Governments

It's probably Buckley that transformed the word 'Liberal' from a misused label to an epithet. Needless to say, he well understands his own misuse of the word, which he justifies, rightly, on the basis of the fact that everyone misuses it. If everyone assumes a word means something, does the word not in fact come to mean that, no matter what linguists insist? In any case, as pleasant and amusing as this book is, it will win no converts, nor is it meant to. It is not a conservative manifesto that reaches out even to the undecided and implores them to join the conservative cause. It is not even a statement of purpose in the style Barry Goldwater's 'Conscience Of A Conservative'. Rather, it is mind candy for the right. Buckley is first and foremost a wordsmith, a writer who says what he means and says it well. He is not an intellectual who understands and appreciates the arguments and viewpoints of his ideological foes; he is a relentless eloquent partisan. His intent is to present his own side, in as a biased a way as possible, and make fools of his foes by exposing the weakness of their arguments and ignoring the strengths. At this, he is a master. He is also, of course, a master writer, whether you agree with Buckley or not you will appreciate his wit, his candor and his style. Indeed, even when he has nothing to say he says it so well that it is enjoyable to read.

Those who came of age politically in the 1980s or later can hardly comprehend the influence Bill Buckley had on the modern conservative movement.

        He was, by far, the most attractive and thrilling conservative intellect for decades, and more than equal in debate to any liberal intellectual, as we learned on many occasions. Conservative students of my generation, confronted with an overwhelming liberal (and often unbearably smug) faculty, were greatly reassured by the knowledge that Buckley could smash the arguements of anyone on the liberal side.

        Though Up From Liberalism concerns itself largely with issues that date back to the sixties, the combination of humor and erudition Buckley uses to skewer the liberal establishment gives the book a timeless appeal.

I'm a college student studying on a liberal college campus who will probably pursue a career in Constitutional law. Reading this book has helped me understand my political philosophy much more clearly. Up From Liberalism by William F. Buckley, Jr. is a witty, sagacious, and very perceptive book declaring the fresh conservative alternative to liberal establishment politics. It is a must read for anyone really serious about being a political conservative. Although most of Buckley's comments are referring to past political history in the 40's and 50's, it helps one understand the ideological battle that has been raging for years in the political spectrum. Sparkling with humour and intellectual fun, Buckley quickly dispatches of his opponents' ideas with the ease of a master swordsman. This book is still valuable to read because the philosophy of liberals today hasn't really changed. To them, Government is still the answer to all of our problems. If you are a liberal, reading this book will help you understand the arguments against your position. If you are a conservative, this book will give you enjoyment, but also valid logical proof of why one should believe in limited government. I hope that everyone even slightly interested in politics reads this book.

I highly recommend this book.

The author takes a hard look at the U.S. Constitution, the intentions of the U.S. founding fathers, and the realities of contemporary society-- and makes a plea for election reform.

This is not an easy book to read, especially the earliest chapters. At times I wondered what the author was driving at, but by the end of the book I was persuaded that the author's careful presentation of a historical background and the sources of his logic were key to understanding his ideas.

If you are interested in democracy and election reform you must read this book.

I had read the author's The Frozen Constitution, but had no idea he had adddressed the 2000 election issue in another book. I came across this inadvertantly. Although the author's view of the constitution will raise hackles on some, his view is well-informed and definitely worth study if for no other reason than that it flushes out some stubborn factual history that doesn't play in the same key as the usual Yankee Doodle. It can be unnerving to confront the _actual_ history of the highest court in the nineteenth century and up to the time of FDR. It is hard to make the case the Supreme Court had a serious connection to the arbitration of justice. The author's idiosyncratic view gives you a run for your money on the actual mechanics of the American system, and it is important to remember that the current regime would like nothing more than to restore the kind of court system that reigned throughout America history.
The current crop of bedtime bonzos at court that stole the election in 2000 is an appetizer for the future, if that's what you are going to vote for.

When I first picked up this book I thought it was another book on the events of the 2000 election. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down--a fascinating read. It starts with the events of the 2000 election and goes on to show how these were just symptoms of a more pervasive problem--of the Constitution repeatedly frustrating the public will and perverting the democratic process. You won't look at the Constitution or the Senate in the same light again.

I was injured in Viet Nam, and have been looking for these records for 20 years, and now thanks to Mr Roche and his book, I have now found these records. This was after the VA had told me that they would find the records for me, which they did not. This is a must read for all veteran that deal with the VA. Thank you Mr Roche!!

Finally a book on how to really deal with the VA! For 30 years my husband fought with the VA to get his disability. With the help of author John Roach and this "survival guide", his disability was finally granted this year. This book has an easy to understand approach with the information you can't get from the VA or anyplace else. No one should attempt the VA claims process without this book. A "must have" for every veteran.

My husband's VA claim was recently approved after almost 4 years. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could of never gotten the information or guidance along the way of fighting the VA system had I of not had John Roche's book. It is by far the most well informed book any veteran could ever get and I only wish I could of had it sooner. Any veteran getting ready to file a claim with the VA buy this book first. You will find out the VA don't volunteer alot of information to you and this book will help guide you through your claims process.

I just got this book and love Maya Angelou's introduction of Julianne Malveaux. I'm enjoying these essays, as well. I'm more familiar with Julianne Malveaux as a televison commentator than as a writer, but she seems an equally talented writer as talker! I highly reccomend this book

Julianne Malveaux is one of my favorite talking heads. On CNN, PBS, and MSNBC, she has a feisty "take no prisoners" style of debate. She is unapologetically left and feminist, but she is also quirky, funny, and thought-provoking. This collection of columns is great! She covers lots of economic issues, deals with women and family issues, and also moral issues. My problem with this book is that the essays are too short, and so is the book. I am waiting to read 200 pages in this wonderful woman's voice. Some of my favorite columns: the column where she compares Long Term Capital Management with gamblers; the USA Today column in which she talks about buying her home; a rejoinder to the organizers of the Million Women's March (she is no fan of either the Million Man or Million Woman March, and she explains why); a tribute to Betty Shabazz. This isn't a book you'll read cover to cover. You'll pick it up and put it down, and pick it up again. It is so full of facts, opinions, statistics, and provocation that I expect to be using it as a resource for quite some time.

Want to know where the money is and isn't being spent, read this book. The Sistah has BIG SKILLS.

David Gutierrez' book is one of the most informative, thorough books available on the Chicano experince in the US Southwest. This book is not just for activists or chicano studies scholars. If you have ever wondered why immigration policy exists in its present form, or why racial tensions still persist within the southwest, read this book. It is very densly packed with valuable infomation and excellent sources, and it presents such information in a fairly unbiased manner. This is an impressive work of research that should be in the library of every house in America.

This book truly marks a turning point in Chicano history by interrogating the similarities and differences between Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans in the U.S. The metaphor of Walls and Mirrors sums up the relationship between immigrants and longtime U.S. residents: they shared cultural, labor/class, and daily social ties, but political and civic goals divided them.

This book, then, is a political history that examines the importance of both legal and cultural citizenship in Texas and California communities. It looks at the impact of the Cold War, agribusiness labor needs, and civil rights struggles on debates over immigration at both the local and national level.

David Gutiérrez has written a unique and fantastic book on the Chicano experience in America. Fantastic read, and as a U-M Wolverine who has heard David Gutiérrez speak in person, I can say it is worthy of the praise it has received. The man knows his material!

This is an excellent work, probably even more readable than Dadrian's earlier "History of the Armenian Genocide". Meticulously researched, with sources from everywhere in many languages, this book gives undeniable evidence of the Turkish intention to solve the "Armenian Question" by exterminating the Armenians. It is a very scholarly and unbiased work, not failing to mention the existence of good Turks and bad Armenians, while all the while giving the historical and social background for the slaughter that was to come. This is a must read for those new to the subject or those looking for more information on this little known Genocide.

Dadrian is the pre-eminent scholar on the Armenian genocide. His command of all the main languages for source documents (Turkish, Armenian, German and English), 30 years of meticulous research, and his intellect all come through. His fundamental premise is that a valid study of the Armenian genocide is contingent upon a proper study of the Turko-Armenian conflict, which he subsumes under three categories: theocracy, demography, and Turkish domination of the Turko-Armenian power relationship.

This book is for people who have read at least one other book about the Armenian genocide and wish to thoroughly understand the root causes, the protracted phases, the escalation and the violent consummation of the Turko-Armenian conflict. It is a compelling work.

Dadrian's no-nonsense approach, coupled with the evidence he presents, is one of the most reliable examinations of the age-old relationship between Armenian and Turk. He does not shy away from discussing Turkish "schindlers" nor, on the other hand, the European players in the tragedy we have come to call the Armenian Genocide. The punch of this book lies in Dadrian's trademark method of demonstrating, through Non-Armenian sources, the mode of thinking and string of circumstance that made the massacres inevitable. His extensive footnotes also create opportunities for further exploration.

This book may be read simply for what it is or better yet highlight any research library regarding this topic. As a documentary filmmaker, I have found this book a tremendous help.

A magnificent book, all 228 pages. Huband's documentation alone is enough to guarantee the high quality of this book to anyone interested in the Islamist movement.

More than ever, it has become imperative for the West to understand the Arab world. Warriors of the Prophet chronicles Osama bin Laden's ascent to power during the Islamic Afghan resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Author Mark Huband reveals the important role bin Laden played in uniting the Arab Muslims with their Afghan compatriots and spreading the ideology of the jihad, or holy war, to protect Islam, to all the various Islamic factions that took part in the war in Afghanistan. Although a number of recent books address the rise of fundamentalist movements in the Islamic world, none attempt to explain to general readers the emergence, character, and significance of that revival, nor do they bring together the many voices dividing both conservative and liberal currents in the region. I found this book extremely useful and quite compelling - a surefire way to get at the Middle East "problem" and ways in which we can do something about it. The tone is fluid yet serious, just the kind of perspective I needed. I recommended this with great confidence.

...I turned to this book with the hope that author Mark Huband could shed some light upon the enigma known as the fundamentalist Islamic phenomenon. From a layperson's standpoint, this book was an invaluable resource for understanding the complexities of the Middle East factions, including their history, motives, religious beliefs, and political alliances. Fortunately, the book takes specific notice of Osama bin Laden and the Islamic movements in Afghanistan, an eerie predilection of their role in future world events. With the author's journalistic style and personal anecdotes, the book held my interest as well as its significance to present circumstances. Educating ourselves is the only way we can begin to make sense of the motives behind the terrorist acts, and I found no better resource than Warriors of the Prophet. It has my highest recommendation.

I humbly suggest that anyone who likes the work presented in "Washington on $10 Million a Day" also peruse the political newsletter "Counterpunch". I am not affiliated with any of the above mentioned entities just an interested reader eager to spread the truth about our sham democracy. For those of you who have not read this title and would like to investigate the sordid inner workings of our nation's capital; purchase this book. You will not find the commercialized, sanitized B.S. so pervasive in mainstream media. Educate yourself about the dissolute triad, comprised mainly of lobbyists, corporations and P.R. firms otherwise known as the "4th" branch of government. I also suggest reading "Derailing Democracy" by Dave McGowan. Thank you.

Ken Silverstein is the co-editor of the newsletter Counterpunch and one of the best investigative journalists in the US. In this book he exposes some of the ways in which corporate money and lobbying corrupt our political process and make sure that public policy serves corporate interests, not our own. A pair of examples will illustrate. In one particularly telling account, Silverstein reveals how Philip Morris connived to set up a phony public interest group called Contributions Watch, the purpose of which was to smear trial lawyers as "the most powerful special interest group" in the country. In another section, he describes various types of "astroturf" lobbying activities, where corporations create phony "grassroots" groups to provide cover for their interests.

Much of the book is based on reporting Silverstein did for Counterpunch. Given Silverstein's talents, one wonders why he is working for a small-circulation newsletter. Surely our major newspapers have need for investigative journalists of his talents. But then one remembers that the big papers are themselves corporate owned, and unlikely to want to shed too much light on the misdeeds of large corporations or the excesses of unrestrained monopoly capitalism.

The one flaw I can find with the book is the absence of any detailed notes on Silverstein's sources.

Yes, it truly is the age of retail politics. And Ken Silverstein's new expose, Washington on $10 Million a Day, shows the high price that must be paid to the lobbyists of K Street to get troubled corporations and Third World dictators out their various jams. Silvertein introduces us to the likes of Tommy Hale Boggs, the brother of ABC news diva Cokie Roberts, who charges $500 an hour to help oil companies boot Indians off potential drilling sites, bail out the interest of big banks, vouch for the character of butchers like Baby Doc Duvalier and tirelessly tread on his intimate relationship with President Bill. Then there's the noxious Edward von Kloberg, the man who fell for a Spy Magazine spoof when he indicated he would be willing to represent the interests of a German neo-Nazi group. Among van Kloberg's other clients: Saddam Hussein and Romanian thug Nicolae Ceausescu. With this new book, Silverstein goes right to the corrupt heart of the Beltway, where forgiveness for almost any crime against humanity is for sale at the right price. Silverstein is one of the nation's finest investigative reporters and this book proves he is also one of the funniest. Jeffrey St. Clair

I was a student and the University of Oregon in the 60's and had many opportunities to see Wayne Morse on campus and around town.

He was truly one of the twentieth century's great politicians.

It is sad to look back to the Vietnam era and realize he was (nearly) the lone voice of descent in the Government. All of those lost friends who died for no good reason.

Wayne Morse is the perfect example of the politican who approached issues from a common sense point of view instead of a partisan point of view. He was such a good labor negotiator because he approached each negotiation from a reasoned point of view. He knew when either labor or management was full of B.S. and he told them so.

This is also why he changed parties. Didn't have time for partisan politics when his party was not doing the right thing. The other great politician of the twentieth century who changed parties was Winston Churchill, who shared a balanced vision of the political world.

Hopefully we'll see another Wayne Morse one of these days, but not likley in the current enviornment

Senator Morse is one of our country's great historical figures. Mr. Drukman conveys the fascinating history of a man who was at the center of the cold war and foresaw a great many of the tragedies that unfolded in american foreign policy during the 1960's- most notably Vietnam. He was an outstanding politician- they just don't make em like this anymore.

Drukman explores nearly every facet of this incredible leader. Further, he does so with clear, thoughtful writing which illuminates the fascinating figures in every chapter. After researching Wayne Morse for three years myself (for a documentary film), I can honestly say that he is the only politician I know of who never once strayed from principle or betrayed the public trust. Indeed he sought to save America from those who did.

Young people throughout the African continent who are trying to find a way to combat the superexploitation of their countries by the various imperial powers of today often thirst for the speeches and writings of a revolutionary whose life was ended when most of them were children. That revolutionary's name is Thomas Sankara. He was the main leader of a revolution that took place in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, formerly the French, repeat French, colony of Upper Volta; the workers and farmers government he headed up was in power from 1983-87. This was the only Marxist leadership to ever hold power in Africa to this day. Giant first steps were made under this revolution in the liberation of women by the mobilization of women themselves; dam construction, irrigation, and reforestation projects began, spearheaded by voluntary labor brigades of the most politically conscious and solidarity-motivated workers and peasants; the revolution began to arm the people; and again and again, Sankara pointed to the Cuban revolution as the example for all Africa to emulate if Africa's efforts to develop and free itself are to succeed. As the Yankee Empire, in the first place, and French imperialism, in the second place, among others, increasingly use military ( "peacekeeping" ) forces to gain the riches of the African continent; as desertification and AIDS crises, fed by the rapacious "free market" capitalist system, continue to ravage sub-Saharan Africa, Sankara's words and example of revolutionary ACTION are more important than ever. His trenchant critique of both U.S. AND French imperialism are more needed than ever now, including here in the belly of the Imperial Beast, as well.

This is a selection of five speeches by Thomas Sankara, the central leader of the 1983-87 revolution in the west African country of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). The revolution was initiated in August, 1983, when a group of military officers seized power and appealed for support from the masses of Burkinabè workers and peasants. It ended when Sankara was assassinated in a military coup. During those four years the revolution proved to be "a movement of the immense majority for the benefit of the immense majority," as Sankara stated in a speech in October, 1983

The Burkina Faso revolution sought to educate and mobilize the masses of working people to work together to climb out of the social and economic backwardness that had been imposed on them by French imperialism. The revolutionary leadership organized the masses of people to lay the basis for economic development, to provide food, jobs and housing for all, to expand the accessibility of medical care and primary education to the great majority of the people of this very poor and underdeveloped country.

One major obstacle to progress in Burkina Faso was the degradation of women and the suppression of their capacities to work in all areas of social endeavor. The revolution strove to elevate women's status, to take major strides toward equality in all fields and to encourage them to provide leadership at all levels. As Sankara argued, "we do not talk of women's emancipation as an act of charity or because of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the triumph of the revolution. Women hold up the other half of the sky."

The Burkinabè revolution mobilized millions in the campaign to counteract the southward spread of the north African desert. As Sankara explained, "ten million trees have been planted under the auspices of a People's Development Program lasting fifteen
months-a first venture while the five-year plan was being prepared. . . . Explained in this way, our struggle to defend the trees and the forest is first and foremost a democratic struggle that must be waged by the people. The sterile and expensive excitement of a handful of engineers and forestry experts will accomplish nothing! "

One week before his assassination Sankara gave a speech on the twentieth anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, the Argentine Marxist who helped lead the Cuban revolution. Indicating the impact of Che's example within the Burkina Faso revolution, Sankara said, "Every time we think of Che, we will try to be like him, to make this man, the fighter, live again. And especially, every time we think of acting like him, in the spirit of self-sacrifice, in the rejection of bourgeois wealth that tries to alienate us, in refusing the easy path, but also by turning to education and the rigorous discipline of revolutionary morality-every time we try to act in this way, we will have better served Che's ideas and made them known more effectively."

Thomas Sankara led the revolution of 1983 to 1987 in Burkina Faso is forgotten by many, but as the crisis of capitalist and free market counterrevolution wrecks the lives of Africa's peoples, he and his struggle will be remembered and the answers in this pamphlet will become life and death necessities. In the five speeches contained in this pamphlet, he explains how the peasants and workers of this West African country established a popular revolutionary government and began to fight the hunger, illiteracy and economic backwardness imposed by imperialist domination, and the oppression of women inherited from millennia of class society. In so doing, they have provided an example not only to the workers and small farmers of Africa, but to those of the entire world.
Right now, it is not only Africans who need a government based on working people and not the rich, but millions of us in the rest of this world wracked by war, economic, crisis, and a future that seems grimmer and grimmer each day.