Economic-union Books

At a time when the Mexican-US border is rife with contention, one needs some inspiration for unity and dialogue. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Movement by Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval provides that inspiration. The book chronicles how Chavez, over almost a half-century of activism, used nonviolent tactics to promote unity among and justice for California's, and eventually the nation's, oppressed farm workers. Through his crusade, Chavez secured unionization for the US's farm workers and began the movement for Chicano rights. Although the book has its shortcomings, it offers a wonderful and inspiring picture of the farm worker's movement in the United States and Cesar Chavez's leading role.
Cesar Chavez's origins and experiences illuminate his later call to lead a nationwide movement. He was born Cesar Estrada Chavez on March 21, 1927 on his family's farm in Yuma, Arizona. There he lived an idyllic life learning the teachings of Catholicism until 1938 when the Great Depression forced the Chavez family to sell their land and move to California. There, Chavez experienced first-hand the brutal work, meager wages, and destitute conditions suffered by nonunionized migrant farm workers as well as the intense discrimination suffered by Chicanos. Chavez married Helen Fabela in 1948 and eventually settled in the impoverished barrio Sal Si Puedes ("Leave if you can.") in San Jose. In Sal Si Puedes, Chavez met two men who would become his greatest role models. Father Donald McDonnell taught Chavez the doctrines of Catholic Social Teaching, especially the labor-related encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. Fred Ross recruited Chavez to work advocating for Chicano rights with the Community Service Organization. In 1962, however, Chavez left CSO to devote himself to a lifelong dream inspired by his time as a farm laborer: unionizing migrant farm workers.
In 1962, shortly after leaving CSO, Chavez and his family moved to Delano, California, where built the National Farm Worker's Association from the ground up. In 1965, after three years of slowly collecting membership, the association voted to join members of the Agricultural Worker's Organizing Committee in a strike of California vineyards. Soon Chavez, most famously under the banner of the United Farm Workers Union (a merger of the NFWA and AWOC), became the leader of la causa, a nationwide movement for farm worker's rights. He, along with activists like Dolores Huerta, organized migrant farm workers in initiatives like the famous nationwide California table grape boycott of the late 1960's, the lettuce strikes of the 1970's, and the anti-pesticide grape boycott of the 1980's. Throughout his organizing, Chavez, still a devout Catholic strengthened by his family's and Father McDonnell's teachings, remained staunchly nonviolent, fasting whenever violence crept into picket lines. A proponent of creative nonviolent action, Chavez, well-trained by Fred Ross, organized ingenious tactics like praying where picketing was forbidden, holding mass perigrinaciones (pilgrimages) and even mailing squashed grapes to prominent politicians. Chavez also devoted time to political activism, securing the creation of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board in 1976. Further, inspired by the discrimination he faced as a child, he promoted Chicano culture (while always promoting unity among different farm worker nationalities) establishing newspapers like the Malcriado and theater initiatives like Teatro Campesino. Chavez was remembered fondly upon his death in 1993 as the focal point of the Chicano farm worker's movement.
Fight in the Fields, the companion volume to a television series of the same name, paints a wonderfully creative picture of Chavez's life and legacy. The narrative thoroughly details Chavez's life, from birth to untimely death. The book features hundreds of photographs from Chavez's life that provide a useful visual reference for readers and illuminate the suffering and challenges faced during la causa. The volume also features several insets that consist of actual documents and articles authored by people active in la causa, whether on Chavez's or the opposing side. They provide a firsthand look into the visceral feelings and opinions of those involved in the farm worker's movement and are interesting reads for history buffs, like myself, who are fascinated by contextual documents.
Fight in the Fields further succeeds by emphasizing the people in Chavez's life. Often, accounts of larger-than-life figures like Chavez focus on the figure him or herself and his or her magnanimous deeds. Little attention is paid to his or her influences or influence on others. Fight in the Fields features quotes from interviews with dozens of figures close to Chavez. The interviews of those who influenced Chavez really get to the heart of what drove him to action. In addition, the book profiles over a dozen organizers Chavez took under his wing. He loved to find young, poorly educated (though possessed of infinite creativity and potential) farm workers and presenting them with seemingly impossible challenges (as Ross had done for him). I thoroughly enjoyed the book's emphasis on these young organizers because it demonstrates that, with a little training and hard work, all can advocate for nonviolent change.
Despite its excellent qualities, Fight in the Fields has shortcomings. The narrative is often repetitive and almost always confusing. However, the book's content more than makes up for its poorly written narrative. Furthermore, the book leaves the reader on a negative note. The last quarter of the volume is entirely devoted to the difficulties the UFW experienced in the years before Chavez's death. Almost all of the young organizers Chavez honed left the union which itself faced many defeats in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The book emphasizes these defeats with a negative and dispiriting tone. I would rather have read more about the UFW's triumphs during this time or read the setbacks presented in a more positive tone.
Fight in the Fields left me with two conflicting emotions: inspiration and discouragement. The story of Chavez's ability to single-handedly build a union among transitory, oppressed workers who had no sense of their rights was inspiring. Chavez's story provided me with an example of success amongst impossible odds to look to when I encounter trouble with my initiatives on my college campus. My job is exponentially easier than Chavez's and his creativity and passion (along with the specific logistics of his organizing detailed in the book) motivated me. Furthermore, with the rift between white Americans and Chicanos and Mexican immigrants dug larger every day by contentious issues such as bilingual education and illegal immigration, learning about a movement that united Americans from all backgrounds to work on behalf of minority rights offered me a sense of hope. All should remember Cesar and his commitment to unity rather than division, friendship rather than hate, and dialogue rather than stony anger. However, the near-dissolution of the UFW before Chavez's death left me discouraged. The mass movement a charismatic leader devoted his life to creating easily began fragmented. How on earth can something I build in my spare time survive? The book has certainly led me to want to learn more about la causa and what went wrong at the end.
Fight in the Fields is, all and all, a good read for the aspiring activist. It provides creative inspiration in the story of Cesar Chavez, the man who turned his life's dream into la causa. If you are already interested in Chavez or, like I did, know nothing about him, this book paints a great picture of his life. However, beware the discouragement presented at the end.

"the fight in the fields" is an excellent biographical account of cesar chavez and the farmworkers movement. it's a must read for anyone interested in making a difference.

This is a well written book and is fun to read.

"The Fight in the Fields" compelled me to recognize that Cesar Chavez is arguably the greatest humanitarian in US history. He tirelessly and peacefully campaigned on behalf of underpaid and overworked farmworkers and migrants who were forced to toil amidst toxic insecticides and pesticides. Chavez was profoundly influenced by Gandhi, Martin Luther King and St. Francis of Assisi. He was an environmentalist, a vegetarian and animal welfare advocate who denounced dogfighting, bullfighting, cockfighting, slaughterhouses and rodeos because they are all rooted in inhumane violence. Cesar Chavez had reverence for all life and was a paragon of compassion. He was known as America's Catholic Ghandi of the Fields. The United States should have a national Holiday for Cesar Chavez's birthday, specifically, March 31.

The authors did a great job of detailing the early childhood that shaped the future leader of the farm workers movement. They also do a great job of highlighting the trails, ups and downs of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers movement. One gets a good idea of just how bad conditions were before the movement and how much improvement has been made since the inception of the movement. It also touches the heart with the human aspect of the lives that were shackled in the old system and changed for the good with the reforms that were won. Cesar Chavez is a true humanitarian that should be mentioned with the likes of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. This is truly a must read.

There can be no doubt that very few leaders could have dismantled the Soviet- Communist Empire peacefully as quickly as Gorbachev did. The Russian empire covered Eastern Europe, Russia and a large part of Central Asia. Ending the cold war was a huge benefit for the world. This was however only one of the three goals of Gorbachev. Gorbachev also wanted to unite the different states of the empire in a federation with characteristics similar to the European Union. His third goal went even further; this goal was to change the political landscape of the world where ego-centered nationalism would be replaced by assigning the highest priority to human values. It is not surprising that Gorbachev was not able to achieve these two additional goals in the six years he acted as leader of the Soviet Union.
I just read "Global trends 2025", "A Transformed World" published just in time as one of the briefing papers for president elect Obama. This report was prepared by a US government department "US National Intelligence Council (NIC)" (published in November 2008, available n the net}. The NIC is a center of strategic thinking within the US government providing the President with analysis of foreign policy. This report presents a rather grim picture of the future. More than two third of the problems identified in this report are the same as those described by Gorbachev in his book. Gorbachev lists additional vital issues. The 2025 report for the President concludes with the statement: "Leadership is the key". "Historically leaders and their ideas - positive and negative were amongst the biggest game-changers during the last century". Gorbachev is one of those game-changers. Thai's why his ideas are so important.
Gorbachev not only lists problems but also indicates solutions. One of this most important points is the necessity to base solutions on moral principles. He presents ideas on what those principles should be.
The book consists of three parts, (1) replacing the communist doctrine of a one party state with central planning and class warfare with a doctrine of free choice of states on how they wanted to govern themselves (2) the attempt to transform the Soviet Empire in a federal organization and (3) how to move from a world dominated by power politics to a world where humanistic values would be respected by all. The first two parts are history the third part is still very relevant for our future.
Here follow two examples of interesting ideas.
Gorbachev writes about "Our European Home". I assume he envisioned that Russia would join the European Union. The world would be become a safer place if that would happen in the right way. In addition to the profound cultural ties between Russia and the EU the technological capabilities of the EU and the energy surplus of Russia make an excellent match. Such an enlarged EU would have much more power to influence the developments in a positive way. It might have been able to solve the Yugoslavian problems peacefully and have a much better chance to solve the Iranian nuclear problem.
Another interesting concept is "Co-development" or co-creation between developed countries and Sub Saharan ones. Co- development should be based on solidarity and not on exploitation where each country only considers its national short-term interests.
Many of the ideas about the future are similar to those of the Dalai Lama, like "The World One Family", Universal Responsibility, the necessity to strengthen moral values of tolerance, mutual understanding and trust.
Gorbachev's ideas are as relevant for one party states, traditional capitalist countries, social market economy countries and transnational organizations.

What I found most fascinating about this book was not
only the recent history of the
Russia and the U.S.S.R. undisclosed without a
veil of "cover up" and banded lies surrounding
this monologue, but the true honesty of Mr. Gorbachev.
I feel every American should read this book, and take note.
Why?
Because it seems our own Democracy here in America
has become veiled in this "so-called" secrecy,
starting with the CIA,
all the way up to the White House rafters.
Many of our own predicaments in our recent wars have
defined this secrecy and have not allowed us to escape
our own misfortunes in this country, namely the "Vietnam"
involvement, along with the misplaced "Iraq" involvement;
I mean, could someone please tell me where Osama Bin Ladin is?
What is going on?
And why was the post-911 covered up in a veil of secrecy
that still does not sit well with me, and virtually
hauled off to the dump?
Yes, "SECRECY" is what defines this book, and America still
has a lot of secrets of it's own, all under the disguises
of "Top Secret" and "National Security!"
Can our own leaders (Political and Presidential)
in the future be as honest as Mr. Gorbachev?
I hope so.

I think simply that history has proven that Gorbachev's vision of a democratic USSR with a mixed ecomony was the correct vision. All the former Soviet Republics today are a mess. The legal framework under which the market ecomonies of the world operate did not exist in the former USSR, hence the lawlessness that has existed there since 1992. The destroyers of the USSR were the idiotic coup plotters who could not grasp the Soviet Union was not Bolivia and that a coup there had no chance of success. I think though Gorbachev is still in denial over the 1917 revolution. The greatest tragedy in Russian history was the overthrow of the Romanovs and the creation of the Communist state. With all it's problems Russia was the 13th largest Industrial power in the world. A responsible goverment could have made Russia into a constitutional monarchy and led the country to greatness. With no Stalin there never would have been a Nazi-Soviet pact and probably no WWII.

It was not that long ago when a person would have been thought foolish if they believed a former, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, would be writing books for anyone who was interested. It also is not very long ago that a person writing about any one of the dozens of issues in this book, would have spent many, if not their remaining years in a Siberian Camp. Since Mr. Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985 until he resigned as President in 1991, history has been made that will fill countless books for many years to come.

If there is one aspect of this book that I were to state as particularly fascinating it would be the transcripts from Politburo Meetings. Here are the same men expressing their thoughts in reality, when the same members of this inner sanctum of The Kremlin have been the foundation for spy and Cold War Novels for decades. If you are looking for "the evil empire", plotting the destruction of the West, you will be disappointed. The arguments and the positioning that continually deteriorate into political and personal feuds as the former USSR became the target of varied interests, reads like much of what we listen to and watch here with our elected officials.

Mr. Gorbachev is not an apologist for the Former Soviet Union. As someone who grew up with the USSR portrayed as the ultimate evil, the book requires a major change in perspective for the reader. A willingness to listen to a man that is extremely well informed, a Statesman, and a thinker far and away the superior to those who now rule the remains of the USSR, and its kleptocratic economy. I found his words to be remarkably candid when criticizing his own mistakes, and those of the USSR, and his criticisms of US Policy were more often valid than not. The world was divided into two camps with each side portraying the other as the ultimate threat for most of the 20th Century. The truth of course is never that simple. The stories shared by Mr. Gorbachev have another facet; they are absolutely terrifying at times.

It is not possible to comment on even a portion of his ideas. His writing is very dense, and takes getting comfortable with to complete the book. This may in part be due to translation issues, and there are footnotes where ambiguity may have been critical.

His narration of the USSR coming apart is not only fascinating, it was infinitely more complex than many care to recall, and the complexities are by no measure solved. The USSR was never a monolithic beast. It was composed of 15 distinct republics that were made all the more complex by forced immigrations, ethnic complications, and the arbitrary creation of borders. Borders that became not only critical but also disputed to the point of war, when the Union was dissolved.

During his book he covers the history of his country and the larger union, the problems then, and the challenges now. He also takes the reader through the removal of The Wall In Berlin, the first border disputes in Azerbaijan and Armenia, and all the drama of the Baltic States and their pronouncements of independence.

I certainly would not presume to rank what is important in this book, or what was of the greatest importance to Mr. Gorbachev. A critical passage for me was when he made the issues he spoke of personal for him, and those of his Countrymen.

He spoke of the sense of loss felt by citizens during the turmoil and breakup. He acknowledged why people on the outside may have their views, but as a private citizen he and many others had and do have their own. Because there is one fact you cannot get away from; the homes, countries, borders, and lives that were lead were the only life most had ever known. The times of the Tsars are none too fondly remembered either. So on the human level, not the handful that is destroying the remains, the pardoned thieves like Yeltsin and his Family and others, many miss the life they had. For many it was not only the life they knew, it was far better than the one they now live.

A remarkable opportunity to view History from a different perspective, by one of the men at its center.

To listen only to Ronald Reagan's avid supporters, one might conclude that his "Evil Empire" characterization of the Soviet Union and his massive military spending brought down communist rule, crumbled the Berlin Wall, ended the Cold War and saved the civilization from an inevitable conflict between the free world and its totalitarian enemies.

Not so, it becomes readily apparent in reading Mr. Gorbachev's book-length essay of his view of his country and of the world. His brief -- alas too brief -- history of that crucial time in the late 20th Century when he was General Secretary of the Communist Party, describes what happened while he was in the eye of the hurricane, when an upheaval in the Kremlin shook the world back to its senses. More important for serious students of history, Mr. Gorbachev tells why and how it happened.

When they came to power, he and his team knew that that the Soviet Union was feeble and that it needed a remedy; so they made a desperate grasp at "renewed thinking". They believed that by renouncing old beliefs and then by scraping away totalitarian decay they could bring about a cure. As history now knows, instead of a cure, they helped bring about its collapse.

"New thinking" gave birth to perestroika, a restructuring designed to save what Lenin had wrought. But then, the unexpected happened: a rebirth of nationalism stirred among the former Soviet Union's diverse ethnic populations. Finally, there was a simultaneous combination of rethinking, restructuring and nationalism which, like so many volatile chemical elements, resulted in the startling political implosion that brought the Communist empire to its knees.

It was not Mr. Reagan's threats, nor his Star Wars military program nor free-market competition from the outside world that changed history. Mr. Gorbachev makes a far better case that it was his administration's accurate diagnosis of the Soviet illness and their willingness to correct it from inside the Soviet Union which changed the history of the world, though in a way they did not intend.

After his too brief description of how he and his people tried to salvage the crumbing Soviet system, Mr. Gorbachev's writing bogs down. He ascends a pulpit and becomes a good-intentioned preacher, proposing non-controversial prescriptions for a better world. Disappointingly, in the latter part of his book he resorts to the obvious and falls back on over-used platitudes (such as:"we must advance through worldwide cooperation"). This section seems to have been written merely to puff out the work.

But, despite that minor short-coming, Mr. Gorbachev has earned and deserved his status as the dominant historical figure in the last quarter of the 20th Century. Anything written by him should not be ignored.

As a cartoonist Rall is great, making striking points, with a beautiful line, about the absurdities of Central Asian administrations, governments and societies. But the same exaggerations that fits the cartoon medium, does not work so well in the rest of the text. Rall exaggerates the geopolitical importance of this region in general. And he is definitely not a turcologist, two examples: "...Turkic peoples (in Central Asia) languages are considererd dialects of Turkish by some linguists, and distinct but closely related tongues of the Indo-European language group by others". Turkic peoples speak Turkic languages, and no linguist believe Turkic is an Indo-European language, it's either a separate group or part of the altaic language group. And this one: "Traditionally all Turkic peoples living west of the Amu Darya were called Turkmen. Now, however, these Oghuz Turks - who are genetically indistinguishable from actual Turks - are the only true Turkmen." What does this even mean!
But as an easy read, entertaining introduction to the region, the book works.

Ted Rall's book is worth reading, for a damning self-portrait of an "ugly American" version 2006--huckster, radio host, cartoonist, coldly cynical, thrill-seeking, slumming Ivy Leaguer, brimming with smug condescension and contempt for those he encounters on various tours through Central Asia over the past decade.

Rall waltzes through some of the most violent and tragic regions on earth apparently in search of laffs, thrills, and chills. He gets them. A form of 21st century slumming, adventure tourism is the theme, including a brief kidnapping by the Taliban. Yet lives of ordinary Central Asians apparently matter little--he boasts of paying thousands of dollars in bribes to bump Central Asians from reserved seats on an airplane in order to escape with his tour group from a potentially violent attack. Despite claiming that the Central Asians were in no danger (if so, why were they leaving, and why had they bought tickets?), his message is clear: "I'm number one."

Although Rall clearly has talent as a writer and cartoonist, as well as determination and guts, he apparently lacks human compassion for the people in the region he exploits in his business ventures.

This book is a winner for both armchair travelers and those with a serious interest in international geopolitics. Intrepid journalist Ted Rall has become an expert on the obscure lands of Central Asia. This vast but little-covered area covers the five former Soviet republics known collectively as the "Stans," plus parts of Afghanistan and non-Chinese far-western China, all of which are strongly integrated in culture and history. Here Rall reports, with both journalistic insight and a brutally engaging writing style, about his extensive trips through the region. In an often rip-roaring read, we learn about the various horrors of traveling in Central Asia (the corruption and diarrhea there are both among the worst on Earth), while also gaining knowledge on the region's complex politics and infighting. Rall also provides enjoyable coverage of some of the region's offbeat personalities, locations, and culture - such as Turkmenistan's incompetent dictator Turkmenbashi, or a bizarre sport called buzkashi in which many meatheads die painfully for fun and glory.

Central Asia will soon be a world quagmire that will make the Middle East look like a hissy fit. Age-old ethnic tensions, corrupt dictators, irredentist meddling, and the hangover from Russian and Soviet brutalization will all soon combine with the worst of energy politics, as Central Asia's immense fossil fuel resources attract money and influence from power players. Ted Rall usefully clarifies what's really happening in Central Asia from the ground, and points out the geopolitical disaster that will occur if we merely view the region through the lenses of terrorism (i.e. everyone who disagrees with America is in league with Al Qaeda) or petropolitics (i.e. nations are given benefits or sanctions based merely on how much fossil fuel they can offer). Overall, this book is held back a bit by Rall's occasional tendencies toward hyperbole. His political points become repetitive as the book rumbles along, and the later chapters on energy and military matters get bogged down in simplistic conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Rall's graphic novellas about his journeys add a great amount of fun to this book, but his regular four-panel political cartoons just aren't really that enlightening. Finally, the book is very richly illustrated, especially with candid photos of Central Asia's regular folks - but the maps are cramped and incomprehensible, which is a real problem if you like to see the precise locations of all the interesting places Rall talks about. [~doomsdayer520~] ]

Ted Rall travels to Central Asia - Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. He traveled a few times by himself while he was doing a radio show in LA. Then he went on behalf of the U.S. state government to Turkmenistan and on his own to Afghanistan via Tajikistan to cover the 2001 Afghan invasion.

The book goes into the history, current political situation and culture of this region of the world which we do not know much about. We read about a world where there are military checkpoints, not much development, corruption and different cultures. We learn that Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have vast amounts of untapped oil reserves which the United States, Russia and China are all vying to get. Since 2001, the U.S. has also opened military bases in these countries.

He details environmental problems such as Kazakhstan is Russia's Nevada and Russia does nuclear testing there. He goes into Central Asia's versions of 9/11 and Tiananmen square. Also we learn about some customs and interesting games played by people in Central Asia. The book has some enlightening and funny comic strips in it. Rall has a genuine appreciation of the history and culture of these regions.

Rall's conclusion at the end is that when democratically elected leaders such as Askar Akayev from Kyrgyzstan are toppled by U.S. backed revolutions and dictators who bow to the U.S. are instilled; this will lead to a repeat of a 1979 Iranian style revolution in these countries. That is one conclusion, the other one is that countries are turning a blind eye to gross human rights violations like murders of political opponents or boiling dissidents while at the same time cozying up to dictators to gain favor and eventually access to oil. This will create resentment in the long term. He says if people in the United States don't care about these countries, that is fine, as long as we withdraw from the region completely. Another conclusion is that foreign aid is pouring into Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan since they have proven oil reserves. Meanwhile Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are borderline failed states. Rall states these countries are a "package deal" and if one or two countries remain volatile, it will affect neighboring countries. Silk Road to Ruin is a must read book to learn about this underreported part of the world.

Ted Rall is best known to me for his inciteful and incendiary cartoons. I had no idea he is also an intrepid traveller and perceptive and wildly funny observer of human behavior. What a great, funny,interesting and depressing book.

Dine has written a superb book, looking at a landscape of America that has far too much vanished from the sight of most Americans in recent decades. With the economic turmoil that has arisen since the book was written, the themes that Dine set forth with great insight and specificity should return front and center. True, there are difficult issues to be faced on the labor front just as on every other front. But it is time we as a country began to face squarely the imbalances which have far too much favored the wealthy and powerful. Dine's anaysis and examples are a valuable contribution toward that effort.

philip dine plunges the reader quickly into the largely one sided class war waged in this country over the past generation. While not as critical of union leaders as is Paul Buhle in Taking Care of Business Dine displays the complacency and the warts of labor leaders who made the assault on organized labor by corporate interests all the easier. Dine of course also castigates lazy and biased media persons as well as the anti labor courts and legislatures. But Dine insists correctly that labor leaders must find ways to engage their members and the public in the causes of working people if the middle class and democracy are to survive. In that regard Philip Dine makes a number of important suggestions.

There are so few U.S. labor reporters left on the beat. Phil Dine happens to be one of the best and offers a unique insight into why labor unions are faltering and how they can hopefully change course. I would personally recommend this book to any labor leader, labor communicator, or union member who truly cares about strengthening the labor movement to improve the lives of future generations.

Now I understand what's going on with jobs, income and economic insecurity. Plus I was really inspired reading how some workers, like firefighters and food workers, have changed society despite it all. I didn't know teachers helped bring down The Wall. I'm going to recommend this book to my union leaders if they dare to read it..

I chanced upon this book at an airport bookstore, and after a long flight and several more hours at home with it, have put it down with an enormous sense of the righteous and epochal importance of this work. I have not trimmed my review to 1000 words because of the importance of this book, and the removal of the 1000 word limit from Amazon's current guidelines. This is IMPORTANT!

In the introduction to the book, Congressman Gephardt laments that union membership is down to 8% from 35%, for two reasons: good employers whose workers do not feel the need to unionize, and intimidation by bad employers who will stop at nothing to squelch any attempt to unionize.

He emphasizes the direct relationship between the health of the unions and the health of America's economy and its linch-pin middle class.

He is most provocative in suggesting that unions can and should displace employers as the providers of life-long benefits.

He concludes the introduction by lamenting the reality that employers pursue micro-profits instead of macro-benefits, and points out that in the absence of rules of law and fair trade, globalization will inevitably push the USA to labor conditions akin to those of the lowest common denominator--a return to sweatshops, no benefits, and despair across the land.

The book itself is phenomenal. The author, a very rare journalist who not only cares about labor issues but has also won the trust of labor leaders, has written what is in my mind the single most important book relevant to how every American should perceive the 2008 election. No candidate is serious about labor at this time. Our job is to change that, and to help labor, notably the AFL-CIO and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), change that by putting labor issues in the forefront of the economic discussion. John McCain, featured in the DVD Why We Fight, condones the impoverishment of regions to stimulate enlistments in the military-industrial complex of which he is a tacit leader. Hillary Clinton does not now and never will understand the working class--she set the standard for "bitch in residence" in the White House, according to my secret service colleagues, and she is as elitist and arrogant as it gets. Barack Obama remains surrounded by advisors who do not have a clue about Generation Y, collective intelligence, or how to create a holistic strategy that can address the ten threats with the twelve policies while helping the eight challengers avoid our self-induced The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World, the loss of the The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism and the rise of the two political parties that are a form of organized crime and Running On Empty: How The Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It. It is in this context that I am simply blown away by extremely balanced, well-told, important review by a journalist uniquely qualified to provide us with a book-length review of where labor has failed, where labor shows promise, and how labor is America's bottom line: as he concludes the book, Labor defines who we are as a people.

+ Labor has unraveled, which harms America and its economy because Labor is historically the only force apart from honest religions and selected civil society elements that truly represents the moral imperatives of both social value and economic value. Decades of progress have been rolled back by Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. Clinton in particular sold out Labor with NAFTA and the ease with which he allowed corporations to export entire programs to sweatshop countries at the same time that he reduced barriers to the dumping of both cheap and unsafe toys and other products whose "true cost" has not been properly calculated or presented.

+ Middle class, professionals, and women are going bankrupt, along with skilled blue collar workers, because the balance of power among labor, business, and government is gone--business rules.

+ 53% of Americans favor unionization.

+ Reagan's dismissal of the air traffic controllers was the signal act that destroyed decades of labor progress, and unleashed illegal, unethical, and unconscionable business repression of unions.

+ Service jobs are difficult to unionize because of high turnover, transient elements, low pay, high proportion of immigrants that can be intimidates, PLUS a lack of government penalties against business violators.

+ The above, combined with the government's enthusiastic support for exporting jobs, and poor labor leadership, have creating a sucking chest wound in the American economy. It could yet be fatal.

+ The author excels at recounting labor successes that have not been covered by the mainstream media, and he manages to do this in a way that is inspiring, objective, and not at all preachy or pontifical.

+ I am deeply moved by his account of how the IAFF, two lights down from my own office, used five methods to win Iowa for John Kerry:

- Turned out the residents (each bringing five citizens to caucuses)
- Used local presence EVERYWHERE to carry caucuses ignored by the other candidates
- Able to use local knowledge to recruit those whose candidates failed to pass the viability test
- Never gave up in darkest of times
- High public credibility and visibility

+ I am reminded that "Change to Win" started in 2005, John Kerry and his boffo haircut just could not communicate the need properly.

+ The author explains how Kerry earned fire fighter love and respect in his turning around mid-way to Asia to come back to a major fire that killed numerous fire fighters in his state, and then worked aggressively to pass fire fighter equipment and safety laws.

+ There is no other union that has a firehouse, fire trucks, uniformed personnel that are unarmed, and is able to sponsor chili feeds at the firehouses while handing out leaflets in uniform on every street corner, doing retail politics to all non-union voters.

+ Having set the stage with successes, the author then moves into a very important middle ground in which he anticipates the continued decline of labor (and of the American economy) unless labor can reassert its influence on the national agenda.

+ He is critical of labor for focusing only on "get out the vote" and not on putting its issues--all of which have moral authority--into the national dialog.

+ He points out that labor spent close to $100 million in the 2004 election across 32 states, and was a key factor in the democrats taking back both Houses of Congress.

+ He is forceful in discussing how the Republicans have made "cultural values" a smokescreen within which individuals vote for candidates that are inherently bad for the public wallet and public benefits. I have a note, "religion and 'values' have trumped facts and consequences."

+ He damns both parties: the Republicans for trying to eliminate minimum wage rights in the aftermath of Katrina, and the Democrats for taking labor for granted.

+ He says that the debate has not taken place regarding:

- deindustrialization of America
- dumping of unsafe and cheap products into our marketplace
- local impact of globalization (and of course Wal-Mart as a cancer)
- toll on families of reduced benefits

+ He is articulate in pointing out that labor must work at two levels:

- at a national level, constant forceful attention to legislation, regulation, and the filling of oversight posts
- locally on compliance and alerts

+ The author slams the Democrats for barely winning on the basis of Republican mistakes, while being completely lacking in any strategy, message, or coherent program of their own.

+ He is devastatingly effective in evaluating the failure of labor leaders to communicate to the public that wages are at the lowest point in history as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while profits are at the highest point ever in history as a percentage of the GDP.

+ He is eloquent in pointing out that most Americans have forgotten (or never learned) that strong labor equates to the greatest prosperity for the greatest number.

+ He recommends these two books as antecedent works:

Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back
What's the Matter with Kansas? : How Conservatives Won the Heart of America

I would add The Working Poor: Invisible in America and Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

+ He documents how labor has failed to impact on trade agreements, the migrations of good jobs with benefits to overseas sweatshops, and the loss of entire segments of community economics.

+ The author describes a wide range of illegal and unethical business practices that repress unionization, while also describing the ineptness of the government, with the National Labor Review Board taking an average of 889 days to make a ruling--that is almost three years and in my mind is an ATROCITY.

+ Illegal firings that we know of amounted to 31,358 in 2005. Business enjoys a "culture of impunity" fueled by loopholes, ease of long delays, and feeble enforcement.

+ Labor hurt itself with its own repression in earlier decades of dissent, and its compulsion to demand strict obedience for a unified front (at the same time that businesses had similar practices)

+ The author believes that the country hungers for a renaissance of labor and its community-oriented values and benefits. I hope so, but right now, not a single candidate has a clue how to jump into this with both feet, a heart, and a brain.

+ I am totally inspired by this author, and have a note to myself: firefighters, cops, teachers, ambulance drivers and nurses: public servants driving public policy and benefits.

+ The author is sympathetic but very critical of labor's refusal to engage with most journalists, and he provides a superb overview of how badly labor deals with media and how badly media ignores labor issues that are fundamental.

+ He is most impressive in giving modern labor a relatively clean "bill of health" with most mafia connections and most strong-arm bosses now giving way to the empowerment of individual union members, open elections, and greater accountability.

+ He calls on labor to humanize, regionalize, and think big.

+ Labor should tell the story of its role in East European democratization and carry that creative role to the Second World.

+ Labor should compare and publicize the grotesque profits and compensation packages of industry, with those of the workers on whose backs those profits are unjustly earned.

I put this book down with a sense of wonder, a hard-eyed sense of the possibilities, and a very strong conviction that this author and this book have nailed the future of America as a Republic: Labor can be the king-maker at the national and state levels in 2008, and I pray that Labor will first learn the difference between transpartisan and bi-partisan (code for preserving the two party spoils system, something both McCain and Clinton absolutely want).

In that vein, I imagined a month national "open house" across police stations, fire stations, hospitals, and schools, in which Video-Teleconferencing was used to sponsor a national town-hall meeting to consider the ten threats and twelve policies, to elect a People's Cabinet, and perhaps funded by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation under the leadership of David Walker (former Comptroller General who told Congress USA is insolvent and quit when they would not act responsibly), a Public Budget Office capable of producing a balanced budget by 4 July 2008, and demanding that each candidate do the same (both appoint a Cabinet and produce a balanced budget for online examination before November 2008).

The author, in my opinion, is long overdue for recognition and promotion as the voice of labor, serving a new virtual Labor Congress that sets aside the fiefdoms and irrationality of the labor archipelago, and speaks to America with one voice and one practical agenda to restore America the Beautiful.

See also:
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace

I was hoping for more detailed insight. This book provided a good starting point but I found others much more helpful

So many of these types of sales success books put out the same old stuff that we've all heard before. Top Dog Sales Secrets was refreshingly different packed with ton's of original material, mixed in with some "tried and true" ideas that we sales veterans tend to forget or overlook after many years in the field.

It doesnt matter if you are a sales veteran or a rookie, Top Dog Sales Secrets has something for you. PS: Everything from Dave Kale is solid gold and will put money in your pocket if you read and follow it!!!!

The SalesDog.com team has pulled together an excellent book filled with articles from top sales experts in the field today. My favorites* include:

- Creating a Successful Cold Script, by Wendy Weiss

- Transforming Customer Complacency into Urgency, by Mike Schultz

- Help - I'm Talking and I Can't Shut Up, by Michelle Nichols

- Success is an Inside Job, by Bill Caskey

- Winning the Negotiation Game, by Colleen Francis

The book is organized by sales challenges such as cold calling, presentations, proving value and handling objections. So if you're having trouble in one area, just turn to the specific section and get great advice from a variety of experts.

[...]

P.S. I'm also a bit partial to my five articles which were selected to be in the book too!

Top Dog Sales Secrets. 50 experts show you proven ways to skyrocket your sales. Michael Dalton Johnston ed. 2007. ISBN 9781934346143. I have really taken my time reading this book. It looks at the sales process after you gain the lead, so it is planted squarely into sales efficiency. How ever some of the treatments of qualifying a lead, are very appropriate in our sales effectiveness model. For my money, if you are in sales today this is one book you need at your side. The experts are truly expert. One book with insight from:

Tony Alessandra, Jim Domanski. Dan Kosch, Mark S.A Smith, Bob Bly, Colleen Francis, Tina LoSasso,Art Sobczak ,
John Boe,Tom Freese, James Maduk, Dave Stein, Dianna Booher, Patricia Fripp, Jim Meisenheimer,Bill Stinnett, Ed Brodow, Ari Galper, Michelle Nichols, Joel Sussman, Bill Brooks, Joe Guertin, Rick Phllips, Julie Thomas,Jon Brooks, Joe Heller, Tom Reilly, Will Turner, Shamus Brown, Craig James, Tom Richard, Al Uszynski, Bill Caskey, Brian Jeffrey,Llinda Richardson, Steve Waterhouse, Tim Connor, Michael D. Johnson, Keith Rosen, Wendy Weiss, Kevin Davis, Dave Kahle, Mike Schultz, Roger Dawson, Ron Karr, Jacques Werth, Jill Konrath, Anita Sirianni .

One example from Jim Domanski:

Prospect: "Hmmmm. Let me think about it."

Rep: "I understand completely. If l were in your shoes I'd want to think about it as well. Now ask one of the following questions:

* "May I ask what concerns you still have?"
* "May 1 ask what's causing you to hesitate?"
* "May I ask what questions I've left unanswered?"
* "May I ask what your final decision will be based on?"

Get this book. Do not wait. Then read it. Sales advice you can take to the bank.

This isn't your typical sales book. It is a collection of authors writing on various topics, not a selling system or sales `program' such as Strategic Selling or SPIN Selling. The authors are excellent writers and the information is current. I found the tone to be enthusiastic, humorous and easy to read. It's a good book to read when you only have snippets of time and can't get involved with a long read or concept. Each article has nuggets of wisdom in it and every article is written by a proven sales pro who has been in our shoes, not an academic or manager from some ivory tower.

The down side is the books organization. It isn't divided into sections such as prospecting, qualifying, closing, etc. While the book contains multiple articles on each subject they are intermingled throughout, like a newspaper that continues a story inside to force you to go through the entire paper. This is a great airplane or waiting room read. I find myself rereading many of the articles several times, going back to important ideas and quotes. After you read this book you can get more information by reading the various authors books.

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) comes now with his own addition to the host of literature that describes how the re-distribution of wealth in the United States is harming workers and the nation. This is a vitally important topic: Lee Iacocca wrote about this more than 20 years ago, Michael Moore wrote about this more than 10 years ago, and recently, everyone from Jim Hightower to Arianna Huffington to Al Franken have joined in. With enough voices, perhaps people will finally force their elected policy makers to reconstruct the safeties that were in place to prevent the degradation of the middle class that we are watching accelerate right now.

But will "A Country That Works" convert people from consumers back into citizens? Stern's ideas are good, practical, and positive, but they are not new. What has been lacking is an activism to force these ideas onto the agendas of both parties. To his credit, Stern does not "red-bait" the reader, but his ideas will never make it past the right-wing. Were this possible, we would not be in this fix, with economic and political uncertainty looming with growing immediacy. Stern has great ideas but he presents no plan of action; no intent to mobilize the SEIU toward national momentum.

Stern includes some backstory to his life and some snippets of the labor movement, but nothing in depth. He chooses his words carefully, especially as regards John Sweeney--Stern has been a good, effective leader but this has forced him to become a politician in his own right. There is nothing wrong with this, this is the nature of things, and Stern doesn't want to rock the boat too much.

So, with very little information in the form of memoir or history of labor, "A Country That Works" serves instead as a bullet-pointed list of excellent progressive ideas that were released as a $24.00 hardcover book. Many service workers might have to work three or four hours to pay for this book. It would have helped workers more if it had been published as a pamphlet.

Andy Stern does a great job of addressing the elephant in the room, corporate globalization, that is sold to populations around the world as "inevitable," but is being resisted all over the world. This particular form of globalization (also known as "neoliberalism" - although, not having anything to do with progressive liberalism) has been more of an investor's rights agreement, protecting shareholders while leaving other stakeholders in society - labor, local economies, the environment, indigenous communities - in dire straights. Stern recognizes what concerned people all over the world know, that the policies of NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, et al, are not laws of gravity and are subject to reform, if not complete rejection.
International Socialist Review

Interestingly, Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado recently recommended Stern's book during an interview on a 50,000 watt station here in Denver. That's the sort of media activism on behalf of labor that all sorts of people need to be doing; to counter the years of anti-labor rhetoric all over the airwaves that are owned and sponsored by Big Business. Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky and the Media

While some segments of organized labor have seen declines, SEIU is growing; thanks to the sort of popular ideas in "A Country That Works," and also due to the organizing efforts of both documented and undocumented workers. I imagine the aggressive organizing of the immigrant population is part of the reason why there has been such a harsh dehumanization campaign and an increase in ICE raids, deportations and so forth. Working class people across borders need to recognize that with capital and corporate executives operating transnationally, labor needs to do the same. No One Is Illegal: Fighting Violence and State Repression on the U.S.-Mexico Border

For another good resource to teach people about the importance of labor organizing, I'd recommend the movie starring Adrien Brody that the SEIU helped to produce. Bread and Roses

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." - Abraham Lincoln, speech to Congress, 12/3/1861

Andy Stern deepens and extends previous efforts to describe and analyze the state of America's -- and, implicitly, the globe's -- socio-economic condition, and he supplies suggestions and proposals meant to remedy the more egregious symptoms of our civilization's decline. Long ago, Stern became the first major American labor leader to point publicly to the need for workers' action at the global level, and he turned heads three years ago with the somewhat heretical suggestion that US labor reconsider its monogamous relationship with the Democratic Party, a frequently unfaithful partner. For those who favor social change, A Country That Works provides a thoughtful overview and myriad leads toward a better future for all.

After a long period of corruption, arrogance and distain for American values and American working people, a new generation of leaders is beginning to emerge...fresh voices with solid ideas and much to say to the Amerian people. The author of this book is one of them and he is inspriring the younger generations. Read this to understand how and why! A must read! Those who favor the status quo won't like it at all..those who are more optimistic will love it.

This book spells out in a clear and compelling fashion the challenges that American workers face in our global economy, and what can be done to stop the American dream from disintegrating any further.

You may think of unions as a quaint, irrelevant relic of a bygone era, or perhaps you see them as a blight on business. After you read this book, you'll understand how Stern's progressive union, the SEIU, has the potential to be a real force for good, not just for workers, but for employers and the country as a whole.

The best thing about Stern's book is that it doesn't just describe all the problems plaguing American workers, it offers innovative solutions from a union leader who is, on the one hand, willing to reach out to CEO's and conservatives, while also taking on Wal-Mart and other corporations who shortchange their own employees to boost their bottom line. Stern's even traveled to China five times to get a handle on our competition and how best to handle it.

I got to hear Stern speak at a book party for A Country That Works the other night, and he spoke so passionately and persuasively that I decided I really had to get a second copy of his book to give my dad, who's always held an anti-union bias. Unfortunately, Stern did such a great job pitching his ideas that they sold the forty copies of A Country That Works his publisher had provided before I could get my hands on one. Looks like my dad will have to settle for an unsigned copy!

This superb book is a very well documented academic account of the treatment of the Germans by the Russian after World War II. In reading the book, I constantly remembered that the Russians would not have occupied East Germany if Germany had not attacked Russia. If the Germans had not elected Hitler and fought for him in World War II, they could have avoided the consequences of the occupation. German women were raped and German men were forced to work in the mines, but no German was sent to gas chambers by the Russians who liberated them from the Nazis.

Every story has to have an ending, every tale has winners and losers but to every end their is another beginning. This book tells the beginning of the "new" beginning of Germany after the most horrific war in human history. But as we are to know, their are two tales of Germany, the East and the West. This is story of the East, just the first 4 years and how a broken country was pushed towards Sovietization and had its citizens punished in one way or another until in the end, the cracks of the Soviet/Socialist system broke and Germany in the end was free.

This book is not the greatest as it repeats itself at times and it seems like you are missing a major part of the story when you finish one chapter. Every chapter starts in '45 and ends in '49 and each subject written on that chapter is sorted out that way. Sounds simple but it does get complicated at times. The best chapters though deal with the Formation of the SED and the man with the greatest influence on the East German political system: Tuil'panov. Those two chapters tell the most important aspects of East Germany as they are the best reads of the book.

An intersting book with good research put into it but in the end their is something missing. If the book could have put a little more enphasis on world politics concerning East Germany at that time it would have been more enjoyable otherwise you have to wonder why things happened at the exact moment they happened.

This is the last chapter of WWII for Germany a chapter that laster 46 years. This is how it all began. The major players are all examined in the political sense but not in a personal sense, another flaw in the book. But even they wanted the best for the German people, one system against another, one ideolegy against another and Germany in the middle of it again. The cold war did not revolve around Germany but to Superpowers respected leaders, Germany was the most important place of all to show what each system could do. Understand how it all started by reading this book.

Norman M. Naimark, Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies at Stanford University, has written an admirable treatment of a rarely touched topic: the Soviet occupation of Germany from 1945 to the creation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949. Naimark draws from a wealth of freshly released Russian archival material, and newly tapped GDR sources. The result is a thematically arranged work that argues the Soviet regime failed in its governing policies in the occupational zone of Germany as well as, failing to win the hearts and minds of the East German people. Naimark combines a smooth blend of social and political history along with an engaging narrative to develop his argument. Chapter One chronicles the fledgling attempts of the Russians to administer the newly "liberated" territories. He describes the role the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG) played in administrating the region, and providing for the cultural and educational welfare of the Red Army troops. The chapter concludes with the transformation from a military government to a puppet run by the "Moscow" Germans (Socialist Unity Part of Germany, SED) under the control of figurehead Walter Ulbricht.                 The author wastes no time in switching gears. Chapter two describes the wholesale rape of German women, and plunder of towns and villages that reached epidemic proportions. This is by far the most disturbing section of the book in spite of Naimark's gallant efforts at objectivity. The author suggests it was this barbaric behavior more than any other contributing factors that caused the bitter relationship and eventual demise of the GDR. What was once a potential worthy ally and friend, of the Soviet Union, he argues, eventually became a burden of resentment and hatred. The author stresses in this chapter that the abuse and rape of German women continued well into 1947 and there were still significant rapes occurring in 1949. This was not a crime committed solely by war-weary frontline soldiers seeking reprisals and intent on taking revenge on the civilian populous. Rather, it occurred at all levels of the military. Officers as well as rank and file became perpetrators. Literally, German females from age eight to eighty became victims. Oftentimes the crime was committed in full view of family members, particularity husbands. Naimark weighs all the factors for this heinous behavior. Obvious reasons such as lack of control by military authorities and alcoholism are examined. In a few instances, officers and even a NKVD agent were shot when they tried to intervene in an attack of a German woman. Naimark admits Soviet documents are still scarce, and Joseph Stalin's reaction to the behavior of his troops is not well known. He suggests, however, that Stalin turned a blind ear and contributed the reports to mere Western propaganda. A counter-propaganda campaigned was launched by their Socialist Germen brethren proclaiming in the German press that German women were blamed for the spread of venereal disease among the Soviet military. Naimark considers some social and psychological determinates as well. Turning to a true gender study, Naimark explores the emotional and psychological effects this behavior had on German men. After the war, German women out-numbered the male population as most of the marriage aged men were either killed or maimed in the six-years of war. What able-bodied German men returned, quickly reclaimed the jobs the women held. As a result, German women were regulated to bucket brigades clearing the rubble from the leveled German cities. Divorce and abortion quickly rose throughout German society, the former, claims Naimark was a result of the emotional blow the abuse of German women had on the male population. In short, the Russians were delivering another form of total war, an emotional and psychotically blow to already vanquished German males that felt obligated by nature to defend their womenfolk, but helpless in its execution. These examples support Naimark's contentions, that this scar on society became a lasting legacy that permeated East Germany until its collapse in 1989. Placing the rape chapter and its social consequences near the beginning of the book creates an emotional impact that dominates the remaining chapters. Economically and politically, Naimark argues that the Soviet regime had no long-term goals for the establishment of the East German state. The author points out that the only model the Soviets had to utilize was that of the New Economic Policy (NEP) and collectivization. Major land distributions and the plundering of what was left of German industry had a detrimental affect of the German economy. The author ties in a chapter on Soviet policy making decisions and examines such institutions as Colonel Sergei Tiul'panov's Propaganda Administration. Naimark asserts that Marxist/Leninist ideology alone does not make for a successful Soviet block state in spite of the temptation the new archives presents to reexamine the rhetoric of the top Soviet leaders. A chapter on culture and education rounds out the work. The thematic approach makes for a slight unevenness, as each lengthy chapter could be an independent publication in its own right, particularly the upsetting topic of rape and plunder. Naimark utilizes an impressive array of Soviet and East German sources throughout. He also gleans from western archival material, particularly that of the Hoover Institute. Secondary sources in English seem to be lacking, however, perhaps reflecting the deficiency of English language scholarship on this much over-looked subject. The author admits that more material is yet to be revealed making this, like several other revisionists work within the realm of Soviet studies, an avenue to build upon through yet further revisions. Aside from these slight distractions, this work is a welcome addition to the birth of the Cold War period.

Very unique study of the Red Army Occuaption of Germany following World War 2. It is fascinating to read how the Russians used both the carrot and the stick in an attempt to win the Germans over to the Soviet cause. This should be contrasted to the western allies who viewed all Germans as Nazis.

The Soviets created difficulties for themselves as they had competing agencies trying to rule the defeated Reich each with their own agenda. The author cleary shows through East German communuist and Soviet documents how the brutality of rape and widespread looting caused the soviets to lose the hearts and minds of the majority of the East Germans.

A very well researched account of an unknown chapter in European history. Too much is devoted to the Berlin Wall. Little is devoted to why the east Germans built it. This book explains why.

I gave this book four stars only as this book is not for the light reader but directed to a very specialized market.

This is a work of great scholarship, dealing in both Russian and German documents and made possible by the opening up of some, though by no means all, of the relevant Soviet archives. It describes the various attitudes and political strategies adopting by the occupying Soviet power in the Eastern zone of Germany in the immediate post war period. There are revealing episodes in the changing Russian emotions from grotesque revenge in terms of personal humiliations, robbery and `reparations' to the dawning realisation that a viable political and economic system had to be put in place in the emerging, divided Germany. This change necessitated a vibrant, popular German socialist party which would obey Moscow in every detail. The failure of the imposed German communism is quite clearly laid out - from the early days of ignoring Russian soldiers revenge-crimes (the strongest the KPD came to condemnation was that criminals `dressed in Russian uniforms' were marauding) to the intimidation of opponents in the elections which were staged. A surprise for me was the insistence, in documentation at least, among the Soviets that the German communists had to win elections. Huge amounts of vitriol were poured on the hapless Communists for their failure to win popularity, even as the Soviets extinguished all other opposition.
There is quite a level of detail about the political machinations within the German political parties, and within the various parts of the Soviet control systems - towards the end, Stalin became quite suspicious of the loyalty of Soviet officers stationed in Germany. The book is quite excellent in its descriptions of the changing priorities and policies.
Nonetheless I felt somewhat disappointed by the book in two respects - I was quite expecting that the early days in the occupation would see a continuation of the conflict between the Russian commanders Zhukov and Konev, which I had read about in other books. There was almost no discussion of this, though it did concentrat on the Russian militaries efforts to initially administer the zone, and eventually to yield political control to `reliable' Germans. I felt the book could have taken a more anecdotal approach to flesh out some of the personality clashes behind the policy discussions. A more fundamental reservation is the fact that neither the Soviets nor the German communists represented anything like popular political forces, and , by concentrating on the archives, the book does not adequately represent the nature of the struggle that ordinary Germans had in the GDR. The 1953 rebellion, the cynicism of Brecht and his artistic cohorts, the self-censorship and Stasi-control are alluded too, but these, more than Communist policy, gave the GDR its peculiar flavour. It was quite difficult to picture this from the book.
Overall this is book well worth reading, even today, about the perils and travails of an occupying force attempting to install a regime which is both popular and pliant.

A common mistake Western observers made was to think the Soviet Union's fundamental problem was a lack of democracy. They completely overlooked that the institutional structure of the political system cannot overcome the problem inherent in an economic system with no means of rational calculation. The Soviet Union had a number of leaders who promised political reform,