History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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Worth reading outside of class
Great book - one of the best in the area
3 stars for effort, but not well-executed

The Logic Of American Politics
Samuel Kernell , and Gary C. Jacobson
Manufacturer: CQ Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1568028911

Customer Reviews:

Worth reading outside of class.......2007-10-03

As an undergraduate, I find newsman's assertion that I can't grasp free rider problems insulting. It's not rocket science.

Anyway, the prose is amazing, the book is chock full of fascinating historical examples, and the exposition of ideas is logical and tidy. It doesn't even strike one as a textbook upon reading. The typical dry, textbook blandness can be found nowhere.

After my class was over, we hadn't completed the book, but it was interesting enough for me to finish it on my own -- and I'm an engineering major!

Great book - one of the best in the area.......2006-10-24

I have used this textbook in my undergraduate course in American Politics for over 5 years because it is one that encourages students to use theoretical tools to think critically and to understand how government works as well as anticipate what will happen given a set of circumstances - that is what theory is all about. The rational choice perspective is presented very clearly and I have not had a student who has not gained some greater understanding of the governmental process through their reading of this textbook. Moreover, the book is rich in historical and contemporary examples. The book is not perfect, but few textbooks meet that criteria. And it is certainly not above the heads of college undergraduates, but rather interesting enough to get them engaged, and challenging enough so that their brains grow a bit rather than having material that is dummied down for them. It does have some big words in it, but students can look them up or the teacher can explain them to them... ; )

3 stars for effort, but not well-executed.......2004-06-09

Kernell and Jacobson try to combine historical and rational-choice understandings of American government in this text, but not in a particularly successful manner. The issues of collective action and free rider problems are above the heads of most undergraduates, who care about what actually happens in politics, not what a game-theoretic model in a book thinks should happen.

The writing style is also very dense. It's not particularly engaging for the reader, and the occasional cutesy attempt to insert cartoons or other stylistic improvements falls flat. The history is very interesting to someone who cares, but doesn't show the average student why history is important, why it matters that they know it in order to properly understand American politics today.

Book Description

Postmodernism Rightly Understood is a dramatic return to realism--a poetic attempt to attain a true understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the postmodern predicament. Prominent political theorist Peter Augustine Lawler reflects on the flaws of postmodern thought, the futility of pragmatism, and the spiritual emptiness of existentialism.

Customer Reviews:

Neo-Realism -- the time has come.......2004-02-07

Lawler makes a valiant effort to rescue the name Postmodern from the clutches of meaninglessness but it is time for a change anyway now that more and more people are using the name. Lawler points in the right direction by saying "Postmodernism is the return to realism." So why not call it that instead of fighting against the tide? I can't see everyone getting used to the term "hypermodernism" instead. Imagine what Derrida would say?

Can this be overcome by the linguistic manipulation of the imagination?

This is a very rewarding book.

Brilliant -- and quirky in the best sense.......2000-07-21

Peter Augustine Lawler is a rare find, and may be the most original and insightful political philosopher writing in America today. This book takes seriously the possibility that our age can meaningfully be understood as "post-modern," but concludes ultimately that what are taken to be indicators of the post-modern condition are actually artifacts of, as it were, hyper-modernity. An authentically POST-modern philosophical position would look very different from what is commonly believed. Lawler here begins to mark out a path which would lead us truly beyond modernity.

He does so, moreover, in a prose style that is direct -- readers who have slogged through the ponderous obscurity of continental European theorists will give thanks! -- but also seriously ironical. There is humor, playfulness here, but it is playfulness with a purpose.

For those enamored of Foucault, Derrida, and company, not least of interest in this book is that Lawler reveals the genuinely philosophical dimension of American thinkers. The book takes aim at Richard Rorty and ultimately finds our best philosophical guide in the reflections of the Southern novelist Walker Percy.

With surprising formulations on almost every page, a reader with an interest in things post-modern may at first be tempted to dismiss an author who says such unheard-of things. But give this book a chance. You just might have to conclude that Lawler has it right after all.

bring it up.......1999-10-05

This is the first book to make sense of postmodernism
and the best introduction available to the thought of
Walker Percy--philosopher and novelist. It has become
a kind of cult classic.

The Logic of American Politics and Principles And Practice of American Politics

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The Logic of American Politics and Principles And Practice of American Politics

The Logic of American Politics and Principles And Practice of American Politics

Manufacturer: Cq Pr
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ASIN: 0872893537

Customer Reviews:

The Logic of American Politics and Principles And Practice of American Politics.......2007-02-17

The books themselves arent all that great, unless you enjoy reading politics, but the service getting it was awesome!

Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal (American Empire Project)

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Best Book on the Topic
A logical argument, and yet more troops are being sent now
Excellent case for bringing the troops home now
Articulate, politically-sophisticated
Very Good Analysis of the Illogic for this war and for staying there further

Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal (American Empire Project)
Anthony Arnove
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805082727
Release Date: 2007-01-09

Book Description

“An urgent book.”—Arundhati Roy

Three years after the start of the war in Iraq, violence and misery continue to plague the country, and conservatives and liberals alike are struggling with the question of when—and under what circumstances—U.S. and coalition forces should leave. In this cogent and compelling book, Anthony Arnove argues that the U.S. occupation is the major source of instability and suffering for the Iraqi people. Challenging the idea that George W. Bush was ever interested in bringing democracy to Iraq—and the view widely held across the political spectrum that it would be more damaging to leave prematurely—Arnove explores the real reasons behind the invasion. He shows why continuing the occupation is a wildly unrealistic and reckless strategy that makes the world a more dangerous place.

Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal concludes by laying out a clear vision for the antiwar movement, one that engages soldiers, military families, and the many communities affected by the occupation, who together, Arnove argues, can build the coalition needed to bring the troops home.

Customer Reviews:

Best Book on the Topic.......2007-08-17

The book is only 105 pages long, but it explains the US/British foreign policies that wanted the war, how the evidence necessary to invade was manufactured, and also the misreporting of the war by the media. It's extremely concise and valueable. The author even manages to squeeze in some semi-tangents that are important. My favorite one is the discussion of the Democratic Party and their belligerence - I just get tired of hearing that the Democratic Party is an anti-war party.

A third of the book is devoted to explaining why the invasion was sought after (as well as the occupation of Afghanistan). Then the book moves to focus on the realities of the war's fighting, and how it is covered. After the end of all "major combat operations" in May 2003 the continued attacks on US troops was blamed on Hussein, who was captured in December 2003. After the fighting continued, it was blamed on foreign interference. The administration said a provisional Iraqi government was needed. After the "free" elections on January 2005 the fighting continued. Since then, the administration has been blaming it on al-Qaeda and other foreigners, which Arnove shows not to be the case. These steps of blaming a domestic resistance to other causes is strikingly similar to that of Vietnam. After facing continued resistance, our policies changed to describe and fight those false causes (strategic-hamlet program-->search-and-destroy operations-->pacification program-->Operation Phoenix-->Vietnamization (which was only initiated after the Tet Offensive of 1968 awakened people to the grim truth of the war). Also discussed in this portion of the book (what's really going on over there) is the liberalization of Iraq's economy - It's straight from the IMF/World Bank playbook. The last section of the book argues, after looking at why the invasion occured and what's happening there now, that we should leave Iraq and provide aid until they're back on their feet.

I'd also recommend that an interested reader look into Bush in Babylon: The Recolinisation of Iraq and America's confrontation with revolutionary change in the Middle East, 1948-83.

A logical argument, and yet more troops are being sent now.......2006-10-10

Arnove's book lays out, in a pretty straight-forward manner (105 pages, not counting the foreword, afterword, appendix, acknowledgement, and notes) the case for pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq immediately. I read a few other books about Iraq before reading this one, and I would suggest that to any reader, just so they have a frame of reference while reading it. Arnove tries to use well-known quotes and facts to support his argument, and this helps, but there is still so much information on such a complex issue, that I think it would be difficult to read this and fully comprehend it with no prior knowledge of Iraq.

Arnove makes a very compelling case. What's sad is that he's using readily available information to make it, and yet we're now sending more troops to Iraq.

I think the only fault of the book is expecting that it will drive people to action. Arnove isn't really presenting anything new, just laying all the facts out for us in a very clean, logical way, almost like he's writing his thesis. While this style might work if Arnove were a lawyer convicting Bush of war crimes, it just serves to further highlight how this administration works above the law and gets away with it. Even with this much clear evidence against the war it continues on.

Excellent case for bringing the troops home now.......2006-07-13

This outstanding book makes the case for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq. This would meet the democratic demands of the Iraqi people, and also of the American and British peoples. In a September 2005 New York Times-CBS News poll, 52% supported the immediate withdrawal of US troops.

Arnove sums up, "Every single argument the Bush administration made to justify the invasion of Iraq has turned out to be false. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, posed no imminent threat to the United States, and had no connection to al-Qaeda or to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Iraq was attacked not because it had weapons of mass destruction, but because it did not (a fact that has not been lost on other potential targets of U. S. intervention). U. S. soldiers were not greeted as liberators, and the occupation has not paid for itself, or required few troops, or been quickly concluded. Nor has the occupation made the world safer or reduced the threat of weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, it has made Iraq, the Middle East, and the world far more dangerous."

From the start, the war on Iraq was a huge lie. As Arnove writes, "The attacks of September 11, 2001, provided the pretext the Bush administration needed to portray an offensive war to reshape the Middle East as a defensive measure to protect the people of the United States."

Everything we are told about the war is untrue. For example, we are told that the occupation troops conduct a humanitarian war on the ground. In reality, the USA is waging war largely by massive, unreported, bombing: the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing alone dropped more than 500,000 tons of bombs on Iraq between May 2003 and December 2005. We are told that there is no national resistance attacking the foreign occupier, just terrorists attacking civilians. In reality, for every attack against civilians, there are a hundred against the occupying forces.

British governments have always lied to us about matters of war and peace, of security and the national interest. This Labour government is different only because its lies have been more stupid, so that we have rumbled it more quickly.

Articulate, politically-sophisticated.......2006-07-11

Q: How many pages does it take to make a compelling case for immediate withdrawal from Iraq? A: Apparently not many when you have logic on your side!

It is a myth that Bush & Co.--though misguided--had the best of intentions at heart when they ordered the military invasion of Iraq in March of 2003. And this unfortunate myth prostrates the antiwar movement when it deludes itself into believing that a bloody occupation stemming from an illegal war can somehow be salvaged into something beneficial for anybody besides Halliburton.

Anthony Arnove's book explains the real roots of the Iraq war in the context of power and profit (not misguided humanitarianism), summarizes for the reader three years of blood-spattered occupation history, provides eight excellent reasons for immediate withdrawal and then discusses the ABC's of anti-imperialist struggle drawn from the history of the Vietnam War.

This isn't a catchall antiwar book to give to your chicken hawk uncle at the next family reunion. This is a book for the 50 million Americans who already consider themselves part of the antiwar movement and want some real answers about stopping the blood-letting. Or as the author puts it, "...the U.S. left in particular needs far greater clarity about the reasons for the war, the political context of the war, and an effective strategy for ending it." (page 98)

This is the most articulate, politically sophisticated yet easy-to-read appeal to bring our loved ones home now that I've read since the war began.

But don't trust this synopsis--read the book.

Very Good Analysis of the Illogic for this war and for staying there further.......2006-07-10

This should be mandatory reading for anyone who has bought into the lie filled Bush regime change rhetoric regarding Iraq. A Neocon filled US administration which has been proven wrong in virtually every single one its Iraq pre-war and current engagement contentions.

From "Mission Accomplished", to "Bring It On", to "...the insurgency is in its last throes..." to lies about active WMD programs, lies about Yellow Cake material from Niger, lies about Saddams mythical connections to Al Qaida and 911, this book helps unearth many of the utterly false, and utterly illogical claims told by the current Bush Administration in D.C. regarding their oil based, "Project for the New American Century" military actions in Iraq.

Another reviewer above stated the following, "Suppose the US pulls out and Mr. Arnove is proven wrong. A civil war breaks out."

Hello, a civil war had already broken out in Iraq in case you missed the last 3 years of activity over there!!! That's what the insurgency is, it is a Civil War action! A civil war initiated solely, 100% by the Bush Neocon doctrine in Iraq beginning in April 2003. As far as the war spreading further in the Middle East, there was no war in Iraq prior to the US military illegally attacking that country in 2003. Again, there was no war there! And there is nothing to indicate that our continued military presence in Iraq is reducing the insurgency after 3+ years of occupation. In fact, all logical signs are that it is merely fueling futher insurgency recruits and fueling further deaths in that civil war.

And what happens if the Iraq Shiite cleric Al Sadr, an extremely anti-US fundamentalist, is eventually elected the majority leader of Iraq, which could easily happen given that he's in the majority Shiite sect. Do we then remove him from power because Iraq elected him in a "democratic" fashion, but we now disagree with whom they elected?

The attempt at analogy between US highway deaths versus military deaths is comparable to believing that "Fox News" is "fair and balanced" reporting. If you believe that you probably also believe that there is no civil war yet being waged in Iraq too, LOL.

Very good read, and if you want further information on the real motives behind the Bush Administrations Iraq regime change, do a google search on "The Project For a New American Century" and read up on the true motives behind this illegal war of Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and other Neocons whom Bush has surrounded himself with.

An Empire of Indifference: American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management (Social Text books)

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An Empire of Indifference: American War and the Financial Logic of Risk Management (Social Text books)
Randy Martin
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 082233996X

Book Description

In this significant Marxist critique of contemporary American imperialism, the cultural theorist Randy Martin argues that a finance-based logic of risk control has come to dominate Americans’ everyday lives as well as U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Risk management—the ability to adjust for risk and to leverage it for financial gain—is the key to personal finance as well as the defining element of the massive global market in financial derivatives. The United States wages its amorphous war on terror by leveraging particular interventions (such as Iraq) to much larger ends (winning the war on terror) and by deploying small numbers of troops and targeted weaponry to achieve broad effects. Both in global financial markets and on far-flung battlegrounds, the multiplier effects are difficult to foresee or control.

Drawing on theorists including Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, and Achille Mbembe, Martin illuminates a frightening financial logic that must be understood in order to be countered. Martin maintains that finance divides the world between those able to avail themselves of wealth opportunities through risk taking (investors) and those who cannot do so, who are considered “at risk.” He contends that modern-day American imperialism differs from previous models of imperialism, in which the occupiers engaged with the occupied to “civilize” them, siphon off wealth, or both. American imperialism, by contrast, is an empire of indifference: a massive flight from engagement. The United States urges an embrace of risk and self-management on the occupied and then ignores or dispossesses those who cannot make the grade.

Improving Governance: A New Logic for Empirical Research (American Governance and Public Policy)

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Improving Governance: A New Logic for Empirical Research (American Governance and Public Policy)
Laurence E. Lynn , Carolyn J. Heinrich , and Carolyn J. Hill
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 087840385X

Logics of American Foreign Policy: Theories of America's World Role

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First Rate US Foreign Policy Primer

Logics of American Foreign Policy: Theories of America's World Role
Patrick Callahan
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0321088484

Book Description

An objective presentation of ideals and theory allows a deeper understanding of debates, permits the student to form an independent judgment of U.S. foreign policy. This book introduces American Foreign Policy through the presentation of the most important logics used in contemporary debates, emphasizes the six most important foreign policy logics competing to define U.S. foreign policy, and identifies the five traditions of American political culture. Instructors would prefer to introduce American diplomacy through the use of contemporary logics and historical traditions.

Customer Reviews:

First Rate US Foreign Policy Primer.......2005-03-27

I use this book to teach US foreign policy, and it really is one of a kind. While most other texts bore students with endless descriptions of dry institutional details they will forget as soon as the course is over, this book focuses on the ideas and policy debates which have always driven America's policies towards the rest of the world, taking in US foreign policy history along the way. My experience has been that students consistently like it, since it allows them to explain current events from a variety of political perspectives. My only (small) quibble is that the term 'hegemonism' (one of the book's six logics) is increasingly being used more narrowly than the author does as a description of the Bush administration's crusading neo-conservatism - a kind of 'Wilsonianism of the right', as someone put it - and due to the rapid pace of events the 2003 edition already needs updating somewhat. But the book itself is excellent: it is fair, even-handed and and well-written, and I stongly recommend it to other teachers ---- David Houghton, University of Central Florida

American Methods: Torture And the Logic of Domination

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Brilliant study of the US state's use of methods of barbarism
Too many facts, not enough analysis

American Methods: Torture And the Logic of Domination
Kristian Williams
Manufacturer: South End Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0896087530

Book Description

When the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke in April 2004, many American commentators expressed shock. But, as The Progressive's Anne-Marie Cusac observed, "Abu Ghraib shock[s] us because our soldiers abroad seem to have acted out behaviors that we condone, yet don't face up to, at home." On the heels of Our Enemies in Blue, Kristian Williams' controversial chronicle of policing, the writer/activist gives us American Methods, once again upsetting the notion that the use of "excessive force" by the state is aberrant rather than altogether American.

American Methods reveals torture not as a recent or rogue phenomenon, but a veteran tool of the American state. As Williams suggests, torture is not, as claimed, a means of interrogation used only by others, elsewhere. Instead, it is a tried-and-true weapon of social control and terror, right here in the US.

Unlike other recent books, American Methods locates "war on terror" scandals in the systems of inequities and dominance that nurture them. Williams pays close attention to the distinct character of American torture and its gender and racial contours-particularly its emphasis on sexual violence, emasculation, and spectacle. His discussion ranges over much of the globe and a quarter-century: from US support of torture-regimes in Central America in the 1980s to today's more favored approach-outsourcing torture to "friendly governments." Returning to our shores, Williams observes the banality of violence in American prisons, precincts, and society. Ultimately, he offers devastating conclusions about the centrality of rape, racism, and conquest to both the state and our national culture.

Kristian Williams' writings have appeared in CounterPunch, Columbia Journalism Review, and We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism. A member of Rose City Copwatch in Portland, Oregon, Williams also authored Our Enemies in Blue (2004).

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant study of the US state's use of methods of barbarism.......2007-02-15

In this important book American journalist Kristian Williams shows how the US state has institutionalised torture. President Bush asserted in February 2002, "None of the provisions of Geneva apply to our conflict with al-Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world." As the Schlesinger Report concluded, this Presidential ruling allowed US forces to increase their use of illegal interrogation techniques.

So US police, military and prison guards routinely treat detainees brutally. The repulsive abuses at Abu Ghraib are typical, not aberrant. There have been more than 400 reports of abuse in US detention camps in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq, and a hundred inquiries have been launched. There were 13 officially acknowledged murders at detention camps between January 2002 and March 2005.

The US state, with Labour's connivance, has consistently used `extraordinary rendition', kidnapping people and then transferring them to other states for torture. For example, the CIA illegally sent suspected al-Qaeda trainer Ibn al-Libi to Cairo for torture, where he apparently confessed that Iraq had trained al-Qaeda members to make bombs. Bush then publicised this confession, as did Colin Powell to the UN, even though the Defense Intelligence Agency had already warned them that the confession was unreliable.

Williams details torture by the US military and the US police, by US allies overseas, and in US prisons, jails and detention facilities in the USA and abroad. The US state uses torture methods like stun guns, stun belts, pepper sprays, restraints, rape and the threat of rape, `supermax facilities' and solitary confinement. The US state promotes torture in its training programmes, for example in the `Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation', formerly called the School of the Americas.

Williams reveals the US state as a machine of coercion, of organised violence - represented by armed bodies of men, the police, armed services, prisons - designed to subjugate the will of others by force. Williams proves that "The product of torture is not truth, but terror. Its strategy is not that of objective investigation, but of political intimidation."

Too many facts, not enough analysis.......2006-05-18

Kristian Williams is to be commended for thoroughly documenting our use of torture, both outside and within our own borders, and for showing that it is neither a series of isolated incidents, as the official line goes, nor foreign to our culture.

That being said, however, he documents more than he really needs to in order to make his case, to the obvious detriment of the analysis that should follow. This is unfortunate, since initial outrage turns to numbness and a nagging feeling that something is missing.

Although, he rather ominously announces at regular intervals that he will soon analyze the facts he lists and pull them together into a comprehensive discussion, he never really gets there, not even in the last chapter, entitled "Conclusion", where we are treated to some vague and rather silly statements about torture as an instrument of state power and the need to do away with said state.

Shades of Mittel Europa in the late 19th and early 20th century, I thought, and certainly not a useful concept for the USA, a country of undisciplined, state-phobic people if ever there was one.

More useful concepts to explain our use of torture, to my way of thinking, would include the deep-seated tribal and primitive urges at the core of our identity as Americans. So torture as an instrument of power, yes, but individual power, as in the alpha male who ruthlessly suppresses any challenge, perceived or real, to his supremacy. Also, why are we, as a people, so insecure and fearful, which all too often leads us to brutal overreaction?

This is a useful "just the facts ma'am" type of book, then, but a coherent, meaningful analysis of those facts will sadly have to be left to another author and another day.

The Constitutional Logic of Affirmative Action

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The Constitutional Logic of Affirmative Action
Ronald J. Fiscus
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Few issues are as mired in rhetoric and controversy as affirmative action. This is certainly no less true now as when Ronald J. Fiscus’s The Constitutional Logic of Affirmative Action was first published in 1992. The controversy has, perhaps, become more charged over the past few years. With this compelling and rigorously reasoned argument for a constitutional rationale of affirmative action, Fiscus clarifies the moral and legal ramifications of this complex subject and presents an important view in the context of the ongoing debate.
Beginning with a distinction drawn between principles of compensatory and distributive justice, Fiscus argues that the former, although often the basis for judgments made in individual discrimination cases, cannot sufficiently justify broad programs of affirmative action. Only a theory of distributive justice, one that assumes minorities have a right to what they would have gained proportionally in a nonracist society, can persuasively provide that justification. On this basis, the author argues in favor of proportional racial quotas—and challenges the charge of “reverse discrimination” raised in protest in the name of the “innocent victims” of affirmative action—as an action necessary to approach the goals of fairness and equality.
The Constitutional Logic of Affirmative Action focuses on Supreme Court affirmative action rulings from Bakke (1976) to Croson (1989) and includes an epilogue by editor Stephen L. Wasby that considers developments through 1995. General readers concerned with racial justice, affirmative action, and public policy, as well as legal specialists and constitutional scholars will find Fiscus’s argument passionate, balanced, and persuasive.

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