Carr, Caleb

Average customer rating:

periodic thriller..
The Alienist: A Novel
A page turner, but a derivative sloppy novel
good plot, but...
Hope to see as a movie someday!

The Alienist
Caleb Carr
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679417796
Release Date: 1994-03-15

Book Description

The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.

The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler's intellect and Moore's knowledge of New York's vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology-- amassing a psychological profile of the man they're looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before. and wil Belleville 3 : Méthode de français

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Authors: Odile Grand-Clément, Aline Volte, Thierry Gallier, Vicki Moore
Catalog: Book
Media: Broché
Release Date: 01 January, 2005
Publisher: Fernand Nathan
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Livres:

A Slight Trick of the Mind
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ASIN: 0312939132
Release Date: 2006-05-02

Amazon.com

Although Sherlock Holmes categorically dismissed, in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," supernatural explanations for corporeal crimes ("This Agency stands flat-footed upon the ground, and there it must remain. ... No ghosts need apply"), one of the most popular among Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes tales is The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), in which the fate of a Devonshire family supposedly hangs on the savage appetites of an apparitional beast. More than a century later, in The Italian Secretary, Caleb Carr again presents the hawk-faced consulting detective with a yarn woven of paranormal plot threads, the mystery this time rooted in the fatal 16th-century stabbing of David Rizzio, a music teacher and confidant to Mary, Queen of Scots.

For Holmes and his affable annalist, Dr. John Watson, this spirited escapade begins sometime in the late 19th century with their receipt, in London, of an encrypted telegram from Sherlock's eccentric elder brother, Mycroft, "a senior but anonymous government official." It summons them to Edinburgh, Scotland, where architect Sir Alistair Sinclair and his foreman, Dennis McKay, have been slain in the midst of rehabilitating the medieval west tower of the Royal Palace of Holyrood--the very wing where Queen Mary had lived, and where Rizzio had met his brutal, politically motivated end. Mycroft fears these murders portend new threats against Britain's present monarch--the elderly Queen Victoria, who infrequently lodges at the palace--by a known assassin, perhaps in nefarious league with the German Kaiser. En route north, Holmes and Watson are menaced aboard their train by a red-bearded bomb thrower (supposedly a rabid Scots nationalist), only to discover that still greater dangers await them, and others, at Holyroodhouse. The plaintive drone of a weeping woman, cruelly punctured and shattered corpses, a pool of blood "that never dries," and a disembodied Italian voice with unexpected musical tastes all imply the wrath of wraiths behind recent atrocities. But Holmes and Watson deduce that greed, rather than ghosts, may be to blame.

Carr, who earned renown with his historical mysteries, The Alienist (1994) and The Angel of Darkness (1997), apparently intended The Italian Secretary to be a short story; however, he couldn't stop writing. The result is a fleet-footed, atmospherically gothic, and often amusing Holmes tale (with an exposition scene in Watson's bed chamber that's truly priceless), but one that makes scant attempt to enhance our understanding of Conan Doyle's characters--a less ambitious undertaking, in that respect, than Mitch Cullin's concurrently published A Slight Trick of the Mind. And while Carr displays a gift here for adopting another author's literary techniques, it is really his own style and series players that his fans are waiting to see more of in the future. --J. Kingston Pierce

Book Description

Mycroft Holmes’s encoded message to his brother, Sherlock, is unsubtle enough even for Dr. Watson to decipher: a matter concerning the safety of Queen Victoria herself calls them to Edinburgh’s Holyrood House to investigate the confounding and gruesome deaths of two young men—horrific incidents that took place with her highness in residence. The victims were crushed in a manner surpassing human power. And while recent attempts on her majesty’s life raise a number of possibilities, these intrigues also seem strangely connected to an act of evil that took place centuries earlier…

For indeed, the slaying of David Rizzio, music master and friend to Mary Queen of Scots, was an extraordinarily brutal and treacherous act—even for a time when brutality and treachery were the order of the day. Now, the ghosts of Holyrood House are being reawakened by someone with a diabolical agenda of greed, madness, and terror as Holmes and Watson set out to trap a killer who is eager to rewrite history in blood...

Customer Reviews:

Not Quite So Elementary..........2007-06-12

It can be a daunting task to write a new adventure for one of the literary world's most beloved detectives of all time. The author is certain to open himself up to criticism and to be told that he is no Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. But the undertakers of this project knew that much to begin with, and since this work (and the others, all originally intended as short stories) was commissioned by the Conan Doyle Estate, the criticism of the novel should not be based upon the author not 'living up' to the standards of Conan Doyle. That was not the point - the point was to create a new adventure for a literary hero in the same vein, and Caleb Carr, who is a masterful storyteller of historical mysteries, has done a commendable job.

"The Italian Secretary" is a mystery set within Holyroodhouse, the legendary palace of Mary, Queen of Scots, situated in Edinburgh, Scotland. The title comes from a story that had circulated through the ages, of an Italain secretary who influenced the queen and was violently killed within her private chambers in an effort to send a message to the Catholic ruler within a Protestant nation. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves drawn into this other-worldly mystery at Holyroodhouse through Holmes' brother, Mycroft, an agent and protector of Queen Victoria, with whom he shares a close and confidential relationship. When two young Scotsmen are found murdered within the castle grounds, rumors fast fly that it is the spirit of the Italian secretary seeking revenge for his hundred-years-old murder. Yet Watson and Holmes know that a supernatural explanation cannot be behind the truth, and set out to uncover the real murderous happenings in the royal palace, an adventure that finds them risking their own lives, and questioning their belief in the supernatural.

While some criticisms of this book may naturally be founded in the fact that Conan Doyle did not like using the supernatural in detective stories; but perhaps the most popular of the Holmes' stories, "The Hound of the Baskervilles", involves the supernatural to a great length (and a debunking of that in the end). This same concept is applied to "The Italian Secretary" with aplomb and ease. Caleb Carr naturally captures the relationship and repartee between Watson and Holmes; the pacing and subtle twists of the mystery are in keeping with Conan Doyle's style, as are the revelations of clues that only Sherlock Holmes can perceive. Caleb Carr has certainly ascertained his place in the literary world with "The Alienist" series and further adds to his merit with "The Italian Secretary". Since it seems to be the mode in today's literature to take famous literary characters and create new stories for them, sometimes with disastrous effect, it is a joy to read an imagining from an author who is worthy of breathing new life into such a beloved character.

Boredom Abounds.......2007-04-19

I've never read a Sherlock Holmes novel so if the excercise of this book was to get as close to the original as possible yet provide a new adventure for the old slueth and his fans, then I have no idea if the author accomplished his mission. But if I were reading this for pure ente Campus 3, méthode de français : double CD

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Catalog: Book
Media: Broché
Release Date: 01 January, 2005
Publisher: Fernand Nathan
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ASIN: 0812972120
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Book Description

Based on the true story of Alexander Selkirk, who survived alone for almost five years on an uninhabited island off the coast of Chile, The Mysterious Island is considered by many to be Jules Verne’s masterpiece. “Wide-eyed mid-nineteenth-century humanistic optimism in a breezy, blissfully readable translation by Stump” (Kirkus Reviews), here is the enthralling tale of five men and a dog who land in a balloon on a faraway, fantastic island of bewildering goings-on and their struggle to survive as they uncover the island’s secret.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

excellent book.......2007-05-07

excellent book, but you obviously don't need me to tell you this. just look at how long its been in production.

Saddening metaphor of human nature.......2006-09-17

I really love fantasy and adventure novels, maybe because I am a geek, maybe because I am immature, but I really do. This book however left me with a bitter taste on my lips. I enjoy Verne's fantasy and his easy and fluid writing syle but I cannot stand the general tone of this one novel.. which is about a few guys that , while involved in the american civil war, have the very bad idea of flying in a balloon during a storm and end up stranded in your classic desert island. As soon as they land on this island they start laying waste on it killing whatever animal crosses their path, even if just to make candles and make their house a little more comfy. Not happy with that they even manage to fabric explosives to bomb the island here and there. Before you know, they have changed a luxurious, splendid , wild tropical island in a boring american ranch. A clear example and metaphor of the well known human attitude for consuming , exploiting and polluting nature. Nowhere in the book Verne takes the chance to make his characters reflect on the absurdity of war even if the peaceful life they were leading in the island would make the ideal contrast for it. I won't say anything about Ned, one of the characters, an ex slave freed by his master who seems to be there just to blindly follow his master like a dog. I think it 's self-commenting.
Overall, still a good adventure book, but also an (unwanted) saddening portrait of human nature.

Survivor 19th Century Style! .......2006-04-21

This is my favorite book by Jules Verne and I've always been disappointed that it is so underappreciated.

After escaping a confederate prison camp in a hot air balloon, five men are stranded on a remote island. The characters prove to be innovative and determined souls and set about creating a life for themselves using their knowledge of chemistry and other sciences.

The title of the book stems from a series of mysterious incidents that seem to be the work of a benevolent force helping the survivors.

Their ingenuity makes for fascinating reading and once again validates Jules Verne as one of the most intuitive authors of all time.

The thinking man's fiction read.......2006-03-28

Jules Verne really was well before his time and can rightly take his place as the grandfather of Science Fiction, having said that a lot of this "fiction" has come pretty close to the mark. Five comrades are trust together to survive from the elements on a remote island in the pacific, it really is remote as the island is "...more than eighteen hundred from New Zealand" What I love about this work and at the same time makes it a little sticky is the scientific detail that Verne goes into to explain how our heroes develop their island into a small slice of civilization. Verne does has some rather dated opinions regarding Neb, the servant of Cyrus Harding the novels clear cut Superman and does slightly stretch the truth with Jup's development, but if you can overlook these small misgivings and put them into historical light then its a great way to improve the mind and rekindle the love of reading. Oh I hear you ask who is Jup???? Get yourself a copy and find out you won't regret it!

Remarkable Novel even for Verne.......2005-10-13

This new translation lifts the book to a higher level - there is very little about Verne's writing that can be described as dated or boring. Even that redoutable master of brilliant and modern-reading prose, Wilkie Collins, cannot keep up with Verne at his best. How so much seemingly tedious description is lifted to this level of fluidity - flat out amazing.
Verne's genius for what we today call Science Fiction sometimes obscures his even greater gift, for pure narrative. And with the Mysterious Island in this new translation his talent is on full display. Verne creates with this island an entire new world, a sort of Eden, and within this landscape plays out an entirely breathtaking story. Lingering in the backdrop, Verne's embittered alter ego Nemo balances the one-sided idealism of the castaways. On a scale with the Count of Monte Cristo, and the literary culmination of the enlightenment/scientific shipwrecked theme,(versus the 'humans are animals Lord of the Flies alternative), the Mysterious Island builds steadily to a tremendous finish.
When we read 19th century fiction much of the time phrases and scenes are flat, stale; even the best writers, Dickens, or Trollope, Balzac or Hawthorne, have streches of writing that just doesn't read as anything but dated. But Verne's best books, and this certainly is one of them, are as remarkable for their uncluttered fine prose writing as they are for their famous plots and explorations.
If Verne was no great creator of character, he makes up for it by some of the most eminently readable works ever penned.
A wonderful book for reading during a cold long winter weekend.

Average customer rating:

trades on real-life tragedy
Rough and tumble late nineteenth century New York!
Still on top of his game
Not quite The Alientist, but still good
Extremely good "sequel", standing on its own - begging for more!

The Angel of Darkness
Caleb Carr
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Dictionnaire des termes médicaux et biologiques et des médicaments : Dictionary of medical and biological terms and medications

Dictionnaire des termes médicaux et biologiques et des médicaments : Dictionary of medical and biological terms and medications
Authors: Gary-S Hill
Catalog: Book
Media: Relié
Release Date: 01 January, 2005
Publisher: Flammarion Medecine-Sciences
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Livres:

ringtone88.com e">Still on top of his game.......2007-05-26

Carr is a contemporary writer who I have gained great respect for. This book, although not as good as 'The Alienist', is still very enjoyable. The characters are continued and as always Carr's research of New York is well appreciated. If you have not read Carr's work his historical research is something you should become familiar with. You will learn details about New York places and people that you did not previously know.

Not quite The Alientist, but still good.......2007-03-05

Caleb Carr, The Angel of Darkness (Random House, 1997)

Caleb Carr's logorrhea often gets the best of him, and The Angel of Darkness is no exception. The most common criticism levelled at this book is that it could have used a good editor. This is absolutely the case; the first hundred fifty pages (or more) are glacially-paced. But still, when it comes to period mysteries, there are few who are on Carr's level; here, he turns his attention to the courtroom drama, and his mastery is even more apparent--once he gets going, that is.

Two years after the events of The Alienist, the gang are settled down into their lives again, with a few exceptions. Stevie is now working for Doctor Kreizler as houseboy and general gofer, for example, rather than being a street thug. A woman comes to Sara Howard's detective agency to report that her daughter has been kidnapped. Worse, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, this woman is the wife of the Spanish Ambassador-- who seems determined to keep the kidnapping quiet. Thus, Sara assembles the old team again to try and find the kidnapped child, and in doing so uncover something far more disturbing.

Stevie is the narrator this time, which can get a bit annoying (his repeated substitution of "what" for "that" may be historically accurate, but it's still a pain), but the story is still Carr's. There's the mystery, the culprit, and this time the court case, where Carr gets to turn his jaundiced eye on high society in fin de siecle New York. And, as usual, it's the details that make this book something more than the average courtroom drama (Stevie's running commentary on the betting line Saratoga bookmakers are offering on the outcome of the trial by itself makes the book worth reading). As usual, Carr laces his narrative somewhat liberally with historical figures, so if seeing Teddy Roosevelt pop up in a novel is one of your pet peeves, you'll probably want to stay away from this one. And, as previously mentioned, Carr's ability to edit is just as absent as it was in The Alienist. Still, it's a cracking good read once the pace picks up, and if you like your courtroom drama in top hats and tails, you'll get a kick out of it. *** ½

Extremely good "sequel", standing on its own - begging for more!.......2007-01-29

In "The Angel of Darkness" Caleb Carr heads back to the world of "The Alienist". The famous psychiatrist, Dr Laszlo Kreizler, is in trouble - one of his young patients committed suicide, his clinic is under close scrutiny, and he is banned from entering it for the time of the legal procedure. At the same time, Sara Howard, who moved on to become a private detective specialized in helping women, is visited by a wife of a Spanish diplomat, whose baby daughter has been abducted. Because the kidnapping seems to be extremely mysterious, political tensions between The US and Spain obstructing the investigation, Sara asks the familiar crew for help. The crime reporter, John Moore, the brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, and the wards-friends of Dr Kreizler, Cyrus Montrose and teenage Stevie Taggert, get together again and decide to get the doctor into the inquiry, both to help them and to keep him busy. Kreizler agrees... And there the superbly complicated plot starts to unravel.

This time the novel is narrated by Stevie, who decides to speak up more than twenty years after the solution of the crime. He leads the reader through the street of end-of-nineteenth century New York City (mainly Lower Manhattan, with some excursion into the Central Park and its surroundings), adding colorful remarks about the street life from his own past and a personal touch. The architectural and historical details are incredible, again we can only be thankful that Mr. Carr is a historian with a passion for his city (the map with all the places important for the plot on the inside of the cover is a useful bonus). Part of the story takes place upstate New York, where the detective crew gets on board of a ship going up Hudson River.

For me, a fan of American trials and court system, the part with the trial and the battle of the prosecutor versus defense was not too long and I read it with great interest. The novel, in fact, managed to hold me in its grip till the very end. However, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed by the very end - the summoning of Theodore Roosevelt and the Navy to break the street gang of Dusters in order to get access to the killer seems a bit of a stretch (although I was happy that Roosevelt has made an appearance).

I found the subject matter especially interesting. The psychology of a female serial killer was (and perhaps still is - stereotypes are at work even today) indeed less understood than a man's. The explanations and discussions in the novel are thorough and obviously the author had done a lot of research on the subject. The question of "who is the killer?" was answered right at the beginning, but the more important one, "why was she doing it?" made the novel much deeper than an ordinary mystery.

I am not sure if Mr. Carr is planning to write another novel with the same characters and setting (does anybody know???). I would hope this is not the last one - it would be great to read about another crime solved by Dr. Kreizler and Co!

Average customer rating:

Best Book You Will EVER READ

The Alienist
Caleb CARR
Manufacturer: NY Random House 1994.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0316909718

Customer Reviews:

Best Book You Will EVER READ.......2007-04-11

I recently ordered the First Edition of this book, and it is the only first edition I have ever bought, years after it was published. I did this because it is Far and Away the best mystery I have ever read. It sounds like "Sci Fi" by the title, but it isn't at all. The word "Alienist" is one which was used in the late 1800's for a psychologist. It is about the apprehension of a serial killer, whose crimes were committed at the turn of last century, set in New York. Fabulously detailed, and everyone I have reccommended this book to agrees that it is one of their favorites, if not THE favorite as well. The first 25 pages don't grab you like some top ten bestsellers, but THEN...LOOK OUT!!!! Fantastic, is all I can say!!!

The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China

Average customer rating:

The Yankee sailor that saved the Chinese Empire
devil soldier
Fascinating story of a rogue mercenary terrorist legend
Early battles in 'war on drugs'
A solid read

The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China
Caleb Carr
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Dictionnaire français-allemand allemand-français

Livres:

ringtone88.com stretch for the conventional Western military history, but an excellent one. Most readers will probably think of General Ward's biography in terms of traditional 19th century nation state narratives. Let me propose a different one, the context is 'opium wars'. The story goal is defeating the merchants of opium, the English. The outcome is bittersweet. This requires the reader to do more 'reading between the lines' than usual, but the rewards are there for those interested.

While the book's focus is Fredrick Ward, a true soldier of fortune, the 'Chinese drug wars' are really more central. The period covered begins with the British winning the 'Opium War'. To make sense of this, imagine Columbian drug lords defeating the US Army and demanding control of an airport in Miami. By treaty right, the Columbian drug lords would we granted the right to fly cocaine to any airport in America. If you can imagine this, substitute Queen Victoria for the Columbian drug lords and Shanghai for Miami.

As should be required, the book begins by discussing hypocrisy. England's Royal navy is primarily in China to help the East India Company sell opium. The 'Christian' leader of the Taiping rebellion preaches puritanical virtues, but surrounds himself with concubines. Our hero emerges from the New England merchant class, a class that simultaneously smuggles slaves to the American slave states and finances abolitionist politics. Unfortunately, the theme is not followed throughout. The final chapter dwells on legal battles over Ward's treasures rather than the continuing twists in the drug wars and associated hypocrisy.

The narrative spends most of its time on Ward's invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' or 'Ward's Chinese Corps'. As evidence that necessity is the mother of invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' came into existence through the whim of fortune. Western powers in Shanghai had no desire to see it emerge, since it represented a threat to the British control of the opium trade. The Imperial Chinese were to entrench in tradition to accept the innovation. It was only the existence of a 100,000 man rebel army 30 miles from Shanghai that provided Ward his 'opportunity' to build his vision.

Fredrick Ward remains something of a mystery in his biography. He died in action before we could really tell what he was building. Few of his letters escaped destruction, so we rarely hear his own voice. Instead, Carr is forced to infer from events and news paper accounts. Most readers will have to overcome their skepticism about Ward's career being ample material for a full-fledged biography. In this context, Ward seems the forgotten inventor. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon won the publicity war and his buddies wrote the history books. Gordon 'China' role is limited compared to Ward. Gordon took over Ward's cross-cultural invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army', and won the army's last battle. His job was simply to maintain it long enough to win one battle, and peacefully disband the thing. For this, he gets his own big budget Hollywood movie, Khartoum, staring Charleston Heston. In contrast, Ward invents a modern Chinese Army and provides a working model to interested Japanese observers. Guess who I think more interesting.

A solid read.......2003-02-08

Carr appears to make the most out of the limited resources available on Ward, although he repeatedly reminds readers that almost all of Ward's papers were destroyed.

A good complement to Spence's book, Both are readable.

One shortcoming of the book is that Carr used Wade-Giles for the spelling of all the Chinese names of individuals and places. While this decision is understandable considering that some of the original documents used such spelling, Carr should have included a glossary with the Chinese and/or Pinyin names so that readers familiar with the Chinese and/or Pinyin names could more readily identify whom and what Carr is talking about.

He could have also put some of the sites into a modern context better.Such as that Siccawei is the site of Xujiahui and the cathedral, or that Hung Ch'iao is the site of Hongqiao and one Shanghai's airports. Finally, he missed that there is a Taiping memorial out at Kao Chi'iao (Gaoqiao), the site of one of Ward's battle sites.

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians
Average customer rating:

One-sided and over simplistic

Brief and to the Point!

comforting

Excellent Short Volume,Maybe a Little Simplistic..

The Sky is blue

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians
Caleb Carr
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China

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The Angel of Darkness

The Alienist: A Novel

ASIN: 0375760741
Release Date: 2003-03-11

Book Description

Military historian Caleb Carr’s groundbreaking work anticipated America’s current debates on preemptive military action against terrorist sponsor states, reorganization of the American intelligence system, and the treatment of terrorists as soldiers in supranational armies rather than as criminals. Carr’s authoritative exploration demonstrates that the practice of terrorism, employed by national armies as well as extremists since the days of ancient Rome, is ultimately self-defeating. Far from prompting submission, it stiffens enemy resolve and never leads to long-lasting success.

Controversial on its initial publication in 2002, The Lessons of Terror has been repeatedly validated by subsequent events. Carr’s analysis of individual terrorist acts, and particularly of the history of the Middle East conflict, is fundamental to a deep understanding of the roots of terrorism as well as the steps and reforms that must be taken if the continuing threat of terrorist behavior is to be met effectively today and, finally, eradicated tomorrow.

Customer Reviews:

One-sided and over simplistic.......2006-11-19

When Carr wrote this book he obviously had a predetermined conclusion that he wanted to convey. Though I personally agree that deliberate targeting of civilians is counterproductive to any political / military endeavor, Carr presents a lengthy list of historical evidence that is taken out of context and without an understanding of how militaries fight wars.

In his book he describes Roman brutality in its dealings with invaded countries and asserts that this brutality was the eventual cause of unrest that led to the fall of the Roman Empire. I'm not sure if he could have generalized this more than he did. He failed to look at the overall success of an Empire that lasted nearly 5 centuries. Also, history has shown that part of Rome's success was due to how it integrated conquered countries into its society and allowed those people to eventually become citizens of Rome.

Carr goes on to show the terrorist tactics used by both sides of the U.S. civil war, and he focuses on Sherman's march to the sea and then to Washington. I will agree that both sides had incidents in which civilians were targeted, but it is over simplistic to say that Sherman's tactics were purely terroristic and were eventually counterproductive. Carr and many other people point at the burning of Atlanta as a major example of targeting civilians, but they fail to remember that Atlanta was the largest supply distribution point for Confederate Army and that Sherman gave the civilian population ample warning to leave the city. Any true student of military history will agree that Sherman's destruction of the Confederacy logistics support structure was critical to expediting an end to the war, which consequently falls in line with Carr's belief in decisive warfare as the preferred tactic.

Carr's final chapter draws scrutiny of U.S. strategic bombing, in the form of cruise missiles, as sites them as a terrorist weapons. His argument is based on his assertion that because military leaders are aware that civilian casualties will occur this makes it a deliberate attack on civilians and not collateral damage. His absolutist attitude does not take into consideration that the military target may be worth the cost in civilian lives. Prior to 9/11, President Clinton had the opportunity to kill Osama Bin Laden with a cruise missile, but in accordance with Carr's way of thinking about terrorist acts, he aborted the mission at the last minute because civilian family members were present in the camp. In retrospect that decision to not target a few civilians has cost tens of thousands of civilian lives in the both the U.S. and Middle-East.

Finally, Carr asserts that limited, preemptive ground warfare is the best method to avoid Epitome historiae sacrae (2 volumes): Abrégé d'Histoire Sainte en latin pour débutants, avec des notes explicatives et du vocabulaire français

Epitome historiae sacrae (2 volumes): Abrégé d'Histoire Sainte en latin pour débutants, avec des notes explicatives et du vocabulaire français

Epitome historiae sacrae (2 volumes): Abrégé d'Histoire Sainte en latin pour débutants, avec des notes explicatives et du vocabulaire français
Authors: abbé Lhomond
Catalog: Book
Media: Relié
Release Date: 01 January, 2005
Publisher: Expéditions pamphiliennes
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Livres:

The Italian Secretary
The Angel of Darkness
The Alienist: A Novel
The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China
The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians

ASIN: 044661095X

Amazon.com

It's 2023, and the Web has almost destroyed the world. While cyberspace's early pioneers promoted the Net as a revolution in human communication, America has instead become a society of desk-bound introverts who believe everything they read. The federal government has been "bought" by a Microsoft-style corporation. Any semblance of central authority has vanished. As the Net infiltrates India and Pakistan, fevered nationalists and terrorists find one more medium through which to spread the word.

With Killing Time, Caleb Carr (The Alienist, The Angel of Darkness) manages to create a future that's both frightening and nostalgic. The novel's narrator, Dr. Gideon Wolfe, longs for a world before technology swallowed people's minds and imaginations. Through a series of complex misadventures, beginning with the murder of his best friend, Gideon finds himself joining a ragtag army of scientists and inventors who hope to take it back. Heading up this '60s-style revolutionary cell is a brother-sister team--genetically engineered geniuses with silver hair and shining eyes. Aboard their ultramodern ship, Gideon learns the extent of the damage done. When they dive below the surface of the Atlantic, he looks out the window and sees <blockquote> not an idyllic scene of aquatic wonder such as childhood stories might have led me to expect but rather a horrifying expanse of brown water filled with human and animal waste, all of it endlessly roiled but never cleansed by the steady pulse of the offshore currents. </blockquote> Carr's future is suffused with regret. It's also rife with mystery and suspense; in every chapter the stakes are raised a little higher, the apocalypse hovers a little closer. This author is a master of the cliffhanger, of cryptic warnings that return to haunt our hero later in the text. Occasional flashes of humor relieve the prevailing ominousness, and a beautiful girl with a huge gun appears at regular intervals to keep things humming. Fans of Steve Erickson's end-of-the-world novels will likely enjoy this adventure in the Internet age, where the sheer amount of information has induced not quantitative changes in the human psyche, but qualitative ones. --Ellen Williams

Book Description

In a future world, what you know can kill you...

The year is 2023 and New York psychiatrist and criminal profiler Dr. Gideon Wolfe becomes ensnared in a web of deception as he investigates a murder with the help of his friend Max, an expert in all forms of information manipulation. When Max, too, is murdered, a stunned and enraged Wolfe sets out to uncover who is behind the killings. His search leads him to a secret band of techno-terrorists who demonstrates the astonishing degree to which the public can be manipulated. Wolfe joins the team, but soon begins to wonder how good their intentions truly are.

Download Description

Meet Dr. Gideon Wolfe, expert criminologist of the new millenium. A professor at New York's John Jay University in the year 2023, he lives in an era that has seen plague, a global economic crash, and the 2018 assassination of President Emily Forrester. In this turbulent new world order, Wolfe's life and everything he knows are turned upside down when the widow of a murdered special-effects wizard enters his office. The widow hands him a silver disc from her husband's safety deposit box, hoping that Wolfe's expertise in history and criminology will compel him to track down her husband's killers. The disc contains footage of President Forrester's assassination, the same video that has been broadcast countless times on TV and over the internet-with one crucial, shocking difference: This version shows that before the video was released, it was altered with sinister special effects. This explosive discovery will lead Gideon Wolfe on an electrifying journey from a criminal underworld of New York to the jungles of Africa and on a quest to find the truth in an age when all information can be manipulated. With this novel, Carr has boldly established a new genre-future history-combining the best elements of mystery and thrillers with unique historical insight. Breathtakingly suspenseful,Killing Time unfolds as the work of a master novelist.

Customer Reviews:

Wierd foreshadowing.......2007-02-21

I like the whole disinformation angle. The islamist assasination in the US becomes a pretext to send troops to Afghanistan and then the attack on the afghani terrorist leader had a truly bizare foreshadowing of the caves where "the director" and his minions actually really did fight US troops. This book is mostly whimsy and grim near future. Some plodding dialogue.

This was written post Clinton admin missle strike attacks on Afghani targets, and the threat was identified. Still, the thing about Afghanistan is eery. Caleb Carr later day Nostradamus? : ) I would rather another Alienist type historical fiction novel.

A flaccid attempt at Jules Verne.......2007-02-08

If you like a flimsy, dim-witted plot and an imbecelic narrator, this one's for you.

WOW! HARSH CRITICS.......2007-01-20

Wow a lot of harsh critics out there. No it is not like The Alienist or Angel of Darkness, but why should it have to be? It has been years from first reading this book, but I remember enjoying it very much. I think it shows another side and writing style of Carr. If you have an open mind I think it can be an interesting read. I suppose if you don't like sci-fi at all then stay away.

Poor read from a distinguished writer. Who really wrote this book?.......2007-01-03

Having enjoyed The Alienist and Angel of Darkness, I looked forward to this Caleb Carr novel. I cannot believe that he wrote it. Based on other books, I expected well developed characters, well researched basis for the plot elements, and even some message. I was disappointed to find very flat characters poorly described and with little explanation for their motivations, a proposterous plot largely drawn from Jules Verne, and a preachy, unconvincing message. I dragged myself all the way through hoping to find SOMETHING worth the effort. I should have checked the Amazon reader reviews before buying this book. Killing Time is what I did and I want that time back along with the purchase price. I can't believe this is a Caleb Carr book. It contains nothing like his other works in tone or quality. What a disappointment.

Not what I expected from Carr.......2006-10-21

I bought this last night at the airport because I was looking for a good read on my trip home. Picked the Carr book becuase I liked the Alienist. What a bad choice. Read the first two chapters and then left it on the plane. Save your money and more importantly, time. Pass on this one.

Dictionnaire français-anglais anglais-français

Customer Review:
Rien à dire, c'est ...
Les dictionnaires Robert...C'est inimaginable le nombre d'expressions, de synonymes et de traductions que possède ce petit robert. C'est le dictionnaire à posséder chez soi afin de s'exceller, progresser dans l'apprentissage de l'une des plus belles langues au monde. Et la plus répandue. Je vous reconseille fortemment ce Robert et Collins.

Livres:

ringtone88.com ommended it to others. It's impossible to not get a lot out of a book that includes articles by the likes of Williamson Murray, John F. Guilmartin, Jr., Douglas Porch, Stephen E. Ambrose, Victor David Hanson, and far more. But, in the end, it is incomplete - hence the three stars.

The Military History of a Time of Peace, Unless You Were There.......2005-10-13

From the end of the Second World War until the collapse of the Soviet Union almost a half century later the two major powers in the world faced a kind of war. It was called the cold war because not much fighting occurred. To be sure, there was some in places like Korea, Viet Nam and Afghanistan. And there were some time where the two superpowers faced each other over loaded weapons such as Berlin and Cuba. But all in all, this was the longest time since the Roman Empire that the two strongest countries on the globe didn't go to war.

During much of this time the Military History Quarterly has provided a venue for the most prominent historians of our time to present articles on points of history as it was being lived. Robert Cowley is the founding editor of MHQ. In this volume he has selected articles from the Cold War period that serve to be a history of the Cold War written as it happened. The authors include some of the most prominent historians of that time, and some others that are not so well known but who provide an insight into the times.

The Cold War was more than political sabre rattling .......2005-09-19

Histories of the Cold War generally concentrate on the politics of it all. But for many, the Cold War's military implications and activities are just as interesting. Historical neglect ends with this book--or, more precisely, ended with the publication of these essays in Military History Quarterly over the past several years.

This is an excellent collection, each story meeting the demanding literary and historical standards of that fine publication.

Also recommended is Cold War Clashes: Confronting Communism, 1945-1991 by Richard K. Kolb (editor), David Colley (author) and Michael Haydock (author). It was published last year by the VFW and is listed on Amazon.

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians: Why It Has Always Failed and Why It Will Fail Again

Average customer rating:

An overview of terror.
Permanent wartime footing
Brief and to the Point!
Good overview
Excellent critique of terrorism

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians: Why It Has Always Failed and Why It Will Fail Again
Caleb Carr
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians
The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China
The Italian Secretary
Inside Terrorism
Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind (Woodrow Wilson Center Press)

ASIN: 0375508430
Release Date: 2002-01-29

Book Description

In The Lessons of Terror, novelist and military historian Caleb Carr examines terrorism throughout history and the roots of our present crisis and reaches a provocative set of conclusions: the practice of targeting enemy civilians is as old as warfare itself; it has always failed as a military and political tactic; and despite the dramatic increases in its scope and range of weapons, it will continue to fail in the future.

International terrorism—the victimization of unarmed civilians in an attempt to affect their support for the government that leads them—is a phrase with which Americans have become all too familiar recently. Yet while at first glance terrorism seems a relatively modern phenomenon, Carr illustrates that it has been a constant of military history. In ancient times, warring armies raped and slaughtered civilians and gratuitously destroyed property, homes, and cities; in the Middle Ages, evangelical Muslims and Christian crusaders spread their faiths by the sword; and in the early modern era, such celebrated kings as Louis XIV revealed a taste for victimizing noncombatants for political purposes.

It was during the Civil War that Americans themselves first engaged in “total war,” the most egregious of the many euphemisms for the tactics of terror. Under the leadership of such generals as Stonewall Jackson, the forces of the South tried to systematize this horrifying practice; but it fell to a Union general, William Tecumseh Sherman, to achieve that dubious goal. Carr recounts Sherman’s declaration of war on every man, woman, and child in the South—a policy that he himself knew was badly flawed, had nothing to do with his military successes (indeed, it hampered them), and brought long-term unrest to the American South by giving birth to the Ku Klux Klan.

Carr’s exploration of terror reveals its consistently self-defeating nature. Far from prompting submission, Carr argues, terrorism stiffens enemy resolve: for this reason above all, terrorism has never achieved—nor will it ever achieve—long-term success, however physically destructive and psychologically debilitating it may become. With commanding authority and the storyteller’s gift for which he is renowned, Caleb Carr provides a critical historical context for understanding terrorist acts today, arguing that terrorism will be eradicated only when it is perceived as a tactic that brings nothing save defeat to its agents.

Download Description

In The Lessons of Terror, novelist and military historian Caleb Carr examines terrorism throughout history and the roots of our present crisis and reaches a provocative set of conclusions: the practice of targeting enemy civilians is as old as warfare itself; it has always failed as a military and political tactic; and despite the dramatic increases in its scope and range of weapons, it will continue to fail in the future.

International terrorism -- the victimization of unarmed civilians in an attempt to affect their support for the government that leads them -- is a phrase with which Americans have become all too familiar recently. Yet while at first glance terrorism seems a relatively modern phenomenon, Carr illustrates that it has been a constant of military history. In ancient times, warring armies raped and slaughtered civilians and gratuitously destroyed property, homes, and cities; in the Middle Ages, evangelical Muslims and Christian crusaders spread their faiths by the sword; and in the early modern era, such celebr L'écriture en Méditerranée

L'écriture en Méditerranée

L'écriture en Méditerranée
Authors: Abderrazak Bannour
Catalog: Book
Media: Broché
Release Date: 01 January, 2005
Publisher: Edisud
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ringtone88.com ire of terrorism is self-consuming. Pope Urban II sent his knights on a crusade. Both Christian and Muslim warriors victimized noncombatants. We continue to feel the effects of the crusades today.

Under nationalism every inhabitant became part of the war machine. The wars of the Reformation, the American Civil War, and World War I were especially savage for reason of new technology. In the first example the Inquisition was allowed to degenerate into an organ of persecution and torture.

Grotius's RIGHTS OF WAR AND PEACE dates from 1625. Frederick the Great reformed warfare. He showed contempt for soldiers and compassion for citizens. He had a concept of progressive war.

Total war is conflict without structure or bounds. We have now had it again for some two hundred years. Napoleon resurrected total war from medieval times and he was hated for it. Subsequently Clausewitz devised a variation he deemed absolute war.

Helmut von Moltke, by contrast, created the modern general staff system and supported war with limited objectives. He understood that peace, not devastation, was the purpose of war. Sherman's campaign in the Civil War created endless resentment.

Destruction on a mass scale was the Nazi ethic. (The Prussian military elite, following the principles laid down by von Moltke, among others, almost succeeded in its assassination attempt of Hitler.) The vengeful nature of terror is shown by the dropping of the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contrarily, the rebuilding of Germany and Japan after the war demonstrated immense generosity, overcoming questionable wartime acts such as the fire-bombing of Dresden.

Sadly, a subsequent development sent the United States in another direction at the beginning of the Cold War. James Forrestal established the national security state with the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of Defense. This put the nation on permanent wartime footing.

The American style of warfare is hostile to ideas of creative limitation. Carr's argument is tightly constructed, buttressed by telling historical points. By implication our current situation is addressed.

Brief and to the Point!.......2005-11-12

Mr. Carr has written a concise(small enough to fit in a hip pocket) history of warfare against Civilians. I would recommend this as an excellent primer on the subject. In my belief this should be regarded as a political history as well as a military history.

Saying that, I will add some of his conclusions about reforms are overly simplistic.

Good overview.......2004-09-22

The book starts off describing some of the origins of terror, beginning with the Roman Empire. It then steamrolls through the successive centuries picking examples throughout history of why terror doesn't pay off. While I understand the point, I feel the author tried to cover too much ground in too little space. More concrete examples and more direct writings and quotations from key players would have made the examples stronger.

The author also brushes over exceptions to the rule, including post-war Japan and Germany.

Overall, it's decent book that gets you thinking about terrorism in an objective manner...it's just a little bit light on the details.

Excellent critique of terrorism.......2004-08-26

In a very concise manner Mr. Carr has written a wonderfully informative handbook. He realizes that terrorism is nothing new but must now be confronted with different measures then were used in past history. He does not say to appease terrorists he just states that people do not meld together when force is used against them for too long. Interesting that he feels that Mr. Rumsfeld is way ahead of his time on the issue.

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