholarly? Yes. But not egg-headed. It furnishes the reader with an overarching historical narrative, as well as dipping back and forth with another, contemporary narrative involving the interviews and friendship between a former Weatherman and the author. Few of my questions are left hanging by the text, with one particular exception: I would very much have had an appendix reproducing the texts of the WUO communiques and published works. Berger refers heavily and excerpts some, as I recall, but I would very much liked to have been able to flip to the back and read a whole communique.

This is an engaging read that manages to strip back propaganda from both sides of the line and tells the story both in the WUO's own words and through the mouth of an historian.

Berger's history of the Weather Underground is meticulously researched, and his writing is straightforward and clear. Weatherman is portrayed in a compassionate but unromanticized light. This important book is a must-read for everyone with an interest in 20th century social justice movements.

The Politics of the Weather Underground
Volunteers of America
By RON JACOBS

In 1997 Verso published my history of the Weather Underground, The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground. Weather Underground member Bill Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days, published by Beacon Press in 2001, followed. Two years later, the film The Weather Underground, directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, was released. The film probably received the greatest amount of coverage in the mainstream media, although the unfortunate timing of Weather Underground member Bill Ayers' memoir (September 11, 2001) certainly provided his book with its own share, most of it negative.

There have also been novels written where the WUO figured prominently (most notably The Company You Keep by Neil Gordon Viking 2003), a pamphlet written by political prisoner David Gilbert (SDS/WUO, Students For A Democratic Society And The Weather Underground Organization, Arm the Spirit 2002) and the comparative study of the Weather Underground and the German leftist armed organization, the Red Army Fraction, by Jeremy Varon (Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies; UC Press 2004).

AK Press of Oakland, California is adding another book to this growing library of Weather Underground literature. The book, titled Outlaws of America and written by up-and-coming radical author Dan Berger, is an important complement to the earlier works. The first history of the Weather Underground Organization(WUO) to be written by someone whose age parallels the ages of the children of WUO members and many other "sixties" activists (Berger is 24), this well-researched and detailed work provides a perspective on the most well-known group in the militant wing of the anti-racist and antiwar movement. The book is essential to understanding the history of the 1960s, as well as the present movements against racism and imperialist war.

Two things make this book different than the one I got published 8 years ago. The first, and probably the greatest, is that Berger had access to the research and work that went into Green's film and my book. In addition, he also had much greater access to many of the personalities involved in the Weather organization. Green had a similar access. Things were a bit different when I was writing my book (1990-1997). Queries I sent to those members in prison were returned to me by prison officials, never having reached their intended recipient. Only a few individuals who had been in Weatherman/WUO were willing to talk with me and only two were willing to go on record. Others were willing to tell me if my story was accurate or not, but refused to discuss any specifics. One reason for this was the timing of my queries. After all, many Weather members were still unsure of their legal status and, politically, the US Left was still reeling from the effects of the incredibly reactionary Reagan era--a period that saw many members of the militant US left imprisoned and its infrastructure destroyed. In addition, hardly anyone that I approached knew my politics--which were a cross between the countercultural anarchism of the Yippies and the new communist movement of the 1970s. Berger and others have mentioned that my book helped to make it okay for WUO to be discussed as a force in US radical history. I was sent dozens of emails and letters from people telling me their stories as members of WUO or other militant groups after my book was published verifying this impression.

The other major difference between my work and Outlaws of America is that Berger writes from the perspective of today's generation of radical activists. (Indeed, Berger is co-editor of the recently released collection Letters From Young Activists.) His perspective is that of an anti-imperialist who came of age in the 1990s, not the 1960s and 1970s. This obviously provides a different perspective simply because the face of US imperialism has changed, with the end of the Soviet Union and its allies, and the rise of two worldwide movements against Western capitalism--the anti-global capitalism surge and the Islamic movement against the west. Both of these movements have varied strains and are only semi-consciously aware of the connections they share. Besides providing a different perspective on the WUO because of the difference in the historical situation, Berger's viewpoint is one that is not laden with the personality conflicts and ego battles that are part and parcel of every "Sixties" activist's recollection of the WUO. On top of that, Berger's historical distance means that he sometimes places his emphasis on words and actions that have more importance now than they did when they occurred. This tends to provide a more congruous history. At times, his words may seem too uncritical, but as another historian who was accused of the same thing, it is my belief that most of those who make this criticism are either fundamentally opposed to WUO's politics and analysis or are still stuck in a past that most Weather members have apologized for over and over.

Outlaws of America begins with a gripping description of Berger's first visit to Attica State Prison to interview/converse with former weather Underground member David Gilbert, who has been in the New York prison system since a conviction for his involvement in the tragic failure popularly known as the Nyack Brink's robbery. Berger obviously has a tremendous amount of respect for Gilbert's commitment while simultaneously understanding the tragedy of his position. In fact, each chapter begins with a quote from Gilbert--a technique that provides the reader with a glimpse of Berger's general perspective while never merely repeating Gilbert's take on things.

Much of the book's beginning is a general history of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the dissipation of that organization into Weatherman, Revolutionary Youth Movement 2, and SDS/Progressive Labor. Using an academically-trained critical eye, Berger analyzes key documents published in the SDS newspaper New Left Notes and explicates the role these writings had in the political development of Weather. His generational removal from the times allows for an analysis that accepts the fervent anti-racism and struggle against white privilege that would become Weather's theoretical backbone at face value. This is important to Berger's history. Once he establishes these elements as the basis for Weather's politics, Berger is able to provide the reader with a history of the Weatherman/Weather Underground Organization that would make its former members critically proud.

Given this, one might argue that while Outlaws of America might make former WUO members proud, it certainly couldn't be a good history if it accepts their political premise. After all, how could such a history be at all critical? To Berger's credit, it is the very fact that he uses the yardstick of Weather's essential political stance as the measure by which they should be judged that this history works as well as it does. It is apparent from his writing that his interviews with former members caused them to look at their actions and political words in relation to how well they measured up to their emotional and intellectual commitment to fighting racism, imperialism, and the white privilege these isms provide to white folks in the US.

As an activist who sees things differently than Weather did in terms of emphasis on fighting white privilege, I am more than willing to admit that it was their focus on this element of US society that made me aware of the phenomenon of white privilege and reminded me to fight it in myself and the larger world. On the other hand, my relationships with workers who also happened to be white led me to draw different conclusions about the way the phenomena of racism, white privilege, and economic exploitation interact in modern capitalist society. Of course, I was (and am) but one of hundreds of thousands pondering these questions. And they are important questions, to be sure.

Outlaws of America explores the final years of Weather in greater detail than its predecessors. In addition, Berger provides considerably more detail about the law enforcement activities arrayed against the WUO and its allies. This is one important part of the text where the element of time works in the author's favor. Not only is there more information regarding the law enforcement activities against the 1960s and 1970s popular leftist and anti-racist organizations, it is also much more accessible. This fact combined with Weather members willingness to discuss their years underground helps Berger flesh out the facts of State repression against the New Left, Black, Latino and Native American organizations, and especially the WUO. As regards the final years of Weather, the fact that many more former members feel safe in discussing the activities and politics of the group provided Berger with an opportunity to uncover the material. Of course, unless he asked the right questions, he would not have discovered what he did. Fortunately, Berger not only asked the right questions, he found enough former members willing to discuss their answers with him. Consequently, the reader is provided with the most complete explanation to date of how and why the Weather Underground Organization fell apart. Like every other aspect of its existence, the fundamental reasons were political. The stories and discussions in this section are instructive for today's movements as they struggle with questions of class, race, and gender.

Berger's best writing occurs when he weaves the modern-day reflections of former WUO members into his narrative text. He does this so skillfully that those reminiscences never come off sounding awkward or irrelevant. Sometimes these reflections merely add a bit of physical detail, while more often they provide a contextual insight into what these women and men were thinking while they lived and took political action underground. This is what makes this book different and useful to the historian, the "sixties" buff, and the political activist of today. These people lived the life of clandestine revolutionaries and this book proves that they made the choices they made because of their politics. It wasn't because of some guilt due to class privilege, nor was their choice related to some psychological occurrence of their childhood. Even more than the previous works about Weatherman/WUO, Outlaws of America brings it home, especially to the US reader, that people do make choices (life-changing choices) based on their politics. This in itself is revelatory in a culture that thinks politics begins with the Republicans and ends with the Democrats.

There's some criticism in these pages, too. To be sure, it's criticism from a left perspective, and that's a good thing. Those to the right of the US Left--and there are many--will read this book only under duress and rarely with an open mind. The reviews of the aforementioned works on the subject attest to that. Although I hope that Outlaws of America is read by people of all political persuasions, it's clear that it is intended for the growing left/anarchist movements of today and the New Left with its roots in yesterday. If those of us in that readership are to learn from history, it's very important that we critique that history. It's even better when that criticism comes from a variety of viewpoints. I hope this book, besides being an excellent read, sparks a new element in that conversation.

(Reviewer's note: March 6 marks the 36th anniversary of the deaths of Weathermembers Diana Oughton, Terry Robbins, and Ted Gold in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion.)

Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground, which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's new collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. He can be reached at: rjacobs3625@charter.net

I had the pleasure of having Judge Stein for my law school class last fall. She was an excelllent professor for Civil Procedure, really connecting with the class. Despite her extreme politicl views, she never injected any of them into the classroom setting. Thai Jones's book chronicled his family's pursuit of sticking up for ideas in which they believe. While I do not condone the violence that other group members used, I admire Judge Stein's courage to stand up to those she opposed.

I read "A Radical Line" in a single weekend and it really was as advertised - a crash course in American protest movements. My parents lived through the sixties and they have bored me for years with stories from "back in the day". Reading this book - written by someone in my generation - showed me why that ancient history is still important today - maybe more than ever. The author tells the story through the people in his family, and when he describes the anger his parents felt because of American atrocities in Vietnam, it reminds me of the way I talk to my friends about the war in Iraq.

It is quite a feat to tackle writing a book about your parents and grandparents without succumbing to sentimentality, or in some people's case, bitterness. Thai Jones succeeds in keeping an even-handed, slightly amused tone to his family story, and some family it is. His parents, Jeff Jones and Eleanor Raskin, were two members of the Weather Underground, and the author was himself born on the run, so to speak. His first memory is of the FBI hauling his parents away when they were finally busted and he was age four. I don't envy him that memory.

And prior to Jeff and Eleanor were their respective parents, radicals of the Old Left, with their own strong opinions, which didn't necessarily match up with those of their offspring. That inherent tension gives the story some of its punch.

Of course, the most dramatic part of the book is the tromp through the New Left, SDS, and Weatherman (later, the Weather Underground). Jones draws on family memories, other participants, and reliable sources, but there may not be a whole lot new here for anyone who has read other memoirs such as Bill Ayers' or seen the Weather Underground documentary. Still, he provides yet another perspective which helps us triangulate on that over-heated era.

My main cavel about the book is its scattershot time-line, which bounces back and forth between different family members and different years. No doubt, some of this is done for dramatic effect, but it undercuts one's ability to get a clear picture of the linear order of events. And the confusion is made worse by Jones' almost exclusive use of first names for the main family members. A little journalistic insertion of last names, now and then, might have kept me better on track.

When all is said and done, I couldn't shake the feeling, from Jones' account, that both of his parents had a screw loose in the judgment department. The author's mother succumbs to the more revolutionary than thou guilt-tripping of the Weatherpersons, and leaves her first husband and abandons her law degree. At the time, I'm sure, it seemed like the right thing to do, but when you get right down to it, she flipped and joined a cult.

Jones' father, one of the most macho gun-wavers of the Weatherman leadership, can't keep from buying stand-out-in-a-crowd used cars, all while living "underground" and trying to remain inconspicuous, of course. This recklessness is topped off by his growing dope plants on an apartment fire escape in Hoboken, apparently to make a little cash while on the lam. This, needless to say, catches the eyes of the authorities and they're on the run again.

All in all, A Radical Line is an entertaining read. Slight flaws and family quirks aside, it provides a compelling portrait of two and a half generations of rebels.

These people were evil, violent and remain unrepentant to the present day. There is nothing to be gained by reading this poorly-written account of their misshapen lives.

This is a wry, smart book. Jones cleaves historical and personal stories into an astonishing narrative -- one that spans a century of American power and protest. That he does so at all is impressive; that he does so without any navel-gazing self indulgence is a miraculous breath of fresh memoir air. Jones' book is a stark and often critical look at his own family line, as well as a brilliant contextualization of everything from moral outrage and political movements to sex, drugs and car chases.