History Books

An excellent book for cartographers and those interested in maps of transit systems around the world. Comprehensive would be an understatement, as the book truly lives up to its promise of including every transit map in the world. A bit more information on the systems themselves would have been nice, but I guess that's not what this book is about as much as the history of the maps of the systems. All in all, definitely worthwhile if you've got a passion for transit maps!

Got this book last night, started reading it, and when I got to the description of NYC 1972 map by Vignelli, giving it a modernistic feel of the times, was pretty excited, because I knew I own a paper map. Went looking for it, and upon reading from the book that users of the map were confused by the fact that the station of "50th St - Bdway" was positioned west of 8th avenue, went to check on my map this fact. Unfortunately, the station was positioned correctly, i.e., east of 8th Ave, and noticed that the map was slightly different from the one illustrated in the book. Then I saw the date of print on my map, 1976, and realized it must have been a revision from the earlier map in response to the users's complaints. Great book.

This book is fun for armchair travel buffs, map buffs, history lovers and those that have the cities included on their lists to visit. Great background and historic information, especially on the evolution of the system maps. I loved it!

This book fulfills one of my top dreams -- to be more exact, I could not have dreamed of such a book! Reading maps and riding subways have been two of my favorite hobbies, and it is definitely awesome to see more than 200 cities' urban transit maps juxtaposed and compared in one book. Even better, the author gives detailed introduction to the history and includes many interesting anecdotes of those storied urban transit systems such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. I use this book to remind my boy about the cities and places we ever visited, and teach him how to use a transit map to quickly find a route to any destination. We have been enjoying it so far, and I believe lots of fun will continue to flow out from it.

This is one of those books that you didn't know that you needed, much less would enjoy. But it excels on both fronts. As the title suggests, Transit Maps of the World: The World's First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth, by Mark Ovenden, is just that; As far I know, every city that has an urban train is represented in this wonderful book. Whether you are a fan of maps or mass transit, a frequent traveller, or want to know the history of some of the world's greatest (and lesser known) subway systems, this book will take you on an amazing tour of the world, by public transportation.

Contents:
Acknowledgements
How to use this book
Foreword
Introduction: Early railroads
Introduction: Urban rail transit
Introduction: Early railroad maps
Introduction: From maps to diagrams
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zone 4
Zone 5
Zone 6
Appendix

As you can tell from the contents, the bulk of the book is divided into "zones," much like a real transit system. Zone 1 contains eight transit systems, dedicating about 4 pages for each. Zone 1 contains the systems with the greatest historical documentation and also are among the world's greatest urban transit systems. These include Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. These are the "heavyweights" of the public transportation systems. Zone 2 has some of the newer systems, for example Washington DC, Seoul, Boston, and Munich. Zone 2 dedicates two pages per city. As you move through the remaining Zones (or chapters), there is less and less historical documentation and you also learn about the lesser known systems (some with only five stations). The early Zones provide you with various iterations of their route maps, culminating in the current version (as of 2007).

I have to admit that this book was fascinating. You may think that route maps (or diagrams) would be boring, but Ovenden does a remarkable job showing that these are works of art. It also helps that, by using the systems in Zone 1, you come to appreciate the problems associated with representing a large system map on small media (folder maps, in-car diagrams, and the like). With that background, it is easy to admire the current look and feel of route diagrams. This book is not meant to be used as a guide for any system, as they continually add service, but more as a snapshot into the transit systems around 2007. My only issue with the book is that some of the maps are way too small to comprehend, especially in the latter Zones. The same can be said of some of the historical maps, especially when Ovenden points out specific details. Overall, this book is a gem. It's topic is one that you probably take for granted but it is given its full due in this book. It is a fun, educational, and interesting look at transit maps worthy of anyone that has even a passing interest in maps, diagrams, travel, or urban transit.

This book is instructive by way of example. It has not a lot of text but many interesting photographs in categories. The categories reflect the photographic or artistic value of the chapter.

Once it's not a deep study about B&W pictures - only an abridge of a few very known photos - it is very smart to have in your photography' shelf(ves), but not A MUST to have it.
Definely it's a very good work material for professionals/teachers because there is no explanations why the picture became famous, so, beginners just will fall in love about them by intuition, leaving the technical aspects to be explained/understood later.
Could be 4 stars if it'd more pictures.

I like collections of photos by many different artists, and this book has a good number of diverse pre-1970 photos to browse. There is a minimum of text and that is fine with me. The book's main contribution is that it suggests a means of systematizing photography, by frame, subject, time, details and other aspects, and as such provides a compelling jumping off point from which the aspiring photographer can learn the art of photography. Good value for the money as well.

I was expecting a book of photographs with accompanying essays on their artistic merit. According to the write up and the first review. I received the book only to find its a collection of mainly classic photographs but mainly well-known photographers, with virtaually no notes, this was quite disappointing. I might also add there are better compilation type photography books on the market.

This book is a collection of photographs from the MOMA collection, nothing more. For those (like me) who were expecting insights, comments, knowledge, this is not the book. It's dissapointing.

In this readable, carefully-researched book, author Steven Zaloga carefully picks apart the conventional view that the Panther was superior to the Sherman. To begin with, the primary role of tanks was not tank-to-tank combat. When tank duels occurred they were decided more by who got the first shot than by gun power or armor protection. By late 1944, American crews generally had an edge in experience and training. The Sherman had a better secondary armament than the Panther. The Sherman typically had a faster engagement cycle than the Panther because the Sherman's turrret traversed faster, and the Sherman's gunner had his own periscopic sight; the Panther's gunner, whose head barely fit in the turret, sat blind until he had orders to begin looking for the target. In combat, tank engagements were usually small, quick and decisive; victory went to the side that saw the enemy first, and fired first.

By late 1944, the majority of Panther crews were relatively green and inadequately trained. Fuel scarcity aggravated the problem of deficient crew training, and imposed limitations in combat, too. The Panther's armor was often brittle because the vital alloy molybdenum was increasingly scarce in Germany's war-ravaged, bombed-out manufacturing economy. Foreign workers may have sabotaged fuel and lubrication systems in Panthers. For these reasons and more, the Panther's brilliant design was more a matter of theory than reality.

If, like me, you are something of a tankaholic, you will savor this vintage bottle as a rare break from the cheap stuff. And if someone you love is a tankaholic, there could be no better gift than this fascinating glimpse of late World War II armored warfare.

First, I'll admit a prejudice towards Steve Zaloga's works. He is one of my favorite authors on military history and technology. In this volume Zaloga has added another excellent volume to his works on WW2 US armored forces. Other Osprey volumes include Battle Orders series books on US tank battalions, US armored divisions, and tank destroyer battalions, a Warrior series book on US tank crewman, Vanguard books on the M4 (76mm), and other vehicles. Each book adds more material to the overall story of American armored troops in World War Two. Taken together Zaloga's volumes add up to a massive history of the US military forces in Europe that faced the German army. This "Duel" series volume deals specifically with the use of the later editions of Sherman tanks against the massive German attack know as the Battle of the Bulge. Both vehicles are examined from the technical standpoint as well as their use in the tactical situation on the battlefield. Mr. Zaloga defrocks the myths that only superior US numbers won the war or that it always took five Shermans to kill a German Panther tank. This book looks at the various factors that allowed the Germans to win the statistics (bigger, heavier, etc.) but allowed the US Army to win the war. This book is well written and very readable. The pictures are clear and in many cases uncommon. The color illustration add appropriate content to the text. More than worth the money, highly recommended.

I really like Zaloga's objective approach to his subjects and this one is just as non-biased. Nice graphics, few typos, great research overall. One of the better "Duel" books.

The book does make me wonder why the U.S. didn't use the superb British Firefly during the Ardennes Battles after it proved its worth during the Normandy conflicts. If Zaloga reads this, maybe he would know?

Even as the author of the previous volume in the Duel series, Panther vs. T-34: Ukraine 1943, I still learned a great deal in Steven J Zaloga's first addition to the Duel series, entitled Panther vs. Sherman: Battle of the Bulge 1944. As usual, the author manages to impart new data and fresh insight even into familiar subjects, such as tank battles in the Ardennes. This volume focuses on actions involving the German Panther Ausf G model tank versus the M4A3 (76mm) Sherman during the period 16-31 December 1944. Although there is plenty of technical detail in this volume, this is far more than a simple comparison between two tanks and readers looking for a glib assessment of which tank was `better' than the other will not find it here. Overall, this is another great volume in the Duel series.

The volume begins with sections on the design and development of both tanks, which does not significantly overlap material in earlier Osprey volumes. As the author explains, the design of the Panther Ausf G was seriously compromised by poor quality materials and lack of spare parts, all caused by Allied bombing. In regard to the Sherman, he states that, "the Panther threat began to be realized too late to have an impact on US Army decisions for its 1944 tank program" and there was no strong demand from American armor officers for tanks with improved anti-tank capability until after D-Day. The section on technical specifications in sub-divided into protection, firepower and mobility, with direct comparisons between the two tanks embedded in each of these areas. Herein, the author notes that, "the Panther had significantly better armor protection than the Sherman" and that "the Panther had superior firepower to the M4A3 (76mm) in tank-versus-tank combat." However, the Sherman had significant advantages in terms of mobility and mechanical reliability that had a major impact on their contribution in Ardennes campaign.

The section on the combatants is also quite good in describing the functions of the Panther and Sherman crews. In this section, it is clear that the Sherman enjoyed some subtle advantages that greatly increased its chances against the Panther, such as a commander's turret over-ride, better gunner's sights and better machineguns. German tank crew training was also seriously undermined by late 1944, with new crews getting only minimal driving and live fire experience due to fuel and ammo shortages. The author factors all these variables into the assessment of the combat capabilities of both tanks, which gives a far more dynamic comparison than mere statistical tables. There are also sidebars on German and American `tank aces.' Perhaps the only disappointing section is the one on the Strategic Situation, which outlines the German Wacht Am Rein offensive and provides a map depicting corps/army dispositions. This section didn't really integrate well with the other sections and the map would have been more relevant if it depicted the locations of the battalions that had Panthers (8) and those that had Sherman M4A1/3 tanks.

The section on Combat comprises 14 pages of text and covers actions at Krinkelt-Rocherath and Freyneux, but the heart of this narrative is the detailed account of the Panther vs. Sherman duel at Freyneux on 24 December 1944. Readers may be surprised to see that the Shermans performed creditably against the Panther, particularly in the opening stages of the action. The end result was 5 Panthers and 5 Shermans lost, which was a poor trade for the Germans. This section has a nice 2-D diagram of the action (with notes), a battle scene by Howard Gerrard and views through the gunsights of the Panther and Sherman. The author concludes, "nearly all of the tanks knocked out in the fighting were hit before they were even aware of the presence of enemy tanks, reaffirming the rule of `spot first, engage first, hit first.' One item that probably should have been mentioned in the section on the action near Celles is that Meinrad von Lauchert was in charge of the Panthers in the spearhead (the man who led them into action at Kursk) and that had the Panther been equipped with a diesel engine as Hitler originally insisted, the Panthers would not have run out of fuel 7 miles short of their objective.

The real lessons of this book are delivered in the concluding sections on statistics and analysis. Contrary to what readers conditioned to war movies or computer games might expect, the author notes that actual statistical data indicates that most tank vs. tank battles were small, involving only 4-9 tanks on each side. The data also indicates that the defender had a distinct advantage, since they usually got to fire first. Despite its vaunted post-war reputation, the author uses data from 29 engagements involving Shermans and Panthers to conclude that, "the popular myths that Panthers enjoyed a 5-to-1 kill ratio against Shermans or that it took five Shermans to knock out a Panther have no basis at all in the historical records." Further, he states that, "in a head-to-head duel, the Panther Ausf G was clearly superior to the M4A3 (76mm)...[but] tactical considerations were often paramount." Also, "the Sherman offered a better balance of mass and quality than did the Panther." The statistics that the author provides indicate that the Germans committed about 416 Panthers to the Ardennes offensive and lost 180, while the Americans committed about 600 M4A3 tanks and lost about 90. However, these statistics do not break down how many tanks were destroyed by other tanks as opposed to lost to mines, A/T guns or mechanical breakdown. Thus, the Shermans likely inflicted more damage on their opponents, but the actual results of the duel are left a bit murky.

Much has been said about the book's contents in previous reviews. What I would like to add is that the author did a masterful job with bringing history so alive. The historical facts were well researched before the book was written. Instead of presenting them in a rather factual manner Georgina Howell converted them in a gripping story which makes it hard to put the book aside. She stays humble in the back and let the protangonists speak for themselves. When reading books of popular history one often gets the impression that writers project their personalities into the stories. This is absolutely not the case with this book, except perhaps with respect to the author's interest for clothing matters which is not distracting however. The relations between Gertrude Bell and her environments are so well described that one gets literally the feeling to become part of them. This only happens with extraordinary books to which this one certainly belongs.

I got interested in this book through a similar well written book by Ronald Florence on the relation between Aaron Aarohnsohn and T.E. Lawrence. Reading both books gives a good impression of the Arabist and Zionist views after the fall of the Ottoman empire. Both also demystify the role of T.E. Lawrence in shapening the Middle-East whose epic book "Seven pillars of wisdom" I find a rather boring read.

The author gives absolutely no insight into Gertrude Bell and just recites the itinerary of one trip after another. Bell is made out to be an obsessive cartoon character running around the map like Bugs Bunny. After climbing the Matterhorn, she mysteriously decides to expensively explore the desert -- alone. I'd really like to know more about her. Someone suggested Desert Queen" by Janet Wallach.

Well written---engaging story. Historically comprehensive. Provides valuable insight into historical background of current Iraq conflict.

I have come to enjoy memoir because it is full of feeling as well as information. But Georgina Howell's biography is so full of excerpts from the letters of Gertrude Bell--the subject of this excellent book--that we get a comprehensive sense of Bell's feelings. Howell makes it clear that Bell consistently understated the difficulties in her life. It is certainly a life to know about and to be celebrated.

Gertrude Bell, who died in 1926, is known as the woman behind the creation of modern Iraq. She was born into a wealthy socially conservative family and displayed her brilliance and non-conformity early on. She attended Oxford and was the first woman to attain First Class Honors in History. She traveled to Persia, began her studies of Persian language and literature in Teheran, and fell in love with a man unacceptable to her family. She returned to England, where she continued her studies, adding Arabic to the mix. Never one to live life half way, she discovered the challenge of mountain climbing and conquered several peaks in the Alps, sometimes being the first woman to do so.

Bell made three trips through the uncharted Arabian Peninsula, visiting archeological sites, carefully creating maps, and dropping in to visit sheiks in full evening wear. An important purpose of her travels was to learn about the alliances and customs of the numerous tribes. This knowledge was applied when she began working with the British government to build a unified Arabic nation after the defeat of the Germans and their allies the Turks in WWI.

The unification was a struggle. Howell writes: "The army wins the territory, and the administration takes over; but in Mesopotamia the struggle to install conditions conducive to peace and eventual prosperity would prove as daunting as the battlefront itself...Arabs spoke a common language but were not a common people..." This struggle, which took place almost 100 years ago, has many similarities with the Iraq struggle today. Bell's later life was so intertwined with the founding of Iraq that the details of the political struggle cannot be left out.

Howell does a splendid job of bringing the astonishing Gertrude Bell to life. Her descriptions of the often bleak landscape, the oases of sheikdoms, and the contrast of desert life with Bell's luxurious wardrobe, living style and traveling entourage enliven the biography. Fortunately for us, Bell's family and friends saved her detailed letters. Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations illuminates the many centuries-old causes of the current struggle in the Middle East.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

One measure of a fine book is if it captures and holds the reader's attention even if the subject is outside the reader's background and interests. This is such a book. Gertrude Bell (1868-1926)led an extraordinary life, whose many facets are captured in this superior biography. Born to a wealthy Yorkshire family, she was the first woman to receive a First Class degree in modern history from Oxford. She next took up challenging mountain climbing (my only criticism of the book is too much space is devoted to this topic). But the book's core is the period when she becomes interested in the Middle East, which the British designated as Mesopotamia and TransJordan, but which we know today as Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

She mastered the pertinent languages (Turkish and of course Arabic among others), traveled all over the region between 1900 and 1914 conducting archeology research and photographing sites (many of which photos are available on the web in the Gertrude Bell Photographic Archive of Newcastle University), authored a number of books, and became well acquainted with the Bedouin tribes that roamed the area. Later she joined the British colonial administration in Baghdad, and helped (along with her friend T.E. Lawrence) foment the Arab uprising against the Turks during WWI that is the central element of the "Lawrence of Arabia" film. She argued for self-determination for this area at the Versailles Peace Conference, and even confronted Churchill on the issue when he had responsibility for colonial administration. She helped map the boundaries of what we now know as Iraq, was instrumental in selecting Faisal as its first King, and played a prominent role in the governance of the new nation. As if this was not enough, toward the end of her life (she committed suicide in 1926, probably due to advanced lung cancer) she founded the National Museum of Iraq, the same museum that the American military allowed to be ransacked during the Iraq War. She is buried in Baghdad.

The book is over 400 pages in this paperback edition, but it moves along quickly as it is quite a fascinating tale. The author has included extensive notes, some excellent Bell photographs, a chronology, and a fine bibliography. A major side benefit to reading the book is that the reader learns quite a lot about the background of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, obviously topics greatly on our minds at the present. To have led such a life is amazing; to have contributed in so many ways during that life is even more so. The book Ms. Bell deserved.

The challenge faced by U.S. policy in Iraq is an indication of Kishore Mahbubani's assertion that you cannot export democracy into countries that are not ready for it.

In his book "The New Asian Hemisphere" Mahbubani points to the limitations of Western leadership in such areas as free trade, global warming, nuclear non-proliferation, Middle East policy, and reticence to accept the rise of Asia.

The author discusses the gap between America embracing democracy and the rule of law for all nations while itself arguably playing bully in dealing with so called "enemy combatants." Because of these shortcomings, Mahbubani believes it is far better for third world populations to be modernized rather than Westernized.

While sometimes harsh on Western leaders the author is quick to give credit where credit is due by recognizing Western contributions such as science and technology, free-market economics, pragmatism, rule of law, education, culture of peace, and meritocracy. But that does not stop the author from pushing for changes in the institutions that govern the international and economic system to make room for Asia's return to global leadership, such as his call to add India and Japan to the UN Security Council.

In his book, the author calls for more partnering among East and West to help build a more stable world with more stable growth. I'll drink to that, since this is what I do for a living.

By Gunjan Bagla
Author of Doing Business in 21st Century India

Kishore Mahbubani is the Professor of Public Policy of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. His previous books carry the interesting titles of Can Asian Think? and Beyond the Age of Innocence.

In this book, Kishore, a former diplomat explores the reaction of the West especially the United States towards the shift of global power to the east. By 2050, the world's three largest economies will be in Asia: Japan, India, and China.

Kishore's thesis is that the east like to replicate, not dominate. This was always so with Asian and Western countries. However much depends on the response of the United States. If the United States are willing to share and not dominate, then there will be much benefit to everyone. However if the United States decide to try to dominate the rising economies, there will be much chaos.

History unfortunately has shown that the Western response when threatened by the east was always a retreat into protectionism and attacks. The Japan-bashing of the 1980s, have been replaced by India-bashing of the 1990s (due to outsourcing) and now we have China-bashing in the 2000s. Looks like we in Asia are in a stormy ride.

Kishore Mahbubani presents an engrossing account, written with clarity and incite, detailing the shifting landscape of our human planet. He is able to comprehensively portray the changing forces - strengths and weaknesses, economically, politically, and culturally - affecting the dynamics of the interactions and changing powers of the world's civilizations. I became interested in the book after watching Mr. Mahbubani on an interview on UCTV in which he made a potentially boring-sounding topic sound potentially interesting. IT WAS FASCINATING!

By 2050, three of the world's largest economies will be Asian - China, Japan, and India, and America's domination of global institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, G-7, and the U.N. Security Council will be over.

The U.S. needs to take a broader view of morality than it has. The rise of Asia has brought more "goodness" (lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty) into the world in the last several decades; at current growth rates standards of living in China may rise 100X within a human life span, contrasted with Russia's 45% decline after following American advice to leap into democracy without reforming the economy first. Facilitating widespread acquisition of consumer goods removes the feeling of hopelessness and futility, increases sense of self-worth, lowers crime rates, encourages the teaching of history to become less ideological (eg. China's new texts mention Mao only once), and improves education standards. However, accomplishing this requires not freedom from authoritarianism (as most Americans think), but freedom from chaos and anarchy. (Part of the government's reaction to Tiananmen Square was supposedly due to their support for a Russian-style economic and political conversion.)

Mao's initial implementation of central planning was not a failure - thanks to his ending almost a century of political turmoil the first Five-Year Plan brought average annual increases in industrial and agricultural output of 19.6 and 4.8% respectively. The 1955 Great Leap Forward, on the other hand, was a failure.

The success of Chinese expatriates overseas and their low productivity on the mainland confirmed (along with initial small experiments that partially reversed collectivization of agriculture) Deng's suspicion that China had adopted the wrong economic system. Thus, he became a pragmatist ("It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white - as long as it catches mice it is a good cat."), calling for an end to name-calling, emphasizing responsibility, and stating that "To get rich is glorious." Regardless, China's development has now reached a need for a legal system that borrows from Western concepts, thereby decentralizing financial power and property rights (and further encouraging economic investment).

Asia had slipped behind Western scientific development because of a religious mindset that spurned the material world and a lack of critical questioning. Richard Smalley, Nobel Laureate in chemistry, predicted that by 2010, 905 of PhD scientists and engineers would be living in Asia. China's 200,000 returnees make up 81% of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, enticed by patriotism and growing opportunities, resistance to research in some areas (eg. stem-cell), and increased government funding. (China has increased from 0.6% in 1995 to 1.3% in 2005, vs. U.S. federal outlays declining over the past 30 years to 0.05% in 2003.

The China Central Committee's (CCC) average age in 2002 was 55; membership is based on merit, not seniority (eg. Russia's Politburo). Another lesson learned from Russia's implosion was to avoid an early overfocus on military development.

Arab Muslims make up on about 1/6 of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. Most live in Asia; throughout the world Islamist parties are gaining ground.

Hopefully, the Western nations will accept Asia's rise. America's star is not dimming, though it is shining relatively less brightly. In addition, our supporting Israel, Arab and other despots, speaking non-proliferation while silent on Israeli nukes, modernizing American weapons, and supporting India's nuclearization, supporting democracy, while punishing Palestinians for not voting the way we want, lack of leadership on global warming (includes insisting on too much, too soon from developing nations), name-calling and refusing to talk to Iran do not compare well with China's no-strings aid to eg. Africa, without dictating terms for economic and political reforms.

An excellent outside perspective!

First I noticed the controversy about this book in Hard Talk on BBC, where the host and the author did some very unsatisfactory pirouettes around the contentious issues, which are related to the Western reservations about current Asian progress. Then I read an even worse interview in Der Spiegel, where the interviewers excelled in stupidity while the author excelled in stubbornness.
Consequently I had to pick up the book and read it. KM expects to provoke 'us' Westerners, but he asks some pundits to write blurbs, which Summers and Zbig and others did.
KM's thesis is this: Asia rises, and that is good for the world. The Western leaders have trouble in adjusting their mental maps, which are trapped in the past. Asia has benefitted from the world system as established after WW2 and has no interest in endangering it. The current wave of optimism will enter West Asia as well and Pakistan, Iran and others will want to have the same progress as China and India etc...
The March to Modernity is good for all, and it is not just material, rather the escape from poverty has far reaching immaterial value for the masses of Asia.
In short, KM is a 'hopeless' optimist, and I do hope that his victorious scenario wins. My biggest doubts are over the Islamic world's ability to join the trend. Maybe KM knows better. I do hope so.
One surprise for me was that KM steps away from the old litany of Lee Kuan Yew and others, i.e. that Asian economic success is due to traditonal Confucian values. In the contrary, KM argues that China, India, and the others, are following Japan in adopting the '7 pillars' that were the basis of the West's surge forward some centuries ago. These 7 pillars are: 1. free economy (expect Adam Smith in the Asian pantheon of the future!), 2.science (enormous push forward; quote Rajiv Gandhi: better brain drain than brain in the drain); 3. meritocracy/equal opportunity, a trend which requires overcoming huge traditional obstacles, but which is clearly on the way; 4.pragmatism: possibly a euphemism for copying; 5.a culture of peace (maybe hard to believe for many in the West); 6. the rule of law: far from being an attained target so far; 7.education.
If KM is right, the adoption of Western values is going far beyond copying Gucci bags and Lacoste shirts. In that sense I would'nt be surprised if he got as much headwind in Asia as in the West.
The headwind in the West comes from his criticism of the exportation of democracy into nations that are not ready for it. And of course from his criticism of the way the West dominates the international institutions and applies double standards.
Why are we not happy with the Asians following our example? Because it means loss of power, plain and simple.
Can't say that I don't see his point. Equally I think he is right in blaming the current Western leadership for gross incompetence in critical issues such as Middle East policy (the Iraq invasion as the single worst case of bad judgment and terrible implementation), free trade, nuclear non-proliferation, global warming...
Incidentally, KM points out, at the time when Giordano Bruno was burned for heresy in Rome, the Muslim emperor Akbar the Great pronounced principles of a secular government in India. So much for Western conceipt.

This was a nice review of American history but one distraction was present throughout: Calling Native Americans "Indians." Just seems that in this time of political correctness, the author might have corrected that, especially since he uses the term African-American.

My only complaint is what's in the title of my review. The history here is not groundbreaking but it is more than just the standard basics. Someone with a background lacking in historical knowledge can benefit from this book, and anyone who enjoys reading about history will be at home here. Nice brush-up for those who feel they'd like to update what they know in this subject. Compacts its information well into its space and breaks it down into chapters and sub-headings so certain eras can be focused on as needed. All but the most keenly educated historian can learn something from US History For Dummies.

Moving to America with very little memory of what I'd learned in school - and that from a European perspective anyway - I thought this book would be a good way to get up to speed on American history. There is a lot of information packed in to the book, with lots of little anecdotes and asides, which are interesting and often fun. However, some of the grammar is sloppy or ill-expressed giving some sentences ambivalent meanings(this is not a question of American grammar v English). A decent editor should have told him the difference between me and I, who and whom. However, this is just irritating - what is really poor is that the author does not know that England is not synonymous with Britain. He talks of "the British goverment" before Britain was created, he illustrates a point with a map which he says shows British land, then labels it English. It is the equivalent of using Texas and USA interchangeably. He even talks of the London parliament; no such thing exists. If he is so palpably wrong on the one thing I am very sure of, I am unsure whether to trust anything else he says.

While this capsule of U.S. history makes for entertaining and at times informative reading, I was very disappointed that no mention was made of the devastation reeked by the 'Spanish Lady' and its effect on the outcome of WWI. The only indirect reference I was able to find was 'American losses (from World War I) - 48,000 killed in battle, 56,000 lost to disease' makes no mention of the disease or the effect of disease on the general U.S. population. The Spanish or 'swine' flu killed 500,000 people in the U.S. in less than two years (and over 50 million world-wide). This blatant omission makes me wonder what other momentous historical events were left out of this book? Perhaps no history book exists that objectively touches on all major historical events. The only antidote would be to read extensively and critically (when studying the history of a war one can only form a less biased opinion by reading the propaganda of both sides). Thus this book is not an authoritative overview of U.S. history but just a tongue-tickling appetizer. Five stars for being an easy and entertaining read, minus three stars for leaving out critical historical events.

Good Book. I is very detailed with the necessary fact about US history that I require.
Thanks

Very good book. If your interested in football (i.e. soccer) this covers everything. There are some slow parts but not that many and that could be attributed to not growing up with the sport. Great read but I think only if your really into football.

I've read a lot of books about sports in my relatively short time on this planet and while I have really enjoyed many of them and reread a few multiple times, this was definitely the first sports-related book I have ever NOT wanted to finish. Based on my rating, you can tell I mean this in a completely positive way: this book was easily one of the most informative and engaging texts I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

The main point of this text is the history of soccer (or football, whichever you may prefer - I'm an American, so soccer it is), which is clear from the subtitle on the cover. Yet there is so, so, so much more contained within the roughly 900 pages that span the book's binding. You have a lot of politics, great human successes and failures, stories of survival and disaster, as well as small passages that set you in a certain time and space where Goldblatt takes you to a scene important to the chapter or section.

For a well-read fan of the game, the importance of this book lies in the first half of it, as Goldblatt starts from the very beginning, discussing ball games of the ancient world, moving to the late 19th century and the creation of the English FA and the FA Cup, the development of professionalism (both accepted and hidden) versus amateurism, and while he obviously takes the history all the way to the present, the first half of the book opens up a history of the sport that many know absolutely nothing about. Soccer in the first half of the 20th century is not a well-known history, one Goldblatt marvelously elucidates.

For those who like the sport but know little about it, the book shows you how much there was to soccer before the advent of the Premier League, corporate sponsorship, and 32 teams in the World Cup. Goldblatt does a tremendous job of really digging into the social and political implications and uses of the sport in various countries, from the first world to the third.

Perhaps the most impressive part is that this text is all-inclusive. You don't just get a history of European soccer with a decent bit about South America and occasional mentions or anecdotes from Africa, North America, Australia, or Asia. Goldblatt delves into every continent's history and relationship to the game, truly showing how soccer really is the global game. All in all, this is a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to anyone.

This is amazing, wide ranging work that tells the story of football (soccer) and places it in the social context of the times. It is a dense and scholarly work which covers a lot of world history and social class because football does not stand on it's own as simply a game but it is much more important than life and death(to paraphrase Bill Shankly's famous quote).
Goldblatt is a very good writer who had me reaching for the Dictionary, who is able to synthesize the rich history of world football into a readable account. I appreciate the match accounts from great matches.
I see this book as an companion to the excellent History of Football BBC series. The only drawback with this book is that it should have more photos

I found this book to be phenomenal. I must admit that I am a rather new prosylyte to "futbol" or soccer as we call it here in the States. I really new nothing about the history of the sport and very little about modern rules or teams or leagues. That having been said, I found the book to be very informative. Goldblatt begins with the "pre-history" of soccer, exposing many nationalist myths about soccer's origins and placing it firmly into the realm of a Celtic game taken up by elite public school boys in Victorian England.

The chapters dealt with specific subjects and I actually found the book to be extremely well organized. Time periods are gone through and after World War I, Goldblatt begins seperating chapters by region (Latin America from 1934-1954, Europe from 1934-1954, Africa from 1900-1974, Latin America from 1955-1974, etc.).

Having said all of that, what made this book especially interesting to me was the placing of soccer within a much larger context. He takes the narrative of soccer and places it within the meta-narrative of world history, economics, sociology, and anthropology. Soccer serves as the thread through which modern history is successfully traced. The writing is brilliant, at times incredibly deep, but always readable and always urging the reader to continue. Each chapter contains a reflection on a notable match of that time period. These are written in a completely different style than the rest of the book and are absolutely incredible. The writing is brilliant and the imagery is transportive.

All in all, more than deserving of five stars. This soccer "newbie" has become a seasoned vet in a span of less than one thousand pages.

I have started to enyoy this masterpiece, since I visited Istambul. Suddenly Pamuk's memories has merged with mine.

Istanbul: Memories and the City


Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul, like Samuel Peyps' London, Proust's Paris, and Borges' Buenos Aires, is a collection of childhood memories informed by adult intellect. Born into a once prominent but lately downwardly- mobile family, Pamuk is preoccupied by the sense of lost glory that infuses Istanbul:
"The city into which I was born was poorer, shabbier, and more isolated than it had ever been before in its two-thousand year history. For me it has always been a city of ruins and of end-of-empire melancholy." It is this melancholy, or
`huzun' that infuses the city and his memories.
How to refer to the change in political control of the city from Greek to Ottoman is the subject of a fascinating chapter: "Conquest or Decline? The turkification of Istanbul." During the 500th anniversary ceremony in l953, the government downplayed the "Turkish' factor, partially because of Turkey's new membership in Nato. Out of fear of alienating the Greek population, the government chose to ignore the anniversary of the "Conquest of Constantinople."
But there were anti-Greek demonstrations and violence, leading Pamuk to conclude that "the government allowed mobs to rampage through the city, plundering the property of Greeks and other minorities. A number of churches were destroyed during the riots and a number of priests were murdered, so there are many echoes of the cruelties Western histories describe as the "fall" of Constantinople. In fact, both the Turkish and Greek states have been guilty of treating their respective minorities as hostages to geopolitics."
One of the attractive features of Pamuk's memoir is the generous use of archival, black and white photographs dating from the 1920's, thirties, and forties.
The original Turkish is ably translated Maureen Freely. I am now encouraged to read more of Pamuk's works available in English, "The Black Book," "My Name is Red," and "Snow," which he describes as his only political novel.

I have now read all of Orhan Pamuk books available. I have learned so much about another culture because of this brillian author.

I finished this on a flight from Izmir to Istanbul. It's a good thing I did: it provides an excellent preface to visiting that amazing city.

Pamuk has three guiding ideas in this book. First is that all Istanbullus share a sort of melancholy which Turks call huzun. The idea is that they all lament the decline of their city since it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, and that they lament their servitude to the Western world. Secondly, Pamuk wants to harness this huzun and create an artwork that is distinctively Turkish -- not Western, not Muslim, but a harmonious blend of the two. Thirdly, Pamuk believes that the city inhabits the man just as much as the man inhabits the city: Pamuk feels Istanbul's moods and it feels his. Huzun is thus a strictly collective emotion. One cannot feel this sort of melancholy on one's own; one can only experience it in a collective way along with one's fellow-Istanbullus. (Indeed, it's not clear to me that residents of any other city -- Vienna, maybe? Pittsburgh? -- can feel huzun; it may be a nostalgic melancholy that only Istanbullus are logically entitled to feel.)

I didn't feel the huzun in Istanbul, but then I was only there for a few days; Pamuk doesn't believe that anyone can understand his city without living there for ten years or more. It may also be impossible for a new generation of lifelong Istanbullus to feel the huzun: those born into today's Istanbul may not realize that there's anything other than the Western model to follow.

This is all his perspective as an insider to the culture. As an outsider to it, my perspective says something altogether different. When I visited Istanbul, there was at least one mosque, minaret, and muezzin per quarter square mile. One block off the main drag in Beyolu (Istiklal Caddesi), our cab had to stop to let a flock of sheep and their shepherd pass. One block off on the other side was a warren of little streets filled with conservative Muslims. I felt distinctly foreign there, both in nationality and in culture. If this is "the West," Istanbul-style, then Pamuk has nothing to worry about.

At times -- certainly over the last fifth of the book -- Pamuk's melodrama about huzun gets to be a bit much. He haunts the miserable streets of a lost empire, collar upturned against the snow, trying to shake off his own desperation at a lost love and make an art form that doesn't just ape the West. On and on he goes, trying to beat us over the head with the idea that the city inhabits the man and the man the city: we cut back and forth between his furious wanderings in the streets and his fight with his mother over what he'll do with his life. Pamuk thinks he is terribly clever. He wants us very much to know how clever it is; earlier in the book he drops hints about its "hidden symmetry." This symmetry, so far as I can tell, is just the symmetry between the man and the city. So now you know. If you were paying attention during the first half of the book, you already knew. I'd rather not be bludgeoned with the Cleverness Stick.

Still, it's a fun read. It's peppered with (deliberately) black-and-white photos of old Stamboul, from an era when people flocked to the shores of the Bosphorous to watch the Ottoman pashas' wooden "yals" (waterfront mansions) burn to the ground one by one. There's great romance in this book, great love for the Bosphorous, and delicious history. Worth reading, but not worth owning.

I remember the Boston of my childhood, though I remember Marblehead (a small town to the north) much better because I actually lived there. The two places had certain sights, sounds, smells, and "feelings" that, for the most part, have vanished like a morning fog off the Atlantic. But anchoring all those sensory aspects of the places was history, a giant kaleidescope of shifting people, institutions and events that created the then present, that created the new present, and will create the next present. I can't imagine Boston or Marblehead without that history.

Orhan Pamuk chose to write his great love for his city in a strange form. He weaves himself and his personal history into the picture, but completely avoids any historical details. I wonder whom he wrote for ? If for that "western audience" he refers to so often, there is not enough history to make sense of why Istanbul became such a melancholic, declined, fallen, poor, neglected place (at least he says it was). Fires and accidents, rain and snow, the hiss of tires slipping on old cobblestone alleys in a city that once ruled a big part of the world. If he wrote for a Turkish audience, his style of describing his family and his personal behavior would probably turn them off, along with his emphasis on Turkish cultural poverty. Maybe he wanted to "send a message" to those who insist too much on "Turkishness", by mentioning the now-mostly-disappeared non-Muslim minorities quite often. Maybe, but I conclude that he wrote it for himself---full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes to come. Pamuk writes of western painters and travellers and their views of the city in the 19th century and how they influenced him. He also writes of Turkish authors and how they viewed the city, though I have never seen any of their work in translation (meaning I have no idea how they would resonate with me). I liked this gambit, though I knew nothing about those Turkish writers. What I liked best is how he describes the city itself, how he walked around it as a child and a youth, how he steeped himself in the decay of the old Ottoman heritage before all the old mansions burned, before concrete apartment blocks sprang up like toadstools to sweep away the sad wooden houses that had seen better days. I loved the chapter on smoke from the funnels of steamships in the Bosphorus, and above all I liked the dozens of black and white photos of bygone days that fill the pages. It's a world class essay of nostalgia, but done in a very new way.

It's an interesting way to describe a city and write the first part of an autobiography. It's not a travelogue. There's not a single map---as if all the readers would know the geography of Istanbul. This is not Istanbul for visitors, this is Istanbul for those who loved it (who could AFFORD to love it) back in the Fifties and Sixties, when it had not been inundated in a huge tide of immigrants or refugees from the countryside and abroad, when Turkey was a poor, slow country. I saw it, once, briefly then, when Pamuk was an eleven year old kid. The dynamic, vital, amazing city of 2008 bears little resemblance to that other Istanbul. I understand why he wrote the book; I know a little of what is lost. To know that, you couldn't find a better book than this.

While "Delirious" has its fair share of archispeak, Mr. Koolhaas pulls off an intelligent, fun and thought-provoking take on the early 20th century building culture of New York.

One of the quirkier aspects of "Delirious" is Mr. Koolhaas's analysis of Coney Island: an "incubator for Manhattan's incipient themes." As a reader, one initially questions the inclusion of such a trashy place in such a lofty manifesto. However, as the chapter progresses, you start to see Mr. Koolhaas's iconoclastic brilliance. He pays an amazing homage to "the laboratory" that was Coney Island, illuminating the vital role it played in the building philosophies that would emerge later in Manhattan.

Scattered throughout "Delirious," also, are compelling supporting images that Mr. Koolhaas clearly spent a lot of time digging up. In fact, flipping through the book for the images alone makes for a near-equivalent, and fun, learning experience.

However, unlike his tasteful use of images, Mr. Koolhaaas's flamboyant use of scholarly English makes his writing difficult to digest at times:

"It is probably inevitable that a doctrine based on the continual simulation of pragmatism, on a self-imposed amnesia that allows the continuous reenactment of the same subconscious themes in ever new reincarnations and on inarticulateness systematically cultivated in order to operate more effectively..."

Given Mr. Koolhaas's journalism background (and assumed mastery of writing), I suspect he made the conscious decision to remain somewhat inaccessible to preserve his "lofty" image. While such a decision may be understandable, his brilliance as a writer often gets overshadowed by the sheer irritation of trying to understand him.

Ultimately, "Delirious" proves itself to be a very intelligent synopsis---just as delirious and congested the themes Mr. Koolhaas puts forth. For the most part, it's a pleasure to read, and it also reflects the exhaustive research on Mr. Koolhaas's end. Much like Mr. Koolhaas's buildings, "Delirious" is on the cusp of being as grand as it intends to be.

through the exhaustive historiography of the phases of congestion coney island brought to manhattan, koolhaas provides a rather cynical view of the Grid as being an ulimatley neutral zoning system of constraining ideas that represent the continual decline of a phantastically realistic civilization, represented as mutated symbols of architecture in the "void" of repeated "pregnancies."

it's really well written. funny. uses, like above, a somewhat inefficient vocabulary but remains in the same vein throughout. it is also a graphic design hubris consuming every page, even the left-justified text, showing off koolhaas's interpretation of the importance to combine scholarship and marketing.

buy it. it's a very good book.

koolhaas is a bit over-the-top for me, but this I think is is best work. it's worth checking out if only for the story of coney island. once you get past blisteringly pretentious phrases like "coney island is a fetal manhattan", you'll find it gloriously entertaining as both a narrative and theoretical work.

A very inventive concept of New York's "culture of congestion" and how people are affected by the architecture they create. It is heavily researched and exhaustive, and after pretty much the third page I agreed with his concept of NY being "totally fabricated by man". What could of been a fascinating article becomes a spastic, heavy-handed read with a sledgehammer effect to your brain. (However,for those of us reading it for school, there are plenty of pictures that fill up the almost devastatingly vast 300+pages quickly.) It will scramble your brain with its thousands of nearly bumper-stickerish statements ("It hides life." "The Mountain MUST become architecture.") written with pretentious glee. However, I believe an independent scientific study has concluded that when pretending to read this book on the train people around you will assume your IQ is 40% higher than truth.

This is by far Koolhaas's most accessible work, as it is rooted so clearly in detail from the city's past. Further, the book is simply brilliant. His take on urban history is to Jane Jacobs what Socrates is to common sense. New York is a special case of modernism that sprang from a special constellation of poltiical and technological forces that collectively create a cultural "big-bang" at the turn of the century. Read it. Blow your mind.

If you are looking for a book about peak oil and the associated economic problems don't buy this book. Its all about the standard conspiracy theories we have been hearing about for the last 40 years and is so poorly written, lengthy and disorganized that its not worth reading. Is there a rating less than 1 star?

With the referenced facts laid out in this book, there is NO DOUBT why no one was put under oath at the 911 hearings!!!

This is an incredibly disturbing book, but does dovetail
with issues that disturbed me before I read it. I agree
with others there are a lot of dots and not all are
well connected. Nevertheless, I don't want to rehash what others
have said, but make a few points.
The WTC was struck on 9-11. The Patriot Act, one individual
listed as the lead author, is over 340 pages, was passed
Oct 24. One and a half months later. How? How can something
complex be done in that time, especially with the confusion
and activity surrounding those events. I have wondered
if the Patriot Act wasn't already on the shelf waiting to
be pulled out.
The author points to the Daschle anthrax as being of CIA
origin. Interestingly, Richard Preston's "The Demon in the
Freezer" hints that this bioweapon was very sophistocated,
and may have fingerprints pointing to a USA origin.
On page 23 Ruppert refers to the need to reduce the world's
population by 4 billion (it may soon need to be 5 billion!)
To do this, bioweapons are needed. To spare infrastructure
and livestock, there aren't many candidates -- smallpox would
seem to be the most likely choice. And it seems that smallpox is
at large in unknown labs (again, see Preston's book). I am
an Inf Dz specialist and had the opportunity to study under
some of those who "eradicated" smallpox, and am somewhat familiar
with that story. One concern for anyone who opens that Pandora's
box is whether the vaccines will be effective to what may turn
out to be a bioengineered strain. On page 158, reference is
even made to a ethnospecific bioweapon.
In the end, I have more questions unanswered than answered. But
who could even invent this stuff?

Michael Ruppert's "Crossing The Rubicon" is nothing less than a masterpiece. It was the first book I read that put 9/11 and the anthrax letters in context. It's a long book, over 600 pages, and I did not intend to read it all, but each chapter left me hungry for more information. This is an investigative book that encompasses much more than 9/11. It explains the financial and oil crises the US is in and the geopolitical strategy the neo-cons have developed to keep all the big lies alive. It explains the war games and Dick Cheney's complicity. If you are an American and you CAN read, then this book is a MUST read. Understand the era in which you live and you will understand the crises in which most of us will die.

This book is the best explanation yet for why the executive level of government committed the 9-11 false flag operation. Being an engineer, the physics of 9-11 is what got me asking questions. But for most peope this will not be compelling for they lack physics training. So this book is a outstanding in the sense that it proves 9-11 was an inside job with everything other than physics. So this book can wake up more people to 9-11 truth than any other source in my opinion. And the book is written like a legal case. You could hand the book to a lawyer and put cheney in jail, if it wasnt for the corrupt legal imunity of government. Cant rate this one highly enough. 5 stars just doenst do it justice. It deserves ten.