Governments

The History of Germany by Eleanor Turk is a well-organized, comprehensive, and academic narrative of German history; yet it is highly readable. The book is written in a way that creates academic interest and provides answers to questions that college and high school students, as well as general readers, have had about Germany's past and have wanted clarified.

Beginning with a timeline and chronologically tracing distinct events, the author first focuses on modern Germany in order to establish in the reader's mind a full understanding of Germany's status--its problems and successes--today. Readers are then taken back to antiquity and the middle ages while being given the opportunity to examine each subsequent period of German history with its unique problems and to visualize how various crises within each period impacted Germany's future. Especially helpful is a chapter centering on notable people who have played important roles in the history of Germany.

Dr. Turk has the unique ability of making the pieces of the puzzle fall into place until the present reality of Germany and its future potential come into view. As one college student observed, "This is not a stuffy textbook. It reads like a novel."

Turk's book is an outstanding single volume history of Germany from prehistory to 1998. It covers the Immigration Period, the Middle Ages, Early Modern, the 19th Century, the World Wars, and the Reunification of East and West Germany in 1990. Turk gives an appropriate amount of detail, and provides the novice with an outstanding first look at the history of one of the world's most important countries.

Bill does an extraordinary job depicting the Zapatista rebellion and the political scene. excellent corrolation between struggles in different states in Mexico and Cental and South America.

This book ties together over 500 years of Mayan history and places the current conflict in its accurate historical and cultural setting. Unlike many of the current videos and some books that have been published on Chiapas and surrounding areas of Mexico since the Zapatista uprising, the author has done the extensive research needed to sort out a very complex conflict. I have traveled much in this area of the world and I immediately recognized the social and political landscape described within these pages. I cannot say this about all the books in the recent spate of Chiapas and Mayan scholarship.

I've followed Bill Weinberg's writing for years and have the highest regard for the veracity and insight of his work...

Belfiglio covers the TSG from A to Z. An excellent example of a thoroughly researched organizational history.Holds ones interest from cover to cover.

This is a great book to read if you want to learn what true Texans are about...from the battles for Texas independance from Mexico to the present day... this book will give you the inside story of it all. Of course, I am biased... I am a member of the Texas State Guard!

Midterm elections are a lot more than just the ugly stepchild of American politics. They are an important feature that (with three exceptions since 1894)have consistently hurt the president and his agenda in one way or another. Why does the president's party almost always lose ground in Congress in midterm elections? And what are the short- and long-term effects of midterms?

In this book, Busch takes at look at every midterm election from 1894 to the present. He then divides each midterm election into one of four categories: the preparatories (1894, 1910, 1918, 1930, 1950, 1958, 1966, and 1978) in which the opposition party gained seats in Congress and set the stage for their winning the White House two years later, the calibrating elections, (1938, 1982, 1986) which forced the president to moderate his agenda, but didn't reverse it, the exceptions (1934, 1962, and 1998)in which the party holding the White House gained the advantages usually gained by their opponents, and the normal midterms (somewhat surprisingly, 1994 is in this category).

Midterm elections have many important effects besides just damaging the president, as Busch notes. For example, the 1946 elections and the subsequent GOP Congress established bipartisan support for an activist foreign policy that is still, for the most part, with us today.

Don't let my summary fool you. Busch goes into great depth (for example, he even shows that the president usually suffers damage within his own party i.e. many of the Democrats who survived the 1894 elections were silverities and thus Cleveland's enemies) about an important topic.

Professor Busch pens a superb book that deals with a topic that few other political scientists have written on: the results of midterm elections. Prof. Busch looks at each midterm election since 1894 (up to 1998) and classifies them, finally explaining their results. It is an excellent book, and is a must for anyone trying to understand what midterm elections mean to our republican government.

If you're interested in getting to the belly of the beast, in this case, the finger-nail crud of unification, look to Katie's absolutely bottom-line insights into the east German perspective. The house is still there, hard by the two-taxi stand as you come across the bridge, ironically just down the wooded lane from where they signed the Potsdam Agreement, and, in its crumbling, grafitti-stained magnificence, it can be seen, if you wish, as some sort of symbol, of what's gone wrong, and what's gone right. with the "new" Germany. The book tells a wonderful tale of brick and mortar and the dreams and ambition it contained. Rarely does the door to a complex turning open so joyously and so widely. Read it and learn how it is.

Having lived in Germany before, during and after the wall went down,
The House At The Bridge encapsulizes succinctly the emotions of change
that I, and others, saw and felt during Germany's paradigm shift of
politics and society. This story isn't just about a house, but of
families and a country in transition. Ms. Hafner cleverly uses the
house as a common thread to tell the history behind the house's
inhabitants and the political changes that effected them. The
comparisons between (former) East and West Germany are poignant and
real. Any history lover, travel buff or architect(professional or
amateur) will be pleasantly surprised by the story this house tells.

Mark Gerzon, in A House Divided : Six Belief Systems Struggling for America's Soul, provides insight into the major dynamics of American politics and culture and the internal struggles which will shape our nation for generations to come. If the reader will put himself in the place of each of the segments of American society as Gerzon so convincingly describes each one, he will gain remarkable new understanding of the commonalities and the divisions within our country. Great read and important information.

Not an easy read, but one that you will be glad you did if you are the type of person that is interested in the world arround you. The challenge here is to read and become a better person for having done so. It should open your mind

This very acute work tells two tales, that of the Holocaust, and of the imperialism of the United States in Central America. Although some might disagree with the author's Holocaust interpretation it is well reasoned and documented. But his basic point is unsettling: We say 'never again' to the Holocaust, yet we barely register what has happened in Guatemala, El Salvador in the past generation. If we wonder at the reason Germans were passive during the era of Hitler, we should find an example in our own behavior.

This powerful book is an indictment of U.S. intervention in Central America. Unlike the numerous accounts of the CIA involvement in the wars against democracy, however, Porpora focuses on American public's reaction - or non-reaction - to the genocidal policies of our "allies" in Central America. He draws strong parallels between the US in the 1980-90's and Germany in the 1920-30's and demonstrates that it is the moral indifference of the general public that allows evil to flourish, and that ultimately it is the general public that is responsible.

I bought this as a reference book for my middle school-aged children. It does not get bogged down with lengthy discussions. Rather, it is written for the younger crowd and does exactly what I wanted it to do. I would recommend this book to parents looking for a simplified explanation for their children of how the U.S. government is set up.

Syl Sobel is my nextdoor neighbor. This book is a wonderful resource for the whole family. It is illustrated, has a glossary for those hard to know terms and an index! Buy this book today!!

The best way to describe this type of book is to show you it's table of contents. I have taken the time to do this for you because I feel that after seeing the titles of the books that the author reviews in each chapter you WILL make the decision to buy this book.

1-A Century of War
2-Tragedy and Hope
3-The Naked Capitalist
4-The Tax-Exempt Foundations
5-The Creature from Jekyll Island
6-1984
7-Report from Iron Mountain
8-The Greening
9-The Politics of Heroin
10-Final Judgment

11-Dope Inc.
12-Let's fix America!

The author has researched the works of writers who are seeking to find out WHO is impoverishing us, and WHY and HOW they are doing it. The findings are presented via a series of in-depth reviews of a carefully selected set of books, mostly little-known but a few famous. Taken together, a coherent picture emerges which precious few among even our political activists understand or care to admit to knowing.

This book is perhaps one of the most amazing I've ever read.

It is not a "junk waste of time conspiracy" nonsense book. It is almost 100% backed up by highly reputable sources and has absolutely no speculation, that I could see.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE WHO CONSIDERS HIMSELF/HERSELF REMOTELY INTELLIGENT!

THIS IS A BOOK NOT FOR LIBERALS, OR CONSERVATIVES, OR EVEN NECESSARILY AMEICANS, JUST FOR HARD WORKING MIDDLE CLASS MEMBERS!(it actually downplays the politics, and gets to the REAL meat of the subject, unlike Washington)

READ IT!!!!

This is perhaps the best book of it's genre on accessing the federal government. Far too many of these books focus on the "how" to access the federal government. This book focuses almost entirely on the "why". A majority of us do not realize the subtle reasons we all wish we could hack into the federal government, the needs to control the monetary flow of the richest nation in the world, a need that we all share as a human beings. This book helps us explore our relationships with and perceptions of wealth. We learn to accept who we are in the scheme of cash-flow thus allowing us to be comfortable with ourselves as we plow a cement truck through the walls of the federal reserve. Other related titles are "How to Commit Suicide Fast", "If You Thought the Government Was Watching You Now...", "Getting in Touch With Your Lust for Power, Wealth and Corruption", "The Whitehouse's Favorite Lapdance" and "Spiking the Punch at the State of the Union Address".

With this guide, you can get the text of presidential news conferences and proclamations, follow sales of dairy products, study the CIA's assessment of Ethiopia, research breast cancer, download images of earth taken from Space, investigate Department of Justice crime statistics, and more.
The guide is divided into easy-to-use sections such as Defense, Foreigh Affairs, Energy, and the Environment, then the various sites listed with access information and helpful comments.
There is a wealth of information available FREE from the U.S. government, and this work is a handy and very useful tool for accessing it.

(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable default setting within the format of the site. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)