Events Books

Mr. Hunter spent 17.5 years in the British army, 10 of which were in bomb disposal. Eight lives down focuses on 4 months of his tour in Iraq, with the first two as his last stint as an ATO (ammunition technical officer). He and his team were so successful in diffusing bombs that insurgents took a disliking to him with a price on his head. His next two months were spent as a weapons intelligence officer, a position he reluctantly accepted but grew to like.

Major Hunter was married with two kids when he deployed to Iraq, despite one more empty promise in a string of broken promises not to spend time away from his wife on dangerous missions. Iraq would become his longest mission away from home, during which he became borderline paranoid about his wife divorcing him. It's a wonder why a married man with two small kids would prefer the rush of adrenaline from diffusing bombs to spending time with his family. "I've never taken drugs," he said, "but I don't believe there's anything that will ever equal the exhilaration of that tour," referring to Iraq.

Chris Hunter wrote this book under an alias for security reasons. His intent was to share his experience of what it was like to be terrified, how his family coped with his time away and the ever present danger of losing him, and how soldiers like him react to the pressures of the day to day grinds in battle.

In this action packed book, Mr. Hunter compiled the most exciting events of his tour in Iraq sure to satisfy the appetite of even casual military and combat enthusiasts.

As an American Navy EOD operator, I've had the opportunity to rub shoulders with Chris's mates in the same theater of operations, and it doesn't get realer than EIGHT LIVES DOWN. From the numbing boredom and anxiety while waiting for "the call", to the controlled terror of "the long walk", Chris has done a spot on job of revealing the persona typical of the joes who go in first to save lives and property, without going so far as to reveal the techniques and secrets that allow most of us to come home with all of our fingers. This is the reason that, while you'll find scads of books about other special operations units (SEALS, SAS, Green beret's, etc.), you'll find very little written about these publicity shy operators. By far the best insight into military tactical bomb disposal I have ever encountered. Great job Chris...I trust you're enjoying Nine.

This is a non-fiction account of the tour of duty of a British bomb disposal operator in Iraq in 2004. The title is a reference to the fact that the bomb disposal squad in Northern Ireland were called "Felix" (meaning that they have nine lives, like a cat). It's an amazing story, so packed with action and danger that it would seem unbelievable if it were fiction. The first half in particular is so tense, so fast-paced that you find yourself longing for the occasional brief interludes of downtime just so that you can catch a breath! The book was very reminiscent for me of the Jamie Foxx/Jennifer Garner movie "The Kingdom" - and it made me realize that the film was more realistic than I had previously thought.

Chris Hunter is a very likeable narrator who is also extremely brave and passionate about what he does. He doesn't just bring the action scenes alive, but also manages to convey what it is that soldiers love about what they do, even when it puts them in extreme danger. He also talks a lot about his family back in the UK and the strains that his army career put on his marriage. This fleshes his character out and makes it a far more interesting book than if it were just about the action on the ground.

I did feel that parts of this book got a little hard to follow due to the military jargon, but that probably more a reflection on the fact that this is an unusual choice of book for me rather than on the book itself. I was engrossed in Eight Lives Down and I highly recommend it.

In "Eight Lives Down" Chris Hunter does his part to shed light on the EOD operations in Iraq from his first hand experience as a Royal Logistic Corps Ammunition Technical Officer (ATO) serving in Basra. Hunter's counter-IED efforts were so successful that he was personally targeted by the Mahdi Army, a dubious honor previously reserved for ATOs operating in Northern Ireland.
It is enough that Hunter chronicles his team performing multiple hair-raising render safe procedures, but the impact on the reader is amplified by valuable insight tied together with strong writing. In "Eight Lives Down," military enthusiasts and historians will appreciate Hunter's reflective points about the challenges of counter-insurgency. Those new to the world of bomb disposal will find themselves suitably educated into its procedures and associated dangers. Any fan of non-fiction will empathize with the inclusions of Hunter's personal touch, describing the difficulty in maintaining family life from a war zone. Finally, those who served in Iraq will undoubtedly be transported back to their service there through these pages. I predict that in years hence, when queried about their service, EOD Technicians who served in Iraq will point to a copy of Eight Lives Down and say, "Read this first." Hooya, Major Hunter.

Also recommended: A Special Kind of Courage: 321 EOD Squadron Battling the Bombers,The Longest Walk: The World of Bomb Disposal, BOMB SQUAD: A YEAR INSIDE THE NATION'S MOST EXCLUSIVE POLICE UNIT, America's First Frogman: The Draper Kauffman Story

Es un "manifiesto" en el sentido estricto: explica lo que anda mal en el mundo y propone un programa para resolverlo; su nombre "comunista" fue vindicado a unos tres lustres más adelante con la Comuna de Paris, cuando los humildes plebes crearon un Estado nuevo y equitativo.

Para quien tenga el compromiso social, es una lectura provechosa; para quienes que están enojados con la injusticia y quieren cambiar el mundo, es una lectura obligatoria.

Escrito por un par de jóvenes de menos de 30 años, da argumentos contundentes de porque no sirve el capitalismo -todos aplicables a su versión más reciente y feroz, llámese "globalización", "privatización" o cómo sea.

La semana antes de que escribo esta crítica, el presidente de México echó al presidente de Cuba de una reunión internacional de "desarrollo" por haber sacado a la luz datos como las tres personas más ricos del mundo cuentan con una riqueza que equivale a los ¡48 países! más pobres del planeta.

Este dato hace eco a mi parte favorita del Manifiesto -la segunda (sección)- donde Marx y Engels burlaron duro a la hipocresía de los burgueses. Toman los exactos argumentos con que los poderosos denunciaron a anarquistas y comunistas de la época, y los refutan mostrando que éstos son precisamente los pecados de los mismos burguesas: por ejemplo, denunciaron a los comunistas por buscar establecer una comunidad de mujeres, pero ¡es el capital que las obliga a vender sus cuerpos! Entonces son los comunistas que podemos abocar para la liberación de la mujer, no el flamante mercado libre.

Lo mejor expresandonos qué es el comunismo. ese fantasma que inevitablemente tendrá que llegar.....

Este es la edición más útil de la obra clásica de 1848 de Carlos Marx y Federico Engels, fundadores del movimiento comunista internacional. La exposición del método científico de analizar la historia y los crisis del sistema capitalista, la perspectiva de lucha de los trabajadores para tomar el poder político y forjar una nueva sociedad, el socialismo; la discusión de consignas y medidas prácticas para la organización del movimiento de los trabajadores, todos son cuestiones imprescindibles para nosotros al comienzo del siglo XXI. Incluye los prefacios de Marx y Engels a las ediciones de 1872 y 1890.
La edición de Pathfinder es la más importante porque incluye un artículo escrito en 1938 por León Trotsky, quien junto con V.I. Lenin fue dirigente principal de la revolución rusa de 1917. Trotsky explica que "el manifiesto comunista" sigue siendo de suma importancia hoy en día. También analiza los cambios en el mundo capitalista desde 1848, incluyendo el desarrollo de los monopolios económicos, el papel del estado, las relaciones entre las distintas clases sociales, y la creciente unidad de condiciones de luchas de los trabajadores y agricultores de todos los países del mundo.

El manifiesto representa la mejor manera de abrir los ojos a las generaciones futuras en pro del comunismo y en contra de este modelo neoliberal en el cual estamos inmersos. Una forma lúcida de reaccionar ante las imposiciones imperialistas del NORTE.

¿Que hacer? ¿Que podemos hacer: trabajadores, agricultores, jóvenes-- viviendo todas las consecuencias de la creciente crisis capitalista? ¿Y cómo hacerlo juntos, y no en formas aisladas e ineficaces?
Este libro contiene muchas materiales para estudiar, aprender y aprovechar sobre estas cuestiones tan importantes. Se trata sobre todo de experiencias de trabajadores socialistas en Estados Unidos, pero las lecciones son bien relevantes en cualquier parte del mundo. ¡Un libro de historia y de acción obrera!
Analiza el desarrollo de la sociedad capitalista desde los años 70, el impacto de los movimientos de mases para los derechos civiles del pueblo negro y los chicanos, las luchas reivindicando igualdad para las mujeres, la lucha en contra la guerra norteamericana en Vietnam. También ricas experiencias de lucha obrera: la huelga nacional de los mineros de carbón, la lucha para organizar el astillero Newport News y más. Y cuestiones de tácticas y estrategias para organizarse: relaciones entre obreros de conciencia de clase y la burocracia sindical, propaganda y agitación, organización y formación de un partido de vanguardia de los trabajadores.
Me gusta mucho la sección de fotos, que presenta imágenes vivos de los seres humanos envueltos en distintas luchas del pueblo trabajador.
¡Léalo y compártelo con otros compañeros y compañeras!

To understand the world you need this book. Since the middle
1970s life for working people in the US has been the ups and downs of attacks on our standards of living, little depressions,booms,more attacks, more wars, racism, even threats of fascism, a stock market crash, and now a looming world economic
crisis. The documents assembled in this book from the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s chart this development from the standpoint of the Socialist Workers Party. Just as importantly, they chart the lessons and strategies of building a working class response to
this change, and the creative experience of the SWP in building a revolutionary workers party into the twenty-first century. Some day this book will rank with Lenin's What is to be Done, Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, and Cannon's Struggle for a proletarian party among the tools socialist workers use to change the world

To understand the world you need this book. Since the middle
1970s life for working people in the US has been the ups and downs of attacks on our standards of living, little depressions,
booms,more attacks, more wars, racism, even threats of fascism, a stock market crash, and now a looming world economic
crisis. The documents assembled in this book from the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s chart this development from the standpoint
of the Socialist Workers Party. Just as importantly, they chart the lessons and strategies of building a working class response to this change, and the creative experience of the SWP in building a revolutionary workers party into the twenty-first century. Some day this book will rank with Lenin's What is to be Done, Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution, and Cannon's Struggle for a proletarian party among the tools socialist workers use to change the worl

El sindicato es demasiado débil. La dirección es un amigo del patrón.
Toda la gente se queda con los que hablan su lengua y en la cafetería no
se mezclan con los demás. Uno quiere luchar junto por los demás, a favor
de todos los trabajadores, ¿pero cuando vamos unir? Este libro es un
manual para los decidios a tomar un próximo paso. Plantea como debemos
ser internacionalistas; pensar y actuar en términos internacionales;
usar, cambiar y transformar nuestros sindicatos en armas políticas y
sociales en contra todos los súper ricos. Tenemos que construir la
unidad de todos las "razas", entre hombres y mujeres, entre los
inmigrantes y los trabajadores "nacidos en los Estados Unidos". Sobre
todo, tenemos que construir el partido revolucionario de los
trabajadores más consciente y más solidario de todos. El premio para
este proceso es un futuro realmente humano: tomar el poder político, tal
como los trabajadores cubanos hicieron hace más de 40 años -pero aquí en
las entrañas de la bestia imperial yanqui-. Esto es un libro por cada
trabajador y trabajadora consciente.

I had to read this book for my State and Local Government class. I'm not from Minnesota (although my roommate is and insists that he was voted in as a joke - but whatever), but this book gave lots of background and plenty of information for Non-Minnesotans. Writer Jacob Lentz gives a short background before going into the story of Jesse Ventura's campaign, and then analyzing Ventura's victory in the last chapters. This isn't a "celebrity" book. You won't find any information about Ventura's wrestling career here. But for those interested in political science and why Ventura got elected, this book makes for a fascinating read.

Having been a fan of Lentz for years, I feel that this book is the pinnacle of his writing achievements to date. As another member of the "Jacob Lentz Official Fan Club" put it, "This book will hurt your brain and make you weep". Lentz has established himself as one of the pre-eminent American authors of the mid-late 1990's era and hopefully, will continue to impress the American public with his eloquent verbosity. Bravo.

This is a great book. Read it and weep over the beauty of the prose, the breadth of the insight, and the joy of being a human alive and reading.

As somewhat of a pundit and a native Minnesotan I had been waiting for ANY analysis of Ventura's victory beyond our abysmal newspapers' and Ventura's own "We shocked the world." After having just begun this remarkable book I wondered why I had no other works by Mr. Lentz in my library. This smart, crisp analysis is extraordinary in both its breadth and depth. Simply page through the bibliography and footnotes and you will understand what I mean. This would be a perfect addition to any class (or individual) interested in the rising third party movements in our country, and will pleasantly surprise both the novice and the seasoned pundit with it's readability.

The book is a unique compilation of information that cogently makes the case that poverty is largely misunderstood by the non-poor, mis-diagnosed by politicians and pundits, and the remedies usually prescribed are nearly always nostrums and panaceas which only add misery to the miserable.

The book lists commonly held but untrue myths about poverty and poor people, and gives evidence that such attitudes are the heritage of English law established nearly 500 years ago and carried forward into the colonies and later states. Think of "Oliver Twist" and the social norms and attitudes toward poor people of that time - that's out heritage.

The book is a comprehensive deflation of the overwrought fear mongering, character assination, and easy dismissal of the poor. It proposes a down to earth, realistic focus on and admission thatlow wages are the root cause of most poverty in America today. The author, Bill Quigley proposes adoption of a constitutional amendment to establish a right to a job that pays a living wage to all Americans who can work. Polly Anna? That's what was said about Child labor laws, minimum wage, mandatory overtime pay, social security and many other rights and protections we now take for granted. Additionally, the book details the cost of poverty to Americans, who in truth are now subsidizing commercial enterprises. That subsidy comes by way of their taxes, used to supplement the income and the survival of workers paid so little that they and their children cannot live without "public assistance". Most poor work!

If you are opposed to the concept, I urge you to read the book nonetheless, if only to know more about how history has shaped our views, prejudices and laws dealing with poverty issues and the poor. If you have a better answer to reducing poverty and its costs - go for it!! But learn a little reality before you define the problem. Read this book.

While I would like to see everyone in America able to achieve a good job at a wage that feeds their family and houses them comfortably, the facts of economics fight against this dream. Creating a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee a right to a good-paying job is foolish in the face of the basic economic laws of supply and demand. Someone supplies a job based on their need for the labor; someone agrees to do the job based on their willingness to work and their need for money, and the number of competitors willing to do such work and qualified to do the work. While I nearly cried when I visited the Tenement Museum of the Lower East Side of New York, and while I believe in the reforms that moved workers out of sweatshops, sweatshops still exist and immigrants coming legally or illegally to the US are doing labor for less than minimum wage. Why? Because they need the money, and the competition abroad from lower wage earners make our minimum wage unprofitable for business.

How do we bridge the gap between low cost foreign work (where even high-tech and skilled jobs are flowing) and our own cost of living, which is admittedly high? This book has NONE of the answers. Merely passing a law cannot push back the massive forces of economics. The author suggests Lester Thurow's solution of a massive government jobs program. The last time this was tried, it created sinecures for those privileged to land a government program job, and didn't teach anyone marketable skills. Even HeadStart is paying low wages to teachers, neither improving their skills or improving the readiness of the hapless client children who are supposed to be getting an education from this low-paid government job holders. There are countless examples of why what Dr. Quigley suggests has already failed, and passing a Constitutional Amendment is just another brick on the way to a failed socialistic system that costs the American worker a percentage of what they earn and throws it away on those who don't produce (the bureaucrats and their clientele that are not meeting market needs.)

Why don't we find a way to make American products and services in demand, free up business to fuel an economy with high demand for all labor services? Remember when unemployment was so low, jobs went begging? It was barely five years ago. We can have that again, and have even the poorest able to find work at more than minimum wage. But not this way.

It's an enticing proposition: eliminate poverty as we know it, simply by giving everyone the right to a job and a living wage. But is it valid? This is the question I kept asking as I made my way from chapter to chapter.

A key problem Quigley doesn't even address: the globalization of labor. It's not just low-skilled manufacturing jobs that American companies outsource to China et al. nowadays. It's white collar desk jobs too; highly educated Indians gladly take $5,000/year for a job that would cost $50,000 in the US. It's a king's ransom for them, but for us, it's illegally below minimum wage. This is a problematic anomaly which stands as a major threat to America's economy. If we implemented Quigley's constitutional amendment, the threat might loom closer still. The author's utter silence here was most disappointing.

Despite that lapse, I recommend a reading. Its diverse facts and figures, while often repetitive, can be eye-opening. The numbers suggest we pay for poverty one way or another. At present, we subsidize parasitic employers and grant wealthy corporations obscenely generous loopholes. Redeploying our public assets to help the less fortunate into dignified employment might be a good idea. I smile at the simple beauty of it.

Two people that I respect very much have this to say about this book.
Lani Guinier, Harvard Law Prof and co-author of Miner's Canary says:
ýBill Quigley draws on the common sense of Thomas Paine, the moral inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the political wisdom of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to issue a bold challenge for our society: to guarantee people who want to work the right to a job at a living wage. In a brave and witty book that is both visionary and practical, Quigley reminds us that if once-radical ideas like social security and the abolition of slavery can become realities, then the current partnership between poverty and work can be upended too.ý
Sr. Helen Prejean, social activist and author of Dead Man Walking says: "Bill Quigley's book makes us believe that America can really change for the better and provide a decent job and a fair wage to hard-working families. This is a very important book. Bill brings a lifeteim of knowledge and commitment to this; and he really shows us, step by step, how it can be done."
This book points out that over 45 million people in the US live in poverty. Over 30 million work and earn less than $8.20 an hour and another 15 million people are either out of work or working part-time and would like to be working full-time. I review the real facts and stories about poverty in the US today, especially among the working poor. After reviewing our history and surprising public and religious support for the right to a job and the right to a living wage, I call for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing every person the right to a job at a living wage.
Hope this helps explain what it is about. Peace!

"Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, 1956-58" is Ernesto Guevara’s own account of the final 2 years of the revolutionary war that led to the first socialist revolution of the Americas. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, born in Argentina in 1928, became a central leader of the Cuban revolution of 1959. Many people in the United States today know only a romanticized version of this outstanding communist leader through such things as the recent film, “The Motorcycle Diaries.” "Episodes" is an unexaggerated, honest account of how the last years of the Cuban revolutionary war were conducted. This marvelous book tells the real story of how the young, adventurous Ernesto Guevara – whose compassion for and interest in the peoples of Latin America shows even in “The Motorcycle Diaries” – became Che Guevara, the committed, Marxist leader. Full of warmth, eloquence, and, at times, poetic sensibilities, Che’s diaries show us how the Cuban communist leadership was forged in battle; how the revolutionary combatants cemented bonds with peasants in the countryside and with workers in the cities; and how a popular revolutionary government was built on these foundations. This book is a must-read for any revolutionary minded fighter today.

Why does Cuba provide doctors for underdeveloped countries throughout the world-something which far richer countries are unwilling to do? This book by Che shows how Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement has always taken the moral high ground, going back to their triumph over hated dictator Batista. Che documents the reasons for this in these articles, many of which were written as the fighting was going on. He discusses the revolutionaries' respect for the peasants and the way the peasants helped to move the revolutionaries toward a deeper understanding of the class forces involved in the Cuban revolution. This made it possible to integrate many peasants into the revolutionary army. Che describes the care that was taken to treat rank and file enemy soldiers well, especially the wounded. His crystal clear writing style and fine sense of humor are based on a total grasp of the situation. This book includes two superb articles on Che, one by his comrade Fidel Castro and another by the editor, Mary-Alice Waters, as well as valuable notes, glossary, chronology, and index. While amazon may list this book as unavailable from time to time, it is always available from booksfrompathfinder listed under "new and used" at the top of this page.

Che's unique and splendid writting style manifests itself in this excellent book, detailing the myriad battles and episodes of the Cuban Revolution. A must for all!!!

First, a great book! Second, the author is none other than Che Guevara. Third, humorously and eloquently written, Che explains a revolutionary's fight for a better life in Cuba leading up to the victory in 1959! A must read for any Che or Cuba fan!

This sixth book of A Series of Unfortunate Events is breathtaking. The orphans are in search for the 2 Qaugmire triplets while staying in a 72 room penthouse apartment. Later on they find an ersatz elevator with the Quagmire triplets at the bottom. The triplets tell their friends arout the count's evil plans. Will the orphans save the triplets before count olaf suceeds? Check it out in this spontaneous novel.

The book, The Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator is about three young orphans who are trying to find their two friends that seem to have the same misfortune as the Bartlaire orphans. Count Olaf, the evil villain, is trying to steel both their fortunes. The Quagmires tried to help the Bartlaires get out of Olaf's clutches. When he found out about their fortune, he kidnapped them. The Bartlaire orphans have been tying to find them ever since. You have to read the book if you want to find out if the story had a happy ending!

After reading The Ersatz Elevator I felt that the book was great. I also felt bad for the Baudelaire orphans because of the ending. Another feeling that I felt was that I couldn't wait to read the next book. This book was what I expected and so much more.

In this book the Baudelaires are on their way to go meet the Squalors, their new guardians. When they finally get to the penthouse of the apartment building on Dark Avenue after climbing all of those flights of steps they are exhausted. Day by day they learn more and more about what is in and out from Eseme Squalor, one of their new guardians, while trying to figure out what Count Olaf is up to. Lemony Snicket made this book completely fictional. He also wrote the other books in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

I liked this book because of how the Baudelaires make several mistakes to trying to figure out how to save the Quagmire triplets before Count Olaf gets them. Another reason why I loved this book was because that once the Baudelaires were starting to figure stuff out the book got way more exciting.

I liked this book. I really think that you should read the first five books in the series before reading this book, but don't let my opinion stop you from reading this excellent book. I think that this book was made for ages 10 and up.

I think this is a great book to read beacuse "Lemony Snicket" included conflicts towards the characters that makes you keep on reading so you can find out what will happen next. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat!

"The germs of existence contained in this spot of earth, with ample food, and ample room to expand in, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a few thousand years." --Thomas R. Malthus, Principle of Population

When I filled out and mailed my census questionnaire in 2000, I reflected upon Malthus's sobering classic, An Essay on the Principle of Population. When I was in elementary school in the 1960's, I remember reading optimistic reports in my Weekly Reader that new high-yielding crops would make it possible to meet the food requirements of the world. If those utopians were familiar with Malthus's essay, their visions for the future welfare of humanity might have been less optimistic. However, if there was over-optimism then, it has largely vanished now.

Who has not viewed educational television programs discussing the severe stresses on the global environment due to our excessive consumption of both renewable and nonrenewable resources? Environmentalists highlight the dire energy and environmental problems facing us in the future. The poorer countries would also like to enjoy the benefits of industrialization that will, of course, further tax our resources and stress our environment. Even if we assume the environmentalists exaggerate our circumstances, even the scientifically illiterate comprehend that the capacity of the earth to support life is finite. In the face of such problems, Malthus's three "incontrovertible truths" are as relevant today as the day he penned them:

"That population cannot increase without the means of subsistence, is a proposition so evident, that it needs no illustration.

"That population does invariably increase, where there are the means of subsistence, the history of every people that have ever existed will abundantly prove.

"And, that the superior power of population cannot be checked, without producing misery or vice, the ample portion of these too bitter ingredients in the cup of human life, and the continuance of the physical causes that seem to have produced them, bear too convincing a testimony."

Both liberals and conservatives have hated Malthus's essay. It dumps cold water on humanitarian hopes and can be used in support of abortion rights and government restrictions on family size. To our peril, we would like to live, aided by technology, in denial of Malthus's postulate, "Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio." To our endangerment, we would prefer to luxuriate in ignorance of his observation that his postulate "implies a strong and constantly operating check on population fromn the difficulty of subsistence." Says Malthus, "This difficulty must fall some where; and must necessarily be severely felt by a large portion of mankind." Where will this "difficulty of subsistence" put a check on our currently growing world population?

When I was born in 1957, the world population was just under 2.9 billion. It is now over 6 billion. The U.S. Bureau of the Census estimates that the world population will reach 9.3 billion in 2050. With the technological enhancement of our ability to augment our means of subsistence, have we deceived ourselves into believing that we can indefinitely defy the principles of population that Malthus contended were "incontrovertible truths"? Are we robbing from our future by building up a high-interest debt to nature that will lead us to bankruptcy?

We are in need of the fortitude and love of truth that enabled Malthus to say of himself the following:

"[H]e has not acquired that command over his understanding which would enable him to believe what he wishes, without evidence, or to refuse his assent to what might be unpleasing, when accompanied with evidence."

Indeed, the evidence is clear to anyone not addicted to postmodern and new age paradigms of unreason. If we do not put a check on our population, then inevitably, as Malthus puts it, "necessity" will check it via "misery and vice." Thus, Malthus's essay is not just and old classic; it is an old classic containing a valid warning for people of our world today.

In his excellent review on Amazon Joseph D. Widiger lists three incontrovertible principles of Malthus:

"That population cannot increase without the means of subsistence, is a proposition so evident, that it needs no illustration."( But of course today we have population declining in many areas of the world where food is superabundant. In otherwise Malthus did not foresee the kind of demographic transition Mankind is going through, precisely in those societies which have freed themselves completely from living at subsistence level.
)
The second principle is as follows:
"That population does invariably increase, where there are the means of subsistence, the history of every people that have ever existed will abundantly prove.( Again this is no longer the case. We are according to demographers such as Ben Wattenberg and Kenneth Longman living in a ' birth dearth' era at least in the most advanced societies of Europe.)

The third principle is:
"And, that the superior power of population cannot be checked, without producing misery or vice, the ample portion of these too bitter ingredients in the cup of human life, and the continuance of the physical causes that seem to have produced them, bear too convincing a testimony."
In opposite ,the global transformations involving movements of masses of people from the countryside to the city,the increase in the level of education of women, the invention of safe means of contraception have all taken the ' necessity' out of Malthus 'law'.
We live in a different situation than the one he envisaged. And even if global malnutrition does persist, it does not persist because of problems of scarcity but rather of distribution.
All of this of course, does not diminish Malthus genius, or the rightful place he has in the history of social science. For he was the first to truly give an understanding the tremendous importance that population size has on the character and quality of societies.

The Malthusian theory on population was written in 1798.
Malthus believed that the population increased faster than the supply of food available to feed people. He argued that increments in food production due to innovation would stimulate
higher increases in the population growth. Ultimately,
the population would stabilize by famine, death and disease.
Some of these basic principles are being experienced today.
Millions have died from the AIDS disease. In addition, third
world countries are plaqued by famine despite the technological
innovations in food production and distribution. The writings
of Malthus encouraged the first studies in demography.
His readings on population are very critical to an understanding
of our modern day problems with food production, distribution
and innovative techniques to manage a series of continuing
crises in the third world countries.

This book by Malthus is essential for the evolution of the economy thought. Its principles were taken by others economist and sociologist to make their own theories, David Ricardo for example, one of the most important authors of the clasic school. Malthus recomendations had influenced remarkable politicians, who change importants laws in England based on Malthus ideas. A must for everyone interested in the early economy books.

Great summaries of different theoretical approaches to working with families including techniques and where the theory originated from.

This is a clear, concise and informative text that outlines the fundementals of family therapy. The title accurately describes the text. A must for those who are entering into family therapy!

I am currently taking a Family Therapy course and I mistakenly bought this book. After buying the required text and examining the two, I decided that this one was a "keeper."

The authors are practioners in the field who have accumulated years of wisdom and knowledge about how the family functions. They do an excellent job of presenting the major treatment paradigms, without injecting their own biases into the explanation. I found this book to be immensely readable, and easy to digest and apply. I have been using this book more than the required text for the simple reason that it is very well organized, the theoretical presentations well thought out, and the writing style is warm and engaging.

I definately recommend this book. No way I will resell this one.

This is one of the best textbooks I have encountered for the beginning family therapist. It offers great theoretical explanation with helpful application to everyday practice. I would recommend it to anyone!

A very useful work, presenting two speeches from the mid-1920s by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky analyzing big developments in the world economy and political and military relations between major capitalist powers in the decade after World War I. Trotsky speaks as a tested leader of mass working class struggles and aims not just to observe developments but to help others understand what change is possible if workers and toilers of the countryside organize in a revolutionary movement. And while world has changed since the 1920's, the underlying causes of conflicts have not, making this pamphlet all the more useful to help orient oneself today.

The issues Trotsky explains should be very familiar to anyone in the early part of the 21st century: worldwide economic stagnation and poverty, sharper conflicts between major imperialist powers (France's 1923 invasion of Germany, the declining British empire, the rising American and Japanese empires), the first manifestations of fascism, the state of the labor movement. I found particularly useful Trotsky's observations on the forms of conflict Washington used in relation to the European powers, a `pacifist' imperialism that intervened militarily around the world. And they are wonderful example of the careful use of Marxism method in the scientific analysis of world developments.

As follow-up, I'd recommend Leon Trotsky on Britain, the Struggle Against Fascism in Germany, In Defense of Marxism and The Spanish Revolution (1931-39).

Disparaging the weakened European powers with the well-earned assurance of a victorious Bolshevik, Trotsky explains in the 1920s why Britain has become the handmaiden of the US, why Canada is, to all intents and purposes, a US state, and foresees another unimaginably brutal world war as Europe and America fight over Asia. This kind of sweep helps place the France vs. US bickering over exactly how to plunder and subjugate Iraq in March 2003 in the much bigger frame of a disintegrating imperial system. Trotsky backs up his conviction that social revolution -- like the one he helped lead in Russia -- can provide the only alternative to further conflagration, with concrete historical detail on the labor movement's experiences in the Europe of his time. Definitely a good thing to read at the beginning of the 21st century.

The history of modern society has been marked by imperialism's need to have one top dog among the imperialist powers. First there was the struggle the fight by Germany and the US and Japan to push Britain and France aside that led to scores of millions of death in two world wars. Since the late 1960s the growing competition between Europe and Japan with the United States has come to the center of world politics. Trotsky outlines this competition in these two speeches given just after the First World War. Yet, the same contradictions are behind the two Bushes' wars against Iraq. As badly as Washington wants to prevent any nation in the Arab East from being able to defend itself against US aggression, Washington wants to use With its possession of the world's greatest murder machine--the US military-to gain the upper hand over the imperialist powers in Europe and Japan. The oil in Iraq is buts another trump card against Europe and Japan, dependant as they are on that oil. These, and not any greater proclivity for peace or concern with the rights of the peoples of Iraq, are the causes of the frictions between Washington, Bonn, and Paris over conquest of Iraq. Trotsky analyzes these frictions and explains that there is no way out of this wrangling, and the wars and disasters it breeds but replacing the rule of the imperialists with the rule of working people!


While this book is not always available on Amazon, it is always available from BooksfromPathfinder, an Amazon Z store that you can get to by clicking on New and Used further up this page!

Opposed to U.S. wars? Wondering about the U.S.-French friction? Read this concise outline of how the U.S. emerged into, as Trotsky described it, the capitalist overlord of Europe and the rest of the world. Trotsky outlines the economic and military basis of U.S. dominance and the deceitful stratagems it was able to employ in the early years of its world role-and still does. Trotsky's historic perspective helps us to see that U.S. aggression today operates more and more from a position of weakness. Don't be awed by the monster, understand it, learn its vulnerable points. Read this clear analysis.