1990 Books

This book offers a good description of the preceedings leading to Namibia's independence. It highlights the obstacles faced in the establishment and effectiveness of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) from the point of view of one of its most influential members, John Ya-Otto. The writing style is compelling, so even though it is a detailed historical account, it is very readable.

This book is an excellent piece of scholarship. There was an ncredible amount of hype on all sides of the Iran-Contra scandal, but, with sound methodology and incredible research of letters sent to congressmembers, he seeks to reclaim the American voice during the period. He skewers Olliemania and Reagan's teflon coating, but only as the facts present it, and gives a wide array of opinion. This book is necessary for any good study of the period.

This book is quite simply one of the best ways to see a complete picture of what America is by way of poetry. Even though the selected poetry is obviously limited to the Before Columbus Foundation Book Awards, the selections are wonderful. This fact only validitates the necessity and power of the book series and the extremely woderful editing of the anthology. What's more, the editors take turns in introducing the poets and their poetry.

As someone who grew up in rural Utah, I did not readily take the opportunity to read a varied set of voices. When I bought this book while I was in the Army, I felt that I truly began my education in reading multi-cultural voices in poetry. I had heard names like Allen Ginsberg and Amiri Baraka (both included in this anthology) but suddenly I was reading Larry Neal, Ai, Etheridge Knight, Tato Laviera, and Jayne Cortez.

My favorite selections from this book are from the poets Larry Neal, Etheridge Knight, Amiri Baraka, and Frank Stanford. Each poem from these selections (and really the whole book) is powerful and essential to the education of Americans. My copy of this book is dog eared and worn because even after eight years I still read from it at least once a week. If you can get a copy of this book, do it.

"Before The Wall", by George Clare, Sub-titled, "Berlin Days, 1946-1948", Dutton, New York, October 1990.

This is short, well written record of the author's service as a translator and part of the British occupying forces in Berlin, directly after the Second World War. George Clare was born as Georg Klaar in Vienna before the Nazi take-over. As a young man, he saw the "Anschluss" and the end of Austria as an independent country. His father worked to get visas for emigration to the Republic of Ireland (the Irish Free State, as Mr. Clare then termed it), but things were fouled up and the family of father, mother and son were stuck in Nazi Germany's capital, Berlin. Clare uses this stay as a basis for comparison when he returns to bombed-out Berlin, after the war.

In a poignant passage, the author remarks on the lack of noise in cold and windy post-war Berlin, where once he had heard the noise and sounds of a busy city. Much of the front of the book is devoted to his memories of this bombed-out city becoming alive as he works in the British occupying forces. The details of simple breakfast, when the Berliners were going hungry (if not starving) and the details of the deference given a British uniform during a subway rush hour, mundane as it would seem, brings alive the occupation of Berlin. You had to be there to write out such recollections. Clare's writing is excellent.

Towards the end of the book, the author semi-analyzes Nazi Germany and its cousin state, Austria. He quotes Primo Levi in saying that the Germans were lacking the courage to speak out against the concentration camps. Clare speaks of Goethe and Schiller strolling the woods where "... the SS implanted the hell it called Buchenwald". (p. 275). Clare doubts that A. Hitler, in 1928, when he was dictating "Mein Kampf", "..could have had the Final Solution in his conscious mind", (p. 277) but, clearly, from the paragraphs just preceding, Clare shows, by recounting Hitler's acquiescence to the killing of 380 Jews, that Hitler knew what was happening. Read the book just for this section alone.

This is an excellent book, well written and a worthy personal story that documents the history of the few years between the end of the war and the building of wall.

I found this book many moons ago in a used book rack. Having recently re-read the volume I am again impressed by seeing a view of South Africa's efforts to halt communism in SW Africa/Namibia. Now that apartheid has ended officially, we the rest of the world can see the other side of life in the southern tip of Africa. Mr. Hooper's description of his time with Koevoet is both exciting and in-depth in his examination of the people conducting counter-insurgency against the communist supported SWAPO. A good, fast read that can allow the reader a chance to expand their knowledge of what attrocities were committed by forces in the name of "global marxism." Balance this work with recently released histories on American work against communism. You the reader can now decide with a more balanced view. Not just a war history but a look at why men fight for seemingly unjust causes.

This is the perfect book to teach middle school students not only about the Berlin Wall, but about the Cold War for which it serves as a metaphor. The author explains the background and concepts connected with the Wall in language adolescents can understand. Her prose flows smoothly and maintains the reader's interest throughout. The black and white photographs bring history to life with, for example, an image of an East German border guard leaping over rolls of barbed wire (which he probably had just helped install) to freedom in the West. This is a very good book.

Readers in grades 5-7 will find this 'New Perspectives' series addition stands alone as an excellent survey of history surrounding the Berlin Wall in general and Eastern Europe in particular. The Berlin Wall uses different viewpoints to tell of how the wall was built, how it affected the peoples' lives, and how it came down. Politics is clearly explained and explored.

very exciting book lots of flovor about the best book i have read in a long time very work reading

Berlin is definetely one of the greatest cities on Earth, filled whith the remains of awesome history, along with the modern tendencies, create a wonderful city filled with great architecture.

This book definetely shows all of this parts with great pictures of the prettiest places in Berlin.

This book is recommended to anyone that likes modern architecture.

"...the events which brought about the present deplorable situation (of the divided city of Berlin 120 miles behind the Iron Curtain) are almost impossible to comprehend except by persons familiar with all the facts... it is appropriate that Bill Conlan has undertaken the task of presenting the facts about Berlin in this narrative, which gives the reader an excellent insight into the lives of the people of Berlin, as well as a record of events which have transpired in the city since the final day of the Third Reich.

"He includes information on East Germany uner the Soviets...gives a vivid account of the infamous blockade of the city, and relates details of the heroic Allied Airlift which stymied the enemy...he shows how West Berlin remains a city of crises in the Cold War... Mr Conlan has written an absorbing book."