Book Description
General Smedley Butler's frank book shows how American war efforts were animated by big-business interests. This extraordinary argument against war by an unexpected proponent is relevant now more than ever.
Customer Reviews:
A truth bullet right in the forehead.......2007-09-03
The word "classic", like other words in the abused English language, is regularly misused. It is not misused in describing this book. And at the pittance required to buy this edition, it can also be described as the biggest bargain you will encounter all year. To call the book an "anti-war" classic is not as accurate as it might be, however, because Gen. Butler envisions the need for a standing army and navy to defend the nation. He is merely horrified at these forces being sent to fight other people's wars. Especially at the cost of all wars.
Gen. Butler writes between the two World Wars. Having earned an estimable reputation among the troops he led, he proceeded not to desert them after the war was over. He sided with the bonus marchers who built "Hooverville", and then he finished some thoughts he had been having about the role of the United States Marine Corps in a number of lesser American military adventures. He then wrote this pamphlet to explain why the country needed to rid itself of the conmen who keep taking it to foreign wars.
The work is divided into five sections:
1. War Is A Racket!
2. Who Makes the Profits?
3. Who Pays the Bills?
4. How to Smash This Racket!
5. To Hell with War!
As another reviewer has noted, Gen. Butler rendered even greater service to his country after leaving the Marines than while serving actively. In prose that is utterly direct and unadorned, he outlines the nature of war, the identities and profit margins of the criminals, the role of the propagandizing press, and the victims of the fiscal enterprise of war. He then suggests a practical method for removing the profit from the business of war: simply conscript every owner, manager and employee of the war-making industries into the war effort, 30 days before the troops are called up, at the same pay rate as the enlisted man. During WWI, that was $30.00 per month. It is an idea so simple and brilliant that it will never be tried, unless, of course, the entire population suddenly has the wool pulled from its eyes, and passes the requisite law. As a test of industrial patriotism, this idea has no peers.
(My idea for educating the masses would be to make every thirteen-year-old boy and girl read this book, pass an exam on it, and then administer the book and the exam to their parents. This would be an annual event, and a general election would be held as soon as the parents had passed their exams.)
It is depressing to read this book in 2007, note that it was written in 1935, and reflect that nothing has changed. It is also heartening to realize that the solution to the problem of war is to convey the meaning of one four-word sentence to the masses. That sentence is the title of this book. Even in a time of sinking literacy levels and short attention spans, I can imagine no more worthy project for our country.
A must read for American Citizens.......2007-07-25
While I don't agree with all of Butler's recommendations (among which is, never fight a war), many of his recommendations are great. His documentation of the Facist plot he exposed is very important. (BTW: Prescott Bush was a co-conspirator in these coup-plans, as documented by the BBC.)
Facism was a threat then, and given the growing corporatism in the USA, a threat now.
People never learn........2007-07-23
This small book is timeless in its message. Written before WW2, it applies to much of what has happened since. As Butler wrote, " Why don't those damned oil companies fly their own flags on their personal property - maybe a flag with a gas pump on it." Two Iraq wars prove Butler's prescience.
Read this now.......2007-05-14
One of the most important books ever written by an American military figure, General Butler explains why war is a crime fought for the financial gain of a tiny class of society. This is extremely relevant for all Americans trying struggling to end wars of conquest and profit.
What Seems Is Not Reality - Read This Pamphlet.......2007-04-24
I am torn in giving this small collection a rating. In terms of importance, I would give this booklet five stars. In terms of writing style, it would earn one star. Nevertheless, this is the kind of book you must read, for it will shatter your illusions, should you have them, about the nature of American military might. These words, from pen of the most decorated American general, Brigadier General Smedley Butler, form a well supported middle finger in the face of American hegemony and neo-colonialism.
From a literary standpoint, this is not a book. It is a collection of short essays, written as you would expect a brash general to write. "War is a Racket" is but one of a several essays in this short book. In addition to its namesake, the booklet also contains an arguments against American intervention in World War II, and a photo essay of the horrors of war.
I would recommend this booklet to anyone going off to fight yet another war based on lies and secretly intended for the profit of the ruling class. Parents, read this before considering allowing your child to join forces of evil.
Book Description
This book documents for the first time previously hidden Japanese atrocities in World War II, including cannibalism; the slaughter and starvation of prisoners of war; the rape, enforced prostitution, and murder of noncombatants; and biological warfare experiments. The author describes how desperate Japanese soldiers consumed the flesh of their own comrades killed in fighting as well as that of Australians, Pakistanis, and Indians. Another chapter traces the fate of 65 shipwrecked Australian nurses and British soldiers who were shot or stabbed to death by Japanese soldiers. Thirty-two other nurses, who landed on another island, were captured and sent to Sumatra to become "comfort women"-prostitutes for Japanese soldiers. Tanaka recounts how thousands of Australian and British POWs died in the infamous Sandakan camp in the Borneo jungle in 1945. Those who survived were forced to endure a tortuous 160-mile march on which anyone who dropped out of line was immediately shot. Only six escapees lived to tell the tale. Based on exhaustive research in previously closed archives, this book represents a landmark analysis of Japanese war crimes. The author explores individual atrocities in their broader social, psychological, and institutional milieu and places Japanese behavior during the war in the broader context of the dehumanization of men at war-without denying individual and national responsibility.
Customer Reviews:
why are japanese so evil?.......2006-03-28
Japan has committed some of the world's worst atrocities in history (nanking massacre, unit 731, batton death march, comfort women, pearl harbor, ect..) and they still refuse to apologize, compensate, or make an accurate history in there textbooks. Why is Japan so cowardly and instead try to make their amends to their victims of the horrible crimes against humanity. No wonder people call Japan a "devil" race.
Book Contains Great Facts, but Lame Excuses.......2003-02-24
The most outstanding attribute of this book is its honest depiction of Japan's atrocities. The description of these horrific onslaughts surpasses similar titles in some portions of the book.
But the downside is the author's attempt to explain why the Japanese acted as they did, as if doing so will somehow make us view the Japanese army as something more than the monsters they were. Though Tanaka probaly doesn't mean to, he comes across as making excuses for the Japanese military's barbarism. Nevertheless, when he moves beyond fact description and into analysis, his intentions seem ambiguous at best. But overall, a good read.
OK.......2002-04-09
Interesting info, but author seems to try and make the point the Japanese did nothing worse than others have done thru out history.
Nauseating, shocking, necessary reading about WWII.......2002-01-29
Japanese ex-pat professor (he lives in Austrailia) desribes in stomach turning detail the crimes of Imperial Japanese forces in WWII. While I knew some of the things done, I had no idea the extent and depth of the crimes committed.
Tanaka describes in pages NOT FOR THE TIMID READER the Japanese high command's plan for using cannabalism to feed their troops in the southern arc of their conquest plans. It wasn't just enemy troops who were on the menu, but low-ranking Japanese ground-pounders. I will spare the detail, but Tanaka doesn't, so be warned.
I give this book only 4 stars because it has one serious flaw. Tanaka makes the laughable, morally unsustainable claim that the atomic bombings are morally equivalent to Japanese crimes. This will rightly outrage every American, but it doesn't tarnish the overall effort.
Professor Tanaka is to be congratulated for his courage in revealing the worst things committed by his people. Things that many in Japan, especially school textbooks, refuse to admit. I don't think it coincidence that the good professor lives in the Land Down Under.
Important Book to Read even if Author is Lightweight.......2001-01-05
This is an important book to read to further an understanding of the magnitude of Japanese war crimes in WWII. The author touches on the fact that these war crimes were part of a pattern of inhumanity; not simply isolated incidents of criminality, but an artifact of Japanese culture which demanded subservience of the individual for the sake of "social harmony". Individual morality or even a desire for morality can play no role in such a regime. Interestingly, even the author provides names of officers , but for the most part treats the enlisted men who carried out the barbarous orders not as men but as mere cogs.
The scary thing is that what was previously demanded is still encouraged as socially desirable -- still for the sake of "social harmony." This means that there is an unwillingness to broach ugly topics like grandpa's inhumanity, thus it is unlikely that books such as this will ever provoke the soul searching that has taken place in other countries that have thrown off fascism or otherwise confronted their past.
Customer Reviews:
Solid introductory book.......2006-03-22
I really enjoyed reading this book. It is the first book that I have read relating to the study of film. I felt that the writing style was solid and there was a limited use of technical words. Each of the chapters was organized well. All the points he made were sufficiently backed up with examples from different films. My only complaint was that some of the sentences were too long. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good basic introduction to the horror genre that is up to date and accessible.
Customer Reviews:
Badly Written.......2006-08-11
I was hoping the book would show a good connection to Iran. However, the writing is absolutely horrible, the resources sometimes disputable, and overall I felt the whole book kept on dragging on! I had a hard time finishing half of it.
Book Description
The twentieth century bears the indelible imprint of both communism and Nazism. Today, it sometimes seems as if the former is all but forgotten, at least among Western elites, while our cultural memory of the latter is an inextinguishable fire. This inequality is surprising and calls out for explanation, a task the French political thinker Alain Besançon attempts here in a wise and elegant meditation.
In examining the horror and destruction caused by both of these terrible ideologies, Besançon finds that recourse to theology is necessary if we are to achieve even feeble illumination. He also explains why, even with the full knowledge of the extent of communism’s crimes, the uniqueness of the Shoah ought to be accepted without reservation.
Customer Reviews:
Short book that dares to ask the big questions .......2007-06-26
The 20th century was cursed with two murderous ideologies: communism and Nazism. Nazism slaughtered 6 million Jews, while communism killed at least 100 million people, and managed to enslave vast swaths of the globe. Besancon wonders why Nazism has become the prototype for evil while communism's evils are largely ignored.
In this important essay, Besancon points out the many similarities between communism and Nazism. "Ideological language is charged with the magical role of forcing reality to conform to a particular vision of the world" (p 14). Who can forget "scientific Marxism" or the false journalists of communism? Or replacing truth with invented histories of an Aryan civilization? And both persecuted religion while trying to substitute their ideologies for religion. "These two doctrines ...have in common the idea of a collective salvation coming in history" (p 60), a biblical idea wholly unknown in the eastern world.
Besancon actually dares to point out that "a Nazi or communist presents a clinical case for psychiatric examination" (p 16). Furthermore, "These artificial mental illnesses were...epidemic and contagious" (p 16). Germany and the USSR woke up years later like patients recovering from comas.
What is most striking is that the atrocious actions of both ideologies, the monstrous death camps, the gulag, the mass starvations, the horrors of Pol Pot and Mao, were all committed by people sure they were doing these things in the name of good.
Why did madness strike the 20th century? What does it say about human nature and what does it say about our future?
Book Description
A close look at horror films from around the world, drawing attention to neglected social, cultural, and ideological aspects of the horror genre in international cinema.
Average customer rating:
- French intellectual flop
- The end of work
|
The Economic Horror
Viviane Forrester
Manufacturer: Polity Press
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Customer Reviews:
French intellectual flop.......2001-07-31
This book is a `post-modernist' contribution to the debate about unemployment. It starts from the facts that the present economic system prevents full employment, and that the working class as a whole is becoming surplus to requirements. There are now 18 million unemployed people in the EU alone. It is increasingly a world in which workers have no place at all, especially our young people. An OECD Jobs Study openly recommended raising unemployment to cut wages. The World Bank openly recommended cutting benefits to force workers into low-paid jobs, and said that "wage cuts and redundancies [are] essential."
Unfortunately, Ms Forrester argues that we must accept ever-growing unemployment. Instead of working out ways to end mass unemployment, she proposes, in characteristic post-modernist style, to end the `culture' of employment. She writes that our terms of work and unemployment `created such reality', so if we stop using the terms, we change the reality! She calls for "organising society starting precisely from the absence of work." According to her, unemployed people do not need work; they need instead to free themselves from the very idea of work.
She seems unaware of the paradox that she has produced a book - which is work - calling for everyone to recognise the end of work! Not surprisingly, she never mentions the words `manufacturing' or industry': the idea that things are made and need making never seems to strike her.
But of course there is an alternative. We can change our ideology to change the world. Workers do have the right to work; we must organise to reclaim that right. We need to rebuild our industry, in order to rebuild our society. Work needs to be done: improving the environment and our transport services, building homes, schools and hospitals, developing education and culture. How can society survive without work? Jobs need doing, and people need to work. So let's put the two together!
The end of work.......2000-05-10
What happens to society as more and more technology makes work less and less necessary? Viviane Forrester, in her book "The Economic Horror" brilliantly and passionately discusses this question. Her basic thesis is that the benefits and profits from this change accrue to a tiny oligarchy, while the mass of people worldwide essentially become surplus, dispensable trash. She mercilessly cuts through the subterfuges and band aids which have no purpose other than to conceal the impending economic horror for as long as possible, while behind the curtain of lies the politicians collude with business to bring it about as quickly as possible. She shows how racism, xenophobia, class divisions, indeed the whole institutional structure play into the grand scheme of rendering the human person, even human life itself, superfluous. Does she hold out any hope? Yes and no. No hope of a resurrection of work and economic productivity as the measure of worth and dignity. But understanding and acknowledging this truth is in itself a powerful shield for preserving one's worth and dignity. And once the truth is fully understood, there is hope for "organizing society precisely from the absence of work" and trying "to make life decent and viable by other means, and doing it today." Perhaps in another book she will suggest how this could be done.
The translation generally succeeds in maintaining the serious and passionate tone; but occasionally it interjects inappropriate or flippant colloquialisms, and sometimes it is simply unintelligible. But these are minor flaws, and they do not really detract from the power of this work.
If there is one book that can open one's eyes to the world being constructed by the corporate, financial and political powers, this is the book. Read and see.
Book Description
What is it that makes humankind capable of genocide? What can we do to create a world without large-scale crimes against humanity? In Reason and Horror, Schoolman labors to find an antidote to the relentlessly destructive and seemingly irreversible path of violence on which the history of enlightenment placed modernity. Offering a fascinating new interpretation of Horkheimer and Adorno's monumental study, Dialectic of Enlightenment, their classic written during the Nazi Holocaust, Schoolman reconstructs their arguments about individuality before the Holocaust, and then develops their ideas through the great works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Walt Whitman, and Alexis De Tocqueville. Schoolman shows that it is democracy that fosters the aesthetic qualities Horkheimer and Adorno believed necessary to oppose the enlightenment rationality responsible for genocide. Schoolman's stunning and controversial solution to avoiding crimes against humanity is that its nations must foster a democratic way of life, because the aesthetic form of individuality able to stem the violence of genocidal extermination can flourish only under democracy.
Customer Reviews:
An Expanded Understanding of the Value and Nature of Democracy.......2006-09-20
In this book, author Morton Schoolman addresses the familiar idea of democracy from a new and liberating angle. He offers an account that takes this highly valued form of politics beyond formal governmental structures or processes of political participation to the development of the idea of a "culture of democracy," which is distinguished by the presence of a form of aesthetic reason that enables a new relationship of individuals to difference. Rather than engage in the 'violent' behavior that results from the perspective that there is one, absolute and true representation of reality, participants in this democratic culture are able to relate to each other in ways that recognize and thrive off of the the contingent and multiplicitous nature of human identity and understanding.
By demonstrating how democracy offers a way of negotiating difference that is respectful of the pluralistic nature of human existence, Schoolman offers a justification for the promotion of global democratization that is refreshingly absent of the ideological disconnects that are the hallmark of mainstream neo-liberal theories, which tie the achievement of greater freedom in society to the economic structures of "free-market" capitalism. In the current global context of the increasingly violent geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East and the rise of China, a country notorious for human rights abuses, to a position of significant global influence, Schoolman's book is especially timely in offering hope and purpose through the pursuit of democracy to scholars, students, decision-makers and ordinary citizens alike.
An Invaluable Contribution to Political and Social Theory.......2006-09-18
As the above reviewers suggest, with Reason and Horror, Dr. Schoolman has given us a powerful mechanism with which to appreciate the politics of identity within a democratic society: aesthetic individuality. And, while Schoolman uses a rich and innovative analysis of both Adorno's and Nietzsche's work in formulating this notion, Reason and Horror--in this reader's opinion--delivers its most remarkable contributions through its treatment of Alexis de Tocqueville. In this book, Schoolman provides a much-needed breath of fresh air to the general "doomsday" consensus surrounding Tocqueville's "Equality of Condition." Here he uses the aesthetic notions of surface and depth to re-cast equality of condition as a democratic endowment that stimulates, rather than stifles, self-reflection and--even more importantly--critical responsiveness to the differences embodied in the other. Moreover, Schoolman illustrates that it is precisely the democratic equality of condition that allows us to view these not simply as the differences that distinguish us from the other, but also as possibilities for our own self-expression, and thus, as things that connect us as well. In sum, Schoolman's aesthetic individuality is a victory for both the self and the collective: for the individual, identity finds new opportunities for expression and complexity at every turn; and for the collective, there is hopefully less pressure to experience difference as threatening and more encouragement to find in it instead all sorts of new options for being. All in all, Reason and Horror is an indispensable contribution to the fields of political and social theory, and comes highly recommended!
Book Description
On August 30, 1999, in a United Nations-sponsored ballot, East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia and for an end to a brutal military occupation. Upon the announcement of the result, Indonesian troops and their paramilitary proxies launched a wave of terror that, over three weeks, resulted in the murder of more than 1,000 people, the rape of untold numbers of women and girls, the razing of 70 percent of the country's buildings and infrastructure, and the forcible deportation of 250,000 people. In recounting these horrible acts and the preceding events, Joseph Nevins shows that what took place was only the final scene in more than two decades of atrocities. More than 200,000 people, about a third of the population, lost their lives due to Indonesia's 1975 invasion and subsequent occupation, making the East Timorese case proportionately one of the worst episodes of genocide since World War II.
In A Not-So-Distant Horror, Nevins reveals the international complicity at the center of the East Timor tragedy. In his view, much if not all of the horror that plagued East Timor in 1999 and in the 24 preceding years could have been avoided had countries like Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and especially the United States, not provided Indonesia with valuable political, economic, and military assistance, as well as diplomatic cover. The author explores issues of accountability for East Timor's plight and probes the meaning of what took place in terms of international institutions and law. Examining issues such as violence, the geography of memory, and social power, Nevins makes clear that the case of East Timor has much to tell us about the contemporary world order.
Customer Reviews:
Powerful, sobering, and yet inspiring.......2006-08-16
This is a great book. It tells an important story, and powerfully combines facts and analysis. It does NOT read like a "travelogue" or an "anthology" as "alrightnik" claims. (The comments of "alrightnik" are so off base it makes me wonder if he actually read the book.) Yes, there are some personal anecdotes, but they're beautifully woven into the larger fabric of Nevins' compelling narrative. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone interested in U.S. foreign policy, SE Asia, human rights, international law, and global justice.
SUBJECTIVE AND NOT INSPIRING.......2006-07-16
THIS BOOK IS EXTENSIVELY A SORT OF TRAVELOGUE-DIARY, WITH A GREAT DEAL OF PERSONAL ACCOUNTS. IT READS LIKE A RECORD OF VOYAGES, WHICH IT IS. ANTHOLOGY IS A BETTER DESCRIPTION. THE AUTHOR KNOWS A GREAT DEAL BUT THERE ARE NO NEW REVELATIONS HERE. A BETTER ORDERED SYSTEMATIC ACCOUNT WOULD HAVE BEEN PREFERABLE.
A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY.
A fascinating study of US and other "great power' machinations.......2005-11-17
Though written by an academic in his 30s, this book is refreshingly free of the jargon that tends to drag down the style, or lack thereof, of so many books from university presses these days. Perhaps this is partly because the author spent a fair amount of time in East Timor throughout the 1990s (including a stint as a UN-accredited monitor of the ballot process that led to the Aug.30, 1999 vote for independence from the US-backed Indonesian military occupation) and is therefore not at a lofty, dispassionate remove from his subject. But Nevins is extremely thorough and did much research to put together this history of the lead up to and aftermath of the 1999 scorched earth campaign in East Timor.
I found this book to be a fascinating study of US and other "great power' machinations. As an activist who focuses more on US foreign policy in the Middle East, I'm also less familiar with the region of the world this book covers, so I learned quite a bit reading it. I will be recommending it to colleagues who volunteer with United for Peace and Justice and American Friends Service Committee, in fact I hope to get my progressive book discussion group to take it up.
Nevins does a masterful job of weaving together telling details that add up to paint a damning picture of the West's collusion with Indonesian military atrocities, and he gets to the heart of central questions that should concern anyone who would like to see US foreign policy come a bit closer to living up to its professed ideals of embracing freedom and democracy, by actually supporting accountability and justice.
A comprehensive book on recent East Timor history.......2005-10-17
This is a follow-up to some other books written by Joseph Nevins on East Timor. I found this book to be even better than his previously-written books, and a bit of an easier read. In it, he talks about the complicity of many of the world powers in helping to create East Timor's sad recent history. Nevins also talks about what has been happening in East Timor since its new-found independence. I would highly recommend this book to anybody interested in world politics/history, or people looking to expand their horizons and learn about a little-known country.
Bound to become a classic.......2005-07-07
This beautifully written book tells the painful and inspiring story of East Timor's struggle for freedom and justice, while powerfully and convincingly situating it in the larger international context. In doing so, Nevins bridges the perceived distance between East Timor's suffering and places like Washington, Canberra, and London. He thus exposes the ugly underside of Western governments' foreign policies abroad and teaches us much about the workings of international relations, international legal mechanisms, and empire. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in matters of human rights, international relations, mass violence, and global justice.
Books:
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies
- America's Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley
- America's Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley
- An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't
- And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography
- Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle, Updated Edition: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation
- ART OF POCAHONTAS, THE
- Art of Technique, The: An Aesthetic Approach to Film and Video Production
- Batman Begins: The Official Movie Guide
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