History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Perilous States: Conversations on Culture, Politics, and Nation (Late Editions: Cultural Studies for the End of the Century)

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Perilous States: Conversations on Culture, Politics, and Nation (Late Editions: Cultural Studies for the End of the Century)

Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0226504476

Book Description

Encompassing a range of disciplines—notably anthropology,
politics, history, comparative literature, and
philosophy—the unprecedented annual publication Late
Editions exposes unsettling dilemmas and unprecedented
challenges facing cultural studies on the brink of the
twenty-first century. Successive volumes will appear
annually until the year 2000, each engaging the predicaments
of particular institutions, nations, and persons at this
point of social, cultural, and political change. The
project will test the limits of scholarly conventions by
finding new ways to expose cultural formations emerging from
the maturation or exhaustion of once-powerful ideas whose
validity is now deeply in question.

Perilous States, the first volume of Late
Editions, presents conversations between American
scholars, most of whom are anthropologists, and individuals
situated amidst political and social upheaval. Pimarily but
not exclusively from Eastern Europe, the cast includes
Russian writers, Hungarian scientists and academics, Armenian
politicians, Siberian religious and medical leaders, a Gypsy
leader, a Polish poet, a French politician, and a white South
African musician who is a self-styled Zulu. Their voices
unite around themes of democracy, market economy, individual
rights, and the reawakened force of suppressed ethnic and
racial identities.

To obtain fresh perspectives on these cultural and social
transformations, the volumes will consist of in-depth
conversations, relayed in essay form, between scholars and
individuals in other cultures with whom they share
affinities. This novel approach blends the immediacy of
interviews, the objectivity of journalism, and the
intellectual rigor of scholarship.

Contributors to this volume are Marjorie Balzer, Sam
Beck, David B. Coplan, Michael M. J. Fischer, Nia Georges,
Bruce Grant, Douglas R. Holmes, Stella Gregorian, George E.
Marcus, Kathryn Milun, Eleni Papagaroufali, Paul Rabinow,
Julie Taylor, and Tom White.

To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order

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Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations
Meticulous study on the League of Nations
A Good Analysis of President Wilson's Views
Turning Your Head Around on Woodrow Wilson

To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order
Thomas J. Knock
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0691001502

Book Description

In his widely acclaimed To End All Wars, Thomas Knock provides an intriguing, often provocative narrative of Woodrow Wilson's epic quest for a new world order. The account follows Wilson's thought and diplomacy from his policy toward revolutionary Mexico, through his dramatic call for "Peace without Victory" in World War I, to the Senate's rejection of the League of Nations. Throughout Knock explores the place of internationalism in American politics, sweeping away the old view that isolationism was the cause of Wilson's failure and revealing the role of competing visions of internationalism--conservative and progressive.

Customer Reviews:

Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations.......2005-03-30

This book is about Woodrow Wilson's quest for a new world order during and after WW I, especially his strong desire for the creation of a League of Nations which would mediate all future disputes between nations. The U.S. Senate, of course, voted it down. I found it interesting how the country (and Wilson) had strong socialist leanings, especially in international affairs, until War was declared in 1916, when a huge reaction took effect. Knock does a good job relating events and portraying Wilson as one whose ideas for truly ending warfare was convincing to world leaders but not his own country. The effort of trying to persuade his countrymen of the importance of a League probably broke his health and led to his death. Recommended.

Meticulous study on the League of Nations.......2002-01-01

When I was very young, I read somewhere that Wilson was the greatest swindler in human history. And Wilson has always been a mistery to me. Reading this book, I expected to learn the reason why Woodrow Wilson decided to lead America into World War I. But it was not a main theme of this book. And the explanation about it was not satisfactory to me. My misunderstanding about Wilson, however, is removed now thanks to this book.
Thomas J. Knox decidedly focused on the League issue. He meticulously studied the process of the formation of League of Nations. And his analysis of American political spectrum of that era - especially progressive internationalism & conservative internationalism - was excellent. It was very helpful in studying American history.

A Good Analysis of President Wilson's Views.......2001-09-21

To End All Wars attempts to show where President Wilson's ideas on the League of Nations came from and why he ultimatly failed. A fascinating protryal of early 20th century poltics, Knock successfully intergrates both the domestic policies of Wilson with his international policies. The links between the progressive, pacifist leagues and Wilson's views are clearly marked and appear credible. What is not examined is the moral conflict between Wilson's anti-war views and the fact he lead the country into World War I. Further research into this inconsitency could have led insight into why Wilson treated his former progrssive allies with such contempt as the war progressed. The ultimate result was his political inability to convince the American people to join the League of Nations after he alientated his greatest supporters.

Turning Your Head Around on Woodrow Wilson.......2000-05-31

Professor Knock turned my head around on the foreign policies of Woodrow Wilson. This book takes the reader back into the 1890s, when Wilson was a professor of politics and history, in its quest to understand the evolution of his foreign policy thru American entry into the First World War. Nothing is sacred in this author's hands either. He devises a large-scale drama encompassing a spectrum of players--Jane Addams, William Howard Taft, Elihu Root, Eugene Debs, and more--as he dissects how and why Wilson failed to gain Senate ratification for the Treaty of Versailles. If it is a familiar story, Professor Knock's retelling of it is both original and compelling. I think this is the single most important book currently available on Wilsonian foreign policy.

American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare

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Interesting look at social policy.
Must Read!!
An immensely moving, informative, entertaining book
More than a 'policy' book
Did Welfare Reform Work?

American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids, and a Nation's Drive to End Welfare
Jason DeParle
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0143034375

Amazon.com

More than a decade after presidential candidate Bill Clinton floated the idea of ending "welfare as we know it," the changes to the system have become so accepted and entrenched that it is difficult to remember the heated controversy surrounding the issue of reform. Jason DeParle, a social policy reporter for The New York Times, forcefully brings the subject to life in American Dream, a moving and informed examination of the challenges, complexities, successes, and failures involved in fixing our nation's ailing welfare system. Tracing the lives of three women and their children as legislative changes are pushed through Washington and the state of Wisconsin, DeParle puts an extraordinarily human face on a subject that is too often prone to ideological oversimplification. As DeParle adeptly shows, their story "of adversity variously overcome, compounded, or merely endured ... embodies the story of welfare writ large."

The three compelling women at the heart of DeParle's narrative are vastly different temperamentally, yet they share the abstract qualities of strength and endurance, as well as extended family ties. DeParle paints their portraits with respect and sensitivity, and he provides a marvelous family history that reveals how "the story of welfare" is painfully "tangled in the story of race." Our glimpse at these difficult lives and the forces that profoundly shape them inspire an equal measure of hope and disappointment, and a large measure of outrage. As these remarkably resilient women struggle to raise their families, corruption is exposed in the very offices charged with implementing the newly adopted reforms. DeParle accepts that removing nine million women and children from the welfare rolls represents enormous progress. However, he simultaneously recognizes that we are dismally failing to confront a consequence of welfare reform: a new class of working poor. --Silvana Tropea

Book Description

In this definitive work, two-time Pulitzer finalist Jason DeParle cuts between the mean streets of Milwaukee and the corridors of Washington to produce a masterpiece of literary journalism. At the heart of the story are three cousins whose different lives follow similar trajectories. Leaving welfare, Angie puts her heart in her work. Jewell bets on an imprisoned man. Opal guards a tragic secret that threatens her kids and her life. DeParle traces their family history back six generations to slavery and weaves poor people, politicians, reformers, and rogues into a spellbinding epic.

With a vivid sense of humanity, DeParle demonstrates that although we live in a country where anyone can make it, generation after generation some families donÂ't. To read American Dream is to understand why.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting look at social policy........2007-09-07

I found this to be a page turner. The book is actual history that reads like fiction. There is a fair amount of repitition that bogged the story down a bit but I still recommend it.

Must Read!!.......2007-01-22

I have to read this book for my Social Welfare Policy class but I can't put it down! The writer is incredibly engaging even when talking about all the backstage drama surrounding the 1996 welfare bill, which I think is a huge accomplishment of and in itself. It is a great blend of legislative history making AND seeing the effects on the welfare recipients.

An immensely moving, informative, entertaining book.......2006-11-10

I really loved this book. Its a very quick read and its also extremely informative. You will learn so much about what its like to live in poverty in the US. It also details the history of welfare in America, how it was changed, and where it stands now. The book is no liberal propaganda either. The NY Times reporter who wrote the book comes to some very surprising, often conservative-leaning conclusions. You will be amazed at what he found and often moved to tears by the stories of the three women. An absolutely essential read.

More than a 'policy' book.......2006-10-20

A friend recommended this book. I picked it up, expecting it to be hard to read (public policy books usually are), but this was nothing like that because the author shapes the story around the lives of real people, including 3 women in Milwaukee who have been receiving public assistance. What amazed me, after reading the book, was how little changed in their lives even when 'welfare as we know it' ended. Two of them became steady workers, for the most part, but they were still poor, still struggling to buy food and pay the utilities, and still had troubles with the men in their lives.

Did Welfare Reform Work?.......2006-09-05

I still do not know. The women in the book seemed to find a way of providing for their kids when there was a welfare system or when there was not. When tragedy or personal irresponsibility struck one of these women somehow a freind or relation took up responsibilty for the kids. This is a realistice portrait of drugs, poverty, crime, and working the system in the ghetto. How much and what should we give the poor to take care of themselves and establish their independence--never-ending question. I also have to wonder after reading this if every man in the ghetto is a hustler or loser.

What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, And the State of the Nation

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Activists talking about Katrina

What Lies Beneath: Katrina, Race, And the State of the Nation
The South End Press Collective
Manufacturer: South End Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Disaster Relief | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0896087670

Book Description

In August 2005, thousands of New Orleans residents-overwhelmingly poor, largely people of color, the majority black-were left to face one of the worst "natural" disasters in US history on their own. They were left to die in prisons, in nursing homes, and on the street. Survivors were criminalized as "looters" for struggling to obtain food, water, diapers, medicine, and other essentials of life that no one else could or would provide. As Katrina's waters receded and the body count soared, an ugly truth (re)surfaced: The lives of those who are poor, who are vulnerable, and who are not white are not valued by the US government.

While commentators across the political spectrum, celebrities, and other observers expressed outrage that the US government would let this happen to Americans-even "those Americans"-millions outside of New Orleans live without adequate health insurance; clean air and water; decent education, housing, nutrition, health care, and work; and freedom from police brutality and state repression. And thousands are deported, displaced, and dying in prisons and illegal wars from coast to coast, gulf to gulf.

Short and accessible, this anthology, featuring such voices as Vandana Shiva, Glen Ford, Jordan Flaherty, and Robert Bullard, takes readers beyond the Superdome. It explores the complexity of this turning point in US history as representative of the nation's direction and priorities.

Customer Reviews:

Activists talking about Katrina.......2007-06-26

This book is notable in that some of it was written by those who lived through Katrina, mostly social justice activists. In that, it gives unique perspectives not found elsewhere. The parts that are not voices from the ground often speak very intelligently to the connections between race and the disaster, even if they do not benefit from a first-hand understanding.

However what is really missing is a historical understanding of the city and what got us to this point of vulnerability. Katrina isn't surprising given the history of New Orleans and was not an isolated event. It is the culmination of decades of decline and disregard, particularly an abandonment by the federal government, developments which are hardly unique to New Orleans. The introduction by Kalamu Ya Salaam (the best part of the book) begins to describe this, but sadly many of the other writers, while writing eloquently about race, miss some of the larger dimensions of other structural changes.

Death of a Nation: American Culture and the End of Exceptionalism (Critical American Studies)

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Excellent Scholarly Work

Death of a Nation: American Culture and the End of Exceptionalism (Critical American Studies)
David W. Noble
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Early Civilization | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0816640815

Book Description

In the 1940s, American thought experienced a cataclysmic paradigm shift. Before then, national ideology was shaped by American exceptionalism and bourgeois nationalism: elites saw themselves as the children of a homogeneous nation standing outside the history and culture of the Old World. This view repressed the cultures of those who did not fit the elite vision: people of color, Catholics, Jews, and immigrants. David W. Noble, a preeminent figure in American studies, inherited this ideology. However, like many who entered the field in the 1940s, he rejected the ideals of his intellectual predecessors and sought a new, multicultural, postnational scholarship. Throughout his career, Noble has examined this rupture in American intellectual life. In Death of a Nation, he presents the culmination of decades of thought in a sweeping treatise on the shaping of contemporary American studies and an eloquent summation of his distinguished career.

Exploring the roots of American exceptionalism, Noble demonstrates that it was a doomed ideology. Capitalists who believed in a bounded nationalism also depended on a boundless, international marketplace. This contradiction was inherently unstable, and the belief in a unified national landscape exploded in World War II. The rupture provided an opening for alternative narratives as class, ethnicity, race, and region were reclaimed as part of the nation's history. Noble traces the effects of this shift among scholars and artists, and shows how even today they struggle to imagine an alternative postnational narrative and seek the meaning of local and national cultures in an increasingly transnational world. While Noble illustrates the challenges that the paradigm shift created, he also suggests solutions that will help scholars avoid romanticized and reductive approaches toward the study of American culture in the future.

David W. Noble is professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of numerous books, including The End of American History (1985) and The Free and the Unfree: A Progressive History of the United States (with Peter N. Carroll, 2001).

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Scholarly Work.......2003-07-08

In Death of a Nation, David Noble examines America's frequently-shifting foundational myths. This book offers an analysis of the ways in which artists, writers, and historians participated in building and changing American Exceptionalism, from the early national landscape themes, through what Noble repeatedly refers to as "bourgeois nationalism" to the present "international marketplace."

Noble tracks the rises, falls, and mid-life ideological conversions of prominent American historians, literary scholars, and artists. Many of his subjects are people he has personally known during his long career at the University of Minnesota, so the conversion stories are frequently quite vivid. Along the way, Noble's anecdotes about his colleagues highlight trends in thinking that contributed to America's changing foreign policy and domestic policy, as well as shifts in pop culture.

Death of a Nation is certainly a must-read for students of American Studies/American Civilization programs, or anyone who is curious about why America has become what it is today. Great insights.

Average customer rating:

Good book, Not so sure about the premise.

The irrelevance of politicians

pernicious AND badly argued

You must read beyond the title

I guess they read another book

The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies
Kenichi Ohmae
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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The Borderless World, rev ed: Power and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy

The Invisible Continent: Four Strategic Imperatives of the New Economy

The Next Global Stage: The Challenges and Opportunities in Our Borderless World

Reordering the World: Geopolitical Perspectives on the Twenty-First Century

The Mind Of The Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business

ASIN: 0684825287

Book Description

By losing their ability to control exchange rates and protect their currencies, nation states, assers Ohmae, have forfeited their role as critical participants in the global economy. Ohmae contends that five great forces have usurped the economic power once held by the nation state, resulting in the rise of region states which have closer links to the global economy than to their "host" nations.

Customer Reviews:

Good book, Not so sure about the premise........2007-03-08

Nation states going away anytime soon? I doubt it. While the author makes a good argument, lots of evidence found elsewhere puts doubt in the presented theory. Very good book on globalization issues.

The irrelevance of politicians.......2002-05-24

The concept of nation state as it is today, is relatively new. Kenichi Ohmae's thesis is that it is already out of date.

Nation state has become an excuse for all manner of political ills and goals that are irrelevant to the majority of the public. Kenichi shows that when leaders ignore geopolitical boundaries and encourage cross border cooperations, the result is far more beneficial than the old nationalism.

However as nations become less relevant, organisations such as the European Union are to an extent taking their place. The Author argues that these are no more relevant, they are new nation states rit large. In their place, he argues for greater regional cooperation, transending boundaries, not building exclusive trading blocks, but maximising the potential of a city, region or country, through truly international division of labour.

The title can be misunderstood, by those who do not read the book, but the driving argument, is that in their current guise, nation states risk becoming irrelevant to the very people that they claim to serve. Left leaning social democrats, will disagree with his theory, as will old style conservatives. Those of you who wish to live in a more connected less divisive world, will find the book a breath of fresh air.

pernicious AND badly argued.......2002-04-03

Omae Ken'ichi writes from the perspective of a radical of the global elite. Should the various states of the world use welfare programs or social protections to blunt popular opposition to the exploitation and structural violence inherent in the free market system? Never! Omae demands that all social programs be abolished so that "global solutions will flow [via the market] to where they are needed without the intervention of nation states".

This is prima facie ridiculous, and Omae gets away with it only with remarkably vague explication and by refusing to entertain criticisms. Even libertarian ideologues must admit that only those problems whose solutions can be made profitable would thus be solved -- and since most of the world is poor, no solutions will be forthcoming (consider AIDS in Africa).

But the problems with this book extend well beyond the notion that the market will solve the world's problems if given a chance. The list is long (including no consideration of the environment, cultural diversity, or poor countries), but most disturbing is Omae's condemnation of democracy. He believes sovereign governments are the corrupt instruments of special interests -- true enough, but a humane solution is not based on giving free rein to the corporate puppetmasters. Morever, Omae explicitly opposes the principle of one person, one vote: "The tyranny of modern democracy is that it tends to give equal weight
to votes before contributions to the maintenance of society as a whole are taken into account".

Omae's solution, then, is to concentrate economic power even more than is currently the case in the hands of those rewarded by the market (generally the most ruthless, greedy, or lucky) while cutting the vast majority out of the process altogether. In other words, establish a formal oligarchy, instead of our current informal oligarchy hidden behind sham elections. These conclusions are pernicious, and Omae's arguments so weakly supported that this book is not even useful for understanding the thinking of those who favor greater corporate control of the globe.

You must read beyond the title.......2001-06-27

The title suggests that nation states and government in general are things of the past, a world-scale right-wing libertarian vision come to life. That's not quite true. Now 5 years after this book was written, in so many ways, the world either already is what Ohmae said it will be, or it is well on its way. The "End" is not so much a dissolution of national governments, but their growing irrelevance. Fewer and fewer consumers still regard Honda and Toyota as Japanese car manufacturers because so much of their assembly and even machining is now performed in the USA. If Motorola sells portable phones to Japan it does not necessarily benefit Americans, because the phones might be manufactured in Indonesia. The shareholders and other departments of the company might benefit because of new business generated, but it is possible that all employees and shareholders come from Asia or Europe themselves, even if Motorola was originally established in the US.

The nation state might last through the end of this lifetime (though unlikely longer than that), but it is less and less an economic entity, rather a final vestige of nationalistic sentiments, the modern and future "opium of the masses." Ohmae reminds us that terms like GDP and GNP are outdated and deserve reconsideration, considering that every large nation state has successful enterprises spaced out among uncompetitive industries and unproductive locales. Gross "Regional" Product might be a more accurate yardstick.

A good companion book to this one might be "Jihad vs. McWorld" by Benjamin Barber. That book emphasises that the so-called Transnational Corporations might as well be called anti-national corporations. Consumers scarcely know or care where the banks and manufacturers who provide them with goods and services call home, and the corporations care even less about the nationality of their customers, beyond the point that it might provide information about their purchasing habits.

I guess they read another book.......2001-05-07

The End of the Nation State was profound when it was written. It's simple argument was that the power of government would diminish as the ability of people to communicate across lines increased. A simple idea that has been proven time and time again since the book was written. Does he suggest that governments will disappear - not really. What he does suggest is much more subtle - he talks about linkages - for example Tiajuana and San Diego - where the links between the two is more important to the area than either the link of Mexico City to Tiajuana or San Diego to Washington - trade and communications become linked more closely than regulation. Another example - Japanese who could not buy blue jeans at a reasonable price in country discovered ways using federal express to get jeans outside the tariff. All of those are great examples of the benefits and expansions of trade. His conclusion - reinforced in later works and also in a number of other books on the subject (if not in practice and observation) - is that the ultimate beneficiaries of globalized trade are individuals. See for example Future Perfect. For a slightly different view see John Seeley Brown's recent book on the social nature of information - Brown argues that nation states will continue - which is not a direct response to Ohmae but still an interesting perspective.

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Misses the most important
A world without borders?
The End of the Nation State: The Beginning of the Future?
New Global Economy

The End of the Nation-State
Jean-Marie Guehenno
Manufacturer: University of Minnesota Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History & Theory | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0816626618

Amazon.com

Will nation-states survive past the year 2000? Will the information age and the resulting global community provide a new model, a "fourth empire" that will redefine how people pursue and protect their freedoms? In The End of the Nation-State, the author provides an indispensable primer for the new world order emerging before our eyes.

Customer Reviews:

Misses the most important.......2001-07-15

This is a great book for its analysis but its future scenarios fail to account for what may be the most likely in the end, simply because the book basically is an extrapolation of present trends (it reminds me of the CIA reports of summer 1989 which foresaw another 50 years of communism). It is not a feat to draw a beautiful extrapolation, as it is perfectly logical and rational, but it still fails in seeing the signs of an emerging global democratic order. Guehenno forgets that history often breaks with trends. He does not explore what may be the most likely non-linear historical break: the coming establishment of a world democracy with a functional world parliament. Ironically, Guehenno is still a prisoner of the nation-state mentality in failing to recognize the obvious signs of emerging global democracy, in failing to see the global civil society movements are just a pillar of what will be a peaceful global revolution, one - as Thomas Paine said - based on reason, one which will complete the historical process which entered its modern phase with the American and French revolutions. The calls for global democracy of anti-globalization protesters ("No globalization without representation"...), the desperate calls for better global governance from the global elite (Davos, UN, World Bank etc.), the emergence of initiatives like the Campaign for World Democracy (with supporters from all parts of society, including business, government officials, MPS, Presidents - Toledo of Peru-, civil society etc.), the Committee for a World Parliament (with Mandela, Delors etc. on board) are faint but unmistakable signs that the concept of world democracy is a rising force. Any book on the future of the nation state which does not address that fails on the most desirable, and certainly the best, scenario for the future that can miminize global geopolitical tensions and deal with global catastrophes, whether natural or man-made. In the end, this book just like the celebrated "Empire", is a superb intellectual exercise but it will be seen in a few years as just half of what it should have been, as both unimaginative and off the mark. But its main merit is to awaken people to the fact, that indeed, the nation-state as we have known it for 350 years is dead. In fact, it has been dead for a while but its death throes are taking a long time. Yet to keep stability, people need an identity which nations, though not states, provide. So we will see in the future a multiplication of nations while we see the world uniting in a global democracy, one of several layers of democracy of course with most existing states remaining, just as the EU did not mean the end of its constituent states, or the new African Union does not mean the end of its constituent states.

A world without borders?.......2000-09-05

A book of incredible reach and quite impressive assertions. For anyone interested in the future of the state, the 'new economy' or the way mankind is going it is a must-read! It touches nearly every subject currently being discussed on those areas. For all the praise regarding the provocativness of his theses, Guehenno fails to answer a vital question. What AFTER the state? No clear vision is given on how the tasks fused in that unique organisation will be transferred. Guehenno shares this problem with his fellow globalizers, such as Kenichi Ohmae. On the whole it is a refreshing book which seeks to explain the current economical-technological revolution and provides a mind-boggling insight into how a networked world might look like.

The End of the Nation State: The Beginning of the Future?.......1998-02-19

Guéhenno's lucid and imaginative discussion in The End of the Nation-State presents a collection of arguments that are interwoven so neatly that the book often reads as smoothly as a good novel. But the character of the book is as much a clear argument as it is a mosaic of visionary speculation. The narrative brings us Guéhenno's thoughtful vision of a future "imperial" world, with its blurring geographical boundaries, changing poles of authority, and networking global society. Perhaps in a derogatory analysis, his synthesis of argument (without citation) and speculation would be construed as fiction, but it should not be. Intimations of the coming age, which Guéhenno finds in the politics of the United States, Japan, Lebanon, France, Italy, Israel and Palestine, illustrate the empirically grounded theorizing and perspicacious observation the author brings to important, and perhaps previously unnoticed, changes in world affairs. While it is always easy to disparage an author's efforts at clairvoyance, most of Guéhenno's hypotheses in this book are presented so cogently, and often poetically, that many of his future scenarios, however chilling and undesirable, seem almost inevitable.

New Global Economy.......1996-12-03

Guehenno was among the first to consider the impact of the flow of information on government borders. He puts the situation into historical perspective.

Diplomatic Divorce: Why America Should End Its Love Affair with the United Nations

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Who benefits from the UN? The US!
I think the US problem with the UN is a bipartisan one
Malignant tumor
Kilgannon delivers a conservative classic!
Great Read

Diplomatic Divorce: Why America Should End Its Love Affair with the United Nations
Thomas P. Kilgannon
Manufacturer: Stroud & Hall Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0974537667

Book Description

In this bold and provocative new book, Diplomatic Divorce, Tom Kilgannon argues that failure to understand the United Nations and the motivations of the people who run it imperils not only America's international sovereignty but ultimately America's independence. Kilgannon, who has reported from UN events around the world, provides an eye-opening look at how a corrupt haven of second-rate bureaucrats from third-world countries is dictating the future of the world's only superpower—and leading us down the road to ruin.

In Diplomatic Divorce, Kilgannon contends that the United Nations—with the help of international, anti-American lobbyists—is assaulting American values on a number of fronts, from national security to trade to tax policy to the Internet. Our First Amendment is under attack from UN bureaucrats who are trying to wrest control of the Internet from the United States. Global gun-grabbers have our Second Amendment in their crosshairs as they work toward an international Arms Trade Treaty which will ban the private ownership of firearms. Kilgannon shows how despite President Bush's work, members of America's military are still in jeopardy of being tried before Kofi Annan's International Criminal Court and how Congress has outsourced its constitutional responsibility to the World Trade Organization.

Leading Democrats like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, John Kerry and others, Kilgannon explains, "have abandoned their faith in America for the empty promises of a global cult...which is hopelessly corrupt, inherently flawed and anti-American to the core." These apostles of universal law have hung our Constitution on the discount rack. For these reasons and more, he argues, "it is time for America to end her love affair with the United Nations."

Customer Reviews:

Who benefits from the UN? The US!.......2007-02-06

The US calls the shots more than any other country in the UN. An international talking shop benefits the leading power in the current international order. Who is that power? The US!

What exactly would Mr. Kilgannon propose to replace the UN as a place for countries to resolve their differences short of war? Or does he enjoy war as much as the current Bush administration used to?

I think the US problem with the UN is a bipartisan one.......2006-10-22

How should the people of a major nation such as the United States regard the United Nations? Well, there are a few possible approaches.

One is that the United Nations is, on the whole, good for everyone. Perhaps if we simply side with it, even its rulings against the United States will tend to improve things for us all, even for us Americans.

Another possibility is that the United Nations is, on the whole, bad for everyone. Perhaps if we simply side with it, its rulings will tend to cause more and more misery for us all, including us Americans.

Yet another possibility is that the truth is somewhere in between, and that on the average, the UN helps the world although it does cost us rich Americans something in order to accomplish that. If that were the case, we'd draw a line somewhere, perhaps with the more conservative Americans refusing to support the UN and the more liberal of us happy to support it.

I think, however, that the second of these possibilities is in fact the proper one. I think the UN is bad for everyone and ought to be outlawed. And while I'm giving this book five stars for exposing some of the problems with the UN, there are a couple of Kilgannon's arguments which I do not especially like.

The author argues that the UN is undermining American sovereignty. But to some extent, it may be a good idea for an international organization to place some restrictions on the sovereignty of individual nations. The real question is whether these restrictions are reasonable and productive or whether they simply risk ceding authority to some tyrants and bullies. This leads to Kilgannon's tendency to blame support for the UN on the Democrats, making the whole issue a partisan one. I do not like that at all; I think the fight against the UN needs to be a bipartisan one.

In addition, the author spends quite a bit of time discussing the extent of corruption at the United Nations. Here again, I think that while some of these scandals demonstrate the untrustworthiness of the UN, the main issue is how a "reformed" and scandal-free UN would perform. And I think that a fully, um, empowered and "reformed" UN could wind up being the most horrifying tyranny the world has yet seen.

On the whole, I agree with Kilgannon when he says that the UN has undermines our security and legitimizes illegitimate regimes. And I think it is indeed bad that the UN is so anti-American. I also agree with the author that we shouldn't "withdraw from the world - only from the United Nations." But I do think our argument ought to be that the UN is bad for everyone.

Malignant tumor.......2006-09-22

In Diplomatic Divorce, Kilgannon shows why the UN is inherently flawed and cannot be reformed. It is a failed institution that provides false hope and feeds a bunch of parasites. America should get out of what he calls this global cult with its far reaching tentacles and sinister intentions.

The USA gives the UN and its agencies approximately $3 billion every year, to the unaccountable bureaucrats that work to undermine American interests and constantly demonize Israel. Worse, it is also the meeting place for terrorist cells and a hive of criminal activity. Assisted by the so-called transnational progressives, the UN is assailing the country on many fronts, from trying to usurp control of the Internet to threatening national security and including attempts to impose tax and gun laws.

This study investigates the attempts by United Nations globalists and their leftist enablers of all stripes to usurp American sovereignty. Kilgannon reveals the terrorists, human rights abusers and political deviants that make up the UN General Assembly and shines a light on the incorrigibly corrupt, incompetent, anti-American and anti-Israel bureaucrats of this contemptible organization. The praise singers of the UN include prominent members of the Democratic Party, eccentric billionaires, elements in the mass media and empty-headed celebrities.

In chapter 6: Pistols, Palaces and Petroleum, the Oil For Food scam is covered in detail. Kofi Annan could certainly do business with Saddam as he said, and he did. Moreover, the lucrative trade was spread widely to family members and business associates. The greatest beneficiaries were security council members France and Russia, while the Iraqi people starved. The author also devotes considerable space to the International Criminal Court. Under no circumstances should the USA legitimize this body, as the UN will do everything in its power to criminalize American foreign policy.

The love affair between the leftist elites and the unelected vermin from the darkest crevices of the planet constantly gives birth to more corruption, misery and oppression. Ultimately, the USA cannot continue to reconcile its membership in this body with its sovereignty and founding principles. The UN has gone way beyond being reformable. It is time for America to pull the plug. Despite what the Jimmy Carters and the Bill Clintons might say, withdrawal from the UN would be the right thing to do.

Other books that confirm Kilgannon's revelations include Tower Of Babble by Dore Gold, The UN Gang by Pedro Sanjuan, Inside The Asylum by Jed Babbin, The UN Exposed by Eric Shawn and The Future Of The United Nations by Joshua Muravchik. Not all of these authors advcate complete withdrawal but their work is valuable in getting the complete picture of this profoundly evil institution.

Kilgannon delivers a conservative classic!.......2006-09-09

Tom Kilgannon, along with Ollie North and others, helped show me the difference between being a Republican and a conservative. True to form, Diplomatic Divorce is a brutally honest look at what most globalists don't want Americans to know and most Americans seem blissfully unaware. Writes Kilgannon: "Here at home, they have captured the Democratic Party and are making in-roads in the GOP. They are forcing the United States to answer to a higher earthly authority. From trade to national security to tax policy to the Internet, advocates of universal government want to make the decisions that will chart America's future. In some cases, they already are. Whether we like it or not, we are in a war for America's destiny."

Kilgannon reminds us why he is quickly becoming a rising conservative star in America. Sovereignty is too special to sacrifice at any price, and yet our government has been giving it away at the United Nations. A fine read - a MUST read - for those who think they are ready to have their eyes opened to what really goes on at the United Nations. Kilgannon has written a conservative classic with Diplomatic Divorce, one I guarantee you won't just tuck away on a bookshelf. Kilgannon's latest will be the dog-eared book you keep at your desk as a reference - and as a reminder.

Great Read.......2006-07-04

Thomas Kilgannon is truly one of the leading thinkers on the United Nations. He uses sound research and apt editorializing to present his case why involvement in the United Nations is detrimental to the sovereignty of the United States.

It's scary to think that an organization with as many corrupt bureaucrats as it has, is continually ceded so much power and authority. Thanks for the wake-up call Mr. Kilgannon.

The End of Welfare?: Consequences of Federal Devolution for the Nation (Economic Policy Institute)

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The End of Welfare?: Consequences of Federal Devolution for the Nation (Economic Policy Institute)

Manufacturer: M.E. Sharpe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0765604558

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