2 comments about Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine's Passion to Recover the World's Greatest Stolen Treasures.

1. Matthew Bogdanos' story of the lost antiquities of the Bahgdad Museum is a fascinating and informative account of his experiences with an interagency counterterrorism unit following 9/11. However, its not just about Bahgdad, as he tells us about the challenges he faces growing up in downtown New York, his roots in Greek and Middle Eastern classics, etc. In fact, despite the extraordinary depth of his knowledge of classic literature, arts, and history, there is a certain air of self-promotion throughout the book that the reader just can't overlook. Nonetheless, I found Bogdanos' writing to be sophisticated and interesting and I felt that I finished his book with a better understanding of U.S. efforts to help the Iraqi people help themselves (despite the efforts of their fellow Iraqi's to sell their own heritage to the highest bidders). The beautiful photos add great depth to Bogdanos' account and spark the reader's interest in the history and art of the region. Enjoy this highly unusual account of one man's war time experiences.



2. Excellent book! An interesting read for anyone who wants to understand other facets of what our troops encounter while deployed. JD

5 comments about Portraits of the Toughest Job in the Army: Voices and Faces of Modern Army Wives.

1. I have only read Part 1, but am moved beyond belief, by the words and God-given strength these wives have and the love for their husbands they share. I believe all wives should read this book, no matter what occupation their husband is in. These women share lessons of loving their husbands that the whole world can hear.



2. I just finished reading "Portraits" and loved every page! Each story moved me to tears with the overwhelming emotions these amazing women deal with on a daily basis, year after year. It is an intimate look at the real people inside of the world's greatest military - a must-read for all Americans, civilians and military alike!



3. I read this book in 3 days, thats how good it was. The homecoming part was very emotional for me since I lived it and will live it again.



4. Excellent book. I could totally relate to the stories published. It was great to read about others going through the same problems or situations as I and not feel alone like I am the only one experiencing that. Great ideas to implement into my own life. Looking forward to reading more by the author. Easy reading.



5. I enjoyed reading this book. As a military spouse I can relate to a lot of the stories.
   
   After reading the reviews, I was under the mistaken belief that this book was mostly photographs, and as an avid photographer I was really looking forward to some stunning images. The book is in fact mostly text, with only a few images. That's OK - the writing is good. I just would have liked more images and for them to be showcased better.
   
   I rate this 4 stars due to the quality of the printer. The binding is good, and I like the hardback format, however the pages are cheap paper (common with self published books unfortunately). The paper stock didn't do the photographs any justice at all. They weren't able to hold any detail and looked a bit "blah". Not the authors fault, just cheap printing.
   
   Overall, a good book. Worth the read if you are a military wife, or want to understand more about our world.

5 comments about Toussaint Louverture: A Biography.

1. Madison Smarrt Bell writes a incredible Book on a True Leader who was bold and Revolutionary in how he commanded. this Book on this Man is long voerdue. Toussaint Louverture lead the Greatest slave Revolt. Toussaint is a Towering Figure in the History of Defending yourself and this Book is a Must read for all generations now and in the future.



2. The French Revolution, as all great revolutions, had effects on world politics and the struggle of other peoples whom awoken to political life in the afterglow of that event. The fight for freedom in French Santo Domingo (now Haiti, the name that I will use to avoid confusion hereafter) led by Toussaint to a point just short of independence is a prime example of that effect. Without the revolution in the metropolis it is very unlikely that at that time the struggle in Haiti could have been successful. The history of the times was replete with unsuccessful slave rebellions. Why it was successful in Haiti and how that success was accomplished, mainly under the leadership of Toussaint in its decisive phases, is the subject of Mr. Bell's book. Mr. Bell's scholarship and necessary updating of Toussaint's story compares very favorably with that of the eccentric Marxist, later Pan-Africanist, historian C.L.R. James.
   
   The freedom struggle in Haiti, a tropical island well suited to intensive agricultural development for the new international market in those goods necessary for the embryonic industrial system, was above all the struggle for the abolition of slavery. The fight against that servile condition that even many revolutionaries, white and black, and former revolutionaries of the time broke their teeth on. Today that freedom struggle, successful in its way in the Haiti of the early 19th century, remains a shining example of the only really successful fight against slavery by the slaves. So it pays to pay particular attention to the fight.
   
   The forces which pushed the French Revolution forward in the metropolis had their its own set of priorities, among them the fight to move the population from a condition of subjugation to a monarch to citizens of a democracy. I have noted elsewhere how important that changed social status was to the historical and psychological development of modern humankind. Nevertheless that same psychology applies to the struggle in Haiti although even more so under conditions of chattel slavery. Thus, the events in French had their reflection in the colonies particularly in Haiti. One can observe in France the changes in attitude and policy from the early revolutionary days when all classes were good fellows and true through the rise of the leftist Robespierre regime based on the plebian masses, its eventually overthrow and establishment of the Directory and then the various manifestations of the regimes of Napoleon. That regime and its treacherous colonial policy attempting was a very far drop down hill from the early heady days when even moderate revolutionaries were in both places prepared to go quite far to eliminate slavery in Haiti.
   
   There is something of a truism in the statement that great revolutions throw up personalities fit for the times. Certainly revolutions shake up the traditional order of things and let some who might have stayed dormant rise to the occasion. That is the case with Toussaint. For most of his life he was a middle level functionary on his master's estate respected by not slated for greatness. Early on, as the struggle against slavery heated up among the black slaves he exhibited the military, social, political diplomatic and other skills that would eventual thrust him into the leadership of the liberation struggle, This is really saying something special about the man because in the context of that Haitian revolution with the initial disputes between British Spanish and French interests and then the conflicting interests on the island itself between white, black and mulatto would have driven a lesser man around the bend. That it did not do so and that in his errors that which at times were grievous, especially around his seemingly obsessive commitment to maintain the French connection, does not take away from the grandeur of the experience. A cursory look at the latter developments on the island and the seemingly never ending series of tin pot despots who in their turn devastated the island only brings out Toussaint's fascinating role, warts and all, in the earlier liberation struggle in broader relief.



3. After finishing another great work from Bell, I felt like there could never be enough written about this overlooked and distingushed figurehead named Toussaint. Bell chooses a subject which is quite frankly haitian, but who is more importantly american and borne of the spirit of enlightenment. This book unveils the complexities that surround this great leader who was free, propertied, owned slaves and was a devout catholic who was belived to also practice voodoo by the time the revolution started. A worthy read for those not only interested in haiti but also how leaders emerge...



4. Well known for his trilogy of historical novels chronicling Haiti's struggle for independence from France (ALL SOUL'S RISING, MASTER Of The CROSSROADS, and THE STONE THAT The BUILDER REFUSED), author Madison Smartt Bell is familiar with the primary and academic sources on the people and events that led that country through its chaotic and bloody triumph to becoming the first black state in the Western Hemisphere. Of those men, the most important of all was Toussaint Louverture.
   
   Madison Smartt Bell's TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE: A BIOGRAPHY is a necessary addition to a subject only few have dared to take on. As a biography it provides a sober and ubiased account of the former slave and self-taught veterinarian who, at age 50, would also prove himself a brilliant leader and military genius.
   
   Unlike most others who've written about the man, Bell provides much detail on Louverture's early life and ambitions. He presents a Louverture who was shrewd (the man ably manipulated the interests of both the British and the Spaniards) and level-headed, but who was also just and often disgusted by the bloody excesses of the slaves' rebellion.
   
   What makes this such an excellent work is in the way Madison Smartt Bell fleshes out Louverture's world with an indepth look into the various social classes and ethnic groups of Saint Domingue, the role religion and spiritualism played in the daily lives of the slaves and the strong influence of Voudoun on the rebellion--something that, depending on the situation, Louverture would either persecute or encourage. By highlighting the social and ethnic groupings of upper-class white landowners ("grand blancs"), lower-class white laborers and merchants ("petit blancs"), those of mixed race ("gens de coleur"), freed blacks, and the slaves, Bell shows how each one was antogonistic towards all the others and makes a strong point of presenting Haiti's war of independence as something much more complex than a slave uprising.
   
   Highly recommended.



5. Toussaint Louverture who lived from roughly 1744 to 1803 was the preeminent leader of Haitian independence, a model of a rebel, and a paradox of a person. He was a self educated slave who was freed shortly before his uprising in 1791. In 1793 he allied himself with the Spanish against the French but later changed sides and fought alongside revolutionary France, whose Jacobins had freed the slaves in 1793, to help expel the English who Toussaint noted had not freed the slaves of their colonies. By 1799 he was master of the island and was forced to put down a rebellion by mixed-blood freedmen (known variously as `mullatto' or `coloured'). By 1801 he was in charge of the whole island but the next year Napoleon sent an army to wrest it back to France. Toussaint was kidnapped and whisked away to die in France while his former slaves fought on and eventually gained independence in 1804, only the second independent country in the New World and one of only a few independent black countries in the world.
   
   This book is a very readable masterpiece of writing drawing mostly on secondary sources to flesh out the fascinating life of the former slave and rebel leader. The story pays close attention to the class and ethnic destinctions on the island, showing the great degree of animosity between the French, the creoles, the free Gens De Colouer (coloreds) and runaway slaves. This is a fascinating portrait of the New World, the Carribean, a French colony and slave life and rebellion. Toussaint was an ardent Catholic and persecuted Voodou. The last chapter is a lively discussion of the problems Haiti has faced since the time of Toussaint, a story that can also be found in `Why the Cocks fight'.
   
   A riveting and important book.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman

4 comments about From Stalingrad to Pillau: A Red Army Artillery Officer Remembers the Great Patriotic War (Modern War Studies).

1. I'm always thrilled when a new Soviet memoir from the Second World War is released. In practically every instance I always get to learn something new and read about a plethora of experiences the author went through which enrich my understanding of this time period and WWII as a whole. This book highlights Isaak Kobylyanskiy's experiences as a 76mm gunner (gun commander and battery commander) during the Second World War on the Eastern Front while he served in the 87th Guards Division, 2nd Guards Army. To those interested in gritty details of offensive operations that undoubtedly contain hand to hand combat and the savagery of war, you will not find much of that here. In this book you will experience war from an artillery officer's point of view, although this artilleryman was not in the rear, he was right up there with the soldiers in the front lines providing direct fire in support for their actions, etc.
   
   What I greatly appreciated about this book is that it is divided in half. The first half of the book is devoted to the author's experiences during the war and the other half to his thoughts on the war and the people he served with, the Red Army, writing letters, marches, leisure at the front, being a Jewish Red Army soldier, political workers within the Red Army, his views of the Germans (both soldiers and civilians), rear services troops, drinking alcohol, etc. Usually, one hardly ever comes across such a division within a book, most of the time all these ideas are dealt within the pages of the author's experience throughout the war, but there might be some added benefit to having chapters devoted solely to the war and then chapters devoted solely to stories which might not necessarily deal with the war. While in at least one chapter the author highlights the dubious side of some soldiers within the Red Army, he explains that the Red Army was not made up solely of such characters but these were simply people and events which he encountered throughout the war for the first time, these became lessons he learned for life. I should also like to mention that the editor, Stuart Britton, does an excellent job, a lot of contextual information is given to make the books progress and flow smoothly.
   
   To begin, the author discusses his life in Vinnitsa and Kiev before the war began. It was interesting to learn about the author's reading habits, going from children's books to a plethora of foreign works including Twain, Hemingway, Dumas, etc. The famine of 1933 that took place in Ukraine, and other Soviet areas, was witnessed by the author, although he himself, his family, and his school mates did not suffer much. Also of interest was Kobylyanskiy's description of the "Great Purge" years when his father's boss was arrested and the next day the author's father "obliterated" his boss's face in all the pictures he could find in his photo album with black ink, for fear of being arrested himself. The author himself went to such lengths with some of the certificates of merit that he had received. The author's insight into the political situation as the USSR grabbed land from Poland, the Baltics, and Romania was interesting to hear as well as his thoughts on the winter war, which he was not in agreement with.
   
   When the war began the author encountered Jewish refugees from Western territories, including Poland, streaming through Kiev. Eventually, his mother and brother, amongst many others, would be evacuated but he does recount how some Jews refused as they remembered the German occupation from WWI during which they were treated well enough by the Germans, something that is often repeated when looking for reasons why so many Jews 'stayed' behind. The majority, if not all, of those Jews who remained in Kiev would wind up being shot to death at Babi Yar.
   
   The author's story about a Red Army soldier who wandered too far from his own lines, while wanting to do some ice fishing, and then was caught by the Germans was quite interesting. After 10 days the soldier escaped from the Germans and within a half hour OO (osobyi otdel) troops had tracked him down and taken him away. Although the author says they never heard anything more about the soldier, I personally, don't think this should denote automatically that the soldier was executed. While it is a distinct possibility, it is also possible that he was sent to a Penal formation or assigned to convoy duty, etc. In another episode the author discusses a soldier who shows up after being a POW for months, SMERSH (death to spies) officers had no interest in him. As well, when going through liberated territory the Red Army often received reinforcements from the local population, in one such case it was eventually brought to the attention of SMERSH that one soldier collaborated with the Germans in locating Jews and even executing them. He was sentenced to death and hanged.
   
   A moving account is offered of how Kobylyanskiy had to make a choice of putting a gun crew in danger, by attacking a dozen or so tanks and self propelled guns, or letting them take on Red Army infantry who had yet to fully dig in. Without thinking twice Kobylyanskiy gave the order to fire, the end result was a dead gun commander, but the enemy's tanks did not advance. The author's experiences in what he dubbed "The Ravine of Death" were quite telling of the time period. While the 2nd Guards Army failed in their offensive endeavor, and the commanding officer was dismissed, it took a few days to understand that the failed offensive was in fact a huge help for other sectors of the front, namely in the Kursk area, thus the army in the end received some recognition for its actions. One of the most interesting parts of the book is when the author took it upon himself to try and stop a retreating group of soldiers by firing his pistol into the air, cursing, and threatening to shoot them. Eventually, with help from a few other officers, the retreat was stopped and the soldiers went back to their positions. I also enjoyed the rendition of a speech his divisional commander gave, where in he stressed how quickly houses, buildings, and factories could be rebuilt but how precious soldiers lives were; noting that officers should be careful with their men's lives.
   
   Descriptions of Political workers are offered in the second part of the book and prove interesting, in regards to both the good and bad. The same is true for the examples offered of what it was like being a Jewish Red Army soldier and how Kobylyanskiy dealt with the stereotypes of Jewish soldiers, at times risking his life to prove that a Jewish soldier was just as good, if not better, than any other. The author's frankness in regards to his thoughts about Germans was revealing as well as his honesty in detailing sexual crimes and the Red Army. While he himself did not witness any prosecution within his unit for violation of orders from above (which forbid such activities) he did hear from Germans themselves and through rumors about what some Red Army soldiers did and how some Germans suffered. Especially touching was the story of a German girl, Annie, who on her way back home from Pillau was stopped by numerous Red Army soldiers and made to "lie down." The author is correct that this is a part of war, he stresses, and as would I, that this is not an excuse but should be an accepted fact. War is not pretty, innocent people suffer, but their suffering should not constitute cause for hypocrisy. While Red Army soldiers raped, so did western allied soldiers and so did German soldiers, etc.
   
   While I have more than given away a good deal of what this book is about and what it contains within its pages I can guarantee that you'll find all of this and much more.



2. A VERY GOOD READ, TRUTHFUL, INFORMATIVE AND ENTERTAINING*
   By Vadim Brevdo (Brooklyn, NY USA)
   
   As a son of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War (GPW), I have been interested in the topic of the WW-II during most of my mature life. Particularly, I have read plenty of books and memoirs about the WW-II, especially about the GPW (1941-1945).
   
   After reading this book I express my unbiased opinion to all readers who have genuine interest in the GPW's history and its dramatic but little known details: this book is the best war memoirs I have ever read. The author's complete truthfulness, openness, sincerity, and living language make the book unique. It is also evident that the book is perfectly edited by Stuart Britton.
   
   In my opinion, the most valuable features of Isaak Kobylyanskiy's book become apparent and attract the reader when the author describes:
   - his brothers-in-arms' and his own feelings while in combat;
   - soldiers' interrelations in his multiethnic detachment;
   - several characters (most but not all positive) of his brothers-in-arms. (Especially, Boris Glotov's portrait is so vivid!);
   - his different reflections on the life in the USSR before, during, and after the war;
   - loves and fates of several women who served in the same rifle regiment as the author did;
   - his reflections on the anti-Semitism and how Kobylyanskiy being an ethnic Jew "fought" at the front with this phenomenon;
   - his feelings and encounters with the Germans, both civilians and soldiers;
   - his own one and only love.
   I must stop this list - it's too long. Let the reader learn the features completely on his/her own.
   
   Finally, I urge everyone:
   MUST BUY, MUST READ, WILL NOT REGRET
   
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   * The Military Book Club named Isaak Kobylyanskiy's FROM STALINGRAD TO PILLAU the main selection of March 2008.



3. FROM STALINGRAD TO PILLAU
   A Red Army Artillery Officer Remembers The great Patriotic War
   Isaak Kobylyanskiy
   
   (University of Kansas Press 2008)
   
   Isaak Kobylyanskiy was an18 year old student, a Jew, in his hometown of Kiev when he joined the Red Army in October 1942. For the next three plus years (until his discharge in the spring of 1946) he was an artilleryman, first a noncom and then an officer. He was in a battery of 76 mm short barreled field guns which gave the infantry close support (many times they were within 100 meters of the line) in the fighting from Stalingad to Pillau; and this is his story. And it is a story that I respect - as I respect the author.
   This is not your usual "war story". While I am as suspicious as any of you about any kind of "war story" this one comes across as true to me. This man writes with a voice of sincerity. I believe he probably had access to regimental records to record the names of his comrades in so many different circumstances and so many different places where they marched to do battle; but taking taking the book by its four corners this is the story of a decent soldier who was - and is - proud of his country and of what he did in its defense. (He emigrated to this country ten years ago after a successful career in electronics.) There's not much blood and gore. No heroics Just a real story about how it was to be a fighting man on the move day and night, a story of companionship and pride. I recommend it to you without reservation; and I know everyone of you who has the privilege of reading this would like to sit down and talk with the author . He's a good man. Maybe a bit matter of fact. Not much blood and gore. But a true story and a good one.



4. At last, memoirs from the Soviet side of the Eastern Front of WWII are appearing in English. From Stalingrad To Pillau is the second such Soviet memoir I've read, and several things took me aback before I barely had this book's spine bent. First Isaak K. is a Jew who fought the Soviet war. It apparently wasn't a horrid experience--something like being a black soldier in the U.S. Army at that time--simply distasteful.
   
   The second eye-opener had to do with men and women fighting side by side almost from the start in this conflict. Lest you swoon at the egalitarianism of this revelation (and there is much to consider in that regard, given the years) be advised that the women soldiers often felt it wise to quickly pair off with the first decent men they met, lest they be sexual fodder for the rest.
   
   And the third revelation has to do with the tone of this memoir: much vodka drinking, dancing, and general all-round emoting by Soviet soldiers. If you're now picturing these Soviets as a large, gun-bearing band of Gypsies, rub your eyes. The Soviet soldiers as portrayed here were dedicated, clever, inventive, and persistent while living lives as austere as the vaunted Wehrmacht soldiers. I wonder whether such emotive displays might have given impetus to their ability to re-tool their own war machine in the midst of a horrendous German occupation and conflict.
   
   Mr. K goes to great lengths to present the most basic details of the war, from daily hygiene to smoking materials (tobacco or a local weed called machorka). It seems he remembers more of this sort of thing than the battles, the tactics and various implements of destruction.
   
   Kobylyanskiy was married to his childhood sweetheart during the war. After the war, and as the nation sought to rebuild and restore electricity, sanitation etc., (this is something few consider, I think, in contemplating that Soviet "victory"), the couple lived in a one room apartment with his parents while he sought work and completion of his education as an engineer. One would think a grateful nation would bend over backwards to accommodate those such as Isaak, but this wasn't the case; he was turned down for work and had to fight for re-entry to school. Only through persistence did good things happen for him.
   He emigrated to the U.S. in 1994. The great mystery to this memoir is why. Maybe he'll tell us more in a second, equally compelling book.

5 comments about Nineteen Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership.

1. "Nineteen Stars" is not intended to be the definitive biographies of Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, Marshall, and Patton, but rather a study of their leadership styles illustrated with specific examples. Puryear provides enough background information on each general to put the various decisions and actions into an understandable context. As a study of leadership and management styles of four successful but very different military leaders, this book accomplishes its goals. Puryear gives the reader adequate appreciation of these general officers and the contributions they made, not to just the war effort, but to the military in general.

   Again, this is not intended to be full-blown biographies on these military leaders, but rather a leadership study for young officers and officer candidates. However, this book will serve as an able introduction to the lives of these fascinating men, and will probably inspire a broader audience than just military members to look into more indepth works on these key leaders.




2. I read this book slowly, marking it up and making notations throughout, as principles expounded came to light. These men had to make high pressure decisions, the result of which were stupendous! They were in positions that required sterling character. The ramifications of their conclusions were paramount. The fate of the free world hung on the balance the situation was desperate.

   In this study of 19 stars of military character I truly found gold nuggets of wisdom. Principles that are invaluable tools which will assist you to set the sail in your life, and then to get to where you want to go.




3. It is written in such a way that you don't have to be a military historian to enjoy reading about Generals Eisenhower, MacArthur, Marshall, and Patton. It talks about these men as people and explains who they are not just what they did. I have recommended this book to many people.



4. I served with Cotton Puryear, the Author's Son, in Desert Storm in 1990-1991. Cotton was the XO of G Troop 2/3 ACR (and a very good one - obviously learned some lessons from Dad). I was a green 2LT just out of the basic course. Cotton loaned me his copy of the book, it was one of the first books on Military leadership I read outside of a classroom and it was exceptional. It was particulalry appropriate for me as a young officer soon to face combat to learn from the greats. The book is very readable and I think should be at the top of any aspiring officer or business executives list who want to learn lessons in leadership from some of our greatest military leaders. Cotton - if you read this send me an e-mail! Brave Rifles!



5. A friend loaned me a thirty-year old copy of Nineteen Stars and I loved every page. I kept thinking I wish I had had this book when I was a new Army officer. We can argue about whether leaders are born or made, but no matter where you stand on the issue, it is unquestionably helpful for leaders at all levels to understand, and where appropriate, emulate great leaders. I bought my own copy of the book and I plan to save it for my infant grandson.

5 comments about Marlborough: His Life and Times, Book Two.

1. Winston Spencer Churchill's biography of his ancestor, John Churchill First Duke of Marlborough, stands out as a restoration of Marlborough's reputation, an account of England under the reigns of Charles II, James II, William III and Queen Anne, and an in-depth military and political history of the War of Spanish Succession.
   
   WSC gives us a picture of the whole man, including his faults. One of WSC's purposes is to rescue Marlborough's reputation from the attacks of generations of historians. The book becomes a brilliant defense and of course it cannot be unbiased. WSC is Marlborough's defense attorney, not his judge.
   
   By the 1920s, Marlborough had been called miserly, greedy, ambitious, duplicitous, disloyal and treacherous. As he recounts Marlborough's life, WSC continually picks up an episode that seemingly illustrates one of these traits, but turns it around.
   
   Where unsympathetic historians saw miserly habits, WSC saw thrift and WSC goes further. Marlborough was miserly when it came to his own needs, such as when he insisted surgeons cut his stocking along the seem so that it could be resown. Yet he paid his army's bills and wages on time; apparently this was unusual in those days. He paid, from his own discretionary funds, which other generals often pocketed as a matter of course, for military intelligence that proved crucial to securing many of his victories.
   
   Where accusers saw ambition needlessly prolonging a difficult war, WSC presents Marlborough has being bound by duty to achieve the best results possible, and to reject a timid peace, which would have left Europe in the hands of a despot.
   
   WSC has a more difficult, but no less successful time defending Marlborough's continued correspondence with St-Germain, the exiled English court of James II and later his son, as recognized by Louis the XIV. The problem here is that today such acts would indeed be treason, but in the seventeenth century they were part of the normal workings of diplomacy, war time or not. After all, if passports and safe conduits were routinely given to enemies to allow them to rest and confer in between campaigns, it could not have been that unusual to keep in touch with people one knew, even if they were officially enemies.
   
   WSC also presents Marlborough's most important relationships: with his wife Sarah Jennings; with his military ally Prince Eugene, with whom he won at Blenheim; with his political colleague Godolphin, who secured funds for his military work; with the kings and queen of England from James II to George I;
   
   But WSC does accuse Marlborough on occasion of having been unwise. He is particularly critical of the Duke's obsession with his palace at Blenheim (where WSC himself was born). Marlborough didnft want an opulent residence, rather he wanted to leave a monument that would survive centuries and remember his name to future generations. WSC writes that as such Blenheim was a failure: it added nothing to the Duke's reputation and the worries it caused may have taken years from his life. Winston Churchill must have felt his biography was a better memorial to his ancestor.



2. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, is the uncontested military genius of late Stuart England, the uncrowned political/military heir to William of Orange and the famous ancestor of Winston Churchill. In tandem with Austria's general, Eugen of Savoy, he led the coalition armies in the War of the Spanish Succession, defeating in detail several of Louis XIV's French and Bavarian armies, most famously at Blenheim, but also at Ramilles, Ourdenarde and Malplaquet. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, his wife, the beautiful but intemperate Sarah Jennings, later Duchess of Marlbourough, became a "favorite" of Queen Anne and secured for him (at least for most of the war) the political support that necessary for him to field an army on the Continent for the many years.

   As a writer of history, Churchill ranks with Gibbon for his mastery of prose and his ability to use vivid imagery to hold the reader's attention to minute detail. For each year of the Spanish Succession War, Churchill opens with a strategic appreciation of how the Anglo-Austrian forces plotted out each year's campaigns, and goes to great pains to explain the reasons behind Marlborough's various deployments. And he paints on a simply massive canvas: he begins with a detailed account of Charles II's Restoration, of James II's abortive reign (and Marlborough's role in ending it), of William III and Mary II's joint reign (Churchill is NOT a fan of William and Mary) and of the underlying workings of the French monarchy. He is not afraid to address the various failings in Marlborough's character, particularly his secret negotiations with both the enemy and the exiled Stuarts, but does seek to defend Marlborough (and Sarah) from the more libellous charges.

   This book was written in the 1930s, politically Churchill's decade of exile (and personally, his worst years of depression). If everyone turned unemployment, financial crisis and depression to such good use, the world would be a far better place.




3. Winston Churchill was a man who rarely met a topic upon which he didn't harbor a strong opinion that he was willing to share. The Duke of Marlborough is no different. Churchill is clearly enamoured with this relative of his and lets it show. That said, Churchill plainly states that there are two camps on Marlborough and tells the world which camp he falls into. By doing so, he opens up the reader to get a feel not just for Marlborough and his times, but also for the debate by historians that rages around a polarizing historic figure like Marlborough. (Sound familiar to anyone else?) The result is a richly layered work.
   
   Winston Churchill viewed history as something that was alive and tangible and his historic writings capture that feeling for readers. Marlborough's battles - both military and political - come to life in the hands of Churchill. We get to see one of the great military minds of the 18th century push military science closer and closer to its modern form. We also see him perform less well on the political front against his foes there.
   
   Through the entire book, we get to listen to Winston Churchill in his element, telling us a story about a topic he feels passionately about. So many of the trials, trevails, and reactions that Churchill ascribes to Marlborough are so obviously parallels to Churchill's life and his reactions that the book has a clear autobiographical tone to it as well.
   
   Highly recommended for history buffs and for people who want to understand Churchill more deeply.



4. Winston Churchill, in a relatively well-known bad patch during the 1930s, began to write this history of his famous and much maligned ancestor. The first volume contains the first two books of the original four book set. The life of John Churchill, Duke of Malborough, is both a fascinating look at an historical era as well as a personal portrait of a great military general. Book One consists of a large chunk of history, spanning the downfall of Charles I through Cromwell, to the Restoration of Charles II, through the overthrowing of his brother, the Catholic James II by William of Orange married to James II's daughter, Mary, to the crowning of Queen Anne. The second Book of Volume one concentrates on a mere 3 years of Anne's rule.
   
   I will not reiterate what other reviewers have already said. However, I would add that in the writing of this book, Winston Churchill prepared himself to become even greater than his general ancestor. It can hardly be surprising that as this history was being written, events were conspiring to lead Winston Churchill into the biggest world confrontation ever. After studying the campaigns in Europe of Lord Malborough, it can hardly be surprising that Churchill fully suspected the coming of the war long before his fellow MPs.
   
   This is a scholarly work and shouldn't be undertaken without serious patience. Each of the two volumes are in themselves close to 1,000 pages long. The history is written from the point of view of a defender, though Winston Churchill is careful not to gloss over details that might cast an unfavorable opinion of his ancestor. Well worth the effort.
   
   BOOK TWO -
   
   Since I reviewed Book One, I felt it was important to follow up with a review of Book Two of this work. My initial comment is that sticking with something this huge is a task in itself, but often the reward is hard to describe. For me, I feel each time I finish a huge work like this (or Hegel, or Kant, or ... well, anything "Big") I sense my own mind has been exercised a bit. It's a reward in and of itself.
   
   Firstly, like Book One, this is really Volume Three and Volume Four of the a Four Book series bound together in Two mammoth volumes. Reading these 2000 plus pages is like running a marathon: the beginning is difficult, then you break the pain barrier and coast for quite a long while until the last staggering climb to the finish. In Book Three we continue with the war of Spanish Succession. These 500 pages are essentially concerned with the gigantic battles Marlborough fought. It was a time in which his glory was highly esteemed. As we get into Book Four, much like Book One, the narrative returns to the over all political scene which dominated and brought down the Great Duke. It is also the point where the reader might become overwhelmed again by both the multifaceted political machinations as well as the constantly revolving names (John Churchill becomes the Duke of Marlborough, etc.)
   
   However, for all these difficulties, the overall sense from both volumes is as thorough and detailed and enthralling as history can be written. There can be no doubt that Winston Churchill, as he surveyed the ever-mounting rearmament of the Germanic states and looking over the ancient maps of Europe imagining both the current and past, felt an immense burden of responsibility. By undertaking the task of "reforming" The Duke of Marlborough's image, he delved deep in to the vaults of history and warfare. It was not surprising that at the same moment he should be the first to recognize (at least in Britain) the significance of Hitler's intensions.
   
   One other thing struck me as fascinating about this era. The whole course of European politics, war, peace, and financial stability were tied up in the lives of three bickering women: Sarah (Marlborough's wife), Abigail (cousin to Sarah), and Queen Anne (whom both served and guided with gossip and whisperings.) Out of this small time period bore the seeds of Napoleon, the American discontent with England, and Slavery. Big stuff.
   
   I recommend these Four volumes (two books). The paperbacks are perhaps overstuffed, though. Book One split right down the middle. I was more careful with Book Two, though my hands suffered from it. Perhaps spending the money for the hardback editions in this case is worth it?



5. Winston Churchill wrote this book during the 1930's while in political exile. His masterful handling of Hitler, Roosevelt, and Stalin is presaged as he tells the tale of John Churchill, who overcame party strife in England, baseness and shortsightedness in coalition partners, and (finally) Louis XIV of France. WSC tell the story with his brilliant flair and style, but he also pauses with the reader to reflect on such matters as how to blunt a violent political storm without being yourself destroyed, how best to handle superiors who will hold you responsible for results but will not let you do the job, and how to act honorably when all of your life's work is thrown away by your enemies. These trenchant insights were pertinent in 1700, in the 1930's, and today. You are in for a treat, read this one.

5 comments about A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country.

1. "Sometimes it's not enough to do what is right, sometimes one must do what is necessary." Ryszard Kuklinski knew what was right, did what was necessary...and paid a terrible price.
   
   Benjamin Weiser's riveting work A SECRET LIFE, on Polish hero Ryszard Kuklinski, is an enlightening look back into the dark intrigue, personal danger, and moral dilemmas surrounding one military officer's private battles to liberate his country from totalitarianism. Most importantly, this work shatters the left-wing's liberal illusion of "peaceful coexistence" with a communist system whose very raison d' etre is the destruction of freedom, democracy and enslavement of the West.
   
   Kuklinski saw internal conflict to evict the alien system imposed upon his country by the USSR--as opposed to connivance or the wishful thinking of ideological transformation through "gradualism," favored by some of his Polish General Staff contemporaries, who, for lack of courage or personal gain, fully cooperated with their harsh Soviet task masters--as the only realistic option for peace in the face of Poland's likely nuclear annihilation, had war ensued with the United States. He dared to act accordingly, becoming an agent of change feeding top-secret Warsaw Pact military information to the CIA; thereby, tipping the balance of power in favor of liberty, while loosening the demoralizing death-grip of communist rule over Eastern Europe, as a de facto one-man Polish Underground.
   
   When considering the totality of personal sacrifice and enormity of danger faced by Kuklinski, in his nearly solitary and single-handed struggle against radical, state-sponsored evil--who carried a suicide pill to end his life if caught and was sentenced to death, in absentia, by the Polish Military Court--moral giants like Kurt Gerstein and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn come to mind. It saddens me that former communist collaborators or sympathizers, like Aleksander Kwasniewski, were celebrated or elevated to significant post-Soviet leadership positions and societal prominence, while the country remains bitterly divided over Kuklinski, who has yet to be nationally vindicated, though history has already done so.
   
   Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzesinski said it best when he honored him with the words traditionally reserved for decorating Polish soldiers: "Pan sie dobrze Polsce zasluzyl: You have served Poland well." Rest in peace Colonel Kuklinski.



2. Weiser's detailed and measured tale of Kuklinski's historical contribution to Cold War espionage is to be read and enjoyed. His story is taut and thrilling and reminds one of a good John Le Carre novel. Beyond the issue of whether Kuklinski is a hero or traitor to the Polish nation [which is fairly raised and detailed by the author], Weiser never loses control of the subject matter, and, of the abundant documentation he uncovered in his unique access to CIA records. He instills Kuklinski with humanity and sense of Polish nationalism. A fine work to be read and enjoyed.



3. Gen. Kuklinski's efforts against a communist system controlled by an outside power seems commendable on the outside, but what everyone here seems to forget is that the same CIA that worked with Kuklinski, supposedly to 'fight communist tyrrany' was the same one involved in overthrowing legitimate governments, repressing independence movements, funding terrorism, assasinating foreign leaders who did not see eye to eye with US government policies and interests as well as many other unpleasant acts that sadly too many people either do not know about or do not care to remember.
   
   What Gen. Kuklinski did or did not do is known only to him and his CIA handlers. But things in this book must be taken with a grain of salt. In the cold war, the CIA was notorious for anti-Soviet false flag operations and disinformation propaganda. I only read half of the book and did not bother finishing it. Some of the events might have been outright fabrications.
   As far as whether Gen. Kuklinski was a traitor or patriot in the end really depends on which side one is on. To Gen. Jaruzelski, Kuklinski is a traitor while to some CIA official Kuklinski is a hero. But let's take it from another angle: Suppose Gen. Kuklinski's espionage efforts resulted in a covert CIA Op which ended up killing a bunch of Polish civilians? How would that be seen?
   What is Gen. Kuklinski's legacy? It is one of selling out one miserable SOB to another miserable SOB, for a price.



4. "A Secret Life" is a gripping read for two key reasons. First and foremost, it is a suspenseful espionage tale with unpredictable twists and turns. To me, it even stands among the best fictional works of that genre by Le Carre and Ludlum.
   
   The second reason is more holistic. The author, New York Times journalist Benjamin Weiser, has gotten at Kuklinski's heart and managed to successfully explore his motives and ethical dilemma for providing intelligence to the CIA. Kuklinski did not make this decision lightly. He felt morally obligated to do so, and his reasons for doing so are clearly spelled out in the book. When you read about these reasons, it's very difficult to disagree with him. (I do not understand the reviewers who call him a traitor.)
   
   I would recommend this book regardless of whether you are pro- or anti-CIA. Some reviewers here claim that Weiser's purpose was to naively lavish the agency with biased praise. In his introduction, however, Weiser references the "justified criticism" that the organization has endured due to its activities over the years, and goes on to say that Kuklinski's story demonstrates that human intelligence operations can succeed brilliantly, and should serve as an example for such future operations.



5. Move over, James Bond! Instead of repeating other reviewers, let's focus mostly on the intelligence-gathering aspects of this thriller.
   
   Imagine that you're Ryszard Kuklinski. The best way to avoid excessive surveillance by Communist counterintelligence is to make your daily routine as predictable as possible. You get a dog so that you can stroll around the neighborhood naturally. You give and receive signals to and from your contacts with chalk marks on the pavement. (These sometimes get washed away). You use your wife's iron to reveal messages in invisible ink, and take up hobby photography as a cover for photography of another kind.
   
   You dislike dead-drops because, for one thing, someone else might stumble upon them. You use the brush pass. As you walk per your usual routines, you turn into one of those impossible-to-predict labyrinthic streets so that you are out of prying eyes for a few precious seconds. During this time, you exchange packages with another agent.
   
   The brush passes go uneventfully--until one night. No sooner is it completed than you are hit by the headlights of a car. You try to duck into a side street but your move is anticipated. Finally, you shake off the pursuer. Were you seen well enough by the driver to be positively identified? You think/hope not. But just in case, you get a haircut. Luckily this time, you are safe.
   
   Even little slip-ups can be killers. At one point, your son finds a secret note that you had carelessly taped too lightly on the underside of a piece of furniture. You cannot account for a roll of film, and your colleagues speak of the discovery of a "spy film". (It later turns up in the pocket of your seldom-used shirt). At another time, you are in another world, and you crash face-first into a pillar while carrying sensitive information. Nice way to be unobtrusive!
   
   Picture yourself (pardon the pun) getting caught red-handed, by an officer entering the room, taking surreptitious photos of classified documents. You act normal, but cannot get over the fear that the officer has seen exactly what you were doing and will report you. Then, when nothing seems to happen, you still fear that you are being carefully monitored so that the Communist counterintelligence can trace your contacts and then trap everyone.
   
   You had better not carry a gun because, if you use it and then seek refuge in the US Embassy, the Communist authorities may have legal grounds to have you turned over to them. You fully realize that, if caught, you will be tortured into divulging information, and then be executed. Besides, the Communists will make a spectacle of you for propaganda purposes. For this reason, you request a suicide pill from the CIA. They at first refuse, fearing that an agent may take it in a moment of panic, or that the discovery of the poison could itself be used for propaganda purposes. But in the end the CIA provides the pill--inside a pen.
   
   In any Soviet-NATO war, Poland would be the route for 95% of the Soviet military advance. Poland would then get hit with 400-600 nuclear bombs in an attempt to stop the Soviet advance without escalating the conflict into a full-blown Soviet-US nuclear holocaust (p. 16). No wonder Kuklinski realized that Poland was doomed! (Some conspiracy-minded Poles suggested that the Polack joke syndrome had been a concerted effort to demean Poland so that the American public wouldn't protest too much the future destruction of Poland).
   
   Kuklinski's achievements were staggering: Tens of thousands of highly-classified Soviet documents passed on to the US (p. 300). And that was just the beginning. After his flight to the US, Kuklinski provided much information during his debriefing. May he be forever honored, and rest in peace!

5 comments about American Soldier.

1. I will admit my bias - I am a huge "fan" of General Franks. This book is about his life, his perspectives and experiences. There is a ton of stuff we'd never get to know about if it weren't for this book. One thing I admired most was his professionalism in writing it. If you're looking for some "tell all" expose, this ain't it. General Franks speaks respectfully about his bosses throughout the book. I know some readers won't like that, but to me it was refreshing.



2. I read this book when it first came out, and out of the thousands of books I have read over some 60 years, it is one of the most unforgettable. This man came out of the dust and dirt of Oklahoma and Midland, Texas to enter the Army as a grunt boot, and when he was getting on the bus to report to the Army, his Dad simply said "Make em a hand, son" which in West Texanese means, "Whatever they teach you to do, Son, do a good job for them!" And did he ever----Commander of the greatest Military Force in the History of this planet! An unforgettable true story that should make all Americans proud.



3. If you enjoy military biographies, this is one of the very best I've ever read.



4. Any American general or president who leads an army against jihadist Islam deserves our almost unqualified respect in a West that comes across as comfort-driven, welfare-pandering, entertainment-drugged, and seemingly too cowardly to defend itself. Both Tommy Franks and George Bush will stand tall in the annals of future history, as always defined by military prowess, long after the topical dust of our shallow, politically correct culture settles and fades into television-commercial oblivion.
   
   However, it's important NOT to take a book by Tommy Franks at face value. The brutal realities of fighting "our worst enemy since the civil war" will never be articulated in a world whose impression of any hard reality must first pass muster with Sunday School simplicity prompted by history- and context-free self-congratulation. "Guns aren't nice," some superficial wives sloganeer, and "Make love not war," effortlessly proclaiming a self-righteousness that is both unearned and dangerous to any hope of a durable peace.
   
   Accordingly, "American Soldier" is an unfortunate chronicle of media-palatible commentary about military and personal events that might be drawn quite otherwise if free-speech were truly to prevail in Tommy Franks' life as an honest spokesman of military wisdom. After all, he freely acknowledges his 4-starness to having been selected by Bill Clinton; he's a "Clinton general" in his own words. Must we ask what kind of commanding general would have been chosen by former presidential candidate Al Sharpton? Generals-in-waiting surely come in all chevrons, from Marxist liberals to Axis militarists. The commander-in-chief "of the moment" chooses. Today we want our military leaders to feign ideological innocence while being supported by a statistics-savvy management mechanism. Good luck, but it's ruthlessness and a whatever-it-takes aggressiveness that win wars, not media accountability or other facile diplomacy.
   
   Those who've attended the general's public lectures will recognize right away that he's not the Erwin Rommel, George Patton, or Tadimichi Kuribayashi they might have hoped for. Even so, let us acknowledge his predictable standing applause from largely World War II veterans everywhere: a salute to a universal code of military fighting spirit that has existed in all times and that will stand independent of the political surface.
   
   Too bad that Gen. Franks often chooses to portray a "Gomer Pyle" persona to audiences that expect to hear even more saber-rattling than is now fashionable. He shrinks from being more germane than political reality allows. Yes, we would much rather fight on foreign shores than at home. But shouldn't we also prefer to fight NOW rather than selfishly defer our battles to future generations? Too often, our orientation to politics is greedy, too apt to defer deprivations that might interfere with our own comforts. The example of our Spartan forebears will only vaguely influence us, though a strong Christian military in the West would surely benefit from a plunge into our Greco-Roman-Viking past!



5. 15 June 2008 - Even though I was "in the military" during Operation Iraqi Freedom and watched CNN every day this book did an amazing job detailing OIF from start to the end of phase three. Gen Franks offers his insightful account of History at one of the major "creases" in American History. Gen Franks stands tall above the Washington blame game and instead focuses on successes and failures, why those failures may have occurred, and HIS solutions to some of those failures. This is a must read for anyone who criticizes our presents in Iraq.

2 comments about Bad Days in Basra: My Turbulent Time as Britain's Man in Southern Iraq.

1. President Ford uttered the sentence that sums up Sir Hilary Synnott's absorbing narrative here - 'You can't just go around liberating people'. The tale of what happens if you do that with insufficient forethought, planning, resources, afterthought and sense of reality is told to us by a Foreign Office mandarin who brought to his impossible task dedication, loyalty, mental candour and honesty, and top-level experience as High Commissioner in Pakistan when that nation and India, both now with nuclear arms, faced each other in a tense standoff.
   
   This book is hot off the press, published only this year. It complements Rory Stewart's Prince of the Marshes, but it approaches the story of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in southern Iraq from a different angle and tells it in a different manner. Sir Hilary's responsibilities were wider, and his account is not a chronicle. It deals with the issues under subject-headings, and broadly I think it's fair to say that each successive chapter takes a higher-level overview than the last, culminating in the final Summary, the kind of overall assessment that British ambassadors were once expected to provide of their tours of duty. Synnott assesses his own mission as a failure, but by no means as a comprehensive failure. There was no way of being successful under the circumstances. The British army receives considerable commendation from him, but on the civilian side such partial achievements as there were he attributes to specific individuals. As for his own part, he tells us what he did and why with Thucydidean reserve and leaves it to us to judge.
   
   If you are in a hurry, I suppose you could go straight to the Summary, but this book deserves to be read all the way through in the author's sequence, because to a lay reader like me Synnott seems to convey the feel and sense of the posting vividly. His style of writing changes as the material gathers weight, but it is without pretentiousness, indeed I found the volume a page-turner in its clarity and focus. In the early chapters he is not even a particular stickler for the final refinements of syntax or even now and then grammar, and he has some engaging locutions of his own -- 'stood no hope' 'revealing an American accent' 'the light became darker'. What he has in spades is readability throughout, and considering the authority he commands that is a blessing. His final conclusions could not be expected by now to be unique, but they are best read in the light of some of his perceptions along the way, which are illuminating in the extreme. Some of his encounters must have been shattering to him at the time and they are still startling now, but in the bigger picture they are almost anecdotal. He had a standup barney with an Australian whose mantra was 'no subsidies' and who met the point that, after certain farmers had used up what should have been the seed-corn there was liable to be unrest threatening security if they were not given a fresh supply, with the insight that security was not his concern. He cites as his lowest point in the assignment a meeting of the regional heads at which they had been invited by Bremer to submit their reactions to a certain plan. Having so submitted they were then told unceremoniously by Bremer that the plan had been presented in Washington, so that was that. This kind of thing sounds like more than passing detail, except that the Australian turned out to have interests that were financial more than ideological, and that Bremer's plan had been not just presented but rubbished in Washington, so that discussion of it was to that extent academic albeit that Bremer was not coming clean why.
   
   At the next level up are the strategic issues. Blair talked about a 'war' (indeed we all did), but he made no provisions customary for anything known by that term, so what was his concept of the matter really? Gen Sanchez motivated his troops with the devastating insight that the American effort must not fail or the fighting was going to be in High Street USA, and Sir Hilary's palpable contempt for anyone treating his listeners like idiots in this way came over to me all the more loudly for the way he spotlights the statement and leaves it without further comment. Crucial, of course, were the disastrous MBA-style misjudgments of Bremer that produced de-Baathification and disbandment of the army, not to mention the introduction of a market economy to get them standing on their own two feet and all the rest of it. Synnott is fairly laconic about the mentality that could fail to see the likely effect of creating a whole new class of dispossessed, unemployed and armed citizenry who had all the experience there was going of law-enforcement and civic administration. Indeed I should say at some stage that one of the most attractive aspects of his narration is his patrician reluctance to overemphasise the obvious.
   
   Synnott pinpoints lack of resources as his ultimate reason for the failure, and at the time of his assignment I can see his reasons and also understand his statement that armed violence was not the issue in Basra that it was in Baghdad. He does not update these perceptions, and I don't know why not. The well-intentioned strategy of arming the populace against the crooks, gangsters, smugglers and forgers seems in retrospect to have backfired, although it also seems to be what Gen Petraeus is now doing further north, and getting plaudits for in positive-thinking quarters. It could all have doubtless been done better, but what about the overall objective of spreadin' democracy an' freedom in the middle east? Don Quixote rides again, it seems to me, out of Crawford TX. I wanted to hear more about that.
   
   Having opposed this 'war' from day one I actually support Synnott's view that 'liberal interventionism', as in Bosnia, Kosovo and even Afghanistan is here to stay and has to be. However we need to be able to distinguish one case from another and to recognise our own limitations. A complete reassessment of policy is glaringly needed. Jerry, you should be with us at this hour, and I don't mean Jerry Bremer.



2. This book can usefully be read in conjunction with Rory Stewart's "Prince of the Marshes" for a view of after-invasion events in Southern Iraq, where the British were responsible. Hilary Synnott, the author of this book, was sent to Basra in 2004 to try to create some sort of structure out of the chaos of the civilian reconstruction efforts. His comments are instructive and, unless one lives in a cave, further supports the observation that the United States was clueless in its studied refusal to strongly think about the country's after-war strategy.
   
   Synnott judges the CPA, run by Paul Bremer, as a flawed vehicle for directing reconstruction of Iraq. Late in this book, he observes (Page 246): "With the benefit of hindsight, it may be judged that much of the Coalition's, and hence the CPA's, considerable effort to introduce a lasting and durable political system in Iraq was wasted." Indeed. The Coalition (a term that I think disingenuous, but that's an issue for another day) was a dismal failure. The situation in Iraq only began to improve after an increase in American military force (the Surge) and an increased activism if the Iraqi government. It reminds me of T. E. Lawrence's statement in 1917: "Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them." American leaders might better have attended to Lawrence of Arabia's views than allowing Bremer to become a viceroy.
   
   As Synnott notes, the entire CPA process broke down. Cashiering technocrats who knew how to keep the Iraqi machinery of government and service delivery going and dismissing the army--creating a pool of dissatisfied Iraqis--can only be described as foolhardy. There were too few resources in the Basra region (comprising four provinces) to really address key issues. Bremer dictated a Baghdad-centric approach to reconstruction, leaving the rest of the country to its own devices.
   
   Synnott actually believes that good was done, certainly in the Basra area. He also realizes that whatever was done was done without adequate support. His concluding few lines are poignant indeed (Page 262): "But the most lasting recollections are positive ones and reflect the stimulus and satisfaction of working closely with highly motivated people, from Iraq and many other countries, including my own, who sincerely wanted to do the best they could in a task which, whatever its appalling and misguided genesis, they felt to be worthwhile."
   
   In the course of the book, Synnott discusses such central issues as the facts on the ground, how he fought to upgrade unbelievably poor facilities, the military-civilian tensions (which were worked out over time), the continuing political dance with local Iraqi leaders, the wretched planning process developed by the CPA, and so on. There are a series of very helpful appendices to provide context, such as a description of the role and purpose of the CPA effort in the South, the CPA vision statement, the CPA organizational chart.
   
   This is a book providing context "on the ground" in the southern part of Iraq in the period of time immediately following the invasion and during the CPA's effort at hegemony. As such, it provides a sense of the inadequate planning, the almost naive assumptions of the invasion, and the heroic work of those in the Coalition trying to retrieve success from the problems caused by the ill thought out after action from the invasion.
   
   All in all, a useful volume to get a sense of the times described by Synnott.

5 comments about Flawed Patriot: The Rise and Fall of CIA Legend Bill Harvey.

1. Bill Harvey was a larger-than-life secret agent who bull-dogged his way through the corridors of power in WW-11 FBI (where his sin of not being instantly available to take Herbert Hoover's telephone call cost him Napoleon's blessings), the OSS and eventually the CIA.
   
   The apotheosis of Harvey's career was conceiving of and managing the digging of the Berlin Tunnel in 1953--an audacious wire-tap of 172 telephone cables just over the border in East Berlin. Before the author gets to telling us this story, he foreshadows it many times as if he's already told it. When he does tell it, the tale is vague and incomplete. Little of the extreme tension is conveyed that this major espionage coup created among the band of agents who carried it out, and none of the exultation.
   
   Harvey was an anomaly in the rising intelligence community. Just like those other genius mavericks--General Billy Mitchell, General George Patton, Col. Charlie Beckwith--he bucked his superiors to get things done, and like them, he was undone by the iron law of all bureaucracies-- that fealty is much more important than results. His resentment at Bobbie Kennedy's ultra micro-managing of the Bay of Pigs fiasco certainly contributed to its failure. It certainly scuttle Harvey's career. Yet what politician has ever learned the harsh lesson that others' are better at their jobs than they are--so let them do their jobs?
   
   A serious 3-martini luncheon schmoozer, Harvey was adroit in finding and attracting talented cohorts. He built up highly loyal groups in spite of the usual internecine infighting that is the hallmark of all operational organizations. In the end his drinking got the better of him, and he was cast off like all such "failures."
   
   This author (deceased) needed a rigorous editor to get his house in order. The work is a mish-mash of anecdotes and commentary, all presented in no particular order, as if a massive re-ordering of chapters had been undertaken at the last minute. Names appear out of nowhere as if we had already been introduced. Too bad. Bill Harvey was a true American patriot; he deserves better than this.



2. Flawed Patriot has a great topic in Bill Harvey. The author's direct knowledge seems to be based on Harvey's career in Germany . The research of the late Mr. Stockton of much of the career of Bill Harvey appeares flawed. The drama of Bill and CG's adoption of a daughter in Germany is in line with what they told my wife and me in Rome,Italy in the mid 1960s. The events surronding Bill's return to Washington from Rome are not fair and complete and appear to be based on interviews that lack some of the facts.
   Based on my personal knowledge and my research as an intelligence scholar and professor, Flawed Patroit does no justice to the pioneering work of Bill Harvey in clandestine collection, covert action and technical intelligence operations. In my opinion, Bill Harvey ranks amond the Top Ten Clandestine Service Officers in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency.



3. This book has a brilliant title. Bill Harvey was indeed a Patriot. And he certainly had flaws. His drinking was a problem from early in his life and combined with smoking was at least partly responsible for the heart attacks that killed him at the relatively early age of 61.
   
   He was also not exactly what you would call a team player. He was fired by J. Edgar Hoover for breaking regulations. His relationship with Robert Kennedy might best be called hatred. While he did some brilliant work, like identifying Kim Philby as a KGB agent and the famous tunnel into East Berlin, his relationship with the Mafia and rumors about being involved in the JFK assassination are not the sort of things that help get promotions within an organization like the CIA.
   
   This is both an interesting biography of a full fledged master spy, and a history of the early days of the CIA and the Cold War. The author worked for Harvey in Berlin for two years before becomming a journalist and now a biographer.



4. There's a lot of great info in this book, but unless you're REALLY into FBI/CIA/Bill Harvey, it's very dry reading. It jumps around a bit, but if you persevere, you'll find some interesting tidbits here and there.



5. This book should be read by every citizen seeking to understand where American government has gone wrong over the past 60 years. Flawed, yes, but critically important to our understanding of misguided actions and indeed meglomania in power centers too far removed from public scrutiny and democratic control.
   
   The problem with so-called "patriots" like William Harvey is that their arrogance and self-absorption - so evident in his acute alcoholism - tends to prevent basic comprehension that they quite rightly serve at the request of others, in particular those individuals entrusted through elective office with preserving those principles and practices that define our democratic form of government.
   
   William Harvey was a misfit granted far too much power by a rogue system of covert power that had grown exponentially under a corrupt and complicit Eisenhower-Nixon administration that had knowingly condoned repeated violation of laws and human rights at home and abroad through programs of assassination, coups, private wars, invasions, government destabilizations, media infiltration, propaganda, domestic spying, illegal surveillance, complicity with war criminals and organized crime figures, manipulation of or otherwise destruction of evidence, and lying to congress and executive branch superiors, including even the president.
   
   Harvey was, ultimately, the exact opposite of a patriot. He was in fact, an assassin and traitor.
   
   Robert Kennedy, as chief law enforcement officer for the United States and a key government official entrusted by the president with overseeing sensitive foreign operations, had every right to micro-manage affairs in order to prevent the insubordination of Harvey and others who sought to control events in violation of superiors' orders and U.S. government objectives. If anything, Kennedy was far too lenient in merely reassigning this arrogant, reckless, and insubordinate loose cannon, especially after Harvey's reckless unilateral actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis came close to causing a nuclear World War III.
   
   Most egregiously, Harvey and others within the CIA like David Atlee Phillips, after participating in the assassinations of their superiors, then went before Congress and lied to the American people, having destroyed or buried documents to the contrary, and retained or even manufactured others that would tend to portray them in a favorable light, while falsely incriminating those now unable to defend themselves and correct the public record.
   
   As for the author's difficulty in composing and arranging such a major work as this, it is to his credit that this book could even be published considering the CIA's suppression of facts, disinformation, and gross manipulation of media in this and other countries around the world.
   
   Kudos to the author for creating an important work that contributes to greater public awareness and understanding of the forces that have undermined democracy in America.