Government and Politics Books

Vivo en Madrid, España, y unos familiares de Vitoria me regalaron por mi cumpleaños el libro "La Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" de Agustin y Pedro Oiarzabal. Mi padre salio de Salvatierra en los años 50 y cada vez que puedo, regreso al Pais Vasco a visitar a familiares y amigos. Cuento todo esto porque el libro me ha hecho pensar mucho en el hecho de tener ascendencia vasca. La verdad es que es muy, muy dificil ser vasco y ejercerlo asi en la capital del Estado Español, no tanto por tus conciudadanos sino por la crispacion que han generado contra lo vasco los medios de comunicacion y la clase dirigente de la derecha española. Bueno, lo que quiero decir es que es la primera vez que he leido algo sobre los vascos que me ha sido muy grato. Es un libro muy ameno que informa sobre la realidad de la identidad vasca, y encima aprendes, que no es poco. Deja a un lado partidismos e ideologias politicas y se adentra a descifrar lo que para los vascos significa ser vasco. Por fin tenemos un libro que merece la pena ser leido, discutido y pasado de mano en mano entre no solamente vascos sino entre los que no lo son para que dejen definitivamente a un lado estereotipos y prejuicios sin sentido sobre lo vasco. Es el libro que espero regalar a mucha gente, incluidos mis familiares y mas intimos amigos de aqui, de Madrid, para que puedan formarse una opinion real sobre lo que es ser vasco, alejada de bombas, politiqueos y maniqueismos falsos.
Enhorabuena a los autores por este impresionante libro, que aunque es sencillo de leer, creo que no habra sido nada facil de escribir. Necesitamos mas libros como estos y menos titulares sobre lo horrendo que es ser vasco.

Los vascos, los vascos...que vida la nuestra! nos bombardean constantemente los medios de komunicacion, "ke si los vascos esto, ke si los vascos lo otro"...sospechosso de todo, que si el tsunami, el global warming y del color de la cara oculta de la luna. Ke ya vale! y entre tanto desierto intelectual, encontre "La Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" de Oiarzabal & Oiarzabal, made in Euskalherria. Es un libro perfecto para saber mas de todos aquellos ke como yo andamos dando vueltas por el mundo, yo en London, y tu? si ya has leido el libro ya sabes de que estoy hablando...y la cosa no queda aqui, sino que intenta abarcar el significado de lo vasco tambien en Euskalherria. Es una lectura imprescindible asi ke a leer el libro, ke te abre los ojos. Si tu vecino no sabe lo que son los vascos, "La Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" es el libro a recomendar. Ondo ibili!

Hi,
I just want to say I've just finished reading the book "Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" and I think that it's fascinating. My spanish is not too good, so I might missed some conceptual meanings. However, I have learnt lots about the Basque people, identity and culture, which it has nothing to do with media headlines on ETA this or ETA that. If you are still intrigued by the Basques and you need a serious but at the same time extremelly pleasant book, this is the one. Don't hesitate and read it. You will enjoy it!!

If you thought that Mark Kurlansky's book "The Basque History of the World" was the greatest thing that you have ever read about the Basques, try "Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" by Agustin and Pedro Oiarzabal. Here, you won't find cooking tips, biased stories, and unevidenced arguments...Well, we already knew that "the Basques are the greatest people on earth" thanks Mark, and???...Reading "Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" you will learn about the diverse meanings of Basqueness from all over the planet according to many voices like mine. This is a very objective piece of work that it will satisfy your needs to know more about the Basques and our culture. Congratualtions to the authors. Eat, drink, READ THIS BOOK, and be Basque!!!!

Soy nacido en Madrid, España, y apesar de mi nombre no soy vasco. Esta es la primera vez que he escrito una reseña sobre un libro en Amazon.com. Un amigo mio de Portugalete, cerca de Bilbao (País Vasco) me recomendo la lectura de "La Identidad Vasca en el Mundo" de los escritores Pedro y Agustin Oiarzabal. La verdad es que al principio me encontre un poco reticente a leerlo, no por el tema en si ya que sigo muy de cerca lo que ocurre alli, sino porque normalmente no hay nada que se escriba sobre los vascos que no sea para demonizarlos o santificarlos. Es decir que no he leido o he escuchado nada ultimamente, desde hace al menos ocho o nueve años, sobre lo vasco que no este politizado, y esto a mi esto no me gusta en abosluto. Siempre he creido que todos, particularmente, aquellos que vivimos fuera del País Vasco necesitamos estar informados lo mas objetivamente posible para hacer juicios de opinion validos. Desgraciadamente los medios de comunicación solamente nos hablan sobre aquello que los politicos quieren que sepamos. Este libro es la excepcion que confirma la regla. Es un estudio serio que necesita ser leido por todos aquellos que nos merecemos saber mucho más sobre lo vasco. ¡¡¡No hace politica!!! y esto se aprecia enormemente. No nos habla sobre si los vascos son buenos o malos, o si son más vascos que españoles, sino que nos presenta una realidad mucho más compleja, amplia, enriquecedora y desconocida por muchos, como es la de los vascos repartidos por el mundo. Si hay algo que quiero criticar a los autores es que el libro se me hace corto. Ya estoy esperando un segundo volumen. Espero que asi sea. Enhorabuena por este excepcional libro. Libros como este son los que nos hacen apreciar lo que significa ser vasco.

The Publisher's Weekly does a dis-service to this book. Better read the review in the Jan 2005 Futurist (http://www.wfs.org/revsatinjf05.htm)
This book is an outstanding and insightful description of ways in which the left and right can think together about our society's, and the world's, enormous problems, and then begin to work to solve them. Much more useful than shooting at each other. Only by finding the common ground will it be possible to break through the morass we find ourselves in. Remember the advice to both right and left, "Put your hand on your knees--they're jerking!"

I like this book very much. It is a cry from the heart--from a very informed heart--and it captures much that needs to be understood. It is not, however, the first effort in this direction. This book was published in 2004. Paul Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson published "The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World" in 2000, coincident with the appearance of Marianne Williamson's extraordinary edited work, "IMAGINE: What American Could be in the 21st Century." Ted Halstead and Michael Lind published "The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics," in 2001. In 2002 Ralph Nader capped off decades of activism along these lines with "Crashing the Party: How to Tell the Truth and Run for President." In 2003 we had Matthew Miller's "The 2% Solution: Fixing America's Problem in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love." See my reviews of all of those, and my list on democracy, to appreciate this book by this author, in a larger context.

The most important meme to come out to me--an aggressive iconoclast if ever there was one--dealt with the importance of turning away from rebellion for the sake of rebellion, and focusing instead of being a player, on bringing corporations to the table as Paul Hawken and others suggest in "Natural Capitalism" (which the author cites).

Early messages from this book include: Ignore the noise including Moore and Franken; Creative borrowing from all points of view to achieve public policy; Radical middle provides concrete answers instead of platitudes; Work with corporations instead of attacking them blindly; Idealism without the illusions. Four on key values: maximize choices, fair start for all, maximize human potential, help the developing world. The author then gives us four sections, with the highlights listed below.

Maximizing choices:
1) Universal health care that is also preventive and integrative
2) Law reform--affordable, meaningful
3) End oil dependency--parallel energies, seven paths (conservation, renewables, fossil fuels, hydrogen, nuclear, biobased, and values-change path

Fair start
1) great teachers (overlooks two-parent family, serious games, total change to curriculum)
2) affirmative action with teeth, not just letting in black-skinned white minds
3) Job for everyone and a financial next egg as well

Maximize human potential
1) corporations we can be proud of
2) biotech with adult supervision
3) bring back the draft--for EVERYONE (one of the best pieces)

Help the developed world
1) Globalization with savvy and feeling (address poverty, raise standards)
2) Make the WTO transparent
3) Humanitarian intervention in time--no more genocides (great piece)
4) Tough on terrorism and causes of terrorism

Be a player not a rebel
1) professional schools, not radical groups, are our incubators now (compassionate MDs, holistic MBAs, visionary JDs,
2) stay informed
3) join groups that matter and push them to the middle
4) run for office
5) open up the political process (free media, tax credits, proportional representation, instant run-offs, non-partisan redistricting,

Just this morning, a friend in Seattle sent me an email about a new meme that goes beyond the split between "for profit" and "non-profit" to speak of "new profit." That is the distillation of what Paul Hawken and Herman Daly ("Ecological Economics") are trying to capture. The old concept of corporate profit loots the commons. The new concept of profit, what I call Communal Capitalism, others call it Capitalism 3.0 or Natural Capitalism, understands that true profit must be perpetual and distributed.

This author has a following and is part of the solution. I recommend all the books I listed above, and this one.

See also:
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The Two Percent Solution: Fixing America's Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love
The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World

This book is nothing more than 200 pages of smoke and mirrors.All Satin believes that is need to make the failed ideology of Socialism work is to pile on more government and programs and sock the cost to taxpayers.Of course,he doesn't use the word taxpayer,he uses the word government when he talks about who is going to foot the bill.You see,taxpayers are the problem,they've learned to look after themselves.Socialist's clients are those who buy into the concept that they can't or won't look after themselves and hand it over to the government to do it.
Satin has spent decades as a dyed- in- the- wool Leftist and now thinks he's seen the light.His ideas are far to the left of JFK
who believed that it was not the role of government to provide a person with a job but to provide the person with an opportunity to look after himself.Even he was a Liberal;then along came Johnson with his War on Poverty,and after spending 3 trillion dollars on it ;the end result was that even a larger percent of the people were living below the poverty line.What else would you expect from Socialism.
Satin's ideas about proportional representation have already been rejected by another reviewer and all I would like to add is that, it is being pushed for here in Canada;and these proposers are not even Liberals,but Socialists.
Search as you may,for some enlightenment in this book;you will not find ideas like,self-reliance,taking on responsibility,pride in accomplishment,etc.What you will find is a load of ideas like programs,entitlements,assistance,government creating jobs etc.
Figure a way to take care of yourself,and don't fall for the idea that you need these Socialists to do it.They haven't done it anywhere else and you'll be sadly mistaken if you believe they'll start in the USA.
Even the author has come to the point where he went back and learned a skill to better his lot.You don't see John Kerry ,the great caring Liberal giving away anything.And how about Teresa when talking to people gathering up clothes to send to recent hurricane victims---"Let them go naked"was her help.

One of Mark Satin's most engaging charactistics is his honesty about himself. I have followed him from his first newsletter to his first book "New Age Politics" to his current newsletter and the book by the same title ("The Radical Middle"). He clearly has morphed into something new, which comes through well to me in this book. His writing style is engaging and energetic; he has good documentation; he earnestly believes we need to create something new in our society to replace the extreme polarization we are currently experiencing. He is inclusive and optimistic, believing in each citizen to think independently. His writing is not "academic," but well-researched and well-cited. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for even one glimmer of hope for us as a society with a positive and constructive future!

Edryce Reynolds
Tacoma, Washington

"Radical Middle" is several things: The title of Mark Satin's new book being reviewed here, the title of his newsletter, the title of his web site and the name of an exciting new political concept.

I have followed Mark Satin for a long time, having been a charter subscriber to his previous newsletter, "New Options" and to his current "Radical Middle" newsletter. And I have read two of his previous books in addition to "Radical Middle."

Because of occasional disagreements with some specific content from the current newsletter, I was ready to be skeptical of Mark's new book. But instead, I must admit that I am highly impressed. I believe the book does a thorough job of explaining the Radical Middle concept to readers, regardless of their background, political leanings, or even newsletter subscriber status. In each book chapter, Mark expanded upon past "Radical Middle" newsletter articles and included more nuances and detail, which help to flesh out and explain his positions better.

While there were still a few points where I winced, there were many more knowing smiles and nods. In fact, in some cases I found that my position was not that far away from Mark's after all, once I finally understood his position more fully. And even where there remain points of disagreement, I commend Mark for creating, thoroughly explaining and maintaining his voice and his ground.

I should also state that I had my wife read the education chapter. She is a former full-time teacher, and currently does some substitute teaching. She had not read any of Mark's past books, newsletters, web site, etc., so had a fresh perspective. And she loved the chapter, agreeing with Mark's central thesis that quality teachers are what great education is all about.

The resource lists at each chapter end are also very useful, and I recommend readers to pursue some them to follow up with your own investigations of issues. I am doing so.

Overall, I deeply respect how Mark has utilized all his varied life experiences in coming to a mature, organized synthesis of ideas.

And in our polarized times, the Radical Middle political concept is exactly what we need to grow from concept to full-fledged reality.

I'm not a fan of politics, and I really enjoyed this book! The part with the aliens was my favorite because it, like the rest of the book, took a serious political issue and made it into something more accessible to the average reader. I really enjoyed the way that the author turned even the most boring (or so I always thought) political issues and turned them into a fun, entertaining story that easily keeps your attention from beginning to end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, most especially those who think that politics can't be interesting--give this book a chance to prove you wrong!

I thought this book was going to be about serious politics, and I was surprised to find out it's a lot more than that. I think the younger generations have no interest for what's going on with our government because it's so hard to understand. But this book simplifies everything so it's easy to understand, and also brings up issues that should be more of a priority to our people and our government. There is also a lot of humor throughout the book that makes you laugh out loud, well at least I did. Lastly, it's easy to read because it is in diary form, so if you have to put the book down for a little bit, it's easy to get back involved from where you left off. Great job Patricia Favaron - I hope to read more of your future writings!!

I enjoyed reading this book. The author's thoughts are conveyed in a simple way. Her ideas are seen from another perspective, our very own: a citizen willing to make many changes.I can relate to this great book, and Im sure many thoughts just like her's have crossed the reader's mind at some point or another.

Favarone's book really makes you think how complicated the government has become, and how simple life would be, if we, the american people paid more attention to what's going on around us. I really liked her ideas and found the book hard to put down.

This thought-provoking little book comes packed with big ideas presented in a kind of dreamy way. The details are obscured, but the big concepts punch through, as if through a mist, or in a half-awake dream.

If you're at all centrist, you'll draw back in horror at the possibilities presented by this scenario. Mao Tse Tung had nothing on this girl. It's a lesson in what could happen if we lose our freedom - if the checks & balances in our system are eliminated and we become centrally controlled. We could all become the faceless "Average Person".

If you're far left or right, you'll relish the thought of an enlightened dictatorship, like Singapore only better. One with leaders who are the smartest, wisest, and who's good & pure intentions are realized. After all, who cares about the "Average Person", when the best people can run things so well that everybody is content.

History won't really play out as depicted in the book for 2 reasons:
1) Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
2) The "Average Person" is smart enough to screw up the best-laid and most well-intentioned plans (as economics shows us).
It could play out as a disaster though, rather than the utopian outcome presented.

A very scary book. Read it if you can!

Buy this book and change your outlook on Nam forever. If you ever valued the boy next door, your son , or daughter you will want this book as a bed side companion to re-read again and again. Each story is a man lost, a mother in pain, a comrade who mourns . It paints the picture that we will be reliving for the men of Afganistan/Irag times. The book will be relevent for time immortal. At,6'3 and 320 lbs of old warrior ,
this book took me back and immersed me into the turbulent past times of my life. To damn up my tears , it would have been like holding back a hurricane because of the imagery in this book . This book is well worth the price. I bought it and will continue to buy it again and again until all those I know have a copy. America should emerse itself in the books wisdom about ours soldiers and society. We need to learn to drop the idea that all we are told is the truth and scrutinize our leaders more closely. Thanks Ms Palmer for this great and timely book of truth. Herb, I knew you at Lackland, I hope you have found peace.

If you lost a loved one in Vietnam then you'll understand the poingnancy, intimacy, loss, and anguish of the writers of these letters found throughout the book. It brings out the grim and stark realization that behind every name on the Wall is a story as told by the families who suffered a loss. The most important thing though is the book is about remembering those men and women who served and paid the ultimate sacrifice.

Do I dare to give this book a less-than-glowing review? I am inclined to do so not because of the power and dignity of the people and the stories in the book--those speak for themselves. It was Palmer (the author) that bothered me. As I was reading the book, I could not help but feel that she was trying to manipulate me, tugging at heartstrings that needed no tug to be moved by these heartfelt stories. I felt a bit patronized by her. A good book (or movie, or whatever), if it moves me, should not make me feel the push; this one did, and it left me feeling the way people usually feel when they were pushed in a direction that they would have gone anyway--irritated.

Shrapnel In the Heart is a book to be read by everyone no matter what generation they were born in. Shrapnel In The Heart is a book that has letters and rememberances left behind at the Vietnam War Memorial. Some of the letters tell the story about the people behind the letter. The stories are sad, but the courage of the men and women is a true inspiration. The people written about in this book were extrememly young (18, 19, 20) and it seems like they died in vain. But through their letters that were left behind it is easy to see that these young men knew their duty and refused to shirk from it. These men and women are true heroes.

I read this book for a college history course and until now have thought very little about war, military, or world politics. Young people today rarely understand or realize what goes with becoming a soldier. This book gives real images of the devastation war brings from the people who lived through the tragedy of losing their loved ones. It opens our eyes to things we just shouldn't close our eyes on.

This is a wonderful book filled with poems by well known authors.
Wonderful for children who enjoy poetry. Highly recommend!

The Kennedys have done a superb job in selecting the poems for this read-aloud. The titles run the gamut of sweetly simple (Langston Hughes' "Piggy Back"), to the powerful (Georgia Roberts Durston's "The Wolf").

There is something for everyone here. Readers will find old favorites-"The Purple Cow"-as well as a few not-so-well-known but soon-to-be favorites such as William Jay Smith's lovely and lyrical "Polar Bear."

The book is divided into nine, themed sections: Plays, Families, Just for Fun, Birds, Bugs, and Beasts, Rhymes and Songs, Magic and Wonder, Wind and Weather, Calendars and Clocks, and, finally, Day and Night.

Making their appearance are, among others, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joan Aiken, Jane Yolen, Gwendolyn Books, A. A. Milne, and Wallace Stevens.

Jane Dyer, as always, does a magnificent job with the illustrations. There are full-page pictures and spot art throughout, extending and enriching the text. Readers will want to linger over the realistic, charming watercolors.

Highly recommended.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff

This large, gorgeous picture book contains 123 poems perfectly suited for youthful excursions into the land of poetry. You will find many favorites here as well as bountiful opportunity to make new friends. Emily Dickinson, Rachel Field, David McCord, Jane Yolen, Christina Rossetti, Langston Hughes, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Robert Frost are just a few of the amazing talents that grace the pages of this book. From the very beginning where a qote from Isak Dinesen's "Out of Africa" explains the title of the book, we are swept up in a cavalcade of imagery, sound and experience that is a true delight and feast for the imagination. Not only is this a wonderful introduction to poetry for children it is a giant step forward toward learning about creative visualization and self-expression. It is a fortunate child who learns to evoke response from others through the mastery and selection of words. There is no better way to teach the art than to provide a child with the opportunity to experience the magic first-hand. The splendid illustrations in this book cheerily invite one to venture closer and then become the magic carpet that sweeps one from place to place within the book. The subject matter covers a broad range of topics, humorous and thoughtful, and can serve as a wonderful catalyst to further discussion about poetry and the use of the imagination. After a long and satisfying relationship with this book, may I suggest that you place a special magical pen and a blank tablet of paper in the hands of your child and discover the wonders it has helped to deliver. This book is truly an ambassador to creative expression.

Last night, my not-quite-three-year-old daughter spontaneously recited a couple dozen poems from this book to my wife and me. We were astounded. She's been requesting that we read TALKING LIKE THE RAIN to her day and night since I bought it last month, but we had no idea how deeply the poems had sunken in. What better endorsement can one give to such a book? We plan to buy several more copies as presents for my daughter's friends . . . and their parents.

X.J. Kennedy is a terrific poet as well as a top-notch editor. I highly recommend his own children's poetry books, particularly his irreverent BRATS, as well as his poetry books for adults, which include the excellent DARK HORSES and CROSS TIES.

This is a beautiful book both visually and in content. The watercolor illustrations are in the realistic style painted in fine detail. My daughter loves to look at the pictures closely as we read the poems aloud.

The poems selected cover a wide range of topics, themes, and moods. There are funny poems like limericks, serious poems about the seasons, poems about how children sometimes feel (such as the one about the boy who didn't do anything right yesterday, so he's not getting out of bed today) bedtime poems, and poems about child play.

This book was a gift and I love it so much I've since given it to other parents and children to enjoy. Everyone has been enthusiastic about it. When my daughter selects this book (which is often) it's fun for us to browse through the pages and pick poems based on the illustrations or on our mood. We'll say, let's read about sleepytime poems, or let's read funny poems. She never tires of this book. There are hundreds of poems to choose from, but the scope is not overwhelming either.

I give this book my highest recommendation. Every home should have some poetry on the shelf!

Outstanding book for anyone who ever wants to run of elected office. Matt Lewis gives expert tips that are easy to forget when running a full time campaign. After reading this book, it is fun to look back at both winning and losing campaigns and see the mistakes candidates made. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in politics.

Matt is brilliant at campaign communications. I read the book over a year ago and still refer to it for my campaigns. With primary elections a little over 30 days away, I have spent much more time reviewing the chapters.
Not to mention, Matt is a very down to earth guy who I have been fortunate enough to recieve training from in person. Amazingly, he even responds to my email questions. Just a great book by a stand-up guy who will run a Presidential race here in the near future.

This is a great little book covering the basics of public relations. It's full of handy tips. Highly reccommended for Republican campaign workers...

Teaching Elephants to Talk is a quick read and a great handbook for anyone trying to move up in politics. Too often you hear "Republicans don't know how to communicate with voters" but no remedies. Matt offers those remedies.

Teaching Elephants to Talk is a practical and useful tool for campaigns of all types, political, PR or advertising. Matt Lewis shows the reader, in an easy to read format, how to connect to the targeted audience with a succinct and powerful message. It's a great read.

Great work by Mr.Bows. His work is really relayed from the heart. I recommend this book to all. I hope Mr.Bows writes more in the future and tells us of all his experiences. Thanks Mr. Bows.

Dave Sistaro
Staten Island,New York

I would recommentd this book for all to read. This book tells a little about some of us that were part of the original people assigned to Vietnam prior to 1964. This was one of the first books to tell about myself, having been captured on 24 December 1961 and held for six months. Most people do not want to talk about those of us that were part of The Expeditionary Forces of the time.

while you wrap yourself in your flag and say I would go and fight,
others already have. In current times we all try to get a meaning or a sense of our America, this book blows anything you have ever read of war away...when we are all searching for the human element most of the time it is lost and unreachable yet here like rolling echoes of thunder from a distant shore real lives and heroic acts of soldiers so revered.....so moving if you ever needed a motivating force, this book is it. And yet where is the elusive Ray Bows?

while you wrap yourself in your flag and say I would go and fight,
others already have. in current times we all try to get a meaning or a sense of our America, this book blows anything you have ever read of war away...when we are all searching for the human element most of the time it is lost and unreachale yet here
like rolling echoes of thunder from a distant shore real liVes and heroic acts of soldiers so revered.....so moving if you ever needed a motivating force, this book is it. and yet were is the elusive Ray Bows

I would like to recommend "Vietnam Military Lore - Legends, Shadows and Heroes" for a lot of reasons but especially to Army aviators because there is quite a bit of coverage of the first Helicopter transportation companies that were sent to Vietnam way back in 1961 and 1962, namely the 8th, 57th, 33d and the 45th, which later became the 117th, 120th, 118th, 121st and 145th Helicopter Companies. I know the old timers will recognize a lot of names of aviators that Bows has written about. I thereofre recommend this book to all those interested in Army helicopter aviation. I recommended this book to Art Conroy, Publisher of the Transportation Corps Army Aviation Newsletter. Bentley Herbert

I couldn't add anything else to the other comments; just buy it - you will not regret.

This book is truely well written. Hard to put down. If you have read: President Nixon, Final Days and Abuse of Power this book puts it all together. It is the AH! HA! you've been looking for. It will also make you curious about the Pentagon Papers. All these books are written from a historical perpective by well know historians. Not journalist looking for a quick buck.

If your goal is to understand the depth of Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal, Stanley Kutler's `The Wars of Watergate' is the book for it. It's a great introduction to Watergate without that qualifying caveat, of course, but Kutler perches his narrative squarely on Nixon's shoulder. This book doesn't take extended side trips to the creation of the Plumbers, to that dirty trickster Donald Segretti, or the back desks in the Special Prosecutor's offices. The wars of Watergate, Kutler writes, are "rooted in the lifelong political personality of Richard Nixon," a personality that is marked by political paranoia, a determination to wreak vengeance on his enemies, and an overweening concern with winning his own elections. For those who dismiss Watergate as a third-rate burglary, or a vague `everyone else does it,' Kutler provides a substantial "discussion of the abuses of power that precede the burglary and the obstruction of justice that followed it."

Kutler sets the stage with brief chapters on the LBJ Administration, Vietnam, and a biographical sketch of Richard Nixon prior to the presidential election of 1968. We're taken closer to our subject with Kutler's next few chapters on Nixon's first term as president, where Nixon's relationship with the media (antagonistic,) and congress (disdainful,) as well as his executive style (obsessive micro-management) are surveyed. Providing as they do a context for the crimes of Richard Nixon, these prelude-to-war sections properly prepare us for the battles of Watergate.

An American constitutional historian, Stanley Kutler is well qualified to guide us through the battleground that was the second term of Richard Nixon. The war analogy is apt. For Nixon the Wars of Watergate officially begins with the immediate Administration response to the break-in at the DNC headquarters by the Watergate burglars. The first phase may be called "The War of the Burglars' Silence," a phase that is marked by Nixon's active participation in those acts that would lead to his resignation less that two years later.

One gets the strong impression that `The Wars of Watergate' is Kutler's response to future revisionist historians. The revisionist template was already being hammered out by Nixon, and others, when this book was published in 1990. If Kutler is forestalling an alternate interpretation, he does so with a well-coordinate, thoughtful, balanced, and overwhelmingly convincing presentation of facts. His interpretation - that Nixon was at the center of the Watergate cover-up from the beginning - is, with the evidence he provides to back it up, irrefutable.

Although `The Wars of Watergate' is not a complete history of the scandal, it's a good chunk of it - the heart of it, if you will. It would make a good introduction for the uninitiated. Even for Watergate wonks its expanded chapters on the Rodino chaired House Judiciary Committee, which considered impeachment, will provide fresh insights and a more complete story of an under-reported Watergate subject. This may not be the best single volume on Watergate, but if it isn't I haven't read its rival. Highest recommendation.

At least for those us who cut their political teeth during the 1960's and 1970's, Watergate and Vietnam were the watershed events. There was life before Watergate and Vietnam and life after. Stanley Kutler's work is one of the first to bring an historian's perspective to the Watergate story. As the saying goes, if you read one book about Watergate, this is the one.

Kutler is by no means neutral on Richard Nixon, but one of the unique things about Watergate was that Nixon's own taping system provided the record to hang himself. If nothing else the tapes proved Nixon was a habitual and flagrant liar. Kutler, whose regular job is as a professor at the University of Wisconsin, was drawn into a lifetime of work by his expertise on the sprawling scandal that was Watergate. His work has continued as he battled first Nixon, Nixon's estate, and then the National Archivists for full access to the White House tapes. Nixon kept up his lies and deception to his last days, with far more success than one would have hoped. In the long run, history's judgment of Nixon will be harsh and will start with Kutler's work.

Not just about Watergate, but a comprehensive look at RN's political career. The Watergate break-in came to symbolize the abuses of this imperial presidency. Excellent historical analysis. Comprehensive history not just at RN's presidency, but the evolution of the office during the Cold War. Thank goodness G. Gordon Liddy was such an incompetent stooge that the whole bag of "White House Horrors" came to light.

I bought this book for a combat wounded friend who was with 1/8 Marines, the unit covered in Battle of Fallujah section of this book. He couldn't speak highly enough of Gilbertson's honest portrayal of men in battle. As others have noted, the photos are stunning and the text raw and personal. Tough to look at but necessary viewing to catch a glimpse of the reality of war.

Caveats: I'm neither a photographer nor a journalist.

Since reading Ashley's book, I've read and seen a lot regarding Iraq conflict.

For me, of all the staggering photojournalism produced by folks about Iraq (folks who definitely put their life on the line), this book stands out as the most human. I'd never considered how involved war photographers get and how much trauma they can go through as a result. As I started exploring war photography, this book showed me the cost on the people being documented as much as the cost on the the documentor. It's a a wonderful, complimentary piece of work to the War Photographer documentary, where James Nachtwey seems to be the most amazing internalizer of all things shocking.

Subsequently, I've read the Bang Bang Club which describes (in part) Kevin Carter's descent into suicide, partially aided by a single, controversial, Pulitzer prize-winning photograph he took.

I also appreciate the honesty with which he captured/defined his subjects. I haven't lost someone to a war, but I can't help thinking that his honesty is the most respectful way to treat his subjects - those that live and those that don't. But, even though that's my view, he still shows how families of the KIAs reacted to his work, often angrily.

To paraphrase another comment on this book, definitely not for those who can't handle the truth. But it is definitely worth way more than the price.

Note - there is a lot of great work along these lines about Iraq by many brave, honest photojournalists. I just feel like this one edges them out.

For a photo journal the print quality is not great with pixels visual in some of the photos. Also some are disrupted by the spinal crease as the photo is spread over 2 pages.

IN A WORD,OUTSTANDING! I DONT KNOW HOW THE AUTHOR GOT THE TITLE BY THE CENSORS. VERY CLEVER USE OF THE PHONETIC ALPHABET.TO THOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE MILITARY VERNACULAR IT SHOULD RAISE AN EYE. THE TITLE MADE ME TAKE A DOUBLE-TAKE ON THE SHELF AND I HAD TO BUY IT.THE CONTENT IS OUTSTANDING, AND THE PHOTOS BRING BACK VERY VIVID IMAGES OF THE SANDBOX.

What a breathtakingly vivid reflection of what we'd all sooner forget. This is an exquisite, painfully detailed collection of photos and text. Capa-worthy certainly. I can't wait to see what will come of such intense and exciting talent.

First the upsides. A thoughtfully written book that challenges some long held beliefs, such as "The Founding Fathers were perfect and there is no need to change anything about the way we do things". Yes, they were innovative, but even they knew they were not perfect and thus left the Constitution open for ammendment. Here, Mr. Hill comes up with 10 ideas that he thinks will improve our system of government. In my opinion, his ideas range from brilliant, to so-so, to downright poor. In spite of that, the over-riding message, "can we do things better?", is excellent. Too many people hold the founding fathers to be prophets and the Constitution divinely inspired and second only to The Holy Bible. On the downside, if you're a Republican, you cannot miss the fact that he lays most of the blame for problems on the Republicans. He makes a weak effort, at times, to try and sound unbiased, but he's not. Second, he can be inconsistent when dealing with the rights of those in the minority on an issue. He makes the case for proportional representation by bringing up people who live in an area that is over-whelming in support for an opposing party as having no real representation because of where they live. He then asks why those in the low population states "should be protected by the will of the majority" by their equal representation in the Senate. Well, some people who live in the low population states (Wyoming) will NEVER have close to the representation of a state like California. Isn't it possible that a rancher in Wyoming or a farmer in Nebraska will have a different set of priorities and a different view on things that people in CA? By the nature that they are primarily agricultural states, won't they ALWAYS have a lower population, and thus representation? Should they be forced to do the will of the majority BECAUSE OF WHERE THEY LIVE?
Overall though, it is a good book. Please don't let his bias prevent you from getting it, just be prepared. Also, don't HAVE to agree with every idea to like it, let it just make you think about how we can do better. As for what I think are the great ideas, I'd recommend it based on the ideas of Proportional Representation (PR), Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)and a National Election Commission on it's own! Get it even just to read about those three ideas alone.

From George Scialabba's review of "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" in The Nation, January 29, 2007 issue:

"...We now have a bit of breathing space, thanks to the midterms. It's time to consider how the right got away with it and how to prevent it from happening again. The most useful of these books...is Steven Hill's 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy...Hill's recommendations invariably hit the mark...Hill's book is a no-brainer--there's simply nothing in it to disagree with."

Complete excertps:

...We now have a bit of breathing space, thanks to the midterms. It's time to consider how the right got away with it and how to prevent it from happening again. The most useful of these books (along with Sirota's splendidly hard-hitting and extraordinarily well-documented Hostile Takeover) is Steven Hill's 10 Steps to Repair American Democracy. "To ponder the shortcomings of our political system is to court despondency," Hendrik Hertzberg observes in his foreword. The Electoral College, the Senate, the disenfranchisement of the District of Columbia, the two-party duopoly, the winner-take-all principle, partisan redistricting, 95 percent incumbent re-election rates, media concentration, Buckley v. Valeo, the K Street Project, voter turnout below 50 percent, shortages of voting machines and poll workers--this is a functioning democracy? If these travesties of logic and fairness promoted majority rule rather than prevented it, they would doubtless have been abolished long ago. Hill's recommendations, beginning with proportional representation and instant-runoff voting, invariably hit the mark, and each of them is accompanied by links to groups already on the case. Perhaps his most radical notion--as he says, it goes "to the very heart of our political system"--is that representation should no longer be based on geography. Because of partisan residential patterns, more and more election districts are noncompetitive even without gerrymandering. Tens of millions of votes in American elections don't really count; and, perhaps as a consequence, millions more are never cast. Making representation correspond to what voters think rather than where they live is now perfectly feasible, as Hill makes clear. When (if) the Democrats regain the electorate's trust, they should consider proposing that, procedurally speaking, the United States join the modern world.

Hill's book is a no-brainer--there's simply nothing in it to disagree with.

... But in a democracy, if a large enough majority of citizens want economic populism plus cultural conservatism, isn't that what there ought to be? And if that's not what there is, then it's not much of a democracy, is it? What these truisms imply is that perhaps the right thing for progressives to do is not hire ever cleverer triangulators but, instead, first make sure American democracy works (for which, see "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy") and then get most Americans to agree with us.

[...]

I heard Steven Hill give a talk about his new book, "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy", in Cambridge recently. In his book and in his talk, Hill promotes reforms such as instant runoff voting, proportional representation, direct election of the President, public campaign financing, free media time for candidates, and so on. His "ten steps" are:
1. Secure the Vote
2. Expand Voter Participation
3. Increase Voter Choice with Instant Runoff Voting
4. Scrap Winner-Take-All Elections
5. Direct Election of the President
6. Overhaul the U.S. Senate
7. Reclaim the Airwaves
8. Minimize Money's Role
9. Reform the Supreme Court
10. Restore Faith in Government

Obviously, each of these slogans really involves multiple steps. For example, "Secure the Vote" includes securing voter-verified recountable paper trails; impartial and professional election officials; and open-source software for electronic voting machines. "Expand Voter Participation" includes universal voter registration; making election day a holiday; and enfranchising prisoners and ex-cons. And so on down the list.

Hill puts the most emphasis on scrapping winner-take-all elections in favor of moderate proportional representation, of the type formerly used in the Illinois state legislature. In moderate proportional representation, three to five legislators are elected from geographical districts three to five times the size of those that currently exist. Since candidates in such districts would need only 17% to 25% of the vote to win a seat, Hill argues that minorities (political and ethnic) would gain representation proportional to their numbers, and polarization between "red" and "blue" areas would be dramatically reduced. At the same time, since these 17%-25% thresholds are much higher than those formerly used in Italy and Israel, moderate proportional representation isn't vulnerable to the sort of instability that troubled systems in which candidates could be elected with as little as 1% of the vote.

Hill's talk was held in a church, and I felt a bit like the choir, since I am familiar with most of these proposals and have supported many of them for years, to the point of writing articles and collecting signatures for instant runoff voting and proportional representation. "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" is directed primarily toward those unfamiliar with these proposals, and seeing them for the first time.

Though Hill gives decent summaries of many of the issues and options, I personally would have liked more detailed discussions of the arguments for (and against) the various reforms proposed. I also would have appreciated more discussion on ways to work to enact these reforms -- all Hill does is suggest contacting the relevant organizations, which are listed at the end of each chapter. The writing was also tiresome on occasion, as several factoids, phrases, sentences and even a paragraph were repeated verbatim two or three times in less than 200 pages.

So although "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" wasn't all I was looking for, it can still serve as a brief introduction to reforms whose time has come, especially valuable for people who are fed up with business as usual but don't have any idea what to do about it. I already have a lengthy list of friends and relatives to loan it to.

If the trappings of American democracy seem increasingly spurious to you this book explains why in a calm, straightforward, non-partisan way. A real eye opener for those unfamiliar with how actual democracies in other countries work. Committed curmudgeons should avoid as it's liable to inspire optimism.

The short form of my argument is that a surprisingly large fraction of the political and policy problems of the US are indirectly caused not by bad people or a system gone wrong, but by a bad system. The US hasn't been losing its democracy so much as its once state-of-the-art democracy has been obsolete for a long time. Our electoral and governmental systems have been showing their flaws more and more as the world changes. Our system unnecessarily encourages otherwise decent people to do bad things, and that's tragic.

First off, stop reading right now, and buy "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" by Steven Hill (only $11). The flaws in our democratic systems are no mystery; political scientists have known about them for decades, and in some cases, centuries. [Why they haven't done anything about them is another matter. Maybe it's because America has always been good to its elites. Maybe too many political scientists augment their incomes through political consulting and helping politicians game the existing system ;-)]

Let me indulge in a little intellectual laziness myself and point out that the 10 steps outlined in Steven Hill's book are absolutely necessary to fix the problems and keep them fixed:

Secure the vote
Expand voter participation
Increase voter choice with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
Scrap winner-take-all elections: use Proportional Representation (PR) for legislatures
Scrap the electoral college and elect the President via direct IRV election
Overhaul the US Senate
Reclaim the publicly owned airwaves and make sure they serve to educate our citizens
Minimize money's role in politics
Reform the Supreme Court
Restore faith in government

Steven Hill has backed up these basic goals by documenting concrete proposals that are either already underway or are obvious next steps. Now it's up to you, me, and everyone to start doing the hard work needed to fix our country. Hint: the answer is NOT simply to elect Democrats. We need to elect candidates who demonstrate awareness of the underlying problems facing us and pledge to advance the right systemic solutions.

As we contemplate the upcoming presidential election, it is crucial that we try to educate candidates about the solutions discussed in Hill's book. Not sure what to do? For starters, you could do worse than to buy "10 Steps to Repair American Democracy" for your favorite candidate and a friend or family member. But don't stop there! There are a lot of organizations to plug into, and many more that need to exist but don't yet. Yes, we all hate politics, but Steven Hill's book shows us that it doesn't have to be that way.

Murphy