Freedom Books

So much to say but very little time. I loved the life story of the author, but when it came to the scientific stuff I was lost. The rest of the information about Creation is just fantastic. You can see his youtube video if you search Talmud Jmmanuel. Better yet, get a copy of Talmud Jmmanuel (4th edition) and learn the truth.

In Searh of Truth and Freedom is a powerful analysis of material existence, and our connection with the higher spheres--the most profound I have ever encountered in my lifelong search through religious history, philosophy, and scientific discovery.

Discussing revelation, metaphysics, the theory of relativity, conservation of energy, the spiritual capacity of animals, the big bang theory, prayer, discrimination, reincarnation, UFOs--and all the Gods in history who influenced human society, it seems he covers everything.

In my opinion, with this book, Dietmar Rothe will make the list of "The Worlds 100 Greatist Thinkers."

-- Delma Luben, author, The Universal Experience

This is a powerhouse of a book. If you love logical books you should read this. This book is full of charts and graphs which make following easier. This is a book every scientist should read. It is a wake-up call to mankind. One of the most interesting chapters is Chapter 8 "The Story of Jmmanuel". If we had more critical thinkers like Dietmar Rothe, the world would be a better place.

With In Search Of Truth And Freedom, Dietmar Rothe provides the reader with an impressive, scholarly, thought-provoking examination of the purpose of life and humanity's role in the cosmos. Dietmar Rnthe is no New Age apologist or dabbler in fringe sciences. He applies an intensely personal approach to surveying and assessing the central, fundamental questions arising from the universal mysteries of life, truth, metaphysics and existence. In Search Of Truth And Freedom offers invaluable, highly recommended insights that will be of intense interest for students of spirituality, personal responsibility, and life's meaning.

A great insight into undercover narcotics investigations and patroling. I could not put this book down, a great read! Thank you for writing this exciting book!

From beginning to end INCONCEIVABLE DANGER had me hooked. I'm usually not one to read police stories but, this one is most definately the exception. Easily a one day read; INCONCEIVABLE DANGER leaves you breathless, wanting more and hardly able to wait for the next book by this outstanding author. BRAVO!!!!

...THANK YOU, OFFICER FORD, FOR YOUR OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR COMMUNITY.

This is an action packed book that kept me in suspense. Just when I thought I was figuring out what was going to happen next, a surprise to me would occur. This book is truly suspenseful, exciting and keeps you on the edge of your seat all the time you are reading this book. It is a fine book of literature written here. I really enjoyed it. Jim

Inconceivable Danger takes you into the world of an undercover police officer who pursues a kingpin drug dealer known as Skyscraper; the most dangerous and ruthless criminal Dale and his partner had ever tried to arrest.

One mistake with this criminal meant certain death for any officer.

This book is action packed and a great thriller for all readers who like crime stories.
The sacrifices made by Dale and his partner are what legends and heroes are made of.

This story takes you into the mountains of southeast Oklahoma where contact with the suspect reveals the most vicious monster ever conceived by the two officers.

Inconceivable Danger promises to be a satisfying read for even the most discerning crime story readers. The author makes no apologies for the death and violence contained within it's pages; it is not for the faint of heart.
Dale Ford spent twenty years as an active police officer working undercover for five of those years as a narcotics investigator. He also served five years as an Officer and Chief of Southern Corrections Prisons and Asst. Chief of New Directions all women's Prisons.

Officer Ford continues to serve his community in 'off-duty' police assignments.

This book is one of the most honest and unbiased account of the Indian freedom movement. A must read for all Indians/Pakistanis who otherwise have a biased view of the events, based on the history books available in their countries.

In this book, Maulana Azad describes the political events between 1939-1947 and explains his views on the political blunders that lead to partition. While Maulana is severely critical of Jinnah and the Muslim League for playing the communal card, he does not shy away from blaming Nehru for the failure of the Cabinet Mission plan, and Sardar Patel for his indifference towards the loss of muslim life in the aftermath of partition. It is the sad story of a truly secular and nationalist man, whose dream of independance was tainted by the partition of a nation he loved so dearly. Truly honest and thought provoking.

The book creates a clear picture of the development of freedom movement in India. It brings out weaknesses which brought up the divided minds which ultimately lead to partition. The reader experiences much pain while going through the outcomes of division which were realized by few. Today's IndoPak presents the testimony of the truthful observations and predictions of Maulana Azad. I think it is the "BOOK OF FUTURE". Very few, especially among Muslims, were able to realize what they were doing by favoring partition. I hope they would surely realize one day what they did and quickly so if they read this book. It would be useful for a Pakistani to read this book.

The book is an excellent compilation of the events that shaped the partition of India. Our own flesh worked hard to part with our body. Issues that transpired between our much respected and awed leaders have been brought to the fore. The communal hatred was so deep rooted that imagination only is sufficient to experience the horror. Anyone with a quest for knowing the inside story of those days should read this book. Historical facts may have been twisted by the media then and issues forgotten over time but an autobiography such as this will put straight the facts that happened during the dark ages of turmoil. Many of us will admit that partition, after knowing the facts, was not necessary. We could have lived as one family.

The book by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is a true picture of the Political situation before independence.Depicts politics within politics.

As we live in a diverse society, this book gives a refreshing outlook on Faith, no matter what your denomination may be.

Deborah D.

Reviewed by Nina Larson for Reader Views (11/06)

On the surface, Duane Campbell's book, "Inner Strength Defies the Skeptic," is about looking inside oneself to find your personal truth, path and spirituality. His main claim is that value and identity has to come from inside a person, not outside, and especially not from anyone who has a vested interest in skewing that identity for the worse. His stated goal is that he wants this book to startle awake his audience. Awaken them to how they have accepted someone else's priorities, ideologies and limits.

Despite an early claim that his work, referenced under the title of `The Awareness Project," was for "all facets of people, regardless of age, social class, racial or religious background, economical or educational level," pp17, I felt his target audience was clearly poor, black, urban Americans; especially males. This feeling is an example of Duane Campbell's skill in writing. What he writes is more layered then most authors' works. For instance, tracking back on my feeling about his target audience, it started from his repeated use of "man" and "mankind" in one chapter and of course the male pronoun throughout. This was startling since I had heard about this disassociation from other females in other writings, yet I had only once felt that way myself. I suspect this feeling was solidified from the poem extolling the wonders of black women and the next poem a dirge for the black man. As you can see, all of this is subterranean; and very different from his explicit words.

Much of the book has these layered meanings. On the whole, while his route to finding inner strength was helpful, I am uncomfortable with the sub text about the purpose and use of this inner strength. The author states that "some may consider the (main section) of (this book) to be radical and/or confrontational" pp19. I however found that section to be the best part. I can understand why he thought this since on the same page he defines the choice faced after the reader uses that section as either a "rebellion of an oppressive state of existence or the acceptance of a corrupted social and/ or psychological hierarchy," pp.19. This kind of choice is like asking a man if he has stopped beating his wife. By definition any answer is an admittance of violence in the past. Likewise, because the author only allows those two options, it defines you as either with him or against him.

The setup of the book brings this lens up early, in the first of the three sections. This first part explains the `Awareness Project,' the book, and about the author. The second section is titled `Outreaches' and is the bulk of the how-to. In this part, a poem starts each chapter. The last section, labeled `Flow,' is all poetry. All in all this is quite a short book and very lyrical. "Inner Strength Defies the Skeptic" is a great example of how different written English usually is from spoken English. The entire book has a rhythm; ponderous on the statements, dancing on the poetry. A minor quibble is that the first two sections are a little disorientating to read since almost all of his sentences are statements and each sentence is a different paragraph. This is probably due to his goal of having all of his ideas "in statement format and not within the terminology of the theoretical" pp. 12. And this format does make it easy to meditate on any paragraph/ idea. Mostly these sections read like they should be orated from a pulpit or in a rally. On the technical side there were a couple of grammar mistakes that might be deliberate since his poems used e. e. cummings' method of lower-case letters as the standard of punctuation. It did bother me that his great `Awareness Project' mantra of "Within the seed of an apple there lives an orchard invisible" was under a picture of a sprouted acorn.

In conclusion, I believe "Inner Strength Defies the Skeptic," follows the author's intention very well. This is not a comfortable book and probably has layers I couldn't see or didn't notice. I found his message interesting, the methods helpful, and the purpose disquieting. I believe this book would interest any person who is spinning in place, convinced that their value depends on what "everyone knows" is important. I get the impression that this is the first of many planned publications and applaud Duane Campbell for following his path.

An excellent book, that really makes one think, on a whole new level.
The book is great at giving u a diiferent point of view, from poems, to the author's point of view.
Very, very enlighting.

Campbell gives us a unique look at the strength, peace and needed balance that lives within the human spirit. This combination of poetry and psychological/sociological references gives us a candid view of today's African American youth. Extraordinary insight to the souls of the black american future. Read it and learn!!!

This book explores issues in main stream religion that keep people from living full and free lives. Sarah has obviously done her homework and has many answers to many issues. This book seems to targeted toward people who want a closer more secure relationship with God and freedom from the condemnation of mainstream religion. Her book has helped me, I'm sure it will help many.

Not since the departure from the dark ages has anyone been so bold to point the finger back at mainstream religion and ask: Where is the authority of Christ? Why must the masses be blindfolded and barred from introspection and personal revelation? Why would God only speak to some if we are all his children? Sarah reaches into the heart of her readers as she tells her story of religious defeat, her desperation to know the truth, and the spiritual victory that saved her soul. Sarah triumphs over evil in this engaging journey into the light and inspires us all to love and forgive.

Sarah brilliantly voices the very thing that so many of us in the religious arena have suffered. She shows us that exploration and questioning are not only self-fulfilling, but are essential to our spiritual progression. Although she explores topics that may vary from the beliefs of some, at the core is an unbelievably freeing look into what it means to have a personal relationship with God and what we can actually do to aid in our own healing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone searching for answers or who might be feeling helpless in the outcome of their own life.

For many years my life was centered in Christian Churches. I did everything I could do to support the work. I gave of my time and of my finances for close to 30 years. Christianity had become the center of my life. Only one thing was wrong.. one very big thing. I was not seeing any real changes or victories in my life. So I pulled away from church and began to look for alternative sources of truth. My mind was entangled in confusion over what was the truth and what was deception. A friend recommended this book to me and as I read it many of the answers I have sought were in it. I don't understand everything that Sarah writes about, but I am much clearer in my understanding because of her book.

This Book Has More Meat In IT Than A 2-FT Long Philly Cheesesteak Sandwhich. Every time I see this book lying around the house, I pick it up and lose myself in it. It's absorbing for its information, not its easy readability. Author Dan Smoot is a man in the know. His profile near the back lists him as "a former member of the F.B.I. headquarters staff in Washington...and [who]authored the bestselling "The Business End of Government". The book, "Invisible Government" is a companion to those of us who realize how absurd it is that the mega wealthy would accept the democratic principles of the US Constitution (which supposedly gives governing power to the people). With chilling support, Smoot writes that the real government (the Invisible one) is composed of certain secret and pseudo-secret societies such as the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations) and the Trilateral Commission. Members of these societies (and he gives lists and names plenty of very familiar people) are then placed within the US Government in very key positions and control world events, with the president merely a puppet, a public face man who smiles at the public and is the receiver of their trust-and their wrath when things go bad. (Who could doubt this, given the George W. Bush tenure?) Smoot tells us about the founder of the CFR, Col. Edward M. House, and that the CFR is only the US branch of the secret society, with the main branch known as the RIIA, Royal Institute of International Affairs, founded in Great Britain under the stewardship of certain members carrying on the mission set forth in the will of Cecil Rhodes, see my review of Rhodes: Race for Africa. Col. Edward M. House wrote a novel in 1912 entitled "Phillip Dru: Administrator" in which House details numerous laws that eventually became laws in the US over the next 20 years, including the income tax, the federal reserve, social security, and giving women the franchise. House was President Woodrow Wilson's closest advisor, who lived in the White House and was NOT a government employee. Thus began the puppet presidencys, beginning with Woodrow Wilson. There is too much more to tell, but to doubt this book is to stick your head in the sand, which is a natural sport for mankind, allowing such things to happen in the first place. For an easy read on the whole nine yards of what is going on, why and how, see the book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept).

Smoot's book "The Invisible Government," is a great historical record that is informative, disturbing, and well documented.
If your're interested in the elitist policies, the history of globalization, and the shadow government behind it all, then, this book is for you !!

Smoots isn't the greatest writer I've ever read, but the story is so important that it should find it's way to everyone's bookcase. Most people believe that only kooks believe in a government within a government, but here is a former FBI agent that found exactly that.

Some will remember the IPR - China scandle that brought communism into China right after WWII. Those that don't will be educated on it. Those that do remember, we be taken down into the motives and reasons behind the actions of the IPR and the men that backed them.

Dan Smoot's "Invisble Government" sold about 1 million copies through self-publishing alone, but it did not appear on the New York Times "Best Sellers List" of 1962.

Essentially it is a book dealing with organization called The Council on Foreign Relations founded by Edward Mandel House, one of the Dullers brothers and others devoted to bringing "socialism as dreamed of by Karl Marx.", to quote House, to this country.

The writing is dry but effective. I think that had he lived, Senator Joseph McCarthy might have written this book himself since the Council is one of groups that he was getting into his sights before Eisenhower stopped him.

What Dan Smoot revealed is how it'c control of the national medias is so pervasive that true and vital news seldom gets to the populace at large. For instance, current members of the CFR include: Dan Rather, Tom Browkaw, Charlene Hunter Gault, and many others we have intrusted to inform and protect us.

His anaylsis of it's goals bear close attention for those who are interested in anwering befuddling questions about U.S. foreign and domestic policies.

Over twenty six years later "The Shadows of Power" by James Perloff, brought the CFR up to date, and the report on how this subversive organization has not been dealt with is not good!

From what one may gather after reading "The Invisible Government" is how many lives have been ruined or lost in order to fulfill the dreams of a few determined to create a "New World Order". If you think this is only the stuff of Ian Flemming or H.G. Wells, this book goes a long way to prove otherwise.

Other books, and there are many, devoted to exposing suberversion in high places frequently mention the CFR and its offspring the Trilateral Commission. While the news tends to focus on people in particular, the infulence of the CFR is seldom given proper consideration, if at all.

Dan Smoot revealed how the CFR is clearly anti-American, pro-socialists, and in league with organizations and individuals hostile to our form of government and way of life and he provided ample documentation that still serves interested parties to this very day.

For an interview with the author about his book search the net for "Radio Liberty". This host, Dr. Stanley Monteith" managed to get an interview with Mr. Smoot revealing the travails he had in getting his book out.

Mr. Smoot has done an invaluable service. And it lifted the weight of confusion and mystery about what is and is not true about rescent history of the Unted States.

Irish Secrets: German Espionage In Wartime Ireland 1939-01945 by Mark M. Hull (Assistant Professor of History, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri) is a 383-page exploration of why World War II German intelligence basically failed in the Irish State, and offers the documented view that the german effort represented a genuine menace to the Allies (including Northern Ireland) as well as the wartime neutrality of the Irish Republic. So much more than a stodgy historical study, Professor Hull offers the reader a truly gripping and comprehensive account of the intelligence war in Ireland and showcases the story of a brilliant, creative, and ultimately successful Irish Military Intelligence in waging a counter-espionage campaign that would overwhelm the German intelligence operations. Strongly recommended for personal and academic World War II Military Studies collections, Trust Yourself To Transform Your Body draws upon newly released intelligence files in several countries, in-depth interviews Professor Hull was able to conduct with surviving participants, and other previously unpublished primary sources.

It's not often that a history book comes along that catches my interest. When first starting to read "Irish Secrets," I thought I would be in for another historical timeline reading. As I kept reading, I was captured with the informative and humorous, yet tragic stories. Mark Hull has put real-life incidents together to tell the truth, whether liked or not. You do not get lost in the first chapter with the events occuring out of place, instead, you are given an understanding of the German Intelligence Service and the tools used to achieve an ultimate outcome of events. For Example: agent basic training, radio transmission secrets, secret inks, a coding system, and the people that were chosen.

I am not educated with this part of history. Frankly, I find it boring in the classroom, but not with "Irish Secrets." You will get to know the people and feel their half achievements and full loss. You will go to Ireland and have landed in the wrong area only to come upon a long hike through the roads, I believe the gent walked about 70 miles...of which he was dressed out of sorts! He is very easily spotted as a foreigner - not too well planned. You'll have illicit affairs, entrapment, thrilling escapes and ultimately see the inside of a jail cell.

This book is beyond a doubt, one of its own kind and should be read for the classroom, but also for pleasure! A simple "Spies Like Us" all the way humor. The classroom reading list should include "Irish Secrets" for scholars to learn a bit of forgotten history and enjoy a well written bit of work on the authors part. Irish Secrets is very well written and thorough in its recalling of a time went wrong. I enjoyed the book from start to finish and urge others to do the same.

This book has amazing insight into the realms of Irish and German espionage history. I found the reading to be thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. Dr. Mark Hull brings a bit of humor into a subject that is difficult to entertain. I have never been an advent reader of any type of historical writings and found that once I started reading, I honestly felt capitivated by the reconstruction of history in this book. Unlike most history books, Dr. Hull has brought to life a writing that is serious in depth of subject, yet could be viewed world wide on a theatre screen as thoroughly enjoyable (James'Bond anyone?).

I would recommend this book for a history class or just for the enjoyment of sitting down on the sofa with a good book and a cup of wine for a relaxing evening at home.

Irish Secrets provides a stunning insight into a now forgotten aspect of the Second World War - Nazi Germany's secret overtures to neutral Ireland, 1939-1945. Berlin sent a "dirty dozen" agents by parachute and U-boat to Ireland, whose wartime leader, Eamon de Valera, was striving to maintain strict neutrality in the face of strong pressure to join the war (mainly from British Premier, Winston Churchill).
Mark Hull, a professor of modern history at St. Louis University, has produced the most detailed study of the agents sent to Ireland by Germany. They included a German circus weight-lifter, an Indian and two South Africans. Most were en route for missions in England, but all were caught and incarcerated in Athlone army camp in the Irish midlands (luckily for them because they would have faced executiion if discovered in wartime Britain).
The most colourful agent by far was Dr Hermann Goertz, who parachuted into Ireland just north of Dublin in 1940. Goertz was wearing his Luftwaffe uniform and medals in the mistaken belief that he would be shot if caught in civilian attire. Goertz who was in his 50s and a First World War veteran, asked a startled Irish farmer if he had landed in Northern Ireland by mistake. The farmer asked the German agent "You wouldn't happen to know Ballivor?" (the nearest village), at which point the conversation abruptly halted as Goertz went on the run.
As Professor Hull points out, Goertz had the most success among the German agents, remaining at large for 18 months. But it's believed that the Irish Army deliberately kept him on a long leash, checking all those with whom he came in contact, including the German ambasador, Dr Eduard Hempel.
Goertz was unsuited to a spying mission, however, and spent his time in prison writing love stories, practising suicide drills, and dreaming about taking over the leadership of the IRA (Irish Republican Army). After his post-war release, he was so alarmed at the prospect of being repatriated to Allied-controlled Germany (he feared he would be tortured to death by the Russians) that he took a cyanide pill and died instantly, in 1947.
Professor Hull's book - which is destined to become a standard work of historical reference - will prove an invaluable read for anyone intersted in recent Irish history, Ireland's historical links with Germany and, in particular, Nazi Germany's attitude to Europe's neutral states (which included Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Turkey).
It is noteworthy that the foreword for Irish Secrets was written by none other than Enno Stephan (the former head of German Radio's French-language service), whose 1963 book "Spies in Ireland" did much of the spadework on this fascinating topic.

(Dr David O'Donoghue, Dublin, Ireland).

I bought this book on the basis of the title, with no idea of the author's deep history of accomplishments. This is a lovely book, largely an essay. The author opens by telling us he is concerned about the lack of political argument (dialog) in the USA, including substantive coherent dialog about core issues such as:

1. Nature and role of human rights in defining legitimate behavior by both individuals and governments

2. Role of religion in politics and governance

3. Distribution of community's economic wealth

I bring back from page 125 the following superb quote: "But our national politics fails the standard of even a decent junior high school debate."

And on page 127: "So Americans are horribly misinformed and ignorant about the most important issues." This is true. What he does not tell us, which we learn in the following book, is that all of our politicians and their so-called "advisors" are equally ignorant. See: Security Studies for the 21st Century

I was in error when I first thought the author was a conservative, forming that impression from the index and the endnotes, where I usually start a book. He is rather a very educated and philosophically well-grounded person of liberal to centrist perspective, and I found this book to be sensible, easy to read, and compelling.

The book could not be more timely for me (published in 2006) as I wathc Senators Clinton and Obama behave like children and avoid substantive policy backed up by a balanced budget they are both incapable of producing, while Senator McCain gets a "bye" and is not asked any tough questions at all (for 52 tough questions and transpartisan "starter" answers, visit the 501c3 Public Charity, Earth Intelligence Network).

The author, with a deep legal understanding and much work previous to this book, probes how character and forms of governance and politics shape the decisions we make.

He labels partisanship destructive, and puts forward his view that despite the superficial divide between "red" and "blue" he believes we can still come together at a deeper level of understanding such that we can overcome partisanship. I urge one and all to visit Reuniting America and especially their page on transpartisanship, it is consistent with what this author presents to all of us for consideration.

He specifically labels campaign rhetoric from 2004 to be shallow, as shallow as any since the last substantive debates in America, between Lincoln and Douglas (he says, I agree although Kennedy and Nixon I thought did well).

The author identifies his agenda in two parts: to explore how we might find shared principals, and to explore how such might lead to good outcomes for the Nation as a whole.

He puts forward three propositions early on:

1. Equal rights for all, meaning that both US citizens and foreigners (e.g. the ones in Guantanamo) should be treated equally, i.e. human rights should prevail here and both groups have equal right to dignity and justice and equality.

2. No television advertisements for political campaigns in the months leading up to an election.

3. Poor merit special protection and consideration as part of establishing the legitimacy of government and the equality of all (e.g. the poor cannot insure themselves the way the wealthy can). At a stratgeic level, there is no finer book than Max Manwaring (ed)'s The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century.

The author lists and discusses two dimensions of human dignity:

1. Human life as having special intrinsic value

2. Each person bears responsibility for themselves

He suggests that in discussion political versus human rights, the latter is the more stringent test, and I agree, as one of those who signed the letter to Senator McCain opposing torture by CIA or the US military. The author clearly states that to treat the "enemy combatants" as we have is to declare them to be less than human.

He places great emphasis on the importance of dignity for all, and I am reminded of the superb book, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (BK Currents)

He suggests that the religious clash in America is not about the more fundamental issue of faith and the value of faith, but rather about the role of religion in national life. The author leans toward the belief that we should (as the founding fathers intended, see Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, be tolerant with selected unitarian references to God (e.g. in the Pledge of Allegiance, in coin) but not--as most extreme right fundamentalists would have, as a "Christian Nation." As the author of Founding Faith makes clear, the latter is simply not an option.

The author states that we need to have a faith-based dialog between left and right, and I agree, while also noting we need to do this at an international level, where we are long overdue for a global Truth and Reconciliation Commission on what damages America has wrought "in our name" but against our public moral faith. A couple books worth close scrutiny (or at least read my reviews:

God's Politics LP
Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik

The author addresses liberty as not just being freedom, and defines it rirectly as the right to do what you want with the resources that are rightfully yours. That last bit is of course subject to long discourse: is Exxon entitled to $40 billion in profit while externalizing $12 in costs to the planet and future generations? Is Wal-Mart entitled to profits and the abuse of most of its employees while destroying small busiunesses for 150 miles around each Wal-Mart, and destroying the South Pacific off the coast of Chile so as to produce cheap fish while killing all life on the ocean bottom there? See my many lists.

The author specifically confronts and rejects the "culture of life" as being a compulsory sort of paternalistic and judgemental intrusion into our liberty. He defends abortion by pointing out that the fetus, while undeniably alive (so is a cancer) has no mind and hence no intersts. I for one place higher status on the mother's desires and needs in the first tri-mester.

He strongly supports gay "marriage" as a loving contract, and demands scientific proof before being willing to consider "intelligent design" (in passing I note that Germany has declared Scientology to be a cult, and outlawed it. I am reminded of the excellent book, Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography.

He provides an excellent discussion of how legitimacy in political authority stems from shared morality and balanced equality, and on this basis believes that the poor merit special consideration. He does not address how corporations should be deprived of their abuse of the personality privilege.

He tells us that a big reason the conservatives want to cut taxes is their desire to end the "welfare" state. From where I sit, we do need a smaller government but until labor unions are restored, and the Secretary of the Treasury starts to do his job instead of fronting for Wall Street against the public interest, I believe the author is on target and merits our respectful attention.

I completely agree with him on the indefensability of the gap between rich and poor in America, and elsewhere.

The book draws to a close with two contrasting views of what comprises a democracy, the one being majoritarian, the other in which We the People are full partners and the majority cannot impose its views on the minority, whose rights and views must be treated with respect and protectied. Here I point the reader to the formidably scathing Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It. BOTH parties are nothing more than two branches of a single organized-crime family, and both should be forced to pass the Electoral Reform Act before November 2008, or every incumbent dismissed and the two parties vanquished by Independents, Greens, Reforms, Libertarians, moderate Fiscal Conservatives, and conservative Southern Democrats.

He closes the book calling for equality for all, and dramatically increased self-government. He says we MUST do better in Education (I am reminded of Thomas Jefferson, "A Nation's best defense is an educated citizenry"), and calls for public election channels, the regulation of private networking (to which I would add Open Spectrum), the Right of Comment (e.g. on Jack Cafferty saying "Ralph Nader should be batted away like a fly"), and on term-limits for Supreme Court justices, he suggests 10 years.

As I contemplate the existence of 27 secessionist movements in the United States; the collapse of the Federal government whose ineptness is virtually complete, the criminality in the White House, hijacked by Dick Cheney, I have to come down strongly in favor of a public demand for a Constitutional Convention in 2009, making that the litmus test for any candidate. NONE of the three is qualified to govern in their present condition. We may yet need a third party candidate with a transpartisan cabinet, a balanced budget, a commitment to both Electoral Reform and a Consttutional Convention (see also Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It))

My review does not do this author justice. His book is elegant, thoughtful, philosophical, balanced, not at all confrontational, and the best thing I can say of this book is that I had to read it and think about it. This is a first-class piece of work, one the Founding Fathers would have found worthy.

See also The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World and my many lists on the Earth Threats (10) Earth Policies (12) and Earth Challengers (8).

All americans should read this book. Ronald Dworkin has the corage to say the truth about the President Bush. And the truth is: YOU DID NOT HAVE DEMOCRACY.

Only Dworkin can get you back to understanding just how important principles are to decision making. "Principles Matter" (his best work in my opinion), and now he applies that same logic to preserving democracy in a world where we are continously befuddled by mass media and political spin bent on stirring our emotions. Anything to keep you "tuned in" and riled.

His arguements are solid, as always. Even if you prefer other "principles", you have to respect his approach and where his values weigh in on critical decision making. Dworkin has a way of revealing to the reader just what principles he or she are applying and sometimes we come away horrified at your own logic, which, of course, we thought was flawless. This book helps us take stock of own own opinions and how we can be more constructive towards preserving the democracy we all believe we cherish. Somewhere we need a divisor to utilize against the bombardment of mass communication and political belligerence. This is an excellent beginning.

Having weathered another election cycle of verbal and emotional combat between the polarized "red" and "blue" electorate, one begins to wonder if there is any common ground for constructive political debate in our contentious democracy. In his new book, legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin answers in the affirmative. He believes that there are certain principles on which both sides can agree. Problems, however, arise when these principles are applied to making concrete policy decisions.

Dworkin sets forth two principles of human dignity to which all parties can agree: 1) "that each human life is intrinsically and equally valuable," and 2) "that each person has an inalienable personal responsibility for identifying and realizing value in his or her life."

These principles are highly abstract and probably most parties would disagree on their application. The improvement in political debate here lies in the fact that debates can go back to a common starting point rather than having parties try to demonize and discredit each other as if they had mutually exclusive worldviews.

In the application of these principles to the policy on torture of enemy combatants, I found Dworkin's views recognizable because they coincide with my own. The use of torture is clearly at odds with any principle of human dignity and should be condemned. However, there are extreme and unique situations where torture may extract information that could save thousands of lives. How does one balance this against human dignity? Dworkin seems to suggest that we do a cost/benefit analysis - typical of legal thinkers. And I tend to agree. However, it is a problematic area and remains unresolved.

On the issue of capital punishment Dworkin tries to show two sides of the argument. Being a liberal, he is personally against capital punishment. On the other hand, he argues that death as punishment is not at odds with human dignity. A death penalty advocate would argue that there are issues of deterence and retribution that must be observed. Again this opens the debate to other sets of issues. Where does one draw the line on human dignity?

These two examples illustrate how difficult it is to achieve a substantive political debate as opposed to the disparagement and invective that we witness today. Dworkin's principles are hard to disagree with, and he clearly illustrates the problems we get into if we deviate too far from these principles. This book is an interesting and useful contribution to the need for civilizing our current political debate.

This is an excellent, captivating, and well written book. I picked it up the other day on sale and read it in under a day. Warner gives a well documented and investigated account of John the Painter's life and deeds. I read it directly after reading Dan Berg's book on the Weather Underground, and one could, if creative enough, perhaps see some connection between their sabotage oriented propaganda and a sort of lineage coming from John the Painter. Also quite nice about the book is the way that Warner draws out some interesting comparisons between then and now, particularly the way that the Portsmouth and Bristol fires were used to justify the suspension and habeas corpus and other legal rights (in other words, it's not the US who has the first to suspend such in times of danger, real or imagined, and the UK did so before, even if it prides itself on not doing so today, or at least not to the same degree as the US). It is also nice to see someone doing social history / history from below who is interested in their subject, but not totally taken in by it, keeping somewhat of a distance from it at points (which one would one to do with at least certain aspects of John the Painters life even if not others).

This book delivers. It is not an exhaustive treatise on the nature of terrorism (which it could have been had the author bowed to the whims of our modern backdrop) but rather a very real and lifelike account of the brief step into the limelight that characterized the life of James Aitken.

The reader truly sees the era through the eyes of not only Aitken, but of the lawmen who chase him and the harried/bumbling port authority that lamented not acting swifter in his pursuit. We feel inside the story, both saddened at a life led astray as well as excited at the narrow escapes and missed opportunities.

John the Painter is a great story that is told with panache and style.

Any Americans who pay attention to history take pride in the Revolution that brought the nation its freedom, and all Americans have been shocked by recent attacks by terrorists. What if during the Revolution, there had been a terrorist operating in England on behalf of American freedom? It seems an impossible anachronism, but the strange truth is that there was such a man. He is a historical footnote now, but at the end of his brief life he was one of the most notorious men in England because of his crimes of arson performed against naval targets in furtherance of the American cause against England. This bizarre story is told in _John the Painter: Terrorist of the American Revolution_ (Thunder's Mouth Press) by Jessica Warner, which fetches its subject back from obscurity. The saying "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" does not really apply to John the Painter, whose real name was James Aitken. Shifting through the often obscure vestiges of fact, Warner is not able to document that Aitken was inspired by any patriotic fervor or love of liberty. His motivations remain mysterious, and his crimes ineffectual, at least as far as affecting the American Revolution, so his obscurity is deserved; but this is a lively and welcome examination of a tiny and surprising patch of history.

Aitken was born in 1752, in an impoverished section of Edinburgh. He became a painter, and got an introduction into some basic chemistry and had easy access to flammables, but had small success in his trade. He opted to try his luck in the New World. He arrived in Jamestown in 1773 as an indentured servant. He ran away from his master, and was in different areas of the eastern seaboard for two years. He did not get imbued with the love of liberty while he was there; in fact, he was part of an exodus of Scots back to England in 1775. He heard a conversation in a pub in Oxford to the effect that if the naval dockyards were lost, the navy would be lost, and thus the war would be lost. He then formed the plan of torching Britain's docks. He may have thought that in doing so he could have returned to America as a hero, and become (his great goal) a military officer, but any clear explanation of what he was thinking is impossible. He met with the American representative in Paris, got a small amount of money, and thought he was doing American duty as he torched a few warehouses and docks, with the aim of crippling Britain's navy. He had houses as well as naval buildings as targets, and although no one died, he did (as terrorists do) inflict psychological damage. He was not particularly careful about his work and keeping from suspicion, but policing at the time was primitive. Eventually, someone recognized him, others realized that a housepainter always seemed to be around town before a blaze, and a hunt was begun. It quickly succeeded when a large reward was offered for his capture.

Aitken's efforts terrified Britons, but had none of the effects he had planned. Americans had been suspected of setting the fires (Aitken's incendiary devices had convinced authorities that there was more than one arsonist about) and those who had sympathy for the American cause had reason to be less enthusiastic. He was put on trial for the offence of arson in a naval dockyard, one of the many crimes punishable by death. Warner explains how limited justice was for those accused at the time, and how an informer was hired to befriend the unsuspecting Aitken in jail, in order to get details of his activities. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. There was a customary, but unseemly, race to get his life into print, with different authors vying to be the one responsible for his true final confession. None of them turned out to be very reliable. The prison chaplain refused to give Aitken final communion until he gave a final confession that might be published on its own (with profits to the chaplain). Aitken was hung on high, specifically from a ship's 60-foot mast especially erected in Portsmouth for the occasion. His body was tarred and gibbeted, hanging for years in an iron cage to serve as a warning to others, and pieces of him were taken away for souvenirs. A finger was turned into a tobacco stopper, and was destroyed, as luck would have it, in an incendiary raid on Portsmouth by the Germans in World War II. John the Painter's life was not useful to the Americans, who forgot him entirely, and serves only as a historical anomaly. Warner's telling of a sad tale, however, is full of sympathy for a flawed protagonist and good humor for his peculiar style of making himself famous. He was a failure; his biography is a vigorous, ironic success.

I picked this book up because I am very interested in revolutionary America. I found the subject to be interesting, as I had never heard of John the Painter.

This book is written as history books should be written: Like it involves people and not dates. I was given a great sense of how John the Painter's life must have been and what his motivations were.

I also enjoyed the parallels of John Aitken's life with that of many modern day terrorists. The author does not throw these parallels in your face, instead she lays the facts out and you must draw your own conclusions.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in history or current politics.

For all those who think that the demands of "creation-sciencists" merely for an equal hearing with evolutionary theorists in science class are fair and reasonable, for all those who believe that people who say offensive and hurtful things in universities and elsewhere deserve to be silenced for the common good, or for all those who are convinced that potentially destructive and divisive ideas (such as homophobia, sexism or Holocaust-denial) should be surpressed to make our society more civil and inclusive, this book is for you. For it will show you, lucidly and elegantly, why you are wrong. Our way forward is through what Rauch calls the "liberal scientific" enterprise, the greatest gift of the Enlightenment, not through demands for the excision or surpression of what many consider dangerous or offensive ideas. That, Rauch, shows is the shortcut from modern democracy to a sort of middle-age regulated despotism. The ideas are stimulating in the extreme, the writing exemplary in its clarity, passion and lucidity, and the message about as important as you can get. A must-read, especially for anyone living or working in a university environment.

An excellent book on the value of open inquiry and the threats it faces. I would also recommend Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World" for a related perspective on scientific vs. unscientific reasoning.

This book is superb. A well-written, exhaustively researched treatise on the philosophy of "liberal science" and a look at the attacks made on that philosophy by (mostly) well-meaning advocates of inclusion, equality, and civil discourse.

I'm somewhat at a loss to try and describe how important I think this book is. I rarely comment on books I've ordered, but I feel that EVERY educated person should read this book and understand the reasons why an open, critical, unfettered exchange of ideas is of central importance to civilization and to the progress of human knowledge.

Read this book. You'll be glad you did.

This book is superb. A well-written, exhaustively researched treatise on the philosophy of "liberal science" and a look at the attacks made on that philosophy by (mostly) well-meaning advocates of inclusion, equality, and civil discourse.

I'm somewhat at a loss to try and describe how important I think this book is. I rarely comment on books I've ordered, but I feel that EVERY educated person should read this book and understand the reasons why an open, critical, unfettered exchange of ideas is of central importance to civilization and to the progress of human knowledge.

Read this book. You'll be glad you did.