Book Description
In 1900, where Churchill ended the fourth volume of his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, the United States had not yet emerged onto the world scene as a great power. Meanwhile, the British Empire was in decline but did not yet know it. Any number of other powers might have won primacy in the twentieth century and beyond, including Germany, Russia, possibly even France. Yet the coming century was to belong to the English-speaking peoples, who successively and successfully fought the Kaiser's Germany, Axis aggression and Soviet Communism, and who are now struggling against Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.
Andrew Roberts brilliantly reveals what made the English-speaking people the preeminent political culture since 1900, and how they have defended their primacy from the many assaults upon them. What connects those countries where the majority of the population speaks English as a first language—the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies and Ireland—is far greater than what separates them, and the development of their history since 1900 has been a phenomenal success story.
Authoritative and engrossing, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 is an enthralling account of the century in which the political culture of one linguistic world-grouping comprehensively triumphed over all others. Roberts's History proves especially invaluable as the United States today looks to other parts of the English-speaking world as its best, closest and most dependable allies.
Customer Reviews:
HEY! GOOD BOOK!.......2007-10-13
BASED ON PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY'S CRITICAL REVIEW OF THIS BOOK, I'M GETTING IT!
SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT BOOK!
Water For Elephants.......2007-09-09
This 648 page book is a synopsis of historical events which have had impact by the English speaking peoples of America, Great Britian, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand from 1900 to present. Major events include WWI, WWII, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, The War on Terror, and the Iraq War. Andrew Roberts is a Londonite and neoconcervative apologist who gives a fresh perspective of these historical events that, unlike liberal revisionist history, portrays the the English speaking people in a light they deserve with recognition of their accomplishments, their sacrifices, their fortitude, their benevolence, and their leadership in protecting the world from fascism, communism, and Islamic radicalism. This refreshing perspective, which is a rare find amongst history books, along with an enticing writing style and brilliant diction made this book very enjoyable. I will frequently reference this work and re-read portions of it. Looking forward to more from this author.
It's about dang time.......2007-07-24
I finally got my hands on this book, and I will tell you all that it is glorious. None of the wishy-washy anti-British hollywood diatribe that was force fed to the globe in the nineteen nineties by Hollywood's anti-Protestant elite. If you want a book that tries to justify Irish nationalist baby murderers in Ulster or sympathizes with the claims of the openly fascist Argentine government of the early nineteen eighties, than look somewhere else. It's about time somebody stood up for John Bull and Uncle Sam, and I for one am proud to say this book lays a giant red, white and blue smackdown on all the nay-sayers, or anglophobes who would like to shoot it down.
Furthermore, many of the critics of this book love hyping on the fact that many Americans aren't of English or Scottish or Welsh decent. Well, no, many are not, but I am. My ancestry is Southern, and they got here from England four hundred years ago. This may not be the case for ALL Americans, but it is for those of us who were here making a country before all sorts of Johnny-come-latelies decided to show up and slander the Mother Country with all of their stereotyping and leftist bashing of England's international acheivements. This book does not gloss over the glory of any of the the Sister Nations to which it refers, it does not make apologies or exceptions, and frankly, it is about dang time that a book like this came out. God Bless America and God Bless England.
Roberts updates Churchill, masterfully.......2007-06-19
The conception of this book, Roberts tells us, was born from a desire to see Churchill's H.O.T.E.S.P's updated. Roberts haughtily delegated the task to himself, then improbably pulled it off with consummate skill.
One of the things I tend to dislike about big general histories--lovable things in themselves--is that they skimp on analysis and thus, notwithstanding their lovely narratives, fail to explode those specious counter-narratives that give all who care about historical accuracy and sound judgment the shakes. This book has both the proper narrative and the analytical explosiveness, making it a ripping read as well as a veritable artillery barrage of insight, a new weapon for sane souls and a new devastation for adversaries. Willmoore Kendall, after reading Richard Weaver's Ideas Have Consequences, nominated him for "the captaincy of the anti-liberal team." In this age of obsessions with minutiae, where arguments tend to boil down to fabricating ingenious connections between detail-dots, it is very important to have another captain who can play the detail game and play it better and more honorably. Roberts is hereby nominated for captaincy of the anti-barbarism team.
Many people will be fooled by the stridency of people like myself and those opposite me who loudly hail or denounce this book. Don't let either of us confuse you. Roberts is no demagogue, and he is eminently fair to people who deserve fairness--for example, he concludes of FDR's social experimentation, "the New Deal worked;" and his re-interpretation of Wilson as not-half-as-deluded-as-Paul-Johnson-and-most-other-conservatives-would-have-us-think should be refreshing to anyone; his evaluation of the Churchill-could-have-stopped-Hitler-had-the-appeasers-not-bollocksed-it-up line is unsettling but eye-opening, as is his measured judgment of Chamberlain; his unwillingness to bow to rabid anti-imperialism could be said to be merely a willingness to examine the facts, and he is not, despite what his critics sometimes charge, a risible "triumphalist;" and alas, his reading of the policies that got us into the (now proverbial) "Situation-In-Iraq" as rooted in old traditions is not a fanatical "neocon" chestnut, as Josef Joffe (realist) and John Lewis Gaddis (liberal), among others, have made substantially the same case. Overall, Roberts' argument is simple and modest: that the English-Speaking Peoples have, taken as a collective whole, done better (not PERFECTLY, not FLAWLESSLY, not BLAMELESSLY) for the world than any other great power, and that this is demonstrable so far as such things can be demonstrated. It is up to the reader whether he wants to apply a normative criterion as goofy as Chomsky's quasi-Kantianism or Zinn's (let's be honest) inept Marxism to the study of history, but Roberts applies a more tangible standard: material improvements coupled with preservation of and respect for, as Thomas Sowell likes to say, "the intangibles without which the tangibles don't work" (virtue, freedom, honor, prestige, etc.). Truth is not always stranger than fiction--Zinn's "People's Histories" are surely way-out-there compared to real histories--nonetheless, truth is often more exciting and bracing than fiction. Thus Roberts' book blows your hair back; Zinn's is a sedative by comparison.
It ought to be said, in conclusion, that there is nothing "triumphalist" about not obsessively citing ten debits for every one credit given to the English speaking peoples, which method of moral accounting is today called "balance." Orwell would have a field day with this nonsense, but Roberts holds his own and handles it with grace and not a shred of bitterness. That used to be called magnanimity. Churchill had it. Roberts has it. The English speaking peoples have it, oftener than not. With this book, we continue to ensure that it stays that way.
Excellent Book.......2007-06-17
This is an excellent book. I also bought a copy for a friend, something that I do less often anymore. If you like history and want a good synopsis of the 20th century, try this. Yes, it is somewhat opinionated, but it isn't blatant about it. It is a larger book than it might appear to be -- it might take some time to finish. Although it does have some more difficult words, it is easy to gather their meaning from the context. It certainly generates an enlightened appreciation for those that protect us. Worth reading.
Book Description
In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan-surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past. Along the way Stewart met heroes and rogues, tribal elders and teenage soldiers, Taliban commanders and foreign-aid workers. He was also adopted by an unexpected companion-a retired fighting mastiff he named Babur in honor of Afghanistan's first Mughal emperor, in whose footsteps the pair was following.
Through these encounters-by turns touching, con-founding, surprising, and funny-Stewart makes tangible the forces of tradition, ideology, and allegiance that shape life in the map's countless places in between.
Customer Reviews:
Attempts At Understanding Rural Afghanistan.......2007-10-11
When I picked this book off the bookstore table, I really only had a vague idea that it was one man's story about traveling through Afghanistan. Beyond that, I didn't know what to expect.
The book tells the story of Rory Stewarts walk across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul, and some of the people, villages, and feelings he had along the way. He states he wanted to walk across Asia, and this part helped to complete this quest. He managed to do this shortly after the Taliban were defeated in 2002, which is a bit interesting.
I can't say that I was fascinated by this book, yet I can't say that I was disappointed, either. I am glad I read it. I've a few books about Afghanistan that were centered in Kabul, and it was interesting to find out more information regarding the rural parts of Afghanistan and to find out just how drastic the difference between the two are. We here in the US always hear about how difficult it is fighting a war in rural Afghanistan because of the geography and because of tribalism. This book really helped to bring an understanding of those concepts to me. In that, I found the book fascinating.
The book does seem to drag, however. And the villages do seem to be strikingly similar until they all seem to fade together. Chapter after chapter of villages one cannot find on a map filled with nothing but mud huts gets a bit tedious to read about. Yet, for me, anyway, when Mr. Stewart speaks to the historical parts of Afghanistan, I found it be very interesting. And when he spoke of the people he met along the way, I was fascinated. He did seem to dwell on those individual who were less than savory, though. It would have been refreshing to read more about people he'd met who had been nice, helpful, and thoughtful. I'm sure there must have more than just 3 or 4?
I did enjoy reading about the various customs within some of the different tribes. I thought that to be very interesting. Some of the items Mr. Steward writes about were amusing, some were shocking to my Western mindset, and some were just outright disturbing (the Afghan Islamic view on the treatment towards dogs was especially difficult for this dog lover!). In all it was an interersting book, but there were some flaws.
Interesting but not what I thought it would be.......2007-10-11
Kind of interesting to learn what life is currently like in rural Afghanistan. But I was expecting more of a "World's Most Dangerous Places" type of travelogue which this book isn't. Very meditative with interesting "smaller" observations.
Left in limbo by The Places in Between.......2007-10-01
If you are into a lot of facts about history and culture, then this might be the book for you. As for myself, I felt like I was reading college history and sociology textbooks. So many facts, with little or no human connection to Rory Stewart, or the people who accompany him on his trek across Afghanistan. Stewart writes early on in the book, "I feel like I have been preparing for this all my life". To me that is a powerful statement, which in my opinion Stewart never really expounded on, and in the end could have made this book a little more interesting.
The Places In Between.......2007-09-28
Well written and exciting journey that a brave man wrote about. Very good reference to the differences between villiages and provinces encompassed by the overarching history of the country.
Highly recommend - a Bold look at a slice of Afghanistan.......2007-09-08
This book is a fascinating and easy read for anyone looking to learn about Afghanistan.
The audacity of what Rory Stewart does in this book is amazing. Walking from Herat to Kabul across central Afghanistan relying on the hospitality of the local in each village he passes through. It is not a comprehensive look at Afghanistan but a first hand micro level look at life in a select few Afghan villages. At the same time, he throws in larger historical and research perspectives. Like all books that I've read about the country, there is a pointient sadness to what these people have been through.
Book Description
The appearance, more than sixty years after the Spanish Civil War ended, of mass graves containing victims of Francisco Franco’s death squads finally broke what Spaniards call “the pact of forgetting”—the unwritten understanding that their recent, painful past was best left unexplored. At this charged moment, Giles Tremlett embarked on a journey around the country and through its history to discover why some of Europe’s most voluble people have kept silent so long.
Ghosts of Spain is the fascinating result of that journey. In elegant and passionate prose, Tremlett unveils the tinderbox of disagreements that mark the country today. Delving into such emotional questions as who caused the Civil War, why Basque terrorists kill, why Catalans hate Madrid, and whether the Islamist bombers who killed 190 people in 2004 dreamed of a return to Spain’s Moorish past, Tremlett finds the ghosts of the past everywhere. At the same time, he offers trenchant observations on more quotidian aspects of Spanish life today: the reasons, for example, Spaniards dislike authority figures, but are cowed by a doctor’s white coat, and how women have embraced feminism without men noticing.
Drawing on the author’s twenty years of experience living in Spain, Ghosts of Spain is a revelatory book about one of Europe’s most exciting countries.
Customer Reviews:
An outsider's insight.......2007-05-28
A British journalist who has lived 20 years in Spain, married and raising his 2 children in Madrid, the author investigates, reveals and muses upon Spanish culture, history and the forces of the "two Spains" as they come together, or rub against each other, in forming the modern Spanish world. A fascinating look at Spain, its subcultures from the Basques to the Catalans to flamenco to the Galicians, to drug culture to tourism and the very difficult and delicate process of choosing to forget the differences of the Spanish Civil War and Franco's regime in order to move forward in a country that was once the most powerful on earth.
I like Spain and its history. This is one of the very best insights into modern Spain. Highly recommended.
A Pale Secret.......2007-05-22
A liberal British newspaper reporter's hit and miss attempt at a book explaining Spain (his nearly adopted country) to us outsiders. Some hits (like how modern Spain handles the dark legacy of Franco) are offset by a number of misses.
Historical facts, or guesses as to historical facts, get thrown in as space fillers; events that catch Mr. Tremlett's fancy are highlighted, whether reflective of the whole Spanish society or not; the level of writing is often barely above that of a talented reporter on deadline. The final meandering chapter entitled "Moderns and Ruins", especially, cries out for editing.
Great book about a fascinating country.......2007-05-19
This is a great journalistic account of the social and political changes that have transformed Spain up to the present day. Tremlett discusses the country's past and present in fairly equal measure. He begins by looking at the legacies of the Spanish Civil War, discussing how only in the past decade has the full scale of the atrocities that took place come to light. He discusses how Spaniards whose relatives were killed by the Francoists have pushed in recent years for their relatives to be given decent burials. He also writes an interesting chapter on Franco's overall legacy, arguing that after his death and the country's transition to democracy he has been largely purged from public discourse. Despite this collective amnesia that he identifies, Tremlett points out that the same left-right cleavage that drove the war still lurks below the surface of Spanish society. The book also contains chapters on the Basque, Catalan, and Galician regions. Tremlett provides very insightful analysis of the origins of and main forces behind Basque and Catalan nationalism, while his chapter on Galicia details that region's emergence as a conduit for Columbian cocaine. One of my favorite chapters looked at gender relations in Spain, in which Tremlett provides some very amusing anecdotes that reveal contrasts between Spain and his native Britain. This chapter also discusses Tremlett's quest to understand the paradox of how a country can be so awash in brothels (which, he reports, 1/4 of Spanish men visited) yet relatively conservative in terms of the sexual mores of its people.
Other subjects covered here include Spain's emergence as a global tourism magnet (and the corruption that has often emerged alongside it) and the 2004 Madrid train bombing, which indirectly led to the defeat of the ruling party in the elections several days later. This was an interesting chapter, in which Tramlett looked at the ways in which the main parties tried to capitalize on this tragedy for political gain. Overall, I found Tremlett to be a very keen analyst of social and political relations, and there weren't really any weak chapters. For instance, I considered skipping a chapter on flamenco music, not being particularly interested in the musical form itself, but the chapter ended up including a fascinating discussion of the social history of Spain's gypsies.
Overall, I would heartily recommend this book to anybody interested in Spanish history, culture, and/or politics. I would NOT recommend it to those expecting more of a travel guide type of book; although Tremlett does visit and write evocatively about numerous regions, such descriptions are not the main substance of this book. If I had to make one minor criticism, it is that the chapters themselves were often not tightly organized. For example, the chapter on the Basques jumps from past to present and does not really follow any sort of structure. This wasn't really a problem for me, because Tremlett writes well and never bored me, but it might be a problem to some. Another minor complaint is that the book doesn't include a map, which might have been useful for readers like me who aren't intimately familiar with Spain's geography. Overall, though, I think that this is social and political journalism at its finest, and anybody wishing to learn more about this fascinating country could do worse than to start here!
Spain's a Fun Country to Visit.......2007-04-29
The first time tht I went to Spain the country was still under Franco. When getting off the plane, every arriving passenger was photographed. This set a tone that made you never forget where you were. Now going to Spain is like going to any other country. There is no problem going from one city to another. The people are friendly to Americans. The food, trains, hotels, highways are all good.
This book looks underneath these obvious outward trappings to the held over anguish from the Franco time. He also looks further backwards to the regional conflicts with Basque seperatists, and more recently to the Islamist bombers who killed 190 people using bomb attacks in 2004.
Spain remains a little bit different than the rest of Western Europe. Mr. Tremlett has lived in Spain for twenty years and has done an excellent job of bringing together the history and the current situation to explain the current country that is Spain.
The Real Spain.......2007-04-15
Giles Tremlett has written a highly readable, incisive portrait of Spain today--its problems and its pleasures. His presentation of the manner in which Spain has chosen to deal with the aftermath of Francisco Franco's death is particularly well written and revealing. He examines how the decades of dictatorship and brutal repression have been swept under the rug of collective consciousness by Spaniards choosing not to confront it or attempt to reconcile themselves with this difficult episode in their nation's history. The author's years of closely observing Spain, and reporting on its politics and culture for Britain's most respected newspaper, The Guardian, have given him a wonderful sense of both the large picture and the quotidian details, which do so much to bring this book to life.
Anyone wanting a sense of what today's Spain is all about will find it in these pages.
Book Description
Evan Thomas takes us inside the naval war of 1941-1945 in the South Pacific in a way that blends the best of military and cultural history and riveting narrative drama. He follows four men throughout: Admiral William ("Bull") Halsey, the macho, gallant, racist American fleet commander; Admiral Takeo Kurita, the Japanese battleship commander charged with making what was, in essence, a suicidal fleet attack against the American invasion of the Philippines; Admiral Matome Ugaki, a self-styled samurai who was the commander of all kamikazes and himself the last kamikaze of the war; and Commander Ernest Evans, a Cherokee Indian and Annapolis graduate who led his destroyer on the last great charge in the last great naval battle in history.
Sea of Thunder climaxes with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the biggest naval battle ever fought, over four bloody and harrowing days in October 1944. We see Halsey make an epic blunder just as he reaches for true glory; we see the Japanese navy literally sailing in circles, torn between the desire to die heroically and the exhausted, unacceptable realization that death is futile; we sail with Commander Evans and the men of the USS Johnston into the jaws of the Japanese fleet and exult and suffer with them as they torpedo a cruiser, bluff and confuse the enemy -- and then, their ship sunk, endure fifty horrific hours in shark-infested water.
Thomas, a journalist and historian, traveled to Japan, where he interviewed veterans of the Imperial Japanese Navy who survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf and friends and family of the two Japanese admirals. From new documents and interviews, he was able to piece together and answer mysteries about the Battle of Leyte Gulf that have puzzled historians for decades. He writes with a knowing feel for the clash of cultures.
Sea of Thunder is a taut, fast-paced, suspenseful narrative of the last great naval war, an important contribution to the history of the Second World War.
Customer Reviews:
No Bull..........2007-09-29
It's no wonder were in the mess we are, when myoptic vision clouds reason.
This was not a hit on Halsey..Duoh! This was a very good read. Maybe Ken burns took some info here?
I see a lot of whinners(on other forums) saying the Japanese never had a plan to sue for peace if they took Hawaii..(?)
Any way Good book.
Thanks, Mr Evans
Non-Fiction Thriller.......2007-09-12
A non-fiction historical work of serious scholarship that can compete with any thriller. An absolute page turner that's hard to put down. When Thomas finds the time to do this kind of research with his TV panelist and news magazine gigs is a mystery. He is an absolutely first rate writer and story teller, and Sea of Thunder is not to be missed.
Good Read, but............2007-08-06
I got this book on Friday and finished it Saturday night. A decent book over all but as other reviewers have stated I find the revisionist aspect a bit much. I think the 'slam' on Halsey tended to be over-kill. The author even goes as far as mentioning the two occasions where Halsey sailed into typhoons to further his knocks on Halsey. Interesting, but not in the scope of the book. The author does point out the reasons behind Halsey's choice to go after Ozawa but only in passing. I found the study of Japanese vs. American admirals a bit slanted in the Japanese admiral's favor. As far as the 'racist' aspect of Halsey's statements "Kill Japs, Kill Japs. Kill more Japs" & etc. We only need to look at quotes by other Admirals and Generals to understand the purpose behind these statements. I gave it three stars only because it was a page-turner, I think what kept me reading was to see if the author was going to go into a more in-depth study of the choices made by the admirals and why they made them. I was left with the impression that the Japanese admirals made the choices they made mostly because of the training received at Eta Jima and the choices made by American admirals were due to some personal flaw as in Halsey's 'need' to get the Japanese carriers at all costs. What I wasn't left with was the stunning victory by the Americans and how important it was in shortening the war. I am just starting to read 'The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors' by James D. Hornfischer so I can compare two different author's views on the Leyte Gulf naval battles.
CORRECTION to Thomas' text.......2007-07-27
Evan Thomas incorrectly states that Admrial Spruance's son married Admiral Halsey's daughter. In fact, Margaret Halsey married Preston Lea Spruance who was only distantly related to Admiral Spruance.
- Halsey Spruance, a decendant of Margaret Halsey and Preston Lea Spruance
A good story.......2007-07-11
I did not know as much about the battle before this book. Thomas gives an excellent perspective of all sides of the battle. I felt I was a bit oversold on the book and it did not live completely up to expectations which is why I only give it 4 out of 5.
Book Description
A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s “great hush”
In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.
Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.
With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.
Customer Reviews:
Thoroughly Enjoyable if Not as 'Tight' as the first two books.......2007-10-15
As in his first two books, Larson takes two subjects that are tangential to each other and tells each story in alternating chapters until they intersect. Guglielmo Marconi (half-Italian, half-English) is the inventor of wireless telegraphy; while Dr. Hawley Crippen is an American ex-pat in England making his money by making and selling 'patent' medicine.
The men could not be more different, though they had the same overall appearance (not tall for even that generation and thin). Marconi was a driven single minded man who craved recognition and laurels. Crippen was a 'casper milktoast' type who for many years supported a wife whose life was wrapped up in the pursuit of a 'theatrical career'. Whereas Marconi spent extravagantly on himself, Crippen's wife spent extravagantly on clothing and jewelry for herself.
Larson weaves the story of Marconi's 'invention' and commercialization of 'wireless' telegraphy (which led to Radio and Television transmission), and Crippen's flight from his wife and her murder (whose guilt Larson leaves as the quandary for the reader). They intersect when Crippen tries to escape justice by sailing to Canada, only to be identified by the captain of his ship who notifies Scotland Yard by 'Marconigram'. Just like in a 'forties' Sherlock Holmes movie, Chief Inspector Dew sails (unbeknown) after Crippen on a faster ship, and is waiting for him as his comes into Canada. Ta Da!
It's a (rousing) good story but just not as tightly woven as his first two books.
Fascinating.......2007-10-11
I recently read Devil in the White City, so I was eager to read Thunderstruck as well. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed. Like its predecessor, Thunderstruck follows the stories of two men: Marconi, a young and hotheaded inventor, and Crippen, an unassuming middle-aged man who murdered his wife Belle and took off with his mistress, Ethel, to escape detection by the police. She clearly had no knowledge of the murder and regarded their flight aboard the ship Montrose (with her dressed as a boy) as a great adventure. Using the Marconi wireless system, the ship's captain was able to notify the police of their presence on board his ship.
As with his previous book, Larson writes this one as though it's fiction, deftly interweaving the two stories together. I found the murder mystery to be especially intriguing. However, I thought Larson could have toned down all the scientific stuff in the parts about Marconi. And there could have been less focus on him and more on the Crippen case. It only so happened that Marconi's invention occurred around the same time that this case did, and it only so happened that the ship he and Ethel were on had the Marconi wireless system.
But in all I thought this book was well-written and, as evidenced by the Notes section in the back of the book, well-researched. Also, I thought it was interesting that Alfred Hitchcock used elements of of the Crippen case in Rear Window.
Quite good, but I hope Larson doesn't get too formulaic........2007-10-01
No doubt about it, Thunderstruck is a good book. Erik Larson introduces you to Marconi, the Italian tinkerer/entrepreneur who took the budding technology of wireless and turned it into a commercially viable endeavor. It's a good story; Marconi has bitter and active rivals in the scientific and business communities, he has his own white whale (sending a signal all the way across the Atlantic Ocean) and he has trouble with normal human relations which makes for some engaging misadventures on the personal front. Not only is the story interesting and fun to read, it's also well-researched and well-written and you learn some history along the way with absolutely no pain. So far, so good.
Then, Larson introduces you to a kindly American doctor who marries a woman who is an unkind, duplicitous user of people. He takes you on a journey through their troubled relationship which eventually carries them to London where both seem to have inappropriate extra-marital relationships while trying to keep up appearances in public of a solid marriage. Things continue along until one night the wife pushes the timid doctor just a little too far and... you'll have to read the book.
Not a bad story either, and the two stories eventually come together as they always do in Larson's books, which brings me to a concern: I hope Larson doesn't limit himself to a single formula where a crime story and a more traditional historic tale come together in the end. It's not that it's a bad idea, it's just starting to feel forced in this book, especially after Devil in the White City. Larson is a very strong researcher and a great writer and story-teller. He could easily do a more traditional history book and make it come alive without the help of a crime tale.
Still highly recommended, just hoping Larson's next book doesn't feel compelled to be just like its two fore bearers.
Not up to Par..........2007-08-18
Larson is going down hill. Isaac's Storm was fabulous... his other titles pale in comparison.
The Roll of Disparate Thunder.......2007-08-17
THUNDERSTRUCK is a splendid work of non-fiction that engages the reader as well as any novel. The author deftly combines the stories of two disparate lives -- Gugliemo Marconi, inventor of the wireless, and Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, milquetoast doctor, husband, and murderer. The latter would become the first criminal tracked and captured with the assistance of wireless communication.
Erik Larsen, whose DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY engaging recounts murder in Chicago at the time of the 1893 World's Fair, this time turns his attention to the late 1890s and 1900s in London. He possesses a singular gift for both storytelling and for weaving plotlines to a thrilling climax. Both stories are engaging in their own right; together, they are retold in a strikingly refreshing way. Highly recommended.
Book Description
With the publication of her landmark bestseller Paris 1919, Margaret MacMillan was praised as “a superb writer who can bring history to life” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). Now she brings her extraordinary gifts to one of the most important subjects today–the relationship between the United States and China–and one of the most significant moments in modern history. In February 1972, Richard Nixon, the first American president ever to visit China, and Mao Tse-tung, the enigmatic Communist dictator, met for an hour in Beijing. Their meeting changed the course of history and ultimately laid the groundwork for the complex relationship between China and the United States that we see today.
That monumental meeting in 1972–during what Nixon called “the week that changed the world”–could have been brought about only by powerful leaders: Nixon himself, a great strategist and a flawed human being, and Mao, willful and ruthless. They were assisted by two brilliant and complex statesmen, Henry Kissinger and Chou En-lai. Surrounding them were fascinating people with unusual roles to play, including the enormously disciplined and unhappy Pat Nixon and a small-time Shanghai actress turned monstrous empress, Jiang Qing. And behind all of them lay the complex history of two countries, two great and equally confident civilizations: China, ancient and contemptuous yet fearful of barbarians beyond the Middle Kingdom, and the United States, forward-looking and confident, seeing itself as the beacon for the world.
Nixon thought China could help him get out of Vietnam. Mao needed American technology and expertise to repair the damage of the Cultural Revolution. Both men wanted an ally against an aggressive Soviet Union. Did they get what they wanted? Did Mao betray his own revolutionary ideals? How did the people of China react to this apparent change in attitude toward the imperialist Americans? Did Nixon make a mistake in coming to China as a supplicant? And what has been the impact of the visit on the United States ever since?
Weaving together fascinating anecdotes and insights, an understanding of Chinese and American history, and the momentous events of an extraordinary time, this brilliantly written book looks at one of the transformative moments of the twentieth century and casts new light on a key relationship for the world of the twenty-first century.
Margaret MacMillan is the author of Women of the Raj and Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, the Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History, a Silver Medal for the Arthur Ross Book Award of the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Governor General’s Literary Award for nonfiction. It was selected by the editors of The New York Times as one of the best books of 2002. Currently the provost of Trinity College and a professor of history at the University of Toronto, MacMillan takes up the position of warden of St. Antony’s College, Oxford, in July 2007. She is an officer of the Order of Canada, a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a senior fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing book about a historic event.......2007-07-09
Margaret MacMillan, previously known for her book on the Paris peace negotations ending the first world war, has given us an interesting look at Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972.
The trip was only a week in duration, and hardly seems worthy of an entire manuscript unless the historian is able to provide a comprehensive analysis of the ramifications of Nixon's visit. MacMillan, however, does not provide us with this evaluation.
She writes a rich story, filled with wonderful images and colorful characters, but fails to fully analyze the significance of Nixon's journey. Her book provides us with a nice portrait of Mao Tse-Tung, the Chinese leader whom Nixon met with (only once) during his journey to China, Henry Kissinger, Nixon's national security advisor, and Chou En-Lai, Kissinger's primary contact in Beijing.
MacMillan's details about the trip are amazing, and certainly indicative of strong research abilities - she profiles Nixon in such a way that his paranoia and self doubt are on full display (see chapters 1 and 2 for a nice discussion on how nervous Nixon was as he prepared for the meetings). She also throws in lively quips to remind us just how human the participants were (giving us an image of Nixon parading around his hotel room in his undergarments, or a request made by Nixon for the phone number of ladies in a black book - not for himself, but for Kissinger). This is the highlight of her writing, and she does a fantastic job of giving us the details that allow us to remember the participants as people rather than just politicians.
Overall, however, the book is incomplete - it just does not explain why the meetings changed the world in enough depth to justify the title ("Nixon and Mao: The Week that changed the world"). I recommend the book to anyone looking for a biographical evaluation of the participants in these historic talks, but if one is seeking a profound scholarly analysis of the topic, this is not the right book to read.
Everything included.......2007-06-15
The book is quite complete and covers all the aspects of nixon's trip to china. She remains however a litle too factual.
Very interesting details and anecdotes.
Only Nixon could go to China.......2007-06-04
This is Margaret MacMillan's second book about an event that "Changed The World", and one hopes that she's going to find a new subtitle soon. How long before she runs out of signature 20th century events, and resorts to chronicling more frivolous historical footnotes like "Coolidge Goes To Havana"?
All kidding aside, MacMillan does a worthy job of recreating the mid-Cold War and late Vietnam era of President Nixon's first term, which is perhaps less well known than events that occurred in and after June 1972. "Nixon and Mao" takes place during Nixon's trip to China in February 1972, while frequently stepping back in time to chronicle four decades' worth of Sino-American relations, as well as goings-on in China, Indochina and the Soviet Union during the earlier decades of the Cold War.
The four principals here are Nixon and Kissinger on the U.S. side, and an ailing Chairman Mao as aided by the more vibrant Chou En-Lai for the Chinese. It's Chou who benefits the most from this analysis, and he's the most interesting character in this book: both beholden to and smitten with a failing political system, yet shrewd and quick-witted enough to arguably get the better of Kissinger, his U.S. counterpart, during the week-long debating sessions.
As a writer not from the U.S., MacMillan brings a different perspective than had this book been written by an American historian or ideologue. For example, her elevation of President Clinton as a model of foreign policy isn't necessarily wrong -- it's just not an idea that's going to catch on here in the U.S. until both the current set of prevailing political beliefs, and the overtly opinion-driven nature of current TV journalism, have a chance to evolve and turn over.
The book's structure is logical, and therefore a bit frustrating. The author can't tell her story in a straight timeline beginning with the Long March -- otherwise Nixon wouldn't get to China until page 250. Therefore, she chooses to open each chapter with a two-page description of events during Nixon's week in China, before jumping back in time for the rest of the chapter to explain how the two countries and their principals got to the that point. This means that it takes a long while to generate any momentum from the 1972 scenes. I wonder if MacMillan first tried to write this book in alternating chapters before settling on her final approach.
The book's conclusion is also perhaps a bit too quick, as the author touches on but doesn't really highlight China's ongoing emergence on the international and financial scenes. Spending more time on China in 2007 rather than on Nixon's well-chronicled disgrace would have been an effective counterpoint to the earlier scenes showing how technologically backward and ideologically stunted China really was in 1972.
However, there's little doubt that without Nixon's trip in 1972, China would not be where it is today. What forces would have prevailed in China had Mao and Chou both died before opening up their country to the West? MacMillan, amusingly, shows how much the world was changed by Nixon's trip, by concluding her narrative 500 years from now, with a quote from the post-Cold War science-fiction movie "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country".
The book to read about Nixon's visit to China.......2007-05-31
Richard Nixon's trip to the Peoples' Republic of China in 1972, after nearly 25 years of silence between the US and Communist China, was a worldwide historic event. Of course, it started the long thaw between the US and the PRC, but it also had repercussions around the world: it worried the Soviets, who pursued SALT and détente with more interest in the aftermath, it terrified the leadership on Taiwan who rightly believed they were being abandoned by the US, it emboldened the North Vietnamese, who felt they had been betrayed by their ally. It raised Nixon's approval rating significantly and contributed to his landslide reelection in 1972.
It's also a story that has never been fully told because of security concerns in both the US and the PRC. But now we have Margaret MacMillan's detailed history of Nixon's visit with lots of historical context to make it understandable: the careers of Nixon, Kissinger, Mao, and Zhou Enlai are profiled in some detail; the state of US opinion in the aftermath of WWII is described, and the history of China in the 19th and 20th centuries is explained. There's also a concluding chapter that follows the story after the visit through full normalization of relations with the PRC in the late 1970s and even beyond.
The author's research appears to have been very detailed, although of course the American point of view is more fully explicated, since access to Chinese source materials is still restricted.
I do have a few minor complaints: the book skips back and forth between Nixon's visit and the historical context repeatedly, making it hard to follow the logic of events in a few spots. And, the author seemed to repeat herself when describing the Chinese obsession with Taiwan, although the repetition did bring home the fact that Taiwan was far more important to the Chinese than Nixon and Kissinger believed initially.
Nixon has said that he will be remembered for 2 events: Watergate and his opening of relations with China. This is the book to read if you want to find out about the second of these.
Really Did Change the World.......2007-05-25
Very interesting - highly recommended. An inside view of a diplomatic event of far reaching significance for the 21st Century.
Book Description
The definitive and rollicking story of one of the best, and one of the wackiest, teams of all time, during one of the most vital eras in baseball.
With The Gashouse Gang, John Heidenry delivers the definitive account of one the greatest and most colorful baseball teams of all times, the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, filled with larger-than-life baseball personalities like Branch Rickey, Leo Durocher, Pepper Martin, Casey Stengel, Satchel Paige, Frankie Frisch, and--especially--the eccentric good ol' boy and great pitcher Dizzy Dean and his brother Paul.
The year 1934 marked the lowest point of the Great Depression, when the U.S. went off the gold standard, banks collapsed by the score, and millions of Americans were out of work. Epic baseball feats offered welcome relief from the hardships of daily life. The Gashouse Gang, the brilliant culmination of a dream by its general manager, Branch Rickey, the first to envision a farm system that would acquire and "educate" young players in the art of baseball, was adored by the nation, who saw itself--scruffy, proud, and unbeatable--in the Gang.
Based on original research and told in entertaining narrative style, The Gashouse Gang brings a bygone era and a cast full of vivid personalities to life and unearths a treasure trove of baseball lore that will delight any fan of the great American pastime.
Customer Reviews:
Baseball lover's only!.......2007-09-23
Baseball in times long passed was a very different game, but like today there were some really wild characters to mke the game all the more interesting. The 1934 Cardinals, "The Gashouse Gang" were an exciting, odd collection of great ball payers who played for the love of the game in a way we wish today's players did.
If you love baseball you won't be able to put this down, and even if you don't it will be too intriquing to stop reading once you start. Well written, well researched and as entertaining as anything I've read this season. Highly reccommended!
The Gashouse Gang Personalities.......2007-09-15
This book climbs to the top wrung of my baseball ladder. Rather than a statistical or play-by-play book so common in baseball pages, this features personality development of some of the wackiest players of all time. Learn that Ducky Joe should have been Mean Joe, that Leo the Lip couldn't handle relationships, or that Dizzy Dean was really Jerome or Jay or Hanna or Herman, maybe that he was from Arkansas or Oklahoma or Texas -- well, you get it.
This book captures the thrill of a season and the joy of a team effort. It really makes you think of the Oakland Athletics of the Catfish days.
Just one observation: John Heidenry missed the point of the moniker, "Gashouse Gang." He can't figure out where it came from. He even ponders how "Gas Tank" became "Gashouse." During that day, electricity was provided by manufactured gas plants, sometimes called "witch's brew." The main structure was known as the "gashouse." The working class fellows who toiled away in those dirty gashouses were known as "the gashouse gangs." They cursed, they played dirty and hilarious tricks on each other, they had great and sour dispositions -- necessary to get through the tough days, and yes, their clothes were always filthy. Sound like the beloved Gashouse Gang?
Snag this book, and you will enjoy several hours of quiet time, if you can block out your own laughter.
Me 'n' Paul.......2007-09-02
In baseball, 1934 was a year to remember, a year in which the Saint Louis Cardinals, a scruffy team of misfits and malcontents, came from almost the graveyard to win the National League pennant, and then the World Series. While we learn a tremendous amount about the Cardinals, and especially the Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul, there are others about whom we receive thumbnail biographies. Most importantly, Branch Rickey is focused upon for much of the early part of the book, and just reading about this remarkable man is sufficient reason to study this book. Other famous players make cameo appearances: Babe Ruth, Mel Otto, Mickey Cochrane, Leo Durocher, and Pie Traynor, with whom I was once priviledged to have an extensive conversation about baseball when I was in college. I also remember listening to Dizzy on the television announcing(?) games and talking about all kinds of extraneous subjects other than the game he was supposed to be calling. Of course, Dizzy is the centerpiece of this book, and he strides through it like a colossus. He did things then that would not be tolerated by a basseball organization today, and perhaps we are the pooorer for not having men such as him (and Curt Flood)to challenge what is considered the "right" way to act as a porfessional ball player. He's gone, and so are all of those famous old-timers, and the world misses them!
Great Father's Day gift.......2007-07-12
I gave this book to my 60 year old father for Father's Day. He hasn't read a book in years but is a huge baseball fan. He loved the book and stayed up late into the night reading it. Great for a Cardinals or baseball fan!
RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "73 YEARS AFTER WINNING THE WORLD SERIES "THE GASHOUSE GANG" ST LOUIS CARDINALS HAVE A BOOK!".......2007-06-13
Before I give you the details of this book, let me save some people their valuable time, by telling you who this book would appeal to! Old School Baseball fanatics, "Baseball Historians", Saint Louis Cardinal fans. If you think the designated hitter rule is good for baseball this book isn't for you.
73 years after the famous (To the above listed people.) Saint Louis Cardinals, hereafter known as "The Gashouse Gang", won the World Series, they have had an excellent book released on their exploits and accomplishments. As a self-acclaimed baseball fanatic, some of the statistics, and idiosyncrasies, I discovered in this book about famous old time players that I already knew about, were both interesting and amusing. The author's writing style is not anything you'll remember as out of the ordinary, since so much of the meat of the book, you can tell is repeated from old newspaper articles. But the detailed, meticulous, research should be applauded. As I've mentioned in my earlier reviews, I've read literally hundreds of baseball books, and memorized half the "Encyclopedia Of Baseball" when I was 10 years old, yet I learned even more details and amusing personality "quirks" of some of the old-time stars. I of course already knew that Dizzy Dean was a great pitcher, in the Hall Of Fame, and the last National League pitcher to win 30 games. What I didn't know, but learned here, was the absolute bottom of the barrel poverty he came from in the historically famous "dust bowl"! I knew he was a "wacky" character, but I didn't know, it went to the extent of him literally being the Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, of the baseball world in the 1930's, before there was an Ali. I didn't know that Dizzy held out and boycotted games, in a demand for an increased contract, in the middle of the season. I also got to learn much more about the great Ducky Medwick, (The last National League Player to win the Triple Crown 70 years ago.) who was one of my dear departed Mother's favorite players, when he later played on the Brooklyn Dodgers. I never knew he was such a New Jersey, street fighting, chip on the shoulder, ready to fight anyone, including his own teammates, type of guy! I learned more than I ever had known about what led up to one of the biggest name trades in baseball history, Rogers Hornsby for Frankie Frisch. The detailed background on Branch Rickey, before his famous relationship with Jackie Robinson, was also expertly detailed. The almost blow by blow reporting on the 1934 World Series between the Gashouse Gang and the star studded Detroit Tigers makes you feel like you were there. I could go on and on, but like I said in my opening sentences, these facts, that are exciting and educational to me, would only be exciting to the type of people I described in my opening.
Book Description
Respected scholar William Bennett reacquaints America with its heritage in the second volume of
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II). This engaging narrative slices through the cobwebs of time, memory, and prevailing cynicism to reinvigorate America with an informed patriotism.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable, refreshing and insightful. A good, but conservative refresher on American History 102........2007-10-10
If you're considering reading William Bennett's, "America: The Last Best Hope, Volume II," then you are likely already familiar with Bennett's work in Volume I.
I enjoyed both books although one should not expect the author to hold himself to the same "standards" of balance that we expect, but rarely observe of our journalists. Authors of most books make no commitment to maintain unbiased writing, how could they honestly and why should we expect it?
Bennett is unabashedly partisan, he makes no apologies top the fact that this once Democrat has long since become a Republican, with all the implications that come with such a change. Readers will find that Bennett rides his own laurels as he is indeed a part of this latter history of the United States he has written.
Bennett also derides the polarizing matter of abortion throughout the latter chapters of the book. As a staunch pro-lifer, he stays firm to his assertion that the unborn deserve a level of protection that the Supreme Court has seen fit to remove. Regardless of anyone's opinion of abortion, it is fair to say that no one, "pro-life" or "pro-choice" is truly "pro-abortion." I'm not so sure Bennett sees it that way. The most militant pro-choicer would certainly rather the practice be ultimately unnecessary in the first place than an alternative to pregnancy or motherhood.
As United States Secretary of Education under the Reagan Administration, Bennett is anything but removed from the events and individuals that closed out the final years of the Cold War, which end the book. Some will consider this book an American History as good Republicans should see it, others will not even bother to read beyond the flap of the dust jacket.
Bennett is keen to point out though, that his analysis, especially of the history since the period where this book leaves off, (Dec. 7, 1988) is still too vivid for the lens of history to properly evaluate. Indeed much of the history of the Cold War is still being written and analyzed.
Conservatives will, no doubt, cheer Bennett's right-leaning notations and periodic political jabs, liberals will just as frequently roll their eyes at Bennett's sniping of left-wing policy failures and gaffes of the last 100 years or so. The intelligent reader will sift this aspect out for what it is and not be distracted from history's fundamentals Bennett has put forth.
Without a doubt, any post 9/11 book on U.S. History will be subjected to many faceted criticisms for its partisanship, as much as any pre 9/11 history of America is so severely lacking in its modern context.
Ultimately, "America: The Last Best Hope, Volume II, From A World War to the Triumph of Freedom," is a good book that's a pleasure to read. If you've taken it upon yourself to learn about American History, there is no shame in taking a look at Bennett's book.
READ IT, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY: REVIEW IT! AND IF YOU DISAGREE, VALIDATE IT IN YOUR REVIEW, OR COMMENT ON MY OWN. BOOKS WILL GET BETTER AS WE READERS SHARE OUR OPINIONS.
History Comes Alive.......2007-09-01
The book was of special interest to me as I have lived through the major portion of this period of history and recall much that is written but also learn much more. The author's coverage of most of the 20th century included the American presidents as well as other national leaders. The book will probably be considered politically incorrect by many due to his casual reference to the specific prayers of several presidents. He touched on subjects other than government including books and music. Some events receiving extensive attention were World War l, the Depression, World War ll, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Cold War. . I believe for the most part he was very objective although he appeared to have a negative bias toward Presidents Wilson and Nixon and a very positive bias toward President Franklin Roosevelt. He wrote with first hand knowledge of President Reagan and the first President Bush. History becomes very interesting under this author's pen.
A superb history of the United States of America.......2007-08-23
The first volume of "America: The Last Best Hope" is, in my opinion, the finest contemporary history of the United States yet written. It is an honest telling of the nation's history, warts and all, a far cry than the America hating nonsense that is unfortunately being taught to our children.
The second volume isn't as good. Still superior to anything else on the subject I've read, but I felt that there should have been two volumes, not one. The first covering 1914 to about 1945 and the second from roughly 1945 through the Reagan years.
Why? Because I felt that Dr. Bennett had crammed too much into this single volume and, as a result, been forced to omit illuminating detail. More time and space, for example, should have been spent on examining how Democrats in Congress perpetuated racial discrimination for almost a century and fought demonically until the last to prevent passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Instead, many historically significant episodes are reduced to a few sentences. Still illuminating, but leaving the already knowledgeable reader panting for more. Dr. Bennett and, I presume, his research team have been more than diligent in teasing obscure sources out of the archives and provide new information even to someone like me who has been an avid consumer of American histories for more than five decades.
The book is not perfect. There are small, but disturbing errors, such as the misspelling of Messerschmitt, a WWII German aircraft manufacturer.
On the whole though, this remains a marvelous history of America, faults and all. It would make a wonderful gift, I think, for any intelligent high-school or older student from a giver who wants the recipient to know just how fortunate they are to live in this magnificient nation.
Jerry
America: The Last Best Hope.......2007-08-10
I hated history as a youngster, but if I'd had this master writing the courses, I might have become an historian. This is a fantastic book, and should be required reading for all Americans.
Review: America: The Last Best Hope (Volume II).......2007-07-27
I gave this book 5 Stars because I think the author did exactly what he set out to do: present a light, airy, easy to read narrative of American history covering the period from WWI to the end of the Cold War. Because this is not a text book and is limited in size and scope constraints likely placed on it by the publisher (530 pages), it necessarily raises as many questions as it answers. Considering those constraints, I found the presentation to be fast, fair, fun, educational, interesting, and accurate.
Amazon.com
Daniel Yergin's first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there,
The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Founded in the 19th century, the oil industry began producing kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin's fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, to the oil crisis of the 1970s, through to the Gulf War.
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize Winner -- and Now an Epic PBS Series
The Prize recounts the panoramic history of oil -- and the struggle for wealth power that has always surrounded oil. This struggle has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations. The Prize is as much a history of the twentieth century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of this history is enormous -- from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm.
The cast extends from wildcatters and rogues to oil tycoons, and from Winston Churchill and Ibn Saud to George Bush and Saddam Hussein. The definitive work on the subject of oil and a major contribution to understanding our century, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement -- and great importance.
Customer Reviews:
First to cover the topic, but still a facile book.......2007-09-17
Yergen gets kudos for being the first to cover this topic, but his account (perhaps because it's now outdated) is facile and pro-oil company. Every time the oil companies are thwarted he seems to blame straw men for it: tree huggers, the people that hounded poor misunderstood Tricky Dick Nixon, the Saudi sheiks (best friends of Bush, Cheney, et al). He never turns his gaze on the corruption of the oil companies themselves. We hit peak oil in the U.S. in the 1960s. The oil companies suppressed any attempts since then to find alternative fuels. Now we are up the creek, so to speak, with the Oil Men running the Show. Some "Prize". I'd say it's the booby prize. The best overview of our current fix is Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower.
The Age of Oil.......2007-07-04
We are living in the Age of oil.
World and human civilization have experienced different "ages" such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Gilded Age, and so on. The 20th and 21st Centuries are indeed, the "Oil Age." We are living in it. This book is one of the most informative and relevant books published in recent years, In my opinion. This work by Daniel Yergin was and still is prescient today, in 2007. "The Prize" tells the story of where we are today, and how we got here. It also latently foresees where we're going in the future. The book doesn't tell us - we just know. We're human. This book is so comprehensive and has so much information only a small portion of it can be noted. Below relates to WWII, and former Iranian leader Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh.
"The Prize" proceeds chronologically. And within the chapters there are numerous mini-subtitles for sub-chapters that connect the big picture. The bibliography and index are excellent and can be used to tie in different figures and historical occurrences. The 'history of oil' is actually the history of the world: humankind, business, innovations, globalization, war, and geo-political power-plays. The very survival of a nation-state is based upon oil.
"The Prize" begins with tiny puddles of black, sticky, goo, in Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s. Locals collected this goo and realized its many uses. In 1859 oil was struck. Almost immediately, the wealth and power amassed from possession and control of oil was realized. The initial trust acts in the U.S. are related to the oil industry, in which Barons quickly gained gargantuan amounts of wealth and political power.
Enter WWII:
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor because of oil. Japanese conquests throughout South-East Asia and the Pacific were motivated not only by the quest for dominance but for securing oil and keeping their oil (fuel) supply lines open. Without supply lines of oil, the war machine would completely break down, as it later did (Chapter 8).
The Americans sacrificed a lot, but Japan in large part lost WWII because of its lack of fuel for planes, ships, and ground forces. Domestically, the Japanese economy collapsed because of its inability to import oil. The Kamikazes were brought into existence after the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippines, in 1944. Lack of oil meant lack of fighter plane fuel. Fuel supplies became so low they actually stopped training Japanese pilots at all. Pilots were ordered to "follow the leader" to the attack site because they didn't even have navigation training.
There was even an "Oil Czar" In the U.S. during World War II in PAW, the Petroleum Administration for War. The Oil Czar was Harold Ickes.
In the European Theater's Eastern Front Germany invaded Russia with Operation Barbarossa mostly to get the oil in the Caucuses (In addition to "lebensraum" and "untermensch" beliefs). In addition, a needed land-route to Iron Ore in Scandinavia via the Baltic SSR Republics was a factor. Hitler also began making synthetic oil because without enough of it Germany's war machine, domestic economy, and arms production were doomed. These synthetic oil factories were top targets in Allied bombing missions.
Oil and the Cold War World:
The Soviets dominated Eastern Europe and exerted its influence after WWII for 45 years because the Allies ran out of gasoline. When the British 3rd Army and U.S. 1st Army were advancing eastward toward Berlin chasing demoralized, retreating, and broken German troops in disarray. But because of the lack of gasoline for the Allied Armies, a million people ended up losing their lives and war was prolonged because the Germans were able to retreat and re-organize (page 388).
If someone says "it's not about the oil" today in 2007, tell them to read this book. Oil encompasses almost all things in our daily lives, whether we are are conscious of it, or not.
Oil, Military, and Economic Interests:
Democratically elected governments are overthrown by foreign governments because of oil. In 1953 Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected in Iran. He was an anti-communist. He didn't like the 93% to 7% profit sharing split with a British Oil company operating inside Iran. He changed it to 50-50. The CIA sponsored a coup to overthrow him. Americans were repeatedly told by the U.S. media that Mossadegh was a communist and communist sympathizer, although factually untrue. The American public believed this propaganda, according to poll results. Gullible? Mossadegh was ousted and the Shah was placed in power. Democracy has never been supported in the Middle East and it isn't now by the U.S. government. Also see the Carter Doctrine of 1980.
Most of us as individual consumers literally need oil to function. Dependence upon oil is for the continuation of the nation-state, its military machines, and domestic economy. More critical today, is that nation-states need a *sufficient* supply of it.
This is a positive book. It's a history book.
We're in the heart of the "Oil Age."
Amaze.......2007-06-19
This book is the better form to say what means the oil in the world. The history is well clear end real. There are many important information and who is curious or needs to know the subject this is a perfect one.
It's interesting to know the past to forecast the future..........2007-06-14
I really appreciated Daniel YERGIN's book.
The history of oil is crucial to try to solve the huge demand for future oil. History tells us that oil is limitless in virgin deserts...
The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.......2007-06-12
Excellent, well chronicled book showing the inside of the oil world history. Amazon shipment was a slick execution which makes the book more valuable..This book is a must-have for oil and gas pros.
Book Description
The definitive history of the cigarette, the product that shaped twentieth-century America--from modern advertising to science, from regulatory politics to our sense of glamour and style.
The industrial manufacture of cigarettes began in the late nineteenth century, but it wasn't until the invention of the modern consumer, advertising campaign--pioneered by cigarette brands--that the product really took off at the turn of the century. The cigarette became an indispensable accessory of glamour and sex appeal: from Marlene Dietrich to Humphrey Bogart to Anne Bancroft, we have imagined stars with cigarettes in their mouths, and imitated them.
The cigarette--the ultimate icon of our consumer culture--serves as a vehicle for historian Allan Brandt to explore critical aspects of American life. From agriculture to big business, from medicine to politics, The Cigarette Century shows how smoking came to be so deeply implicated in our culture, science, policy, and law. In this magisterial book, Brandt demonstrates how the cigarette reflects the most powerful debates of our time about risk, responsibility, and human health. The Cigarette Century reaches across many disciplines to form a broad and compelling synthesis, showing how one humble (and largely useless) product came to play such a dominant role in our lives and deaths.
Customer Reviews:
An Ominous Precursor.......2007-09-08
Given the size of the book, I was sure I was going to be perusing it only. However, the similarity to what I have seen with the wireless industry made me go back and read it in detail...disturbingly familiar detail. Read this to get a preview of its inevitable sequel...The Cell Phone Century.
death by smoking.......2007-08-19
This is the story of how smoking, once a socially acceptable, pleasurable behavior, became a disgusting habit for the smoker, a danger to non-smokers, a crime for cigarette makers and a financial windfall for some smokers, lawyers, and state governments. The book is well written, well documented and very readable but we know where the author stands. He tells us that 400,000 or 500,000 people are "killed" every year from smoking. Death by gunshot is instant and violent. This happens to about 30,000 people a year and no manufacturer is criminally responsible. Death by smoking can occur 20 to 45 years after smoking begins during which time the smoker could have abused his body in other ways but if not, aging and genetics contribute to death. Even though smokers choose cigarettes for pleasure with full knowledge of long term health consequences, the author concludes that abusive smoking that leads to disease is the criminal responsibility of tobacco companies.
A consequence of education, litigation, and the high cost of cigarettes is that fewer people smoke today. However, there has been a surge in obesity and obesity related health costs and shortened life spans. Mr. Brandt, if people are addicted to fatty foods and feed fatty foods to their children should Krispe Kreme and McDonalds be held criminally responsible as more and more people are diagnosed with diabetes and other diseases related to abusive eating? I wonder how many people are "killed" every year from abusive eating?
Completely unbiased masterpiece! Five stars.......2007-08-08
This book provided a completely unbiased look at this demon weed that has been plaguing this evil nation from its advent! Tobacco! This may seem strange to hear a liberal bashing a narcotic and crying for it to be made illegal, especially since they are so desperately pushing for legalization of marijuana, the products evil twin, but trust me it all makes sense when Mr. Brandt breaks it down for us.
Brandt begins with the first use of tobacco by our pilgrim ancestors. Brandt informs us that they got the Indians hooked on tobacco as kind of a way to enslave them and get land from them. They got them addicted so they would have to keep buying it.
How did America get those huge land grabs, like the Louisiana purchase, at such little money? They offered this deadly hallucinogenic tobacco weed to them and had them sign the papers under the influence!
They tried to get the hippies to smoke it, but the hippies had the very pure and healthy marijuana weed which made them smarter so they knew not to smoke it.
In short, I now realize that we have to, I mean it is imperative, that we get tobacco illegal and marijuana legal.
Excellent, readable, and more widely applicable beyond tobacco.......2007-06-20
This is an excellent book, and not just about cigarettes. As evidence of the "persistence" part of the title, candy-flavored cigarettes have a clear target market (
<18 year-old). RJ Reynolds agreed in 2006 *not* to call them luscious names like "Twista Lime", "Mandarin Mint" ... but they can still *sell* them.
So, 40+ years after "The Surgeon General has determined..." in 1964, this is still an issue. SG Luther Terry's political skillfulness in getting that report to happen added him to my list of heroes.
This book is much more widely applicable, because it ably chronicles distortion and obfuscation of science by economic and political interests.
Some kinds of scientific proof depend on long efforts to accumulate evidence, need good statistical analysis. Such are not amenable to simple lab experiments, and even when they are, may well not be ethical. ("Here: try this: we want to see if you get cancer" is properly not done.) Topics whose science is of this sort can be prone to long, drawn-out fights, especially when the scientific results threaten strong interests whose best approach is controversy and confusion.
The conflicts over sulfates:acid rain and CFCs:ozone depletion resemble smoking:disease, but the clearest parallel with the latter is the battle over CO2: human-induced global warming.
In both cases, there were:
A) people who believed something (and sometimes exaggerated) well in advance of the science (anti-tobacco moralists, global warming alarmists), and sometimes irritated others by their stridency.
B) people who had economic interests (tobacco companies, oil companies), who took very strong (but opposing) positions. These were sometimes joined by people with ideological reasons for minimizing government regulation.
C) Scientists, who take years to collect good evidence, are careful in their conclusions, but who struggle to be heard though masses of disinformation generated by B), and sometimes wince at exaggerations from A), even as scientific results starts to approach A)'s views.
In both cases, industry funded think-tanks, lobbyists, and a tiny handful of scientists to cast doubt on the science, using similar tactics, and often, employed by the same organizations and people.
As a result Brandt's book is a dandy case study on the twisty interactions of science, economics, and politics, and its lessons may help us analyze other contentious issues as well.
One of the best books of the year.......2007-06-17
Allan Brandt's new book, "The Cigarette Century", is as comprehensive a study on one subject as I've seen in a long time. Written crisply and authoritatively, Brandt covers the tobacco industry from the end of the nineteenth century
20th Century
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America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers
The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World
World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism
