Governments

I teach a survey course on Russia to graduate-level business students. I have used a variety of texts on Russia's economic transformation, always seeking one with the ideal combination of currency, readability, and insights and perspectives attuned to the businessperson rather than the typical academic. Brady's book is it. Brady's experience with BusinessWeek and her illustrative interviews with Russian citizens resonate particularly strongly with my students, who run the gamut from straight-from-undergrad-school/can't-find-Russia-on-a-map, to individuals who have done business in Russia (successfully or un- ) and want to know more about a unique (and uniquely frustrating) environment for operations and investment. I plan to continue requiring this text for my students and hope Brady provides updated editions as needed.

This is an fabulous book on how Russia turned from state socialism into a fragile, but market-based economy. Being a Business Week correspondent in Moscow the author could witness all stages of Russia's economic transformation -- starting from supply shortages and chaos of late 1991 to the formation of financial & industrial comglomerates in 1997. This book is an exciting reading because it is easy written and combines stories on both complicated economic issues and on lives of ordinary Russians, struggling to adapt to the changes.

After reading Graham's personal history I was dissapointed that there was nothing else written by her. This book fufills that dissapointment. She provides all sorts of views about Washington even though she doesn't agree with them all. There are articles written by Nancy Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Alice Roosevelt, and many, many more. A great read for anyone interested in Graham or Washington.

I am not completely finished with this book, but wanted to post a review urging all who are interested in the history of our country to read this.

Mrs. Graham has gathered articles from many people associated with the govenment and also some who were natives of Washington and in the social scene. Some were White House employees. She has written an introduction to each article which is helpful.

There are many interesting stories never seen before. I especially liked the articles of behind the scenes preparations for the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 by White House employees. Eleanor Roosevelt's article is different than the one she has in her book as it does not include the stop at Hyde Park.

Mamie is presented as a difficult taskmaster by the White House seamstress. All good reading.

I don't know if young folks will enjoy this book as much as I did, but they should give it a try.

Only objection. There were not enough pictures!

This book provides a detailed insight into how Soviet leaders used their internal intelligence agency as an instrument of ultimate oppression. Lots of well-documented detail. The present tense only gets in the way for a bit (remember it was published while this was still going on -- before the fall of the USSR) and does not alter the facts as they were under the Soviet system. There is no other book which gives one quite the depth and insight this one does. Definitely a MUST for anyone interested in how things really worked in the USSR. Its a lesson to all of us. You want this book.

The book reveals the unique qualifications and inside knowledge of the two authors. There is no better description of the systematic repression of a modern population. Its appearance just before the fall of the Soviet Union invalidated its present tense, nevertheless, for anyone interested in how Soviet power survived for 70 years, this is the definitive work. A must for students of this subject.

My seven-year-old daughter is reading this book now. This morning, she said to me, "Daddy, I'm so glad you got me this book from the library. But there's one thing I don't like: those companies were so mean! And why? Because of money, that's why! But those people aren't any better than other people are. It's just the way the black people used to be treated, it wasn't fair. People should be treated nicely, not just the rich people, that's what I think." So if you want to nurture a sense of social justice (and maybe a little social rebellion) in your child, this seems to be a good book. I can't wait to read it when she's done.

Kids on Strike is an excellent introduction to U.S. labor history. The book is well-researched and enhanced by the addition of a chapter-by-chapter bibliography. Bartoletti uses her journalism background to weave an eloquent and powerful narrative. Even adults will learn something new. I, for instance, was completely unaware of how a teen-age girl led a widespread (and successful) rent strike in New York City in 1907. A great addition to school libraries.

The more I learn, the more my skin crawls when I hear references to the "vanishing Indian." If anything, it is even more evidence that our mainstream media is telling us what they want us to believe. Oh, it was a valiant effort made in the creation of "the land of the free and the home of the Brave," but it was not successful. Attempted genocides are rarely, if ever, completely successful. For that, we can be grateful...but just barely.

From the book:
"We, the Indigenous Peoples of this red quarter of Mother Earth, [have survived] 500 years of genocide, ethnocide, ecocide, racism, oppression, colonization and christianization. These excesses of western civilization resulted from contempt for Mother Earth and all our relations; contempt for women, elders, children and Native Peoples; and contempt for a future beyond the present human generation." (Taos, New Mexico, 1992)

Native Americans kept this country and the living forms within it pristine for thousands of years before it was "discovered" and "civilized." In 200 years it has been desecrated, vandalized, poisoned almost beyond repair, in the guise of "Manifest Destiny."

It's incredible to even consider "Patriotism" without considering the roots of its "success." One Nation, "Under God":

"In New England, zealots such as Cotton Mather encouraged the Puritans to regard the Indian as a principal actor in the cosmic drama that governed even the smallest details of life, a 'spetial instrument of God' to punish errant souls in the eternal struggle between good and evil. In such a climate, killing Indians became not merely warfare but the cleansing of sin itself.' ... The degree of violence that was woven into the texture of early frontier life fairly boggles the mind of our, in some ways, far more delicate age. In the 1650s, Dutch colonists brought back eighty decapitated Indian heads from a massacre and used them as kickballs in the streets of New Amsterdam."

"It was widely assumed by Americans that Indians were destined to vanish before the onrush of civilization, a view of things that conveniently allowed cynicism to blend with sentimentality...It was as if the Indians' disappearance were the result of some force completely beyond the human power to stay, like a tidal wave or a change of seasons."

The stories are horrendous, and should be required reading for anyone who claims to be a Patriot. This is not to say that Patriotism, in itself, is wrong. Not at all. Just that it should be an informed Patriotism, one that accepts responsibility for its history with an investment in a better and healthier future.

"Between 1850 and 1859, the federal government reimbursed the State of California $924,259 for what was basically freelance murder. ...In April of 1852, miners at Orleans Bar, 'after meeting to discuss the Indian problem, voted to kill on site all Indians having guns,' a local newspaper reported without comment. The next month, near Weaverville, 153 Wintuns were slaughtered in reprisal for killing five cows that belonged to a white man. In 1853, at Yontoket, several hundred Tolowas were murdered in the midst of their harvest dance. A survivor described it, 'The whitemen built a huge fire and threw in our sacred ceremonial dresses, the regalia, and our feathers, and the flames grew higher. Then they threw in the babies, many of them were still alive.' ...Until the 1880s, California courts barred any kind of testimony from 'Indians, or persons having one-fourth or more Indian blood in an action in which a white person was a party.'"

"Professional slave hunters raided Indian villages with impunity, seizing women and children for sale to miners and to brothels in the gold rush towns. In the mid-1850s, a pubescent girl sold for about $300 and smaller children for as little as $50."

Yes, the roots of child sexual slavery go deep into our history.

But the book is more than horror stories and balanced history. There is a future here, and a challenge to the belief that the "savage Indian" has been wiped from the face of the earth. Historical guilt has its limitations, and that is not the purpose of the book. The history of Indian law under federal policy and Indian education opened my eyes to an expansion of Indian culture that I found heartening and exciting. "More consistently than any other in the nation's history, Indian policy has embodied the nation's unending struggle to apply moral standards to the conduct of public policy."

America is not the only nation to attempt to wipe out indigenous tribes, and that is another course of study. The difference, in America, as the book points out, is that America continues to struggle with that history -- and that is something to get Patriotic about. It is a record that, though flawed, is unequaled by any other nation in its dealings with aboriginal peoples.

The book raised a question about tribal sovereignty that was new to me, and that I continue to struggle with long after having read the book. Does it move them forward, or hold them back? Would mainstreaming the American Indian be empowering? Or would it take from them what remaining culture they have left? That is the ultimate question of "celebrating diversity" vs. the "melting pot" theory of America. It is not limited to Indians. And it is a concept we must struggle with, perhaps to the point of redefining what it means to be "mainstream" in America.

Another concept that made me think was the lack of "civil rights" legislation under reservation law: free press, free speech, and separation of powers. If Federal Law is "hands off" reservation land, where to Indians find justice if their governments are corrupt? For that matter, where do we? Perhaps the question is not, who should have the power, but how do we as a nation challenge corruption?

"What are the limits of federal powers? How can tribalism be squared with the legal and moral dictates of equal protection under the law? What is the role of the states in Indian Country and of the tribes in constitutional democracy? What is the civil juristiction of tribal courts? How can the United States support tribal regimes that reject fundamental aspects of American democracy? What is the basis for asserting that reservation Indians shall have representation in state government but without taxation? On the other hand, what is the basis for asserting that non-Indian residents of Indian Country shall not be represented in tribal government yet be subject to tribal law, courts, and taxation? How can we, as Americans, tolerate double standards?"

Good questions, all of them. And Bordwich doesn't answer them. But he certainly gives us plenty with which to mull them over and discuss them. The important thing is that we not ignore them. The Indians aren't. And we are all in this together.

There aren't many books about Native Americans that tell the truth the way it should be told, truth without bias or idealism. The author has done a commendable job in supporting his information with excellent references. While reading this book, I found myself shaking my head in agreement because it addresses facts and issues that need to be addressed more often in the manner in which they are presented. This book will turn the reader from a romantic to a realist.

You don't necessarily need to have an anthropology degree to read this "psychocultural analysis" of Korea--the author is an excellent writer and I found his approach, style and analysis to be very intriguing, provocative and powerful. At any rate, a work like this is precisely (desparately) what is needed. There is such a dearth of material that examines how north and south Korea think about each other as similar/different in terms of unification. Most people just assume it is a given without looking at it more closely. I found it fascinating and informative to catch a glimpse of how post-war south Korea problematically depicted the north through school books, student demonstrations, and museum exhibits. And yes, I agree with the other reviewer: The chapter on the thoughts of north Korean defectors was something I was hungry to learn about it and it didn't let me down.

It is so hard to think about the two Koreas--they are placed in such a reductionist, bi-polar context that any nuanced or multifacted view or outlook is hard to discuss. The author demonstrates how complicated, contradictory and ultimately unprepared Koreans are for this "sacred goal" of unification. I was struck by how limited and "stuck" Koreans have been in their assumptions about national identity, defining themselves in opposition to each other all the while pushing for unification. A great virtue of this book is that it avoids the typical approach of other scholars, pundits and news commentators who take a dry, "political science" approach to north Korea, limiting their analysis to geopolitics, regional power dynamics, diplomatic strategies, nuclear prolliferation issues, blah blah blah. The author uses museums displays, children's textbooks and TV shows, as well as real life interviews with defectors. Quite a good book with excellent analysis that will leave you feeling that you learned to realize something oh-so-human and fascinating about a deadlocked political situation in an illuminating way.

I'm not aware that there is an comparable book on Korea. Some may find it too "academic" (I don't) but the prose is still lucid and it is a unique book. Anyone interested in north-south Korea relations should read this. The material on defectors is especially good.

I could not put this book down. The author explores the various sides, themes, and politics of the Balkan crisis. No voice is silenced but all voices are given time to speak. It is fair, accurate, and unbiased in its look at the terrible crimes perpetrated on the Bosnian people. Beautifully written and full of compassionate insights.

In this unique and comprhensive book on the recent NATO intervention in Kosovo, William Buckley provides insight into one of the most violent and convulted conflicts of the Post-Cold War era. Buckley, as editor and contributing essayist, brings together over 67 pieces from world figures such as Slobodan Milosevic, Kofi Annan and Henry Kissinger to real life accounts from Kosovar Albanian refugees, a doctor from Medicins Sans Frontieres and Belgrade city dwellers who lived with the NATO bombing campaign to name a few. Without the usual dry theories about international conflicts and intervention, this book underscores the human experience in the Balkans as a whole and in Kosovo particularly. Indeed, the origins of ethnic conflict and religous differences in the region are seen explicitly in essays by soldiers, politicians and villagers alike. The nature of U.S. and NATO intervention is debated vigorously as well, dispelling many notions that Americans may hold about our involvment in the Kosovo crisis. Every viepoint is represented--some typical, some disturbing--but all a testament to the myriad of perceptions and an insight into the roles that history, nationalism, ethnicity and religion can play in modern conflict.

this is a must to have. find the reality behind politics in kurdish region. it is a good referance and source book.

would you please help me in finding such book in egyp

LaDonna Harris: A Comanche Life - proves to be an extraordinary quasi-autobiographical story - in many respects, this book pays tribute to the time-honored oral traditions of Native people. Harris works with Stockel and shares her story in a compassionate and compelling manner.

She amply demonstrates that you can become a global citizen by using your tribal values as a compass on the the local, national and international frontiers. This book documents her Comanche up-bringing and pays tribute to those values that prove to be essential to her life's triumphs.

Harris has proven herself in many sectors, though Stockel focuses primarily on her role in Indian Country, so the reader doesn't get to fully appreciate the impact she has had on the women's, environmental and third party political movements in America.

This is a compelling story that celebrates a life that touched several generations and societies. I strongly recommend this book, for it tells a story of an extraordinary life!

The content of this book reflects an important time in the history of the United States. "LaDonna Harris, A Comanche Life" discusses issues ranging from racism to the evolution of women through their emerging role in politics during the 1950's and 60's. LaDonna lends the reader an account of her involvement on paramount issues during a tumultuous time of change in American culture. As I read this book, I thought about Jonathan Kozol's book entitled "Savage Inequalities" only to contemplate the question, "Are minorities really better off now?"

As a university professor of multicultual education, I will definitely add "LaDonna Harris, A Comanche Life" to my book list for students to read.

Language excerpts a special role in culture as well as in people's identity. Those of us who have been obligated to learn another language have also experience the importance that language plays on culture by the way that we were accepted in society during the learning stages. Also by the continuing way that we are treated no matter how highly educated we can be. This book examines the relation of language, nationalism and state, using the examples of Quebec and Puerto Rico. This is an excellent work that I really recommend. This book is not only for those interested in the Quebec or Puerto Rico situation but those who are in general interested in the relation within language, elite's and state. I personally congratulate Mr. Barreto for condensing so much information in a small book. This is something that not all book writers have the skill to do.

Professor Barreto takes a decidedly different turn in regards to his analyzation of nationalism in Quebec and Puerto Rico. His novel perspective provides extremely enlightening insight to the role that 'elites' and 'intelligentia' play in the development of nationalistic tendencies.