Book Description
The volatile Middle East is the site of vast resources, profound passions, frequent crises, and long-standing conflicts, as well as a major source of international tensions and a key site of direct U.S. intervention.
Two of the most astute analysts of this part of the world are Noam Chomsky, the preeminent critic of U.S, foreign policy, and Gilbert Achcar, a leading specialist of the Middle East who lived in that region for many years. In their new book, Chomsky and Achcar bring a keen understanding of the internal dynamics of the Middle East and of the role of the United States, taking up all the key questions of interest to concerned citizens, including such topics as terrorism, fundamentalism, conspiracies, oil, democracy, self determination, anti-Semitism, and anti-Arab racism, as well as the war in Afghanistan, the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the sources of U.S. foreign policy.
This book provides the best readable introduction for all who wish to understand the complex issues related to the Middle East from a perspective dedicated to peace and justice. It is not an interview book, but rather a carefully planned and orchestrated dialogue with two experts, skillfully edited by Stephen R. Shalom, professor at William Patterson University.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful At Times; Also Biased and Tedious.......2007-06-09
The authors provide both helpful insight and tortured bias towards Israel in this book. "Perilous Power" begins with efforts to define terrorism - the first (12/87) passed the U.N. 153-2 (the U.S. and Israel were upset that it excluded acts by those occupied), and one immediately gets the sense that the U.S. is way out of the mainstream vs. Israel.
Some of their observations include:
Chomsky et al make the interesting point that Treasury officials in '04 testified they had four employees tracing financial transfers possibly attributable to Bin Laden and/or Hussein, and about 6X that monitoring possible Cuban embargo violations - a bit of mis-emphasis, at best. As for the U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia that provoked Bin Laden, they suggest the troops instead could have been stationed in Kuwait.
The dominant trend in the 1960s Arab world was Arab nationalism (eg. Nasser). The U.S. used Islamic fundamentalism throughout Saudi Arabia to counter communism, secular nationalism, etc. This policy continued in Afghanistan, with us backing the Mujahideen and a similar group in Pakistan. (Talk about blowback!) The U.S. also reacted to the '58 overthrow of the Iraq monarchy, fearing it then would use oil for its own purposes, weakening U.S. control over Japanese and European countries. A U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would end our control/influence over mid-East oil.
In the U.S., Republicans have boosted Christian fundamentalists' concern regarding teaching evolution, gay rights, abortion rights - issues that the wealthy care little about and help build support for their causes (low taxes and wages, etc.). Real wages have gone down, beginning with the Carter administration. Political donations from insurance companies and financial institutions block both parties from addressing health and economic issues, instead resulting in a focus on religious issues.
The U.S.' democratic credentials in the Mid-East are quite poor, via our involvement in overthrows in Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq, along with little pressure on Egypt and Saudi Arabia for improvement.
AIPAC, the liberal intelligentsia, and Christian evangelicals are the main pro-Israel voting blocs in the U.S. - the latter are the strongest, and ironically, seeking the destruction of Israel for their own purposes. Israel's economic strength is in advanced military production using U.S. technology; the main market it is trying to develop is China, sometimes creating conflict with the U.S. Being pushed out of Saudi Arabia has increased the value of Israel to the U.S.
"Perilous Power's" weakest section criticizes the U.S. attack on Afghanistan - its authors believe more negotiation and development of greater evidence against Bin Laden should have taken place first. Regardless, the authors also assert that Afghanistan's people are not better off now, except in Kabul, with those in the countryside now subjugated by warlords instead of the Taliban; meanwhile, heroin production is up sharply.
The U.S. has created several ironies regarding its position on democracy. For example, Spain's P.M. joined Bush and Blair (despite the electorate's only 2% support), while the U.S. criticized Turkey's lack of cooperation with our Iraq invasion, acting with 95% support.
It was also interesting to learn that the Kurds serve as a U.S. proxy.
Finally, the Israel-Palestine issue. They report that the U.S./Israel position has been that unless Palestinians accept the right of Israel to exist, they can't be accepted as negotiating powers - total nonsense. The authors then use various examples from history, including America's treatment of its native American population, to create a patchwork logic in support of Israel's decades' old abuse of the Palestinian people. Basically, their point boils down to "possession is 9/10ths of the law."
Useful ideas for reducing the dangers of yet more wars.......2007-06-01
This fascinating book records Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar's talks in January 2006. They are astoundingly well-informed and full of good ideas for reducing the dangers of war. They discuss terrorism, fundamentalism (especially in Saudi Arabia), the sources of US Middle Eastern policy (particularly oil), the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Achcar points out that the Bush-Blair claim that they must now stay in Iraq because, having invaded, `we have the responsibility', is like the vile rule in some societies that a man who rapes an unmarried woman must marry her. They cite the US military commander in Iraq who admits that the presence of US troops `fuels the insurgency'. They note that most people in Baghdad believe that the USA's chief aim is to `rob Iraq's oil' and they note that most Americans think that the USA should get out of Iraq.
Chomsky and Achcar point out that the EU gives the Israeli state economic privileges and they suggest that the EU should desist until Israel stops building new illegal settlements and the illegal Separation Wall. They agree that an academic boycott of Israel is a bad idea, but worse, it is a divisive diversion from academic unions' main job, to defend their members' wages and conditions.
Chomsky observes that in October 2003, Iran suspended its nuclear enrichment programme in order to reach a general agreement. The EU said that it would provide `firm commitments on security issues', but it reneged when the USA refused to join the talks. In January 2006, Iran offered to suspend its nuclear programme again; the EU rejected this offer too.
Achcar observes, "There's a general trend at the level of the mainstream media to praise those ruling politicians who rule without consulting the polls; that is deemed a great virtue. But behind it is the very elitist idea, also embedded in the very concept of `representative democracy', that, once elected, a representative is free to do whatever he or she wants, even against the unanimous will of his or her constituency." So the Labour government opposes the will of the British people over the attack on Iraq, the EU, the Private Finance Initiative, immigration, breaking up Britain, etc., etc. But are we really surprised that capitalist states do not represent the people?
US terror.......2007-02-12
Chomsky does not say that the US should "accept" terrorist attacks as another reviewer suggests. Rather, Chomsky says the US should stop engaging in terrorism. The US has spent hundreds of billions of dollars developing weapons of mass destruction, and training all sorts of killers through our military camps and bases all over the world, places like the "School of the Americas" which has turned out some of Latin America's worst tyrants. We have proxy wars, special forces, and private mercenaries operating all over the world in the interests of corporatism. As General Smedley Butler said, war is a racket, and he was a "high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers."
Ann Coulter, Victor Davis Hansen, Hugh Hewitt and so many others very obediently avoid the fact of US violence against other people. They only speak in terms of the threats (blowback) our military superpower faces, never the actual harm it causes around the world. That's the "thought-crime" that Chomsky commits in book after book, he dares to suggest that the people of the US look themselves in the mirror.
For some more interviews with Chomsky, I'd recommend the website of Z Magazine.
Predictable Conclusion.......2007-01-16
I'd never read any Chomsky before, but I'd seen one of his movies and heard of his reputation. I was worried he was just going to be a knee-jerk, predictable Vietnam-era peacenik.
He discusses the Middle East, particularly Iraq, in a lot of intelligent detail, and then concludes (surprise!) that the US should withdraw all its forces from Iraq immediately and unconditionally, and that if we did that the Sunnis and Shias would just magically quit fighting against each other.
I felt pretty ripped off, because I thought while he was discussing the situation in so much detail he was actually thinking and digesting information that would drive a conclusion, while in fact the policy he was going to recommend was never in question and had no relationship with the facts on the ground being discussed.
When he was discussing Afghanistan, I had the feeling Chomsky doesn't really seem to feel that the US has any right to defend itself against terrorism, rather, he seems to feel that we should accept it as our just fate because we're such an evil country. As Ann Coulter says, "Terrorist don't hate America as much as liberals do - if they had that much energy, they'd have indoor plumbing by now!".
Conspiracy Literature at its Finest!.......2007-01-14
Every few years I'll pick up a book by Chomsky to get a clue as to what the far left is thinking. Chomsky is predictable. He will always impute the worst of motives to the United States and the best of motives to any State that is anti-American and embraces collectivist ideals. He is unpredictable in how he reaches some of his conclusions and thus you will find surprising and at times enlightening flights of reason -- and fantasy. I will never forgive him for denying the holocaust in Cambodia -- although he would say in his own defense that he was just questioning the evidence of such a holocaust.
This book is the text of a lengthy conversation between Chomsky and Gilbert Achar on the Middle East. They don't always agree, and that makes the book more interesting. Achar is a European -- born in Lebanon -- and thus his statements reflect the leftist European point of view on anti-Semitism, resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli problem, the war in Iraq, and other Middle Eastern topics. An interesting section of the book is the brief epilog which discusses the summer 2006 war of Israel on Lebanon.
The problem with thinkers like Chomsky and Achar is that, just about the time you get to thinking they are making good sense,out of their mouths comes the most outrageous nonsense. For example, Achar more than hints that the U.S. government welcomed the 9/11 terrorist attack. Now, I'm not a Bush fan -- far to the contrary -- but I decline to give credence to an opinion he and other US leaders are so venal as to welcome the death of 3,000 Americans. On his side, Chomsky's characterization of the US invasion of Afghanistan as an "atrocious crime" is misleading. Chomsky makes much of the fact that the US invasion put 5 million Afghans at risk of starvation. Baloney! He omits to mention that the five million were at risk of starvation long before the war because of the Taliban, and that during the war the US and UN kept a massive caravan of grain-carrying trucks rolling into Afghanistan to prevent starvation. Chomsky finally acknowledges there was no starvation -- after spending two pages describing the "atrocious crime" of attacking the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
So, I recommend the book for its originality, its unconventional thinking, and for the howlers you will find amidst its analyses.
Smallchief
Book Description
revor Blake has always known he possessed The Gift. But in the rural town where he grew up magic could only be practiced in secret. The only way he will ever learn how to control and deepen his understanding of his power is to find someone more experienced than he in The Gift. But who? And where? His Uncle Matt-himself a Gifted-helps Trevor spirit away to the large city of Port of Lords where a small underground community of adepts live and work and practice their crafts. Happily he convinces his best friend Les to come with him. And Trevor will need him. For no sooner have they landed in Port of Lords then trouble begins. The kind of trouble that Trevor-even with all his power-may be helpless to overcome.
Customer Reviews:
A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.......2005-12-15
Sabin's second novel in her trilogy had many similarities to the first in its problems and dangers, but the quality of the writing was astoundingly much worse. The life-like, interesting characters of Tria and her classmates was replaced by Trevor and Les, who were idiotic and annoying the whole book. Their mistakes over the course of the book were stupid, careless, and unbelieveable. How could these dry characters be called heroes?
My interest in the story itself disappeared after suffering through 30 pages. To me, Sabin's second novel lacked the thought-provoking ideas and enigma that kept me turning the pages in the 1st novel. Her first was so good that it is criminal to put the two together in a 'trilogy'. I hope the third isn't anything like the second, and I wonder how the author of A School for Sorcery could possibly write something as bad as A Perilous Power.
A fun read with unforgettable characters.......2004-11-25
In this fast-moving, adventure-filled prequel to *A SCHOOL FOR SORCERY, 17-year-old Trevor Blake and his best friend, Les, travel from their small village to the bustling port city of Port-of-Lords to enroll in the Community of the Gifted, where they expect to master their magical gifts; however, the sinister machinations of Dr. Tenney, who plans to steal the power of others for personal gain, embroil them in unexpected adventures and dangers. (M/H) A fun read with unforgettable characters, especially the two evil villains and colorful Veronica.
A Promising Writer.......2004-07-06
I enjoyed this book, which is the first I've read of Sabin's work. The cover copy compared it to Rowling's Harry Potter series, and I found that not accurate at all. This is a very different world. The subtext, about how people behave when they are forced to hide their true selves, is thought provoking
I found the main characters sympathetic, although I became exasperated with Trevor's bull-headedness. After his buddy, Les, twice pointed out people who seemed innocuous but were actually very dangerous, Trevor should have bought a clue and started listening to Les.
The two villains were extremely well done, nasty and effective. At the same time, there was little on-screen gore, and I appreciated that. I could read this to my eight-year-old without worrying.
Deby Fredericks,, author of The Magister's Mask
A Different Fantasy World.......2004-02-01
I am far from being a "Young Adult" but I really enjoyed this book. The world E. Rose Sabin has built is very well defined, the magic system has its limitations and its problems, and the Gifted are well rounded people with goals of their own.
The Heros are unusual characters, not the goody-goody of some other books.
To me, the antagonists were fully realized with their own goals and desires.
But most of all, the outcome was not what I expected.
I highly recommend this books, even for adults.
The harry Potter crowd will love this one.......2004-01-08
In the village of Amesley, seventeen year old Trevor Blake has won a scholarship to the university, much to the dismay of Mistress Hanley, who believes her daughter should have won it. Trevor and his friend Les Simonton visit Trevor's uncle and the neighbors catch them practicing Magic. With a little skilled magic the neighbors forget what they saw and Trevor is forced to give up his scholarship otherwise Mistress Hanley will reveal Trevor's powers.
Trevor's uncle sponsors Trevor and Les, who is thought to have great magic, to the community in teeming metropolis of Port-of-Lords. When they get off the train they meet Carl who steals their money and letters. After they end up in jail, Trevor sends a mental call for help and Veronica answers the summons. While Les likes Veronica, Trevor only wants to meet the man who will teach him to become an Adept. However, he becomes entangled once again with Carl and a power hungry sorcerer who tries to make then his slaves. It will take a miracle to defeat the evil Carl and his master Dr. Tenney.
Comparisons between Trevor and Harry Potter are inevitable but the latter is more youthful and cocky than Master Potter is. It is Les, who will do anything to save his friends, that is the real hero because the Adepts say he has magical powers but he doesn't believe them. The villains are stereotypical but it is a lot of fun to hope they fail. E. Rose Sabin has targeted her work for young adult fantasy fans but anyone who likes a good tale will want to read A PERILOUS POWER.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Columbia Journalism Review, published by Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism on November 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1451 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Fighting words: the silencing power of war.(Book Review)
Author: Anthony Marro
Publication:
Columbia Journalism Review (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2004
Publisher: Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism
Volume: 43
Issue: 4
Page: 65(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Trial, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2006. The length of the article is 3803 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Perilous crossings: dangerous railway crossings kill hundreds of motorists each year, but federal preemption often bars recovery. Defend your clients' rights by identifying viable state law causes of action and using federal regulations to your advantage.
Author: Robert L. Pottroff
Publication:
Trial (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 42
Issue: 4
Page: 60(6)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Product Description
"Perilous Lands is a monumental work that details an entire fantasy continent. It is intended to be used as the setting for your Powers and Perils campaign.
The books in Perilous Lands are its Map Book, a Culture Book and a Site Book. The pages of the Map Book detail the physical environment, political boundaries and population centers for the continent and its associated islands. Each of its twenty-six, four-color maps connects to those that surround it to provide a strategic maneuver area that can be easily handled in play, while still allowing journeys of epic proportions.
The Culture Book details the past history, population, armed strength, economy, personality, legal system, allies, enemies and common languages for each of more than one hundred cultures. A millennia of the land's recorded history is woven into a comprehensive, epic tapestry that brings it to life.
The Site Book completes the package. Its pages detail more than fifteen areas, with precise details and general information, that the Referee can develop into complete adventures for his world. In addition, it contains special addenda and aids that will help the Referee to use these books in play.
All told, Perilous Lands provides you with a rock-solid hub for any Powers and Perils campaign. With this living world as a foundation, your campaign can easily soar into unparalleled heights of dynamic and compelling adventure."
Book Description
Gay parenting is a productive and positive decision, but author and lesbian mother Arlene Lev admits it isn't always an easy one. With practical wisdom and advice, and personal real-life stories, Lev prepares gay parents for this endeavor with everything they need to know and everything they can expect while making their own significant and challenging mark on family life in the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Finally!.......2005-08-15
I, personally, found this book to be exceptional. It is refreshing to find a book that has humor and real-life experience enmeshed with everything the GLBT parents needs to know in this day and age. These are scary times, and with all the gloom and doom we face as gay parents it is nice to find a book that can be enjoyable AND informative.
I find it distressing when discussing this book with others that sometimes personal life-experience has hindered their ability to digest the information provided. It is important to remember that all information given has been researched thoroughly, not only formally, but through day-to-day experience of Ms. Lev, her family, and others. When reading this book we need to keep in mind that the topics covered affect millions of families of all races and genders. We need to remain as objective as we can and digest as much as we can - not only for our own families but to help us educate others.
I am thankful for not only this book, but many others that Ms. Lev has given us, and I think we should applaud, rather than criticize, her efforts to give the most accurate, all-encompassing information possible to her readers. It is also important to realize that her words not only come from a literary position, but from a intensely personal one as well.
REVIEWS OF THE COMPLETE LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING GUIDE.......2005-08-15
Prepublication Reviews
"Finally a handbook for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender parents that addresses the real struggles and joys our families face. The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide is both deeply serious, and belly-laugh funny, while remaining filled with useful advice and heartwarming personal stories."
---Rosie O'Donnell
"Arlene Lev has written a ground-breaking handbook on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parenting that moves beyond proving that we have a right to parent and examines the day-to-day realities of life with children. Lev, a family therapist with twenty years experience working with alternative families, describes the emerging diversity of LGBT families, options for becoming parents, single parenting, coming-out, and infertility, as well as humorously addressing issues such as coping with colic and finding time for adult intimacy.
"Filled with the personal stories of diverse LGBT parents, Lev - a fierce advocate for our families -- challenges us to create secure and healthy environments for our children despite outside homophobia. Now, for the first time in print, with practical advice and a raw honesty, The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide is a must-read for all LGBT people -- those with kids, those who want kids, and those who have watched your friends sucked into the vortex of parenting.
"Lev has created a guide that is up to the minute, inclusive, comprehensive, warm, funny and downright essential for anyone involved with or interested in LGBT parenting."
April Martin, Author The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook (Harper-Collins, 1993)
"Arlene Istar Lev brings the now generation-old phenomenon of LGBT parenting fully up-to-date. It's an ideal, complete reference resource for queer people pursuing parenthood, or those already raising kids. It's inclusive, it's smart, it's accessible, and it doesn't shy away from the hard material. Everything LGBT parents and parents-to-be need to know about issues unique to our families - it's all there."
Terry Boggis, Director, Center Kids the family program of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Centre, New York
"Parenting is a real-time activity and a challenge for anyone who takes it seriously. Lev makes bold statements about real people in real-time situations. The humanity inherent in loving and raising children is not something reserved for a privileged few, but IS experienced by LGBT people. In a time of increasing conservative, religious right angst over who should be allowed to be human and what information and choices we all should be entitled to have about our own lives; this book provides a look at aspects of parenting that we can't always know about in advance. And it is a testament to the ongoing power of parental love."
Jamison Green, Author of Becoming a Visible Man (Vanderbilt University Press, 2004)
Funny & inclusive, with a few big drawbacks.......2005-01-13
This book is one of the most inclusive queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc) parenting manuals out there. I highly recommend it for LGBT parents and anyone thinking about starting a family. It is an engaging read, full of funny stories and information. It is also one of the only books I've read that has been truly inclusive of bisexual, transgender, genderqueer and gender-variant families as well as talking about butch-femme family dynamics. This makes it a far more relevant, inclusive and current books out there... Especially for trans and bi parents and prospective parents who have been completely disregarded by most queer parenting resources, books, and groups.
I appreciated the personal stories from various parents and the author's clearly open-minded approach. She seemed less bent on proving to the conservative right-wingers that we're the same as them, normal, etc... and more focused on talking candidly and honestly about the experience of being a LGBT parent and family. It gives a broad and realistic view of the struggles and joys of parenting in a homophobic world.
But this book has a few drawbacks - First, it is unfortunate that this book does not include much about parenting teenagers. It is geared more towards families with younger children and people who are considering parenting.
Secondly, some people will find her section on transracial adoption angering and alienating. Istar Lev's approach to white families adopting children of color is incredibly misinformed - She seems very defensive and used biased and sometimes even blatantly inaccurate information to dismiss the concerns many people of color have about the wellbeing of children of color being raised by white families, especially in isolated mostly-white communities. Her claims about the origins of the concepts of race and racism are historically untrue, and her statement there are not enough suitable families of color to adopt kids of color is a factual error, as studies have shown that it is in fact racism in adoption & foster parenting agencies, and lack of outreach, that prevents kids of color from being placed in their own communities. This misinformation and the defensive tone sadly detract from important and necessary points about how white families whose children are of color can raise their kids with cultural pride and awareness and the skills they need to survive as people of color in a racist society.
Book Description
This insightful, thoroughly researched guide offers sage advice for same-sex families in every stage, from making the decision to have children to dealing with embarrassed teenagers. Discover the ways same sex parents should accent family pride to deal with being more visibly out. Explore the options for bringing children into your lives, including adoption, fostering, surrogacy, and donor insemination.
Books:
- Princess & the Kiss: A Story of God's Gift of Purity
- Putin's Russia: Past Imperfect, Future Uncertain
- Ratha's Challenge: The Fourth Book of the Named
- Return to Labyrinth Volume 1
- Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are
- Ruby's Rainy Day (Max and Ruby)
- RuneQuest Hawkmoon (Runequest RPG)
- Silk And Steel
- Some Practical Magic
- Spinning Spells, Weaving Wonders: Modern Magic for Everyday Life
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life
- Handbook of Biblical Chronology: Principles of Time Reckoning in the Ancient World and Problems of C
- Auggie Wren's Christmas Story
- Classic Barbecue & Grill Cookbook
- Earth From Space: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
- Global Crises, Global Solutions
- Helicopter Theory
- Hell Creek, Montana: America's Key to the Prehistoric Past
- Charles the Bold: The Last Valois Duke of Burgundy
- Before the Fields of Crosses
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Interventions (City Lights Open Media)
Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance (American Empire Project)
What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World
A Power Governments Cannot Suppress
![Perilous Lands (Powers & Perils) [BOX SET]](http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/21XGM793J6L.jpg)
