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Class of 1957 Book Review Site. ©2007. To add a Book Review, or to comment on a book already in this listing, send your material or review to Sam Coulbourn at Persnav@shore.net. Photo at top of each page shows ENS Arleigh Burke beneath 14-inch gun aboard Battleship USS Arizona, 1923. Revised 27 March 2008. |
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INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS War Footing
By Frank Gaffney & Colleagues, 2006.
The authors posit that the US is and has been engaged in a "war for the Free World" and profess that this book is a definitive owners' manual for this conflict because every American has a stake in the outcome. They identify the world's trouble-spots and how they are affecting, or could adversely impact our ability to win the war. They examine the domestic pressures which run counter to or otherwise erode our ability to form and present a united front and employ cohesive measures to counter-attack our current and prospective enemies. The authors prescribe 10 steps which must be taken if the US is to successfully win the war for the free world. The book is chillingly descriptive, comprehensive in scope, and thought provoking. It should not be read as a sleep inducing opiate.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS New Glory: Expanding America’s Global Supremacy
By Ralph Peters, 2005.
Peters contends that: “Whether we wish it or not, we lead humanity. At times, we will have to lead with bayonets, but, more often, we will lead through our ideas. If we remain wise and just, as well as resolute, ever more of our fellow human beings will follow willingly.” In this 283 page book, he then goes on to develop his assertion. He explains why our powerful values, from freedom of religion to our free market system, are transforming the world; how we need to reorganize our military, intelligence system, and our failed approach to diplomacy; why particular European states obstruct the cause of freedom; the roots of failure of the Islamic heartlands; how we can forge innovative alliances to ensure our future wealth and security.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Surprise, Security, and the American Experience
By John Lewis Gaddis, 2004.
A collection of five lectures given by Yale History Professor Gaddis describing G.W. Bush's foreign policy along with those of past U.S. Presidents. In this short book Gaddis brings to light historical perspective which has not been mentioned by the "Main Street Media". A very worthwhile read.
POLITICS
POLITICS Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
By Thomas Ricks, 2006.
Thomas Ricks has been Senior Pentagon correspondent for the Washington Post since 2000, and for 17 years before on the Wall Street Journal. The author notes that it is not an academic treatment, but rather a 'narrative history of the events it covers' based on several hundred named interviews and his own coverage of the war, review of over '37,000 pages of official documents' and reporting of credible journalists on-scene. It's a good read. I was attracted to the book by the title--it looked like the first overt attempt to blame the Iraq imbroglio on the military as in Vietnam. It's not. It's a fascinating account of particular aspects and events where he has enough pieces to tell the story. The first part addresses the run-up and invasion, noting some of the infighting that went into decision-making and planning. The post-invasion preparations: Phase IV--seems to have been largely Power Point-Planning at best. After the invasion he portrays events associated with Retired GEN Jay Garner's frustrated efforts to establish order with Akmed Chalabi meandering in and out of the shadows. Immediately on arrival Ambassador L. Paul Bremmer reversed Garner's approach to military, political and economic reform. Thereafter there seemed almost open hostility between Bremmer and his CPA and the military / CIA. He lays into some general officers, particularly LGEN Sanchez and GEN Franks, others in country, and in Washington. He speaks highly of LGENs Petraus and Mattis (USMC) as understanding how to solve the local problems. I found most troubling his account of the ill-fated First Fallujah attack in April '04 in the wake of contractor hangings on a bridge over the Euphrates. It was precipitated apparently by a "DO IT" direction from Washington, and against Mattis's objection and previous plan. There are many other nuggets, all credibly reported as far as I can tell. I'm sure others will fill in the gaps, particularly as the political campaign nears. There's grist for the mills of both political parties...
Review by??????
POLITICS For Love of Politics - Bill and Hillary Clinton the White House Years
By Sally Bedell Smith, 2007
The author is Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair; News reporter for Time and New York Times; she’s the author of 'Grace and Power' (Kennedy) and books on Princess Diana and Pamela Harriman
Sally B. Smith brings to the fore a well researched and detailed contemporaneous documentation of the intertwined personal and professional lives of the Clintons' co presidency during their eight years in the White House. Smith provides new details and insights of the Clinton's shared passion for politics and how it sustained them through crisis after crisis, many of which were of their own making. The details of the gender driven attorney general fiasco appointments (Janet Reno is quoted “Gender is the reason I'm here”'), the Health Care Task Force arrogance, secrecy, and non-compromising stubbornness, as well as some new details covering the many other scandals (travel firings, Whitewater, etc. etc.). In contrast she details the brilliance of selecting Robert Rubin as Treasury Secretary and using his mediation role to resolve policy differences between the Clintons. The day to day activities of the Clintons are all brought forward in living color to provide some real insight to what a Clinton return engagement to the White House might bring. The details of all of the scandals are brought to light without the roar of the 24/7 news cycle; the message for the White House staff was clear: “People were scared of her because they knew she could chop off their testicles if she so chose. You did not cross Hillary” (p.90). The Lewinsky scandal gave Hillary the clear field to command Bill and all the trappings of the presidency to solicit funds for her senate campaign in front of Tipper Gore's fundraiser for Al in LA! As far as Bin Laden is concerned, the book debunks the Clinton claim of obsession with the counterterrorism issue. - A full year or more was admittedly lost for any productive effort on many fronts due to the scandal and impeachment defense for Bill Clinton. Smith's aim was "to take apart a familiar story and tell it in a refreshing and revealing way: identifying patterns and juxtapositions not evident at the time, reconnecting the dots to gain a new understanding of tumultuous events, and recapturing the high emotions-excitement as well as dismay- of the period with the detachment that time and distance can bring". She succeeded mightily! A ‘must read’ for anyone who plans to vote in 2008.
Review by George Lanman, January 2008.
POLITICS The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina
By Frank Rich, 2006.
Excerpts from Publisher’s Weekly “ . . . This blistering j'accuse has vitriol to spare for George Bush—calling him a "spoiled brat" and "blowhard"—and his policies, but its main target is the PR machinery that promoted those policies to the American people. . . .He uncovers nothing new, but his meticulously researched recap-cum-debunking—complete with appended 80-page time line comparing administration spin to actual events—builds a comprehensive picture of a White House propaganda campaign to bamboozle the public, smear critics, camouflage policy disasters and win the 2002 and 2004 elections through trumped-up security anxieties. Along the way, he pillories a sycophantic media (Bob Woodward gets spanked hard), spineless Democrats and an infotainment culture that happily accommodates the Bush administration's erasure of the line between reality and fiction. Sometimes Rich's critique of Republican politics as cynical image-manipulation goes overboard, as in his "wag the dog" theory of the Iraq war as a Karl Rove electoral maneuver; more often, though, it's on target. The result is a caustic, hard-hitting indictment of the Bush administration, timed to make a splash in the upcoming election campaign.”
POLITICS Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline
By Robert H. Bork, 1996.
Robert Bork brings clarity to the political issues of the day. In Slouching, he attributes the current decline in moral culture within America to radical egalitarianism (equality of outcomes vice equality of opportunity) and radical individualism (disappearing limits on personal gratification). He notes that “a minority of fanatical disposition can effectively control an institution,” such as when student uprisings in the 1960s controlled the too comfortable university administrations with a predisposition to surrender. He goes on to confront many issues to which politicians pay conventional homage ¾ the courts, crime, welfare, abortion, feminism, racism, religion and multiculturalism. But Bork is a jurist rather than an activist, and he writes diagnostically and prescriptively, not smugly and condemningly. Those who have not read Bork may be reticent to read Slouching because of the biased press he has received. That would be a mistake and their loss.
POLITICS Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics By Larry Sabato and Glen Simpson, 1996. Corruption -- produces personal enrichment and political control with the latter normally necessary to produce the former.
pOEtRy
pOEtRy The Oxford Book of American Poetry
David Lehman (Ed.), 2006.
This big new handsome instant heirloom is a bargain at its list price of $35.00 and even more so from Amazon.com at $23.00. It deserves its rave reviews as a very accessible and not stuffy collection as these excerpts show:
[from the introductions] CHARLES BUKOWSKI
“…Robert Frost described himself as one who was ‘acquainted with the night. In the same sense Bukowski was ‘acquainted with prostitutes, bars, racetracks, bums, skid row and wage slavery. . . .According to unofficial bookstore records, more of his books are stolen than any other writers.”
[and from the poems]
Yosuf Konunyakaa (Vietnam, Bronze Star)
Tu Do Street
Music divides the evening. I close my eyes & can see Men drawing lines in the dust. America pushes through the membrane Of mist and smoke, & I’m a small boy Again in Bogalusa. White Only Signs & Hank Snow. But tonight I walk into a place where bar girls Fade like tropical birds. When I order a beer, the mama-san Behind the counter acts as if she Can’t understand, while her eyes Skirt each white face, as Hank Williams Calls from the psychedelic jukebox. We have played Judas where Only machine-gun fire brings us Together. Down the street Black GI’s hold to their turf also. An off-limits sign pulls me Deeper into alleys, as I look For a softness behind these voices Wounded by their beauty & war. Back in the bush at Dak To & Khe Sanh, we fought the brothers of these women we now run to hold in our arms. There’s more than a nation Inside us, as black & white Soldiers touch the same lovers Minutes apart, tasting Each other’s breath, Without knowing these rooms Run into each other like tunnels Leading to the underworld.
(1988)
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