5 comments about See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism.

1. This book is a must read for anyone that wants to know why something like 9-11 happened and why it will happen again. The inner workings of the CIA are laid bare for us to see. You will be proud and horrified all at the same time. Mr. Baer writes a very enjoyable narrative and fills this book with information that makes you feel like you are eavesdropping on the seventh floor. Read this and then go get his other books. They are worth any price.



2. This book is an incredible account of a man's journey and almost an obsession with finding the truth - and how his efforts were sometime thwarted by his own government and bureaucratic bull. Mr. Baer makes an excellent point that the CIA and the United States in general has to get back into the nitty gritty of operations and spying - face to face, person to person contact. Technology can only take us so far and get us basic information. In order to beat this enemy, we need to be patient, determined, and willing to accept the truth.



3. This is probably the best memoir I have come across by a former CIA case officer. Baer is spot on when it comes to how government operates. Who could ever imagine that those in the field are often times prevented from achieving superior results by risk averse management, or that those in Washington are too concerned about politics and/or "drinking and whoring" to comprehend what's truly unfolding beyond our borders? The truth can be ugly.



4. Robert Baer's account illustrates how American intelligence gathering capability was decapitated by bureaocrats and politicians. The author paints a vivid picture of work in the field as humint (human intelligence)was relegated to the back bench. Our enemies could not have done better than our own political establishment in neutralising the CIA. This book tells it all.
   
   Kingmaker



5. For those that think the goverment (not CIA) is here for you. This book should show you otherwise. For those conspiracy theorists...this should be right up your ally. Where is the justice in this country when such fine individuals can suffer through so much to keep us all safe....all in vain and all only so the richer can get richer. The government doesnt run this country, the "big oil" does. This will never change. Great book, great read.

5 comments about Hard Corps: From Gangster to Marine Hero.

1. I feel like I know Sgt. Martinez better than I know many of my family members and friends. This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's well-written and the story of his personal redemption is remarkable. I found the author to be very honest, which works best with someone insightful and thoughtful, so this isn't some self-indulgent story of how cool his combat experiences were. In fact, he comes across as humble, caring and grateful for the opportunity to serve his country with honor.
   
   I learned a lot from his description of boot camp about the tactics that the Marines use to achieve the culture they need to be effective. Publisher's Weekly didn't seem to grasp this, but you really get an insight into how they turn a wide variety of teenagers into men who would die for each other and for the rest of us, as well.
   
   I am thankful that Sgt. Martinez took the opportunity given him to turn his life around. I couldn't stop thinking how proud his parents must have been of him, and I was so glad to learn that he was awarded the Navy Cross before his father's premature death.
   
   Thank you for your service and for recounting some of your experiences for us, Sgt. Martinez!



2. I have recommended this book to read to all my friends, I
   read it in one full day, just could not put it down.
   It's written with honesty, to the point, words written
   directly from Marco Martinez's heart and mind.
   My husband (a retired Marine) read it and was flooded
   with memories of Camp Pendleton.
   
   this book is not only for military personnel and their
   families, everyone from all walks of life should read this
   book. All teens should read this, it will give them an
   insight of what it takes to keep America Free.
   
   To all those who says, "Support our Troops", read this
   and you will truly appreciate our military serving this
   free country, USA. Freedom is not free.
   
   
   Marine Sgt. Marco Martinez is truly a great American,
   may success follow you always, God bless you.



3. This book is a smooth read taking you from the author's life as a gangster to becoming a marine to fighting in Iraq. I wish it was longer I really enjoyed it. I'd also recommend the book Lone Survivor for anyone who enjoyed this book.



4. I am proud to say that Marco Martinez was a student of mine. It was an honor being the teacher of such an outstanding American hero. His book is an extraordinary account of personal responsibility, devotion to duty and love of country.
   
   He is also an excellent scholar with unlimited academic potential.
   
   I wish Marco the best of everything. He represents the best America has to offer.
   
   Michael Fremont Redfield



5. This is an awsome book i hope whoever is reading this review decides to get the book. I havent actually read the book but i can tell it will be a good one just by looking at the cover.

5 comments about Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine.

1. Tyler E. Boudreau has written a very important book. Packing Inferno should be a mandatory read for any young man considering handing his life over to the United States Marine Corps. I think it would make some of them think twice.
   
   This book is so informative about the "real" situation in Iraq. I felt like I was reading some top secret file or something. When I was done, my opposition to the "war" was quite stronger than before. It really helped me justify my feelings. Boudreau has the gift of being able to take you there with his words. its simple, to the point and highly emotional.
   
   if you find yourself feeling confused about this war and wondering what the hell is going on over there, read Packing Inferno. It will shed some light on the situation.
   
   I cant really say enough about this book. you should read it.



2. Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine (Feral House)
   
   It is easy enough to find war books with 20/20 hindsight, but this is not history. "This is really happening!" to quote Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. This is our war, and this is the war that has sent the American economy into a nightmarish spiral.
   
   Boudreau, a truly talented writer, and a dedicated lifelong Marine, does not speak from an academic ivory tower. Boudreau documents his time in Iraq with brutal honesty.
   
   Packing Inferno salutes our troops and their bravery, and their attempts to carry out missions with little or no instruction. He is incredibly articulate in describing how all missions in Iraq became missions to protect supply lines, and lives of American troops. And how, once in Iraq, the concept of winning hearts and minds became an impossible order, since no one was able to tell who the enemy was.
   
   Packing Inferno is not only one of the greatest war books ever written, but also one of the best anti-war books.
   
   Packing Inferno is a must have for any college, or public library, with so many returning veterens, with so little psychologic help for them, and so little understanding by an underinformed public.
   
   Whereever you stand on the issue of the Iraq war, this is a MUST READ book.



3. This is one of the most sublime, real books that I have read on the soldier's experience in Iraq. The author has a talent of weaving on-the-ground anecdotes with deep questions and insights all in an attempt to come to grips with his ambivalent experience. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to see the mission through the eyes of a Marine.



4. In a word, this book is excellent. Captain Boudreau takes us on a journey, not only through the streets and countryside of Iraq during this "war", but also, honestly and movingly, through his own inner struggle as he searches within himself to reconcile his early years as a committed Marine infantryman with his existence in what we call "normal daily life."
   You will learn much from this book: about War; about the "war" in Iraq; about contradictions (not only in "war", but in all of us); and especially about how one man/soldier has bravely attempted to deal with the internal turmoil which results from these contradictions. And, you will become engaged and stay engaged through the entire book.
   Again: Excellent!



5. Tyler Boudreau's Packing Inferno is provocative and moving. It is the story of a gradual awakening. Boudreau does relate some hellish experiences in some detail, but he also interprets those experiences, and provides their context. Many of the best passages of the book are insightful descriptions of Boudreau's complex interactions with other complex human beings. Boudreau tells a gripping story of his own "unmaking," but, by placing his own trajectory in a larger context, he successfully builds a convincing argument against this war, and perhaps against all war.

5 comments about My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy.

1. I just love his humour, the book is straightforward, without any political bull.... The guy only once and very shortly explains his motivation behind "converting" and then goes on to tell it all (or sort of). In this business it is quite impossible to tell it all of course.
   As a homo sovieticus myself, I was quite impressed about the information in this book. I would have betted for more censorship, after all it was written in Soviet Union!



2. Whereas, Philby is extremely circumspect in his story, and reveals almost no details of his traitorous actions, this short text, fully describes the chaos of the early British secret service. This book is almost written tongue-in-cheek, as though Philby is poking fun at his former colleagues. The book borders on catty. He describes some of the people he betrayed with strange affection, and others with old-style British disdain.
   
   What is revealed, and quite lucidly, is the utter chaos of the formation of the British Secret Service in the early years of WWII. He makes it clear how easy it was to manipulate the Service on behalf of his Soviet handlers. His rise to head of the Soviet counter-intelligence group was facilitated by the petty rivalries within the various divisions, each seeking its own funding and personnel.
   
   As his old school education, Cambridge education, and clear articulation reveal, he was moved forward mostly because of his ability to write briefs clearly in a world of petty bureaurocrats who relied on men who were either frankly inept or more concerned with politics than solving problems.
   
   As this book is a quick read (as long as you skip quickly over the various explanations of divisional structures), it is worth a look. I had this book sitting on my shelf for years, but decided to read it after watching "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". Le Carre has taken much of the Philby betrayal and created his superb spy thriller from actual events of the day.
   
   One interesting footnote, is that Grahame Green remained friends with Philby until his death. Green visited Philby after he removed to Moscow before being arrested.



3. Treason tends to get rather an unflattering press, however successful and elegant-minded the traitor. The basic question of loyalty goes back, I guess, to time immemorial. Moral philosophers have flailed at it incessantly, all to no purpose whatsoever in my own view. The issue comes down to this - each and every one of us recognises different, and often conflicting, loyalties. Socrates let himself be framed in court on a nonsensical charge and accepted the death penalty in the name of upholding the Law. More fool Socrates, I can only reflect, for all my general enthusiasm for the Rule of Law. Under what circumstances would any of us denounce others for what we would agree was wrongdoing? That would vary, I guess, but I never heard of anyone whose answer was `under any and all circumstances'. In particular, where national laws are involved, they are all in the last resort, as Britain's eminent late Lord Chancellor Quintin Hogg Lord Hailsham observed, `a con'. Nations are not some be-all nor yet any end-all unless we decide for ourselves that they shall be so.
   
   The case of Philby is one where I find the opinions of the Great and the Good more enlightening and useful than I usually find them. Graham Greene goes straight to the main point - Philby has a chilling and unshakable certainty in his adopted communist faith. He offers no apologia for Stalin's atrocities, he just presents the faith to himself as more important and lasting; and that, as Greene says, is what Catholics have done for centuries. What did Philby have against his native land? Frankly, little or nothing that I can see. He is the English of the English. He despises Baldwin and Chamberlain, but so did many without giving their main loyalty to the Soviet Union as Philby did. John le Carre is too outraged to talk sense or fact (?Philby had `no women'? Apart from his being married four times, just read Muggeridge on Philby's proclivities as a womaniser. ?Philby had `no faith'? Well done Philby, if I understand that). Le Carre acknowledges some primacy of patriotism, whereas Greene does not. Nigel West has a different slant, and one that I find interesting. Philby, says West, was fundamentally an ego-tripper, embracing communism by way of exercising his superiority complex. That could be right, but I wouldn't bet much on it.
   
   I simply cannot assess the `sincerity' of Philby's communist convictions: indeed I would not claim to know what I mean by that term. What I do say is that I find the personality put across in Philby's way of expressing himself to be enormously attractive and engaging. In another context, this might be the absolute exemplar of the English public-school product - articulate, elegant, witty, showing a sense of proportion and a delightful sense of the ridiculous. About his private life there is absolutely nothing in this book. He was widowed on one occasion, for all you could tell from this narrative - I found this fact out from the brief curriculum vitae at the back - and I can only wonder what it can have been like to live with a man living this kind of double life, indeed how he slept at all, let alone with someone else. The story-line is as good as Greene says it is - completely riveting and better than most spy novels (Mr le Carre please note). He got away with it all for 11 years after his elite Cambridge lefty friends from the 30's Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess fled to Russia on being unmasked as spies, and they never brought him to trial because he had gone to Moscow via Beirut when the rumbling suspicions were finally confirmed, never to leave.
   
   Philby never really made the headlines in the way Burgess and Maclean did, partly because their discovery was at the height of the early cold war and the baleful era of Joseph McCarthy; partly because they were both homosexual, Maclean of the closet variety, Burgess a complete roarer. After their disappearance I still recall the cartoon by Bud Neil in the Glasgow Evening Times. Two workmen in flat caps were emerging from a manhole in the street, and one of Bud Neil's shapeless women says to another `It widnae be them?' Distance lends enchantment to the view, but Philby has brought a lot of the enchantment back. Eleu loro.



4. Page after page and line after line, this book is amazing in its power to frustrate even the most gawky-eyed initiate in the world of espionage-reading! Philby says pretty much nothing that will add to our knowledge of his ways and mechanics of operation. He is a fine writer, without doubt, but good writing befreft of content? He does not wax expansive on his faith - communism; he does not explain the hows of his first contact with the KGB; he does not even offer a strand of information on his life in Moscow, his marriage, his routine... aww, come on ...
   
   Pick it up and read it one three-hour layover at the airport... then place it in your library so that you have a book (for the record) that was written by THE spy who outdid 'em all!



5. Although reviewers are correct in stating that this "autobiography" reveals very little about the author, it should be said that a Philby "expert", who spent a week in Moscow interviewing Philby for the Sunday Times, admitted that even he was not sure who the infamous spy really was. Perhaps Philby himself was doubtful. Philby remains, in essence, a chameleon throughout the book, and his "autobiography" fails to satisfy those who want the answers to two questions: why and how Philby managed to betray his country and bring down an entire intelligence service. There are great gaps in this book. It entirely skips over Philby's recruitment by Soviet agents at Cambridge, and although it begins with an exciting episode in Spain, it describes almost nothing about Philby's "other" work. In fact, there is so little mention of Philby's work as a double agent, that I began to forget that this man, while making great inroads in Turkey and Spain for his service, was betraying it at the very same instance. It is difficult to believe that Philby was a double agent when he shows obvious pleasure in the success of his plans, even when they work against the very people he is supposedly loyal to: the Soviets. At least one thing may be garnered from this autobiography: that Philby was not, as Nigel West pointed out, an "ideologue", but rather a theorist, and a manipulator, who was willing to sacrifice nearly everything to play his complex games of espionage.
   
   If, however, you are content to read about the endless political manoeuvring and intriguing inherent in the British intelligence service, along with its restructuring and development during WW2 and post-war years, then this is the book for you. Just don't expect any gripping accounts of Philby's deception. This isn't what Philby's book is about: rather, it's an insider's look into the British intelligence service, with the gloves off.
   
   "My Silent War" is, however, well-written, and is certainly not a piece of Communist propaganda, although the reader would do well to remember that the author's prejudice falls heavily on the side of that particular ideology, and therefore his account of several historical figures and events is rather suspect. Philby's arrogance is not altogether off-putting, and in some passages, he can be quite charming, even funny. Still, it is hardly a satisfying autobiography.
   
   *I would instead recommend John Le Carre's novel, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", for those looking for a true tale of espionage. Though Le Carre's book is fictional, it is based on the Philby case, and shows the true devestation a "mole" can cause. Le Carre himself was a member of the SIS, and was even an acquaintance of Philby's, and therefore his novel is extremely true to life and makes for fascinating reading.

5 comments about Commandant of Auschwitz : The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess.

1. 'The banality of evil 'is what comes to mind. This concept was developed by Anna Harendt at trial of criminal Nazi Eichmann in Israel in 1961 - 1962. Thus she felt that Eichmann, far from being the bloodthirsty monster we have described, is a man sadly banal, a small ambitious and zealous officer, entirely subject to the authority, unable to distinguish right from wrong. Eichmann believes perform a duty, he followed the guidelines and stopped thinking.
   
   This is what we feel about Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of the extermination camp Auschwitz. The remorse realizes sometimes, very timidly, towards the end, to be evacuated as radically it showed. The écoeurement dispute is the revolt by reading this auto-biography. A necessary reading.



2. I have always been facinated by what makes people do the horrible things they do to each other. So, thinking (hoping actually) that by reading this SS officer's biography I would gain some insight and because all proceeds from the sale of the book benefit the victims I bought it.
   
   The book is a crashing bore. Like all Nazi's he obeys because he was ordered to obey. He was raised with a Prussian sense of duty and appears incapable of independent thought or reason. When he gets into the atrocities at the camps, he claims ignorance of or that they really were not that bad. Or, when they really were that bad, he was "sickened by them." And if he had really "Been in charge" he would have just made
   them all work camps for slave labor with no gassing. Like working people to death in a slave labor camp is better than gassing them in the first 15 minutes????? This guy's lack of humanity is so typical of the racist mentality, although he claims no hatred of the Jews. Maybe he did not hate them, but he sure murdered them by the 100,000's.
   
   I would not recommed this book. You have heard it all before. Instead buy and read "The Murders Among Us" by Simon Weisenthal. Now thats one darn good mass murder mystery and Nazi spy hunt of a story. Its like "Helter Skelter". You will read it, then ten years later read it again.
   
   I use to be a absolute death penalty supporter. As I age I find I'm not so blood-thirsty. However! There are certain persons it should be reserved for, Timothy McVeigh as an example, and Rudolph Hoess, not to be confused with Rudolph Hess (Hitler's deputy). I would pull the trap myself on Hoess if asked to. He was executed after Nuremberg.



3. After Dachau was liberated, Army intelligence interviewed a woman at the camp who claimed to have been Rudolf Hoess' mistress while at Auschwitz. What details they could check were confirmed, and her interview became part of a Seventh Army report issued a few weeks later, a report that has been republished as Dachau Liberated: The Official Report (ISBN: 1587420031). For those who want to understand the infamous Hoess, that interview of "E.H." provides a background to his obviously self-serving autobiography. Here's a short passage from her interview:
   
   "According to my recollection, on December 16, 1942, about 11 p.m. I was already asleep, suddenly the C.O. appeared before me. I hadn't heard the opening of my cell and was such frightened. It was dark in the cell. I believed at first it was an SS man or a prisoner and said, "What is this tomfoolery, I forbid you." Then I heard "Pst," and a pocket lamp was lighted and lit the face of the C.O. I broke out "Herr Kommandant."
   
   Hoess didn't mention this clandestine affair in his autobiography, but details she gave fit with his account and with conditions at Auschwitz.



4. This book was very disturbing on so many levels. Yet it was also fascinating to see the progression of this semi-average person, into a person who was responsible for the deaths of millions. Read the intro by Primo Levi first to get yourself in the right frame of mind.



5. This so-called "autobiography" is fiction, written, coached, and co-authored under the extreme duress of a Stalinist prison, and it shows in it's shoddy attention to the detail of the lies.
   
   For example, the book is chronologically unsound.
   
   According to his book, Hoess is ordered to come to Berlin "in the summer of 1941". The book then contains a glaring impossibility in that Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler allegedly tells him; "The existing annihilation sites in the East (Belzec, Sobibor, and Trblinka), are not in a position to handle the major actions envisaged."
   The problem is that according to standard holocaust mythology, the alleged killing activities of these camps only got started "exterminating" in the summer of 1942. In 1941, there were no "existing extermination sites in the East".
   For that reason, Jean-Claude Pressac claims the meeting must have been 1942. That, however, creates further contadictions in chronology.
   
   Firstly, Himmler's 1942 appointment book survived the war, and it contains no such entry. Once the attack on the Soviet Union began, Himmler was hardly ever even in Berlin.
   
   Secondly, by the summer of 1942, Hoess is supposedly already "gassing" Jews.
   
   Further contradictions with factual detail abound.

5 comments about Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army.

1. I skipped a lot of pages because I was bored. I found her lack of empathy for her fellow soldiers sad. I enjoyed Meichelbock's female perspective book much more. It was honest, endearing, and a whole lot more fun to read.



2. I have been in the Army for just over a decade. I have been deployed to Iraq and I'm sure I'll deploy at at least a couple more times before I retire. Personally, I found this book completely infuriating! Williams made money by fueling stereotypes that put woman back into the stone age. Contrary to what she would have you believe, not all male soldiers are trying to get into the pants of any willing female. Not that it never happens, but I would not consider it the norm. The majority of soldiers...men and women... are hardworking, self sacrificing individuals. The men I deployed with were very protective of the females, almost the the point of being annoying.
   
   This book went back and forth between Williams bragging about how eduacated and wonderful she thinks she is, and making a mockery of women in the Armed Forces.
   
   Please don't waste your time getting this book! If you do...please remember not to believe everything you read.



3. I just checked and there happen to be two recent reviews of Clint Eastwood's "Heartbreak Ridge", NEITHER of which sees fit to mention the sub-plot, that occasionally macho-leader is seen reading Womens' Magazines somewhat clandestinely, trying to get inside the head of his semi-estranged partner.
   While I have to agree with the military reviewers that maybe the character thus revealed is not ideally what you'd want, the way it's told, even SHE had "I am not worthy" episodes at times. The most arrogant passages are about incompetent superiors. Of the incidents described, two of them just make you cringe, they are so egregious that they would not make it into a movie plot, it would not seem credible. Since many lives depend on their orders, there ought to be better procedures for challenging such officers - this was of course also an issue in the fictional "Heartbreak Ridge".



4. I actually sought out writing a review on this book -- something I rarely do.
   
   I picked this book up one day and barely was able to put it down. It is gripping and honest, and it helped me to get a better idea about the war and our soldiers' experience and that of civilians as well. My husband is reading it now and appreciates it as much as I did.
   
   Do yourself a favor and read it. I learned about it from [...], where I bought an autographed copy, by the way.



5. I served with some of her former comrades...they said she's full of B.S....just proves they'll print anything nowadays. Sad...so sad.

5 comments about Teddy Suhren: Ace of Aces: Memoirs of a U-boat Rebel.

1. This autobiography by Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren is yet another fine book by a surviving German Naval Officer of the U-Boat conflict during World War Two. He was certainly no Nazi, and suffered tremendous personal loss - his parents and sister died toward the end of the war, when Soviet forces entered the German-speaking Sudetenland region (now in the Czech Republic). His brother Gerd Suhren was also a highly-decorated U-Boat Commander. Teddy was something of a "non-conformist," who harbored anti-Hitler sympathies, who was no racist and who was very fair toward his men. After the war, he returned to a country (Germany) which now saw all veterans as something of criminals - something grossly unfair to those who were mere victims of their generation. After he passed away in 1984, his ashes were left in the exact position in the North Atlantic where his last submarine command (U-564) went down with all her men. This was done at his specific request. Like many U-Boat aces, he was withdrawn from the front in order to train new recruits at home - thus did he survive the carnage of World War 2.



2. This is an excellent account of one man's war as a submarine officer in World War Two and significant work within this area of study.
   
   I found this book to be a bit of a pleasant surprise. Not only does the book have dozens of great photographs documenting Suhren's experience. The book reminds me extensively of the movie Das Boot and gives the reader good perspective of submarine operations.
   
   Things I enjoyed about this book are the stories of working among the sailors as a team and how Suhren made a special effort to take care of his sailors. I also enjoyed his description of action off the Florida coast. Since I'm familiar with the area he writes of it's particularly fascinating reading. In fact a person can almost imagine what it was like years ago when the attacks took place.
   
   My only criticism of the book centers on the old fashioned writing style of the book. In some place entire pages are devoted to one large paragraph. And while this may not be daunting to some. It certainly doesn't make things easier from an esthetic standpoint for the reader. The other thing to consider is this is a specialty book, and a good solid foundation in the general history of the war would help a new reader understand the significant place U-boats have in the history of the war.
   
   If you're interested in the U-boat war I would suggest you read U-boat Commander by Peter Cremer and The Shooting War by Otto Giese. Both are excellent easy to read books on the topic.



3. Good book easy to follow about one the most successful Uboat Captains who also managed to survive the war - starts with early years, naval training, patrols, transfer from active duty to training and the Command of the Uboat Fleet while based in Norway.



4. Excellent account of an interesting WW2 U-Boat Commander,not your typical German stereotype, Teddy Suhren's autobiography is a must read for anyone interested in the Battle of the Atlantic and the U-Boat Campaign of the East Coast of Florida. Suhren is a fun loving, professional who works hard and plays hard.
   
   Highly recommend the book.



5. Whenever I review a book about U-Boats, I automatically think of (and usually mention) Gunther Prien and Otto Kretschmer. After having read this book, however, I think my first choice of name should have been Teddy Suhren.
   
   Suhren was a legend within the U-Boat service during WW2 and this is his story. The detail comes from his own papers and photographs revealing a U-Boat commander who was incredibly successful. His own personal patrol range included the eastern coast of the United States as well as the Indian Ocean. What endears any reader to Suhren as a person, however, is not only his success, and outstanding leadership skills, but also his sense of humour and the fact that he was a rebel and often in trouble with his superiors.
   
   In a book which is clearly thoroughly researched, this author has put together an important work which will fill many gaps for those with an interest in the exciting and dangerous art of U-Boat warfare during WW2. I particularly liked the way in which the carefully selected photographs are used - appearing on each relevant page and not found in a small glossy collection in the middle of the book. In this way, each picture is relevant to the adjacent text and does much to support one's reading of the work as opposed to creating an interruption as the reader searches to find something located elsewhere.
   
   Altogether, this is an excellent work - exactly what I have come to expect from these particular publishers.
   
   NM

5 comments about Red Baron.

1. "During my whole life, I have not found a happier hunting ground than that in the course of the Somme River." That famous sentence begins the chapter on the Battle of the Somme in Manfred Von Richtofen's autobiography, The Red Baron, first published in 1917 and available in a reprint by Pen & Sword with additional new material. In this edition, Norman Franks summarizes Richtofen's air battles and gives us a fine summary of the life of Richtofen. N. H. Hauprich presents a list of the aircraft flown by Richtofen.
   
   That this work is of historical value cannot be denied. It is, after all, the autobiography of one of the truly great flying aces of World War I. That it is a fascinating portrayal of a gentleman officer in a world long gone cannot be denied. That it is a very entertaining read cannot be denied.
   
   And yet, to the modern reader there is something uncomfortable in Richtofen's describing combat in such a way as to read like the adventure books for boys so popular in his time: "I advised him to fly around the smoke cloud. Holck did not intend to do this. On the contrary. The greater the danger, the more the thing attracted him. Therefore straight through! I enjoyed it too to be together with such a daring fellow."
   
   Richtofen died young, of course, and he died in a fight in the Valley of the Somme, his happy hunting ground. We are not likely to see his type again, and that may not be a bad thing.
   
   --David Lang at Advance Book Reviews



2. I saw a biography about the Red Baron on tv and thought that he had an exciting life so I wanted to read his book that way I could read about it straight from the person that lived these events. The book is fairly short and you could easily read through it very fast without any trouble. He writes about his childhood,entering the cavalry and the war, then how he became a piolet and the rest of the book talks about his many victories as the best fighter piolet. There are a bunch of black and white pictures of the Baron, other German aces and a few planes. There is also a list of all his victims including the plane type, date, times and piolets and there is also a list of the planes he flew and which victims he shot down in which plane.
   
   I liked the book because it's an easy read, it has some funny parts and exciting moments and in a way you get a feel for the man himself. However there are some things I didn't like such as he doesn't go into much detail through the book it's like he just breezes through some of his fights in a few sentences or so which kind of makes it anti climatic. One example is how his brother just shows up out of nowhere and is fighting along side him and not much is said about him. I'm also sure that there was some propaganda thrown in since this book was released during the war. I bet he would have wrote a far better book after the war had he lived but as we all know he was shot down.
   
   This isn't the book to read if you want to know everything about the Red Baron but if you want to read what he experienced first hand then get this autobiography because it's a good read and it's coming straight from the horses mouth that.



3. I wonder if some of the fatherland stuff was added by one of the Kaiser's goons. This guy is a wild boar hunting nutcase. A great book if you wonder why Germany keeps starting wars.



4. This is a fantastic autobiography, because Von Richthofen was an amazing person. Very real (he devotes as much attention to his cousin and him climbing the spire of the local church, as he does to some of his aerial battles), full of good-natured humor and a zest for life. I particularly loved how the early fighter pilots were known as "Knights of the Sky", and kept to the chivalric code, including following downed pilots to ensure that they were all right.



5. Great book! Great photos and an amazing life told by The Red Baron himself (translated into English, of course!).

1 comments about Nights in Pink Motel: An American Strategist's Pursuit of Peace in Iraq.

1. Nights in the Pink Motel: An American Stranger's Pursuit of Peace in Iraq is the firsthand, personal testimony of Robert Earle, recruited as a strategist by the first U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Though Earle was evacuated from Iraq for medical reasons, he was subsequently requested to return for the specific purpose of writing a message to the president explaining that U.S. policy was not working and suggesting a viable alternative. Multinational Force-Iraq Commanding General George Casey also asked Robert Earle to provide an assessment of the evolution of Iraqi politics, and predict outcomes for the January 2005 election. Working in the offices within Saddam Hossein's former presidential palace in Baghdad's Green Zone, which Earle tongue-in-cheek dubbed the "Pink Motel", he confronted the very real and troublesome obstacles to a peace-building effort. An insider's view of the complex and difficult ordeal on Iraq's long road to stability, Nights in the Pink Motel is fascinating cover to cover, and highly recommended to any reader curious about the behind-the-scenes ever to make Iraq a safer place.

5 comments about Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles.

1. I read this book awhile ago and I've tried, tried, tried to ignore the annoying aftertaste it left. No such luck. After many months this book, like a fat, lazy kitchen fly, continutes to annoy me. Time to finnaly take a swing and try to squash it.
   
   A Marine myself, I so wanted to like this book - and there are parts of Marine life that Swafford gets laugh-out-loud right. But the whole enterpise is flawed by Swaffords' pompous self-opinion. Pompous because Swafford, as he has either alluded to or out right stated in interviews, is a wanna-be Michale Herr of the Vietnam era "Dispatches" fame. Whereas "Dispatches" feels genuine, trippy, and surreal, Swafford's fascimile feels contrived, hollow, and strained. The first warning sign is Swafford's disclaimer that trys to carve out permission from the reader to a present a fiction reconstructed from fact and real experiences. But instead of feeling like a genunie attempt to englighten the reader to the difficulties of memory and attempts to make sense of the past, it instead reads like an excuse or a disclaimer that a lawyer wanted tacked on. Its as if Swafford expects us to excuse the flaws, literary and pesonal, because the work is fictional while simultaneously expecting us to praise and acclaim Swafford for anf favorable "real" and fictional story line.
   
   "Disgenuine" is one word; or, in the ultimate discredit to a Marine, "lacking in integrity".
   
   Selfish would be another choice word : the author/protagonist never fails to tell us how smart / capable / studyly he is. Yet credit or acknowledgemet is never given to those who took an interest in and inspired or helped the author/protagonist. It is as if, despite the adversity and many obstacles that he does not spare sharing with us, he arrived on the plant and soley unassisted and possessed with such wonderful qualities. I wonder how his teacher / coach / friend's parent felt while reading this book.
   
   What starts as great a read becomes a disapointing expostion of the Swafford/protagonists distasteful character that undercuts the reader's ability to enjoy the story line.
   
   I could go on and on about both the distasteful flaws of the author/protagonist. But I'll spare you. In the end, all of those flaws could be part of a wonderful story that might have made this book an a deeply thoughtful, meaningful book - if the Swaffod/protagonist was capable of change. Instead, despite all that the Swafford/protagonist experiences, he does not change, he is not transformed, he wastes it all. We're left with a gear-stealing, time stealing, selfish, person who probably really believes that literature is about telling his story well.
   
   No, what Swafford really misses is that Michael Herr's "Dispatches" is not a story: "Dispatches" is a journey that changes and transforms the reader just as Herr's own experince changed him. The only thing that changed after reading "Jarhead" was my wallet was lighter and I was a few hours older. Sigh.
   
   The Swafford/protagonist self-image a super Marine who is smarter, funnier, superior human being to the rest of us is deeply, fundamentally, flawed and unlikable. The book, the protagonist, and the author lack character - the kind of character that makes a Marine a Marine or turns words into literature.
   
   In the language of the Marine Corps, when someone is so fundamentally lacking in the most basic requirements, we use the most dismissive word possible: is is "unsatisfatory".
   
   This book, like the Swafford/protagonist, is deeply "unsat".
   
   Semper Fi



2. Full disclosure: I have not served in the military; however, several of my friends and family either have served (Army, Marines) or are serving currently (Navy).
   
   Words fail me in describing this mind-breakingly poor, so-called "memoir." Far from the battle-scarred warrior he conjures, Mr. Swofford comes across as nothing so much as a whiny, self-absorbed brat. From the very first chapter, we are deluged with page upon page of his self-respect issues, his scatological and sexual fixations, his family issues, his problems with authority, and his problems with life in general. Moreover, the 95% of the book that doesn't involve combat smacks more of life in a street gang than any kind of organized fighting force. In particular, the degree and variety of misbehavior Mr. Swofford so gleefully describes boggles the mind. Civilians go to prison for the kinds of antics Mr. Swofford pulls throughout his career as an enlisted Marine (attempted rape, criminal sexual misconduct, attempted murder, multiple counts petty and grand larceny, and that's just to name the more egregious examples). I refuse to believe that any of the armed forces would react to such acts with anything other than an instant court-martial, or that Mr. Swofford's platoon mates and superiors would not have taken steps to deal with the obviously rotten apple in their barrel.
   
   Worse, all of this "painful honesty" (by which I mean painful for the reader) is described in, to put it mildly, unconscionably bad English. Mr. Swofford fails to muster up the talent of a pre-teen fan-fiction writer, let alone a university writing graduate, and his only flash of creativity comes from some inventive recombinations of profanity. There is nothing "gritty" or "raw" about writing every other word as though it came out of a burning latrine barrel. It's simply the mark of a poor, immature writer who either can't or won't express himself properly.
   
   "Jarhead" is truly a waste of time and money, and an insult to every decent human being, Marine or otherwise. Stay far, far away.



3. This is an amazing book that offers insight into the thoughts of a Marine during the Gulf War. It isnt meant to be an action packed book, it is meant to offer reflections about the many things that the Marines and other servicemen experienced. It does a great job at helping someone who isnt in the military to understand in a small part what they experienced.



4. Anthony Swofford's writing is rough around the edges; a great deal of the book is difficult to read, and the language crude, but it's also an honest, first-hand recounting of life as a Marine, before and during the first Gulf war.
   
   
   The anti-war establishment should photocopy pages 99-103 and hand out the pages to kids who are thinking about enlisting in the military. S--er patrol has never before been so intricately described in print, and any illusions about the glamour and drama of war will be forever erased from the mind of any person reading 'Jarhead.'
   
   This book is not recommended for those who are easily offended. Swofford describes a military hazing ritual known as the field f--k, and I have to wonder how these traditions between enlisted men are playing out now that there are so many women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.



5. Jarhead is a fantastic read! It is a glimpse into the everyday life of Marine in Desert Storm. The book is pure raw emotion. You get the chance to move to the front lines with a Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition or S.T.A sniper and see the war through his eyes. It provides an honest glimpse into what sometimes happens to these heroes after the war, the forgotten part of most war books. This book also has some hilarious parts.