Jennifer Government

Average customer rating:

Good premise, shoddy author

Awesome

Capitalism run amok

A Near Future Satirical Vision of Consumerism Run Amuck!

Long on satire, short on character development

Jennifer Government
Max Barry
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Political | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400030927
Release Date: 2004-01-06

Amazon.com

In the horrifying, satirical near future of Max Barry's Jennifer Government, American corporations literally rule the world. Everyone takes his employer's name as his last name; once-autonomous nations as far-flung as Australia belong to the USA; and the National Rifle Association is not just a worldwide corporation, it's a hot, publicly traded stock. Hack Nike, a hapless employee seeking advancement, signs a multipage contract and then reads it. He discovers he's agreed to assassinate kids purchasing Nike's new line of athletic shoes, a stealth marketing maneuver designed to increase sales. And the dreaded government agent Jennifer Government is after him.

Like Steve Aylett, Alexander Besher, Douglas Coupland, Paul Di Filippo, Jim Munroe, Jeff Noon, and Chuck Palahniuk, Max Barry is an author of smartass, punky satire for the late capitalist era. It's a hip and happening field; before publication, Jennifer Government (Barry's second novel) was optioned by Stephen Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section 8 Films for a major motion picture. However, the level of literary accomplishment varies wildly among practitioners, from brilliant (Di Filippo and Palahniuk) to amateurish (Besher). This field is so hot, its writers needn't be nearly as accomplished as they'd have to become to break into any other form of fiction.

That said, like many of his fellow turn-of-the-millennium satirists, Barry is uneven. He has a lively imagination and a sharp eye for the absurdities and offenses of hypercorporate capitalism. But, with its sketchy characters and slow dialogue, Jennifer Government will disappoint anyone who believes the cover copy's grandiose claim that this is "a Catch-22 for the New World Order." --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

Taxation has been abolished, the government has been privatized, and employees take the surname of the company they work for. It's a brave new corporate world, but you don't want to be caught without a platinum credit card--as lowly Merchandising Officer Hack Nike is about to find out. Trapped into building street cred for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers, Hack attracts the barcode-tattooed eye of the legendary Jennifer Government. A stressed-out single mom, corporate watchdog, and government agent who has to rustle up funding before she's allowed to fight crime, Jennifer Government is holding a closing down sale--and everything must go.

A wickedly satirical and outrageous thriller about globalization and marketing hype, Jennifer Government is the best novel in the world ever.

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In Max Barry's twisted, hilarious vision of the near future, the world is run by giant American corporations (except for a few deluded holdouts like the French); taxes are illegal; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; The Police and The NRA are publicly-traded security firms; the U.S. government may only investigate crimes if they can bill a citizen directly. It's a free market paradise!

Hack Nike is a lowly Merchandising Officer who's not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack's new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike's new line of $2,500 sneakers. Scared, Hack goes to The Police, who assume he's asking for a subcontracting deal and lease the assassinations to the NRA.

Soon Hack finds himself pursued by Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a rabid determination to nail John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). In a world where your job title means everything, the most cherished possession is a platinum credit card, and advertising jingles give way to automatic weapons in the fight for market share, Jennifer Government is the consumer watchdog from hell.

Jennifer Government is the kind of novel that can become a byword -- a Catch-22 for the New World Order, a satire both broad and pointed, deeply funny and disturbingly on-target.

“Wicked and wonderful.... [It] does just about everything right. Fast-moving, funny and involving.”
   THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

“Funny and clever.... A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove. [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a total blast.”
   THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

“May be the most fun you’ll find in a bookstore this year.... Full of wit, humor and imagination, Jennifer Government ultimately pulls off its over-the-top conceit.”
   TIME OUT NEW YORK

“A riotous satirical rant.... [Its characters’] excesses... make Barry’s world of unregulated corporate greed and unrelenting consumerism so frightening and funny.”
   ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“The plot rockets forward on hyperdrive... fresh and very clever.”
   THE BOSTON GLOBE

“[A] devilish satire that made me laugh out loud.”
   DICK ADLER, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Customer Reviews:

Good premise, shoddy author.......2007-08-07

I give it 3 stars just for being a fun idea. However, it seems like the book was written solely so that the author could rant about his opinions concerning the right and wrong way to run a country. I don't really disagree with him too much, but that doesn't make it a good book. I get the impression the author just slapped his impression of U.S. capitalism on top of Melbourne out of convenience.

The result was that the plot is weak, the characters are unrealistic, and the whole thing is just a chore to read. A book taking place in a radically capitalistic dystopian future should be fun and enlightening, not dull and eye-rolling.

Awesome.......2007-07-26

Barry introduces us to a not-too-distant future in which the American ideals of free-market capitalism have spread throughout the world. Many countries have become new states within the USA. Corporations run everything, and the government has a significantly reduced role that consists mostly of fighting crime.

Beneath the surface of this compelling caricature of the future, however, is an even more interesting story about apathy. Throughout the story, we follow the "good guys" who don't know how to stick up for themselves and keep getting into trouble, and the "bad guys" who are not afraid to do what they want, so the keep doing what they want. As we reach the end of the book, the meek grow a backbone and find happiness, while the tyrannical ultimately become the downtrodden.

With its political, philosophical, and personal allegories, I believe Jennifer Government puts Max Barry into an elite league of fiction writers along with the likes of Orwell.

This is a fun book to read. You really feel yourself connecting with the characters. It would make a fantastic movie.

Capitalism run amok.......2007-04-30

Jennifer Government is a suspenseful and funny novel of a dystopian near future dominated by mega-corporations. It is also an ideological polemic aimed at the libertarian belief in a purely free market with no interference from government. In Max Barry's nightmare future, America has taken over most of the world and large companies control every aspect of life, right down to everyone's name. The heroine of the novel is named Jennifer Government; other characters have names like Billy NRA and John Nike. In the unspecified time that the novel takes place, arch-villain John Nike is plotting to release a new line of sneakers with an innovative marketing plan that involves killing teenagers who buy the shoes. He recruits a rather hapless underling named Hack Nike to carry out this dastardly mission. Hack possesses at least a partial conscience and does not want to kill anyone, so he sub-contracts the job out to the local police who, in turn, give the job to the NRA (National Rifle Association). Jennifer Government is injured in an attempt to prevent this action and becomes obsessed with finding John Nike (who she already knows from a past not disclosed till late in the novel). Unlike most satirists, Max Barry makes no attempt to hide his targets behind even thinly veiled pseudonyms. He simply names all the groups and companies he wants to scour. I'm not aware if Nike, the NRA or the many other brand names he refers to ever threatened him with legal action. The novel's rather complex plot progresses with surprising smoothness. Most of the characters are well-rounded. John Nike is something of a caricature, but such a villain was necessary for Barry to make his point. Jennifer seems overly idealistic at times, but this is balanced with very human impulses.

I am giving the book four stars because of Barry's ability to entertain, amuse and tell a good story, but I find the politics underlying the book a bit simplistic. He seems to regard government and big business as rivals, which does not ring true in the modern world. From the true libertarian perspective, modern corporate capitalism is not really about the free market at all, but a combined effort of big business and big government. For example, as we have seen the increasing power of big corporations, government has also increased its powers in the form of frequent wars, high taxes and many regulations on daily life. It's not that Barry is wrong to criticize the consumerism of the modern world; it's just that big government is not something separate from this at all. Of course, none of this hampers the book's effectiveness as a satirical novel. Whatever you may think of Barry's political vision, you can enjoy Jennifer Government as a funny, original satire on the pitfalls of consumerism.

A Near Future Satirical Vision of Consumerism Run Amuck! .......2007-04-29

Max Barry has delivered an entertaining and thought-provoking satire on American Consumerism run amuck in the world. Large Corporations have become more powerful than the government; employees become so identified by what they do, they take the name of their employer as their last name; good consumers have pledged their allegiance to one of two "consumer incentive" programs - US Alliance and Team Advantage (TA) - which are monopolistic groupings of the large corporations...and buying outside of your program is strictly frowned upon.

In this world of consumerism out of control, John Nike, Vice-President of Guerilla Marketing, is about to take it a step two far when he convinces lowly Hack Nike to unwittingly take a promotion and join his new campaign: randomly kill 10 people buying Nike's new $2500 sneakers to build up street cred for the new shoes. Once Hack fully understands his roll - but after he has signed the contract - he does what any upstanding citizen would do: he calls the police. But, the police, a for-profit enterprise of its own, are more interested in getting Hack out of the way so they can get the deal and sub-contract it to the NRA.

In steps Jennifer Government, a former advertising executive who now works as an agent for the government trying to keep business under control. Jennifer must piece the marketing plan plot together and stop John Nike from escalating marketing to a whole new deadly level.

*Jennifer Government* is a fast-paced, well written novel of the future that pokes fun at our current over-consumerism, while at the same time warns us that business should not be given carte blanche to run our lives. This book is full of parallels with modern life - Barry has masterfully taken some of consumerism's intrusions into our lives of today and extrapolated them out into a world without checks on the system. Be warned, you will find examples in this book that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when you realize how close to reality they are today.

Long on satire, short on character development.......2007-04-26

The imagined world of Jennifer Government is brilliant satire. Sort of an anti-1984 where privatization has run rampant -- corporate run grade schools, police forces for hire, and rival political blocs defined by member companies rather than member countries. It's over the top and yet you still get the creepy feeling that it could be on the way.

Unfortunately, while I loved the world they inhabited (not that I want to live in it), I just couldn't connect with any of the characters. I found them all very flat and uninspired. In such a richly imagined world, the characters paled in comparison.

Without characters to care about, the story just couldn't build momentum and really fell flat. There are many threads but not many turns and the overall story is fairly predictable.

There's humor in the satirical aspects of the novel, but what I found missing was the character-based humor of Barry's later (and better) novel Company. After the first chapter, which had me laughing aloud at times, I found the book much less funny than Barry's others (though that's not to say it doesn't have its moments).

I'd recommend Company, which is excellent, and Syrup, which is also quite good, before Jennifer Government. It's not bad, but just not up to the level of Barry's other work.

World Politics in a New Era (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )

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A Must Read.

World Politics in a New Era (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )
Steven L. Spiegel , Jennifer Morrison Taw , Fred L. Wehling , and Kristen Williams
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0155059181

Book Description

WORLD POLITICS IN A NEW ERA provides a basic overview of international relations, providing a strong historical foundation coupled with the integration of current issues and a cohesive theme of globalization and fragmentation. Completely reorganized in the Third Edition to cover theoretical issues in the beginning, highlight the importance of political economy, then spotlight both historical and current global issues in the latter half, the book aims to give students context to better grasp the numerous issues in world politics today. In addition, a powerful new pedagogical program and research tools built into the book and its package, including Infotrac and a CD and International Relations Resource Center on the web, WORLD POLITICS IN A NEW ERA is a book both instructors and students appreciate for its reliability, flexibility, and readability.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read........2000-03-13

Unlike most other college textbooks, Spiegel's book treats the student of IR with respect and dignity. If it weren't for this work, my international relations coursework would have been a complete waste of time. Let's get Spiegel out there training his fellow colleagues on how to teach IR with passion and deep insight. Should be required reading in universities across the country and, indeed, the world.

Working For Change: Making A Career In International Public Service

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Working For Change: Making A Career In International Public Service
Derick W. Brinkerhoff , and Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff
Manufacturer: Kumarian Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 156549203X

Book Description

In Working for Change, Derick and Jennifer Brinkerhoff explore career paths in international public service, focusing on development management positions. They offer practical and inspiring guidance on finding the right mix of public service objectives, degree programs, job opportunities, and personal lifestyle choices.

The Brinkerhoffs' concept of career evolution is encapsulated in a framework they call the service-choice spiral. This model rejects standard set-the-goal, plot-the-steps planning and pulls one's personal values, skills, professional goals, and sense of altruism into a solid career choice. Through profiles of six public service professionals, the Brinkerhoffs illustrate how real people have faced the choices that confronted them in the course of their careers.

Book Description

What can straight people do to support gay rights? How much work or sacrifice must allies take on to do their share? Ian Ayres and Jennifer Brown--law professors, activists, husband and wife--propose practical strategies for helping straight men and women advocate for and with the gay community.

Straightforward advances a thesis that is at once simple and groundbreaking: to make real progress at the central flashpoints of controversy--marriage rights, employment discrimination, gays in the military, exclusion from the Boy Scouts, and religious controversies over homosexuality--straight as well as gay people need to speak up and act for equality. Ayres and Brown take aim at both the hearts and minds of the general public, focusing on strategies that can change the incentives and therefore the behavior of the recalcitrant.

The book is peppered with stories about real people and the decisions they have faced at home, in church, at work, in school, and in politics. It is also filled with creative legal and economic strategies for influencing public and corporate decision-making. For example, Ayres and Brown propose the development of a "fair employment mark" to help companies advertise inclusive employment policies. They also show how a simple pledge to vacation in states that legalize gay marriage can create powerful incentives for legislatures to amend their marriage laws.

Engagingly written and sure to spark debate, Straightforward promises to change the way America thinks about--and participates in--the gay rights movement.

Customer Reviews:

Mostly Sensible.......2007-06-22

This book provides mostly sensible advice about how to promote gay rights without unnecessarily provoking opponents, and sometimes (but not consistently) without requiring unusual effort on the part of gay rights supporters. Many of the ideas in the book can be applied to other causes that mainly require changing public opinion.

They occasionally go overboard and suggest fighting privileges that don't exist. For instance, they mention favorably advice that heterosexuals boycott marriage until it's available for all. It might make sense to ask heterosexuals to not have their marriages legally recognized (although I doubt the effectiveness of such a strategy). But the suggestion that wedding ceremonies be boycotted as long as gays are excluded from them is silly - wedding ceremonies are very much available to gays today.

Their Fair Employment Mark, under which employers would volunteer to enable employees sue them if they discriminate, would be a great idea under a sufficiently fair legal system. But it's unclear why an employer would consider the U.S. legal system sufficiently fair to agree to this.

WOW.......2005-09-29

I am a student government senator at a small community college and we have been given the task of rewriting our discrimination policy. This will be a fight but I am glad to know that our library thought enough of students input to order this great book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in not only this cause but others. The ideas can be put to use on so many other issues.

Privalage gone amok!.......2005-09-27

I haven't even finished every word but am sartled, amazed even more involved (if possible)! I am now in the"privalaged" world and cannot live without working to insure that ALL families get an "even playing field". The extent of marriage discrimination is appalling! What can be realized by the privalaged (hetro marrieds and singles)and what can be acted upon to alter the inequality is here in this book/manual and I recommed that everyone read it!

Many ideas, many ways to help.......2005-08-21

I'm giving this book to all my straight friends and relatives, and I'm going to give it as a wedding present to straight people getting married. There are just so many ideas in this book, from radical to relaxed.

Inside the Judicial Process: A Contemporary Reader in Law, Politics, and the Courts

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Inside the Judicial Process: A Contemporary Reader in Law, Politics, and the Courts
Jennifer A. Segal , and Gregg Ivers
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0618391827

It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office

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Why Women Don't Run

It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office
Jennifer L. Lawless , and Richard L. Fox
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Elections | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 052167414X

Book Description

This important work constitutes a systematic, nationwide empirical account of the effects of gender on political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Study, a national survey of 3,800 "potential candidates" conducted by the authors, it relates these findings: --Women, even at the highest levels of professional accomplishment, are significantly less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to run for elective office. --Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office. --Women are less likely than men to consider themselves "qualified" to run for office. --Women are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for a future office. According to the authors, this gender gap in political ambition persists across generations, despite contemporary society's changing attitudes towards female candidates. While other treatments of gender in the electoral process focus on candidates and office holders, It Takes a Candidate makes a unique contribution to political studies by focusing on the earlier stages of the candidate emergence process and on how gender affects the decision to seek elective office.

Customer Reviews:

Why Women Don't Run.......2007-05-12

This is an excellent book for researching women and politics. It is easy to read and understand and provides insight that has never been covered. I highly recommend this book to anyone researching women in politics.

Average customer rating:

Where's the Beef?
"Must Read" Superb Collection, But Not Transformative

Transforming U.S. Intelligence

Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1589010698

Customer Reviews:

Where's the Beef?.......2005-10-08

This book is precisely what is not needed at this time: a generic look at "transforming" intelligence by a group of intelligent and sincere individuals who have virtually no understanding of how intelligence is actually produced. The authors who collaborated on this book include many with experience in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) yet that experience scarcely extends to actually engaging in working level analysis and reporting, recruiting agents, interpreting fuzzy photographs or attempting to convert distorted signals into readable data. Burton Gerber, one of the authors is a retired CIA operations officer it is true, but my guess is that was a long time ago in a galaxy far away. If the IC is to be truly transformed, someone had better start considering such difficult problems as the culture of the workforce, the actual processes by which raw data is transformed into intelligence and the antiquated organizational structures and governance of U.S. intelligence agencies. So far no one either in the IC or at its fringes (with the exception of General Odom U.S.A. retired in a rather flawed book "Fixing Intelligence") have made any effort to even consider these problems except in the most general way. Creating an impotent Director of Central Intelligence and changing the faces managing the agencies of the IC is not going to solve anything.

Saying this book is not needed is not to say it is without value. Its contributing authors are thoughtful and careful writers. They are scholars or senior intelligence experts who clearly have thought long and hard about the issues presented the book. For your average private citizen or congressman who knows little about the IC this is a very good if very general book. Unfortunately what is needed is a detailed analysis of the operational working levels of the IC and the culture that guides it. I don't think the authors of this book are the ones to do that.

"Must Read" Superb Collection, But Not Transformative.......2005-10-04

This is a valuable book and merits careful study by policymakers, practitioners, and students who may be future intelligence professionals. The book is not, however, transformative, nor is it particularly innovative, and for that, I must with reluctance limit it to four stars, but with the caveat that it is a "must read."

Some of the best contributions are those of Jennifer Sims, and the deeper that I read into the works of others, the more I wished that she had had the time to make the entire book her own, casting a broader net for iconoclastic thinkers, foreign intelligence practitioners, non-governmental experts in open source intelligence, religious and labor experts on foreign threats from foreign religions, whose thoughts do not appear in this book.

The book's major premise is that it was not the institutions that failed, but rather leadership--that all that is needed is a change in priorities, perspective, and methods. This is typical of books written by those who, by their own admission, were "part of the problem."

The section on new requirements is more than adequate if one wishes to continue to focus on unilateral secret intelligence about major state threats but fails to acknowledge that we earned a D, at best, on everything else, to include terrorism, proliferation, environmental scarcity, ethnic conflict, and dictatorial corruption (our friends) as a long-term threat to our vision of participatory democracy and moral capitalism. The requirements section suffers from a rather staid focus on states and "actor" threats, with little mention of history, geography, culture, religion, or demographics, all forces vastly more potent than your average failed state or single transnational group.

The middle third of the book, on capabilities, is the strongest part of the book. It opens with a chapter on open sources by Amy Sands that I would say is now the best available short summary of that discipline's potential. I especially applaud the focus on the need for analysts (who are NOT under cover) to have professional networks that transcend borders and cultures, and to be comfortable with local as well as global information. Where this important chapter falls short, however, is in failing to recognize that 90% of what we need to know from open sources will never be shared with U.S. "intelligence" and we therefore need an Open Source Agency under diplomatic sponsorship; and that we will never unilaterally collect and process all that we need to know, hence we need a global network of regional information-sharing centers, initially doing open sources, eventually doing all sources. These latter two ideas are transformative, the chapter itself, while very solid, is not.

Clandestine intelligence is well covered from a traditional perspective, but stops short by contenting itself with asking for more authority, tighter lanes in the road, and "staying the course." It does have gems of insight on both possibilities and obstacles, and is a good read. It does not, however, make the transformative leap toward a much larger non-official cover cadre hired at mid-career; toward regional multinational clandestine stations with mature officers on rotation from other nations; toward a much larger career principal agent network; and toward the excellent idea of one recently retired ADDO, that of one-time "it's just business" contracts for specific operations.

Digital dimension is very fine but could have benefited from a much stronger appreciation of what can be done in addressing the contributions that can be made now by man-machine translation networks with automated online dictionaries, and advanced geospatially-based analytics including predictive analysis.

I have no quarrel with the substance of either the analysis or denial sections, other than to observe that they completely eschew multinational, multiagency analysis.

The management section is strong in terms of understanding what insiders think the problems and solutions are, but for one who has read most books in this field, it is so deeply tied to the past and to past biases and perceptions as to forego any claim to being transformative.

The section on homeland defense is well-meaning, but incorrect in its assertion that the FBI has done well with a good model for joint terrorism task forces (JTTF). First off, the FBI remains a completely dysfunctional organization when it comes to either counterintelligence or sharing with state and local organizations. Secondly, as more than one expert has noted, it is the height of ignorance, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane KATRINA and the imminent bird-flu pandemic, to obsess on terrorism as the sole area where national to state and local sharing will take place. 50% of the "dots" that will help prevent the next 9/11 are bottom up dots observed by citizens and cops on the beat, and those dots have no place to go. We need 50 state intelligence centers and networks.

Britt Snider is unique in America-one of two people, the other being Loch Johnson-who have served on both the Church Committee staff and the Aspin-Brown Commission staff. He is one of America's foremost observers of national intelligence, and his chapter on Congressional oversight is one of the best pieces in the book. Having said that, I would note that it lacks two transformative thoughts, both being explored at this time: first, the time has come for every Congressional committee to have its own Sub-Committee on Intelligence and Information Operations (I2O), and for the ranking members of those sub-committees to form a new Special Committee on I2O with concurrent jurisdiction over both secret and open source information expenditures and capabilities across the entire U.S. Government; secondly, and enabled by this new committee, it is time for a new form of hybrid agency, an Open Source Agency that integrates the Library of Congress and is equally responsive to Congress, the Governors, and the Executive as well as the public, with its Director appointed for life, as are Supreme Court justices, and a fixed percentage of the disposable budget (1%) for complete independence from the White House.

"Must read," but not transformative.

Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture

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Unique in bringing Central American history into the debate
Truth, Torture, and the American Way
A Must Read for Anyone Who Cares About Human Rights

Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of U.S. Involvement in Torture
Jennifer K. Harbury
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807003077

Book Description

Jennifer Harbury's investigation into torture began when her husband disappeared in Guatemala in 1992; she told the story of his torture and murder in Searching for Everardo. For over a decade since, Harbury has used her formidable legal, research, and organizing skills to press for the U.S. government's disclosure of America's involvement in harrowing abuses in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. A draft of this book had just been completed when the first photos from Abu Ghraib were published; tragically, many of Harbury's deepest fears about America's own abuses were graphically confirmed by those horrific images. This urgently needed book offers both well-documented evidence of the CIA's continuous involvement in torture tactics since the 1970s and moving personal testimony from many of the victims. Most important, Harbury provides solid, convincing arguments against the use of torture in any circumstances: not only because it is completely inconsistent with all the basic values Americans hold dear, but also because it has repeatedly proved to be ineffective: Again and again, "information" obtained through these gruesome tactics proves unreliable or false. Worse, the use of torture by U.S. client states, allies, and even by our own operatives, endangers our citizens and especially our troops deployed internationally.

Customer Reviews:

Unique in bringing Central American history into the debate.......2006-03-14

Harbury is at her best when exploring the CIA's involvement in Latin America. She draws striking parallels between the torture and abuses committed in Central America in the 1980s & 90s and the heinous situation in Iraq today.

Where this book falls flat, however, is in her ability to go beyond a mere expose of the interrogation techniques that have become a matter of policy. Her recommendations for improving our country's adherence to international standards prohibiting torture lack teeth. She makes a very compelling argument about why it is wrong to torture, but does not make a convincing enough exploration of where we go from here. In addition, the parallel she tries to draw at the end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict feels forced and tangential.

Nonetheless, this book succinctly summarizes the major issues concerning the U.S. and torture and is a good primer for someone who may not be as familiar with the issues. Anyone who has kept up with the flood of articles appearing in the Washington Post, the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books and elsewhere, however, may find large pieces of this book repetitive.

Truth, Torture, and the American Way.......2005-10-17

Ms. Harbury's book is a must read for anyone interested in the facts surrounding America's all too frequent resort to terror and torture. Ms. Harbury is a true patriot who holds up a mirror to America and forces us to take a good long look at what's done by our Government in our name.

A Must Read for Anyone Who Cares About Human Rights .......2005-10-14

This book chillingly places the Bush Administration's torture policies in the proper historical perspective. The so-called war on terror is not the first time the U.S. has employed abduction, torture, and murder to further its political agenda. As Ms. Harbury thoroughly and unflinchingly reveals, throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the United States (directly and by proxy) abducted, tortured, murdered, and "disappeared" thousands of people in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, all in the name of fighting communism. It is a history that American nationalists ignore or claim never really happened. It did happen and we are witnessing history repeated itself in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the various nations to which we ship detainees to be tortured. Anyone who cares about human rights should read this book. Anyone who does not care about human rights should also read this book, on the off chance that it may resuscitate his/her soul or conscience.

Regulating from the Inside: Can Environmental Management Systems Achieve Policy Goals? (Resources for the Future Press) (RFF Press)

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ISO 14000 Standard Review
An Excellent Primer on Environmental Management Systems

Regulating from the Inside: Can Environmental Management Systems Achieve Policy Goals? (Resources for the Future Press) (RFF Press)

Manufacturer: RFF Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Leveraging the Private Sector: Management-Based Strategies for Improving Environmental Performance (RFF Press)

ASIN: 1891853414

Book Description

"Regulating from the Inside moves beyond the common puffery to provide careful and balanced analyses. It brings together significant research on the role of EMSs and effectively combines policy and business literature. Its discussions of business motivations and the connections between an EMS and competing values are well nuanced."--Marc Allen Eisner, Wesleyan University

Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) offer an approach to regulatory policy that lies somewhere between free market and traditional command and control methods. Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of private firms have adopted or are considering adopting these internally managed systems for improving environmental performance. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency has established a special recognition for firms that, among other things, adopt EMSs. And, already, numerous state agencies have proposed or adopted so-called green tier systems under which firms with EMSs can be exempted from otherwise applicable requirements. Yet, while both private and public sector interest in EMSs has been booming, the enthusiasm of proponents contrasts sharply with the limited empirical evidence that is available about the efficacy of EMSs in fulfilling environmental goals while lowering costs.

To close the gap between advocacy and analysis, Regulating from the Inside brings together cutting-edge work of leading scholars, providing the most comprehensive analysis to date of environmental management systems. Intended to frame the future policy and the research agenda about EMSs, the discussions are organized around two critical questions: How have EMSs worked in firms that have already adopted them? What potential and limitations do they have as policy tools in the future? Addressing the arguments of both advocates and the skeptics, the chapters examine why firms adopt EMSs; how firms implement EMSs; how EMSs answer concerns about fairness, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability; and what kind of impact EMSs may have on the global economy.

As the editors note, while the EMS "train" has left the station, there remain many issues about how well EMSs function and how they should be considered as an instrument for public policymaking. Coglianese, Nash, and their contributors begin to provide some of the answers. For business, environmental specialists, the legal community, and students of regulatory reform, Regulating from the Inside is a timely, extremely relevant publication.

Contributors include: Deborah Amaral, Richard N.L. Andrews,Cary Coglianese, Nicole Darnall, Derek Davison, John Ehrenfeld, Eric Feldman, Richard Florida, Deborah Rigling Gallagher, Suellen Terrill Keiner, Shelley H. Metzenbaum, Matthew Mitchell, William R. Moomaw, Jennifer Nash, Theodore Panayotou, and Jerry Speir.

Customer Reviews:

ISO 14000 Standard Review.......2007-01-19

Good source of "inside" information for environmental managers and Environmental management systems auditors.

An Excellent Primer on Environmental Management Systems.......2002-01-27

This multi-authored text focuses on the use of Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) primarily in the private sector. The book is concise and well organized and presents the topic of EMSs in a balanced and informative way. However, it would have benefited by more discussion on the use of EMSs in the public sector (e.g., federal government). Finally, the book fills a critical need in the area of environmental management and protection.

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