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This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future

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KERRY gETS IT RIGHT
Encouragement for activism
The Kerrys continue a fine tradition of first-class environmentalist discussion
This Moment on Earth
This Moment on Earth

This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future
John Kerry , and Teresa Heinz Kerry
Manufacturer: PublicAffairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1586484311

Book Description

An inspiring celebration of courageous American innovators who are transforming the way we protect and care for the world we live in.

The environment, and the movement that grew up to protect it, is under attack--concerted and purposeful. Yet the need for solutions to pressing environmental problems grows more urgent each day. Teresa Heinz Kerry and Senator John Kerry traveled across the country in a national campaign to see at first hand how these issues unite people across party and ideological lines. From the San Juan Basin to the Gulf of Mexico to the South Bronx, from mothers on Cape Cod to Colorado ranchers, they found a vibrant coalition of people and communities deploying ingenuity, technology, and sheer will power to save the world they know and love. Now, in this passionate and personal book, Senator John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry shine the spotlight on an inspiring crosssection of these new environmental pioneers.

The book combines intensive research with keenly observed personal experiences to present a portrait of Americans devoted to the natural diversity and spectacular uniqueness of our country. It also includes an extensive guide on where and how readers can get involved.

Customer Reviews:

KERRY gETS IT RIGHT.......2007-06-18

Kerry analyzes today;s environmental experts and gets it right. The book is passionate, well researched, spot on and well written. I was pleasantly surprised.

I think Kerry was at his best early in the book when he evaluated some of the current plans for saving the Earth. He got a little off track as the book progressed, then veered back on track in the last 100 pages.

I highly recommend this book for anybody who cares about the planet. Also recommended: "Earth In The Balance" by Al Gore. Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit

Encouragement for activism.......2007-06-09

This book is both inspiring and upsetting. Inspiring for the stories of success in opposing pollution and degradation of the environment and restoration to a more healthy one. It is upsetting to read of the abuses and pollution creating dangerous places to live.

It is a call to action that we all need to consider. I got many good ideas about issues I hadn't thought about and it made me think about my local situation. It's good to know people have won battles and corrected abuses.

The Kerrys continue a fine tradition of first-class environmentalist discussion.......2007-05-31

I know what you're thinking: Ol' Coffee Coaster guy there, bringing up these environmental arguments and publications, is straying in the direction of tree-hugging, snail-darter-saving, rain-forest-worshipping commie pinko ecototalitarianism. 'Has his way, the state's gonna swarm the neighborhood with carbon cops who will drag away anyone grilling steaks.

Au contraire (though I must confess lately to thinking excessively about the CO2 dumped into the atmosphere by charcoal fires). Fact is I'm simply becoming more and more aware of my accommodations on Spaceship Earth as it hurtles through the cosmos.

The Kerrys' new book picks up from a couple of other excellent books and movies on free-market environmentalism that I've reviewed hereon: Crimes against Nature by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, and An Inconvenient Truth via Al Gore. Moment does add a few key discussions, though much I've become aware of from these other works.

I'd say what distinguishes the Kerry book from my favorite all purpose ecological book so far, The Weather Makers, lies in the following:

* Description by Teresa of the large number of chemical
toxins that have crept and leapt into our neighborhoods
over the years.
* Presentation of some important and largely successful
individual citizen battles against egregious polluters.
* Revelations about how some global corporations, e.g.
Dupont, Texas Instruments, and 3M, are greening their
commerce to the benefit of the bottom line.
* Substantial documentation of the unique resistance of this
current gang in the White House to any measures that
inconvenience their buddies in the continued, headlong,
fouling extraction of dead-dinosaur fluids

Dinosaurs mining dinosaurs. This lot (the Bushies) is truly unique in the annals of history: like Thelma and Louise, they know there's a cliff up ahead, but instead of slowing down and proceeding cautiously, they put the pedal to the metal.

I love this paragraph:

We no longer have the luxury of engaging in a debate that does not lead to action.... This is not just an "environmental" issue; it is a moral issue and a matter of life and death. There's no excuse for inertia. Even if, contrary to all science, the proponents of action on global climate change were proven wrong, what harm would the actions to combat global warming cause? We would have produced healthier people with cleaner air, sustainable farming and fishing practices, more healthful food, and more effective sources of cleaner energy, all of which add up to greater security. But if those who deny climate change get their way and then are proved wrong, we will suffer catastrophe beyond description. Which side of the ledger would you prefer to be on? -- page 139

'''
For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

This Moment on Earth.......2007-05-29

Very well written. Inspires one to stand up and participate in this greatest of all experiments.....US Democracy.

This Moment on Earth.......2007-05-25

The personal stories of those people directly affected by the polution of the environment and their battles with corporate greed were most memorable, inspiring and heartbreaking. It makes one see that the individual can make a difference. This book is well worth reading.

Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower

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Needs a Greater Focus on the Last Chapter
Unbiased, Brilliant, Insightful and Timely
Second Chance by Secretary of State Brzezinski
Excellent
Every voter should read Second Chance before casting in 2008

Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone

ASIN: 0465002528

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:

Needs a Greater Focus on the Last Chapter.......2007-06-16

When I picked up a copy of Brzezinski's new book, I was hoping for a thoughtful analysis of the country's future from one of America's greatest statesmen.

What I found instead, in the first part of the book at least, was a very brief history of the foreign policies of the past three administrations. Brzezinski presents a compelling analysis of their successes and failures, but I was not all that impressed with this section of the book. A reader with the topic will find little new information here.

The last chapter, which focuses on America's future in the world, was just what I had hoped for. Here, Brezezinski's brilliance shines through, and he puts forward a series of ideas that are both insightful and thought-provoking.

Unfortunately, "Beyond 2008" is only 37 pages and most of these ideas are not fully explained. Nor does he elaborate on them with examples and evidence. There is enough to write an entire book on here, and I wish he had done so. The brevity is the reason that I am not giving this book all five stars.

Still, with its solid (albeit basic) summaries, and (much more importantly) its examination of the future of our foreign policy, Second Chance is worth taking a look at.

Unbiased, Brilliant, Insightful and Timely.......2007-06-15

This is a must read book for anyone who is in the voting age!

The book may not be well written in some parts, but it's unique and superb in essence and in the way it illuminates and offers insight to our most pressing issues.

This book is not written by yet another pundit or Sunday-News armchair general or politician.

Brzezinski, who in my opinion is as brilliant as Kissinger (if not more) sheds light to major challenges and opportunities facing America.

The cogent and frank style of writing makes this book accessible and a easy read and its non-partisan objective criticism gives it the kind of credibility that is rarely seen these days.

In all a must read!

Second Chance by Secretary of State Brzezinski.......2007-05-27

Essentially, the work begins by presenting the United States as the first
global leader after the end of the Cold War. This is followed by at least
3 or more strategic missions of the United States in the role of superpower:
o management of central power relations
o to contain conflicts where there is a critical strategic interest
o to address intolerable inequities and ecological threats

Some important global historical turning points are presented. i.e.:
o the collapse of the Soviet Union
o the Gulf War victory and subsequent Iraqi involvement
o the increase of the Atlantic sphere of influence
o the World Trade Organization
o the Asian Monetary Systems/ Stabilization
o the Chechen Wars

The book cites an historic search for certitude with regard to the
strategic interests of humankind. In this regard, it is critical
that foreign policy needs and implementation strategies be outlined
thoroughly with a minimum of costly errors. The author critiques
recent presidencies and finds strengths and deficiences in each
administration. The Middle East, Proliferation and the Environment are
the areas of greatest difficulty. The Middle East has see-sawed from
the Camp David Accords to the Oslo Accords to a generous land for peace
proposal to the current regression since the rise of the Hamas as a
governmental majority. Nuclear Proliferation has been managed with
some success between and amongst the superpowers; however, the current
challenges involve smaller nations and their refusal to cooperate with
historic nuclear verification requirements. The environment is interdependent on cooperation between nations, the vagaries of nature,
the development of new energy technologies, global population increases,
the seasonal CO 2 balance on the planet, the cooperation of the global
public and many other factors too numerous to list here.

This book provides an excellent reference point to begin discussing these
issues dispassionately.

Excellent.......2007-05-15

If you're interested in an apolitical analysis of post cold war policy, read this book..If you are a partisan looking for someone to praise one President's policy and bash another, don't bother("Dubya" does get it pretty bad though). Small book, jam packed with info, and, unlike a number of similar works, an incredibly interesting and absorbing read...Could easily be completed on a weekend. Brezezinski has both real world policy and academic experience...highly recommend!

Every voter should read Second Chance before casting in 2008.......2007-05-15

Dr. Brzezinski gives a succinct, and as always, disinterested synopsis of the presidencies of Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. The last 80 or so pages were the most illuminating, laying out the essential tasks for our next president to have a chance to re-establish America's credibility and global leadership. I'm not sure any of the current candidates are up to the task, but the author makes a compelling argument that our very economic survival is in the balance.

After having read Game Plan by the same author in 1987, the arguments and evidence were so compelling I put my credibility on the line by attesting to collegues that the Soviet Union would collapse in less than a decade. They stopped laughing in late 1989.

If Game Plan gave me a glimpse of the future, Second Chance has shown me two windows of America's future. Which window turns out to show our future my well depend on how well our next president appreciate's the message in this book.

(The only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is I wish the last section were much longer)

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

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An Englishman's view of Barack Obama and Election 2008 (U.S History & Politics student - Kent U.K)
A good read
Great Man for Our Times
A Conversation with Obama about America
Our Next President!!!

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Barack Obama
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307237699
Release Date: 2006-10-17

Amazon.com

Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people. We had the opportunity to ask Senator Obama a few questions about writing, reading, and politics--see his responses below. --Daphne Durham <hr noshade="noshade" size="1" class="bucketDivider" /> 20 Second Interview: A Few Words with Barack Obama

<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/promos/a-plus/obama.1.jpg" hspace="4" vspace="4" border="0" align="left"> Q: How did writing a book that you knew would be read so closely by so many compare to writing your first book, when few people knew who you were?
A: In many ways, Dreams from My Father was harder to write. At that point, I wasn't even sure that I could write a book. And writing the first book really was a process of self-discovery, since it touched on my family and my childhood in a much more intimate way. On the other hand, writing The Audacity of Hope paralleled the work that I do every day--trying to give shape to all the issues that we face as a country, and providing my own personal stamp on them.

Q: What is your writing process like? You have such a busy schedule, how did you find time to write?
A: I'm a night owl, so I usually wrote at night after my Senate day was over, and after my family was asleep--from 9:30 p.m. or so until 1 a.m. I would work off an outline--certain themes or stories that I wanted to tell--and get them down in longhand on a yellow pad. Then I'd edit while typing in what I'd written.

Q: If readers are to come away from The Audacity of Hope with one action item (a New Year's Resolution for 2007, perhaps?), what should it be?
A: Get involved in an issue that you're passionate about. It almost doesn't matter what it is--improving the school system, developing strategies to wean ourselves off foreign oil, expanding health care for kids. We give too much of our power away, to the professional politicians, to the lobbyists, to cynicism. And our democracy suffers as a result.

Q: You're known for being able to work with people across ideological lines. Is that possible in today's polarized Washington?
A: It is possible. There are a lot of well-meaning people in both political parties. Unfortunately, the political culture tends to emphasize conflict, the media emphasizes conflict, and the structure of our campaigns rewards the negative. I write about these obstacles in chapter 4 of my book, "Politics." When you focus on solving problems instead of scoring political points, and emphasize common sense over ideology, you'd be surprised what can be accomplished. It also helps if you're willing to give other people credit--something politicians have a hard time doing sometimes.

Q: How do you make people passionate about moderate and complex ideas?
A: I think the country recognizes that the challenges we face aren't amenable to sound-bite solutions. People are looking for serious solutions to complex problems. I don't think we need more moderation per se--I think we should be bolder in promoting universal health care, or dealing with global warming. We just need to understand that actually solving these problems won't be easy, and that whatever solutions we come up with will require consensus among groups with divergent interests. That means everybody has to listen, and everybody has to give a little. That's not easy to do.

Q: What has surprised you most about the way Washington works?
A: How little serious debate and deliberation takes place on the floor of the House or the Senate.

Q: You talk about how we have a personal responsibility to educate our children. What small thing can the average parent (or person) do to help improve the educational system in America? What small thing can make a big impact?
A: Nothing has a bigger impact than reading to children early in life. Obviously we all have a personal obligation to turn off the TV and read to our own children; but beyond that, participating in a literacy program, working with parents who themselves may have difficulty reading, helping their children with their literacy skills, can make a huge difference in a child's life.

Q: Do you ever find time to read? What kinds of books do you try to make time for? What is on your nightstand now?
A: Unfortunately, I had very little time to read while I was writing. I'm trying to make up for lost time now. My tastes are pretty eclectic. I just finished Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, a wonderful book. The language just shimmers. I've started Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which is a great study of Lincoln as a political strategist. I read just about anything by Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, or Philip Roth. And I've got a soft spot for John le Carre.

Q: What inspires you? How do you stay motivated?
A: I'm inspired by the people I meet in my travels--hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism and decency. I'm inspired by the love people have for their children. And I'm inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.

<hr /="/" noshade="noshade" class="bucketDivider" size="1">

Book Description

“A government that truly represents these Americans–that truly serves these Americans–will require a different kind of politics. That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It won’t be pre-packaged, ready to pull off the shelf. It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And we’ll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break.”
–from The Audacity of Hope

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Senator Obama called “the audacity of hope.”

Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics–a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces–from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media–that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment.

At the heart of this book is Senator Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats–from terrorism to pandemic–that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy–where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, even the president, is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.

A senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Senator Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes–“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

Customer Reviews:

An Englishman's view of Barack Obama and Election 2008 (U.S History & Politics student - Kent U.K) .......2007-06-22

Here in the U.K I guess I get a very different view of your Country. They say an outsider can easily and quickly see things its hard to see in yourself. Well, I study U.S history and politics here in England and I like to think I understand the subject of power in the U.S. fairly well. So here is my humble opinion on this book and the upcoming election.

First of all It should be understood the depth of hatred the world feels towards George W Bush. As an Englishman, like all English people, we share your history, language and a lot of your culture. We are (generally) forever on your side, no matter the costs to our country. As one of the first to join any American coalition militarily or economically, the brits are fighting your corner. The last few years, despite our Prime Minister Mr Blair's view and standpoint, the vast majority of our people do not want to see british or American soldiers in Iraq and we are sick of the whole war, the policies of our leaders and we worry for the future security of the Nation. George W Bush is the most unpopular President with the British people and is universally despised and ridiculed. Personally, I have yet to meet one British citizen who has any view other than hatred for this man. Many, many people felt cheated and disgusted when he was elected in 2004 and angry that the American people had elected this man again. So what can anyone do to stop this cynism and hope for a better future for your country and for the security of Nations like ours? well, vote Democrat for a start. Will Obama be a good choice?

This book is titled under various chapters that deal with specific issues facing the future President. i.e

1. Republicans and Democrats
2. Values
3. Our Constitution
4. Politics
4. Opportunity
5. Faith
6. Race
7. The world beyond our borders (foreign policy)
8. Family

I have to say that with the exception of maybe two chapters, Obama is not giving much away regarding any plans for the Presidency or his policies. Like many people tired of the Bush administrations lies and incomptency, I would love to see this man be elected to office. I have always been a democratic liberal and agree with basically everything he has to say. But although I can't vote in the U.S of course, even if I could, Obama has not convinced me too much of what he plans to do in steps towards making the world a better place.
Senator Obama is an eloquent and educated man, with a seeming humility and forthright honesty rarely seen or heard since the days of Truman and JFK. This is refreshing to hear and gives me hope for the future, but he is not really saying very much in particular and offers no visions other than a kind of; let's do the right things, be nice and it'll all work out fine. I realise politicians give little away before elections for fear of alienating a proportion of voters, but Obama has told us hardly anything at all. He is in the mould of JFK (no bad thing I admit) and he reminds me of him in many ways. He is the kind of all-things-to-all-people type of politician. Like JFK, he appears to be the kind of President you would like to get a beer with and is regular nice guy, but would be a bit short on firm action or firm policy as leader of the free world. Like Mr Kennedy, he's likeable, It's all inspiring rhetoric and good news, but dude.......where's the beef?

Having said this, it's an enjoyable read and full of inspirational words. it's well written and cohesive in its arguments for change. I do hope that he stands a chance of winning but i doubt it. In my opinion America will never have a black President, at least not in my lifetime, no matter who he is or what he stands for. Its sad but true, the hard-right, christian, white, monied majority rule America and the rest of it can hang for any chance of a real say in how the USA and (consequently our world) is run. It makes me sad to say this but its true.

Good Luck Obama. and good luck America 2008 !

A good read.......2007-06-15

I read "Dreams from my Father" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Obama could easily make a living writing.

Barack Obama is an excellent writer who will hold your attention no matter what he is saying. His casual style laced with human interest stories makes this book a page turner. Furthermore, he is right on nearly every issue. He is intelligent. Not only does he listen, but he processes incoming information which, as we have discovered, some people do not.

I do have a bone to pick, and I have it to pick with all of modern society. Article Six of the U.S. Constitution clearly states, "...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust in the United States." Note the words "any" and "ever." For a politician to discuss his religious beliefs (or a debate moderator to ask about them) becomes a religious test and panders to those folks who want to abandon American law and tradition when it comes to religion.

Great Man for Our Times.......2007-06-08

This is the politician all of us who hate politicians have been waiting for. A person more concerned about the greater good than party loyalty or selling out to the highest bidder. Read the book then decide on the man!

A Conversation with Obama about America.......2007-06-07

Obama's first book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance was written before he went into politics, and reads like a biography - although he brings up certain societal concerns, it is about his journey to discover himself as someone of mixed heritage that grew up without the presence of his father. "The Audacity of Hope" is written after his unlikely ascension to the national stage as a U.S. Senator and speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It is not nearly as biographical as his first book, with each chapter focused on a certain aspect of our nation ("Republicans and Democrats" about partisanship, "The World Beyond Our Borders" about foreign policy, etc.). It is basically a conversation with Obama about these issues, as he explains his views of what the problems are and some ideas about how they may be approached. Although they are not the focus, personal anecdotes are used throughout the text, and very few portions of the book read like something that could have been generically written by anyone with some knowledge of the issues - Obama's voice and the personal importance of these issues to him easily comes off the page.

In a section of the book in which he explains a conversation he had with Senator Byrd, Obama writes: "He told me I would do well in the Senate but that I shouldn't be in too much of a rush - so many senators today became fixated on the White House, not understanding that in the constitutional design it was the Senate that was supreme, the heart and soul of the Republic." When this book was written, thoughts of Presidential candidacy in 2008 couldn't have been absent from the Senator's mind, and although the book's purpose isn't to make the case for Obama as President, it's hard to read it without sincerely believing he would be a great man for the job. I'd strongly recommend this book for anyone that wants to learn more about why Obama might (or, if you decide so, might not) make a good President, HOWEVER there are several portions of the book that are excellent regardless of your views on the man - the chapter on "Politics" (which explores the process by which and the reasons well-intentioned politicians might become unscrupulous), "Faith" (which discusses the reconciling of this issues and today's politics), and "Our Constitution" in particular.

Our Next President!!! .......2007-06-04

This book is simply amazing! At 17 i am already very cynical towards politics and the government, and see it as being very corrupt, mainly because its run by Republicans (and the Bush Administration). However, Barack Obama's idealistic views on how we as a nation can come together and "reclaim the american dream" has shined a light on a bad situation and brought hope to me, and i know it will do the same for you. His book isnt about trying to create an image for himself as a presidential candidate(as he now is), its about his personal views on everything from "how we should interpret the intent of the Founding Fathers" to how he feels we can bring our nation to a better place. Also he doesnt use this book to bash other politicians! (So if you want to read a book by a true and honest politician then this is for you)

Average customer rating:

Politics Can Be Fascinating
Bill Bradley (D) for President and Bloomberg (I) for VP?
Pollyanna meets Karl Marx
View from a country divided
The New American Story

The New American Story
Bill Bradley
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400065070
Release Date: 2007-03-27

Book Description

“Politics is stuck,” writes Bill Bradley, in this insightful, informative, and provocative book about America at a crossroads, but “idealism isn’t dead. It can be reawakened.”

What will it take to make America a better, stronger, truer country? asks the bestselling author, former Knicks star, and onetime presidential candidate. Bill Bradley believes that America is at a teachable moment when we are compelled to reevaluate our political system, our leadership, our agenda as a nation, and ourselves as citizens. With clarity and urgency, Bradley shows why the story we are being told now about who we are as a people is not true. He then offers a new story about our nation, based on America’s rich heritage and his belief in the character of the American people. Bradley explores what changes need to be made in our parties, in our politics, and in citizen activism to ensure America’s future. He asserts that the American people are ready for the truth and suggests that the party that chooses to embrace this new story will be in power for a generation.

Writing from his own experience in politics and drawing on his knowledge of history, Bradley shows how the Republican Party has built a solid pyramid structure since the 1970s, at the base of which are money, ideas, and media, whereas the Democratic Party’s structure is an inverted pyramid, with too much emphasis put on the need for a charismatic leader to hold the pyramid up. Each party, for different reasons, fails to deal with the real issues that now confront America.

This informed and inspiring call to action is addressed not only to the parties and elected leaders, but to citizens as well. Bradley proposes things every American can do to shape our nation’s future. He points out that if eighty percent of the electorate voted, instead of fifty percent, it would be the most important change in American politics since women got the vote. Now more than ever, he says, we need to embrace an “ethic of connectedness,” a combination of collective action and individual responsibility, to solve our nation’s most pressing problems, and he argues that the fate of all countries is bound together as never before. Writing today with the freedom of a private citizen, Bradley provides this transformative and eye-opening book about the danger and the promise of America’s choice at this crucial moment in the nation’s history.

Customer Reviews:

Politics Can Be Fascinating.......2007-06-09

Excellent VERY TIMELY blueprint for what the presidential candidates should be talking about. It's also a very thoughtful condemnation of the Bush regime. Hopefully, the next president will ask Bill Bradley to join his/her administration in a significant cabinet position or other role.

Bill Bradley (D) for President and Bloomberg (I) for VP?.......2007-05-29

Edited 25 Jun 07 to focus on possibility of Bradley-Bloomberg and comment.

This is a very solid, well-written and well-documented, and with great insights that I am all too happy to absorb in my capacity as an estranged moderate Republican. On balance I find Bill Bradley to be smarter, more nuanced, more deliberate, and not so trivially, taller and fitter than Al Gore. I am so impressed by the possibilities that I am immediately going back to my existing copy of Price of Loyalty, the story of how Dick Cheney betrayed Paul O'Neill and all the rest of us moderate Republicans, to see if there is a cross-walk that can be done. If these two worthies will agree to electoral reform and a transpartisan Cabinet, we can save the Republic in 2008.

The book begins with a marvelous review of the many false stories the extremist Republicans and their White House neo-cons have been telling about everything from tax cuts and the deficit and Medicare to Iraq, terrorism, and so on He has mastered the story-telling dynamic so recommended by Stephen Denning, the World Bank's Chief Knowledge Officer until his retirement.

In Part II of the book the author explores the break-downs in global cooperation and global responsibility, and specifically points to the growth of religion as a force we cannot ignore. See Left Hand of God. He addresses the big picture issues including the concentration of wealth and the drop in savings, increase in inequality, and failure to invest in the future (education, infrastructure).

His review names three systems--economic, social, and national defense--where we are being pushed to the breaking point. In a somewhat scattered fashion, he moves across education, the deficit, tax reform, geopolitical instability, oil, water, pensions, stock market, and health care (specifically praising Paul O'Neil and holistic reform.

In part III he identifies voter turn-out and electoral reform as the two keys to victory over money and conglomerate media spin. The book then ends with what for me was complexly new and useful insight on why the Republicans cannot fix nor manage America, and why the Democrats continue to flounder.

His eight "curses" of the Democratic Party:
1) Fear of thinking big
2) Capitulation on defense (hard vs soft power)
3) Inability to counter accusations of being wasteful spendthrifts
4) Close-minded devotion to the secular
5) Wealth-bashing
6) Special Friends in teachers, trial lawyers, and auto workers
7) Ceased to stand on principle
8) Hypnotized by charisma

There is no one now running that I consider worthy of being the first transpartisan president. Bradley, if he adopted the three standards: electoral reform as the only truly urgent issue; transpartisanship and a transpartisan cabinet announced in advance; and a commitment to show a balanced budget addressing all ten threats with all ten policies by November 2008, I'd want to be part of that restoration of the Republic.

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill
Democracy's Edge: Choosing to Save Our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Escaping the Matrix: How We the People can change the world
All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity (Bk Currents)
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
A Crowd of One: The Future of Individual Identity
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming
Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It
THE SMART NATION ACT: Public Intelligence in the Public Interest

Pollyanna meets Karl Marx.......2007-05-14

When I saw Bradley interviewed by Charlie Rose, I thought he had some good ideas --- then I read the book. I have now subtitled it "Pollyanna Meets Karl Marx". Bradley is a big government guy who thinks that if someone just explains to the American people what is required of them tax-wise that we can solve all our problems --- from the environment to education to pensions to healthcare. This is not to say that he does not have good thoughts on both education and breaking away from oil dependence.

If he left his strong political bias out and just talked about ideas, he might have been more effective, but he chose to take the path of bashing Bush and Republicans in general for every problem the country faces. His two chapters on "Why the Republicans Can't" and "Why the Democrats Don't" are particularly telling. He basically says Republican obligations to special interests prohibit them from telling the truth or doing the right thing. In a left-handed sort of way, he seems to even blame them for "why the Democrats don't. Democrats supposedly know what is right, but are afraid to say it or act on it because they won't get elected. (Kind of blows his whole theory on telling people what is needed and expecting them to do the "right" thing, doesn't it?) He really would have us believe that the Democrats have no debt to special interests, such as the unions (including the NEA)and litigation lawyers. This last one is especially hard to swallow when one of their leading candidates for President made his fortune as an ambulance chaser.

His thoughts on reducing oil dependence are generally good, but it is interesting that Bush proposed new fuel standards in January, but the Democrat controlled Congress refuses to even address the issue because they don't want to give the Republicans a "win" before 2008.

Another good section is the one on education, but here, again, he misses the significant factor in one of the key points he makes --- namely the untapped resource of black and Latino children. Democrats love these two groups because they vote correctly, but over the years they have really been more about providing welfare payments and allowing floods of illegal and often illiterate people to enter our system than educating them. They system "rewards" people who should not be parents for having children while forcing many people who want and can afford children to go overseas for adoptions.

Bottom line: Bradley believes people will always do the right thing if asked and for those big holes where they don't or can't, government can step in and fix everything.

View from a country divided.......2007-05-13

Bradey offers not only a review of where the neo-cons and selfish corporations have failed our country but offers a view of how it will take every American working together to regain our great empire. I hope he is correct and that all Americans are up to the challenges - I hope I am.

The New American Story.......2007-05-13

As we head into the 2008 elections, this book is a must read. Senator Bradley's insight into today's social and political problems are very enlightening. Although the Senator is known as a liberal Democrat, this book is well worth reading by independents and moderate Rebublicans as well.

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Average customer rating:

The Looming Tower
An Excellent Overview of the History of al-Qaida
A Real Life Spy Novel
The People Who Conceived "Al-Quaeda" and their Goals and Operations
A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Al Qaeda

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Lawrence Wright
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 037541486X
Release Date: 2006-08-08

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:

The Looming Tower.......2007-06-14

I am not a political scientist or a historian. I thought I would have trouble following the drift of this book, but I didn't -- it read like a novel but it was so fascinating and it helped to clarify things I did not understand about the entire al Qaeda and 9/11 incident. I heartily recommend it.

An Excellent Overview of the History of al-Qaida.......2007-06-11

Let me begin by saying that this is a topic that I am already quite familiar with. Despite this, I was impressed by the depth of this short book.

It provides a brief but effective summary of Seyyid Qutb's ideas and the other ideas that would later influence Usama bin Laden and his allies. While there is a great deal of additional material that is relevant and could certainly have been discussed, this gets the basics down and allows more space for the meat of the book.

The author's account of al-Qaida's foundation and history is simply amazing. As I have mentioned, I have read a great deal on this topic, and nowhere else have I found such a solid history of this organization.

Another strong point is that the book discusses the efforts of the American intelligence and law enforcement communities to investigate the al-Qaida. The comparison between al-Qaida's plotting and American attempts to stop it is both fascinating and frightening.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the book is the author's writing style. He intersperses the raw history with interesting and humorous anecdotes, and his writing about individual personalities is as strong as that of a great novelist. All of this makes the book very readable.

In short, this is an excellent introduction to al-Qaida. Of course, one seeking to understand the phenomena of Islamism (of which al-Qaida represents only a small part), should read other books as well, but this is a great place to start.

A Real Life Spy Novel.......2007-06-09

This book gives a reader the inside view to events before 9/11. The book will show the untold story of the formation of Al Qaeda. It also shows how lone voices in the US bureaucracy tried to sound the warning horns about Bin Laden.

Many Americans have a hard time understanding the terrorists. Americans nowadays have such a hard time understanding why people aren't motivated by material goods, fast cars, and tons of consumer goods. This book explains that motivation. That motivation is one of the terrorist's core strengths. The book also shows how the group moved from an idea to a field force which is taking on the largest military force in the world. The book also shows how some of the earliest followers of the group came from Arab Americans who joined to fight the Russians.

This book is excellent. It truly has something for everyone, no matter what your point of view on the war or your occupation. Any reader should beware. The book is a real page turner. If they start reading they will have a hard time putting it down. This book is told in such a way it brings the reader to the inside part of the story. Inside as what was going on behind closed doors of the Federal Government and what was going on in the back alleys of the Middle East between members of Bin Laden's group.

The other half of the story is about the US response to the group. This part of the book is a lesson in and of itself. The author tells the story of a few in the FBI and CIA which were at the helm before the attack. Those lone voices had to fight to get people to listen. A person can see through those stories how large bureaucracies act almost as an enemy in and of itself. At times the groups within the government fought each other as much as they were fighting the terrorists.

Through the story of Al Qaeda one can see how the war against terrorism is a complex one,far different than anything the country has faced in nearly a hundred years. This war is almost as much ideologically based as it is anything else. The book shows the initial efforts of the US Government to fight the terrorists. The US Government had a limited law enforcement approach to the fight. By reading the book you can see how such an approach as just killing the terrorists is so limited. The only way to combat the core of the group, the ideas is to crush the idea as well as the people involved. However right now we Americans seem more captured by our PC guilty concise than we are afraid of what the terrorists can do to even think about that.

This books is excellent. It should be required reading for any voting citizen or official in the fight with terrorism.

The People Who Conceived "Al-Quaeda" and their Goals and Operations.......2007-06-01

This is an important contribution to the understanding of terrorism, in general, and Al-Quaeda, specifically. It analyzes the part some of the principle practitioners of terror, with its Egyption reincarnation, have played in a very helpful way. I thought the ending was not up to the literary standards of its beginning...which is the only negative I can cite. If you want to know about the "whys" and "hows" of terrorism directed toward the U.S. and the West, buy and read this book. For the general reader it is an eye opener. It was for me.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Al Qaeda.......2007-05-27

After 9/11, many authors rushed to try to explain the worst attack against American soil since Pearl Harbor. Lawrence Wright took his time and nearly five years after the events, he delivered a well-researched and well written account of the men behind the destruction of the twin towers. The Looming Tower is valuable because it does more than simply describe what happened. It delves deeply into the intellectual influences and thought processes which shaped Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Lawrence Wright does a thorough job of showing how rejection of modernity, repressive Arab governments and jihadi adventures in Afghanistan radicalized the Saudis and Egyptians who would form Al Qaeda. Wright also demonstrates how the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War and the relief effort in Somalia convinced bin Laden and his associates that America was an invading power which must be repelled. These beliefs led to the attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and the attack upon the twin towers.

Wright's narrative unfolds slowly at first. Initially the story is told solely from the perspective of the Arab world as al-Zawahiri and bin Laden develop their hatred for all who do not support their view of Islam. The story picks up speed as American intelligence becomes aware of the obscure group and unsuccessfully tries to overcome bureaucratic infighting in time to discover the plot against America. The story reaches its tragic conclusion as John O'Neill, the man who Wright believes could best have beaten bin Laden, retires from the FBI and accepts a position as chief of security for the World Trade Towers just two weeks before they were destroyed along with him.

Wright's book is compelling for many different reasons. First, it is well researched as shown by the hundreds of first hand interviews he conducted and the extensive sourcing. Second, he goes to great lengths to examine the minds of both the Saudi/Egyptian radicals and the American law enforcement and intelligence agents who opposed them. The book succeeds in answering the compelling questions of why the radical Islamists hate America and why America was unable to detect the plot. Both questions are necessary for understanding this tragedy.

Average customer rating:

Excellent
PROPAGANDA ALERT!!!!!!!!!!
A Libertarian View
Boortz has said it all
Somebody's Gotta Say It ... and Neal Boortz Did

Somebody's Gotta Say It
Neal Boortz
Manufacturer: HC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism)

ASIN: 0060878207
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

I've come to the conclusion that roughly 50 percent of the adults in this country are simply too ignorant and functionally incompetent to be living in a free society.

You might think I'm off base, but every day around half the people in this country go out of their way to prove me right. —from Somebody's Gotta Say It

Think you've got it all figured out? Think again.

Neal Boortz—the Talkmaster, the High Priest of the Church of the Painful Truth—has been edifying, infuriating, and entertaining talk radio audiences for more than three decades with his blend of straight talk and twisted humor. Now, the author of the smash number one bestseller The FairTax Book returns to gore every sacred cow in the pasture, from the subversive agendas behind children's books to the scam artists behind "High Art."

In Somebody's Gotta Say It, Boortz warms up for the coming political season with a preemptive strike in "the War on the Individual": "The Democrats' theme for 2008 will be 'The Common Good.' I can't speak for you, but I am an individual. Government exists to protect my rights, not to order my life. And I damn sure don't exist to serve government." He takes on liberal catchphrases like giving back ("Nobody—especially not the evil, wretched rich—actually earns anything anymore. Why do liberals think this way? Because they find it impossible to acknowledge that people work for money"), our rampant civic idiocy ("We are not a democracy. Never were. Weren't supposed to be. And we shouldn't be"), and Big Brother ("We have smoke-free workplaces. We have drug-free school zones. I say let's start establishing government-free oases, where we can be free to leave our seat belts unbuckled, and peel the labels off anything we choose"). And somehow, along the way, he finds room for pop quizzes, cat-chasing contests, and an answer, once and for all, to the eternal question, "Neal, why don't you run for president?"—in a chapter called "No Way in Hell."

Full of irresistible wisecracks and irrefutable libertarian wisdom, Somebody's Gotta Say It is one man's response to America at a time when the government overreaches, the people underperform—and the truth hurts.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-06-15

The chapter about what Neal Boortz would do if he were president makes you wish he were!

PROPAGANDA ALERT!!!!!!!!!!.......2007-06-07

Wow, this guy is clueless about so many things I do not even know where to begin. But let's start with his ignorant trashing of teachers and public schools. He has NO IDEA what goes on in a school, yet he generalizes all of them. I know good teachers that challenge students everyday, but to listen to this guy you wouldn't know it. He even questions why teachers have to be certified!!!! Hello, but just because you know a subject does not mean you know how to teach it effectively. You may know a lot about calculus, but do you know how to manage a classroom, deal with parents, communicate with the community and the school's administration, build relationships with difficult teenagers, etc....? This book just proves a radio-host is way out of his league when he tries to intelligently discuss serious matters. Do not waste your money on this drivel.......I hate that I had to give it one star...

A Libertarian View.......2007-06-07

Not a bad read and most readers will appreciate Neal's candidness and his commitment. He's obviously a Libertarian and his writings reflect that philosophy. His positions are clear and most readers should get a cogent insight into what a segment of the population is digging their heels into. The book will anger liberals but conservatives will not be completely happy either. I'm glad he is not as popular as Rush Limbaugh, it would be hard to listen to him for too long (does not have Rush's sense of humor). Never-the-less, the book is worth the time as Boortz enlightens and entertains.

Boortz has said it all.......2007-06-05

A compilation of the best of Boortz radio programs over the last year or so - full of the best wisdom of the man. All of his arguments are supported with the sound logic and wit that you can listen to on the radio daily - without the commercials. His courage to throw out "political correctness" and re-introduce common sense is very refreshing. His style is to the point, so the chapters are short and concise. It's a different book that at the end you are glad you've read, and you'll thumb through again.

Somebody's Gotta Say It ... and Neal Boortz Did.......2007-06-04

If you are offended by this book, it can only be because the truth hurts.

First, I have to say that I love Neal's writing. As I read it, I could literally hear him speaking. His writing style is exactly the same as his speaking style ... no holding back and straight to the point.

It's refreshing to read someone who doesn't care to be politically correct and who isn't pandering to one particular group or another. He says what needs to be said, and you can like it or lump it.

If only we had a presidential candidate that had the same glandular fortitude!

American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials 2006-2007 Edition (American Government and Politics Today)

Average customer rating:

Well written book-A KEEPER for people who are becoming US Citizens
Just a book

American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials 2006-2007 Edition (American Government and Politics Today)
Barbara A. Bardes , Mack C. Shelley , and Steffen W. Schmidt
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

Study Guide for Schmidt/Shelley/Bardes' American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials 2006-2007 Edition, 12th

ASIN: 0534647332

Book Description

The best-selling book published for American Government, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY: THE ESSENTIALS helps students experience the excitement that comes from active, informed citizenship in a concisely organized package. Bardes, Shelley, and Schmidt's text is renowned nationwide for its balanced, unbiased, comprehensive, and up-to-date coverage of constitutional, governmental, political, social, and economic structures and processes. The overriding theme is the importance of informed active citizenship. The pedagogy underscores this theme by soliciting critical thinking about political issues and encouraging students to become involved the political process. With keen awareness of its audience, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY: THE ESSENTIALS incorporates current examples, the Internet, and other media to stimulate learning and excitement about American government. This truly interactive text gives students more than reading material?it gives them tools to become good citizens.

Customer Reviews:

Well written book-A KEEPER for people who are becoming US Citizens.......2007-05-26

This book has a LOT of detail in it. It gives you an excellent idea of how our Federal government is organized, who runs what parts of the government, background on the organization of the Federal government.

The book has the full text of the US Constitution, along with the amendments, and explanations of same. There is also a list of all the US Presidents and Vice Presidents.

There are links to many websites, both public and private, that are of interest.

The book is well written and should be considered by anyone who will be taking a citizenship test.

For those of you who are buying this book because it is required for your class: If you actually read this book, you WILL learn some very interesting things.

Just a book.......2007-05-20

This is probably a classroom requirement, so it doesn't really matter what I think about it.

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)

Average customer rating:

Another anti-American, anti-semitic, liberal
Nemesis The Last Days of the American Republic
ON BEING AN IMPERIALIST STATE
Torture, Wars of Imperialism, and trillions in debt, oh my!
Accurate and disturbing

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic (American Empire Project)
Chalmers Johnson
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Armed Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans--Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild

ASIN: 0805079114
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

The long-awaited final volume of Chalmers Johnson’s bestselling
Blowback trilogy confronts the overreaching of the American empire and the threat it poses to the republic

In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA’s clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored the ways in which the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have jeopardized our stability. Now, in Nemesis, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.

Delving into new areas—from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home and the devastating corruption of a toothless Congress—Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the dreams of America’s leaders have taken us. Drawing comparisons to empires past, Johnson explores in vivid detail just what the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy are likely to be. What does it mean when a nation’s main intelligence organization becomes the president’s secret army? Or when the globe’s sole “hyperpower,” no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders, becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all times?

In his stunning conclusion, Johnson suggests that financial bankruptcy could herald the breakdown of constitutional government in America—a crisis that may ultimately prove to be the only path to a renewed nation.

Customer Reviews:

Another anti-American, anti-semitic, liberal.......2007-06-18

These types of anti-Israel and anti-America books need to be banned. I love this country and I, like most intelligent, informed Americans believe war is the answer, not the peace suggested by liberals like Johnson. The more powerful our military is, the safer America and the world will be, GUARANTEED!
If you want the terrorists to win, then this is the book for you.

Nemesis The Last Days of the American Republic.......2007-06-09

If you can read only one book this year - this is the one you MUST read. Be prepared to be frightened for the future of America as we've known it!

ON BEING AN IMPERIALIST STATE .......2007-05-30

Over the past several years there have been a rash of books on the subject of the United States as a dominant imperialist power continuing in the tradition of the Roman and British Empires. In fact this subject has become something of a cottage industry if a google search is any indication. These inquiries have noticeably mushroomed in the wake of the presumptions about preemptive war of the current George Bush Administration, particularly concerning the quagmire in Iraq. The thrust of most of the current analysis, and this premise applies as well to the present book, has been centered on whether and to what extend American imperialism is merely a governmental policy question. This implies that prior to the Bush debacle America was apparently not a classic imperialist power. Not so. One can clearly trace the main imperialist policy of `creating spheres of influence' in America at least since the bloody Spanish-American War in the 1890's. Moreover, Leninists have argued, and I agree, that the central thrust of modern imperialism is driven by the need for expanding markets under the international capitalist system. Policy, to a great extent, merely reflects those underlying demands. Notwithstanding my political and analytical differences with the author it is always good to find a solid analysis of the current state of American imperialism by a non-Marxist source. Chalmers Johnson has written such a book and all of those who seek to do something about getting rid of the imperialist system should pay attention to his arguments, if not to his "solutions".

Johnson lays out, as befits the nature of the subject, a comparison between the current of American imperialism and the previous `high' imperialist regimes in Rome and Britain. While comparison with previous imperial systems is interesting it does not distinguish enough one salient fact that makes the current situation exceptional. American imperialism makes the old Roman and British systems seem like punk bush league operations by almost every measure, militarily, economically, socially and culturally. Johnson cogently notes the massive and deep expansion of American military presence in most of the countries of the world in the post-World War II, and particularly the post-Soviet period. This is a manifestation of the old idea that trade follows the flag. Mr. Johnson provides many interesting other pieces of information here and one should mass the information for further use. As for Johnson's political conclusions they are rather timid and refer back to a classical liberal program of curbing the excesses of the imperial system rather than getting rid of it. This is in line with the by now old timeworn idea of a mythical American Republic of Virtue, a capitalist republic that is. Obviously that is where militant leftists part company with Mr. Johnson. Nevertheless this is a book one needs to read to be armed with the latest information in the struggle against American imperialism. No doubt about it.

Torture, Wars of Imperialism, and trillions in debt, oh my!.......2007-05-30

Wow! This was an eye opening and awe inspiring book that was brilliantly crafted and written by the witty and smart Mr. Johnson. Without a doubt, Mr. Johnson has now become one of my favorite political analyst right next to Gore Vidal - author of the brilliant "Imperial America".

In this wonderful tome - which is the third book of the "Blowback" trilogy - Mr. Johnson powerfully demonstrates how the USA has all but lost it's Republic intension and founding, and has transformed into the twenty first century Rome. He shows how, using stark evidence along with a quick wit, America has transformed into it's worst nightmare, that is, a global empire that is run by a ruthless and powerful president with the most powerful military and intelligence agency in history at his fingertips. One example, though, of Mr. Johnson's crafty wit is found on page 13,

"The United States is today is like a cruise ship on the Niagra River upstream of the most spectacular falls in North America. A few people on board have begun to pick up a slight hiss in the background, to observe a faint haze of mist in the air on their glasses, to note that the river current seems to be running slightly faster. But no one yet seems to have realized that it is almost too late to head for shore."

How true! Anyways, as I said before, this was an eye opening book that I would recommend to anyone who wishes to find out exactly what our "wars of liberation" and "wars against terrorism" are really about and how - if - we can fix that. Five stars, this was a fantastic book!

Oh, one more thing. As I was reading this book, and how Congress has become as useless as the Roman tribune before Caesars's takeover of Rome and how the military has basically come to do the thinking for the president and our other "leaders", there was one thing that kept running through my mind. And as I read how good ol' Uncle Sam - or "Big Brother" is more like it - has put us in trillions of dollars in debt, something like 300,000 billion dollars a month for the "defense" budget, and how the CIA has virtually become Pres. Bush's private army, I remembered something. And as I read how the US military has caused more "collateral damage" in Iraq than even the Muslim fundamentalists, how it was ordered by top ranking US army officers to torture POW's in order to get information and how the US purposely caused the destruction of Iraq's infrastructure (i.e. roads, hospitals, sewer plants, power plants, water sanitation plants) to prove a point to Saddam, and thus causing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children to die from diseases such as cholera and dysentery, I remember what one man said concerning the future of the US government,

"I prophesy in the name of the Lord of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the saints in the state of Missouri and punish crimes committed by her officers, that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left, for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished, thereby perpetrating a foul and corroding blot upon the fair fame of this great republic, the very thought of which would have caused the high-minded and patriotic framers of the Constitution of the United States to hide their faces with shame."

Joseph Smith, a prophet? I think so! Read this book to see how we are now just waking up to this new Nemesis - something which Joseph predicted one hundred and sixty years ago - and what - if anything - we can do to stop this decline. Also check out Gore Vidal's "Imperial America" to see how this cycle is nothing new, and how this process of destruction has been gradually picking up speed ever since the Civil War (Now that's funny, because Joseph Smith also predicted that as well).

Accurate and disturbing.......2007-05-27

Excellent comparison to the fall of the Roman Empire.
The author's historical treatment of the Roman history is
quite enlightening and thorough, and his comparison to
political events in this country presents a compelling and
disturbing treatise on where we are headed. Even if one doesn't agree with his conclusions, it is well written and researched.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Average customer rating:

This book is the story of my life
Henry Garf review
A Must Read For Every American!
Wow. Someone kicked the hornet's nest.
An Important Book That's Also an Easy Read

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
Barbara Ehrenreich
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805063897

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich has always specialized in turning received wisdom on its head with intelligence, clarity, and verve. With some 12 million women being pushed into the labor market by welfare reform, she decided to do some good old-fashioned journalism and find out just how they were going to survive on the wages of the unskilled--at $6 to $7 an hour, only half of what is considered a living wage. So she did what millions of Americans do, she looked for a job and a place to live, worked that job, and tried to make ends meet.

As a waitress in Florida, where her name is suddenly transposed to "girl," trailer trash becomes a demographic category to aspire to with rent at $675 per month. In Maine, where she ends up working as both a cleaning woman and a nursing home assistant, she must first fill out endless pre-employment tests with trick questions such as "Some people work better when they're a little bit high." In Minnesota, she works at Wal-Mart under the repressive surveillance of men and women whose job it is to monitor her behavior for signs of sloth, theft, drug abuse, or worse. She even gets to experience the humiliation of the urine test.

So, do the poor have survival strategies unknown to the middle class? And did Ehrenreich feel the "bracing psychological effects of getting out of the house, as promised by the wonks who brought us welfare reform?" Nah. Even in her best-case scenario, with all the advantages of education, health, a car, and money for first month's rent, she has to work two jobs, seven days a week, and still almost winds up in a shelter. As Ehrenreich points out with her potent combination of humor and outrage, the laws of supply and demand have been reversed. Rental prices skyrocket, but wages never rise. Rather, jobs are so cheap as measured by the pay that workers are encouraged to take as many as they can. Behind those trademark Wal-Mart vests, it turns out, are the borderline homeless. With her characteristic wry wit and her unabashedly liberal bent, Ehrenreich brings the invisible poor out of hiding and, in the process, the world they inhabit--where civil liberties are often ignored and hard work fails to live up to its reputation as the ticket out of poverty. --Lesley Reed

Book Description

Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generositya land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.

Customer Reviews:

This book is the story of my life.......2007-06-06

It was nice to read something that so finely illustrated what my family has gone through. The only reason I'm not working at Wal-Mart and barely eeking by right now is that I'm in school and barely eeking by. This book should be required reading, especially by people who think that the poor wouldn't be so bad off if they just had jobs. And some folks wonder why the economic divide in this country is becoming so huge.

Henry Garf review.......2007-06-04

Barbara Ehrenreich goes well into the life of Americans just barely getting by (or not) in America, working one to two jobs on minimum wage. She explores the economic hardships and problems our country faces, not to mention the extreme poverty and work that goes unnoticed everyday. Her story of how she coped with the struggle to survive in America on such low wage jobs and so much work was an eye-opening testimony to how this country must change and how hard it is struggling right now. Nickel and Dimed was a great read for anyone and everyone and will change the way you think the next time you go stay at a hotel or eat at the local diner.

A Must Read For Every American!.......2007-06-01

Every American should read this book and think about it every time they are waited on in the retail or service industries. A witty, yet troubling view of conditions that many working Americans face every day. You will be inspired to find out more about this issue.

Wow. Someone kicked the hornet's nest........2007-05-29

I've been reading the reviews of this book and I've been a bit surprised at the outrage. Mostly the outrage at the author, rather than the subject matter of the book.

Ehrenreich can write. She's got a way with words, can tell a story. Every now and then, she has a tendency to drop in a word like 'postprandial', completely unnecessarily, to remind you she's got a Ph.D. in Biology, but otherwise, I liked her style.

The book reminded me, in a bad way, of all the minimum wage (and lower) jobs I've worked in the past, the physical wearing-down, the total suck of dealing with Management, the need to get outside and just look at the world when the day's over.

What really struck me reading this book was the difficulty the author had finding affordable housing. I felt bad for her coworkers who were working hard and still couldn't afford their own places, some of them living in vehicles.

As for the complaints I've read in other reviews about how Ehrenreich's experience wasn't 'the real thing' because she kept her car, insisted on living alone and had a nice little nest egg to start with. Well, she was upfront about all of those things when she wrote the book. She didn't try to hide those facts or make herself out to be tougher than she is.

But...there were the things she didn't acknowledge, but were there if you read between the lines. At one point in the book, she has to ask for assistance to get food. Yet, she always seems to have money for cigarettes. That, I found a little odd. Especially when she was working as a maid (been there, done that). Hello, it's hard physical labor. Why would you want to make it harder on yourself by inhaling fumes that negatively affect your ability to take in oxygen and perform physically?

The other thing: when she moves to a new city, she gets two job offers: one in the plumbing department of a hardware store, paying $10 an hour, another at Wal-Mart, working for less. She glosses over her reasons for going with Wal-Mart, but they were pretty obvious to me. She went for the easier job. At the hardware store, she would have had to *learn* about plumbing and interact with customers. The Wal-Mart job involved picking up discarded clothes and re-hanging them. She did not have to interact with customers, nor did she have to handle money. And if you work in retail, those are the two big sources of stress. She took an easy job...and then complained about how hard it was. And, reading between the lines in her book, she only worked in that nursing home for 3 days (2 weekends). Three days is hardly enough to get any sort of feel for a job, yet the way she writes about it, you would have thought she'd been there for months.

One other thing: When she went looking for work, she didn't try to think outside the box. She figured, with no experience and a high school education, her choices were: maid, waitress, sales assistant. There are jobs out there which provide free accommodation and which do not require any sort of education. When I worked as a zookeeper, my accommodation came with the job and one of my co-workers had a Grade 5 education. Another one hadn't finished high school. I have a friend who worked as a groom at a racetrack (again, no education required for that). She sometimes slept in a stall. It's far easier to save money if your accommodation comes with your job. But I guess, the author had no desire to really push herself and learn skills on the job. For that, I deleted a star from the review.

Otherwise, the book was an engaging, thoughtful read.

An Important Book That's Also an Easy Read.......2007-05-25

I wish everyone who has ever said, "anyone who works hard and tries can become something in America" would read this book. It's bad and getting worse. The very idea that you can live on $5.15 an hour (the current federal minimum wage) is absolutely ludicrous! It takes nearly three times that amount just to stay alive- much less prosper. Even if one has enough foods stamps for their food, it takes at least $9.60 an hour just to live- and that is ON WELFARE! Read this book.

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America

Average customer rating:

Insightful analysis of fundamentalist ideology
A few cogent points buried in a mess of vitriol and hysteria.
A must-read for what it contains and frustrating for what it doesn't
Words mean what he wants them to mean
If Clay Peebles hates it...

American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America
Chris Hedges
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743284437

Book Description

Twenty-five years ago, when Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists first spoke of the United States becoming a Christian nation that would build a global Christian empire, it was hard to take such hyperbolic rhetoric seriously. Today, such language no longer sounds like hyperbole but poses, instead, a very real threat to our freedom and our way of life. In American Fascists, Chris Hedges, veteran journalist and author of the National Book Award finalist War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, challenges the Christian Right's religious legitimacy and argues that at its core it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism and a hatred for the open society.

Hedges, who grew up in rural parishes in upstate New York where his father was a Presbyterian pastor, attacks the movement as someone steeped in the Bible and Christian tradition. He points to the hundreds of senators and members of Congress who have earned between 80 and 100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian Right advocacy groups as one of many signs that the movement is burrowing deep inside the American government to subvert it. The movement's call to dismantle the wall between church and state and the intolerance it preaches against all who do not conform to its warped vision of a Christian America are pumped into tens of millions of American homes through Christian television and radio stations, as well as reinforced through the curriculum in Christian schools. The movement's yearning for apocalyptic violence and its assault on dispassionate, intellectual inquiry are laying the foundation for a new, frightening America.

American Fascists, which includes interviews and coverage of events such as pro-life rallies and weeklong classes on conversion techniques, examines the movement's origins, its driving motivations and its dark ideological underpinnings. Hedges argues that the movement currently resembles the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s, movements that often masked the full extent of their drive for totalitarianism and were willing to make concessions until they achieved unrivaled power. The Christian Right, like these early fascist movements, does not openly call for dictatorship, nor does it use

physical violence to suppress opposition. In short, the movement is not yet revolutionary. But the ideological architecture of a Christian fascism is being cemented in place. The movement has roused its followers to a fever pitch of despair and fury. All it will take, Hedges writes, is one more national crisis on the order of September 11 for the Christian Right to make a concerted drive to destroy American democracy. The movement awaits a crisis. At that moment they will reveal themselves for what they truly are -- the American heirs to fascism. Hedges issues a potent, impassioned warning. We face an imminent threat. His book reminds us of the dangers liberal, democratic societies face when they tolerate the intolerant.

Customer Reviews:

Insightful analysis of fundamentalist ideology.......2007-06-20

Chris Hedges recently debated Christopher Hitchens on the subject of God's existence, and I read that it was a very fierce and heated debate in which Hitchens took a number of swipes at Hedges' beliefs. This is very unfortunate, for while I wholeheartedly agree with Hitchens' take on religion and thoroughly enjoyed God Is Not Great, Hedges is a moral, thoughtful person who has written here a solid, insightful critique of the Christian Right. It's a shame that many atheists will probably not read this book because Hedges himself isn't an atheist and comes from a progressive Christian background (although, to be fair, Hedges made a number of unfounded claims about atheism in his review of Hitchens' book).

This book, like his previous War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, which I also read and reviewed recently, is a quick read, and I read it in a couple of sittings. It can almost be classified as an anthropological examination of fundamentalist Christianity, albeit one that is mercifully free of academic jargon. Rather than simply describe some of the irrational beliefs of these people (although he does do that, too), Hedges tries to understand the ways that people succumb to fundamentalist doctrines in order to find some sort of meaning and sense of community in their lives. A constant theme throughout the book is the parallel between the Christian Right and fascist movements more generally. All such movements entail the surrender of individual will to the collective, the promotion of a cult of masculinity, the erection of social boundaries between members of the group and outsiders, the requirement of blind obedience to the movement's leaders, the disdain for intellectual inquiry and the rejection of nuance, and the cultivation of feelings of persecution and the concomitant need to designate certain social groups as enemies. Similarly, all such groups tend to draw recruits from the downtrodden of society. Hedges makes a number of trenchant observations, including the connection between the rise of fundamentalism and the general commodification and coarsening of popular culture, which creates a disdain for intellectual inquiry and a corresponding intellectual vacuum that provides fertile soil for the spread of fundamentalist messages. He also has an interesting chapter on the cult of masculinity in fundamentalist Christianity, arguing that men's domination of evangelical institutions can be seen as a kind of compensation for the emasculating character of man having a nurturing, personal relationship with God. This cult of masculinity is promoted in films such as Mel Gibson's Passion and in the apocalyptic Left Behind novels, in which the nurturing characteristics of Christ are downplayed and Christ is depicted as a warrior who will cast judgment on the wicked at the end of time. The book is peppered with conversations and testimonials of actual converts and sermons of fundamentalist preachers; I liked this approach of letting these people speak for themselves.

The book isn't flawless. Like I said, this is not an academic book, and while I appreciated the brisk, conversational prose, it perhaps could have benefited from a more rigorous theoretical framework. Similarly, the lack of comparative context was at times limiting. Anybody who has read Hedges previous book knows that he hates fundamentalisms of all varieties, whether they be religious, nationalist, or ideological, and he makes clear that his analysis of the Christian Right can be applied to all of these belief systems. The fact that he is only looking at the Christian Right, however, makes it hard to draw comparisons across contexts. For example, is the cult of masculinity he looks at here based on the same foundations as male domination in other non-Western societies? Finally, some might view the book as alarmist. Part of Hedges' inspiration is that he truly believes that the Christian Right would turn the U.S. into a full-blown theocracy given the chance. I'm not completely convinced of this threat, although I'm open to the possibility that I'm being naïve. I tend to think that our political institutions are too robust and that the tide of popular opinion is turning against fundamentalist beliefs. Regardless of whether we are threatened by a potential theocratic takeover, however, I think that anybody who detests these groups' homophobic attitudes and rejection of scientific inquiry should take this movement seriously. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to all such concerned people.

A few cogent points buried in a mess of vitriol and hysteria........2007-06-18

I bought this book so that I could perhaps gain an insight into why so many on the "left" side of political spectrum exhibit what seems to me a paranoid fear of the "Christian Right". What I got was a near hysterical and paranoid rant against the "Christian Right". So, I guess I got what I paid for.

And, I'll happily give credit where credit is due.

First, on page 54 Hedges accurately describes the "conversion" experience of a lot of people. At many "evangelical" churches, the visiting "heathen" is a celebrity, and the person who just "converted" is ignored and then faced with "the rules". Hedges accurately describes abusive discipleship oriented churches.

On page 56, Hedges describes the practice of targeting people in crisis for evangelistic outreach. I personally have sat through the "stress points" sermon at least twice. The idea is that various events, both good and bad, have "stress points" assigned to them. Those experiencing a lot of "stress points" are considered good evangelism targets. In other words, the closer a person is to a nervous breakdown, the more qualified they are to adopt a new faith and worldview. (That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?)

On page 80, Hedges writes of "hypermasculinity" in the "Christian Right" church. Hedges writes, "Submission to church authority, after all, is a potent form of emasculation." Well, it's not so much submission to "church authority" that emasculates so much as submission to a CEO / Preacher / Dictator who makes sure that he is the only "alpha male" in the flock. All other men are to submit without question, give 10% of their income to the alpha male, and remain silent in their pews. They are as silent as Paul commanded women to be in 1 Corinthians. Then, they're supposed to be "male leaders" everywhere else, and hilarity ensues.

On page 87, Hedges writes of the "Rapture" as a tool used to keep believers obedient. Well, sort of. My experience is that the "Rapture" is used to convert those who are young and not yet sobered up to their own mortality. It's the only way to scare them into listening to the Gospel. Hedges mentions the "Rapture" many times, but never seems to tie it into the thesis that this book tries to prove: that the "Christian Right" wants to take over America. I've found that the "Rapture" doctrine is essentially escapist in nature and breeds fatalistic resignation to Satan taking over the world, not a desire to gain "dominion" over the world. Rapture believers wouldn't make good fascists.

In spite of the good points I cited above, I still couldn't quite find this book believable as a whole. There's just too much sloppy logic and vitriol.

Starting on page four is the typical gratuitous distortion of biblical teaching so common to the latest rash of anti Christian books. "Hatred of Jews" is supposedly in John 3:18-20. According to Hedges, John 8:39-44 supposedly proves that John wrote that Jews are children of t