Government Books

General Arthur MacArthur was a colonel in the US Civil War. He served in the Spanish American War and the Phillipne Revolution. He helped create the modern US Army. If you are at all interested in this period of history this is a must read. It is the only biography of MacArthur.
If you were looking for the other General MacArthur, this is his father. Any student of WWII or Korea that wants to understand MacArthur this is a must read, also.

Mr. Young has given us an excellent account of the life of Arthur MacArthur and his turbulent world from the Civil War (where he won the Medal of Honor) to the rugged West to the Phillipines. Well researched and well documented. Never a dull moment and his information of the brutal and deadly war in the Phillipines aroused my curiousity to seek more knowledge of that conflict. The text captured the desolate and often bloody campaigns as well as the rough life of a soldier and his family. A top notch read.

Arthur MacArthur is one of this countrys most forgotten heros if you enjoyed reading Old soldiers never die: The life and times of Douglas MacArthur, you will be astonished by the career simularitys he had with his father. Arthur MacArthur was the son of a judge, he was a hero of the civil war, Millitary Governor of the Philippines, and like his son rose to be the top millitary officer of his generation. History has all but forgotten this soldier, statesman, and father of one of the most unforgetable persons in American history.

Mr. Young has given us an excellent account of the life of Arthur MacArthur and his turbulent world from the Civil War (where he won the Medal of Honor) to the rugged West to the Phillipines. Well researched and well documented. Never a dull moment and his information of the brutal and deadly war in the Phillipines aroused my curiousity to seek more knowledge of that conflict. The text captured the desolate and often bloody campaigns as well as the rough life of a soldier and his family. A top notch read.

The General's General is an interesting and entertaining life of one of the 19th Century's most influential soldiers. Although little remembered today, MacArthur was an heroic lieutenant, an influential middle level officer and eventually the leading General in the U.S. Army.

The book touches on several aspects of U.S. history. In reading the story of the General's father, Arthur MacArthur, Sr., the reader gets a peak into the 19th century politics of Wisconsin in particular and the U.S. in general.

As a young man MacArthur joined the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry as an adjutant, a position for which his youth initially proved a distinct disadvantage. MacArthur's first glory came with the assault on Missionary Ridge south of Chattanooga on November 25, 1863. After taking the first level of Confederate rifle pits, which was the objective of the charge, MacArthur led his men on an unordered charge up to the top of the hill, gaining the admiration of all who observed him, from Generals Grant and Sherman on down.

In the post war army, MacArthur made two significant contributions. While commanding at Fort Selden, New Mexico, MacArthur compensated for the absence of a suttler by establishing an enlisted men's canteen, which became the forerunner of the PX system. As a staff officer, he later obtained a change in Army policy which permitted the award of medals to officers. This change in policy resulted in MacArthur being awarded the Medal of Honor.

MacArthur's moment in the sun came with the advent of the Spanish American War. Surprised by his assignment to the Philippines, MacArthur made the most of the transfer to Asia. Over a three year period, MacArthur played a major role in the conquest of the Philippines which had begun with the destruction of the Spanish fleet by Adm. Dewey. The battle began with an defeat of the Spanish troops followed by a long war, first conventional and then guerrilla, against the Philippine Republican troops.

After his appointment as Military Governor of the Philippines, MacArthur began to experience difficulties with the civilian officials sent to rule the Islands, primarily William Howard Taft. The dispute with Taft eventually led to MacArthur's dismissal as Military Governor and his retirement from the army.

In telling this story the reader is introduced into the many stages on which the war was played out. The effect on the political situation in the United States is well developed. The foreign policy debates incited by the conquest of the Islands are explained. The war on the ground bears an uncanny resemblance to the situation which later Americans found in Vietnam.

The introduction of the MacArthur family to Asia is well covered. The initiation starting with the war in the Philippines continues with the Grand Tour of Asia and is capped during MacArthur's role as military observer to the Russo-Japanese War.

This book sheds much light on the development of Arthur's son, Douglas. In it we read of the desolate western outposts in which Douglas spent his youth, the society into which he was introduced and the role his mother played in his development. It was on the Grand Tour of Asia that Douglas claimed to have learned to understand the Asian mind. Douglas' familiarity with Asia would come to play a role in his influential involvement in American policy toward Asia in the middle of the 20th Century. The similarities in the careers of both Arthur and Douglas are laid before the reader. At the time of the writing of the book, the only Father-Son Medal of Honor winners, both would have their careers marred by major conflicts with civilian superiors and would end their days in virtual exile from the services to which they had devoted most of their lives.

The General's General is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the story of this remarkable man and in the Army's role in U.S. history the Civil War through the period before World War I.

This is a clear, amusing and readable account of how Joan Darrah went from being a volunteer leader to become the mayor of Stockton, CA. Her engaging style makes it seem both doable and worthwhile. She recounts how much she was able to do by diplomacy and persuasion to dramatically reduce crime in the city and to take control of the city's development away from the developers and give it back to the people. Inspiring. And she is so likable. You end up feeling as though you have just had a good talk with a fine mentor. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone concerned about civic affairs.

This memoir is one of the most potent stories I have ever read about a woman politician. Joan Darrah is a phenomenal example of what women can do and overcome in the largely male dominated world of politics. I was so inspired not only by how she rose to the powerful position of mayor, but the ways in which whe changed the city of Stockton. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a strong woman who has accomplished so many remarkable things.

Women working in the political arena, whether as politicians, activists, or in a myriad of other areas, struggle with finding traveled paths relevant to their goals. What Joan Darrah has ratified is that our desires to be agents for positive change in our communities are worthy and that a path has been traveled. GETTING POLITICAL - STORIES OF A WOMAN MAYOR recounts her experiences as Mayor of Stockton, CA that led to a resurgence of community pride in her city and tremendous personal growth for herself. Darrah's book is a candid, intimate, and inspiring look at a woman successfully putting herself "out there." The community Joan speaks of is 250,000 but the experiences of a woman leading are universal to all that have chosen to put their foot forward. A must read for women that have been there and those that want to go.

Joan Darrah presents us with a remarkable testament of one strong woman's effort to change the political terrain of a community of 250,000, Stockton California. She succeeds.

Why wasn't there a book forty years ago when I was in college like this book? It is a real political primer, one which in real life stories, detail the evolution of a woman from a non-profit type leader to a shrewd politician.

Episode after episode detail the daunting challenges of Stockton in the nineties: the drowning of several children by the out of control Calaveras River, the disastrous designation of Stockton by FEMA as being in a flood plain--it could have been an economic calamity for Stockton, and the tragic shooting of a property owner and a policman in a drug raid.

Nothing could probably overshadow the horror of the lone gunman who shot to death several students at their school. How does a relative newcomer handle such awesome challenges? Joan Darrah does and jumps back and forth successfully from being the loving caretaker to the shrewd politician.

One incident, however, enfolds into a huge drama with the mayor pitted against powerful gambling interests as well as the city council. Her move to get the entire community to vote and drive the gambling interests out of town, is nothing short of exciting.

The style of the book moves you along. If a detail here or there doesn't appeal, right away you will find yourself in the middle of new and even more absorbing story.

And you are learning. This story could be the story of just about any modern city in this country with a multitude of challenges. And the book tells us how Mayor Darrah's wonderful patience and courage change things for the better.

There is the colorful story at the end of the book of how ships brought men from San Francisco, bound for the hills during the Gold Rush, right into the deep water port of Stockton, where they disembarked and set off by horse or mule into the foot hills.

Joan Darrah is the first person in a half century of efforts to successfully launch the re-vitalization of this downtown area.

If the facts don't fascinate at times, then the biographical aspects of the book will have appeal. A determined girl, promoted by a high energy dad and a loving mom, Joan presents us right away with a young person with much promise. Yet, in retrospect, Joan's marriage to a fifth generation attorney from a prominent Stockton family might have been the best choice to nail down her long term possibilities of a political career.

Linking with the right people is demonstrated over and over, and Joan's affirming these persons' special contributions is a clear key to a politician's success.

In a further bigraphical vein, Joan must be incredibly proud of her high achieving three children. They are contributors in the best possible sense of the term. Joan combines the best aspects of being a mom and wife with the conviction of being the best possible mayor.

This memoir is one of the most potent stories I have ever read about a woman politician. Joan Darrah is a phenomenal example of what women can do and overcome in the largely male dominated world of politics. I was so inspired not only by how she rose to the powerful position of mayor, but the ways in which whe changed the city of Stockton. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a strong woman who has accomplished so many remarkable things.

Although it saddens me to see a strong literature emerging today that was largely anticipated and ignored by people like David Barnett with his Global Reach work in the 1970's, it is a good thing that strong voices like those of this author are now making very comprehensive documented cases for how corporate power and privatized wealth are collapsing nations, bankrupting economies, and impoverishing more and more people unnecessarily.

The table of contents of this book is extraordinarily details and brilliant in its organization. Although the book is mostly case studies that one can read through rapidly if accepting of the author's key points, this may well be one of the finest itemizations of the ills of the 21st century: corporate power run amok, privatization and concentration of wealth (which is, incidentally, one of the precondition for revolution), the collapse of national and local economies (e.g. Wal-Mart), the dismantling of the welfare safety net in most countries, and the outbreak and spread of famine and civil war.

The author is probably the foremost scholar and commentator on how the "free" market is not so free, and how the existing capitalist system is predatory, aided by locked in privileges that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank impose on nations foolish enough to accept their intervention. In this the author is consistent with Jeffrey Sachs (The End of Poverty) who has put forward the need for a complete make-over of developmental economics, to include an end of the normal business practices of the IMF and the World Bank.

I was tempted to remove one star for lack of sufficient reference to the works of others, but the personal insights and comprehensive review caused me to leave the ranking at five stars. I see a clear pattern emerging in the literature (see my other 700+ reviews) and what I am waiting for is for someone to cut the spines off all these books and "make sense" of the total picture in a manner comprehensible to the indivdual voter.

If we are to restore informed democracy and moral capitalism, this book is one of the foundation stones.

See also:
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
The Global Class War: How America's Bipartisan Elite Lost Our Future - and What It Will Take to Win It Back
War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War onthe American Dream and How to Fight Back
Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It (BK Currents)
The Working Poor: Invisible in America
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

M. Chossudovsky attacks head on the New World Order imposed by the World Bank (WB0), the IMF and the WTO, calling their economic 'reforms' enforced on countries in distress not less than genocides.

Their 'free market' system is rigged. The WTO agreements grant entrenched rights to the world's largest financial and industrial conglomerates, derogating the ability of national governments to regulate their economies. The IMF programs enforce governments to privatize big chunks of their national economy, liberalize their markets and downsize social provisions (education, health, social security).
Their 'free' market system is synonym of human poverty, destruction of the natural environment, social apartheid, racism and ethnic strife, undermining of women's rights, economic dislocations, forced displacements, landless farmers, shuttered factories and jobless workers.
More, he accuses the IMF of supporting the appropriation of global wealth by speculators through manipulation of currency and commodity markets. It even manipulates itself its economic statistics in order to show that its policies work. Finally, it cooperates with warmongerers and 'peace keepers'.

He illustrates his verdicts with a host of examples.
Somalia: the entire social fabric of the pastoralist economy was undone through duty-free beef and dairy products from the EU.
Rwanda: the restructuring of the agricultural system precipitated the population into destitution, leading to a genocide.
Ethiopia: the Structural Adjustment Programme caused starvation.
Bangladesh: a devaluation and price liberalization exacerbated famine. Deregulation of the grain market meant dumping of US grain surpluses.
Brazil: enhancement of social polarization by supporting the land-owning class.
Peru: after liberalization, the price of bread increased more than 12 times.
Russia: helping the oligarchs.
India (Andhra Pradesh): repeal of minimum wages and support of caste exploitation
Yugoslavia: serving the strategic interests of Germany and the US by cutting the financial arteries between Belgrade and the republics.
Korea, Thailand, Indonesia: the vaults of the central banks (100 billion $) were pillaged by international speculators. The bail-outs of those countries were underwritten and guaranteed by the same Wall Street banks involved in the speculative assaults.

The author proposes a solution which will be extremely difficult to implement in our actual world, where media and governments are controlled by the powerful: democratization of the economic system and ownership structures, disarming of speculation, redistribution of income and wealth and rebuilding the Welfare State.

Michel Chossudovsky's book constitutes a devastating denunciation of an inhuman system sold by economic strangulating wolves clad in sheepskins.
It confirms the forceful analysis of globalization by Joseph Stiglitz.

A must read.

I also recommend a voice from the South: Walden Bello.

Chossudovsky is a brilliant economist and a burning torch for the truth that people are unable to see, hear, or accept due to the propaganda schemas that are embedded in their minds (like a microchip programming) by the global media cartel and the political demagogues.
Chossudovski analyzes the past and the present in relation to debt, globalization, and international financing. He dispels the myth of the good samaritan (like the IMF, the World bank, and the Federal Reserve, etc) that destroys economies of other countries, and impoverish them under the guise of capitalism (actually corporate socialism) and freedom, in order to own them. He clearly elucidates the dollarization process and its role in the New World Order. This book makes a powerful reading that sheds the light on a vanishing truth. I would highly recommend this volume to anyone who is interested in world finance as well as their future, and the future of their children.

With the North American governments and their media flacks noisily championing "economic liberalisation", dissenting voices are muted. The voices of those most directly affected by "globalisation" are fainter yet. Michel Chossudovsky attempts to overcome the raucous proponents of "international free trade" with an examination of just what it does and how it impacts civil societies. The picture he provides isn't pleasant. However, turning away will not cause it to fade from lack of our attention. In fact, reading this book is an eye-opening, if not eyebrow raising experience.

Among the rare critics of globalization Chossudovsky has "on-site" credentials beyond his academic base. He's been on the scene of several nations subjected to International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies. He examines the results of these and other international financial agencies' policies. From Chile through Rwanda to Somlia and Korea, he shows how a new form of warfare is under way. Conquest no longer requires bullets to occupy a nation nor suppress a people. Conquerers now wield position papers, American dollars or Euros and trade impositions. Surrender agreements come in the form of "conditions" accompanying loans and investments. These dicta result in the stripping away of social programmes, alienation of subsistence farm holdings and displacement of vast numbers. These people, deprived of income, traditions and opportunity have become a new breed. They are the hopeless poor for which no amount of "aid" can provide succour.

As he demonstrates repeatedly, the mechanism is simple. The formation of the IMF gave financiers, chiefly North American, a cudgel to change governments, force farmers and pastoralists to convert to cash crop economies, and reduce or eliminate government services. The initial steps were instituted by the Bretton Woods conferences designed to restore nations devastated by World War II. Private financial institutions imposed conditions on loans granted to recovering countries. "Recovering" countries rapidly expanded into "developing" countries as these institutions recognised the value of cheap labour in them. Accepting "foreign investment" led to indebtedness difficult to repay. Defaulting was unacceptable to both borrower and lender, leading to new rounds of loans. These, however, rarely reached the borrowing nation since the new funds were set against the older debt. "Servicing the debt" meant imposition of stringent conditions, ranging from privatisation of services, amalgamation of small land holdings to produce crops to be purchased cheaply, but sold at inflated prices. The consumers of these goods are you and your neighbours.

Each of the nations Chossudovsky examines suffers the same schedule of "structural adjustment programmes" imposed by the IMF. These SAPs outline the changes a nation must endure to receive the "benefits" of globalization. Restrictions on outside investment must be eliminated, with the concomitant privatisation of state-owned facilities and services. Where workers aren't laid off, their wages are frozen or reduced. Local currencies must be adjusted to American dollars, which has the impact of intense inflation spirals almost overnight. The result is a populace under increasing pressure, marginal or famine-stricken and powerless. Civil unrest isn't an option, since disruption brings reprisals - often, of course, the withdrawal of investment, failure to renew loan guarantees or simply real military action.

Although the repetitive nature of the manipulations of the financial institutions on national sovereignty leads Chossudovsky to some redundancy, the reader should understand we are dealing with a global crisis. "Bitter medicine" and "bitter irony" recur, because the circumstances he describes are redundant. An imposing and sometimes intimidating account, he is careful to shift the responsibility to institutions rather than consumers. It is, however, the developed country consumer that provides motivation for many levels of the problem. Chossudovsky's analysis is thorough, well-founded and expressive. He shows why social unrest in "developing" countries is the result of imposed conditions, not unstable populations and environments. That he offers little in the way of solutions for the predicament the world now suffers is only testimony to the immensity of the task ahead. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I was originally born in Uganda and I can assure you that Africans have always been suspicious of the so-called "aid" they receive since it almost always comes after a crisis that they can't quite explain (like how did a bunch of poor, illiterate preteens get the money to buy those fancy weapons, or why won't aid agencies buy food from the local farmers and distribute THAT).

Suspicions and rumors are insufficient to counter what appears, on the surface, to be international generosity. That is why I am grateful for Chossudosky's contrarian masterwork. It confirms the fears and suspicions regarding a return to colonialism and economic slavery. The fact that Chossudosky was willing to put his career on the line to write this hard-hitting book is worthy of our attention. He shows, without a shadow of a doubt, that there is a deliberate and systematic campaign of "economic genocide" against Africa and all other resource-rich regions. Neoliberalism have mastered the British colonial-era double-speak of "liberty", "democracy", "markets", etc. "Market liberalization" is nothing more than armed robbery. And "investment" is really nothing more than "asset stripping". The Adam Smith phraseology of free-trade and free markets is used, much like their British predecessors, to recolonize the world. Chossudosky shows how the "Washington Consesus" has embarked on a foreign policy strategy of economic sabotage and "strangulation." As Kissinger famously ordered, in the now declassified National Security Memorandum 200, Africans should be kept from becoming consumers of their own raw materials.

Chossudosky does an enormous favors to us neophytes by decoding the neoclassical econo-babble. His brilliant deconstruction of IMF structural adjustment policies is worth the price of this book alone. But he goes beyond that. He shows how nations can be brought to their knees through currency devaluations and speculative attacks. The whole cynical process of creating the crisis then blaming it on the victims, i.e. the "Asian" Crisis which is in fact an American Crisis, or the excuse used to maintain Odious Debt on impoverished nations: "their corrupt leaders are to blame for the Odious Debt". Yes but those "corrupt" leaders were trained at American military bases (much like the 9/11 hijackers), and are killing us with American made weapons (thanks again Kissinger). Besides, everytimes Africans (or Latin Americans) try to put a reformer or socialist democrat in power, he develops a nasty habit of being assisinated.

This book will make you angry at how long and how often you've been lied to. Everything you thought you knew about economics will be tested as the Machiavellian machinations of international creditors, grain companies, and financial "investors" is revealed in page after riveting page. I also recommend Michael Hudson's Super Imperialism and Horowitz' Emerging Viruses. If it's not out of print then get The Merchants of Grain. Some publishing companies are refusing to publish some of these books because of their controvesial nature so get them before they're made "out of print".

Rauch's book exposes the sad truth about interest groups and their impact on the federal government.

He makes two basic arguments. First, that each interest group is only concerned about their survival and prosperity. And second, that the federal governemnt in unable to get rid of these groups due to their expansive powers as a whole. The fed he says is unable to fight these groups because there are too many to fight at once and because so many of these groups have powerful friends on the other two rungs of the iron triangle.

The consequences of these actions is that the federal government is forced to fund outdated/ineffective organizations that do no good for the public. Also, worthwhile programs are under-funded. And lastly, the problems that have yet to be addressed have a small chance of being solved because too much of our resources are spent on these entrenched dinosaurs.

I recommend this book to anyone trying to learn about what's really going on in the federal government beneath the non-analytical levels of todays news reports. Rauch provides many examples to back up his claim but doesn't get bogged down in political/economic jargon. The only critique I have abotu the book is that he tends to repeat his sub-arguments a little too much but it may help in underscoring the main points to his claim as a whole.

I've always been a big fan of Demosclerosis and I'm also a big fan of this book, which is a heavily revised version. The revision is heavy enough that I felt I got my money's worth with this new edition. If you haven't read Demosclerosis, buy this book. If you have, you may want to buy it anyway for the new content. Rauch puts his finger on the reason why special-interest gridlock creates a polity that is considerably less than the sum of its parts. There are also some brutally effective graphics -- my favorite being the (declining) confidence in government as a near-perfect reciprocal of the (increasing) number of pages of federal statutes. Buy it, read it, send copies to your friends.

It is hard to express how good a job Rauch does at putting forward his view of Wahington. He paints a vivid, believeable, coherent picture; he is fair-minded and nonjudgmental to a fault (truly - he is much too kind to many people); his pronouncements on, and advice for the future are measured and realistic, and not completely unconvincing; and on top of this the book reads very quickly. Greider's "Who Will Tell the People" is comparable in message, but, while very well done, that much larger book fails to present as clear a testament to what has happened to Washington in the last 40 years. Though people who are interested in politics should already have come to grips with Rauch's thesis, the fact is that most have not, while the average, relatively apolitical American would no doubt find this book quite an eye-opener. As the other reviewers note, Rauch is a consistently fine writer; here is a good place place to start reading.

If you're trying to understand why the federal government is deaf to the needs of its citizens, this book will tell you why. Further, if there is any question why John McCain strikes such a chord with the American people, the answer will be found in here. Yes, the economy is doing great (and the polls say Americans agree). Yes, our position in the world is dominant (and Americans agree). But when it comes to the performance of the government, you can see the vein bulging on the average American's forehead. Washington has "stopped working," in Mr. Rauch's words and in his book, he explains why. The culprit is an explosion of special interests who seek to exploit political and finiancial gain from our nation's capital. The myth of the "national interest" has been quietly put to rest. In its place is the roar of special interests who sap the nation's economy, stifle legislation, and stir public cynicism. Mr. Rauch is a bit too cynical about the prospects for reform; I do not share his belief that government has "ended." Hopefully, the next generation of political leaders, heeding Rauch's warning, will prove him wrong.

Read this book in an American Government class my first semester of college, and to this day it remains one of the most informative and influential books I've read.

This is a cute, easy to read book that discusses the basic elements of Chinese New Year.

This is a simply written and beautifully illustrated book about the Chinese New Year. Through delicate line drawings and jewel like colors the author/illustrator captures the essence of Chinese mythical creatures, flora, fauna, heavenly creatures and mortals. We learn about Chinese zodiac symbols, gods, how Chinese people prepare for the New Year, why they eat special kinds of foods on New Year's Day, the symbolism of specific flowers as gifts, and the meanings of Chinese characters hung on doorways. Demi is the talented author and illustrator of many children's books with Chinese themes. This book is definitely one of my favorites.

Need an excuse to explore ethnic and religious holidays and practices? This is your vehicle. The interesting and exciting practices surrounding Chinese New Year can so easily be compared in writing, drama and story-telling of many other cultures. You cannot go wrong with this book.

I haven't found a book by Demi that isn't terrific. This is a great book for young children, it gives lots of great information on the Chinese New Year and what one does to get ready for the New Year celebration! A must have for anyone with an who wants their child to know about their hertitage!

This is a nice introduction to chinese new year. I will use it as a informational guide and have my Chinese-Vietnamese students look it over to facilitate a discussion about their new year. Thanks.

It is a mystery why this superb book did not receive more attention. Van Dyk was present for some of the most interesting times in American politics and is rigorously honest about the people he worked for and against. What's more, he is fair and is a great story-teller. This book compares very favorably with other campaign memoirs (e.g. Robert Shrum's) and the author wisely waited until the twilight of his career to make his opinions known. Thus, the author does not fall into the trap of having his motivations questioned, like so many writers of today's political screeds. For those who think that history is boring or that they know all about politics in the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond, my advice is: Read This Book. You will not be disappointed.

After reading "The Last Campaign" which chronicled Bobby Kennedy's run for president and "Boom" which showed Tom Brokaw's views, as a journalist of the late 60s, I was ready to dig into this recap by Ted Van Dyk. Van Dyk is a free lance columnist for the Seattle PI. His opinions run across the board, some that I can agree with and some that I cannot, but all come from his knowledge of being inside the system. In adddition to his work in politics, Van Dyk has been involved with private business and academia.
His insites are very eye opening espessially when he recounts Walter Cronkite's seemingly disregard of the truth during the Viet Nam years. Although the revelations seem startling, they are only touched on in the book.
His observations of the Clinton family and of Bill Clinton's presidency seemed to bear fruit during Hilary's ill fated campaign.

Anyone who wants to understand--or shape--the presidential election of 2008 should read this book. Ted Van Dyk's work will also endure long after we select our next president because he captures the soul of American politics as practiced in the last half of the 20th century. Van Dyk makes available to readers the same depth of analysis and plain old-fashioned story-telling ability that made him so influential for so long in Washington, DC. He loves politics at its best, and it comes through.

I recently reviewed this book in the Boston Phoenix (http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid57111.aspx). As I wrote there, "Van Dyk's recent work is . . . well worth the attention of political junkies, students of American history, or anyone else who wants to know how politics really worked in the glory days of the Democratic Party.

Too often our histories of politics are colored by political biases and attempts to shade the truth. To invoke an old cliché, Van Dyk tells it like it is. His memoir is a great read, a wonderful primer for those who might seek to enter politics themselves, and a terrific walk down memory lane. His idealism and honesty are reminders of what once made the Democratic Party great -- and could again."

Ted Van Dyk vividly captures the turmoil, egos, and inspired (as well as uninspired) political leadership of the 1960s, 70s, and beyond. What makes this memoir qualitatively different from other insider accounts is Van Dyk's compelling, non-gossipy narrative style. No cheap shots, just a mix of analysis and anecdotes that illustrate the limits, hubris, and, yes, virtues of the political class.

There's a delightful consistency to Van Dyk's approach--the equivalent of throwing a Jesuit or a Greek scholar into the political maw. Take a Depression-era kid from the Northwest with values cut like glass and set him in the moral murk of Washington, DC. Opportunists and hypocrites beware! It's instructive, only occasionally grumpy, and altogether entertaining.

I am a long time, transplanted resident of Buenas Aires. In my homeland, we take great pride in the revolutionary heroes that both overthrew the political colonialism of Spain and the economic colonialism of Great Britain. Although we live in the shadow of the North Americans, we share a common revolutionary heritage. As one who has spent many hours amongst the people in our capital city, I share Senior Kashatus' enthusiasm for the sites of the North American city of revolution. His guide has proven most illuminating and having read it through, look forward to using it as the basis of my visit to that historic city.

I am a long time, transplanted resident of Buenas Aires. In my homeland, we take great pride in the revolutionary heroes that both overthrew the political colonialism of Spain and the economic colonialism of Great Britain. Although we live in the shadow of the North Americans, we share a common revolutionary heritage. As one who has spent many hours amongst the people in our capital city, I share Senior Kashatus' enthusiasm for the sites of the North American city of revolution. His guide has proven most illuminating and having read it through, look forward to using it as the basis of my visit to that historic city.

I visited Philadelphia as a young man while involved in a liason with a young woman from that city many years ago. During my time there, I idly walked through the lower parts of the city, looking at, but paying little attention to the magnificent things around me. I confess to having brought little back with me from the experience save a broken heart, a few maps and some local guides.

A corresponding friend from the neighboring state of New Jersey happened to send me a copy of Herr Kashatus' book, indicating that the author is a friend. I soon thereafter read it. I found it a pleasant enlightener of old memories, putting into context what I simpy walked by.

Having since gained a more serious appreciation of the American past, I look to this book as a sourse of background material for subjects that I hope to explore further. I intend to visit Philadelphia again soon and to take these "walks", book in hand and really see what I have previously just looked at.

I visited Philadelphia as a young man while involved in a liason with a young woman from that city many years ago. During my time there, I idly walked through the lower parts of the city, looking at, but paying little attention to the magnificent things around me. I confess to having brought little back with me from the experience save a broken heart, a few maps and some local guides.

A corresponding friend from the neighboring state of New Jersey happened to send me a copy of Herr Kashatus' book, indicating that the author is a friend. I soon thereafter read it. I found it a pleasant enlightener of old memories, putting into context what I simpy walked by.

Having since gained a more serious appreciation of the American past, I look to this book as a sourse of background material for subjects that I hope to explore further. I intend to visit Philadelphia again soon and to take these "walks", book in hand and really see what I have previously just looked at.

I visited Philadelphia as a young man while involved in a liason with a young woman from that city many years ago. During my time there, I idly walked through the lower parts of the city, looking at, but paying little attention to the magnificent things around me. I confess to having brought little back with me from the experience save a broken heart, a few maps and some local guides.

A corresponding friend from the neighboring state of New Jersey happened to send me a copy of Herr Kashatus' book, indicating that the author is a friend. I soon thereafter read it. I found it a pleasant enlightener of old memories, putting into context what I simpy walked by.

Having since gained a more serious appreciation of the American past, I look to this book as a sourse of background material for subjects that I hope to explore further. I intend to visit Philadelphia again soon and to take these "walks", book in hand and really see what I have previously just looked at.

Every once and awhile a reader is forturnate to come by a book that might seem uninteresting but upon reading it finds it to be one of the best books ever. Such is HOLDING STONE HANDS which I bought several years back from University of Nebraska as one of their sale books. Turned out to have been one of the wiser buys of my time.

One of the very first things that struck me as I began this book was the flat out courage it would take to do what the author has done. Leave home, leave safety, walk upwards of 1500 miles, live, eat, and sleep out of doors much of the time. Another thing that quickly came to me was the interest people, mostly Cheyenne, still held for this historical happening. And they wanted to aid the author in his quest.

I have read some on this subject but things such as the Northern Cheyenne life coming to an abrupt end in December, 1876, was a surprise. Also that Lone Wolf's name was not that but 'Lone Coyote', or that Dull Knife's name was not that but 'Morning Star'. Also that both of these heroic and historic personages of the Northern Cheyenne, each in his own way, ended life mostly an outcast. Remembered today, yes, but only in a tempered way. Many still find fault with some decisions Dull Knife made. And with Lone Wolf murdering a fellow tribesman, his later life of blindness and isolation had to be very unrewarding.

No matter the reason for reading this wonderful book, a reader has struck a true classic of western history. And the main thrust of the book goes beyond history to be one of mission and people. Great reading as usual from University of Nebraska Press.

Semper Fi.

As my title states, this is a very powerful book. Mr. Boye walked the trail that the Cheyennes travelled in their tragic journey to get back home (from Oklahoma to Montana). Along the way the author meets up with two Cheyenne men who travel with him for the better part of the journey. When they leave he meets a mid-20s Japanese man who travels with him for a while. Why is this Japanese man touring the American West? Read the book to find out. Despite my praise for this book, my rating is a 4.5 out of 5. Why? I will give two examples (not that there are many more):
1 - On p. 225 he states that hundreds of Indians were killed at the Battle of the Blue Water (the number was about 86 and his own source--Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue--states 85).
2 - Following Little Wolf's capture his followers shortly after became scouts for General Miles to fight the Sioux. Boye only mentions his surrender. He should have gone on to include this important detail.

Having said that, the book is still a very good read and I really enjoyed his journey and his dramatic retelling of the Cheyennes' escape from Fort Robinson. I would like to know more about the film made by some Cheyenne's as mentioned in the book. Final verdict: Recommended.

I'm not much for history as it is taught in our schools, but this book is great. It is a perfect blend of history, present day (in the form of the author's trip), and thoughts and stories from the author's personal life.

I recommend this tome to anyone that likes travel stories. Especially if you dont know, or want to know more about, the Cheyenne Exodus. Expensive, but worth the money.

This is a story of heartache and strength, of hope and struggle...it is the story of a man's love of the land and a people's fight to keep their homeland. Boye is a gifted and talented writer whose words flow as he leads us from page to page, back into the past and then gently into the present. He is a writer that truly cares about his story and the people that inhabit it. He opens his heart and the words come tumbling out. A wonderful MUST READ for all nature lovers and history buffs.

This is a magical walk through a dark time in American History...Alan's own experiences are so materfully intertwined with history on this voyage, the past truly comes alive as you feel every step and face every fear. With each step, with every encounter along the way, you can feel the ghosts of the Cheyenne people walking in your own shadow. Make no mistake, HOLDING STONE HANDS is a Masterpiece...you'll feel the pain of endless walking, the anger for what the Cheyenne people were forced to endure, and the sorrow for the pointless death as they tried to make their way to the only land they would ever call home.

I have read a few of Claire Wolfe's articles, which prompted me to buy this book during an ISIL (International Society for Individual Liberty) conference. She gives some very innovative ideas on how to stay out of government databases and other alternatives to using your 'national ID number' (SSN). Anyone who is concerned about how fast we are losing privacy in this country should take a look at this book.

If you are sorely depressed about the current state of the country and with the idea being pushed on us that the USA Patriot Act is a way toward Homeland Security. If instead of security, you're finding personal freedom and privacy a thing of the past,this may be just the book to read. Claire gives you the sense that things aren't completely lost. She doles out some sound advice about how to live quietly within the system--sort of a low tech under the radar approach--and also perhaps a little bit of a utopian approach, but very do-able if people just band together. Her idea for using hobo signs to identify others of like mind is one that I personally like. There is a lot of hope in this book and what Claire Wolfe is famous for--that ability to inspire. For other books like this 8003802230 or the loompanics site.

Claire Wolfe first popped into view while researching National ID sites and electronic privacy forums. I was delighted with what I found. Perhaps enough of us will see the light Claire has given us before the lamp is extinguished.

For the interested reader, there are other gems to be mined. A "must read", fictional account of where we are headed if current trends are not reversed is a new novel by author Jerry Furland, "TRANSFER-the end of the beginning...". Chillingly topical and utterly believable, you should check it out right here at Amazon.com. Forewarned is forearmed.

Claire Wolfe, Culture Hero

The revised and expanded second addition of her recognized libertarian classic, I Am Not a Number! Freeing America from the ID State, is out now and even better than the first. She's written a bunch of other books, too. In fact that's the first question a person asks after reading one of them: "Is there more?" You find yourself wanting to take a couple of weeks off from work to check out the rest.

A sage once said, "If we keep on the way we're going, we're going to wind up where we're headed." So this is a book to get now, because when we do wind up where we're headed, a book like this is only one of the things we won't be able to get.

In the great tradition of Harriet Tubman, who led slaves out of bondage via the underground railroad, Claire Wolfe provides clear directions back to America. The America some of us love and miss. An America where, to give just one little example, paying for something with legal tender didn't used to be seen as suspicious behavior.

It's about "how to retain ownership of our lives."

Wolfe reminds us that the recipe for freedom is a willingness to take risks, combined with a re-evaluation of priorities, followed by making the appropriate changes in lifestyle. (As another sage expressed it, you can do anything you want as long as you're willing to pay the price. A lot of times you don't end up having to pay the price - but you have to be willing.)

She discusses the extremes: primitive living at a level so far below the radar that the authorities don't bother with you - which can be a life of deprivation and loneliness - or sophisticated hiding - which can be ditto. How to escape? Shooting the bastards is not a real good idea, since all it tends to do is make the next crop of bastards even nastier.

Millions of Americans, Wolfe feels, "have now reached their line in the sand" and are ready to stop being sheeple. The preferred method is to "creatively disregard" the rulers - emotionally, mentally, philosophically and if necessary even physically. Leave the government even if you can't leave the country. Many methods of non-cooperation are suggested here, along with advice about how to handle such things as financial and medical affairs. For someone who hasn't heard about, for instance, the Free State Project, this could be a major life-changer.

The slogan of the cyberpunk crowd was, "Information wants to be free." These days, it's much more useful to remember this - "Information want to help us be free." The opportunities for further self-enlightenment in Wolfe's generous "Freedom Resources" section prove it.

Wolfe's cynicism towards both big government and violent political fringe groups, without any paranoia and hysteria, is a welcome change from books of this type (not unlike her previous book, "101 Things To Do 'Til the Revolution"). Instead of a typical "globalist conspiracy, grab your guns and head for the hills" type of book, this is an investigation of just how your rights are being eroded, not by plot and design, but by complacancy and apathy; how we are allowing our desires for security and comfort to build a prison for us with bars that we will never even notice. Included in the book are resources and suggestions (with plenty of "caveat emptor"s) on how to keep what privacy you have, as well as taking back some that you've lost.

You don't know how much privacy you've already lost? Frightening, isn't it?

Worthy of the title, taken from a line from Patrick McGoohan's TV mini-series "The Prisoner" (Available on tape, so rent it!), this is Wolfe's best so far. A rare voice in this field of writing, I look forward to more "rationally radical" works from her.

Immanuel Ness' vivid descriptions of three labor struggles among immigrants in New York City provides an alternative both to the mindless boosting of the city as a paradise of gentrification and to some of the more overly optimistic characterizations of labor found in academia. Far from being a new paradise, for these workers (driving black cars, working in green groceries, and doing supermarket deliveries) New York offers working conditions not much different from some of the worst in the world. Employees at the green groceries are locked in the freezers as punishment. Delivery men earn about $100/week (in NYC!). And so on. But Ness' real focus is on the logic of their organizing to improve the conditions and pay. Because these workplaces are characterized by tight-knit, immigrant communities isolated from the rest of the population, they are better able to build bonds of solidarity than, say, workers at Wal Mart who go home at night to various suburban developments. In all cases, organizing began as self-organizing, rather than union-driven campaigns. Nevertheless, the supportive (or not) role of unions is crucial. In the case of the green grocers, some support is found, until the untimely death of a crucial organizer. For the delivery men, the union actively opposes their interest. Only in the case of the black car drivers is there a relatively happy ending, in which they found a local that was comfortable working with their organization on an enduring basis. But even this is tempered by the material in a chapter on Post 9-11 working and organizing. 9-11 triggered an increase in state surveillance of immigrant communities and 'grassroots' racism among the wider population that had an extremely negative impact. The future of these efforts is highly uncertain. I strongly recommend this book to people concerned with labor organizing, contemporary immigrant life, and general interest in cities. My only complaint is that in the conclusion Ness invokes some crude Marxist formulations about the centrality of class over culture that are contradicted by his own material--there is no evidence that workers in New York are uniting on the basis of class. Instead, the workers described joined together through a mixture of class and identity, and efforts to knit them together with each other or with the traditional unions based in slightly better paying jobs (staffed mostly by US citizens) will require considerable cultural work.

This is one of the very few books that addresses the issue of worker organizing and the importance of migrant workers to the oranized labor movement. The AFL-CIO increasingly recognizes the need for immigrant workers as they form a larger part of the labor force in low-wage jobs amenable to organizing. Unions have a range of responses to this newfound worker militancy, from complacency to building power and support for workers otherwise left to their own. Unlike other books, Ness shows that migrant workers from similar backgrounds tend to have strong ties to their co-workers. In fact, these strong ties contributes to solidarity and the will to confront rapacious employers. Surely U.S. workers have much to learn from migrants whose bonds of solidarity are reinforced by common religious, national, language, and ethnic identities.
U.S. workers are no less militant if confronted with identifical circumstances as immigrants. However, the rise in contingent work contributes to fewer bonds of solidarity as native-born frequently move from job to job as they seek out individual gains--mostly without success.

The case studies in this book will be instructive to international unions in seeking out new strategies for organizing immigrant and native-born workers alike. This book is the most important contribution to the literature on labor organizing in recent memory, and provides the basis for understanding the labor struggles of the early 20th century when mobilized immigrant workers formed unions and were consolidated by the national unions. This book offers hope to all of us as the government seeks to marginalize immigrants through imposing draconian laws and weaken their legal status as workers.

No other book brings to life the work and struggles of new migrants in the United States. Ness sets the stage for the impending crisis that the labor movement will most certainly confront in the years to come. The book is eye-opening political-economy that points to new strategies and directions for the labor movement and the broader the working class. Striking is the absence of unions, labor institutions, and a party capable or willing to support the new realities of what is effectively the post-NLRA era.

This book is far and away the most important book on labor in many years. While it covers immigrant laborers in the U.S. the book can be applied to U.S. workers as well. The book counters the intuitive notion that migrant workers are too afraid to organize. In fact they are the most likely to organize! Then the book provides a road map for all labor organizing, both immigrant and U.S.-born workers. Of all the books I have read, this book provides the most theoretically sound approach to labor organizing and mobilization in a clear and concise manner. The book is accessible to any reader and, without hubris or jargon, explains in a clear way that it is workers who organize first. Power is consolidated for the workers by unions. But even without unions, the book shows us that workers are more willing to take risks and are much more militant than their unions. Written clearly, the book is the best book on immigrants for university students. In my class, I found that students were so enthusiastic that the book in fact sparked discussion without my intervention. Bravo to Ness.

Professor Immanuel Ness brings a lot to the lectern in this story of spirited, but impoverished immigrant workers organizing in New York City. Ness is a professor of political science. He's written widely on cities. And his years as a union organizer give him instant street credibility.

All this experience and knowledge is effectively woven into his book, Immigrants, Unions and the New U.S. Labor market The title is accurate although Ness rarely strays far from the battles in New York's five boroughs. New York is a kind of testing ground. Immigrant workers in New York City make up more a than half the labor force. The low wages of these immigrants explain why New York County has the biggest spread between rich and poor in America -- It's in these organizing campaigns that the struggle to keep America from sliding back to the pay and conditions of the Gilded Age are being determined.

Ness focuses on three campaigns: Mexicans who work in Korean deli's, Pakistani limo drivers; and west African grocery store workers. With dozens of candid interviews, he takes us inside these immigrant communities, to hear the voices of New York's most silent workers.

Everyone knows that immigrants have it hard. But Ness forces us to see just what it means to be delivery man from Mali and be forced to live on $1.00 an hour - plus tips of course - while working for A&P's Food Emporium.

These workers are so exploited they aren't even permitted the status of workers. They're "independent contractors" "a fiction that allows employers the right to ignore the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) regulating minimum wage, maximum hours and safety conditions. The upshot is that the grocery baggers from Mali wind up making that $1.00 an hour - which is more than they would make in Mali but not as much as Americans made a century ago. .

Ness shows us how these immigrants nevertheless have been able to come together to demand dignity, rights and a few extra dollars - at great risk, despite threats of physical harm, deportation, and job loss. It's not exactly workers of the world unite. But a triumph of the resilience of traditional social bonds which somehow survive even in the Global City. Plus it turns out they can mobilize a lot of outside support - the Mexican workers in Korean deli's got help from State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer who obligating sued the employers for back pay; a formidable community campaign sprang up on the Lower East Side to support the workers when they went on strike; the Mexican Consul-general got involved, too.

Ness' most surprising finding is that American unions - the institution you might expect to be leading the charge on behalf of the most exploited workers - the established unions - are mostly missing in action or actively undermining the immigrant organizing campaigns. There are some splendid exceptions, like Ernesto Joffre the former Chilean miner, jailed for subversion under the Pinochet dictatorship who went into exile here in New York and became head of an exemplary garment workers local. But mostly organized labor is too busy patrolling its jurisdictional boundaries to give more than perfunctory help. Almost immediately after Joffre's untimely death, his parent union liquidated support for the organizing campaign. A shady longshore union located in New Jersey wound up with sweetheart contracts with several of the Korean deli's.

Ness' accomplishment is dual: anthropology of New York's newest immigrant communities and a political science of the city's unions. It adds up to the most valuable account yet of the astringent realities of immigrant organizing in America.