Book Description
Shimazaki's 1906 classic of modern Japanese literature portrays a young man born into the Burakumin outcaste class and his struggle against both social discrimination and his own hypocrisy.
Customer Reviews:
A new view of racism.......2007-03-01
This book deals with a real aspect of Japanese history, the "non-humans." When the Japanese culture was making a transition toward metropolitan city life and away from agrarian life, the emperor commanded certain families to take certain responsibilities. Later, because of the Buddhist aversion to death and killing, those families with the unfortunate assignment to professions like meat butcher or tanner came to be consider spiritually and later, even physically unclean.
Many such families did, in fact, send their children to far away cities to be educated and changed their names so that the association with the non-human category of Japanese society might be forgotten.
This broken commandment is about a one of these people who makes it all the way to the coveted position of teacher, a highly regarded social position in Japan both centuries ago and today. But he breaks the commandment to his father when he tells someone his true origins.
The most amazing thing about racism is how it makes irrational ideas seem credible. Among the Japanese rumors developed about this class of people ... that they were in fact, Mongols, not Japanese, more like savages and that you could tell as soon as you looked at them.
Such stories were absurd, of course, because these families came from the exact same human genetic background as all other Japanese people.
Rules, similiar to those codified in the United States after the Civil War, prevented non-humans from eating in the presence of "real" humans, prohibited them from wearing shoes and other methods to help distinguish them from "civil society."
Reading this book makes one reflect on racism throughout the globe. How did humans develop such a penchant for enjoying a self-indulgent sense of superiority to someone else? And why does this tendency persist even when so much evidence to the contrary presents itself through scientific discoveries?
Stepping outside the U.S. view of our history of racial tension and looking at it from this new, foreign culture helps one see the consistency in symptoms of this sociological virus. Maybe one day we can develop a vaccine that prevents our children from being infected from this self-destructive form of logic.
A powerfully insightful text that illuminates Japanese history and culture as well as global problems with human compatibility.
At its heart, a very modern novel.......2007-02-05
This novel, written 100 years ago, finds its place easily in modern literature. Its theme is authenticity: A real life and real happiness can only be achieved if someone recognizes, internally and externally, who he is. "Passing," which is the strategy advocated by the protagonist's father, necessarily inovolves a lack of authenticity and a lack of completeness. The only way to achieve wholeness is to "break the commandment."
This book is secondarily a social novel about discrimination against the "eta," a form of class prejudice that persists in Japan today.
Warning: massive spoiler in the translator's introduction.......2002-11-17
If you like books about injustice, this is a must read. The lives of Japan's Burakumin were as hard as those of India's untouchables, and this story of a teacher hiding the secret of his birth is really gripping. You'll definitely feel angry by the end of the book.
I think everyone should read books like this sometimes in order to remind themselves that about standing up for weaker people and not turning a blind eye when you see racism or discrimination.
I usually hate reading Japanese books in translation because the prose always sounds awkward. Kenneth Strong, the translator has done a wonderful job though, and everything sounds natural and the writing flows very well. I wish that more translators would realise that it is impossible to translate Japanese literally and that you pretty much have to re-write it if you want to produce something readable.
The book has a few weaknesses. The bad guys are rather two-dimensional and the ending seems a little contrived but the book is definitely worth reading.
A warning: Although the introduction is very interesting and definitely worth a read, the translator gives away the whole story so save it for the end.
A lively view of Japanese history and the pain of prejudice.......1999-05-04
Shimazaki's life-like portrayal of a young man's struggle with prejudice and his own hypocrisy in Hakai create a delicate tension. Shimazaki's draws heavily on the sights, sounds and sense of natural things for his backdrop. Repeatedly I was reminded of the Japanese appreciation for nature as the main character, Ushimatsu hurried home to his father's funeral. Along the way, Shimazaki takes the time to describe the sky, the river waters and the flowering weeds growing beside the dirt road. Although it was his heavy use of nature that moved me, Okazaki was moved most by Shimazaki's depiction of humanity. "This spirit of religious self-examination extends through all of Shimazaki's works. This is Shimazaki's humanism rather than his naturalism." (p. 241) An additional strength to Hakai is the vivid detail Shimazaki uses in describing his main character's living quarters, the hard life of the drunkard's family, and the rigid caste system employed during that time. The reader has a full sense of being a member of the eta outcast group and a full sense of being a Japanese person in a complicated, striated social system. It simplifies these issues from a standpoint of historical study because instead of rote memorization of various levels of the community, literature allows the reader to mentally walk among the people, live with them and relate to them. The images created by his character bring such life to the community that it becomes easy to understand the structure. Even the simplest of scenes illuminates life in that time. This description of the funeral for Ushimatsu's father provides a vignette of life, religion and the relationship between people and nature: "The rough wooden coffin was draped in a white cloth, and before it stood a newly inscribed memorial tablet, offerings of water and sweets, and bunches of chrysanthemums and anise leaves." "Shimazaki Toson's Broken Commandment is another step in the right direction," Kojin says on page 76 before going on to explain that genbun itchi (written and spoken language as one) "was a literary form of the confession - confession as a system - that produced the interiority that confessed the 'true self.' " While it is certainly true the reader sees the world from the inside of the main character's mind in Hakai, Armando Martins Janeira compliments Shimazaki's humanistic approach in his book Japanese and Western Literature: A Comparative Study, page 129. "In 1906, Toson Shimazaki published the most significant novel of shinzenshugi (naturalism) literature, Hakai, about a young outcast who rebels against conventions which banish him from society." My only concern about Janeira's critique is that he credits Christians with giving Shimazaki and other Japanese Meiji era authors their insight to write against the social system. While I don't doubt that contact with external agencies helped bring new perspectives to Japan, I question whether anyone can accurately trace that origin to source. After making this questionable parallel on page 144, he pays a compliment to the author that I feel is absolutely correct. "Toson Shimazaki's Hakai is the first important novel inspired by deep humanist intention." I can't say whether it is the first, but it is deeply humanistic and inspiring because it holds such a valuable message that still has application today. Although humanism is a defining aspect of another novel from that time, Tsuchi (1910) ties humanism so tightly to naturalism that it is hard to say where humanity stops and nature takes over. Perhaps it is best defined by the author who links The Soil to the people: "Hardly a day passed in Oshina's life when she had not felt the soil beneath her feet. Barefooted except in icy winter, she had been its creature. And now, in death, she was it's creature still. Separated only by a thin layer of pine, her feet would rest on the soil forever." (Page 25) The power of Tsuchi lies in the reader's sense of the onerous tasks of daily existence as a poverty-stricken farmer in Meiji jidai Japan. I came to empathize with Kanji's hard work and failed attempts to improve his painfully meager existence as the years kept flowing past him and his life did not change for the better. At heart, he seemed to be such a genuine human and yet cursed by birth to be a Japanese farmer in the late 1880s. The complete poverty of his existence and the other farmers in his categroy described as mizunomi or water drinkers. His food seemed so scarce that he could not have afforded to subsist on much more than water. Both Tsuchi and Hakai give detailed descriptions of rural funerals during a similar time period. However, they differ in some interesting ways. "Ushimatsu's uncle, faithful to the old way of doing things, had provided for the journey to the next world a sunshade and a pair of straw sandles. A knife to ward off devils lay on the lid of the coffin. The praying and the beating of the drum began again, and talk of the dead man, punctuated by artless laughter and the clatter of dishes, was sad and at the same time lively," Shimazaki wrote in Hakai. (Page 138) In contrast, Oshina has no knife to ward off spirits, nor does the author mention any sunshade to cover her during her journey in the after world. Instead, she gets a shave. This difference may have been due to gender or to the difference in various regions at that time. "The acolyte lifted the lid of the casket, removed Oshina's hood, and stroked her cheeks with a razor. In as much as the hard life and hard labor of Tsuchi appears to have deeper roots in realism, the birth or rebirth of realism in Japanese literature took place in the late 1800s. Authors began to mimic the language of everyday use in their novels creating a direct form of literary realism.
Book Description
Tall, blonde, and pretty, Kelsey may look like a perfect California girl, but she doesn't feel like one.That is, until she starts dating a popular skater dude named C. J. Logan. But after a while, the life of a skater girlfriend begins to wear on Kelsey, and she decides to go it alone. C. J. doesn't take being dumped lightly, and he starts spreading rumors about Kelsey. Now Kelsey has to save her reputation and work on building her new identity—as a star reporter for the school's prestigious newspaper.
Customer Reviews:
Courtesy of Teens Read Too.......2007-05-05
Kelsey just can't believe that her mother would decide to up and leave Boston and take Kelsey and her brother along to Berkeley, California, just so she could follow her dreams of going to law school. Except that, for her mother, it seemed like the perfect chance after the divorce was final. Sure, Kelsey may look like a character on The O.C., but she sure doesn't feel right at home in California.
She just wished that her mother would have moved them after her middle school years and before her high school years. And Kelsey has good reason, since when she starts out as an 8th-grader at Susan B. Anthony, it's just way too hard to make friends. Especially when there are only twenty kids in her grade, that have known each other since forever, and have established their own cliques.
But then Kelsey's life begins to pick up some momentum when she starts going out with C.J. Logan, the popular skateboarder. Yet even this doesn't feel right to Kelsey, since when dating C.J., it's all about him, all the time. So Kelsey does what any normal girl would do when it just isn't working out - she breaks up with C.J. Unfortunately, this proves costly toward her reputation. And so now Kelsey has her sights on something much bigger: becoming a reporter for her school newspaper. Well, that and a different boy to crush on.
THOU SHALT NOT DUMP THE SKATER DUDE AND OTHER COMMANDMENTS I HAVE BROKEN is just full of tricks and flips that every teenager goes through. Rosemary Graham cooks up a hilarious novel that teaches us how to ignore all the drama and move on with your life by finding something else to do (getting in a little revenge along the way). Kelsey becomes a heroine to all and you just can't help but want the best for her.
Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
Dumping the skater dude.......2006-07-19
C.J. Logan knows all the moves on and off the skateboard. Hand in the back pocket, whispers in the ear and hair pulling gets the girl everytime. It sure worked for Kelsey. But after a year Kelsey grows tired of playing second string to the skateboard, so she dumps him. When she comes home from summer with her dad and checks CJ's blog she finds something she never expected. He writes that he dumped her because she was a Total Sex Fiend. Of course, everyone believes C.J. and Kelsey is left to find her own idenity, who she is when she's not CJ's girlfriend.
Entertaining to read.......2006-01-13
Kelsey has just been forced to move all the way from Boston to California during the worst time in her life, the beginning of 8th grade. She completes her year at a prestigious Private all-girls school and realizes that she doesn't want to deal with snotty girls anymore. She decides to go to the public school, where she instantly gets recognized by the school celebrity, skateboarder C.J. Logan. Not long after, she becomes his girlfriend and gets to experience the perks of being popular. When Kelsey realizes that C.J. isn't putting in enough effort to be a good boyfriend, she dumps him after a year. But there's only one problem, C.J. has never been dumped before. So he spreads rumors about Kelsey around school and makes her miserable. But Kelsey tries to ignore them and becomes interested in the famed school newspaper, the Bee, and puts all her effort into making it as a journalist. When the rumors still affect her life one year later, Kelsey has to do something to stand up for herself before it's too late.
I was surprised at how much I liked this book. While I feel that younger teens would enjoy this book more, it was still entertaining to read. It was refreshing to read about a character like Kelsey. The story was really interesting too, even though the concept of a high school romance is common in many young adult books these days. I'd recommend this book as a fun, easy read to take your mind off things. The ending of the story made me want to know more. I don't know if the author is planning to write a sequel, but I know that I will probably pick up any other book that she writes.
Cute read.......2006-01-12
Kelsey has just been forced to move all the way from Boston to California during the worst time in her life, the beginning of 8th grade. She completes her year at a prestigious Private all-girls school and realizes that she doesn't want to deal with snotty girls anymore. She decides to go to the public school, where she instantly gets recognized by the school celebrity, skateboarder C.J. Logan. Not long after, she becomes his girlfriend and gets to experience the perks of being popular.
When Kelsey realizes that C.J. isn't putting in enough effort to be a good boyfriend, she dumps him after a year. But there's only one problem, C.J. has never been dumped before. So he spreads rumors about Kelsey around school and makes her miserable. But Kelsey tries to ignore them and becomes interested in the famed school newspaper, the Bee, and puts all her effort into making it as a journalist. When the rumors still affect her life one year later, Kelsey has to do something to stand up for herself before it's too late.
I was surprised at how much I liked this book. While I feel that younger teens would enjoy this book more, it was still entertaining to read. It was refreshing to read about a character like Kelsey. The story was really interesting too, even though the concept of a high school romance is common in many young adult books these days. I'd recommend this book as a fun, easy read to take your mind off things. The ending of the story made me want to know more. I don't know if the author is planning to write a sequel, but I know that I will probably pick up any other book that she writes.
An appealing book about life after a breakup.......2005-12-16
Pretty and blond, Kelsey looks the part of the perfect popular girl. But Kelsey's life is far from perfect. She is new in town, misses her old home, and is finding it difficult to make new friends. Then she meets C. J. Logan, who is cute, popular, and a professional skateboarder.
Life with C. J. is everything Kelsey imagined it to be. She finds herself part of an envied inner circle. But her entire life revolves around C. J. and his skateboarding competitions. After a romantic date interrupted by C. J. showing off his moves to some kids they meet downtown, Kelsey decides she no longer wants to live in C. J.'s shadow. She dumps him just before summer vacation, not prepared for what she will find when she returns to school the next year.
Kelsey is now a misfit. None of her old friends talk to her anymore. She discovers that C. J. has posted cruel lies about her in his blog, which the entire school reads. THOU SHALT NOT DUMP THE SKATER DUDE is about how Kelsey rebuilds her life after C. J., and forges a life worth calling her own.
A stand-alone companion to MY NOT-SO-TERRIBLE TIME AT THE HIPPIE HOTEL, the strongest points of the book are Kelsey's relationship with her family and with her best friend: the hipster vegan, Amy. As it spans almost three years, the book is plot-driven with less attention given to the details of Kelsey's daily life.
Innocent and non-controversial, THOU SHALT NOT DUMP THE SKATER DUDE (AND OTHER COMMANDMENTS I HAVE BROKEN) is light on commandment breaking. Parents and teachers will appreciate its positive portrayal of self-esteem, while its light tone and the likable Kelsey will appeal to younger teen readers.
--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood
Amazon.com
Broken Tablets: Restoring the Ten Commandments and Ourselves, edited by Rabbi Rachel S. Mikva, is a collection of writings that attempt to explain why the Ten Commandments exert such a powerful hold on so many people--even those who do not consider themselves Jews or Christians. Introduced by Lawrence Kushner, this collection includes essays by 10 prominent rabbis about each individual commandment, as well as two shorter pieces that, in rabbinical fashion, interrogate and locate the others' arguments in Jewish tradition. What all of these essays have in common is the effect of personalizing the commandments for today's readers, by demonstrating the power of this short scriptural passage to touch every aspect of a person's life. Each essay makes provocative and surprising observations. Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, writing on the third commandment, asks, "By too easily claiming and naming God, by encouraging others to do the same, did I take the name of the Lord in vain?" Writing on the second commandment, Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi observes, "Real idolatry today is the worship of money, technology, addictions, absolute political systems--even of 'Judaism' and of the personal ego." This is a book that will help readers become more aware of God's claim on their lives, more honest with themselves, and more attuned to the ways that Scripture has shaped the way believers live together and in the wider world. --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
Even people who claim not to be "religious" will generally maintain that they do observe the Ten Commandments. Why is it that these ten statements, thousands of years old, continue to have such a special hold on us?
Broken Tablets helps us to understand the Ten Commandments and to see them as the very personal words that they are. Here, twelve outstanding spiritual leaders from across the spectrum of Jewish thought bring us to the life and soul of the Ten Commandments' unusual power.
Inviting, accessible, and full of insights that may surprise you, Broken Tablets restores the Ten Commandments to wholeness. In the process, it restores us to a better understanding of what we do and don't do--and what this means to our spiritual lives.
Contributors include: Eugene B. Borowitz
Leonard Fein
Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer
Laura Geller
Lawrence A. Hoffman
Menachem Kellner
Peter S. Knobel
Richard N. Levy
Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi
Levi Weiman-Kelman
Customer Reviews:
Brings fresh meaning to God's Commandments........1999-11-09
Through stories and allegories, the words memorized in childhood become guideposts by which it is possible to live a fuller life. New insight to each Commandment is provided by a Jewish scholar and Rabbi Mikva weaves it all together as the original tablet pieces were reunited.
Average customer rating:
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The Broken Commandment
Vincent McDonnell
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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ASIN: 0140139079 |
Average customer rating:
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Broken Commandments
S. Gordon Dubroof
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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Historical
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Fiction
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ASIN: 0595358357 |
Book Description
Razel Sima looked past her father as she replied in a voice that was not hers, "No, Father, I will not deliver the omitted Commandments to all mankind, but forty generations hence, in a new world, Orben, the messenger, will bring additional enlightenment to the world, and the Lord's work will be done."
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam accept the Ten Commandments as revealed truth, etched into stone and handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. But were the Commandments, as we know them, the only words from God on the subject of human conduct?
The brilliant biblical saga Broken Commandments postulates the existence of ten additional Commandments, in addition to the ones that millions of believers live by today. The missing Commandments were supposedly carved on the reverse side of the original tablets given to Moses. Moses smashed them in disgust when he came down from the mountain and saw the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. Thousands of years later, the one chosen by the Lord will enlighten the world and bring forth all of the Twenty Commandments. He is prophesied to spread tolerance throughout a new nation and become the leader of the new faith of faiths.
Do the lost stones hold the key to the survival of the human race?
Download Description
Razel Sima looked past her father as she replied in a voice that was not hers, "No, Father, I will not deliver the omitted Commandments to all mankind, but forty generations hence, in a new world, Orben, the messenger, will bring additional enlightenment to the world, and the Lord's work will be done."
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam accept the Ten Commandments as revealed truth, etched into stone and handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. But were the Commandments, as we know them, the only words from God on the subject of human conduct?
The brilliant biblical saga Broken Commandments postulates the existence of ten additional Commandments, in addition to the ones that millions of believers live by today. The missing Commandments were supposedly carved on the reverse side of the original tablets given to Moses. Moses smashed them in disgust when he came down from the mountain and saw the Israelites worshipping a golden calf. Thousands of years later, the one chosen by the Lord will enlighten the world and bring forth all of the Twenty Commandments. He is prophesied to spread tolerance throughout a new nation and become the leader of the new faith of faiths.
Do the lost stones hold the key to the survival of the human race?
Customer Reviews:
amazing.....!.......2006-02-05
let me be the frist to say this is a very good book i could honestly say that i didn't think this would be a good book but it's so exotic, romantic and great sex scenes every thing you like in a silhouette desire romance novel..this book is a keeper...A+ from me
Also Recommended:
kinley macgregor, sandra brown, lynne graham,lori foster, nora roberts and sheri whitefeather, brenda jackson...
Great story.......2005-08-13
I loved this story very sensual and romantic.
I loved Nalini singh books there is a great balance between sex and romance.
I recomend this one if you want to have a good time
Synopsis front back cover:
Against her will
The fabled desert kingdom of Zulheina was Tariq's birthright, and he was a man who held tightly what belonged to him. And that meant he had to reclaim a very special woman-the woman who had broken his heart years before in New Zealand. And once he had lured her to this distant land, he meant to keep his new bride here forever...
But Jasmine Coleridge was not as easily tamed as he had imagined. Her beguiling blend of untouched innocence and dazzling sensuality threatened, once again, to bring the haughty sheikh to his knees-and made him wonder who was the true prisoner...
&&&&&Great read. I read the same book twice&&&&
Barbara
Wonderfully.......2004-12-28
This was the second novel I have read of Ms. Singh and just like the other novel this one showed the full love of both hero and heroine right away. In the usual romance the hero waits to the last minute to tell her his true feelings but not in this title.
I also liked the great sex scenes not as good as "awaken to pleasure" but good enough. I love that the author showed how hurt the sheik was after being left years ago by Jasmine and how she had to fight to show him this time around she will never desert him again. Very touching and heart wrenching especially after finding out how her family wanted the "the other sister" to have him instead of her. Great read.
B-O-R-I-N-G.......2003-09-20
Dull and dopey. (And I'm someone who generally *likes* sheik romances!) Unless you're a sheik-romance enthusiast who simply must own every Rudolph Valentino retread to roll down the highway, I'd say save your money on this one.
Fantasy Lives!.......2003-09-02
Nalini Singh has created compelling and believeable characters in her debut novel DESERT WARRIOR. This brilliantly crafted tale suspended reality for me and brought back the old Valentino style sweep-you-off-your-feet Sheik romance. Ms Singh has a wonderful lyrical writing style with a deeply sensual promise for readers. While DESERT WARRIOR certainly wasn't the kind of read I was expecting in a Sil. Desire, I was gripped from start to finish by this truly enjoyable book. I look forward to her next title with great impatience.
Average customer rating:
- Personal Portrait of Rommel
- A Revealing Look at Rommel's Personality
- My first book ever
- Worth a read but not the best book I've read lataly.
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With Rommel in the Desert (War & Warriors Series)
Heinz W. Schmidt
Manufacturer: Noontide Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Weapons & Warfare | Military | History | Subjects | Books | Biological & Chemical | Control | Conventional | Nuclear
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ASIN: 0939482398 |
Customer Reviews:
Personal Portrait of Rommel.......2002-03-11
An intimate look at Rommel as a commander and superior officer written by an aide who served him on a daily basis in North Africa. Provides insight into why Rommel, a Field Marshal who was not above jumping into a ditch to help his men "unstick" a vehicle from the sand, was so respected by the men who served under him.
Living in the same spartan conditions imposed on his men, Rommel was a foot soldier's general who sometimes conducted his own reconnoitering, at great risk, led from the front lines, and believed in ACTION. Feared and respected by the British, his chief opponents in Africa, he became a subject of formidable mystique which worried their Middle East HQ and inspired jealousy from the German General Staff. They regarded him as an over-rated middle-class upstart who, in being promoted Field Marshal by Hitler, had encroached upon sacred ground previously occupied mainly by German nobility.
With Rommel in the Desert shows that Rommel's appeal lies in his action-oriented personality, his code of chivalry and fairness. It is clear after the North African campaign that he missed the clarity of purpose and independence he enjoyed during that time, and chaffed against subsequent dealings with the politicized world of the German General staff and the Nazi regime which helped build his reputation.
Like Patton, Rommel was out of his depth when dealing with political matters, as when he became involved on the fringes of the July 20th plot against Hitler, and like Patton, he was a skilled and highly professional military man whose ego led him to be exploited by the propanganda machine of the nation he served. An excellent book for anyone interested in this famed but enigmatic German commander.
A Revealing Look at Rommel's Personality.......2002-03-11
One of the best portraits of Rommel I've ever read. Told from the viewpoint of a close aide who served Rommel on a daily basis, this book is an intimate look at him as a commander and a superior, offering insight into why he was so respected by his men and yet, as a middle-class "upstart," posed such a threat to the German nobility who comprised the bulk of the professional officer corps.
Rommel placed the same spartan demands upon himself that he imposed on his men. A "hands-on" commander who often led from the front lines, conducted his own reconaissance and exposed himself to great danger, even as a Field Marshal he was not above jumping down into a ditch to help his men unstick a vehicle from the sand. More of a personal memoir, With Rommel in the Desert gives the reader the best look at Rommel's action-oriented personality yet. A soldier first, last and always, he had a code of chivalry that harked back to simpler times, and, when it was over, he missed the clarity of purpose and independence he had during the North African campaign. He was similar to Patton in two respects: He was out of his depth when dealing with political matters, as when he became involved on the fringes of the July 20 plot against Hitler; and also, the needs of his ego compelled him to allow himself to be exploited by the German propanda machine. An excellent book for anyone interested in this renowned and enigmatic German commander.
My first book ever.......2001-06-10
I have to say I'm biased, for this book marked a decisive moment of my childhood. This was the FIRST book I read in my life. I was eight y.o. then, and I stole it from my father's bookshelf. I loved the book, even if I didn't understand it all. I read it so many times that I'm sure I knew it better than Mr. Schmidt. It's war, written from a very personal and somewhat innocent point of view. After this book, I devoured everything that was printed, and still do. Thanks, Mr. Schmidt, you'll never know how important you've been to me.
Worth a read but not the best book I've read lataly........1999-06-07
The worst thing about this book is that it consistently fails to live up to the reader's expectations. For instance, the author actually spent little time with Rommel himself. The title and various notes led me to believe that the whole book was a sort of there-by-his-side tale, which it is not. And that's just the beginning. The author seems to pick up steam with a good story when all of a sudden it's over. Vague. Brief. Too general, etc. Nonetheless, it's a fairly quick read and did provide some insights.
Average customer rating:
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Citizen Warriors: America's National Guard and Reserve Forces & the Politics of National Security
Stephen Duncan
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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International Security | Freedom & Security | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0891416099
Release Date: 1996-11-18 |
Book Description
A detailed, expert history of U.S. Reserve and National Guard Forces, with a look forward at how they should be used in the future.
Customer Reviews:
Thoughtful analysis........1997-08-12
Duncan, an Annapolis graduate and Vietnam veteran,was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for ReserveAffairs during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and so uniquely positioned to observe the deployment and performance of the National Guard and Reserve units so vital to our efforts in the Gulf.
He examines the Reserves as essential to the All-Volunteer Total Force, and in the context of politics, outside of which the policies cannot be understood. Of particular note is his discussion of the unfortunate roundout brigades, which were activated but not deployed for the Gulf War, and the implications for future operations.
Finally, the author provides some observations, cautions, and recommendations, and concludes "Only if we are wise in our reliance upon our citizen warriors,can we be assured that in the future, as in the past, they will immediately respond to the war tocsin when new dangers arrive".
(Yhe numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)
Customer Reviews:
Desert Storm from the Saudi point of view.......2002-05-30
I found this to be an immensely readable account of Desert Storm from the Saudi point of view, ... I was prepared for an egotistical, ham-handed account of how the Saudis won the war, with a little back up from other friendly countries-what I found was a far more balanced and perceptive accounting by a man who-even taken cum grano salis-performed an immensely difficult task. Yes, there was apple polishing on his own behalf, but I would encourage readers who may be tempted to snipe at the Saudi version of this story to question how Ameri-centric our own versions of Desert Storm are. Keep in mind that while we defeated Saddam militarily in six weeks of bombing and 100 hours of ground combat (I will leave it to others to debate who won the peace), the coalition did so only after six months of build up that without the considerable Saudi infrastructure-and checkbook-would have taken much longer.
Yes, he does go into great detail about his efforts to remain-at least in terms of protocol-on par with Schwarzkopf (no easy task, given his personality!) but I never got the sense that Khaled believed it was for anything more than show-even as he acknowledged that the show was important. All the world was watching, and Saudi Arabia was in a difficult position in both living up to its self-appointed role as crucible of the Muslim world and requiring military help from a country that couldn't be more different from S.A. In fact, Khaled should be commended for his perceptiveness of just how important politics and show would be in this, the first war of the 10-minute news cycle, information age.
For anyone who wants to understand Desert Storm, I would recommend first reading "The General's War," by Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor, then reading this book. I found reading each account of the Battle of Khafji side by side fascinating for each account's spin on facts.
This book is entertaining, but in an unexpected way..........2001-05-08
What makes this book interesting is Prince Khalid. He speaks of how important it was for him to be descended from Ibn Saud, and how critical it has been for his country to place his family members in governing positions - completely unaware of the unflattering image he is revealing of his inflated ego.
This book is an unusually good illustration of how someone who lives a pampered life can grow from a spoiled brat of a child into an impossible adult who cares more about his image and himself than the well-being of his charges or assigning credit where it is due. If wearing a uniform and driving around the desert in an air-conditioned Mercedes while your troops sweat it out in trenches...If avoiding the front lines or any dangerous area because you are "too important to be risked", if earning the title of General due to your family connections..if these things make you a warrior, then Prince Khalid fits the bill.
But after reading this book, I think that his definition of warrior, i.e. this book/his life..illustrates that he has little understanding of what that word really means.
Book Description
DESERT SKIES II is the continuing saga of Tom Lawton. Tom is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas National Guard. Hand-picked to be the Commander of the State's only reserve attack helicopter squadron, Lieutenant Colonel Lawton is under pressure to have his unit perform in combat by his boss and the active duty officers that he must support in combat. While facing the challenge of command, his home life is causing him an even greater challenge; a challenge that will test his personal demons. If the pressure his bosses put on him doesn't kill him, perhaps the Iraqi Fedayeen will. Can Lawton lead his Texans in combat, satisfy the desires of his active duty bosses, keep peace at home, and still defeat the Iraqi Forces? Desert Skies II is the second installment in the DESERT SKIES Series by Mike Gregory, who has written two other books: Desert Skies and Hoopman.
Customer Reviews:
A Story For Today.......2006-01-02
A complicated story of responsibilities and emotional conflicts told in an engaging and easy to read style. One of the best military books available.
Nice factional story.......2005-10-04
Mike Gregory blurs the line between real life and fiction with his fictional lead character's ordeal with the attempt to balance a personal life and his duty to serve his country. In the main character's return to battle in the latest Iraq war as a more senior commander you get a glimpse of one man's struggle to prove his unit's worth in combat. A must read.
Average customer rating:
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Desert warrior,: Poems
Patrick Hore-Ruthven
Manufacturer: J. Murray
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
ASIN: B0007J2CZ0 |
Books:
- Brooklyn Follies CD
- But Come Ye Back: A Novel in Stories
- Caring for Your Collections
- Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays
- Choose Me
- Citizen of the Galaxy
- Conversations With the Capeman: The Untold Story of Salvador Agron
- Counsel Yourself...from the Bible: The First Place to Turn for Life's Tough Issues
- Courting Trouble
- CRANBERRY QUEEN
Books Index
Books Home
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Some Prefer Nettles
Kokoro
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