Governments

It's been 102 years since the United States invaded Puerto Rico in 1898, and perhaps more telling that Puerto Ricans are no more sure of their future today than they were in 1898. Anne Nelson's book is an extremely good read which reveals much of the complexities of the Puerto Rican existance under two flags, the root causes of the independence movement in Puerto Rico, and provides a telling example of the mainland's perception of Puerto Ricans over the last 100 years, mixed in with the scenes of a brutal murder of two young idealists at the hands of the Puerto Rican police, with, some say, the knowledge of the FBI. Ms. Nelson has done her homework well, I found her assessment of what we Puerto Ricans call the "Ay Bendito!" to be right on the mark. She writes: "Puerto Rican... have a gentle note of self-deprecation to their national humor; if anything, their stories involve the smallest farm, the slowest horse, the shortest tree." If you like U.S. History, then you will enjoy the first half of this book as it relates to the Spanish-American War, if you like true crime stories, then you will enjoy the second half of this book. It's a keeper, five stars just for the history portion alone.

"Murder Under Two Flags : The U.S., Puerto Rico, and the Cerro Maravilla Cover-Up," by Anne Nelson, was the inspiration for the 1990 film, "A Show of Force," and is an interesting, disturbing case study on the ugliness politics can be in Puerto Rico. The book, which revolves around the "Cerro Maravilla" incident that occurred on July 25, 1978, was the biggest political scandal to rock the U.S. Commonwealth ever. In the incident, two young independence-sympathizers were ambushed and brutally murdered by police forces. The police claimed that the two so-called "terrorists" were going to blow up a broadcast tower, while others doubted this claim.

After a heavy investigation, a senate hearing was held in Puerto Rico, where it was determined that a political cover-up was involved here. The pro-statehood governor at the time, Carlos Romero Barcelo, had been implicated of planning the murder of the two youths, in order to boost his sagging popularity two years before he was up for re-election. What was uncovered shattered the reputation of Romero Barcelo, Puerto Rican police, the FBI, and especially that of the New Progressive Party (also known as PNP in its' Spanish-acronym) who favors statehood for the island, even though statehood has been rejected in each and every political referendum since the U.S. took over.

Author Anne Nelson. first begins her book with a discussion of Puerto Rican history before the Spanish-American War of 1898, when Spain ceded the island to the United States. She goes on to discuss early U.S. relations and policies, a discussion and history on each of the island's main parties, and finally the "Cerro Maravilla' incident, which is a very disturbing chapter in the democratic history of the Americas. The use of photographs were interesting, and the chart showing the damage one of the bodies suffered (over 40 bullets and massive swelling due to continuous beatings) show that this was both a unusual and cruel way for two people to die, especially if they were unarmed.

Ms. Nelson, unbiased look at this scandal did open many eyes to the injustice many political-minorities not only in Puerto Rico but elsewhere (the PAN party in Mexico is a great example, especially after their rising star and presidential candidate Donald Luis Colosio was assassinated in 1991, reportedly by henchmen hired by the PRI party, who had ruled the country for over 70 years without any opposition). It would have been more interesting to see the actual photographs of the bodies at the murder scene, seeing that they had already appeared on the front page of the island's newspapers the day after the incident. In a turn of events, Romero Barcelo who had served as the island's non-voting representative in the U.S. Congress during much of the 1990's was defeated for re-election in the fall of 2000. People cited he Cerro Maravilla incident and his party's (PNP) massive corruption and cover-ups during the administration of PNP governor, Pedro Rosello, as the reasons he lost.

Overall, Ms. Nelson has written an excellent book on a topic that needed to be discussed. Americans must be aware that this scandal took place under a colony that is under the U.S. flag for the last 102 years. If democracy can exist on the mainland, why can't it in Puerto Rico. That is a question that must be answered, and after reading this book, you will probably come up with an appropriate answer.

This is a very interesting, fast-paced book that provides a good introduction to Winston Churchill. Indeed, after reading this I was compelled to read "The Unruly Giant", which is a very solid biography recently written by Norman Rose giving further insight into this fascinating historical charactor.

I agree with the other reviewer in saying that Churchill provides an amazing amount of detail about the early exploits of his life, leading one to wonder just how much of it really happpened and how much he chose to embellish when writing this book some years later. Also, Churchill's constant references to contemporary events are sometimes confusing and frustrating unless one knows a lot of the history of the British empire and its political scene during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

None the less, it is a good book to start with if one wishes to learn about one of the 20th century's truly great men.

For a book written by the author when in his 30s (I may be off by a few years), this is incredible. First, because Churchill himself wrote it, and not some professional writer. Second, because of the extreme detail, which suggests either an incredible memory, or a willingness to make up finely constructed overlays of fiction. Maybe this is a little of both. Churchill either covers his tracks well, or presents the facts very pleasantly.

His mom ignores him and his dad holds about 3 substantive conversations with him. In return, he idolizes and idealizes both, consoling himself by getting in trouble at school, and playing army at home. Like a latter-day Peter the Great, his childhood army games lay a foundation for adult army leadership, although Churchill stays more constrained than the despotic Russian. He maintains, however, a raw animal side to his spirit which stays intact his whole life, resulting, in one memorable event about 40 or 45 years after this book cuts off with Churchill's marriage, where Churchill pauses on an inspection of a European battlefield after the defeat of Germany to urinate on the famed "Siegfried Line" in front of a group of military dignitaries. Naughty boy to the end.

Churchill convincingly puts himself back into young boy mode and preserves for us portraits of his nurse, Mrs. Everest, the hatefulness of boarding school, and the release of achieving self-actualization in the form of military school at Sandhurst, and then a whirlwind of military adventures on several continents, arranged mostly by his influential and adulterous mother. Not much adultery here, but William Manchester goes through it in detail in his first of the two-volume set "The Last Lion." Churchill never criticizes his mother; he just takes maximum advantage of her contacts.

In a double inversion of himself as the subject, this is a great summary of how Churchill decided to become a great man by first getting noticed in the middle of adventures, and writing about them during and afterwards. Plus getting paid for the writing to support himself on a scale correlative to other British subjects who either inherited it, or made it big in business. But it was all substrate for his political ambitions.

Teddy Roosevelt thought Churchill was a "show off." Which is probably true, and which comes out clearly in the video-ization of this book, under the name of "Young Winston." But he seems to have been a lovable showoff, and if Kennedy had not intervened, American political aspirants may instead be more self-consiously modeling themselves on Young Winston.

One problem: John Churchill had no male offspring, according to the family tree Winston added to his biography of Marlborough. No problem, just call yourself a Churchill, not a "Spencer-Churchill" or even a "Spencer" and just go to market as a Churchill. Plus make yourself great. He definitely did, and this book records what it also produces.

I am certainly not an advocate of slavery in any form. Yet how profoundly refreshing it is to unearth the point of view of an actual slave that shows that the "politically correct" viewpoint made popular with "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is not necessarily factual. Mr.Hamilton illustrates quite wonderfully that slaves were not always abused and mistreated as is popularly believed. What an eye opener this book truly is! Everyone should read this book. I feel that today's racial tensions would be somewhat mellowed if the attitudes shown by Mr. Hamiliton were more of the norm. This ex-slave has something to teach us all!

Wow! Think how rare it is to read a book from a slave's point of view (about a famous Texan, that was known world wide, even before his death)!

Don't get me wrong, slavery is terrible, but the point of view is like from another world. It is worth mentioning, the spirit of forgiveness and even loving kindness felt by the former slave, for his master. And how lovingly the ex-slave tells of how he looked up to the great man from Texas! This is a very rare bit of reading material!

Powell's book covers the period between (1917-1945) and discusses the personalities of the day: Chiang Kai Shek, Yuan Shi Kai and Chang Husiliang as well the intrigues of the Soviets and the Japanese.

The book is a little dry, though the anecdotes are funny don't expect a lot of caricatures or social history. The book talks about politics namely who should rule China and why.

This book is free of the communist revisionism that taints most modern books.

Note: Powell lost both his feet to the Japanese at his stay at the Bridge House.

Very interesting... Powell is an excellent author, superb theme and idea.

Judge Noonan does not need to hide behind difficult-to-understand legalese in order to expose the Rehnquist Court's 5-4 judicial activism. The book puts a human face on the individuals whose rights have been ignored by a bare majority of justices who are more interested in protecting the "dignity" of the States than the dignity of the People -- though that concern for State "dignity" was not apparent when the same 5 justices decided Bush v. Gore. Any educated reader will easily understand Judge Noonan's description of the Rehnquist Court's outrageous activisim -- a critique all the more stinging becausae it comes from a Reagan-appointed judge who has never been accused of being a "liberal." As Judge Noonan observes, the 5 justices' "intepretation" of the Constitution seems more like an interpretation of the Articles of Confederation -- a document that failed to provide for an effective and independant federal government, thereby requiring enactment of the Constitution in order to preserve the United States. Highly recommended for all -- but especially recommended for lawyers and law students, who need to understand this revolutionary return to the properly discredited States Rights movement.

Narrowing the Nation's Power: The Supreme Court Sides with the States written by John T. Noonan, Jr. is a book about the current Supreme Court and the 11th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

What I found interesting is that the author writes in a style that is easily understood and the book is well-documented as he explains how the Supreme Court is swaying toward the States vs. Federal in its thinking. This is an age old debate whether to be more States Rights of Federal in thinking and to interpretation of the law. Ever since the government of the United States has been formed this debate has been around.

Does the Supreme Court systematically thwart justice to American through a states rights policy? The author makes a strong case and backs his judgement with case studies.

This book takes complex legal doctrine and makes it enjoyable to read. To better understand the laws of the land we have the courts and the final say rests with the Supreme Court. The book explains some of these cases... states' immunity in age discrimination, disability discrimination, and violation of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and fair labor... insulation from paying damages, are just a few of the case torts reviewed in this book.

The lawyer-ese is at a minimum so the layperson can get a good idea as to what and the why things are as they are. So, if you like reading about the laws that affect our daily lives this is a good book to start with.

A well thought out and researched work on the intent of the constiutional framers concerning religion and state. We hear so much nonsense these days from ACLU and others which would make one think our country has just recently invented this need to let religion coexist without government constraint and interference. These jurists have well researched and well presented the case for contemporary jurisprudence to return to its founding roots concerning the separation and establishment clauses. Particulary ringing in my reading will be this quote: "The Constitution, the nation's fundamental law, cannot be legimately be construed to afford redress to every citizen who takes offense at public expressions, whether religious or secular in content. Although the establishment clause forbids the state from sponsoring religiously coercive symbols and practices, it does not require the state to excise public symbols and practices merely because they may be offensive to some."

Charles Emmerich and Arlin Adams use an unbiased approach to document the original goals of our founding fathers: A Nation that can only function properly as a righteous one. The book is a must read for anyone interested in First Amendment Law or anyone who needs a fresh focus on the rights we have as Americans.

Every now and then one reads that political history has fallen on hard times. And there is some truth to this. Much political history seems awash in a sea of detail, accounts of endless intrigues and bureaucratic machinations whose overall significance is unclear, while regression coefficients run amuck. Surely, a reader may be tempted to think, Michael Holt's 1296 page history of the Whig Party tell us more than anyone would possibly want to know about the subject. Steven Hahn's new book is very different. Twenty years ago he published "Roots of Southern Populism," a brilliant monograph on postbellum white Southern farmers. Now after two decades this new book fully confirms the promise of his first book. It helps, of course, that Hahn cares about his subject and makes sure that we care as well. Hahn tells the story of black Southern politics from the last decade of slavery to the civil war through Reconstruction. Then he goes on about the next two decades before disfranchisement when African-Americans sought to maintain their positions with alliances with the Virginia Readjusters in the 1880s and the Populists in the 1890s.

But surely we already know the basic contours of the story. Do we really need to be told that African-Americans were not just passive subjects but actively sought their own political ends? But Hahn provides much more than this. For a start he provides a much larger definition of politics than other writers might. He looks at the kinship networks, the importance of church and school, the significance of labor, and the value of community. Notwithstanding the wide unity of African-Americans he takes special care to discuss differences over region, strategy and especially class. He notes the rise of more successful blacks, those who benefited from military service, literacy, earlier freedom and access to land. He starts off by discussing slavery and he gives an excellent discussion of the system of petty production which allowed slaves limited access to markets and money. We then read up to date accounts of slave families and slave religion as well as a pioneering discussion of the networks of information that slaves had. The next chapter deals with the now familiar tale of how hundreds of thousands of slaves fled plantations, 150,000 joined the union army to defeat the Confederacy, while many of the rest engaged in "sulkiness, demoralization, insolence and outright insubordination." There is then a chapter based on much original and new material about the wave of rumours that ran through the south in the fall of 1865 that much Southern land would be divided up and given to the freedpeople. We learn about the freedmen conventions that made noticeable efforts to attract the rural black majority, as well as the routes and circuits of rumours.

The next three chapters deal with Reconstruction. Hahn points out the scope of political mobilization and the rise of Black militias. He points out the tremendous feat of registering a largely illiterate population once they achieved the vote, a feat rarely matched in American history. He discusses the difficulties of interracial cooperation in the Union League and how officials had to yield to popular wishes and sensibilities. We are reminded of the scope of black office-holding, and especially of the importance of holding local posts during Reconstruction. Not simply governors, senators or state legislators, but also sheriffs, magistrates, registrars and tax collectors, were vital to hold. We are also reminded how unprecedented it was for such a deprived class to achieve such power after emancipation. We are reminded of the constant pressures of vigilantism and economic pressure directed against African-Americans and we also learn about the use of intimidation to counter this. Associational life boomed with black burial clubs, saving banks, firefighting clubs and mutual aid societies being formed. We learn of more subtle checks on democracy, such as the widespread use of bonds. A lowly court clerk might have to post $3,000, while a sheriff might have to post as much as $90,000. Naturally this only encouraged people to place their dependence on the wealthy who stood as surety for them. And of course we learn about the Ku Klux Klan, and how they especially targeted schools for their murder and assassination raids.

Part three looks at the "Redemption period." On the one hand blacks were still able to make alliances with Readjusters and Populists. But the intense hostility whites had to voting for black officials or living in communities run by black officials undermined every alliance. Hahn points out that this hostility was not simply racism; there were intense ideological prejudices within American ideology that looked down at any underclass, there were few areas such as churches and school where poor blacks and whites could meet, and kinship ties and economic dependence blunted class differences with the Democratic ruling class. But this hostility existed nevertheless and it was not overcome. Hahn also discusses such movements as Exodusters to Kansas and colonization of Liberia. Although they attracted only 25,000 or so in the late 1870s, they had a larger constituency of people who would have liked to move but lacked either the money to do so or were cowed by white opposition. Hahn points out that emigration was particularly weak in those areas of South Carolina and Louisiana had blunted the worst of redemption, and he also notes that the threat of emigration helped blunt the first round of anti-black Redemption measures in the 1870s. Hahn also points out these nationalist tendencies lasted well into the twenties, where most of Marcus Garvey's supporters were in the countryside. Especially noteworthy is Hahn's interest in gender and the importance of women as mothers, political advocates, community organizers and anti-lynching advocates. With 101 pages of notes, papers from at least fifteen different archives and a thorough grasp of the secondary literature, "A Nation Under Our Feet," confirms Hahn's status as one of the leading American historians.

This book is a monumental and sweeping history of African American politics in the rural South in the decades between the 1850s and the 1910s. Such a brief description, however, conceals the monumental scale of Hahn's project, which - it appears to me, at least, as an admitted nonspecialist in southern black history - is to wholly revamp how we conceptualize the relationship of African Americans to politics in this period. Drawing on the so-called "new political history" and its expanded conception of what politics, especially of subaltern groups, might consist of, Hahn offers a sweeping portrait of a continuously surviving and effective southern black political culture, hitherto invisible to historians partly because it was forged under slavery and remained a local, grassroots political infrastructure. Hahn's study is really a series of linked studies of specific places in times, but woven carefully and elegantly into a complete argument that the roots of early 20th century black nationalism must be sought in a set of grassroots political institutions, networks, skills, talents, and circuits - in short, an entire political culture - that African Americans had begun building under slavery.

A telling indication of this book's revolutionary quality is that Hahn's title does not include the word "Reconstruction." While he does consider the career of Presidential and Radical Reconstruction crucial to the development of black politics, he argues that grassroots black political culture shaped and responded to Reconstruction in ways that demand telling the story from a completely different angle. He argues that blacks sought, perhaps above all, self-governance - a desire that has been invisible in what he calls liberal-integrationist accounts of late 19th century race politics. And although he is almost too modest to come right out and say it, this book essentially argues that what we call "black nationalism," as it exploded onto northern white consciousness with Garveyism, has a complex genealogy going back to the grassroots political thoughts, formations, and actions of rural Southern blacks - going all the way back to slavery. The concept of "a nation under our feet" conveys, beautifully and subtly, the way in which Hahn is arguing for a new genealogy of black nationalism.

The effect is breathtaking. In place of Andrew Johnson, Hahn offers us such figures as the Louisiana freedperson Henry Adams, whose "education" as the organizer of a Liberia colonization scheme made him a predecessor of Garveyism and a critical figure in black politics. And he argues that local political officeholders - sheriffs, policemen, clerks - were just as important to black political culture as the better-known Reconstruction Congressmen. "Reconstruction" is, in effect, radically de-centered in Hahn's account. While scholars have examined grassroots black politics in particular places in the urban South - I am especially familiar with the work of Elsa Barkley Brown and Tera Hunter - no one has yet attempted (1) to focus on rural places, which Hahn argues persuasively remained crucial sites for political formation and activism even as blacks weighed a variety of schemes for "grassroots emigrationism" to cities, the north, or Africa, or (2) to claim that grassroots politics is so significant that it could possibly be placed at the center of the story of this period, eclipsing the national and state-level politics - i.e., "Reconstruction" - with which historians are already familiar.

The book is organized chronologically. It begins with political culture and activism under slavery, which Hahn argues was much more coherent, organized, and sophisticated than the subtle acts of defiance against individual masters that we usually think of as black politics. For instance, rumors that Abraham Lincoln's inauguration would lead to immediate emancipation, but that state and local officials had blocked its implementation, constitute, in Hahn's very well supported view, a form of politics. Moreover, he does an incredible job of tracing the circulation of these rumors, and other forms of politics that are hard for us to trace because they were, of necessity, secret and hidden. Next, he argues that black flight from plantations, behind Union lines, and into the Union army, should be seen as "the largest slave rebellion in modern history" (7) - at first a completely outlandish claim, but one that also makes a great deal of sense upon even a moment's reflection. In the book's excellent midsection, he repositions the Union Leagues within the context of southern (mostly white) vigilantism more generally; he re-reads the disruption and reorganization of southern agriculture in ways that highlight the political acumen and strategies, deeply rooted in African American kinship, family, and religion, that animated blacks' decisions; etc., etc., etc.

Some critics might say that this book emphasizes "agency" so much that oppression becomes invisible. But the contours of Jim Crow are among the topics best-known to U.S. historians, and if other forms of politics were going on, it is time for us to know about them! I could go on for pages about every single, brilliant chapter of this magnificent book. He pieces together his stories using an astonishing array of primary sources (many of them local) and, to excellent effect, on existing scholarship. He attends thoughtfully and systematically to the place of women and gender in black political culture, though he does not engage as directly as I personally might have liked with Glenda Gilmore's GENDER AND JIM CROW (I mention this only because it is one of the few related studies that I know well). Whatever significant weaknesses the book has are not apparent to me (again, as a nonspecialist). Its prose style is gorgeous, its significance profound.

Itis necessary to read this book special to those how are related to the political search or how related to the horn Africa, Also from this book you can know the relation between Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia

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Well written and documented with numerous tables, this book makes a compelling case for limiting debt by reducing citizen's dependence on the government and supporting private sector growth. Recommended for informed general readers; upper-division graduates and up.

Every serious political activist should own a copy of "The National Debt from FDR (1940) to Clinton (1996) by C.L.T. member Robert E. Kelly, with a foreword by Jeff Jacoby, now available in bookstores. A fascinating read with evereything you really want to know about the federal government in one compact place.

As usual, Mr. Szporluk's lucid and informative style makes understanding Eastern Europe a pleasure, in an area where unbiased analysis is still not the norm. Too many of us are still forced to rely on unreliable or falsified Soviet or even Tsarist era materials. Congratulations!

Yet again, Szporluk's has delivered a lucid analysis of another aspect of Eastern Europe's history. He has made accesable to the average reader what could be an obscure subject. Russian identity, a topic which has both fascinated and frustrated scholars in recent decades, is made easy as Szporluk's describes its developement or lack thereof. This is an achievement which should be enjoyed by all.