5 comments about Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift-June 1948-May 1949.

1. Great read! I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II/Cold War history or aviation history.
   
   The book is easy to read and fun as well -- it really reads like a novel. Plus, as an American, it is great to read about our armed forces doing the impossible -- keeping a city alive through only air support. The human side was also really touching as the pilots making the airlifts -- now called "angels in uniform" by the Berliners -- were many of the same pilots who made the devastating bombing runs just a few years before.



2. The Berlin airlift was the start of the Cold War. The Soviets challenged and Truman answered with a huge victory. This is n easy to read history of the airlift by a respected author, Richard Reeves winner of the American Political Science award and Time Magazines non fiction author of the year winner. This is a book to read and remember and then past to your friends so that we never forget what tyrants can do and what this airlift meant to American resolve. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.



3. To Richard Reeves, the Berlin Airlift was more that an eleven month heroic effort to supply the beleaguered Berliners; it was the true beginning of the Cold War, the pre-launch for the ultimate unification of Germany, and the beginning of the modern air cargo transport business. Reeves skillfully weaves together airmens' tales, Berliners recollections and the histories of the likes of Harry Truman, Ernest Bevan, Willy Brandt, Lucius Clay, William Tunner and others to give the reader a complete, satisfying and often wry recounting of heroism, extraordinary generosity and human kindness. This is a wonderful book for World War II history and aviation buffs alike.



4. I was 16 or 17 years old when the Berlin Airlift occurred, but I do remember hearing about it at the time.
   
   We all need to read books like this one every once in awhile. It makes one proud to be an American.



5. Richard Reeves writes an historical account that reads like a novel. You can really see everything with his ability to form pictures with his words. Reading this is like listening to my father and his old brown boot army buddies; I felt like I was back there years ago listening to these men tell of their problems and triumphs. He has captured their spirit and stories, in his descriptions of Clay, of the stoppages of trains and convoys into Berlin as the crisis grew. Even glide ratios are given and technical details are made interesting and blended into the narrative
   The book is amazingly complete; no where else have I read the stories of the `lost wives' club, how the families of the pilots and ground personnel ordered into service had to leave their wives and families and the problems they experienced. It is so good to have recorded the stories of the enlisted men, which so many historians overlook. There is much written about Lt. Gail Halvorsen who became renowned as the candy bomber.
   As someone who flew into Templehof in the 70's and stayed in Berlin; I can attest to the fact that no where else in Europe were Americans more loved and respected than in Berlin. Everyone had personal stories that they loved to tell
   The stories of the problems and triumphs are all told; including the crashes and loss of life. The airlift was not all wonderful; the frustrations are presented, the bone weariness and low morale are described as well as the elation of a mission accomplished. This is an unbelievable true story that should not be forgotten and this book has presented its' history in a well done chronicle worth reading.

5 comments about World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

1. This is a must read zombie novel.
   It tells the story of humanity's fight to survive against the zombie hordes.
   Max Brooks is the author and he has a masterpiece here.



2. Exactly as it was described and an overall great book to read. It arrived right on time as well.



3. First, a disclaimer: I gave up on the book after 44 pages. There are too many good books to read to waste one's time on writing that can't grab your attention in the first 50 pages. World War Z did improve, moderately, as I read on (I was ready to give up after about 15 pages), but the author's politics -- which stand in stark contrast to my own -- began to infect the writing to a degree that I knew I would not enjoy the rest of the book.
   
   Before going into that, let me first share my apolitical criticisms: To begin, the book is extremely boring. Friends who've read it say it picks up pace later, but I just don't think a zombie apocalypse book can afford to be boring for even one minute. Secondly, and this is something I'm sure was not going to change, while the author has substantial geopolitical and general knowledge (the one real strength of the work), he is not a good fiction writer. World War Z is supposed to be an "oral history" of the Zombie War, in the model of Studs Terkel's Working (and other works), which relied on first-person interviews. The problem is that Brooks uses exactly the same voice for every character! If the character is an Arab, there may be some obligatory "Death to the Jews!" stereotyping, but the vocabulary and general manner of speech of literally every character is exactly the same -- that of Brooks. This made for a very tedious read.
   
   Now on to the author's politics: I've seen others complain that Brook is overly "P.C." That may be. But what turned my stomach early on was his ridiculously pro-Israeli bent. The one Arab character profiled is an antisemitic buffoon, and while people like this do no doubt exist, the state of Israel is glorified to an absurd degree. You see, ONLY Israel knew to protect itself from the zombie apocalypse... And here's the kicker: That great benevolent state opened its arms to all Arab refugees with a clean bill of health (i.e., who were not zombies) to protect them from what it knew was coming. Theoretically, they had to have been Palestinian, but in practice, they didn't check. The secular government of Israel did this against the fervent protest of Orthodox religious Jews, who then started a civil war within Israel... But because the Orthodox didn't serve in the military, they were easily crushed. Brooks is a rich, secular, American-born Jew. Do you think that may have something to do with his contempt for Orthodox Israeli Jews and his fantasy-world belief that Israel really just wants to get along with the Arab world?
   
   To be fair, my general impression is that a heck of a lot of thought and research went into World War Z. I just wish all that work could have materialized into something more entertaining and less infected with the author's politics (unless, of course, his politics were correct!)



4. If you have any interest in zombies, this book is for you. It will make you look over your shoulder if you read it at night.



5. Not sure this would transfer over to a movie at all, but accomplishes what it wants to for sure. The ideas that Max Brooks comes up with are phenomenal. I have been considering writing a Zombie book, and every few pages of World War Z I think to myself, man, what didn't I think of that. If you can enjoy a zombie movie, you will enjoy this book. It is almost the perfect book for fanatics.

4 comments about Point Omega: A Novel.

1. This is a hard book to love. It's easy to respect the brilliant author whose thick works (e.g. Underworld) and thin works (e.g. Body Artist) have been seen as prophetic markers along the dark and twisted path of American paranoia, greed, and spectacle. But the humor is very dark, and the humanity is very thin in DeLillo's recent works. And this is where I start with Point Omega. Dehumanized with few laughs on display among the small-scale movements and moments of the novel. It's a long, long way from the fleshy, earthy, body functions of White Noise. But it's been a long journey for this country as well.
   
   The novel is set deep in the desert, the retreat of Richard Elster, a former academic and intellectual author of plans for the Iraq War (we can picture a neoconservative talking head, Paul Wolfowitz perhaps). He has slipped under corrugated steel to avoid the news and the traffic, and perhaps a conscience as well. A filmmaker is present to record the thoughts and philosophies of Elster warning that Iraq is just the beginning, the "whisper" of horrors to come. (Though it'll be a long time, I think, before we'll see an Iraq War version of Robert McNamara's hand-wringing Fog of War.) The prognosis isn't good, but can anyone expect otherwise from this book?
   
   I am impressed at the sparse writing, the intelligent discourse around the inertia of the setting. But I really would have liked to have had something to laugh about, something pleasurable, something to hang my hat on during a cold winter here in Minnesota. That wasn't in this book. And sure, it probably shouldn't be, but we read for pleasure, don't we? We want more than just a scathing look at our crimes and inevitable downfall, don't we? Maybe DeLillo is saying that we don't deserve that from a novel now. That shopping and eating, consuming, is our pleasure and that reading is our medicine.
   
   I took my two aspirin and reread the book. You should read it, but I won't promise that you'll love the book or find it fun. But Don DeLillo is clearly in touch with America.



2. A filmmaker tracks down one of the architects of the Iraq war in an attempt to convince him to be involved in a documentary about his role. Rather than take this thin idea of a plot and politicize it, use it as a pedastal to rant on about how wrong the war was/is, Mr. Delillo has written a very powerful meditation on time and death.
   
   Out in the desert, under the vast expanse of sky, surrounded by geology and nature, the young filmmaker becomes enamored with the philosophical ramblings of the old man. He begins to understand that there is more to be seen than what is obvious. The war itself may be a metaphor for something even larger, more looming, but it is only suggested and whispered.
   
   Mr. Delillo's writing, as always, is stunning. His descriptions are atomic, carefully constructed phrases that linger long after you've moved on.
   
   This brief novel is a mystery because it is myseterious, it requires involvement. You cannot read it for the sheer pleasure of escapism, Mr. Delillo asks something of you in return. Listen, pay attention. See.
   
   I feel strongly that Mr. Delillo is the seminal writer of our time, however his last book, "Falling Man," felt cold and distant. Perhaps it was because 911 is still so fresh in our minds that it didn't enlighten as much as it simply reminded us of the tragedy, which is still difficult to make sense of.
   
   Delillo is at his best when writing coldly of cold people. Men and women who regard their own lives from a distance. If pure story is what you want, look elsewhere. If you appreciate intelligent and insightful writing, Point Omega is a book that demands to be read and re-read.



3. I found this to be a mesmerizing book, DeLillo's best, I think, since Underworld. I was disappointed by his last three efforts: Falling Man, The Body Artist, and Cosmopolis, although the latter had its moments. But here he sharpens his sentences with a laser and sandwiches a tale about a filmmaker who wants to make a documentary about one of the architects of the Iraqi War between two episodes of "Anonymity," the same filmmaker watching a video installation called "24 Hour Psycho" (an actual video work which showed at the Museum of Modern Art in Summer 2006) in which the Hitchcock film is shown in ultra slow motion to screen in 24 hours instead of 2. There are a number of interconnections between the two stories having to do with men and relationships, psychological dependence, filmic reality versus actual life, fathers and daughters as opposed to mothers and sons, imagined and actual violence, and the obsessions of the artist to get things right. It's filled with the kind of insights we've come to expect from DeLillo. Like this: "I wondered what he meant by everything. It's what we call self, the true life, he said, the essential being. It's self in the soft wallow of what it knows, and what it knows is that it will not live forever."Or this: "If you reveal everything, bare every feeling, ask for understanding, you lose something crucial to your sense of yourself. You need to know things the others don't know. It's what no one knows about you that allows you to know yourself." I'd have liked to have seen the middle story--depicting the filmmaker, the Iraqi war architect and his daughter--fleshed out a little more fully. It's sort of a teasing mystery that doesn't quite get worked out, but then again, that's part of its allure.



4. If our descendants are reading serious fiction hundreds of years from now, they would do well to revisit the work of Don DeLillo to seek out insights into the temper of our times. In an impressive body of work created over some 40 years, DeLillo has demonstrated an uncanny ability to tap into our collective psyche and explain us to ourselves. That talent surfaces again in his latest novel, a spare exploration of the mysteries of time and space.
   
   POINT OMEGA continues the pattern displayed in DeLillo's more recent works, interspersing substantial novels (his monumental UNDERWORLD the most noteworthy) with slighter and more enigmatic ones (THE BODY ARTIST, COSMOPOLIS). The new novel settles indisputably into the latter category.
   
   Set in 2006, most of DeLillo's brief story unfolds in the harsh and starkly beautiful California desert. There, an aging professor, a "defense intellectual" named Richard Elster, has retreated to a ramshackle house to reflect on his career and contemplate the folly of his tangential involvement in planning for the 2003 Iraq War: "We tried to create new realities overnight," he recalls with more than a trace of irony, "careful sets of words that resemble advertising slogans in memorability and repeatability. These were words that would yield pictures eventually and then become three-dimensional. The reality stands, it walks, it squats. Except when it doesn't." Describing his close encounter with that artificial world of "acronyms, projections, contingencies, methodologies," Elster confesses with disarming candor, "Violence freezes my blood."
   
   Accompanying Elster is Jim Finley, a documentary filmmaker barely half his age, who wants to make a single take film of Elster talking about his life and career, unscripted, seated in front of the wall of a Brooklyn loft. What Elster anticipated would be a brief visit stretches into weeks as the two men spend hours in elliptical conversation musing on the enigmas of existence. "This is deep time, epochal time," Elster observes. "Our lives receding into the long past. That's what's out here. The Pleistocene desert, the rule of extinction." The arrival of Elster's daughter, Jessie, "an exceptional mind, otherworldly," as he describes her, injects a palpable tension into Finley's relationship with his subject. Jessie's mysterious disappearance and the frantic effort to find her supplies most of the story's limited dramatic energy.
   
   The central section of the novel is bookended by encounters with an art work entitled "24 Hour Psycho," which features Hitchcock's iconic film slowed down to stretch to the length of a full day. Its unsettling presence serves to underscore the theme of time that pulsates at the heart of the story.
   
   At its core, DeLillo's novel is fundamentally a philosophical one, calling to mind the work of Camus. The term that supplies its title was coined by the French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. As DeLillo put it in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, he was taken by Teilhard's notion "that human consciousness is reaching a point of exhaustion, and that what comes next may be either a paroxysm or something enormously sublime."
   
   Known for meticulous --- almost obsessive --- prose craftsmanship, in any DeLillo work there are moments of sublime writing. Most notably here, those examples focus on the rugged majesty of the desert landscape in descriptive passages like this one: "Beyond the local shrubs and cactus, only waves of space, occasional far thunder, the wait for rain, the gaze across the hills to a mountain range that was there yesterday, lost today in lifeless skies."
   
   Although it does so at best obliquely, POINT OMEGA revisits some of the motifs DeLillo has explored in novels like WHITE NOISE and UNDERWORLD: free-floating anxiety about malign forces abroad in the world and the existence of powerful men in shadowy rooms whose desires shape our world more directly and forcefully than we'd like to admit. A less accomplished writer might deliver these messages accompanied by a whiff of paranoia, but in DeLillo's hands they're the soul of realism.
   
   Readers looking for conventional story structure or characters sketched in more than the broadest or most impressionistic brushstrokes either won't be likely to engage with DeLillo's work or if they ever did it's probable they abandoned him long ago. But in its austere beauty, POINT OMEGA perfectly expresses the sensibility of a writer comfortable grappling with big questions and big themes, content to leave us to seek out the hints of answers in the dark recesses of an unsettling still life portrait.
   
   --- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg (mwn52@aol.com)

5 comments about Churchill.

1. No 20th century statesman did more to conserve freedom and democracy than Winston Churchill. The one exception might be Ronald Reagan. So, it goes without saying, that it's hard to read enough about this true giant.
   
   World War 11 might have been very different had Churchill not been responsible for directing England in the right direction against the Nazi Third Reich. Churchill was a man of deep thought and vision. He came to power at just the right time in history.
   
   Certainly there is much to be said about Churchill. But to the overburdened reader who wants to attempt to understand the man and his place in history, this brief book will do the job. Many Americans don't know what a key role Churchill played in the bloody Battle of England. They don't appreciate how his predecessor was a pansy of a man who held Hitler's hand and did little for his own country but lead help put it in harms way.
   
   For the person wanting a short biography of a large man who played a valuable roll in history, this is certainly the right book.
   
   The author uses a less than conventional approach to writing about this giant of a man. He seems to fully understand the complexity of Churchill's character. He allows us to see his faults, his problems, his good side, his bad side and, above all, he makes us see the real person. We learn about his rise and fall from power and his rise again. We learn of his tremendous wit and his numerous kindnesses. Yet we also see his impatience and anger that he often displayed in his 60 years of public life.
   
   Some of the topics the author so successfully deals with include:
   
   * His childhood of privilege in a prominent political family
   
   * His early military adventures in South Africa
   
   * His political ambitions and rise through Parliament
   
   * His great service in WW11
   
   * His "exile" after the war
   
   * His urgent campaign to awaken the world to Hitler's threat
   
   * His magnificent and successful leadership as Prime Minister during World War II
   
   * His role as an elder statesman prophesying the advent of the Cold War
   
   This is a biography that I highly recommend. It's inspiring and intriguing and one you don't want to miss. But there was another side to Churchill that most biographers either miss or decide to leave out --- the self-serving Churchill. The man who planned events and publicized his part in them with a deliberate PR campaign, carefully crafting his image.
   
   - Susanna K. Hutcheson



2. The book attempts to be inspirational, but times have changed so greatly, it is easy to see how things so long ago could have been a bit different. I like the idea that Churchill tried to convince FDR to hurry to Berlin and end the war before the Russian army occupied Eastern Europe, but Ike wanted slow and steady progress to keep everything well organized. Paul Johnson gives Churchill credit for an air war against German cities that kept Hitler from using the German air force in Russia so British and American planes played a large part in destroying the Luftwaffe instead of having Stalin's army destroyed from the air. Radio reports of bombing raids were popular in Britain and after the Battle of Britain established that radar and new airplanes gave England an advantage in the air, it made sense to drop an amazingly large percentage of the munitions produced for World War II from airplanes.
   
   The House of Commons is described as a political arena in which Churchill was laughed at when nobody agreed with him as well as a great audience for getting his most significant laughs. I have learned a lot about politics from jokes, so I sympathize greatly with Churchill. People are wrong so frequently that those who are not afraid to point it out ought to be entitled to have a little fun. Churchill made some money just before the big stock market crash in 1929 on some advice that was not entirely clear about what investing on the margin could mean when losses tried to suck up more than Churchill thought his bet was. The monetary mulch of America is likely to get into a few twist and turns that the roller coaster ride of Churchill's life missed, but millions of words are sure to follow, as the legacy of Churchill is sure to continue until the electricy runs out and the lights go off.



3. If you know little or nothing about Churchill, then this is a good little book to introduce you to the man. It provides a readable version of the main biographical details and milestones of Churchill's life along with some standard anecdotes. If, however, you are familiar with Churchill's life and are looking for new material (unlikely considered the amount of Churchill scholarship that exists) or an unusual point of view, then this book is best left off your reading list. In fact, a familiarity with the scholarship on the subject will reveal not only the extent to which the author owes his factual research to previous biographers, but also the alacrity with which he has adopted some of the viewpoints of those biographers on various episodes in Churchill's life.
   
   Well written as it is, the book is a skewed paean, not an impartial account. It seems that in his teens, Paul Johnson once met Churchill. It is a tribute to Churchill's personality that Mr. Johnson, now in his eighties, has remained awestruck ever since. Churchill was a great man who influenced the course of history with single-minded determination and fortitude. He was also a man with many flaws - both private and public. Any book that claims to be a biography of Churchill cannot extol Churchill's golden virtues alone. In any case, most of these are linked to his leadership of Britain in the Second World-War. Very little else that Churchill did was imbued with an unselfish, non-pecuniary or messianic motive. He was constantly in debt and always seeking money. As a public man, he switched party loyalties numerous times to suit his political goals. His strategic failures, most significantly, the Dardanelles, are well known. His importance to the war effort is overrated: his speeches did not win the war - it was US arms and Russian blood. His literary position as historian of the Second World-War has also had its doubters. And those familiar with Churchill's writings cannot have escaped the odour of narrow mindedness, imperialism and racism with which they sometimes reek.
   
   But Mr. Johnson appears infatuated: in any case his bar for greatness is doubtless low given how he cites Churchill's marital fidelity as a remarkable feat. As a general rule, Mr. Johnson places Churchill's most egregious lapses at the feet of others and leaves Churchill himself looking the victim of events beyond his control. The Dardanelles incident is one such, where the debacle is attributed to Asquith's defects as a leader. At the same time Churchill is portrayed as a prophet possessed of incredible prescience who was responsible for foreseeing and achieving British prowess in the Middle-East, for foreseeing the Second World-War and rise of Hitler (this does have some merit), for rendering British achievements in military science and operational strategy and for predicting the rise of communism, to list a few. In this, Mr. Johnson is at least in accord with Churchill's own view of himself as espoused in his six volume post-war chronicle of self-aggrandizement disguised as a historical document.
   
   Whilst defending Churchill in matters where Churchill was most criticised, Mr. Johnson no doubt hopes to strike a balance by criticising Churchill about affairs which matter little in a historical context, for instance Churchill's support for Edward VIII during the abdication crisis. Even then Churchill is censured not for his political stance or principles but rather his inability to grasp the prevalent political pulse correctly.
   
   Mr. Johnson likes Mr. Churchill - nay, he idealises him. Conceivably, Churchill represents a last hurrah for the old Empire that conservatives of Mr. Johnson's ilk reminisce about as Britain continues its slide into the ranks of the world's second-rate powers. This book impresses one as a passion project that a starry-eyed 17 year old Paul Johnson, listening to Churchill on the radio, promised himself to undertake one day. It is not a book about Churchill. It is a book about Churchill's greatness by one of his most ardent fans.



4. Sir Winston Churchill's has to be one of the most well-documented and written-about lives ever lived -- due in no small measure to his own efforts, of course, but new books about the man seem to come out almost monthly, and have been doing so for decades. If nothing else, the man is the subject of the largest single biography ever written, the Official Biography by Randolph Churchill and Martin Gilbert. How much more can there really be to say?
   
   One area where I am most willing to entertain new entries in the field, though, is among the short, capsule biographies. Either as an introduction to people who may not be familiar with the man's life, or as a brief refresher course for those who know him better, a good, popular, brief bio of The Man of the [Twentieth] Century is always in demand. The early years of this century saw two good contenders, Winston Churchill by John Keegan in the Penguin Lives series, and Churchill: Visionary. Statesman. Historian. by John Lukacs. (I didn't think Gretchen Rubin's Forty Ways to Look at Winston Churchill: A Brief Account of a Long Life was nearly so good a book, though others disagree.) I'm willing to argue now, though, that "Churchill" by Paul Johnson surpasses either of those others as the best *recent* short WSC bio ... and possibly, though I'm less familiar with the older material, the best short WSC bio period.
   
   Paul Johnson, an excellent and experienced historian, is no stranger to the weighty volume. The art of the shorter format is in knowing what to include and what to excise. Most people who know the Churchill story at any level will have their favorite facets of the man's life, and it would be easy to fill reviews with complaints about all the things Johnson "should have" included -- more about battles, more about summit diplomacy, more about "the wilderness years" -- or left out. But I think Johnson has done a fine, even excellent, job balancing politics and personality, early life and later years, and much more. I was very impressed at how well he pulled that off, and readers who know their Churchill will I think be pleased by how few of the old, familiar stories are recycled here. I was a bit surprised that several times the author presented his theses or made his arguments in the form of lists. But that's more of an observation than a complaint.
   
   Comparing Johnson's "Churchill" to other works in the field shows why authors keep returning to the topic. Having just finished Lynne Olson's new Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour, in which she argues (and the argument is far from unique to her) that WSC essentially ignored the issue of postwar Europe in order to focus on winning the war, it was interesting to see Johnson argue that, to the contrary, Churchill was closely focused on precisely that issue, at least from 1942 if not before. There are other subjects like that too.
   
   It should be noted that Johnson is a Churchillian partisan. The first sentence of the book reads "Of all the towering figures of the twentieth century, both good and evil, Winston Churchill was the most valuable to humanity, and also the most likeable." Yet "Churchill" is far from hagiography, and Johnson is not unwilling to criticize. While I believe "revisionist" critics like Ralph Raico (a historian I much admire) have valuable things to say, I found Johnson's view balanced and insightful, and his book a worthwhile addition to the ongoing discussion of Churchill's relative greatness. I'll still encourage people to read Roy Jenkins or Manchester for a deeper look, Raico for balance, and any number of specialist works for those interested in more focused topics. But for a quick survey biography, Paul Johnson's "Churchill" is, I'm very willing to say, the new standard.



5. Looking for an efficient and well written biography of Sir Winston? This is it.
   
   The author is clearly a fan, but he does not hesitate to point out a number of Churchill's flaws including his early opportunism in getting involved in battles, collecting medals from them and using his experiences and credentials to become a renowned correspondent. He also addesses the criticism that Churchill may have overdone the bombing of German cities....Dresden in particular. Finally, he observes that once out of office, Churchill used his wartime documents to spin the history, make millions on the memoires and then donate the papers in a tax advantaged arrangement to generate still more millions for his estate.
   
   Churchill's life is covered as thoroughly as possible in less than 200 very readable pages. Warts and all, Churchill is portrayed (quite correctly) as one of the greatest leaders of all times.
   
   This excellent biography contains more useful information per page that any I have read. It is a perfect starting point for anyone who wants to know about this great man.

5 comments about Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

1. Like many people, I didn't know that much about Pat Tillman past the much rehashed fact that he walked away from a multi-million dollar NFL contract to join the Army. In Where Men Win Glory, Krakauer delves deep into the life and upbringing of Pat Tillman, and his decision to join the Army. It was refreshing, and also surprising, that Tillman was not very fond of the majority of the Army. His journal, which the Tillman family has graciously allowed Krakauer access to, paints a picture of a man trying to do the right thing, but conflicted with his personal opinions of the government from which he takes orders. Although he is strong in his conviction of fighting for America, he is less than enthused about the politics and procedures in the Army.
   
   The closest to the truth about the tragedy of Pat Tillman is found in this book. The government had lied over and over again about the events that transpired that led to Pat's untimely death. In this book, Krakauer does excellent research to get accounts of the people who were there, reports as to what really happened, and lays out all the miscommunications and bad decisions that led to that fateful day.
   
   Although this book is titled `Where Men Win Glory-the Odyssey of Pat Tillman', it is so much more than that; readers are given a thorough history of the conflict in the Middle East. At times I felt bogged and overwhelmed in minute detail. The war in Afghanistan is long and complex, and the author spends a significant part of the book describing events and ideology. Krakauer makes no attempt to hide his distaste and lack of respect for the Bush administration, and while it is easy to understand his point of view, I think he came on a little too thick, and it ended up more along the lines of angry tirades rather than thoughtful criticism.
   
   Ultimately, though, the disservice that the US government bestowed upon Pat Tillman and his family, and the lessons that can be learned from this tragedy make this book worth reading. One man trying to do what he thought was right ended up being war propaganda, and the circumstances of his death led to a vast cover-up. Krakauer does a thorough job not only describing the events, but the man who was in the center of it all.



2. Where economically challenged newspapers and magazines fail to cover the complexities of their stories, "Where Men Win Glory" brandishes the power of great journalism. Yes, with a little time and patience a writer like Krakauer can get to the heart of a beautifully unique human event.
   
   This book kept me gripped in the enigma that was Pat Tillman while setting in place a collision course with the historical episodes that have shaped Afghanistan over the last three decades. A must read for those that have enjoyed Krakauers previous works. He has returned my faith in investigative reporting.



3. A pretty good read. There are huge chunks of important time and events that appear to be not covered or edited out. There also appears to be a bias at many points in the book. The truth is guilt lies with many people and they will have to live with it. The loss of Pat Tillman, or any soldier in these circumstances is unforgiveable. My heart aches for all of us soldiers that serve our country as brothers - sisters in arms and share a common understanding of the war(s). We know what it takes to achieve victory, but are thwarted by senior leaders in search of rank and personal recognition.



4. Jon Krakauer has a gift for telling stories of extraordinary achievements by remarkable individuals in such a way that those heroes become accessible to the reader and appear as fully-realized human beings. This was the case for me when I read "Into Thin Air" and "Into the Wild." He continues his string of soul-stirring stories with "Where Men Win Glory."
   
   I first learned of the death - the sacrifice - of Pat Tillman in the Sports Illustrated article that told of his decision to leave his job in the NFL to enlist in the Army and fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was so moved that I hung a picture from that copy of SI in my office as a reminder of all those who make similar sacrifices to serve our nation. Little did I know how much more there was to this story. Krakauer's book brings to light the rest of the story of his death by "friendly fire" that has been teased out over the active resistance and obstruction by many in the upper echelons of the Army, Department of Defense and White House. As told by Krakauer, this is a story that makes one proud of Tillman and other heroes who have covered themselves sacrificially in glory. The story also makes one cringe at the ineptitude and mendacity of those who acted less than heroically - on the battlefield and in the comfortable offices back in the Pentagon and in the White House.
   
   The blurb on the back of the book gives an apt overview of this book:
   
   "Pat Tillman walked away from a million-dollar NFL contract to join the Army and became an icon of port-9/11 patriotism. when he was killed in Afghanistan two years later, he became a tool for white House propaganda. Thus a legend was born. But the real Pat Tillman was much more remarkable, and considerably more complicated, than the fiction sold to the public."
   
   
   If you are anything like I am, reading this book will make you weep and gnash your teeth. Our sons and daughters who step up to go abroad and fight our wars deserve better treatment than that which was given to Pat Tillman, his brother Kevin and others in his unit. The families of those who fall deserve better treatment than that accorded to Tillman's wife and family.
   
   At the end of the day, I reflect on what I want to think and feel as a result of the multiple-layered tragedy that was the death of Pat Tillman and the subsequent cover-up. As I reflect, I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln's parting words as he stood by the gravesite of the thousands who had fallen at Gettysburg as a result of the large-scale fratricide that was our inglorious Civil War:
   
   "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we cannot consecrate--we cannot hallow--this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
   
   Amen!
   
   Al



5. Outstanding and important book that entertains and educates at the same time. Every American should read this book.

5 comments about Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.

1. A friend loaned me this book to read. He read it based on the premise; an operation gone wrong and one man left to tell the tale. He asked me to read it and let me me know what I thought. He revealed little of his opinion other than to share what the story was about. I found out after reading the book why he neglected to tell me more about it. It is one poorly written book. Others have certainly noted this, but I have to add just how tiresome the "voice" of the writer is; how it sounds like someone who is talking to you at a bar, going on and on about their exploits. And how you have to trudge through hundreds of pages before you even get to the event that the book is about. And how the loathsome "liberal media" somehow emerges as worse than the Taliban, indeed targeting them for blame for the events that unfolded. I could go on. I was struck by how the writer amplifies events for effect, i.e., he makes a perfunctory drive through Bahrain seem a scary, be on the lookout event, because of all those scary people there who don't like us. Having been to Bahrain on many occasions, walked unaccompanied, unarmed, through the streets at all hours, never feeling the least bit scared, I found this to be unbearable hyperbole. This helped ruin the book for me since it happened in the beginning, I found myself suspicious of everything else that came after. Unfortunately, since the writer is the only one who can tell the crucial part of this story, you only have his voice to go by. Upon completion of this book, I returned to my friend who asked my opinion. After I responded he laughed and said he had felt the same way. I certainly respect the heroics of all involved and there is a good story in here, but the person telling it comes off as so self aggrandizing and insufferable, that it ruins the whole affair. Finally, I agree with others who have stated that an editor might have helped.



2. I first learned of this story after hearing Marcus talk as the guest speaker at a corporate event. Having been a veteran but having not gone through anything near his ordeal I could at least put it in context. This story is both awe inspiring in the picture it gives us into the Navy Seals training and the picture it gives us of the great men serving this country. I must say I also have grown to respect some of the Afghans based on this tale.
   
   If you are a liberal you will hate this book so don't even bother. If you want to read a great story about love, faith and heart than this is for you.



3. This book is a sort of double edged sword for me. You really root for the Navy SEAL's out there in the back lines of Afghanistan, but at the same time, you get distracted by the author's political view on liberals, politicians, and so forth. I just wish he could have stuck to the story about how they fought to the death, Alamo style. In that respect, it truly is a heroic story. And these guys are brave, no doubt about it, but when you read a book that has an author that despises liberals as much as the Taliban, it's a bit hard to swallow. The funny thing is that I'm not even a liberal, but it was even hard for me to take. Just the facts Ma'am, alright?
   
   By the way, a much better book on this subject is 'BravoTwoZero' by Andy McNab. He's a British elite SAS member stuck behind enemy lines with four others in Iraq. Sound familiar? It is, but more than anything, it concentrates on the battle at hand, not the political battle at home.



4. Well written and powerful account of a heoric mission that went horribly wrong. It's emotionally compelling and makes you feel like you are right there in the middle of the decision making and dealing with the results. One of the best books I've read in years!



5. I have been reading a ton of military non-fiction lately, and this book outshines everything I have read so far. The story told in this book is beyond anything you can imagine. It is too amazing to even be manufactured. This story is most certainly true.
   
   Upon reading this account of the most epic warriors in existence, you will walk away with an entirely new perspective on what these guys go through on behalf of the citizens of the United States of America. God bless these guys wh...more I have been reading a ton of military non-fiction lately, and this book outshines everything I have read so far. The story told in this book is beyond anything you can imagine. It is too amazing to even be manufactured. This story is most certainly true.
   
   Upon reading this account of the most epic warriors in existence, you will walk away with an entirely new perspective on what these guys go through on behalf of the citizens of the United States of America. God bless these guys who are willing to go all the way for us.

No comments about 61 Hours: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher).

5 comments about The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back (John MacRae Books).

1. (This review refers to the downloadable unabridged audio book at [...])
   
   Like the basket weave imprint etched on the skin of the woman in one of the most famous images from Hiroshima, Pelligrino tells this story weaving together individual stories of the those who survived the atom bomb, and a few of those who didn't. He pays especial attention to the physical dynamics of the first few minutes, told in microsecond by microsecond events.
   
   One of the unique things he covers is the experience of the "nijyuu hibakusha", the double survivors who were struck in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
   
   Extensive interviews with survivors make the stories immediate and very real.
   
   Arthur Morey's narration is excellent. He sets the right documentary tone without being boring or sensational.
   
   A very important subject, and an excellent listen.



2. Reading this book has changed me in a way that few events (reading books aside) have ever succeeded in doing. There are lessons here, and raw truth, and sages that emerge from the most horrible of fires. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, I fear that everything I read or experience hence will be tinted with the echoes of this document. And perhaps this is a good thing.
   
   Without doubt the scariest part of all this is how immune humanity really is to its reflection. One gets the feeling that there truly is no bottom to the depths of our capacity to suffer, and that despite this we will plunge only ever further until there is simply no way to climb back out.
   
   And yet somehow this is an optimistic book, one conscious of the simple power within kindness and mere chance. I recommend it for anyone who is tired of dissecting modern fiction for profundities, trying to figure out what's "real," or has ever entertained the notion of slipping something shocking into the drinking glass of emperors - if there was ever anything to do that with, this book is it.
   
   -Nick



3. This book makes for very compelling reading. One, but certainly not the only, reason I found it so compelling was the precise technical detail about the bombs and what happened in the fractions of a second after they exploded. However, the first technical detail I checked was wrong. On page 4 it suggests that the Hiroshima bomb contained 1.2 lbs of U-235 and that this represents a volume of about two teaspoons. The Hiroshima bomb contained 141 lbs of 80% pure U-235 (~112 lbs of U-235 with the balance U-238 and other isotopes). This wide misstatement of fact causes me to question at least the technical details in the rest of the book.



4. I, too, heard the interview of the author and bought the book from another site.
   
   I read the book in 2 sittings. At times tears came un-expectantly.
   
   "The small boy asked the survivor,'Who dropped the bomb?'" The survivor replied,'We are all equal. I don't remember who dropped the bomb'." ... The boy could not understand a one word answer'."
   
   This is an example of Pelligrino's historical balance in telling the story. He also demonstrates that "tactical nuclear warfare" is a dangerous, fatalistic oxymoron.
   
   The phrase "nuke 'em" should be banished from all languages on this globe.



5. I've often wondered about the people on the ground when the atom bombs fell in Japan those many decades ago. In this new book, "The Last Train From Hiroshima - The Survivors Look Back", author Charles Pellegrino gives us a real view. We get the answers. And it's not pretty. In fact, it's horrifying.
   
   There were as many as 165 people who are believed to have survived Hiroshima and went on to Nagasaki when that bomb fell there three days later. The stories of these double survivors are told in this book in a very authoritative and intriguing way.
   
   The survivors were sheltered from the gamma and infrared death rays. They were saved from the blasts in areas that acted like natural shock cocoons.
   
   Those who wore watches were branded where the metal met their skin on their wrists. They developed radiation sickness because of this. The bombs were like a microwave oven and heated the metal of the watches until it glowed.
   
   Moreover, many folks smelled burning human flesh. It must have been the most horrifying experience a person could live through.
   
   To be honest, this book is not for those with a weak stomach. It vividly tells exactly what it was like on the ground when these poor souls were the victims of this unnecessary war --- collateral damage caused by the high and mighty.
   
   Not a pretty story but one that needs to be told and hopefully it will never happen again. We can only hope.
   
   - Susanna K. Hutcheson

5 comments about Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism (American Intellectual Culture).

1. Love him or hate him (for me it's definitely the latter), Woodrow Wilson is an extremely important figure in American history. He was also the only president we've had so far who was a career academic before becoming a politician. He's the only president who has held a PhD (Wilson's was in political science), and was a professor and university president before becoming Governor of New Jersey and, just a few years later, president. So in contrast to other presidents, Wilson left us a large body of academic books, essays, and lectures which provide a detailed window into his ideology.
   
   In this book, R.J. Pestritto looks at that scholarly work in an effort to better understand Wilson's thinking as well as, by extension, the thought of the Progressive movement, of which Wilson became a leading light.
   
   In short, Pestritto portrays Wilson as a `historicist' who believed that institutions and constitutions should evolve with the times, and that it was up to skilled elite leaders to make sure their government was in step with the spirit of the age and embodied some mystical `general will.' By rejecting a constant, universal view of liberty or natural rights or human nature, Wilson was in direct contrast to the American founders. In addition, Wilson was also a strong centralizer who believed in empowering administrative bureaucracies while keeping them insulated from the dirtiness of elected politics. Last, he was contemptuous of those who wanted to use the constitution to thwart the exercise of power.
   
   Be forewarned - this is very much an academic work of intellectual history. In other words, it can be tiresome and dry reading. But it's important, not only to understand Wilson and the original, turn-of-the-twentieth century Progressive movement, but also to understand the intellectual and political foundations of today's Progressives, too.



2. $29.13 for a Kindle version(which is the only versions I buy) is ridiculous for a hard bound copy that sells for $36.95. I would buy this book in a second if the Kindle price was half the hard copy price.



3. DrEwgog (Croton NY)
   At a dinner recently, after mislabeling me in a dismissive fashion, an old adversary went on to describe his own position as "progressive." His audience responded to the word as if it conjured lullabies about puppies and colored ribbons. They had absolutely no concept of what is meant by the word, no notion of how the adherents of this movement have damaged and continue to threaten the liberty most of us cherish. Ronald Pestritto`s book goes a long way in informing his readers concerning the actual nature of progressivism and how it figured prominently in Wilson`s thought, and he does this in a mature, dispassionate fashion without recourse to snide asides or petulant rants. While this book is a well-documented scholarly work, it remains eminently readable. I think you will find it well worth your time and money.



4. The title of the book tells all: Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism. Dr Pestritto does not say that `Liberalism is a good thing'. Nor does he say that it is a bad thing. He merely states that it is, and shows how it came to be in these States, largely due to the efforts of one Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Ph. D. (Johns Hopkins). It is not Dr P's desire or intent to pass judgment on Dr W's cogitations or the value of them; all he does is track their evolution, and convolutions, and how they grew and bore something akin to fruit. Whatever your political preferences, and mine will become increasingly obvious as you read this review, you will learn from this volume how Dr Wilson's largely derivative political thought evolved, and how he influenced `progressive' politicians amongst his contemporaries, and continues so to do until this very now. It is interesting to note that as an hundred years ago, so to-day: that those who would rule us have taken to calling themselves `progressive' rather than `liberal'; as the latter has become a term of opprobrium, whilst `progress' is still thought of as a Good Thing though toward what we are progressing is left undefined. Progressives owe Dr Wilson an immense debt of gratitude, and should erect a statue in his honour. Conservatives, on the other hand - those who love the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and appreciate liberty - might do well to learn from him, however much they may yearn to see him hanged, for if one knows the plans of one's foes one is far better equipped to foil them.
   
   Five stars are all that are allowed; I would give ten, and more if asked.
   
   Now, I shall doubtless meander a good deal, in this review, for I am old and a fool, and rambling is one of the compensations God grants old fools. Dr Pestritto did not meander. Nor did he declare judgment upon Dr Wilson. He let Mr Wilson do that. There are men, even down to our time, who admire Woodrow Wilson extravagantly, and extol him as a True Visionary. They are mostly Scholars, when they are not Politicians pilfering from his political philosophy...as many, I warrant, as there are men who excoriate him as a Scoundrel or a Socialist or some other form of bad man. Then there are those like unto Dr Pestritto, who allow Dr Wilson or his shade to speak for himself, and thus leaving us, the readers, to draw our own conclusions. Out of his own mouth, or from his own pen, does Wilson beatify or damn himself. Hurrah, then, for Dr P! for he pays us the immense compliment of acknowledging that we might indeed possess the blessing of ratiocination! So few scholars, specially Historians, do so: they are always, in volumes of a thousand pages, telling us what really happened, what X really meant, and what we ought to believe about it all if we were but be as seeming wise and virtuous as they.
   
   By compiling citations from Wilson's writings, and arranging them by broad subjects, Dr Pestritto does us all a service, not the least in sparing us from having to read all that stuff ourselves. What emerges is a portrait of Woodrow as Woodrow probably saw himself, if the warts be left out of the image in the mirror. It is not my place, or even my intent, to psycho-analyse Woodrow Wilson, all dead as he is (though so doing is the province of many writers, to-day), but what leaps out at one is the ineluctable fact that Wilson, almost from the cradle, was burthened with a large and inconvenient ego which kept him from using his not inconsiderable intellectual gifts as wisely and fruitfully as he might otherwise have done. All his writings and pronunciamentos might well be summarized in thios wise: `I believe (or feel; there is the sense of feeling rather than thinking in much of what he wrote) that Thus-and-such is so, and since I know myself to be wise beyond the measure of men, it is indeed and in very deed So, the facts be damned, and I shall avaunt banner and lead the masses to the Truth...or force them if they will not follow...and the facts be damned!'
   
   Dr Wilson, we are told, was shocked! - shocked! - to find that Congress was corrupt and conniving; that laws were not made in open debate, but in secret and probably smoke-filled committee-rooms. Or so he maintained when plumping for a system modeled upon the British Parliament, In so stating, Dr Wilson did not penetrate anything the cow could not have penetrated, nor did he discover the heart of a secret hidden away since the beginnings of the world; he merely stated the obvious, or what any sane man in possession of his five wits and seven senses could have stated, and better, namely: He who purports to rule us will lie when he can get away with it, mislead when the opportunity arises, and always act in direct opposition to his proclaimed word. At least it was to Wilson's credit that he made public, or as public as the writings of a deservedly obscure academic manqué could be, his findings, and offered a sort of answer.
   
   To deal with the evolution of Wilson's political views, as outlined by Dr Pestritto, is illuminating as a lesson for our times. Wilson, it would appear, never had an original idea. If he was a scoundrel, he was a derivative scoundrel, and invented no new scoundrelry himself. He much admired Bismarck and the Prussian system, as shown by his advocacy of a vast, permanent, life-tenured, nameless, faceless bureaucracy through which the people are to be ruled; he followed Hegel as closely as he might...and lapped up the other German philosophers as a cat laps milk. This was not uncommon in Wilson's time, amongst those with pretensions to intellectuality. What appealed most to Wilson, it seems, was the order and conformity of the Hegelian state, a state supreme over its subjects, which was assumed to represent the `popular will'. If he had ever heard of Keyserling's `Führerprinzip' he would have swallowed it whole, and with loud whoops. Wilson referred often to `the People' - almost as often as he referred to `the force of History' - but it would seem he knew nothing of the former, and precious little of the latter.
   
   As to the People, they exist only to be ruled by the State; the State is there to to rule them as shall be determined by the Leader; the Leader is there to see that it happens. Wilson could and often did contradict himself in the same sentence. The People were sovereign and all-knowing, perhaps, but at the same time did not know their own will, what was Good For Them, the Greatest Good for the Greatest Number, so wanted a Leader, a Great Orator, who would with bombast and bull-dust tell them what they wanted. If they did not agree, with appropriate shouts and gestures, the Leader would give it them anyway, cramming it down their throats if need be. For the Leader, and the Leader alone, knows this will: the will of his omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient Juju, HISTORY, the Spirit of the Age, and lo! it had been given to St Woodrow to discover and translate the golden tablets of this deity, and interpret them for the less fortunate. A few moments' clear thinking would have sufficed to show that History has the exasperating habit of seeming to go all in one direction just long enough to fool us into thinking we can figure out where it is going, then swerving off in a new and unexpected direction...the trick G. K. Chesterton called `Cheat the Prophet'. And if ever a prophet were cheated, it is poor Woodrow. He may have had many virtues, but he lacked two of the chiefest: humility and common sense. Well, there's none of us perfect.
   
   Dr Pestritto wisely ends his exposition of the Woodrovian thought in 1912, and delves not into his subject's reign as President. A whole separate volume would be needed, and perhaps one day we shall have one. He does allude to the animosity between Wilson and Roosevelt I, two men who shared many common views, and were each convinced, probably correctly, that the other was a knave. Poor Taft is hardly mentioned; he is but a cipher, anyway, caught between two such caperers on the stage of American politics.
   
   Highly recommended, if you care for such things, and don't mind drawing conclusions from evidence.
   
   And now I must apologise for rabbiting on so, though you were warned. I do hope you were entertained and perhaps edified by my remarks.



5. The one star is for AMAZON and/or the publisher for recently doubling the price of this book.
   
   Being a good book worthy of reading I placed this in my wish list only to discover that the price had nearly doubled. I was presented with the following when logging on to Amazon today. "the price of Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism (American Intellectual Culture) has increased from $17.37 to $30.17 since you placed it in your Shopping Cart."

5 comments about The Book Thief.

1. 
   Death speaks in such a gentle caring voice. The characters are so touching and vivid, and their experiences so memorable and so touching. I have been recommending this book to everyone I come across. It is such a worthwhile read, that will always stay in your heart.



2. A thought-provoking, beautiful story told from the viewpoint of Death, whose fascination with the main character creates a remarkable, though at times sad, story. A fantastic book.



3. I listened to this audiobook for my book club. The reader is just fantastic, he sounds like Alan Rickman - a perfect voice for "Death". He drew you into his story perfectly. I puchased this book for Christmas for my son, it's a book everyone should read. Very highly recommended.



4. 
   I've never read a book that was laid out like this was..it was a unique experience. There is regular narrating by "Death", and he does a very effective job of being completely creepy and totally convincing. The time period is the emerging of Hitler's Nazi Germany, 1939. The story begins with our protagonist, 9 year old Leisel, a poor German girl, being taken to live with foster parents because her mother is unable to care for her any longer. What follows is the story of love and devastation in the life of this captivating little soul Leisel, her foster family, a Jew that they hide in their basement, and the various townsfolk. A beautiful and important story heart-wrenchingly told. I was blown away by the way the author was able to string together ordinary words to form such powerful and frightening images. Beautiful!



5. I read this book for my book club. Most people in the club were over 60. We thoroughly enjoyed the writing, which was refreshing, and the plot was very good. I bought it for my grandson, who is 14.