Book Description
Known for its clear narrative voice, impeccable scholarship, and affordability, Alan Brinkley’s The Unfinished Nation offers a concise but comprehensive examination of American History. Balancing social and cultural history with traditional political and diplomatic themes, it tells the story of the diversity and complexity of the United States and the forces that have enabled it to survive and flourish despite division. This fifth edition features eight new essays and enhanced coverage of recent events and developments in the continuing American story.
Book Description
This popular and classic text chronicles America's roller-coaster journey through the decades since World War II. Considering both the paradoxes and the possibilities of postwar America, William H. Chafe portrays the significant cultural and political themes that have colored our country's past and present, including issues of race, class, gender, foreign policy, and economic and social reform. He examines such subjects as the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, the origins and the end of the Cold War, the culture of the 1970s, the rise of the New Right, the Clinton presidency, the events of September 11th and their aftermath, the war in Iraq, the 2004 election, and the beginning of George W. Bush's second term. In this new edition, Chafe provides a nuanced yet unabashed assessment of George W. Bush's presidency, covering his reelection, the saga of the Iraq War, and the administration's response to the widespread devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Chafe also provides a detailed account of the state of the nation under the Bush administration, including the economic situation, the cultural polarization over such issues as stem cell research and gay marriage, the shifting public opinion of the Iraq War, and the widening gap between the poorest and the wealthiest citizens. Brilliantly written by a prize-winning historian, The Unfinished Journey, Sixth Edition, is an essential text for all students of recent American history.
Customer Reviews:
Updating Our Recent History.......2007-03-17
This text is a fine piece of historical work. It provides new historical perspectives on events that many of us have lived through. As our recent past recedes further into history, and as new original historical sources, such as presidential papers, become available, the view of history of any time period is subject to new and revised interpretations by scholars.
Reinterpratation of historical events are evidenced in this book. The book covers that period of U.S. History from the beginning of the Cold War through 9/11 and the Iraq War. This book does a very nice job as well in providing the history enthusiast or an amateur the present schloarly consensus on such major events as the Cuban Missile Crisis, race relations, the Vietnam War, and the women's movement.
It is well written, well documente and highly readable. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants a good overview of recent U.S. history.
The book presents interesting motives.......2004-08-19
Joe Anguilano
WWII, a Lesson in Realpolitik?
Two powerful nations, the United States and the USSR, were pitted against each other in a power-struggle during and after World War Two. This dangerous power struggle, referred to as the Cold War, at its very core, originated due to the economic needs of the United States and foreign policy rhetoric. Due to an alliance held together by little more than a common enemy, two very different nations were brought together as allies and became entangled in a post-war diplomatic nightmare.
"In December 1940 America had begun its Lend-Lease plan for sending arms to Britain" (J, 3). The motives behind the Lend-Lease program for England are very important in determining the motives for US interests in Europe. In hindsight, the Soviets accused the US of an "economically aggressive...effort to dominate the globe," (Time 1). Similar to World War I, the US had a vested interest in an English victory because "trade lines with England and France, economic and political control over Latin America and South America-all would be best preserved if Germany were defeated" (J, 33). The US Lend-Lease program for England was meant to alleviate Nazi aggression threatening these interests as well as others. Chafe writes "posing the issue [of war] as strictly one of self-interest offered little chance of success given the depth of America's revulsion toward internationalism. [The] Roosevelt [administration] relied [on] rhetoric of American values as a means of justifying the international involvement that knew must inevitably lead to war" (J, 34). Yet, "in June 1941, Germany invaded Russia and Stalin became `Uncle Joe" (J, 32).
Why would the US ally itself with a government that oversaw prison camps and purge trials that killed up to 6 million (J, 32)? "From a Western perspective, there seemed little basis for distinguishing between Soviet tyranny and Nazi totalitarianism" (F, 32). By allying itself with the USSR, the United States decided to put its notion of a "city on a hill" aside to try to retain its economic and political interests abroad. But the rhetoric arguing for the war continued its "city on the hill" ideals. Roosevelt tried to reason with this compromise when writing to General MacArthur saying, "The Russian armies are killing more Axis personnel and destroying more Axis materiel than all the other twenty-five United Nations put together" (J, 36). The incentive for the USSR to take up arms with the US is due simply to the fact that Nazi forces were making advances in Russia and it was taking a heavy toll.
Economic motives and foreign policy rhetoric had a two-fold effect as origins for the Cold War. Motivations that did not stand up to "pure or altruistic" were primary reasons for entering the war and the Roosevelt administration's lack of acknowledgement of these motivations " severely limited the flexibility necessary to a multifaceted and effective diplomacy" (J, 33). Once the power struggle between the two super-powers of the war emerged the US could give little ground or concession because "action...might fall well short of the expectations generated by moralistic visions" (J, 33). After Hitler was defeated the US continued its "city on the hill" rhetoric but realized that the power struggle for Europe would be much more complicated than previously anticipated.
***This is something that I put together based on this book. I found the reading material interesting and wish I had not sold the book back at the end of the semester. I may buy it again for reference purposes although I also hear that "The People's History of the United States" is good as well.
4th edition is a ripoff.......2001-02-22
Only a few pages of the 4th edition are new so if you have the 3rd don't bother with the 4th. The publisher should be ashamed.
An excellent brief political history of the post WWII period.......1999-03-09
Chafe does a good job on selected topics;i.e., politics, civil rights and foreign policy. Weak on economics, technology, farm policy. Heavily dependent on some secondary sources like Doris Kearns Goodwin. Needs updating badly. 4th edition has been delayed for months.
Customer Reviews:
Great History Book.......2007-06-09
A Brief History of Western Civilization is a great history book. It not only gives the facts but delves into what was happening in the background of history. The layout is easy to follow and the book includes some great maps, charts, pictures, etc.
The only reason this book isn't getting 5 stars is because it's too big, heavy but flimsy which makes it difficult to take care of, especially lugging back and forth in a book bag.
Book Description
For centuries, dictators ruled Russia. Tsars and Communist Party chiefs were in charge for so long some analysts claimed Russians had a cultural predisposition for authoritarian leaders. Yet, as a result of reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev, new political institutions have emerged that now require election of political leaders and rule by constitutional procedures. Michael McFaul traces Russia's tumultuous political history from Gorbachev's rise to power in 1985 through the 1999 resignation of Boris Yeltsin in favor of Vladimir Putin.
McFaul divides his account of the post-Soviet country into three periods: the Gorbachev era (1985-1991), the First Russian Republic (1991-1993), and the Second Russian Republic (1993-present). The first two were, he believes, failures--failed institutional emergence or failed transitions to democracy. By contrast, new democratic institutions did emerge in the third era, though not the institutions of a liberal democracy. McFaul contends that any explanation for Russia's successes in shifting to democracy must also account for its failures. The Russian/Soviet case, he says, reveals the importance of forging social pacts; the efforts of Russian elites to form alliances failed, leading to two violent confrontations and a protracted transition from communism to democracy.
McFaul spent a great deal of time in Moscow in the 1990s and witnessed firsthand many of the events he describes. This experience, combined with frequent visits since and unparalleled access to senior Russian policymakers and politicians, has resulted in an astonishingly well-informed account. Russia's Unfinished Revolution is a comprehensive history of Russia during this crucial period.
Customer Reviews:
McFaul Skipps Over Important Data.......2003-05-22
The subtitle title of the book, 'political change from Gorbachev to Putin', defines what you expect to find between it's pages. Only that's not what's covered. McFaul covers the Gorbechev years, as well as Yeltsen's presidency -- but only until 1996. There is virtually nothing after 1996. I would expect that Putin's coverage would be light, given a publication date of 2001, but to skip over Yeltsen's final years is simply neglegent.
By giving only a few sentances to the 'Shares for Rubles' program, he skips over the criminal neglegance and fraud that occured. This behavior had strong impacts on the Russian economy, which directly caused the crash of their economy in 1998. This crash is skipped over completely -- possibly because at the time, as a reporter, McFaul was cheering Anatoly Chubais the mastermind and archetect behind the economic reforms. (If Chubais attempted to do what he did in the US, he would be spending a lot of time behind bars.) In short, it looks like McFaul is skipping over the time period when his journalism was (effectively) cheering on the corruption.
The complete failure of the economy (which -- to reiterate -- was skipped over completely), combined with the treatment of the oligarchs (also skipped over) directly led shaped the Russian perception of democracy and the free market. These factors also directly effected the conclusions at the end of his book, but he presents no explination as to why the results are so bad -- probably because the explination would involve covering the ground he choose to skip over. To skip over these major milestones is unforgivable for an author who is attempting to track the political and economic reforms in Russia.
On the positive side, he does give a lot of good information, and there are a lot of references to look up additional data. I would recommend this book for someone researching Russia up to, but not after, Yeltsen's re-election. And even then, it helps to have an idea of the issues he doesn't talk about.
gasp!.......2002-12-03
I admit there may be others, but is McFaul the worst Moscow-based Western journalist around? I feel like beating my head against a wall when I read his M.T. articles. They read like school reports written on the Metro. Heaven knows what 400 pages would do to anyone.
Good but lacking.......2002-05-21
McFaul's work is an easily readable overview of Soviet/Russian politcal change since the mid-1980s. McFaul's analysis of the Gorbachev's period is inferior to that of other experts, such as Archie Brown. His analysis of the Yeltsin period is perhaps the best aspect of the book, especially the reason for the failure of the 1st Russian Republic, and the endurance of the second. But at times he loses his 'scholarly distance' and is almost an appologist for Yeltsin. There is little mention of Russian politics sicne 1996, though he does subtitle it "From Gorgachev to Putin." Putin's is only mentioned in passing in the conclusion. Brown's latest edited work is far better in terms of contemporary trends including the significance of Putin. THis work is best suited as introduction for advanced undergrads or masters students.
AWESOME!!!.......2001-12-15
Professor McFaul's book TOTALLY ROCKS! This is the most kick-butt book I've ever read. The other reviewer is right, too. The bibliography in this book RULES! It is way detailed and kicks butt over its rivals' bibliographies! I wish I could give this book SIX stars! The only reason I'd give it five is that there aren't enough pictures. I wish there were some pictures of Mr. McFaul in Russia with the pro-Western "young reformers". Those guys totally rocked during the 90s! This is a serious book for serious-type people, but it's also a fun book to read and had me laughing out loud at times.
A classic.......2001-09-24
I would go so far as to call this book the post-Communist "Fainsod," an allusion to Merle Fainsod's classic study of the Soviet system. This volume is a thoroughgoing, well-researched study of what happened day by day, institution by institution, from the waning days of Gorbachev's shaky, uncertain rule to the denouement of Yeltsin.
Without a doubt, thid book will be go down as the basic study of what the author aptly titled, Russia's unfinished revolution.
Book Description
The Second Bill of Rights brings back from obscurity the greatest speech of the greatest president of the twentieth century, to issue a stirring call for much-needed rights that were never enacted.
In 1944, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave a State of the Union Address that was arguably the greatest political speech of the twentieth century. The speech began what Cass R. Sunstein calls the Second American Revolution by giving form and specificity, for the first time, to the concept of human economic rights. Many of the great legislative achievements of the past sixty years stem from Roosevelt's proposal for a Second Bill of Rights. Yet these rights have never been written into the Constitution, and they remain the subject of passionate debate. In recent years they have even lost ground.
Using FDR's speech as a launching point, Sunstein examines the "legal realist" school of thought, which decisively refuted the idea of laissez-faire economics; describes how Roosevelt gradually developed the idea of a Second Bill of Rights; and asks why the Second Bill, which was almost enacted under the Warren Court, has never attained the constitutional status FDR sought for it. The reason, Sunstein maintains, is not anything unique to American culture or temperament but a particular historical accident: the election of Richard Nixon as President in 1968.
This is an ambitious, sweeping book that argues for a new vision of FDR, of constitutional history, and of our current political scene. The Second Bill of Rights is an integral part of the American tradition and the starting point for contemporary political reform.
Customer Reviews:
Socialism thwarted, American freedom preserved.......2005-03-19
Of all the stupefyingly idiotic ideas that, thankfully, never got passed into law, Franklin Roosevelt's "Second Bill of Rights" was one of the all-time worst. Cass R. Sunstein's billowy praise of "St. Franklin" borders on deification and is all at once laughable and nauseating. But underlying it all is the notion that this odious, detestable idea--that it's the government's job to provide people with work, housing, food, etc.--is actually something worth revisiting! That is utterly repugnant to me as it should be to every American. We are a nation of sturdy, self-reliant individuals. We are resourceful, resilient, and industrious. We look only to Almighty God for our daily bread--not almighty government! But unfortunately, history has provided us with enough Karl Marx's, Franklin Roosevelt's and Cass Sunstein's to keep these questions in continued doubt, and urge America Leftward into a European-style socialist gulag. Mercifully, FDR failed to get his attack on American freedom ratified. I can only hope CRS and his ridiculous book will meet with similar failure!
FDR's vision.......2005-02-19
The idea of the Second Bill of Rights appeared in the classic State of the Union address by Franklin Roosevelt in 1944, and is an underground current of American culture. It was also in part the inspiration for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That this speech, and the real FDR, is so little known tells us something of the times, but the birth of an idea foretells perhaps its future return. The powers that be don't wish that we realize the incomplete nature of our democracy, and the history of this speech mostly explains the apoplexy of the resurgent right wing. This book explores the history and legal background, and the way this second bill almost became a part of the American system in the 1960's. Everything was in place, and then the election of Nixon stopped the momentum as four new conservative judges were placed on the Supreme Court. The conservative tide after that is the story of our generation and the incoherence, reactionary destruction, and inequality it has spawned. An idea whose time has long since come, and whose second coming we can certainly hope and work for.
Let the Sunstien!.......2004-10-08
This was my fist Sunstein book but it won't be my last. Three chapters (2, 6 and 11) alone are worth the book's price. Sunstein's obvious constitutional experience and social acumen offers depth and insight into many social issues of the day. He caused me to critically understand the definition of "government" and "rights" better than ever. His analysis of Laissez-Faire economic philosophy is the most practical I've ever read.
Although I was interested in the conditions for and results of the "New Deal", I was unaware of FDR's 2nd BOR probably I think, because few ever really gave it its proper emphasis and analysis. Sunstein filled in the missing pieces. His writing is well constructed, logical without becoming oppressive, and flowed nicely. It is a quick read.
The book is more than a historical analysis. It challenged my understandings of the role today of government and the constitution. I've been studying these issues for several years now, so Sunstein accomplished what few others could. It was truly a fresh approach that makes me feel like I understand social issues and their complications better than ever.
His treatment of FDR's Second Bill of Rights was fair and reasoned illustrating both sides of the argument. He thankfully made the discussion relevant to the issues of today and provided tools for me to use in discussions with others.
I've added more of his titles to my wish list. You should too.
Social and Economic Rights.......2004-09-17
Franklin Roosevelt left this Earth with unfinished business. In the post-war era, he sought to acknowledge the need for social and economic rights. Although it is often referred to as the Second Bill of Rights, FDR did not intend to amend or change the Constitution. He sought to bring attention to basic human rights. Sunstein correctly asserts that progess was being made toward FDR's goals until Nixon was elected President. When Nixon appointed four conservative judges to the supreme court, the tide changed to rule against cases that sought greater social and economic rights.
Among the issues discussed in the Second Bill of Rights are a right to a job, food and clothing, health care, fair business, education, and a decent home. Some will suggest FDR's ideas reeked of socialism. I think such a phobia is childish. All people depend on the government a great deal. Something as simple as property could not exist without a government.
The wonders a correctly implemented government health care system would make life so much easier and of a greater quality. Why is the United States the richest country in the world, but also has the highest poverty rate of industrialized nations? This does not make sense! It is not a matter of redistributing resources as in communism. This would destroy a free market driven by profit, when FDR was a proponent of free market. The problem is the wealth concentrate in the rich coperations, monopolies, and other unfair business practices. FDR thought all Americans should live at a certain standard.
FDR did not seek to change the system. As Sunstein clearly points out, most modern constitutions provide the rights FDR sought in 1944. While we have made a lot of progress toward FDR's goals, we have a long way to go. Sunstein has written an excellent book that explains what most thinking men and women already know, America still has a long way to go in completely providing life, liberty, and freedom.
The Skinny on Sunstein's New Rights.......2004-07-05
In examining the "soft" new rights Sunstein champions, keep these hard issues in mind:
1. Black letter law: how should new rights read? The "affirmative rights" cases of the 1970s expressed rights (for example, the right to housing) as an affirmative duty, or at least the Courts so interpreted it. And they turned down such a right for the usual reason: it tended to bring the Court into the Executive branch, involving it in a supervisory role to determine if the right was being implemented properly. This overstepped the bounds of the separation of powers and the Court would have none of it. Solution: express new rights as negative prohibitions (this is not how the Four Freedoms or the Declaration of Human Rights are expressed, and Sunstein glosses over this vital issue). For two reasons: they tend to avoid fact questions and they tend to be self-enforcing. For example, housing: if two parties are quarreling over whether one should be removed from housing, there isn't any question as to what is housing. So this minimizes the necessity for the Court to step in and answer the question: what, in fact, is housing? Second, a negative prohibition tends to minimize the affirmative need for Government to make sure people aren't being forced out of housing. People tend to know when they're being forced out of housing. If they have an individually enforceable right, they'll squawk and take it to Court and get the threatened removal stopped.
Second area: what rights? This turns on a statement by James Madison constantly cited in the later dissents of Brennan and Marshall. Madison states, in The Federalist, that the Fourth Amendment prevents every assumption of power in the legislative and executive. This creates what I call the fatal anomaly of the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. Reasonableness suggests a balancing approach, which the Court has adopted. However, Madison does not say every unreasonable assumption; he says, EVERY assumption. It suggests that there are rights which are protected in EVERY case, somewhat along the lines of an establishment of religion where, if you find it, you ban it in EVERY case (no such thing as a reasonable establishment of religion). No one can properly address new individual rights without reaching a conclusion on this issue. Sunstein doesn't do this.
The history of English constitutional law suggests that the state makes long-term efforts to impose certain conditions, for example a state religion or violations of what today is regarded by the Court as protected speech. These efforts are made over thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of years, so there is a long history to look at. And the conclusion is that it is simply a history of failure. In the end, governments don't succeed in imposing state religion or in violating protected speech--they simply distort the facts and cause all kinds of grotesque situations. Which suggests that these facts--freedom from state religion and exercise of protected speech--are facts of the individual. That is, they inhere in the individual and are never violated.
Myself, I think there are five about which the logic has been made clear over the centuries, even though there is no political consensus: housing, education, maintenance, liberty and medical care. So, if you were going to formulate new black letter rights, they should read something like (on the model of the 13th amendment): no individual shall be involuntarily deprived of housing, and so on. It's a negative prohibition with respect to a fact to which parties would tend to stipulate, and neither the Government nor the Court would tend to be dragged into a fact-finding or supervisory role. Is that the test for an individual right? What about other ideas, say, transportation? Is that a right? The point is that the process is endless, of discovering facts of the individual.
The third problem area is, even if you know of new rights, how on earth do you get them enforced? Whatever the new facts, it is clear that we are living in a political reaction--and have been for 30 years--which makes it unlikely, barring a crisis, that we will see the promulgation of new rights. Say we sign off on libery and housing as rights. That means the end of incarceration. How can you have a ban on involuntarily deprivations of housing (and remember, Madison says it's in "every" case) and still put people in prison? Test case: the sheriff enforcing an arrest warrant by going up to the door of a building in which both the defendant and the sheriff concede, the defendant is housed. Here you have a flat-out political problem: Joe Sixpack will not currently allow an end to incarceration. Americans ADORE incarceration. For them, it's a sport. And how can you convince them otherwise, when only 10% of Americans ever come into contact with the criminal justice system?
What about eminent domain? No road which would benefit all humanity because Grandma won't take the buyout? And is now standing on her right to housing? I sense the bulldozers waiting, purring.... I can't see the powers that be (politicians, unions, construction companies, and on and on), putting up with such a right. The reason human rights have stalled is because we have indeed reached something like a logical consensus on new facts, which new facts are slamming up against very high institutional and political barriers. Nothing stops us, however, from clearing the doctrinal ground against the time those barriers fall.
Book Description
Spanning the years of civil war in Guatemala, Unfinished Conquest portrays an embattled country facing the third cycle of a conquest that began when the conquistadors arrived in the sixteenth century. As personal narrative weaves with reportage and oral testimony, we meet the victims, champions, and villains of a society torn apart by violence and injustice.
Customer Reviews:
An unbiased history.......2007-08-24
A good history of Guatemala's civil war that is not boring to read. While the viewpoint seems to be that the communist rebels had a just cause, they are given as much blame for the violence that ensued.
Excellent Insight into a suffering country.......2007-04-17
The terrible situation that happened to this Central America nation is very well documented in this book.The author, Mr Perera, writes with a lot of insight and first hand knowledge since he lived in Guatemala for several years.The book is full with interviews the author did with local people such as soldiers,politicians,ladinos,mayas and just the average person in the street.The author is not afraid to let the reader see what is the real situation in Guatemala and is not afraid to point fingers to the real culprits.This book is a very good work that identifies the problems of not only the mayans as a people but also the problems and corruption that politicians have brought on its own people.Great work!
Scholarly, lyrical, captivating . . . a treasure!.......2006-02-24
This wide-ranging book, written beautifully and knowledgeably, is a pleasure to read and a must for anyone interested in Guatemalan (or Central American) history and/or Mayan culture. Mr. Perera does not take particular pains to hide his sympathies (clearly pro-environmental protection, pro-indigenous people's rights) but the intelligence of his writing and the mastery and breadth of the subject matter make this the most articulate, beautiful, informative statement of those views I've read. What a disappointment to learn that this powerful voice was silenced not long after this book by a stroke and his subsequent death. Read this book!
I BELIEVE IN DIVINE JUSTICE.............2004-06-03
AND I BELIEVE That everything that this "people" have done to the poor of the world, is going to come back at them to bite them right in their behind!.
"THIRD WORLD COUNTRY" STANDS FOR MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT.
One of the best on this topic..............2000-07-19
Victor Perera is a native guatemalan who took the better part of 6 years to write this book. This book is chock full of great information gathered from hundreds of interviews. Perera doesn't waste time trying to interpret the events he writes about, instead he let's the participants and witnesses speak for themselves. He interviews everybody for this book from wealthy landowners, government officials, military personel, catholic and evangelical clergy and mostly the mayan people who have suffered from 30 years of civil war. He then fills in the cracks with historical background. His writing is very precise and specific, his descriptions paint a very vivid picture of the oppression and genocide that continues to take place.
The book begins with his visits to the garbage dump slums of guatemala city and proceeds to other hot spots of violence. The core of the book is those chapters about the ixil triangle area where as many as one third of the local mayan population was killed, disappeared or forced to flee the country.
..............socks
Customer Reviews:
Western Civilizations.......2007-10-09
This helped my Western Civilizations Class schoolwork so much. It's very educating on ancient history
Book Description
"Eizenstat's exciting account of his six-year effort to obtain compensation for Nazi victims." Los Angeles Times
In the second half of the 1990s, Stuart E. Eizenstat was perhaps the most controversial U.S. foreign policy official in Europe. His mission had nothing to do with Russia, the Middle East, Yugoslavia, or any of the other hotspots of the day. Rather, Eizenstat's mission was to provide justice--albeit belated and imperfect justice-for the victims of World War II.
Imperfect Justice is Eizenstat's account of how the Holocaust became a political and diplomatic battleground fifty years after the war's end, as the issues of dormant bank accounts, slave labor, confiscated property, looted art, and unpaid insurance policies convulsed Europe and America. He recounts the often heated negotiations with the Swiss, the Germans, the French, the Austrians, and various Jewish organizations, showing how these moral issues, shunted aside for so long, exposed wounds that had never healed and conflicts that had never been properly resolved. Though we will all continue to reckon with the crimes of World War II for a long time to come, Eizenstat's account shows that it is still possible to take positive steps in the service of justice.
Customer Reviews:
Hard to see the forest for the trees.......2007-04-20
Former Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat is a man of great moral conviction and political savvy. He epitomizes what it means to be a true public servant. His passion for justice comes through very clearly in this book. Historians of the Clinton administration and of Europe's response to the Holocaust will find this book invaluable.
That said, I found this book quite difficult to read. Eizenstat's blow-by-blow descriptions of the seemingly endless negotiations lack dramatic structure and are far too detailed for a book intended for the general reader. When Eizenstat looks at the big picture -- the differing political cultures of France and the United States, the Austrians' cramped apologetics for their role in the Holocaust -- he is convincing. But far too much of this book feels as if it's written by a lawyer for other lawyers. It needed an editor who could get past Eizenstat's note cards and create a real narrative.
Insights into Difficult Negotiations to Secure Justice.......2004-07-31
Imperfect Justice is a book that will appeal to many readers . . . but for different reasons. At one level, it's a magnificent story of turning back the clock to right wrongs dating back to the 1930s. At another level, it's an intriguing story of how to secure agreement among those who have vastly different interests and are pursuing them aggressively. At a third level, it's a tale of how a negotiating team learned from its experiences. At a fourth level, it's an inspiring tale of what the U.S. can accomplish when it focuses its attention on improving life for everyone. At a fifth level, it's an insightful case history of how agreements can have negative, unintended consequences. At a sixth level, it's a template for working on other important international issues in the future. I felt greatly enriched by this book, and am sure you will to. I believe this book deserves many more than five stars.
Although I had read about some of the many settlements made in the 1990s by European countries and companies concerning slave labor, looted bank accounts, and misdeeds during World War II, I had no idea of the scope of that experience and effort until I read this book. It's a candid appraisal of how class action lawyers, Jewish groups, the U.S. government, some state government officials, some well-meaning Europeans and lots of recalcitrant parties came together to recognize wrongs that had been previously ignored.
To me, it was shocking to recognize the full extent of misbehavior during World War II. The numbers of slave laborers and the conditions are beyond easy comprehension.
The misbehavior of companies and countries since then to take advantage of those who were victims of the Holocaust and the Nazi era was even more shocking. The insensitivity and lack of concern for others described in this book made me shake my head in disgust.
I also came away with a different impression of the leaders and Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Israel and many other countries as a result of understanding more about how they handled these issues. It's an important education that you should have for yourself.
Ultimately, we must all be very grateful for the good will of those who worked so hard to provide some justice (including apologies and some payments) for those who had been overlooked and ignored for so long. Those who obstructed the process know who they are (and the book names many of them), and should be ashamed of themselves.
I was pleased to see that this paperback version has a new epilogue to update the implementation of the agreements since the end of the Clinton administration. I was disappointed to see that the Bush administration has not been very effective in following up on the fine work that preceded them in office in this important area.
If you think justice is important, read this book!
What It Takes To Make A Difference.......2003-07-08
On one level, this book is worth reading just to affirm that there have in fact been times when important people, in this case one in particular -- the author -- cared fiercely about showing many suffering and powerless thousands that the world cared about the unfathomable injustices they had suffered. The victims didn't really get justice, as that was, as the title acknowledges, not remotely possible. But at least they knew that, finally, after decades of wall to wall indifference, someone was listening and trying, seriously, to do what could be done.
But what will make it hard for many readers to put this book down is that it is both a good story, entertainly told, and a shrewd analysis of a complex multi-party, multi-governmental, legal and political negotiation with high stakes, bitter differences, and high-powered protagonists. The book is certainly one of the best case-studies in captivity of the tricky and combustible mix of law, diplomacy, and politics both bureaucratic and democratic, that drives such processes. That this episode stayed on track to reach the best result that it could have was very far from a sure thing, from the beginning to the end. Eizenstat's seasoned, sometimes cynical, frequently amusing exegisis of the calculations, mistakes, and victories of the players makes the book hugely instructive for professionals as well as entertaining for casual students of government. It could be a popular teaching aid in law schools, especially for Eizenstat's exposition of his own strategies, and his often surprisingly candid Monday Morning quarterbacking of himself.
Tedious.......2003-04-19
You MUST be interested in the Nazi era to a radical degree to stick with this book. It is a left-nostril account of nuances of negotiations, mainly regarding Swiss and German reparations, mainly for Jewish Holocaust survivors. Complicating the reading effort are grammatical errors (see, for example, page 198) and some apparent scholarship inconsistencies. (To illustrate, contrast discussion in next to the last paragraph on page 206 with descriptive matter associated with the first photograph on the sixth page of photographs.) Moreover, in my view, the book is as much about its author's sense of self-importance as it is about the negotiation process it describes.
an insult to the Swiss flag.......2003-04-11
I am glad that all copies of this book on Swiss territory were confiscated yesterday by order of the Geneva district attorney. The author insults my country by showing our national flag together with a fascist symbol.
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Books Index
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General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
The Way We Lived: Essays and Documents in American Social History : 1865-Present
Anatomy of a Lynching: The Killing of Claude Neal
Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)
Annual Editions: American History, Volume 1, 19/e (Annual Editions American History)
Everyday Use: Rhetoric at Work in Reading And Writing
