History Books

I was happy to see that this book was added to Oprah's book club, this ment that millions who never knew of this book would read it or at least hear it's story. I read this in college as part of the debates on wither the US should have entered WW2 before 1941. When I was done I felt that I had been robbed. Not that I didn't enjoy the book but that noone had told me about it before. I would rather have read this in Middle or High school then some of the junk books they forced on us, and while Romeo and Joilet is a fine work I belive that the story Wiesel gives us is more timly and would give kids something to think about.
The story of Wiesel and his Father in the camps should make anyone who reads this book take note of what happens when Fascism and National Socalism are given a foothold.Sadly we are having to learn some of this lessons again, hopefully we learned then well enough to stop another Holocaust.

Should be required reading for . . . for everyone who can read. Puts a face, a voice, a mind, a spirit to something that is so hard to comprehend that it often can feel more like an idea than a reality. A truly moving book. Also, I would recommend the PBS documentary made about Wiesel that was produced, written and edited by David Grossbach and Rob Gardner.

This book is absolutely not anti-religion, and it does not promote any one religion, so readers need not be worried that this book is promoting religion or atheism. I RECOMMEND IT.

Wow, it has ben a long time since I read a book so touching. Thank you!

Some of the scenes went on and on and on, but overall it was very heart touching, eye opening look at the truth of the situation.

Barack Obama is an incredible story teller. Reading "Dreams from My Father" was a most enlightening experience. By the time we got to Africa I felt like Obama was a dear friend sharing his life with me. Meeting family for the first time in Africa felt like me going home to meet my ancestors. The reading was delicious and I didn't want it to end. I urge my family and friends to meet the man who is making history and spend some quality time with him. It feels honest and it's so obvious that it was written before there were any presidential aspirations. A documented story of a man before any publicity spin.

I have officially drank the cool-aide and think Obama is fantastic. Superbly written, wonderful insights into modern racial issues soulful and deeply honest. He has my vote!

i love this book and i think the writing is amazing. idont know how he found time to write all of this but it was amazing. on the other hand it took me foreever. esepily the chacogo part. it was still amazing

Having read "The Audacity of Hope" and been incredibly inspired by it, I expected more of the same thoughtful discussion when I moved on to "Dreams From My Father." Was I ever surprised to discover an American Novel - with soaring descriptions, gifted human characterization, and appropriate suspense. Those who read this book hoping to get an inside look at a potential president will get what they paid for. Those just hoping to read a good story about the American experience will find what they want as well - even if they had never heard of Barack Obama (due to living on another planet, no doubt). As a white woman in the younger generation, with a less jaundiced view of race relations, I cringed early on at all the racial obsessions Barack entertained as a young man. Then I was grateful to get this inside look at what are true issues for my fellow citizens of color. (It's been a while since I read Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.) Once I understood that Obama was presenting his struggles with identity as an honest attempt to explain the complex issues that being interracial present, I relaxed and appreciated the candor. My only criticism, from a casual reader's perspective, is that the departures from narrative on his MULTIPLE soul-searching musings go on for pages and pages and toward the end of the book seem extensive. His editor should have just trimmed some of those for the sake of flow. The ease of reading isn't quite what it is in "Audacity," but obviously it is far and away above what most attorneys can produce in attempts at entertaining fiction.

I read this book because I wanted to know more about Obama. I wanted (and expected) to like him, but unfortunately I was disappointed. This book has a very whiny, "poor me" kind of tone. Not to say that black people don't have a tough time, but there seems to be a lot of blaming "the white man" and "white folks" in general. News flash: we "white folks" don't just sit around plotting how we can make black folks' lives difficult.
Recommended reading: The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes

If you don't like, or would like to not like, the current administration, then read this book. If you trust the current administration, then read this book and see if you can explain why you have this trust.

More importantly, the author points to a new American foreign policy which I hope will become part of the current electoral debate. He also seems to point out that there is a better case to impeach Bush than there was to impeach Clinton.

"The Way of the World" is an absolute must read for anyone wanting to know the truth about the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Mr. Suskind confirms the "foolish arrogance" of Bush and Cheney as they use false intelligence and good people to fool the American people into supporting this illegal war. His strongest message, however, is the evolution of our world toward a greater understanding of each other as we discover our similarities instead of our differences. My only hope is that both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama read this book and act accordingly.

I have just put down The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism and I cannot yet decide which is the more compelling force, the powerful story that has been put down upon its pages or the amazing talent of this writer, who managed to captured it and cleverly pull it together. From interrogations inside the White House gates to the holding cells at Guantanamo, Ron Suskind has masterfully laid out the realities of today in unflinching terms.

Using snapshot-like descriptions of events from the past few years, Suskind not only connects us with the knows - Bush, Blair, Tenet, Musharraf, Bhutto - but also with an array of unknowns with names like Stephen, Ibrahim, Rolf, Usman, Candace, Abdul, Rob, Ann and Stephen that turn out to be core players in our close-knit world. How faith, tradition and hope integrated and shaped their lives and futures, along with those of their families and their societies, reveals for us how 'the way of the world' that we live in has actually come to pass. And in a particularly skillful six-page portrait of the 10th century foundations of faith and reason and the events that launched our beliefs, Suskind carries us forward through a thousand years of evolution to our current levels of confusion with today's priorities and the conundrums that we face.

In his remarkable vignettes, Suskind binds our characters into a single idea, a shared purpose, and makes his case for finding our moral energy and reestablishing America's moral leadership so that we might generate precious intelligence and global actions that could enable us to detect imminent threats in a world where technology and terrorism have intersected.

Using the same skills that were on display in The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11, he takes us inside the mind of each member of the cast and lets us walk in their shoes. In the last third of this book, the players not only address these realities of nuclear terrorism but also the need for cooperation on a global scale to address it. They appropriately raise the question of 'why' terrorism and nuclear weapons are handled in secret rather than continuing with the traditional 'how' to better watch over them; asking not 'how' 9/11 happened but 'why'.

Of the many allegations contained in this journalistic masterpiece, one in particular indicates that The White House was the source of a fake letter from an Iraqi intelligence agent to Saddam Hussein that linked Mohamed Atta's 9/11 mission directly to Saddam and to Iraq. Unfortunately, the frenzy that resulted has overshadowed some equally important issues that Suskind's book has also addressed, which have the potential to impact the future in no small way. The appropriate questions of the day are first, what are other nations doing with their loose uranium [or WMDs]? and second, how do we assess the gap between what they are saying publicly and doing privately? and finally, are we doing enough to control or eliminate these dangerous commodities? I found it notable that in 2003, there was a deliberate American diplomatic snub of the Iranians in Geneva, which shut down the ongoing talks with Tehran, took place after Iran had voluntarily suspended the part of their nuclear program to weaponize enriched uranium. Was this 'step in the wrong direction' for political reasons?

As the Senate committees make moves to look into issues and allegations raised by this book, perhaps they should address such issues as 'uranium leaks from Russia to Georgia in 2003 and 2006' or 'actions that we should pursue now to compensate for our past failures in policy and security', things that Suskind's prose has made perfectly clear. And as we plan for a better future, let us also question why is it that an Iraq-like campaign to bomb Iran still persists in media reports about the current Administration. Is the intent of this to 'stop terrorism' once again? I don't think so...

Bob Magnant is the author of The Last Transition... - a fact-based novel about Iran, Iraq and the Middle East.

This is a profound book. A description of the betrayal by the powerful and the courage and integrity of the people who move this country, this civilization forward simply doing what they know is right, is ethical.

I began reading this book to find the section describing Bush choosing to go to war knowing that the case he was making to us was false. The gravity of this is staggering...

What I gained in reading the book in its entirety is confirmation that the essential American spirit enobled by the values most of us hold and live by are still relevant and that those values are not exclusive to America but are universal among brave citizens of many countries.

This country was highjacked by a president and vice president who came to office with an agenda to have a war with Iraq and took whatever path to lie to and manipulate the citizens of this country to support them.

And yet, there are many inspiring people who meet this corruption on the road where it travels and fight it on the only battlefield that matters. These incremental achievements are a sharp contrast to the glaring abuses of this White House.

Thank You Mr. Suskind.

Where is the outrage to the terrible truths this important book has revealed ?!

I am stunned there is not more of an outcry regarding the hidden truths coming to light and how we were deceived and shown no respect by our elected leaders ?!

Our country will never be able to live up to the lofty ideals of our founding documents unless we come to grips with the truth of how we got where we are. This book tells the truth about how the people on top have butchered and suppressed others in order to STAY on top. The first 10 pages are absolutely shocking - WHY do we celebrate Columbus Day?
Every American school student should be required to read this, if only to counterbalance the glorious, whitewashed history that is in our textbooks.

The sad part is the ideas Zinn is so passionate about deserve to be expressed well and read by an even larger audience than he currently enjoys.

Had Zinn hooked up with a good writer this may well have been a good book. As it stands I can't help feel I am browsing wily nilly through stacks of index cards filled with quotes, facts, and observations from original and secondary sources pertaining to a particular view of U.S. history.

Now all someone has to do is organize all these cards into a book with, if we are lucky, a compelling narrative flow. That is a separate art from the collection of the index cards, something Zinn is very good at.

Currently the material is mind numbingly unorganized, repetitive, and verbose, which is a shame. Zinn's view of the primary forces that have shaped, and continue to shape our country deserve a better showing.

It's obvious this cat knew the kind of book he wanted to write before he started. He just needed the facts and data to back it up. A lot of this guy's opinions and conclusions are probably right. But it's hard to lend much credibility to a historian who grabs at so many straws. One thing I remember was he wrote about a riot in New York during the Civil War and stated that no actual number of deaths were ever recorded, but that this was the largest number of deaths ever in a case of domestic violence in America. Is that a guess then? I think that's around pg. 236, though I don't have it in front of me. One thing I do know is on pg. 193 he talks about the massacre at Fort Pillow, Kentucky. Dude, Fort Pillow is in Tennessee. If you can't even get a fact like that straight, how can I trust all the other less clear-cut things you present? Go ahead and read this if you want a non-typical book that doesn't rave about how great America's past was. Just don't put much stock in everything this guy tries to feed you.

This is a book that everyone should read & should be a requirement in all schools.

Wow! Just superb. It gave me the real, true perspective of the US. It was an eye opener for me. One of my top 3 reads of all time.

Thank you!

The Book Thief is no light read. It's not meant to be taken to the beach or casually skimmed over during the course of a weekend. The fact that it's narrated by Death Himself should clue readers into the serious themes held within its pages. I admit that I had to be patient with the narrative at first -it seemed disjointed and difficult to get into, but the language was so vibrant and clever that the book wouldn't let me go. As a result, I was incredibly moved by the ending and can offer up the rarest praise: I will reread this book again in time. It is just that good, that powerful, and that important.

Confusing , disorganized and disappointing. I found this bpook to be difficult to follow.I could not empathize with the main character. A waste of time.

The story starts off a little slow but keep reading because it gets much better. My only disappointment was that I didn't want this book to end. Great read!!

this book was way better than i thought it would be. it starts out slow, but it becomes really good. you should read it. it is very well written and just and all around good book!!!

There are plenty of reviews telling the story line so I won't bore anyone with more. I just want to say how creative a writer Zusak is. This is the first story I've read narrated by death and I couldn't put it down. It was like reading an abstract story with the lives of people during World War II woven so beautifully together. Amazing! Different! And I have to agree with others on the fact that it doesn't read like a junior book. Don't give up on this book, you'll be glad you didn't.

I certaintly hope that nobody actually considers Klein an expert on economics. This book contained many fanciful tales and creative history, but I challenge the author and her fans to point out one single true fact in the entire book. Klein cannot make a decent argument without instantly resorting to the same tired tabloid approach of re-writing actual history and events to fit her argument. This contains the same anti-capitalist themes and overtones you'll find in a 2nd year college essay.

Great information and told in a way that can really penetrate. A wake up call!

Naomi Klein is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. She tries to claim free market economic policies can only be imposed undemocratically and makes a not very compelling argument linking proponents of free market economics and physical torture. The book is only convincing if one is largely ignorant of the real facts surrounding Klien's case study analyses.

The book is so full of holes, it is difficult to know where to begin. It focuses on examples of economic policy decisions by various nations around the globe. Since many of her examples suffer from the same flaws, I'll focus on one. In Klein's discussion of the new post-apartheid government of South Africa in the mid-1990s, she lambastes it for not embarking on radical reforms she favors. According to Klein, it should have repudiated debts, nationalized industries, given politicians the power to run the central bank and printed money to meet spending demands above what taxes or borrowing might have brought in, among other things. The new government was dominated by the Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, which was hardly the right-wing entity but it did adopt a pragmatic program and a decade and half later it is one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, but Klein judges its record as "scandalous." Curiously, another country that borders South Africa did adopt many of her recommendations. Yet the name "Zimbabwe" appears nowhere in the text of the book. Perhaps it if had, Klein would have had to explain how hyperinflation and a collapsed economy are good things. It isn't that Klien's analysis is always wrong, but rather the evidence used is so selective, it is clear that she arrives a conclusion and looks for evidence to support it and ignores anything that might contradict it, rather than determining a conclusion based on available evidence.

Klein simply doesn't care about or doesn't understand the trade offs in economic policy. In the 1980s, governments in Latin America were hit by bouts of hyperinflation as governments printed money to finance spending. She admits the hyperinflation is a bad thing but acts as though it occurred spontaneously in a vacuum and then attacks the successful measures that were taken to tame it. As an alternative of the actual strategy to combat hyperinflation in the case of Bolivia, she offers a vapid alternative that seeks "mobilize support and share the burden through a negotiated process involving key stakeholders." Well, that sounds well and good, but she offers no examples of that approach taming hyperinflation. What is more, the mobilization and strikes in opposition to the anti-inflation polices suggest some stakeholders weren't exactly willing to cooperate, thus, what she really offers is no alternative at all. Which gets to one of central weaknesses in Klein's argument, trade offs can't just be wished away. State-owned industries may be fine and dandy but if the government is going bankrupt trying to keep them afloat, refusing to alter the status quo isn't an option. Klein has an almost religious faith in the state to wave a wand and do good (which is not to say it does do no good, just it isn't as capable a Klein would have her readers believe). Rather than acknowledging real world choices, Klein deems every rollback of state power is some hidden corporate conspiracy.

A more realistic look at developmental policies is provided "In Defense of Globalization" by Jagdish Bhagwati.

I have very little Economy in my background but like the theme and her writing but after 8 chapters I hope to bring things together as I agree with what she is saying. Corporate America is and has been responsible for much of our ills today.

This book gets my highest rating. Probably one of the most important books I've read on contemporary culture. Ranks up there with Noam Chomsky and G. Edward Griffin's "The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve". READ THIS BOOK !!!

An eye opener from an insider non politician. Enjoyed reading the book and learnt more about how far our politicians have digressed from taking care of the people who elect them.

I've been following Ron Paul for about a year now and even I learned some new things reading this book. I think it lays out the case real well for local government and self government versus the large intrusive Federal government we now have. Our country needs to right the ship now while we still can

They both are "revolutionists" who are trying to overthrow governments. I see no difference between this book and Mao's Red Diary. I guess you can say this is the Mao's diary for infowarriors and conspiracy nuts. Worst read ever and there's a reason he only got 0.5% of Republican Delegates. Don't be persuaded by nut job and jobies Alex Jones, his propaganda is the only reason why there was so much internet hype (we all see where that went), think outside of the box and be independent...

Ron Paul is certainly the most interesting politician of his time. I am behind his domestic policy 95% of the time, but his foreign policy is very naïve. Yes the founding fathers did not want us going abroad...but they also lived in a time where the United States could free ride off the security the Brittish Empire brought to the Western World. Geopolitical changes have also brought an end to the days of noninterventionsism because our oceans can not longer protect us from planes, missiles and terrorists. And no, I don't buy into the naïve argument that "they" would just leave us alone if we left them alone. Our enemies abroad do not seek peace with us any more than our enemies here at home really want equality and multiculturalism. What they both want is the destruction of the West.
However, Congressman Paul makes an excellent argument that if we don't trust big government here at home to fix problems, why should we expect the same government to go abroad and fix the societies of the Middle East? The answer is we shouldn't. Just because we break it, doesn't mean we have to fix it. Interventionism can occur for strategic reasons without it becoming the Wilsonian foreign policy of George Bush.

You know that feeling you get right before a big election? The total and complete indifference that is akin to having tea or coffee with your meal perhaps? The apathy that I was once accustomed to experience when the conversation turned towards politics has since been replaced with a burning and intense passion and desire for real change. As we all know far too well that nothing of substance really changes within our federal government. Ron Paul proposes real change, and his source of inspiration is our Constitution.

Great book, should be a must read for anyone interested in the mess we call the Iraq war.

The Book is great, I got into it after watching the first few episodes of the series. The book goes into further detail, obviously, than the series. It makes the reader see the difference between the command and the actual grunt and how different the war is to what we perceive. All in all I recommend the book for an eye opening read about the beginning of the Iraq conflict.

Since HBO just finished running a seven part miniseries based on this book, I decided I would probably get more out of the miniseries by reading the book. As is the case in situations like this, you definitely get more out of the book than the television show. And in this case, it makes for a excellent, first person account of the opening months of the Iraq War.

Generation Kill, by Evan Wright, is the result of his time in Iraq, embedded with the Marine Corp's First Reconnaissance Battalion, Second Platoon of Bravo Company, during the first three months of the Iraq War. Recon Marines are highly trained, very close to Special Forces, to work behind enemy lines. In the opening months of the Iraq War, they are used as the point of the war spear, driving quickly toward Baghdad in an effort to fake Saddam Hussein's army into thinking that it is the main military thrust. Wright, the only reporter embedded with First Recon, Second Platoon of Bravo Company, tells the story of this small group of Marines as they head toward Baghdad. In doing so, you get a much better understanding of the people that fight for our country, their thoughts on the ultimate taboo, killing, and an inside look at the 21st century US Military machine.

Whether you agree with the war in Iraq or not, this is an eye-opening book. Since Wright had access to all of the men of Second Platoon of Bravo Company, including the commanders, you are witness to the conflicting orders, poor commanders, exposed to what it is like to go days on end without sleep, and how the men deal with killing other human beings. It is mentally exhausting reading as Wright describes how these Marines live, work, and interact with each other. Some of the best scenes take place within the confines of the Humvee, as the soldiers pass time by singing songs, rip on each other, and talk about their life back in the States. One interesting point is that there are rules to riding in certain Humvee's; no singing of country songs, no Charms candy (thought to be bad luck). You may think that the US has one of the best equipped military's, but as Wright shows you, Second Platoon is plagued by lack of lubricant for their weapons, causing them to jam at the most inopportune times, and batteries for their Night Vision Goggles and Thermal Imaging Devices. These deficits can have very tragic consequences. Finishing this book, you should have a new appreciation for the men and women in the Armed Forces. As Wright notes:

I am not always confident most Americans fully appreciate the caliber of the people fighting for them, the sacrifices they have made, and the sacrifices they continue to make.

This book will provide you with some appreciation.

My father was an Army medic in Vietnam so I've always been partial to reading about the military experience of war because of the stories my dad told me as a boy. This is the best book about those experiences I have ever read. It's almost as good as my dad's stories. Pick it up and read it now.

For many of the people responsible for bringing on the war in Iraq, "support the troops" is a term that sounds good but is really devoid of substance. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong to go to this war, there is little doubt that the military was often short-changed by the very people who were supposedly supporting them: poorly armored vehicles, inadequate or inappropriate supplies, limited financial benefits and the atrocities at Walter Reed are some of the crimes that immediately come to mind. And who exactly are the troops: not merely numbers on a page or wrongly glorified heroes like Jessica Lynch or Ron Tillman (they may be great people, but they were lied about for propaganda purposes), but real people.

But even as real people, as seen in Evan Wright's Generation Kill, they are exceptional as well. His book follows a couple platoons in the Marines of the First Recon Battalion. These Marines are the elite members of the Corps, trained to be the first in a war zone. The book begins just prior to the Iraq invasion in 2003 and more-or-less concludes by "Mission Accomplished" time. During that time, they will go from the Iraqi/Kuwati border to Baghdad and beyond, often encountering an enemy that may be disorganized but still is deadly.

The Marines depicted are definitely flawed people, hardly the idealized men shown in those Marine commercials. In fact, many of them seem to be in a state of arrested adolescence, cracking racist jokes and fighting each other, often in an attempt to bond further. Some are intelligent, while others are a bit dimmer. But for all their flaws, there is also much to admire about them: they are good at what they do (for the most part) and they will endure hardships few others (including myself) could abide, typically with a smile.

Not all these Marines are competent. In fact, any Marine that Wright only identifies by a nickname - like Captain America or Encino Man - comes off as a buffoon. And since these buffoons are often officers, their idiocies endanger others as well. In fact, it often seems that the noncoms have more contempt for these officers than the Iraqis. Furthermore, they are often disappointed in the higher-ups as well, who often seem to have no real strategy to winning the war (and given that it still goes on over 5 years after "Mission Accomplished", there is good reason to question those authorities).

One problem with Generation Kill is that it does only focus on one small, elite group of Marines and doesn't give much of an impression of how other troops were (for better or for worse). Nonetheless, Wright does a really good job at showing what the day-to-day life of these Marines is like. And though my review may have a political bent, Wright is pretty good at keeping the politics out as much as possible, so whatever side of the war issue you're on, it is worth reading this book to understand a little about what is really going on with the soldiers in Iraq.

Unbelievable story told through the eyes of a 12 year old boy. I read some of the negative reviews posted on this website related to this book. The reviewers felt his (the author) facts weren't true and some things were impossible to have happened. I want to dispell any commentary surrounding this. Remember, this is being told from a 12 year old child's perspective. It brings awareness to the despicable acts humans place upon each other. And, as always, the most central question remains: What will we do about it? Probably nothing. At the very least, read the book. Then, watch Blood Diamonds. The scenes in which boy soldiers are shown are based on the fact presented in this book.

A heart wrenching story told in a simple yet elegant way.Ishmael really proved that "Children can outlive their sufferings, if given a chance".I wonder how many more Ishmael's are yet to be discovered from countries like Sierra Leone. A must read book.

Rarely has a book had such an impact on me. Ismael Beah's epic journey from carefree childhood to inhuman adolescence to enlightened adulthood tells the story of hope for mankind. As Beah has said, it puts a human voice to the war and violence in his country of Sierra Leone, and, in the larger perspective, to all violence, war and hatred around the world. I heard Ismael Beah speak in person yesterday at Florida Gulf Coast University where he addressed the incoming freshmen with his message of love and hope. In the tradition of his people, he is a true storyteller and he tells his story with conviction. If ever a book should be read by everyone living in today's world, this is it.

very hard to put this book down, heart wrenching and difficult to read at times, but worth every minute of it. Very well written

I have no doubt that Beah experienced things that I can't imagine and that no child should see, but he writes it poorly. I am all for stories, which is why I read, but think they need to be told well. A given medium needs to be done properly to be most effective. Beah does it poorly. I'd give his book a D. He tells his story so badly that the reader has no idea the point, plot, relevance, or validity of the story. In no way do I want to make light of what he experienced, but he did it so poorly that he did a disservice to all books. This was a waste of the paper it was printed on.