Customer Reviews:
Makers of Modern Strategy .......2005-09-22
"Makers of Modern Strategy" is a scholarly collection of high quality papers on strategy since Machiavelli to the present nuclear age. The beauty of the book is that one can focus on the era that one is interested in. There is no need to read the book cover to cover as the various essays are stand alone although they are presented sequentially and related papers are adjacent to each other. I have read and re-read some of the papers. The book is about strategy and the realities of war. The essays are clearly balanced and not biased. The phenomenon of war was clearly explained from the studies of past wars. It is clear that war has been a fundamental reality of social and political existence from an early stage of political organisation to the present times. The tragic aspects of war and the intellectual and emotional disturbances it creates could be discerned from the essays.
The book is divided into the following five parts:
Part One: The Origins of Modern War.
Part Two: The Expansion of war
Part Three: From the Industrial Revolution to the First World War.
Part Four: From the First to the Second World War.
Part Five: Since 1945.
The eminent contributors include Peter Paret, Felix Gilbert, John Shy, Gordon A. Craig, Maurice Matloff, Condoleezza Rice, Lawrence Freadman, Michael Carver and D. Clayton James. Their essays showed the role of force in the relations between states. It is now very clear to me that war has always been a compound of many elements ranging from politics to technology, to human emotions under extreme stress. Strategy is one of the critical elements of war.
The various essays trace the ideas and actions of past generations, as they used war to achieve their national goals, an analysis of military thought and policy in the recent past and present
My favourite part is Part Two. Here three great historical figures are highlighted namely Napoleon, Jomini and Clausewitz. I can now see the genius of Napoleon as one of the greatest soldiers in history in its proper strategic context. I think history need to rescue Jomini from the obscurity he is now relegated since it is largely him who has clearly related the greatness of Napoleon and the attempt to reduce war to some sort of science.
Makers of Modern Strategy add immense value to any study of warfare and strategy. I recommend it to Army Staff Colleges and those studying military history at postgraduate level.
Mandatory Reading for Army Staff Majors.......2002-03-13
As the title indicates, the Army's Command & General Staff College requires students to read Makers of Modern Strategy in the core history class. Professors can make best use of this book as a supplement. As other reviewers have noted, the chapters are disjointed with each other. Taken separately, however, many of the chapters help the history student or enthusiast to develop a depth of understanding on a particular subject. Authors such as John Shy, Douglas Porch, Michael Howard, and Condoleeza Rice, just to name a few, explore many of the strategic issues involved with the evolution of military thought.
From Machiavelli and Clausewitz to strategies of world wars and colonial wars, Makers of Modern Strategy adds value to any serious study of warfare. The high quality academic research and thought that underlies many of the articles is worth the price of the book. Highly recommended.
Good general military history overview........2001-03-05
One of the essentials, a good starting point for the study of military history and strategy.
Still, this is a good book............2000-08-12
Although I agree with the reviewer preceeding me that this might not be as strong of a book as was the masterpiece which preceeded it (by Earle), it is still a strong book and does (generally) what it sets out to do: to provide an accounting of major developments in military thought (i.e. western military thought) from the Renassance to the modern age.
As a text or as a reference, this is still a powerful and useful book. Each of the chapters discusses a major figure's thought in a fashion that can be dealt with easily in a sitting: for those people who don't want to sit and sort through Jomini (though everyone reading this should sit down with Clausewitz! ) or Douhet, to see their rights and wrongs....
I like this book. I bought my copy for $8.00 in NYC and have had it with me through a number of moves since....
Newer is Not Necessarily Better.......2000-07-18
This second version of the book is disappointing. I would have thought that it being edited by an historian as good as Peter Paret would have improved on the original, which was edited by Robert Earle. However, it is weaker both in scholarship and accuracy, especially John Shy's essay on Jomini. Old myths are resurrected about the Swiss renegade whose own works are generally historically inaccurate.
Many of the older, more professional, historians, who are unfortunately no longer with us were much more careful in their research and writing, hunting down sources that newer historians either refuse to look for or refuse to use. they also were more blunt, calling a spade a spade, and weren't worried about offending people or in 'revisionist' (read inaccurate) history. Political correctness was unknown to these stalwarts.
Books of this type are highly useful. If you are looking for this particular volume, get the first version edited by Earle, even if you have to go looking in second hand book stores or on the internet in used book services. I did, and it is well worth the effort.
Book Description
For the first time ever, over five dozen top-secret military,government, intelligence and corporate witnesses to secret projects tell their true stories which disclose the greatest covert program in world history. This explosive testimony by actual government insiders proves that UFOs are real, that some are of extraterrestrial origin and that super-secret programs have energy and propulsion technologies that will enable humanity to begin a new civilization - a civilization without pollution, without poverty - a civilization capable of traveling among the stars. This is not just a story about UFOs, ETs and secret projects: It is the story of how 50 years of human evolution have been deferred and how these secret projects contain the real solution to the world energy crisis, the environmental crisis and world poverty.
Customer Reviews:
Points a way forward in an utterly compelling and unexpected way........2007-10-16
If the book doesn't do it for you, then watch the movie, but be warned: Greer will not attempt to convince you a la Michael Moore. This is not a practice in spin, but bare raw testimony.
As person after person (mainly government, military and intelligence officials) steps forward and testifies about what he or she has seen and heard (personally or second-hand), you, the reader, become the judge sifting through first-, second- and third-hand accounts about extra-terrestrial phenomena, advanced (supposedly non-human-created) technology, and about what the American government knows about it and what it has allegedly been doing about it for over five decades -- deferring 50 years of human evolution, and possibly the solution to the current global energy crisis, as they decide how to best capitalize on these covered-up findings.
If anyone dismisses the insights brought forth by the Disclosure Project, it is because he or she has not accepted the fact that the universe may be greater than what we think we already know. The Disclosure Project is not just a bunch of speculations on aliens from outer space and what they want from us. More importantly, it points the way to helping us to decide for ourselves, as a human race, what we ought to do to move forward, not as a country or a continent, but as citizens of a global community.
It presents to us several advanced technological options that the government has allegedly been trying to hide, but with disclosure, that we may be able to use to solve the world's current most pressing issues.
It also presents us with the more challenging idea that, if indeed we are not alone, how it might be wise for us to be prudent in, not just our international relations, but our interplanetary relations, particularly since we might find these relations to be much more complex and delicate than anything we have ever dealt with before.
If anything, the Disclosure Project is an exercise in openness and fairness. How open is your mind? How important is disclosure to you? As a citizen, should we have the right to demand to know more? To know what our technological options are for the current environmental and humanitarian crises? To know how we might be able to move forward? And to choose how we should function as a global commmunity, particularly if we will need to represent ourselves in relations beyond our little blue planet?
These are no small questions. Fortunately, thanks to the Disclosure Project, an increasing number of concerned citizens will not allow them to be ignored.
On an interesting side-note, disclosure of this kind is not just an American issue, but also an international one. Australia held its own disclosure conference on June 14, 2003, and in March 2007, France became the first country to declassify its files on UFO phenomena, publishing on the web (www.cnes.fr) the national space agency's archives which document more than five decades worth of research.
"It could be well beyond our imagination".......2007-10-07
I am just finishing up reading this book. By the way, the little quote I used as my review title is found on p. 525, and was said by Dr. Hal Putoff, a theoretical and experimental physicist. I thought it said alot about this book in a nutshell: this stuff is well beyond imagination!
I wound up here because I wanted to see what others thought of the book. It is that kind of book. You want to know what someone else thinks about it. Why? Because it is just such a monumental study of something that we still do not believe in, namely extraterrestrial life, right here on Earth. And Dr. Greer did a very simple thing, and I think that was his special gift to this whole area of inquiry. What Dr. Greer did was to completely avoid all the sources for info on "UFOs", like citizens' obvservations, abductees, and sensationalists. Instead he went to the military.
Almost all of the source material in this book is from ex-military types. As a result the kind of evidence presented has alot of credibility, because most of these guys are not doing themselves a favor in talking about their experiences. Many of the military guys had top secret clearances and were under law prohibited from revealing any of these experiences of ETs. They are coming forth anyway. Many are now older folks and don't have a lot to lose if the Government decides to "disappear" them.
This book raises as many questions in my mind as it answers and that is why I was reading the comments of other reviewers, hoping that they might have coincidentally answered a few of them. Many times during my reading I have marked passages to come back to. The accounts are sometimes rather sloppy and jump from here to there without any transitional explanations. It is aggravating to someone who is taking this seriously and trying to "process" stuff carefully. I think that I am going to have to write a letter to Dr. Greer and ask these questions of him. It's that kind of book.
There is alot of "UFO" books out there in print. 95% of them are kind of kooky and rely upon witnesses that have not got alot of credibility. Here is where Disclosure really shines. There is simply nothing like it for those who want to learn more about the whole ET phenomenon.
In addition, it seems that everywhere I turn these days, I wind up running into our old friends the rogue elements from the military-industrial complex! The NSA, CIA, Nat'l. Recon Agency, and the like. Conspiracy indeed! This book was written in May 2001 BEFORE that little demonstration of the rogue government on 9/11/01. So the book is a bit dated. Nonetheless by May of 2001 already one had lots of evidence of these evil people, so this book also fills in a few wholes in my understanding of the secret government.
So, Disclosure. Yes you should read it but be warned, it will really flip you out! And that is probably good. We all need to wake up a bit more fully.
a lot we're not being told about!!.......2007-09-09
this book is a must for anybody interested in this sort of thing,generally speaking 5 stars,however,some reservations about the accuracy of some things,some people I know,"in the know" say isn't true
regarding space weapons..but they do exist!!Overall a very interesting book and I love it!!
Great Book...lot's of information and keeps you engaged........2007-09-06
I really enjoyed this book. I read Dr. Greer's newer book Hidden Truth Forbidden Knowledge, and thought that was a good book too. The difference is that this book is more testimony and credible eye witness accounts. This was more entertaining and engaging than the other books by Dr. Greer. I honestly read though this book very quickly. If you had to choose between the two books I would choose this one first...then hit his other books. The reason I gave this 4 stars as opposed to 5 is that I really wish there was a follow-up to this material. The book was written in 2001 and there has been a lot of time since then. If I read this book in 2001, I would of gave it a 5. Although his newer book hits upon some "update" material, Hidden Truth Forbidden Knowledge is much more spiritual as opposed to disclosing real evidence like this book. Since it's 2007, I am left with questions like...so what's happened since then? I tried to check the website and it really isn't updated with new material. So a follow-up book to this would be great...or even an updated version. Overall...a very entertaining read and a must if you are even remotely interested in UFOs.
If you think there is no proof............2007-09-02
Steven Greer's book Disclosure should go a long way to convince most people that the government has ample evidence of UFO activity. This book shows us that we are like ostriches with our heads in the sand if we believe otherwise. It also, through the testimonies of many courageous and competent individuals, indicates why we are being kept in the dark. The fact that even as we pollute ourselves into oblivion that in some strata of government officialdom we have the technology for pollution-free energy, is therefore obscene.
Perhaps if enough people read this book, this situation will change.
Book Description
Since their inception, nuclear weapons have multiplied at an alarming rate, leaving everyone from policymakers to concerned citizens wondering what it will take to slow, stop, or even reverse their spread. With clarity and expertise, Joseph Cirincione presents an even-handed look at the history of nuclear proliferation and an optimistic vision of its future, providing a comprehensive survey of the wide range of critical perspectives.
Cirincione begins with the first atomic discoveries of the 1930s and covers the history of their growth all the way to current crisis with Iran. He unravels the science, strategy, and politics that have fueled the development of nuclear stockpiles and increased the chance of a nuclear terrorist attack. He also explains why many nations choose not to pursue nuclear weapons and pulls from this the outlines of a solution to the world's proliferation problem: a balance of force and diplomacy, enforcement and engagement that yields a steady decrease in these deadly arsenals.
Though nuclear weapons have not been used in war since August 1945, there is no guarantee this good fortune will continue. A unique blend of history, theory, and security analysis, Bomb Scare is an engaging text that not only supplies the general reader and student with a clear understanding of this issue but also provides a set of tools policymakers and scholars can use to prevent the cataclysmic consequences of another nuclear attack.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding!.......2007-07-10
"Bomb Scare" is full of credible and helpful data, as well as balanced in its assessments.
Early on readers learn that it takes about 80 generations of neutrons to fission a kilogram of material - this takes about 0.8 microseconds and creates a temperature of 10 billion Celsius. A gun design plug in an enriched uranium bomb has to travel at at least 1,000 ft./second to initiate a sustained chain reaction. The Hiroshima bomb gun barrel weighed about 1,000 lbs. and was 6 feet long; the bomb itself used 64 kilos of U-235. Today this could be accomplished with 25 kilos and put into a package about the size of a small melon. (Plutonium could not be used in a gun design - its neutrons are too fast.)
Implosion-type designs are used for plutonium bombs. About 6 kilos was used for the Trinity test and at Nagasaki. Modern weapons use about 5 kilograms - about the size of a plum. (So much for the debate on whether "suitcase" bombs are feasible.)
The first U.S. H-bomb had a yield of 10.4 megatons.
The U.S. total stockpile of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons reached around 20,000 by 1960, vs. 1,600 for the Russians. (So much for Kennedy's argument that the U.S. had a "bomb gap.") We recently learned that during the Cuban missile crisis the Russians had already positioned about 100 nuclear weapons in Cuba.
There are five main reasons states acquire nuclear weapons: Security, prestige, domestic politics, technology, and economics. Different sides of the same reasons are also why many nations choose not to acquire such weapons.
Cirincione sees Russia as the #1 potential source of nuclear weapons/material for terrorists. It has thousands of nuclear weapons at 150-210 sites and hundreds of nuclear materials at about 49 sites. Experts believe that it would be difficult for terrorists to acquire a completed bomb - they are well guarded and utilize complex security locks. On the other hand, experts also believe that terrorists could construct a bomb from enriched material with only 3-4 technically people.
Pakistan is seen as a close #2 potential source. USA Today reported in November of 2001 that at least 10 Taliban had contacted Pakistani scientists in the prior two years. Pakistan has enough highly enriched uranium to make 50-100 bombs.
There are also about 40 nations with civilian stockpiles for power reactors. While not sufficiently enriched for nuclear weapons, it would be a simple matter to extend the enrichment process to create such.
Potential nuclear powder-kegs involve U.S. and Russian weapons being on 15-minute alert, and situations involving Taiwan, or India-Pakistan. Adverse recent events include the U.S. invasion of Iraq (increased terrorist and nervous state motivation to acquire nuclear weapons), our support for increased Indian development of nuclear weapons, U.S. promulgation of new logic for nuclear weapon use ("bunker-busters," use against non-nuclear states), and a slowdown/stop in reduction programs involving Russia.
The good news is that the number of nuclear weapons in the world has been cut in half over the past 15 years, those seriously considering their acquisition or having them have declined from 23 to 10, there has been a two-thirds reduction in ICBMs, and both the U.S. and Russia have destroyed their chemical weapons.
Author's Bottom Line: Cirincione believes that efforts must not only be directed at reducing nuclear weapons and proliferation, but eliminating the underlying sources of conflict as well.
History, security analysis and theory blends in a general text for any student of world politics.......2007-06-09
BOMB SCARE: THE HISTORY & FUTURE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS begins with the first atomic discoveries of the 1930s and covers the history of the growth of nuclear weapons through the decades, right up to the current crisis with Iran and the threat of worldwide proliferation. History, security analysis and theory blends in a general text for any student of world politics and military history, particularly at the college level.
USAF Vet Recommends Five Stars.......2007-06-08
Those of us with a Top Secret "Q" Clearance during the Cold War are intimately familiar with the horrific realities of what a nuclear confrontation would mean for civilization. The author provides a concise, accurate, and up-to-date history of the nuclear threat. He also advances the best thinking related to diminishing the threats posed by nuclear arms in the 21st century, and putting the materials of decommissioned warheads to peaceful uses as fuel for nuclear reactors.
Overly Optimistic.......2007-04-09
This book deals with something that most of us don't spend much time thinking about. We should think about it more.
Cirincione, the former director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, takes the reader through the history of the development of nuclear weapons and the arms control agreements that have somewhat curtailed their spread. He presents a rational analysis of the drivers that cause states to seek to acquire nuclear weapons as well as the barriers that motivate some to turn away from the quest, or abandon it altogether.
And in the light of reasoned consideration he concludes, "The good news is that the nonproliferation regime has worked. The nuclear threat is less severe today than it was in 1970 when the Non-Proliferation Treaty entered into force". He bases this assessment on the fact that "the number of nuclear weapons in the world has declined from a peak of 65,000 in 1986, to roughly 27,000 today". But does this necessarily make the world a safer place?
Cirincione takes satisfaction that "the threat of a global thermonuclear war is now near zero". He goes on to state, "The dangers we face today are very serious, but they are orders of magnitude less severe than those we confronted just two decades ago from the overkill potential of U.S. and Russian arsenals. We no longer worry about the fate of the earth, but we still worry about the fate of our cities". It is in the ensuing discussion of nuclear terrorism that the upbeat tenor of the author's faith in the potential of negotiations and agreements to manage the imminent threat increasingly seems disconnected from reality.
While it is true that the threat of global thermonuclear war has diminished, the probability all out nuclear war was always very low as a result of the Strangelovian logic of mutually assured destruction. On the other hand, the likelihood of the detonation of a nuclear weapon smuggled into an American city by terrorists in the next decade is clearly significant. While such an event would not be the end of life on this planet, its societal, economic and political consequences would almost certainly be the end of life as we have come to know it. And, millions of people would die. This being the case, how can the author argue that the world is safer now than it was twenty years ago?
Cirincione also contends that the reduction in ballistic missiles is an indicator of a reduction of risk in the present day. What he neglects to consider is that weapons dispatched through alternate means - say in shipping containers with GPS activation - do not leave a return address, and as a result would not invite immediate retaliation. It would seem that a country hostile to the United States could launch such an attack with an impunity that would be inconceivable were the method of delivery a ballistic missile.
In this context it's hard to buy into the author's upbeat assessment of the future. As he would have it, securing existing weapons and stocks of fissile materials, new rounds of negotiations employing various carrots and sticks, and the good example of further disarmament by the US and Russia hold the promise of a better and a safer world. The problem is that while these actions are indeed necessary they are certainly not sufficient to produce the intended outcome. This is particularly the case given that some future nuclear adversaries may hold to apocalyptic world views.
Towards the end of the book Cirincione writes, "After wading through the history, theory, dangers, challenges and failures of proliferation policy, most readers could be excused for feeling a bit depressed. Don't be".
I guess I just can't help it. I am.
Sleeper Awake!.......2007-03-05
Perhaps the most significant issue in this century is not AIDS, the energy crisis, the environment or the Middle East but is the issue of universal nuclear disarmament. Joseph Cirincione has given us a clear solution to this problem in his book, BOMB SCARE: THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
The first recorded war between nation states occurred in 2700 BC. From that time to the present man has devised a plethora of clever devices to kill and maim his fellows.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union near the end of the last century (1991), the United States has funded the Russian government in the "cleanup" of warheads, bombs and other nuclear components scattered throughout the various nuclear facilities in the former Soviet Republic in an attempt to prevent terrorists and other non-nuclear nations from obtaining the same. Cirincione believes that "with additional funding, this threat reduction program could be accelerated to secure or eliminate the vast majority of nuclear weapons and materials by 2010."
The issue, of course, is that the "have-nots" want what the "haves" have: NUCLEAR ENERGY. Here the author proposes that a new system controlled by the International Atomic Energy Agency would provide a supply of nuclear material to countries that need it for civilian use in exchange for an agreement that those same countries not seek to build facilities to create their own "nuclear resources".
Cirincione understands that it is impossible to convince the "have-nots" to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions and to adhere to nonproliferation norms while the "haves" assert the importance of these weapons for their own safety and security (read that Pakistan and Iran). As one state goes nuclear, another state is forced to do the same thing ad infinitum: "in short, proliferation begets proliferation." Cirincione whimsically wonders if the obverse is possible.
188 countries are signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that became effective in 1970. The only countries that have not signed are: Israel, Pakistan, and India. North Korea has withdrawn. These are the countries the treaty has unsuccessfully prevented from obtaining nuclear resources. The original signatories, the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China all agreed to ultimately dismantle their arsenals under a future agreement: to date that "future accord" has not happened. In fact, advances in this area have continued. Without compliance with this treaty, Cirincione posits the world faces a nuclear disaster.
In the end the author asks the reader to think beyond the old paradigms and to dare to explore ways to prevent what certainly, in the world's present state, is a sure slide into nuclear oblivion. This is more than a thoughtful book, it is a book every American should read and take to heart.
Book Description
Submarines had a vital, if often unheralded, role in the superpower navies during the Cold War. Their crews carried out intelligence-collection operations, sought out and stood ready to destroy opposing submarines, and, from the early 1960s, threatened missile attacks on their adversary’s homeland, providing in many respects the most survivable nuclear deterrent of the Cold War. For both East and West, the modern submarine originated in German U-boat designs obtained at the end of World War II. Although enjoying a similar technology base, by the 1990s the superpowers had created submarine fleets of radically different designs and capabilities. Written in collaboration with the former Soviet submarine design bureaus, Norman Polmar and K. J. Moore authoritatively demonstrate in this landmark study how differing submarine missions, antisubmarine priorities, levels of technical competence, and approaches to submarine design organizations and management caused the divergence.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2007-08-14
I sought a book with a serious overview of the topic of Cold War submarines, and not a book about one or another aspect of the topic. I ended up with a book that contains both an excellent overview as well as serious discussion of specific submarines, strategies, technologies and the men behind the scenes.
The story is well placed within the historical context of the political, military and economical events and processes of the Cold War. The text is well written and well structured.
Especially fascinating is the look behind the scenes of Soviet submarine design, construction and operations - those were among the best-kept secrets of the Soviet Union.
Besides dealing with "main stream" submarines, there are several interesting chapters about different experimental projects; rescue submarines and several fantasy projects, like freight vessels and aircraft carrying submarines.
Although the story is focused on the Cold War period, there is a detailed discussion of WWII technology that highly influenced Cold War designs, as well as descriptions of post Cold War vessels and fleets.
The book is well illustrated with photographs and line drawings.
Great book.......2007-03-16
Not as many actual pix of subs as most books but it is very well written and also dabbles into the politics and design that went on with each new design of submarine. Nice charts and missile specs and things like that. Goes into greater detail of the US boats more than Soviet.
Absolutely The Best.......2007-02-13
I was somewhat skeptical of this book when I saw nothing but 5 star reviews from purchasers of the title. However, having read it, this is THE Cold War submarine reference. It contains insights not only into the technologies deployed, but the rational (or in some cases the Irrational) that led to the development of the mysterious technological marvels we could only speculate on during the cold war. The authors clearly show both American and Soviet perspectives on the cold war submarine development. I found the information regarding the CONFORM design on 1967 to be of particular interest. Rickover's insistence on developing the 688 class killed CONFORM. Yet CONFORM was 40 years ahead of anything available at that time. It is interesting that the 688's were far more fragile than one might imagine. Yet Rickover insisted on having his way. Where would we be had the CONFORM design gone through?? This book is absolutely the best material that I have read to date on cold war submarines.
A very balanced overview.......2006-12-03
I knew about a Polmar from reading references in some papers, so I finally decided to give a try. I wasn't disappointed. There were lots of technical details giving an overview. Better yet, it is a balanced account - by no means are Americans portrayed as all powerful.
If there were two things it can be improved on - well, one would be the placement of the endnotes. It is a matter of taste, but considering how many there were and how interesting they were, it might have been more convenient to have put them at the bottom of the main text as footnotes for each page.
The second is that I would have killed for a chapter or two on "other than the equipment". Subs are not just their designers, their admirals and the technicals - it is also the men, their organization and their training. Polmar briefly goes over the differences, but it could have been given a full chapter or at least an Appendix if extra efficiency measures were applied to the pre-Cold War history stuff.
Now, I'm going to buy another Polmar book that would hopefully fill up the gap. Wish me luck.
Covers Much More than the Title indicates.......2006-03-10
I thoroughly agree with Mr. Dougherty's enthusiastic reader review. The authors have put together a virtual encyclopedia on modern sub design and construction with real insight into what the subs were intended to do, and how some politicians and bureaucrats sabotaged the projects. I found particularly illuminating how each side of the Soviet-US conflict used the records and existing prototypes of Nazi Germany's U-Boat experiments. Baker's line drawings and diagrams are quite helpful in visualizing the boats, as are the ample photos of the real subs and scale models. This is a book to which I will return again and again whenever there is some news item about
undersea naval competition.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
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.
Book Description
The “dean of Cold War historians” (The New York Times) now presents the definitive account of the global confrontation that dominated the last half of the twentieth century. Drawing on newly opened archives and the reminiscences of the major players, John Lewis Gaddis explains not just what happened but why—from the months in 1945 when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. went from alliance to antagonism to the barely averted holocaust of the Cuban Missile Crisis to the maneuvers of Nixon and Mao, Reagan and Gorbachev. Brilliant, accessible, almost Shakespearean in its drama, The Cold War stands as a triumphant summation of the era that, more than any other, shaped our own.
Customer Reviews:
History in Context.......2007-09-07
I found this book to be an extremely well organized survey of the Cold War. Professor Gaddis eloquently explains the sources of the conflict. He goes on to describe the escalation; and then points out how, somewhere in the middle, many of its actors came to view the conflict as permanent, and even desirable. He explains how it took men and women of vision to see the landscape of the future without the conflict as a permanent fixture, and then relentlessly pursue that vision.
The inclusion of the Soviet perspective from recently available sources makes this book especially interesting. The Soviets were pursuing global communism, which proved to be an unworkable solution to the ills of unbridled capitalism. But, we may never have had such crystal clear historical evidence of its unworkability if the Soviets hadn't undertaken their experiment.
Was the Cold War really dangerous?.......2007-07-17
The year Ronald Reagan died my mom commented to me, "What is all the fuss about Reagan? What did he ever do?" After I wiped the blood from my eyes, I asked her, "You don't speak Russian do you? If nothing else, you can thank him and men like him for that." People tend to forget what a formidable foe the USSR was and how close they came to winning the Cold War. Todays youth have even made the old Russian flag a fashion statement, wearing it on tee-shirts hoping to gain cool points from their hip socialist brainwashed friends. But the fact of the matter is that the Russian Empire was a threat. John Gaddis does an excellent job reminding us of this fact. Although the book is not an in depth study of the cold war, it is useful as a reminder to subsequent generations that the Communist threat was real, in American and throughout the rest of the world.
an excellent concise resource.......2007-06-30
Gaddis has done an excellent job of telling an extremely complicated history in a tight and well-written volume. The importance of his story is contrasted by his reminding the reader that his college students today have almost no living memory of the Cold War or just how serious a historical epic it was between two great powers.
As the world has changed dramatically over the past 16 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, this book will be an excellent resource to remember just what a huge struggle the Western bloc vs. the Soviet Union and its satellites was. This is not an ideaological book from the Yale professor Gaddis, but he gives credit to the end of the Cold War to three individuals and a people group: Ronald Reagan, Margeret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II and the people of eastern Europe who contiually stood up to the Soviet and local communist leaders.
A weak point of this book, which admittedly does not have time to explore the vast and complicated expressions of every part of the Cold War is Gaddis explanation for why the anti-war movements of the 1960's and 70's in the West erupted with as much fury as they did, and subsided almost as quickly. His explanation, that it was largely caused by baby boom young adults, coming of age, with lots of time on their hands seems like a short answer. Comparing and contrasting the reaction of the West to the Korean War vs. Vietnam might have made a better use of the text.
Gaddis presentation of how the Cold War started at the end of World War II is another excellent section, especially how the West, making practical concessions to the Soviets that they could never hope to bargain for at the end of the war, quickly turned European opinion against the Soviets by forcing the Soviets into the position of being the ones who built wall, established border police and shut themselves off because they had to keep people in.
The explanation of proxy conflicts, especially in the Middle East, is another highlight of the work. Seeing the Israeli and Palestinian conflict as rump to the Cold War, and the Soviets inability to deal with their Egyptian allies in Nasser further showed the weakness of the Soviet state.
While ultimatley Gaddis presents the end of the Cold War as being led by the four main actors mentioned earlier, his treatment of Gorbachev as a man who managed the end of the failure of the Soviet Empire and the inability of the Soviets to have a sustainable economic future - the very reason for its existence is told with great clarity.
Gaddis warns throughout the book that choosing an ends justifying the means approach got the West into more dificulty than anything else. The attempt by the West, especially between John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, to manage a stable world delayed the inevitable end of the Cold War and more than likely created greater human misery of the likes the world has rarely scene. Ronald Reagan, and Thatcher and John Paul, were in a sense revolutionaries, for they sought to win the Cold War by calling for total peace and not half measures of agreements and stability.
Very Good, Concise History.......2007-05-21
This is ideal if you're not looking for an 14,000 page account of the Cold War...you get a little background on everything, from nuclear tests to Cuba to the fall of the USSR. What you don't get is much detail, which, I suppose, is the intent of a concise history; a little more detail would have been nice, though. It's a 260 page book, a few more facts or stories here and there probably wouldn't have pushed this into "only for historians" territory, it's hard to complain about the brevity of a book whose aim is brevity. 'The Company' by Robert Littel goes well with this, as it fleshes out many of the major events here in a far less dry manner than most Cold War history books. Anybody looking for an overview of one of the largest, longest, most epic events in modern history should pick this up.
Recounting the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union.......2007-04-19
One of the great debates in American foreign policy is how do you deal with repressive regimes. There are several schools of thought on how to proceed. The first is isolation (this has been the U.S. policy towards Iran and N. Korea). The second is confrontation (Iraq is the obvious example) and the third is communication (this would be the tactic used by Nixon in China and the policy of détente with the Soviet Union). Each policy has its advocates and detractors and each its plusses and minuses. Embracing China has worked out fairly well for its citizenry although there is much room for improvement. On the other hand supporting the Saudi monarchy has caused some serious headaches for the U.S. and Saudi citizens. Isolation and sanctions have a very poor track record and generally makes repressed citizenry even worse off. Confrontation can have unpredictable results that often exasperate the situation. Military confrontation can lead to considerable misery and verbal confrontation generally fails because one of the maxims of maintaining a dictatorship is demonstrating strength. The Bush administrations threats towards Iran and North Korea have fallen flat.
The ethos of `do no harm' fails when deciding how to deal with stable but brutal dictatorships or failing regimes. I was watching Hotel Rwanda with my girlfriend when she asked why the United Nations hadn't done more to protect the Tutsis from genocide. But what could the U.N. do? Slaughter the Hutus? The Tutsis had blood on their own hands. In the case of Bosnia the U.N. and U.S. bombed the hell out of the Serbians but again the Albanians were no angels and had in fact sided with the Axis during WWII. While trying to arrest Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid 18 American soldiers died but so did an estimated 1,000 and 1,500 Somali militiamen with an upwards of 4,000 injured Somali. So when does a humanitarian mission become a slaughter?
In the case of the Soviet Union the people were clearly suffering under a crushingly repressive dictatorship. Despite its claim to being a system of the working man, Communism was an intellectual farce and an economic disaster. It was also a system bent on spreading its message and extending its influence. So the debate in the West was between confrontation and isolation. In the end a compromise of sorts was formed ending in confrontation through proxies. The author gave several examples of countries playing the two superpowers off one another. By not explicitly siding with one or the other smaller countries could manipulate for their own benefit or "wag the dog".
`The Cold War' by John Lewis Gaddis is rather brief for a subject spanning over 40 years of history. The author spends a considerable amount of time discussing the changing nature of war after the invention of the atomic bomb. We all owe a debt of gratitude to leaders on both sides of the iron curtain for showing the wisdom and restraint to not use these horrifying weapons. `The Cold War' chronicles the history of the Soviet Union from Stalin to Yeltzin. In the Soviet Union there was no position high enough that one could be free from danger of removal. There will always be a debate on whether containment was the best solution or whether it was Reagan's confrontation that was the final nail in the coffin. The author clearly favors the style Reagan and Thatcher and pretty much omits the sections on U.S. meddling in South America and the Middle East in the name of containment. Reagan's refusal to use the nonworking SDI as a bargaining chip seems silly in retrospect but it was on his watch that the Soviet Union collapsed and since the world wasn't irradiated I figure he must have done SOMETHING right.
Customer Reviews:
Great Gift!.......2007-08-10
I purchased this book for my daughter to give her friend as a gift. It was given to a young boy turning six, who knows everything about ships especially the Titanic. He loved it! I would definitely purchase again.
great pictures.......2007-08-05
Though a child's book, well illustrated for those interested in this ship and tired of maps.
Only regret, wish it were more illustrated and does not give break down of lifeboat capacity boat by boat though provides overall lifeboat and passenger capacity.
Inside the Titanic: A Giant Cut-away Book.......2007-04-01
I bought this book for my grandson's 7th birthday. He is into everything Titanic. He loves it.
Big book for small Titanic fans!!.......2007-01-21
I purchased this book for my 4 and a half-year-old son, which is now fascinated by all things Titanic. I felt the tragic nature of the story; the excessive text of most books and the content of the movies were not suitable for kids. When I found this book I knew it would be just right for a him.
The size of the book was the first thing that amazed my son. Then he was impressed with the dominant artwork inside. Marschall's illustrations are simply wonderful. He's indeed a great artist and an expert when it comes to the Titanic. The book illustrates the great ship, its interiors and it's ultimate demise as it follows the story of two real-life children that were aboard the Titanic on her maiden voyage.
My son was so excited after we finished the book that he insisted to take it to school where his teacher had a reading for the whole class.
great pictures.. facts.. and even a story.......2007-01-20
My 4 year old son got this book from his Nana for Christmas. He wants to read it every night. It is filled with great pictures, including a huge 4 page fold out. The pictures are colorful and very detailed. It is also filled with great facts, and even a story. Couldn't ask for a better book on the Titanic.
Book Description
In A Social History of Modern Art, a sweeping multivolume social history of Western art from the French Revolution to World War I, Albert Boime moves beyond the concern with style and form that has traditionally characterized the study of art history and, in the tradition of Arnold Hauser, examines art in a broad historical context. Into his wide-ranging cultural inquiry Boime incorporates not only frequently studied mainstream artists and sculptors but also neglected and lesser known artists and unattributed popular imagery. He examines popular as well as official culture, the family as well as the state, and the conditions of the poor as well as of the affluent that affected cultural practice.
This inaugural volume explores the artistic repercussions of the major political and economic events of the latter half of the eighteenth century: the Seven Years' War, the French Revolution, and the English industrial revolution. Boime examines the prerevolutionary popularity of the rococo style and the emergence of the cult of antiquity that followed the Seven Years' War. He shows how the continual experiments of Jacques-Louis David and others with neoclassical symbols and themes in the latter part of the century actively contributed to the transformation of French and English politics. Boime's analyses reveal the complex relationship of art with a wide range of contemporary attitudes and conditions—technological innovation, social and political tensions, commercial expansion, and the growth of capitalism.
"Provocative and endlessly revealing."—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Herald Examiner
Book Description
The Story of the World CD audiobook is a collaboration between Jim Weiss, whose voice is "liquid gold" (CNN TV), and Susan Wise Bauer, whose writing has been described as "timeless and intelligent" (Publishers Weekly). These spirited readings of the last volume in Bauer's history series bring to life the stories and records of human history from ancient times to the present.
Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this volume of the popular Story of the World series weaves world history into a storybook format. The fourth volume covers the major historical events of the last 150 years, from the American Civil War to the presidency of Nelson Mandela.
This audio CD edition may be used along with the print books, as a supplement to a traditional history curriculum, or independently. 11 audio CDs.
Customer Reviews:
great!.......2007-06-29
We are a homeschooling family. I Love this whole series! I have all of them on CD which is great because we take them in the van with us. You can listen to them over and over and really remember it that way. They are Told kind of like a story so it holds your interest. I have 5 kiddos and I find they all enjoy and learn from these. I am learning alot too :)
Amazon.com
"Climate change is the ignored player on the historical stage," writes archeologist Brian Fagan. But it shouldn't be, not if we know what's good for us. We can't judge what future climate change will mean unless we know something about its effects in the past: "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." And Fagan's story of the last thousand years, centered on the "Little Ice Age," reminds us of what we could end up repeating: flood, fire, and famine--acts of God exacerbated by acts of man.
For all that he takes a broad--a very broad--view of European history, Fagan's writing is laced with human faces, fascinating anecdotes, and a gift for the telling detail that makes history live, very much in the style of Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror. When Fagan talks about the voyages of Basque fishermen to American shores (probably landing before Columbus sailed), he puts in the taste of dried cod and the terrifying suddenness of fogs on the Grand Banks. The Great Fire of London, what it was like when the Dutch dikes broke, the Irish Potato Famine, the year without a summer, ice fairs on the Thames, and volcanoes in the South Pacific--Fagan makes history a ripping yarn in which we are all actors, on a stage that has always been changing. --Mary Ellen Curtin
Book Description
"[The Little Ice Age] could do for the historical study of climate what Michel Foucault's classic Madness and Civilization did for the historical study of mental illness: make it a respectable subject for scholarly inquiry." --Scientific American.
The Little Ice Age tells the story of the turbulent, unpredictable, and often very cold years of modern European history, how this altered climate affected historical events, and what it means for today's global warming. Building on research that has only recently confirmed that the world endured a 500year cold snap, renowned archaeologist Brian Fagan shows how the increasing cold influenced familiar events from Norse exploration to the settlement of North America to the Industrial Revolution. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in history, climate, and how they interact.
Customer Reviews:
Delightful survey of medieval history.......2007-08-26
This book is subtitled "How climate made history" and this is indeed the topic of the book. It is a delightful survey of medieval history carefully integrated with a succinct history of climate to demonstrate the influence of changing climate on medieval history. Three factors are discussed as possible contributors to The Little Ice Age (1300-1850): a reduction in the solar output, the massive production of atmospheric aerosols from volcanos, and the alteration of ocean currents. This book is relevant reading for anyone interested global warming.
Puts a sharp stick in the eye of Al Gore and his followers.......2007-06-19
Now this book has been made into a documentary for the History Channel, and is good TV viewing. I didn't even need popcorn!
The book explains how THE SUN and THE OCEANS are really to blame for this thing called "global warming"--not our driving, oil consumption, or anything else we do.
As the title says, climate made history once--and is doing so again. The only difference is now we have an educated society that complains a lot when things get uncomfortable and inconvenient.
Comfortable Reading.......2007-05-15
"The Little Ice Age" is an informative and well-founded research that reveals trends that point to the delicate environment where we live in. It brings light on the responsibilities, causes and effects on weather change with a wit that catches the reader in a world that had its consequences in the past, but which still can affect our future. It is a pleasure to read.
A new view on the causes of historic events.......2007-03-10
I bought this book because of the History Channel Special about the Little Ice Age. I was hoping the book would have been a little longer, but I enjoyed every minute of reading it.
While I don't believe humanity caused Global Warming. I believe human activity affects the environment. Heck! A beaver dam affects an environment. I do not believe the Earth is so fragile that adding CO2 to the atmosphere will destroy it. It might kill us, but the Earth will continue. And the effects of the climate on us is something we should all be interested in.
In college, they taught about the socialogical causes of history. The climate? At best, it was a footnote--stage dressing for the pageant that was displayed for our education. It was never considered a cause for events, but Fagan ably demonstrates that it was a cause for some of the pivotal events in history.
I would have liked a bit more. The book is a bit thin, and occasionally, Fagan gets preachy, but this book is a keeper!
This book left me cold.......2007-02-27
I bought this book after watching the History Channel special of the same title in the hope of learning more on the subject. Unfortunately, this book added little to my knowledge base. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. In his "Acknowledgments" section, the author admits that his treatment "glosses over many passionate historical controversies." Of course, I didn't read that little warning label until it was too late. Oh well. In any event, what the author failed to mention is that his book is more of a polemic on global warming than a treatise exploring a fascinating period of history. That's too bad. If you want to learn about this subject, I would strongly recommend the aforementioned History Channel show. Not only does the show more thoroughly examine how the Little Ice Age changed European history, it can be viewed in less than two hours. I spent more time than that reading this book, hoping to learn something that I didn't already know. I wish I hadn't.
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- Pensees and Other Writings (Oxford World's Classics)
- Piety and Politics: Imaging Divine Kingship in Louis Xiv's Chapel at Versailles (University of Delaware Studies in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Art and Culture)
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- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements ... A-To-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies)
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Books Index
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