Geronimo: His Own Story, S.M. Barrett, Ballantine, 1971
The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After, Edward W. Said, Pantheon Books, 2000
You Are Being Lied To, Russ Kick (ed.), The Disinformation Company Ltd., 2001
Propaganda and the Public Mind, Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, South End Press, 2001
The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Christopher Hitchens, Verso, 2001
The Teenage Liberation Handbook, Grace Llewellyn, Lowry House, 1991
Humanism as the Next Step, Lloyd and Mary Morain, Humanist Press, 1998
Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth, Naguib Mahfouz, Anchor Books, 2000
Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It, James P. Gray, Temple University Press, 2001
Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School, Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver, John Wiley and Sons, 2001
9-11, Noam Chomsky, Seven Stories Press, 2001
For the Sake of Peace, Daisaku Ikeda, Middleway Press, 2001
Terrorism and War, Howard Zinn, Seven Stories Press, 2002
Transcend, Richard Joseph, Stoic Press, 2001
Cheap Raw Material: How Our Youngest Workers are Exploited and Abused, Milton Meltzer, Viking, 1994
Another Day of Life, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Penguin Books, 1987
Homeschooling for Excellence, David and Micki Colfax, Warner Books, 1988
Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars the American Way, Ellen Ray and William H. Schaap (ed.), Ocean Press, 2003
The Ig Nobel Prizes: The Annals of Improbable Research, Marc Abrahams, Dutton, 2003
Armed Madhouse, Greg Palast, E.P. Dutton, 2006
As a young man, Geronimo talks about involvement in various raiding parties into mexico, most of which were pretty successful, but some of which were failures. The Mexican reprisal raids were intended to wipe out the Apache, or push them north and let the Apache's long-time enemy, the Comanches, do the wiping out. One day, while the men were trading in a nearby town, the undefended Apache camp was attacked by Mexican troops. Among the dead were Geronimo's mother, first wife and three of his children.
Geronimo could never become hereditary chief of the Apaches, but he rose quickly through the ranks to become "second in command" (for want of a better term). Meantime, Mexico "gave" the Apaches to the United States at the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Geronimo quickly learned that the white man was not to be trusted. He especially remembers January 1863, when the last hereditary chief of the Apache, a man named Magnus-Colorado, took half of the tribe to what was supposed to be a peace conference in New Mexico. If things worked out, the other half, under Geronimo's control, would be sent for to join them. The first group was never heard from again; the assumption is that they were murdered by US troops.It wasn't until 1886 that Geronimo, and the remnants of the Apaches, surrendered to US authorities. They were sent to a fort in Florida for a time, then were transferred to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Geronimo's last wish in this book is that he be allowed to spend his last days back home on Apache land in Arizona.
This is more than an autobiography of a famous historical figure, or a book on Native American history. The editor also considers whether or not the American version of "progress" at the expense of others is usch a good thing. On more than one level, this book is well worth reading.
The Oslo Agreement, hailed as a breakthrough in the search for peace, actually solidifies an extremely uneven arrangement, in Israel's favor. The Palestinians control tiny, widely separated pieces of land in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel controls everything else, including the entrances and exits to Palestinian land. Even Chairman Yasir Arafat has to get israel's permission whenever he wants to leave Gaza, site of the Palestinian headquarters. Israeli destruction of Palestinian houses hasn't stopped, Israeli settlement building hasn't stopped, East Jerusalem is still occupied by Israel, several hundred thousand Palestinian refugees are still spread all over the Middle East; all items that were supposed to be decided in the year 2000 under Final Status negotiations. The US Government makes no secret of being completely behind Israel; for instance, watering down or vetoing any UN resolutions that may come along.
Said saves his most virulent criticism for Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. To the author, Arafat is little more than a corrupt dictator who wants to keep all power for himself. The bureaucracy is extremely bloated, to the point where the Authority has at least a dozen different security and intelligence services, filled with thousands of Arafat's friends and cronies, who draw big salaries and do absolutely nothing. During negotiations, Israel brings plenty of experts on the minutiae of any proposed agreement. The Authority doesn't even try to bring along experts of their own, because Arafat is too willing to sign whatever Israel puts in front of him. As oppressive as Israel has been regarding jailing of Palestinains, the Authority has been even worse. Thousands of Palestinians languish in Palestinian jails, many for non-violent "crimes" like criticizing Arafat. There has been no attempt to build civic institutions, like Palestinian universities or hospitals, that any independent state must have to survive.
The Arab-Israel conflict is certainly not an easy case of Black and White (all Israelis are bad, all Palestinians are good); there are shades of gray on both sides. Said makes it clear that it is long past time for Palestinians to go outside the Middle East to create international pressure on Israel to change its ways, like the African National Congress did during the days of apartheid in South Africa. Agree or disagree, for a side of the Middle East conflict that doesn't make it into the American mass media, this is an excellent place to start. I learned a lot from this book, and really enjoyed it.
One of the justifications of the NATO bombing of Kosovo were reports of hundreds of thousands of civilians buried in mass graves. Later independent investigation concluded What Mass Graves? It seems to be standard operating procedure for the FBI to "lose" key pieces of evidence in high profile cases, ranging from the JFK assassination to the Oklahoma City bombing (and the case of Timothy McVeigh). Former POW Sen. John McCain has waged his own battle to stop the release of any more information on those listed as missing in action or those who may have been left behind in Vietnam. Former President Jimmy Carter considered human rights to be a cornerstone of his administration, despite continuing to send arms to right-wing dictatorships in El Salvador, Indonesia and Guatemala.
According to explosives experts, the ammonium nitrate bomb used in the Oklahoma City bombing could not have caused all that damage by itself. Another contribution punches large holes in the story that former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered by a lone gunman. After the Columbine shooting, everyone was quick to blame Marilyn Mnason or easy access to guns; nobody seesm to mention that one of the shooters was taking Luvox, a prescription anti-depressant which can cause mania in some people. There were many myths attached to America's entry into World War II; for instance, that Pearl Harbor was a surprise, that the Allies fought to liberate the death camps, only the Axis nations committed war crimes, World War II was inevitable and "good". The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous were taken from a Protestant evangelical group called the Oxford Group Movement. Among the ingredients in aspartame (NutraSweet) are methanol, which converts to formaldehyde, then fermic acid (ant sting poison) and petrochemicals, like gasoline.
Far from being a watchdog against such a state of affairs, the mass media frequently aids and abets such untruths. One could be forgiven for thinking that America has become a place where for any public figure or organization to tell the truth all the time is the aberration. There is something in this book to upset everyone. To begin to cut through the lies and manipulation of daily life, this is the place to start. It is very highly recommended.
One of the reasons for US and British sanctions against Iraq is that Saddam Hussein gassed his own people, namely the Kurdish town of Halabja. When it happened, in 1988, there were no expressions of outrage from London or Washington. Actually, both countries continued, and accelerated, their support for Saddam Hussein.
Chomsky asserts that the 1998 US missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan are just the latest manifestation of the US giving up on the United Nations, and conducting foreign policy through NATO or the World Trade Organization, groups that are more easily controllable by Washington. In the early days of the UN, America was very much in favor, because it was doing what Washington wanted. After decolonization, the UN became much less pro-American. If the US couldn't control it, they would simply ignore it.
America achieved its major aims in Vietnam, which was to prevent the country from going on a course of independent development that might actually be a model for other countries. The US is still looking for an apology from Vietnam for war crimes committed during the war. Issues like a US apology for war crimes committed during the Vietnam War, or the continuing effects of land mines or Agent Orange on the Vietnamese people are never mentioned.
Chomsky's advice for those who want to find a way through the lies, manipulation and general nonsense coming from Washington starts with the words Be Skeptical.
For some people, the words "new Noam Chomsky" are enough to get them to buy this book. For everyone else, Chomsky does a wonderful job, again, at showing how America really works (of the rich, by the powerful, and for the corporations). It is very highly recommended.
In 1968, then candidate Richard Nixon and his underlings set out to sabotage the Vietnam War peace talks going on in Paris. They established a secret channel to the South Vietnamese and told them that a Republican administration would give them a much better deal. The South Vietnamese walked out of the talks just before the 1968 election, thereby destroying the chances of Hubert Humphrey as the "peace" candidate. The war continued on for another five years, at the cost of over 20,000 American lives, and untold numbers of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian lives. It ended in Paris under the same terms that were on the table five years previously. One of the Republican informants inside the 1968 peace talks was Henry Kissinger.
In September 1970, leftist candidate Salvador Allende won the most votes in the Chilean presidential election. Not receiving an overall majority of the votes, the Parliament would have to officially choose Allende. Richard Nixon personally decided that that could not happen, so a secret plan of bribery and kidnapping was hatched. Any plans for a military coup had to go through General Rene Schneider, Chairman of the General Staff. His inclination was to follow the constitution and let Allende take office. He was kidnapped and killed by a group of officers who were sufficiently right wing to listen to Washington. After almost three years of doing everything possible, both inside and outside Chile, to "make the economy scream," Allende was overthrown in September 1973 in a bloody coup. At the time, Kissinger claimed that US personnel were not involved. The evidence shows otherwise.
Among the other countries chronicled in this book are Cyprus, Bangladesh and East Timor.
The US Congress is reluctant to give permission for the government to be involved in the International Tribunal in the Hague because of concern that US citizens will be brought before it on trumped up charges. The charges explored in this book are not trumped up. This is a short, easy to read and very powerful book that makes a very convincing case that Kissinger should, at minimum, be publicly investigated for war crimes. It is very highly recommended.
The author, a former English teacher, starts with soem scathing comments about the institution of school. One of the goals when compulsory schooling came into effect in America was to create obedient factory workers who don't waste time by daydreaming or talking to each other. Schools took on the task of stamping out other cultures. Schools need you to believe that you can't learn without them. To those who honestly think that if they don't spend a large portion of their childhood sitting in a room having stuff poured in one ear, and usually going out the other, their only life path is drug addict or bum, reading this book will be a waste of time.
This is not a spur-of-the-moment decision, for the young person or the parents, so the author goes painlessly through the whole process. An important thing to do in the beginning is to get a copy of the relevant state laws and find a local homeschooling group for questions. The target audience is teens, so she talks about how to ask your parents, and what to do if they say No. Once you're out of school, work to re-kindle your passion for it, whatever it is, a passion that school has worked to squash like a bug. Talk to the local school board about staying eligible for after-school activities, and to otherwise not make an enemy out of them. As you get older, the book explores jobs, internships and how to prepare for college. It also has many quotes from people who have done it, left school or never gone to school, and become happy and successful. learning what they want to learn, not what someone else thinks they "must" learn.
This book is wonderful. It does a fine job of showing that sitting in a classroom for many years and getting a "good" education as the only way to make something of yourself is little more than propaganda. I wish this book was available when I was in junior high school.
In early days, religion was used to explain natural occurrences like life death, summer and winter. People now have scientific answers to such questions. Humanism is a philosophy without heaven, divine revelation or sacred scriptures, so humanists fix their attention on this life.
To a humanist, God can be thought of in a number of ways; as nature, as goodness in people, or the way things work in the universe. An impersonal conception of God is not necessarily rejected, but there are better ways to express this part of nature. The truthfulness of sacred scripture like the Bible or Koran is less important than how well they serve as inspirational guides for some people. Some humanists do go to church, in more liberal congregations like Quaker, Methodist, liberal Jewish or Unitarian-Universalist.
There are two elements that make up the Humanist approach to personal problem solving. The first is a state of mind of self-reliance and confidence. There are perfectly natural reasons for people's actions, not the conjunction of the planets or the configuration of crystals. The second is to keep an open mind and be reluctant to jump to conclusions.
The authors also explore the history of Humanism, how it can be applied in a person's life and how it can be applied to solve larger social problems.
Knowing absolutely nothing about Humanism before I started this book, I had no idea what to expect. The authors do a fine job at taking the reader through Humanism, painlessly. Anyone who is not satisfied with, or otherwise questioning, their present religion, could do a lot worse than read this book.
A man named Meriamun travels past the deserted city of Akhetaten, once the grandest city in all of Egypt, and is struck by a strong desire to discover the real story behind the "Sun King." He talks to Akhetaten's tutor (and father-in-law), his chief priest, one of his childhood friends, the head of th army, even his wife, Nefertiti, among others, each of whom give their own recollections.
Physically, Akhenaten was small, scrawny and rather effeminate looking. He was either a slavering madman who should never have been allowed anywhere near the throne, or he was a visionary of the type that comes along once in a lifetime. Growing up, Akhenaten showed no interest in learning the ways of war. Tuthmosis, his older brother, who would have made an excellent pharaoh, died when they were children. His father, and pharaoh, Amenhotep III, sent Akhenaten on a tour of the empire, hoping to make a man out of him. It didn't work. Akhenaten was summoned back home to take over the throne on his father's death.
Akhenaten showed little interest in actually being Pharaoh, but his wife, Queen Nefertiti, showed herself to be an expert in running the empire. One day, he heard the voice of the One and Only God, and immediately set about changing the "state religion," getting rid of all traces of the regular deities. His obsession with his religion, to the exclusion of all else, made the outlying provinces easy pickings for raiders. The seat of power had already moved from Thebes to the brand new city of Akhetaten. As the empire descended into near-anarchy, Akhenaten continued to insist that faith in his god would prevail.
I really enjoyed this book. It talks about a part of the world, and a period in history, about which few westerners know very much. The characters in the book feel like real people, especially Akhenaten, who is portrayed very completely. I found it to be well worth reading.
He looks at the historical perspective, including the connection between Drug prohibition and Alcohol Prohibition in the early 20th century. he huge amounts of money involved in drugs have corrupted even the most upstanding public officials. As the cities have reached their 'drugs capacity,' gangs and other drug sellers have been exploring new markets in small towns. Another victim in the War on Drugs has been the Bill of Rights. Above everything else is the absolute explosion in America's prison population because of drug laws. More violent prisoners are being released after serving a fraction of their sentences so as to house all those first-time drug offenders.
The reason for the lack of debate on America's drug policy is that the prison-industrial complex and those who like things just the way they are equate any change in the drugs policy with giving drugs to children. Did you know that there is a federal law in effect which forbids the teaching in schools of any drug policy other than total abstinence?
Among the proposals advocated by the author are: needle exchange, hemp legalization, ending the federal subsidy on tobacco, make quality drug treatment available for everyone, reform asset forfeiture laws, strict probation for non-violent offenders, take the profit out of the drug market, etc.
This isn't a wild-eyed, pro-drug radical saying these things; this is a judge and ex-prosecutor in one of the most conservative counties in America saying these things. It is long past time for a change in America's drug policy; this book will be a huge help. It is very highly recommended, for everyone.The authors show how parents can help their children can get a real education by helping the child find something about which they are interested, and proceed from there. The process includes five phases:
OPPORTUNITY-Don't just expose your kids to life's possibilities (arts, science, history, community, etc.) without overdoing it, but the parent should stay passionate and involved in learning. The enthusiasm will be contagious.
TIMING-If your child is not progressing according to some school bureaucrat's schedule, don't panic. Not every child learns at the same speed. Early bloomers may need extra stimulation to keep them interested. Late bloomers may simply need time and extra help.
INTEREST-Honor your child's passions, even if it something of which you disapprove. Children are her to grow into the best person they can be, not what the parent or anyone else thinks they should be. Also know when to back off.
FREEDOM-Give the child the chance to take on projects and solve problems. Make it clear that promises are expected to be kept, and also make clear the consequnces for broken promises.
SUPPORT-Be there for your kids. Supporting children does not equal martyrdom. Check to see how much support they need or want. Make sure their goals stay theirs. Well-being is most important.
I learned a lot from this book. It easily reaches the level of Highly Recommended, especially for any parent whose child is having problems in school.
The Northern Alliance is a collection of warlords whose terror and destruction, while in power, led the population to welcome the Taliban as liberators. Before the US missile strike on the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant in 1998 (which, by itself, contributed to the deaths of thousands of innocent Sudanese), Sudan was ready to give the US a vast intelligence datatbase on Osama bin Laden and over 200 members of al-Qaeda, including photos and detailed biographies, plus vital information about al-Qaeda's financial interests all over the world. The offer was refused by Washington, more than once, because of its hatred of Sudan. Would there have been a better chance of preventing September 11 if the US had this information? There's no way to know, now.
In December 1987, during a previous war on terrorism, the UN General Assembly passed a major resolution condemning terrorism as strongly as possible and calling on all countries to act forcefully to overcome it. One can only wonder why the US and Israel were the only countries to vote against this resolution. The US is the only country condemned by the World Court for international terrorism. In the mid-1980s, the Court ordered the US to stop supporting the Nicaraguan Contras and pay reparations to the Nicaraguan government. Not only did the US ignore the ruling, it escalated the war against Nicaragua (by authorizing the attacking of undefended targets like health clinics) and vetoed a Security Council resolution calling on all countries to observe international law.
For those who have never before read Noam Chomsky, this may not be the best introduction to his work. This is still an excellent, and much needed, alternative to the perception that any criticism of the Bush Administration somehow borders on treason. This, and other Chomsky books, also show just how much the American news media has become a purveyor of propaganda. It is very highly recommended.
For the Sake of Peace, Daisaku Ikeda, Middleway Press, 2001 This book is based on many years of lectures and proposals to the United Nations, looking at the subject of peace from the Buddhist perspective of respect for human life and the interconnection between all things. Ikeda is the head of Soka Gakkai International, a worldwide Buddhist organization that follows the teachings of a 12th century reformer named Nichiren. Any societal change must start within each of us, learning compassion and tolerance and being able to see the negative in ourselves. Then comes dialogue, which, among other things, can open closed minds and transform opposing viewpoints. Education is always very important, not only to show the threat of nuclear weapons, but to fight world hunger and poverty and to get people out of the mindset of ethnic world views. Communities need to get together to build an international ssytem of hope and justice and to get away from the "survival of the fittest" ethos of competition. One way to build such a system is through art, which connects us with each other, with nature, and with the universe. The author feels that it is time for the United Nations to get involved in education on a global scale and to move away from the usual military-centered conceptions of security. Disarmament is about overcoming the hatred, distrust and debasement of humanity of the 20th century. This book is surprisingly good. Having survived World War II in Japan, Ikeda has seen the horror of war up close and personal. He has written a clear and easy to understand book, that doesn't lack for passiopn, on a subject near and dear to everyone. For a different perspective on the world around us, and the world inside each of us, this is definitely worth reading.
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Terrorism and War, Howard Zinn, Seven Stories Press, 2002 This book, written in interview format, gives Zinn's perspective on the events of September 11 and its aftermath. Zinn is the author of A People's History of the United States. When announcing the bombing of Afghanistan, George Bush said that Americans are a peaceful people. Tell that to the people of Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Panama and Iraq. If America is serious about shutting down terrorist training camps, it should start with the School of the Americas in Georgia. Any discussion of US foreign policy, let alone criticism, is seen by some as supposedly justifying the attacks. The Defense Department has spent a lot of time saying that they are being as humane as possible in their bombing, and that military, not civilian, targets are being bombed. From 30,000 feet, it is impossible to see just what you are bombing; all that can be seen are flashes on the ground (Zinn was a bombardier during World War II). During the Gulf War, over 70 percent of US bombs missed their targets. A number of reports have come out of Afghanistan of civilian casualties caused by American bombs. When interest in the war begins to fade, and Bush's 90 percent approval rating starts to drop, people will begin to see the failure of the capitalist system to solve basic problems. Put the extra $48 billion for the Pentagon together with the $70 billion "economic stimulus package" and the $1.3 trillion tax cut in an economy that's struggling, and things like Medicare and aid to the poor will be cut before, for instance, corporate subsidies. This book is excellent. It's short, very easy to read and presents a rarely-heard perspective in terms that anyone can understand. Those who are unsatisfied with the "official" view of the war would do very well to read this.
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Transcend, Richard Joseph, Stoic Press, 2001 Most of this book is an autobiography of your average New Yorker, who, after college, was not sure what he wanted to do with his life, so he decided to see America. He bought a used car and headed west. He slept at campsites and hostels and worked as a cook at Glacier National Park along the way. He hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and discovered, the hard way, that he had chosen the wrong trail on the return trip. He got word of a job teaching Korea at a school in Korea, so, after getting the required permission, off he went. He left the school after a few months; the trip turns into a sixteen-month odyssey through Asia from Korea to India. His companion is Jes, a young woman from British Columbia. To say that the trip, especially their time in India, could be described as "sensory overload," would be a huge understatement. Joseph begins to realize that after seeing people forced to live on the equivalent of a couple of dollars per day (most of the world), the urban American complaints about traffic and work stress seem pretty silly and meaningless. Returning home to New York City, he attempts to reconnect with his friends. To his dismay, he finds that they haven't done any emotional growing up during his absence. They just want to stay home and watch TV, while Joseph wants to, at minimum, have a few beers at the local bar. On a later trip to Japan, he discovers a huge market for American vintage clothing, the sort that would be found at the local Salvation Army. Driving cars cross country for a car rental company, he stops in thrift stores along the way to check out their stock. Upon reaching the West Coast, he continues on to Japan and sells the clothing at 10 or 20 times the purchase price. The rest of the book is Joseph's attempt at psychology. He talks about what he calls Objective Truths. Everyone will die someday. There is no objective, scientific proof that an Afterlife exists. Is it possible that the Afterlife was created by early humans to give them something to look forward to; to tell them that this life isn't "it"? He also talks about how America is the richest, and most wasteful, society on earth. Others are more qualified than I to judge the psychology part of this book, but I enjoyed the whole book. I appreciated the travelogue, and the perception that there is much more to life than work and TV and thinking that Americans are The Chosen People. It may take some effort on the part of the reader, but this book is more than worth the time. It is well worth reading for all Americans.
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Cheap Raw Material: How Our Youngest Workers are Exploited and Abused, Milton Meltzer, Viking, 1994 Many American teenagers have a job after school or during the summer. Not only is it a good way to earn some extra spending money, it's something of a rite of passage into adulthood. This book looks at the history of child labor, mainly in America. It's not pretty. In the Americas, the abuse of children for profit started at the time of Columbus. When the European nations were planning their foreign colonies, they realized that children would be useful in the Americas, making things for profit. In 1600s England, there were plenty of poor street orphans who wouldn't be missed if they were thrown on a ship heading to America. Officially, they were indentured servants, to be freed after a certain number of years. Actually, they were slaves. Throughout American history, children have worked long hours. Theynhave picked cotton on Southern plantations from sunup to sundown. They have worked in cotton mills or deep in coal mines for 12 or 14 hours every day. Education is haphazard or non-existent. If the children aren't maimed or killed by the unsafe machines or conditions, they contract something like tuberculosis or black lung disease and die anyway. In the early 20th century came the garment sweatshops, where the children would go to a factory and run a sewing machine all day, or do it all night in their unsanitary apartment. In the present day, with child labor laws on the books, one might think that the child labor problem is gone. Think again. Migrant farm workers still spend all day in the fields, being exposed to all sorts of pesticides. Underage, and untrained, workers are still maimed and killed by dangerous machines at bakeries, supermarkets and fast food restaurants. This is an excellent and eye-opening book. The author has plenty of passion, and, whenever possible, lets the young people tell their own stories. Written for young people, this is highly recommended for anyone just starting out in the work force. It's also recommended for those who employ young people.
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Another Day of Life, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Penguin Books, 1987 In 1975, as America was dealing with its military defeat in Vietnam, another major war was going on, this time in the African country of Angola. The author, a Polish journalist, was one of the few people to fly into the country, while all the foreigners were desperate to leave by any means possible. Portugal, the colonial power, gave Angola and all its other colonies the chance for independence, after a chnage of government back home. There were three well-armed groups in Angola vying for control of the country. The FNLA was backed by the West and Zaire, UNITA was backed by the West and South Africa and the MPLA was backed by Cuba and the Soviet Union. Life in Luanda, the capital, takes on a bit of a surreal feeling. A few foreigners stay behind, but anyone who can leave is at the seaport (air travel has basically stopped). The city is generally deserted, Light and water become sporadic. One day, it is noticed that the garbage collection has stopped. Wild dogs roam the city. The author travels to a unit north of Luanda. Commander Ndozi is a veteran guerilla leader, but his recruits are all young people who should be in school. The only way for the recruits to chase away the fear, the belief that the bullet with their name on it is speeding towards them at this moment, is to make a lot of noise with their weapon. It also gets rid of scarce ammunition very quickly. Checkpoints are everywhere in Angola. The safest thing to do is slowly approach it in your car, get out and walk the rest of the way. At all times, several people are watching, the sort of people who can easily shoot first and ask questions later (if at all). There is no way to know whose checkpoint it is (MPLA, FNLA or UNITA) so saying or doing the wrong thing can lead to a quick death (after you are forced to dig your own grave). Like any other war zone where reliable information is scarce, this war seems to run on rumors, mostly concerning South African troops, who may, or may not, be ready to invade at any time. It's been said that it is hard to convey the dirt, blood and confusion of war to anyone who hasn't witnessed it firsthand. The author does an excellent job of doing just that. Forget antiseptic, video game wars; this is what war is all about. This book is short, well done and very much worth the reader's time.
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Homeschooling for Excellence, David and Micki Colfax, Warner Books, 1988 In the early 1970s, the Colfaxes decided to homeschool their four children. Therefore, they found themselves considered to be pioneers in the growing homeschooling movement, though they are the last people to consider themselves as such. This book chronicles their experiences and gives suggestions for parents. The reason for homeschooling was part philosophical and part logistical. He is a college sociology professor, and she teaches high school, so they have seen American education from the inside, and were not impressed. Living on an isolated hillside in northern California, with no neighbors or TV, getting them to and from the local schools (which had a mediocre reputation) would have occupied too much of the day. First comes things like providing "appropriate learning materials and opportunities." What is appropriate for one child will not work for another. Then comes exposing them to the outside world (art, science, history, etc). An appreciation for reading is more important than making sure that the child can read by a certain age. What about television? If it can be removed from the household completely, do it. If not, then limit the child's viewing time as much as possible. Lots of time was spent evaluating textbooks. The Colfaxes found a few that were pretty good, but, in various ways, most of the textbooks they read stunk. Is homeschooling any good when college time comes around? The authors recount the time of SAT's and college admissions for three of their sons (at the time this book was published, the fourth child was too young). All three of them were accepted to, and attended, Harvard University. The only criticism I have of this book is that having been published 15 years ago, it very much needs updating. Aside from that, this book is excellent. It's written in a very easy to read style, from one parent to another. Any parent even thinking of homeschooling their child would do very well to start right here.
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Bioterror: Manufacturing Wars the American Way, Ellen Ray and William H. Schaap (ed.), Ocean Press, 2003 One of the official reasons for the invasion of Iraq and the creation of the "Axis of Evil" is because of their supposed stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction. This short book, composed of previously published articles from CovertAction magazine, shows that America has the world's biggest stocks of such weapons, and has used them many times in the past. America is a signatory to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, but the first Bush Administration refused to go along with the 1997 protocol on verification of compliance. While other countries with CBW capability were expected, by the US, to allow foreign inspectors access to their facilities, the US refused to grant such access. The fear was that legitimate commercial and military secrets would be exposed. Officially, there has been a worldwide ban, since 1969, on the development of chemical and biological weapons. A loophole demanded by America allows for research on "defensive" bioweapons. There is a tiny difference between "defensive" and "offensive" bioweapons research. Over the years, the US military has tested CBW techniques on American citizens a number of times. In 1950, a cloud of bacteria was sprayed over San Francisco by the US Navy, resulting in many cases of pneumonia-like symptoms. In 1955, the Tampa Bay, Florida area experienced a huge rise in cases of whooping cough after a still-secret CIA biowar test. In 1932, the US Public Health Service started a study of untreated syphilis using 400 poor black men (who were never told of their sickness) in Tuskegee, Alabama. Another US policy has been the forced sterilization of women in the Third World. The purpose has been to protect US business interests from the threat of revolutions brought about by chronic unemployment. After the "ban" on CBW research, many researchers simply continued their work under the guise of fighting cancer. Also covered in this book is the story of a widespread epidemic in Cuba in 1981 introduced by the US. Thousands of veterans returned from Vietnam and Iraq with the growing degenerative effects inside them of Agent Orange and depleted uranium. They have spent years fighting the US Government for any recognition or recompense for their illnesses. My only criticism of this book is that the articles reprinted here were first published between 1982 and 1993. The editors couldn't have found anything more recent? Otherwise, this is a short book, but it says a lot. It's interesting, easy to read, more than a little sickening and shows what the US Government really does with taxpayer money. It's recommended.
The Ig Nobel Prizes: The Annals of Improbable Research, Marc Abrahams, Dutton, 2003 This book brings together two areas of human endeavor that don't normally go together: science and humor. The Ig Nobel Awards (actually held every year at Harvard University) honor those achievements which "cannot or should not be reproduced." Did you know that elevator music may help prevent the common cold? Companies like Enron, Global Crossing, Tyco, Waste Management and WorldCom shared an award for adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world. A man from Lithuania created an amusement park called Stalin World. To save money, the British Royal Navy has barred trainees at its top gunnery school from firing live shells and ordered them to shout "bang." It has been determined that, biochemically, romantic love may be indistinguishable from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. A college professor from Pennsylvania fed prozac to clams (at the cellular level, clams and humans show remarkable nervous system similarities), resulting in a whole lot of reproducing going on. A man from France is the only winner of two Ig Nobels, for demonstrating that water has a memory, and that the information can be transmitted over the phone and the Internet. Then there are the "classics," like the scientific investigation of why toast often falls on the buttered side; an Australian man who patented the wheel, and the Australian Patent Office who granted it; a man from Arizona who invented software that detcts when a cat is walking across your keyboard; the Southern Baptist Church of Alabama for their county-by-county estimate of how many Alabama citizens will go to hell if they don't repent; the sociology of Canadian donut shops, and the optimal way to dunk a biscuit. Last but not least, a solution has been found to the age-old problem of how to quickly start a barbecue. It can be done in less than four seconds with charcoal - and liquid oxygen. This book is hilarious. It's humor of a slightly more highbrow variety, designed to make people laugh, then think. It's highly recommended for everyone, even those who think that they hate science.
Armed Madhouse, Greg Palast, E.P. Dutton, 2006 Here is another compendium of political and corporate con men who would sell your future and your children's future to the highest bidder (or give it away to their political friends). Everyone thinks that George Bush had a secret plan to seize Iraq's oil. Actually, there were 2 secret plans. The neo-con/Pentagon plan involved privatizing, or selling off, Iraq's vast oil reserves to foreign companies. When all those oil wells start pumping, ignoring their OPEC quota (insurgency? what insurgency?), the world market would be flooded with oil, causing the price to plummet. OPEC would be forced out of business, and, coincidentally, Saudi Arabia, the real target, would be forced to its financial knees. A problem with this is the assumption that the oil fields would remain undamaged in an American invasion. Also, it would be silly to think that Saudi Arabia would sit back and let this happen. Whenever other OPEC countries have ignored their quota, the Saudis have opened their oil spigots, flooding the market and causing the price to drop, forcing the offending country into bankruptcy. Also, the major oil companies made it very clear that privatizing Iraqi oil would not be acceptable. But they had no problem with the privatizing of the rest of Iraq, including the sale of banks and water companies, big tax cuts for wealthy Iraqis, a complete elimination of tariffs and new copyright laws protecting American companies. The State Department/Council on Foreign Relations plan involved keeping the Iraqi government as is, especially the state oil monopoly. It also envisioned the removal of Saddam Hussein as taking no more than THREE DAYS. Hussein would be overthrown, some Iraqi general dismissed by Hussein in the 1980s (it didn't matter who) would come in by parachute, he would be given the keys to Iraq's political and security apparatus, and snap elections would be held in 90 days to legitimize everything. Simple, no? Once the Pentagon got wind of it, the three-day part didn't last very long. Saddam Hussein's "crime," the reason he was removed from power, had nothing to do with being a tyrant, or WMD, or gassing the Kurds of Halabja. When it came to oil production, one week he would suddenly decide to support the Palestinian cause, and not pump any oil at all. The next week, he would forget about the Palestinians, and pump right up to the Oil for Food limit. Singlehandedly turning the world oil market into a yo-yo upset Big Oil and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others. It's all about control of the oil market, and Hussein was not cooperating. This book is about much more than just Iraq. Palast goes into great detail about how the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen by the Republicans. Any number of methods have come to life, from using supposed lists of felons, to sending not enough machines to black districts, to machines in those same districts that miscount or don't count votes at a much greater rate than in white districts, to uncounted paper ballots in the tens of thousands. In Native American districts in the Southwest, if one accepts the "official" results, many Native Americans would drive miles and miles to the polling place, and specifically NOT vote for President. What are Democrats doing about this, if only to be sure that it never happens again? Little or nothing. This book also covers subjects like globalization, New Orleans, No Child Left Behind and Enron. By themselves, any of the chapters in this book are worth the price of the book. Put them together, and this book easily reaches the level of Wow. It's an extraordinary piece of journalism, and is extremely highly recommended.
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