Current Events Books

A thought-provoking read about a truly remarkable life. I found The Frank Conspiracy absorbing, touching and shocking. Not all glamour and excitement, a spy's existence is dangerous and lonely. A tremendous book.

I couldn't put this book down. Powerful, poignant, vivid, evocative, ultimately inspiring. Every woman and man will gain a deeper understanding to the meaning of life when they read this captivating book. There's nothing else like it on the market, it really is unique. I recommend you read it before they make the movie. Not just spies, its about one woman's fight against injustice, its about love and death, its about thrills and spills, its about religion and politics, its about everything important. This book is my bible, its so sparky and compelling I've read it again and again.

Spy Olivia Frank battles against injustice to expose a shocking British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) plot to assassinate the life of a well-known multi-millionaire who was forced into exile from the United Kingdom. A real eyeopener it lifts the lid on a despicable scandal to dupe the public. A true story it was filmed by UK television investigator Roger Cook's The Cook Report, too hot to transmit so buy it before they ban it!

A real eye-opener, exciting, moving, ultimately inspiring. A book for everyone, it uncovers the cloak and dagger world of spies and reveals the hardships encountered by a genuine spy. I found myself unable to put this down and told all my friends they must read it too. An extraordinary story about real people. find out what's going on.

Buy This Book! I'm serious, you need to read about the corruption that the author went through. As far as I know, no other officer has ever been shot TWICE by other cops and lived to tell the tale. I'm amazed it isn't a movie yet, and what he went through after exposing more crime, the people running this California City (close to Los Angeles) need to be in Jail. If your into true crime, this book sounds like fiction, but it is true. All I can say is BUY IT, even just to learn how your government works against our interests, just to save themselves money and to protect their own rear-ends. I'm staying away from that area, and once you read this book, you will want to as well.

SAN BERNARDINO, California - Corruption, intimidation and rape are not words most would normally associate with members of the nation's police forces. However, power sometimes intoxicates and can make one feel like they are above the law, even if they are sworn to protect it. Stephen K. Peach tells a story of internal corruption and cover-up in the San Bernardino Police Department in his shocking and revealing new book, Friendly Fire? The Good, The Bad and The Corrupt.
Stephen Peach emigrated from England to the United States in 1986 to follow his dream of becoming a police officer. After becoming a U.S. Citizen, he began his career in 1991 with the San Bernardino Police Department and became a highly regarded gang investigator and S.W.A.T. officer. His personable style encouraged trust and confidence in the people he met, and his eye for detail helped solve numerous crimes. In 1998, things fell apart. He was shot twice in two weeks on two separate S.W.A.T. calls. The second time occurred as he was serving a warrant on a former San Bernardino detective. Peach says that his supervisor shot him in the leg to initiate a gun battle between the former detective and Peach's fellow officers. The wound nearly killed him. He fought hard to return to his post and later discovered an officer in the department was raping women.
When one of the victims named the offending officer, the department ignored it and looked to cover up his crimes. Peach was singled out as a liability and had to go. Now, he tells his story. With Friendly Fire?, he hopes to expose the corruption that he discovered in his own department and redeem some of the honor of his badge. "The pattern of corruption in San Bernardino is a disgrace to all the officers that are honest and put their lives in jeopardy every day to serve the citizens. The purpose of his book is to hold those that are corrupt accountable," Peach says. Friendly Fire? is his first book.

This book exposes the dirty underside of Law Enforcement politics. I was a highly regarded gang and SWAT officer that was the victim of 2 accidental? shootings within 2 weeks of each other by other officers. The second time I was shot by my supervisor while serving a warrant on an ex-detective. I was shot to initiate a gunfight between a SWAT team and the detective, it worked, the team believing that the ex-detective had shot me tried to shoot the ex-detective. I returned to work 5 months later, disabled and slightly disillusioned however I continued to work the streets and I used my vast network of informants to find a Police officer rapist. I tried in vain to bring about an internal investigation for a year to expose the rapist however the department turned their corruption upon me to discredit me, trying to frame me with a crime they knew I didn't commit. If it became common knowledge that I had tried to expose the police officer rapist, the dozens of victims could sue and bankrupt the City. The San Bernardino Police Department protected the rapist as he had witnessed drug money thefts in search warrants that the administration took part in. "What happened to me is common in Police Agencies, if they could do this to me, someone who understand the law, what else is going on?" My book exposes the corruption that City Governments allow to occur to protect their civil liability. Many other corrupt activities that I have exposed in my book have never been exposed before. This is a true story of many different crimes that administrators and their corrupt subordinates have committed that they would rather not have exposed.

This book chronicles the working and corruption of San Bernardino Police dept. Scary because it's non-fiction. Very interesting as to how the police can deal with all elements that they are exposed to on a daily basis. How certain departments condone a superior attitude to the people they are suppposed to serve. This was a real wake up call to what goes on behind the Blue line. I can only hope Stephen Peach gets the justice he rightly deserves.

If you're at all interested in Latin American culture you'll love this book and he's an amazing person. He'll tal kto you forever about the subject and he's highly intelligent.

While Juan Flores is perceptive in his discussion of the Puerto Rican component of Latino culture, and discusses other major critics like Perez Firmat and Stavans, I was frankly surprised not to see any discussion of William Luis's Dance Between Two Cultures: Latino Caribbean Literature Written in the United States, which in my estimation is as important as those written by the critics Flores discusses. The value of Luis's study is that he addresses the same Puerto Rican community mentioned in Flores' book, but Luis also contextualizes this community by considering its relation to the Cuban and Dominican components of Latino culture. Anyone interested in understanding Latino literature and culture should also read Dance Between Two Cultures, which contains perceptive readings of Latino Caribbean literature unavailable in any other study.

The title of Mr. Flores' book might be a little deceiving for those who are not familiar with the subject matter. Mr. Flores uses music as a jumping off point for some very thought provoking themes that pertain (in my opinion) to all Latino's. Juan Flores goes from scholarly themes like colonialism to thoughts on the funeral of Cortijo and the history of the Boogaloo phenomena in New York City.

Mr. Flores makes you stop and think, then think again about issues you may have had preconceived notions about. I really enjoyed being challenged intellectually as I read this book.

I recently attended a lecture/performance (at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City) of "From Bomba to Hip-Hop" conducted by Mr. Flores, music historian Rene Lopez and Mike Wallace (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, "Gotham.") True to form, it was a very unique, educational and entertaining experience.

As a beginning graduate student in Latina/o Studies, I have been asking myself a simple question over and over: "Where have I been?" I have gone through public education in the United States for 17 years of my life, and have only recently found that there have been people writing since the start of the 1900s about the issues, experiences, struggles, and passions that I have thought were uniquely mine. Piri Thomas published _Down These Mean Streets_ in 1967. I just read it this past summer, my mother--right after I gave it to her. And the thought that has wondered in is, "why wasn't I told about his book earlier?" Is Piri Thomas' experience, a bond with African American culture that Juan Flores addresses in his book, such a marginal experience in American life, that it took a suggestion by Amazon.com for a man with 4 years of university education to be aware of the book? As the population of Latino/as in the United States grows to the levels of being the largest minority group in the country, there will have to be a shifting of Latina/o literature, theory, and any cultural products from the margins of American life to the center contemporary discussion. It is these products that Juan Flores probes and analyses with keen insight that places the Puerto Rican aspect of the Latino experience into mainstream intellectual thought. From "the Madonna incident" in Puerto Rico, to the ties that Puerto Ricans have with Hip-Hop, and the current status of Puerto Rico that he sadly calls a "Lite Colony," Flores' book is one that should be read by anyone interested in the affairs of American culture.

I have only read about 80% of the book and recommend it to any reader that wants another view of American politics.
While I understand that Charles Osgood is repeating quotes of the candidates over 40+ years, he has done thorough research and has portrayed the candidates in a brighter light in my eyes. I have been interested in history all of my life and I find his book informative and enlightening.
Well worth the money for the book!!!! AAAA++++

In reality, several funny things happened on the way to the White House and Charles Osgood has waded through what has to be a very large pile of clippings in order to bring his readers some of the funniest. The basic format that the book follows is to give a chapter to each presidential election starting with the 1948 contest. Each chapter starts out with a short overview of the election in question and then the fun starts. In each chapter there are direct quotes from the candidates along with blurbs from observers, the media and other political figures and there are things in here that you just won't believe.

Some of the quotes come from very quick-witted candidates who were able to snap off nice one-liners in response to almost any question or situation. Among the best practitioners of this art were Harry Truman, Barry Goldwater, Mo Udall and Ronald Reagan. Other jewels from this treasure chest include foul-ups and misstatements from candidates some of which the candidates immediately tried to correct and others that made perfect sense to the candidate but left everyone else scratching their heads. Vice Presidents Agnew and Quayle lead this category by a mile but along the way Quayle at least realized that he was making a lot of misstatements and told reporters that he was going to start being more careful with his words. He said, "Verbosity leads to unclear, matriculate things." Huh?

This is a must have book for any political junkie with the only drawback being that the book isn't longer. Both Democrats and Republicans say some pretty stupid things sometime and Mr. Osgood has taken this opportunity to remind us that a party label is no barrier to cleverness or unfortunately the occasional bit of stupidity. Even independent candidates like George Wallace and Ross Perot aren't immune form foot in mouth disease and both of them also show up in these pages. There are also little blurbs included that focus on local contests and in one of those there is a congressman who when asked what he planned to do if he was reelected replied, "I'm more worried about what I'm going to do if I'm not reelected." If honesty is the best policy then that guy should have won reelection in a landslide.

This book may not make you any wiser and it may not be the stuff that Pulitzer Prizes are made of but it sure will remind you that all of the candidates are only human and if we are expecting perfection from our candidates or our presidents we are in big trouble. The only person that could fill that bill was born in Bethlehem and is therefore not eligible to be elected president.

Forrest Gump's phrase comes to mind when reading this book, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."
Osgood has put together an excellent selection of humorous quotes and anecdotes from Truman to our current incumbent. Many of them are well known but that does not take from the joy of the book. This is a book best enjoyed if you simply deep into it. It is also a book that might be of real interest to anyone in the public light or a humorous keynote speaker as it contains some wonderful nuggets.

The most humorous elements of the book run from Harry Truman through to the Johnson/Goldwater campaign. Maybe candidates just got more wary in the more intrusive media age, but few of our most recent candidates excite humorous interest except of course Ronald Reagan.

Buy this book and place beside your bedside table. Just a few pages a night will have you sleeping happy.

Listen, my friend, and you shall hear, the odd bit of humour, for this is an election year - - which means the politicians want to fool enough of the people enough of the time to get enough votes and no more.

Jokes do occur on the way to the White House, but few politicians have the courage to indulge heavily in humour. Someone might believe them. Thus, politics is usually deadly dull.

In this vast wasteland of modern politics, though, there are occasional glimmers of wit . . . somewhat akin to seeing flecks of gold in a stream bed. There's not enough to get rich, but it's nice to know gold can still be found in the most tired of stream beds or campaigns.

Osgood does a masterful job in collecting campaign quips, barbs and goofs, which means the book shows a sad recent trend. Fifty years ago, most of the quotes were from candidates; today, the humour of politics is dominated by late night clowns.

Perhaps the 1996 campaign is indicative: Sen. Bob Dole, who challenged President Clinton, was reputed to have a sharp sense of humour. It wasn't expressed in the campaign. Instead, even when Dole smiled, it looked like he'd just evicted a widow.

Politics has lost the sunny optimism and confidence once expressed by Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, and become a business of stolid national survival. It's hard to smile when both parties base their platforms on the choice, "It's us or treason". Politics is now too serious to laugh about, every election is "the most important one in our generation". That's no laughing matter.

Finding humour in today's politicians are like expecting humour from funeral directors in the middle of a service.

Osgood has done a superb job in panning for the golden nuggets of political humour, and the book is packed with the best he could find. But, it's an almost impossible quest; looking for gold in today's politics is like looking for fool's gold in Arizona. It can be found, but what's it worth?

Maybe it's time to ignore the politicians and look for humour among his fellow reporters.

I was stunned by the quality of Shamir's writing. No dry review can convey the richness of his descriptions of the Palestinian landscape and people, and their brutalisation and dispossession by Israel. This is up with the best travely writing, and the best literature ever. The eye and mind just effortlessly gulp up his writing. He is controversial, not just because he exposes the injustice of the occupation, but because he goes to the heart of the matter ( where few dare look), identifying the locus of Israel's power in the financial power of US jewish elites. I think this is obviously correct, but he goes even further; he identifies some facets of jewish culture and religion which he considers malign. I think this should not be off limits, considering the amount of coverage given to those who claim that there is something inherently violent in Islam. But I don't accept his answer - that jews convert to Christianity. I think it's time we all outgrew religion, of any kind. This latter trend in his writing, is not so evident here as in his later writing where it intrudes too much for my taste.
Even if you violently disagree with Shamir, few could fail to be impressed by his writing. At one point, he even draws an analogy with the tv science fiction series, Babylon 5 (my all-time favourite), which shows, to me, that he has a profound sense of what's valuable.Babylon 5 - The Complete Television Series (5-Pack)

A rich and deeply felt examination...

Details life in the Occupied Territories with sensitivity, insight and a fine eye for moral ambiguities. Highly recommended!

It's books like this that remind you some things definitely need to be put into book form to be properly appreciated. I remember reading it sitting outside of a Starbucks several nights in a row and having revelation after revelation alter my perception of the world - and for the better, I knew as one who experiences an epiphany.

The beautiful essays in this book show the heart of someone who truly loves Palestine and its people and makes the reader share that love. I'm ashamed to think of how I used to fall for the portrayal, by "the masters of discourse," of the Palestinians. Shamir, through this book, most certainly helped wise me up.

Shamir has been accused of being anti-Semitic, but actually this formerly Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity is not against any innocent people, be they Jewish or non-Jewish. He is against the ideology of Judaic Supremacism, and God bless him for that.

Reading this book is so rewarding that I can't even come up with words to explain how I feel about it. Divinely inspired, for the most part, I scarcely think are words of hyperbole.

With every word, every phrase, Israel Shamir displays his love
of the holy land. I've read lots of books on the Middle East,
but this is - by far - the most compelling. I really cannot
express how important this book is to me, so I'll include a
quote from Nick Pretzlick, which I agree with wholeheartedly:

"Israel Shamir is in love with the Holy Land. He has a
passion for the land and its people; he believes the
two are umbilically linked. For him there is only one
viable solution to the conflict that has ravaged the
region for so long and that is the one state solution.
Shamir is a humanist and although he is scathing about
Palestine's enemies - the Jewish elite - he takes
pride in and writes lovingly about the courageous
Jews, who resist Israeli crimes.

Flowers of Galilee is a collection of essays, so full
of affection - such an elegy of love - that, reading
it for the first time, I felt impelled to delay the
turning of pages, preferring instead to linger over
images - to savour the sentiments.

Shamir does not pull any punches. He challenges
conventional thinking, but he does so with honesty,
affection and such thorough understanding and
knowledge that his outspokenness is reasonable and
rational. Flowers of Galilee is an eye opener - a
learning experience. It is also enchanting."

Superbly written with eloquence and humour in a style that is accessible to all readers. Presents the concept of wildlife conservation as fundamentally logical and intelligent, without the preachy jargons. Gripping and exhilarating.

The audience cannot help but root for the wildlife conservationists, or risks identifying with corrupt, incestuous, drugged-up, violent imbeciles who choose to disregard conservation to wallow in greed and callous destruction just to satisfy their uncontrollable basal excesses. Thoroughly enjoyed his unrestrained, non-PC disgust with humanity!

Sadly, with a little thought, the audience must realize that it has much more in common with more depraved examples of humanity than with those too rare and few individuals who dedicate their lives to wildlife conservation.

Simply the best wildlife conservation book around. Follow game warden Dave Hall as he works undercover among good ol' boys in Lousiana, Hell's Angels in Alaska and the mafia in New York City in an amazing, accessible (if you can find it) true story that'll be bound to raise your blood pressure over what poaching has done to our wildlife.

Having read Reisner's Cadillac Desert, I couldn't wait to read this. This book is different - and probably more readable to more people. There's more of a defined storyline, and has a more limited number of engaging characters. He follows 3 attempts to protect wildlife from poachers. The style is reminiscent of John McPhee (which I mean as a BIG compliment). If you can find this book, get it!

Reisner is an exhaustive researcher, who then parlays massive factual data into readable, entertaining (sometimes disturbing) prose. I found Game Wars to be more reader-friendly than Cadillac Desert in that the book moved faster and showed me a very human side of wildlife law enforcement. Through Reisner, I was taken along on numerous exciting U.S. Fish & Wildlife missions, including several life-and-death encounters between federal agents and big-time commercial poachers. As usual, Reisner imparts a sense of what the law is, how it works, and where it needs shoring-up. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in animals, law enforcement, or conservation.

The trouble with the majority of writing about climate change and other environmental worries is that they make people think, "Oh, hell. It's too late anyway. Why even try to do anything?" The Geography of Hope is an antidote to this kind of thinking. I am now 54 years old, and when I was 20 years old or so, I devoured ecological jeremiads such as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. The trouble is, back then I actually thought my civilization was doomed to fall apart before the end of the 20th century. This, fortunately, didn't happen and in the meantime I got sidelined by matters too complex to detail here. Now at last I am returning to my environmental roots, but I find I simply no longer have the patience and strength to wade through dour predictions of ecological gloom and doom. Chris Turner's The Geography of Hope is the first book on this topic that I have felt glad to pick up, because it shows that it is really possible to put the brakes to the looming climate train wreck before it occurs and that sustainability is already within our grasp using existing technology, if only we would commit to it. How inspiring!

If anyone is feeling that the world is coming to an end because of human folly...then you must read "The Geography Of Hope"Here you will meet individuals all over the world who are making the world a better place and there is HOPE !!!! Brav0 !!!

Chris Turner takes a year-long tour around the world, visiting places that are implementing solutions for sustainable living. A zero-net energy island in Denmark. Community Supported Agriculture in the southern USA. Plug-in hybrid cars. Earthship homes in New Mexico. Radical improvements in waste recycling in various industries. Examples of New Urbanism in city planning and architecture in Florida, the UK, Denmark, Colorado. Mass transit and city policy in Portland. Finhorn in the UK and Tibetan refugee communities in India -- for agriculture and community and deliberate living. A micro-hydro installation in a remote village on the Burma/Thai border built by local villagers, folks from a nearby refugee camp students, and local NGOs. He looks at questions like "what kinds of planning and structures inspire community?" "What exists NOW that can be building blocks for a truly sustainable world?" Inspiring and casual at the same time.

I have no background in environmentalism or connection to the author. As a general reader I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it informative, inspiring and entertaining in equal parts. An unequivocal five stars!
The author is a journalist and disillusioned environmental activist. He is also a new father, and, concerned for his daughter's future, decided to do a global survey of existing, practical methods of achieving environmental sustainability. His perspective is what makes this book so refreshing: tired of the mainstream environmental movement's two main weapons of guilt and apocalyptic predictions, he searches for not just the means but the inspiration to change the way the world's resources are used. I found this practical, hopeful approach much more compelling than the doom-and-gloom, armchair analyst approach of, say, George Monbiot's Heat.
Potential readers should keep in mind that the author's previous opus was Planet Simpson, an exploration of the cultural significance of an animated cartoon series. This is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it informs his writing with a pop-culture sensibility that makes for entertaining asides and a contemporary grasp of how cultural fashions evolve. On the other hand, the one time I felt we may be getting a little too much information was in the final chapter. There he describes how the epiphany of embracing environmental sustainability occurred to him at a Seattle Lebowski Fest, a cult-like celebration of a movie that he admits to "only begin to understand after the fifth viewing". Presumably fatherhood changed his priorities, and rather than strain his credibility, I found this geeky anecdote disarming. A Greenpeace diatribe this is not.

I have followed David Domke's research for more than five years and have appreciated his thorough documentation and analsyis of a phenomenen that is largely ignored by the mainstream media and unknown to the American public. The phenomenen of political fundamentalism, so carefully covered in his new book, "God Willing," is a must-read for anyone who cherishes American democracy.



Domke's book is the product of meticulous analysis of hundreds of Bush administration speeches, news reports and public opinion polls between the September 11 terrorist attacks and the end of major combat in Iraq. The research clearly shows that Bush strategically cloaked his religiously conservative worldview in nationalistic language and ideas that were reflected consistently by the media and the general public. This religious-cum-political worldview, in turn, framed public discourse in ways that seriously threaten freedoms that are at the heart of a democracy. Complex issues were reduced to simplistic binaries ("You are either with us or you are with the terrorists."). Criticism of the administration's policies was labeled un-American. The War on Terror and invastion of Iraq were justified as America's calling such that dissent was seen as defying God's will.



All Americans, regardless of their political leanings, must agree that such rhetoric, when echoed by the press, limits the free and open discourse that is fundamental to democratic governance. Domke deserves great credit for stepping forward to call on the news media and the public to demand more wide-ranging dialogue, including dissent, on the important issues facing our country. In my book, he's a true patriot.

Over my lifetime, I have come to have a healthy respect for the American free press. Recently, however, I have found myself questioning what I read in the papers and hear coming from other media. Thanks to David Domke and this book, I now understand that my increasing concerns about the American media were well founded. Domke presents clear evidence that George Bush and his staff developed a calculated policy designed to stop all opposition to a Bush/Republican plan dealing with a post 9/11 world and to shut down any healthy exchange of diverse ideas. Based on the research, these actions by the Bush administration have led to an interconnection of religious fundamentalism and political policy that is little different from that of the Taliban or al Qaida - with the obvious inserting of Bush as the person who professes to be carrying out God's will. Domke also presents evidence that these actions by Bush were echoed by the mainstream media so substantially that a policy has been established that essentially says, "you are either with the president or you are against democracy and for the terrorists." Further, there is the suggestion that to challenge the president is to put the nation at great peril. Domke has courage in presenting these research findings. The actions of the Bush administration and the news media were directly counter to fundamental American democratic ideals and principles, and Domke's work makes that clear.

After September 11, 2001, I knew I was frustrated with the Bush administration's use of civil religion to promote its political goals, but I had a hard time articulating my uneasiness. I owe David Domke a debt of gratitude. His book helped me understand what I have been feeling and thinking. Domke uses the phrase "political fundamentalism" to describe the way the Bush administration's uses civil religion.

Political fundamentalism, according to Domke, has four major characteristics:
·A black and white world view that has no patience with complexities
·A sense of urgency that drives towards immediate and enduring action
·Identification of the Christian faith with the values of freedom and liberty
·Intolerance of dissent

For each of these four aspects, Domke presents excerpts from speeches by President Bush between September 11, 2001 and May, 2003, when Bush declared "mission accomplished" in Iraq. Domke analyzes the vocabulary and concepts in Bush's speeches that manifest this approach used so effectively by Bush's administration. Domke notes the way those same words and concepts appear in editorials and TV commentary within a few days of each speech.

The net effect, according to Domke, of the Bush administration's political fundamentalism, and the echoing of those views in the press, is a compromise of the very principles that make democracy work: discussion of various points of view and the willingness to take the time to reach some level of consensus. In fact, Domke argues that our administration is doing the very same kinds of things that the violent Islamic fundamentalists are doing: using religion to justify self-interest.

Everyone who feels uneasy about the Bush Administration's use of religious images, as well as those who have concerns about the way the press helped Bush advance his agenda, should read this book.

Domke shows how the fundamentalist politics based on fundamentalist religion has usurped the democracy "of the people, by the people and for the people". The black and white, right and wrong stance of President Bush and his administration has supplanted the values of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Domke shows how language crafted to fit fundamentalist politics can only be countered with language from a different world view - the language of a world view based in hope not fear.

The Good Death provided me with information that everyone should know! If you have a loved one facing a trminal illness this is the book that you should read. I was especially grateful for the information about pain management, about what to expect, and to learn why we fail so often in this country to make people comfortable in their final days, how our "war on drugs" has tied the hands of doctors and resulted in dying patients being under medicated, often times grossly under medicated even hospices, and what you can do to insure that your loved on will not suffer.

You cannot walk away from this book without a new persepective on how modern issues have affected the death experience. Marilyn Webb not not only brings insight to the reader on how death affects the family and friends, but also the dying. She presents a breadth of knowledge on so many point of views without pushing one or the other, because she knows death is a personal experience.

"The Good Death" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

Offering no soft, simple answers, this book gives a troubling look at many different views of dying in America. A necessary read for anyone interested in not just the spiritual side of dying, but the practical, political, difficult aspects of dying.

When I started reading books on dying (Final Gifts by Maggie Callanan, Patricia Kelley; The Grace in Dying by Kathleen Singh), I read books that gave me hope and comfort in dealing with my own mortality. This book made the hair on my neck rise up.

It begins by shattering illusions (the ones I'd built up) about having a pain-free, easy death. There are insurance companies, personal opinions, differing agendas of a variety of institutions that come into play.

In short, some people have an easier death than others. Webb writes in an easy to read, article style. She begins with a chapter called "Dying Easy", about the nearly beautiful, fairly comfortable death of Judith Hardin, who at 36 dies at home with her husband and children.

"Dying Hard," is based on Webb's personal interviews and experiences with the death of Peter Cicione. Cicione died a death more painful than it needed to be, largely due to medical staff's fears that this dying man was misusing morphine, might overdose or use so much medication that the drugs would no longer be effective (not true).

In "The Sorcerer's Apprenctice" and "When Death Becomes a Blessing," Webb focuses on the history of medical control of pain, the prolonging of life with new medical techniques and modern pain control through the works of Dr. Kathleen Foley, director of neurology pain service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Foley estimated that 5% of the patients she was seeing were "in unassuageable pain." Webb's conservative estimate offers that "109,500 people a year die with unrelieved suffering." Much of this is due to outdated information, old rules, and misunderstandings about how much medication a dying person in severe pain can and should get. She offers the possibility that terminally ill patients who want to commit suicide or look for assistance in dying might not do this, if their pain could be properly handled.

She has chapters about the legal conflicts for families who want comatose relatives off of life-support systems, with detailed information about Karen Quinlan and Nancy Cruzan's cases and the affects on their families long after these women died.

"Bearing the Burden" focuses on what happens to the lives of families with a terminally ill member - "The sad secret that many don't want to admit is that care at home, wonderful as it can be in helping a patient to a good death, is hard on families. Home care may allow for those close, intimate, late-night times with the dying family member...but there are also the difficult times: changing diapers, losing sleep or feeling intense anxiety because the patient is in pain or can't breath..."

This first half of the book is tough reading, but necessary - for there is still a lot of work to be done to make dying easier. The second half of the book deals with hospice; assisted dying (suicides); spirituality in dying.

She closes with 10 common factors 'good deaths' have - 1) open, ongoing communication with doctors, patients, families 2) preservation of the patient's decision-making powers for as long as possible 3) sophisticated pain control 4) limits on excessive treatment (medical interventions, per the patient) 5) focus on preserving the patient's quality of life 6) emotional support 7) financial support 8) family support 9) spiritual support 10) patient isn't abandoned by the medical staff even when curative treatment is no longer required.

She also has 10 changes, which she believes need to be made to change the culture of dying from a cold, hospital-set detachment to a family affair. These encompass everything from expanding health insurance to cover needs currently not met, to legalization of assisted suicide.

If you have given little thought to some of the darker sides of dying, focusing as I have on the spiritual and more uplifting side, this book offers a lot of food for thought. Well-written, easy to read, disturbing.

Even if you have different opinions than Webb has (about assisted suicide, for example), this book is a good read to investigate the other side's information and arguments.

i read this book almost 8 years ago while travelling in central america. i forgot its title then but never forgot its message. i have only just tracked it down - it was worth the wait and what it has to say is every bit as important as i remembered it. perhaps now (post 11th september) it is even more poignant, illustrating the inability of the 'west' to learn from mistakes in its foreign policy, how the lives of others are affected by this and how our complicity in this debases our own humanity. with this book, i understood so much more than i could otherwise have done, the feelings of the people i met in C.Am, particularly in nicaragua. i love the people there, the lack of malice and bitterness they are entitled to, that i felt on their behalf.
it is an essential read, for anyone interested in global politics, for anyone thinking of going travelling there, for anyone...well, for anyone.

This book was required reading for a history course I took at university. It is one of the most memorable books I read while at university; in fact I actually re-read it cover-to-cover while in law school. The writing is entertaining and it has a very clever layout with interesting historical photos and illustrations. The author describes the historical events covered by the book in a fresh and persuasive style which is rarely seen in books about history or politics. I wish Black or other authors would produce more works like this on other periods of history or political topics.

The history of U.S. involvment south of its border is an ugly and painful one, full of rapacious corporations, support for torture and dictatorships, and dripping in racism. Bringing this sordid history to light is Black, who makes the history both entertaining and powerful. In a fast-reading book, loaded with photos, political cartoons, and illustrations, Black manages to swiftly educate Americanos of all kinds about this amazing history. Highly recommended!

It is a crime that George Black's Good Neighbor has been out of print. Written with a wry style and a British detachment from the assumptions of U.S. culture, Black explores the history of what he regards as a neurotic United States romping though Central America from the Spanish American war onward. While I disagree with his premise that there is an irrationality to U.S. behavior in Latin America, my students love this book. Beautifully and intelligently illustrated.