History Books

This is a great book for anyone who wants a peek into the training of special forces.

This is a really wonderful work. I believe it and experienced the ups and downs of every character. I know someone in the Special Forces and followed closely their selection experience. I learned much more from this book.

I paid particular attention to the officer selection process as this is one of the few places anything is mentioned about that selection process.
I look forward to seeing what Dick does next.

The book certainly had some interesting points, but overall, even for a military buff like me, could get quite boring. It seemed to drone on, almost like reading an actual military handbook. In all honesty I haven't even completed the entire book, I've come close to the end to what I assume is going to be an interesting part, but I just can't quite force myself to read it yet

Anyone who is remotely considering a career in SF needs to read this book. It really put it all in perspective

Great book a must read if your looking into a future in SF or just interested in what they go through.

The book is set between 1805 to 1820 in Russia, among a few families and individuals whose fates become entwined. The families are feudal nobility, most with peasant serfs. This historical time overlaps with when Napoleon Buonaparte came into power in France, then led his army against Russian, and withdrew, then was deposed. Half the book covers stories of war and battle strategy and decisions; individual skirmishes and battles; life in camp and war hospitals; and struggles of war, seen through the eyes of the characters who--some pages before--were engaging in intrigue and personality in drawing rooms and salons of Petersburg and Moscow. The book unabashedly includes the upper of the upper crust, including 'the richest man in Russia', people with access to the Tsar, families with houses and houses and estates and estates. It also includes characters with proximity to the heads of the Russian Army, making it easy to provide a backdrop to essays on strategy, the Russian communal personality and will, and the political intrigues of the various factions about how to handle Napoleon. The family and relationship dramas include a couple of characters and storylines that seem similar to what one finds in Anna Karenina: this is definitely a Tolstoy story and it will please or pain the reader in some ways just like the reader reacted to Anna Karenina. Surprisingly, the book ends just as strongly as it begins--it could have continued another 1,000 pages it seems just as strongly. As it winds down, one finds oneself at the beginning less of a French-ified salon story of Petersburg intrigue and more at the beginning of a Turgenev story of managing a feudal estate with hunting, agriculture, bailiffs, marital harmony.

The novel is good at so many levels. Finding a readable translation that handles the barriers to entry (like the French, and the diminutives and naming issues to understand how everyone relates) is the biggest issue. Once one is a good way in, keeping the characters in order becomes manageable and the book blooms on almost every page. Truly one of the best novels ever. That said, for me the book includes some of the disappointing themes from Anna Karenina that seem to imply an acceptable behavior of cheating on husbands by women without the reverse. Maybe this was Tolstoy's goal to draw out some reaction based on the sadness and hazing of cuckolded men but whether it's men cheating on wives or vice versa, Tolstoy's decision to lay in the most sympathetic and tragic figures as the cheated-on stains an otherwise pristine novel.

Nothing like it, nor will there ever be. It is a life changing experience.

When French forces led by Napoleon spread across Europe and threatened Russian safety and independence, Russia declared war against France. The novel revolves around a group of Russian protagonists (Pierre, Andrew, Natasha, Mary, Nicholas and General Kutuzov) during time of French occupation of Moscow, decisive battle of Borodino, French withdrawal from Russia, and the return to a life of normalcy.

Tolstoy's characters, like those of Dostoevsky are intricate complex; both Andrew and Pierre had qualities similar to Tolstoy himself (the death of Andrew's wife during child birth just like Tolstoy's mother, Pierre's alienation from society and his odd unattractive looks). Still, Tolstoy artistically made the two characters distinguished and different, Tolstoy went to great fascinating lengths to very clearly detail Andrew's inability to open up for others and his dislike of being touched by others .

Tolstoy, who chose a leap of faith in his personal religious life, which is reflected in this story told against the historical backdrop of spiritual Russia defeating rational France during a time of mutual suffering of both nations because of the actions of their governments; it is a universal tale.

Great exploration of human irrationality and motives, a story of every person's anguish in the face of loss, death, and search for meaning in life.

This is by far the best book I have ever read for so many different reason. Tolstoy is absolutely my favorite author and he out did himself with this book. The realism, the historical background, and the depth of the characters made this book so great.

War and Peace is, without question, the greatest historical novel ever written.

However, if you carry a copy of War and Peace with you anywhere, you will be subjected to ridicule of many varieties. This, of course, says more about the critics than the reader. It tells us first that most people have largely lived their lives deprived of reading one of the most "need to read" books in Western literature.

The book and an understanding of it are essential for a classically liberal and comprehensive education in Western civilization. No other single book so completely expresses the essence of a critical age in history than War and Peace. As such, the central reason to read it is that it is an efficient window into who we are and how we got here.

The customary joking and ridicule also tells us that many people have been forced to read War and Peace in school, but never understood or appreciated it. That is a very sad state of affairs. It implies a kind of abuse that comes from forcing any good thing on someone just because it is deemed good for them and before they have a chance to understand and benefit from it.

I guess what I am saying is that this is not a book for the young or anyone else, unless the reader is prepared and coached along the way. The only way, indeed, a youthful reader can get the lessons of War and Peace is through extensive preparation and contextual education. War and Peace requires a whole course of background to be fully revealing and illuminating.

The purpose of my review of War and Peace is not to praise it or to evaluate its literary achievements. I am simply not an expert in a position to do that.

My purpose is to draw on my experience with the book and to provide prospective readers of all ages and backgrounds with an efficient but penetrating guide that will make the journey through the pages of the book come to life and swell with enjoyment and comprehension.

For now the review will have to be a work in progress. But in the end, I promise to provide a comprehensive plan of syntopical reading complete with travel suggestions that cement the standing of the book and equip the reader with the ability to disarm any critic and, more importantly, enjoy a life of interesting cocktail conversations upon completion of this great work.

In addition to this review, I recommend that anyone getting ready to mount the challenge of reading War and Peace can and should refer to the reading lists I separately provide on the Age of Napoleon and on the reading of War and Peace, as well as travel to and enjoyment of Paris, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

This story has more of a Lonesome Dove kind of feel rather than a standard Louis L'amour novel, and it's great. An aging cowboy wants to go back and fix a mistake in his past, a writer follows along on this last adventure, and a mysterious gunman chases them both to settle an old score. It's the classic ingredients of a great story, and this doesn't disappoint. There aren't a lot of shoot-outs or anything like you'd expect from a regular western. This is more like the movie "Unforgiven", in which you know the lead character had a past and could be something more than he is now if the circumstances forced him to.

I've never read Enger's work before, but this was a great introduction to his writing.

I am always nervous about the 2nd book by an author who has a great first novel. I was with this title, but Enger shows that he is a truly gifted writer. Every character is memorable - especially Sringo - every place is memorable - every meal and so on. I am so glad to have read a book that is suspenseful and realistic about human nature without being crude. Not one vulgarity in these pages. That really says something about Enger's strength as an artist with words.

Leif Enger's "So Brave, Young and Handsome" is a very well-written novel about a novelist who's lost his "mojo," and how he finds it again by taking an interest in the world around him. This novel is set in 1915; the historical research is excellent and the sense of place is profound, but the reason this novel succeeds so well is because Mr. Enger has figured out what makes us all human -- our need for interpersonal relationships, and our even greater need for redemption.

Both the writer, Monte, and the outlaw, Glendon, are searching for redemption. Monte wants to write again and wonders if he's a flash in the pan, while Glendon wants to apologize to the wife he ran out on -- he was a bank robber and killed someone by accident, and ran from his wife because he was running from the law.

At the start of this novel, we're in Minnesota; Monte's working at farming, as is Glendon. No one knows that Glendon is an outlaw, so when Glendon reveals this to Monte and his family, Monte feels a sense of personal responsibility. Monte believes in fair play and wants Glendon to be treated like a man, not like a hunted animal; that's the main reason Monte goes along with Glendon on the journey to find Glendon's former wife and apologize to her. But the secondary reason is that Glendon feels his life has been wasted -- he can't write, he knows writing is his life's work, and he feels terrible about it, so going along with Glendon is something akin to the last straw; Monte hopes this will re-start his writing career in a rather spectacular fashion, and his wife is too kind to shut his dreams down as she knows her husband needs a change.

At any rate, the rest of the plot proceeds quietly, like a river; the inexorable conclusions are drawn early on. People matter, even when they've made huge mistakes. And people can change -- redemption is possible.

And, the biggest and most helpful message of all -- our greatest talents are never completely lost, even if they're occasionally misplaced due to other circumstances.

I highly recommend this novel and believe it's one that everyone will enjoy; please don't allow the fact this novel is a Western to fool you. This is an outstanding work, one of personal growth, life choices, and redemption; also the abiding power of creativity.

Five stars, highly recommended.

"That is how you want to be remembered, my friends. Take a picture in your moment of conquest, when your luck is high and bullets still bounce off. That will do for the ages." - Monte Becket

Monte Becket lives with wife and young son in rural Minnesota along the Cannon River during the second decade of the 20th century. To date, Becket's one claim to wealth and fame is his wildly popular pulp Western, MARTIN BLIGH. His publisher wants more, but, lately, Monte's muse has failed him. Becket is drifting and anticipating failure as a writer, husband and father. Then one day, out of the fog on the river, a white-haired old man paddles his boat past. Enter into Monte's life boat-builder Glendon Hale, formerly Glen Dobie of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang.

Hale was once married to a Mexican girl named Blue. But, sought by the Federales, Glendon deserted her never to return. Now, years later, he desires to go back and apologize to the woman he truly loved. He invites Monte to accompany him on the journey, and the latter, fearing the stagnation in his life, accepts. Along the way appears Charles Siringo, also once of the Hole-in-the-Wall, but now a self-anointed lawman of some legend, mostly constructed from books that he himself has written. Charles, now an old man himself, is in relentless pursuit of Glen Dobie for past crimes.

SO BRAVE, YOUNG AND HANDSOME is a coming-of-maturation story by Leif Enger. Its characterizations and narrative pace are reminiscent of Larry McMurtry's novels of the West, e.g. the superlative Lonesome Dove: A Novel (Simon & Schuster Classics). Here, Becket rediscovers not only himself and the talents within, but also learns something about the nature of honor, friendship, love and public fame.

In the McMurtry style, the plot of Enger's book doesn't evolve to a climactic and dramatic ending. Rather, random and relatively mundane events accumulate over time to give meaning to the protagonist's life, much as they do in the real lives of you and me. Enger's writing talent enables him to tell his tale with sympathy for each of the characters while demonstrating a keen eye for the story's time and place. What results is not a thriller in the popular sense, but still a book that I couldn't put down. Like Lonesome Dove, it could translate to an intelligent and absorbing film of deep emotional impact.

I was so very disappointed with this novel. After reading Enger's debut novel, Peace Like a River, I had high expectations for his new work. Unfortunately, I found it to be a dull read. It was disjointed, the characters were not compelling and the fine craftsmanship evident in his initial novel were simply missing. I slogged my way through the book, hoping for the best, but it actually got worse as I continued. What an incredible disappointment!

David Reynolds, whose "Beneath the American Renaissance" gave us a cultural tour of antebellum America, now gives us a wider look at the Jacksonian era. While his book provides a decent overview for the casual reader, it lacks much of a new argument for the dedicated student of the period.

The introduction offers the potentially interesting, although hardly groundbreaking thesis, that the Jacksonian era was one of the most culturally rich in American history, and that much of this richness can be found along the margins, among the promoters of fads, the crank preachers, the utopians, and the radical reformers. In the book, however, Reynolds shies away from exploring this line of thinking too fully. Instead we get a largely traditional history of the period, even in its assessment of Jacksonian Democracy as a largely unproblematic democratic movement. His chapters on politics contain little or no new information or interpretation.

Reynolds is not, by training, a historian, but rather a literary scholar. So it should come as no surprise that the strongest chapter in the book, not to mention the longest, is the one which deals with the literary and artistic accomplishments of the period. Glossing over some of his more complex arguments from "Beneath the American Renaissance" Reynolds gives us a good, concise, and informative, view of the works of the major literary figures of this period, and how they fit into the politics of the day. Overall, this is a good book for someone who knows little about the period, but a well informed reader would do better with works such as Sean Wilentz "Rise of American Democracy" or David Walker Howe's "What Hath God Wrought!"

AN EXCELLENT READ FOR A VIETNAM VET LIKE I AM, OR A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TO GIVE INSIGHT ON WHAT WAR IS REALLY LIKE - ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BULLETS - JUST HUMANS TRYING TO KILL HUMANS FOR FAT POLITICIANS WAVING FLAGS AND MAKING MONEY - ON BOTH SIDES. LBJ AND UNCLE HO WERE ALL CROOKS. 58,000 AMERICANS DIED FOR OUR CROOK. OVER 2 MILLION VIETNAMESE KIDS DIED FOR THEIR CROOK. AND THE BANK PLAYS ON TODAY. NEW WAR. NEW CROOKS.

No less than what we have come to expect from Gen. Moore and Joe Galloway!

Written and told from the heart. Nam was the War - Vietnam is a country and people.

As soldier's we did what was expected of us - both U.S. Soldiers and Vietnamese Soldiers. Now it is time to do what is expected of us as non worriers, but civilians and Countries

The soldiers followed the orders of their governments, but always put thier brothers and sisters before themselves. These two booke "We Were Soldiers Once and ---Youg" and "We Are Soldiers Still" makes this point very clear.

Certainly no one can question the courage or loyalty of Lt. Gen Moore or that of his co-writer Mr. Gallagher. However don't expect to read another Soldiers Once....this is a review of Gen Moore's return to Viet Nam. I'm not sure everyone would equivocate the North Vietnamese, with the troops of the American force as the General seems to do here. Whether we should forgive and forget, that they were just good ol' boys doing their job, would seem to me to be up to those who were there also to decide. It would seem that there would be those who are not willing to forget and forgive so easily as the General seems to do. However this should be recommended reading for any young person....well worth the time.

This is a book that I hope will be widely read in the White House, Congress, Pentagon, West Point and Army bases. A very poignant journey for General Moore and journalist Joe Gallagher back to Vietnam and the Ia Drang valley where so many of Hal Moore's boys so bravely fell in battle. Nice that Moore and Gallagher visit the leaders of the opposing army. We too easily forget that those who fell as enemies were also fathers, husbands, sons who had families who mourned them. And that they fought for their own patriotic cause.
I wish this book would be widely read in our halls of power. Perhaps then our leaders would make sure that when we send our military off to war not as a first choice but as a very last choice. As the authors point out "it is far easier to get into a war than it is ever to get out".
I also wish this book would be widely read by the American population and considered before we vote for those we send to lead.
This was certainly a thought-provoking book to read during election season.
I hope we have more military leaders like Hal Moore and more journalists with the bravery and courage to speak the truth like Joe Gallagher.

All military leaders must read this book if only for LTG(R) Moore's views on the necessity for loving your Soldiers and your units - and always putting their needs, desires, and hopes before your own. Truly inspiring!
I greatly enjoyed this book for the author's perspective on the human cost of war in general - and in this case, specifically the Vietnam War. The obvious cost of human life is easily understood, what is not as easily understood or remembered is the toll that war takes on the families of fallen Soldiers, and on those Soldiers (and their families) - that survive the war but are forever changed.
I also enjoyed the description of Vietnam as it is now and the interaction that the returning Soldiers had with their former enemies - absolutely amazing. Additionally, I enjoyed the parts of the book that described his visit to the Dien Bien Phu battlefield - incredibly interesting to hear LTG(R) Moore's views on the lessons we should have learned from this battle.
The only negative that I have for this book is the last two chapters dealing with leadership, and a commentary of today's war in Iraq. Although it was interesting reading, these chapters seemed out of place in the context of the first nine chapters - I was caught off guard by these chapters.
Overall however, a great book and a quick read that I am glad that I read.

Sir or Madam:
Since I prefer to read books written in series format as a unit rather than individual books at different times, and since I have chosen to read the entire Outlander series in this way, I have not yet reached The Fiery Cross. However, I can review this title by itself or as part of the entire series when I have completed my reading. Please let me know your preference, and I will write my review accordingly. Thanks. CMB

Note: This form insists that I provide a rating before it is forwarded to you. Therefore, I have chosen a 3 as a neutral response. CMB

book size is too small to read comfortably! would not have purchased if I knew the size.

In the review section of this item, several people mentioned that the book was long (all books in the Outlander series are long) and tedious. I considered skipping it and going straight to Snow and Ashes. There is an Outlander site and so many people siad "Do not skip. Too much happens". Actually, while there were some places in the book that I thought were overly discriptive and could have been edited, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am so glad I did read it.

Ms. Gabaldon is a superior writer and story teller. This tale is of Jaime and Claire, now well into their relationship with all the joys and vagaries of love in middle age. Is this as steamy and tumultuous as earlier works? Well, no... They are older now and broiled in making commitments made earlier in life work. This is what life is all about, after all. As in earlier books, Claire knew she was setting herself on a course of relative poverty and hardship when she made Jaimie her choice as a life partner. And this is partially what this book is about.

I, for one, found the interjection of homely details such as the daily struggle with hygiene without running water and washing machines very interesting. This is my fourth time through the novel and very much appreciate how she braids these themes into the story. Life goes on during menstrual cramps, hot flashes, lack of water, etc. These details makes me care for the characters deeply. Because I know they are human and have mundane, maddening, mind numbing problems like I do.

Diane's style of humor has me laughing outloud on a regular basis. One such example is the baptism of Joan and Jemmy, with the Jaime, Roger and Germaine grinning episode.

I find myself dogearing pages I love so much I want to revisit them. There are many such pages... for reasons of humor, an exceptionally phrased passage, an epiphinal moment, or just plain tenderness.

Don't let the negative reviews stop you from reading this book! It is well worth the time to drop in for a visit with these very human characters to see how they live their lives and solve their problems.

I don't know how anyone can give these books below three or even four stars. Every single one is absolutly enchanting and without a doubt some of the best novels written by anyone in years. I'm nearly done with the fifth installment and can't wait to move onto the next. Although I must admit that this one starts out the slowest of any of the rest, but it does pick up dramatically after Aunt Jocasta's wedding. Then later (DON"T READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS) when Roger nearly dies from being hung, I just couldn't put it down. Such drama that you can really emmense yourself in. I can't say this enough, everyone should read these books!!!!!!!

This one was just okay for me.

My only real probelm with it is that it was kind of slow. I kept waiting for things to pick up, but it didn't really happen. There was a little bit of action, but it wasn't as exciting as I expected.

There were good things about it too. Libba Bray's writing is great. Her descriptions make things so easy to visualize, and the concept is fantastic. The Realms, the magical place Gemma and her friends discover, are amazing. This book has the potential to be a great story; it just doesn't quite make it. However, it is good, and it's worth the time and money.

I would also like to say that this is the first in a trilogy, and the second one is great and much more action-packed. You will need to read this one so that you understand what's going on in the next two books. This one is kind of slow, but it has to give you the "background" parts. I would recommend this one so that you can get to the others.

If you liked the Twilight series, the Vampire Academy, etc., you'll love this series as well.

Beautifully written words that are wrapped in magic, myth, and promises, Libba Bray leads you to another world entirely. It has romance, epic-ish adventures in other worlds, and enough magic to please everyone.

Definitely read it. Once you start through the first few chapters, you won't be able to put it down. This is one of those you say "Thank God I don't have to wait 3 years for the next two..."

Gemma Doyle like a normal teenage girl living in the Victorian age. Until she sees her mother's death through a vision. Soon she is in England, after spending her whole life in India, attending a boarding school called Spence academy. There she meets three girls and the adventures only get more exciting.

No matter how many times I read this book I can hardly put it down. Rich in detail, with pulse pounding adventure and something different then the other YA books on the market.


The two other books in the series are just a great and addictive. Recommended to anyone who loves fantasy and history. You can tell how much work Libba Bray put into the book.

A story with three young women who dared to live in a time when they should have worried about marriage and scandal.

LOVED IT! I'm not going to give you an account of the book because it's just that good. If you love history, magic, young romance and mystery you will really love this book. Happy Reading!

I was finishing up with the Twilight series and wanted more. I bought this book a long time ago and was waiting to read it. I was hooked from the start! I love English history as well so I knew I'd enjoy it, but if it's mixed with mystery, magic and suspence as well as a bit of romance I ended up reading it hungrily and aching to start the second one. I LOVED it!! I have been telling all my friends that if they miss twilight they should read the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I hope they make a movie of this one as well!! It would make a really exciting film! You should read this book! I didn't want to stop reading it!! :)

I was hoping for a lot with a 5 star amzn rating but unfortunately I only got through half of the book because it failed to meet those expectations. I was hoping for a technical presentation of clandestine affairs. If the author was going to describe a particular stakeout and audio operation I was hoping it would be presented with maps, technical layouts, and diagrams of devices such that the detail would justify another book in this area. What I got was a shallow examination of multiple operations where little information was divulged and most of the drama centered around the departments lack of preparation and eventual overcoming of their technical shortfalls through private industry or industrious tech.
I was hoping to read a book about the technicalities of the operation not a book where i had to flip back and forth to the appendix to look up the abundant acronyms used and where I would go pages just reading about the cia's lack of preparation. occasional stories were interesting but would likely not be new to anyone versed in the subject.

I skimread this book, I admit it. Sections were so dry, I just couldn't deal with it. I needed a good mix of the technical and the real-world.

It broke my heart that so much time and effort was needed to get to a place where our Soviet informants could share info, only to be ruined by Hanssen.

Meantime, I roared at the stories of the agents desperately experimenting with inflatable sex-toy women as possible "doubles" for car passengers who had bailed from a car moments before.... and the stories of what was involved in trying to buy bulk numbers of inflatable person-shaped anythings for experimentation as body doubles. THAT tickled me enormously. The ultimate details of why this double was needed, the misery of what the real human would be doing in the meantime, grim grim stuff. James Bond movies have done us all a big disservice. The real spy world is anything but glamorous stuff.

I am in awe and forever grateful to those who stuck it out to get a few seconds of eavesdropped conversation, a page of forbidden blueprints. Thank you guys. I get what you did, what years you sacrified.

Oh, and, yeah, I will no longer be impressed by people who think it's clever and antidisestablishment to sneak over and hang out in Cuba as tourists, having read the detail of the Cuba prison system. Horrific stuff.

SPYCRAFT is the book, every lay person should read. This book shows that good intelligence work rather than being glamorous, can be a tedious and perilous occupation that involves pain-staking preparation. Intelligence means gathering necessary information for policy makers to make realistic and level-headed decisions. With provided intelligence, policy makers can take steps to prevent disasters from occurring or global conflict from taking place.

While reconnaissance satellites can show what physical movements are taken by nations and NGOs, HUMINT or human intelligence is needed by policy makers to decide if a bluff is being made or deterrence will be required. SPYCRAFT shows how the CIA has used innovation and daring in the gathering and transmitting of HUMINT. The innovation of inventing tools is used for gathering and transmitting of intelligence. The personal risk involved usually doesn't involve gun-play or some melodramatic heroism. Personal risk is about not getting caught and taking personal risk to protect a source or helping an exposed source from deadly reprisal.

Too often, the public sees the Central Intelligence Agency as later day Keystone Kops or Americanized versions of James Bond. Neither stereotype is accurate. SPYCRAFT demonstrates that the people who work at the CIA are everyday Americans who have decided to take up the cause of maintaining the peace by sustaining a professional intelligence organization.

I have known Bob Wallace since we were 3rd graders in neighboring communities in Lincoln and Ottawa Counties, Kansas. We competed against one another in team sports throughout our grade school and high school days and were teammates for several years of summer baseball for Home Oil Company, Barnard, Kansas. I had not seen Bob since 1962 or perhaps a few years later, but I kept track of him through one of his cousins who happens to be my brother-in-law. Clearly, Bob is an outstanding individual whose accomplishments (those he can discuss, let alone those known only to a select few with the highest of security clearances) are incredible. It is almost unbelievable to me that this tough farm boy, who used to pigeon-toe out to the mound from behind home plate in dusty sweat-soaked catcher's regalia to counsel me about my side-arm deliveries, went on to become one of our nation's top CIA officials.

I ordered a copy of Spycraft months before its release and read it with great interest. I learned more about clandestine service and specific case histories than I had ever anticipated. I guess it had not occurred to me that the techies didn't just do a quick orientation for the end user and go on to the next new thing. Also surprising was the candor with which Bob described the agonizing process of getting this book approved by the CIA. My having known Bob since early childhood permitted me to ascribe the highest credibility to this account of key events and inventions involving spies and spytechs.

I had the privilege of being Bob's guest at a presentation he made to a local fraternal organization a few days after Spycraft was released. He signed my copy of the book and bemusedly asked me my favorite part (was this a test to see if I had read it?) Near the end of his presentation, I think he set the stage for the next few chapters of a yet unwritten update someone may write in a decade or two. Bob responded to the last question of his Q & A, inquiring whether even more refined and amazing gadgets were currently being developed and used in the field. He could not answer except to say that the gadgets described in the book were developed up into the 90's and with the passage of a number of years one need only use imagination to extrapolate from then until now. My parting comment to Bob in an email after the luncheon was that I hoped we lived long enough for him to write and me to read his memoir. In the meantime, I am content to use my imagination to insert him into the book here and there when he quotes one of the old hands or an unnamed station chief--who knows; could be???

Having read and enjoyed Spycraft, I expected it to garner solid reviews. However, I am quite surprised to see that until now, it's received 100% five-star reviews. I've almost never seen a book reviewed this favorably and I've certainly read better books with more mixed reviews.

Don't get me wrong, Spycraft is a good book. It allows its reader behind a curtain into a world that is typically strictly off-limits. You get to experience the real-world existence of spies living and working secretly behind enemy lines. The book reveals a lot of the technology used by spies, focusing in on listening devices, cameras and communication devices. What stands out is the ingenuity and craftsmanship that goes into the creation of the devices upon which people stake their lives.

While the book is written about spy technology, what I found to be the most surprising from the book was the the amount of time and effort invested in some of the CIA's covert operations. Often times, years are spent establishing credible cover or doing piecemeal research about a target to avoid drawing attention. 100% of some peoples' living patterns are built around an operational necessity that takes up only the smallest percentage their time. It's truly amazing to read about the sacrifices made to achieve an intelligence payoff.

There is a problem, however, the book reads unexpectedly dull. I'm sure this is an outgrowth of the fact that real CIA operatives have to be consummate professionals and not suave, womanizing James Bond-types, but it takes away from the book. I am not implying in any way that anything should be fabricated or embellished to add to the excitement, but instead that the story is inherently exciting and that the writing should have reflected that more even if the author's demeanor is necessarily even-keeled.

A great book, but exciting stories get told in a seemingly Prozac-tamed manner. I recommend this one highly, but it could have been better still.

I first heard Mr. Gordon on 20/20 talking about the 1987 mini-crash of the stock market, and when he said, "The Fed did the right thing then, it injected huge amounts of liquidity into the market." If people believe creating money out of thin air and giving it to the politically connected helps the economy, they really need to go back to Econ 101. Oh wait, Econ 101 these days says exactly that in almost every government run school in America. For a much more detailed and insightful look at the History of Banking and the true cause of the booms and busts (hint: The Federal Reserve itself), read Murray Rothbard's "A History of Money and Banking in the United States," or his "The Mystery of Banking." There you will find sound logic, as opposed to this trash.

The author celebrates triumphs of the past but seriously fails to prepare a reader for challenges of the future, especially for emerging realities likely to diminish the US's heretofore unique status and powers. He seems too ideologically committed to mainstream, right-of-center economics/political economy to see or convey a more nuanced picture.
Otherwise, I agree with (and will not echo) the reviews presented by Amazon and the Washington Post at the outset of this website page.

This book is a one volume "epic history of American economic power" that focuses on the fantastic capacity of the United States as a machine to create wealth (if not to redistribute it); its approach is surprisingly similar to what a 19th century bourgeois apologist might have chosen, that of a believer in a vision of "progress" that would now appear old fashioned and naive, especially to the more left leaning readers. But one has to admit that one of the most striking aspects of American history is the sheer speed and size of all economic developments, and that, from the very start.
Of course this is due to the immensity and diversity of the territory and its natural resources, in wildlife, agricultural lands, timber, minerals, oil, etc. But also, as this territory filled with people, to its huge size as a market for industrial and later consumer products and services, combined with the absence of the many cultural and political obstacles that some may say still characterize "Old Europe".
As a consequence, America was and may still be a land of incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs, native or immigrant, and capitalists. This gave substance to "the American dream" and it is this powerful, seemingly unstoppable march that the author has chosen to emphasize and dramatize. He succeeded in writing an enjoyable book that reads like a novel. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject who prefers not to be bogged down in charts, graphs and econometrics. American economic history written in this way is fascinating and I picked up at least two anecdotes that are quite revealing. First, every stock exchange boom in American history attracted a lot of capital from abroad (this includes the 1990s dotcom bubble); European investors lost a lot of money each time, financing American growth without gaining much from it. Second, American farmers suffered a lot from the advent of the automobile. All the crops that used to feed horses were suddenly made "available" for humans, which depressed agricultural prices for decades and caused the State to intervene to support farmers. With the current development of biofuels (the new name for fodder), this trend is now going the other way...

This is simply, a superb book. I thought I knew about American history, but many of the articles in the book really opened my eyes. The author explodes a number of myths, including the underlying reasons for the Great Depression.

What saddens my is that this type of history is not being taught to our children. That is why I suggest that every American should read this book. Wouldn't be bad to have the ideas and history televised in the same way as "Free To Choose".

Hmmm, come to think of it, this book should be required reading for all Europeans who tell us how horrible we are to be Americans. It is very uplifting.

this book is very nationalistic and pro-america in the phrasing. which made me want to stop reading instantly and i couldn't take some things seriously. there were some claims about america that were made in the book that were just included and unexplained while things that is common knowledge to most people were given detailed summaries.