Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and Their Families

Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and Their Families
Average customer rating:

2 tours and it nearly killed me

Great Book

Compelling and pragmatic

Courage After Fire

Very Accurate and Helpful to returning troops & families

Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and Their Families
Keith Armstrong , Suzanne Best , and Paula Domenici
Manufacturer: Ulysses Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Stress Management | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1569755132

Book Description

The bravery displayed by our soldiers at war is commonly recognized. However, often forgotten is the courage required by veterans when they return home and suddenly face reintegration into their families, workplaces, and communities. Authored by three mental health professionals with many years of experience counseling veterans, Courage After Fire provides strategies and techniques for this challenging journey home.

Courage After Fire offers soldiers and their families a comprehensive guide to dealing with the all-too-common repercussions of combat duty, including posttraumatic stress symptoms, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. It details state-of-the-art treatments for these difficulties and outlines specific ways to improve couple and family relationships. Courage After Fire also offers tips on areas such as rejoining the workforce and reconnecting with children.

Customer Reviews:

2 tours and it nearly killed me.......2007-10-04

It wasn't the war, it was when I returned home and could not function. I applaud this book for it's intent and gratitude that it gives to our young warriors. It is one of the few written for "our" generation. Thank you

-Timothy Kendrick author-PTSD: Pathways Through the Secret Door

Great Book.......2007-09-01

I was skeptical when purchasing this book, but the topics are discussed in such a way that you do not feel like you're reading "self-help". The focus is not on PTSD (although that is one of the topics covered), but more on a healthy transition from a chaotic environment. I would recommend this to any serviceman, spouse, parent, or close friend.

Compelling and pragmatic.......2007-05-13

As a disability service provider, I found this book particularly helpful. It is practical and to the point. Veterans can find tips on everything from how to sleep better to how to relax and cope with stressors. The triggers of anxiety are explained well, as are the ways veterans typically handle their pain. At the end of each chapter are helpful tips for family members. After I read it, I ordered ten copies of this book to give away to student veterans and their families.

Courage After Fire.......2007-04-02

Books such as these are essential for the friends and family of returning Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as for those who have experienced war firsthand.

Very Accurate and Helpful to returning troops & families.......2007-01-06

This is a must read for all service members exposed to combat and or traumatic situations. It will help individuals and families adjust to civilian life again. It should be required reading by the Department of Defense. Great Job

Average customer rating:

Love It!
A Tear Jerker that's worth reading.
Unbelievable
5-star story
Gold Medallion Award Winner

Ever After (Even Now, Book 2)
Karen Kingsbury
Manufacturer: Zondervan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Forever (Firstborn Series #5)
Even Now (Even Now Series #1)
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ASIN: 031024756X

Book Description

In this moving sequel to Even Now, Emily Anderson falls deeply in love with a young Army reservist who is about to serve in Iraq. At the same time, Emily’s parents seem on the verge of losing all they had gained. Will heartbreaking tragedy be the turning point for all of them?

Customer Reviews:

Love It!.......2007-08-31

This is the first book I have read by Karen Kinsbury and I love it. I found it difficult to put the book down. Its a love story that will make you cry.

A Tear Jerker that's worth reading........2007-08-06

This book, a sequel to Even Now, caused me to shed more tears than when I first read Black Beauty as a child. Yet, I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys an excellently written love story. It is a little slower than some of Kingsbury's other books, but it was definitely worth the read. I appreciate how the book illustrates the fact that most of our news reporters never show the good side of our troops' presence in Iraq. I feel the characters are realistic, and the story believable. Keep your tissues handy, you'll need them.

Unbelievable.......2007-07-21

Ever After by Karen Kingsbury is mainly a book of supporting the war and its servicemen. I completely support the war and agree totally with Karen's arguments, but I've heard them all before so it left me looking for how good the story was. The relationship between Justin and Emily was just too perfect that you couldn't identify with them. Justin is too perfect in all aspects that you couldn't connect with his character. Emily seemed more believable because you saw the determined way about her when she found her parents in Even Now. Also, it left you thinking they are perfect for each other, but when Justin dies all that love between each other seems wasted. Although Karen tries to make it a point that his death caused Joe (his best army buddy) to find Emily and become closer than friends. Well if Emily and Joe were meant for each other, than why'd Emily have to spoil her purity by kissing Justin earlier?
When Emily and Joe become close friends it all happens too predictable and quickly after Justin's death, even though it says 18 months later it really takes only five pages. Although I have to say at least Joe is a little easier to identify with because you saw his weaknesses, his emotional side.
Lauren's conversion to a right state of mind is about the only thing I liked about this book, besides the support for the troops. Though through the whole book you question why Shane still loves her when she can be such an annoying person.
The teen center is very unbelievable because the teenagers there can act like 16 or 10. Their attitude changes from completely emotional to acting like a tough-guy. Karen didn't show how much an impact Justin did on them when he was alive so it was hard to believe they would cry over his death. Plus, why would a nineteen year-old (Emily) spend time with teenagers maybe one or two years younger when they're depicted as near gansters? They call her "pretty mama" or "hot mama", I would most likely stay clear of them.
Though I have to say, I'm glad someone stepped up to support the war and its servicemen when there are so many who are blindly disagreeing.

5-star story.......2007-07-15

The novel raises important questions about both sides of the war issue, and gives thoughtful and thought-provoking responses to each side. It helped me to try to approach people with opposing views more considerately and lovingly. I believe reading this book would build bridges of understanding, no matter what one's opinion of war might be.

Gold Medallion Award Winner.......2007-07-10

Ever After was just awarded the BEST CHRISTIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR, Gold Medallion Award! Congratulations Karen!
-Rose Andrews

West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War

Average customer rating:

wonderful addition to the literature
Reconstruction
Well researched and very thoughtful
Good review of Reconstruction and westward expansion
Thought provoking and unique

West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War
Heather Cox Richardson
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0300110529

Book Description

The story of Reconstruction is not simply about the rebuilding of the South after the Civil War. Instead, the late nineteenth century defined modern America, as Southerners, Northerners, and Westerners gradually hammered out a national identity that united three regions into a country that could become a world power. Ultimately, the story of Reconstruction is about how a middle class formed in America and how its members defined what the nation would stand for, both at home and abroad, for the next century and beyond.
A sweeping history of the United States from the era of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, this engaging book stretches the boundaries of our understanding of Reconstruction. Historian Heather Cox Richardson ties the North and West into the post–Civil War story that usually focuses narrowly on the South, encompassing the significant people and events of this profoundly important era.
By weaving together the experiences of real individuals—from a plantation mistress, a Native American warrior, and a labor organizer to Andrew Carnegie, Julia Ward Howe, Booker T. Washington, and Sitting Bull—who lived during the decades following the Civil War and who left records in their own words, Richardson tells a story about the creation of modern America.

Customer Reviews:

wonderful addition to the literature.......2007-10-02

I am not going to say much because I agree with all the positive comments made by the other reviewers... after reading this excellent book I had a much better understanding of present day history and how it unfolded after the Civil War.

Reconstruction.......2007-09-27

Heather Cox Rrichardson conludes her book, "West From Appomattox," with the statement, "Ultimately, the story of reconstruction is about how a middle class formed in America and how its members define what a nation would stand for." The book is not an easy read but it outlines clearly how this middle class was formed and how its influence grew. Since we are, most of us, members of the middle class it is important to understand the process and its implications. The book's focus is on the period of reconstruction following the Civil War with emphasis on western expansion. It is recommended that the reader first read Owen Wister's book, "The Virginian" as the author alludes to it often. Richardson's book is chuck full of food for thought and should be studied as well as read. Much contained therein suggests an intimate understanding of today's events. The book is for the serious student of American history and the rewards for time spent are great.

Well researched and very thoughtful.......2007-08-24

Ms. Richardson's breadth of knowledge is truly impressive, and a history of this era written from a woman's eyes is unique.
She is, in fact, quite a good writer, in that she is able to encapsulate some unusual concepts in prose that is easy to understand. Her writing is not for those who to be spoonfed, however. But then, I suspect that was not her goal.

Good review of Reconstruction and westward expansion.......2007-07-01

Heather Cox Richardson's West from Appomattox covers a period of history that has been seemingly rather ignored by contemporary historians, namely the Reconstruction period and westward expansion in the mid to late 1800s. Cox synthesizes much history and puts it into its broader context quite well. Much of her writing is academic in nature and not of the narrative form many readers of recent historical accounts have come to expect. Specifically, Richardson studied under the master of this period, David Herbert Donald. While the breadth of her research and knowledge is as impressive as any, her ability to convey the information in a way that brings in any person with even a passing interest in the topic is not her strength. I think she has much to say and, should she want to write history in a form other than a graduate text level, she would be well served to read how David Kennedy, David Herbert Donald, James McPherson or even Doris Kearns Goodwin actually write. That said, those who would like to really bone up on what changes the United States went through from 1865 to 1900, predominately politically and somewhat economically, would be well advised to read this book.

Thought provoking and unique.......2007-04-19

Conventional history teaches that Reconstruction failed due to racism and apathy, while viewing it as a Southern issue. Heather Cox Richardson moves Reconstruction into mainstream America, viewing it not as a Southern issue but as part of national development and westward expansion. Doing this transforms the thin gruel of reconstruction history into a complex, layered dish full of unexpected and very new treats. Reconstruction changes from a fight between President and Congress, to an issue that challenges America's ideals and is national in scope.

This book links Reconstruction, westward expansion, questions on suffrage, controlling business, tariffs and the development of the middle class into one coherent movement. This is modern inclusive history, as it should be written! Nat Love, child of ex-slaves, cowboy and Pullman porter, Samuel Gompers, Andrew Carnegie, Julia Ward Howe, Wade Hampton, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull and many others populate the book. They are included not to be inclusive but because they have something to say. In every case, they help with the narration by personalizing history and making the national problem a personal one. The result is a fuller richer picture of America and the development of American ideals from 1865 to 1901.

The author, an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts, is not the conservative member of the university staff. Her politics show up as sympathy for the labor movement, African Americans and/or Native Americans. For the most part, this is neither excessive nor detracts from the fairness of the narration. The exception is in the Epilogue where she attacks the policies of Presidents Regan and Bush. If you share her liberal politics, this will be the highpoint of the book for you. If you do not, stop reading when you reach the Epilogue and close the book. You will have read a very thought provoking history presenting a detailed and unique view of America and Reconstruction.

Average customer rating:

Leaving a War
a mix of realism and fantasy
Great book!
War Fiction turns Magic Realism, and loses me
Book Review

Going After Cacciato
Tim O'Brien
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0767904427
Release Date: 1999-09-01

Amazon.com

"In October, near the end of the month, Cacciato left the war."

In Tim O'Brien's novel Going After Cacciato the theater of war becomes the theater of the absurd as a private deserts his post in Vietnam, intent on walking 8,000 miles to Paris for the peace talks. The remaining members of his squad are sent after him, but what happens then is anybody's guess: "The facts were simple: They went after Cacciato, they chased him into the mountains, they tried hard. They cornered him on a small grassy hill. They surrounded the hill. They waited through the night. And at dawn they shot the sky full of flares and then they moved in.... That was the end of it. The last known fact. What remained were possibilities."

It is these possibilities that make O'Brien's National Book Award-winning novel so extraordinary. Told from the perspective of squad member Paul Berlin, the search for Cacciato soon enters the realm of the surreal as the men find themselves following an elusive trail of chocolate M&M's through the jungles of Indochina, across India, Iran, Greece, and Yugoslavia to the streets of Paris. The details of this hallucinatory journey alternate with feverish memories of the war--men maimed by landmines, killed in tunnels, engaged in casual acts of brutality that would be unthinkable anywhere else. Reminiscent of Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Going After Cacciato dishes up a brilliant mix of ferocious comedy and bleak horror that serves to illuminate both the complex psychology of men in battle and the overarching insanity of war. --Alix Wilber

Book Description

"To call Going After Cacciato a novel about war is like calling Moby-Dick a novel about whales."

So wrote the New York Times of Tim O'Brien's now classic novel of Vietnam. Winner of the 1979 National Book Award, Going After Cacciato captures the peculiar mixture of horror and hallucination that marked this strangest of wars.

In a blend of reality and fantasy, this novel tells the story of a young soldier who one day lays down his rifle and sets off on a quixotic journey from the jungles of Indochina to the streets of Paris. In its memorable evocation of men both fleeing from and meeting the demands of battle, Going After Cacciato stands as much more than just a great war novel. Ultimately it's about the forces of fear and heroism that do battle in the hearts of us all.

Customer Reviews:

Leaving a War.......2007-05-31

Cacciato walks away from the war, away from Vietnam. He has an atlas and is determined to go to Paris - across India and Persia, through Greece. You know the way. The lieutenant takes his squad and follows him, determined to bring him back.

This is a surreal journey through the countryside of imagination and through the minds of unwilling participants in a senseless war. This is a hazy hallucination, a drug induced introspection, a rambling question without answer. It's a very good book as well. O'Brien captures the mood of Vietnam and its dangers and the simple desires of men who don't want to die, who don't want to climb down into tunnels. His brief sentences and exquisite pacing bring this world alive for the reader.

Going After Cacciato is a fantasy escape from reality, a shared dream of American men in an unfriendly land. It's prompted by the excesses of brutality and the fear that never stops - heart racing always on guard, never safe - the fear that causes men to wish for an easier mission in an easier land.

Well worth the time to read this. To understand that war heroes and combat veterans don't want to be either.

- CV Rick

a mix of realism and fantasy.......2007-05-07

Going After Cacciato has some astonishingly harsh, violent observations about war and the men who fight them, but for a "war" novel it has a surprisingly deft touch. There are moving passages about love and friendship, home and domestic life. Really, the full range of human expression about life is explored in this novel, and not merely the situational elements of Vietnam. The imaginative passages of chasing Cacciato becomes for O'Brien an escape valve for the war, a way to play out, in a vast space of complete possibility, what war and peace mean, and its ultimate cost on the people who wage it.

Great book!.......2007-03-26

this book is very well written and enjoyable. It isn't a book about war at all. There are 3 very interesting and seperate stories being told simultaneously.It is still very organized even though there are 3 different stories being told. Highly recommended book!

War Fiction turns Magic Realism, and loses me.......2007-01-03

I hadn't heard of the book or the author before I picked it. I read its first few pages and
Was hooked. The main character, Cacciato [how do you pronounce this name?], decides to walk away from the Vietnam war and hike overland to Paris. His platoon follows him.
The book describes their adventures.
The first quarter of the book contains some of the best combat narrative I have read, it describes the trauma, the randomness, the banality, the irritation of involuntarily living cheek-by-jowl with others. This part for me flowed along. I was able to suspend disbelief about the fact that they were on a mission to track down one of their comrades who was walking into enemy territory.
Without giving the story away, there was a point where they came into contact with the Vietnamese enemy, where I gave up entirely. The fiction had become magic realism, there was no going back to credibility and I'm afraid I lost the plot.
I did however persevere and finish, but I cannot recommend it based on my initial impressions. The writing overall is excellent, the characters well-documented, but I cannot follow when the plot doesn't have the pretence of credibility. I would have liked to have liked this book more.

Book Review.......2006-10-27

Bursts of gunfire, mortar explosions all around you, never ending rain, and a hot jungle. This is Vietnam. Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien is a fictional war book that takes place during the Vietnam War. A soldier by the name of Cacciato has deserted his platoon on his odd, imaginary journey of reaching Paris, France. Yes, it does sound odd, but at the time of war, you would do anything to go somewhere that you dream of. As his platoon full of young privates and an old lieutenant follow him, they encounter many difficulties; they are in war and often run into fire fights trying to survive.

This book is highly recommended if you like fictional war books. It has a lot of gory imagery that makes you se what the conditions were like in Vietnam. "The rain fed fungus that grew in the mend's boots and socks, and their socks rotted, and their feet turned white and soft so that the skin could be scraped off with a fingernail..." That was an example of the conditions Vietnam veterans had to face. Passages like those make the book interesting in my point of view.

The whole book is not about Cacciato, but the soldiers chasing him. They all have names like Paul Berlin, Eddie Lazzuti, Doc, and nicknames like Stink and Oscar. This being a war book, they talk a lot of acronyms that, if you don't have military knowledge, you will not know. "Each soldier, he has a different war. Even if it's the same war, it is a different war." This quote by Captain Fahyi Rhallon has a lot of meaning to it. It relates to the book in many ways. It's man vs. himself inside many of the characters.

In my view, this book was a bit slow at parts, but it got interesting with lots of climaxes and exciting parts. The style the author uses is great for this type of genre because he uses tones of war times, where it's quite and suttle, but than lots of things start to happen. If you like ware books, fiction or non-fiction, this book is just right for you.

The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban

Average customer rating:

Former NPR reporter discovers how the world works
How we are losing Afghanistan.
Intelligent, fascinating, revealing. An exceptional assessment of post 9/11 Afghanistan!
An Outstanding Piece of Analusis
Captivating and Insightful Account of Afghanistan

The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban
Sarah Chayes
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000NA1XSK

Book Description

A National Public Radio reporter covering the last stand of the Taliban in their home base of Kandahar in Afghanistan's southern borderland, Sarah Chayes became deeply immersed in the unfolding drama of the attempt to rebuild a broken nation at the crossroads of the world's destiny. Her NPR tour up in early 2002, she left reporting to help turn the country's fortunes, accepting a job running a nonprofit founded by President Hamid Karzai's brother. With remarkable access to leading players in the postwar government, Chayes witnessed a tragic story unfold-the perverse turn of events whereby the U.S. government and armed forces allowed and abetted the return to power of corrupt militia commanders to the country, as well as the reinfiltration of bands of Taliban forces supported by U.S. ally Pakistan. In this gripping and dramatic account of her four years on the ground, working with Afghanis in the battle to restore their country to order and establish democracy, Chayes opens Americans' eyes to the sobering realities of this vital front in the war on terror.

She forged unparalleled relationships with the Karzai family, tribal leaders, U.S. military and diplomatic brass, and such leading figures in the Kandahar government as the imposing and highly effective chief of police-an incorruptible supporter of the Karzai regime whose brutal assassination in June 2005 serves as the opening of the book. Chayes lived in an Afghan home, gaining rich insights into the country's culture and politics and researching the history of Afghanistan's legendary resistance to foreign interference. She takes us into meetings with Hamid Karzai and the corrupt Kandahar governor, Gul Agha Shirzai, into the homes of tribal elders and onto the U.S. military base. Unveiling the complexities and traumas of Afghanistan's postwar struggles, she reveals how the tribal strongmen who have regained power-after years of being displaced by the Taliban-have visited a renewed plague of corruption and violence on the Afghan people, under the complicit eyes of U.S. forces and officials.

The story Chayes tells is a powerful, disturbing revelation of misguided U.S. policy and of the deeply entrenched traditions of tribal warlordism that have ruled Afghanistan through the centuries.

Customer Reviews:

Former NPR reporter discovers how the world works.......2007-10-04

In this book, Sarah Chayes travels to Afghanistan after 9/11 and stays there for several years. She begins as a reporter and ends up working in the non-government sector as a minor political player.

This book is written as her personal and professional journey in Afghanistan. She learns there that people are not what they seem. Different agencies of the US government and their allies work at cross purposes. Stupid bureaucratic rules lead to bad policy. Some people don't want to know the truth, or even worse, they know the truth but choose ignore its implications. Or they may even know the truth and want to cover it up.

My first reaction to all this was, "Duh." Anyone who studies foreign policy knows that this is how the world works; Chayes' own story simply provides details from a new place. My second, and more troubling reaction was, "Why is Chayes surprised by this?"

I was repeatedly stunned by her lack of knowledge and naivete. She studied Arabic in college, along with medieval Islamic history. She has a BA and MA from Harvard in these fields. Yet she apparently had no idea how tribal politics or patron-client political systems work. She's surprised that the US Army, US Special Forces, and US Agency for International Development might be supporting different players in Afghan politics. Heck, in Vietnam US forces supporting different players ended up shooting at each other. I'm sure the Soviets had similar experiences around the world.

Her great virtue, and I want to emphasize how impressive it is, is her courage. She is willing to put herself on the line. She returns to Afghanistan when she doesn't have to. She lives in residential areas, not in foreigner compounds. She leaves an attractive career at NPR to head an NGO in Afghanistan on a shoestring budget. She stays in place after receiving multiple death threats (and after investigating their credibility). She has a close friend, and many acquaintances, die. Her courage and her personal commitments as a liberal do-gooder shine through the book.

As a first-hand report of how Afghanistan works today, and how the foreigners in it live, this is an interesting book. However, it's written as a personal journey, which makes it two or three times longer than it need be - - we find out how Chayes learned things, not just what she learned. If you like these journeys, you'll like the book. I found those parts a bit tedious because of the naivete with which she began.

Some early chapters of the book also provide amusing anecdotes on how National Public Radio and other media outlets work. Apparently, they send reporters to foreign countries in order to write up stories consistent with the editors' preconceived notions. They are also supposed to write on the same subjects that other reporters have written on. Of course, we all know this, too, but it's nice to have the confirmation.

So, all in all, a mixed review.

How we are losing Afghanistan........2007-09-10

The author Chayes details how the United States is losing Afghanistan after our brillant success in toppling the Taliban. The main reason is due to support of narrow based warlords who are pillaging the country. Due to supporting the wrong people, we are tarnishing our options as the population is coming to view NATO/U.S. as one and the same with the warlords. Everybody has focused on the fighting in Iraq and how we are losing there, but Chayes book details how both the military and civilian authorities have turned over Afghanistan to the same people that ran it into the ground prior to the Taliban. In her neck of the woods at Kandahar, the US has supported a warlord named Gul rather than better representatives in the Pashtun tribes.

I liked Sarah's book and give her high marks for her journals in Afghanistan. I would point out that Westerners have to be careful of how to tell Third World nationals on how to run their countries. Both is Iraq and Afghanistan, we face situations where people are coming to the forefront in the government. For us to tell them how to run their country smacks of colonialism. However, Chayes is right on the mark in staying that the U.S. made many mistakes in how they occupied this country.

Intelligent, fascinating, revealing. An exceptional assessment of post 9/11 Afghanistan!.......2007-08-07

If your thinking about buying this book, do yourself a favor, BUY IT! Regardless of your motives, this book is worth reading.
Sarah Chayes has produced a revealing and intelligent Occidental glimpse into post 9/11 Afghanistan.
Chayes experiences reporting for NPR and her experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco has given her the deft to negotiate the notoriously suspicious and misogynistic culture that permeates the Middle East. She is an observant and adept diplomat who does not mince words or appear to be beholden to any government agency or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
Afghanistan, Chayes observes, is "an entire nation comprised of generations suffering the effects of PTSD." I had never considered such a possibility and if Americans realized this concept, perhaps we could be a bit more productive in our re-construction and social efforts.
For the military, Chayes's analysis of the county's centuries old "yaghistan reflex," which has salvaged generations of Afghans from raiding empires is both brilliant and of important note. Chayes also reveals the not-so-subtle influences of Pakistan on Afghan political and social instability.
This is all wound around the story of Chayes's experiences and her brief but telling assessment of Afghan history.
Chayes includes a perceptive and frank quote by one of her associates, Ayse Yildiz, that could surmise the situation there at least as much as the book's title, "Here we are, a bunch of kids from dysfunctional families, working at a dysfunctional organization, trying to fix a dysfunctional country."
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ.

An Outstanding Piece of Analusis.......2007-05-07

Sarah Chayes gives a view of Afganistan which goes far beyond what we get in the usual media. She is a skilled detective and finds answers which the military and the State Department cannot.

Captivating and Insightful Account of Afghanistan.......2007-04-03

This is one of the most insightful and captivating books written on Afghanistan since 2001. Ms. Chayes skillfully intersperses first-hand anecdotes, historical context, and current events into a non-fiction page-turner. This book does a wonderful job of giving the reader a good understanding of what is really happening in Afghanistan and why we can't ignore its problems.

Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment

Average customer rating:

still holds up
Manzanar - Japanese - California Desert
Chavez, Carlos, and Elsie's Reviews
Internment Camp
japanese

Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston , and James D. Houston
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553272586
Release Date: 1983-03-01

Book Description

Jeanne Wakatsuki was seven years old in 1942 when her family was uprooted from their home and sent to live at Manzanar internment camp--with 10,000 other Japanese Americans. Along with searchlight towers and armed guards, Manzanar ludicrously featured cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, sock hops, baton twirling lessons and a dance band called the Jive Bombers who would play any popular song except the nation's #1 hit: "Don't Fence Me In."

Farewell to Manzanar is the true story of one spirited Japanese-American family's attempt to survive the indignities of forced detention . . . and of a native-born American child who discovered what it was like to grow up behind barbed wire in the United States.

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The U.S. government's internment of 120,000 Asian Americans in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 is a thorny era that many Americans have chosen to ignore. Farewell to Manzanar is a factual narrative by Jeanne Toyo Wakatsuki and James D. Houston that follows Jeanne, her family, and 30,000 other Asian Americans along a three-decade-long journey of silent denial and racial degradation.

Customer Reviews:

still holds up.......2007-09-28

i read this book when i was about 11 and purchased it for my 12 yr old son last month. he loved it as much as i did. loves to read, loves world war ii history and had no idea that the u s had holding camps for u s citizens of japanese descent. started a diolog with his g'pa, s f born and bred, about japanese americans he'd known as a child who were imprisoned. should be required reading for all

Manzanar - Japanese - California Desert.......2007-06-12

This is the greatest film depicting life in the Manzanar camp in the California desert. It should teach us all about prejudice and where it brings us.

Chavez, Carlos, and Elsie's Reviews.......2007-05-30

Farewell to Manzanar is a novel about a girl and her family going into an internment camp after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
This book is very well written. It explains the struggles that many Japanese people went through during World War Two and Pearl Harbor during the early 1940s. This books states how it was like to be Japanese inside an interment camp and the uncertainty of what was going to happen the next day. This book is based on one main thing, oppression. It is a novel based on oppression because there is negative power being used by the government for only one specific social group or race, which in this case are Japanese people. The main characters in this book are the father who is taken away from his family by the government and his family, who is not sure when he is coming back. The mother is a strong, independent woman during the novel and Kiyo, who is the little brother, is always trying to make someone laugh. Finally there is Martha, who is the girl telling the family's story.

Overall, I think this is a good book to read because you get to see what Japanese Americans' experiences were like in internments camps and what it felt like to not know what was going on or coming next. -by Carlos

Martha remembers lots of things, but this one she will never forget. She remembers it was December and there had to be about 20-25 boats bombed in Pearl Harbor. Her dad is taken away from her house, because the U.S wants to get information from all Japanese Americans to check and see if they are responsible for Pearl Harbor.

In my opinion, this girl suffered more than anyone I know, because she loses everything. She loses her dad, her family, and also her house. There is nothing left for her. I've never seen my dad, but I would hate to have seen him then lose him. Her family is taken to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. She is with them, but not living the way she wants to. She is with her brother and mother in the camp. She loses her house, because the U.S thinks she is potentially responsible for Pearl Harbor, or has something to do with it. Overall, I think this book is very good because it gives you very good details on how a little girl experiences a traumatic event at a young age. -by Chavez

A Farewell to Manzanar is a very well written book. It is about a little Japanese girl and what her family had to go through during three years in the Japanese interment camp, Manzanar. There are things she loses like her dad, her house, and her personal belongings. While she is in the interment camp, she goes to school. She has to get permission from parents to spend time with their children while in the camp. Her dad gets taken because the FBI finds evidence that the father has been giving Japan fuel and oil. They are wrong, but just like that, take him away.

Its really interesting reading what the little Japanese girl has to go through in the interment camp. She stands strong even though her dad is taken away. Even though she suffers, she still keeps on strong. It's a good example that even though things might seem hard, there is always a solution for everything. -by Elsie

Internment Camp.......2007-04-23

Jeanne is only seven years old and living in California when Pearl Harbor is attacked. Her parents were from Japan but had been living in the United States for most of their lives. Jeanne and her eight older siblings had all been born in this country and raised as English-speaking Americans. Jeanne's father is now a fisherman who owns two of his own fishing boats. Their family is moderately successful.

All of their success and security ends when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. All of a sudden, people begin looking at Japanes Americans, who are not allowed to become citizens, as the enemy. The American government is terrified that people of Japanese background will pass secrets to the Japanese who are attacking us, so the government takes rights away from anyone who has Japanese blood.

Jeanne's family is considered a particular danger, because they live on the west coast and they fish. They are no longer allowed to fish. Their boats are confiscated. They are then sent to Manzanar, a relocation camp further inland, where thousands of Japanese Americans are sent to live in a fenced-in area until the war is over.

When they first arrive at Manzanar, things are pretty bad. The barracks have been hastily constructed and do not do much to keep out the cold or the dust swirling all around. They are not large enough for families to live comfortably. The food that is served is almost inedible, because the people planning the meals have no concept of what Japanese people eat. Worst of all, though, is the knowledge of the people living there that their government doesn't trust them.

Jeanne and her family are forced to live at this camp for years. This book is an honest look at what the camp was like and what effect it had on Jeanne's family to be stationed there.

I liked that Jeanne doesn't portray her family as perfect. They have as many problems as any other family, and her father is especially flawed. Before I read this book I didn't know much about the Japanese camps, so it was interesting for me to get to know a whole new aspect of the war that isn't discussed as much as the things happening overseas.

This was one person's story, which is both a strength and a weakness. It offers a first-hand account of day to day life, but it lacks in well-rounded historical information. I would like to have know what the government's reasoning was, and how the authorities justified keeping these people locked up for so long.

japanese.......2007-04-19

when i read this book i cried because the americans were fighting against the germans who were doing horific things to the jews and the americans do that to american citizens who are japanese. i'm japanese but an american citizen.

Canaan: A Novel of the Reunited States after the War

Average customer rating:

not as good as Jacob's Ladder
A Complex Tale, Well Told
this could be the historical novel of the year
intense, complex and grim look at the Reconstruction Era
Beautiful, bleak, mournful, and deep.

Canaan: A Novel of the Reunited States after the War
Donald McCaig
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War
A Useful Dog
Rhett Butler's People
An American Homeplace (Virginia Bookshelf)
The Lying Tongue

ASIN: 0393062465

Book Description

A saga of post-Civil War America, from the defeat of the Confederacy to the Battle of Little Bighorn.

Canaan fills a vast canvas stretching north, south, and west from Appomattox. Its points of reference are Richmond in the throes of Reconstruction; the trading floors of Wall Street, where men who did not fight the war make fortunes speculating on its consequences; a Virginia plantation—familiar to readers of the author's critically acclaimed Jacob's Ladder—where the ruin of the South is written in wrenching detail; and the Great Plains, where the splendidly arrogant George Custer—Yellowhair—rides to his fate against Sitting Bull's warriors.

This is the story of America over twenty years of its most turbulent history. The characters are black, white, red, ex-Union, and ex-Confederate, and the principal narrator is a Santee woman, She Goes Before, who marries an ex-slave. Through her eyes we witness the hanging of her father by whites in the mass execution of 1863, Red Cloud's banquet with President Grant, and that final confrontation on the bluffs above the Little Bighorn.

Customer Reviews:

not as good as Jacob's Ladder.......2007-08-09

This was not as good as Jacob's Ladder but it was still great. This authors characters are so vivid you have to keep reading.

A Complex Tale, Well Told.......2007-04-08

This book is a sequel to McCaig's award-winning novel, "Jacob's Ladder," but enough background is given in this book to make it understandable for those readers who missed "J.L." McCaig gives us a surprisingly vivid, honest, and complex vision of Virginia, and especially Richmond, during Reconstruction. He does not mince words, accurately depicting the struggles faced by both whites and blacks in the aftermath of war, how each were exploited by the government as well as individuals, and how Northern policies, particularly with respect to railroad development, eventually led to economic ruin. Some of the scenes he paints are not particularly "politically correct," but McCaig has the courage to to tell the truth. This is not a drily told tale -- readers will empathize both with Jesse Burns, the ex-slave turned Virginia assemblyman, and Duncan Gatewood, the son of Jesse's former master, who becomes disillusioned and decides to seek his fortune out West. There a parallel tale unfolds, of similar greed and exploitative policies, this time of the Native Americans. McCaig offers an occasional first-person narrative by a Santee Sioux woman, She Goes Before, narratives that are lyrical and poetic, and speak simply of Sioux beliefs and ways. The story culminates in the battle of Little Big Horn, a "massacre" that might have been avoided, had the government kept its promises and allowed the Native Americans to retain their cultural identity and live a decent life.

This is a solid, well-written effort, and my only complaint with it is the same one I had with "Jacob's Ladder": the last quarter of the book feels rushed and isn't told with the same pacing and detail as the first 300 or so pages. As a result, the greed, arrogance, and attitude of entitlement that culminated in Custer's massacre are not as well portrayed, and not as well understood by the reader, as the similar forces that drove Reconstruction policies in the South. But my quibble is a relatively small one. This is a complex story that could have completely imploded in less skilled hands, but McCaig has done an admirable job of researching and writing this cautionary tale about Paradise: how it's defined by different groups of people, the lengths to which people will go to attain it, and the fallacy of seeking it elsewhere, rather than creating your own where you are.

This is a terrific historical novel, even better than "Jacob's Ladder."

this could be the historical novel of the year.......2007-03-27

McCaig is at the top his game here. He couldn't get much better. This sequel to JACOB's LADDER reprises some of the same characters but this book is smoking with energy and brilliantly drawn scenes. It seems clear that his ex-slave Private Ratcliffe aka Plenty Cuts aka Top has simply wrested the book away from McCaig. And oh, what a sweet abduction.

Set in the dozen years following the close of the Civil War, CANAAN takes readers from Virginia to Montana to New York City and other points south, east, and west. The action is fast and filled with stunning imagery. The carpetbaggers are treacherous. The freed slaves range from bootlickers to insubordinate. And the Indians, Oh the Indians are so well done that McCaig might single-handedly bring back the WESTERN. (Larry McMurtry, take heed).

As I mentioned, Ratcliffe steals the show from the ranks of the Union Army as it musters down to the banks of the Little Big Horn and the climactic demise of the Custer boys. I can't give away any more. Read the book.

A masterpiece!

intense, complex and grim look at the Reconstruction Era.......2007-03-10

Lee's surrender at Appomattox impacts all Americans, but especially those in the south, the border states and even out west. Everywhere people struggle to adjust to the new world order as lives and relationships have changed. In this post war era, on their Stratford plantation, family patriarch Samuel Gatewoods seems in shock as he adjusts. His son Duncan comes home having lost an arm and suffering from battle fatigue syndrome compounded by his fighting as an officer for the losing side. Instead of working the plantation, Duncan builds railroads for former Confederate General Mahone while Samuel supplies them with crossties. Mahone's financer northern carpetbagger Eben Barnwell audaciously courts Samuel's granddaughter Pauline. Samuel's freed slave Jesse gives up on his dream of reuniting with his wife Maggie sold by Samuel when he owned both of them. Instead he is elected a Virginia Assemblyman.

Out west, Lakota woman She Goes Before talks about her father's hanging and her rape as she travels to Montana to marry a former slave, Union Sergeant, Ratcliff. As the years go by, Custer is in Montana along with some of those easterners like Eben who left his wife Pauline to seek a new fortune and Ratcliff returning to his military glory days.

Though a lot is packed in this profound fascinating look at the grim Reconstruction Era, historical fiction fans will want to read Donald McCaig's CANAAN, the sequel to JACOB'S LADDER. Give yourself plenty of time as the back and forth action can turn complex and convoluted though always intense. The story line focuses on these harassed characters representing three races as each tries to survive a world no longer remotely what it was before the war. Americana readers will appreciate this strong look at what happened in the east, south and west from the day after Appomattox until Custer's Last Stand.

Harriet Klausner

Beautiful, bleak, mournful, and deep........2007-02-27

When the opening scene of this wonderful novel consists of the execution of a Santee Sioux for a crime that he did not commit, the reader is on notice that this will not be a cheerful, light hearted tale. But Donald McCaig's newest historical novel is very well crafted, insightful, and often memorable. If it serves as an elegy for the broken dreams and crushed hopes of Reconstruction, as a new nation forgot about the slaves it had freed and devoted itself to destroying the last remnants of the Plains Indians, so be it. The facts are on the author's side, and he clothes his ideas in irresistable characters, especially that of "Plenty Cuts", a Sioux warrior who was once Edward Ratcliff, an escaped slave who served as a Sergeant Major in the Union Army. McCaig covers some of the same territory explored in the movies "Dances with Wolves" and "Little Big Man" and the novels of A.B. Guthrie, and stands up to the comparisons.
McCaig has got to be one of the most underappreciated historical novelists of our time. Read this book. You will have an easier time following it if you read his "Jacob's Ladder" first, the Civil War novel in which many of the characters in "Canaan" are introduced.

Broken Empire : After the Fall of the USSR

Average customer rating:

bonecrushingly slanted, I get the message
Excellent photography, butý.
Absolutely Unforgettable
Wonderful
Broken Empire, Broken Dreams

Broken Empire : After the Fall of the USSR
Fen Montaigne
Manufacturer: National Geographic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

On December 25, 1991, at 7:35 p.m., soldiers lowered the red Soviet flag flying over the Kremlin and raised the Russian tri-color in its place. The moment passed without pomp or circumstance, resulting in a strangely muted end to a regime that had, in many ways, defined the 20th century.

Christmas 2001 is the tenth anniversary of the demise of the Soviet Union. To commemorate the event, National Geographic presents a mesmerizing retrospective that captures all the turbulence of Russia's new beginning.

With 120 extraordinary photographs by Gerd Ludwig and incisive essays by Fen Montaigne, Broken Empire captures Russia in all its complexity. The book examines not only the fledgling country's notorious corruption and poverty—the only aspects of Russia covered by most Western media—but many lesser known facets, including the rise of a new urban generation committed to building a prosperous society. Taking us into the daily lives of Russians, from entrepreneurs to pensioners, Broken Empire's images and words come together to capture as no book ever has the poignant resilience of a country endeavoring to find a workable middle road between capitalism and state control.

Customer Reviews:

bonecrushingly slanted, I get the message.......2005-04-26

astonishingly shocking at times and bland at others, is this the Russia of modern day or is this the image the author sees? Certainly the latter and probably not the former. Wonder how the people of Russia feel about this commentary in pictures on their existence? Bleak and disheartening comes to mind. Could a similar tome be assembled on America...of course if one looks hard enough at any topic the horror can be visualized.

Excellent photography, butý........2003-01-19

Gerd Ludwig photography is first-class but I wish written text had been as creative as the photographer's eye. Nothing to discredit the author, Fen Montaigne. But Fen, must you be so boring and bland. A single image captured a thousand words and your text was a dreadful mono-tone grounded in a yawning choice of vocabulary.

If your looking for images and insight text read "The Home Planet" by Kevin W Kelley. Two different subject matters, but the written text illustrates where this book went astray.

Absolutely Unforgettable.......2002-01-09

Broken Empire leaves an indelible mark on the memory. This stunning work presents a passionate and proud people, ravaged by the merciless process of political change. The book's coverage of the effect on the Russian environmental landscape alone, makes this a documentary of great importance. But most unforgettable, are the images which capture the entire spectrum of human experience that the nation's new self-image has imposed - from humiliation and despair, to dignity and triumph of the spirit against all odds - making this work an uncompromising testament to the historic realities of post-communistic Russia.

Wonderful.......2002-01-09

Contrary to the cover image of the book, this work clearly takes the blindfolds off in delivering a superb body of photographic work.

I have been traveling to the former Soviet Union now for the past twenty-five years and have always been surprised by how ignorant the world was about this marvelous nation. Ludwig clearly has an intimate feel for the soul of this great world. The images breathe and display the majesty of this people and empire wonderfully, warts and all. This is not a tragic populace, but a noble collection of races and groups who share a common pride, humanism and patriotism with a unique perspective and outlook on life that is both refreshing and vital.

I thought that the Western world would never get it right about the great land and her people, but Ludwig's masterpiece clearly and artfully reveals the nuances of an emerging colossus whose rightful place in history, commerce, politics, art and culture is assured by its dogged determinism to continue, to live, to strive to express the essence that is "Mother Russia".

And to do all of this with photography...what an achievement!!

Broken Empire, Broken Dreams.......2001-12-31

An incredible journey through the remains of the former Soviet Union both in pictures and words. Broken Empire puts the lie to the "Workers Paradise" promised by the USSR's once all-powerful communist regime, revealing the harsh realities of environmental and spiritual decay left in its wake. The images are dazzling and heartbreaking. A must see and read book for anyone who loves truth.

JH

Conflict After the Cold War, Updated Edition (2nd Edition)
Average customer rating:
Conflict After the Cold War, Updated Edition (2nd Edition)
Richard K. Betts
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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War, Peace, & International Politics (8th Edition)

ASIN: 032120946X

Book Description

Edited by one of the most renowned experts in the field, this collection helps readers understand the causes of wars and examines the question: can we make war obsolete? With new readings on terrorism and unconventional warfare, this volume introduces readers to the types of political violence that have come back with such horrifying force in the beginning of the 21st Century. DOES WAR HAVE A FUTURE?; ANARCHY AND POWER; INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND COOPERATION; PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE; ECONOMIC INTERESTS AND INTERDEPENDENCE; POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND IDENTITY; MILITARY TECHNOLOGY; TERRORISM AND UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE. Anyone interested in understanding why political violence—terrorism, warfare, unconventional warfare—happens and if it can be stopped.

The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11

Average customer rating:

Reasoned
Terrifying Justice Department Double Think
Yoo has no clue!
This book's point about constitutional checks and balances were once taught in 8th grade civics class.
Important to understand Constitution after 9/11

The Powers of War and Peace: The Constitution and Foreign Affairs after 9/11
John Yoo
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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War by Other Means: An Insider's Account of the War on Terror
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ASIN: 0226960323

Book Description

Since the September 11 attacks on the United States, the Bush administration has come under fire for its methods of combating terrorism. Waging war against al Qaeda has proven to be a legal quagmire, with critics claiming that the administration's response in Afghanistan and Iraq is unconstitutional. The war on terror—and, in a larger sense, the administration's decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto accords—has many wondering whether the constitutional framework for making foreign affairs decisions has been discarded by the present administration.

John Yoo, formerly a lawyer in the Department of Justice, here makes the case for a completely new approach to understanding what the Constitution says about foreign affairs, particularly the powers of war and peace. Looking to American history, Yoo points out that from Truman and Korea to Clinton's intervention in Kosovo, American presidents have had to act decisively on the world stage without a declaration of war. They are able to do so, Yoo argues, because the Constitution grants the president, Congress, and the courts very different powers, requiring them to negotiate the country's foreign policy. Yoo roots his controversial analysis in a brilliant reconstruction of the original understanding of the foreign affairs power and supplements it with arguments based on constitutional text, structure, and history.

Accessibly blending historical arguments with current policy debates, The Powers of War and Peace will no doubt be hotly debated. And while the questions it addresses are as old and fundamental as the Constitution itself, America's response to the September 11 attacks has renewed them with even greater force and urgency.

“Can the president of the United States do whatever he likes in wartime without oversight from Congress or the courts? This year, the issue came to a head as the Bush administration struggled to maintain its aggressive approach to the detention and interrogation of suspected enemy combatants in the war on terrorism. But this was also the year that the administration’s claims about presidential supremacy received their most sustained intellectual defense [in] The Powers of War and Peace.”—Jeffrey Rosen, New York Times

“Yoo’s theory promotes frank discussion of the national interest and makes it harder for politicians to parade policy conflicts as constitutional crises. Most important, Yoo’s approach offers a way to renew our political system’s democratic vigor.”—David B. Rivkin Jr. and Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky, National Review

Customer Reviews:

Reasoned.......2007-05-13

John Yoo's book makes cogent arguments based upon a careful legal analysis and established constitutional principles. A fine contribution to the debate of our times.

Terrifying Justice Department Double Think.......2006-10-06

Mr Yoo moves on from his earlier arguments that torture falls at a point slightly short of physical death, organ failure or loss of limb. Mr Yoo makes some interesting if devastating points with his new theories. The President's war powers, he argues, allow him to do, basically, whatever he wants. The President may, if he chooses, crush the genitals of children, maim, torture or kill civilians. In this respect one might remember that Bush ordered an air strike on the house occupied by the infant grandchildren of Saddam Hussein AFTER the end of the Iraq war and even though the house was surrounded by US troops. The President is limited, according to Mr Yoo, only by how he CHOOSES to interpret International Treaties and as he has the power to repudiate such treaties or ignore them entirely (as in the International Human Rights for the Child Treaty, the Geneva Convention or the Treaty of Vienna,) then, this means that presidential power is absolute EVEN if despotic criminal or tyrannical. Mr Yoo appears now to say that the President and his henchmen, cronies and agencies MAY indeed use indiscriminant torture. Mr Yoo however does not adequately explain how the President can thus overturn congressional treaty ratification. As what constitutes a 'time of war' is also up to the President and does not rely on any 'legal' declaration of war (which is a matter of international law to which the US is thus not subject,) then the US may have, effectively, a Despot Emperor for President. Does the 'War on Drugs' thus give the President the same wartime powers as he asserts for his 'War on Terror' - an undeclared war on no particular nation state? Is the US thus always in a state of war? This is interesting, not just semantically, as the District and Supreme Courts appear to agree with Mr Yoo's interpretation, blocking cases connected with this on grounds of national security whilst Congress does not appear to care. Perhaps Clinton should have used Mr Yoo's arguments in the Monical Lewinsky scandal and impeachment hearings. War powers might have thus allowed him to do whatever he wanted with his cigar and to lie about it in the national interest. The problem with Mr Yoo's argument is that Checks and Balances thus no longer appear to exist. Interestingly if one applies Mr Yoo's arguments to their logical end he becomes an eloquent advocate for terrorism or for the Holocaust where the ends justify the use of any means, however horrible. Of course, either this is pretty much nonsense and makes toilet paper of the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, democracy and human rights OR the truth is more terrifying and the US is now a Stalinist or Nazi state. I suspect Mr Yoo could be subject to arrest as a war criminal should he ever leave the United States and visit a civilised country???

Yoo has no clue!.......2006-06-23

The 2 biggest mistakes made by government in my lifetime are Congress giving away war powers in 1965 and 2002. The constitution holds that declaring war is the responsibility of the Congress. If the Executive has grounds for war let him/her present them and Ccongress vote. Twice I have seen Congress abdicate this important power with disasterous results. This is just one of many examples why Yoo has no clue.

This book's point about constitutional checks and balances were once taught in 8th grade civics class........2006-05-26

The outrage this book caused on publication is a sign of the incredible ignorance so prevalent these days about was once common knowledge--that the powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches exist in parallel under the elegant system of checks and balances of the Constitution, each with their separate skill set and functions. This book is a necessary defense of the traditional constitutional idea that the executive branch has primacy in matters of war, national security, and foreign policy. It is sad that otherwise sensible people like Neal Katyal and Stuart Taylor should tout outre ideas about the Constitution as a big sandbag over the head of the President most especially in war, national security and foreign policy, as if this idea, which is strictly the invention of the left, were Con Law 101. It is so Nixon era. But there you go. The "me generation" took over the academy, threw out all the Rembrandts, and filled it up with their Hello Kitty and Marilyn tchotchkes.

Important to understand Constitution after 9/11.......2006-02-01

This is an important book in order to understand the Constitution and the response to 9/11. The attacks on this book here are ridiculous. Even liberal critics of the Bush administration and Yoo think this is an important book. Cass Sunstein, a famous liberal law professor, wrote a review in the New Republic that said: "The most important theorist of the 9/11 Constitution is John Yoo." He says "Yoo has offered an inventive and provocative set of arguments about fundamental questions, and he presents his arguments with unmistakable determination and all the skill of a good lawyer."

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