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Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernity
Reviel Netz Manufacturer: Wesleyan ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items: ASIN: 0819567191 |
Book Description
In this original and controversial book, historian and philosopher Reviel Netz explores the development of a controlling and pain-inducing technology--barbed wire. Surveying its development from 1874 to 1954, Netz describes its use to control cattle during the colonization of the American West and to control people in Nazi concentration camps and the Russian Gulag. Physical control over space was no longer symbolic after 1874.
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A Gift of Barbed Wire: America's Allies Abandoned in South Vietnam
Robert S. McKelvey Manufacturer: University of Washington Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0295982241 |
Book Description
A Gift of Barbed Wire is a searing look at the lives of South Vietnamese officials and their families left behind in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975. A former Marine who served in Vietnam, Robert McKelvey went on to practice psychiatry and, through his work in refugee camps and U.S. social service organizations, met South Vietnamese men from all walks of life who had been imprisoned in re-education camps immediately after the war. McKelvey's interviews with these former political prisoners, their wives, and their children reveal the devastating, long-term impact of their incarceration.From the early years in French colonial Vietnam through the Vietnam War, from postwar ordeals of re-education camps, social ostracism, and poverty, to escape or emigration to the United States, this collection of narratives provides broad and highly personal accounts of individuals and families evolving against the backdrop of war and vast social change.
All the people interviewed for the book eventually reached the United States, some by the desperate route of the boat people fleeing Vietnam in unsafe vessels, others, after rigorous screening, through U.S. Government-sponsored programs. But even in the safety of the United States they had to begin anew, devoting all their remaining energies to survival. While crediting the courage and resilience of these families, McKelvey holds a critical mirror up to our culture, exploring the nature of our responsibility to our allies as well as the attitudes that obscured the reality of war as "a grinding, brutal interplay of complex forces that often develops a sustaining energy and momentum of its own, driving us in directions that we neither anticipated nor desired."
"Despite the horrors portrayed, these are tales of courage and successful survival in the broader human tragedy of war and its aftermath. McKelvey's skills as an interviewer and his knowledge of the Vietnamese community, especially the survivors, and their willingness to trust him with stories which they usually hold closely, make A Gift of Barbed Wire both persuasive and cogent. They are also reasons why not many people in the world could undertake such a project."--Charles Holzer, University of Texas Medical Branch
"A Gift of Barbed Wire is the only study of Vietnamese re-education camp experiences that includes in some detail the family members of those who were incarcerated and the effects--economic, social, and psychological--that imprisonment had on the whole family."--James Freeman, author of Hearts of Sorrow: Vietnamese American Lives
Customer Reviews:
The best book about postwar Vietnam's reeducation.......2006-01-17
Ultimate betrayal.......2004-06-07
Enlightening........2003-01-06
The message is troublesome but not surprising: the military personnel were rounded into re-education camps and suffered untold tragedies from humiliation, torture, mental degradation to physical impoverishment within a communist prison system. The majority of the officers were jailed from ten to fifteen years; one officer was detained for a total of 22 years.
While 70,000 former political inmates and their families were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. through the ODP (Orderly Departure Program), many more are still living on the fringes of the Vietnamese communist society. A former major drives a pedicab for a living. In this McKelvey's book, we heard the voices of a doctor, a tailor, a politician, an engineer, a spy, a pilot, and a teacher. They all endured "grueling and unforgiving ordeals that only the strongest would have survived." Family members were ostracized for being related to the political prisoners; their wives suffered uncounted financial, emotional, physical hardships, their children barred from a decent education.
The book is one of the few that deal with the long-term psychological effects of the incarceration on the inmates and the sufferings of their relatives.
The author concludes that: 1) War does not end when peace treaties are signed because the negative rippling effects of war and destruction affect many generations to come. 2) The U.S. should be very careful about intervening militarily in any part of the World. 3) The U.S., if it does go to war, cannot simply abandon friends and allies to the mercies of common enemies.
Rather late than never.......2002-10-14
In fact, my family background was 'clean' in the eyes of our government because my parents were not involved in any military service for the former government. But I have friends whose family situations were exactly the same as those portrayed in the book. I must say those are incredible human sufferings, and not only for one generation. I am glad some of those stories are now heard, perhaps a bit late but still, better than never.
Here's a life-time lesson for me (and perhaps some others): no matter how and what communists tell you, don't hastily believe them. Just look at what and how they do, and you'll see it for yourself. For many of them, human dignity and lives are trivial and cheap.
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Barbed Wire: A Political History
Olivier Razac , and Jonathan Kneight Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1565848128 |
Book Description
From the devil's rope to no man's land, "a vital work of cultural criticism" (Publishers Weekly).No less than the internal combustion engine, the transistor, or the silicon chip, barbed wire is a quintessentially modern invention, a product that has influenced the lives of millions of people across the globe since its invention in the late nineteenth century. Barbed Wire: A Political History demonstrates that the invention of barbed wire was a major breakthrough with far-reaching consequences. Cheap and mass-produced, barbed wire accomplished what no other product did before it, or has since done more effectively: the control of vast amounts of open space.
Razac describes how barbed wire has been employed in the harnessing of nature, brutal mass warfare, political conquest and repression, and genocide. In a narrative that spans the history of the American Frontier, the trenches of World War I, the Holocaust, and beyond, Barbed Wire: A Political History looks unflinchingly at a central and fascinating strand of modern life.
Customer Reviews:
More Than A Fence.......2002-10-18
_Barbed Wire_ is not a history of the subject, but of course it is necessary to mention its origin. It is perhaps ironic that barbed wire had its beginning in the open prairie of the land of the free. J. F. Glidden was a farmer who invented barb wire for plains farmers who needed a cheap means of fencing in their land. Even as an invention for cattle control, barbed wire could not help but affect humans, and in unexpected ways. It ended the classic cattle drive, putting out of work most of the cowboys who have loomed large in American mythology. They may have lost their jobs, but the American Indians lost their culture, and it can be seen as a weapon against the indigenous peoples. Barbed wire proved a useful weapon in subsequent battles. Landscapes of World War One featured trenches supplemented with rows of the stuff. It was easy enough to cut with simple shears, but of course you had to get close enough to do so. Land torpedoes, nicknamed "wood lice" or "Schneider crocodiles" were invented to tunnel in and blow the wires up. The best way to neutralize barbed wire was to blow it up with cannon fire, but when tanks arrived, ramparts and bunkers became important again. It was the Nazis who made barbed wire a staple to represent their cold and brutal regime. Its eternal advantages, cheapness, simplicity, and easy installation, made it indispensable. When they built a concentration camp, it was the fence that went up first. In the camps, barbed wire achieved the severest example of what Razac convinces us is its use in "the political management of space." It became "the symbol of the worst catastrophe of the century." It is still used in Palestinian refugee camps, of course, and our government would rather not show the wire all over Camp X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Of course, barbed wire can be found atop fences surrounding factories or prisons, and we do not find this use politically oppressive. Other uses of the wire within open democracies, Razac argues, have disappeared, because spaces needing control are now being watched by guards, video monitors, and electronic gates, some of which carry an Orwellian aura, but none of which have the immediate fearsome aspect of simple twisted and sharpened wire. Razac's slim book exposes plenty of history within a commonplace object, one that those who complete the book will not see in the same way again.
An eye-opening critique of a simple invention!.......2002-07-29
There is alot to say about the book, but the book says it best. So I'll sum it up - barbed wire is one of the most overlooked inventions of death during the last 200 years.
Highly Recommended!
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A Gift of Barbed Wire: America's Allies Abandoned in Vietnam
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 029598225X |
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Chlorinated Solvent and DNAPL Remediation: Innovative Strategies for Subsurface Cleanup (Acs Symposium Series)
Manufacturer: An American Chemical Society Publication ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 084123793X |
Book Description
Chlorinated Solvent and DNAPL Remediation addresses remediation of chlorinated solvents and dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) in groundwater and discusses remedial alternatives that are available for subsurface cleanup. Chlorinated Solvent and DNAPL Remediation: Innovative Strategies for Subsurface Cleanup focuses primarily on current technological developments and innovative applications for in situ remediation of chlorinated solvents including DNAPLs in soil and groundwater. However, this book also provides a general overview of all of the physical, chemical, and biological processes available for in situ remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated solvents and DNAPLs. Chapters discuss surfactant flushing to enhance DNAPL removal; in situ chemical destruction by reduction processes involving zero valent iron or related metals; in situ chemical destruction by advanced oxidation processes; and in situ biological destruction by enhanced anaerobic bioremediation or natural bioattenuation. This book also emphasizes zero valent iron-based strategies, including reaction geochemistry, permeable reactive barrier longevity, rejuvenation of iron walls, and emplacement technique. One chapter summarizes 10 years of permeable reactive barrier development and application. The controversial issues related to DNAPL remediation, including the concept that remediation of sites affected by DNAPL could be technically impractical, are reviewed. Another chapter focuses on the evolution of DNAPL remediation practice.
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Innovative Approaches to the On-Site Assessment and Remediation of Contaminated Sites (Nato Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences)
Manufacturer: Springer ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 1402009569 |
Book Description
The in-situ and on-site assessment and remediation of contaminated sites, together with risk-based management and control of hazardous substances, are potentially less expensive than other assessment and remediation approaches, while maintaining accuracy and effectiveness. Cost-effective remedial and management approaches that are also effective in minimizing exposure and risk to human health and the environment are a critical need throughout the world, especially in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, where resources that can be devoted to chemical cleanup are especially limited.
Although much of the focus of the book is on natural processes and how they might be enhanced for the management of contaminated sites, there is also a recognition that a portion of sites may require more invasive approaches, which are especially useful in managing source areas that contribute to the migration of contaminants in groundwater and other media. Among the more invasive approaches discussed are solvent extraction, direct bioremediation of PCBs, source areas and munitions, and chemical oxidation.
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Innovative Engineering Technologies for Hazardous Waste Remediation (Environmental Engineering)
Manufacturer: Van Nostrand Reinhold ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0442011806 |
Book Description
Innovative Engineering Technologies for Hazardous Waste Remediation provides a unique critical assessment of innovative chemical, oxidative, extraction, thermal, physical, and bioremediation technologies. With an emphasis on techniques that promise long-term solutions, this guide covers: * New directions in hazardous waste remediation. * Innovative approaches to on-site management selections. * Source control and preventive engineering.|Complete with case studies highlighting the proper applications of these technologies, this much-needed resource should be on the desk of every engineer, consultant, and instructor involved in hazardous waste remediation.
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Innovative Subsurface Remediation: Field Testing of Physical, Chemical, and Characterization Technologies (Acs Symposium Series)
Manufacturer: An American Chemical Society Publication ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0841235961 |
Book Description
Groundwater is one of the most pervasive environmental problems, and cleaning polluted sites has proven formidable. Remediation efforts are often hindered both by the complexity of the subsurface environment and the difficulty of gathering information on the subsurface. This volume evaluates a selection of new technologies for the remediation of groundwater pollution. It covers techniques for both site remediation and characterization, and many of the techniques described are ready for commercial application. The book emphasizes field tested methods, particularly methods using tracers.
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Innovative Technologies for Site Remediation and Hazardous Waste Management: Proceedings of the National Conference Pittsburgh, July 23-26, 1995
Manufacturer: American Society of Civil Engineers ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0784400954 |
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An analysis of barriers to innovative treatment technologies summary of existing studies and current initiatives (SuDoc EP 1.2:2002002920)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Manufacturer: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Solid Waste and Emergency Response ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B00011703I |
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Bibliography of federal reports and publications describing alternative and innovative treatment technologies for corrective action and site remediation (SuDoc EP 1.21:F 31)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Manufacturer: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Center for Environmental Research Information ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B000106SDM |
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Design and evaluation of innovative hazardous waste treatment technologies at McClellan AFB, (SuDoc EP 1.23/10:600/F-94/028)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Manufacturer: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B00010LKBC |
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Federal publications on alternative and innovative treatment technologies for corrective action and site remediation (SuDoc EP 1.2:P 96/9)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Manufacturer: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Technology Innovation Office ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B00010DKBU |
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J.R. Simplot ex-situ bioremediation technology for treatment of dinoseb-contaminated soils innovative technology evaluation report (SuDoc EP 1.89/4:540/R-94/508)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Manufacturer: National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ProductGroup: Book Binding: Unknown Binding ASIN: B00010Q99U |
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