Vietnam: The War We've Won, The War to Come (FORTUNE, April 1967. Vol. LXXV No. 4) Review
Vietnam: The War We've Won, The War to Come (FORTUNE, April 1967. Vol. LXXV No. 4) Feature
Special Vietnam War issue.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror
The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror Review
The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror Feature
With the CIA at the core of the war on terror, no agency is as important to preserving America's freedom. Yet the CIA is a closed and secretive world-impenetrable to generations of journalists-and few Americans know what really goes on among the spy masters who plot America's worldwide campaign against terrorists.
Only Ronald Kessler, an award-winning former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, could have gained the unprecedented access to tell the story. Kessler interviewed fifty current CIA officers, including all the agency's top officials, and toured areas of the CIA the media has never seen. The agency actively encouraged retired CIA officers and officials to talk with him as well. In six years as director, George J. Tenet has never appeared on TV shows and has given only a handful of print interviews, all before 9/11, but Tenet agreed to be interviewed by Kessler for this book. He spoke candidly and passionately about the events of 9/11, the war on terror, the agency's intelligence on Iraq, and the controversies surrounding the agency.
The CIA at War tells the inside story of how Tenet, a son of Greek immigrants, turned around the CIA from a pathetic, risk averse outfit to one that has rolled up 3,000 terrorists since 9/11, was critically important to winning in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now kills terrorists with its Predator drone aircraft.
The book portrays Tenet as a true American hero, one who overcame every kind of Washington obstacle and the destructive actions of previous director John Deutch to make the agency a success. As Tenet said in a recent speech, "Nowhere in the world could the son of an immigrant stand before you as the director of Central Intelligence. This is simply the greatest country on the face of the earth."
The CIA at War discloses highly sensitive information about the CIA's unorthodox methods and its stunning successes and shocking failures. The book explores whether the CIA can be trusted, whether its intelligence is politicized, and whether it is capable of winning the war on terror. In doing so, the book weaves in the history of the CIA and how it really works. It is the definitive account of the agency.
From the CIA's intelligence failure of 9/11 to its critical role in preventing further attacks, The CIA at War tells a riveting, unique story about a secretive, powerful agency and its confrontation with global terrorism.
Only Ronald Kessler, an award-winning former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, could have gained the unprecedented access to tell the story. Kessler interviewed fifty current CIA officers, including all the agency's top officials, and toured areas of the CIA the media has never seen. The agency actively encouraged retired CIA officers and officials to talk with him as well. In six years as director, George J. Tenet has never appeared on TV shows and has given only a handful of print interviews, all before 9/11, but Tenet agreed to be interviewed by Kessler for this book. He spoke candidly and passionately about the events of 9/11, the war on terror, the agency's intelligence on Iraq, and the controversies surrounding the agency.
The CIA at War tells the inside story of how Tenet, a son of Greek immigrants, turned around the CIA from a pathetic, risk averse outfit to one that has rolled up 3,000 terrorists since 9/11, was critically important to winning in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now kills terrorists with its Predator drone aircraft.
The book portrays Tenet as a true American hero, one who overcame every kind of Washington obstacle and the destructive actions of previous director John Deutch to make the agency a success. As Tenet said in a recent speech, "Nowhere in the world could the son of an immigrant stand before you as the director of Central Intelligence. This is simply the greatest country on the face of the earth."
The CIA at War discloses highly sensitive information about the CIA's unorthodox methods and its stunning successes and shocking failures. The book explores whether the CIA can be trusted, whether its intelligence is politicized, and whether it is capable of winning the war on terror. In doing so, the book weaves in the history of the CIA and how it really works. It is the definitive account of the agency.
From the CIA's intelligence failure of 9/11 to its critical role in preventing further attacks, The CIA at War tells a riveting, unique story about a secretive, powerful agency and its confrontation with global terrorism.
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Monday, March 29, 2010
Our Wars Overseas And At Home: LtCol Dominik George Nargele USMC (Ret)
Our Wars Overseas And At Home: LtCol Dominik George Nargele USMC (Ret) Review
Our Wars Overseas And At Home: LtCol Dominik George Nargele USMC (Ret) Feature
"Many thanks for the copy of 'Our Wars Overseas And At Home'. I know it will be a great read." - General P.X. Kelley USMC (Ret).
"Nargele's book is pure platinum that vividly describes the impact of Communist oppression on him and his family as
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Sunday, March 28, 2010
Berkeley at War: The 1960s
Berkeley at War: The 1960s Review
Berkeley at War: The 1960s Feature
Berkeley, California stood at the center of the political, social, and cultural upheaval that made the 1960s a unique period in American history. In Berkeley at War, W.J. Rorabaugh, who attended the graduate school of the University of California at Berkeley in the 1970s, presents a lively, informative account of the events that changed forever what had once been a quiet, conservative white suburb.
Rorabaugh's meticulously researched, authoritative narrative covers the entire period, from the rise of the Free Speech Movement to the growth and increasing militance of a black community struggling to end segregation; from the emergence of radicalism and the anti-war movement to the blossoming "hippie" culture; and from the explosive conflict over People's Park to the beginnings of modern-day feminism and environmentalism. An invaluable account of its time and place, Berkeley at War anchors the sixties in American history, both before and since that colorful decade.
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Saturday, March 27, 2010
Memories of a Lost War: American Poetic Responses to the Vietnam War (Oxford English Monographs)
Memories of a Lost War: American Poetic Responses to the Vietnam War (Oxford English Monographs) Review
Memories of a Lost War: American Poetic Responses to the Vietnam War (Oxford English Monographs) Feature
In this unique and significant addition to Vietnam studies, Memories of a Lost War analyzes the poems written by American veterans, protest poets, and Vietnamese, within political, aesthetic, and cultural contexts. Drawing on a wealth of material often published in small presses and journals, the book highlights the horrors of war and the continuing traumas of veterans in post-Vietnam America. In its inclusion of Vietnamese perspectives, the book marks a departure from earlier works that have largely concentrated on Vietnam as a war rather than a country.
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Thursday, March 25, 2010
Vietnam in the Absence of War: One Immoral War, Two Revealing Bicycle Trips
Vietnam in the Absence of War: One Immoral War, Two Revealing Bicycle Trips Review
Vietnam in the Absence of War: One Immoral War, Two Revealing Bicycle Trips Feature
Do you contemplate a visit to Vietnam? This book shows you what to expect, whether by bicycle or other means. There are many observations about the country.
Did you protest the Vietnam War once? This book is partly about Vietnam as an unenthused draftee, but mostly about what has happened there since, plus a bit about Vietnam long ago.
This isn't a book of war stories, and there are no made-up tales such as bicycles crashing over cliffs. Rather, it's a factual and informative account of a fascinating country and its people, including 159 color photographs plus maps and drawings.
It's NOT the Vietnam that many thought they knew!
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Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Vietnam War: Handbook of the Literature and Research
The Vietnam War: Handbook of the Literature and Research Review
The Vietnam War: Handbook of the Literature and Research Feature
This is a scholarly assessment of broad-ranging research on the Vietnam War over the last seventeen years by the editor of the prize-winning Dictionary of the Vietnam War. James Olson and his contributors offer fascinating insights as they evaluate the significant literature, films, and TV programs, offering different perspectives on the historical background; strategy and conduct of the war; the perspectives of Americans, the Indochinese, women, minorities, and veterans; the impact of the war on the homefront; and major problems and issues in the aftermath of the war. This one-volume major reference covers all genres of literature, primary and secondary sources, personal narratives and oral histories, fiction and non-fiction, popular accounts, expert studies of military strategy and operations, Indochinese studies, books about the involvement and role of women and blacks, and discussions about Indochinese refugees, prisoners of war, those missing in action, veterans and post-traumatic shock. Films, TV programs, comic books and studies pointing to the effect of the war on the homefront and on others make up an important part of the book. A full index makes the volume easily accessible to students, scholars, and professionals in military studies, American and world history, American studies and popular culture, political science and international relations--an important acquisition for libraries of all kind.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Frommer's Vietnam: With Angkor Wat (Frommer's Complete Guides)
Frommer's Vietnam: With Angkor Wat (Frommer's Complete Guides) Review
Frommer's Vietnam: With Angkor Wat (Frommer's Complete Guides) Feature
Our author gives you all the details on the latest happenings in Vietnam, from the debuts of new boutique hotels to the downfalls of once-popular restaurants. She's scoped out the hip new places, and offers candid advice on which are really worth your time and budget.
You'll also get up-to-date coverage of attractions and nightlife; accurate walking tours; advice on planning a successful vacation; and in-depth coverage of Angkor Wat in the final Cambodia chapter.
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Monday, March 22, 2010
Tequila Junction: 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency
Tequila Junction: 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency Review
Tequila Junction: 4th-Generation Counterinsurgency Feature
"Tequila Junction" may be the first narco-counterinsurgency manual to be published in the U.S., so its proposals could help to turn the tide in Afghanistan. Parts One and Two of this book detail a foreign power's hidden assault on the Americas. While this assault's objective is obviously political, much of its support comes through local commodity trading (mostly in drugs). That makes it a well-veiled variant of 4th-Generation Warfare (that which is fought in the political, economic, psychological, and martial arenas simultaneously). Undermining the incursion before it can too drastically influence the heartland will take deploying lone U.S. infantry squads to isolated Combined Action Platoons (those shared with like numbers of host-country police and soldiers) and patrol bases in Colombia, Panama, and possibly even Mexico. Part Three has the unconventional warfare techniques those U.S. squads will need to survive many times their number of drug traffickers and narco-guerrillas. These techniques have been derived from the counterinsurgency methods of the Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and Iranian armies (those with the most cultural predisposition toward 4GW).
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Sunday, March 21, 2010
Distant Shore: A Memoir
Distant Shore: A Memoir Review
Distant Shore: A Memoir Feature
On the stormy night of September 16, 1967, young Marine Alvin Simpson faced the terrors of a long night at sea on a Higgins boat during a typhoon. Men all around him were convulsing, sickened by the waves, the cold, and diesel smoke. The trials of that night on the open sea strengthened Alvin's faith in God as he remembered to pray the way his grandfather had taught him. And it was this faith that sustained him through the many months and battles yet to come during his time in Vietnam. Distant Shore: A Memoir is the story of Alvin's life, written to share with his daughter Tara, her children, and their posterity. He tells his story as an apology to Tara for not being able to answer her questions about Vietnam while she was growing up. His story takes the reader from the streets of Cleveland to the jungles of Vietnam. Alvin shares his own family history and the values he learned growing up in a close-knit African American community. Born on July 4, 1946, Alvin praises his mother for raising him and four siblings as a single parent. He credits his grandfather, a Presbyterian preacher, for being his model of spirituality. Alvin's boyhood dream of becoming a Marine became reality when he enlisted after high school graduation. He served with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division in 1967 and 1968 in the Republic of South Vietnam, attaining the rank of Sergeant. After being released from the Marine Corps, Alvin began his college education at The Ohio State University, where he also ran varsity track. He earned his B.S. in Education in 1972 and his M.A. in Education in 1974. Alvin's career as a Social Studies teacher for Columbus Public Schools began in 1972. He also coached track and field and was named "Coach of the Year" in 1996 and 2001. After 32 years of teaching and mentoring students, Alvin retired in 2004. "Once a Marine, always a Marine" is the credo Alvin lives by. Today he is active in several veterans groups and has journeyed to the Wall many times to pay respects to friends who left the world in Vietnam. "We see dimly in the present what is small and what is great." The Present Crisis -James Russell Lowell
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