Book Description
A Human Being Died That Night recounts an extraordinary dialogue. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a psychologist who grew up in a black South African township, reflects on her interviews with Eugene de Kock, the commanding officer of state-sanctioned death squads under apartheid. Gobodo-Madikizela met with de Kock in Pretoria's maximum-security prison, where he is serving a 212-year sentence for crimes against humanity. In profoundly arresting scenes, Gobodo-Madikizela conveys her struggle with contradictory internal impulses to hold him accountable and to forgive. Ultimately, as she allows us to witness de Kock's extraordinary awakening of conscience, she illuminates the ways in which the encounter compelled her to redefine the value of remorse and the limits of forgiveness.
Customer Reviews:
Expedient.......2006-03-11
Expedient is one word I can use to describe this transaction. I got the book within one week of purchase. The book was in as good a state as the seller had said it would be. Totally satisfied with the purchase.
A Profound Reflection on our capacity for Reconciation.......2004-11-05
Pumla Gobodo-Madikezela reflects on central human issues such as the nature of individual and social evil, the possibility of social reconciliation, the individual's ability to move from participation in violent evil to remorse, and the capacity to meet one another with forgiveness. As urgent at these issues are, her narrative makes compelling reading -- both her accounts of her face-to-face meetings with de Kock and her reflections on her personal story. She raises important questions. How are we to achieve reconciliation in an environment of domonization and divisiveness? Is the Nuremburg model of seeking justice for crimes against humanity actually a way of moving towards reconciliation? While she does not come to clear and definitive conclusions, her experiences and reflections raise some of the most urgent questions facing us as a human community.
Average customer rating:
- Check and see
- Suprise! Suprise!
- Prescient St Augustine?
- Something of a disappointment
- Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 2913621066 |
Product Description
`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.
Customer Reviews:
Check and see.......2007-06-21
I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.
Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22
Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.
Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05
We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:
a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;
b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;
c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.
Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:
It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.
- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.
- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.
Fomenko goes by the following axioms:
- Chronology is the basis of history;
- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;
- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;
- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;
- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;
- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.
Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?
The Russians:
Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.
The Westerners:
Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
The Chinese:
Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.
The Arabs:
Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.
The Divinity:
Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.
St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."
Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09
After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.
However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:
- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.
I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.
The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.
It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?
Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.
Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30
If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?
Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.
Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..
Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.
Customer Reviews:
Expanding Science.......2007-04-22
We are children of the world, the universe, the solar system, and ours is a solarian legacy. We are not mere products of natural selection or clay worked by a Maker. We are instrumental parts of a conscious, self-learning universe. The longer we ignore the implications and obscure the facts, the longer we will grope blindly (and dishonestly) through a narrow alley of conscious awareness.
What causes this blind groping? What causes us to block out the idea or realization that we, as holographic portions and children of the universe, are probably endowed with the same miracle producing power we delegate to gods and angels? The cause of our blindness is our steadfast refusal to take responsibility for who and what we are. We deny our identity and buy into the notion that we are victims and lowly creatures... and for all we know, there may have been such a thing as alien intervention at some point in our evolution, which may have fostered this feeling. Nevertheless, we seem to feel secure when we conclude that our best minds have everything figured out. The truth is, we avoid responsibility every time we argue that, "experts say," "science says," "the bible says," "God says!" How many people are in mental chains because of someone who claims to speak for God?
Thousands say they have had encounters with aliens or advanced beings (ABs), yet, instead of seriously studying these encounters in an attempt to develop some understanding of life and consciousness, governments and mainstream scientists write off such claims as delusional or fraudulent. Meanwhile, believers may secretly worship/fear ABs as our good or bad superiors instead of viewing them as our other-dimensional siblings.
Myths, stories and channeled histories of Atlantis persist, yet we make no formal effort to uncover evidence or shed further light. The same goes for investigating the paranormal, uncovering our relationship to plants and animals, or finding whether there was ever life on Mars. These are just a few of the many things written off as unscientific (or at least, not financially profitable). If we study the connections rather than the differences between things, we might uncover important patterns and hidden laws. We've had science, now we need a metascience that looks for dynamics. We need a 21st Century discipline that includes rather than excludes evidence-- in fact, we need to develop a perspective that transcends science and religion. For the remainder of this summary of the book, go to [...]
A bold call for a new and more inclusive "Science.".......2007-03-29
Being an avid ancient history buff has taken me in some really interesting directions lately. So much is being discovered so fast that it's a real challenge to keep up. It has become quite evident that mankind has been heading down a deteriorating road ever since the stuff really hit the fan somewhere around 11,500 to 13,000 years ago. There is so much of human experience that has been lost. This whole caveman\stone age thing until the birth of civilization 6,000 years ago is ridiculous.It is refreshing to see the disconcerting habit of 'mainstream' science to ignore whatever doesn't fit its entrenched consensus, posing as fact, so rigorously assaulted. Mr Von Ward's call for a new metascience is long overdue. Want to see where your prejudices lie regarding who and what you are, and what mankind has been up to for the last 100,000 years or so? Read this book. A bit dry in parts, but very thought-provoking. The Hermetic principles of the ancient world still have much to teach!
A Book on Modern Paradoxes.......2006-04-13
This is a good book covering the paradoxes of newfangled scientific approaches such as Quantum physics and parapsychology - two "modern" approaches of the last century, which have transformed Humanity's potential perception of both its worldly reality and prior metaphysical concepts. Ordinarily, people tend nowadays to lump all such material as "new age" stuff, along with mumbo jumbo on things such as aliens, reincarnation, aromatherapy, spells and soothing music, etc. No doubt all these are part of the vast new "genre" spawned by such new awakenings, but this book is definitely an upmarket type as it deals in detail with the theoretical and scientific investigative aspects of this new direction. There are of course umpteen such books, and umpteen are fit to be called excellent. During the last 20-30 years of the previous century, the developed world produced a sea of "human potential" literature arising from this new awareness, aimed at self-help and improvement. Thousands of prophets and teachers also appeared, some fake charlatans, some average, some remarkable... Like all such enlightened thinkers, Paul Ward also sees a niche for himself as one such messenger, and suffers from the naivete and idealism of believing in the totality of his solutions to the crises from which modern humanity suffers. These however seem to be the drawbacks of most such enthused teachers. Sugesstions such as "if we just do this" or "if we behave like that" are simply not valid determinants of the course of human fate, and sadly won't cure its maladies with the wave of such a magic wand, even if they succeed in bettering them by 90%, which many modern innovations appear to have done individually as well as collectively, for those affected by them... If that were so, history would be a different tale altogether, and wouldn't suffer from the shortcomings we now lament and call the shackles of reality. Or Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History" concept would be valid... (or perhaps he really meant the end of a certain type of historical process, which is what I forsee eventually). It takes more to effectively better the collective human condition and change history than just adopt new ideas openly. That is the lesson of reality.
Our Solarain Legacy.......2004-08-27
Whether you are a beginner in your search for how we fit into this universe or well down the road, OUR SOLARIAN LEGACY is a "must read." Paul Von Ward has done an extraordinary amount of research for this excellent book. It is broad and comprehensive thus providing and overview of many areas of research for the beginner to further consider and to help the well-traveled pull together loose ends. With insight and clarity he emphasizes that this self-learning universe is a manifestation of conscious energy that has created us as way of experiencing itself, and that we are designed to actively participate in its expression. With that in mind, we never have to feel separate from anything else.
A very informative, encouraging look at ourselves.......2002-11-17
The author presents a very thoughtful, clearminded overview of humanity and and our unique place in the cosmos. This work is really an overview of the many areas of our thought, culture and tradition which require reassesment and change. It is with my most hardy recommendation that you read this book and benefit from Mr. Von Ward's seeming endless supply of wisdom and insight. Because of the liberal references provided it can also serve as a launch point for many areas of further study. The ethical and moral conclusions he draws from an honest and fearless consideration of the broader aspects of ourselves leaves us with a foundation as eloquent as any of the world's great religions, if not more so. Do yourself and perhaps the world a favor; read and learn what this book has to teach us.
Book Description
The American Revolution gave birth not just to a new nation, but to a new landscape. America was paradise to its native inhabitants, while to the colonists, it was an unlimited land of opportunity, a moral and physical wilderness from which they could create paradise. Powerful people like Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton struggled to shape it to their opposing visions. Over the ensuing two hundred years, many other visions shaped the American landscape. Today, their imprints form a complex layering of messages--past and present, physical and cultural, public and private, local and national--that tell a story of many interwoven meanings. John Warfield Simpson traces this fascinating story in Visions of Paradise, providing a fresh perspective from which to understand not only our landscape but also the way we steward our environment.
Simpson describes the transformation of America from wilderness into an agrarian and suburban landscape as the nation expanded westward after the Revolution. He highlights the role of influential people in this transformation and the critical policies and programs they used to acquire, survey, and dispose of the public domain. He shows how their actions reflected changes in our traditional values that considered land as property and a commodity primarily for functional use.
This transformation in values has yielded a landscape of contradictions: It is at once a landscape of freedom and opportunity, order and disorder, permanence and transience. Ours is an egalitarian and litigated landscape shaped by reason and mobility, he argues, one that reflects our historical sense of separation from and superiority over a limitless land of endless abundance and resilience. These perceptions, he shows, have blinded us to the environmental consequences of our actions and created a people who behave as though they are temporary occupants of the land rather than residents who enjoy a deep connection to the land. That connection, he concludes, holds the key to our contemporary environmental debate.
Customer Reviews:
very wordy.......2003-03-11
The book has some good content, but the auther him-haws around. I enjoy a good book that can get to the point and drive it home. This book does not do that. It jumps around a lot and is hard to follow in places. I wouldn't recommend this book to other readers.
A Revelation.......1999-06-04
I am not a 'landscaper' in the grand or even minimal sense (tending to let my own backyard become overgrown), but I do have a layman's interest in history. Perhaps for those reasons I found 'Visions of Paradise' to be an enthralling introduction to the history of our American landscape. Simpson was able to engage my interest quickly with his obvious feeling for and sensitivity to our culture's rather short-sighted treatment of the natural landscape. As a native midwesterner I was particularly interested in his regional references but really found the entire volume to be captivating. He truly helped me to understand the national landscape as 'ours' in a collective sense. For the first time I have an informed appreciation of our land and believe that I have a role, however small, in its future. I will never be able to take a trip by car or plane in the same way again - Simpson's book has helped me understand the importance of my examining the nuances of all parts of our landscape, and being able to take a stronger position regarding its appropriate uses (even my own yard, which I am now cultivating more carefuly).
Quick, but not a light read,...........1999-06-02
..it's a great book. The personal anecdotes will speed you through a book more scholarly than it first appears. With the clean slate that North America presented the world upon it's discovery, it's amazing how well it's held up, considering all the different hands on the chalk!
Excellent landscape book.......1999-05-12
Every now and then a book comes along that evokes our experience of the landscape, books by authors such as William Least Heat-Moon, John Hanson Mitchell, Donald Meinig, John Stilgoe, or J. B. Jackson. With Visions of Paradise, John Warfield Simpson joins the group and goes beyond. He offers a wide ranging and readable description of the forces that shaped our landscape from conflicts in landscape values to public policy and law. Visions is a wonderful book filled with personal anecdotes that engage. Anyone interested in cities, suburbs and environmental stewardship hould have a copy of this handsome book
Wonderful look of USA's beginnings, transitions, and present.......1999-03-08
Mr. Simpson's book is an unparalleled look at this nation's beginnings, transitions, growing pains, and its current situation. To understand today's problems and land-use ethics, one must read this book. Through elbow grease, endless research and a fascination with the land, Mr. Simpson has created a classic that anyone involved with the land must read. On a personal note, Ohio residents will find this book particularly interesting, the development of Columbus is used as a typical example of settlement and expansion.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best investigations I've read........1999-03-18
Fowler has been following this story for years, and this culmination of all he's learned is excellent. Fowler's investigation is not polluted by his own expectations, the way so many other works in this field are.
Interesting concept.......1998-12-30
Fowler's metaphenomena concept is an interesting one in that he states that he feels that the whole UFO phenomenon is a part of a larger, encompassing phenomena that umbrellas UFOs, aliens, religion, and paranormal/poltergeist phenomena. It sounds plausible..it's rather similar to what I'd expect from Jacques Vallee. Unfortunately, the author brings much of his own life into the story and attempts to draw parallels betweeen his own family and the Andreassons. This normally wouldn't be too bad, but some of his "coincidences" seem like grasping for straws a la the Kennedy/Lincoln "coincidences." In spite of this, the book's a decent read. However, I recommend the Watchers I/II a bit more highly than this one.
Amazon.com
Nothing can scare us quite as much as cancer. This disease, striking sometimes sensibly, sometimes arbitrarily, inspires despair and hopelessness to the same extent that its cure eludes us. Cancer researcher Mel Greaves illuminates what we know of its causes and the obstacles to research in Cancer: The Evolutionary Legacy. The subtitle is intriguing, and Greaves backs it up with a detailed examination of the evolutionary biology of cancer cells. It turns out that we can profitably think about cancer as a tool in the struggle for survival and reproduction among all the cells within a body. Losing regulatory genes might be great for reproducing individual cell lines, but in the long run, they are, of course, devastating to the organism as a whole. Greaves's personal, almost chatty style helps the nontechnical reader through some of the complicated immunological and genetic issues, and it also humanizes a topic that can easily overwhelm us with awe. Slipping back a few centuries, he explores the history of cancer and our attitudes toward it, then looks at how it has changed in recent years to become more widespread and better understood. Though Greaves is careful not to promise a cure just around the corner, his experience lends the writing an optimism that most readers will find refreshing. Though we're still at the mercy of this terrible disease, it's good to know we have more than just natural selection on our side. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
In this lucid and entertaining book, Mel Greaves argues that evolutionary biology offers a new perspective that can help us unravel the riddle of cancer. Why, for example, have women always had such a raw deal in the cancer stakes? And why are some cancers, such as prostate cancer, increasing in incidence? Greaves argues that Darwinian selection millions of years ago has endowed our genes and cells with inherently cancerous credentials, and this is exacerbated by our rapid social evolution and exotic behavioural traits that outpace genetic adaptation. The book is full of novel insights, the latest scientific discoveries, and wonderful historical anecdotes. It provides a unique portrait of cancer, past, present, and future.
Customer Reviews:
Thorough discussion made interesting.......2001-09-10
Dr. Greaves does a great job of navigating the myths, evolution, paradoxes, and treatments of cancer. The amazing accomplishment of this author is that he can do all this while keeping the lay person interested, even injecting some humor. What other cancer researcher would first detail the high incidence of cancer of the esophagus in the Hubei province of China, then discuss how that same diet causes cancer in their chickens and end the discussion saying "Not unambiguous evidence maybe, but if I was a chicken, I would ask for a transfer."
All is not lighthearted, of course, in a discussion of cancer. The interesting mosaic which Greaves creates discusses the varied alleged causes of various types of cancer, including social, demographic, economic, dietary, and of course hereditary. He then gives an excellent argument for the prevention rather than cure of cancers. For example, he states that for "every 1,000 young men adopting a life time habit of smoking, on average one will be murdered, six will die in road traffic accidents and 250 will die ot tobacco-related deaths including lung cancer." Sobering statistics for the deadly life decision to keep this habit.
If you have any interest in cancer, read this book. Be prepared to work through some jargon, but with Greaves writing style, you'll enjoy the read.
A new perspective on cancer.......2000-05-22
Greaves does an excellent job of explaining how evolution applies to cancer. How did cancer survive throughout evolution? How do cancer cells go through a Darwinian process of survival of the fittest? How are some cells resistant to chemotherapy? He answers all of these.
He also points out that, contrary to popular opinion, in many cases, it is impossible to point to a single "cause" for a person's cancer. People want to point blame somewhere, but cancer takes a series of DNA mutations to get going in a cell. This may happen over a lifetime of exposure to various things.
All in all, very good for anybody who is interested in this topic -- and perhaps even if you don't think you are.
Book Description
The fall of dictatorial regimes and the eruption of destructive civil conflicts around the world have led to calls for holding individuals accountable for human rights atrocities. International law had little to say on this subject from the time of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials fifty years ago until very recently. In this well-researched book, Steven Ratner and Jason Abrams offer a comprehensive study of the promise and limitations of international criminal law as a means of enforcing international human rights and humanitarian law. They provide a searching analysis of the principal crimes under the law of nations, such as genocide and crimes against humanity. They go on to appraise the most important prosecutorial and other mechanisms developed to bring individuals to justice. After applying their conclusions in a detailed case study, the authors offer a series of compelling conclusions on the prospects for accountability. In this new edition the authors also cover recent developments such as the jurisprudence of the UN's Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, new domestic attempts at accountability, and the International Criminal Court. This new edition has been revised and updated to include developments since 1997, including domestic prosecutions and truth commission, the work of the UN's Yugoslavia and Rwand Tribunals, and the International Criminal Court.
Customer Reviews:
An incredibly in depth review of a terrible legal dilemma.......2000-05-21
Abrams and Ratner provide an excellent in depth review of the legal and moral difficulties in bringing perpertrators of genocide to justice.
Book Description
Have human rights as we once understood them become obsolete since 9-11? Aren’t new methods needed to combat the apocalyptic violence of al-Qaeda? Shouldn’t we sacrifice some rights to make us all safer? And if we can kill a combatant in battle, why shouldn’t we torture them if it will save lives? William Schulz, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, examines these and other fundamental questions through the prism of our new consciousness about terrorism in this provocative new book. It questions America’s own ambivalent record—its tainted legacy—and addresses recent human rights violations: the imprisonment without charge of non-citizens and the violation of the Geneva Convention at Guantanamo Bay. Schulz writes, “One of Osama bin Laden’s goals is to destroy the solidarity of the international community and undermine the norms and standards that have sustained that community since the end of World War II. The great irony of the post-9/11 world is that, when it comes to human rights, the United States has been doing his work for him.”
Customer Reviews:
Full of holes and contradictions.......2004-04-09
Tainted Legacy is an unmemorable book with many glaring problems. He makes absurd, unsubstantiated statements like, "Puritan society contained at its heart contradictions that were to roil American history in one form or another for 350 years." Also, "Contrary to ill-informed right-wing opinion in the United States, the vast majority of Muslims did not applaud when the planes hit their targets on 9/11." I'm sorry, but I know no right-winger who thinks that way. He also refers to the "discriminatory practices against Muslims in the United States..." but must have forgotten to back his statement up with facts. He also gives a straw man argument of natural rights, and then concludes rights are pragmatic. Overall, this was a badly written book that left no impression in my mind.
Pretty Good Read If You're Looking Into a Liberal Legacy.......2004-03-01
I felt Schulz's book lacked something. He cited examples, gave numerous justifications, etc., but I don't see the other sides argument presented enough/fairly. In order to offer an argument, the so-called 'unbiased reader' should be given both sides, finding concrete flaws in the opposing sides argument. I many times found myself unengaged in his reasoning. Example: the introductory "I don't ever want to speak English again," as the reader I don't see the other sides position, nor do I see him justifying why he agreed with his P.O.V.-- I was simply expected to know why he held to the values that he did hold to. I also didn't appreciate the liberal bias. I understand that Schulz is against the violations of human rights, which I don't advocate in any way, shape, or form, on the other hand, he criticized the way the U.S. conducts their foreign policy, in particular, the present Republican Administration. In not offering the other side's argument, he leaves a loop hole for domestic security, and the possibility for that being violated via his liberal agenda.
To balance out the book as a whole, though, I felt that the rest of the book was informative. There were many in-depth critiques to situations that, given his argument (the only presented argument), justified them as lacking human rights, i.e. "What Makes Rights 'Right'".
All in all, I thought the book was an entertaining read. I may have not agreed with all of Schulz's positions, but I do feel more informed, and understanding. 'Tainted Legacy' got me thinking, and has caused many debates, and great discussions. I'd recommend this book on the simple fact that it is stimulating, and also motivating. Although I wish the book wasn't so liberal-biased, the essense of it is pure: Human Rights are important, and should not be violated, which I found to be clearly shown throughout the book.
A Must Read!!!!.......2004-02-10
Bill Schultz continues to shine on the forefront of the human rights movement. Schultz's "Tainted Legacy" uses a human rights framework as a means to critique post 9/11 U.S. policy. This book is a quick read, but contains complex issues and topics. Schultz is an excellent thinker who uses this book to show the importance of respecting human rights in a time of uncertainty. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who questions the importance of human rights and also to those who already struggle to protect human rights both at home and abroad.
Excellent . . . but hard to review.......2004-01-29
On the surface, "Tainted Legacy" is an excellent book; it presents valid criticism of the human rights movement and the policies of the US government, without descending into the kind of hysterics normally found in contemporary political writing.
Yet it is flawed, perhaps fatally so--regretably, to be sure, but flawed none the less.
The fact is that the people this book hopes to convince will not read it, and the people who do read it will nod their heads in agreement throughout the sections they already agreed with and self-consciously skim over those parts that hit too close to home. Many in the human rights community (of which I am involved as a student activist) fit the mold that Schulz criticizes in "Tainted Legacy"--so caught up in their own moral purity that they forget the higher goal of helping people.
We see this right now in the opposition movement to the Iraq War. I opposed the US invasion on the grounds that it was not sanctioned by the UN and that the US government lied to persuade the American people to support it. Yet many of those who I agreed with last year have now abandoned all reason and demand that coalition troops be withdrawn from Iraq--this is, to be frank, stupid, considering the political and economic situation in the country. They have let their purity get in the way of common sense.
If such people read and absorb "Tainted Legacy" in vast numbers, Schulz might get his hoped-for change in the popular view of human rights. This I doubt; it is far too easy to ignore ideas, however valid, that clash with out preconceived notions of truth, and "Tainted Legacy" will hit that barrier. While I wish this were not the case, as I agree with Schulz wholeheartedly, I find it hard to believe that either those in power or the people who put them there will read and assimilate this work; it's audience will be made up of people--like myself--who already agree with him and are willing to accept a challenge to our views. Those he needs to reach will not read the book. It's a tragedy, as they need to if the human rights movement is to retain its effectiveness, but "Tainted Legacy" will die an undeserved death, remaining only in libraries and in the personal collections of individuals, like myself, who care enough about the state of this world to base our actions and views on reason and not principle.
Insightful and Challenging.......2004-01-14
Looking beyond the moral rhetoric of the Bush administration and its war against terrorism, Tainted Legacy examines how human rights have become expendable in the interests of national security and how this in turn has tainted the credibility and legitimacy of the international human rights regime. William Schulz challenges the contradictions of past and present US foreign policy by tracing different times when the US has betrayed its most fundamental values for short term interests and how this has provoked more anti-American sediment and distrust for US policies throughout the world. At the same time, he condemns the US government's disregard for human rights here at home, by looking at the secret detention and abuse that over a thousand Muslim immigrants endured in the days that followed 9/11. It is through these examples, that Schulz challenges the US to make its war on terrorism coincide with policies that are consistent with human rights, so that the US does not end up fueling more hatred into a new generation of terrorists and taint human rights further. In conclusion, Tainted Legacy gives a provocative look at the importance of human rights in eliminating terror and oppression throughout the world and is highly recommended for anyone interested in exploring alternative ways to build a more peaceful world.
Average customer rating:
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The Eclectic Legacy: Academic Philosophy and the Human Sciences in Nineteenth-Century France
John I. Brooks
Manufacturer: University of Delaware Press
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Book Description
In the last days of World War II, the Japanese unleashed a new breed of warrior. They were the kamikaze-idealistic young men believing there could be no greater glory than to sacrifice their lives in suicide attacks to defend their homeland. But what of those men who took the sacred oath to die in battle-and lived? Soon after the 9/11 attacks, ethnographer M.G. Sheftall was given unprecedentedly intimate access to the cloistered community of Japan's last remaining kamikaze corps survivors. The result is a poignant and unforgettable glimpse into the lives and mindsets of former kamikaze pilots who never completed their final missions.
Customer Reviews:
Fine history, compelling story, insightful cultural observations.......2007-04-14
There are several things one can gather about Sheftall by reading "Blossoms in the Wind". Foremost is that he can write a good story. In this case, the usual skills must be supplemented by patience and the keen ear of an excellent listener. He is one who can actively elicit long forgotten or painfully repressed memories from the haze of time and the maze of survivor's guilt, crushed expectations of victory, humiliation of defeat, and suspicion of one who is both from the enemy camp, so to speak, and young. It implies Keeganesk respect, genuine and deep, for the profession of arms and the special esteem reserved for those who sacrifice for what they consider a worthy cause. But in the end it requires an ability to write well and this Sheftall can do.
Sheftall has skill in description. An example, minor to the main thesis but which provides setting and tone is his easy use of the vocabulary of architectural historical styles, aesthetics, and ornamental and functional details. Images of the people he writes about are brought to the mind's eye in a few words with perhaps special solicitude on behalf of the female form - the caressing recreation of the semi-salacious angels in "Chinkon no Mitsugi" being a pointed example. His descriptors give character and life to the people and events narrated in the book yet serve also to remind the reader that this text is documentation. He is fastidious about the machines of war, worrying over evolutionary development in aircraft or model changes in watercraft. Yet these delineations do not burden the reader but rather clarify or move the action of the story. These salutes to accuracy are reassuring in an historian and no doubt his recordings and photographs will serve as important primary sources on this topic well into the future.
Like de Tocqueville, whose broader vistas into American culture stemmed from his study of US prisons, Sheftall provides insights behind what is often the inscrutable face of Japanese culture beyond the title's subject. The men and women who live to tell the "kamikaze" tale seem to me a character study of rugged individualism not typically thought of as a Japanese virtue. These survivors, after the war, take risks, establish businesses and in general seem to behave in a manner beyond what might have been indicated by their caste. To the extent that this is true, might the phenomenon be explained as the self-liberation claimed by those who have embraced the inevitability of death only to be given, by grace or chance, an indefinite reprieve? May it represent the need to achieve for those comrades whose crowded hour was their final hour? Perhaps it is a cultural idiosyncrasy credit given to those whose loyalty and commitment to the emperor and collective are proved beyond doubt. Whatever the case, there is a certain irony at work in that the "tokko" program's systematic reduction of individual qualities that could hinder total dedication to the mission would create in the survivors the moral fortitude to find their own way. Contrast them with growing number of "hikikomori", marginalized young men who, like Japan itself often enough, choose voluntary isolation in the confusion of stifling cultural expectations and fear of the new.
Sheftall provides a carefully evolving narrative that sustains a reader's belief in what is nearly unbelievable. His challenge is to explain these young warriors' embrace of death and the lingering reverence for their sacrifice in an age where such fanaticism is mostly associated with terrorism. He does this, sometimes touchingly, sometimes with humor, through incisive observation, careful reconstruction of the mood and perceptions in Japan at the time, and a humane sympathy for the very real people who tell their stories.
Outstanding!.......2007-02-15
Really an outstanding book from a rather unique point of view. This book would make an excellent addition to a high school reading list - in both the US and in Japan.
A finely balanced work that demystifies the 'Kamikaze'........2007-02-11
M. G. Sheftall has produced a very finely balanced account of the Japanese suicide attack programs of World War II. This is a major feat, as the Tokko ('special attack') program is a field so larded with biased and poorly-researched work that a serious historical approach must require doubting or discounting a great deal of what has already been written.
Sheftall has done what any responsible historian should when dealing with such a recent set of events: he went and talked directly to those involved. Unlike accounts of the same events from the Allied side, however, this was something he could only achieve by first learning to speak Japanese, behaving correctly in the presence of very sensitive people and leaving his own agenda at the interview room door. Sheftall happily has a strong grasp of effective techniques for this work, and the result is a very good read presented in a style that mixes skilfully-wrought historical accounts with gentle first-person reportage somewhat reminiscent of Bill Bryson. Sheftall visits and describes the shrines and societies that today perpetuate the bonds forged among the wartime Tokko personnel - both the successful and the survivors - and manages neither to sneer nor fawn; he meets and travels with men who in their youth accepted self-willed extinction in defence of their homeland without once judging them or sensationalising their accounts, and he leaves at least this reader with such a clear picture of the Tokko program as to make one wonder why so much mystery and myth surrounded it for so long.
As Sheftall points out near the end of the book, twentieth-century history is simply not taught in Japanese schools. Japan nowadays is gradually shedding its MacArthurian post-war sackcloth, however, and in view of the actions and pronouncements of its neighbors it is understandably keen to reassert itself in the region before the balance of power tilts too far towards some very unwholesome regimes. A steady supply of dispassionate, balanced accounts of Japan's recent history will help reassure the world that it is not unaware of its dark past, but the shortage of serious native scholarship in such matters still means that these will have to come in large part from foreigners. With this great book, Sheftall steps up to join John Dower, Herbert Bix and the many others who are quietly helping Japan get its historical house in order.
A unique moment in time (and its human consequences).......2006-11-08
The concept of the Kamikaze warrior has always been looked upon with horror and fascination in the West. In many ways, it seemed to Americans, these "brain-washed" pilots were a natuaral offshoot of Bushido-inspired Banzai Charges and the National Death Cult that gripped Japan more and more as the tide of the war turned against it.
Author Sheftall has done an outstanding job of breaking through these sterotypes to tell the very human side of Japanese suicide corps. Motivated by desperation and love of family and country, driven by subtle coercion, scores of young men swore to give all they were and ever would be for their country, and the ripples from those decisions still affect lives to this day.
This is an outstanding book and a must-read for any serious student of the Second World War.
The true stories of Japan's kamikaze corps survivors .......2006-07-10
Blossoms In The Wind: Human Legacies Of The Kamikaze presents the true stories of Japan's kamikaze corps survivors - pilots who were slated to sacrifice their lives in battle during World War II, but who survived through chance or fate. Now after the September 11th attacks, in an era when suicide attacks are becoming an increasingly serious threat in the present, Blossoms In The Wind explores what can bind a human heart and soul to commit to the ultimate sacrifice, as well as the bonds of brotherhood that remain between fellow warriors after sixty years of peace. A profound and directly relevant testimony, often directly recounting the survivors' perspectives in their own words.
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