America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It

Book Description

In this, his first major book, Mark Steyn--probably the most widely read, and wittiest, columnist in the English-speaking world--takes on the great poison of the twenty-first century: the anti-Americanism that fuels both Old Europe and radical Islam. America, Steyn argues, will have to stand alone. The world will be divided between America and the rest; and for our sake America had better win.

Customer Reviews:

Funny, but also an important message........2007-10-11

While I cannot say that anybody reading this should have more kids just out of the guilt this book might give you, it is an important message about the sad effects of low birthrates. Mark Steyn has a quick wit and funny tone that is clearly not politically correct (good for him). Anybody who enjoys a good laugh or is concerned about terrorism should read this.

A Must-Read!.......2007-10-10

This book was every bit as good as I had heard. I've always enjoyed Mark Steyn, but hadn't gotten a chance to read this yet because I had a stack of books in front of it. That's my loss, because this was one of the most profound and eye-opening books I've ever read. To be honest, I pay pretty close attention to this conflict we find ourselves in, so most of the individual facts in this book weren't exactly foreign to me. But Steyn pulls all this together and presents it in such a concise, clear and entertaining way that I was able to put the pieces together in a way I hadn't even imagined. His demographic data alone is shocking, and should make every person in Europe and Canada sit up and take serious note - I'll be paying very close attention to what happens over the next few years "across the pond", as they say, for how goes Europe, so will eventually go America. I plan to buy several more copies of this book and hand them out to friends and family. I highly suggest it.

Excelent book. Really crunches the numbers like no other book........2007-10-05

This book really lays out the problems with hard numbers and facts in a way I have never seen and is easy to understand. I recomend this book to anyone who is worried about the muslim issue. People in Europe better read it asap!

America Alone is Excellent.......2007-10-04

This book gives a lot of attention to fertility rates in Europe, Scandanavia and the United States. Many other good observations and opinions are included as well. It will give you some insights into what may occur in various countries in the future vis-a-vis the Muslims and non Muslims.

What a sad worldview.......2007-10-01

I can't even begin to describe the serious flaws in this book...

But I gave it one star instead of zero because, if you want to study logic and how to detect subtly and not so subtly flawed arguments, buy this book.

What's sad is he's done actual research (but distorts everything to fit his way of thinking), and some muslims, like some christians, some jews, some whatever, really are dangerous and want to hurt America, but he makes his side of the controversy look like a bunch of, what's a nice word... 'baffoons'.

I think he seriously believes the things he writes in his book, which means he's stressing himselfand others out for nothing, and ultimately, pushing away the moderates that might listen to a more logical argument against religious extremism

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This is how Christianity is Supposed to Work
Touching and profound!
Inspiring, well told, and true story
Hope Makes The Spirit Unbreakable
Moving

To End All Wars
Ernest Gordon
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0007118481

Book Description

The best-selling classic of the power of love and forgiveness in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

Customer Reviews:

This is how Christianity is Supposed to Work.......2007-10-02

My wife and I had watched the movie a couple months ago (be warned: it is incredibly brutal) and been moved by the power of the story. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the book and the move are not the same story. In fact, other than the similarity of the major premise (a British officer in a Japanese POW camp during WW2), they had almost nothing in common.

However. . .

That was only disappointing insomuch as I kept waiting for certain events from the movie to show up. The movie had colored my expectations for the book, which meant I couldn't take the book on its own merits. Which is too bad, because, upon completing the book, I would say it is as powerful as the movie, perhaps even more so. But you have to let the book speak for itself. The story is truly miraculous, as this band of prisoners devolve into a wild bunch of animals at the hands of their captors, only to be transformed by the Spirit of Christ into a true Community of compassion and care. Somehow, in the midst of hell, these men found the power to love each other, to care for each other, to even forgive their Japanese tormentors. When people ask "Does Christianity work?", the story of this book says "absolutely!" And in a day and age of spiteful attacks, divisive language, polarized religions and selfish money-grubbing politicians and religious leaders, there is a real lesson here about what being a True Follower of Christ is all about.

Touching and profound!.......2007-06-10

This is one of the best books I've read so far... Though it may appear repetitive at times (there's really little else the author could write about beside what's happening in the POW camps along the Kwai), the reflection on the human condition and the supreme virtue of self-sacrifice in the footsteps of Jesus Christ is poignantly and profoundly written. With tour de force, the epilogue is a penetrating piece of criticism on the 'civilised' society the author returned to after the war. The reverse culture shock he experienced is a haunting reminder of how that still small voice can be so easily drowned out in the cacophony of modern society.

Inspiring, well told, and true story.......2007-01-10

It's a difficult, but true message. The author takes an unflinching look at the evil that men are capable of through his own personal experience in Japanese prison camps and carries you through the experience on to the brilliant hope on the other side of his own personal pain. The underlying truth you discover is the genuine potential to be found in one man's selfless, sacrificial care for another. It's an excellent read.

Hope Makes The Spirit Unbreakable.......2006-11-17

Formally published as "Miracle on the River Kwai" and renamed to coincide with a new movie. This book was written by Ernest Gordon a Scottish Army officer who served in the South Pacific During the war.

Back Story
During that time the Japanese advanced on Singapore, and Gordon and a few other officers try to escape on a chartered sailboat. After being captured at sea, he was incarcerated and sent to a work camp in Thailand, building the infamous railway of death, where nearly 80,000 prisoners lost their life in a little over a year. This railway and the Chungkai prison camp are the real back story to the Oscar winning film "Bridge On the River Kwai."

What the classic movie doesn't tell you is the horrific condition and constant death that the builders of the bridge met with on a daily basis.

The Book
The story is a recount of Ernest Gordon's experiences at the camp and his witness to that camps transformation from what he called "the worst that man could be" to the "best that man could be."

The book starts with Gordon laying in the hospital at Chungkai, called the "Death House" by the prisoners as there was very few he came back from the hospital. Gordon then flashes back to what led him here, and then continues from that point and tells of the camps transformation. Before Gordon wound up in the hospital the camp was very much "every man for himself" animal instinct and the law of the jungle dictated who lived and who died. During Gordon's stay at the hospital while he was suffering and near death with Beriberi, Tropical Ulcers, Malaria, and Amoebic Dysentery, he propped himself up, void of hope, and penned a last letter to his parents. That was his low point. He was nursed back to health by two other POW's Dinty Moore, and Dusty Miller. Both bartered for food and medicine, cleaned his ulcers, massaged his legs to reverse the atrophy and gave him encouragement to give him the hope he needed to recover. These two men became an inspiration to the rest of the camp, and like Ernest Gordon, many started to emulate their kindness willingness to help others. Dusty Miller a devote Christian also read the bible to Gordon which inspired him. Gordon then started to hold bible studies with other in the camp; they often shared bibles that men had smuggled in. This led to a spiritual revival of the camp, where men helped each other to survive. The camp changed from a group of individuals to a community that served each other with the same love that Christ had shown them in the bible. Many more survived the wrath of the Japanese as a result of the selfless acts of the camp members, in one part of the book one enlisted soldier, admits that he stole a shovel (which he didn't) just to save the lives of his co-prisoners, that soldier was immediately beaten to death, but his sacrifice as well as others, were what changed to mood of the camp.

The Legacy
This spiritual revival, not only led to many surviving the camp, but transcended into their life after the war. Gordon's epilogue was probably the best part of the book where he paints his perspective against the backdrop of the post-war error.

"We returned to a world divided by hatreds. We thought we had come home to a world at peace; instead we found a world already preparing for the next war. Having had as much reason to hate as anybody, we had overcome hatred."

"We had seen a vision of far horizons and caught a glimpse of the City of God in all its beauty and this vision seemed to be part of a different world."

Summary
Overall the book is very interesting, and is an intriguing story of suffering and hope. Gordon's style is very easy to read, almost like he's sitting next you telling the story. The descriptions of the people and the camp are genuine and I had no problem understanding and even "knowing" many of the characters in the book.

Editorial
It's one thing read about the word of God and the acts of Jesus, it's an entirely different think to witness it first hand as Gordon does and writes about with stunning detail. If found this to be an inspiring story of the grace of God that is given, by giving up selfishness. I have learned a lot about what true Christian's look like after reading this book. If you want my opinion, Christ looked a lot more like Dusty Miller and Ernest Gordon, than the face of modern evangelical minister today.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to see the how God's Grace can transform the most desperate situations

Moving.......2006-10-21

This is a story of ultimate forgiveness told firsthand by Ernest Gordon. The things he and his fellow prisoners of war experienced are near incomprehensible. ...and out of such despair comes the forever life-changing love they experience through Christ, Who is the example they start to follow in showing similar self-sacrificing love and kindness to their neighbors - even to their enemies.

I saw the movie before watching the book which may have been best, as I would've been disappointed had it been the other way around (ie. The book, as many books do, goes into more detail and describes other people encountered by Ernest. For time and format reason, the movie can't cover all of this.)

Also, the book is proof that such a powerful story can be told without foul language (which is present in the movie version).

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Calculations are only as good as your numbers
Pants on fire?
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Next World War: What Prophecy Reveals About Extreme Islam and the West

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Grant Jeffrey opens mouth, nonsense comes out
Very informative & well detailed!
Title does not match content
Nifty Compact Treatment
Boring

The Next World War: What Prophecy Reveals About Extreme Islam and the West
Grant R. Jeffrey
Manufacturer: WaterBrook Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400071062
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Book Description

The first warning shots of WW III have already been fired

The escalating terrorist attacks in the Middle East and in major cities in the West are not isolated acts of extremism. They are the first warning shots fired in a coming world war.
For decades, prophecy expert Grant R. Jeffrey has been analyzing geopolitical developments through the lenses of history, religion, and prophecy. As current events unfold according to the prophecies of the Bible, Jeffrey says Islamic extremists are preparing to attack Israel and conquer western civilization–destroying our freedom.
Drawing from firsthand interviews, intelligence reports, and ancient prophecy, Jeffrey reveals:
·Saddam Hussein’s role in the 9/11 attack on America
·Where Iraq hid its Weapons of Mass Destruction
·How Russia and extreme Islam will launch World War III
·The Bible’s prophecy of the destruction of extremist Islam
·How Israel will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem
With Grant Jeffrey’s incisive and sometimes surprising analysis, you can understand the hidden agenda and powerful players behind today’s news headlines.

Customer Reviews:

Grant Jeffrey opens mouth, nonsense comes out.......2007-05-19

This is the same author who wrote an ENTIRE book predicting the Y2K computer bug would wipe out the economy and usher in the anti-christ. I would have assumed after that fiasco the Christians would have laughed him off the stage, but I assumed wrong. He is still on television and still selling ridiculous books.

I admit I only read the intro to this book at the store. I sure as heck wasn't going to buy it. I also watch him once in a blue moon for a few minutes when I need a laugh.

Jeffrey would have people believe the temple is about to be built any day now. People, listen to me, the temple is in our hearts, it is not the literal temple in Israel. The temple in Israel would be at the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's most sacred sites. The second Israel went to build there, every nation in the Middle East would IMMEDIATELY declare war on Israel. If you are waiting for the temple to be rebuilt so the end times could begin soon, you better wait thousands of years or more.

Jeffrey says the weapons of mass destruction from Iraq were trucked to Syria where they will be used in the end times war. I voted for George W. Bush twice. I only say that to establish I am not an anti-war leftist. The truth is Iraq NEVER did have weapons of mass destruction. After Sadaam was overthrown, American weapons inspectors offered any Iraqi huge cash rewards and asylum for information on the weapons. Someone in the production, storage, or transport of these weapons would have seized that offer, but they didn't exist. 2)To FURTHER debunk Jeffrey's myth, the weapons have a very limited shelf life once they are produced. They do not stay weapons grade very long, but quickly break down in a matter of months. They would no longer be a military threat even if they were sent to Syria(which they weren't).

My fellow Christians, quit embarrassing the Kingdom by buying this drivel and hopefully these end times idiots will disappear. Revelation is what happens in our hearts. Consider this: In Revelation 8, one-third of the earth is set on fire, one-third of the sea becomes blood, one-third of water is made bitter, one-third of the sun, moon, and stars become dark, insects are tormenting people, billions of people die, a 200 million man army is on the march.....and what do people do??? They line up to take the mark of the beast so they could go on buying and selling!!! Buying and selling what??? Get some common sense people. Revelation is a metaphor for our own individual hearts.

Very informative & well detailed!.......2007-03-20

Mr. Jeffrey dispenses supportive information to his opinion of the second coming of Jesus Christ!
Not only did he displayed supportive information on the second coming, but he thoroughly expelled the most forgotten details which occured in 2002 and beyond (for example, The Spetznaz truck (convoys) leaving Iraq, heading towards Syria and Iran; the disclosure of photos of the Spetznaz convoys (Russian-owned Spetznaz, that is) from the satellite imagery; reports supporting the cover up of nondisclosure removal of the missing WMD in these Spetznaz trucks by Bush and his CIA; contacts between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden in AFRICA in the 90's, etc.).
This book discloses missing facts and is an eye opener.
I truly believe, we are living those last days of age and the second coming is near.

Title does not match content.......2007-02-13

Found it to be filled with more history and statistics than what the title states is in the content of this book. The author threw a curve when he went on a rant about those who believe in the Trinity. I fail to understand how belief, or non-belief, in a triune God is relevant to the topic of end times or biblical prophesy.

Nifty Compact Treatment.......2007-01-29

With mainline churches in America (and elsewhere) unraveling, and conservative religion (of all faiths) on the increase, it is no wonder there would be a corner for a nifty little book like this. Make no mistake, it is a powerhouse of sorts..lots of current information that is not found elsewhere, well-documented, rare facts gleaned (presumably) from Grant's visits to the Middle East, written in a fast, tight style. That is, until 2/3 of the way through the book when he shifts to evangelical theology of end time events, and this continues through the remainder of the book. Evangelical theology in America has many favorite doctrines, several of them in this book (the 144,000 being witnesses in Revelation for example). He preaches a literal end time Temple in Jerusalem (some theologians see the use of "temple" in the New Testament restricted to the church as God's temple, but Grant has Scripture support for his thesis as well). The advantage of this book is it's little known and well-documented facts, current information, and well-written first 2/3 of the book detailing what he sees is coming as a result of the Mid East unrest. It is hard to put down, and due to it's size (176 pps plus supplements) can be read in two days carefully, and should be considered an update of The American Prophecies by Mike Evans. Well worth reading.

Boring.......2007-01-26

I found this book quite boring with a lot of detailed info concerning islam, al qaida, bin Laden and other such things that have very little relevance to an average christian. If you have seen Mr. Jeffrey on Benny Hinn's TV programmes, you have heard all you need to know about this book. I was very disappointed.

Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War (Translated Documents of Greece and Rome)

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Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War (Translated Documents of Greece and Rome)
Charles W. Fornara
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521299462

Book Description

The first volume is devoted to the period which begins with the era of Greek colonization and ends with the close of the Peloponnesian War in 404 B. C. Charles Fornara has gathered together material compiled from inscriptions, ancient encyclopedias, scholia, and similar sources. The material, much of it translated by him for the first time, covers not only events of national significance - wars and treaties, the founding of towns and colonies, the dedication of temples - but also presents such records of daily life as ration lists, wine trade regulations, inventories of treasure, drinking songs, and financial records. The documents are accompanied by a brief commentary, which is basically intended to clarify obscurities in the text. An extensive glossary and indexes explain obscure terms of Greek social and governmental structure and permit detailed prosopographical analysis. This book will be welcomed by students and teachers of ancient history.

If You Survive: From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II, One American Officer's Riveting True Story

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Belonging to the short list of must own WWII books
If You Survive
One excellent Book
Interesting way to learn about WWII and being a soldier
OOPS...

If You Survive: From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II, One American Officer's Riveting True Story
George Wilson
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0804100039
Release Date: 1987-05-12

Book Description

"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you."

So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building.

Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions.

If You Survive

One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II.

Customer Reviews:

Belonging to the short list of must own WWII books.......2007-06-23

Just as Eugene Sledges, "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa", is the standard bearer for books written about the Marine island hopping campaign, "If You Survive" by George Wilson will be considered to be among the very best autobiographical accounts of being an Army infantry officer during the post D-Day European campaign in WWII. Wilson's account is poignant, rings true, and offers a rare perspective of a young lieutenant leading men into combat in the race to Germany in 1944. It should be standard reading for all NCOs and young officers regardless of their military occupational specialty. You'll find it hard to put down as Wilson's narration leads the reader from one harrowing combat battle to the next. All this was happening while the platoons and the companies commanded by the author were steadily reduced through the attrition of casualties and combat fatigue. A fascinating story.

If You Survive.......2007-04-10

Excellent read, this guy story could be mine, you will enjoy it, fast read

One excellent Book.......2007-04-01

I have read many, many books in my life. I have read dozens of books on WWII. This book is at the top of my list for reading. I've read it three times in the short time I've owned it. It is compelling in it's frankness. Rarely does an author bring you into the war with his narrative, as George Wilson does. The story allows one to forget his troubles, and be swept into the past. The men who fought in WWII have been called our Greatest Generation. George Wilson's book, 'If You Survive: From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II, One American Officer's Riveting True Story' helps you understand why.
An excellent book, and excellent read. Buy it and enjoy!

Interesting way to learn about WWII and being a soldier .......2007-03-09

My Dad (who was a tail gunner in a plane during the Battle of the Bulge) recommended this book to my son in middle school. My son, and in turn, many kids in his social studies class and his teacher also gave the book rave reviews. It is an easy read from a soldier's perspective that takes you through the big European ground battles of WWII. A much more interesting way to learn history and make it "come alive". My son and many of his friends have gone to other WWII books because of their interest in WWII and I think this book contributed greatly to that interest. George- thanks !

OOPS..........2007-01-17

I really enjoyed this book. One odd thing though, the last 40 or so pages were missing. You could see where the book cover area of the binder was too big for the shortened book and the wording ran onto the back cover. I really wanted to finish it, the library was closed for holiday, and it was cheap enough, so I just bought another one (complete) at Barnes & Noble.

Average customer rating:

It Ain't Over 'til It's Over
An unconventional vision into the future
Lukacs walks the rope of political correctness
An interesting topic ground into the earth

END OF 20TH CENTURY CL
Konrad Heiden
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0395584728

Customer Reviews:

It Ain't Over 'til It's Over.......2002-03-12

John Lukacs's book deserves a new look in the post-September 11 world. Written in response to Francis Fukayama's well-intentioned but misguided book on "The End of History" (a thesis that Fukayama was forced to revise recently), Lukacs shows that history, and human nature, are both alive and well. Written in a lively, readable style that is capable of true eloquence, this book dismisses the neo-Hegelian thesis that the triumph of democracy is inevitable.

Instead, Lukacs points to the long experience, in Europe and elsewhere, of war, evil and the continued power of cultural and moral factors in driving human behavior. By reminding us of these truths, Lukacs demonstrates that history can not only revive the past, but enlighten the present. Particularly impressive is his emphasis on character, and the power of individuals to change history, in decisive ways, at critical moments. Great men -- Churchill in particular -- are given their just due, and determinists, economic or otherwise, are given short shrift.

My only criticism of the book is Lukacs's sharp and unwarranted criticism of Ronald Reagan, whose boldness and persistence are dismissed with the usual stereotyped remarks about his lack of energy, intelligence and education. Lukacs overlooks the fact that Gorbachev, who gets the lion share's of the praise for the end of the Cold War, merely bowed to the superior force of the United States, which was marshalled with great skill by Reagan and his national defense team, particularly Caspar Weinberger and CIA Director William Casey. To paraphrase Mae West, Gorby's goodness had nothing to do with it.

Despite this defect, however, Lukacs's book, while nearly ten years old, has aged well. I recommend it highly, especially for those seeking understanding and perspective on the fate and future of the West in this hostile and unstable world.

An unconventional vision into the future.......2000-06-28

People who don't like this book have a fundamental misunderstanding of Lukacs' perspective and, I would bet, have not read his previous book of essays on this same topic "The Passing of the Modern Age." Lukacs is not a "conservative". He is a self-proclaimed "reactionary". His ideas, generally don't fall within the typecast categories of "liberal" or "conservative". Readers who appreciate clearly thought out and well written observations into the events of the last century and possible senarios in the future will greatly enjoy reading one of the more original thinkers of our time.

Lukacs walks the rope of political correctness.......1999-06-14

I spotted this book on a book-market in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and knowing Lukacs as a conservative yet good historian decided to have a read. Disappointment is the first word that springs to mind. Why? Lukacs makes quite a few good observations about Eastern Europe, democracy and the European Union. The problem is that he never really gives a solution or even a direction in which to go citing " I am no prophet". Strangely, he plays the prophet for the greater part of the book. In his reflections and conclusions Lukacs says that the twentieth century is already over and the end of modernity is just around the corner. He might be right and this is a legitimate point to make. However, in the book there is an undercurrent that suggests that things will only get worse. The new barbarians are coming! And that brings up the second point: Lukacs is truly on the knife's edge of political correctness. Remarks about a.o. Hitler, immoral and vandalous (immigrant) youths discolour this book. Lukacs is grumbling like an old "law and order" man and that is not befitting a historian of his caliber.

All in all, too bad.....worth a read though, if only to see how Lukacs' idea about the new barbarianism coming from inside the human being, is proven by the author himself!!

An interesting topic ground into the earth.......1998-07-01

Very boring. A 20 page monograph puffed into a book. A few ideas, widely scattered through more detail about eastern european ethnic divisions and prejudices than you'll ever want to know.

Average customer rating:

A gorgeous book, from presentation to content.
too esoteric to feed my apocalypse-hungry soul
These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor

The Apocalypse Reader

Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1560259590

Book Description

These are the ways the world ends.
Thirty-four new and selected Doomsday scenarios: an enthralling collection of work by canonical literary figures, contemporary masters, and a few rising stars, all of whom have looked into the future and found it missing. Across boundaries of place and time, these writers celebrate the variety and vitality of the short story as a form by writing their own conclusions to the story of the world. Obliteration has never hurt so good.
Contributors include Grace Aguilar, Steve Aylett, Robert Bradley, Dennis Cooper, Lucy Corin, Elliott David, Matthew Derby, Carol Emshwiller, Brian Evenson, Neil Gaiman, Jeff Goldberg, Theodora Goss, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jared Hohl, Shelley Jackson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Stacey Levine, Tao Lin, Kelly Link, H.P. Lovecraft, Gary Lutz, Rick Moody, Michael Moorcock, Adam Nemett, Josip Novakovich, Joyce Carol Oates, Colette Phair, Edgar Allan Poe, Terese Svoboda, Justin Taylor, Lynne Tillman, Deb Olin, Unferth, H.G. Wells, Allison Whittenberg, and Diane Williams.

Customer Reviews:

A gorgeous book, from presentation to content........2007-09-19

"THESE ARE THE WAYS THE WORLD ENDS--THIRTY-FOUR NEW AND SELECTED DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS"

This is a gorgeous book, from presentation to content. The selections are humorous, serious, simple, complex, and much more--thirty-four stories, some short, some long, make for a wide spectrum of apocalypses. Taylor, in the foreword, expounds on his conception of an apocalypse:

"It's worth pointing out that the word Apocalypse comes from the Greek, and literally means "a revelation" or "an unveiling." It can be used to describe cataclysmic changes of any sort. Revolution, for example, or social upheaval. [...] There are micro-Apocalypses that mark moments in our lives: childhood's end, a relationship's sudden implosion, Death."

The selections do span the gamut--some were written so long ago as to be in the public domain, and some were freshly minted in the late 2000's; some focus on religious upheavals, some macro, some micro; there are personal upheavals, student rantings, surreal recountings of madmen; and of course many take the reader through more conventional "end of the world" scenarios. And even with all that diversity, perhaps guided by the introduction, the theme of the anthology runs strong.

If there were a criticism I could make of this volume, that, ironically, would be it. I consider myself a bit of an Apocalypse afficionado--I particularly enjoy reading such stories, along with dystopias--and I would have thought that I could never grow tired of reading well-wrought incarnations of such--and these stories were all well-wrought and well-edited, there is no doubt about that--but this volume overwhelmed me. I was tired, even weary, by the time I had wended my way through the collection (and that in the course of several "sittings")..

The lead story, a piece of flash fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, starts the anthology out elegantly, and slowly. It warns you, implicitly, that you're in for some heavy reading, even if you're a fan of Mr. Lovecraft's writing (and not just his mythos, which more people are familiar with, and is much easier to get into third hand). On that end of the scale, there's also a piece from Edgar Allan Poe that is ponderous but worth an examination, entitled "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion".

Some of my favorites included:

"The Apocalypse Commentery of Bob Paisner" by Rick Moody -- This is an essay detailing the allegorical depths of the Book of Revelation with regard to Bob Paisner's life. The tone is both erudite and a bit delirious, and the piece as a whole is both informative and immersive--I found myself eagerly wondering where Moody was going to take us next, what dark or clinical humor would next be presented.

"Fraise, Menthe, et Poivre 1978" by Jared Hohl -- Another piece of meta-fiction, this follows a group of people through the more traditional trope of being the last survivors in a ruined post-apocalyptic city. What makes this piece stand out is the manic bent of the narrator and the push for the show to go on--the story weaves the primary narrative with a small handful of abbreviated stageplays that emphasize much about human nature, hope, and despair, while retaining a very human humor.

"An Accounting" by Brian Evenson -- An "honest" accounting of how one explorer fell into becoming a reborn Jesus and how he helps his flock survive. I don't want to say too much about this, but the voice is clear, the narrative is well woven and unrolls at a compelling pace, and other than, perhaps, the initial fanaticism he encounters, it is all quite believable.

"Some Approaches to the Problem of the Shortage of Time" by Ursula K. Le Guin -- This is a clever set of abstracts that are ever timely and consider a novel scenario for the end of the modern-day universe. The shortage of time is pervasive, and this story is brief to give you a maximum pleasure for what it takes.

"Think Warm Thoughts" by Allison Whittenberg -- A bite-sized slice of apocalypse that is poetically poignant; every word counts.

"When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 1/4" by Neil Gaiman -- This is the end of the world, everyone and everything together, through the playful, somewhat naiive eyes of an eleven year old. It's told in the vein of "What I did over Summer vacation", and is very evocative, sweet, and strange.

"The Escape--a Tale of 1755" by Grace Aguilar -- This is an elegant tale of a woman's love for her husband, religious persecution, and a prison escape. It is written with a very modern feel despite its age (originally published in 1844).

That's not to say I disliked the other stories; and on another day I would have different favorites, though there were some pieces that didn't work for me. But I hope this selection will help give you a feel for the collection as a whole, beyond my simple regard for it. In all, it's a beautiful collection, and I recommend it strongly, with the caveat that you may want to take it in small doses.

too esoteric to feed my apocalypse-hungry soul.......2007-09-12

I was initially excited to discover the collection and didn't see how such a broad-based compilation could go wrong. I'm an avid reader of post-apocalyptic fiction, science fiction and futurism, so I'm no slouch, but this turned out to be quite different from what I was hoping for.

While a few of the pieces are good reads, so many of them are abstract, esoteric, or even reminiscent of the scribblings from slightly disturbed angst-ridden teenage diaries. There's no good "meat" here, no concrete scenarios, suspense or drama to drive fear into your heart and make your mind race. The circumstances under which "apocalypse" occurs are rarely even revealed. Even the subject matter is open to interpretation - "apocalypse" is made to mean many things, not simply the end of the world. Which it does, of course, but that's not what I was hungry for when I picked up this book. The book description should have done a better job of managing those expectations.

Perhaps if you are looking for a broad literary "treatment" of the subject, that kind of interpretation will appeal to you (or if you enjoy the just plain bizarre) then this collection is for you. It was not for me.

These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor.......2007-05-16

This is a fun collection of stories from some well known and serious talent (Gaiman, Lovecraft, Poe) and some newly minted authors. I found myself particularly amused by "These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor," the work of one of the new authors named Jeff Goldberg. I'll be keeping an eye peeled for future work from him.

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

Average customer rating:

Exceptionally well researched
Excellent in-depth defense of why the atomic bomb was needed
Yet more praise
This book should be required reading for all Americans and Japanese
The Definitive Account!

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
Richard B. Frank
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0141001461

Amazon.com

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire is an impeccably written analysis of the last months of the Pacific War and the unfolding of the American air campaign over Japan. The story opens with a searing description of the fire-bombing of Tokyo in March 1945, which caused more deaths than the atom bomb in Hiroshima. Within five months, Japan's economy was collapsing and the country faced catastrophic starvation. Richard B. Frank coolly analyzes different scenarios for ending the war (Russia waited in the wings). Frank concludes that the emperor and the Japanese military were far from ready to surrender, and that the decision to use the atom bomb probably saved millions of lives, not only Allied but Japanese and other Asian lives, also--perhaps a hundred thousand Chinese were dying each month under Japanese occupation. The effects of the bomb worked on many levels, even lending faces to the Japanese militarists, who could convince themselves that they were defeated not by a lack of spiritual power but by superior science. Densely documented, intelligently argued, Downfall recreates the end of the war from the viewpoints of the principals, giving the book an unusual immediacy. A highly valuable insight into the disintegration of the Japanese Empire, one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II. --John Stevenson

Book Description

In a riveting narrative that includes information from newly declassified documents, acclaimed historian Richard B. Frank gives a scrupulously detailed explanation of the critical months leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Frank explains how American leaders learned in the summer of 1945 that their alternate strategy to end the war by invasion had been shattered by the massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu, and that intercepted diplomatic documents also revealed the dismal prospects of negotiation. Here also, for the first time, is a comprehensive account of how Japan's leaders were willing to risk complete annihilation to preserve the nation's existing order. Frank's comprehensive account demolishes long-standing myths with the stark realities of this great historical controversy.

Customer Reviews:

Exceptionally well researched.......2007-10-02

Frank has done an excellent job of dispassionately presenting the facts about the endgame of the Pacific War. I appreciate that Frank laid out the evidence and left it to the reader to judge where it pointed.

What is clear from the evidence is that neither the Japanese nor American leadership had adequate information to judge the other's intentions during 1945. In fact, there is some evidence that the Japaneese High Command was being mislead by underlings regarding the state of American morale. Thus the War Council believed that they were just one decisive battle away from being able to negotiate with the Americans for softer terms than Unconditional Surrender. On the other hand, American intelligence community were not adept enough to draw out from the vast array of intercepted cable traffic a clear picture. Thus they did not provide Truman information that was 'actionable'.

As for the bomb, the preponderance of evidence amassed by Frank points to the conclusion that once the decision to build the atomic bomb was made, the Manhattan project took on its own momentum and thus made the bombs use inevitable.

All-in-all a terrific book. Since I finished it on September 30th, it makes it onto my Summer Reading Favorites of 2007 :-)

Excellent in-depth defense of why the atomic bomb was needed.......2007-07-03

Richard Frank conclusively shatters a number of myths about the end of the Pacific side of World War II.

First, Japan was NOT ready to accept unconditional surrender, even with the caveat of the preservation of the Japanese throne, until after both bombs were dropped. Frank uses extensive declassified transcripts of Ultra (military) and Magic (diplomatic) U.S. codebreaking to get members of the Japanese war cabinet's own words, or lack thereof, on this issue. Within that is the fact that Japan's attempt to use Russia as an intermediary-ally in negotiations was totally out of tune with reality, so much out of tune that Tokyo actually expected Moscow to honor the full one year's "down time" after abrogating the two countries' neutrality agreement.

Second, the Japanese Army was ramping UP the plans for Keisu-Go, the all-out defense of the Japanese homeland, after the spring firebombings of Tokyo and elsewhere. Top Army brass considered that the U.S. might well try blockade, and thought it had enough kamikazes, midget submarines, etc., to make the U.S pay enough a price for even the blockade that it would settle for a negotiated peace. Again, Frank looks in-depth at Magic and Ultra transcripts to show how much support there was for this.

Third, Frank demonstrates that U.S. casualty fears of an invasion of Kyushu were well-warranted and may even have been understated in some cases.

The determination of the Japanese Empire to resist was well-known by American troops in the Pacific who had seen the Japanese, on average, take 97 percent casualties in many of their defensive actions. A militaristic government was ready to exploit this to the death.

The atomic bomb was therefore used for reasons of the highest seriousness. It was NOT dropped on Hiroshima as a demonstration for Stalin. And, speaking of demonstrations, the fact that it took two atomic bombs on Japan to get it to surrender puts the lie to the idea that a "demonstration" bomb would have been enough to get the Japanese to a non-negotiated surrender with them attempting to hold on to territory.

Yet more praise.......2007-04-10

I was so fascinated by this book that I read all the previous reviews. I only want to add my unlimited praise and to add a few thoughts and stories...
I was as unaware as anybody of the details of the end of the Pacific war until I met a fellow (Bill Lear, son of "the" Bill Lear) who was on a troop ship to Olympic. He said the officers told them that they all were going to die. After that the book was a natural, and I couldn`t have chosen better.
In my present line, I am in Japan a lot. If there is any one thing that makes Frank`s book fascinating, it is the detailed look at the inner workings of that eastern mind in the government and military leaders, and the resulting confusion for their hapless diplomats. In some cases it is not so radical - we Americans still get huffy about Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese were following a pretty basic tenet of war. Frank didn`t really go to a lot of trouble to remind us that the "unfathonable" Asian way of seeing things is normal to them. Perhaps it isn`t necessary. Any Japanese soldier who sees dying for his emperor/country as his highest honor will tend to see anyone who surrenders or is beaten before he can sacrifice himself, as the lowest sort of worm, not worthy of bayonet practice let alone a bowl of rice. Just an example, but with a point. Frank managed to state facts, back them up with numbers and intel documents and let it go at that. The case builds easily in the reader`s mind that this was a terrible war and that the allies/Americans were in a real conundrum about how to end it. Which brings up the sadly fascinating fact that the very thing that the allies demanded, as a way of keeping "these fascist and militarist governments from starting a world war every few years", was unconditional surrender, the very thing the Japanese couldn`t accept.
One thing which makes a really great book is that it opens discussion on the topic rather than, say, on the writer`s vocabulary. By that measure, this is one of the best. Please indulge me...
I have been to the peace museum in Hiroshima. It is very moving and also very evenhanded. It shows the little uniforms of the school kids killed - they were in town that day to help build firebreaks. It also has the army order on the wall which commanded that when the invasion came, all subjects were to show up on the beaches with pitchforks, sticks or any other weapon that came to hand. Hiroshima, by the way (to answer a previous comment) was the headquarters of the 5th Japanese Army, in charge of Japan and Korea (where they'd been since 1920, only getting to Manchuria in 1931, re another comment)It was also a recruit center, and a navy shipyard, in other words not exactly non-military.
My Dad flew in B-29s. He was a tough old farm boy, but once he met an army buddy who had also `been there` That`s the only time I saw him cry. I don`t think it`s wrong to lament the terrible things humans are capable of doing to each other and to make them stop; a basic about war, by the way. The fact that millions of innocents had died and were likely to keep dying in this war would make any way of stopping it look pretty good, ie, "moral". I personally would say, you can`t argue with success. The Japanese had been fighting since at least 1920. Days after the bomb, it was over. I`m in the camp of "the Russians had nothing to do with it." I want to thank Mr. Frank for explaning readably and in detail, how that came about.
Finally a note from my Mom... The war council was correct in believing that Americans were sick of the war (Incorrect in their eastern way in seeing Potsdam as weakness). They were beaten but wouldn`t quit. If you had a family member in the service, you put a red star in your window, and if they were killed, you changed it to a gold star. There were plenty of houses with two gold stars in the window. People in 1945 wanted the war to end and wanted the boys home. Imagine you are Truman, and a wife/mother says to you, "You mean to tell me you had the means to end this war the day before my boy was killed, and you didn`t do it?"
Read this book.

This book should be required reading for all Americans and Japanese.......2007-03-26

It is easy today, with so much information out there about the horrors of atomic warfare, and so little remembrance of the actual history of the final stages of WWII, to be critical of the U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan.

Sadly, as a result, most Japanese are taught today that they were merely the victims of overwhelming American might, rather than the aggressors and instigators of war, and even more sadly, we are confronted with the shameful specter of anti-nuke, anti-war, anti-history Americans pathetically apologizing to the Japanese, misquoting history, and blindly ignoring the real facts behind the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.

In this book, Richard Franks sets about methodically re-creating the historical context of the end stages of WWII. He addresses virtually every controversial claim, every possible scenario, in the decision process that led to the atomic bombing. Other reviewers have mentioned several points already, and so I present only a summary of the major controversies dealt with in this book:

1. Why was it necessary to drop two atomic bombs or to use them on civilians? - The U.S. was afraid that Japan would think that its supply of atomic bombs was limited (and in fact, production was limited, but was steadily growing), and wanted to demonstrate to Japan that it had the ability and willpower to completely annihilate Japan with a series of atomic bombs. As it turns out, the U.S. calculations were correct. After Hiroshima was bombed, Franks points out that there was a faction in the Japanese military that had enough knowledge of the difficulty of uranium separation to deny the possibility that the U.S. could have developed such a bomb or claimed that the U.S. would not be able to keep up the atomic bombing, and used these arguments to continue to hold out against surrender. Other Japanese military leaders hoped that world opinion would bar the U.S. from further use of the atomic bombs on civilians. That the Japanese military doubted the willpower of the U.S. to use atomic bombs against civilians is proof that a mere demonstration on some unpopulated target would have been useless. Dropping two atomic bombs thus served to vaporize all of the final delusions of these fanatic military leaders.

2. Wasn't Japan close to surrender already because of the massive firebombing of its cities? The U.S. had destroyed over 60 Japanese cities already, killing over 100,000 in one raid on Tokyo alone. However, while this caused enormous suffering for Japanese civilians, the military elite ruling Japan couldn't care less, and continued to hold out for a final land battle, intending to inflict enormous casualties on any U.S. invasion. Their calculation was that the U.S., a democracy with freedom of the press and freedom of speech that even then was extremely sensitive to casualties, could be forced to offer a negotiated surrender with better terms (see no. 5 below for more on this) instead of unconditional surrender. One thing that Franks does not emphasize enough is that subsequent firebombings after Tokyo killed far fewer people per raid, as the Japanese learned how to deal with the firebombing better. A significant factor in the success of the firebombing was the nature of the highly flammable wooden cities of Japan. However, neither firebombing nor the inaccurate conventional bombing of that era would have had much impact on the dispersed and hidden armed forces of the Ketsu-Go operation (the Japanese plan for a massive suicidal countering of an American invasion on the island of Kyushu). Ketsu-Go versus the atomic bomb would have been a completely different story. The general in charge of Ketsu-Go happened to have his headquarters in Hiroshima, and after surviving the atomic bombing and seeing its effects, he bluntly told Hirohito that he could not be sure anymore that his forces would be able to fend off an invasion. IMHO, it was this realization by the military that Ketsu-Go would fail in the face of the atomic bomb that was the key in forcing the military to accept defeat without an invasion. And it was this realization by Hirohito that the military would accept his "command" to accept unconditional surrender that encouraged this timid personality to finally step in and "command" surrender (Franks gives some more convoluted reasons that I think are less convincing. He does not emphasize enough that Hirohito had no legal authority at the time to force the military to do anything - Hirohito's power was entirely based on tradition, respect, and superstitious symbolism - and in fact the military fanatics had a history of assassinating advisors to Hirohito whenever it seemed that he was favoring a course of action that they did not like).

3. Weren't the estimated potential U.S. casualties in an invasion grossly inflated? Perhaps they were, but first of all, if you are an American and think that ANY number of dead American soldiers in an invasion of Japan would have been worth trading in return for not using the atomic bomb, then you need to have your citizenship revoked. And if you are Japanese, and believe that a U.S. invasion would have been preferable to atomic bombing, then you really don't understand the fanaticism of the military elite that was in control at the end of the war. At Saipan and Okinawa, the local Japanese citizenry had been recruited into the battles and had suffered enormous casualties. Even worse was being planned for an invasion of the Japanese homeland, with the entire civilian population given bamboo sticks and suicide bombs which they were expected to use against U.S. soldiers. Franks calculates that the civilian casualties in an invasion of Japan would have far exceeded what was suffered at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition, U.S. intelligence eventually revealed that preparations for Ketsu-Go were so extensive that chances for a successful invasion were becoming increasingly uncertain. American casualties would have almost certainly been enormous. While General MacArthur blithely swept all of that intelligence under the rug, and continued to insist on the original invasion plans, Admiral Nimitz was on the verge of going on the record opposing the invasion when the atomic bombs were dropped. This book makes clear that a U.S. invasion of Kyushu, led by the over-confident MacArthur, could have well been a complete disaster.

4. Wouldn't a blockade and continued bombing of Japan have forced a surrender? - Yes, but it would have taken a much longer period of time, at a minimum of several more months, and resulted in enormously greater loss of life to others besides U.S. soldiers. Franks points out that by attacking Japan's railway systems and vital coastal shipping, the U.S. could have easily shut down all food distribution in the country. However, again, because the Japanese warlords did not care about the suffering of the civilian population, it is likely in such a scenario that they would have held out for so long that Japanese deaths from starvation would have easily exceeded the deaths from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Plus there were also the vastly greater numbers of deaths that would have occurred in the countries that had been invaded by Japan, people who would have continued to die under a brutal occupation. There would also have been much greater numbers of deaths amongst Allied POWs. The numbers calculated by Franks are truly staggering, and make clear that atomic bombing to force a surrender was by far the least of all evils in terms of total numbers of dead people. Franks also recounts the massive atrocities committed by the Japanese in WWII. Yep, after you read these sections (the atrocities mentioned included dissecting and drilling holes into the brains of captured, living American airmen, among other niceties), you might also look more favorably upon atomic bombing Japan. Let's face it, this was a war without mercy, and the Japanese, who were merciless in their treatment of their enemies, had no right to expect any. Nevertheless, after the surrender, Japan did receive mercy, in the form of massive shipments of food from America to their starving civilians.

5. Wouldn't a negotiated surrender, as demanded by the military warlords, have been preferable to atomic bombing? No, first and foremost, up until the atomic bombings, the Japanese militarist faction simply refused to consider surrender under any conditions. They wanted an invasion and a chance at redemption of national honor with their Ketsu-Go operation. The peace faction's best efforts consisted of delusional hopes that Russia could somehow broker a negotiated settlement. Even AFTER both atomic bombs had been dropped, and Russia had declared war on Japan, the militarist faction continued to hold out briefly for a negotiated surrender with three additional terms besides maintenance of the emperor (which the peace faction also wanted): a short occupation by a minimal force, demobilization of Japanese troops by Japanese officers, and trying of war criminals by Japanese courts (Franks does not mention these details in his book - they are contained in another book "The Day Man Lost Hiroshima"). Acceptance of such conditions would have resulted in only a temporary cease-fire, much like the treaty of Versailles had been for WWI. It would not have removed the basic root causes that led Japan to attack East Asia and America - the institutions and ideology of an intensely nationalistic and fanatic military elite that put national honor and pride above everything else, including common sense. This bitter lesson from WWI, that the military elites and institutions of Germany and Japan needed to be completely eradicated in order to ensure lasting peace with those nations, was what caused Roosevelt to demand unconditional surrender. Roosevelt did not want the sacrifice of the lives of so many soldiers to be in vain, as it had been for WWI.

In summary, people critical of the atomic bombing of Japan simply fail to grasp just how difficult it was at that time for the U.S. and the peace faction in Japan to force an increasingly delusional military elite that was fanatically committed to national honor and pride to give up all of their institutions of power without first completely immolating their country. Read this book, read it carefully, and you WILL understand.

The Definitive Account!.......2007-01-21

With regards to the dropping of the atomic bombs, this is the finest book I have ever read. Frank uncovers new evidence to illustrate that initial casualty figures given to Truman were based on a handful of Japanese defenders on the island of Kyushu. In reality, there were twice the amount of defenders willing to die for their emperor. Thus, Frank proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the bombs WERE needed in order to save THOUSANDS of American lives. Additionally, he proves with great clarity that the decision to drop the bombs ultimately saved thousands of Japanese lives as well. With this wonderfully well-researched piece of scholarship, Frank destroys Gar Alperovitz's arguement that Truman dropped the bombs in order to quell the emerging threat of Soviet communism. A must-read for anyone seriously researching the decision to drop the atomic bombs!!

End of the Beginning: A Novel of Alternate History

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Banzai
Turtledove
End of the beginning
Sequel to "Days of Infamy",
End of the Beginning

End of the Beginning: A Novel of Alternate History
Harry Turtledove
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Alternate History | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

ASIN: B000FZDKUM

Book Description

The alternate history master and author of Days of Infamy brings his Pearl Harbor epic to a dramatic conclusion.

In this alternate history of World War II, the Japanese follow up their Pearl Harbor attack with the successful occupation of Hawaii, and America is marshalling its military forces-from east coast to west-to reclaim the islands from the enemy.

Download Description

In this alternate history of World War II, the Japanese follow up their Pearl Harbor attack with the successful occupation of Hawaii. Now America is marshaling its military forces-from East Coast to West-to reclaim the islands from the enemy.

Customer Reviews:

Banzai.......2007-04-28

If you enjoy ww2 alternate history you won't be disappointed. My only complaint is that it should have been a trilogy

Turtledove.......2007-04-04

One of Harry's latest and, to me, most interesting series. It's much more believable to me because it could have happened as it does in this book and its prior, companion volume. Very interesting and enjoyable.

End of the beginning.......2007-03-21

Great book. The writer stays away from the horrors that the enemy would have done with the civilian population if the islands had been occupied. Sadly so much of the other would have been done and did happen in the real world. All in all, a really great book. thank you!

Sequel to "Days of Infamy", .......2007-03-10

This is the second of a pair of gripping alternative history novels which explore the possibility that Japan might have backed up the air strikes on Pearl Harbour with a land invasion of Hawaii.

The first novel is called "Days of Infamy" and if you are going to read these I would strongly recommend that you start with that one.

This is the fourth alternative version of World War II which Turtledove has written. He has previously done stories with aliens from Tau Ceti invading in 1942 (the Worldwar series), a parallel history following pretty much the real track, in a world where technology uses magic rather than engineering (known variously as the Darkness, Derlavi, or 'World at War' series), and an alternative World War II in a history following a Rebel victory in the US Civil War, which has the same roles as in the historical WWII carried out by different people (Settling Accounts).

Having done so many alternative versions of World War II, you would think he would find it impossible to say anything new about them or maintain the reader's interest. Judging by other reviews on the UK and US sites, some readers do indeed have that problem, and I expected to be one of them, but from the moment I picked up "Days of Infamy" I found myself hooked. I stayed hooked when I read "End of the Beginning."

Turtledove suggests that the Imperial Japanese forces would have treated the inhabitants of Hawaii with the same ruthless cruelty they dealt out to other people who fell under their control, such as the luckless people of Nanking. This is all too plausible. He weaves a story of how this might have affected the people who lived under their regime, from American Prisoners of War, U.S. and Hawaiian civilians, to Hawaiian residents of Japanese origin.

Perhaps the best part of both books is Turtledove's account of how the conflict might have left this latter group torn between conflicting loyalties. This second book continues the story of a family in which the father, who was born in Japan, welcomes the invasion and makes propaganda broadcasts for the Japanese, while his sons, born locally, continue to identify with the American side to the extent that white Americans will let them.

I found most of the characters interesting and believable, and wanted to know what would happen to them, though in places Turtledove has difficulty getting inside the mindset of Imperial Japanese Navy officers. In one or two places he strikes a ludicrously false note. For example, during the account of a conversation between two IJN officers, Turtledove attributes to them the view that the significance of Tsushima was that it was the first modern battle in which "people of colour" defeated a white nation.

This politically correct term and the concepts behind it would be as alien to officers in the Imperial Japanese forces as they would have been to their counterparts and allies in the Waffen SS. I do not for an instant suggest that this was true of all Japanese back then, let alone today, but many IJN and Imperial Japanese Army officers were as racist as the Nazis and regarded everyone other than Japanese as sub-human. The significance of Tsushima to them would have been that it was the first battle in which the Japanese defeated a European force.

However, perhaps it's a good sign for Harry Turtledove that he did have difficulty thinking himself into the role of an IJN officer: in recent books he has been amazingly successful at helping the reader imagine how mass murderers analogous to the Nazis might think - if he found it too easy to put himself in the place of a ruthless killer who exhibits total contempt for human life, maybe it would be cause for concern!

Although Turtledove is prone to writing multi-book series, he drops a fairly strong hint on the last page of this book that that won't be necessary here. By the conclusion of "End of the Beginning" in Summer 1943, it is evident that the Pacific war is back on a track similar to the history of our universe, perhaps with the reconquest of territory from the Japanese a few months behind schedule but with the same eventual and inevitable outcome.

In the last sentence of the story, Turtledove gives a clear indication of the ultimate fate in store for one of the few Japanese characters to survive to the end of the book. This also effectively indicates that the story will converge with the course of real history. So there isn't really anything new for any further books in this series to say. then again, I've thought that sort of thing before ....

For the reasons hinted at above, I nearly didn't read this series, but I'm very glad I gave in to the temptation to do so. If you liked most of Turtledove's other books, you will almost certainly like this one.

End of the Beginning.......2007-02-08

This is pure Turtledove. This is history with a twist that keeps you wondering what the end will be like. You get to see the plot unfold through the eyes of all the characters rather than just one or two. As with all of his works, the history of the Pearl Harbor attack unfolds with more twists and turns than a country road. By breaking up the story into little bites the book is ideal reading for someone who likes to just catch a few pages at a time or for those who devourer the entire book at a single sitting. Great story, great writing and fun to read.

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