Amazon.com
Updated Edition: Thomas L. Friedman is not so much a futurist, which he is sometimes called, as a presentist. His aim in The World Is Flat, as in his earlier, influential Lexus and the Olive Tree, is not to give you a speculative preview of the wonders that are sure to come in your lifetime, but rather to get you caught up on the wonders that are already here. The world isn't going to be flat, it is flat, which gives Friedman's breathless narrative much of its urgency, and which also saves it from the Epcot-style polyester sheen that futurists--the optimistic ones at least--are inevitably prey to.
What Friedman means by "flat" is "connected": the lowering of trade and political barriers and the exponential technical advances of the digital revolution that have made it possible to do business, or almost anything else, instantaneously with billions of other people across the planet. This in itself should not be news to anyone. But the news that Friedman has to deliver is that just when we stopped paying attention to these developments--when the dot-com bust turned interest away from the business and technology pages and when 9/11 and the Iraq War turned all eyes toward the Middle East--is when they actually began to accelerate. Globalization 3.0, as he calls it, is driven not by major corporations or giant trade organizations like the World Bank, but by individuals: desktop freelancers and innovative startups all over the world (but especially in India and China) who can compete--and win--not just for low-wage manufacturing and information labor but, increasingly, for the highest-end research and design work as well. (He doesn't forget the "mutant supply chains" like Al-Qaeda that let the small act big in more destructive ways.)
Friedman has embraced this flat world in his own work, continuing to report on his story after his book's release and releasing an unprecedented hardcover update of the book a year later with 100 pages of revised and expanded material. What's changed in a year? Some of the sections that opened eyes in the first edition--on China and India, for example, and the global supply chain--are largely unaltered. Instead, Friedman has more to say about what he now calls "uploading," the direct-from-the-bottom creation of culture, knowledge, and innovation through blogging, podcasts, and open-source software. And in response to the pleas of many of his readers about how to survive the new flat world, he makes specific recommendations about the technical and creative training he thinks will be required to compete in the "New Middle" class. As before, Friedman tells his story with the catchy slogans and globe-hopping anecdotes that readers of his earlier books and his New York Times columns know well, and he holds to a stern sort of optimism. He wants to tell you how exciting this new world is, but he also wants you to know you're going to be trampled if you don't keep up with it. A year later, one can sense his rising impatience that our popular culture, and our political leaders, are not helping us keep pace. --Tom Nissley
Where Were You When the World Went Flat?
Thomas L. Friedman's reporter's curiosity and his ability to recognize the patterns behind the most complex global developments have made him one of the most entertaining and authoritative sources for information about the wider world we live in, both as the foreign affairs columnist for the New York Times and as the author of landmark books like From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. They also make him an endlessly fascinating conversation partner, and we've now had the chance to talk to him about The World Is Flat twice. Read our original interview with him following the publication of the first edition of The World Is Flat to learn why there's almost no one from Washington, D.C., listed in the index of a book about the global economy, and what his one-plank platform for president would be. (Hint: his bumper stickers would say, "Can You Hear Me Now?")
And now you can listen to our second interview, in which he talks about the updates he's made in "The World Is Flat 2.0," including his response to parents who said to him, "Great, Mr. Friedman, I'm glad you told us the world is flat. Now what do I tell my kids?"
The Essential Tom Friedman
From Beirut to Jerusalem |
The Lexus and the Olive Tree |
Longitudes and Attitudes |
More on Globalization and Development
China, Inc. by Ted Fishman |
Three Billion New Capitalists by Clyde Prestowitz |
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs |
Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz |
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli |
The Mystery of Capital by Hernando de Soto |
Book Description
The World Is Flat is Thomas L. Friedman’s account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put people all over the globe in touch as never before—creating an explosion of wealth in India and China, and challenging the rest of us to run even faster just to stay in place. This updated and expanded edition features more than a hundred pages of fresh reporting and commentary, drawn from Friedman’s travels around the world and across the American heartland—from anyplace where the flattening of the world is being felt.
In The World Is Flat, Friedman at once shows “how and why globalization has now shifted into warp drive” (Robert Wright, Slate) and brilliantly demystifies the new flat world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, he explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; how governments and societies can, and must, adapt; and why terrorists want to stand in the way. More than ever, The World Is Flat is an essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.
Download Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist gives a bold, timely, and surprising picture of the state of globalization in the twenty-first century
Customer Reviews:
My opinion is flat.......2007-10-03
When a book has had over a thousand reviews, what can I possibly say that hasn't already been said? So I will keep it short and not so sweet.
No one will read this book, or any of the updates, for "fun." Do you NEED to read it? Yes, it contains some important economic concepts and realities, but it's a bit overlong. I'd say it could be cut in half, so skim through some of the numerous "interviews," repetition of central points, and endless advice and encouragement. The global pie is getting bigger and better, but the competition for piecies of that pie is heating up. Smart, ambitious, creative people will thrive; slow, lazy, dull people will languish, and everything inbetween. For too long many Americans have been sitting on their laurels and the day of reckoning is near. Heed this warning: Put down your TV remotes, game controllers, and iPods, and start working like your life (or lifestyle) depended on it. Get your rear into some serious gear, and don't balk at the notion that you should be an "expert" in at least three different, unrelated fields. Does this scare or excite you?
In so many interviews with foreign entrepreneurs, we are told (or reassured) that no matter how much of the "mundane" work is performed by countries other than the U.S., America's creative and innovative spark is still unsurpassed: All the world looks to America to lead the way into the future. I'm not sure. A lot of that "mundane" work was high level and highly paid, and why should we expect that America will continue to dominate in creativity and innovation? The truth is, we're in for a flattening of living standards, and from the perspective of the relatively high American standard of living, it will seem like a drop in standards until we reach another equilibrium (who knows how long that will take?). In any case, the reassurances about the talents and abilities of Americans seem at odds with other parts of the book, such as Bill Gates feeling "terrified at the American work force of tomorrow."
If you're already working hard at becoming an expert in three fields, then you probably don't need to read this book. Indeed, you probably don't have time to read it, or to read and write Amazon reviews, for that matter.
Great book to introduce an inside to the 90's and now.......2007-10-03
This was an excellent book for someone who is ever curious about the expanding global ecomomy as a whole. As a sailor in the U.S. Navy I found the book fasinating because I not only grew up during which most of the book was talking about but I am witnessing the predictions of the book first hand. Great book all around!!
Friedman's writing and subjects are captivating.......2007-09-27
Are you still a little confused about why American corporations are outsourcing to India and manufacturing in China, or why Al Qaeda has suddenly become so powerful? If so, this is the book for you.
Friedman's made 'Globalization' simple enough for a high school student to understand. That being said, this is NOT a high school textbook. It is NOT dry. Friedman is a great journalist and an author who will hold your attention chapter after chapter.
Friedman has a knack for taking complex and often emotionally charged issues and breaking them down into easy to understand concepts. You don't have to be a graduate student to enjoy this book. It's great!
Globalization 3.0.......2007-09-24
I wish I had read this book during a Globalization class I took a year ago.
Friedman is an exceptional writer, very engaging. He really lays out the information well and then brings in together in the latter part of the book.
I thought the middle part of the book could of been edited a bit.
Overall, an excellent introduction to globalization and the affect this will have on the US and industries in general.
Great Read.......2007-09-23
I actually listened to the audio version of this book for an information technology class I teach and found his discussion of the flatteners of the world very interesting and well explained.
The writing style, although technical at times, has a narrative style to it.
One critique I have of the book is that the author may be a little over optimistic about how new technologies and global connections will benefit everyone in the world.
Certainly worth a read (or listen).
Average customer rating:
- Funny and profound
- Grace (Eventually) thoughts on Faith
- Not her best, but still brilliant
- No thank you, no good.
- She's the Best
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Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
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Similar Items:
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Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
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Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
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Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
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Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
ASIN: 1594489424
Release Date: 2007-03-20 |
Amazon.com
Through Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, her bestselling parenting memoir, Operating Instructions, and her popular guide to writing, Bird by Bird) the subject she keeps returning to is her faith, her deeply personal--"erratic," she says--journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually), is her third collection of her "thoughts on faith," and she took the time to answer a few of our questions.
Questions for Anne Lamott
Amazon.com: This is your third book on faith. How has your perspective changed since you wrote your first one?
Lamott: I wrote my first book on faith when Bill Clinton was president, and I was in a much better mood. I wrote Plan B during the run-up to war in Iraq, and the ensuing catastrophe, so I was very angry, but trying to reconcile that pain and hostility to Jesus's insistence that we are made of love, to love, and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Some days went better than others. Also, my son Sam was in his early teens, and that was a LOT easier than when he turned 16 and 17, his ages when I was writing the pieces in Grace (Eventually).
In general, I think Grace (Eventually) is a less angry book. I like how I'm aging, except that my back hurts more often, my knees crack like twigs when I squat, and my memory fails more frequently, in more public and therefore humiliating ways. But I think I complain less. As my best friend said when she was dying, and I was obsessing about my butt, "You just don't have that kind of time."
Amazon.com: What does grace mean for you? How can we better communicate it to each other?
Lamott: Grace is that extra bit of help when you think you are really doomed; also, not coincidentally, when you have finally run out of good ideas on how to proceed, and on how better to control the people or circumstances that are frustrating or defeating you. I experience Grace as a cool ribbon of fresh air when I feel spiritually claustrophobic. Sometimes I experience it as water-wings, something holding me up when I am afraid that I'm going down, or the tide is carrying me away. I know that Grace meets us whereever we are, but does not leave us where it found us. Sometimes it is so small--a couple of seconds relief here, several extra inches there. I wish it were big and obvious, like sky-writing. Oh, well. Grace is not something I DO, or can chase down; but it is something I can receive, when I stop trying to be in charge.
We communicate grace to one another by holding space for people when they are hurt or terrified, instead of trying to fix them, or manage their emotions for them. We offer ourselves as silent companionship, or gentle listening when someone feels very alone. We get people glasses of water when they are thirsty.
Amazon.com: Many of the essays in Grace (Eventually) first appeared in Salon, the online magazine, and that's the way that many readers first found you. How do you see the Internet changing the way people read and write?
Lamott: The Internet makes everything so immediate and spontaneous, which I totally love--UNLESS it has to do with the immediacy of people's negative response to me. Several of the Salon pieces in Grace--for instance, the story about the horrible fight with my son, and the piece about turning the other cheek while being ripped off by The Carpet Guy--generated a couple hundred letters, many of them extremely hostile. Perhaps "spewy" would be a better description. I also sometimes get knee-jerk responses to my mentions of Jesus in my Salon pieces that seem to lump me in the same tradition as Jerry Falwell. But for the most part, I love the populism and egalitarian nature of the Internet: everyone counts the same.
Amazon.com: What stories do people tell you, when they've read your books or know you are a writer?
Lamott: People tell me how relieved they are that I try to tell the truth about how hard it can be to be a mother, or a daughter, or an American in these times. They tell me stories about how awful their own teenagers can be, or how awful they themselves behaved towards their kids or parents; how hard it was to finally be able to adore their mothers, or to forgive their fathers. They tell me their sobriety dates. They whisper to me that they are Christians, too.
Also, they ask if I am able to read their manuscripts, and the name of my agent, and my e-mail address. They ask if we are going to survive the current political difficulties--and I promise them we are. They ask how old my son is now--17 and a half--and how he is doing, which is fantastically, after some of the hard months I wrote about in Grace.
Amazon.com:What lessons do you think you can pass on to others: to your readers, to your son? What lessons does it seem like people have to learn for themselves?
Lamott: All I have to offer is my own truth, my own experience, strength and hope. I can pass on the tool of a God Box, and how for 20 years I have been putting tiny notes in mine and promising God I will keep my sticky fingers off the controls until I hear God's wisdom: sometimes I get an answer because the phone rings, or the mail comes, but at any rate, during every single terrible problem and tragedy, I have been given enough guidance and stamina and even humor to bear up, and be transformed, for the good. I always tell Sam that if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans. I tell Sam that if he listens to his best thinking, he will suffer: and to listen to his heart instead, to listen in the silence, and to seek wise counsel.
Amazon.com: You've written nearly a dozen books (including an incredibly popular guide to writing): does writing get any easier? Does it get harder?
Lamott: In a very important way, writing gets easier, because I've been doing it full time now for thirty-plus years, and just as you would get better and better if you practiced your scales on a piano, I've gotten better, and can try harder and harder pieces. But writing is always hard. It does not come naturally to me at all. I sit down at the same time every day, which lets my subconscious realize it's time to get to work. I give myself very short assignments, and let myself write really terrible first drafts. But I grapple with the exact same problems every writer does, which is having equal proportions of self-loathing and grandiosity. I sort of live by the Nike ads: Just Do It. So I sit down. I show up. I do it by pre-arrangement with myself, because I know I'll feel sad and terrible if I shirk on that days writing. I do it as a debt of honor, to myself, and to whatever it is that has given me this gift of being able to tell stories, and to make people laugh. Laughter is carbonated holiness. Other people's good writing is medicine for me, and I hope mine is too, for my readers.
Book Description
The sharp, funny, and heartfelt follow-up to her bestselling Plan B, Anne Lamott's newest collection is a personal exploration of the faith and grace all around us.
In Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, Lamott examines the ways we're caught in life's most daunting predicaments: love, mothering, work, politics, and maybe toughest of all, evolving from who we are to who we were meant to be. This is a complicated process for most of us, and Lamott turns her wit and honesty inward to describe her own intimate, bumpy, and unconventional road to grace and faith.
"I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kinds of things," she writes in one of her essays, "that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace's arrival. But no, it's clog and slog and scootch, on the floor, in silence, in the dark."
Whether she's writing about her unsuccessful efforts to get her money back from an obstinate carpet salesman, grappling with the tectonic shifts in her relationship with her son as he matures, trying to maintain her faith and humor during politically challenging times, or helping a close friend die with dignity, Lamott seeks out both the divinity and the humanity in herself and everything around her. Throughout these essays, she writes of her struggle to find the essence of her faith, which she uncovers in the unlikeliest places. By turns insightful and hilarious, pointed and poignant, Grace (Eventually) is Anne Lamott at her perceptive and irreverent best.
Customer Reviews:
Funny and profound.......2007-08-12
Anne Lamott is honest and engaging. This book is a beautiful testament to a real life lived in faith and hope in the midst of inevitable disappointments and hardships.
Grace (Eventually) thoughts on Faith.......2007-08-08
I bought this book thinking I would get an inspiritial read. Instead I found that the title totally misrepresented the book. This is nothing but a self-centered, self-indulgent, whiny bunch of writings from a drug user/alcoholic, over age hippy, feeling (what?). Certainaly not faith!
Title should read "Poor Me, I can't Think Straight"
Not her best, but still brilliant.......2007-08-01
One of the most popular voices in contemporary spirituality, Anne Lamott has a remarkable gift at handling serious and unfunny topics - religion, motherhood, eating disorders, death - in a witty and disarming way.
Lamott's new book, "Grace Eventually: Further Thoughts On Faith," is a collection of essays, many of which Lamott wrote as a columnist for Salon.com. If you haven't read anything by Lamott before, the best places to start would be "Traveling Mercies" (her bestselling memoir), and "Bird by Bird," (one of the best guide to writing anywhere, another bestseller). But the two things you should know before reading Anne Lamott is that 1) she is an incredible prose artist, quirky and profound, with a style that seems all her own. And 2) she is almost completely neurotic.
"Grace Eventually," is a special book in that Lamott's description of ordinary events make them feel sacred. She is a writer with an ability to make the reader pay attention, feel present, and tune in to the story taking place around them. Although she refers to Jesus consistently, there is little that seems orthodox about Lamott's spiritual journey, and perhaps that is one of the reasons she has such a wide readership.
You'd have to be made out of granite not to find something that moves you in this unique collection of essays. You would also need to adhere to Lamott's precise and strident political positions not to find at least one portion of this book infuriating. Either way, "Grace Eventually" is a provocative and unique read, and any avid reader owes it to themselves to become familiar with one of the country's top writers.
No thank you, no good........2007-07-25
I read another one of Anne's books. The first one I did not like much, and really did not want to read this one, but when you already own it, you feel you must with 16 dollars into the book. It was some repeating of stories I really did not like in the first place, there were a few highlights or good moments, but not enough. I still feel bad for her, but most times I was like "get over it." Now I loved Donald Miller's book, which was along the same mindset, but he seemed deep or maybe just a man. Sorry Anne, you are twice if not more the writer that I am, but I was just not into the book.
She's the Best.......2007-07-25
Her words are equivalent to the phrase "A sight for sore eyes." My copy now has so many underlines and dog ears that I just don't know where to start with quotable quotes--
"IT FEELS AS IF SOMEONE FINALLY CRACKED OPEN A WINDOW THAT HAD BEEN JAMMED."
"...taught me a willingness to help clean up the mess we've made is a crucial part of adult living; that our scary, selfish, damging behavior litters the planet."
"...we get mad at each other, over and over, then we apologize, become friends again: I see how each time this is redemption. How amazing it is to share that."
"Joy is the best makeup."
"Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine."
I use this like a Bible when I need to be called to a higher place. It soothes me, calms me down, and calls me to a (much) higher place. Buy this, Bird By Bird, and the other two from this series. They are GIFTS.
Book Description
In this, his first major book, Mark Steyn--probably the most widely read, and wittiest, columnist in the English-speaking world--takes on the great poison of the twenty-first century: the anti-Americanism that fuels both Old Europe and radical Islam. America, Steyn argues, will have to stand alone. The world will be divided between America and the rest; and for our sake America had better win.
Customer Reviews:
What a sad worldview.......2007-10-01
I can't even begin to describe the serious flaws in this book...
But I gave it one star instead of zero because, if you want to study logic and how to detect subtly and not so subtly flawed arguments, buy this book.
What's sad is he's done actual research (but distorts everything to fit his way of thinking), and some muslims, like some christians, some jews, some whatever, really are dangerous and want to hurt America, but he makes his side of the controversy look like a bunch of, what's a nice word... 'baffoons'.
I think he seriously believes the things he writes in his book, which means he's stressing himselfand others out for nothing, and ultimately, pushing away the moderates that might listen to a more logical argument against religious extremism
Excellent.......2007-09-21
With the many positive reviews already posted, there isn't much more for me to say, so I will just say, "Read a few of the reviews, then, most definitely, read this book."
great wake up!!!!!!!.......2007-09-20
This a wake up to the world. Got to hang in through the beginning, but after that try to get all the details.
An interesting, powerful book.......2007-09-18
I found the book to be well written, even light enough in spots to be humorous. It presents a point of view for
Americans to consider
"FEED ME!" says the Federal Beast..........2007-09-18
Directed by the mainstream media and the assault on the senses known as political punditry, it is particularly daunting to find a voice of reason in this chaos. There are a few that I believe are capable of striking the nail with a truthful hammer who are still left among us: Coulter, Buchanan, Schlafly, Farah, and Congressman Ron Paul, to name a few. I know of no other commentator that can condense weighty issues of national, or indeed global, importance into a joyous, witty manner better than P.J. O'Rourke, but I think I can direct columnist Mark Steyn onto the stage and have both men stand side by side as equal titans. "America Alone" is a small book, but pierces like a sword of many truths. It brought to me topics of concern that I didn't bother to even imagine could be beaten back into the American electorate, with much humor; it gave me more insight into modern Europe than any formal, leftist class managed to do. Finally, in an age that Steyn chides and ridicules for letting its willpower contract and shrink like a scared puppy from his owner, it gave me my own willpower, reinforced what I suspected was the truth, and encouraged me to stay strong facing the "opiate of the masses", meaning the book in fact actually gave me some hope for the Western World, because of people like Steyn, and for those readers who will take this work as a rallying cry to save the West not from radical Islam, but from itself.
What is the gist of this book (I listened on CD with a brilliant narration from Brian Emerson)? Well, to put it mildly, we in the West are killing ourselves through forced extermination and utter laziness, and as our guts get larger and our treasure dwindles to rudimentary amounts, there are youthful and strong-willed members of an inherently intolerant, crazed sect of the religion Islam who are multiplying and seizing our civilization right from under our collectively fat butts. If there is one thing you cannot do against Islamic radicals, it is that you cannot blame them, at least for their audacity. You actually should admire it. Radical Islam, more notoriously observed in the Saudi Kingdom under the guise called Wahabism, has much more ideological strength than Western civilization will ever hope to return to, not counting of course the small number of patriotic individuals who do have willpower of a similar strength (they're all reading this book!). But they're too much a minority to be any help, and because of our nationally-enforced doctrines of rabid multiculturalism (all cultures are equal), low birth rates (through abortion), and abandonment from moral absolutes and personal responsibility (philosophies ushered in by the government schools and the welfare bureaucracy), we are losing our blood in a slowly pronounced way, while the Islamic radicals are both out-birthing us and gaining significant political power around the globe.
The flag in the distance, which Steyn barely sees because it is clouded by dust and smoke and fog, belongs to the United States, the only country in the West with at least SOME shred of ideological and military strength, and with few noticeable flirtations with unsustainable statism (although the end of that era draws ever nearer to 2009). In essence, it truly is America Alone, the last to fight for its life against both the European social-democratic state and radical Islam.
Steyn popularizes these fundamental concerns in a format that is just as clever as Coulter and O'Rourke, while maintaining intellectual heft on the scale of Thomas Sowell. His insights about Europe, which is a topic that most ordinary Americans do not give particular thought to, are the most important of the book. We already know about radical Islamists and the threats that they pose to the country. It's a frightening portrait of unchecked fundamentalist Islam which Steyn paints, no doubt, but what is scarier to this American is his description of the modern European social-democratic state, and how the United States of America is creeping towards this kind of vast socialist utopia. As Americans, we can see the modern European model of government and quickly and easily (compared to Europeans) discern why things go so astoundingly wrong: government benefits that decrease productivity and innovation with increased laziness and lack of initiative, high taxation to fund these benefits which in the end will turn out to be completely unsustainable, and a universal socialist health care system that allows recipients to receive an MRI after a six month wait and provides a total of zero available beds in a maternity ward to those who urgently require them. So then, how about a little game? Now, with all those points in your mind, go to one of the many Democrat presidential candidate web sites and play some "Spot the Dog." Try skimming through their various `promises' and 'pledges' to constituents, which they claim they plan to fulfill if elected to the presidency. See how many matches you get, and tally your score, because I guarantee that the number will be high.
Of course, this doesn't let Republicans off the hook, either. We only need to discover that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney enacted a universal health care system by working hand-in-glove with the liberal state legislature and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy. It's really a terrific little system that will completely and effortlessly cripple small businesses, seeing as though the state government requires under threat of a severe monetary penalty that these businesses provide health insurance to their workers. How long will it take for these places to necessarily have to "lay off" a few people in order to pay for each worker's insurance? The consumer's choice is also severely threatened, because the Massachusetts government is actually mandating a certain policy to be purchased when you sign up for the program starting in 2007. Yes, smaller government is what the Republican Party truly stands for, just don't count the ones in Congress or the candidates running for the presidency (besides Ron Paul).
Radical Islam, on the other hand, is a threat to America too, but as Steyn points out, there are millions upon millions of moderate Muslims, and the fact that these radical imams and crazy Wahabists who have nowhere near, nor will they ever, a military power to rival the U.S., seems to me a point in America's favor. What'll really finish us of is when (and said `when,' not `if') the U.S. descends into the wasteland of European statism, with monstrous but unsustainable welfare and government benefits that are taken out from your paycheck to fund, after Hillary Clinton is elected in 2008 (save your breath, conservatives! Only a fool cannot see the inevitable). The doctrines of far leftism, from multiculturalism to abortion-on-demand to socialist health care to beastly federal power, will ensure our destruction more than any IED or suicide bomber will, regardless of how many we have to deal with. After that, it won't be America Alone, but One World Alone.
Book Description
From the most highly respected analyst of foreign policy writing today, a story of wasted opportunity and squandered prestige: a critique of the last three U.S. presidents' foreign policy.
America's most distinguished commentator on foreign policy, former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, offers a reasoned but unsparing assessment of the last three presidential administrations' foreign policy. Though spanning less than two decades, these administrations cover a vitally important turning point in world history: the period in which the United States, having emerged from the Cold War with unprecedented power and prestige, managed to squander both in a remarkably short time. This is a tale of decline: from the competent but conventional thinking of the first Bush administration, to the well-intentioned self-indulgence of the Clinton administration, to the mortgaging of America's future by the "suicidal statecraft" of the second Bush administration. Brzezinski concludes with a chapter on how America can regain its lost prestige. This scholarly yet highly opinionated book is sure to be both controversial and influential.
Customer Reviews:
The idealism is better than the realism .......2007-08-29
Intelligence is no substitute for integrity. In surveying the world - situation and the role three U.S. Presidents had after the fall of the Soviet Union Brezinski fails to give prominent place to one major development he himself had considerable responsibility for i.e. the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. It was he who as Carter's foreign policy chief - advisor supervised the fall of the Shah in Iran, and did nothing to prevent the rise of the radical Islamic regime there. He also helped put into place the Mujadeen in Afghanistan, and they have been a key element in the rise of Global Islam worldwide.
In this book he focuses on what he considers the missed opportunities of the U.S. after the fall of the Soviet Union. He is especially critical of the current President.
Brezinski does have interesting things to say about current American weaknesses including the balance of payments problem, the problem of a loss of kind of moral discipline.
His idea of the United States leading mankind to a new era of dignity and freedom is a good one. And for his 'idealism' expressed most fully in the final chapter the book is worth reading.
DR. BRZEZINSKI SHOULD BE RUNNING THIS COUNTRY.......2007-07-25
I feel strongly, that this book says what most rational people in the "world!" are thinking. It is pure and clear truth. It could have been a lot less disasterous for our country, if Dr. Brzezinski could have tutored bush/cheney/rice, on how to lead a great nation with "integrity, honor and some backbone." Can we find a way for a man like Dr. Brzezinski,(who was born in Europe/Poland), to run for President?! Fantastic book! I read it in one sitting.
Second Chance: 3 presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower.......2007-07-21
Grim yet fairly non-biased assessment of the administrations since the fall of the wall. There is some hope at the end of the book, but it will take an extraordinary turn of events to keep America from losing its place in global stature.
His critical eye on the current administration is no nonsense and, sadly, accurate.
J'Accuse.......2007-07-08
This is nothing more than a scathing indictment on eight years of GWB misrule.
To distinguish his indictment from other partisan rhetoric, ZB has placed his argument in a much wider and rational perspective. He has reviewed also the missteps of the previous two US Presidents in the foreign policy arena, and the lost chances of securing and cementing a true global leadership position for USA.
What is so different with the current regime is of course not just a matter of lost chances but colossal cost to US interests abroad. Not to mention lack of any significant progress in any key domestic agenda issues to balance it all.
ZB tries to make the argument at the end that all is not lost, and US still has a chance to regain its leadership position following certain steps.
His argument is not very credible though. He ignores the fact that US, as a nation, thinks and feels very differently than the one of 50s and 60s which put US on a moral path to global leadership. Things are indeed different, and second chance seems to be wishful thinking mostly.
Writing is excellent as expected, delivery and reasoning forceful and complete. Interesting reading for those of us contemplating the next chapter.
Brilliant. A must read as we approach the future election they are boring us with ..........2007-06-28
I happen to hear this guy on Charlie Rose the other night and went out and bought his book. The book isnt as interesting as he is in an interview live but its well worth the read.
His analysis of the past three administrations is superb. It is balanced and I think offers great insight into the hits and misses of our leaders. He goes on to explain his views on the world post Russia and our missed opportunites. His close of post 2008 I would love to hear discussed by him and others.
An important book for this country. Get it and read it and act.
Customer Reviews:
A Balanced Approach - 4th Edition.......2007-02-10
I purchased this book for a class I took in spring 06 and found it extremly helpful. I've applied the balance approach method in working with young children. I've also applied the information helping my 3 year old learn to read. He is now 4 and enjoys reading. I highly recommend this book.
Great book!!!.......2006-12-27
I found this book to be fantastic!!!! The green pages at the back give many great ideas for teachers of literacy.
Very useful.......2006-03-11
I needed to order this book for a class. It is well written and easy to read. As a reading teacher I can say that I will keep this book as a reference long after the class has ended. This edition comes with a CD (or DVD) which I have not previewed yet, but the instructor of my class raves about it.
A must have!!.......2003-03-08
I was first introduced to this book in one of my graduate literacy courses and I have been hooked every since. The teachers at my school pass it around constantly looking for ideas. My favorite aspect of this book is the fact that there are real teachers giving real examples of what works in their classrooms. There are no strategies that seem too hard implement in your classroom, because the layout is right there!! You know it can be done and it words because the examples in the book are proof! You don't feel like you are reading about some ideal or Utopia of a classroom. You are reading about REAL classrooms. I absolutely love it!
Excellent resource for teachers.......2002-11-17
This is an excellent resource. It is concise and contains a wealth of information. I teach second grade and am working on a Master's degree in literacy. I am finding this book to be invaluable. Much of the information is sorted into charts for easy referencing. So many of the books I have read lately seem to ramble on and on. This book makes it's point and moves on to other salient information. I get rid of so many of the professional books I purchase after I read them. This one is a keeper. It is very pertinent to the current trend in improving the literacy of our children.
Average customer rating:
- The Year of Magical Thinking
- Do not read this book for empathy or comfort
- Hip Hip.....Hmmmm
- A meditation on acceptance of loss
- Many meanings, great depth
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The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1400078431
Release Date: 2007-02-13 |
Book Description
From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage--and a life, in good times and bad--that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.
Customer Reviews:
The Year of Magical Thinking.......2007-10-01
A well-written book and a good sharing of personal emotions. Sometimes seemed like name-dropping at it's best (or worst) but I suppose if you know all the best people you mention them and their effect on your life.
Do not read this book for empathy or comfort.......2007-09-27
After my mother died this summer, this book was recommended to me. I am not familiar with Joan Didion (and I won't be in my future readings), but this book was horrible. I feel sorry that her daughter suffered, but I didn't care to read about that. I wanted to read about how she felt about the sudden loss of her husband. I was told she was so "real" in her writing. Whoever edited this book liked things unfinished. Very disappointed at the waste of time and money spent on this book.
Hip Hip.....Hmmmm.......2007-09-26
The Year of Magical Thinking was both magical and mundane. As I read Joan Didion's winning but somber prose and understood that this was her first book written without her deceased husband's help, I thought of a comment he made to her "Don't tell me ever again you can't write." (p. 166). Although a voracious reader I had not heard of either Joan or her husband, John Gregory Dunne, before this book. I'd like to read more of her work.
What impacted me was reading and for some reason remembering, for the umpteenth time, a failed relationship I'd had well over a decade before and how it marked me. Somehow, was it the book's theme or the prose of the author?, I realized that the trauma had later led me to a beautiful gift that I never would have had without the breakup. The Year of Magical Thinking freed me from something that had long hurt me. Was this my way Lexington Avenue crossing (p. 225)? Was this my leis left at St. John the Divine (p. 226)? The book helped me see what I'd been blind to for years. As well, chapter 16 was candid and impressive as it dealt with her successful husband's concern that he had "frittered away" his life. It seems that her reconstruction of his final days discovered a feared futility. Finally, in chapter 17 Didion expresses, after relating their life's events, activities and relationships, what she learned from and about grief.
Didion and Dunne, who were married for 40 years, inhabited a world I know little about. They reported from Democratic and Republican political conventions, were successful novelists and screen-play writers, lived in Malibu and New York, ate out as a way of life and would send the laundry out to be done. In their world they would decide on the buying and selling of a home by flying to Hawaii to think about it. Paris on a whim was easily accomplished. I was intrigued when she wrote of his time in Princeton and mentioned that he thought the Nassoons to be absurd (p. 144). Am I supposed to know who they were? Do I as the reader need to look that up? It seems from reading they lived on their terms and left little room for religion or a deep quest for meaning outside of their own lives. I find it sad that she could would so easily dismiss near death experiences and look for omens from falling bird poop, all the while not believing in He who watches the sparrows (p.227), a biblical reference for God. I don't pretend to know her religious/spiritual attitude, but The Year of Magical Thinking, a book on death and grief, does not spare one page for the subject.
There are other Death and Grief books I've read: A Grief Observed, A Severe Mercy, A View from a Hearse, etc. all of which present death via memoir. I am continually buoyed by C.S. Lewis' fictional The Last Battle, which concludes the Narnia series. As Aslan (who represents God) comes to judge all those in Narnia and bring about its demise, many go through the door into Aslan's country. From there it is "Further up and Further In" as friends are reunited and magic begins:
"There was a real railway accident," said Aslan softly. "Your father and mother and all of you are--as you used to call it in the Shadowlands--dead. The term is over: Holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."
And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One and the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. (The Last Battle, final page)
Didion's work, while it brought healing to me, could finally only take me to her study of geology for buoyant hope and left eternal darkness for her husband and for her daughter Quintana, who was ill throughout the book and died just months after John Gregory Dunne did.
And there was very little that was magical about that.
A meditation on acceptance of loss.......2007-09-25
I have read many, many, many novels about death, but only this beautiful piece of nonfiction has come close to capturing the glancing, circular path we tread after a crucial person in our life dies... the way we tiptoe around and around, ignoring the central truth, which is that death is the end and no one is coming back. When we finally reach that truth, we really begin to grieve, and as Didion shares in the book, sometimes it takes a year.
For me, it's taken longer. I read this book on a family vacation less than two years after we lost my mother. I would dip into it, then look up at my family around me, wanting so much to read out loud to them. I especially wanted them to hear the part where she feels she has to save a pair of her husband's running shoes because he will need them when he comes back. That made so much sense to me. Maybe I just needed to tell my family that I wasn't the only one plagued by magical thinking, waiting for Mom to pop up and explain that she was back, now, I'm not sure.
But I kept my mouth closed, went back to the book, left them to play cards and plan which wineries to visit and walk their own circular paths towards acceptance of this unacceptable loss. I've passed the book on to every member of the family in the years since.
Many meanings, great depth.......2007-09-17
The book itself was part of the grieving of this brave woman.
She does not flinch from reliving the pain or the agonizingly problematic issues surrounding it. Death, which her child at an early age already sensed as a presence and called the Broken Man, becomes actually the presence of utter absence, where a dividing line between one reality and another seems to have interposed itself like the cut of a knife through Time.
How does one describe the Void? And really, didn't she say it right at the beginning - that words were inadequate to the task she had set herself? Beyond the prose and the meaning that we think we have gleaned from it, we find other meanings, or hints of possible meanings - as if we were looking down into a pool where light seems to be lurking, where it plays with darkness in an unending choreography in multiple layers down into the depths ...
In a prismatic refraction of consciousness, Didion relives her thoughts and actions with an air of clinical detachment that merely intensifies the stark reality of her grieving. She describes her mental state - one of disorientation and distortion - unsparingly. Her subjective consciousness synthesizes past and present in an almost Joycean manner; but here, the past may come alive and leap out dangerously like a wild beast in a nightmare, and the present, like a deep quarry pit of black water, is filled with bottomless pain. In her first year, she manages to function only with great effort, and only by working hard to avoid "memory triggers" that would take her back, suck her into the vortex, as she calls it.
The book ventures far beyond her personal grief, in an allusive manner that can only be called poetic. Using the dry medical terminology of doctors and their reports almost as a foil, Didion brings us face to face with the imponderables. "Life changes in the instant." And after that instant, the minutiae of one's life are seen, in hindsight, to have had mysterious significance. Time itself, its eternal aspect, is a character in this book, as are all the ultimate metaphysical questions of life's meaning or lack thereof.
It is a book that will repay rereading. But it hurts, and it leaves many questions unanswered. It is not an easy book.
Undeniably, though, it is moving, and it is deep. Deep like the movements of the earth far below the surface, deep like the ocean that brings in the tide ... A work of love, of sorrow, of pain and very human yearning. The last paragraph says it all.
Book Description
From the perspective of 2007, the unintentional irony of Chance's boast is manifest—these days, the question is when will the Cubs ever win a game they have to have. In October 1908, though, no one would have laughed: The Cubs were, without doubt, baseball's greatest team—the first dynasty of the 20th century.
Crazy '08 recounts the 1908 season—the year when Peerless Leader Frank Chance's men went toe to toe to toe with John McGraw and Christy Mathewson's New York Giants and Honus Wagner's Pittsburgh Pirates in the greatest pennant race the National League has ever seen. The American League has its own three-cornered pennant fight, and players like Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and the egregiously crooked Hal Chase ensured that the junior circuit had its moments. But it was the National League's—and the Cubs'—year.
Crazy '08, however, is not just the exciting story of a great season. It is also about the forces that created modern baseball, and the America that produced it. In 1908, crooked pols run Chicago's First Ward, and gambling magnates control the Yankees. Fans regularly invade the field to do handstands or argue with the umps; others shoot guns from rickety grandstands prone to burning. There are anarchists on the loose and racial killings in the town that made Lincoln. On the flimsiest of pretexts, General Abner Doubleday becomes a symbol of Americanism, and baseball's own anthem, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," is a hit.
Picaresque and dramatic, 1908 is a season in which so many weird and wonderful things happen that it is somehow unsurprising that a hairpiece, a swarm of gnats, a sudden bout of lumbago, and a disaster down in the mines all play a role in its outcome. And sometimes the events are not so wonderful at all. There are several deaths by baseball, and the shadow of corruption creeps closer to the heart of baseball—the honesty of the game itself. Simply put, 1908 is the year that baseball grew up.
Oh, and it was the last time the Cubs won the World Series.
Destined to be as memorable as the season it documents, Crazy '08 sets a new standard for what a book about baseball can be.
Customer Reviews:
An extra-base hit, but short of a home run.......2007-09-30
The 1908 baseball season provided plenty of excitement, suspense and story lines as one game separated the top three teams in the National League and 1.5 games separated the top three teams in the American League. Astute baseball fans have long recognized it as one of the greatest years in baseball history, if not the greatest. Author Cait Murphy writes an entertaining and informative account of Crazy '08, but it is also uneven.
Murphy thoroughly researched the 1908 season as evidenced by her extensive bibliography and footnotes, which I greatly appreciated as a reader and fan of the Deadball Era.
Murphy, however, decides to focus on the National League race among the Giants, Cubs and Pirates. She seems infatuated with John McGraw and the New York Giants and their rivalry with the Chicago Cubs. Although these two teams are colorful, readers interested in the equally exciting American League race among the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians will be vastly disappointed. Murphy considerably shortchanges the American League race.
While it's interesting to read about the characters of `08, Murphy gives scant details about the pivotal games they played. The games merit more attention. And, after battling to the last days of the season, how could Murphy dismiss the 1908 World Series between the Cubs and the Tigers in less than a page? It couldn't have been that boring. It seems as if she had run out of steam at that point or else she was just trying to finish the book before deadline. My guess is that if the Giants had won the National League pennant, Murphy would have considered the '08 World Series worthy of more coverage.
On the positive side, Murphy does an excellent job describing the infamous Merkle play and how and why it became pivotal. She also presents interesting portraits of the umpires and executives. And, she digs up some interesting informational nuggets.
Her six "Time Out" chapters, intended to put the 1908 season in context, were an unnecessary diversion for me.
OK- Average look at an unforgettable year.......2007-08-24
I expected more out of this book- I just found the writing to be pretty boring- It's a quick read but never really captures the emotion of the season- Wait until it arrives in paperback
Yankee.......2007-08-17
Loads of fun to read. My son who is 12 read it cover to cover too. It came right on time.
Interesting but Jumpy.......2007-08-15
I agree with some of the other reviewers. The book was interesting in it's depiction of players and the general cast of this era of baseball. But I was not overly impressed with the writing, or more specifically the editing. I noticed that many sentences jumped between past tense and present tense, for instance. And some of the chapters could have used more exposition. I also was annoyed by the number of footnote notations throughout the book. Just felt distracting. But for a fun read about old time baseball, it wasn't bad.
CRAZY.......2007-08-09
I've spent a lot of time in the Deadball Era (1900-1920), and some of my favorite baseball games come from 1908 -- Addie Joss' perfect game, tossed in the heat of a pennant-race showdown with Ed Walsh, for example. Or any of the duels in the sun between Three Finger Brown and Christy Mathewson. I believe that back then, the country of baseball was populated with more colorful characters than today (not hard) -- and maybe more than any other era. So I was disposed to enjoy Cait Murphy's Crazy `08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseball History (Smithsonian Books, 2007), even before I heard Cait talk some about her book at SABR's Seymour Conference last month.
I think most readers will enjoy Crazy `08, for different reasons. I think most will not be familiar with the Deadball Era and the events of 1908, and these readers have a treat on deck. For the rest, the book will be less-suspenseful fun. But still fun. Cub fans will enjoy it most of all, and that is fitting, because 1908 was the last time Cub fans ended a season on top of the world. Let's prove `08 was no fluke!, as they say.
Books that focus on one year need to provide background, and it is OK to skip ahead, too, to show readers how that year's happenings turned out or affected later events. So do not be surprised that Cait has no intention of sticking to 1908. Once you realize that, the excursions into the years before and after will not be distracting.
Indeed, one of the joys for readers unfamiliar with Ritter's The Glory of Their Times -- almost a synonym for the deadball era -- will be to take in the stories from before and after. And not just the tales of Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner, the big names, but of Rube Waddell, Germany Schaefer, Charlie Grant (AKA "Chief Tokahoma"), Bugs Raymond -- and the list is almost endless. They just don't make ballplayers like this anymore -- or maybe they do, but thanks to agents, television, PR handlers, and perhaps a shift in the national sense of humor, they are homogenized to such an extent that their personalities are eclipsed.
Not a problem in 1908.
Some of us remember Ken Burns being criticized when his 1994 epic "documentary" Baseball failed to give due attention to Stan Musial or (insert your favorite player here), and for spending too much time on the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. I think some may be disappointed that Crazy `08 focuses, finally, on the Cubs of Tinker-Evers-Chance, and McGraw's NY Giants. Honus' Pittsburgh Pirates end up that summer in a tie with the New Yorkers, by the way, in a race that climaxed with a replay of the famous "Merkle Game." But I didn't mind following the Giants and Cubs so closely, and the Pirates a little less, because, well, I knew those Pirates and what was coming. (I was surprised that an incident similar to the Merkle Boner that happened in a Cubs-Pirates game on September 4, was covered in Crazy `08 only after the infinitely more famous September 23 event.)
Maybe it was because I'm a longtime Addie Joss fan, and have spent a lot of time lately in the histories of the White Sox and Tigers, that I really was more interested in the juicy details of "That Other Pennant Race" which is summed up in Chapter 10. The AL Race went down to the wire, too. I also wanted more color and play-by-play on the 1908 World Series. Hey, readers really get to know these Cubs (and Giants), and to have the final five games of `08 summed up as "a bad World Series," in less than two paragraphs, seemed unfair. Sure the Cubs took four of five games, but in the last three, the Tigers scored just as many runs ... and how did Cobb do?
That 1908 Series may or may not have been bad, but it sure was wet, with rain and snow. And because the writers were stuck on the roof for the games in Detroit, they met on the morning of the final game to organize and write a constitution: the birth of the BBWAA; their first meeting was that December. I would have liked to have more on that historic happening.
But it is a tribute to Crazy `08 that any list of "things (of real significance) left out" will be a short one. As short as the list of "things of questionable relevance" that the book contains. This may vary from reader to reader, but for me, the eight-page digression on anarchism will serve as an example of the latter.
That "Time Out" is one of five in Crazy `08; the others are on Chicago; on a rather grisly murder near that city; on the Abner Doubleday fiction; and on "Baseball's Invisible Men" -- black baseball. These detours might annoy readers who are glued to the pennant chases in progress -- let's get on with it! -- but I thought these four added context.
If I may digress myself -- a turning point in my own book (Burying the Black Sox) came when I had to decide what to keep, and what to toss out; and another key moment was deciding to remove, to footnotes, all the little anecdotes and stuff that I found interesting (if not fascinating) -- because they simply interrupted the telling of the story. With that in my experience now, I tend to scrutinize books of baseball history, no doubt more than the average reader, on those issues. Does it belong in the book? In a footnote? These are not easy calls, and I'm sure no author brags (a la umpire Bill Klem) that they never missed one, except in their heart.
Let me give another example of how things work in Crazy `08. A former Giant player, Dan McGann, is ridiculed by his old manager McGraw for his slowness afoot, when he bounces into a double-play, in an early-season game in Boston. McGann takes on McGraw, several times, that evening. The story ends with the note that McGann took his life by shooting himself, two years later.
But that's not the end of the story. Readers are promptly given a history lesson on suicides and psychic meltdowns in baseball -- 24 between 1900-1920, 15 of them players or former players. There follows a series of paragraphs on the most notable, including a couple deaths that happen in "insane asylums." But it is not clear whether ballplayers took their own lives during that time at a rate higher than, say, coal miners or farmers. The Police Gazette thinks so, because so many drink so much, but Murphy thinks that's too simple, and so do I.
But the heart of this book is not the Time Outs, or the little sideshows all along the way -- those mainly entertain. The reader will quickly get involved in the National League pennant race, which is truly crazy, right to the amazing end. I think any pennant race, because it is a marathon, is tough to describe. But Cait Murphy does a super job with 1908's (NL), with a wonderful blend of color for all the great characters, and play-by-play. It is not an easy task. I'm a Pirate fan, doomed to finish back of the Cubs and Giants (or tied for second, as I prefer), but I still got into it. I have long been on record as wishing for a time machine to take me back to see Three Finger Brown go up against Matty -- this book takes me there, and more than once.
Of course the climax is the Merkle Game, and Crazy `08 covers it better than any account I've read. Much better, because the game is right where it should be, at the end of a long summer, not some isolated incident we happen to remember, like Veeck's midget.
Book Description
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright’s remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
The Looming Tower achieves an unprecedented level of intimacy and insight by telling the story through the interweaving lives of four men: the two leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, John O’Neill; and the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal.
As these lives unfold, we see revealed: the crosscurrents of modern Islam that helped to radicalize Zawahiri and bin Laden . . . the birth of al-Qaeda and its unsteady development into an organization capable of the American embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on the USS Cole . . . O’Neill’s heroic efforts to track al-Qaeda before 9/11, and his tragic death in the World Trade towers . . . Prince Turki’s transformation from bin Laden’s ally to his enemy . . . the failures of the FBI, CIA, and NSA to share intelligence that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks.
The Looming Tower broadens and deepens our knowledge of these signal events by taking us behind the scenes. Here is Sayyid Qutb, founder of the modern Islamist movement, lonely and despairing as he meets Western culture up close in 1940s America; the privileged childhoods of bin Laden and Zawahiri; family life in the al-Qaeda compounds of Sudan and Afghanistan; O’Neill’s high-wire act in balancing his all-consuming career with his equally entangling personal life—he was living with three women, each of them unaware of the others’ existence—and the nitty-gritty of turf battles among U.S. intelligence agencies.
Brilliantly conceived and written, The Looming Tower draws all elements of the story into a galvanizing narrative that adds immeasurably to our understanding of how we arrived at September 11, 2001. The richness of its new information, and the depth of its perceptions, can help us deal more wisely and effectively with the continuing terrorist threat.
Customer Reviews:
History of Al-Qaeda.......2007-10-02
Lawrence Wright traces Islamic fundamentalism from 1948 to the 2001 attack on America. The book highlights Al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. His research asserts a historical lack of concern from intelligence agencies except for FBI agent John O'Neill and Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal. The book seems very well researched and laid out.
Even though it is filled with facts and dates, it is a book that you will find easy to read. But be aware the author goes into great detail in this writing in a successful effort to be objective. His work is also well researched and documented. This book contains violence and strong language but gives insight into this group of Islamic fundamentalist. So if you wish to have a look at the growth of this organization, this is a book you will want to read.
Real information about Al Qaeda.......2007-10-01
Too much of what we have heard about Al Qaeda has been little more than pep-talk and wishful thinking: I still remember how our president called the 9-11 hijackers "cowards"--evil, certainly, but cowards, no. It has been hard to find real information about these people, until Lawrence Wright's book. Like an ethnographer, he has been able to suspend judgment sufficiently to get inside the heads of Salafist, takfirist terrorists. I found myself learning something on every page: everything from the importance of kin relations in Saudi Arabia, to the nature of Osama bin Laden's business interests, to the role of the Arab Mujahideen in the Soviet-Afghan war, and much, much more. There is a great deal here, too, on the U.S.'s inadequate response to Al Qaeda, with quite a bit of detail on the dysfunctional CIA-FBI rivalry. He points no fingers at elected officials, but rather at institutional arrangements, a choice that, I think, makes the book more valuable.
The Looming Tower.......2007-09-26
This is an excellent account of the rise of al-Qaeda, based on very extensive interviews in both the Arab and Western worlds. But the book is also curiously one-sided when it comes to U.S. involvement. It supplies a detailed account of the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union in which Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal is mentioned about two dozen times, but William Casey of the CIA, the principal architect, is not mentioned even once. Nor does he mention Prince Turki's frank public account of how his jihad activities were guided by his own and other intelligence agencies grouped in something called the Safari Club, which took this initiative in response to the establishment of congressional oversight over the CIA. (As Prince Turki revealed, the group "included France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Iran.") With Casey's personal connivance and oversight, the Safari Club financed and administered the Afghan resistance through the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), also not mentioned by Wright. To get a more balanced view of America's role in the background of al Qaeda, I suggest that readers supplement The Looming Tower with Peter Dale Scott's The Road to 9/11, just out from the University of California Press.
What comes next?.......2007-09-24
While I was eager to read this book, I am finding it rough going. Mr. Wright has included way too much in my opinion. A lot of what he has included at length, could have been said in a fewer words and with more punch. Such as Qutb's visit to the USA or Ayman al-Zawahiri's childhood and background. While Qutb's visit is much more pertinent to the story line, al-Zawahiri's isn't all that much help in understanding what happened and continues to this day.
The info is good, one just has to plow through too many weeds to get to it.
THE LOOMING TOWER.......2007-09-19
Anyone who wishes to KNOW the BEGINNING and CONTINUING truth under-pinning our vicious, seemingly endless battle with ORGANIZED TERRORISTS, not just in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN, but literally across the civilized world MUST READ THIS BOOK! It reveals clearly and unmistakably, the common threads which bind the very fabric of the terrifying spread of terrorism and literally, a continuing WAR between Western Civilization and the TYRANNICAL terrorists who will stop at nothing. One should read this after the "LONE SURVIVOR" best-seller. It brings together what appear as countless loose ends of this monumental struggle which promises to be a veritable 'FIGHT TO THE VERY LAST SURVIVOR' of what is, unmistakably. a WAR like NO OTHER WE HAVE EVER FACED. This conflict will test every conceivable sinew of the 'muscle of resolve and potency' of not only the United States but of the Free World as we now know it!
You owe nothing less to yourself than the knowledge you will gain from this truly thorough, remarkable book on the subject, which astoundingly, yet, has commanded the attention of all too few Countries and plain citizens!
Book Description
“There are places that I have never forgotten. A little cobbled street in a smoky mill town in the North of England has haunted me for the greater part of my life. It was inevitable that I should write about it and the people who lived on both sides of its ‘Invisible Wall.’ ”
The narrow street where Harry Bernstein grew up, in a small English mill town, was seemingly unremarkable. It was identical to countless other streets in countless other working-class neighborhoods of the early 1900s, except for the “invisible wall” that ran down its center, dividing Jewish families on one side from Christian families on the other. Only a few feet of cobblestones separated Jews from Gentiles, but socially, it they were miles apart.
On the eve of World War I, Harry’s family struggles to make ends meet. His father earns little money at the Jewish tailoring shop and brings home even less, preferring to spend his wages drinking and gambling. Harry’s mother, devoted to her children and fiercely resilient, survives on her dreams: new shoes that might secure Harry’s admission to a fancy school; that her daughter might marry the local rabbi; that the entire family might one day be whisked off to the paradise of America.
Then Harry’s older sister, Lily, does the unthinkable: She falls in love with Arthur, a Christian boy from across the street.
When Harry unwittingly discovers their secret affair, he must choose between the morals he’s been taught all his life, his loyalty to his selfless mother, and what he knows to be true in his own heart.
A wonderfully charming memoir written when the author was ninety-three, The Invisible Wall vibrantly brings to life an all-but-forgotten time and place. It is a moving tale of working-class life, and of the boundaries that can be overcome by love.
Customer Reviews:
A captivating story of a harsh life.......2007-09-03
This book is full of the details of a life that many of us will never experience. The authors story of extreme poverty living in a large family with a hardworking but struggling mother and a distant and often abusive father is both horrifying and captivating.
While it sounds like this should be a depressing book, the details of the moments of hope and happiness lifts it out of the dark side of life in Lancashire and made me wonder about the future for the various key characters. The book is set before and after the great War, but it could be timeless. The central location is a street of two rows of houses facing each other with the 'jews' on one side and the 'christians' on the other. For most of the book there is almost no mingling between the two sides. But at times when their lives are most difficult, they do get together to support one another.
I don't want to give away the story line too much. Some of the difficult scenes are extremely hard to endure, but the details really light up this book even things are hardest.
I would not recommend for anyone younger than about 13, there are too many difficult details here. But for the rest of us, there's LOTS to learn about the silly things that divide us and the fact that despite religious difficulties our lives are more similar than we'd like to believe.
Poignant and profound.......2007-06-26
An absolutely wonderful book written by a 93 year old author who captures the very essence of anti-semitism in pre-World War I England through his own childhood experiences. The last chapter is so descriptive and poignant...really tugs at the heartstrings. I hope Mr. Bernstein continues to share his gift of the written word.
Excellent book.......2007-05-28
Wonderfully written. This book surprised me because of its unpredictability. I couldn't put it down. Mr. Bernstein's story is beautiful, it's a wonder why he waited so long to share it.
A read to get you thinking.......2007-05-25
My six member book club read this last month, and all of us, including our most critical member, found this book very enjoyable and enlightening. The inclusion of dialog easily puts the reader in the time period. The tone and style of the author encourage empathy and understanding of both populations on either side of the invisible wall. The author conveys his and his sibling's emotions in the gentlest of ways while the reader easily grasps that at the time they were much more. While not quite a page turner, my attention never lagged and I would have willingly read more. I would have appreciated more wisdom on the overall subject such as was found in Arthur's letter to Lily.
Vivid Memoir.......2007-05-25
Harry Bernstein writes in a descriptive manner that makes all the characters seem to be living right in front of the reader's eyes. The story is so interesting that I could not put the book down until I finished. It was hard to believe that a man at ninety years of age could remember so much detail and emotion back to his early childhood. The book was well worth reading. I look forward to Mr. Bernstein's next book.
Average customer rating:
- A discussion of the ending *Spoilers below*
- Speak up for those who can't speak for themselves, because someone is advocating for their death
- Tragedies
- Steinbeck does wonders with so few pages. This is a great touching story
- Big
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Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
John Steinbeck
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Steinbeck, John
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ASIN: 0140177396 |
Book Description
MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independ ent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.
Customer Reviews:
A discussion of the ending *Spoilers below*.......2007-10-02
*WARNING: Don't read this review if you haven't read the book and don't want to know the ending
The book has three surprise events in the ending. The first is Lennie's killing of Curley's wife. This is shocking because Curley's father owns the farm, so Lennie could get into serious trouble. The second is when Lennie is hiding in the brush waiting for George, and he sees and hears Aunt Clara's ghost talking and later a rabbit talking. The third is not when George shoots Lennie, but when George walks away with Slim, as if the two are best pals now. This makes it seem that George did not take his friendship with Lennie very seriously, because instead of mourning his death alone, he hangs on to Slim, as if Lennie is easily replaceable and that Slim has taken Lennie's place now. I thought the ending makes George seem like a shady character, not bad enough to be called the villain, but still not good enough to be called hero of the book.
Speak up for those who can't speak for themselves, because someone is advocating for their death.......2007-09-24
You won't get any complaint from me that this book is skillfully written, in it's vivid descriptions of settings, detailed descriptions of characters, and realistic dialogue.
However, I believe this book has a bad message, and the bad message is about how it's ok to put the weak, infirm and dependent to death. It started with the discussion of Candy's aged dog. The book gave the impression that the dog's age made him no good to even himself, the "quality of life" argument that has been advanced to support euthanizing the elderly, weak and infirm.
After discussing Candy's dog, the argument proceded to Candy himself, where he longs to be euthanized when he can no longer work.
Finally, we come to George's murder of the retarded Lennie, which is completely justified by Slim, the voice of the one sympathetic character in the book. I believe that George was looking for an opportunity to divest himself of Lennie, and that opportunity presented itself when Lennie killed Curley's wife. It was also mentioned that if Lennie was institutionalized, it would be worse than death. I realized there are conflicting opinions about the moral nature of George, but I don't believe he was a good character.
As I was writing this review, I recalled Proverbs 31:8-9 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." Of Mice And Men describes a world where the advocates for euthanizing the weak and infirm prevail.
Tragedies.......2007-09-16
This is a well-constructed, tightly-crafted novella by Steinbeck telling the story of George and his simple-minded companion Lennie, who arrive at a farm looking for work so they can save enough money to achieve their dream of buying their own property. You know something is bound to go wrong.
Although much of the plot might be well-signalled before it occurs, I thought that it did not detract from the quality of the work. As a short piece of fiction should, it holds the reader's attention throughout. It also seemed to me that by this time, Steinbeck seemed to be producing high-quality work. "The Grapes of Wrath" were just around the corner.
G Rodgers
Steinbeck does wonders with so few pages. This is a great touching story.......2007-09-10
Steinbeck writes beautiful prose in this very short book. The story unravels rather quickly and the strong connection one feels with the characters is created from the very first pages. The story is about two friends that travel together looking for work on farms in California. Lennie is a very large man with a feeble mind and George is Lennie's keeper who dreams with Lennie about eventually having a small piece of land where they can have animals and live from it. The book is written using the slang of the 20's and Steinbeck uses incredible imagery throughout the book. The quick story is bound to touch your heart and linger in your mind days after the last page has been read. Enjoy!
Big.......2007-09-01
What makes a big book? Not physical length. Knowing this novel's reputation as one of Steinbeck's masterpieces, I was astounded to lay hands on its mere hundred pages. Not scale of setting, either. The entire novella takes place in and around the bunkhouse of a California farm, and contains fewer than a dozen characters; it is so compact that it might almost have been made for film, television, or the stage (and it did in fact succeed in all these media). The people, furthermore, are by no means important or powerful; Steinbeck tells of ordinary itinerant laborers, bindle stiffs, living precariously from job to job. In this, the book is similar to THE GRAPES OF WRATH, but deliberately avoids its epic scope, preferring to show a few characters in intimate detail rather than to suggest the displacement of multitudes.
Yet I have no hesitation in calling the book big. Without any effort or overt symbolism, Steinbeck shows something simultaneously particular and vast. His characters are individuals, very real yet bound to one another and to us through their common humanity. The novel speaks to a particular time -- the American West in the late thirties -- and yet seems timeless. It takes a specific corner of California ("A few miles south of Soledad, the Salinas River drops in close to the hillside bank and runs deep and green") and makes it a kind of oasis of simplicity, as in the marvelous opening scene where the principal characters choose to spend a night sleeping under the stars rather than arriving too soon at the farm.
And nothing could be bigger than the heart of Lennie, the simple-minded giant who comes to the farm with his friend and protector George, but whose confused feelings and ignorance of his own strength get him into trouble. The bond between him and George is not fully explained, but it is palpably filled with a kind of love. Lennie's inability to articulate his feelings is shared by all the other characters to some extent; this is a world in which men keep themselves to themselves and move on alone. But their very inarticulateness gives their underlying emotions an almost primal power. Truly, this is a big book.
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