Turner Books

I gave this to all the guys in the office. Funny they all talk to me now. I should of down this years ago.

i like the calendar very much!!! anyone that takes playboy magazine will like this calendar!!

I found this calendar to be very enchanting - and very usable. (More on this later.)

It features twelve gorgeous Playboy Playmates, wearing attractive swimsuits, and posing in settings that are simple yet still very pretty.

Nearly all of the girls appear near water - be it in fountains, in rivers, on the beach, or by the pool - although two of the gals beckon us from beds (both kneeling).

A few of the women wear one-piece suits while most of the rest don two-piece units. Teasingly, three of the girls appear topless - but with their breasts still conveniently hidden (pshaw!)

The suits vary in coverage with the most revealing being Cara Wakelin's (Miss November 1999), who appears in February, and wears just a bottom thong. Since only an inch of material is visible as it emerges from between her cheeks - and there is but a thin chain for the waistband -- Miss Wakelin appears to be almost nude.

The strangest (and least swimsuit-like) outfit is worn by Jamie Westenhiser (Miss May 2005) kneeling on a bed. Her suit (which can barely be seen), may be the world's skimpiest string bikini - but I doubt if she's planning to wear her pink pipe-cleaner-like garter belt and black mesh stockings (with black stiletto pumps) to the beach anytime soon! (Or maybe she's a refugee from Playboy's 2007 Lingerie Calendar, which is also quite nice.)

When compared to the ever-present Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar, I actually like the Playboy version much better. The girls all seem more approachable (that girl-next-door-quality, right?) and more wholesome. I think they also have cuter faces, but that's just a personal preference. And, compared to SI's supermodels -- I also find their American-sounding names to be much easier to pronounce and to remember.

I found the cover photo of Jillian Grace (Miss March 2005), who appears in December - to be the sexiest. And I judged the image of Penelope Jimenez (Miss March 2003) who appears topless as a stream of water splashes over her - as the most refreshing.

As stats, the calendar is a very usable (there's that word again) 12" x 12" (12" by 24" unfolded). Each girl appears in an edge-to-edge color photo on top - with a full calendar (with a square-per-day) underneath for writing entries (or engagements).

Dates for the months of September - December 2006 also appear on the first spread (before January) along with a huge, close-up photo of Kara Monaco's (Miss June 2005) cute face - and left (knitted mesh-covered) boob.

The calendar is very artistic and tasteful, and the swimsuit theme makes it very summery and refreshing. (I liked mine so much - that I chose to display it in my kitchen on the refrigerator. Not!)

Having the pretty visage of a cute Playmate greeting you - is a great way to start off the day! Enjoy.

"Radical Man" has had more impact on my life than any other secular work. It taught me the value of nonconformity in a nation of sheep. Certain situations call for an independant act to counter the dictatorship of tradition or personal influence, power or popularity. Did you ever feel disappointed in yourself after letting a bully or a blowhard run roughshod over others? "Radical Man" authorized me to object, question, stand up, reject. Independance, I learned, is more than merely a democratic abstraction. The book taught me the importance of reaching out to others outside of my sphere of influence, of taking chances, of the value of vulnerability and how these experiences can teach me more about myself and others. I initially read this book as part of a class assignment in college. Since then I've tried to re-read it every decade or so and have bought extra copies to pass on to people of sufficient depth. That may sound elitest but it's not a simple read. Several graphs, no pictures and it's not easy to dance to. The message is:we can stand up when creepiness seems to be carrying the day. or

This is a mature, robust, detailed, often dense existentialist broadside and theoretical alternative to man's attempt to address his world through increased fragmentation and control rather than through greater integration and synergy. The foil for the author's attack and the alternative he eventually introduces and tests, is the behavioralist's approach to theorizing, whereby the world is sliced and diced into arbitrary and artificial categories, with the narrower and misguided aim of trying to gain more control over it. Under this research paradigm, mathematical tools are used to quantify the "so-called "dependent and independent variables." They are then manipulated ("factor analyzed" and correlated, for instance), impervious to the confounding meaninglessness of the analysis due in large part to the original erroneous assumption that the facts involved are "objective" and unrelated; that is: impervious to the reality that the facts being manipulated are not strictly independent, but are indeed part of the same continuously related whole.

According to the author, increased fragmentation (man's more conservative approach to his existence), invariably leads to such analytic and political meaninglessness: more and more "apparent control" is claimed over less and less psychological terrain. This, process then of course becomes a self-fulfilling downwardly regressing prophesy into the inevitable psychological abyss of stasis, paranoia and increased fear and entropy. The author's main point is that with each cycle of the behavioralist's "illusion of control" comes the built-in existential trap of increased constriction of individual creativity and freedom, eventually leading to the inescapable end product: arbitrary rule by oppression and tyranny.

The author proposes a novel existentialist escape from this well-known behavioralist trap, which leads to increased synergy and to upwardly spiraling cyclical integration, decreased entropy (or increased order), and more creativity. In reality, and for the individual, this alternative is conceived of and implemented simply: by being one's authentic self, facing the world squarely with authenticity, and by not living in a constant state of fear and denial. According to existentialist philosophy (Abert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, and Authur Koestler in particular are quoted liberally), each new struggle in life offers man a new opportunity to plot a course towards excellence, increased creativity, increased effectiveness and towards an eventual defeat over the source of the struggle: constriction, fear and un-freedom or tyranny. By facing each struggle squarely, that is honestly and without denial, even man's greatest fear, the fear of death can be overcome.

The correct methodological approach to the world, according to the author's existentialist perspective, is "field theory," which is the same paradigm used by both evolution and quantum physics. Implicit in both is the notion that everything is connected, thus properly taking into account the larger matrix of interrelatedness and the fact that all facts are not just relational but affect each other in the Heisenberg sense an effect that always "operative"and prevalent (but much ignored) in the study of most social phenomena.

The existential research perspective and paradigm of the Radical Man is captured in eight basic elements that guide the discourse and serve as a taxonomic matrix for organizing the rest of the material in the book: They are:

1.Man's synthesizing capacity goes well beyond the limited Stimulus-response (S-R) model. It involves not just reinforcements of stimuli, but transforming old data into more novel creatively combined forms. This combining of parts is new in the sense that it represents a transformation in human meaning and significance that is often larger than the whole itself. By being able to weave "remembered experiences" into a personal synthesis man introduces new significances into his world.

2.Man's Symbolizing Capacity: The worse forms of oppression: torture, being socially and politically-adjusted, cult-like brain-washing, and colonization more generally, are in the end, mere Skinnerian S-R models brought, writ large, about by "negative Pavlovian reinforcements" designed mostly to elicit "predictable behaviors." Their ultimate goal is to further restrict ones reality. But to the existentialist mind, oppression only shows that man is the final arbiter of value and meaning in his world, that through re-symbolization (the escape through redefining meanings is perhaps the supreme act of rebellion), he can generate new meanings that contradict the absurdity of his S-R conditioning. Thus, man is always capable of plotting a new route to freedom through his choice of symbols, which he can then use to re-label (as legitimate or illegitimate) the pressures and bad experiences brought down on him. Through new symbols he is able to escape the absurdity of oppression by re-synthesizing the oppressive experiences into new structured fields of meaning through which he can then begin to live a new, freer psychological existence.

3.Man's Exploring Capacity: Man has an innate exploratory drive. It is a lie that he is driven by reinforcements alone. When his exploratory capacity is combined with his synthesizing and symbolizing abilities, man is propelled to fill in his mental map. Rats will learn a maze much faster on a full rather than an empty stomach, and will sit down right next to food without eating it. Depravation, diminishes man's natural exploratory instincts. Through exploration, man develops and grows; he seeks to relate rather than isolate experience.

4.A Field Theory - not a Monadic Theory of Man's Existence: "Live matter" and "dead matter," are both composed of the same chemical elements. The difference is that "live matter" represents a peculiar state of organization and arrangements of these chemicals, a vital synthesis of their constituent parts. Being primarily a synthesizing, symbolizing and exploring animal, fragmentation, and tyranny are alien and regressive to man's nature, which is constantly in search of higher levels of developmental organization. The Behavioralist's Monadic theory suggests that once broken down (reductively), the relationship between units inheres in the units themselves. However, the truth is that it is the overall organization that imparts the property of "aliveness." Unlike chemicals, "meaning" is not intrinsic to life but "extrinsic' to it, and thus dependent on how it is synthesized. Life through symbols is comprehended through the meanings the symbols carry, and meaning is a property of the organizational wholeness of the "live being," not of its chemistry, or even its individual constituent parts. Therefore what the psychology of human existence needs is a "field theory" rather than a "monadic theory." The whole must first be grasped in order to understand the full meaning of the parts.

5.Freedom within the law versus strict determinism: Man's freedom is always bounded by his human condition. However, to the existentialist mind, recognizing the certainties of this boundedness is the very springboard to freedom. To attain his freedom, man thus subordinates his physical being, his biology, to his overall style and purposes of the "value matrix" of his meanings and his symbolic existence.

6.Relational Facts not Objective facts: For the most part, our knowledge, expectancy, symbols and synthesis, control both what, and how we see the world beyond our heads. Facts are organized by our style of existence, which is an integrated structure of relational data, not a true reflection of a reality "out there." The dichotomy between "object" and "subject" is thus a false one, an artifact provided merely for convenience. In truth, "objectivity" is just a self-validating consensus among investigators.

7.Involvement with self and others - not detachment: If man exists he inevitably influences what he studies, the ultimate Heisenberg effect. Thus his only choice is to become aware of what he contributes to the relationship and to ensure that it facilitates the developmental process in which he himself is involved.

8."Value full" rather than "value free" investigations: If man is only the sum of his reinforcements, then his values are mere genuflections provided mostly for the benefit of his trainers. He is not free and his "values" while under colonial control, are not to be trusted as his true values. If on the other hand, man is the creator of his own symbolic world through a synthesis of his experiences, these can transform his "reinforcements" or colonized behaviors into his own true values, values that can be trusted as representing the authentic self, and also representing blueprints for his rebellion and transformation into his own personal freedom.

Chapter III provides the grand schemata of the Existentialist feedback paradigm, embracing these eight pillars. It becomes a paradigm of the Psycho-social Development of all people, but especially of creative people. According to the author, creative people move from the quality of their perception and the strength of their identities to a synthesis brought about through anticipated and experienced competence. This is a competence in which the individual invests his identity with intensity and authenticity, but which he is willing to periodically suspend and risk in order to try to bridge the distance between himself and others. Through dialectics in search of higher synergy, creative people seek to make a self-confirming, self-transcending impacts on others. Each person will then try to integrate the feedback from this process into his own mental matrices of (shared and) increasing developmental complexity.

This paradigm is used throughout the rest of the book to analyze and test various theories about different types of peoples and different types of social phenomena. For instance, the model describes anomie as man's failure to exist, rendering his perception narrow and impoverished; his identity becomes "locked in" and stagnant, leading to an overall sense of incompetence and anticipated loss and thus a failure to invest in himself with authenticity and intensity. Such a personality is likely to suspend interactions with others and is incapable of self-confirming impacts on his world and surroundings. Rather than engage in dialectics, the anomic personality seeks to dominate others in a failed attempt at control, his own perverse approach to synergy. Such a personality, of course accepts no responsibility for his failure at authenticity or his failure to connect with others.

Although the paradigm has been well thought-out as is true of all of the author's work, it is dense and the author attempts to cover the waterfront makes the book rough going. One can also question its not so subtle political slant: It appears to be an attempt to restore the balance between the conservative political and corporate that have been ruling the world since the Middle Ages and a more creative and liberal existentialist paradigm which the author hopes will make the world less anal-retentive.

Five Stars because its Charles-Hampden-Turner

This book changed my life in the sense that it served as a foundation for my first Master's thesis on Predicting Revolution, work that has not yet been surpassed.

I myself developed one side of the matrix, finding through the secondary literature that revolutions were generally distinct within each of the following domains:

Political-Legal
Military-Law Enforcement
Socio-Economic
Ideo-Cultural
Techno-Demographic
Natural-Geographic

It was not until I chanced across this work, which the author points out is the first ever theoretical dissertation at the Harvard Business School. I share the author's disdain for the Know-Nothings stepped in their rote learning who label all that they do not understand as "naive idealism." They've become prostitutes, while the author and those like him continue to "live free."

What this book did for me personally was provide and explain "Radical Man" in terms precisely suited to explode my first thesis from something pedestrian to something that today, a quarter of a century later, is still "best in class" (available at OSS.Net in Library, Steele's Early Papers).

He provided a model of psycho-social development with the following elements:

+ Perception
+ Identity
+ Competence
+ Investment
+ Suspension & Risk
+ Transcendance
+ Synergy
+ Integration
+ Complexity

Along the other side of the matrix, that allowed me to create a framework in which the secondary literature could be pigeon-holed into a third of the boxes, and then I did primary research to both complete the other two thirds, and to operationalize each element (identify specific collectable data with which to determine the degree of risk, scope, etc.).

Charles Hampden-Turner is in my view one of the great minds of our time, and I point readers to my review of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable so as to meet the second mind that I most admire in my time (there are others, of course, like E. O. Wilson, Alvin Toffler, but see my reviews for the details).

See also:
Maps of the Mind: Charts and Concepts of the Mind and its Labyrinths
Riding The Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business
Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption

This one is free online at Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
The new craft of intelligence: Achieving asymmetric advantage in the face of nontraditional threats (Studies in asymmetry)

I was so moved by this extraordinary, soul-inspired book. The author, married to a Vietnam veteran, started writing it out of a deep need to make sense of the difficulties her husband was experiencing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. What she found, as revealed by the words and photos of the fifty-five men and women veterans who had the bravery to bear their souls, was that all the Vietnam veterans bore spiritual, emotional, and physical scars from their service. Yet, despite that, every one of them managed to extract something positive, some strength, and some morsel of good from it. This is not a book about war, but rather the toll is takes on those who fought in it. Most of all, it is a book that celebrates the courage and illumination of the human spirit. Indeed, everyone who reads it will find some spiritual treasure (i.e. hope, will, acceptance), that they can apply in their own lives. by Alissa Lukara, author of Riding Grace: A Triumph of the Soul

WOW, this book is incredible. Thank you for writing this, and for honoring Vietnam veterans. For years, I had to hide the fact I was there, and this book has helped me to be proud to be a Vietnam vet. The stories are moving in so many ways, and the portraits draw you right into the eyes and hearts of the vets. I think anyone who is a Vietnam vet, or even families, friends, wives and ex-wives of vets, should read this book. If you know a vet, give him.her this book. It helps them and you to understand.

Jan Goff-Lafontaine has produced a wonderful, remarkable, healing book. Photographs of 50 plus people who were there-from combat veterans to Red Cross workers and everything in be-tween-are accompanied by reflections about the costs of war in the words of each person. Jan's Vietnam veteran husband got PTSD after the Loma Prieta earthquake [subsequent trauma often triggers PTSD reactions]. She didn't understand so she started talking to other vets, and to quote her, "My heart opened, and I knew these were stories that had to be heard by others. I wanted these experiences to be in a book so that everyone could know the struggles, the courage, and the triumphs of Vietnam vets, and realize the personal toll of war." Me, too. It's a great book. Reflections Between the Lines moved me to tears in a lot of places, something that I consider a healing quality. It also made me laugh out loud. I had trouble putting the book down. Her subtitle is "The Healing of the Vietnam Generation," and this is one of the ways we heal, telling our stories.

The Regulus I missile was the Navy's first underwater nuclear deterrent. Before the Polaris submarines were launched in the 1960's, five Regulus missile firing submarines patrolled in the Pacific: the diesel boats USS Tunny, USS Barbero, USS Grayback, USS Growler, and the nuclear-powered USS Halibut. The Regulus I missile was developed through testing of remote-controlled V-1 rocket bombs known as the "Loon" missile at Pt. Mugu. An air-breathing weapon that resembled a small plane, it was launched using JATO bottles from a surfaced submarine.

Dr. David Stumpf's excellent book chronicles the development and deployment of the Regulus I and the successor weapon, the never-deployed supersonic Regulus II. It features chapters dedicated to the test programs of each missiles, and chapters concerning each submarine, cruiser, and aircraft carrier that carried or launched the missile.

The book features hundreds of photographs, diagrams, and fact charts.

David Stumpf, who admittedly is a friend of mine, is a careful historian. This book is exquisitely detailed and well researched, and draws on official documents and personal accounts. His other major historical work is a book about the Titan I and II ICBMs.

A new edition of the book has recently been published with a revised cover. All of the internal content of the book is the same.

For more information about the Regulus missile you can also purchase the DVD "Regulus: The First Nuclear Missile Submarines" available from Amazon.com.

Another interesting book, if you're interested in a first-hand account of life aboard a Regulus-firing submarine, is Bob Harmuth's "Up from the Deep".

The most incredible, in-depth, highly researched information about the U.S. Navy's Regulus missiles. If you have any interest in Navy missiles and submarines you MUST have this book! Even with the HUGE amount of tecnical information, it is so well written that even non-techies will find it enjoyable. It is worth buying just for the incredible photographs! BUY THIS BOOK!

During the 1950s I was in the U.S. Navy and my first duty assignment was to work on the Chance Vought Regulus One guided missile. From then until 1964 I was both a launch team member and an instructor at the Regulus Guided Missile School. I must say that Dr. Stumph has puled out all the stops and has penned a graphic picture of the Regulus program that could not be equaled. In reading his book I find myself reliving those days as a Regulus sailor. There are many occasions where I can see the past happening all over again and must say the this book is a must for any Navy historian from the cold war era or the Navy's guided missile program that has led up to todays Nuclear submarines and cruise missiles. Many thanks to Dr. Stumph.

Richard F. Saddlemire

Roy de Carava's photographs are simply breathtaking.

It is really unfortunate that the book is no longer available in its softcover edition. Could we convince MOMA to make it accessible to people who can't pay sixty bucks for a book?

Although I am a serious amateur photographer, and student of the history of photography, I admit to being ignorant of DeCarava's work. A visit to the current DeCarava exhibition at Atlanta's High Museum changed that. He is an outstanding black and white photographer, with a tendency to produce dark and moody scenes. The images work. Each one seems to clearly convey the artists intent. He shows mastery in all of his varied works whether street scenes, portraits, abstractions, or still lifes. I couldn't leave the museum without buying this book.

Pauline Kael once wrote of a film, "I'm scared to say how good I think this movie is." That's how I feel about this book. The pictures cover a wide variety of subjects, from urban landscapes to intimate family scenes to nearly abstract images of the commonplace, but they are consistently engaging, thematically and artistically. All of the photographs are black-and-white, many are dark with multiple gradations of gray, and most are shot with ambient light. De Carava was a painter before he became a photographer, and that background shows in his appreciation for composition and the use of light. Anyone who doubts that photography can rise to the level of art should spend some time with these images.

There are so many great pictures in this book that it's hard to pick just a few favorites. But "Dancers, New York City," "Woman Walking, Above," "Sam Laughing," "Gittel" and "Graduation Day" would all be toward the top of my list. There are also a number of interesting shots of writers, artists and musicians who were part of African-American New York City arts scene in the 1950s and early 60s.

The prefatory essays are helpful and informative, but it's the photos themselves that are the stars of this show.

Soldier accoutrements are often only mentioned in passing in books dealing with the uniform details. Although extant artefacts can be seen in various museums, this book gathers all the source material on the British Army of this period relating to this one single topic into a magnificent volume with terrific illustrations. Details just pop out on every page! For example, who would have realised that grenadiers would sport a wound cord item on the back of their shoulder belts? This point is just not apparent in practically every other "expert" book on uniformology. All reenactors and modellers should get a copy!

This is truly indispensable for students of the British army and the detail is amazing. These drawings are a fantastic resource and show many clear images of some of the more obscure pieces of British army equipment you will find no where else. It is a great reference and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the particulars of 18th and 19th Century military kit. Top notch reference.

A splendid book, finely and accurately illustrated with detailed color drawings of the accoutrements used by Great Britain from 1750 until 1900. What do they mean by 'accoutrements'? Accoutrements are the soldiers field equipments: canteens, waterbottles, mess-tins, haversacks, belts, pouches, musket and rifle slings, bayonet frogs, knapsacks, buckles and other odds'n'ends used by the British cavalry and infantry soldier over about a 150 year period. Believe me they are all there, illustrated in expert detail, right down to the stitching, with a scale rule in inches on each page to provide dimensions. In addition to the equipment illustrations the artist, Pierre Turner, provides a few illustrations of soldiers actually wearing the equipment to show how it was all arranged on the body. Anyone familiar with Osprey Publishings series on military uniforms and campaigns will recognize Pierre Turner's name. Now don't misunderstand, this book is not an illustrated uniform reference, packed full of splendid soldiers in red. There are just a handful of soldiers illustrated where necessary to explain the arrangement of particular pieces of equipment. This book IS a thorough, well layed out, illustrated work on every piece of field equipment that the British soldier and cavalryman of the mid-18th and 19th centuries wore. Each piece is shown in great detail from every angle. These include variations, changes and upgrades over the years. The belts, straps, packs, etc. are laid out on the page as if they were right there in front of you - any you would never get this view of them any other way except if you actually could handle or owned these items. The complicated Valise Equipment of 1870 through it's variations up to the 1888 Pattern are all there. Even the picks and shovels are included, something that no British soldier could do without even today. Mr. Turner should be congratulated for the painstaking care with which he went about creating this bible of British Army accoutrements. This book is a must have for any collector, historian, or hobbiest interested in the British soldier from 1750 to 1900.

An important major reference work, Sonoran Desert Plants is an exhaustive study of the woody plants native to the Sonoran Desert. 80 species are treated, and each species treatment includes excellent grey tone photographs and distribution maps, in addition to the discussion. This is an absolute sin qua non for students of the Sonoran Desert, botanists, naturalists, and aficionados of the cacti of the region. I reviewed this book several years ago & have not changed my mind about the book even though I am selling my copy now. I have moved "biomes" and really have no need for Sonoran biology texts anymore.

Co-authored by plant ecologists Raymond Turner and Tony Burgess along with botanist Janice Bowers, Sonoran Desert Plants: An Ecological Atlas is an enlarged and thoroughly revised edition of the original 1972 atlas. Packed cover to cover with figures, distribution maps, black-and-white photographs, and detailed information concerning the taxonomy and ecology of 339 plants, Sonoran Desert Plants is a superb in-depth manual especially recommended for ecologists studying the Sonoran desert area. A glossary, index, and impressively extensive compendium of cited literature round out this specialist's resource.

I found this book to be quite unique in the way it covers its subject area. I know of no other book which seeks to treat in a botanical manner the more conspicuous and important woody plants of the Sonoran Desert biome. I discovered the existence of plants that I previously did not know about. Each species is covered very well, with notes on its appearance, distribution, ethnobotany, and ecology. Excellent half-tone black and white photographs. I can't recommend this book too highly if one is interested in learning more about the Sonoran Desert woody plants.

The author of this book portrayed the Canadian environment as if one was really there. I actually felt cold in the ice and snow, and felt happy with the characters, as well as experienced their heartships with them.

The main character, Jean Paul, is a great role model for young men who begin their own journeys and personal struggles in entering adulthood. I think a lot of young people can truly relate to the characters.

I highly recommend any young person to read this book - esp. if they love the outdoors.

This is a suspenseful book continuing the story of John-Paul, Sasha, and the Ice Patrol. It is beautifully written.

Bonnie Turner is an experienced childrens' novelist who clearly loves to write and does it very well indeed. This book is captivating, vivid and set in the beautiful North of Canada. Definitely a recommended book for younger readers.

Ian Ruxton, co-author of "Japanese Students at Cambridge University in the Meiji Era", also available on amazon.com.

book very useful and clear! recommended.
is a book written in a simple and understandable to all

Great book! Covers everything in an easy to read and understand format. Does not require you to read the book cover-to-cover. You can use it as an as-you-go reference guide, to quickly get yourself going.

This book does a great job in describing the various tasks necessary to program the S7 300/400 series of PLC's. Topics are presented in the form of questions such as "How do I add an input card to the configuration". The question is then answered in two ways. First by explaining the necessary steps, then by leading you through step by step.

The author also devotes quite a bit of the book to working with the hardware configuration, as well as describing the various option available when adding and configuring hardware components.

This book is a great supplement to the reference information supplied with Step 7.

This is an excellent book and anyone with an interest in the Viet Nam War should read it. The events of July and August 1964 are thoroughly examined and analyzed step by step. There are interviews with many of the people who were involved in the incident on both sides. It has a good technical discussion of the military equipment(ships and radar/sonar systems) that greatly contributes to an understanding of what happened on those "dark and stormy nights". This is definitely the best book about the Tonkin Gulf incident. The author is a History Professor at Clemson University and I had the priviledge of taking his Vietnam War and Modern Military History courses back in 1993. He told our class that he was writing a book about the Tonkin Gulf incident so it was great to finally read it after all these years.

Sometimes the details that matter aren't captured on videotape and broadcast around the world, like more recent events in the year 2001. What history doesn't have to show what was going on is a picture of how things were set up for this book. "Around noon on August 2, at the White House, President Johnson discussed the American response to the August 2 incident with Secretary Rusk, George Ball, Cyrus Vance, and Tom Hughes of the State Department; General Wheeler; Colonel Ralph Steakley of the Joint Staff; and Winston Cornelius of the CIA. At this meeting the president not only confirmed the decision that sent the Maddox back into the Gulf of Tonkin along with the Turner Joy, he authorized the continuation of OPLAN 34A raids (definitely the one scheduled for the night of August 3-4, and perhaps also those for the night of August 4-5; the procedure of waiting for the results of each raid to be evaluated, before approval of the next was initiated . . . would not have been practiced when there were to be raids on consecutive nights)." (pp. 103-4).

The amount of detail in this book could support a view that secret operations are those things which are not revealed in order to create the greatest spin in the direction of the psychological warfare advantage desired by whoever is keeping the secrets. To get a full appreciation of the kind of restraint which the American government displayed in this incident, the whole picture should be compared to how well the participants in World War II responded to the order given by the president in August, 1945 (a mere 19 years before the Tonkin incident) not to drop any more atomic bombs on people whose government exhibited any hostility toward military activities directed by the United States of America. President Truman's order was followed by massive conventional bombing, much as the history of American bombing in Vietnam shows how long a superpower can maintain a campaign of destruction against anyone who knows the truth about something which is supposed to be secret. This book shows great deference to the feelings of the anonymous secret operations experts who would never say anything that wasn't in the best interests of the powers that be. "Escalation" is an understatement for the overt actions taken against North Vietnam in August, 1964. Adopting a bombing routine as a conditioned response to false accusations in anticipation of making the bombing a regular routine, in the absence of any debate on why things happened as they did, was the real policy. Even now, most people who ought to know better are pretending that a lot of things revealed in this book are still secret. What people don't believe now is the preamble to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which stated that the United States was going to be maintaining peace there, where it had no territoreal, military, or political ambitions. My ambition was to get the Combat Infantryman's Badge without getting killed, so I could be the CIB who failed to agree with whoever thought this ought to be. Check the facts in this book for a truly tortured bit of not being able to see a forest because the treehouse doesn't have any windows, and the trap door in the floor is closed.

This excellent book demonstrates that the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" was not really an incident at all. It explains in detail the events that lead up to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the escaltion of the war that followed. My only complaint is that the author says that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was based on a "misunderstanding" and not "knowingly faked." Even if that is true, the fact remains that it was used as a convenient excuse to escelate war. In addition, the fact that there was no effort on the part of the government to determine the facts behind the Tonkin incident demonstrates that the government wanted war, and were just looking for the right excuse.