Book Description
Far from a monolithic block of diehard slave states, the antebellum South was, in William Freehling's words, "a world so lushly various as to be a storyteller's dream." It was a world where Deep South cotton planters clashed with South Carolina rice growers, as Northern egalitarianism infiltrated border states already bitterly divided on key issues. It was the world of Jefferson Davis, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, and Thomas Jefferson, and also of Gullah Jack, Nat Turner, and Frederick Douglass. Now, in the first volume of his long awaited, monumental study of the South's road to disunion, historian William Freehling offers a sweeping political and social history of the antebellum South from 1776 to 1854. All the dramatic events leading to secession are here: the Missouri Compromise, the Nullification Controversy, the Gag Rule, the Annexation of Texas, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Vivid accounts of each crisis reveal the surprising extent to which slavery influenced national politics before 1850 and provide important reinterpretations of American republicanism, Jeffersonian states' rights, Jacksonian democracy, and the causes of the American Civil War. Freehling's brilliant historical insights illustrate a work of rich social observation. In the cities of the Antebellum South, in the big house of a typical plantation, we feel anew the tensions between the slaveowner and his family, poor whites and planters, the Old and New Souths, and most powerfully between slave and master. Freehling has evoked the Old South in all its color, cruelty, and diversity. It is a memorable portrait, certain to be a key analysis of this crucial era in American history.
Customer Reviews:
Like Shredded Wheat - dry but nourishing.......2007-10-13
Due to the author's difficult style (which I would describe as awkward rather than boring) it took me a couple of years to slog through this book. I found myself constantly setting it aside to read more interesting works. Ultimately, I disciplined myself to finally finish it, and I'm glad I did. Despite Mr. Freehling's dense prose, there's a lot of very insightful analysis here, for anyone willing to overlook the author's stylistic shortcomings.
The first part of the book takes the reader on a tour of the antebellum South, and exposes the many regional differences that made the South difficult to unite. Freehling also describes the attitudes of the Southern slave-holding gentility. "Massa" could be a tyrant with the "darkies", but lenient and overly-indulgent with his own family. He wanted to be feudal lord over all, yet still clung to some of the ideals of Jacksonian democracy. At times, Freehling loses his objectivity and wears his anti-Southern bias on his sleeve, but overall his analysis rings true.
The remainder of the book explores the various controversies, such as the Gag Rule, the Nullification Crisis, the Annexation of Texas, the Wilmot Proviso, and other events that threatened to shatter the fragile Union. One surprising omission from this list is New England's threat to secede during the War of 1812. Although it had nothing to do with slavery and the South, it certainly falls under the topic of disunion. I was disappointed that Freehling didn't even mention it.
"The Road to Disunion" is not a light and easy read by any stretch, but it's packed with information. I would recommend it for any serious student of the Civil War and its causes.
Excellent social and political history.......2007-09-20
Many good reviews have already been written so I am going to keep this short and sweet. If you want to read a good, in-depth look at the social and political history and ultimate causes of the Civil War, this is an excellent place to start. Freehling covers just about every conceivable topic in the years 1776-1854 that caused friction between the North and South, but also touches on many social and political topics that are sometimes overlooked. He also writes some great mini-biographies of the many differing players and you will walk away with an excellent working knowledge of many topics, such as Thomas Jefferson and his thoughts on slavery, the Missouri Compromise, Virginia's slavery debate of 1832, the Wilmot Proviso, Texas' Annexation, and much more.
The only potential negatives are that Freehling's writing style does take getting used to and the book is massive. For quick readers, not a big deal. For slower readers like me, plan on investing time in this book.
In the end, I would highly suggest this for any people looking to bone up on antebellum U.S. history and/or causes of the Civil War.
A Plow Through.......2007-07-05
I debated giving this one 3 stars but the information in it is very good. A thurough evaluation of the subject. If you want a detailed history, this is it.
On the downside, it is a dense read. It took me a while to plow through the entire book. Part of this is the density of info but much is due to writting style. I also found it to be a bit redundant in parts, particularly early on (especially Part II, which you might want to just skip). Another reviewer stated it helps to know the background prior to opening this tome and I agree.
For a much easier intro to the topic, try: "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Voices of the Storm)" by Stephen B. Oates.
Beginning a Journey in American History.......2007-06-09
Visiting a bookshop in 1990 I faced a choice of two books to purchase: America in 1857 by Kenneth Stampp and The Road to Disunion Vol. I by Wm. Freehling. Having read Freehling's book on the nulification crisis, I very fortunately chose The Road to Disunion. One of the most important revelations in this book is the tracing of the secesson movement's seeds to the forming of the United States. To any one acquainted with Freehling's writing will not be surprised by the depth of his research and thought provoking text. His views are always overviews that narrow their scope to individual incidents.
I spent seveteen years badgering the author for the second volume of this work. Readers now who have not yet read this book are more fortunate because they have the benefit of seeing the complete work at once. This is a volume well worth reading on its own, but it is a much better read when followed by volume two.
Bill Freehling is without doubt the dean of 19th century American history, a great human being with an appreciation of human feeling and a strict code of research taking the author wherever it will. There are no preconcieved notions of how history should be percieved.
Fear and Loathing in the Antebellum South.......2007-02-08
After a long time, in which a combination of increased workload and diversified reading interests have kept me away, it is good to be back to the world of antebellum 19th century America. Meeting Thomas Jefferson, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson and a dozen secondary characters feels a little like coming home. But as the saying goes, you can dip into the same river twice. William W. Freehling's antebellum South is both familiar and foreign. Freehling brings forward a provocative thesis, which throws a bright light on some elements of the period, but also blinds you to some vital aspects.
I have previously read Freehling's brilliant essay collection, The Reintegration of American History: Slavery and the Civil War. That was one of the best books about 19th century America I've ever read. Using cultural history, comparative studies, biography, and even autobiography, Freehling brought a provocative new thesis to the field of 19th century antebellum South.
According to Freehling, the South was torn between two conflicting, contradictory ideologies - Aristocratic Paternalism, the 18th century view that the enlightened rich should govern all others, black and white and female, and Jacksonian 'Herrenvolk Democracy' - the view that America is the republic of the free white male, where the color line separates the master race - the Herrenvolk - from the inferior black folk.
The idea that the clash between these two ideologies, and indeed, the fractions between the various, and very different, elements of the South, is Freehling's key argument. And it illuminates many things:
The clash between Paternalists and Herrenvolk Democrats was most evident during the struggles for control of the legislations of Southern states, particularly Virginia. There, the lines were drawn most sharply between aristocratic slaveholders and slaveless white folks.
Freehling's high concept is also a part of the explanation for episodes such as the Texas annexation and particularly the gag rule. Slavocrats insisted that antislavery petitions to the United States Congress would not only be ignored, but actively rejected, thus 'gagging' opposition to Slavery and making a mockery of the democratic process. The gag rule was designed and led by South Carolina extremists, the most radical faction of the aristocrats.
But the explanation works less well when describing the major sectional conflicts - as one approaches the 1850s, Paternalists and Democrats all but disappear, and the struggle becomes one between Free and Slave states, with the Upper South and the Lower North trapped between them. This is a familiar story, and while Freehling tells it well, he does not really add much to the description.
A major point that is scored is Freehling's description of Slavery's malcontents. There really was, particularly in Texas and in Kentucky, an antislavery undercurrent, and Freehling does a superb job of describing its protagonists and enemies. As long as the North left the South alone, Southern Slaveholders could probably squash such movements, but their existence helps explain Southern fear of the rise of the Republican party - a strong Northern ally that could help Southern fifth columnist destroy the Peculiar institution from within.
But for the most part, Freehling's book fails to meet expectations. The title is more than a little Misleading - The Road to Disunion does not really show a path that led to the irreconcilable conflict. Unlike the events of 1848-1860, when each event called for its successor - the Compromise of 1850 led to the destruction of the Whig party in the lower south, which led to the radicalization of the Southern Democratic Party, and to the Kansas-Nebraska act and so on, the earlier incidents were fairly disjoint. The Virginia Slavery debate, the Nullification crises, the Gag rule - all ended without any real increase in animosity. Nor do we see "secessionists at Bay" - with marginal exceptions, until the late 1840s, few major Southerners were bona fide disunionists. Rather, like John C. Calhoun, they wanted to weaken the Union in order to save it.
For all of its sophistication and scale, Freehling's account feels incomplete. Mainly, I think, because until the middle 1840s, the themes Freehling invokes (sectionalism, slavery, colonialism) were relatively minor elements of political scene, where the major issues were banks, Indian genocide, internal improvements and the fans and enemies of `King Andrew` Jackson.
Ultimately, I think the road to disunion was not paved by Southern extremists. Southerners tried mainly to preserve their way of life against a world that was rapidly changing - Industrial rather then Agricultural, increasingly National rather than Local, and yes, Democratic rather than aristocratic. For all their belligerency, the Slavepower was essentially passive and fearful, lashing out in desperation against a new, modern world where there was place neither for slaves nor for masters.
Amazon.com
Daniel Yergin's first prize-winning book, Shattered Peace, was a history of the Cold War. Afterwards the young academic star joined the energy project of the Harvard Business School and wrote the best-seller Energy Future. Following on from there,
The Prize, winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a comprehensive history of one of the commodities that powers the world--oil. Founded in the 19th century, the oil industry began producing kerosene for lamps and progressed to gasoline. Huge personal fortunes arose from it, and whole nations sprung out of the power politics of the oil wells. Yergin's fascinating account sweeps from early robber barons like John D. Rockefeller, to the oil crisis of the 1970s, through to the Gulf War.
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize Winner -- and Now an Epic PBS Series
The Prize recounts the panoramic history of oil -- and the struggle for wealth power that has always surrounded oil. This struggle has shaken the world economy, dictated the outcome of wars, and transformed the destiny of men and nations. The Prize is as much a history of the twentieth century as of the oil industry itself. The canvas of this history is enormous -- from the drilling of the first well in Pennsylvania through two great world wars to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Storm.
The cast extends from wildcatters and rogues to oil tycoons, and from Winston Churchill and Ibn Saud to George Bush and Saddam Hussein. The definitive work on the subject of oil and a major contribution to understanding our century, The Prize is a book of extraordinary breadth, riveting excitement -- and great importance.
Customer Reviews:
First to cover the topic, but still a facile book.......2007-09-17
Yergen gets kudos for being the first to cover this topic, but his account (perhaps because it's now outdated) is facile and pro-oil company. Every time the oil companies are thwarted he seems to blame straw men for it: tree huggers, the people that hounded poor misunderstood Tricky Dick Nixon, the Saudi sheiks (best friends of Bush, Cheney, et al). He never turns his gaze on the corruption of the oil companies themselves. We hit peak oil in the U.S. in the 1960s. The oil companies suppressed any attempts since then to find alternative fuels. Now we are up the creek, so to speak, with the Oil Men running the Show. Some "Prize". I'd say it's the booby prize. The best overview of our current fix is Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower.
The Age of Oil.......2007-07-04
We are living in the Age of oil.
World and human civilization have experienced different "ages" such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Gilded Age, and so on. The 20th and 21st Centuries are indeed, the "Oil Age." We are living in it. This book is one of the most informative and relevant books published in recent years, In my opinion. This work by Daniel Yergin was and still is prescient today, in 2007. "The Prize" tells the story of where we are today, and how we got here. It also latently foresees where we're going in the future. The book doesn't tell us - we just know. We're human. This book is so comprehensive and has so much information only a small portion of it can be noted. Below relates to WWII, and former Iranian leader Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh.
"The Prize" proceeds chronologically. And within the chapters there are numerous mini-subtitles for sub-chapters that connect the big picture. The bibliography and index are excellent and can be used to tie in different figures and historical occurrences. The 'history of oil' is actually the history of the world: humankind, business, innovations, globalization, war, and geo-political power-plays. The very survival of a nation-state is based upon oil.
"The Prize" begins with tiny puddles of black, sticky, goo, in Pennsylvania in the mid 1800s. Locals collected this goo and realized its many uses. In 1859 oil was struck. Almost immediately, the wealth and power amassed from possession and control of oil was realized. The initial trust acts in the U.S. are related to the oil industry, in which Barons quickly gained gargantuan amounts of wealth and political power.
Enter WWII:
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor because of oil. Japanese conquests throughout South-East Asia and the Pacific were motivated not only by the quest for dominance but for securing oil and keeping their oil (fuel) supply lines open. Without supply lines of oil, the war machine would completely break down, as it later did (Chapter 8).
The Americans sacrificed a lot, but Japan in large part lost WWII because of its lack of fuel for planes, ships, and ground forces. Domestically, the Japanese economy collapsed because of its inability to import oil. The Kamikazes were brought into existence after the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippines, in 1944. Lack of oil meant lack of fighter plane fuel. Fuel supplies became so low they actually stopped training Japanese pilots at all. Pilots were ordered to "follow the leader" to the attack site because they didn't even have navigation training.
There was even an "Oil Czar" In the U.S. during World War II in PAW, the Petroleum Administration for War. The Oil Czar was Harold Ickes.
In the European Theater's Eastern Front Germany invaded Russia with Operation Barbarossa mostly to get the oil in the Caucuses (In addition to "lebensraum" and "untermensch" beliefs). In addition, a needed land-route to Iron Ore in Scandinavia via the Baltic SSR Republics was a factor. Hitler also began making synthetic oil because without enough of it Germany's war machine, domestic economy, and arms production were doomed. These synthetic oil factories were top targets in Allied bombing missions.
Oil and the Cold War World:
The Soviets dominated Eastern Europe and exerted its influence after WWII for 45 years because the Allies ran out of gasoline. When the British 3rd Army and U.S. 1st Army were advancing eastward toward Berlin chasing demoralized, retreating, and broken German troops in disarray. But because of the lack of gasoline for the Allied Armies, a million people ended up losing their lives and war was prolonged because the Germans were able to retreat and re-organize (page 388).
If someone says "it's not about the oil" today in 2007, tell them to read this book. Oil encompasses almost all things in our daily lives, whether we are are conscious of it, or not.
Oil, Military, and Economic Interests:
Democratically elected governments are overthrown by foreign governments because of oil. In 1953 Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh was democratically elected in Iran. He was an anti-communist. He didn't like the 93% to 7% profit sharing split with a British Oil company operating inside Iran. He changed it to 50-50. The CIA sponsored a coup to overthrow him. Americans were repeatedly told by the U.S. media that Mossadegh was a communist and communist sympathizer, although factually untrue. The American public believed this propaganda, according to poll results. Gullible? Mossadegh was ousted and the Shah was placed in power. Democracy has never been supported in the Middle East and it isn't now by the U.S. government. Also see the Carter Doctrine of 1980.
Most of us as individual consumers literally need oil to function. Dependence upon oil is for the continuation of the nation-state, its military machines, and domestic economy. More critical today, is that nation-states need a *sufficient* supply of it.
This is a positive book. It's a history book.
We're in the heart of the "Oil Age."
Amaze.......2007-06-19
This book is the better form to say what means the oil in the world. The history is well clear end real. There are many important information and who is curious or needs to know the subject this is a perfect one.
It's interesting to know the past to forecast the future..........2007-06-14
I really appreciated Daniel YERGIN's book.
The history of oil is crucial to try to solve the huge demand for future oil. History tells us that oil is limitless in virgin deserts...
The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.......2007-06-12
Excellent, well chronicled book showing the inside of the oil world history. Amazon shipment was a slick execution which makes the book more valuable..This book is a must-have for oil and gas pros.
Book Description
It is one of the great questions of American history--why did the Southern states bolt from the Union and help precipitate the Civil War? Now, acclaimed historian William W. Freehling offers a new answer, in the final volume of his monumental history The Road to Disunion. Here is history in the grand manner, a powerful narrative peopled with dozens of memorable portraits, telling this important story with skill and relish. Freehling highlights all the key moments on the road to war, including the violence in Bleeding Kansas, Preston Brooks's beating of Charles Sumner in the Senate chambers, the Dred Scott Decision, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and much more. As Freehling shows, the election of Abraham Lincoln sparked a political crisis, but at first most Southerners took a cautious approach, willing to wait and see what Lincoln would do--especially, whether he would take any antagonistic measures against the South. But at this moment, the extreme fringe in the South took charge, first in South Carolina and Mississippi, but then throughout the lower South, sounding the drum roll for secession. Indeed, The Road to Disunion is the first book to fully document how this decided minority of Southern hotspurs took hold of the secessionist issue and, aided by a series of fortuitous events, drove the South out of the Union. Freehling provides compelling profiles of the leaders of this movement--many of them members of the South Carolina elite. Throughout the narrative, he evokes a world of fascinating characters and places as he captures the drama of one of America's most important--and least understood--stories. The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Secessionists at Bay, which was hailed as "the most important history of the Old South ever published," this volume concludes a major contribution to our understanding of the Civil War. A compelling, vivid portrait of the final years of the antebellum South, The Road to Disunion will stand as an important history of its subject.
Customer Reviews:
Mixed Feelings.......2007-09-19
I was a little bit disappointed because the book lacked a fair bit of context. For example, I know that a Senator from South Carolina preferred his slave concubine to his wife, but otherwise I would have to read another book to really understand what was going on. So, I appreciated the mini-biographies of the players leading up to the war, but I felt that there was a huge hole in my understanding of 1854 - 1861.
Good, but flawed.......2007-07-08
Freehling's research is quite good, but his analysis often seems flawed. Like so many Civil War researchers, Freehling generally seems to blur the distinction between what issues caused the conflict and what issues motivated Southerners to actually join the army and risk their lives in the fight. While slavery was certainly a prominent, but hardly exclusive, cause of the war, it seems to have played a relatively minor role in motivating the bulk of the Southerners who actually died fighting. Freehling's error is a common one, but it detracts from an otherwise interesting book. Still, the book is worth reading for people interested in the period -- just be sure to complement your reading with other books to get a more complete set of perspectives.
What a shame..........2007-06-06
No matter how good your research is, you get a 1 star if your writing is poor!
A Proof of Genius.......2007-05-12
Seventeen years ago Freehling's Road to Disunion Vol. I was published and we Freehling fans have been impatient for this book to come out. It has been along wait but worth it. Professor Freehling has outdone himself on Road II. If there is a problem with this book it is that you can't afford to "skip" a paragraph because you think you know all about the subject. You find a fact, a thought, or a conclusion you never thought of before. Thid book is surely the crowning jewel in Wm. Freehling's bejeweled crown. Thank you, Dr. Freehling.
Barrie W. Bracken, Researcher
Wonderful part 2.......2007-04-12
If you like Freehings Road to disunion volume I: Secessionists at bay, then you wan't be sorry getting volume II. It is written in the same style and with great analysis. You can just pick this up where you left part one. Just like volume I had many topics and events that have not been included in other antebellum histoybooks, this volume offers a lot of fresh insights about the storming 1850:s that other books miss. This book must be considered, if not the best general history of the south during theese years, one of the top 3 best. If you are interested in the pre civil war era...don't miss this book!!
Book Description
Written by a leading Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, this text describes the social, economic, political, and ideological conflicts that led to a unique, tragic, and transitional event in American history. The third edition incorporates recent scholarship and addresses renewed areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era including the motivations and experiences of common soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Civil War reference - Brilliant narrative.......2006-09-24
Ordeal by Fire is an excellent reference for anyone studying the Civil War. James McPherson has a brilliant narrative style that makes his work a pleasure to read, and easy to comprehend. This is a must-read book for anyone studying the civil war. It is also a good reference for the Reconstruction era.
Excellent Civil War Depiction.......2005-09-21
Ordeal By Fire has been an excellent source so far of what caused America to enter into a full scale Civil War
Brilliant!.......2005-03-23
Insightful, and comprehensive. I bought this book in order to study for a DSST exam on the Civil War. I find myself going back to it now just for the joy of reading it. By the way, the book does a super job of getting you ready for the exam.
Second to None.......2004-02-15
McPherson's work here is quite comprehensive, notwithstanding The Battle Cry of Freedom, and quite detailed which makes it exactly the right text of choice for a Civil War classroom. The maps, charts, and photographs show without crowding the material the nature of the battles and campaigns the Union and Confederacy fought against each other. The photographs include gems that drive the ravaging, taxing, bloody hell of war home to readers. One cannot help but be shocked by the photograph on page 490 or many of the others depicting the horrors of war. That is one of many reasons that make this a book worth reading. Also worth mentioning is the meticulous amount of information and the methods by which it is organized. McPherson's text is mainly digested details of the war as he rarely refers the reader to other sources. There is an excellent organization to the text that makes it second to none.
Outstanding textbook.......2003-10-14
While the general reader or Civil War buff might enjoy McPherson's popular "Battle Cry of Freedom," this book in a first rate textbook on the Civil War. McPherson spends ample time exploring the causes of war: the disputes over slavery in the territories, the attempts at compromise, and finally the start of the war itself. His military analysis of various battles is suscinct but comprehensive: satisfying to the military history buff, but not confusing to the lay reader.
Most importantly, McPherson incorporates a lengthy discussion of Reconstruction into the book (an element missing in "Battle Cry of Freedom"), thus describing the crucial aftermath of the war.
Book Description
In
United States v. George W. Bush et al., former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega brings her twenty years of experience and her passion for justice to the most important case of her career. The defendants are George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell. The crime is tricking the nation into war, or, in legal terms, conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Ms. de la Vega has reviewed the evidence, researched the law, drafted an indictment, and in this lively, accessible book, presented it to a grand jury. If the indictment and grand jury are both hypothetical, the facts are tragically real: Over half of all Americans believe the president misled the country into a war that has left over 2,500 American soldiers and countless Iraqis dead. The cost is $350 billion-and counting.
Customer Reviews:
laughable.......2007-09-10
Im no Bushbot, voted for the man twice. It came down to the lesser of two evils ( Gore, Kerry) as far as I was concerned. Bush is a moron, but, this is the work an evil liberal. This is nothing more than a leftist's wet dream.
A Nation of Laws.......2007-06-28
The persuasive and informative little book U.S. v Bush by retired prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega lays out a strong case for the prosecution of George Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condaleeza Rice and Colin Powell for defrauding the American people. It is of course hypothetical, but that adds to its interest and importance for the reader regardless of their political persuasion. With an introduction "A fraud worse than Enron" she lays out the basis for such an indictment; "tricking the American people into a war or in legal terms conspiracy to defraud the United States". Ms de la Vega then artfully constructs the hypothetical indictment section (conveniently printed in a gray shade for easy reference - though in my opinion the case is anything but gray), assembles a fictitious Grand Jury with an entertainingly diverse cast of characters and witnesses and marches them through her imaginary proceedings. And the verdict? Well that is left to the fictitious Grand Jury and the reader to decide.
Woven into the narrative is of course the confounding mixture of truth, spin and contradictions - and worse -consequences in which Bush et al have enmeshed themselves; she helps us to make it all out and better still she clearly shows how many times laws were broken, with -in this case - the tragic result of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives lost as well as those of over 3300 American soldiers and almost ten times that number of wounded.
The spotlight is also on many real instances where a lack of accountability on the part of an official is evident, but we also learn through her instructions to the jury that such spin may actually be illegal: "White House officals, just like CEOs, are legally required to make sure that they have a reasonable factual basis for their assertions before they make them......Moreover if they have notice that an assertion they are making is not true or even dubious, they are legally obligated to inquire further". Wow! Dream on.
Those who claim that America is nothing if not a nation of laws while at the same time supporting either the Bush administration or its actions or both had better read this book, if for no other reasons than to prepare their own rebuttals. Elizabeth de la Vega doesn't leave them much wiggle room. I can only hope that at some future date this book will be on the required reading list for high school civics classes.
Finally some people worthy of impeaching!.......2007-06-13
Elizabeth hits the nail on the head. This is a 5 star fantasy, I can imagine being in the courtroom and sitting on my hands so I don't jump up and cheer when she twists the knife!
Great book! Thanks for giving me a great fantasy...now let's visualize impeachment!
A Compelling Case.......2007-04-18
If Bush is ever brought to trial, it will prove highly costly to the taxpayers. Ms. de la Vega has presented an excellent case and series of arguments against Dumbya, aka Bush. The concept of such a trial, a case of the people against the president is certainly a very interesting one. The closest this country has ever seen of such a possibility was in 1974 when Nixon faced possible charges and indictment in re the Watergate Scandal. Still, it would be interesting to see the Bush Administration own up to the charges that have been brought against it.
This author has indeed used credible media publications to back her accounts. She has not relied on hearsay on any of these charges presented herein. Her book is clean and crisp and direct; it does not get mired in minutiae.
True, true, true.......2007-04-06
Title speeks for itself.
And the VP is still using the same reasons--say it enough and you believe it.
Average customer rating:
- Neuropathy Understandable
- Helpful
- As diabetes and its concurrent health issues - like neuropathy - is on the rise.
- Tucson Neuropathy Group reviews this book
- Peripheral Neuropathy: When the Numbness, Weakness, and Pain Won' Stop
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Peripheral Neuropathy: When the Numbness, Weakness, and Pain Won't Stop (American Academy of Neurology)
Norman Latov
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Book Description
Peripheral neuropathy, the variety of conditions that result when the nerves that connect to the brain and spinal cord are damaged or diseased, is commonly associated with diseases such as diabetes, HIV, alcoholism, and lupus. Although widespread — it affects 10–20 million people in the United States — information about the condition has been difficult to obtain. This essential guide explains what is known about peripheral neuropathy, including its causes and manifestations, and what can be done to manage it. Topics include drug therapy for the condition and its symptoms, interventional therapy, alternative medicines, caring for the feet, and much more. This book will enable patients to make informed decisions about their care.
Customer Reviews:
Neuropathy Understandable.......2007-08-24
Peripheral Neuropathy is a concise, inexpensive volume written in plain English. It will be useful to both neuropathy sufferers and their physicians alike.
Dr. Latov's expertise -- as a clinician, teacher, and a founder of The Neuropathy Association(www,neuropathy.org) -- is well-reflected in the text.
When both the doctor and the patient are able to discuss neuropathy knowledgeably as a result of reading this work, the disease will be better understood and managed
Helpful.......2007-06-16
It was very informative. Author seemed very knowledgeable and credible. I learned new ideas for supplements to help my condition. Easy to read.
As diabetes and its concurrent health issues - like neuropathy - is on the rise........2007-04-10
Patients who suffer from peripheral neuropathy - numbness, weakness and pain - as well as loved ones who want to help receive an easy handbook on the causes and treatment options for neuropathy. From drug therapies and foot care to management of chronic pain and nerve damage at all stages, PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY is an excellent, easy guide to understanding all the options - and a recommended pick for any general lending library, as diabetes and its concurrent health issues - like neuropathy - is on the rise.
Tucson Neuropathy Group reviews this book.......2007-03-09
The Tucson, AZ Neuropathy Support Group highly reccommends this book. It is clearly written. It is an excellent book giving great insight into this disease. It is all encompassing, concise and direct. There was no sugar coating, nor was it disparing. Many treatments and approaches were analyzed. All our group endorsed it without exception for all neuropathy sufferers.
Peripheral Neuropathy: When the Numbness, Weakness, and Pain Won' Stop.......2007-02-14
This book is excellent in explaining how you can get this disease as well as how to cope with it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has this or has a loved one who does.
Amazon.com
Many histories of the American Revolution are written as if on stained glass, with George Washington's forces of good battling King George III's redcoat devils. The actual events were, of course, far more complex than that, and Robert Middlekauff undertakes the difficult task of separating the real from the mythic with great success. From him we learn that England taxed the colonials so heavily in an attempt to retire the massive debt incurred in defending those very colonials against other powers, notably France; that the writing of the Constitution was delayed for two years while states argued among themselves in the face of massive military losses; and that demographic shifts during the Revolution did much to increase America's ethic diversity at an early and decisive time. Vividly told, this is a superb account of the nation's founding.
Book Description
The first book to appear in the illustrious Oxford History of the United States, this critically acclaimed volume--a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize--offers an unsurpassed history of the Revolutionary War and the birth of the American republic. Beginning with the French and Indian War and continuing to the election of George Washington as first president, Robert Middlekauff offers a panoramic history of the conflict between England and America, highlighting the drama and anguish of the colonial struggle for independence. Combining the political and the personal, he provides a compelling account of the key events that precipitated the war, from the Stamp Act to the Tea Act, tracing the gradual gathering of American resistance that culminated in the Boston Tea Party and "the shot heard 'round the world." The heart of the book features a vivid description of the eight-year-long war, with gripping accounts of battles and campaigns, ranging from Bunker Hill and Washington's crossing of the Delaware to the brilliant victory at Hannah's Cowpens and the final triumph at Yorktown, paying particular attention to what made men fight in these bloody encounters. The book concludes with an insightful look at the making of the Constitution in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 and the struggle over ratification. Through it all, Middlekauff gives the reader a vivid sense of how the colonists saw these events and the importance they gave to them. Common soldiers and great generals, Sons of Liberty and African slaves, town committee-men and representatives in congress--all receive their due. And there are particularly insightful portraits of such figures as Sam and John Adams, James Otis, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and many others. This new edition has been revised and expanded, with fresh coverage of topics such as mob reactions to British measures before the War, military medicine, women's role in the Revolution, American Indians, the different kinds of war fought by the Americans and the British, and the ratification of the Constitution. The book also has a new epilogue and an updated bibliography. The cause for which the colonists fought, liberty and independence, was glorious indeed. Here is an equally glorious narrative of an event that changed the world, capturing the profound and passionate struggle to found a free nation.
Customer Reviews:
Impressed.......2007-10-09
I purchased a used copy for the first time, and I was grealty impressed. I bought the book below cost and it was so well taken care of that it didnt even look used.
inglorious book .......2007-09-01
I took up this book after reading an excellent treatise on the
civil war by McPherson which is also published in the Oxford History
series. Pardon my being a bit harsh, but I have just finished the book
and my disgust is still fresh. With all the regalia of the author, it
is amazing how boring, muddled, and occasionally just borderline
bigoted this book is. Middlekauff seems to have little feel for
historical process or circumstance and to top it off does not seem to
be particularly good at describing any of the aspects of the
revolution.
The trouble starts right from the introduction. It is filled with
minute and unimportant facts. Yet M. fails to give the historical or
economic context for the revolution. The triangular trade between the
colonies and England and America's role in it is barely mentioned.
French and Indian war is not covered. Yet, the minor frictions and
character traits of British MPs are given a lot of space. M. almost
makes it appear that the revolution happened due to inattention or
lack of judgment of a British prime minister or two. The whole
colonial system set up to enrich the metropoly has apparently little to
do with America's discontent.
The next several chapters tediously describe the local politics
pre-revolutionary politics of nearly each individual colony. This
description bears as much excitement as plodding through period
newspapers. Yet M. description of individual battles of the
revolutionary war are sketchy at best, he states the opposing forces,
casualties, outcome and moves on. He does not describe the weaponry
of the Revolutionary war. He does not describe the customs of the
Americans of that day, how they dressed, what their daily run was
like. He describes the composition of medieval armies as rabble(sic!)
(i.e. urban and rural underclass) officered by the nobles. M. repeats
a common misconception that the hessian troops were mercenaries (they
weren't, they were rented by the German princes to George III). There
was a long discussion on the lack of strategic vision among British
generals. M. sounds apologetic for them.
The conclusion seem to ramble on and on. On page 637 there is a
bigoted discussion that the revolution is somehow made better because
it was made by the people who had more than their life to lose. That
is, M. apparently thinks that propertied revolutionaries are a
preferred sort to use.
Informative and Fun History.......2007-08-06
The book is easy to read, and hard to put down. The author's voice is effective in both conveying the information and keeping the reader interested. The pre-1776 coverage is extremely detailed and gripping. One will enjoy seeing the war through the eyes of people on both sides of the Atlantic from this book, but the Glorious Cause does emphasize Boston's role at the expense of others, but not enough to deter the books overall value. Both military historians and enthusiasts will appreciate greatly the detailed descriptions of battle strategy in the book, but sadly, the maps are not up to par. The added chapters of social history add a lot of meat to an already juicy topic, and will appeal nicely to those readers who desire to read about more than just military victory. The events of the post war and of the 1780s are not covered in as great of detail as some history students may like, but there is enough to please the casual reader; however, given the length of the book, it is understandable. Overall, if one is looking for a good one volume book on the American Revolution, look no farther than this one.
Solid account of the Revolutionary era, best one volume introduction to the War and its preceding events .......2007-06-27
This book is an excellent way to begin study of the Revolutionary era. While it covers the entire period (from the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 to the Ratification of the Constitution of 1787, its primary focus is on the war and the events leading up to the war. Coverage of the events leading up to the war is solid, with excellent character sketches of the British ministers who attempted to resolve the conflict favorably, and a terrific narrative of revolutionary events which unfolded during the Stamp Act crisis. The writing on these subjects is exceptionally lucid and the narrative is gripping.
The book is not as strong, however, in its coverage of events after 1776. Without a doubt, Middlekauff's explication of battle tactics and strategies is exceptional, and military historians will appreciate the detail and care, but it does come at the expense of better coverage of political and social events of the late 1770s and 1780s, which are covered in a few sections, leaving some to be desired for those interested in governance and social events during the war. In fairness, the Revised and Expanded edition adds several new perspectives (such as medicine in the Revolutionary War), but still leaves the reader needing more. Middlekauff's coverage of the Convention and its ratification is also a bit lacking, understandable as the book has already covered many pages by that point.
The bottom line: an excellent introduction that I highly recommend. For those new to the era, it lays the issues out clearly in an excellent narrative. It will give ample coverage of the War and its causes, but it needs to be supplemented by a firm understanding of the era's political theory. Bailyn's Ideological Origins, or Wood's Creation of the American Republic will serve you well in supplementing this text.
Well-written and insightful.......2007-05-11
I have yet to finish the book - I'm almost to its midpoint. In addition, I'm not particularly well-read in history, especially of the narrative sort. Notwithstanding, I must say that this book is well-written as far as style and clarity are concerned. It flows very well and the author injects several subjective insights that enhance and enliven the purely historical info. Overall, I highly recommend this work to those who are new to narrative history, and to those who are seeking to reinforce their historical understanding of this country's past. Also, the reviewer below who lamented the preponderant attention to military topics is quite wrong in his observation - There is a significant amount of attention paid to political history and theory in the chapters leading up to the actual outbreak of the war, so don't let the review deter you. Rewarding to say the least.
Amazon.com
Gordon S. Wood's The American Revolution, part of the Modern Library Chronicles series, is an erudite, concise summary of the events and circumstances surrounding the seminal conflict, both physical and philosophical, in American history. The Modern Library Chronicles are accessible-but-serious works of scholarship, meant to serve as introductions (or refresher courses) on large subjects for interested readers. The American Revolution is an excellent case in point. Wood deftly describes seeds of the Revolution, most notably disgruntlement on the colonists' part brought about by increasingly maladroit and fiscally punishing British policies. He then follows the course of actual warfare and its aftermath, most interestingly the fraught, bitter battle to draw a governing blueprint for the new country.
Wood breaks little new interpretive ground himself, here, but as a synthesizer (and amiable, skillful narrator/guide) he stands on high ground. --H. O'Billovitch
Book Description
“An elegant synthesis done by the leading scholar in the field, which nicely integrates the work on the American Revolution over the last three decades but never loses contact with the older, classic questions that we have been arguing about for over two hundred years.”
-Joseph J. Ellis, author of
Founding Brothers
A magnificent account of the revolution in arms and consciousness that gave birth to the American republic.
When Abraham Lincoln sought to define the significance of the United States, he naturally looked back to the American Revolution. He knew that the Revolution not only had legally created the United States, but also had produced all of the great hopes and values of the American people. Our noblest ideals and aspirations-our commitments to freedom, constitutionalism, the well-being of ordinary people, and equality-came out of the Revolutionary era. Lincoln saw as well that the Revolution had convinced Americans that they were a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty. The Revolution, in short, gave birth to whatever sense of nationhood and national purpose Americans have had.
No doubt the story is a dramatic one: Thirteen insignificant colonies three thousand miles from the centers of Western civilization fought off British rule to become, in fewer than three decades, a huge, sprawling, rambunctious republic of nearly four million citizens. But the history of the American Revolution, like the history of the nation as a whole, ought not to be viewed simply as a story of right and wrong from which moral lessons are to be drawn. It is a complicated and at times ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not blindly celebrated or condemned. How did this great revolution come about? What was its character? What were its consequences? These are the questions this short history seeks to answer. That it succeeds in such a profound and enthralling way is a tribute to Gordon Wood’s mastery of his subject, and of the historian’s craft.
From the Hardcover edition.
Download Description
A magnificent account of the revolution in arms and consciousness that gave birth to the American republic.
When Abraham Lincoln sought to define the significance of the United States, he naturally looked back to the American Revolution. He knew that the Revolution not only had legally created the United States, but also had produced all of the great hopes and values of the American people. Our noblest ideals and aspirations -- our commitments to freedom, constitutionalism, the well-being of ordinary people, and equality -- came out of the Revolutionary era. Lincoln saw as well that the Revolution had convinced Americans that they were a special people with a special destiny to lead the world toward liberty. The Revolution, in short, gave birth to whatever sense of nationhood and national purpose Americans have had.
No doubt the story is a dramatic one: Thirteen insignificant colonies three thousand miles from the centers of Western civilization fought off British rule to become, in fewer than three decades, a huge, sprawling, rambunctious republic of nearly four million citizens.
But the history of the American Revolution, like the history of the nation as a whole, ought not to be viewed simply as a story of right and wrong from which moral lessons are to be drawn. It is a complicated and at times ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not blindly celebrated or condemned. How did this great revolution come about? What was its character? What were its consequences? These are the questions this short history seeks to answer. That it succeeds in such a profound and enthralling way is a tribute to Gordon Wood's mastery of his subject, and of the historian's craft.
"An elegant synthesis done by the leading scholar in the field, which nicely integrates the work on the American Revolution over the last three decades but never loses contact with the older, classic questions that we have been arguing about for over two hundred years."
JOSEPH J. ELLIS, AUTHOR OF FOUNDING BROTHERS
Customer Reviews:
An excellent concise overview.......2007-08-02
Professor Wood, considered by many to be one of the better historians of the American Revolution, has written perhaps the classic summary of the conflict that founded one nation,ended the first empire of another and has changed the world. What sets this book, at less than a 170 pages, is its conciseness and ability to sum up many and large complicated issues well.
Wood does a wonderful job if explaining how a struggle between 13 of Britain's 21 North American colonies was virtually inevitable due to many circumstances that were surely incomprehensible at first, and to hard to untangle afterwards when the issues were of the present day, until all at once, individuals who would rather not, were forced to choose sides. The unusual thing about the American Revolution, is that both sides were choosing between two different types of traditionalism, and were forced to fight a contemporary battle among issues that had divided English speaking peoples since early Norman times, over 600 years in the past. As Wood easily explains, a series of disputes over trade acts and taxes hardly seems like the justification to start the world anew, especially considering that the Revolution saw a huge proportion of military and civilian deaths, leading to economic destruction and civil war in many of the colonies.
Wood only spends 14 whole pages on direct discussion on the military conflict proper, though a reader will not come away with misunderstandings about how the conflict developed or why it was concluded the way it was. The strategic limitations of the British military, not least of which was that were told to wage general war on people most of their office class considered to be as much their countrymen as a Scotchman or Welshman, in the fast American frontier, are explained crisply.
Along the way, Wood does a fine job of explaining why the culture of the American colonies was more united than they gave themselves credit for, why it was overwhelmingly optimistic, with a bent on radical equality of the sort that British people had not hoped for in over 400 years. Wood quotes a British traveler in America from 1759 who writes of the American urgency to rise to the point where the American British reached their destiny to write the laws of the rest of civilization. From that frame of reference, of a new American nation, built with the best of British hopes of tradition, law and religion is how Wood has framed the story of the American Revolution. The book is recommended in the highest way.
A Well Informed, if Very General, Overview.......2007-07-11
Gordon Wood has taken on the subject he's best at again, The American Revolution, with this short, concise history. With the book itself running only about 170 pages, it serves as a nice refresher for the regular scholar, and an above average briefing for the layman. In addition, it provides an extremely helpful bibliography, which is broken down by subject within the Revolutionary movement.
By nature, this book is a bit more simple than many of Wood's other works, but it is also considerably more clear. He is able to make his point about liberalism and forward thinking in a much more digestible way than he attempted in Radicalism in the American Revolution.
Strong and Clear.......2007-04-22
Light, rapid history, a good refresher on the dates, the book carries Wood's major contention, the liberalness of the revolution itself. He also makes some good points on Washington's real strengths.
One End of the Spectrum.......2006-04-01
In the liberty-to-empire range of different objectives that historians attribute to Americans in their revolt against Britain, Wood falls squarely in the "liberty" camp. Wood portrays political conflict with Britain as merely one element of the American colonists' larger evolution into a world-historically important people who in this period began to envision themselves as the vanguard of universal human goals like abolition of war.
"Indeed," he says, "even today the common resort to economic sanctions in place of military force is a legacy of these enlightened principles." I cite this sentence not only because it is a strong representative of Wood's interpretation of the American Revolution, but also in order to highlight it as something that Wood might consider revising. For one thing, long before he wrote, economic sanctions' potentially lethal impact was well known, and some have used it to justify U.S. military action as a less damaging alternative.
Although Wood says that "it has become fashionable to deny that anything substantially progressive came out of the Revolution," he doesn't debate any specific fashionable alternatives to his "liberty" interpretation. However, some facts that he brings up do contrast with it.
For example, Wood notes that the U.S. position on formerly Indian lands was that they had become U.S. lands "by right of conquest," and he says that "by the 1780s many western Americans shared the expectation of the Indian fighter George Rogers Clark that all the Indians would eventually be wiped out."
George Rogers Clark was of course a military hero of the war against the British, besides being a fighter in the Indian wars that continued for another 100 years following independence from Britain. If Wood believes in the "liberty-world without war" thesis, he should juxtapose it with this "conquest" and other similar passages.
Given the importance of the tax revolt in this period, it would also have been helpful for Wood to clarify whether the colonists were only objecting to taxation on the principle that it was "without representation," or whether they were also, and perhaps primarily, avoiding paying the (immense) fiscal costs of the war to win the western empire from the French. Did the colonists' representatives offer to estimate and pay a fair share? I've never read that they did.
In any case, although Wood does not test his "liberty" point of view against alternatives, he does describe in historical depth "liberty" as one important strain in the American colonists' thinking. Whatever else they did, many American colonists had liberal ideals and felt they were advancing them through their revolt against Britain.
And even if one supposed, hypothetically, that these ideals were less important than land fever, it is important for Wood to have highlighted that the ideals existed, if only in order to show that expressed ideals don't necessarily guide actions.
A short book that will expand your mind........2005-02-25
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is written by a professor at an Ivy League university (Brown), and yet from reading his book I am unable to determine his personal political leanings. Either he thinks the same way I do, or he is that "rara avis", a historian whose only ax to grind is that of the search for objective truth about the past.
He is a superb writer. There is not a dull sentence in the book, and the narrative flows like a good novel. It is a brief book, intended to be an introduction for general readers as part of a Modern Library series, and yet as a knowledgeable but non-specialist reader of the period, I learned something new on almost every page. Professor Wood has made himself one with the Revolutionary era, and has at the same time cultivated the ability to describe it clearly to us moderns. I suspect he was an excellent classroom instructor for freshmen students.
These quotations illustrate his insightful thought and graceful style:
"... the Revolution was not only about home rule; it was also about who should rule at home."
"The Revolution, like the whole of American history, is not a simple morality play; it is a complicated and often ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not celebrated or condemned."
Note the skillful use of the semicolon, the mark of a good prose stylist, and the concise expression of some very complex concepts in two brief sentences.
In a few pages he discusses in a very lucid manner a number of very complicated subjects, for example, the conflict between Burke's theory of "virtual" representation and the experience of "actual" representation in the new frontier towns of the American colonies, the development of a new conception of sovereignty as residing in the people to explain the proposed Constitution of 1789, the commonality of ideas shared by the Puritans of the English Civil War and the American revolutionists of a century later, the basis for the continued and unique American belief that we are "exceptional", outside the mainstream of history, and uniquely chosen as guardians of human freedom.
Wood delves rather deeply into the evolution of American religious belief and practice and its effect on American society in the post-Revolutionary era. He also succinctly outlines the effect of the Revolution on slavery and women's rights.
He devotes only 12 pages to The War of Independence, and yet in that brief space gives a surprisingly complete and detailed picture of the military, political, and diplomatic course of the war. His comments on the strategic problems of each side are quite incisive, and his narrative is much clearer than Higginbotham's, for example.
The last chapters on the social and political changes set off by the Revolution are his best. I'm not a big fan of the "new history" emphasis on social and economic issues. I think history is mostly about war and politics, in that order. But Professor Wood shows that my prejudice is absurd, that history is history, war and politics can't be separated from culture and money, and that it is all interesting.
He probably doesn't emphasize enough the origin of the problems in the Constitution that led to its ultimate failure in the crisis of 1860. But that is a complicated subject, and he lays a sufficient groundwork for further study of that issue.
The bibiographic essay at the end is superb.
I didn't notice any typos - apparently the publisher has corrected in subsequent printings the "Yorktown, Pennsylvania" error noted by a previous reviewer.
Recommended without reservation.
Note: (April 15, 2007) For a broader view of Gordon Wood's thought I highly recommend the review that recently appeared in the Winter 2006/07 edition of the "Claremont Review of Books", V. VII, #1, pps. 27-30, by Steven F. Hayward, entitled "The Liberal Republicanism of Gordon Wood."
Customer Reviews:
The Zimmermann Telegram and U.S. entry into WW I.......2007-05-14
This book, by an eminent historian, greatly enlightened me as to the primary events that caused our entry into WW I. I heretofore had thought that the Lusitania sinking and the resumption of untrestricted submarine warfare were PRIME, while the Zimmermann Telegram was realtively minor and/or a British hoax. However, the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram "galvanized" U.S. citizens like nothing else could have and the credibility of it was, strangely, even admitted to by Arthur Zimmermann himself. Had always been curious as to just what part the "Telegram" had played and/or the above-mentioned potential for it being a British hoax?
Also, I was appalled at German stupidity and arrogance in thinking their code could NOT be broken. Incredibly, they AGAIN did the same thing in WW II and "The Ultra Secret" thing. People, even of the vaunted intelligence of the Teuton, are still prone to studpidity. For more of this latter, see Mrs. Tuchman's work: "The March of Folly". The Japanese too, were not immune, reference "Magic" intercepts in WW II.
The Second Mexican-American War ?.......2007-04-20
This is the second book by Barbara Tuchman that I've read and once again, her writing skills are manifest. She has taken a seemingly minor document (maybe not all that minor), showing the conception behind it, its transmission to German agents in Mexico, its decoding by British Naval Intelligence agents, and its release to American government officials, and hence we have this captivating and dramatic story. In Tuchman's view, this document was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, which in this case was America and its leaders (most especially Wilson's) reluctance to enter into the First World War.
A cast of scores come to the surface in this book, many of whom I knew little about, from British intelligence figures, German and Mexican agents trying to formulate a plan for alliance, along with Japan, and others from various diplomatic and political spheres of influence from the Allied and Central Powers. As in the Guns of August, I sense her abilities in capturing the drama of the moment and the human elements of the stories. This is a relatively small book, but is choke full of information.
For me, the power of her words and description really started pouring forth from the chapter entitled Trap. Her portrayals of various German diplomatic figures like Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, Ambassador Bernstorff, President Wilson, Walter Hines Page, Balfour and others symbolize her talents in portraying the human elements of the story. The depiction of American naivete on foreign affairs and the dangers posed by the Central Powers came across in this book. For example, how the Americans warmly greeted incoming German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann and how Wilson refused to believe that Germany's declaration of unrestricted U-Boat warfare would deter the Americans efforts to remain neutral; Wilson still wanted to bring the belligerent powers to a settlement, or as Wilson called it, a peace without victory.
Once again, a marvelous work by a wonderful historian.
Interesting but not compelling given history.......2007-04-19
Tuchman was a fine historian, however she wrote this book before the expiration of the British Official Secrets Act on the Zimmermann Telegram whereupon it was revealed it was, indeed, a fake concocted by the British Secret Service as a ploy to entice the US into the war. That did not happen until 1966-7. At the time it was distrusted by American opinion, as just that, a British fake. However the sinking of the Lusitannia removed any remaining American doubts as to entry in the Great War. Subsequent to the revelation that the Zimmermann Telegram was a fake, (50 years after the fact) followed the item that the Lusitannia was carrying arms and munitions in her hold. The Germans knew this and announced, via ads in New York papers, their intention to sink her, which they did. Undersea exploration has since borne this out. Both incidents drew the US into the war, both were based on falsehoods. In war, the first casualty is truth. Now, what makes us think 9ll is anything different??
Crisp Narrative of Intrique.......2007-02-11
Historian Barbara Tuchman tells the full story of the Zimmerman Telegram in gripping detail. As many know, this note was sent by the German foreign minister to Mexico at the height of World War I. Germany hoped to spur increased conflict between the USA and Mexico, and thus keep America's industrial might from joining the Allies. But Zimmerman's note was intercepted by British intelligence, which quickly decoded it. Then as the author shows, Britain held on to it and waited to release their discovery at the right moment. That moment came in early 1917 as Germany announced it was resuming unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic. The effect in the USA was electric, and it spurred President Woodrow Wilson, a near-pacifist, to ask Congress to declare war on Germany.
Historian Barbara Tuchman (1912-1989) was a talented popular historian with a nicely readable style. This 1958 book is not that long in pages, but it's great for information, tension, and history.
Very entertaining and exciting.......2006-12-04
Barbara Tuchman's style is so refreshing -- she brings a perspective to history that I never thought existed.
The story of intrigue during the first world war and the efforts of the Germans to keep the US out of it so that Germany could launch what it thought would be the final death blow to Britain. The telegram referred to in the book was intercepted but because of the intrigue could not be made immediately public to the American Public.
Very good story
Average customer rating:
- Bad Plot caused the death of this book
- Duped, again
- Superwoman
- Don't start on Cornwell with this novel...
- cheesy
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Cause of Death
Patricia Cornwell
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
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Binding: Hardcover
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![Black Notice [BARGAIN PRICE] [Hardcover] by Cornwell, Patricia Daniels](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0002X7VXE.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
Black Notice [BARGAIN PRICE] [Hardcover] by Cornwell, Patricia Daniels
ASIN: 0399141464 |
Amazon.com
Patricia Cornwell's heroine Dr. Kay Scarpetta is back; this time to solve the mystery of the death of an Associated Press reporter who was killed while nosing about in a decommissioned navy yard. Scarpetta's involvement in the case leads her to be targeted for murder herself by a nasty little neo-fascist cult with delusions of grandeur that include a plan to "kill and maim, frighten, brainwash and torture" all who oppose their plan to rule the world. Helping Scarpetta is her niece Lucy, an F.B.I. agent whose computer expertise leads to a heart-stopping journey into cyberspace.
Book Description
4 cassettes / 4 hours
Read by Blair Brown
Also available Unabridged and on CD
From the New York Times bestselling author of Point of Origin and Unnatural Exposure comes a mesmerizing new thriller that takes Dr. Kay Scarpetta into the very vortex of evil--far beyond anything she has heretofore encountered as Chief Medical Examiner. Together with her niece Lucy and police captain Pete Marino, Scarpetta follows the scents of death and violence to the heart of sinister darkness.
Download Description
Dr. Kay Scarpetta plunges into the murky depths of a ship graveyard to recover the very human remains of Ted Eddings, an investigative reporter. What kind of story was Eddings chasing below the icy surface of the Elizabeth River?
Customer Reviews:
Bad Plot caused the death of this book.......2007-10-12
I have read all of the Scarpetta novels & this is by far the WORST Scarpetta novel I have read. I thought the story began well enough, but it went down hill fast. The plot was completely implausible & ridiculous.
Dr Scarpetta is involved w/ a global nuclear disaster involving foreign powers. I just find it hard to believe the chief medical examiner from Virginia would be involved (& basically runs the show) when there is a nuclear crisis looming.
Lucy is nauseating as ever & wish she'd die. Having to hear Scarpetta brag endlessly about her Mercedes got beyond old.
The only positive thing in this bk. is Marino. This book should only be read for die hard fans.
Duped, again.......2007-09-20
My review of this Patricia Cornwell/Kay Scarpetta book "Cause of Death" doesn't
have to do with the author or the story but with the publishers who designed a
different cover for an old book. It's a ploy I see frequently and find very
annoying. Unfortunately I got caught, for the umpteenth time. They reprint the
same book a few years later, with a new cover, and people buy it - again.
Superwoman.......2007-09-13
This was the last Kay Scarpetta mystery I've read. Scarpetta as superwoman and the outlandish, totally implausible ending were the reasons I stopped reading Cornwell's books. After this one, I decided that, with Kay Scarpetta around, who needs a department of law enforcement, or even a criminal justice system? She can singlehandedly gather any evidence at any crimescene, process it, and catch, try, and convict the perpetrators (I may be wrong, but I believe she also has a law degree to go with her medical degree.) Then, at midnight, after a full day of crimefighting, she can whip up a full, multi-course Italian meal from scratch - probably with homemade pasta and produce from her own garden! The early books were great, but, as I said, I won't read another!
Don't start on Cornwell with this novel..........2007-08-21
You can't start reading the Scarpetta novels in the middle, you have to start with the very first one and work your way through. This is in the middle, with characters already developed, and it is very difficult to like them if you start with Cause of Death. While I agree this is not her best work, and I REALLY wish she'd kill off the niece, Lucy, she really is a good suspense writer. SUSPENSE, not mystery. There is a difference in that in suspense you often know who the bad guy is, and the suspense is finding out what happens next. I would suggest The Body Farm and From Potter's Field as a couple of good ones.
cheesy.......2007-05-29
I couldn't finish it. It got more and more disappointing as the story progressed. I like to try reading new authors and different types of stories and I am perfectly happy to mix cheesy novels in with good stuff . . . all things in moderation as they say.
The whole book; characters, and story just felt false and untrue. When the characters start talking about computers it gets especially bad. It is clear that the author has no understanding of what she is talking about. A lot of the book felt that way.
All in all, it reads like a transcript of 'Walker, Texas Ranger." If that is your thing, then maybe give it a try.
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- The Savage Detectives: A Novel
- The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Torts Personal Injury Litigation (West Legal Studies)
- Two Nations Black and White Separate Hostile Unequal
- Unseen Danger: A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire
- Voices from the Heart: In Celebration of America's Volunteers
- Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public
- We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, Sixth Shorter Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
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- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- The Rhesus Monkey Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates
- The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut
- Preventing Corporate Embezzlement
- Construction Administration: An Architect's Guide to Surviving Information Overload
The Road to Disunion, Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant 1854-1861
Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836
The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861
Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (Nation Divided: New Studies in Civil War History)
Political Crisis of the 1850s
