History Books

I found that this book lingered in my thoughts long after I'd finished it. I think that Williams did a fine job paralleling the environment with her own sense of ebbing loss. I am certainly no ecologist, in fact a speech language pathologist, so I can't comment on the factualness of the ecology references. But I felt nature while reading it. Never been to Utah--can't comment on the accuracy of descriptions. But I could sure see it in my mind. I am a woman so the anti-male climate I may not be best to judge. I read it as a dialogue of women, a sisterhood or lack there of at times. Having lost a loved one to breast cancer, I can comment on the sense of impending loss and the need to search for something you that you can stop and "save". I enjoyed this book for what it was to me.

A rare combination of personal journal and field notes, this story compasses the death of a marsh and the death of a mother, the tenacity of struggling species and the re-birth of a daughter. It moved me to tears -- a decidedly rare experience for me with non-fiction -- and surprised me with those tears at odd times: the beauty of a bird and a place and a moment, or the stoic wisdom of the women who battle with and lose to cancer. In addition to possessing a questioning spirit, and a lover's eye for birds in the wild places she roams, Williams is a downwinder. She and her family are among the officially "inconsequential" population who were conveniently ignored during America's atmospheric nuclear testing in the 50s. The several women (and a few men) in her family who have died from cancers probably linked to those tests have moved her from interest to activism. This book is a record of her baptism in nuclear fire as well as her search for wings. REFUGE is among the armful of books I would grab if my house were on fire. I own two copies so I can lend one without fear. It is absolutely first rate.

Terry Tempest Williams is a national treasure. Her unvarnished verse carries one deep into the mystery of the Earth and sends us helplessly into the depths of our own hearts. The landscape of wildness breaths a spectacular wisdom under the watchful eyes of this keen observer of wind, rock, desert, sky, sage, along with the birds who soar and dance and play in a benediction to non-sentient life.

When I need to recapture my own mortality along with my own humility, I always return to the verse of this elder of silence and truth. Williams stands alone in the power to convey both outer and inner wildness. Her verse is poetic and healing. One does not read these words but are instead initiated into the heart beat of wild nature. Savor its beauty as you might a calming sunset or a wind swept sea shore calling you ever deeper into your own soul.

Read everything she writes and find peace deep within.

I loved and hated this book. It is beatifully written. I found the author frustrating at times. Some parts got a little long winded about the birds. It takes you on a emotional rollercoaster but the pay off of finishing this book is worth it. Any one who has been affected by cancer will find this book very inciteful to the process of going through treatment and also the death process. Terry Tempest gives the most authentic and honest account of what life is like living through cancer I have every read. She put into words thought and feelings I could never express fully.
The research of the history of the Great Salt Lake was very fun to read about. I have lived in Utah all my life, but I have never been to the Lake I now am very curious to see it and the bird refuge. I think I will find the trip much more interesting now than if I had gone before reading this book.

The first time I went to Utah, I read Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" and loved it. This time, at a bookstore in Moab, I picked up Williams' "Red" for a contemporary view of the ecological issues around this gorgeous desert landscape, which is unlike any place I have been. Although I liked "Red," people told me "Refuge" was even better.

This is a very special book. I'm no birdwatcher, but it made me want to be. I'm no scientist, but I wished I were. I'm no Mormon, but it gave me respect for a religion I have never been able to fathom. Terry Tempest Williams has profound insights into the natural world. Her observations of the Great Salt Lake and the many migratory birds that visit it are as moving as her account of the death by cancer of her mother and grandmothers. Not surprisingly, they taught Williams awe of birds and sunsets and their own bodies. All of them are brave and spiritual women, and we would be wise to learn from them.

I think what I most admire about Williams as a writer is her emotional courage. Time and time again, she strikes out where more conventional writers would hesitate. She finds redeeming passages from the Book of Mormon. She follows her mother through her long and circuitous spiritual journey with cancer. She follows her grandmother as she moves into Eastern thought and modern physics. She dips respectfully into ancient Indian and Mexican culture. She walks in the desert at some peril to her well-being. She speaks of the intimacy of her marriage and about her decision not to bear children.

Yet his is not a book "about" the desert or cancer or birds or Mormonism, but about life and how it can be richly observed, experienced. shared and redeemed. It's one brave woman's answer to "Desert Solitaire."

I grabbed this book from my local bookstore after being drawn in by the title. I've always had an interest in economics as whole, but never took the time to really dig myself into some reading material (besides the voluminous textbook I was forced to trudge through in college).

Mr. Harford does a satisfactory job of trying to explain the devil in the details behind many of society's microeconomic transactions. Like a few of the other reviewers, I did find the text to be a bit dry, but maybe it's a cultural thing (I believe he is English). That being said, I think it's fair to say that after a second reading, one should be able to have a fairly strong grasp of the ideas the author puts forward. Tim takes us through economic ideas such as marginal value, externalities and scarcity and presents multiple examples of these in action. I particularly enjoyed his challenges put forth to a lot of popular ideas (Anti-Globalization, Environmentalism), based on standard economic thought.

I believe this book is an excellent starting point for further study of the world of economics.

Harford provides some wonderfully relevant, interesting and entertaining examples of basic economic principles. His style is not too wordy, but still illustrative of his ideas. I highly recommend this book - I guarantee you will have had some of the experiences he analyzes in economic terms. Very enlightening and a fun read.

Tim Harford explains economics and uses economics to explain things that don't seem to make much sense on the surface.

I came across this book at Commercial Press a few months ago. The cost was $160. I didn't buy it in the first instance but instead went to the Victoria Park Book Festival hoping to get a discounted copy. Yes, there was a simplified Chinese version of the book at $30 only. I thought simplified Chinese was not a problem for me, but I was wrong. Simplified Chinese characters were not a problem. There were not too many simplified characters and I knew most of them. However, the problem was the translation which carried a lot of phraseology and idioms used in the Mainland. Although I could decipher them for their Cantonese meaning, the process of mental translation slowed me down a lot. I could only finish two chapters in several weeks.

At last, I went to Cosmo to get the original book. Luckily, the new paperback version only cost less than $100. It was not a great penalty to me for buying the second copy of the book. I finished reading the book during a trip to Africa.

The book is a world view from the angle of an economist. It is lucidly written complete with some interesting examples. The main theme circles around the ideal of a perfect market, but unfortunately there are always conditions that destroy it. They are scarcity, incomplete information and externality.

Scarcity

The first few chapters are the most interesting and they concern scarcity. The most striking example, which makes the book famous, is the high price of coffee in prime location shops. Prime locations are scarce, and landlords demand extra high rents. To make the most of the scarce resources, coffee price has to be high. It is possible because there are many price insensitive commuters passing by in a hurry. On the other hand, there are also price sensitive customers who do not mind walking a few hundred metre more to buy normal price coffee. Coffee shops differentiate the customers and create coffees of different prices and varying degree of prestige, like special brands, special flavours and special additions in order to attract both types of customers. There was a coffee bar called Costa Coffee which offered fair trade coffee: products directly marketed for the third world producers. Customers were charged more and they paid thinking they were helping non-privileged farmers. It turns out that the marginal costs of all the high price varieties are very little compared to the big price difference. Owing to customer protests of being cheated, Costa Coffee had to withdraw its so-called fair trade coffee. Notwithstanding that, many customers are willing to pay more for more prestigious products, but with inflated price.

The book also reveals the strategy of supermarkets in setting the price of their merchandise. Besides differential pricing for similar products of slight variations, like organic products and brand name products, supermarkets deliberately arrange them at different shelve locations. Similar products with different prices are not placed side by side for easy comparison. Cheap products are put in inconspicuous location. It really pays if one could spend a little more time comparing prices when shopping in a supermarket.

Incomplete information

The author proposes that the perfect markets are distorted owing to incomplete information, both for buyers and sellers. In an imaginative ideal world of truth, where all information on the true cost of product and the true intention of buyer are known to all parties, there will be a perfect market with the following outcomes:
- Companies are making things the right way.
- Companies are making the right things.
- Things are being made in the right proportions.
- Things are going to the right people.
However, a perfectly efficient market does not always ensure fairness. An example is that interference to the market is made in providing to the poor in the form of subsidized heating fuel. We agree to distort the market so that the poor do not have to face the truth of high fuel cost. For arguments and solutions, you may wish to check out the book for various models proposed by famous economists.

The book also explains the phenomenon of rational insanity. In a complex market, take the stock market for example, there are educated and intelligent rational persons who are capable of gathering all information affecting stock prices. However, if all information leading to a rise or fall in stock prices are known, all rational investors will be capable of predicting stock price movement and act accordingly, leading to no predictability at all. As a result, all that is left to affect the market is unpredictable news. As such, stock prices and indices move at random affected by such unpredictable news. Although the long term trend still reflects the basic analysis, on any given day the trend is dwarfed by random movements. The paradox is that perfectly informed investors produce a random market, but a random market doesn't reward anybody for becoming perfectly informed.

A similar phenomenon is at work at supermarket checkouts: which queue is the quickest? If it was obvious that which queue was the quickest, people would already have joined it, and it wouldn't be the quickest any more. So you may as well stand in your queue and don't worry about it. It is the same as randomly joining any queue which looks shorter.

Externality

Besides the costs to the buyer and the seller, very often a market transaction may involve costs external to them, i.e. costs to a third party. An example quoted in the book is the buying of petrol at gas station where the transaction creates externality effect of causing noise, accidents, traffic congestion and air pollution. One of the solutions to deal with the hidden externality costs which distort the perfect market is to include the cost in the transaction. Some cities have introduced externality tax to drivers in order to control the use of roads, promote better engine performance in noise and emission, raise levy to traffic accident compensation and subsidize low pollution fuel. I think the high tax on tobacco is another form of externality tax as a penalty or compensation to the harm of smoking. The recently proposed tax on plastic bags is also another example of attaching a value to the external cost.

The book raises a viewpoint that the ethical standing of the environmentalists is a result of the fact that public policies do not make evident the environmental costs of our actions. If the effect to the environment of our actions is clearly defined in term of externality costs, environmentalists could argue their points from an economic standpoint. Much of the moral tone would then drain out of the debate and the environment itself would be much more effectively dealt with. When environmentalism is merely a moral issue, even environmentalists themselves cannot work out the real impact of everyday decisions. An example is the initiative to use less disposable diapers which could clog up landfill sites or use more washable diapers which will pollute the environment with the washing process and chemical detergent. The diaper problem, and other environmental issues, will not be solved by a small group arguing inconclusively over the morally appropriate individual action. If the environmentalists could not have the clear cost signal on the environmental damage, the majority of people would not inconvenience themselves even if they understood environmental problems. Both information and incentive in the avoidance of externality cost are necessary.

The last part of the book is on globalization and the economics of why some developing countries stay poor. This is where the book is criticized by many academics of putting forward assumptions without substantiation. I also think that the author is raising swift remarks without convincingly supporting them with sound arguments. However, this does not diminish the value of the book as interesting reading material. It is still a book I recommend, even to those not interested in economics.

Mr. Harford has done a wonderful job of explaining economics. While many of the textbooks published about this topic are about as exciting as watching paint dry, Mr. Harford succeeds in making the subject matter fun and informative. For the casual layman such as myself, this book is an excellent beginning to understanding capitalism. Though I have read a few other books on economics, this was easily the most entertaining.

I was assigned Readings in World Christian History as textbook for a class at the Perkins School of Theology. The book is a compilation of historical documents, preceded by short introductions that place the documents in context and tell why they are important.

If you are reading this, you are probably interested in church history. If you really want to get into the subject, you will need this book or another one like it.

This book is a marvellous companion for Dr. Irvin's "World Christian Movement" treatise.

FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN EDUCATION provides an excellent basis for preprofessional instructors (students who are going to become teachers). The history and philosophy sections are not too involved with jargon to be useful to undergraduates. On the other hand, for those who have been away from teaching for a few years, for parents who want to find out what's going on, and for students who haven't previously examined education as history, this is a good start. The insets and anecdotes that are set apart from the main body of the text by boxes and underlining are somewhat confusing, but they also contain ideas that should be explored. The prose ranges from stilted to nicely-flowing.

I had to purchase this book for a history class focused on pop culture of 1890's - present. In my opinion Kasson does an amazing job really reviewing the social changes that Coney Island had initiated in the United States. Warning: I did not find this book very stimulating. It was very factual and upfront with no glamourous words inbetween. But "Amusing the Million" was very educational. Kasson showcased the true importance of Coney Island in a way that I had never seen it presented before.

Amusement parks that began to exist during the turn of the century served as venues for fun and excitement as well as helped to release the repressed from the gentility of the Victorian Age of the nineteenth century. John Kasson examines the social and cultural ramifications that occurred in American society in his book, AMUSING THE MILLIONS: CONEY ISLAND AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. In his study, Kasson shows how the American landscape became playgrounds, especially in New York, which extended the use of recreational space, New York's Central Park, and expositions that commemorated and celebrated the American historical past, Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893. They magnified the cornerstones and building blocks of the city, and the behavior that was exhibited with the rising middle class, which attracted a mass audience. The city became cosmopolitan and modern where many engaged and frolicked, and helped to unlatch social, racial, and economic boundaries that were bestowed upon many individuals; they also helped to rejuvenate cities through urban planning.

Indeed, Kasson explores the world of imagination. The amusements ran the gamut from a Barnum and Bailey atmosphere to reveling along the boardwalk amongst exotic and unusual exhibits that coveted Coney Island's Luna Park and Dreamland Park. And within the text Kasson highlights those who helped architect this unrestrained environment of excess, such as Frederick Law Olmstead, Daniel H. Burnham, George C. Tilyou, Frederic Thompson, James Gibbons Huneker, and Maxim Gorky. Undoubtedly these were elaborate and spacious constructed palatial playgrounds of pleasure full of materialism and consumption where many gathered for pure utopian enjoyment. According to Kasson, these amusements also served as an outlet for artists and painters whose works did not particularly belong in museums. However, they reflected the modernist and realist genres of the art world before they came into vogue, and they depicted "technological, urban, populous, egalitarian, erotic, hedonist, dynamic, and culturally diverse" images that the public were not accustomed to (88).

Overall, this is an interesting trip down nostalgic memory lane. Through the revealing pictures and detailed narrative, Kasson shows readers how Coney Island at the turn became a form of liberation for an array of classes. In essence, this is a good source to refer to when studying or reading about the American Dream as it relates to amusement parks that transcended social and cultural change in American society.

This book was not really what I expected it to be.Rather than giving interesting insight into what went on at Coney Island;it is more a book about why it came into being,why at the time,and why at that location. The book seemed to run out of steam and ended abruptly without completing the story of the reasons for the demise of it all.
Sure ,the book is about Coney Island;but similar Amusement Parks ,although none as large or famous,sprung up all over America and even Canada. And that doesn't even take into account all the State Fairs,County Exhibitions,National Exhibitions,travelling Fairs,Circuses and Sideshows,
These were all much the same in nature,differing mainly in size and duration.Their reason for being and the reason or them becoming a thing of the past is all the same.
The book suggests that they started in the mid-1800's is stretching the point somewhat as Fairs of all types were around for many centuries and only differed in how big they were,how far people travelled to them ,how much new inventions became incorporated and how long they lasted.
It seems that throughout history people loved to gather for just about any reason,but generally some sort of amusement along with the hope of "seeing something new". Thus there were Races,Exhibitions of animals,crafts,products for prizes or sale,Auctions,Magic shows,Plays,Sporting events;and on and on ad infinitism.
This happened at Stonehenge and before,at the Roman Collisium,and Religious Celebrations. It didn't take much to create an event;heck, even a "Hanging" was enough to get a huge crowd out.
The same sort of thing continues today.So instead of taking the Subway to Coney Island or some other Amusement park;we go to the great Theme Parks,National Parks,Sporting Events,Concerts,Casinos,Vegas,Nashville,Ski Hills,Cruises,or even events and locations around the world,such as World Fairs or the Olympics.
The old adage "The more things change,the more they become the same" applies to Amusement Parks,just as it does to everything else.
I suppose the greatest change is in the ease of travel,the amount of disposible income available,and the introduction of TV where everything can be brought right into the living room. That doesn't leave much but the Thrill Rides,the Smells and Sounds ,the Crowds and the Outdoors; but that's coming too.
I for one still like to "Go to the Fair" and still do here in Toronto.The Canadian National Exhibition continues to run for 3 weeks in August:however it gets poorer and tackier every year and who knows how much longer it will continue.

If you are reading this book, you probably fit into one of two categories. 1. You are a local from the region surrounding Coney Island or 2. You were assigned the book as required reading from a college History class.

While Kasson has certainly done his research on his subject, he struggles at times to find a story with some drama where very little drama exists. To make things more difficult, the reader is subjected to a sort of bastardized version of early twentieth century verbage throughout the text. For example, Kasson is particularly fond of the word "gentry" and uses it and other arcane terms frequently in presenting the story. Most likely, the intent was to give the reader a sense of the period in which the story occurs. Unfortunately, the effect is confusing, dry, and alienating rather than engrossing. Kasson does sucessfully connect individuals who have their own places in history to Coney Island, which is most likely why the book is cited so frequently in other books (132 at latest count) regarding this segment of history. The book is very difficult to read cover-to- cover. It appears that the auther intended for the reader to skip back and forth throughout the text. The final pages end with a one sentence wrap up and a picture. It is almost as if the author himself lost interest in his subject and called it a day. File it somewhere between an antique store and your Grandparent's family photos. Nice for a curious Coney Island history buff. Otherwise, a pretty dull and tedious read.

In these times, when entertainers bare body parts normally kept strictly covered, it is hard to believe the cover photo of this book was considered rather racy a century ago. It shows a line of girls on the beach at Coney Island where the skirts on their swimsuits have been raised to reveal the shorts underneath. Considering that they also appear to have full-length tights on underneath the shorts, to modern eyes, they look overdressed. There were many social commentators at the end of the nineteenth century that argued that the egalitarian social structure of Coney Island was debasing the social fabric of the nation.
Which was nonsense, as Coney Island was the most conspicuous example of the dramatic social changes taking place in the United States. By the turn of the century, the people were generally no longer rural tillers of the soil, having been transformed into urban tillers of the machines. Furthermore, by this time, the social distinctions between the upper and other classes were being blurred. As the author points out, at Coney Island, many of the stiff social restrictions came down. People who otherwise would not speak to each other became friendly and shared rides, beach water and other amusements.
The members of the compressed urban society craved simple and inexpensive recreation and Coney Island provided it. Therefore, as Kasson points out so well, it was a phenomenon that grew out of a social need and in many ways served as a social release. People could, for a very small fee, leave their crowded dwellings and engage in a day of escape. Everyone was equal on the rides and the beaches, so at least at that location, social distinctions disappeared.
Until I read this book, I had never considered the amusement park as a barometer for social change. However, it is now clear that Coney Island was a metaphor for a dramatic change in the social fabric of the nation and from this book, you can learn many of the details.

This book will definitely make you reconsider the murder of JFK, along with the cancer so many of us fight each day. It's scary to imagine what the government can do.

If you don't want to be challenged, or you want to believe the Warren Commission Report that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and unaided in the assassination of JFK, or that New Orleans and the events taking place there played no part in the assassination, don't bother to read Dr Mary's Monkey, for it will disrupt your complacency and demolish your assumptions.

This book is a serious attempt to move into an area of research that is as-yet mostly uncharted with little documentation. And it is no surprise -- most of the people involved are dead -- something happened to them soon after the assassination. One has survived, though; a woman who has created more controversy and discussion than anybody connected to the assassination, save for perhaps Lee Oswald himself.

Judyth Vary Baker, who now resides outside of the US for her own safety, is the witness whose statements pull together this book into a cohesive theory of what might have happened behind the scenes of the assassination. In addition, Haslam is a good writer who uses his own experiences (they create rather eccentric credentials for his passion for his subject-matter) to give us a book that is a real page-turner. An updated and expanded version of his earlier outrageously fascinating book "Mary, Ferrie and the Monkey Virus", which gained a considerable cult following over the years, this edition has photos and documentation galore.

I was amazed when I read Dr Mary's Monkeys. This is honest research and shows just how corrupt scientists and governments can be. It also explained the connection to why JFK was murdered.

As a native New Orleanian, I was 20 years old when Dr. Sherman was murdered and remember parts of the strange story of her murder in her St. Charles Ave apartment. Having actually met a couple of the players in the book, back in the early and mid-60's, remembering the stories of the Primate Center over the years and various related vague controversies, I find Haslam's story very compelling, well researched and totally believable - it sure tied up a lot of loose ends for me about many questions I've had since 1962. It also helps explain why so many people of my generation (who took the polio vaccine in question) seem so susceptible to the current cancer epidemic, at least here in New Orleans. Call me cynical, but to me, there is nothing far-fetched in this book at all and Haslam clarifies a lot of issues/mysteries that have been successfully suppressed for 40+ years.

This book was somewhat "under the radar' here and was a word-of-mouth type of thing that locals started to talk about, passing around their copies of the book (which I could initially only find on Amazon); however, I noticed it on display at a Border's store this week (at $19.99). I've referred the book to everyone I know and I am ordering another 4 copies today from Amazon for friends - I think it is a must-read - even if you don't believe part of it, it is a book that is hard to put down and frightening on many levels.

An incredible journey.Absolutely Brilliant writing! A book that should be in everyone's home. The millions of children innoculated with the polio vaccine,that were contaminated with monkey virus'. This led to a possible
development of soft tissus in later life,(and possibly AIDS). Even worse after the discovery,was the cover-up by the Government.You can NOT put this book down.The documentation and footnotes,are flawless. The new Orleans Connection,Lee Harvey Oswald,Jim Garrison,the death of President Kennedy,and the homicide of Dr. Mary Sherman,The links to the finest researchers brought to New Orleans to try to keep the secret while trying to find an answer. One of the best and most riveting books I have EVER read!

This is an interesting read, but the claims are dubious and the scholarship slip-shod. Only a reader with limited critical thinking skills would fall for the claims made by the authors.

The book is fascinating, and offers insights into the work of Michelangelo as a scholar and artist. It includes logical and understandable interpretations of the ceiling art in the Sistine chapel, but also includes conclusions that are somewhat speculative. Altogether, worth reading and thinking about it.

This book is very interesting because it goes into the culture and background of why Michelangelo spurned the pope with his art. I recommend it.

Happening upon a major discovery regarding the backgound, motive ---and actions--of an angered Mchelagelo, authors Blech and Doliner did what only the very finest historians do: they followed the evidence wherever it led, honestly, honorably--and with extraordinary personal courage.

The Sistine Secrets not only is historical analysis of the highest order--it is one gripping read which grabs you on page 1--and never lets go.

A First-rate effort in every way!!

An amazing work full of new and plausable ideas and theories.Kudos to authors Rabbi Benjamin Blech and Roy Doliner.Their research and proof opens a new dimension into the mind and genius of Michaelangelo.My students were awed by the insight and messages that were never seen by Pope Julius or the millions of humans who walked into the Chapel and looked up!This is truly a gift from the past that can now be accepted.

The book arrived in the estimated time and in the condition advertised by this seller.

Packer begins by exploring the intellectual roots of the invasion of Iraq in relationship to American ideas of democracy. In analyzing ideology and realism in foreign policy thinking, Packer shows how an essentially mild liberalism transforms into the core of neocon thinking. He has a fine sense of the complex interplay of dominant and subdominant intellectual themes. Packer's own view, a slightly left of center stance informed by the thinking of an Iraqi scholar, undergoes a slow evolution from mild approval of America's rationale to concern over its misperception of circumstances in country. Packer's theoretical introduction frames the rest of the book. Most of the rest of the book represents the kind of reporting that finds universals in stories of individual Iraqis and Americans and keeps a close account of the gathering tragedy of the invasion. Told with with sympathy, a clear leitmotif, and an eye for telling detail, Packer's work provides the clearest picture of life outside The Assassin's Gate through 2006.

Long after "the tumult and the shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart," I suspect this book will remain. Barbara Tuchman's "The March of Folly" is another such book. Mr. Packer has done a tremendous job in opening the curtains. We now see the real "Wizard of Oz."

It would have helped if he had provided a list of the many people he refers to, rather than digging through the index. But that is a small gripe, indeed. Writing this review requires a little organization, writing "The Assassins' Gate" required a lot of organization, but invading Iraq required no organization, at all. Mr. Packer shows that, chapter and verse.

The Iraq war enters its 5th year. Most people in the world, and many in the US, are now categorical in their denunciation of it. WMDs have proven to be a false premise and al-Quaeda is probably quite happy about the Muslim polarization it has brought on.

Packard makes a much-needed case that one can be against the administration and against the horrible mess it has made, yet still find that going to war wasn't entirely a moral deadend from day one. Saddam was a butcher and a tyrant and removing him was a good thing in itself, even if done for the wrong reasons. Only time will tell if the gains outweigh the costs - it doesn't look good right now.

He reminds us that even the good intentions of many, and a population justifiably happy to be rid of Saddam, did not mean that it was going to be easy to effect a post-Saddam transition. Iraqis were too divided, too browbeaten and too materially poor for an easy outcome. The US administration was overconfident and too determined to keep any bad news and harsh reality from the electorate even as it wasn't pragmatic enough to learn from its mistakes. Also documented is the near-criminal lack of planning and carelessness with which responsibility for post-war planning was usurped from State by the Pentagon and then not carried out.

Packard presents many points of view, from idealistic troops to soldiers suspicious and resentful of Iraqis. Don't kid yourself - if you and your buddies got shot at every day by 'civilians', your reactions towards the population might not be warm and fuzzy, even as those reactions really really need restraint. Similarly, his Iraqi subjects run the gamut from pro-democrats to Shia hardliners to Sunnis convinced that they are a majority. He mostly leaves the reader to draw her own conclusions. Except for a chapter in which he outlines how a more pragmatic and honest administration might have operated.

This book is a cogent reminder that Iraq is a difficult and complex reality, without easy answers. Too many Democrats (a good friend of mine included) will reflexively deny any improvement, just because failure digs a deeper hole for the Republicans. Too many Republicans take any criticism of the administration as a solely partisan attack, despite the gross incompetence and clear miscalculations of the administration.

The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is that Packard does not rise above the partisan fray himself. Cheney might be despicable, but I wouldn't call him a 'giant frog' in a book that preaches objectivity and coming together to fix things. Assassin's Gate is quite even-handed in its analysis, but quoting him out of context makes it easier for flat-earthers to dismiss this book as just another character assassination.

Best wishes to the troops themselves - take care, be safe, and remain honorable. And peace be upon Iraqis.

Packer was an earlier supporter of the war in Iraq, who has, in the last couple of years, changed his tune. He is also an incredible writer, and Assassin's Gate is the best written book I have read on the war. Packer moves between DC and Iraq from the beginning of the plans for the war, including fascinating profiles of Anti-Saddam Iraqi and U.S. liberal who supported the war to the (almost) present. You can feel his disgust with the Bush administration grow and his hope for Iraq fail as the book progresses.

Assassin's Gate is an excellent read, and a good primer on the basic outline of the lead up to the war, but where the book really shines is in the profiles of people caught up by the whole disaster. Whether that's anti Saddamist Iraqi exiles, US soldiers, or young women in Baghdad, all of the people written about in this book really do come off the page as fully realized people caught up in a horrible situation they didn't ask for. This is a popular book, written for a mass audience, so you're not going to get all that much depth, but the personal stories and the inside the beltway backstory, make this book well worth the read.

Although the story of the Japanese super-battleship Yamato has attracted some attention over the years, the history of the Imperial Japanese Navy's entire battleship force in the Second World War has generally received much less attention. In Osprey's New Vanguard No. 146, Imperial Japanese Navy Battleships 1941-45, naval historian Mark Stille provides an excellent summary of the 12 ships that formed the Japanese battle line during the Pacific War. Overall, the book is very well written and packaged, with excellent photos and color plates on each class. Unlike earlier Osprey New Vanguard titles, where all the color plates are in the center - requiring frequent page flipping - the color plates are instead interspersed in each section, which is much more reader-friendly.

The volume begins with a short introduction that covers how battleships figured in pre-war Japanese naval strategy and doctrine and how the Imperial Navy set about developing the ships it needed to implement this strategy. In short, the Japanese took to heart the lessons of the battles of Tsushima (1905) and Jutland (1916) and their war plans envisioned a decisive battleship vs. battleship action that would decide the conflict against their likely opponent - the U.S. Navy. However, due to economic weakness and diplomatic agreements, the IJN could not build as many battleships as the USN and instead opted to build `better' warships, with bigger guns and more armor than their opponent. With bigger guns, the Japanese expected to open fire at 37,000 yards - outranging American battleships by about 4,000 yards and theoretically providing a significant edge in battleship actions. Although this `cult of the battleship' has often been criticized, author Mark Stille points out that these decisions were made at a point when naval air power was still in its infancy and not yet deemed a major threat to battleships. However, as the author also points out, 6 of the 11 Japanese battleships sunk during the Pacific War were done in by aircraft.

The heart of this volume lies in the five short sections (total 30 pages) on each Japanese battleship class: Kongo, Fuso, Ise, Nagato and Yamato. Each sections includes sub-sections on design and construction, armament, service modifications, wartime service, a color plate and a small data plate. Many of the B/W photos used in these sections, from the Yamato Museum, have not been printed in the West before. These sections provide a very nice capsule history of each ship and the author provides a number of insights that explain the performance of Japanese battleships. As he notes, "the quality of Japanese battleship gunnery was mediocre during the war," citing the low number of hits achieved off Guadalcanal and later, Leyte Gulf. One action he does not include occurred on March 1, 1942, when battleships Hiei and Kirishima engaged the destroyer USS Edsall off Java, firing 297 14-inch and 132 6-inch rounds and scoring only a single hit. After that poor performance, the Japanese threw out the pre-war idea of long-range gunnery duels which in practice, wasted ammunition and opted for significantly reduced gunnery ranges. In doing this, the Japanese abandoned much of the rationale for their battleships and in the Solomons used them at point-blank ranges which enabled even U.S. cruisers and destroyers to inflict serious damage on them. The author also notes the poor performance of Japanese anti-aircraft guns and the failure to develop proximity shells, as well as low-quality radar that prevented accurate night gunnery control.

Amazingly, it was only the older Kongo-class that made any significant contribution to the Japanese war effort, particularly in actions in the Solomons, while the best Japanese battleships sat at most of the war well behind the lines. The author notes that super-battleship Yamato was dubbed `Hotel Yamato,' during its inactive time as fleet flagship. Although the growing lethality of airpower rendered Japanese battleships increasingly vulnerable by 1942, he does conclude that, "in the six-month struggle for Guadalcanal, the Imperial Japanese Navy's battleships had the potential to make a significant contribution to a Japanese victory," but instead the IJN only committed two Kongo class battleships, which were lost. He makes an interesting contrast here between the suddenly-cautious IJN leaders who refused to risk their best ships in the Solomons struggle, while the Americans boldly committed their two newest battleships which produced significant results. The author comments that American airpower in the Solomons was too weak at the time to counter a large force of Japanese battleships and a major commitment could have reversed the American build-up. By the time that the IJN decided to commits its battle line in 1944 to the defense of the Philippines it was too late and American airpower had grown exponentially. Thus, this volume provides an excellent case study on how faulty doctrine can lead to poor weapons development choices, which in turn begets poorly-considered operational planning.