Book Description
The Khmer Rouge regime took control of Cambodia by force of arms, then committed the most brazen crimes since the Third Reich: at least 1.5 million people murdered between 1975 and 1979. Yet no individuals were ever tried or punished. This book is the story of Peter Maguire's effort to learn how Cambodia's "culture of impunity" developed, why it persists, and the failures of the "international community" to confront the Cambodian genocide. Written from a personal and historical perspective, Facing Death in Cambodia recounts Maguire's growing anguish over the gap between theories of universal justice and political realities.
Maguire documents the atrocities and the aftermath through personal interviews with victims and perpetrators, discussions with international and NGO officials, journalistic accounts, and government sources gathered during a ten-year odyssey in search of answers. The book includes a selection of haunting pictures from among the thousands taken at the now infamous Tuol Sleng prison (also referred to as S-21), through which at least 14,000 men, women, and children passed -- and from which fewer than a dozen emerged alive.
What he discovered raises troubling questions: Was the Cambodian genocide a preview of the genocidal civil wars that would follow in the wake of the Cold War? Is international justice an attainable idea or a fiction superimposed over an unbearably dark reality? Did issues of political expediency allow Cambodian leaders to escape prosecution?
The Khmer Rouge violated the Nuremberg Principles, the United Nations Charter, the laws of war, and the UN Genocide Convention. Yet in the decade after the regime's collapse, the perpetrators were rescued and rehabilitated-even rewarded-by China, Thailand, the United States, and the UN. According to Peter Maguire, Cambodia holds the key to understanding why recent UN interventions throughout the world have failed to prevent atrocities and to enforce treaties.
Customer Reviews:
History as a personal quest.......2006-04-30
Peter Maguire's mix of personal travelogue and historical study works well, with the author lingering on the question of impunity and the ineffectual international community, whilst interviewing victims and perpetrators of Khmer Rouge crimes on many visits following his first trip to Cambodia in 1994. That first exciting yet unnerving visit in 1994 is something the author and myself have in common, as we do the loss of a close Cambodian friend in recent years. His loss was Sok Sin, well known as every journalist's 'fixer' and Maguire's tale of his demise is poignant. His interviews with the suvivors of Tuol Sleng such as Bou Meng, Vann Nath and Im Chan contrast sharply with the soul-less KR photographer Nhem En and guard Him Huy, whilst DC-Cam and Youk Chhang rightly emerge as a beacon of light in the chaos that is Cambodia. He also tracked down Mai Lam, the Vietnamese colonel who'd turned Tuol Sleng into a Genocide Museum though ultimately their discussions were stymied. I found the book stimulating, frustrating, insightful and vexing in equal measures, with Maguire admitting up front that he ultimately failed to come to any clear-cut conclusions. However, the journey to get to nowhere is an interesting one.
Magnificently Disturbing.......2006-02-25
This remarkable book takes the reader deep inside the minds of a culture so hard to penetrate that I am returning this year to Cambodia just to attempt to understand the obvious - here is a country in a state of denial. "Facing Death in Cambodia" very effectively analyses Cambodia's culture of compliance, a nation meek to authority, and seemingly paralyzed by a recent past so convulsive that to even think about it is an invitation to "bad karma" - even among survivors and the unindicted killers of their children who sometimes share the same street. Mr Maguire excells at the job of rendering the 75-79 story in human terms. His portraits of the familiar figures like the photographer of those shattering Tuol Slong ID pictures are very important to our understanding of what sort of mental gymnastics many at the heart of the genocide are capable of. The heroic Vann Nath, whose miraculous survival is powerfully and touchingly explained in the book, emerges as a beacon of clear sightedness.Yet even here there is paradox - the survivor is eager to greet the photographer almost as an old friend. The author's tenacious search for the mind set and value system of the killers, and how D.K.'s perverted ideology can be effortlessly justified in Cambodia's "culture of impunity", make for provocative reading. I was particularly impressed by the author's descriptions of lurking violence. The weserner's stereotypes of the smiling Khmer do not long survive exposure to present reality. When Mr. Maguire takes you through the marketplaces and cafes of Phnom Penh, don't expect a comfortable ride. In one shattering passage,we are told how quickly peasant vengeance in the street over seeming trifles turns to horror in a blink. Overall, this book is one of the most important documents of Cambodia's modern history. Mr Maguire has no illusions that this beautiful, tormented country's battle to start over is going to be over soon. Here is a writer of compassion and power, and his book is an excellent one.
Dealing with Mass Murderers .......2006-01-06
This is a clear and concise book about the horrendous regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979)and the aftermath. The author asks the question: why haven't leaders of the Khmer Rouge been prosecuted for the mass murder they perpetrated on their own people. He finds a partial answer by looking at international politics and the machinations of Cambodian leaders, the UN, and the US and everyone's lack of priority in seeking justice in Cambodia.
The author, along the way, adds his personal experiences and interesting observations about Phnom Penh and Cambodia in the 1990s and up until 2003. He interviews a large number of Cambodians, including guards and survivors, about the goings on at the notorious S-21 prison. As many as twenty thousand entered the prison; fewer than a dozen survived. There are photos of some of the murdered and the survivors and several historic photos of Khmer Rouge soldiers. The author delves into the mentality of the mass murderers and present day Cambodians who still suffer the trauma of that horrific era.
Chapter two in this book is one of the best brief descriptions of the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia and its consequences that I have read. All in all the book is a readable introduction to the sordid history of the Khmer Rouge and the half-hearted international efforts to cope with mass murder and its perpetrators.
Smallchief
I Still Wonder Why.......2005-05-22
I've often wondered about the genocide in Cambodia. The amount of material available on the Holocaust is emmense. We basically went to war to stop the "Ethnic Clensing" in the Balkans. But in Cambodia, almost noting, even while it was going on it seemed to be largely ignored. The famous pictures of the piles of skulls seemed to have no effect.
When this was happening we had just ended our participation in the Viet Nam war. I asked a Viet Nam protester why they weren't protesting what was happening there, why are we building a Holocaust museum when something of almost horror was happening in Cambodia. There was no answer.
For a time I thought that it might be an issue of race/color. The Jews were white, the Cambodian brown. Then the happenings in Rawanda got a fair amount of press coverage. And I can only conclude that it was just a matter of time. Viet Nam took all the energy the protestors had, perhaps combined with such a contempt/hatred for our own government that they couldn't see the evil in the Khmer Rouge. Maybe it was the left's "love" for communism that made them blind.
Peter Maguire's book puts a personal and human face on this genocide. He has talked to the people all over Cambodia, he has analyzed the international response and concluded that "international law, human rights, and international criminal courts are little more than sonorous fictions without political will."
There is no political will to even think much about Cambodia, not while it was happening, not now.
Unbelievable.......2005-05-07
I just bought a copy of this book because I saw the lecture Dr. Maguire gave on CSPAN and was riveted. The book is unbelievably important in these times when the United States claims to be doing things for international justice. But when you read this and see how Pol Pot got away with so much and what's going on in Asia you won't be able to understand why we were so consumed with a man like Saddam Hussein (oil). Everyone should read this book.
Amazon.com
Although mass atrocities are not unique to the 20th century, organized response to such violence has taken new forms, some of which offer hope of some small redress to the victims of war and genocide. In the groundbreaking and timely Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, Harvard Law School professor Martha Minow explores the benefits and drawbacks of a variety of forms of settlement.
For those who have recoiled in horror and outrage at collective violence in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, and elsewhere, this book--with chapters titled "Trials," "Truth Commissions," "Reparations," and "Facing History"--is a primer on how the world, and individuals, might respond to such acts once the shock subsides. Minow resists the idea that compensatory measures such as war-crimes tribunals and financial payback can ever bring true closure for those who have suffered. "Legal responses," she writes, "are inevitably frail and insufficient." Nevertheless, Minow advocates addressing these atrocities in a formal way: "The victimized deserve the acknowledgment of their humanity," she asserts, "and the reaffirmation of the utter wrongness of its violation." --Maria Dolan
Book Description
The rise of collective violence and genocide is the twentieth century's most terrible legacy. Martha Minow, a Harvard law professor and one of our most brilliant and humane legal minds, offers a landmark book on our attempts to heal after such large-scale tragedy. Writing with informed, searching prose of the extraordinary drama of the truth commissions in Argentina, East Germany, and most notably South Africa; war-crime prosecutions in Nuremberg and Bosnia; and reparations in America, Minow looks at the strategies and results of these riveting national experiments in justice and healing.
Customer Reviews:
Here is a lady who is not afraid to tackle the big issues........2000-10-17
For anyone interested in international law or human rights, this is a must-read. I am assigning this book to my undergraduates this semester because, although the subject matter is complex, Minow's prose is clean and spare. Minow does a terrific job of summarizing the episodes of mass violence of the 20th century AND the literature in legal and political studies on war crimes, human rights violations, and justice. I don't always share her optimism that solutions can be found, but I cannot think of another author who grapples with this difficult subject matter quite as gracefully or comprehensively.
An exercise in the problems of mass violence.......2000-07-03
Martha Minow has done her research. She carefully explored the different approaches to mass violence without over-moralizing or answering any of the unanswerable questions. Drawing on history, she charts a course for the human rights community today. This is a readable book for people who are new to the concept of human rights and those who have phD's in the field. Best of all, it does not leave you with a feeling of a weight upon your shoulders. Instead, it is some-how optimistic about a future that addresses the mass violence. I underlined about half of this book, and would recommend it to anyone.
Amazon.com
In three newly democratic countries in Eastern Europe (East Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland), communism's former victims and jailers are struggling to make sense of their history - and sometimes rewrite it. In this groundbreaking, stylishly reported book, a journalist travels across the battlefields of memory and asks: Who is guilty? How shall they be punished? And who is qualified to judge them in states where almost every citizen was an accomplice? Seeking the hard answers to these questions, Tina Rosenberg tells of conscience and complicity, courage and optimism. Winner of the National Book Award for Non-fiction.
Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning look at the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe
Customer Reviews:
Eastern Europes Faces its Past.......2007-05-30
When the Iron Curtain was finally opened across Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, the harsh light of newly-found political freedom exposed many pressing issues, not least of which was how to exorcise the demons of the communist past, both tangible and intangible. Ms. Rosenberg, intrigued after following similar events in Latin America, spent a good amount of time in Eastern Europe during the heady but rocky years following the Velvet Revolution, the triumph of Polish Solidarity and the fall of the East German police state.
While this book is not a history book--despite its considerable depth and length--it does contribute some ideas, mainly the author's, to the historical debate surrounding the important issue of post-communist governments and how three of them chose to deal with the totalitarian past.
What to do about the recent communist past in Eastern Europe? The three governments featured each follow a general pattern of attempting to purge the former communists, each with mixed results. Sometimes the old anti-communists become as bad as their former repressors. Most of the time the lower-ranking cogs of the former socialist regimes are barred from meaningful lives while the old apparatchiks transition smoothly to new capitalist lives. The results are as frustrating as the questions they were supposed to answer.
Ms. Rosenberg's Western bias does come out occasionally, such as when she wonders why East Germans didn't do more to resist the nascent Communist regime after World War Two (but after a devastating war and a brutal Soviet occupation featuring mass deportations, executions and random violence, who would?). But this and her romantic-but-realistic view of socialism never surface enough to challenge the book's incredibly interesting subjects.
And the characters, with the deep human complexity of those forced to compromise their beliefs or willingly playing along with the various "Systems," are as fascinating as they are ordinary. From nondescript East German border guards chosen precisely for their bland lives to a tough Czech former dissident betrayed by a decades old passage in his secret file to the dark glasses of Polish General Jaruzelski, the people interviewed by the author are extraordinary. There are men like Captain Novotny, formerly of the Czechoslovak secret police, and then there are men like Knud Wollenberger, who betrayed his own wife to the Stasi.
Ms. Rosenberg concludes her work with her idea of what these governments should do to exorcise the malignant demons of the Cold War's past; she favors a lighter touch of government inquiries and official apologies instead of the largely vengeance-driven trials against former regime officials and collaborators, as especially seen in the Czech Republic in the early 1990s. One strong recommendation is that these societies examine themselves in order to better understand how the half-century of Soviet-dominated communism came to be, so that these societies may better prevent a future recurrence. But these are wounds that only generations of time will heal, and scars are permanent.
For anyone interested in Eastern Europe from postwar to the fall of the Great Socialist Experiment, this book is highly recommended.
Portico Birmingham Magazine.......2004-02-24
For those wanting something more studied and serious, as a winner of the National Book Award, readers could do much worse than, The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts after Communism. Looking at 3 Central European countries-Czech, E. Germany, Poland-after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rosenberg looks at secret police, informers and ordinary citizens and asks after 40 years of Communism, who is guilty? And how do you punish when almost everyone has some blame to shoulder?
Surveying the Psychological Wasteland of the Former East Blo.......2003-07-15
We stand at a point six years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and look across a war torn psychological landscape. A haunted land where emotional wreckage lies strewn across the plains like the rubble of bombed out cities after World War II. Tina Rosenberg attempts to take us into this horrifying scene and examine the damage up close. To look at the savaged emotional architecture of the cold war with a critical eye, and to try to formulate if the building is salvageable, if the old bricks can be used to restore the landscape, or if the entire thing needs to be torn down.
I must admit that I was extremely skeptical of this book by the time I had finished reading the introduction. "How," I asked myself, "does an author who, by her own admission, speaks `only rudimentary German and no eastern European language ' expect to get a truly accurate picture of the society? After all, she's at the mercy of the translators or the ability of others to speak English." As I completed my reading of this very well written and thought provoking book I could not, even with serious effort, shake this initial fear about the book's potential shortcomings. It reads less like a history presenting the facts, and more like a long human interest article in the Sunday newspaper, showing only a glimpse of things through interviews with people; some dissidents, some ordinary informers, others former high ranking officials. Few of the interviews struck me as spontaneous, and most of the participants seemed carefully on their guard to say precisely what they wanted to say, revealing nothing that would shake their own self-image.
But, despite the obvious flaws of the book as a historical thesis, it brings us a very interesting portrait of the real pain that some of the ordinary people whose complacency, or participation, allowed the regimes to exist. As a study of how ordinary people are pulled into participation in, or complacency towards, such totalitarian regimes this book is as valuable to us as Albert Speer's memoirs, Inside the Third Reich.
Surveying the Psychological Wasteland of the Former East Blo.......2003-07-15
We stand at a point six years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and look across a war torn psychological landscape. A haunted land where emotional wreckage lies strewn across the plains like the rubble of bombed out cities after World War II. Tina Rosenberg attempts to take us into this horrifying scene and examine the damage up close. To look at the savaged emotional architecture of the cold war with a critical eye, and to try to formulate if the building is salvageable, if the old bricks can be used to restore the landscape, or if the entire thing needs to be torn down.
I must admit that I was extremely skeptical of this book by the time I had finished reading the introduction. "How," I asked myself, "does an author who, by her own admission, speaks `only rudimentary German and no eastern European language ' expect to get a truly accurate picture of the society? After all, she's at the mercy of the translators or the ability of others to speak English." As I completed my reading of this very well written and thought provoking book I could not, even with serious effort, shake this initial fear about the book's potential shortcomings. It reads less like a history presenting the facts, and more like a long human interest article in the Sunday newspaper, showing only a glimpse of things through interviews with people; some dissidents, some ordinary informers, others former high ranking officials. Few of the interviews struck me as spontaneous, and most of the participants seemed carefully on their guard to say precisely what they wanted to say, revealing nothing that would shake their own self-image.
But, despite the obvious flaws of the book as a historical thesis, it brings us a very interesting portrait of the real pain that some of the ordinary people whose complacency, or participation, allowed the regimes to exist. As a study of how ordinary people are pulled into participation in, or complacency towards, such totalitarian regimes this book is as valuable to us as Albert Speer's memoirs, Inside the Third Reich.
The painful process of conversion to democracy.......2001-11-28
This was a great read, one of those nonfiction works that goes like a novel; I couldn't put it down. It's divided into three sections which focus on Germany, Poland and (then) Czechoslovakia, and focuses not only on the state systems and structures of regimes, spying agencies, etc., but on the individual perspectives and costs. There's a metric ton of reportage packed into the 400-page book, with a very compelling conclusion Rosenberg writes referencing her other work on Latin America. The transition to democracy has not been smooth in any of the countries Rosenberg reports on. Many critics use the word "moral" in praising the book. I think it is, but not in a didactic way. It won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
Book Description
Described by Jeffrey Masson as the single best introduction to animal rights ever written, this new book by Tom Regan dispels the negative image of animal rights advocates perpetrated by the mass media, unmasks the fraudulent rhetoric of humane treatment favored by animal exploiters, and explains why existing laws function to legitimize institutional cruelty.
Customer Reviews:
A noteworthy and valid call to action.......2007-08-20
Opening with quite a heart-wrenching tale that truly draws in the reader, and then never losing steam, Regan has written a highly intriguing argument in favor of animal rights. Running the gamut from factory farming to animal experimentation, and including the use of animals for entertainment purposes, Regan covers every angle and both sides to each argument. Of course, his degree in philosophy doesn't hurt when providing the reader with convincing evidence and sound logic. However, it must be noted that this book is highly accessible, even with the philosophical arguments posed herein.
Interwoven within the arguments both for and against animal rights are firsthand accounts of not only visits to factory farms and the like, but also Regan's own personal "muddling" journey from lackadaisical animal lover to animal rights activist. One might even see much of their own personal journey reflected in these pages. Furthermore, Regan is never condescending of those who have yet to make the jump to activism, for he himself took some time to blossom into the activist he is today.
The only reason I give this book four stars instead of five is because much of the material is indeed recycled. For the seasoned animal rights activist, there is not much new to be found within these pages. However, if you are on the fence about animal rights, and perhaps are on your own "muddling" journey from animal lover to activist, this book is inclined to push you towards the latter, and for good reason. This book is very highly recommended for anyone curious about animal rights. The book ends on a positive note, calling for more people to act out so that animal rights can become a reality and not just an intriguing notion. This book certainly needs to be placed in the hands of friends and family everywhere.
Good introduction to author's idea of Animal Rights.......2006-02-25
This introductory book summarized Mr. Regan's idea of animal rights in a very accessible way. The stories of his own "muddler's" journey were fun to read.
Taking the place of Singer's 'Animal Liberation'.......2005-07-07
I honestly can not think of a book that I have enjoyed more than this one in my lifetime. I am already an ARA, but I think this book is written in a way that it would be a perfect choice for someone asking the question, "What exactly is animal rights, and what do animal rights activists want us to change?'
Clearly and non-condescendingly written and thought provoking, this book might just change your world-view. Buy this book today.
[...]
Educating, but the logic needs work.......2004-09-11
This book doesn't provide an inescapable chain of logic leading to Regan's conclusion. Few people will be convinced of his position out of pure reason unless they were headed that direction already. However, the book is good for educating the general public about what goes on in the animal use businesses. Most people are overly optimistic about the usual procedures, and if they were more aware they might reduce their animal consumption or boycott the worst companies.
A challenge to Tom Regan.......2004-08-27
One of the best ways to slow down the spread of a political message, especially if new members are drawn from the nation's youth, is to make people buy a book in order to hear that message.
Eric Marcus, author of VEGAN THE NEW ETHICS OF EATING sells his book through regular channels, but he also has it available for free download in a pdf file.
I challenge the author to do the same once he has made back the costs of his book
Average customer rating:
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Human Rights in Turmoil: Facing Threats, Consolidating Achievements (International Studies in Human Rights)
Manufacturer: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers / Brill Academic
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Book Description
Are human rights gaining or losing ground? This question has become relevant after two decades of unprecedented progress in developing human rights standards and institutions. The political climate during the Cold War created many obstacles, but the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and its aftermath during the following decade created a sense of promise and progress among human rights scholars and actors.
Yet, today, actions, statements and initiatives questioning the legitimacy and validity of human rights, or even threatening their very existence, have become a regular part of current political realities, even in states traditionally dedicated to the rule of law. This would have been inconceivable ten or twenty years ago. At the political level human rights are gaining as well as losing ground.
The question of the adequacy, legitimacy and scope of human rights is still a live one. And weaknesses in supra-national human rights protection systems have emerged over the last twenty years. It is now clear that human rights mechanisms are not well adapted to the handling of the ever-increasing number of complaints or to the effective implementation of human rights.
This thought-provoking collection of essays by leading scholars and practitioners in the field of human rights explores the ways in which human rights are currently being challenged and weakened, but also strengthened in important and groundbreaking ways in different areas and settings. They explore the many current debates which centre on human rights concerns: debates about secularism and religious norms, about minimum social standards and social security, about the future regulation of citizenship, about prison reform and the use of less inhumane methods of detention; as well as the reform of the UN system and the challenges facing the now overburdened European Court of Human Rights.
Customer Reviews:
China emerges and is slapped down.......2007-06-25
Nothing makes more depressing reading than the history of reform movements in China, but it's hard to stop, because of the never-ending fascination of watching a paltry few men and women attempting to turn around the world's biggest and, by any political measure, worst society.
In one sense, Parks Coble's "Facing Japan" is less depressing than other histories of reform, because in the 1930s one reformist element, the liberal, urban nationalists, achieved a measure of success. At least, they were able to channel the activities of government in the direction they wanted.
In another sense, this is the most depressing of all, because their success wrecked whatever government the Chinese had and also pushed Japan into a war of conquest that China lost. Japan didn't need much pushing, and it couldn't do anything but lose, either, but looking down on the wreckage from the fine height of moral superiority and rectitude cannot been satisfying for the reformists.
The fact that public opinion, in the same sense we use the term in the West, was so potent in the '30s comes as a surprise, but Coble, professor at the University of Nebraska, makes a solid case that it was, even while emphasizing that only a tiny fraction of the population had any input. The inert masses could be pushed around but not turned around.
Approximately the same group of reformists were much less successful in their contemporary drives to bring literacy, introduce science or teach hygiene.
It appears that they were able to succeed in thwarting Chiang Kai-shek's appeasement policy because of the difficult, perhaps impossible, position he found himself in by 1930. With Japan pressing hard, Chiang felt he had to appease, since he was in no position to mount a military defense; but at the same time, his divide-and-conquer tactics among the Chinese deprived him of any base upon which to build a nation during the respite purchased by appeasement.
Thus, the regime's critics almost always won the sympathy of urban opinion, which they used to force Chiang to make a stand.
"Peanut" (as his later American chief of staff, Gen. Joe Stilwell called him) usually managed to fake the shows of gumption that his public insisted upon. As a result, Japan again and again swallowed whole provinces.
This left public opinion in a better light, morally, but left the Kuomingtang worse off, physically.
"By the end of 1935, 'public opinion' became a dynamic addition to the previous actors in the Sino-Japanese drama," writes Coble.
Even a more self-confident society would have had a hard time resisting the cynical Japanese policy. As Chinese nationalist opinion grew, the Japanese began exporting matches to the Mainland stamped (in Chinese), "Down with Japan."
Today, the right wing of the Liberal Democratic Party still teaches young Japanese that Japan's entry to the Mainland was a noble crusade, proving that Japanese cynicism was not diminished by the events of 1945.
It may have been different in the academy, but nearly all the journalistic comment about the demonstrations for freedom at Tienanmen in 1989 treated that Chinese reform movement as if it were essentially similar to movements to the barricades in the West. China's reform movement has a much different history. It is one of the virtues of "Facing Japan" to make the difference clear; so, one would predict, it would usually result in different outcomes from our experience. And so it has.
Coble's specialist study could have been esoteric, but his deft presentation makes it readable. The tendency of Chinese politics to repeat itself makes it topical.
Book Description
Nelson Mandela, freed from prison after twenty-seven years, found himself leading a country where the victims of apartheid now live side by side with their oppressors. How could the new South Africa survive? Mandela decided a truth commission would be the first step towards reconciliation, and, in 1995, he set government investigators to work examining the horrors perpetrated on both sides in the name of apartheid or equality. In Unspeakable Truths,Priscilla Hayner delivers a profound, definitive exploration of past truth commissions, and the anguish, the injustice, and the legacy of hate they are meant to absolve. She examines the twenty major truth commissions established around the world, paying special attention to South Africa, El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala, where official investigations into the atrocities of the past seemed like the only medicine available to cure the symptoms developed under years of tyranny.
As she explores the inner workings of these tribunals, Hayner finds that victims are torn between the need to remember and the need to forget. In the new post-Cold War order, the future of democracy and peace may rest on this debate. For those concerned with the fate of democracy and freedom on the international stage, Unspeakable Truths is essential reading.
Customer Reviews:
"The" Reference, Applies to 9-11 and USA Truth Commissions.......2005-12-27
The publisher has been lazy and inconsiderate in failing to post adequate information about this superb book. It is without question the single most important reference, covering the theory, the history, the practice, and future of truth commissions. It is comprehensive, clear, easy to read, and superbly documented.
This book has special meaning for me, at the #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction about global issues and national security and prosperity issues, because on the basis of real-life experience and reinforced by the 600+ books I have reviewed in just the past four years, I have become convinced that the US public must demand two Truth & Reconciliation Commissions if we are to reach the next century in any kind of good order: one must focus on the ills that America has bestowed on the world through its Cold War years (see Derek Leebaert, "The Fifty Year Wound" as well as--among many others--Chalmers Johnson, "The Sorrows of Empire"), its support of 44+ dictators world-wide (see Ambassador Mark Palmer's "The Real Axis of Evil"), and our predatory immoral capitalism (Cf. Perkins "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man," Greider "The Soul of Capitalism," and Prestowitz, "Rogue Nation").
We also need an internal Truth & Reconciliation Commission that could usefully start with the treasonous, treacherous, immoral, and disgraceful failure of local, state, and federal government in the preparation for and response to Hurricane Katrina, and go backwards from there to explore not only our abuse of minorities, but our abuse of the working poor (see Ehrenreich, "Nickled and Dimed," David Shipler, "The Working Poor: Invisible in America") and then go from there to the pernicious deliberate looting of the Commonwealth by a combination of military-industrial, pharmaceutical, and energy special interests; corrupt Congressmen, and a Wall Street that thrives on laundering drug money and picking the pockets of the middle class (Cf . Michael Ruppert, "Crossing the Rubicon."
Most interesting to me, although not mentioned in this book, if one Goggles for truth and reconciliation USA one discoveres the Greensboro North Carolina Truth and Reconciliation endeavor, to explore past human rights abuses through slavery and related themes. This is a proven process that is clearly relevant to all countries, and especially to the 900-lb gorilla called America. The growing gap between rich and poor is the moral equivalent of global genocide and ecocide. If the rich wish to see their future generations survive, they had better start thinking about this important alternative to popular justice.
It is in this very American context that we can conclude that not only is this book at least as important to every American as it is to the rest of the world, but that the 9-11 Commission was a cover-up, a farce, that failed to engage the people, failed to discover all that could be known, and failed to hold anyone accountable.
I am most impressed by the diligence, scope, and coherence of this book. This is an extraordinary examination, based on global travel, deep research, and penetrating personal insight that is graceful and low-key, into the role of truth commissions, the great difficulties that accompany the creation and maintenance of such commissions, and the long-term implications of a successful outcome.
On page 23, after discussing the new emerging field of "transitional justice" the author declares that it "is certain that more countries will be turning to official truth-seeking in the coming years." As we review books like Jonathan Schell's "Unconquerable World" and "Why They Hate Us" and many others, two things are clear: 1) the dictators are not long for this world--I give them twelve years at the most; and 2) it is not just "dictatorships" that need commissions, but also those democracies that are fraudulent, among which I would include the United States of America (see my review of Jimmy Carter's new book, and the books recommended there, including Peter Peterson's "Running on Empty").
The author is to be commended for blending a reference work that concisely and clearly covers the 21 existing truth commissions at the time of the first writing as well as the 12 emergent between the hard copy and the new soft copy, and that brings out the reasons, the lessons, the benefits, and the costs. The most important benefit is mentioned on page 135, in which the author discusses the importance of honoring the past and overcoming what some call the conspiracy of silence. I would refer readers to Robert Parry's "Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press, and Project Truth" as well as Larry Beinhart, "Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin". The list goes on.
The book has a practical side as well, identifying key factors in whether a truth commission will succeed or fail, chief among which is whether they get an adequate staff and budget, and whether there is a good process of engaging the public in defining the goals and the process.
The appendices and the index are quite professional, and overall this is a world-class reference work of enormous value to the possibilities of using transitional justice to achieve sustainable peace around the world.
The Margins of Truth.......2001-07-11
Priscilla Hayner is, very likely, the world's most expert writer on 'truth commissions'. This book is a follow-up on the article '15 Truth Commissions', published in the Human Rights Quarterly, which was the first systematic review of the issue up to the mid-1990s. This book deals with dozens of examples up to 1999. Hayner describes how truth commissions are being established.How they operate under very different mandates, e.g. on presidential order, by parliamentary decision, under U.N. auspices, or as a judicial commission of enquiry. How some commissions deal with a large pattern of abuses, such as in Soutth Africa, and others have been concerned with selected violations only, such as the 'disappearances' which were the subject matter of the Argentine commission. How these commissions report, or do not report, on their findings. How commissions are concerned with, or show less than the necessary concern for, the victims. Much of Hayners observations are based on interviews with those directly involved in these commissions. The book has a couple of very useful appendices, where one can compare the mandate, membership, dates, operations, findings, and other characteristics. A few points of criticism are due too. Hayner's book may be the first of its scope, but it is not really, contrary to what is said in the Introduction, the first on the subject. A more serious point is that Hayner deals with these commissions rather as a standard concept. In fact, the commissions have shown wide divergencies and quite a few, if not the majority, may after all be considered less than an outright success. Hayner's optimism about future commissions may be somewhat misleading. It seems at present not at all sure that there is a sound future for truth commissions, the more so as the issue of national and international trials for those responsible has gained prominence in recent years.
Book Description
Former Congressman Paul Findley presents a list of mistruths presented by Israel and the Israeli lobby, AIPAC, over the years, and systematically rebuts each one with clear and concise facts in order to set the record straight on U.S.-Israeli relations.
Customer Reviews:
Findley's agenda gets in the way........2004-11-25
Why Paul Findley hates Israel is not clear. What is clear is that he has written a book with lies from the Arab world.
The U.S.-Israeli Relationship is the only democratic relationship in the middle east. Let's respect it, not attack it.
Deliberate Deceptions.......2003-05-29
An outstanding book in explaning who is controlling US policy in the Middle East.
Paul tells you the facts and nothing but the facts.....this is a book that is worth reading if you are wondering what is happening in US politics and who is controlling what is going on inside and outside America.
You should also consider reading "The Holocaust Industry" by Norman Finkelstein. This book will shed more light on why this country in heading in the direction that is not in the best interest of America.
Eye-opening and ground-shaking.......2003-05-23
This book addresses with hard facts the questions that should be on the tip of everyone's tongue regarding US policy in the Middle East. It lays bare the extent of our perversion of justice by our complicit attitude toward Israeli war and occupation crimes.
The only way we will be able to initiate change and bring about justice is if more people realize the error of our policy, to which end the dissemination of this book and the facts contained herein is vital.
DELIBERATE DECEPTIONS: FACING THE FACTS ABOUT THE U.S. - ISR.......2003-05-08
BY FAR ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS PUBLISHED ON THIS HORRENDOUS DRAIN ON AMERICAN TAXPAYERS DOLLERS. PAUL FINDLEY IS A TRUE AMERICAN TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM OPENLY AND WITH ENDLESS DOCUMENTATION. VERY BALANCED ON THE FALLACYS AND FACTS. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO SOMEONE WANTING TO UNDERSTAND THE LOPSIDED PRO ISRAELI ATTATUDE IN AMERICAN GOVERMENT AND THE MEDIA.
explains the "government relations" very well.......2002-12-08
I think Findley explained the situation very well, ...This is a well written book and understandable if you have an open mind, i would like people to read it and undertstand what Findley is saying instead of being so ignorant.
Book Description
In this major contribution to the power debate, Clarissa Rile Hayward challenges the prevailing view of power as something powerful people have and use. Rather than seeing it as having a "face," she argues for a view of power as a complex network of social boundaries--norms, identities, institutions--which define individual freedom, for "powerful" and "powerless" alike. The book's argument is supported by a comparative analysis of relationships within two ethnically-diverse educational settings--a low-income, predominantly African-American urban school; and an affluent, predominantly white, suburban school.
Download Description
In this major contribution to the power debate, Clarissa Rile Hayward challenges the prevailing view which treats power as something powerful people have and use. Rather than seeing it as having a 'face', she considers power as a complex network of social boundaries - norms, identities, institutions - which define both the field of action and the individual's freedom within it, for the 'powerful' and 'powerless' alike. Hayward suggests that the critical analysis of power relations should focus on the ways these relationships affect people's capacities to help shape the institutions and practices which govern their lives. Using a detailed comparative analysis of the relationships within two ethnically diverse educational settings - one in a low-income, predominantly African-American, urban school, the other in an affluent, predominantly white, suburban school - this book develops a compelling account of the concept of power in terms of networks of practices and relations.
Customer Reviews:
A Fascinating Comparison of Social Circumstance.......2007-05-15
Professor Clarissa Rile Hayward provides a strong argument that social norms, boundaries, and attitudes have a stronger role in the use of power and empowerment than previously recognized. To demonstrate her position, she details a study of two Connecticut schools, one located in affluent saburbia, and one positioned in a struggling urban center. The book unfolds showing how the different community conditions in these two schools play a critical role in the development of the respective students, and ultimately their power and ability to shape their own lives. It is a contribution to political theory whose potential has not yet been fully recognized.
Basic Textbook.......2007-01-06
Not exciting to read. Not terribly boring. Successfully gets the point accross. I would not have bought it without it being a required text... If you are interested in re-evaluating socially constructed power dynamics, you might find this interesting. Please seek other reviews.
Average customer rating:
- Time to revisit nuclear power
- Corporate Propaganda
- Excellent, readible text on why nuclear energy is needed.
- America the Powerless: Facing Our Nuclear Energy Dilemma
- EYE OPENING-VERY INFORMATIVE-REDUCES THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT
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America the Powerless: Facing Our Nuclear Energy Dilemma
Alan E. Waltar
Manufacturer: Medical Physics Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Nuclear
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Nuclear
| Energy
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0944838588 |
Customer Reviews:
Time to revisit nuclear power.......2007-01-30
Corporate propaganda? Only if you are so closed minded you won't accept truth and logic.
Stewart Brand (the Whole Earth Catalog) and Patrick Moore (Greenpeace founder) have both come to the conclusion that nuclear energy has a significant role to play in the future energy mix.
This book clearly and fairhandedly addresses the objections and myths about nuclear energy. Dr. Waltar does not hide or downplay issues or problems, including Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, but he explains them without the hysteria exhibited by the popular media.
Am I biased in favor of nuclear power? Sure I am. But for good reason. This book explains those reasons.
Corporate Propaganda.......2004-02-12
If you like reading corporate propaganda, this is your book.
Excellent, readible text on why nuclear energy is needed........2000-07-19
This book is the best I have read on nuclear power written for the reader with no to little technical background. The author, a former president of the American Nuclear Society, addresses all the common arguments used against nuclear energy. His arguments are clearly presented with informative tables and figures.
America the Powerless: Facing Our Nuclear Energy Dilemma.......1999-12-31
An absolutely great book for understanding this complex issue and explaining why the US needs to develop more nuclear power facilities. Waltar writes the book in a very approachable, non-technical manner which allows just about anyone to understand the concepts and issues related to nuclear energy. The book is structured so each chapter provides a rebuttle to the long standing, traditional key arguments (nuclear waste disposal, pollution, radiation, reactor safety, nuclear bombs, etc.) against nuclear energy. Excellent background references are provided for each chapter and good illustrations and charts are used throughout the book to provide emphasis and help compare the various qualitative issues. By the end of the book all the arguments against nuclear energy have been refuted, leading the reader to the obvious conclusion that we should pursue nuclear energy. This book should be read by anyone who wishes to be better informed about key issues in our country's (and the world's) future.
EYE OPENING-VERY INFORMATIVE-REDUCES THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT.......1998-07-19
TELLS WHY THE USA needs a comprehensive ENERGY POLICY.Tells us how to maintain our standard of living.Explains why ELECTRICITY produced from and by commercial nuclear reactors is not only the safest but also the best for the ENVIREMENT. We could sign the KYOTA agreement if we produced more electricity from NUCLEAR PLANTS.No one has ever "died" from an accident related to commercial nuclear power production. The same cannot be said for COAL,GAS,OR HYDRO.
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