Events Books

For those of you who missed out on all the now-absurd controversies of the late 90's, read this book cover to cover---even if you don't buy into Katha Pollitt's worldview (or even The Nation's worldview, for that matter). Pollitt is a fine thinker who, in this collection more so than in her previous collection, shows that she is indeed capable of casting criticism any which way she sees fit, to the left or to the right.

Of her other book, readers have written that Pollitt isn't "brave" enough to take on the challenges facing ALL women (i.e. minority women, uneducated women, women who don't live in NYC). True enough, at times we know where she's headed from the first few sentences alone; and there's a lot of typical Paglia-bashing and catering to the liberal, educated masses. But Pollitt's scope is ranged in this collection.

In one piece, Pollitt scathingly, yet reasonably, condemns Mary Daly's refusal to allow a male student into her all-female course on feminist ethics; in another piece cleverly titled "The Million Man Mirage," she criticizes Louis Farrakhan's brand of homophobic, racist, anti-Semitic, and sexist political thinking which somehow passes for "liberal." And of course, Pollitt brings into light many issues of importance for woman and men alike: the need for reproductive rights, a modest proposal for deadbeat dads, the limitations of single-sex education and school prayer, the double standards facing professional women, marriage and its discontents, etc etc etc.

Basically, this collection is for anyone wanting to "put things into perspective" and make sense of the senseless.

This collection of Pollitt's columns for The Nation shows all her virtues: her considerable wit, her intelligence, her ability to present feminist views in a clear and coherent manner. She has a keen eye for the media's fatuities; its tendency to split the difference and to move to the stronger side, its fear that it will be viewed as too liberal, the fact that most journalists and columnists are male which does not prevent them from whining about how powerful feminists are.

Consider these thoughts on the perniciousness of sports: "Fans say athletics promote values and so they do--the wrong values, like the childish confusion of physical prowess with `character' that is such a salient feature of the O.J. Simpson trial. Sports pervert education, draining dollars from academic programs and fostering anti-intellectualism. They skew the priorities of the young, especially the poor, black young, by offering them the will-o'-the-wisp incentive of a scholarship, physically gifted kids might not be so ready to blow off their schoolwork. Why not give scholarships for art or music instead?"

Or consider this line about funding for the Arts and funding for NASA: "Representative Sonny Bono says he's never met anyone who benefited from public arts funding; well, I've never met anyone who cares what kind of rocks Mars has." How can one not admire a critic who has no patience with the Clintons, but recognizes that Nader's Green Party is a non-starter? How can one not admire a critic who prefers The Man who Loved Children, Song of Solomon, The Assistant, and Tongo-Bungay to the peculiar list drawn up by the Modern Library? Everyone should read a woman who castigates the ponderousness of communitarianism, the bile of a Farrakhan, and the shallowness of a Mary Daly. Everyone should read her, period.

This is the best book I've read in a long time. I've read it 85 times because it's so good. I have wanted to say everything Katha Pollitt has written in this book. And the book is also a fun read with lots of very dry sarcasm that keeps the reader on her toes. This is a book that looks at the larger (and smaller) political issues of our time with a very even-handed approach. Pollitt makes fun of both republicans and democrats and talks about politics in a way that just makes sense. Her arguments are clear and concise - each essay is only a few pages long, so you don't get bored reading and reading about any particular topic. There is no sacred cow here. Pollitt speaks her mind and doesn't hesitate to let a woman or two have it if their political views or policies are out of line. I highly recommend this book. It makes sense and it will make you laugh.

Katha has insightful, thought-provoking views on everything from welfare mothers . . . to abortion . . . to gun-control . . . to marriage and divorce . . . to school vouchers. Reading her wonderful, witty essays helped me gain new perspective on several issues. That is not to say that I agreed with everything she said, but I always enjoyed reading her well-written, funny, honest essays. I devoured this book in a couple of days of reading it when I could steal a moment or two. It is hard to put down. I feel renewed pride in calling myself a liberal.

Katha Pollitt has a way of getting to the heart of the matter. So, for example, in an essay about the school-uniforms discussion in New York City, she starts out by noting that the "public school systen has libraries without books," that a girl was killed in one school by falling debris - and then, later - she is onto the school uniforms debate - in perspective. If you read the Nation, these essays are a terrific reprise. If you don't, you will find that they are smart, brief (a few pages at most; think of a long, utterly incisive newspaper editorial), and for students, a series of very good examples of political writing. Humor, wit, and a high level of caring about the things that matter. Some are grounded in the politics and goings-on of New York City, where Pollitt lives, but many are of national (and international) interest. Great collection.

THIS REVIEW IS ALSO BEING USED FOR TEAMSTER POWER WHICH IS A CONTINUATION OF THE STORY PRESENTED HERE. THE POLITICAL POINTS ARE VALID FOR BOTH BOOKS.

ORGANIZE WALMART! ORGANIZE THE SOUTH! These are the slogans which outline the tasks that the American labor movement, particularly the organized trade union movement under the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Coalition, need to address. With those tasks in mind it was refreshing for this old militant to re-read Farrell Dobbs' analysis of the fight to organize the truckers in the 1930's. This volume, and an earlier one detailing the struggles to organize truckers in Minneapolis, are little handbooks for model labor organizing. Dobbs himself was instrumental in organizing the truckers of Minneapolis in the great strikes in that city in 1934 and as documented here the later, successful organizing of the over the road drivers in the Midwest which created the modern, powerful Teamsters International Union. He was, more importantly, a supporter of what later in the decade became the Socialist Workers Party- American section of the Trotsky-led Forth International.

Whatever else may be true about Dobbs this man could organize workers. Why? The last sentence in the previous paragraph gives the answer. In the modern labor movement it is not enough to be a militant on the picket line but one must also have a political approach to labor actions. With the merging of corporate and governmental interests on the labor question in the modern state militants better think politically. As the December, 2005 unsuccessful struggle of the transport workers in New York City demonstrated militants better know the enemy and his tactics well. Moreover, these days, unlike in the 1930's when it went without question by advanced workers, it is as important to know there is an enemy. On the other hand think what it would be like to have a political militant like Dobbs organizing the drivers of those 7000 trucks that Wal-Mart owns to distribute its merchandise. You get my drift. Read what he has to say carefully.

To even introduce this militant labor leader of the 1930's is to state the fundamental problem of today's labor leaders. They do not exist in the modern labor movement. Yes, there are militants out there in the rank and file but militant leaders are no longer produced and that is the rub. Unlike the strategy of independent political action which underlined Dobbs' work the strategy of today's labor leaders can be summed up in two words- class collaboration. That is a strategy of dependence by the labor movement on the good will of the `friends of labor', essentially the Democratic Party- not to fight for victory in the streets but by what at times amounts to parliamentary cretinism. Just start to organize Wal-Mart seriously or organize the South and militants will quickly see who their `friends' are.

The natural audience for this book are today's labor activists so the reviewer would draw attention to the following issues that Dobbs and his associates had to confront and which militants today will confront in any serious organizing efforts. (1)The role of the labor bureaucracy in limiting the scope of struggle. (2) The role of governmental mediators, courts, legislation and the above-mentioned `friends of labor' in curtailing the struggle. (3) The role of scabs and others, including government troops, who will try to break the up the struggle. On the positive side- the following should be noted; have your own publicity organ to get out your message; organize other labor and pro-labor sources to assist in strike action; anticipate that governmental and corporate sources will try to `freeze' workers out so have your own transport, commissary and medical operations. Finally, in the words of the old Wobblie song by Joe Hill- "Don't Mourn, Organize!!

Las huelgas de 1934 que forjaron el movimiento
sindical industrial en el mediooeste
norteamericano y ayudaron a allanar el camino
para el ascenso del Congreso de Organizaciones
Industriales (CIO), relatadas por un dirigente
central de esas batallas. El primero en una serie de
cuatro tomos sobre el liderazgo de lucha de clases
de las huelgas y campa?as de sindicalizaci?n que
transformaron el sindicato de los Teamsters en gran
parte de esa regi?n en un movimiento social
combativo y se?alaron el camino hacia la acci?n
politica independiente de la clase obrera. Incluye
una nueva introducci?n a la edici?n en espa?ol
por Jack Barnes.

In rereading this book I was struck by what a wonderful thing it was that these rank and file workers were able to change history by creating, out of their struggle, an example of revolutionary unionism. It was wonderful for them and is wonderful for us, because it shows what we can do today. This book also tells the story of how Farrell Dobbs learned that he could trust in both the fighting capacity of the working class and the leadership capabilities of its vanguard. Through powerful examples Dobbs describes the dog-eat-dog viciousness of capitalism and contrasts it with the desire on the part of young fighters to break through the backstabbing and open up a road to workers' solidarity. This book could change your life. Amazon may list this book as unavailable from time to time, but it's always available from the Pathfinder z store. Click on "new and used" at the top of the page.

Dobbs, a leader of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster strike, which became a citywide general strike, tells its story. The battles with the companies, cops, strike breakers, and their hangers-on are told with masterful effect. It also shows the rising industrial unions as organizations of working-class struggle, taking on the employers and its government. But the real gem at the heart of this tale is how the unfolding struggle transformed ordinary workers, including Dobbs himself, into extraordinary fighters, thinkers, and revolutionary leaders.

Farrell Dobbs was a coal-yard worker and one of the central leaders of the 1934 strikes when in his twenties. Some forty years later Dobbs was the national secretory of the Socialist Workers Party and wrote down an account of his experiences working in the coal yards and becoming involved in unionist movement organizing the drive to establish Teamsters Local 574 and the rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) as an effective nation-wide instrument to better working conditions for men and women like himself. Teamster Rebellion is Dobbs account of the hard-fought strike actions which were often all out battles with law enforcement and hired thugs operating as strike breakers in the employ of the exploitative company owners and such big-business fronts as Citizen Alliance. Teamster Rebellion is a welcome and recommended addition to academic and community library American Labor History collections.

This valuable edited volume attempts to answer the question: What's going on in our Culture? What is producing the dramatic changes, the social chaos and even the creativity in the present era? What is giving so many people permission to tinker with the hallowed traditions and symbolic heritage of societies: bypassing long-held myths and mixing old rituals with new traditions like a tossed salad; inventing new personal identities; revising old political ideologies; and picking and choosing between what to believe and what not to believe, as if picking hors d'oeuvres from the table of a corner bazaar? These are the questions this book's thirty-three carefully selected chapters try to answer.

The illustrative contributors to this edited book are themselves among the trailblazers of thinking in our modern era. Collectively, they think they see a pattern linking such diverse events as the collapse of Communism, the information revolution, the theological wars within organized religions, terrorism, racism, the Civil Rights movement, and the desperate search for a re-centering of our spiritual values and lives. According to them, the common thread to this turbulent pattern has more to do with a change in how we believe than in what we believe. That is to say, what they see is a "shift in beliefs about belief." To some this is decidedly good news: a new era of liberation; to others, it is a very threatening and grievous lost of a comfortable past, indeed.

Modernity pre and post: A Primer

The term "modernity" is a "made up word" used to describe the meta-games of cultural life: attempting to describe the grand meta-narratives, or the systemic and global ideas that command, govern and guide our cultural Worldviews, as well as our lives.

Pre-modernity was about how to install and maintain in perpetuity a single meta-narrative about our cultural life such as Christianity, Communism, racism, "Manifest Destiny," democracy, and their overarching systems of thought such as rationality, mysticism, belief in faith or some other metaphysic, essentialism, ideology, or science and evolution. Our march out of pre-modernity into modernity has been a series of culture shocks, only matched by the current pains in moving form modernity to post-modernity.

These authors tell us that Modernity is now being eclipsed by post-modernity, which was about the four-century dominance of the Enlightenment era meta-narrative about rationality, reason and logic. However, in retrospect, Enlightenment was not only about the installation of logic, reason and science, but also about how to work out the kinks and the disconnects in the leading contending pre-modern ideas, basically the struggle between the ideas of science and religion.

The Enlightenment, or modern era (modernity that is), held the view that the grand problem of reality was one of representation: of how reality was to best be represented: by a single unifying and overarching meta-narrative of rationality of science, with its instrumentalities of reason and logic and experimentation - or by a belief in magic, faith or some other metaphysics.

But the Enlightenment project, which for the past four centuries has sat on the ground floor of the Existentialist Grand Hotel, instead of unifying the dominant meta-narratives of the pre-modern era, has caused them to breakdown. Post-modernity, thus is about this breakdown and about what is to replace the present chaotic and confusing meta-narrative.

Thus, this book is about the waxing and waning of these ideas across the multi-century battleground and about how the major contending meta-narratives of the dominant belief systems: between philosophy, religion, political ideologies, and various combinations and blends of them, have tried, but failed to exert their dominance.

Not only does this book explain the ideas, it also takes us through the key historical shifts in them and their arguments as they have held sway over our cultural thinking for the better part of a half millennium.

Well-organized, beautifully told: A true tour de force: Fifty Stars

To many readers, postmodernism (PoMo) is a vexed subject, smacking of trendy intellectual fashion. However one views it, Anderson's book collects a number of essays on the topic that anyone interested in the dominant ideas of the day should not be without. The entries are not lengthy and therefore persuasive depth should not be expected. Put them together, however, and a pretty complete overview of PoMo is before you. The editor has fashioned a nifty little introduction that lays out the general orientation in clear and understandable language - a not inconsiderable feat given the subject matter.

One point worth noting that is not in the book. Beneath the ideas promoted by PoMo lies a sociological reality captured in that forbidding word "multi-culturalism". There are many different cultures in the world whose customs and mores project many different kinds of worlds. This fact does seem to leave us with no common frame of reference to judge any of them as superior, a key PoMo conclusion. In that sense, postmodernism appears to be the perfect philosophical expression of an emerging multicultural reality. Nevertheless, wedging beneath the world's many and various cultures is another emergent reality - the global consolidation of private property, as represented by trans-national corporations and international trade agreements. Beneath PoMo's relativizing of cultural absolutes, there moves the monolithic grip of global capitalism, homogenizing all cultures in a consumerist vat. It at least deserves consideration that the former serves to conceal the latter from the view of secular intellectuals like post-modernists, and thus becomes the perfect cultural expression of a consolidating world order. Put another way, the power of Pepsi has conquered the outdated truths of reason and anyone who complains is practicing cultural imperialism. So go with the flow. Readers interested in how PoMo serves the powers-that-be should consult Terry Eagleton or Frederick Jameson.

Postmodernism is swirling around us; we are in the midst of a great cultural shift that's hard to see when you're in the middle of it. Love it or hate it, you must become aware of it and grapple with it. This book is an excellent place to start. So much PoMo writing is dense, unintelligible to the uninitiated. The brief pieces in this book cover the broad swath of ideas and thinkers. Highly recommended!

(T) "p" is a true sentence if and only if p

N'est ce pas?

Anderson tells us, "We are living in a new world, a world that does not know how to define itself by what it is, but only by what it has just-now ceased to be." One of the most positive aspects of postmodernism in my view is that, because there is so much chaos of opinion today, reality is being created in plain sight. Walter Truett Anderson is one of the most lucid writers of our time and this book makes that creation of reality clear and comprehensible to anyone who will take the time to read about it. Highly recommended.

This book is a masterful combination of historical research and party analysis that will reshape the way we think of political parties. Frymer argues convincingly that party institutions have generally sought to marginalize the issue of racial injustice in American politics. A major contribution to the literature from a young scholar and excellent teacher.

It is great that now everyone can see what a brilliant mind Paul Frymer is. I took three classes with him at UCLA and he really turned me onto American politics. He showed us what was wrong and how we could go about making it better. The focus was not here is what I think and you must like it, the structure allowed for free thought and contemplation. This is something that is obvious in his writing.

I took 4 classes that Prof. Frymer taught at UCLA and was quite impressed with his teaching methods. Prof. Frymer's book, I believe, eloquently summarizes what he tried to convey in those lectures. Written on the level as that of Lani Guinier's work, I hope that Prof. Frymer's book will be able to open the eyes of the typical politician who seems to be disconcerned with such issues and only to win big. Thank you Professor Frymer.

Prof. Frymer has written a book that many different audiences will find useful. Political scientists will appreciate his skill in demonstrating a counter-intuitive, and yet ultimately convincing, account of race and party politics. Those from other academic fields will be grateful for Frymer's decision to eschew political science jargon, and will find that the book makes contributions to our understanding of history and law. Finally, non-academics will find the book both accessible and informative. I highly recommend "Uneasy Alliances."

This is one of the best books I've read on race in America. It shows why racism persists, and how our political leaders collude in its persistence. It takes on conventional wisdom among intellectuals and political leaders, and it does so in a way that is accessible to an average reader. I can't praise it too highly.

The War for America has short, easily digestible chapters, and although much of the data is disturbing, I was compelled to read more. I had given up trying to understand politics and what drives the political parties, but thanks to this book I GET IT. Plus, I got the added bonus of understanding the impact and responsibility of my choices on the world and the environment. This is not just a matter of Republican vs. Democrat. It is a fight for our rights to grow and change as a society while the conservative-right holds tightly to keeping things "the way they have always been". Progress has never been made, nor freedom won, with this philosophy. Mr. Morris provides the past, present and future of the critical issues of our time. He provides solid information that is very well documented (unusual for a political book). Information that is designed to educate and join people together rather than elicit further polarization. He manages to do this without the rhetoric, name calling and fear-mongering I've come to expect from politics and political books. I now understand that this is not just an American problem and I'll never look at the choices I make the same way again. Thanks for showing us the world-view and motivating me to become involved in politics for the first time.

Morris's call for a new kind of leadership, that is able to handle the complexities of the increasingly complex world, is not only apt but is long been wanted. Morris does not imply a cosmetic change, but a fundamental change based on a systemic perspective that acknowledges the interconnected of with each other and with the environment. The problem, however, I feel is that humans are fundamentally limited in their cognitive process to be divisive and fragmented. Our psychological evolution has not really caught up with its technological and biological counterparts. Hope it does, lest it spells disaster!

Langdon Morris brings the dream of the Founding Fathers into critical and poignant focus, by envisioning history as a compilation of multiple generations of human ambitions, accomplishments and follies. His basic premise is that we have simply been overwhelmed by the complex technological social environment we have created, and that the forces of biological evolution have not yet had time to respond to the new techno-environment in which we live and work on a day-to-day basis. He points out that if we are to avoid a global economic and environmental disaster, we must martial a boldness of vision to move beyond our conservative attitudes of denial, and our dependence on fundamentalist doctrines of present mainstream thought and political leadership. He highlights the fact that the decline of every great civilization that preceeded us, has its roots in economic collapse, and complexity, which overwhelmed the social consciousness of the times. For us to advance to the next stage of human evolution, Morris urges us to detach our thinking from our conservative roots, which are wedded to mountains of past written dogma, overly simplistic ideas. and overwhelming fear of change. To renew the dream of America's Founding Fathers, Morris suggests that a new set of Leaders will emerge, who will have the ability to "create their own context," and will build a set of inspiring and positive futures which will include America and the larger Global Economy, involving intelligent management of new emerging technologies. This new Spirit of Leadership would thus function to creats a brighter and more positively spirited America for both the present and future generations, and also help create a better life for people everywhere on Earth. Elliott Maynard, Ph.D. Arcos Cielos Research Center, Sedona, Arizona.

The War for America is written with purpose, intelligence, passion and a clear sense of history. It wants to revive the spirit of why the United States of America was founded in the first place; to embody freedom and democracy. It spells out with unabashed candor and bias how the current holders of the reins of government are betraying the promise upon which this nation was founded i.e., to be an heroic leader in the world not the archetype for shallowness, consumerism, jingoism and arrogance. A few weeks ago when I went to take the oath of U.S. citizenship I carried a copy of the War for America with me. Partly because I happened to be reading it then, but partly because the book represents for me what is great about America: freedom of thought and expression, courage, creativity, inclusion, service and heroism. As I said the oath I thought of how fragile this republic is and how another few years of the Patriot Act, pre-emptive war and "national security" as a pretext for tighter controls could ruin everything forever. If the War for America contributes to our accepting the challenge of heroic leadership again it should be a best seller for years!

Morris captures the underlying motivations behind the Republican Party's ideologies in this carefully researched and well-written book. Clearly identified, explained and substantiated, Morris exposes the blind spots in the right wing's manipulative strategies and how they affect the critical human challenges we're facing today and will be facing in the future. Discussions on morality, global positioning, resources, the economy, the environment, education and many other 21st century issues are thorough, and in aggregate, downright disturbing.

The author weaves the imperative for stronger liberal leadership throughout the book, and draws a clear road map for the Democratic Party to follow in order to meet and defeat those currently in power.

Further still, he gives us hope (when we we're all wondering if there was any way out of this mess that we ourselves have created!) Addressing methodologies to deal with these enormous and yet interrelated problems, Morris invites us to draw on informed intelligence, systems thinking, and a new model of leadership to design a new tomorrow that works for everyone.

This book is a must-read for anyone that holds strong political beliefs no matter where he or she may fall on the political spectrum, but is most palatable to those who are socially, globally and environmentally conscious.

Reading this book, comprised of info from many sources, I got frankly angered by the way this administration, as well as others in the past, used tragedies and wars to take our freedoms from us and invade our privacy on a whim. I understand some liberties must be sacrificed in times of conflict. The government just after 9-11 was running straight from the executive branch without any checks and balances. Of course who would dispute or bring up civil liberties in times of crisis, obviously not anyone in the courts. People were labeled enemy combatants and contained without right to trial, any proof of guilt, and held months without anyone even knowing their whereabouts. Many were probably guilty, but some were innocent and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our government wanted to get people to act as spies, surveying their neighborhoods, spying on neighbors, getting your library to turn you in as a terrorist for reading muslim literature or something containing dissent to the govt. Luckily that brilliant plan of ashcrofts has not gone over to will not be tolerated, and should not be tolerated by the citizens that are supposed to be the backbone of our democracy. Very informative book. AMerica must fight to revise this orwellian act that is the patriot act.

I read this book cover-to-cover on a flight from L.A. to New York, and found it both well-written and informative. Indeed, I thought it was such a good survey of the major legal issues in America's war on terrorism that I assigned it as required reading for my American Law & Terrorism seminar at UCLA.

This book provides the "backstory" for many of the key issues I plan to cover, such as prohibition of material support to foreign terrorist organizations and how that law squares with America's First Amendment jurisprudence. For the most part, this book takes a critical position against most of the current legal arguments advanced by the Bush Administration, e.g. that the President should be allowed to designate enemy combatants. But each article presents its argument in a fairly balanced way.

Also, the articles do a great job of explaining the law at a college-graduate level, as opposed to a lawyer's level. That's unusual for most books on the subject, and I think it makes this a must-buy for anyone interested in the subject.

Well being young and unexperienced I found this book very helpful, it really opened my eyes to a new way of looking at things. I liked the way most of the information seemed to be first hand, rather than just many assumptions.

In every era of this nation's history, there has been a small minority of wise and prescient thinkers who, unwilling to drift with the popular current, warn us of the forces threatening our basic freedoms. Labeled as agitators, often despised and feared in their own times, these are the people who take seriously the enlightened principles of the American Revolution. They said no to slavery when the rest of the nation was indifferent to it or saying yes; they protested child labor; they demanded the 8-hour day and the minimum wage; they said we must protect our air and water. Their passionate devotion to the ideals of democracy has chopped away at the greed and denial that grows in America like weeds if no one is watching. But whatever the issue, our nasty habit in this country is to ignore the voices of protest. Then we struggle and suffer and people get hurt, very hurt. Eventually the agitators of yesterday become the heroes of the new day. Why can't we learn to listen before the damage is done? This book is a compilation of essays that MUST be listened to. These people are telling us -- with passion, intelligence and good sense, and without greed or agendas and certainly without denial -- about the delicate balance between national security and civil liberties, about the crucial importance of the free trade of ideas, and the danger of popular intolerance of dissent. If we listen now we can prevent that moment for the historians of the future when they say, "How could they not have seen what was about to happen?" As Anthony Lewis says in his essay "Security and Liberty," "If we are to preserve constitutional values - the values of freedom -- understanding and resistance must come now." This book is a MUST READ for everyone who cares deeply about the direction of this nation.

Comprised of a series of scholarly essays on the gradual of secretive reneging of US civil liberties post-9/11, "War on Our Freedoms" is an important book for anyone living in the United States to read. Though some government opacity and reining in of rights is always needed in the wake of an event such as 9/11 or the war in Iraq, this book is a chilling reminder that there is a thin line that we seem to be crossing, unbeknownst to most Americans.

The book was cheap and in the condition that the sellar said it would be in. I appreciated the honesty.

The book was brand new and less than the used book at my school. Great buy and was glad to find it!

The book arrived in the estimated time and in the condition advertised by this seller.

Buying this product (We the People: Shorter Sixth Edition) off of amazon was an excellent choice. Considering that the campus bookstore charged 3x more, this was an outstanding value for such an in depth look at American Government.

The book is in perfect condition and is the edition that I needed. I also believe it was brand new and it was cheaper than what my bookstore was selling it used.

This book is a perfect summary of the dark side of humanitarian work. Unequipped, unprepared contract workers who are unprotected and essentially thrown to the wolves.

The author answers an fax looking for boat drivers and the only preparation he's given is a night at a bar and told to watch out for displaced wildlife. From the moment he steps off the plane it goes downhill. Even a good deed ends in tragedy because he doesn't understand the population he's trying to help.

Mostly though this is an indictment of the conditions the relief workers have to deal with because different UN agencies and Non governmental organizations all want to show how much they are "helping". The individuals may do good things but the organizations use it to play politics.

Burnett provides a vivid picture of the logistics and politics surrounding relief work as well as the dangers and difficulties of doing this work in a war zone. What I liked best about this book is he didn't enter into this job with any particular altruistic or political agenda. As a result Burnett is able to paint a rather honest and impartial picture of NGOs, the UN, the people of Somalia and his fellow aid workers. The book is written in a way that lets you experience what he experienced. It is a personal account that keeps you turning the pages.

This is a well-written, fast-paced book that sheds an important light on relief work, its benefits and its risks. I knew very little about the floods in Somalia, and this was a great lesson as to what I missed.
Great read. You won't be disappointed.

This book reads like a bullet train from New York to Mogadishu, from heaven to hell, a pageturner if ever there was one. You get a privileged insight into the life of a reliefworker, a first hand account of the absurd madness of a godforsaken place where anarchy rules and where lives have no value.

Speedboats donated by western governments to distribute relief supplies quickly turn into perfect terror tools for local warlords, who find them to be ideal to impose their will on the population, specially when mounted with a machine gun...

John Burnett completely repaints the picture that I had in my mind of a relief worker. Only guts, ingenuity and a whole lotta luck will help you to get out alive of a place like this.

From the comfort of your home to the nightmare of Somalia is just a book away...

Superbly written and very hard to put down, this book throws quite a few surprises. Burnett provides first-hand insight into the adventurous and dangerous world of those on the field who distribute humanitarian aid.

Relief workers, like those they are trying to help, survive crocodiles, snakes and hippos, feuding warlords, and child soldiers. At the same time they are dealing with competing aid organisations and governments' political and military agendas. Through tears, anger and frustration, he reveals what it is like trying to save lives in a war zone.

this book smashes the Warren report into a million peices in an unbiased way based upon facts logic and evidence.Mrs.Meagher proves that Oswald was innocent and that the warren report was a sham!she examines and dismantles every so called evidence the report had on oswald!!Oswald was innocent we the people are his defense counsel!this book has to be reprinted get it out there!!highly recommended!

Ms. Meagher's book is well documented, insightful and detailed. She skillfully takes the reader through discrepancies in the Warren Commission report and lays it all out for the reader. Her conclusions are based on facts that are very clearly presented, and on common sense. At no time did I get the impression that this book was attempting to influence my views on the work of the Warren Commission. Ms. Meagher spells it out for the reader step by step.

Reading this book makes you wonder how many police departments and courts actually did what they were supposed to back in the 1960s, and how they're doing today. Ms Meagher does an excellent job breaking down the Warren Commission's report and demonstrating that their synopsis of events is based on multiple errors, misstatements, and wishful thinking. Having come out before most of the "conspiracy theory" genere that surrounds JFK assassinations tories today, Ms. Meaghers book stands above all of them. She refuses to let her book wander into sensationalism, does not implicate UFO's or any such things, nor does she mix in photos which claim to show the truth but are often blurry, grainy or totally unrevealing to the lay reader. Instead, she stays on target, picking apart the Warren Commission's flawed analysis with nimble wit and skill.

Of all the books about the JFK assassination, why is ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT out of print? If you want to read books on how the Norweigian mob hired hitmen from the Planet Glixorg and had the assassination covered up by their media insider, Soupy Sales, there are dozens of books. But the one book to take a serious look at the Warren Commission's Report, to pick apart its inaccuracies, and to analyze its contradictions, is becoming harder and harder to find. Even Gerald Posner, in his tantrum, CASE CLOSED, could not lay a finger on the late Sylvia Meagher's masterwork. Why? Because it is a precise, unimpassioned, and brilliant piece of exploratory surgery on a very sick Warren Report. This book proves the Commission had a single purpose, and finding the truth was not that purpose. The lack of access to Sylvia Meagher's ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT is, to me, a tragic mistake and possible proof of a continuing cover-up.

Back in the early 70s I worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide on a Senate Commitee trying to reopen the Kennedy assassination or generate support for a House investigation. This was in the post-Garrison era and the credibility of anyone challenging the Warren Commission was suspect. (We now know that many of Garrison's failings were due to sabotage, but back then he was still radioactive to Senators, Representatives, and their staffs.)

Anyway, after all the backlash following the Clay Shaw acquittal it was still a tough sell, and the typical Congressman would give you no more than 5-10 minutes time to make your case, so we needed a one or two page list of powerful bullet points demonstrating that Oswald could not have acted alone, if he acted at all, and showing that the Warren investigation was compromised by the FBI and the CIA. These were serious allegations, so each
point had to be backed up by solid proof.

At the time, there were 5-6 serious books damning the Warren Commision Report: Inquest, by Edward J Epstein; Rush to Judgment by Mark Lane; Six Seconds in Dallas by Josiah Thompson; Whitewash by Harold Weisberg; and They've Killed the President by Robert Sam Anson.

In creating that fact sheet, no book was more carefully documented than Accessories after the Fact, and no book was more comprehensive and meticulous.

When we had to source each bullet point Meagher's book did the best job in directing us to the proof.

I left the Hill in 76--before the HSCA was created, and it has always bitter disappointment to me how its own work appears to ha ve been sabotaged, not unlike what happend to Garrison.

In the years since I have retained a keen interest in this topic, and at last count have read over 40 books. Meagher's book still remains one of the two or three best books written about JFK's death. In fact I consider it one of the best forensic investigation reports I have ever read in 25 years of practicing civil rights litigation.

This book was used as the underlying basis to understanding the policy process in my graduate level class that I took recently.

Overall I would give this book 5 stars because it is relatively thorough and it encompasses a great deal in a concise model that is easy to understand.

Kingdon discusses that his model is set within three streams, problem, policy and political. Each of these streams have their own unique characteristics that work to help merge with the others. When these streams, ideally all three, a policy window opens where action on policy can occur by a decision-making body such as Congress. With the help of policy entrepreneuers, national mood, policy communities, and much more as agents amongst these streams, each work to produce change on the agenda.

As this class was titled the policy process that I took, it explained how it began but this book does not cover how the process moves once something has been acted upon on the agenda.

If you are looking for understanding more about activity leading up to action, this is a great book. If you are looking to understand the process afterwards, this may not be the right book, but it will help you understand the forces leading up to a process of change.

Definitely, I would recommend this for any political science class at the undergraduate level. I am glad that I was fortunate enough to have it assigned in my grad level policy process class.

Kingdon has produced an innovative and useful theory of the policy process. This book is clearly not intended for the lay reader, but for political scientists and policy specialists interested in theorizing about policy formation.

Kingdon's writing style is somewhat formal, and at times stiff, but the book is easy to get through. Kingdon provides many concrete examples of the ideas he discusses, making the abstract principles easier to understand.

Recommended for classes on the policy process, especially in conjunction with Baumgarter and Jones' Agendas and Instability in American Politics.

I am in the graduate program at American University's School of Public Affairs. This book was required for one of the core classes. The theory--the dynamic, fluid model that Kingdon builds in this book has been practically adopted as THE mantra within policy formation/agenda setting research.
The book is well organized and easy to follow. It is not a challenging read but I found sections of the book to be a bit dry. Also, be ready to contend with literally hundreds of fluid metaphors that Kingdon employs throughout the book.

John Kingdon attempts to answer very difficult questions in his work "Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies." What makes an idea's time come? What makes people in and around government attend to some subjects and not to others? In short, Kingdon explores how ideas become policy in his 1994 award-winning book.

The book makes many interesting conclusions, as Kingdon uses scientific research methods to discuss how ideas become policy. It is amazing that Kingdon is able to quantify how influential certain groups are to policy formulation and implementation. In doing this, he looks at the influence of groups in and outside of government. Kingdon then goes onto his major two concepts of the policy primeval soup and the political stream. Both of these are wonderful illustrations of how policymaking happens.

In the end, this is a great book for public policy students. My only complaint is that Kingdon is oftentimes too wordy. It seems that he could have written a much more effective piece by summing it up in a 40-page journal article. In any event, the book is worth the read, even if some chapters are only skimmed.

Agenda setting, in the world of politics, is when a problem becomes identified as an issue that calls for government attention, discussion, and--possibly--decision making. This book is one of the most important works on agenda-setting.

John Kingdon has stated that:

Political events flow along according to their own dynamics and their own rules. Participants perceive swings in national mood, elections bring new administrations to power and new partisan or ideological distributions to Congress, and interest groups of various descriptions press (or fail to press) their demands on government.

The author sees three streams that must come together for an issue to be placed on the agenda--a political stream (just noted above), a policy stream (in which some policy proposal emerges as "best"), and a problem stream (a problem develops that people label as important). If they come together and if the window of opportunity for success is there, then the issue can become an agenda item. If the streams do not come together, agenda placement is unsuccessful--as with President Clinton's health care plan. That plan had two of three requirements in place. One, the political stream was supportive. A new President had been elected with his party having a majority in both houses of Congress; furthermore, Clinton outlined as a campaign issue support for a more ambitious health care program for Americans. The confluence of these two factors produced something like a "mandate" for change. Two, the problem stream saw health care bubbling up toward the top. That is, increasingly, people seemed to define health care as a serious problem about which something had to be done.

Nonetheless, no major initiative emerged to be fully considered. Clinton's plan was very nearly DOA (dead on arrival) once serious discussion began. Why? No single policy proposal garnered enough support. Democrats supported several different plans--such as a single payer system (in which government becomes the insurer), "pay or play" (in which businesses would largely fund health care insurance), and the Clinton plan itself (which focused on managed care). Thus, the policy stream never did "come together" around any single proposal. As a result, the initiative died and no substantial changes were forthcoming in the health care system.

What emerges in each stream is, to a large extent, "contingent," depending upon many factors--including chance. The result is unpredictability.

It may be that this work overemphasizes chance and contingency and underplays the role of human agency (for instance, the role of policy entrepreneurs who labot to get issues placed on the agenda and acted upon). Nonetheless, this is an exemplary work and well worth attending to if one is interested in setting the political agenda.