1 comments about Flights of Terror.

1. Its pretty good.. as a reference book.. I mean.. to see which airlines had been high jacked.. or something like that.. but to read as leasure... I think its a little too loaded with statistics and facts

No comments about Resistance and Revenge: The Armenian Assassination of Turkish Leaders Responsible for the 1915 Massacres and Deportations.

5 comments about False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear.

1. I am a physician -board certified in Preventive Medicine- and I teach the subject of Risk Perception at the University level. Dr Marc Siegel's book FALSE ALARM is a true godsend in a climate of excessive hysteria generated by the press,the federal government and other vested interests who directly benefit financially by fearmongering on a wide variety of health issues. The sad thing about this profiteering from fear of course is that it diverts very precious and limited resources from very real and present dangers with us now as Dr. Siegel points out. We cannot afford as citizens and as a nation not to read and listen to Dr.Siegel.I have ordered his next book on Bird Flu and urge you to do so as well.- Rick Lippin MD,Southampton,Pa



2. There is a modest amount of good information here, detailing how people tend to be poor analyzers of risks to themselves. But much of it is common sense, and most of the rest you could dig up yourself with a few Google searches.
   
   Siegel's real purpose in publishing this book becomes clear a couple chapters in. He launches into a steady barrage of criticism of the Bush administration, Republican politicians, and big business.
   
   Now, there is plenty of legitimate criticism that can be leveled at the aforementioned. But for proper perspective, it needs to be balanced by acknowledging that fearmongering is a bipartisan pursuit. But Siegel completely ignores the various bogeymen of the left, which are even more egregious examples of irrational fearmongering.
   
   Every couple years the environmental movement launches a new scare campaign de jour. Alar, dioxin, power lines, irradiated food, ozone depletion, secondhand smoke--all of them either completely debunked or shown to be manageable risks. But not a whisper from Siegel about any of them. The AIDS epidemic in America was oversold with junk science, at one point Donna Shalala warning that there may be "no Americans left". But Siegel cites AIDS as an example of a risk that is UNDER-reported. And of course, he has to get in his digs at the NRA, taking a purely partisan position on the issue of gun ownership and dabbling in some fearmongering of his own.
   
   After dozens of pages bashing Bush, and pausing to gush praise upon Al Gore, the book settles into routine discussions of bird flu, SARS, etc., though he takes one more shot at Bush later in the book (rehashing the WMD debate). By the end of this book, your attitude toward the book will depend upon your political persuasion. If you are a Democratic sympathizer, you'll probably give the book a thumbs up, being vaguely aware that it was written by a fellow traveler (thereby casting a glow upon the entire work). If you are in the GOP camp, you probably tossed the book away in disgust long before the end. If you're not political, you'll be bored out of your skull.
   
   For a genuine hard-hitting look at the culture of junk science and fearmongering, the works of Michael Fumento are highly recommended.



3. The nation's media sells fear in almost every aspect of our lives from the next thunderstorm to the war on terror. Dr. Siegel's book is prime reading for the defense of the onslaught of predicated fear. Our nation's military industrial complex was fueled by decades on the fear associated to the "cold war" and how the Soviet Union was going to conquer America. Now, to replace that global fear we are bombarded with fear about terrorism. This superlative book is the antidote for America's new culture of the promotion of fear.



4. This book is political punditry done poorly. The doctor should stick to medicine, and try to do a better job there.
   
   Instead, he ventured into politics and criticized the Bush administration for fighting terrorism. The left, and in particular the elite media, might think that terrorism is not a real danger because a particular person's probability of being harmed is very small. Granted we have not executed well, but most Americans believe we must take it seriously because these beasts are driven by ideology to destroy our society.
   
   The doctor also decried the U. S. pharmaceutical industry for charging high prices for their products. He completely ignored that fact that the U.S. pharmaceutical companies are the ones with a steady stream of new drugs because they have the financial incentive to investing in research and development. The Europeans and Canadians are getting a free ride by their governmental price control. If we did what these governments do and force our drug companies to sell at low prices, no one will invest in developing new drugs.
   
   When the doctor stuck to the theme of the elite media exaggerating fear, he did have a valid point. But the real motive of the book was left-handed political sniping. You know it when Bill Press is impressed.



5. A book that explores true risk to a variety of potential public hazards, from terrorist attacks to pandemic influenze.
   Why only three stars? Dr. Siegel confuses actions our society should take based on absolute risk (public health measures) and how individuals should act based on accepted risk. The risks that we gladly assume (such as driving a car) are far different than than the risks we are forced to endure (such as a terrorist attack or radiation exposure from a nuclear power plant), even though the latter risks may be much smaller than the former. The failure to discuss voluntary vs. involuntary assumption of personal risk is a major failing of the book.
   I doubt the existence of a dastardly politico-media complex that is out to ruin and/or control our lives that Dr. Siegel seems to suggest. If such a conspiracy were as blatant as he supposes, there should be more evidence. I have no problem with people who choose to believe such. There are numerous examples where the government and media have forgotten their charges in the caer of our society. But I have my doubts about a conspiracy that Dr. Siegel none too subtley hints at.

5 comments about Caucasus.

1. There is no doubt whatever that this book is exceptionally written, bordering in parts on the poetic. Alas, Griffin's romanticization of the Murid wars which consumed the better part of 50 years, from the 1820s through the 1860s, leaves a great deal to be desired, mostly because Griffin did absolutely no work to place these wars into the historical context of the global Islamic jihad, which began with Mohammed's reign of terror in the Jewish and other non-Muslim communities of seventh century Arabia, and continued throughout Islamic history, wherever non-Muslim communities abutted Islamic ones.
   
   Griffin describes, for example, the particularly horrific capture of some princely wives and children from an idyllic estate in the southern Caucasus and their entrapment for many months with the wives of the leading jihadi of the era, including at least one Armenian woman, herself a victim of the historical Islamic tradition of entrapment and enslavement of non-Muslim women and children forced to submit to Islamic life and law.
   
   To Griffin, however, this episode, along with every other bloody exploit of the Islamic warriors was somehow justifiable, despite the fact that the so called victims began the wars when Islamic chieftains and their brigands encroached upon Russian communities along their borders to rape, pillage, thieve and otherwise harras their neighbors on the northern frontier.
   
   Griffin sets these wars into a text that spans his journey of several months through the region in the 1990s, before the Russian counter-terror operations in Grozny again reached a crescendo late in the decade. It is passingly interesting to learn of the various drunkards with whom he traversed the region, but wholly unimportant except as a window onto a way of life that continues in the tradition of Islamic jihad.
   
   Unfortunately, Griffin draws upon the equally false and romanticized musings of Leo Tolstoy, whose last novel eulogized a central figure in the Murid wars, Haji Murid, who despite his Islamisist attitudes and barbarities, occasionally demonstrated kindness, as when he won back Tolstoy's ruinous gambling losses and returned the promissory notes to the famed novelist the next morning.
   
   Certainly there have been many ugly eras in Russian history, but it is historical outrage to suggest that 19th century Russian treatment of Muslims (after all, resulting from ceaseless Muslim assaults on Russian communities near the Caucasus) in any way justified Muslim slaughters of Russians during those horrible decades.
   
   Worse, the account ignores massive historical evidence of 1,400 years of Islamic human rights abuses (of which the Murid wars were just a tiny microcosm). Griffin presents 19th century terrorists as somehow heroic and awesome, a pattern repeated in modern reporting on the continuing jihad.
   
   I am sorry, but I miss the romance in stealing other people's women and children, murdering the stragglers, tying naked nursemaids to trees and reigning death on legions of entrapped Russian soldiers whose sole purpose was in the first place to protect Russian communities from Islamic terror.
   
   Now, history repeats.
   
   --Alyssa A. Lappen



2. This is a relatively quick read about a film crews travels in the Caucasus Mountains. There are two stories here. The first is the story of the travels in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Georgia, and Chechnya. Then there is the story of Iman Shamil, a leader of the Avars and Chechens who led the revolt against the encroaching Russian Empire. Shamil led the revolt that took the Russians thirty years to suppress. This revolt was termed the Murid Wars. It cost the Russians dearly. In the end the revolt was quelled when the Russians cut down the trees that constituted the hiding places of the rebels. Both sides were vicious in dealing with the civilian population. This harks to the present conflict which is just as destructive and vicious as the one of old, if not worst. This book is interweaved with these two stories. The one distraction with this book is the exploits of Ilya, an Uzbek Jew who causes trouble with the other film crew members.
   This sheds light on a little known conflict. The book is an easy read, but I wish the author had concentrated on one story, rather than two.



3. The author falls into the usual mistake of Caucasus writers: he believes in the mythology of the noble mountain warrior. His search for the fantoms of Imam Shamil is pretty shallow and amateur. The reader would probably want to go for real fiction instead and buy Leslie Blanch's Sabres of Paradise. For those who want something serious (more than the boring ride of a young hype journalist in a decrepit Zhigouli across the Caucasus) go for Yo'av Karny's Highlanders.



4. OK, so Nicholas Griffin's got a knack for writing. You can't fault him on his skills: he vividly traces the life of the famous (to some) Caucasus mountain warrior leader, Shamil, who held off the Russians for over three decades in the nineteenth century. He weaves in the lives of various Russians and others (including a French woman captive) who knew him or had to deal with him, shows how the Russians consistently misjudged their ability to capture or kill him and bring the resistance of the Muslim mountaineers of the north Caucasus to a halt. In their misguided tactics, the Russians wasted the lives of thousands of their own men, and killed huge numbers of Chechen, Avar, and Lezgin villagers (not to mention a host of other, smaller peoples) to almost no avail. Shamil was able to unite the usually-fractured tribes of the region under the banner of Islam, though he was not above murdering dissenters. Griffin has brought the amazing, violent story of the long anti-Russian resistance to Western readers again, albeit with a fair measure of mythology and little background information for those "few readers" who aren't up on Caucasian ethnography.
   
   But that's not all. He set off with four companions on a very dazed, unorganized trip around the Caucasus region with minimal preparation and planning. His skillful writing contrasts almost hilariously with the group's utter inability to get along or even to know what to do next. The "interpreter" can hardly speak English and is plastered out of his mind most of the time. Nobody seems to know anything about the customs or languages of the people they meet (and need to survive). They drink vodka, bicker, and fight, and even take up using boxing gloves against each other to the great amusement of some lower-depths locals. Becoming drunken clowns hardly is the way to learn about history or culture, no matter how "untouristy" it may seem to the participants. And, though Shamil came from Dagestan, and many of his supporters came from Chechnya, and many famous battles occurred in those two places, the group failed to get across the border into Russia at all. They did spend a fair bit of time in Armenia, though, where nobody had even heard of Shamil. They didn't seem to be able to figure out why not. Nice going, boys.
   
   So, it's a grab bag. But, I do admit, a well-written grab bag which I enjoyed a lot. The parallels between Shamil the Imam's war against Russia and the two Chechen wars since 1994, the last of which is still sputtering on, are clear. Quite a few errors that I (a non-expert) could pick up. I wonder what the experts would say. On page 129, he's got Shamil at the wrong age. He says Armenian is the oldest alphabet. It's not---google Bishop Mashtots and see. He writes "Arzrum" instead of the international "Erzurum". On page 188, he talks of the railways carrying the Chechen exiles south from Grozny in 1944---uh, that would be east or north. On page 224---he mentions Basayev's attack on Chechnya in 1994. It was Dagestan, no? These may be pedantic quibbles, but they also may indicate that the editing, like the trip itself, was a bit chaotic and ill-considered. But if you get this book, you will enjoy it anyhow.



5. Griffin's account of his travels through the Caucusus Mountains succeeds on two levels: first, as an historical document on the life and times of the holy warrior, Shamil, who fought for more than 30 years against the Russian and Cossacks during the mid 19th century; second, as a fascinating and, at times, funny account of his travels in 1999 through a very dangerous region of our world: Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Chechen border. Griffin hits home the point of how difficult it is to truly "win" in this region, an area that is accustomed to fighting across the generations. As America is learning in Afghanistan, the fighting never truly stops. So, too, with the Caucusus. Fighting is, seemingly, within the DNA of many residents within this region. Griffin paints a fascinating portrait of Shamil who, throughout his life, miraculously escaped numerous near-captures by the Russians. The end of the book focuses on the "lion in winter," so to speak, as Shamil lives out his final years as a "guest" of the tsar. The historical chapters within this book are separated by Griffin's current-day travels with an interesting gang of characters, the most unusual -- and seemingly dangerous -- one being his translator Ilya. Ilya is not only dangerous with his drunken exploits, but with his poor translations, as well.

3 comments about Appeasing the Ayatollahs and Suppressing Democracy: U.S. Policy and the Iranian Opposition.

1. US Policy and the Iranian opposition is a well researched and documented book on the history of Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedeen E Khalq. It's analysis for a viable policy option is compelling.



2. 
   This is an excellent discussion of how the past policies of
   appeasement and engagement with the Iranian regime has only made it
   more aggressive.
   
   The books provides many examples, especially for the Khatatmi (the
   "moderate" president) era and the US adminstration attempts to
   appease the mullahs, hoping for reforms and moderation inside Iran.
   The result was exactly the opposite. The Iranian mullahs internal
   repression was extended (as evident from the brutal repression of
   the student movements), many authors were assassinated during serial
   killings, substantially more women were stoned to death, Iran's
   nuclear program accelerated, and guess who, after the "moderation"
   era, became Iran's "president" -- yes, Khatami paved the road for
   Ahmadinejad. The fact is: both Khatami and Ahmadinejad bow to
   Khamenei. Khamenei rules. There is no room for moderation.
   
   The only viable solution for a free, democratic Iran is to stop
   appeasing the mullahs, and to support the Iranian people and their
   resistance. The book provides a compelling argument why the
   Mojahedin cannot be ignored and the role they will inevitably have
   to play in the future of Iran.



3. I recommend this book to every single American, especial to every one of our house members, white house officials and university's professors to read this book. This is an asm and must read book that all you need to know about Iran's sponsor of terrorism.

No comments about Striking First: The Preventive War Doctrine and the Reshaping of U.S. Foreign Policy.

2 comments about The War on Civil Liberties: How Bush and Ashcroft Have Dismantled the Bill of Rights.

1. I cannot think of a title for this review more clever and apt than Cassel's. If David Cole is the Samuel Adams of our time, then Elaine Cassel is the Mercy Otis Warren. This book takes on the herculean task of documenting the erosion of civil rights and liberties during the Bush/Ashcroft regime. To the extent that some topics about which she writes have been superseded by events (such as the Supreme Court's enemy combatant decisions, the 9/11 Commission Report, and the revelation of the government's torture memos), Cassel is the first to recognize that her subject matter is a moving target, with daily incursions that make up-to-the-minute comprehensiveness impossible. However, her book is still timely and current events only augment her point and serve as an "a fortiori" argument.
   
   Not only does Cassel do a great job synethsizing the numerous instances in which we have surrendered liberty to purchase security, but she shows how this is a false tradeoff and offers real solutions, from staying informed to voting.
   
   One can only hope that this book will become a victim of its own success, but we will have to wait until November to see. Meanwhile, for a cogent and important argument about how our leaders have eagerly sacrificed civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism -- and how this strategy is unnecessary, unwise and unconstitutional -- this book is a must-read.



2. WAtch the dissolution of our once great and honored BIll of RIghts. We must read this book and weep for our lost once great nation. It is time to take action now. IT is never too llate. Never surrender. Read this book.
   
   Famously we americans do not know our own constitution. We have been reduced to honoring a tri-color military banner once used for positioning on battlefields. We do not know our own Consitution, anymore than most self-proclaimed religious people have studied the Bible. We are ignorant of our own great Bill of Rights, and when we hear for the first time the rights we have, we figure it must be some communist liberal document. It is the rights our forefathers fought and died for. IT is the rights we now have lost forever.
   
   REad this book and weep, grieve, and act.

3 comments about Quiet Courage: The definitive account of Flight 93 and its aftermath.

1. The author has given the reader an accurate collection of facts regarding Flight 93 and everything that has transpired in Somerset County since that fateful day. This book encompasses the 9/11 plot, the investigation, the recovery, and continues through to include information on the memorial efforts.
   
   Quiet Courage is a well organized, important resource for anyone who wants to know the truth about Flight 93 and its aftermath.



2. Using oral history effectively and sharing poignant vignettes, Dr. Kashurba provides a thoughtful behind the scenes look at the impact of Flight 93 on the local community and on the nation. The stories about the Somerset community are heartwarming and help us all heal from this tragedy. . .a valuable resource for those studying both the tragic events of 9/11 and its aftermath.



3. I finished reading "Quiet Courage" a few days ago (10/5/06)and I enjoyed it very much. Dr Kashurba's presentation was excellent just as it was in "Courage After the Crash". The entire book was emotional, informative and engrossing. Many of the accounts brought a tear to my eye.
   
   I now have a definite idea of what the families of the Flight 93 passengers, the local residents at the crash site and all those involved in the many efforts afterwards must have felt. Using everyone's exact words brought it all home.

5 comments about The World Trade Center: A Tribute.

1. This is easily the best of the WTC tributes out so far since it covers (in words and pictures) not just recent events but the whole history of the WTC (and the adjacent plaza and buildings) from its planning before the 1964 World's Fair through its 7-year construction to the tragedy of 9/11. The pictures don't just capture the obvious Hudson River-view of the Twin Towers but the courtyards, the corridors, the shops, and the observation deck and visitor's center. There is coverage of the 1993 bombing, the 1974 "Human Fly" episode, the late-'70's tightrope walk between the Towers, and, of course, 1976's "King Kong" filming -- everything that made the WTC an essential part of the Big Apple. A nice tribute to a never-to-be-forgotten landmark.



2. I've surveyed or browsed or reviewed about 20 items relating to the World Trade Center attacks and this is among the top three that I can recommend.

   It's a "slim volume," to borrow a cliche that book collectors use, but what's inside is an excellent illustrated history of the Twin Towers, supplemented by wonderfully chosen photographs, all laid out in sequential order, leading up to that fateful day in September.

   Most of the other books in this "category" are truly "tributes," filled with emotionally-laden text and images designed to pull the heart strings. This one, despite being called a "tribute," is in fact, a handy summation of history and pictures that places the Towers in their proper context. You're moved, but you're also getting terrific information about an "icon" that we didn't know was an "icon" until it was destroyed. It's the story about two buildings we took for granted -- criticizing and disliking them -- until they were taken from America forever. Now the ground beneath it is sacred.

   I'm not knocking the other "tributes," but it seems that a lot of them contain too much or too little -- some have almost zero text, and those with pictures -- are just different views of the same thing.

   There is a "straight-ahead" style to this book that betrays its title -- yes, it's a "tribute," but it doesn't feel like a "rush to market" item like the others that have been offered in the last month -- just in time, in kind of a dark way, for Hanukkah or Christmas.

   The other books I can now recommend are: "One Nation," by the editors of Life Magazine -- and "September 11, 2001: A Record of Tragedy, Heroism and Hope," by the editors of New York Magazine. Buy these three books for your PERMANENT library and simply browse through the others at your local bookstore before you buy.




3. It's been over seven months now since we all witnessed the senseless tragedy of the attack on the WTC. For the longest time, I have been able to look at photographs of ground zero. It just makes my stomach turn.

   I have never been to New York City and my knowledge about the Twin Towers was limited to what was reported on during the 9/11 event.

   This book is excellent for those who wish to understand the full history behind the towers - beginning in the 1800's with the settling of the area of Manhattan all the way through the end - when the towers were attacked. I felt like giving some history to the buildings and the area where it was located added something that I was missing during the entire media coverage.

   The photographs are beautiful and tasteful.

   I would highly recommend that you add this book to your collection. It's something that you can look through many years from now and be transported back to significant piece of our American history.




4. This book is exactly what I was looking for. Before September 11th, I couldn't have told you which buildings made up the World Trade Center. "A Tribute" gives the reader a history of the World Trade Center and the surrounding area, with rich photographs and maps. It's filled with interesting information about what went in to the planning and building of the WTC. The focus is not on 9/11. I recommend this book.



5. I haven't finished it yet, but it basically gives the history of how skyscrapers came to be in New York, and eventually evolved into the World Trade Center. Only the last part of the book deals with 9/11, and it's clear that this book was put together pretty soon after the tragedy. I think it came out within a couple of months of 9/11. But nonetheless, it's an interesting, easy read for anyone who wants to learn about the towers and their evolution and meaning to the city.

No comments about Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Terrorism: Emergency Response and Public Protection.