1990 Books

I was more than a little leery coming into this book knowing Mr. Glantz worked for Pacifica. I was afraid I might find a one-sided diatribe about how the U.S. invasion and the government is terrible and what a horrible crime the invasion was, but what I found was a balanced look at the situation and firsthand account from some Iraqis on how the invasion and occupation have affected them.

One of the telling moments of this book for me was when Mr. Glantz talks about having problems with his editors only wanting stories that paint a certain kind of picture of the Iraqi situation. With U.S. media this is so often the problem; a story will be bent depending upon the people reporting the stories own political leanings rather than the unvarnished truth. So often the Right and Left are pulling so hard that the story, which is actually somewhere in the Middle, gets lost, and the people who end up getting hurt are the victims (Iraqis) and the people who are relying on these reports to understand the situation and make informed decisions based on this information (U.S. citizens).

Mr. Glantz chronicles the failures of this administration and military leaders to understand the peoples they came to free. As I read his interviews with everyday Iraqis a picture emerges that should have been seen early on this occupation. Iraqis were happy the Americans toppled this mostly hated regime, but this enthusiasm would only go so far. It would only last so long. As the U.S. military continued to commit excesses and as life on the ground for ordinary Iraqis either deteriorated or remained the same, as under Saddam, that patience and enthusiasm wore thin until finally it broke.

As the U.S. broke every rule of fighting a counter-insurgency in Iraq, I have to ask myself what did they expect would be the result of this policy? What did they expect Iraqis with no jobs, no money and no prospects to do?

Here in the U.S. we too often forget about those we have chosen "liberate" and only focus on ourselves. Mr. Glantz gives us an Iraqi perspective that is sorely missed in our media today. He gives us a fair portrait of life in Iraq and for that he should be thanked. It is the stories from the Middle that are the most honest and important.

Mr. Glantz's book reads like a narrative of many of the events in Iraq told through experiential stories of conversations with every day Iraqi's. Mr. Glantz visits Iraq and travels through out the country talking with people about America in Iraq and how the Iraqi's he is talking to view the United States presence in Iraq.

Mr. Glantz is careful to paint the picture in 2005 as a loss for the United States. This is prior to any with drawl of American forces in the region, and demonstrates a bias noting the leveling of Fallujah and the picking of a fight with al-Sadr as mistakes the United States government undertook.

There is also an interesting perspective that isn't addressed in this book and that troubles me the most about Iraq and the discussion about the hardships of the average Iraqi in general. These perspectives in this book miss them completely.

In Iraq, you have a country that has known only war and destruction for over 20 years. From a societal perspective, if you had skills, and were not in the weapons making business you did your best to leave Iraq. The brain-drain in Iraq has hurt the Iraqi people more than any single cultural factor and rightly so.

Saddam has brutalized the Iraqi people until 2003 when the United States showed up and liberated the country from Saddam. The country suffered a horrible war against Iran where millions of people died and there were terrible exchanges of chemical weapons and all these horrible things happened to people in this country. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis disappeared in the Middle of the Night as they may have been considered political dissidents. Their mass graves prove that a terrible tragedy has been committed against the Iraqi people.

Given this unique circumstance, unique to the history of the world, the Americans have come to assist in the rebuilding of the country. When Saddam's regime disappeared, there were many plays for power in the local and regional governments. The United States made some difficult choices in the newly emerging democratic state and those choices were not supposed to be popular or easy decisions to be made.

While the author is quick to criticize the US Civilian contractors in Iraq who have not had a perfect record that meets American standards in terms of production, the author misses a broader point. The local corruption of the Iraqi's and the sectarian strife associated with the vacuum left by Saddam's removal make companies like Bectel and Halliburton the logical choice even given the challenges.

It fails to address the non Iraqi nationals flowing into the country and the inability of the sovereign Iraqi government to control its own borders as though America is supposed to be viewed as occupiers by the Average Iraqi when Syrians and Iranians are coming into their country to spread hate and violence and sabotage their own oil infrastructure.

The apathy created by all those years of destruction creates problems for many Iraqi's and villages. It creates problems of trust. This book gives a very human perspective on some of those perspectives but should be taken into the context that although the United States is responsible for the removal of Saddam Hussein, the assumption of the United States government has been that freed people would rise to their own occasion and commit to their own civil service projects with their own money. This has not happened effectively in Iraqi due to the brain-drain. Saddam often killed smart people. It was a control mechanism of the old régime.

Let us hope that this problem can resolve itself over the next few years, as this is not a problem that Mr. Glantz can take out of context of a few months. The historical precedents for this are rare if any and if you make comparisons to Germany and Japan, they did not have the Brain-Drain as we do in Iraq. That being said the Iraqi's were sovereign and operational with in a shorter time than either of those two countries. The Iraqi's in 2007 appear to be developing a sound oil policy for the entire world, which will help with oil companies and investment dollars.

The Americans will come home eventually, when their job is done. Perhaps the Iraqi people should worry more about their own security now that they have control of their own country and the ability to have their own elections. The war is not lost by America. It was won. Saddam is gone. That was public law and the goal. The rest of the pros and cons are the United States doing Iraq a favor. Reconstruction is the American people doing their best to help the Iraqi's help themselves. That is hard to do with militants from other countries crossing the border and attempting to kill you in Iraq just because you are an American. What Mr. Glantz isn't talking about is Arab on Arab, Muslim on Muslim violence which isn't there because Saddam is not in power anymore-- there is a different social reason for that and I'm afraid that Mr. Glantz wasn't too fair in his book for addressing those cultural aspects on the ground level between Iraqi's.

America has learned from those kinds of issues when we had millions of decent Americans fight for their civil rights. There were riots, massacres, violence, civil strife, and best of all heroes that came out of that. We are a great society because we were able to overcome our differences in many ways and have the ability to see each other as Americans and secularize our society. There was a lot of blood shed, involvement with National Guards, the Klu Klux Clan, and all kinds of other clashes between groups in this country. Ultimately it can be defined as great because if Mr. Glantz was writing the same kind of history about the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960's he would have called it a loss before it was really over...

Mr. Glantz, give those processes of democracy a chance and provide a better forum to show the Iraqi's how to do that. America is great because we were able to do it... we have the Stewardship to show Iraqis how to do it too. They can because they are human beings. They have a chance because Saddam and his brutes are no longer in power. That is the decent thing for Americans to do...

If that means eliminating Sadr in the political process through violent means, he is not a peaceful man. He should not be hiding in his Mosques taking shots at Americans like a coward behind those walls. He should show his followers a better way. He should lead them in a peaceful process to reform the politics of his newly formed country. Sunnis and Shiites have more in common than they are different and in that they should build their common framework for a new Iraqi society. Start by making the neighborhoods safe again. Take the violent criminals off the street...just as all civil societies do. Help secure the borders and eliminate corruption in your organization.

Mr. Glantz should not pick on Halliburton or George Bush and the Administration. Pick on the Iraqi's for not doing what they need to do now in this time of transition for their better way of life. I realize this is not ever the dream of the 'Hate America First Crowd', however, let us at least level the playing field.

Let us talk about some Iraqi heroes who are fighting for justice and freedom in their country for their compatriots...not about some folks who focus thier misfortune on the USA. That's always an easy scapegoat that fails to address some real purriahs in Iraq.

Glanz shows in a progressive manor, through Iraqi opinions how things spun out of control. He shows occurances that have been well hidden. Long before the Abu Ghraib debacle, there were injustices that lead up to copmplete frustrated as illustrated by the Iraqi opinions. He does present things as he witnesses them and tries to offer no opinion, but there are some stories that are gut wrenching, and he admits that he cried often. That is the part I liked the best.

Glantz punctures both left and right in this balanced analysis of what has gone wrong in Iraq. A powerful story that should be required reading for politicians and political groupies of all leanings.

Aaron Glantz, a Pacifica radio correspondent, painstakingly traces where and how the United States repeatedly messed up in Iraq. His title radically differs from other books on the subject, using multiple sources to deliver one of the most multidimensional and sophisticated critiques of Iraq.

Specifically, he talks to the Iraqi people themselves to get their own perspectives on this event. Not surprisingly, they were initially skeptical of his intentions, but he built up enough trust to produce this book. It is disturbing that talking to the Iraqi people themselves is considered a radical action.

Saddam Hussein was this infamous tyrant who appeared uninterested in his own people's well being so they were happy to get rid of him--until they also lost what basic services which they had been previously receiving. Glantz then writes that suicide bombings can be profitable for people who have been and are receiving little money otherwise in an allegedly rebuilt Iraq (pp. 119-120).

Because I predominantly receive my own news about Iraq (and the Middle East) from American news media, I had not previously considered the economic incentives to participate in a suicide bombing. Some people are participating in these activities to feed themselves and/or their families, with many other options currently unavailable. I had honestly assumed that the people who participated in these events were doing this for socioreligious sincerity alone; however I guess it's easy for Washington officials to moralize and grandstand when they don't have to worry about their own children starving.

Glantz also critiques us on the left for getting too in love with protesting against this very war. According to him, we are loosing perspective of the larger goal, again because we are also predominantly coming from and with an American-centric perspective.

While we need to be concerned what is happening with American soldiers and tax dollars, we cannot forget that the Iraqi people might lack even the most rudimentary services which we take for granted. We talk about how hard organizing is, but many American activists (myself included) live in a country where we know that sanitation and electricity is working and we do not have to worry about roadside bombs as we travel around our cities. Perspective is everything in and to effective community organizing.

There is considerable irony that President Bush and the Republican-controlled United States Government are so eager to talk about self-rule and democracy, but will not let the Iraqi people actually control their own lives.

This book has been my savior I reccommend it to anyone even remotely interested in a PHd or a PsyD in clinical psychology you wont be dissapointed

I carefully followed this book's recommendations throughout the entire application process. I applied to eleven APA accredited doctoral programs in clinical psychology and was accepted at EIGHT of them! The book's detailed suggestions were tremendously helpful and probably contributed to this remarkable outcome. However, I found it important to use other sources of information as well, since some data in the book is inaccurate. Inadequate information on how to select the "best-fit" school from among multiple offers was the book's greatest shortcoming. P.S. Don't worry about typing the application forms - just use very neat printing or handwriting. Type everything else, however.

Everything you'd want to know about grad school is all in this one source. This book includes everthing you'd want to know about applying to graduate schools (overall acceptance rates, whether an advanced degree helps, what graduate schools consider to be important). However, rather than presenting the author's advice and opinions, the information is compiled from empirical research studies which adds much credibility to the information provided. Very helpful, is also the comprehensive guide of all APA approved combined, clinical and counselling psych programs. Provided are such things as scales indicating how clinically or research oriented a program is, the theoretical orientations of the faculty, what percentage of students are accepted into APA internships, the GPA and GRE cutoffs, number of applications received and number admitted, percentage of students receiving financial aid, percentage who hold advanced degrees, percentage of women and minorities, average years to completion of the program as well as research and clinical oppurtunities available. This book is very helpful in providing you with a general idea of what programs you may want to look into further, however the information doesn't always seem to be 100% accurate, therefore you may want to investigate further rather than accept all the information as factual.

This book gave me a realistic look at what it takes to get into a Ph.D. Program in psychology and how to go about getting what I needed. I have recommended this book to many others because most books on this subject only give you statistics of different schools- how many students they accept, what the average GPA is of someone who is accepted. THis book is much more practical and step by step.

For anyone interested in clincal or counseling graduate study, this book is essential. These areas are extremely competitive and one cannot go into the process "blind." The general APA guide can be useful, but it covers many areas and mainly gives the basic facts on all programs. On the other hand, this book is very specialized. It gives information on the programs, but also includes invaluable information relevant to clinical and counseling psychology training. It has information on the programs, but also tells you how to prepare yourself, so you get in to those programs.

I am interested in clinical health psychology and this book was a great help. It has a useful index of programs by subject area. It also has a self-rating from programs about how strongly they emphasize research or clinical practice. It is essential to find schools that will provide you with the experiences you are looking for.

Overall, this book will help you find programs that suit your needs and maximize your potential for getting accepted to them!

I cannot say it any better than the many other reviewers who have indicated that this is the "bible" of camera collecting references! Exhaustive references, historic information, pictures, auction selling prices, the "whole nine yards!"

The only camera reference book better than this one is Jim McKeown's next edition!

Jim McKeown's books are the most comprehensive sources of accurate information on cameras in the world. Period. Other books may give more information on specific cameras, but if you are to have but one source to refer to,choose McKeown. He will never disappoint you.
Another wonderful camera expert and writer (they don't always go together) is Ivor Matanle. His two books are treasures. But if you want facts, go with McKeown. You will return over and over to his book. Speaking face to face with him is most rewarding. You realize you are learning from one of the world authorities.
Wonderful pictures, camera values (prices) rarity,etc. This book contains cameras even experts haven't heard about. But McKeown is the expert of experts, and you will keep this large,heavy, over 900 page book near just for the fun of reading it. Am I enthused? Yes! I have bought his books since the 4th edition in 1983-84, and always been pleased.
A lengthy review? Yes, but this book deserves much praise!

My McKeown's price guide has been an invaluable tool in selling old camera's at online auction sites. It not only gives you a solid idea of what a camera is worth, but it many cases it gives you some history and background as well.

There are pictures of almost every camera listed to help you identify your exact model, and it explains in detail the difference between similar models.

I can't think of anything that could be added to make this a more complete pricing guide.

I use this book often, I have found that in addition to the obveous use (prise guide) there is a fair amount of history that helped with research. Contains much useful information.

I have had the pleasure of owning (and still own) the 1976 Guide To Antique Cameras by Mckeown. It has been many years since then and the price for a guide has really risen. As an Antique dealer I found myself getting interested in collectible cameras once again. I knew I needed a guide and reviewed a 1996 copy a friend owned my McKeowen and was convinced this is the one to own. My library consists of at least 200 books on Antiques and 50 price guides on Art, Jewelry, clothing, Orientalia to name a few. I hesitated at the price for this guide, but after reasearching the options I knew this was the concise price guide for me. I own it and am happy I chose it and it makes me MONEY just owning it. I have 30 years of Amatuer collecting and selling under my belt and I really don't need a price guide just my wits, (that's what I told myself) but it just makes it soooo easy to reinforce my experience with a reference and value basis for my risks. Leica III,a,b,c,g, Mentor Reflex, Zeiss-Ikon Miroflex, Robot 35mm, Hasselblad, Kodak Field Cameras, Sept 35mm camera projector, TDC 3d projector & Nikon Cameras are a few of the cameras I have used this informational price guide in evaluating.

This book is valuable for anyone interested in the debates about justice, but particularly for readers of Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account Of The Death Penalty In The United States. I also advise reading Debbie Morris' Forgiving the Dead Man Walking: Only One Woman Can Tell the Entire Story, and the Bourgue family's Dead Family Walking: The Bourque Family Story of Dead Man Walking, both written by victims of the murderers for whom Helen Prejean was such an eloquent advocate. This is not as appealing as Dead Man Walking, not as warm and fuzzy, but it is an unflinching, indeed horrific, look at the reality of murder and vicious cruelty.

I believe that if we, as a society, release someone whom we have good reason to believe is dangerous, we are responsible for future acts of violence. Not as a responsible as we are for executing an innocent person, but still bearing a burden of guilt. What I like best about the book is that he talks about the reasons that keep me from accepting the abolition of the death penalty. Varnado points out that the arguments that are advanced against the death penalty could, with slight editing, be advanced against any punishment; at 53, I can remember when they were. Executing the murderer doesn't bring back the victim, but neither does anything else. Many of the leaders of the abolition movement, currently begging us to be content with life-without-parole (LWoP), are the same people who have been opponents of any long-term imprisonment. I don't think that we would have LWoP if we didn't have a death penalty. Given the arguments against three-time loser laws, will people who don't accept LWoP for three felonies, even if they are all violent, continue to support LWoP for a murder, however heinous? I think they'd revert to their earlier and more sincere opinions.

It's not an easy question. The legal system is simultaneously too harsh and too soft. Innocent people have been convicted. Chills go down my spine when mayors, governors, etc., announce that heads will roll if someone isn't accused within 48 hours. "Testilying", i.e., false information by the police, is apparently all too common, but the defense is no better. Obviously our legal system is not too concerned about public safety: convicts are given probation, violate it, and are simply given probation again. I hear horrifying tales of the carelessness of parole boards.

I have also come to think less of Helen Prejean, the more I know about her. I finished Dead Man Walking not convinced, but with great respect for her. As she has become more famous, and more information is available, it has become clear that she feels her cause justified lying and general carelessness with the truth. As Varnado and Debbie Morris point out, she simply accepted what Willie told her without any investigation. It was fine as his spiritual advisor to deal with the world as he saw it, but when she crossed the line into legal advocate and author, such sloppiness became irresponsible. Further, she apparently was knowingly telling a lie when she claimed Willie was remorseful. Not only did he contradict her in his own interview, but Debbie Morris told us that she admitted that she didn't think he was capable of remorse. She has now written a book about people who were supposedly innocent of the crimes for which they were executed; I suppose that I will read it, but at this point, I wouldn't take her word for it. She has co-founded a program for victims, but as Varnado points out, she remains extremely insensitive to them as individuals. Her prayer condemning the participants in an execution, including the victim's parents, is a case in point. She topped this off by not considering how they would feel about appearing in her book, let alone the movie! She's great at touching apologies, but they only mean something if one tries to do better.

Readers concerned about valuing the murderer over the victims may also be interested in reading The Victim's Song by Alice Kaminsky; Yale Murder by Peter Meyer; and The Killing of Bonnie Garland: A Question of Justice by Willard Gaylin.

Victims of Dead Man Walking has been the most difficult, tear-jerking, enraging, must read I have come across. Ever. This brutal rape and murder happened not far from my home, and Faith's memory is still well within the minds and hearts of people all over our area. She was a beautiful, smart, 18 year old young lady who had the world within her reach on graduation day. But a cruel, unrelenting Robert Willie and Joseph Vaccaro, both of them boasting about a life of crime without remorse, stole Faith Hathaway away from this earth. They raped her repeatedly, stabbed her until the gaping wounds nearly severed her head, and left her to die alone in Fricke's Cave, only to be discovered 8 days later by a then 25 year old whip detective Mike Varnado. Hollywood doesn't want you to know these things. They would rather you believe that a then 24 year old "Matthew Poncelet" (a dead ringer for Robert Willie if there ever was one), who received the death penalty by electric chair, became a remorseful repentant man when he met his fate. Nothing of the sort ever occured. His partner in crime, Joseph Vaccaro, sits this day in a federal penitentiary still serving out his sentence for yet another crime, the rape and kidnapping of a "16 year old from Madisonville".

This book is so very well written it feels as though Detective Mike is speaking to you personally. He makes it easy, while terrifying, to put yourself in his shoes, countless sleepless nights after discovering Faiths swollen, nude, decomposing body in the once family oriented Fricke's Cave. You can feel the anger rise up from the pages from a very cruel young man who boasted of his murders, who never showed remorse, but loved the attention he gained from the spectacle of a nun and the television news. After the book DMW and movie of the same name, the real story of Faith Hathaway was nearly forgotten until Detective Mike brought forth the true details of the crime. One need not be pro nor con death penalty to learn valuable lessons and true facts of Faith Hathaway. After speaking with Faith's mother personally, I learned that Mrs. Harvey (Faith's mother) asked Tim Robbins (DMW director) to at least visit the area of Fricke's Cave where her daughter was left to die. Mr. Robbins response was "I don't have the time". Please - make the time for this book, the REAL story of the Victims of Dead Man Walking. These words by Detective Mike will make you a litttle wiser to the facts of this young girl, the trial that followed, and could very well give you the knowledge to save your own life one day.

So often today we find the victim and family of an horrific crime victimized the second time. When I read an excerpt of "Dead Man Walking" and then saw who was directing and starring in the movie version I realized that this cruelty was being visited upon the family of Faith Hathaway. I have always had my doubt about the death penalty however the writers have a very valid point about the alternative punishment: life without parole. As long as the murderer is alive there is a chance of commutation of sentence (the removal of a mandatory sentence makes an inmate eligible to be considered for parole) or an outright pardon. After researching the number of commutations allowed in the past I now realize that, with great deliberation, there still is a place for the death penalty.

I lived in the area when this tragic, senseless, and incredibly brutal rape & murder took place near my hometown. Friends and relatives worked the case, and the entire area mourned the loss of Faith Hathaway as the peaceful innocence and sense of safety in our rural area was forever shattered.
The wounds were re-opened when Dead Man Walking came out. It was a slap in the face of everything good and true. It was an incredibly cruel blow to Faith's family, who deserved so much better after the tragic loss of their daughter.
Thank you Mike for setting the record straight, for honoring Faith's memory.

I read the book "Forgiving The Dead Man Walking" by Debbie Morris, who was also kidnapped and raped by Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro. Debbie lived to tell the story in her own words... I highly recommend it for those of you who care about this topic.

This is an illuminating book about unheralded Army Civil Affairs teams in Iraq and Afghanistan and their heroic endeavors to improve life for the townspeople. Their everyday efforts are the personification of commitment and grit. I was saddened to read in another review about the death of Staff Sgt. Robert Paul in Kabul, whose portrayal in the book is so memorable. The book contains some distracting editing and proofreading lapses, but they aren't enough to diminish its value. Kudos to Rob Schultheis for bringing these outstanding soldiers to our attention.

As a Civil Affairs (CA) operator from the 1st rotation (2003-2005), I have been disheartened by the media's portrayal of the war in Iraq, the US soldiers and overall "fair and honest" reporting. I heard about this book at a drill weekend in late 2005 as it made quite a buzz around the drill hall of a CA unit (not the book's unit). I thought the author was fair and honest. I had a few "ouch that hurt for us" moments, but overall I thought he portrayed what CA does well and the actions of this CAT-A could represent many of our experiences as well. I purchased the book for my civilian boss, as a way to answer his question: "what is it that you do in the Army."

As I prepare for my 2nd deployment to Iraq, I'm often asked about my military job and I always respond with "you have to read Waging Peace. It will give you a great prespective about what CA does."

A must read for anyone interested in:
* knowing more about CA.
* hearing about what the US Army is trying to do (NO we don't just kick in doors!)
* understanding the frustrations, elations, depression and joy of being a US Army Civil Affairs Soldier in a combat zone.

This book came out before people generally understood the nation building aspect of the U.S. mission in Iraq so I think it's gotten missed. I think people should see this in the newstands and book stores again like it was a new release because where people weren't ready for this information in 2005, I think they are now in 2007 as the Bush admin talks more now about nation building and moves away from talk about conquest.

Excellent book, excellent illustration of the issues we are FINALLY seeing in the main stream news about Iraq.

Our invasion of Iraq was part of an effort to bring stability and democracy to the region, to build an area where terrorists could not train or get support, where people solved their problems through talking it out. This is going to require good governments and strong economies -- and to have those Iraq will need an infrastructure.

Waging Peace relates the story of a small team of Army soldiers who carry a big burden in their operating area: restore water, sewer, schools, electricity and trash pick-up. Plus, build better relations with the government, the mosques, and the police. Oh, yeah, and the gun slingers are not going to give you much security, if any.

Especially right after the invasion, most of our effort in rebuilding Iraq came from Army Civil Affairs -- before the State Department and International Agencies really got started on the big projects. These Civil Affairs teams were critical to the impression that the Iraqis had of us.

Rob Schultheis does a great job of telling the story of one small team. Thing is, he could write two or three more books on the same subject and they would be different -- because each team and each neighborhood is so different. This team was a great one and their story is interesting. Major Clark and Sergeant Paul are true heroes to Iraqis and Americans.

Okay, so i am in the book, but I can still remain objective. Most military books I have read deal with specific combat operations or tactics as that seems to be what people expect when they think of the military. Like going to go and blow up a bridge or something.

There are a lot of people in the military and most of those that serve have jobs other than combat operations. It is interesting to read about a military job that specifically does not use combat operations in a hostile military environment to acheive military goals. Like going to go and repair a bridge or something.

I just missed the vietnam draft and bearing that in mind, probably was in my late thirties the next time there was a war to fight in. I always wondered what the military experience was like, and I feel that this book was an excellent window viewing into that experience. It was a very quick read, exciting and interesting. I definitely reccommend it.

My Infantryman (son) returned last month from the war in Iraq, and was thrilled at touching down on U.S. soil, full of hyperactive banter about a layover in Ireland where he went into an airport pub, yet he was curiously quiet, if you can picture that. Then he arrived at Fort ______, home base, and I asked him on the phone if he was ecstatic, and he seemed to mean it when he said, "Hell yeah!" He chattered about all the things he was going to do. But it wasn't a week later that I found him frustrated, growling, saying he'd rather be back in Iraq. He laid out a few short, sweet reasons, too. This from a young man (he turned 20 over there) who has made up his mind not to re-enlist, even though he's wanted to be a "soldier" since he was four.

Now when he comes home on leave next week, if he seems changed, out-of-sorts...maybe even out of sorts with ME...I'll understand, and be equipped not to make that be about ME. So thank you, Lieutenant Friedman. I strictly bought your book for the title, because it seemed to be about my son.

Outside of what I needed (and got) from it personally...wonderful book! Except for Catch 22, Slaughterhouse Five, and maybe you could count EXODUS (Leon Uris), I am no reader/seeker of war books, but I couldn't put this one down. It's fast-paced, exciting, as readable as a great novel. Riveting, sometimes upsetting...but without beating a drum, it SHOWS you what you might not have considered about THIS WAR, and all war, and your loved ones who are (or might become) soldiers in a war.

There was a time or two when I wanted to smack our young protagonist upside his head, but I think the author knows this. And there was the time I closed the book and laid it down for several minutes, because I had to bawl hard out loud. (Am glad I was by myself for that, so I could give it all I had once and for all.)

Ya might wanna read "The War I Always Wanted" with a pencil handy, to keep from bracketing your favorite sections with a pen. There are vital, living, eternal things in here, that you'll want to read again and remember. With America at war (so we're told, although I often look around and wonder), "The War I Always Wanted" is reading I recommend for everybody, without exception. Don't worry! Nothing dry here. It's a story. You'll enjoy it.

Brandon has a unique story telling gift that is to be treasured. I am an OEF veteran and I felt I was in his shoes at the precise times he describes. I had many of the same fears and emotions and connected with him through the book. Once I picked it up I did not put it back down till I was done.

This first-person account of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq was fascinating and informative. However, what really struck me was the quality of the writing. Even if you're only marginally interested in the subject matter, get the book for the prose. It reads better than many novels. This guy has a brilliant future as an author. I look forward to his next release, whatever the subject.

One of two war books I have read since the DMZ in Vietnam, this book gets the distinction between preconceived notions of war and the experience of war. The times that can be emotional if we allow them to, and the experience of one of the most alive times one can experience, is captured in this book in a way I could never have expressed myself--and I've tried. This one truly "gets it". Strongly recommended!

Surprisingly, my library system got this book from Vancouver Public Library for me. I would suggest those who yearning for Lenin try your library system. The out-of-print copies may hide in libraries. I am on my way with the author from Siberia to Central Asia. The writing style is as similar as that of A Fortuneteller, and as enjoyable and as readable. I also got Tiziano's early book Giai Phong! The Fall and Liberation of Saigon (1976) from the library system.

I have never read a book that I have been unable to put down, and upon finishing - picked up a pencil, flipped back to page 1 and started again, underlining as I went. I have read the book 4 times now. Terzani is a brilliant and extreemly knowlegable writer who has embraced his love for SE Asia and put it to words so brilliantly. For me, a young Italian traveller living in Bangkok - this book is unsurpassable for ANYBODY who has visited South East Asia and fallen in love with it's charming and heart-warming character (excluding Singapore - Of course!). PLEASE contact me anybody is able to get copies of China: Behind the Forbidden Door, or Goodnight Mr Lenin.

Like one of the other people who wrote in, I too have not yet read Goodnight, Mister Lenin. I have just finished reading A Fortune Teller Told Me and it's been the first book in a long time where I wanted to read every single word rather than just scan through. Tiziano writes as if he is speaking, and this, together with his travels and constant search for answers which lead him on a colourful and fascinating journey, left me looking for more of his books. Mr Terzani you're a gem, thank you for sharing.

I think it is great book because it gives you an open window on the facts. It is obvious that in some way T.T. gives his opinion about the facts, but you also got all the space to try and imagine yours. In some situations I disagreed with his way of interpreting things, and this is the wonderful thing. Trough his eyes I've developed a critical vision about certain situations that came in depht to my attention thanks to his book. I agree with the idea that taxi driver or political leaders are not a onest and complete mirror of the state of things (talking for some minutes with these categories of citizen it is obviously not the same that would be living in a local family for a few years, but when you now it...), but they still are a contact with the community and for this pieces of local colture wherein you can read something. I didn't feel that this book want to be the "truth" about Soviet Union disgregation, it is just a great reportage.

Just wanted to chime in my two cents on "Fortune-Teller"--I've lived and travelled in Asia for the last 3 years, and Terzani's book is the only travel writing I've read that opened my eyes to ways of thinking outside the norm, the mundane, the Lonely Planet view of the world. Extremely worth seeking out.

Naturally, this leads me to wanting to read "Goodnight Mister Lenin", if it can be found. Anyone with a dogeared copy laying around, please let me know!

Excellent resource!!! I found it useful at work the first day I
received it.

The item was just as described. Very fast shipping. Would do business with again. Thank you!

This book is a great refrences book for medical staff professionals. I work in a hospital and when ever I need to find out dosing, stability ,or even description of a intravenous medication it's in this book. Also this book tells you all about how to store IV medication properly. This book really helps me alot. It's also a great resources for pharmacy school as well.

I am a pharmacist with the Cleveland Clinic and need to have a reliable, thorough, and handy reference available at all times. This book is one of the best resources I have come by thus far in my career. It is a must have! Quick and easy look up to a wealth of organized information. All hospital pharmacists should not go without it!

As a hospital pharmacist, this is the book I have at my side at all times. Gives important information on infusion rates, stability, and usual dosages and concentrations. This information can be found elsewhere of course but I have been accustomed to looking here first.

Mackeys Book "Lebanon A House Divided" gives an excellent easy
over view of the problems that have recked the Country for so
many years. A great read, May the Country of Lebanon find PEACE inside
its own borders.

This is the third book i read from Sandra Mackey (the Saudis and The Iranians are the other two).And this is another fantastic work for her.I love the clarity and well explained manner in which she explore the nation that is Lebanon and this is not an easy task.When you finish reading this book you have a very good understanding of the situation in Lebanon.As usual she describes every major political party and organization involved as well as the mindset of the people of Lebanon.Also she gives a great explanation as to the ramifications and involvement of other countries as the war rages in Lebanon.Just an excellent work!

Sandra writes a great book about the complex and interesting vectors that have to be understand and known to even start to comprehend the many factors that together make LEBANON.
I use this book as a constant reference for the Lectures on Middle East that I give to universities.

For someone who ignores basic concepts of the lebanese sectarian society as I was, this should be the book to start with.

Sandra Mackey detaily explains aspects of lebanese society prior and during the civil war, starting by the basics and inducing us into concepts a non-lebanese could not understand otherwise.

I mostly found impartial such a book (maybe slightly pro-muslim , as much as " From Beirut to Jerusalem, much less than "Pity the Nation") and maybe it would be one of the few books I would be willing to read again...

On this occasion I purchased "A mirror of the Arab world: Lebanon in conflict" by the same author, hoping it will be as good as "Lebanon: A House Divided".

This book does a great job completely describing Lebanon before the civil war and everything leading up the war. I didn't know very much at all about the folks living there but Sandra does a great job describing the background of the people (The Muslim and Christian factions). I also had no idea about the involvment of Israel and Palestine.

I won't lie though, parts of the book are dry and probably go into too much detail. While I did enjoy reading the majority of the book, I actually did fall asleep while reading it once. Still, I would recommend this book

The Story of Meena is a remarkable one of love and dedication to the women of Afhanistan. Meena gave her all for them by creating a human rights movement that continues to this day. They are the USA's best defense against terrorism, teaching democracy and human rights to the many orphans of Afghanistan. Her life is one to be remembered and honored, and this book will give you insight into the difficulities the Afghani people have gone through, and the strength of women we don't hear about on the news. A must read indeed.

I also feel it was beautifully written and it is a book you won't want to put down.

All the profits go to the many orphanages they have established to teach love compassion and democracy to the future people, the children.

I was interested in this story, and hopeful of learning about the struggle of women in Afghanistan........certainly the story is a remarkable one, but the writing is so stilted, awkward, often repetitive, and overly simplistic that it was a chore to slog through the book. Each paragraph tends to be a little vignette, which never leads smoothly into the next paragraph, so that one feels like one is jolting over a bumpy road, rather than reading a narrative story. I was particularly disappointed, given that Alice Walker wrote the forward, and based on this, I was expecting a more pleasurable read. I would have thought that the editors might have helped improve the readability.

So, while I would consider this an important story for both men and women to read, I think that this writer has not done Meena justice with this work. I wonder if another writer may at least be spurred to draft a more elegant biography, particularly given that Meena was a poet, she deserves a tribute with more poetic language.

In response o a review critizing the simplistic and "saccrinine" account of a martyer's life. ... Gandhi or Lincoln or ML King all had less than perfect lives, all the more human. But to stand UP, and be one to bear the hopes of, and the brunt of punishment of, an entire class of oppressed , demands that accounts be written to inspire, rather than demean. And further oppression those who do not have a voice ( as do professional reviewers ) is all the less to be tolerated.
because of these accounts.

Just an opinion

I don't think I have ever read a book as moving as the story of Meena and her life and formation of the feminist group RAWA, (Revolutionary Association for the women of Afghanistan.

This very young woman did so much, risking her life daily to change the face of war torn Afghanistan. Even after her young unexpected death, her mission of hope for a better future in Afghanistan lives on today. Her dream was that one day her beloved country would be in peace and that men and women could live equally. To this day, even after the destruction of the Taliban, Afghanistan and it's people suffer. When you read this book you will be amazed at how much this young woman accomplished in her life. It is unbelievable.

Many of us think of Afghanistan and muslims and we see the face of the enemy, Osama Bin Laden and the horrible Fundementalists that tore up their country. I think it should be required reading in the American schools and when we think of Afghanistan we should see the beautiful face of Meena, who believes in freedom, democracy and that everyone should be given a chance. I will never forget being touched by the life of Meena.

An incredible story about an incredible woman who has led many woman since in a quest for equality, justice and human rights in a country that has been war torn for 30+ years. Please read this book and follow the story of a true angel. One that worked to promote justice, fairness and liberty for her people in Afghanistan. The book is excellent, a quick and easy read. Feminists will not be disappointed. Every woman (and her daughter) should read this to be inspiried that the world belongs to them and they should not be dismayed by the circumstances they see and experience around them.