3 comments about Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa.

1. Do you want to read a good thriller? Despite its title, "Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa" is much more than an account of a celebrated human rights attorney who was murdered in Mexico in 2001. (The government subsequently tried to pass off her death as a suicide.) This beautifully written and well-documented narrative keeps the reader in suspense: Why try to cover up an obvious murder? How were the investigators able to accomplish it? This is a love story, a history of human rights abuses in Mexico and a political analysis. If you want to read a riveting account based on a true tragedy, be sure to read this one.



2. "In Mexico, to defend human rights is to risk your life." -Digna Ochoa. And that's exactly what she did. Ironcially, she risked her life by giving a voice to her own people in her own country, unprotected by her own government, and consequently betrayed. Yet many a government official vowed that this case would not go unsolved (staple phrase in Mexico when a crime is committed). Almost 2 years later, the best they could come up with was the most ridiculous, asinine and insulting verdict I've ever read. This verdict was just as riddled with holes as the other victims mentioned in this book.
   
   I commend Linda Diebel on her arduous, and at times dangerous, investigative work to produce this book. It was through it that holes such as careless police work of not properly securing the crime scene, removal of the body only after all medical readings are taken, no possible gun powder residue, and something as simple as the chain of custody of the evidence were either discovered or brought out from under the rug.
   
   The case of Digna Ochoa is marred and disgraced with incompetence, contradictions, lies, cover up, and ultimately betrayal; things that go against Digna herself and what she stood for. Mexican officials are known to make dissenters disappear (via the army, police, security forces, and others). That explains why testimonies in Digna's case (one of many) were changed and documents mysteriously went missing. If a person who stands in their (government) way can easily be dealt with, then how hard can it be to get rid of a piece of paper?
   
   I strongly recommend this book. While the white sandy beaches of Mexico are quite real, so is the corruption, injustices, and atrocities of torturing and killing of innocent people.



3. The Mexican government's investigation into the bizarre death of Digna Ochoa, a dedicated human-rights lawyer, is set up for scrutiny in this chilling exposé. The author, Linda Diebel, founded and headed up the Toronto Star's Latin-America bureau for seven years before transferring to Washington, and was an acquaintance of Digna's.
   
   "Betrayed" presents the known facts of the case, along with statements from Digna's colleagues, friends and family, and from local police and politicians. The portrait of her that emerges is one that forces the reader to think twice about blindly accepting "official" verdicts in such controversial cases. As we learn more and more about Digna's life and passions and her eagerness to see justice done for Mexico's poorest and least privileged, the official position - that her death was a "probable suicide" - is shown to be absurd.
   
   Digna wasn't only a warrior for justice, hailed by Amnesty International and Bill Clinton and Kerry Kennedy: she was a former Dominican nun, a young woman with a new boyfriend, a loving and stubborn and headstrong daughter and sister. With the extremely-readable and well-crafted "Betrayed", Linda Diebel has given readers a portrait of a fascinating woman whose spirit burned brightly and much too briefly.

1 comments about Gunboat Command: The Biography of Lieutenant Commander Robert Hichens DSO* DSC** RNVR.

1. Mention any of history's greatest conflicts and certain names spring readily to mind either because they were great commanders or great heroes. Generally speaking, Robert Hichens is not one of those names - though it should be!
   
   The Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) is the RN equivalent of the Territorial Army and provides a platform for those who are not fully employed by HM Forces to undertake their military training and weekends and other convenient times. During WW2, of course, these reservists were called up for full time duty. Robert Hichens was just one such person.
   
   Commencing his wartime career in minesweepers, he earned his first DSC by twice going ashore at Dunkirk to help organise the evacuation. In October 1940 he transferred to Coastal Forces and was given command of a fast motor gunboat. Such were his skills of seamanship and leadership that he was quickly given command of a flotilla of these craft and was soon operating against the larger and more heavily armed German equivalent. In April 1943, however, Robert Hichens was killed in Action. By this time he had earned two DSOs, another two DSCs and was also Mentioned in Despatches. He had also been recommended for the Victoria Cross.
   
   Despite there being another two years of warfare to endure, Robert Hichens remains the most decorated member of the RNVR from WW2 and this is his story. It is a story about the man from his roots to his final action. It is a complete story recounted by his son Antony. It is a story which should be read by all those with an interest in the wide-ranging subject of World War Two - if only to bring the name of this highly decorated officer more readily to mind.
   
   NM

5 comments about Madeleine Albright: A twentieth-century odyssey.

1. Dobbs has produced an amazing piece of research and journalism. Practically half the book is devoted to a meticulous charting of Madeleine's parents, the Korbels, and their narrow escape from the Holocaust and later the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia. Following them to America, Dobbs shows how Madeliene's drive and natural intelligence lead her to assimilate seamlessly into American culture and graduate from Wellesley College. I think the author also does an excellent job charting the conflicts for women of this period and demonstrates how Albright succeeds in constantly acquiring new skills and a network of influential friends and colleagues during a time when she could have been simply a "supportive housewife". His insider look at her political career in New York and Washington is fascinating and very informative.

   Perhaps Dobbs deserves to be best congratulated on developing a three-dimensional picture of a complex woman - no saint but instead a powerful human figure in our time.




2. Madeleine is truly driven by the need to assimilate, succeed, and do something great with her life. Her life has not been ordinary. She was shaped by life altering experiences that many young Americans do not understand. In fact, some probably cannot even imagine the depth that Madeleine arose from. Her strength, vision, and tenacity have guided her to become one of the leading role models in our modern society. However, she's also become an icon to women who so desperately need female role models. She questioned whether she had the ability to succeed in a predominantly male world. Her doubts are echoed by women across the country. However, she also demonstrated that it was possible to achieve dreams despite overwhelming odds against success. The Odyssey is truly inspiring. The only reason I wouldn't rate this book as "5 stars" is because of the author's cold, calculated, intrusion into Madeleine's most private moments-such as finding out she was Jewish. Yes, Madeleine's past is what makes her story so remarkable. However, I found Dobbs to be only concerned with "breaking the story", and not necessarily caring how it hurt Madeleine and her family. He was looking for the scoop.



3. This book is a model of biographic research. Dobbs tracks Albright's family 4 generations back across Europe and through WWII.

   I greatly enjoyed learning more about Albright's personal rise to the top, which was inspirational to me as a woman.

   But due to Albright's lack of cooperation with Dobbs in the project, it didn't have a lot of detail from her personally. It was almost all from friends, enemies? and others.

   The facts around Dobbs writing this book bother me. It started with him digging up the fact that she was Jewish (Haven't we progressed beyond caring whether someone is Jewish?) After Dobbs discovered this fact and it broke in the news, he decided to write a book. He describes a tense meeting with Madeline in which she is not at all pleased with his intrusive findings.

   This detail bothered me as I read the book. Is Doobs impartial? Was he possibly angry that she basically shunned his project? It undermined my faith in his opinions slightly.

   If you want to learn more about Madeline and don't mind that the first part is pre WWII, you'll enjoy this book. But I think Dobbs could have gone about it in a better way. I would have enjoyed hearing what Madeline really had to say about everything.




4. Madeleine Albright: A Twentieth Century Odyssey was a joy to read. It was well-written, in precise, easyily read prose. The research job was obviously fantastic, as Dobbs uncovered facts that even Madeleine was at least at one time unaware of. This history of Madeleine Albright's life is detailed and amazing. She is truly a person to be admired. Her history is laced unremovably with the history of the countries she lived in. Her native Czeckoslovkia underwent Hitler, the rise and fall of Communism, and later the dis-integration of the country into the Czeck Republic and Slovakia. Her political views were shaped by Munich and the appeasement, by the consequences of inaction rather than by the consequences of action, such as the Vietnam War, the one event which primarily shaped the foriegn-policy views of her colleagues. Her father delivered her and her immediate family from Hitler, as they were Jewish. Much of the rest of her family perished in the death camps. The Albrights moved to the United States and converted to Catholicism as a protective measure. Madeleine was drived by an incredible urge to assimilate, to please, and to succeed. Sometimes, these instincts came into conflict with one another. Dr. Albright is an amazing woman. I have seen her speak at a college in my area about terrorism and about the effects of September 11, and the myth of a bipolar world. She talked about women's rights and about the Balkans War. She said that "a country that lives only for itself is like a person that lives only fo himself." This defines her foreign policy image. I highly recommend this book, both for its research and for its subject matter.



5. This is a beautifully written book on the life history of Mrs. Albright. I knew little about her prior to reading this, and the book filled in what I wished to know. I was aware that her father was a mentor to Condy Rice and actually am interested in knowing more about him, now.

   Actually, I wasn't aware on buying the book that there was so much focus on her Jewish relatives, and found myself relatively uninterested in Mr. Dobbs's efforts to inform the Secretary. For every one of us interested in distant relatives of whom we know little, there is one of us who isn't.

   This book was a pleasure to read even without the Secretary's co-operation. However, for those interested more in her political development than her personal history, a look at other books would be suggested.

5 comments about Autumn Cloud: From Vietnam War Widow to American Activist (Capital Life) (Capital Life).

1. Autumn Cloud is a valuable addition to the small but significant body of personal stories by Vietnamese refugees who have resettled in the United States. The author's early life was privileged with French schooling in Vietnam, a university education in France, and marriage to an intelligent and sensitive man with a bright future in both academia and politics. Her life was shattered when her husband was assassinated as he was about to be appointed prime minister. After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 she and her three small children were forced to leave their homeland, and they resettled as refugees in the U.S. There she established herself as a community activist helping other refugees, eventually happily remarried, and with her husband represented the U.S. in diplomatic posts abroad.

   This is a very readable book. Particularly memorable for me were the descriptions of the author's early life in Vietnam and how the war affected members of her family in different ways. She effectively portrays the trauma and depression of being a refugee and the difficulties in adjusting to life in a new culture, something that not all Americans fully understand. I recommend it highly.




2. My daughter gave me a copy of "Autumn Cloud" for Christmas 2002. What a wonderful present it was. I was much moved, crying and laughing, as I made my way through the story of Jackie Bong-Wright's life. We are justifiably horrified by 9/11, and yet many Vietnamese, including the author, braved similar clamities over their lifetimes with resiliance and determination. Despite the havoc and danger, a beautiful spirituality shines through the pages of this personal saga. I agree with the author's analysis of the great tragedy and the cautionary tale that marked and marred the lives of all in Viet Nam and most in the US.



3. This book helped me understand the history of Viet Nam and what led to the American intervention. This book was also historical, as well as personal and I enjoyed learning about the author's family and how they coped during their many trials. She and her people have all been through very difficult times. I now have more respect and understanding for the South Vietnamese people and those who relocated to the United States. A big "Thank you" to the author for contributing to my greater understanding.

   I enjoyed this book a great deal as it has helped me to piece together bits and pieces of information from the television news and the newspapers that I saw and read during the war. Being only a teenager at the time the war occurred, this same information looks different now that I am an adult. Also, though I read the paper and watched the news, after reading Autumn Cloud, I realize I did not have the South Vietnames perspetive about the war.

   My ex-husband served in Viet Nam from 1969-1970 when we were newly married - I was 18 years old and this book has helped me understand several things he told me when he came back from the war. I would recommend this book to all wives of Viet Nam veteran's.




4. Many books and numerous studies have been written about the war in Vietnam, by protagonists,government officials, journalists, scholars and others. But none can compare with the unique perspective and deep humanity of Jackie Bong-Wright. Hers is the moving story of a courageous woman, daughter, sister, wife, mother who lived through the prelude, the war and its aftermath. As the young wife of the most prominent representative of the democratic opposition to the last South Vienamese government - assassinated by the Viet Cong - she came to know all the principal figures involved in this tragic war.
   Her insightful reflections on the Vietnamese people, their history and culture are extremely helpful for those of us in the West to better understand and appreciate the Vietnamese people. Despite the numerous obstacles she had to face in her last-minute flight from Saigon with her three small children, Jackie Bong-Wright never lost her detrmination to survive, to overcome, to prevail. Aided in no small measure by her deep faith.
   This book is a tribute to the human spirit, to human solidarity, to courage in the face of despair. It is also beautifully written and leaves one with a sentiment of hope, hope in a world torn by the tragedy of violence, terrorism and war. Hope that the world is also made up of persons such as Jackie Bong-Wright who writes: "Life swirls around us - love, hate, joy, suffering, unity, division, failure, success. Each person has to go through them all." And that is precisely Jackie Bong- Wright's unique and compassionate story.
   Frank and Alma Tonini, Rapallo (Italy)



5. This is a must read for anyone interested in Vietnam, and/or the era of the Vietnam War. The book follows the author's life- but in doing so offers an excelent portrait of Vietnamese History. The author is a strong and amazing woman, who continues today to advocate for Vietnamese Victims of human trafficking and sexual/labor exploitation within the highest circles of the US government.

No comments about Otra Vez: Authorized Edition (Che Guevara Publishing Project / Ocean Sur).

4 comments about Kennedy.

1. Although Sorenson's book might have taken a beating since Camelot's golden days, it remains an invaluable classic for those interested in Presidential biographies. Sorenson doccuments what he felt made Kennedy a leader....and what ultimately impacted us when he was assasinated.



2. After watching the three Presidential debates between Kerry and Bush, its interesting to go back and read this book by Ted Sorensen, a valuable aide and friend of President Kennedy. To be able to compare the world we now live in as represented by President Bush and JFK wannabe John kerry, and the way the world used to be in the time of the real JFK is remarkable. Maybe there was a secret agreement between politicians and the media on reporting events and styles, but it seems that todays world of immediate desire for news and analysis compared to President Kennedys administration of realism and understanding goes a long way to explain why politicians today are viewed in a lesser light. After President Kennedys death, we were faced with Vietnam, Watergate, malaise, an actor in the White House, Bush, an intern in the White House, 9/11, Iraq and Bush. Like that famous politician Yogi Berra once said, "Its Deja Vu All Over Again".



3. Sorensen's account deals briefly with Kennedy's background, and then dives deeper into his campaign and years in office. I used the book as research for a paper on the Bay of Pigs and found that Sorensen's analysis is concise yet thorough. His reliance on Kennedy's speeches and on the progression of the drafts (many that he wrote or co-wrote) provides a very interesting picture of the incident and the man that I couldn't find elsewhere.
   
   A very good background, reference, or research piece from insider Ted Sorensen.



4. First off, this book is well researched and a good read until you get to the "World Leader" part of the book. Even though that is the part that talks about the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is sketched out beforehand. By the time I got to the "World Leader" part of the book, I felt like it was a chore to read; something that had to be done! I highly recomend Robert Dallek's "An Unfinished Life" instead of this one because Dallek's book flows at a much faster pace and is easily the best JFK book out there!

No comments about The Life of Henry the Fourth, King of France and Navarre: Volume 2.

5 comments about The Education of Julius Caesar: A Biography, a Reconstruction.

1. What's wrong with the Education of Julius Caesar? In a word, Arthur Kahn can't seem to keep his Leftist political biases from coloring his evaluation of the Late Republic. His prejudices seep in on virutally every page in which the Senate is discussed. This is not to say that the Senators where saints; far from it. But they were men of their time, who had been raised in a political community that indoctrinated them into it's beliefs just as every other society does. Kahn seems to ignore this in his zeal to paint the "oligarchs", as he calls them, in a bad light. This is illegitimate, as anyone who understands the structure of the Roman state in that era must know. The Romans had a nomialist theory of the state. Rather than thinking that Rome as a poltical community was some kind of larger whole, over and above it's citizens, the Romans believed that Rome was nothing but the assembly of the Roman people as private persons. This is the reason they based citizenship and voting rights on wealth. Since they did not have a very sharp and differentiated notion of political as opposed to private life, they could not find a basis for evaluating one apart from the other. Thus, a rich man was literally more of a citizen than a poor one, because he had more of the Republic than the poor man did, due to his extensive property. We regard this as bizarre, but no one in Rome seems to have thought twice about it. A result of this identification of the personal and the political is the radical fusion of the personal interests of the rulers with those of the state. That is why the Senators reacted so violently to reform attempts - they knew no vision of politics that would enable them to see any degradation of their posiiton as anything other than an attack of Roman society itself. They simply could not differentiate their own positions of power from the State. This is what Kahn ignores. In page after page, he portrays the Senate as a gang of cynical, ruthless misers out to strip everyone else to the bone while hiding their crimes under the name of patriotism. In truth, these sad little men just didn't know any better. Kahn ignores this, and thus projects his own class-warfare ridden politics onto men who lived two millenia ago.

   If you want a good biography of Caesar, try Christian Meier's "Caesar", availble at Amazon.com, instead.




2. I found Kahn's book fascinating, although I agree with an earlier reviewer that I regret he could not keep his personal politics more out of his book - irritating, but a small caveat when there is so much of use here. It's as if Kahn is too prone to project Rome in 60 BC onto the U.S. in, say, 1935. I've read many books on Caesar (including C. Meier's rather romantic German version) and in many ways, I enjoyed Kahn's more than any except Gelzer (who is still the best). Kahn has his finger on almost every significant event in Caesar's (and the late Republic's) life and is able to work through the facts both thoroughly and logically. In fact, the book is almost overwhelming in its detail. Agreed, he is one of the "pro-Caesar" faction - which seems almost by definition to mean, he's anti-Optimate. Well, it's the rare historian of Caesar who can manage not to take sides on this subject, the very issue that tore the Republic apart. Read the book with the realization that you have a fine bio of Caesar here, accurate and thorough, but more than slightly prejudiced against the Roman Senate that so thoroughly detested and tried to destroy Caesar and you will do very well.



3. Why would anyone write a biography of a historic figure and use a cartoon of a baboon on the cover? Can that be the face of the author?

   I doubt that the greatest general and statesman of ancient times looked like a baboon. More likely it's a leftist biographer.

   Don Norton




4. FORGET THE ALLEGATIONS OF BIAS AND LEFTISM BY SOME PREVIOUS REVIEWERS. In 40 years of studying the Roman Republic, I find this book to be the best review of Caesar and his times ever written. Kahn does a compelling job of tracing and demonstrating the people, events, knowledge, and institutions that shaped and were modified by Caesar. Especially if you are a Ciceronian, you need to read this book; no writer on Rome since Kahn's book was first published can write without reference to this work, even if to disagree.
   
   I read this when it was first issued, and I go back to it again and again. I also recommend it to those who want a readable and full introduction to Late Republican life.



5. 'The Education of Julius Caesar' is a solid biography of Caesar and an excellent overview of late republic political history. Khan writes with a lucent style and great technique to tell Caesar's story. For example, throughout the book Kahn contrasts Caesar's Epicureanism to the optimates' Stoicism; something I've never seen done in a Caesar biography before. He uses this contrast to highlight that Caesar's life was more than a political power struggle; it was also a philosophical struggle.
   
   My only warning--if you know next to nothing about Caesar's life or late roman republic politics don't start here. While the book is extremely detailed it doesn't do a great job of showing where cities are located (there are no maps), or explaining the political curus honorum. It's easy to get a praetor, tribune, aedile, censor, consul, and everything else mixed up if you've never studied it before. I'd recommend Colleen McCullough's excellent 'Masters of Rome' before reading this.
   
   Overall--an excellent biography of Caesar, well written, and great style.

5 comments about A Farther Shore: Ireland's Long Road to Peace.

1. A compendium of lies. A wholly mendacious and self-serving account of recent Irish history. Adams's leadership position in the terrorist IRA is not admitted, nor are the many bombings and murders he ordered, nor the beatings, nor the torture, nor the IRA's formal commitment to socialism. Atrociously written too, with a cliché in every paragraph. A disgusting work of propaganda from the smiler with the knife.



2. This book begins with the hunger strikes of 1980-1981 and ends with the Good Friday Agreement of 1992, as seen by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. It also goes over events during that period - the beginnings of secret negotiations with the British, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Gibraltar executions, the initial ceasefire, support for the peace process from the USA as well as a country that had just had a peaceful settlement after years of fighting, South Africa, bad faith from the British, and finally the Good Friday Agreement.

   Aside from going over the history, he details the negotation back-and-forth minutiae - sometimes going into too much detail about tactical political maneuvering by the various parties. He also includes humorous anecdotes like how during the Good Friday agreement negotiations, the Sinn Fein representatives went out of their way to be extra nice to the unionist representatives, who wouldn't speak to them, always holding open doors, smiling, saying hello in such a "lovefest" of niceness that the unionists eventually complained.

   What I found particularly interesting was his discussion of the RTE and BBC censorship of Sinn Fein, and the effect that this had on people in England and the 26 counties perception. He discusses the gap between republicans and loyalists throughout, his earlier work has some insightful reflections on this as well. Gone is the young idealistic man of "Before the Dawn", in this book he is an older man, a tactically sharp politician who was smart enough to get rid of some of the harmful archaic dogmatic blockades of republicanism (like not running candidates in the 26 counties), and who is at the vanguard of a new republican strategic gamble - success via peaceful politics.




3. How could anyone possibly read any of this and believe that it is a work a literature, its nothing but propaganda full of mind altering lies. He wants you to believe that he is revolutionary aiming for a United Ireland, free from war. Heres the truth Jerry Adams is IRA, responsible for countless needless deaths of police officers, politicians and civillians both protestant and catholic. He has other members of IRA in his so called "political" party, murderers in goverment. Terrorisim is terrorisim, be it Palistine, Al-Qaeda or the widely believed "romantic" IRA. DO NOT GET THIS BOOK BY GIVING JERRY ADAMS YOUR MONEY, unless the price of toilet paper had suddenly rose!!!!!



4. The last few years have seen the end of a campaign of violence in Ireland that claimed nearly 4000 lives. Few can claim more credit for this achievement than the author of this work. The book makes clear that he remains totally committed to the peace process as he has been ever since he decided to start calling it that, and to dealing with the challenges and difficulties which the British present. Most remarkably what comes across is the frank acceptance of past mistakes and of the hurt and pain they have caused, and of those mistakes he may regrettably have to make in the future and for which he will be no less sorry. In spite of the horrors of the past 30 years, Adams is a man ready to forgive.



5. Gerry Adams is a native of "northern Ireland" and he is a politician and head of Sinn Fein party which means in translation "ourselves". As a nationalist he has worked for many years for the cause on Irish unity. He has had many ups and downs including being shot, serving jail time and being elected an MP to Westminster, etc. The book covers the period from approximately 1970 to 1998.
   
   I would like to quote one passage from the book that says a lot about his thinking. This was during negotiations with all the parties in London at Lancaster House, the building of prior historical negotiations. Here 150 years after the great famine he describes the setting for the negotiations..." It was here-amid the grandeur and the Lousi XIV interiors and the other fine furnishings, undoubtedly stolen from around the world or purchased with other ill gotten gains...". So his Irish nationalism and his annoyance with the colonial English rulers are abundantly clear even in the late 1990's. People that understand colonialism certainly can empathize with Mr Adams.
   
   Gerry Adams has written approximately eight other books so he is not new to books. This is a substantial book about 400 pages long, small font, lots of details. He is not a professional writer and sometimes the writing is a bit cumbersome. Having said that this is simply an excellent read both entertaining and engrossing.
   
   He professes to be a politician (only) and explains many of his meetings, discussions, jail time, etc. He describes his meeting with Clinton and Blair in great detail, often hour by hour, and often explains the actions of many people working with him on various negotiations. Beyond that I think you should read the book. It is his view of a complicated subject whether you agree with him or not, and it is an excellent book.
   
   Adams's path towards a political solution, as opposed to more of the same, has been a key ingredient to peace in Northern Ireland.
   
   Good book: 5 stars.

No comments about I Always Sang for My Father/Or Anyone Who Would Listen.