Book Description
A naive young interpreter stumbles into the heart of an outrageous British plot in the astonishing new novel by the master of the literary thriller.
Abandoned by both his Irish father and Congolese mother, Bruno Salvador (alias Salvo) has long looked for someone to guide his life. Enter Mr. Anderson of British Intelligence. Bruno's African upbringing and fluency in numerous African languages have made him a top interpreter in London, useful to businesses, hospitals, diplomats--and spies. Working for Anderson in a clandestine facility known as the "Chat Room," Salvo translates intercepted phone calls, bugged recordings, and snatched voice mail messages. When Anderson sends him to a mysterious island to interpret a secret conference between Central African warlords, Bruno thinks he is helping Britain bring peace to a bloody corner of the world. But then he begins to hear things not intended for his ears...
Customer Reviews:
prime LeCarre.......2007-09-13
John Le Carre's real world of espionage is sometimes banal, often tedious, sometimes ludicrous but infinitely more engaging than hyperactive fiction. It is a world in which inadequate people struggle to achieve something that becomes harder and harder to believe in. It's about secrets and the people who guard them and those who try to release them. As Le Carre said when the Cold War ended, the game goes on, only the characters change. Mission Song was as engrossing and satisfying as anything Le Carre has done. He's not lost a beat anywhere along the way.
Credulity Incredible.......2007-09-11
The Mission Song starts gamely enough, with an interesting cast of characters and a juicy conspiracy. But once the lead character, Salvo, begins to question the motives of his employers, the novel spirals rapidly into a series of increasingly implausible attempts to set things right. At least justice is served when Salvo ends up a secret prisoner with plenty of time to reflect on his stupidity.
Le Carre has long been a master of the clever thriller. This one devalues the brand.
Good story but...........2007-07-20
John le Carre is one of my favorite authors bar none but, although this is a good story, I thought it took too long to get going. And once it got going, it slowed down again and again. I thought this book had way too many slow parts. Maybe Le Carre was unsure which path the plot should follow because he had too many ideas in his head or had too many characters which he had to take the time to develop that the plot had to meander along so he could find the time to encompass them all. I can't be sure. Plus, the ending had me wanting more. It just seemed like the ending was too easy...I don't know. Maybe I was just hoping for a more happy one. But, in the real world, espcially in the spy business, more often then not we don't get one. Which is how it should be. Nevertheless, I wanted more.
African queen eats zebra -- no one notices.......2007-07-07
First, you need to read the book to understand the caption for this review. Second, the Washington Post review has some bits wrong: there is action, important action, in Africa. And the secondary location is not a "channel island," but rather a North Sea island, two hours north of London by the air. Third, le Carre shifts too quickly from the personal and the humorous to the ethereal and the abstract. At times engaging and at other times maddening, the author has a love of British secrets and darkest Africa. The two are, in fact, inexorably linked, as he showed earlier in "The constant gardener." My time with the book passed between enjoyment and frustration. More than once I had to go back and re-read a passage and more often than that I was tempted to put the book aside. To be candid, years ago I outlined a novel of my own that had the feature employed here of a man who knew one language too many, and le Carre's pivotal meeting on the North Sea island reminded me all too much of the setting for Nelson DeMille's "Wildfire". And I've read the recent detailed economic studies of Africa by William Easterly and Jeffrey Sachs, leaving me way to pessimistic about the entire situation in Africa.
That aside, the reader can't help but appreciate the way le Carre stirs together the infinite misery of African governance interlaced by general warfare, an ill-conceived and easily shattered marriage, a romance electrified by the African language shared over a dying, despised man, the new London media, old spycraft, strange bedfellows, homosexuality and profanity in a rich African stew. The saddest part of the story is not the plight of the protagonist or his new love, nor of the wandering missionary in Africa, nor the jilted wife. Instead, it is Africa itself, used almost as a cardboard character all its own, suffering from western exploitation and its own tribal feuds, amplified by rich natural resources and interlopers eager to provide guns and to fund death machines.
Started out so fresh and promising. .......2007-06-24
Started out very promising. I found the Congo and how coups are orchestrated different. I found Salvo and his life and job as an interpreter interesting. Salvo, we're led to believe, is a very smart savy man yet boom on page 220 he does a very stupid thing, stupidly.
He steals seven tape recordings outright (he doesn't make copies) from people (the Syndicate) he knows first hand are vicious because he's listened in as they tortured, with a cattle prod type device, one of the Congolese "warlords" they were persuading (forcing really) into a coup.
Then on page 248, when back in England, he becomes a complete moron and decides to give these damming tapes to the very head(s) of this Syndicate thinking he'd inform them of the unjust things going on with their coup so they could correct or stop it. Like they didn't know, right?
What he should of done is made many many copies of the tapes and for starters, mailed them out to every major newspaper and TV station in the world. Anyway the story stumbled and fell from there.
Average customer rating:
- Accurate and Heart-Rending Portrayal
- The Truth behind all the Pain ..
- A real achievement.
- If you want to understand it all you MUST read this one
- A lot of cliches, one lie and bias
|
Palestine
Joe Sacco , and
Edward Said
Manufacturer: Fantagraphics Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Middle Eastern
| Regional
| History & Criticism
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Cartooning
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comic Strips
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Novels
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
Fantagraphics
| Publishers
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Israel
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Relations
| International
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995
-
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
-
Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return
-
Maus : A Survivor's Tale : My Father Bleeds History/Here My Troubles Began/Boxed
-
In the Shadow of No Towers
ASIN: 156097432X |
Book Description
Fantagraphics Books is pleased to present, for the first time, a single-volume collection of this 288-page landmark of journalism and the artform of comics. Interest in Sacoo has never been higher than with the release of his critically acclaimed book, Safe Area Gorazde.
Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews), Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, who has often been called the first comic book journalist.
Sacco's insightful reportage takes place at the front lines, where busy marketplaces are spoiled by shootings and tear gas, soldiers beat civilians with reckless abandon, and roadblocks go up before reporters can leave. Sacco interviewed and encountered prisoners, refugees, protesters, wounded children, farmers who had lost their land, and families who had been torn apart by the Palestinian conflict.
In 1996, the Before Columbus Foundation awarded Palestine the seventeenth annual American Book Award, stating that the author should be recognized for his "outstanding contribution to American literature," while his publisher, Fantagraphics, is "to be honored for their commitment to quality and their willingness to take risks that accompany publishing outstanding books and authors that may not prove 'cost-effective' in the short run."
This new edition of Palestine also features a new introduction from renowned author, critic, and historian Edward Said, author of Peace and Its Discontents and The Question of Palestine and one of the world's most respected authorities on the Middle Eastern conflict.
Customer Reviews:
Accurate and Heart-Rending Portrayal.......2007-06-22
Joe Sacco lived in Palestine for 2 months, living and conversing with Palestinians about the horrors of Israeli occupation. He shows visually what Human Rights reports can only give in statistics: the shame and inhumanity of arbitrary checkpoints, the immense grief of losing a son or daughter to blatant Israelis aggression and Chauvinism, the deadening effect of a life fully controlled by a racist occupying force in one's own country, and the stoic resolve with which innocent Palestinians (women, children, men) are tortured by Israeli Shin Bet.
Israeli apologists and closet bigots will ironically (and predictably) call this book "propaganda" and "lies". Unfortunately for them, truth does not conform to the subjective imaginings of a flawed and hypocritical ideology. Zionism is founded on the exploitation and suffering of the Palestinians, and no amount of prevarication, sophistry, and lies can change this fact.
Sacco's artwork is unique and eye-catching, meticulous and quirky. The images are worth the price alone. A must-read.
The Truth behind all the Pain .. .......2007-02-16
This is probably the best book out there that'll make you understand what you never understood before , A true Graphic novel that captured what other artists haven't .. 10\10 You can't live without reading this, Just give it a chance .. You wont be the same .
A real achievement........2007-01-15
I'd just like to echo what so many other reviewers have said - such as how people will gain a deeper understanding of the Palestinian's struggle, and that we should buy two copies of "Palestine" and give one away. I actually bought an additional copy that's in Spanish and sent it to a library in Mexico.
The way Joe Sacco describes life and his own experience in the Occupied Territories is captivating, and the drawings are fantastic.
When he came out with this graphic novel, there were very few voices who would dare to say something sympathetic toward Palestinians. Now, with books like Jimmy Carter's "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid" and the work of Noam Chomsky reaching a global audience, Sacco's compassion is more mainstream.
For analysis of how the Palestinian's struggle was mischaracterized for so long, I'd suggest the DVD "Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land."
And for people who are interested in the "graphic" novel format, I'd also highly recommend "Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World" edited by Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman.
If you want to understand it all you MUST read this one.......2006-09-11
If you seek to understand the Middle East, this is one you MUST read. That's all I have to say. To say more would be superfluous. You really want to understand it all, you MUST read it. There, I"ve said it twice. NOw go read it. If you want to understand.....
A lot of cliches, one lie and bias.......2006-08-19
It is not suprising that the conflict in the middle east lends itself to distortion and hyperbole, after all not everyone can visit the region and few understand the size of things being fought over. If the region was as proportional to the world as presented in the media it would be the size of Asia rather than .001% of it.
This comic looks at a person travelling to Israel and subseuqently going to the Palestinian territories and seing the 'truth'. But there is one truth here. When in Israel he wears a skullkap or Yarmluke(Kippah) a sign of being Jewish, in the territories he does not. Why? Because he could die for it. This might be a worthwhile litmus test for tolerance, it clearly shows what 'tolerance' really means in Palestine. If you can die for being religious, that doesnt point to the liberal tolerance Edward Said claims to exist.
However there is one blatent lie in the drawings here. The Jewish houses in the settlements are accused of looking 'foreign' while the Arab ones are said to be 'indigenous'. Somehow this is hard to beleive given the fact that 95% of Arab homes in Palestine are constructed of concrete, and are two stories. THos 'native' houses the author refers to, and depicts, existed as mud huts in the 1800s, todays rich Palestinian elite have Mercedes and 3 story houses, ten times larger than the trailors and single bedroom homes of the 'bad' settlers. But distortion can be forgiven, it is a critical view of how Israel is bad and Palestine good.
Seth J. Frantzman
Amazon.com
You loved the comic strip; now read the business advice.
Or should that be anti-business advice? Scott Adams provides the hapless victim of re-engineering, rightsizing and Total Quality Management some strategies for fighting back, er, coping. Forced to work long hours, with no hope of a raise? Adams offers tips on maintaining parity in compensation. Along the way, Adams explains what ISO 9000 really is and assesses the irresistibility of female engineers.
The breath-taking cynicism of the strip should prepare readers for the author's no-holds-barred attack on management fads, large organizations, pointless bureaucracy and sadistic rule-makers who glory in control of office supplies. Readers of the on-line Dilbert Newsletter are familiar with the kind of e-mail Adams receives from his readers -- and may even have sent a few of those missives themselves. Along with illustrative strips, e-mail messages provide excruciating examples of corporate behavior which compel the reader to agree with Adams when he insists that "People are idiots".
The final chapter offers a model for would-be successful businesses to follow: the OA5 model. It's introduced with little fanfare, no outrageous promises and just the right amount of self-deprecation.
Book Description
The creator of Dilbert, the fastest–growing comic strip in the nation (syndicated in nearly 1000 newspapers), takes a look at corporate America in all its glorious lunacy. Lavishly illustrated with Dilbert strips, these hilarious essays on incompetent bosses, management fads, bewildering technological changes and so much more, will make anyone who has ever worked in an office laugh out loud in recognition.
The Dilbert Principle: The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage 埭anagement.
Since 1989, Scott Adams has been illustrating this principle each day, lampooning the corporate world through Dilbert, his enormously popular comic strip. In Dilbert, the potato–shaped, abuse–absorbing hero of the strip, Adams has given voice to the millions of Americans buffeted by the many adversities of the workplace.
Now he takes the next step, attacking corporate culture head–on in this lighthearted series of essays. Packed with more than 100 hilarious cartoons, these 25 chapters explore the zeitgeist of ever–changing management trends, overbearing egos, management incompetence, bottomless bureaucracies, petrifying performance reviews, three–hour meetings, the confusion of the information superhighway and more. With sharp eyes, and an even sharper wit, Adams exposes –– and skewers –– the bizarre absurdities of everyday corporate life. Readers will be convinced that he must be spying on their bosses, The Dilbert Principle rings so true!
Customer Reviews:
Best and truest workplace book EVER!.......2007-09-17
subject says it all- just get it and you will laugh your hiney off. Plently of Dilbert cartoon panels disbursed throughout. Published in 1996 but absolutely timeless and just as applicable today as ever; probably always will be.
A funny, smart, and revealing look into workplace dynamics.......2007-08-16
Yeah, we all know Dilbert. Meetings are waste of time, managers are stupid, and co-workers are imbeciles. I half expected this book to be full of these cliches. Not even close. Scott Adams does an excellent job of showing the humor of a job with smart observances and clever ideas. From the absurd yet funny comics, to actual written letters from organizations, and his own personal experiences - Adams gives out humor that is relevant, funny, and pertinent. His topics range from management, to consultants, to engineers, to marketing, and much more. He touches on all facets of the workplace in a manner that couldn't be handled well in a few comic strips.
I'm working and getting my MBA now, and this sort of book tends to ground me. It's a quick and easy read. Nothing special, but very smart and funny.
Total Quality Management Produced this.......2007-06-11
Scott Adams worked for a utility monopoly when he began his satirical comic strip that mocked decadent management. Does anyone believe his comic situations would apply to an owner-operated small business? Only a large monopoly could afford and profit from the examples in Dilbert-land. Their profits are based on costs, so their higher costs from mismanagement allow higher charges on their captive customers. Once you understand this you'll know why things work that way. But nothing lasts forever, many places will be closed, their employees outsourced offshore. The bad effects could be reduced by a program of internal competition and rotation of managers. (That pointy-haired manager has to have a relationship with somebody in upper management.) This book lacks an index and a bibliography, like a novel.
Note polarity when changing a battery (p.3). Statistics is the art of arranging facts so they produce the desired conclusion (p.5). Sometimes they can be factual. Adams' story about "bluffing" (p.6) tells me he is not a carpenter, painter, plumber, electrician, mason, farmer, or assembly line worker who produce something from real work. I doubt if any of them will ever read this book for humor. You might just as well explain television to a cave person. Adams doesn't understand the printing press; it reduced the cost to mass-produce literature for those who could read.
The `Introduction' seems truly idiotic. If his co-workers don't know much that tells you about their knowledge gained from weekly news-magazines, corporate broadcasts, weekly tabloids, etc. Does he have a cure? [I recommend reading a daily newspaper, news radio, and avoid broadcast media that features gossip and opinion, and magazines. Listening to advertising is a form of Pavlovian conditioning.] "The Dilbert Principle" (Chapter 1) originally appeared in the `Wall Street Journal' along with other curiosities of that day. [Browse a copy once a week, they have news that is often missing from most newspapers.] Adams wonders why certain people are promoted to management? It's the class system, managers do this to prevent being threatened by more talented people. Talented people will either leave for another company, or accept their fate (p.17). The ineffective manager is used as an expendable who can be sacrificed if the need arises (after blaming the workers who have only followed orders). You can read about this in the newspapers if you haven't seen this for yourself. Read C. Northcote Parkinson's book.
Giving Chapter 5 the title "Machiavellian Methods" tells me Scott Adams never read "The Prince". "Campaign Promises" may be a better title. "ISO 9000" is the way to document processes and job descriptions so the corporation can send this work offshore, fire employees, and save millions on salaries to give bonuses to upper management. There's no secret here (Chapter 20). This is followed by "Downsizing" (Chapter 21). Chapter 23 discusses "Reengineering". Did those two authors ever practice what they preached? If not, then what does it say about the mismanagers who believed their story? There is a hidden agenda here, a formula for mass layoffs.
The Dilbert Principle for Seth.......2007-01-25
I received what I ordered, on time, to the correct ship address and in good condition.
Excellent book........2007-01-03
If you want to know wath really happens inside a typical organization... read this book and you'll name everyone around your cubicle as the characters in the book. Have fun and discover the real organization structure.
Average customer rating:
|
The Politics of Home: Postcolonial Relocations and Twentieth-Century Fiction
Rosemary Marangoly George
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
20th Century
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Semiotics
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Critical Theory
| English
| Humanities
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
British Literature
| English
| Humanities
| New & Used Textbooks
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0521453348 |
Book Description
Twentieth-century imperial and postcolonial narratives in English have a major investment in the notion of "home." At the same time, the concept of "global English" challenges the traditional boundaries of national literatures. Through inter-related readings of the work of "first-world" and "third-world" writers and theorists, including Joseph Conrad, Kazuo Ishiguro, Anita Desai, Edward Said and Homi Bhabha, the author explores the problems, pleasures and privileges involved in "feeling at home" in literature.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book.......2006-11-16
I loved this book ... couldn't put it down until the last page was over ! When's the next one coming??
Book Description
When Martha Dandridge Custis marries her second husband, George, she never suspects that the soft-spoken Virginia planter is destined to command the founding of a nation—or that she is to be “Lady Washington,” the woman at the first President’s side. Only a select inner circle of women will know the cost of sharing a beloved man with history . . . and each will draw strength from the unique treasure given to them by a doomed queen.
Seeing farm and family through each harsh New England season, Abigail Adams is sustained only by the fervent reunions stolen between John’s journeys abroad. She will face the terror of an ocean crossing to join her husband in France—and write her own page in history. And there she will cross paths with kings, commoners—and young Sally Hemings.
Just as Sally had grown from a clever child to a beautiful woman, so had her relationship with Thomas Jefferson grown from a friendship between slave and master to one entangled in the complexities of black and white, decorum and desire. It is a relationship that will leave Sally to face an agonizingly wrenching choice.
Dolley Madison, too, must live with the repercussions of a forbidden love affair—although she will confront even greater trials as a President’s wife. But Dolley will become one of the best-loved ladies of the White House—and leave an extraordinary legacy of her own.
A lushly written novel that traces the marriages tested by the demands of love and loyalty,
Patriot Hearts offers readers a dazzling glimpse behind the scenes of a revolution, from adversity and treachery to teatime strategies, as four magnificent women shape a nation’s future.
Customer Reviews:
Very Disappointing.......2007-07-22
Where I found the content of the book interesting, it was presented in such a broken up way to be very confusing at times. I had a hard time figuring out where I was at the time and remembering where I had left off with this character the last time she was talked about. I found myself very frustrated and wound up skimming to finish the book just in case something interesting would come in, that I wouldn't want to miss. But on the whole, the book was very disappointing.
Mixed Feelings For Patriot Hearts.......2007-03-30
Barbara Hambly is clearly a talented writer and writes well researched fiction. The stories in this book are compelling and interesting but the book is extremely hard to read. I normally finish a book in three days... this book took me three weeks to read and I almost gave up on it before finishing. Why? The viewpoint shifts from chapter to chapter to different women (many of whom share the same name). There is more than one Abigail, Nabby, Mary, etc. No warning is given when the viewpoint changes and the shift is often confusing and misleading. I had to read several chapters more than once and still couldn't figure out whose story I was reading! The subject matter is wonderful and the historical details are fascinating but the effort required to read the book may be too much for some people.
A well-written and interesting account of four relationships during the Revolution.......2007-02-24
Barbara Hambly writes that PATRIOT HEARTS "is a book about the relationships of four women --- Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Sally Hemings and Dolley Madison --- with their families, with their men, with the societies they lived in, with the choices their men made...and with one another."
The setting changes from the cities of Philadelphia and Washington, to the pastoral farm and plantation lands these women called home. The action begins in Washington City on August 24, 1814. Dolley Madison gathers household goods, personal belongings and memorabilia from her past three predecessors into a rough cart. Forced to flee the city due to approaching British troops, she gives in to her staff's demands. Admiral Cockburn has pledged to parade James and Dolley Madison through the streets, shackled and fettered. Dolley's concern is for her "Jemmy," not herself. They plan to join one another safe in the countryside, far from the chaos of the Washington scene.
Hambly uses chronology to keep the reader focused on the happenings of the times about which she writes. In 1787, life at Mount Vernon Plantation in Fairfax, Virginia, centers on planning the next season's crops, tending to the gardens and sharing in the care of a family, complete with grandchildren. Martha's heartrate rises with the announcement of a visitor, James Madison. Since George retired from active military command after the revolt against England, Madison has been pressing him to become the new country's first President. George has refused, but now there is a new urgency in Madison's vocal thundering.
Martha had joined her husband in his winter encampments during the war years, warring within herself about her personal loyalties: home at Mount Vernon with children and family, or at the side of her husband near the battlefield. It is a choice she cannot condemn or condone. For years, she is convinced that public life has destroyed her family's stability.
Abigail Adams rushes to her daughter Nabby's side to welcome her first grandchild into the world. In the eight war years, Nabby had grown more quiet and withdrawn as a child; Abigail often wonders if her little girl will break a long period of silence. Now, the shared bonds of motherhood will begin the healing process. Nabby's husband, Col. William Smith, is not the soulmate Abigail would have chosen.
Dolley Madison continues with her escape plan in 1814 and remembers her own initial experience with life apart from a strict Quaker upbringing, dictated by a stern father. She is being coerced into marriage with a Quaker man, John Todd, whom she doesn't love; instead, she wants to marry a man who will make her smile.
The fourth patriot woman recorded in this book is Sally Hemings, mistress of Thomas Jeffferson. Sally, a mulatto slave woman, holds a unique place in presidential history, from the perspective of one who does not entertain as the President's hostess. Instead, she keeps the home plantation healthy, yearning for Jefferson's return there. His daughter, Patsy, retains control of Washington entertainment. Before his election, Jefferson has been outspoken about states' rights. Widowed, he is an ambassador to France when Patsy is a young girl; he has formulated much of his political ideology. Sally accompanies them to France and lives publicly as his mistress. Social mores in France are more accepting of interracial coupling than in the American culture. When their return to the United States is imminent, Sally faces the hard choice of remaining in France as a free woman or living her former life as a slave.
All in all, PATRIOT HEARTS is well-written and holds the reader's interest. Martha Washington, though a reluctant Presidentress, becomes the steadfast thread linking the other three. Hambly shows the evolution of political change in Washington but spices history with her own take on the personalities of the women involved.
--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Tries to do a bit too much but still a good book........2007-02-12
I've read Barbara Hambly books for a number of years and I'm delighted to see her turning her talents to historical fiction. Patriot Hearts is not, as the author notes in the introduction, a four in one biography but rather scenes of these four remarkable women during different times of their turbulent lives. That is both a strength and weakness of this book, in my opinion. Just when I was totally engrossed in one segment, the plot jumps around to another one of the four at another time of their lives. On the plus side, Hambly does a superb job of telling what these women sacrificed for their country, as well as their men. Families disrupted, long absences from home and from each other and more than a little danger of losing their lives or their husbands. Martha Washington's tangled family relations, Abigail Adams' isolated life in New England (when she wasn't in Europe with John) and of course, the great enigma, Sally Hemings. No one knows how Sally Hemings really felt about Thomas Jefferson but Ms. Hambly does a creditable job of sorting out this most complicated relationship. My favorite is Dolley Madison and you feel with her a nerve jangling tension as she waits at the doomed White House for her President husband to return. The uncertainty of true chaos as order shatters around her only increases one's admiration of her.
Even though some of the skipping around may frustrate you a bit, I still highly recommend this book.
Book Description
In this original reading of Albert Camus' novels, short stories, and political essays, David Carroll concentrates on Camus' conflicted relationship with his Algerian background and finds important critical insights into questions of justice, the effects of colonial oppression, and the deadly cycle of terrorism and counterterrorism that characterized the Algerian War and continues to surface in the devastation of postcolonial wars today.
During France's "dirty war" in Algeria, Camus called for an end to the violence perpetrated against civilians by both France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) and supported the creation of a postcolonial, multicultural, and democratic Algeria. His position was rejected by most of his contemporaries on the Left and has, ironically, earned him the title of colonialist sympathizer as well as the scorn of important postcolonial critics.
Carroll rescues Camus' work from such criticism by emphasizing the Algerian dimensions of his literary and philosophical texts and by highlighting in his novels and short stories his understanding of both the injustice of colonialism and the tragic nature of Algeria's struggle for independence. By refusing to accept that the sacrifice of innocent human lives can ever be justified, even in the pursuit of noble political goals, and by rejecting simple, ideological binaries (West vs. East, Christian vs. Muslim, "us" vs. "them," good vs. evil), Camus' work offers an alternative to the stark choices that characterized his troubled times and continue to define our own.
"What they didn't like, was the Algerian, in him," Camus wrote of his fictional double in The First Man. Not only should "the Algerian" in Camus be "liked," Carroll argues, but the Algerian dimensions of his literary and political texts constitute a crucial part of their continuing interest. Carroll's reading also shows why Camus' critical perspective has much to contribute to contemporary debates stemming from the global "war on terror."
Average customer rating:
|
Ralph Ellison and the Politics of the Novel
H. William Rice
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Classics
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
20th Century
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| Criticism & Theory
| History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0739106546 |
Book Description
In this engaging study, H. William Rice illuminates the mystery that is Ralph Ellison: the author of one complex, important novel who failed to complete his second; a black intellectual who remained notably reticent on political issues during the desegregation of his native South. Rice guides his reader to a greater understanding of Ralph Ellison, his oeuvre, and the American novel.
Book Description
THE MOST INCREDIBLE CONSPIRACIES N-E-V-E-R TOLD!
To commemorate the release of Commander X's first video - THE SECRET UNDERGROUND LECTURES OF COMMANDER X (now available on Amazon) -- we have simultaneously published this volume containing the best material on the "far out" conspiracies that are going around in the conspiracy underground. These are NOT your "normal" cover-ups, but some of the most incredible paranoia you will even encounter.
Do NOT read with the lights down low. Have your pet pit bull by your side for protection. Put out your UFO detector. Lock the windows. Bolt all the doors and get ready to read about:
O Pine Gap, Australia's Top Secret Underground Base (more secret than Area 51).
O What goes on inside the Secret Society of the Skull and Bones (stuff long time member George Bush won't tell you).
O The arrival of Planet X from the far end of the galaxy -- there's no where to hide from this baby when its about the come into Earth's orbit.
O Get the latest on Free Energy, NWO Anti-Gravity aircraft and Tesla Technology Big Brother is keeping to himself.
O Don't think David Icke is the only researcher out there talking about the Serpent Race and the Reptoids, and how they have been controling our world for centuries. Too scary to even contemplate for most of us normals in "Disney World."
O Think you hear voices? Well you probably do as big brother attempts to pervert our thinking and confuse the hell out of us. Don't become a human zombie. Learn how to protect yourself.
O Think that Earth is one molten ball of fire on the inside? Where have you been my friend -- its hollow with a central sun (and even the famed explorer Richard Byrd wandered inside while exploring the poles), and the planet is also honeycombed with caverns inhabited by all sorts of creatures. Ask Richard Shaver who was down there with the Dero and the Tero. No this is not science fiction -- its the real thing dear friend.
Here is all the action with special chapters by --
O Tim Swartz - author, Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla.
O Mark Hazlewood the man responsible for the Planet X scare.
O Brad & Sherry Steiger whose l00 plus books are in every New Age occultists library (Brad is a frequent guest on Coast to Coast radio).
O Branton, known for his Nazi UFO theories.
O Sean Casteel, author UFOS, PROPHECY AND THE END OF TIME.
Plus tons more stuff. Its lots of serious fun for every conspiracy buff (some of these nobody has heard of before), and its all in one large-size - 8.5xll - book edited by the king of Conspiracies -- COMMANDER X.
So don't delay get this one today. . .before the NWO goons take it off the market.
Customer Reviews:
What They Don't Want you to Know.......2007-07-19
This is one fantastic book. The articles in here are enough to scare anyone who suspects that there is more going on in our world than we dare think about. Some of the best writers around have contributed their talents in this book...Brad Steiger, Kenn Thomas, Branton, Sean Casteel, Peter Robbins, and Timothy Green Beckley to name just a few.
This book is divided up into sections titled: INCREDIBLE CONSPIRACIES, UNDERGROUND BASES AND INNER EARTH MYSTERIES, PLANET X AND OTHER STRANGE EVENTS, ANOMALOUS BEINGS, REPTILIANS AND SHAPE SHIFTERS, EARTH AND CLIMATE CHANGES, SECRET SOCIETIES AND THE NWO, SUPPRESSED TESLA AND OTHER INCREDIBLE TECHNOLOGIES.
It is full of great information and interesting stories. This book is a must for anyones collection.
Amazon.com
Catastrophic, world-altering events like the September 11 attacks on the United States place the millions of us who experience them on the "fault line where World History and Personal History collide." Most of us, however, cannot document that intersection with the force, compression, and poignancy expressed in Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers. As in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, cartoonist Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary of his experience of September 11 and its aftermath. In 10 large-scale pages of original, hard hitting material (composed from September 11, 2001 to August 31, 2003), two essays, and 10 old comic strip reproductions from the early 20th century, Spiegelman expresses his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks---and the subsequent "hijacking" of the event by the Bush administration to serve what he believes is a misguided and immoral political agenda. Readers who agree with Spiegelman's point of view will marvel at the brilliance of his images and the wit and accuracy of his commentary. Others, no doubt, will be jolted by his candor and, perhaps, be challenged to reexamine their position.
The central image in the sequence of original broadsides, which returns as a leitmotif in each strip, is Spiegelman's Impressionistic "vision of disintegration," of the North Tower, its "glowing bones...just before it vaporized." (As downtown New Yorkers, Spiegelman and his family experienced the event firsthand.) But the images and styles in the book are as fragmentary and ever-shifting as Spiegelman's reflections and reactions. The author's closing comment that "The towers have come to loom far larger than life...but they seem to get smaller every day" reflects a larger and more chilling irony that permeates In the Shadow of No Towers. Despite the ephemeral nature of the comic strip form, the old comics at the back of the book have outlasted the seemingly indestructible towers. In the same way, Spiegelman's heartfelt impressions have immortalized the towers that, imponderably, have now vanished. --Silvana Tropea
Book Description
For Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were both highly personal and intensely political. In the Shadow of No Towers, his first new book of comics since the groundbreaking Maus, is a masterful and moving account of the events and aftermath of that tragic day.
Spiegelman and his family bore witness to the attacks in their lower Manhattan neighborhood: his teenage daughter had started school directly below the towers days earlier, and they had lived in the area for years. But the horrors they survived that morning were only the beginning for Spiegelman, as his anguish was quickly displaced by fury at the U.S. government, which shamelessly co-opted the events for its own preconceived agenda.
He responded in the way he knows best. In an oversized, two-page-spread format that echoes the scale of the earliest newspaper comics (which Spiegelman says brought him solace after the attacks), he relates his experience of the national tragedy in drawings and text that convey—with his singular artistry and his characteristic provocation, outrage, and wit—the unfathomable enormity of the event itself, the obvious and insidious effects it had on his life, and the extraordinary, often hidden changes that have been enacted in the name of post-9/11 national security and that have begun to undermine the very foundation of American democracy.
Customer Reviews:
Dull.......2007-03-09
In a small series of comic strips originally designed to be printed as large, two-page newspaper spreads, Spiegelman illustrates his personal experiences of the attack on the World Trade Center. He focuses mainly upon four themes: his concern over the safety of his daughter who was attending a school right near the towers, his growing paranoia over the government, the funny but disturbing display of blind patriotism that arose amongst the US population and media following the tragedy, and, lastly, how slow he is at producing comic strips.
Given the emotions still surrounding 9/11, it would take extraordinarily bad writing to fail to get any reaction from a reader, and perhaps that is why Spiegelman is so lazy and sloppy here. I'm sure he felt emotions while he was writing this, and he DOES do a good job of making the reader feel some of his anxiety over his daughter's safety, and some of his anecdotes are interesting (his never-used TV interview about how "American" 9/11 made him feel -- it didn't -- is quite humourous). But overall the writing lacks direction, is amateurish and hackneyed, and surprisingly ineffective at eliciting a strong emotional reaction from the reader given the subject matter. It usually wasn't so much Spiegelman's writing that made me feel emotions, but the memories it drew from inside of me (like the images of people falling from the towers). Without those memories, it was just history.
The problem may in part be due to the format of his stories. In each spread we tend to get a glimpse of a storyline, then we get to the next strip and we see basically the same glimpse of a storyline with much repetition and little progression, rendering his storytelling completely choppy. It reminded me of newscasts where they keep repeating the same "coming up" message over and over again, and when they finally get to the story itself, it winds up being even shorter and less informative than any of the multiple previews you sat through. And sometimes he doesn't even go that far. To illustrate, Spiegelman repeatedly tells you how paranoid he felt. But he does not get his feeling of paranoia across. He doesn't make the reader feel any of his paranoia or really show its effects on his life (other than some lost sleep). And it comes across as completely matter-of-fact. He might as well be telling us that he ate a salami sandwich for lunch yesterday without even describing its taste, his hunger, etc.
Some of his artwork is interesting as he draws upon classic strips from the early 20th century for inspiration, but this technique rarely adds any depth to the story's content. It is interesting style, but that's all it is -- style. It makes for pretty pictures, but fails to redeem the text.
Overall, Spiegelman has nothing new to say on the subject of 9/11. It has all been done far more competently and compellingly elsewhere by numbers too great to count. Ultimately lightweight, Shadow is printed on nice, thick boards to create the illusion that it is far more substantial than it is. It includes reprints of several interesting vintage comic strips which are included both to allow the reader less versed in comics to see where Spiegelman drew stylistic inspiration, and to pad out the books extremely small page count.
Not quite what I expected.......2006-04-02
I thought this would be more of a story of the artist's personal experience & less political. I don't disagree with his politics, but it was still somewhat of a disappointment. Spiegelman's artwork is always amazing, often moving & thought provoking. I was really moved by his quote: "I finally understand why some Jews didn't leave Berlin right after Kristallnacht!" I also enjoyed the section on old political cartoons
"I finally understand why some Jews didn't leave Berlin after Kristallnacht"---Art Spiegelman.......2006-02-17
Before this book, I had never picked up a book on 9/11, being that I assumed they are all so politically biased (be it one extreme or another). There are also so many of them, some released very soon after the attack. It is frustrating to look at the "new books" section of the local library and see ½ the shelves filled with 9/11 books. I couldn't help myself with this curio, however. I am a fan of history and comics. Browsing through the large, thick, colorful cardboard panels of "In the Shadow of No Towers", I saw a vintage newspaper page on the shooting of President McKinley (the author doesn't elaborate on why this was used, must be the terrorism theme, in this case anarchism) and what looked like on first glance a vintage comic on the Titanic (it turned out to be an even older comic). I knew this book was right up my alley. Having never read Maus, I wasn't sure what to expect but looked forward to checking it out.
It didn't take long to find the politically-biased stuff I dreaded.. On the very first plate: "In those first few days after 9/11 I got lost constructing conspiracy theories about my government's complicity in what had happened that would have done a Frenchman proud. (My susceptibility for conspiracy goes back a long ways but had reached its previous peak after the 2000 elections)." In fact, in his "...No Towers" comics that make up the first 10 panels of the 18-plate book, the author reveals a preoccupation with the 2000 elections. At one point he calls George W. Bush that "creature in the White House" (7). This book came out before the 2004 elections, so one can only wonder if the author has yet to let 2000 go. On panel 7, he has a red/blue zone look at the 2000 elections "the one that put the loser in office," with what I'm guessing is the percentage of the popular vote showing Gore the winner (of course, it is not the popular vote that determines the winner).
The "...No Towers" strips are very aesthetically interesting with computer images mixed with colorful comic artwork. The author relives his experiences during the tragedy, getting his daughter from the UN school near the towers, a run-in with a predictable crazy lady living on the street, etc. He then goes into his own internal struggles with what had transpired and the aftermath. My favorite line is "sometimes complaining is the only solace" (9). The vintage comics section I found to be the most intriguing as I enjoy (though I don't often understand) that early 20th century humor. Spiegelman chose is 8 comics, it seems, based on themes of buildings and American patriotism. I am grateful he includes an explanation of them, especially the Krazy Kat comic, as I would probably not understand the connection he drew between them and 9/11 otherwise. Actually, I was a little disappointed in the vintage comics used. I thought they'd deal with how comic writers dealt with other tragedies. My favorite vintage comic is the first one used in plate 1 "Etymological Vaudeville" where Happy Hooligan gets ready for bed and takes off one of his shoes that goes "Klomp!" Not wanting to wake his family, he quietly takes off the other shoe and goes to bed only to be awakened by his family cussing and yelling, "Drop the other @*g! shoe so we can go to sleep!".
What strikes me the most is the reoccurring theme that the end of the world is upon us. I think that probably people from every generation felt this away about the tragic events of their time, be it war, famine, plague, etc. Spiegelman makes statements like "I worry whether New York City or I will still be around" (7). I think we all are guilty of taking our time on earth too seriously. We like to think that we witnessed the worst thing to ever happen in the history of man. Horror is all relative of course, but in the scheme of history, as horrible as 9/11 was, it was not the worst thing to happen on earth. Worse things have happened in the past and will happen in the future. Spiegelman himself hints at this at the end of his introduction: "I still believe the world is ending, but I concede that it seems to be ending more slowly than I once thought" (i).
Go Shopping and Be Afraid.......2006-02-04
There's no way this project could be as tremendous as Spiegelman's life's work, "Maus," but it's tough not to make comparisons. This book consists of just ten large-scale comic strips that Spiegelman created to explore his feelings about 9/11 and its aftermath. Spiegelman's personal experience of the disaster – his family lives and works literally next to the World Trade Center – gives his accounts a direct poignancy, with more strength and emotion than the jingoism you get from pundits who weren't there. And as always, Spiegelman's artwork is outstandingly expressive, with his gifts for artistic allegory and surrealism in full eye-popping display. However, things go asunder when Spiegelman extends his comic strips to the political aftermath of 9/11. I don't disagree with the idea that the Bush administration has used the disaster to consolidate votes and bully a fearful public into backing their political agenda, and I won't accuse Spiegelman of conspiracy theorizing as others have. However, Spiegelman's social and political philosophy is rather undeveloped and sketchy, and frankly too weak to stand next to his outstanding artwork. Meanwhile, the second half of this very meager book consists of reprints of old comic strips from the early 1900's, which Spiegelman says have influenced his artwork and his opinions on the post-9/11 American political landscape. These strips are certainly interesting from a historical standpoint, but I'm not really buying Spiegelman's claims of a direct connection to the rest of the book. [~doomsdayer520~]
Deeply moving, but ill-informed.......2005-12-26
With Maus, Spiegelman showed how well he could tug at our emotions and portray a sense of struggling and grasping in the most hopeless scenarios. Here, however Spiegelman tries to weave the same effect based on conspiracies and propaganda, and the result is to cheapen Maus and Spiegelman alike. Readers of Maus are advised to steer clear of this book, as it will destroy the power of Spiegelman's narration by destroying the credibility and the sense of a frank and honest witness to the events.
Book Description
At a year-end publishers' party at the zenith of the roaring 1990s, the editor of a "laddie" men's magazine asked his newest staff writer to pitch him the wildest, most over-the-top idea for an adventure travel piece that he could think of. "You name it, we'll do it!," the editor promised. Remembering his childhood fascination with the Kazakh S.S.R. and its description in National Geographic as "the most remote place on earth," Ted Rall proposed a reckless headlong plunge into the belly of post-Soviet Central Asia. "I'll drive the Silk Road from Beijing to Istanbul," Rall said, "via Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey. I won't do research. I'll just show up and see what happens."
Five years after having been cut loose by the imploding Soviet Union the Central Asian republics—colloquially known as the Stans—were reeling from an identity crisis precipitated by economic collapse. Citizens of a great superpower woke up to find themselves in Third World anarchy. Closed societies were opening up for the first time. Guards at the Chinese-Kazakh border detained Rall for hours at one checkpoint after another; they still faxed Moscow for advice on how to handle him. They had never seen an American passport.
What began as a lark yielded a stunning series of revelations. Elderly people were starving to death in nations sitting atop the world's largest untapped reserves of oil and natural gas. Looters were cavalierly ambling around in flatbed trucks loaded with disinterred nuclear missiles. Statues of and slogans by crazy dictators were springing up as quickly as their corrupt military policemen could rob a passing motorist. And on the main drag in the capital city of each of these profoundly dysfunctional societies, a gleaming American embassy whose staff was quietly calling the shots in a new campaign to de-Russify access to those staggering energy resources.
CIA agents, oilmen and prostitutes mixed uneasily and awkwardly in ad hoc British-style pubs where beers cost a dollar—a day's pay and more than enough to keep out the locals. In an extreme case of the "oil curse," wealth was being pillaged by U.S.-backed autocrats while their subjects plunged into poverty. Meanwhile Taliban-trained Islamic radicals were waiting to fill the vacuum.
It was a volatile mix. But did anybody care?
Rall's magazine account of his 1997 misadventures through Central Asia, "Silk Road to Ruin," was soon followed by a feature he launched on his Los Angeles radio talk show. "Stan Watch: Breaking News from Central Asia," was intended as a send-up of Americans' disinterest in foreign affairs. Again, the joke turned serious. "Stan Watch"'s obscure news stories about the world's most remote countries, which many Americans couldn't even pronounce, became wildly popular. NPR and the BBC simulcast it. A 1999 assassination attempt on Uzbek president Islam Karimov became a subject of intense speculation. Americans, it turned out, were interested in the outside world. They just couldn't read about it in their local newspaper.
Soon, no one knew more about Central Asia than Rall.
Transformed by what he saw being done in America's name and eager to sound the alarm, he became an expert. He returned to visit the region's most rural mountain villages. He brought two dozen ordinary Americans on the bus tour from hell. He went as a rogue independent and as a guest of the State Department. He returned to cover the American invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, then went back again. Capitals moved, street names changed and the economic fortunes of entire nations turned on a dime from year to the next, but those changes merely reinforced Rall's firm belief that Central Asia is the new Middle East: thrilling, terrifying, simultaneously hopeful and bleak, a battleground for proxy war and endless chaos. It is the ultimate tectonic, cultural and political collision zone. Far away from television cameras and Western reporters, Central Asia is poised to spawn some of the new century's worst nightmares.
Customer Reviews:
FASCINATING!!.......2007-09-29
Ted Rall travels to Central Asia - Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. He traveled a few times by himself while he was doing a radio show in LA. Then he went on behalf of the U.S. state government to Turkmenistan and on his own to Afghanistan via Tajikistan to cover the 2001 Afghan invasion.
The book goes into the history, current political situation and culture of this region of the world which we do not know much about. We read about a world where there are military checkpoints, not much development, corruption and different cultures. We learn that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have vast amounts of untapped oil reserves which the United States, Russia and China are all vying to get. Since 2001, the U.S. has also opened military bases in these countries.
He details environmental problems such as Kazakhstan is Russia's Nevada and Russia does nuclear testing there. He goes into Central Asia's versions of 9/11 and Tiananmen square. Also we learn about some customs and interesting games played by people in Central Asia. The book has some enlightening and funny comic strips in it. Rall has a genuine appreciation of the history and culture of these regions.
Rall's conclusion at the end is that when democratically elected leaders such as Askar Akayev from Kyrgyzstan are toppled by U.S. backed revolutions and dictators who bow to the U.S. are instilled; this will lead to a repeat of a 1979 Iranian style revolution in these countries. That is one conclusion, the other one is that countries are turning a blind eye to gross human rights violations like murders of political opponents or boiling dissidents while at the same time cozying up to dictators to gain favor and eventually access to oil. This will create resentment in the long term. He says if people in the United States don't care about these countries, that is fine, as long as we withdraw from the region completely. Another conclusion is that foreign aid is pouring into Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan since they have proven oil reserves. Meanwhile Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are borderline failed states. Rall states these countries are a "package deal" and if one or two countries remain volatile, it will affect neighboring countries. Silk Road to Ruin is a must read book to learn about this underreported part of the world.
Reveals American Contempt for Central Asians.......2007-09-05
Ted Rall's book is worth reading, for a damning self-portrait of an "ugly American" version 2006--huckster, radio host, cartoonist, coldly cynical, thrill-seeking, slumming Ivy Leaguer, brimming with smug condescension and contempt for those he encounters on various tours through Central Asia over the past decade.
Rall waltzes through some of the most violent and tragic regions on earth apparently in search of laffs, thrills, and chills. He gets them. A form of 21st century slumming, adventure tourism is the theme, including a brief kidnapping by the Taliban. Yet lives of ordinary Central Asians apparently matter little--he boasts of paying thousands of dollars in bribes to bump Central Asians from reserved seats on an airplane in order to escape with his tour group from a potentially violent attack. Despite claiming that the Central Asians were in no danger (if so, why were they leaving, and why had they bought tickets?), his message is clear: "I'm number one."
Although Rall clearly has talent as a writer and cartoonist, as well as determination and guts, he apparently lacks human compassion for the people in the region he exploits in his business ventures.
One word: JUNK.......2007-06-07
Ted Rall offers his usual ultra left-wing bias in this work. It is hard to read through such a book when the author cannot be trusted to give an objective opinion.
Dictators and Diarrhea.......2007-03-02
This book is a winner for both armchair travelers and those with a serious interest in international geopolitics. Intrepid journalist Ted Rall has become an expert on the obscure lands of Central Asia. This vast but little-covered area covers the five former Soviet republics known collectively as the "Stans," plus parts of Afghanistan and non-Chinese far-western China, all of which are strongly integrated in culture and history. Here Rall reports, with both journalistic insight and a brutally engaging writing style, about his extensive trips through the region. In an often rip-roaring read, we learn about the various horrors of traveling in Central Asia (the corruption and diarrhea there are both among the worst on Earth), while also gaining knowledge on the region's complex politics and infighting. Rall also provides enjoyable coverage of some of the region's offbeat personalities, locations, and culture - such as Turkmenistan's incompetent dictator Turkmenbashi, or a bizarre sport called buzkashi in which many meatheads die painfully for fun and glory.
Central Asia will soon be a world quagmire that will make the Middle East look like a hissy fit. Age-old ethnic tensions, corrupt dictators, irredentist meddling, and the hangover from Russian and Soviet brutalization will all soon combine with the worst of energy politics, as Central Asia's immense fossil fuel resources attract money and influence from power players. Ted Rall usefully clarifies what's really happening in Central Asia from the ground, and points out the geopolitical disaster that will occur if we merely view the region through the lenses of terrorism (i.e. everyone who disagrees with America is in league with Al Qaeda) or petropolitics (i.e. nations are given benefits or sanctions based merely on how much fossil fuel they can offer). Overall, this book is held back a bit by Rall's occasional tendencies toward hyperbole. His political points become repetitive as the book rumbles along, and the later chapters on energy and military matters get bogged down in simplistic conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Rall's graphic novellas about his journeys add a great amount of fun to this book, but his regular four-panel political cartoons just aren't really that enlightening. Finally, the book is very richly illustrated, especially with candid photos of Central Asia's regular folks - but the maps are cramped and incomprehensible, which is a real problem if you like to see the precise locations of all the interesting places Rall talks about. [~doomsdayer520~] ]
Ted Rall is one smart cookie!.......2007-02-12
Ted Rall is best known to me for his inciteful and incendiary cartoons. I had no idea he is also an intrepid traveller and perceptive and wildly funny observer of human behavior. What a great, funny,interesting and depressing book.
Books:
- The Oath
- The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy: Over 150 Topics from the World's Foremost Prophecy Experts (Tim LaHaye Prophecy Library)
- The Rejection Collection: Cartoons You Never Saw, and Never Will See, in The New Yorker
- The Richest Man in Babylon
- The Secret: Unlocking the Source of Joy and Fulfillment
- The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 (Military Campaigns of the Civil War)
- Theft: A Love Story
- Thin Film Optical Filters, 3rd Edition
- Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller--Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
- We the People: A Brief American History, Volume I: To 1876 (with American Journey Online and InfoTrac®)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Interest Rate Models - Theory and Practice: With Smile, Inflation and Credit
- French Special Forces
- A Review of Economic Doctrines: 1953 Edition
- Building Wealth: The New Rules for Individuals, Companies, and Nations in a Knowledge-Based Economy
- Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole
- Dead in the Water: A Novel
- Applying Tqm to Product Design and Development
- Managerial Economics: Economic Tools for Today's Decision Makers
- Catastrophe Modeling:: A New Approach to Managing Risk
- Prime Witness
The Afghan
Echo Park (Harry Bosch)
Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome
The Foreign Correspondent: A Novel
Stalin's Ghost: An Arkady Renko Novel
