Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy

Book Description

A major work by one of the more innovative thinkers of our time, Politics of Nature does nothing less than establish the conceptual context for political ecology--transplanting the terms of ecology into more fertile philosophical soil than its proponents have thus far envisioned. Bruno Latour announces his project dramatically: "Political ecology has nothing whatsoever to do with nature, this jumble of Greek philosophy, French Cartesianism and American parks." Nature, he asserts, far from being an obvious domain of reality, is a way of assembling political order without due process. Thus, his book proposes an end to the old dichotomy between nature and society--and the constitution, in its place, of a collective, a community incorporating humans and nonhumans and building on the experiences of the sciences as they are actually practiced.

In a critique of the distinction between fact and value, Latour suggests a redescription of the type of political philosophy implicated in such a "commonsense" division--which here reveals itself as distinctly uncommonsensical and in fact fatal to democracy and to a healthy development of the sciences. Moving beyond the modernist institutions of "mononaturalism" and "multiculturalism," Latour develops the idea of "multinaturalism," a complex collectivity determined not by outside experts claiming absolute reason but by "diplomats" who are flexible and open to experimentation.

Customer Reviews:

Very old wine served in recycled postmodern bottles.......2007-01-27

There is a very common French political discourse in which the writer takes the position of Guru Who Will Reveal Truth through Cryptic Raving. Latour is very good at this discourse, but it is really just Garbage Talk. Garbage Talk is a method in which one says the trivial and the well-known, but crammed with neologisms, and repeated many times in different cryptic ways. Well, in fact the Emperor Has No Clothes. The two reviews of this book on Amazon are light years ahead of Latour in cogency and promise.

Latour starts the book off as follows: "What is to be done with political ecology? Nothing. What is to be done? Political ecology!" This is the essence of Garbage Talk, and it is all downhill from there.

Neologism is at the heart of Garbage Talk (Discours de Poubelles in French). On p. 10 Latour defines "Science* as the politicization of the sciences through epistemology in order to render ordinary political life impotent through the threat of an incontestable nature." Latour's Garbage Talk replaces reason and logic with epithet and bombast. This is not okay. I am not free to define Science in such a stupid a derogatory way, and neither is Latour. In fact, there is a serious literature on the relationship between science, politics, and social policy, but none of this comes through in Latour's ravings.

The content of this volume is a rehash of Rouseauian romantic populism, with absolutely no new insights. True to Garbage Talk form, there is virtually no analysis of any issue in political ecology, and it is quite impossible to pin Latour down on any point.

Challenging new views of politics.......2005-05-27

This difficult and challenging book provides a vision of a whole new politics, and, more important, a whole new "common world"--the totality, the cosmos, that we humans and nonhumans all share.
The book begins inauspiciously, at least for English-language readers, by misusing the term "political ecology" rather badly, and doing some mild slander in the process. For instance (p. 20): "It [political ecology] claims to defend nature for nature's sake--and not as a substitute for human egotism--but in every instance, the mission it has assigned itself is carried out by humans and is justified bythe well-being, the pleasure, or the good conscience of a small number of carefully selected humans--usually American, male, rich, educated, and white." From this and further points, it becomes obvious that Latour is talking about old-fashioned environmental politics of the 1950s and 1960s, and insultingly mischaracterizing even that. Women and European thinkers and indigenous peoples and others excluded by Latour were actively involved from the beginning. More to the point, "political ecology" has a definite meaning in English: the branch of anthropology (and, now, geography and political science) that studies, generally from a critical point of view, political impacts on indigenous people and their environments, and on the global community. This field arose in the 1970s in reaction against many of the very things Latour denouces. Latour never discusses this field at all.
He also denounces Science, without making clear until later that he means not actual scientific practice, but the sort of dogmatic, ex-cathedra, It's All Facts stuff that the media love and that real scientists often hate.
Finally, he admits to a skeptical position about Facts. This has led to his being labeled a wild-eyed constructionist in some quarters. He pulls sharply back from such a position, explaining that he is fine with reality; the problem is that all the interesting questions in environmental politics are not yet to the "fact" stage. In regard to genetically modified organisms, to take an extreme case, we don't have a clue what these new life forms will do to humans or to the planet; the scientists are mystified, and cannot speak with authority. Other current world problems--stopping AIDS, dealing with global warming, understanding the role of biodiversity--are also very much in play. So sciences evolve in the midst of public discourses.
Finally, Latour shares two vices with many French philosophes: he writes in a turgid and neologistic style, and he buries much of his best stuff in the footnotes. Do not under any circumstances miss the footnotes if you read this book! Even if you skim it!
Readers, do not be put off. Persist. There is good stuff to come.
First, Latour destroys the concept of "nature," i.e. the unity of stuff that isn't people and thus is objective and has no voice. He sees "natures" instead: all those disparate things out there--elephants, rivers, stars--that have their own identities, and that have a voice or need a voice in the collective. Next, he does the same for science: he speaks of sciences, not Science. Certainly, whatever may have once unified physics, political science, and everything in between is now rather worn. Sciences is indeed preferable usage.
Then things get really interesting. If all those natures have their voices, and all those sciences can give them a voice that other humans can understand (i.e. explain what they are and what they might need), we can take them into account in politics. Politicians will have to figure out how to include them in the collective enterprise. Economists will have to re-do economics to take into account the principle that nonhumans are (in some sense--to be debated) part of the action, not mere objects of action. Most interesting of all, moralists will have to face the disappearance of a "nature" that is beyond and indifferent to the ethical universe. Nonhumans will have to be treated as ends, like humans (Latour is a Kantian, at least at some level). How much we can do to them will have to be decided democratically in the future; the point now is that we can't just trash them for no good reason. (At first I was afraid, when he talked about eliminating the facts/values distinction, that he really meant that; no, he means we have to take both into account at every stage in ongoing debates and researches. Medical researchers do that already. At least the good ones do.)
Latour analogizes life to parliament. We have had a bicameral legislature with Nature as one house, Society made up of various cultures on the other. (He takes anthropologists to task for believing in this, and opposing a chaos of relativized cultures to a "mononature." Not quite fair. Most of us in anthro are somewhat beyond that.) We humans and nonhumans now need an upper house of perplexity and consultation--i.e., trying to figure out what is going on--and a lower house of hierarchy and institution--i.e., of prioritizing and deciding what to do (given what is going on, and our inevitable uncertainty about it). The cosmos, the common world, gets built by constant work by these two "houses." I like this image.
After discussing in detail what the scientists, moralists, and all can bring to this, Latour ends with an all too vague overview of the future. The shining city on the hill is visible only through mists at a thousand miles' distance. Maybe, at this stage, we can do no better.
Latour ends with some notes on anthropology, including remarks on how similar his vision is to that of the Amazonian Native Americans. I, too, am struck by similarities; Latour's view is strangely like that of the First Nations of the Northwest Coast of North America. For them, every animal, plant, and rock has its spirit, and all these spirits are part of society, just like humans. We constantly interact and communicate with them, and have to take them into account (a Latourian phrase) as persons--not human persons, but real persons nevertheless. Shorn of the literal belief in spirits, this is pretty much Latour's view.
Many Latour-like ideas are appearing, perhaps in more prosaic and tentative form, in other writers' work. The latest issue of SCIENCE has a number of articles on bringing sciences, politics, and values together in an ongoing exploration. Society seems really to be groping toward Latour's common world.

The new politics.......2005-01-23

If you're not well disposed towards Latour, it can't be because he didn't go out of his way to win you over. He writes so clearly and is at such pains to help alleviate the gross misunderstandings his work attracts, that it can only be spite that fuels the science warriors. This is another groundbreaking book, and another presentation in some ways of the thought of Michel Serres, in slightly less obtuse prose and with Latour's own marvellous conceptual innovations thrown into the mix. Serres may well one day be recognised as the person who most understood what the world in our times is about, but probably not as a result of his own books, which scare people. Latour's taking up of the baton from Serres into new areas is easily the best entry point to this vital tradition of thought.

The title and cover blurb would have you believe Latour has restricted himself here to a chat about political ecology. In reality that's only a springboard to analysing two much bigger questions: how do we best construct democratic bodies, and then how should we govern them? As in his earlier work, Latour shows that it is the objects and devices we use which are the great black hole in our thought, and when we conceive of democratic bodies it's as a great mass of people, and not much else. Importantly, because Latour has always said, and continues to here, that what does most of the work of holding these bodies together is the objects and machines they create and use, he proffers the word 'collective', a less human-centric term, to designate any 'social' body. This is a term very similar in its meaning to Pierre Levy's usage in 'collective intelligence' - both Levy and Latour draw from Serres here.

As technologies have grown in scale and complexity, noting that `technologies' for Latour are institutions, including all of the humans that are required for their functioning, they've reached a threshold whereby `global' processes such as climate are also affected. Once past this threshold the results, for example ozone depletion, are not at the usual localisable scale, but rather force us to act for humanity as a whole, as effects become non-localisable. (Serres says that this marks the beginning of an `objective morality', where actions are forced upon us and morality therefore undergoes a type of phase change, from reasoned choice, to navigation through objective exigencies). Our collective of humans and non-humans, now a sort of tectonic plate of its own, and its politics must now take these planetary factors into account - thus the birth of political ecology. Political ecology because it's not just a case of "who's going to miss a few species of butterfly?", but also, "who turned up the heat?" Global warming, and other stonking great collective objects, and the problem of what we are going to do about them. And who or what is this we?

This we is the collective. It's quite possible to read the paragraph above and think you're seeing the standard environmentalist argument that has become common in the past couple of decades i.e. humans have tampered with the planet, and now must act to save the planet and themselves. But this misses the crucial difference Latour introduces: there are more non-humans in this we than humans. We share the problems with the objects; politics isn't just humans deciding on human problems anymore, because these global objects force their way into our parliaments, demanding attention. Our parliaments are now collectives of humans and non-humans. This has happened because in the past we've ignored the profound co-creation of man and machine, and it's only now that hundreds of years of this co-creation have produced global scale technological effects, which force themselves upon us, that we can suddenly realise what's been missed. Latour uses this historical outbreak of political ecology to then retrofit political philosophy in general i.e. how should we have been doing politics in the first place with objects, not just now when they're forcing us to consider the question; thus political ecology merely as a launch pad to the main topic of the book, which is nothing less than a reinvention of political philosophy.

Latour proceeds to analyse what he calls the `skills of the collective', needed for governance of any group. He then shows how, with a little tweaking, traditional concerns such as science, politics, economics, morality and administration can be used to provide all of these required skills. This will however require a different mode of operation for each of these areas, one more attuned with the need to incorporate objects correctly in our collectives.

There's a summary of the argument compressed into only a few pages at the back of the book, if you're not sure about reading the whole thing. This review hasn't even touched upon the central role of the fact/value distinction to the argument, a longstanding academic trope that Latour completely demystifies in the process of breathing new life into the essential democratic concept of the separation of powers. A book to buy and read, again and again - use your Science Wars texts to wrap the fish and chips.

Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy.: An article from: Argumentation and Advocacy

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Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy.: An article from: Argumentation and Advocacy
Matthew G. Gerber
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Argumentation and Advocacy, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 1130 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy.
Author: Matthew G. Gerber
Publication: Argumentation and Advocacy (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 42 Issue: 2 Page: 118(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Truth in Historical Fiction is Imperative! .......2005-11-05

All those who are applauding Jeffers for her misguided protrayal of Chief Si'ahl's words should rethink what you are proclaiming. I would be enraged -- as you would -- if I were blatantly misquoted. Perhaps you should be sensitve enough to check out how Native Americans feel about this book on www.oyate.org -- or -- clear your facts by reading the website posted by his own people www.duwamishtribe.org. We are doing our children an injustice by continuing to pass on misconceptions as history. I would perfer to give this a 0 star rating but since that was not an option -- I guess the pictures are attractive -- even though the drawing of Chief Si'ahl are actually an exact copy of the Cheyenne Two Moons -- try googling it and you'll see. Oh -- did you notice that the ghost on the last page is carrying a empty cradleboard? I find that appalling.

Another vote for "not accurate".......2005-08-14

Text aside, Susan Jeffer's book on Chief Seattle has inaccurate illustrations of historic Northwest Coast tribal costume, dwellings and landscape. I also use this book with my third graders every year - but only to show the kids how some authors have not done adequate research before publishing. There are other great children's books on the subject from lesser known authors and smaller publishers. It may be worth your while to look them up.

What do you teach your children? .......2005-07-06

Lets see... Betsy Ross did not make the first flag.

...George Washington may or may not have
a) chopped down a cherry tree,
b)thrown a coin across a river,
c) been a great leader.

...George Bush may or may not have told a lie about Iraq.
...All computer programmers may or may not have souls the size of a mouse's.

What do you teach your children?

I cannot believe people are squabbling over whether Chief S* (*for those who may or may not want to use the Anglicized name) in fact said something like or unlike the lovely verse in this book.

This book is for young children. If you are interested in presenting profound and beautiful words to your kids along with interesting pictures, both of which might very well incite conversation BUY THIS BOOK. If you want guaranteed facts, read them the newspaper. No Wait. That won't do either. Then read them MCSE Guides and Cram Course material. Raise children who think XP is a good idea.

Really folks, get a life and remember the target market for this book is not historians. REMEMBER that to a 4 to 8 year old you CANNOT subtract a larger number from a smaller one.

Heck, I read my children books about talking mice. This is a lovely book. Five Stars.

Do you care about truth?.......2005-02-13

This book was on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list for 17 weeks before that newspaper (April 1992) felt compelled to run a FRONT PAGE story explaining that "Chief Seattle" never spoke the words attributed to him in this book. Only one kind of reader will care, those who love the truth. Others (read Liberals and God-haters) will have no problem with this book, which is why it still sells well. Read all about this subterfuge in Reader's Digest July 1993, volume 143, issue 855 pages 100 to 104.

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky.......2004-12-18

When I retired from teaching, I gave most of my books away. "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky" is one I dearly held on to. The translated words of Chief Seattle from the 1850's are just as applicable to our environmental concerns today as they were so long ago. This is not only a book for children, but one for all adults. I've often quoted excerpts in letters I've written regarding environmental issues. Every politician or person in the position of making decisions regarding our environment should have this book on his/her desk!

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Great book, read back in the 70s
Love story with typical Smith twists and turns
dont miss this one
The Best Book In Print Today
I'm not alone!

Eagle in the Sky
Wilbur Smith
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312940645
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Book Description

With bold characters and stirring prose, Wilbur Smith writes riveting novels filled with adventure and intrigue. In EAGLE IN THE SKY, this master storyteller tells the story of a man born to...

FLY LIKE AN ANGEL
On land, he was a youth too handsome and too blessed—with carefree charm and enormous wealth. In the air he was something else entirely: born to fly fast and hard, to send the fastest jet fighters into towering climbs and screaming, murderous dives. In a country struggling for its survival, David Morgan found a home, a cause, a woman and a war.

FIGHT LIKE THE DEVIL
South African by birth, David was born into a golden cage, and his hunger for freedom took him to the blood-soaked Holy Land and into a hellish cycle of violence that would lure him past the rules of war—and burn away his physical grace forever.

AND PRAY FOR REVENGE
But a woman blinded in a terrorist attack could only see the beautiful David Morgan she once knew. With her, David returned home to carve out a paradise in wild Africa. And that is where he would meet his worst enemy. And this time, he had everything in the world to lose...

“Smith is without rival.”
-- Tulsa World

“[Wilbur Smith] puts the reader right there with details that are intimate, inspiring, horrifying…fans will be happy to know Smith hasn't lost his touch for the dramatic, exotic adventure story."
— The Orlando Sentinel

Customer Reviews:

Great book, read back in the 70s.......2007-10-04

A great tale for switching from one locale to the other in phases, and incredible descriptions of everything from epic jet dogfights during the war of Attrition to bloody terrorist attacks inside Israel, to desperate hand to hand brawls with psychopath poachers deeper into Africa itself, the spectacular and horrific change in fortunes of the chief character 2/3 of the way through the book,
and his final plight at the climax, will touch you.

the reprint edition of the book shown on the Amazon mainpage, strange how the camouflaged Mirage III does not have IAF star markings but plain tricolour roundels of some kind, like as if its French or Arab airforces.

Love story with typical Smith twists and turns.......2007-09-03

______________________________________________
Fluff or not? Fluffy but with impact
_____________________________________________

---- Comments ----
Africa, Israel, high-flying jet fighters, Palestinian-Israeli conflict, terrorists, villains, and ultimately redemption make this a relaxing read that's hard to put down. Good for an engaging quick break from reality.
---- What I liked ----
Great visual scenery, good depth and plot development

---- What I didn't ----
Predictable.

dont miss this one.......2007-05-08

couldnt put it down. you could see it coming and still had to read it to believe. it makes the greek tragedies look like a bed time story...

The Best Book In Print Today.......2005-12-10

This book will keep you turning paga after page. It is the love and adventure story of David and Debora. Tragedy befalls both of them and how or if they get back together is the story. If you ever have the chance to get this book, do so and keep it. In fact buy two and give one to a close friend. They will thank you for sharing a truly great book.

I'm not alone!.......2005-06-08

Glad to see that this book moved others as much as it did me. I had just returned from living and working, briefly, in Tel Aviv when I found and read this. We drank many a Goldstar beer while there and the mention of that in the book brought a smile to my face. Mr. Smith's description of that beautiful land was right on target. Anyone with a soul will love this story...

Scream of Eagles: The Dramatic Account of the U.S. Navy's Top Gun Fighter Pilots and How They Took Back the Skies Over Vietnam

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Excellent narrative history for the non-aviator history buff

Scream of Eagles: The Dramatic Account of the U.S. Navy's Top Gun Fighter Pilots and How They Took Back the Skies Over Vietnam
Robert K. Wilcox
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0743497244

Book Description

The mission:
Become the most skilled, highly-trained, and deadliest
fighter pilots in the world.
The place: TOP GUN

In the darkest days of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy's kill ratio had fallen to 2:1 -- a deadly decline in pilot combat effectiveness. To improve the odds, a corps of hardened fighter pilots founded the Fighter Weapons School, a.k.a. TOP GUN. Utilizing actual enemy fighter planes in brutally realistic dogfights, the Top Gun instructors dueled their students and each other to achieve a lethal new level of fighting expertise. The training paid off. Combining the latest weaponry and technology, mental endurance, and razor-sharp instincts, the Top Gunners drove the Navy's kill ratio up to an astounding 12:1, dominating the skies over Vietnam.

This gripping account takes you inside the cockpit for an adventure more explosive than any fiction -- in a dramatic true story of the legendary military school that has created the most dangerous fighter pilots the world has ever seen.

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"The mission: Become the most skilled, highly-trained, and deadliest fighter pilots in the world. The place: TOP GUN In the darkest days of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy's kill ratio had fallen to 2:1 -- a deadly decline in pilot combat effectiveness. To improve the odds, a corps of hardened fighter pilots founded the Fighter Weapons School, a.k.a. TOP GUN. Utilizing actual enemy fighter planes in brutally realistic dogfights, the Top Gun instructors dueled their students and each other to achieve a lethal new level of fighting expertise. The training paid off. Combining the latest weaponry and technology, mental endurance, and razor-sharp instincts, the Top Gunners drove the Navy's kill ratio up to an astounding 12:1, dominating the skies over Vietnam. This gripping account takes you inside the cockpit for an adventure more explosive than any fiction -- in a dramatic true story of the legendary military school that has created the most dangerous fighter pilots the world has ever seen. "

Customer Reviews:

Excellent narrative history for the non-aviator history buff.......2006-04-24

Really a fun book - it is aimed at the general reader and is thus not academically oriented, but its factual information does have academic value. I read the original edition about 7 or 8 years ago, but just recently reread much of it for some research on the F-4 Phantom II. Low on technical data, instead the author gives the history of the human interactions that spawned the Top Gun Fighter Weapons School (which they made a really bad Tom Cruise movie about, but with F-14s). Much of it is told by the Navy officers who were there, and Wilcox brings it all together to explain what was wrong with the Naval air war in Vietnam and how the Navy fixed it.

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wonderful message - historically accurate or not.
A Beautiful Book - a review of "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky"
Children need to know
Harobed the Red
Great environmental book!

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky

Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142301329

Book Description

The Earth does not belong to us. We belong to the Earth. The great American Indian Chief Seattle spoke these words over a hundred years ago. His remarkably relevant message of respect for the Earth and every creature on it has endured the test of time and is imbued with passion born of love of the land and the environment. Illustrated by award-winning artist Susan Jeffers, the stirring pen-and-color drawings bring a wide array of Native Americans to life while capturing the splendor of nature and the land. Children and parents alike will enjoy the timeless, poignant message presented in this beautifully illustrated picture book.

"Together, Seattle's words and Jeffers's images create a powerful message; this thoughtful book deserves to be pondered and cherished by all." (Publishers Weekly )

Illustrated by Susan Jeffers.

Customer Reviews:

wonderful message - historically accurate or not........2007-08-30

I was raised with this book, and it helped shape my opinion on things. Its enviromental message is valuable, and wasting time over whether it is a real speetch or not is pointless.

Let's imagine that one day it is revealed that the "I have a dream" Speetch never happened. Would its meaning be lost? Would we revert? No!
This is just the same.

Buy this for your children, and read it yourself too. You won't regret it.

A Beautiful Book - a review of "Brother Eagle, Sister Sky".......2006-03-02

What do you teach your children?

There's a bit of an argument that has taken place concerning whether Chief Seattle in fact said something like or unlike the lovely verse in this book. I'd just like to remind people that this book is for young children and not historians.

And I, for one, have read this book to my children just as I have read them the 'legends' or 'debatable facts' about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

So, if you are interested in presenting profound and beautiful words to your kids along with interesting pictures, both of which might very well incite conversation BUY THIS BOOK.

If you want guaranteed facts, read them the newspaper. (Well, okay... that's no guarantee either.)

Five Stars.

Children need to know.......2005-04-30

I feel that this book tells children about Indian heritage and the fact that white men don't respect land and nature the way Cheif Seatttle and his tribe did. The pictures in the book are wonderful and realistic.

Harobed the Red.......2005-01-08

This book is wonderful. I think it would be best for Middle school because the language is diificult for primary children. However, the younger students certainly respond to the beautiful illustrations in this book.
The lesson put forth it one that will stick in the minds of children. This is all we as parents, teachers, family friends, aunts and uncles can do for our children. Highly recommended.

Great environmental book!.......2004-03-02

My son first read this book at school in preparation for Earth Day, and liked it so much that he asked for it for his birthday. That's a pretty rare request from him, so I know it must have really had an impact. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a nature lover in the family.

Duel of Eagles: The Struggle for the Skies from the First World War to the Battle of Britain

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Duel of Eagles
duell of eagles
For 'Carmathen', from Brazil, below...
'You Are There' Aerial Warfare History
JUST ANOTHER ONE

Duel of Eagles: The Struggle for the Skies from the First World War to the Battle of Britain
Peter Townsend
Manufacturer: Book Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0785815686

Book Description

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, return to the exciting first days of air warfare and see how these early events ultimately shaped this seminal struggle. A stirring survey--led by a pilot who himself took part in the conflict--traces the battle's background from the defeat and destruction of the Kaiser's air force to the long days of 1940 when Spitfires and Messerschmitts fought to the death over England. The colorful, dramatic, and evocative stories tell of dogfights in the sky, ruthless political maneuvers, legendary heroes (like the "Red Baron")--and then show how all this led to the furious air combat that saved Britain from German invasion.

Customer Reviews:

Duel of Eagles.......2007-03-11

This book kept me enthralled from the very beginning. Despite the fact that I knew how the Battle of Britain turned out, it was great to learn how it was from the perspective of a British subject. Most of the WWII books I read are written by an American and we learn how things were from their perspective.

duell of eagles.......2004-09-10

extremely good in details, very professional view from a fighter pilot point of view, very good background history about the origin of the Battle of Britain and the battle itself. just an excellent book.

For 'Carmathen', from Brazil, below..........2004-02-04

'I'm not sure how good your review is,perhaps this is just another battle of Britain book, and not the best, Carmathen, ........but Peter Townsend is associated with no 85 Squadron RAF, the famous Hexagons, rather than 43 squadron. He is in most RAF 'order of battle' as CO of 85.
85 is a very famous unit, perhaps one of the 2 most famous RAF fighter squadrons, the Hexagon emblem is seen in WW1 in lineups of SE5a's in pictures, and Hurricanes in Battle of France and Battle of Britain pics.
I think most RAF historians will back me up on that.
All the best.

'You Are There' Aerial Warfare History.......2004-01-05

English Ace Peter Townsend's reconstruction of the Battle of Britain. This spirited rendition, written by a pilot who flew and fought during the struggle, follows the career of the author and German counterparts amidst the looming backdrop of WWII. This account moves from the defeat of the Kaiser's air force in 1918 to 1940 when Hurricanes, Spitfires and Bf-109s (Messerschmitt) dueled over English skies. The history of the fledgling Luftwaffe and RAF during their formative years is terrific. Also of interest is the general characterization of the RAF, which during the Battle of Britain was a multicultural force comprising British, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders as well as squadrons from most of the European countries Germany had conquered as well...plus a handful of Americans. Belongs on a bookshelf with Brickhill's 'Reach for the Sky,' Forrester's 'Fly for Your Life,' Deere's `Nine Lives,' Galland's 'The First and the Last' and Richard Hillary's work...classics all!

JUST ANOTHER ONE.......2001-06-19

Even giving credit to the fact that this book was written by a pilot who was there ( Townsend served in 43 Squadron ), one cannot escape the conclusion that this is just another book about the Battle of Britain. And not the best, unfortunately...

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Golden Eagle: Sovereign of the Skies
Charles R Preston
Manufacturer: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1558687955

Book Description

With a wingspan of more than seven feet, powerful arched talons, and a razor-sharp beak, the golden eagle reigns high on the food chain, yet plays an intregal role in weaving the ecological tapestry of its native habitat. Charles Preston and Gary Leppart's new book, GOLDEN EAGLE: SOVEREIGN OF THE SKIES, explores the nature of this regal bird covering its origin, hunting methods, reproduction, and migration as well as how the bird fits into human culture, including the issue of preservation. Illustrated with stunning imagery from well-known photographer Gary Leppart, GOLDEN EAGLE celebrates this bird that has become the symbol of freedom and power in many cultures. GOLDEN EAGLE through its close examination of the bird and its habitat, takes the reader on a path that Preston ultimately hopes will ..". lead to a greater understanding and appreciation for all creatures, great and small."

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Eagle in the Sky

Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000H5JMJS

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Rastro en el Cielo / Eagle in the Sky
Wilbur Smith
Manufacturer: Booket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Eagles: Lions of the Sky
Emery Bernhard
Manufacturer: Holiday House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Zoology | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0823411052

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Eagle in the Sky by F. van Wyck Mason
Excellent

Eagle in the Sky
F. van Wyck Mason
Manufacturer: J. B. Lippincott
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B0006ARJ0S

Customer Reviews:

Eagle in the Sky by F. van Wyck Mason.......2005-09-28

During the years 1780-1781, this nation became bankrupt and was all but exhausted by internal dissensions of long standing and by the desperate battles of a long war I its final stages. Only an out-numbered navel squadron sent by His Most Christian Majesty Louis XVI and the presence in Rhode Island of a little army of French regulars lent forlorn hope to the American patriots. With thee turbulent years as back ground tapestry - climaxed by the surrender at Yorktown of Lord Cornwallis - F. van Wyck mason tries his story of three young doctors, their careers, their love-making, and their rough and tumble adventures in the service of a young and struggling country.

Excellent.......2003-05-13

This book is great. I read it and it made me feel as if Mr. Mason was a genius. Absolutely brillant! I recommend this to anyone who thinks they have problems in thier lives. This book will help.

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