Governments

Ultimately, Daniel Cohen achieves his sense of balance in "The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton" by finding all the parties involved guilty of something. The Republican party was able to take advantage of competing standards in being critical of Clinton's behavior, applying a legal standard to his political behavior and a political standard to his legal actions. In a similar fashion Cohen uses various standards to find fault with one and all, which, I dare say, is a position most young readers can readily buy into.

In 1998 the U.S. House of Representatives voted for two articles of impeachment against President Clinton: committing perjury and obstructing justice. Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate after a brief trial, but Cohen is well aware that the story involves much more than the Constitutional issues. Cohen presents the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the context of the "Character" issue that had followed Clinton throughout his run for the White House. Detailing the string of events that brought Lewinsky to the attention of Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Even though he is writing for a younger audience, Cohen pays attention to details: he points out the employee photograph of Lewinski from the Department of Defense was used because it was the only one available until journalists finally tracked her down. A small detail, but important because in the world of news images matter. The chapters in which Cohen details how the White House counterattacked the building story and the testimony that became the focal point of the impeachment effort.

During the whole impeachment affair I always like to read news magazines rather than newspapers, because I appreciated the sense of perspective that you get from something that comes out weekly rather than daily. Cohen certainly takes advantage of the persepctive time affords him. I also like the fact that Cohen does not let his objectivity stand in the way of being critical: he notes that Betty Currie, the president's secretary, would have been an obvious witness to call but that the impeachment managers did not want to have a string of black witnesses being questioned by white males. Again, I think this sort of detail speaks to the quality of this book.

Ultimately, the information in this book may enlighten, but it probably will not persuade anybody, mainly because everybody's mind is made up on this one. I remember thinking it was a big mistake for the U.S. Supreme Court to let lawyers go after a sitting U.S. President in a civil trial and when Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with Lewinski I immediately knew that he was ruling out intercourse, but not other things. Along with what happened in Florida, it was an interesting couple of years educating children about the wonderful world of politics in this country. Of course, I am not sure too many students are interested in beating this particular dead horse, but this is an excellent treatment of the sordid chapter of recent American history.

Extremely well-written in an unbiased telling of the facts, Cohen presents this entire scandal in "the best light possible." Told chronologically, he incudes black/white photos and documents that keep this book moving at an acceptable pace. A much appreciated addition to any school or public library, this will be a popular reference for any school project concerning Presidents. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions about the "charmed" life and bad choices of this U. S. President. You can't do much better than that, Mr. Cohen.

I am the grandchild of a Puerto Rican woman who lived on the island about the time this book was written. I was absolutely fascinated by the book and found it explained a lot about attitudes toward race and sexuality that prevailed in my own family that I'd always found contradictory and inexplicable.

I generally avoid books written by academicians because their writing style is usually turgid, wordy and devoid of life. Not so this book. While it does carefully document its subject, the writing is lively and engaging.

A must-read for anyone who wants insight into a fascinating aspect of Puerto Rican culture.

Well researched and engaged with the scholarly discussion, yet readable and at times very elegantly argued. The book contributes to discussions of race and sexuality and should be of interest to many more than the few academics in Latin American history and women's studies. Those people, and many others interested in those and related fields, however, MUST read it!

This award winning book gives a brief history of the formulation of the U.S. Bill of Rights. It illuminates the beginnings and flow of Constitutional history in a way that readers can understand the process. I would use this book in the classroom because it would allow the students to learn about the history of the Bill of Rights and how it is a part of the Constitution. The students always learn about how the Bill of Rights and the Constitution apply to their lives today, but not many know the history behind each of them. Teacher can use this book to begin a unit on this topic. I think this book would be good to use as an introduction to a theme cycle. This book could be the first one of several that is read throughout the unit.

On April 23, 2003, William Baue reported in SocialFunds.com:

IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S BILL OF RIGHTS is first a brief history of the formulation of the US Bill of Rights. It is also a look at how the black-robed trustees of the "462 words written two centuries ago" which "promise the basic civil liberties that all Americans enjoy as their birthright" have not always kept that promise for all Americans, and it examines how these words are interpreted and reinterpreted as the group of individuals serving on the Supreme Court change, as society, technology, and other factors change, and as new circumstances and new laws come into play.

Interpretation of new laws in relationship to the Constitution is called judicial review. When it comes to the Bill of Rights, judicial review constantly reveals those 462 words to be a living, enduring organism that is relevant today, no matter what day today is. It causes many of us to be forever amazed by the genius of the Founding Fathers in gathering these words/ideas/ideals (particularly when they and their progeny were such jerks in keeping those sacred rights to themselves and their white male moneyed Protestant slave-owning counterparts for so damned long).

For such a book to have some lasting value to a reader and to a library collection, it must illuminate the beginnings and flow of Constitutional history in such a way that readers can understand the process and utilize that understanding as a stepping stone for future exploration as the Bill of Rights continues evolving through new justices and new Court cases.

Russell Freedman's book does just that. It shows how times change and decisions change. It provides juicy, sometimes gross examples of behavior that resulted in the promulgation of the English Common Law, the English Bill of Rights and how those rights and American colonial-period behaviors all contributed to these first ten Amendments to the US Constitution.

Freedman presents many historic decisions--later "corrected" by more-recent Justices--that (hopefully) all of us would agree in retrospect were unfair. Some early examples are a result of a Supreme Court ruling in the early 1800s that the Bill of Rights applied only to the national government. Thus (besides the slaves, the Native Americans, and the boorish treatment of women) you had other situations I wasn't aware of such as:

"In New Jersey, non-Protestants weren't granted full civil rights until 1844. In New Hampshire, Catholics couldn't vote until 1851."

But the vast proportion of the information and cases that Russell Freedman presents involve issues that are relevant and vital to today's teens. Discussion of Japanese Internment is followed by a look at the treatment and roundups of Muslim and Arab men in America following September 11th. Freedman explores many other hot-button issues such as reproductive freedom, high-tech snooping, random drug testing, the Internet, and the Death Penalty. I found his presentation of the modern issues and historic precedents surrounding the Second Amendment to be especially thought-provoking. (I'd love to see classroom discussion of that chapter coupled with a viewing of Bowling for Columbine.)

Accompanying both the historic and current issues are great tie-in photos and other illustrations. For instance, back in February we discussed with our students Bretton Barber, the Michigan kid who was kicked out of school for wearing a shirt with a printed photo of the President captioned "International Terrorist." Barber--who along with the ACLU has a lawsuit pending against the school district--invoked the Tinker v. Des Moines case from the 1960s in asserting his right to wear that shirt. Not only does this book include discussion of the Tinker case, it has a great photo of the two Tinker kids holding their black armbands emblazoned with peace symbols. (In ruling for the Tinker siblings, the Court decreed that constitutional protections "are not shed at the school house gate.")

The more sophisticated history students will consume this book quickly and be hungry for more. They will be able to dig into the extensive bibliographical sources that Freedman provides us, the majority of which have been published within the last decade. But the typical eighth-grade American History student will find this book in itself a wealth of information and a doorway to the beauty and enduring nature of our country's most precious of documents.

Richie Partington
....

Modern Africans find themselves at the juncture of several worlds: As Basil Davidson might have noted, revolution, episodic nationalism, and postcolonial debacles have cast a pall of chaos onto an already historically chaotic field of peoples. The philosophies of Europe, the roots of tradition, African nationalism, Pan-Africanism, racial, tribal and ethnic solidarity, and a modernity which seeks to unleash individualism all come into conflict when Africans attempt to assess the problems they face, and detail solutions for these problems. Kwame Antony Appiah calls African thinkers to take up this important work, and he offers several assessments of these problems and possible solutions in his book. He believes that a better basis for solidarity in Africa is needed to replace decaying philosophies of negritude, and he discredits Pan Africanism's ability to fulfill this role. He addresses the question of what African philosophers should be preoccupied with, and whether, in their seeking to establish, unify, or recreate cultures, African philosophers can really draw upon philosophies and identities unique to Africa. The importance of an "African" identity has emerged since colonialism, and Appiah questions what such an identity should be founded upon, using Wole Soyinka and his own father Joseph Appiah as examples of intellectuals at work on the question.

After a reading of Appiah's book, I question whether an African solidarity can be usefully articulated. Can inclusive, constructive and accessible modern culture be derived in a continent-wide scale, with some collective experience as its sourcebook? Perhaps the question rides on whether tradition is truly expendable, although so far it has apparently not been expendable (although it has proven malleable). Appiah's arguments in favor of reexamining what it means to be African, while he has labored to disassociate them from the Pan-Africanist agenda, seem unsure on the issue of Pan Africanist hopes. Pan Africanism, whether informal or economic, seems more than mired in implied racialism - it seems to ignore the idea that there is a need for modern African nations to promote overture to the world, rather than aggrandized protectionism, which invariable carries with it repressive nationalist agendas. The reality is that Africa is dependent upon its ties to the rest of the world. I believe that Appiah would argue that any "Africanism" is not useful as a method of affirming culture, either, precisely because to be simply "an African" implies such a tremendous negation of one's own past.

I still want to know if Soyinka has also successfully divorced himself from a bogus Pan-Africanist and unianimist use of an "African" culture in his metaphors and references. Does he somehow successfully escape from the confines of this label with his individual-focused explorations (which are thus really Nigerian, or Yoruban?)

Also, how usefully can a philosophical agenda be furthered by an intellectual class focused on bipolarity? The implied bipolarity of African philosophers, working to justify themselves to the world while preserving the value of traditional discourse, seems in danger of trying too hard to mold tradition, and thus lose useful contact with traditional people.

Appiah questions "...the evaluative assumption that recovery of tradition is worthwhile," implying that it is not (95). This comment seems like an important and perhaps controversial one: is it really good for philosophers in Africa, if working to establish an agenda for future clarity and intelligibility for Africans, to be ready to dismiss recovering tradition in their countries and societies? The negative effects of tradition are many, but its benefits seem easily slighted.

Appiah's critique of the ethno philosophical response to modernity seems to leaves out the important fact that a new citizen of the world, as African citizen, is rapidly, and permanently, emerging - and that as people grow up separating themselves from tradition, tribalism and rural politics, they are reassessing their traditional background while trying to create an identity. Perhaps the ethno philosophy he criticizes is in fact an attempt at an honest reappraisal of tradition, for certainly all summaries of the condition of African traditions will end up preferentially consolidating these traditions.

The question is where in the African intellectual consciousness should fit the multi-lingual, multi-national views of tradition. I think to roundly press African intellectuals to serve the highest ideals of "their people" and guide them into a modernity that is not based on European models and yet also not based upon African tradition should be recognized as especially dangerous, as such a plan may well leave its chosen flock behind.

This book, for the density and complexity as well as honesty of its inquiry, should be seen as a sold introudction to what makes Africa so problematic on the level of identity and solidarity. The existence of an "african" identity can no longer be ignored. Appiah finds all the roots of this identity and gives them rigorous criticism in light of his own personal view of Africa as well as a solid reading of African philosophy, social science and history.

Appiah's book is insightful and powerful. His mastery of language allows for a philosophical chef d'oeuvre that reads with fluency comparable to a fine novel. Appiah's unique perspective as a quintessentially modern academic whose own life has bridged gaps between three continents imbues his writing with a freshness that will captivate any fine intellect. Truly a remarkable work.

Lansdale admits this book is full of "White Lies" - see Curry's (The Unquiet American".

As the other reviewer says, Lansdale was very close to Diem - Sheehan says South Vietnam was Lansdale's making. He sure made it - and he made war - unfortunately all illegal and immoral.

Lansdale was also very angry when he was passed over for Ambassador to Sth Vietnam (by JFK)and when Diem was killed, - so angry that he was instrumental in the assasination of John Kennedy - he was in the photos of the "Three Tramps" - ...

Lansdale was a CIA operative, a criminal, and a murderer - fairly typical of American military types. What a country the US is! What crimes it has committed, and what pain it has inflicted on the world. And these guys are held up as "Heroes". Ultimate hypocrasy. So sad for the world.

This book is one of the best I have read so far. The first half of the book was about Lansdale in Philippine as an advisor to Phillipine's president at the time. I have been researching a lot into the period that the second half of this particular book covered. The author (Lansdale) had been very honest when he wrote this book, a must read for anyone with questions about what happpened in Vietnam in the time period from 1954 to 1960. I finally read something that had something positive about President Ngo Dinh Diem. This book tell the truth about Ngo Dinh Diem from someone who know him best because Lansdale had acted as Diem's political advisor and best friend. The book is a first hand account (sort of like a memoir) of someone who were actually there, and witnessed every ordeal that had happened. A fine book if you wanted to read something truthful. You don't have to believe me, so I will stop now so you can go ahead and read this wonderful book. By the way, have fun reading :) :) Gwynevere

John Avlon's book Independent Nation, distinguishes itself from the pack of jeremiads against our polarized political culture via his ability to use small points to prove larger ones. He weaves a rich tapestry from the fabric of American history that allows the reader an insight not only into political giants such as Moynihan and Giuliani's policies, but there persons as well. By including sections about lesser known figures Avlon shows that while we do live in a unique time, this is not the first generation whose politics were personal or polarized.

One of the most fascinating parts of the book is the section on Edward Brooke, who is an often forgotten figure in the struggle for civil rights. How did a black Republican get elected to the US Senate in white Democratic Massachusetts? Avlon argues that by pursuing the "vital center" he was elected first in 1966 and then re-elected in 1972 even as Nixon was losing the state. The arguments he uses to buttress this point are impressive and well-thought out.

Is there a vital center anymore? The fringes of both parties take out their vengeance via the primaries on any person who puts forth what Dick Morris called the "triangulation strategy" and but yet we sometimes let great leaders slip by like Guliani, Moynihan and even Clinton.

I once read that we get the politics we deserve rather than those that we desire. Avlon illustrates this with countless examples of people who were excoriated by their own parties and often only appreciated in historical retrospect. Where have you gone Daniel Moynihan....

John Avlon's Independent Nation is a cogent and nuanced history of the profoundly independent character of American political life. As a historical education in the lives of leaders who defied the conventional political wisdom of their times by steering an independent path we see icons from Teddy Roosevelt to Rudy Giuliani. They sometimes left their base voters puzzled but won accolades from the vast center. In these character and leadership profiles, Independent Nation shines.

Both parties continue to wage primary battles that mandate we follow Nixon's dicta: run for your base in the primary, run in the center for the general. As the fractures on the far left and far right combine with increasing vocal constituency groups at either end of the spectrum, getting back to the center in either campaigns or governance becomes more challenging, though as Avlon's work demonstrates, more vital than ever.

Independent Nation serves as a smart roadmap for campaigners, historians and those interested in the tidal flow of ideological life in America. It is a picture not only of what effective leadership from the center of our nation has been, but is becoming.

I found Calvin Mackenzie's book, Innocent Until Nominated: The Breakdown Of The Presidential Appointments Process, a gripping read. It is a fascinating look at the bumbling bureacracy that surrounds the appointment circus. The book is detailed and painstakingly researched, and Mackenzie uses real-life examples to make his case. A must-read for any American who has ever marvelled at the insane appointment process.

Aptly edited by Calvin Mackenzie (Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government, Colby College) Innocent Until Nominated: The Breakdown Of The Presidential Appointments Process is a close, no-nonsense look at the pitfall-filled, red-tape crisscrossed and generally insane means by which a president chooses top management positions in the executive branch of government. The deadly crossfire of character assassination, manipulation, horse trading, and much, much more behind the tangled mess of presidential appointments is studied in fine detail, to the seeming conclusion that attempting serve one's country has become a job for saints and madmen in this day and age. A truly fascinating study of a tormented political process by exceptionally knowledgeable contributors, Innocent Until Nominated is strongly recommended reading for students of American political science seeking a better understanding of the political dynamics embedded in the presidential nominations and senatorial confirmation processes.

As a photographer (albeit amateur) who has attempted to work inside other Arab countries photographing Islamist insurgencies and security forces, I have a huge amount of respect for the environment in which von Graffenreid attempted to work. He has succeeded hugely. His photographs are stark, absolutely searing, and freighted with undertones of almost unbearable tension. This book should be mandatory for anyone with an interest in photojournalism, combat photography, the Middle East, Islamist politics, and covert photography.

Algeria gained independence from France July 5, 1962 when the Evian accords were signed. The country had been fighting a war of independence, led by the National Liberation Front, since the 1950's. More than one million Algerian's were killed and over two million have been internally displaced. On December 26, 1991, the Algeria's first multi-party general election took place. The military intervened in the election for fear that the Islamic Salvation Front would win the election. Early February 1992 a state of emergency was declared and since that time it's believed that over 100,000 Algerian's have been killed in the eight years of civil strife. Michael Von Graffenried photography and story are timely and incredible because it captures a people who are tired of conflict and who are struggling to stay alive.

The biggest obstacle Americans suffer to any sort of progress on urban problems is the Big Lie that after being forced to lie in their own excrement for decades, America's poorest cities can right themselves through a little more efficiency (in the conservative version) or Great Society spending on "community development" (in the liberal version). Rusk shows why community development doesn't work, and also shows why most cities (other than a few immigration hubs like NYC and Sun Belt cities with unlimited annexation powers) simply can't compete with their suburbs without outside help (or at least without a termination of outside hostility, such as highway spending that drags development ever further into the suburbs): if a city has no tax base and poor people who make public services more expensive, it can't compete with the suburbs, efficiency or no efficiency. Like Cities without Suburbs (also by Rusk), this is a masterpiece.

Rusk's book roots out the causes of concentrated urban poverty, proposes solutions, and provides examples of success stories. Rusk convincingly argues that poor racial minorities should be welcome to live in functional neighborhoods, such as the suburbs. I attended a conference at which Rusk discussed "Inside Game, Outside Game," and I was delighted to hear one politician declare that that book should be required reading for every politician in my state. I agree.

Mr. Levine has still written the definitive text about the US- EC Steel trade negotiations. As a frequent observer of the Commerce Department during the early 1980s, I know that his keen sense of people and politics served him well in this work. It remains in a prominent place on my own bookshelf. I agree with the review by Sam from Pasadena. If you are interested in US government, Commerce Dept, trade policy, or have a mother, you should buy this book.

I have nothing but positive things to say about the author of this book -- he's my favorite person who has ever worked in the State Department, and this is undoubtedly the best book he's ever written. Also, the dedication is heart-warming.

Three thumbs up!