Customer Reviews:
Not bad.......2007-10-10
Doesn't waste any time, hit the ground running and live in a Romero film for hours and hours. The prose often leaves you wanting more, but all in all it is not a bad book at all.
Hurricane Z.......2007-09-06
For a first book, and to tackle the zombie genre, Joe McKinney did pretty well. It was a really quick read for me personally, although I found myself reading pages without absorbing much of the detail because so much of it I had ingested and retained from other zombie books and movies. There is only so much "they smell" and "rotting orifices" and "gunshot to the head" descriptions I can read. The whole plotline: World goes to yuck, man needs to get to his family, watch what happens in between is a bit overdone by now. This won't go down in the zombie tales hall of fame, but it gets an honorable mention.
it's ok but not great.......2007-08-04
The story and writing are just ok. I read all of DEAD CITY but it never involved or fascinated me. It broke no new ground in zombie lore. There was a chase through a building that went on and on and on..unbelievably. It was just flat with ok writing. The ending was just ok and was exactly what was predictable and expected.
Great Book.......2007-08-04
A worthy successor to David Wellington and Brian Keene. This is a fun, pulpy, fast-paced book.
Only Two Things Come from Texas, Boy, Steers and Them Queerly-Mobile Dead. And Son, You Ain't Wearin no Horns. .......2007-07-22
Sometimes I'm sure the average officer has one of "those days" when he/she wishes they could just stay at home and resolve some of those pesky issues while pretending to live a normal life. The things happening around the house that could use more contemplation, the argument that is stewing with the wife that would be better diffused over a nice cup of cuddle, the little matter of the undead brewing all over San Antonio and leaking into the better part of Texas; I'm sure, when putting on the uniform and looking at the badge, they really wish they sometimes wish they could leave the shiny little shield with all the street crimes and the 911 cries of "foul," keeping regular hours that allowed for regular lives. Yeah, sometimes it would be nice to just take out the flak jack and the shotgun, keep the sidearm and the shiny stick, and let the rest of the world fade into the background and bide some time. When a gang of rowdies break out in the middle of a nice suburbanite neighborhood it doesn't seem like life will ever deal that hand, however, and when the gang opts to start biting and spreading a pesky little problem it seems all-the-more hopeless. That's when one starts trying to reach for the stars, however, hoping beyond hope that the night will open onto something of a better day.
When I initially picked up Dead City and started reading it, I it had a few things going for it right off the bat. I liked the way McKinney engaged his audience with the officer with a family, and I also liked the fact that he opened up a door that could possibly be one of the worst things that could happen in that case. I've heard the adage "never go to sleep mad" when it comes to a lover, but to go into a zombie epidemic with the thought that you might not ever see your better half (and halfette) and the last thing you said was something left in anger? Well, that one is a bad one and goes well beyond angry. Add to that the fact that you are an officer, that you are under the assumption that "people are people" and that even the crazy ones need to get the non-lethal beanbag rounds, and you see how things could really go wrong from the start. I liked that part of the story, the humanity of it all, because it had a real feel that cuts past the masculine banter of many tales and talks about what would really happen.
Basically, chaos would ensue and the first-responders would become some of the initial wave
Another thing I liked was some of the things that happen outside of the "action." The "what-if" session we happen across as readers is interesting, where many a question is shuffled back and forth as one character asks another character (and vicariously the readers) all sorts of things to ponder. Is the virus inter-species, is there are zombie Shamu swimming around in Sea World, how does the virus spread, are all people able to be infected; there is one character that asks these and a drove of other questions and that conversation was worth my "fly on the wall" admission price. These ideas are shuffled along in the midst of running, too, so you have the same speed moving the same limbs through the same piece of night. The only difference in this book as opposed to others where running is administered is that the people pause to look - and to think. While that seems like it should happen often, it doesn't happen enough when detailing tales of zombies.
If you want a good hit-and-run zombie work, the plague churning and you knowing the deal, then this is a good playpen. It isn't bringing new stuff to the table, but most books dealing with the undead really don't. This does have some good stuff in it, enough to ignore a few broad generalizations and one annoying character with something of a deathwish, making it a nice read that doesn't pull punches. Even kids are thrown into the fray for good measure, and the speed of the book continues along an exhausting path.
Just remember that Dead City is meant literally; you are taking a twirl around a morgue that gets up and takes a jog. If that sounds like your type of book, then this is a good read with a brisk pace that asks you to enjoy the ride.
Average customer rating:
- Book
- Not Mr. Keene's Best Book.
- City of the Dead
- It was Ok
- Not sure how I feel about this book...
|
City Of The Dead
Brian Keene
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 General
| Horror
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Occult
| Horror
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Horror
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Occult
| Horror
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Rising
-
Day by Day Armageddon
-
Monster Island: A Zombie Novel
-
Dead Sea
-
The Conqueror Worms
ASIN: 0843954159 |
Customer Reviews:
Book.......2007-09-22
This is a strong book that always keeps yo guessing and on the edge of your seat. I think that this author writes some nice pieces of written masterpiece! I will be buying more!
Not Mr. Keene's Best Book. .......2007-09-04
I read all of Mr. Keene's other books first and after reading COTD, I was glad I did. I didn't think this novel compared to his other books, way, way, too dark and depressing. That said, if you want upbeat and happy don't be reading horror books right? But Mr. Keene does it MUCH better in his other books, managing the horror but still not totally turning the reader off. Which he did with me in COTD.
The zombies in this book aren't traditional shabby, shuffling, not-too-swift both physically and mentally "zombies". They are more demons inhabiting the dead bodies. They make for quick action sequences but how do you outwit them? That's the depressing part.
Check out Dead Sea, Ghoul, or even Conquerer Worms; all by Mr. Keene and save this one for last.
City of the Dead.......2007-08-06
This book was very well done, much like the first and is a must read if you liked "The Rising". Brian Keene is great!
It was Ok.......2007-07-20
The only reason I read COTD was to see what happened from "The Rising." Why? I have no idea. "The Rising" was the most poorly edited books I've ever read. It was full of strange sentence structures, miss spellings, typos, repeated words etc. etc. However, I did start to like the idea of Keene's "zombies" and wanted to see what he could do with them.
The characters were a bit more developed in COTD but the story was very cliche. It greatly reminds me of the Resident Evil game and books. The story wasn't anything you haven't seen or read in zombie movies/stories before. The fact that everyone seems to die, and die so easily really takes the pleasure out of the book. If they were able to fight instead of standing there with a gun in their hand screaming, it might have been 1) a bit more believable and 2) a bit more tense and scary.
But above all that really brings this story down is the ending. It's one of those endings that leaves you saying "WTF?!?!? If that's all they had to do to be happy why didn't they do it a long time ago instead of dragging us through all this junk."
I was also very disapointed in the main demon Ob. Keene made a horrible attempt at having him make a bunch of one liners that just made him seem like some cheap Saturday morning cartoon villan than a demon lord.
I will give it that COTD does move much more quickly than "The Rising," which is a good thing. You get to know the characters much better, the description of places is much better, you see things and feel things instead of being told.
It's not the worst book, but it's not one I can see my self ever reading again. Usually I'm upset when I finish a book, in this case I was happy it was over so I could move on to something better.
Not sure how I feel about this book..........2007-07-06
I've been a zombie fan since a Saturday night in 9th grade. I was laid up on the couch with a stomach virus and asked my mother to go to the local video store and rent some movies for me. The main one I requested (aside from Robocop) was Night of the Living Dead. From that moment on, I loved zombies. That said, the zombies in this book, are not Romero zombies. These 'zombies' talk, drive cars, shoot guns, and plot world domination. Being somewhat of a zombie purist, something about Keene's 'zombies' bugged me. He does explain how his 'zombies' can do all these fantastical things and it plausible in a fictional world. Outlandish zombies aside though, this is a very good book. I still haven't read The Rising (this first book in this series) so I'm sure I missed some character development; however, Keene did a good job sucking you into the character's plight. I recommend this book, this know that you aren't getting the shambling masses of undead flesh when you start.
Book Description
The colorful handmade costumes of beads and feathers swirl frenetically, as the Mardi Gras Indians dance through the streets of New Orleans in remembrance of a widely disputed cultural heritage. Iroquois Indians visit London in the early part of the eighteenth century and give birth to the "feathered people" in the British popular imagination.
What do these seemingly disparate strands of culture share over three hundred years and several thousand miles of ocean? Artfully interweaving theatrical, musical, and ritual performance from the eighteenth century to the present in London and New Orleans, Cities of the Dead takes a look at a rich continuum of intercultural exchange that reinvents, recreates, and restores history.
Complemented with fifty-five illustrations, including spectacular photos of the famed Mardi Gras Indians, this fascinating work employs an entirely unique approach to the study of culture. Rather than focusing on one region, Cities of the Dead explores broad cultural connections over place and time, showing through myriad examples how performance can revise the unwritten past.
Customer Reviews:
Social memory.......2002-08-08
Roach's use of Paul Connerton's "incorporating practice of memory" (from "How Societies Remember": buy this!) allows him to develop a theory of the genealogy of performance-which seems to me to be a sort of re-construction or re-tracing of origins. This approach allows him to do some extremely interesting analysis of legal ramifications of race, racial categories (the octaroon, for example), public performance of capitalism in the form of the slave markets, and "body ownership." It also reifies race and racial designations and works in many ways against his arguments. For instance, the multiple ethnicities of Native Americans merge together into one self-contained "Other" within the imagination of both African and Anglo Americans. How Africans appropriated these images in their performances of race seem more complex in reality than Roach makes them out to be-related to the idea of "first," land distribution, and the fact that the issue of legal ownership and status was ambivalent at best ("The slave-holding propensities of the Five Civilized Tribes (so-called by whites in part because they held slaves) emphasize the double, inverted nature of the Indian as a symbol for African Americans: the non-white sign of both power and disinheritance" p. 205).
Critique of black/white as a dualism in early American cultural hegemony is something to which Roach also (unwittingly?) succumbs. Although he claims that "the issue of race in America is hard to reimagine without considering Native Americans" (p. 189), Native American identity is seen not as the amalgam of various multi-ethnic groups but as a "buffer" between white and black, thereby reinforcing the stereotypes of white power structures. I guess I am asking if the complexities of racial identity in the United States may be much more complex than we have already seen-African Americans dressing as "big chiefs" could be as multi-layered and problematic in terms of race and identity as high schools using "Redskins" as football mascots, couldn't it?
Not only race, but class, plays an important part in Roach's analysis. In one of the most convincing arguments based on Connerton in the book, Roach discusses the "cities of the dead"-the invention of separation between the living and the dead (ancestors). The tie-in with suburbanization as a model of this physical separation and performance of whiteness seems right on. The section about Congo Square, and the Bataille theories about the economy of excess in violence were excellent. Here I could begin to see the application of the author's theory, however awkward.
Book Description
When Nuremberg was scouted in 1945 as a possible site for the Nazi war crime trials, an American damage survey of Germany described it as being “among the dead cities” of that country, for it was 90% destroyed, its population decimated, its facilities lost. As a place to put Nazis on trial, it symbolized the devastation Nazism brought upon Germany, while providing evidence of the destruction the Allies wrought on the country in the course of the war.
In Among the Dead Cities, the acclaimed philosopher A. C. Grayling asks the provocative question, how would the Allies have fared if judged by the standards of the Nuremberg Trials? Arguing persuasively that the victor nations have never had to consider the morality of their policies during World War II, he offers a powerful, moral re-examination of the Allied bombing campaigns against civilians in Germany and Japan, in the light of principles enshrined in the post-war conventions on human rights and the laws of war.
Intended to weaken those countries’ ability and will to make war, the bombings nonetheless destroyed centuries of culture and killed some 800,000 non-combatants, injuring and traumatizing hundreds of thousands more in Hamburg, Dresden, and scores of other German cities, in Tokyo, and finally in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Was this bombing offensive justified by the necessities of war,” Grayling writes, “or was it a crime against humanity? These questions mark one of the great remaining controversies of the Second World War.” Their resolution is especially relevant in this time of terrorist threat, as governments debate how far to go in the name of security.
Grayling begins by narrating the Royal Air Force’s and U. S. Army Air Force’s dramatic and dangerous missions over Germany and Japan between 1942 and 1945. Through the eyes of survivors, he describes the terrifying experience on the ground as bombs created inferno and devastation among often-unprepared men, women, and children. He examines the mindset and thought-process of those who planned the campaigns in the heat and pressure of war, and faced with a ruthless enemy. Grayling chronicles the voices that, though in the minority, loudly opposed attacks on civilians, exploring in detail whether the bombings ever achieved their goal of denting the will to wage war. Based on the facts and evidence, he makes a meticulous case for, and one against, civilian bombing, and only then offers his own judgment. Acknowledging that they in no way equated to the death and destruction for which Nazi and Japanese aggression was responsible, he nonetheless concludes that the bombing campaigns were morally indefensible, and more, that accepting responsibility, even six decades later, is both a historical necessity and a moral imperative.
Rarely is the victor’s history re-examined, and A. C. Grayling does so with deep respect and with a sense of urgency “to get a proper understanding for how peoples and states can and should behave in times of conflict.” Addressing one of today’s key moral issues, Among the Dead Cities is both a dramatic retelling of the World War II saga, and vitally important reading for our time.
Customer Reviews:
A good summary, but just one part of a larger crime.......2007-09-20
For years, I have been reading about bombing and air power in the Second World War, an interest that stems from my parents meeting each other as they came to factories to create these bombers, and my own shock and horror at the devastation they created. This book is a useful place to start, even if the concentration is not on telling the story, which he does accurately, with lots of clear examples, and extremely clearly, not always a virtue of writers on this subject.
The bombing of civilians in Germany and later in Japan was one of the many criminal acts that US and British big business government carried out in the Second World War. Its aims were to demoralize the working people in the "enemy" population who would then force their government to cease the war. While at times Britain's Bomber Chief Arthur Harris and even more so American bombing commanders sugar coated the pill by claiming they were aiming at military targets, Harris was always clear talking to colleagues: he was trying to murder Germans and he considered not only other bombing efforts, but everything else in the war other than flying over Germany trying to burn down its cities to be a waste of time.
About one million people were killed in the European campaign, including nearly 100 thousand allied Bomber crew. Studies of the impact of the bombing by the US government and the testimony of Nazi leaders was that the raids had minimal impact on the German war effort. Other books on the subject show that such bombings encouraged people to believe they had a stake in the war and that it even angered dedicated enemies of Hitler.
An even more exaggerated justification has been given for the terror bombing of Japan. As many Japanese were killed in five or six months as Germans were killed in five years! The first great raid on Tokyo killed more people than either of the atomic bomb attacks. Contrary to the picture painted in Washington, this too had little impact on the war. In fact, the US Navy had to launch its own carrier-based bombing and battle ship shelling of Japanese military facilities, especially aircraft plants and air bases, because so little of the Japanese war machine was touched or limited by these bombings.
This book points out something that Japanese historians and others outside the usual US propoganda machine never tell us: that by time the Atom Bombs were dropped, Japan was trying to surrender especially through the USSR and that Stalin was slowing it down, so the USSR could invade Manchuria and Northern China. Moreover, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria which smashed the last remaining Japanese effective military force was what caused the Japanese to surrender. The fifteen years of war for Japan, after all, was an extension of the invasion of Manchuria in 1931.
It should be noted that neither Germany nor the USSR ever built a massive bomber fleet because they believed it was useless for their war efforts, although Hitler's missile attacks were of the same ilk.
For the point of view of winning the war, the terror bombing was of little use compared to the massive resources devoted to it, the murder of nearly two million people, and the massive destruction of the cultural and historic heritage of Japan, Germany, and other countries.
The author's moral judgment--against bombing as a war crime--may be justified given the abstract morality he preaches. Yet, this single condemnation masks the entire immorality of imperialist governments in imperialist wars.
Washington and London did not fight Hitler to stop the genocide of the Jews. An abundant literature exists on how these two governments were antiSemetic and indifferent to both attempts of Jews and others to escape Hitler and refused to take any military measures that would have stopped or impeded the murders.
Washington and London fought to preserve Britain's colonies, and to expand American control and dominance over great areas of Asia and Europe too. In the course of this millions of people in Britain's colonies in Africa and India died of starvation due to the monetary and food restrictions the UK imposed to finance its war with Germany.
American, Canadian, and British troops generally killed Japanese soldiers who fell into their hands, and a trade in Japanese skulls and gold teeth sent back from the Pacific grew in the US during the war. This was only limited somewhat at the end of the war when some US generals complained that the practice stiffened Japanese resistance and was the real cause of Japanese troops fighting to the death.
The whole policy of warfare in wars like World War I and World War II, Korea, and Vietnam (a small country on which more bombs were dropped than all of the sides dropped in the second world war!!) have nothing to do with morality and everything to do with crime. They reflect the utter distain that the big business rulers have for anything except their own profits, their own control over the world.
Rather than an individual crime, terror bombing is just one facet of the crime and immorality of a system humanity needs to get rid of.
Problems with Books about War.......2007-03-18
First of all, I agree with the sentiments expressed by the reviewers who found this book frustrating. The author stated that he was only going to study area bombing of Germany by the RAF and the area bombing of Japan by the US. That he wasn't doing all civilian bombing of the war. But he never even got to the Japanese portion of the discussion he'd promised to discuss, which is what I wanted to read about. And it occurs to me now that he would have made a much stronger case if he had just told the story of the killing of civilians during WWII generally, regardless of who the agent was, though that would have made a much bigger project. In a certain way, once your head's blow off, it doesn't really matter what the ideological predisposition of the nation who blew it off was.
Not the work hoped for..........2006-12-31
If you travel to London, a `must' for any tourist is Westminster Cathedral. In the apse of that famous edifice you will find a window devoted to the saviors of Britain in WW2, the men of the RAF. Most unfortunately, you find among those named one that surely needs to be effaced, Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris.
Long appalled by the muted - nay, virtually non-existent - criticism of the murderous policy of our air warfare in WW2, the `area', or `saturation', or `strategic' bombings, whatever one wishes to call that atrocious, indiscriminate attempt to annihilate whole sections of cities, I approached this work with great hope that this would, at last, be definitively addressed. Indeed, in the hands of a clearly informed and prolific philosopher (see his other works), it seemed an almost ideal combination. And, his work, in the opening chapters, in elucidating the origins of this policy is exemplary, namely: the accidents triggering retaliations that ultimately spiraled out of control; the inability to hit a target with any accuracy*; the unacceptable loss rate from daylight raids (the only ones with any chance to reliably find a tactical target); the psychological need to take the fight to the enemy when all other avenues with any public impact were inaccessible; and finally, the peculiar psyche of Arthur Harris (and, possibly, Curtis LeMay, although this is somewhat less certain), who sincerely believed, due largely to his experience in WW1 and his consequent desire to avoid its repetition at any cost, that air power alone would bring surrender without the necessity of a ground assault.
Grayling continues with an exhaustive summary of the legal framework of the rules of war. His outline of the various Geneva conventions and protocols is quite helpful, if sometimes anachronistic and tedious. Still, for a work of this sort, it cannot be avoided, and Grayling accepts this wearisome duty, offering it to us digested and distilled in one place, for which we must be grateful. In addition, he offers, as a substantial bonus, a unique 45 page appendix of "RAF bombing attacks on Germany, with civilian casualties... and RAF losses...". Unfortunately, he fails to note his source, or sources, for this monumental, and crucial, enumeration.
It is in the actual history, though, that the book fails (proving perhaps, if proof were still needed, that this profession does indeed require training, and that it is not, despite appearances, open and vouchsafed for all). The author, in particular, apparently does not understand the distinction between a war that is lost, and surrender. While it is doubtless true that, by the beginning of 1945, at the very latest, there was no possibility of either Germany or Japan prevailing, or even emerging from the war without defeat, there still remained the question of surrender and how the countries were to be governed after the war. Due to the horrific nature of both regimes in power during the war, there was absolutely no question by the Allies of retaining any elements whatever of those structures and personnel after the war - to do so would have rendered the enormous sacrifices of the war years as essentially meaningless. And, neither of those regimes, as they were constituted during the war, was ready at any point, however hopeless, to surrender - both were, in fact, geared to fight to the last man. That happened, in essence, in Germany. In Japan, it was avoided, but only by the - very belated - intervention of the Emperor (and then, only after an attempted coup against his holy personage was repulsed!). In fact, a good argument can be made, despite the very good, recent book by Professor Hasegawa, "Racing the Enemy", that the Bomb was critical in his intervention. (Professor Hasegawa's book, by the way, was subjected to serious criticism by Michael Kort, and D.M. Giangreco, among others.) You have to know what the Japanese were willing to accept for surrender, namely, the military left essentially untouched, the retention of a number of colonies, the home islands unoccupied, to understand how `unconditional' in `unconditional surrender' was not really excessive. You have to have intimate knowledge of the war, by living through it or reading extensively in it, to know from Iwo Jima and Okinawa just what would be expected from invading the homeland, and why, therefore, use of the Atomic Bomb was not necessarily contemptible (tho one can, certainly, argue with how it was initially used). Most egregious is his statement (undocumented), on page 154 (repeated, if abbreviated, on p. 260) that Byrnes was urging, on June 1, 1945, use of the bomb as primarily a tool against Russia, which does not fit with the man or the times. (I am assured by Professor Hasegawa, who has examined the minutes of the Interim Committee in the archives, that no such statement of that date from Byrnes exists - nor could it, as it was certainly far too early for such talk, and, I would add, impossible, even from belligerent Byrnes.) I can only assume that Grayling has consulted too much of the notoriously unreliable Gar Alperovitz - and, of that author, even one book is too much - and not enough, not nearly enough, of the best sources on the war.
Lastly, I cannot refrain from commenting on the author's equivalence of 9/11 and Aug 6, 1945 (p. 279). Can it really be that a man of this profound philosophical training does not see the difference between a pointless act of terror with no defined objective on 9/11, with Aug 6, which had a very specific and achievable - I would even say achieved - one?
In sum: A work of importance, but seriously flawed - the definitive treatment awaits.
* I have learned, from other sources, that the accuracy of bombing in WW2 was pathetic, despite the storied Norden bombsite, with over 50% of all bombs falling outside of a radius of 1000 feet from the putative aiming point! (Still looking for one reason we did not bomb the rails leading to the concentration camps?)
A moral conviction against strategic bombing of civilians........2006-11-15
If you are looking for a book that glorifies the civilian bombing campaigns over Europe ,dont waste your money. If you are looking for another book that is essentially "History written by the victors" dont waste your time. If are expecting a book that will say "Hell yah...we bombed the hell out of them and they deserved it.",you will be sorely disappointed.
And that is apparently what the negative reviwers of this book were looking for. After viewing some of their other reviews it seems they were essentially seeking another book that agreed with their point of view or opinion that we never, ever did anything wrong.
Admittedly, there are some chronological,and technical errors,minor in context, but this was not meant to be a reference book.
As the proud son of a American WW2 veteran ,whos job it was to difuse mines ,shells,and bombs ,i certainly am no bleeding heart anti-american liberal looking to condemn our courageous veterans.
But as in all wars, i find that atrociites start at the top, in the command structure,and there was no difference here. "Bomber Harris" gets the credit/blame for getting this ball rolling.And he is unaploigetic about it.
If you are looking for a book that presents a "relatively" unbiased view ,in courtroom case manner, then you will find it a very interesting read.
The view from both sides of the arguement is looked at, and analyzed, and judged ,aginst the statistical outcome that was achieved.
If instead we had surrounded civilian poulation centers and told the commanders to send in their troops ,and go to every 6th building and drag the inhabitants out into the streets and kill them, then blow up or burn the structure to the ground,the results would have been the same statistically. But that would have been considered a war crime. Yet somehow ,the impersonal act of strategic bombing non combatant population centers gets a pass in the eyes of many history books.
And that is the wrong that this book strives to right. Will this book change the past..no...But it can change the way this event is viewed in historical reference ,and hopfully prevent it from happening again.
Omits the Deadest City of All--Warsaw.......2006-08-26
Grayling combines factual information with dubious assertions and a very incomplete picture of the killings of civilians during the WWII air war. The only strength of his book is the existence of detailed maps, as well as a table of all bombing raids. One of the maps shows the bombed German cities as pie charts, with the diameter of the pie representing the size of the city and the blackened portion of the pie depicting the fraction of the housing destroyed by Allied bombing. Another map shows concentric circles depicting the distances to bomber bases in the British Isles. However, this ignores the fact that many bombing raids were also carried out from Allied-captured Italy in the latter stages of the war.
Among the many dubious assertions of Grayling is the one regarding German bombers. Grayling rejects the contention that massive Allied bombing at least forced the Germans to build a large fleet of fighter planes at the expense of their own bombers. He argues that the Germans' use of V-1 and V-2 rockets eliminated the need for a large bomber fleet. This seems ridiculous. The total damage done by the German rocket weapons is dwarfed by the damage that would have been caused by a large and long-range would-be German bomber force. Besides, these never-built German bombers could have been used alongside, and not instead of, the V-1 and V-2 rockets.
The current Judeocentric approach to WWII depicts Jews as the only victims of the Nazis worthy of repeated discussion. Not surprisingly, Grayling follows this trend. He exclusively compares what he considers the lesser immorality of Allied carpet bombing with the greater immorality of the Germans' murder of the Jews. He not only ignores the millions of non-Jews murdered by the Germans, but pointedly ignores the MAIN civilian victims of German bombing. In fact, another reviewer has already commented on the fact that Grayling completely ignores the Luftwaffe activities on the eastern front. What an understatement! Grayling's criticisms, on both tactical and moral grounds, of Allied bombing raids that killed considerable numbers of civilians should start with the very beginning of World War II. Already in the predawn hours of September 1, 1939, the Luftwaffe was slaughtering tens of thousands of Polish civilians in indiscriminate attacks on non-military targets. Grayling mentions Warsaw only twice, and then in a very cursory fashion. He justifies the ignoring of Warsaw compared with Rotterdam on the basis of the fact that Warsaw was far away from the west, and thus its experiences were not well known. That may have been true during the early stages of the war but it is certainly not true now--least of all for Grayling.
In Warsaw alone tens of thousands of Polish civilians perished in three weeks of furious German bombardment. Not until some 3 years into the war did a single Allied air raid cost the lives of 10,000 or more German or Japanese civilians! Grayling ignores the fact that German attacks on such places as Guernica, Rotterdam, and London were primarily tactical in nature. In contrast, German attacks against the Poles, and later other Slavs, were motivated by genocide. Hitler himself stated at the start of the war that Germans should "Kill without mercy every man, woman, and child of Polish extraction." Three million Polish gentiles were murdered by the Germans during the German occupation. In time, Warsaw became the deadest city of all, nearly 100% destroyed as a deliberate act of cultural genocide directed against the Poles. No other European capital came close to this level of devastation. The Germans did not blow up the militarily-innocent cultural cities of Krakow and Czestochowa only because they failed to complete the laying of the explosive charges before the unexpectedly-early arrival of the Red Army.
Personally, and again after having read Grayling's book, I find it difficult to feel sorry for the Germans for at least two reasons. The first is their long history of aggression against the Slavic peoples. The second is the fact that 89% of the Germans voted for the Nazis in free elections, all the while fully knowing who Hitler was and what he stood for (after all, Hitler had written his infamous Mein Kampf a decade earlier).
Average customer rating:
- The best of the entire series
- It's ok
- One of the few good video game novelization
- LET OTHER AUTHORS HAVE A CHANCE
- Resident Evil: City of the Dead review
|
City of the Dead (Resident Evil #3)
S.D. Perry
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Movie Tie-Ins
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Horror
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Series
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Horror
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Movie Tie-Ins
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Series
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Caliban Cove (Resident Evil #2)
-
Underworld (Resident Evil #4)
-
The Umbrella Conspiracy (Resident Evil #1)
-
Nemesis (Resident Evil #5)
-
Code: Veronica (Resident Evil #6)
ASIN: 0671024418 |
Customer Reviews:
The best of the entire series.......2007-08-13
When it came to votes on forums, the game version (Resident Evil 2) is one of the best when it came to game play (not counting Resident Evil 4). The book version is the same.
It's ok.......2007-03-09
The book started off great,and really pulled me in.Towards the end though there was too much switching back and forth between stories and I lost intrest.Worth reading though if you like the series.
One of the few good video game novelization.......2006-10-18
I've never really played any of the games, but i just got this book a few months ago and was really impressed. This is the fourth novel I've read, the previous three being the first three Halo books. Perry does a great job with showing the imagery of a city overrun and the rush to sive lives. Perry also shows the dilemmas in the minds of the main characters.
I recommend this novel for fans of the Halo books or fans of video game novels.
PARTY ON, DUDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET OTHER AUTHORS HAVE A CHANCE.......2006-04-16
LET OTHER AUTHORS HAVE A CHANCE AT WRITING A RESIDENT EVIL BOOK.I DO NOT LIKE PERRYS STYLE AT ALL.THE ENDING ON THIS BOOK IS AWFUL SHE TOTALLY IGNORES THE CHARACTERS FROM THIS STORY SIMPLY TO PLUG HER NEXT BOOK UNDERWORLD.AWFUL!ALSO SHE STICKS TO MUCH TO THE GAME AND DOESN'T EXPAND THE STORY ENOUGH LIKE MOST AUTHORS DO WHEN WRITING ABOUT A GAME.PERRY HAS WRITTEN LIKE 7 BOOKS FOR RESIDENT EVIL AND MOST OF THEM ARE AWFUL.I HOPE THEY FINALLY DECIDE TO LET OTHER AUTHORS HAVE A SHOT AT WRITING A RESIDENT EVIL STORY SO MANY PEOPLE CAN SEE WHAT THEY ARE MISSING.
Resident Evil: City of the Dead review.......2006-03-30
This book was the best out of the S.D. Perry seriers so far. I the way it adds so much from the game to the book. S.D. Perry's novel helps readers, and gamers connect together. It was great.
Book Description
Of the 112 pages of this third book of this series, more than 120 color photographs illustrate the written description of the celebrations in Mexico City, Mixquic, and several towns of the state of Morelos, including Ocotepec, which is located almost inside of the beautiful city of Cuernavarca.
The buying of the objects in the tianguis (market). The preparation of the special dishes to be placed in the ofrenda, the ritual of the building of the altar, together with the vivid testimony of how strong is the influence of this pre-Hispanic tradition in the beliefs and lives of the people.
Customer Reviews:
Beautifully presented color photography enhances the text.......2001-06-07
Mary Andrade's bi-lingual (Spanish/English) Day Of The Dead In Mexico: Through The Eyes Of The Soul presents the celebration of one of Mexico's most beautiful, pre-Hispanic traditions as observed in Mexico City, Mixquic, and Morelos, when families honor their ancestors through ritual, festival, and celebration. Beautifully presented color photography enhances the text throughout, including information on the celebratory preparations, buying of items in the marketplace (tianguis) that will be used in the altars; the offerings (ofrendas) in homage to the souls of the dad; and the cemetery vigil. Also very highly recommended for multicultural studies collections and Hispanic culture reading lists are Mary Andrade's companion volume, Day Of The Dead In Mexico: Oaxaca ... which focuses on how the festival observances in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Book Description
In alternating chapters, Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos and the consistently excellent Paco Ignacio Taibo II create an uproarious murder mystery with two intersecting story lines.
The chapters written by the famously masked Marcos originate in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico. There, the fictional "Subcomandante Marcos" assigns Elias Contreras-an odd but charming mountain man-to travel to Mexico City in search of an elusive and hideous murderer named Morales.
The second story line, penned by Taibo, stars his famous series detective Hector Belascoaran Shayne. Hector guzzles Coca-Cola and smokes cigarettes furiously amidst his philosophical and always charming approach to investigating crimes-in this case, the search for his own "Morales."
The two stories collide absurdly and dramatically in the urban sprawl of Mexico City. The ugly history of the city's political violence rears its head, and both detectives find themselves in an unpredictable dance of death with forces at once criminal, historical, and political.
Customer Reviews:
The uncomfortable reader.......2007-03-30
I thought that having alternate chapters be written by two different people was an annoying gimmick for the most part - especially when one is a good writer and the other is less so. By the end I was caught up in the story but, as someone that isn't really familiar with Mexican politics over the last several decades, it was a little harder than usual to feel like I was really "getting" some of the points being made.
What a rarity! What a treat!.......2007-02-27
Oh, good, good, good! El Sup Marcos and Paco Taibo collaborate to write a contemporary thriller...with a cast of characters straight out of the newspapers. It's neat. It's funny. It's extraordinarily well done: Marcos wrote the odd-numbered chapters, and Taibo wrote the even-numbered ones...and the two of them take the reader from Chiapas to México (the city)and a dozen other places. The two authors grab bits and pieces from the Dirty War in México (about which most [North] Americans remain typically ignorant), and from there through to current times. Surely there is no other revolutionist in all of history who has co-authored a detective story while in the midst of the revolution that he helped create - and that continues to grip peoples from all over the world. Taibo is Taibo, and writes like he always does: very well, and with a canny eye for nuance and flavor. Marcos provides a glimpse into himself that shows another entire facet of this fascinating individual. Together, the two of them accomplish something subtle and rewarding...the reader's surprise is just the gravy. A good, fun read, but it may be difficult for persons without an understanding of contemporary México to enjoy it as much as do others. A WARNING, however: it will make you desperate for good street-corner tacos and warm orange soda, that's for sure.
Product Description
The pharaoh Tutankhamun is dead, killed in a mysterious "hunting accident." In theory, this should be good news for Huy, who was exiled from court - and prevented from working as a scribe - when Tutankhamun took the throne. Palace intrigue, though was never so simple. In the years since his exile, Huy has been eking out a living as a freelance "problem solver" - essentially the world's first private eye - and it's in that capacity that he's been hired once again, to find out exactly how Tutankhamun died. If Huy's employer were purely interested in the truth, that would be one thing. But he has an agenda of his own, which doesn't bode well for the suddenly friendless young queen. And in becoming his snoop-for-hire, Huy may have bought himself a lot more trouble than he's being paid to take on.
Customer Reviews:
See my reviews of the 1st 2 books in the series by Gill .......2007-05-18
This is book 3 about the ex-Scribe Huy, damaged survivor of the era of the mystical mad king Akhenaten, no longer allowed to practice his profession as a Scribe, so he has become now a well known detective. We are now up to the time when Pharaoh Tutanhamun is ruling on his own; he is 17 yrs old and married to his half sister (though that fact isn't mentioned; they are both children of the late Pharaoh Akhenaten by different wives, an old custom of the Royal house.) Tut knows he is surrounded by intrigue and that the men who have been his regents: General Hormeheb and his wife's grandfather Ay, are the men he fears most. By the second chapter the beautiful young man has been killed, leaving the queen, in early pregnancy, alone and helpless. How Huy gets involved is, as always, hard to believe in that he is an official "enemy of the state" but he does; meets the young queen and despite his hardened cynical life instantly becomes protective of her and her unborn child...I don't like to reveal plots but I thoroughly enjoyed this book EVEN though I know (DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT PLOT SPOILED FOR YOU.........)that Tut's queen did end up forced to marry her own grandfather, Ay, to get him on the throne, and then disappeared into history...and that two tiny stillborn babies were buried w/ Tut, which remain a mystery as does the manner of his death despite a gazillion books and articles about it. Nevertheless this was an enjoyable read. Hope there will be more Huy books alhtough he seemed in danger of living happily ever after at the end!
Book Description
Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Journey through the Cities of the Dead is a photographic tour of the city’s captivating graveyards. Glorious photographs accompanied by interesting captions showcase more than fifteen of New Orleans’s historic and fascinating cemeteries (or ""cities of the dead""), such as St. Louis #1, Greenwood, St. Roch, Lafayette, and bayou and plantation country cemeteries. This intriguing volume includes helpful travel information, such as a list of ""who’s buried where."" Sidebars and captions discuss origins of All Saints’ Day, architectural styles, burial processes, cemetery preservation, history, jazz funerals, and voodoo, making "Cemeteries of New Orleans: A Journey through the Cities of the Dead" a stunning keepsake. About the Author and Photographer: Jan Arrigo of New Orleans is the author of "Explore Jean Lafitte National Park and Preserve Louisiana" and Voyageur Press’s "New Orleans." She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and Editorial Freelancers Association. Laura A. McElroy of Atlanta, Georgia, is a freelance travel photographer whose work can be found in magazines, including "Y’all" and "Destinations," on postcards and in regional travel books. She teamed up with Jan Arrigo for Voyageur Press’s "New Orleans."
Customer Reviews:
A Pre-Katrina Look at New Orleans' Cities of the Dead.......2005-09-18
This book was sent to me to review before Katrina was a puff of air. As New Orleans became inundated with water from broken levees, I tried to remember when I first learned that New Orleans was below sea level. It hit me . . . when I was driving by a cemetery and saw the vaults standing tall above ground.
Sure enough, as I opened this book, it quickly pointed out that burying people is challenging because of the ground water due to being below sea level. The text is an amazing presage of what just happened in New Orleans as it relates to what happened to cemeteries in the past when floods hit.
Prior to the disaster, New Orleans was famous in part for its unusual rituals and practices involving the deceased. Cemeteries of New Orleans gives you a visual expression of those rituals and practices (from visiting your loved ones on All Saint's Day to a jazz funeral procession) while showing you the different structures and layouts of the city's major cemeteries. They do resemble cities more than any other cemetery you've ever visited, I'll wager.
If you decide that you want to visit New Orleans after the reconstruction, this book will be a valuable guide to the cemeteries. You'll have pre-Katrina photographs to compare to the post-Katrina reality. You will also know where to visit to see the resting places of the famous, such as Confederate president Jefferson Davis.
This is a photography-intensive look, rather than a text-intensive look. As a result, I think most people will find this resource to be just about perfect in helping them understand how New Orleans likes to handle its dead. I know that seems like a gruesome subject right now, but that's the book's focus.
May all those who need help in New Orleans find it!
First-rate coffe table book for graveyard junkies.......2005-06-20
Visitors to the Crescent City are always intrigued by the cemeteries with their aboveground tombs, like miniature marble cities with narrow lanes and alleyways, and necessitated by marshy ground and a high water table. Traditions included burial of a wife with her birth family, not her husband, and entombment of slaves with the family, and numerous ethnic and fraternal societies have sponsored tombs, especially in the three St. Louis cemeteries. There's a great deal of local history here, but this is primarily a picture book of high quality that includes twenty-eight cemeteries in Orleans Parish, the River Parishes, and neighboring communities like Chalmette and Lacombe. Featured tombs include those of Jefferson Davis, Benjamin Latrobe, Marie Laveau, John Kennedy Toole, Louis Prima, and many ordinary citizens and families. The photography is first-rate and the discussions of architectural styles, religious observances, and the jazz funeral will keep you engaged.
Book Description
Right up until they put him in jail, McKenzie thought the cops were kidding.After all, he did them a favor by stopping a rookie cop from roughing up a distraught woman at a murder scene.But the next thing Mac knows he's in jail, missing an important date with his girlfriend and reliving nightmares he thought he'd finally left behind - and he's vowing payback for all of it.If that means sticking his nose into a crime investigation, well, he's done it before. Only, what appears to be a straightforward case of a cheating boyfriend, his alcoholic girlfriend and an opportune baseball bat proves far more complicated than the police are willing to accept. More disconcerting, as he investigates, Mac finds himself again fighting the influence of a shadowy figure who controls more of what goes on in the Twin Cities than a rational voter would believe. And then there are the unidentified thugs who kill a witness and rough up him and his female lawyer-ally.Soon Mac realizes that the truth of this sordid crime may be as hard to find - and as hard to live with - as the justice he seeks.
Customer Reviews:
This author is not given the attention he deserves........2007-06-14
I have read all of this author's work and find that I have not found a book that I have not thoroughly enjoyed. His books should be marketed better so that everone can enjoy a good read. His characters are unique, the situations are different and keep your focus until the end. Although I enjoyed the first three books a bit better, this series is almost as enjoyable as any mystery/thriller that I have read. Give yourself a treat and pick up one of Mr. Housewright's books.
Not his best but still enjoyable.......2007-06-12
First Sentence: The dream came back to haunt me the night they threw me in jail.
Former policeman Rushmore McKenzie is retired, wealthy and does favors for people. Merodie Davies has problems with alcohol and men, particularly the one who has been dead for several days upstairs. When she finds him and runs screaming into the street, the policeman on the scene is roughing her up rather than questioning her. McKenzie steps into the scene and is thrown in jail for his efforts. Convinced by Merodie's attorney to help her, McKenzie finds things are not as simple as they appear and that the case resurrects old nightmares.
Books by Housewright are always a pleasure but this one; not quite as much as some of the others. McKenzie is a great character and it's nice to see him overcome his past and grow to the next level in his romantic life. However, unless you've read the previous books, other recurring characters, and certainly the new characters, were very one dimensional. The plot kept the story moving forward and provided some exciting moments, but was imminently forgettable. It really was McKenzie's story, and that's not all bad but I'll hope the next book is a bit more well rounded.
solid whodunit.......2007-05-19
Former Twin Cities cop millionaire Rushmore McKenzie hears the cries of Merodie Davies who bemoans the death of her boyfriend. Rushmore realizes the woman acts stoned, but more stunning is the dead boyfriend; his corpse is so rotted he had to have died at least two weeks ago. The police arrive and try to rough Merodie into confessing that she hit her boyfriend in the head with a softball bat that lies near the body. When Rushmore intercedes on her behalf, he is arrested for impeding a crime scene investigation. While in jail his girlfriend Nina Truhler dumps Rushmore for not showing up as promised as her escort to a fancy dinner dance.
After he is released from jail, Merodie's attorney hires Rushmore to investigate in order to find a way to get the charges dropped. Bing unlicensed is not a problem for the former cop so he begins making inquiries only to find Merodie has had a zillion boyfriends, all dead except one, a dangerous drug dealer, who makes a more acceptable suspect than she is.
Though entertaining because the knight in shining armor is still a likable individual this is a weak Rushmore entry as the story line leans towards a humorous widow-maker, but the support cast including Merodie seems as weird two dimensional stiffs who fail to pull off the caper. Still the hero saves more than the damsel in distress as he comes to the rescue of his story line with the collapse of his personal life and the investigation into a woman in which everyone inside her sphere has something to hide. Overall this is a solid whodunit, but does not attain the level of Mount Rushmore's previous entries (see TIN CITY and PRETTY GIRL GONE).
Harriet Klausner
A very satisfying read.......2007-05-02
Rushmore McKenzie(Mac) is a former cop who resigned from the force when he received the reward money for catching Thomas Teachwell. Mac is an unlicensed PI and very wealthy. He often does favors for friends and others when he believes in the cause.
It all started when Mac gets lost while searching for a house in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. He wants to buy a dining room set. A disheveled and blood-spattered woman (Merodie Davies) appears in the street waving her arms--and being an amiable Minnesotan, Mac stops his car to help. Soon he discovers the decaying body of the woman's boyfriend in her home.
When a young rookie police officer roughs up the woman, Mac stops him. For his effort, he finds himself in jail. The next thing he knows, he's reliving his own personal nightmares, his girlfriend breaks up with him for missing an important date (never mind he was in jail), the woman he tried to help looks good for the boyfriend's murder, and Mac is planning his own revenge on the cops.
Mac joins forces (of sorts) with the jailed woman's attorney and what appears to be a case of a cheating boyfriend, ends up propelling him into a string of dead boyfriends and a secret in Merodie's past. Mac's going to have a difficult time with this case--but he'll see it through to the end. He always does.
David Housewright is one of my favorite mystery authors. I'd read a cereal box if he wrote it. I really like Mac's character and enjoy his determination and sense of loyalty. He's the guy in the white hat, seeking to preserve justice for all. And he's always willing to put himself in harm's way to accomplish his goals. No risk, no reward.
Dead Boyfriends is a fun ride with twists enough to surprise everyone. Housewright's attention to the various Twin Cities locals is spot on and tremendous fun for those of us who live here. His characters are rich and complex, his plot intriguing and satisfying.
Armchair Interviews says: Read all of Housewright's mysteries, you'll be glad you did.
Books:
- Dead Men's Secrets
- Democracy in America (Penguin Classics)
- Dragon of the Red Dawn (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
- Drown
- Eat Cake
- Eye of the Oracle (Oracles of Fire)
- Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
- Follow Your Heart
- Forever a Hustler's Wife: A Novel (Nikki Turner Original)
- Ghost of A Chance: A Marjorie McClelland Mystery (A Marjorie Mcclelland Mystery)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter
- Lean on Me: 10 Powerful Steps to Moving Beyond Your Diagnosis and Taking Back Your Life
- E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX
- Dealing with the New Russia: Management Cultures in Collision
- Financial Markets and Institutions
- History: Fiction or Science
- History: Fiction or Science
- Miller Gaas Guide 2003: A Comprehensive Restatement of Standards for Auditing, Attestation, Compilat
- Economic Risk in Hydrocarbon Exploration
- The Invention of Morel
Plague of the Dead (The Morningstar Strain)
Dying to Live
Down the Road: A Zombie Horror Story (Special Edition)
Monster Nation: A Zombie Novel
