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Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

Stephen Kinzer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“Detailed, passionate and convincing . . . [with] the pace and grip of a good thriller.”—Anatol Lieven, The New York Times Book Review

"Regime change” did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the toppling of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is but the latest example of the dangers inherent in these operations.

In Overthrow, Stephen Kinzer tells the stories of the audacious politicians, spies, military commanders, and business executives who took it upon themselves to depose foreign regimes. He details the three eras of America’s regime-change century—the imperial era, which brought Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Nicaragua, and Honduras under America’s sway; the cold war era, which employed covert action against Iran, Guatemala, South Vietnam, and Chile; and the invasion era, which saw American troops toppling governments in Grenada, Panama, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Kinzer explains why the U.S. government has pursued these operations and why so many of them have had disastrous long-term consequences, making Overthrow a cautionary tale that serves as an urgent warning as the United States seeks to define its role in the modern world.

Essentials of International Relations, Fourth Edition

Karen A. Mingst

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

offers different perspectives 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

One useful feature of Mingst's book is how she explicitly lays out different and contending perspectives on viewing international relations. One is realism, or its offshoot, neorealism. She traces its antecedents back to such noted writers as Machiavelli and Hobbes, and back to some ancient Greeks. Another perspective is liberalism, which emphasises more mutually beneficial actions between nations. While the 3rd perspective described is radicalism. Encompassing socialist or communist worldviews, though these have been largely discredited after the end of the Cold War.

Another merit of the book, due to its publication in 2007, is the inclusion and analysis of recent events. Notably the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Providing a very topical, attention-getting discussion, that should help retain students' interest.

Editorial Review:

Essentials of International Relations is the best-selling brief text for introductory international relations courses. Professor Mingst's unique framework focuses on the basic concepts and core theories that political scientists use to understand world politics. The Fourth Edition has been thoroughly updated with analysis of important recent events and new Global Perspectives boxes that invite students to consider international issues from the viewpoint of those outside the United States.

A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide (P.S.)

Samantha Power

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 187 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

During the three years (1993-1996) Samantha Power spent covering the grisly events in Bosnia and Srebrenica, she became increasingly frustrated with how little the United States was willing to do to counteract the genocide occurring there. After much research, she discovered a pattern: "The United States had never in its history intervened to stop genocide and had in fact rarely even made a point of condemning it as it occurred," she writes in this impressive book. Debunking the notion that U.S. leaders were unaware of the horrors as they were occurring against Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, Iraqi Kurds, Rwandan Tutsis, and Bosnians during the past century, Power discusses how much was known and when, and argues that much human suffering could have been alleviated through a greater effort by the U.S. She does not claim that the U.S. alone could have prevented such horrors, but does make a convincing case that even a modest effort would have had significant impact. Based on declassified information, private papers, and interviews with more than 300 American policymakers, Power makes it clear that a lack of political will was the most significant factor for this failure to intervene. Some courageous U.S. leaders did work to combat and call attention to ethnic cleansing as it occurred, but the vast majority of politicians and diplomats ignored the issue, as did the American public, leading Power to note that "no U.S. president has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on." This powerful book is a call to make such indifference a thing of the past. --Shawn Carkonen

International Politics: Enduring Concepts and Contemporary Issues (9th Edition) (MyPoliSciKit Series)

Robert J. Art, Robert Jervis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Extremely Informative 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 14 people found this review helpful.

A must read for any new-comer to the subject of international relations. Topics covered are varied and relevant. Very applicable to today's world.

Good for class 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I got this book because it was required for my international politics class. It isn't terribly hard to read, and it isn't excruciatingly boring so all in all this isn't a bad book. I probably wouldn't buy it if I didn't need it for class, but it's a good book to go along with the class

Editorial Review:

Edited by two of the most respected international relations scholars, International Politics places contemporary essays alongside classics to survey the field’s diverse voices, concepts, and issues. Challenging students to use original scholarship to recognize and analyze patterns in world politics, this bestselling reader considers how to effectively understand politics under governments and beyond. Carefully edited selections cover the most essential topics and are put into conversation with each other to illustrate fundamental debates and differing points of view. Comprehensive and engaging, International Politics offers the best overview of the discipline as well as the forces shaping the world today.

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy

Michael T. Klare

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the author of the now-classic Resource Wars, an indispensable account of how the world’s diminishing sources of energy are radically changing the international balance of power

Recently, an unprecedented Chinese attempt to acquire the major American energy firm Unocal was blocked by Congress amidst hysterical warnings of a Communist threat. But the political grandstanding missed a larger point: the takeover bid was a harbinger of a new structure of world power, based not on market forces or on arms and armies but on the possession of vital natural resources.

Surveying the energy-driven dynamic that is reconfiguring the international landscape, Michael Klare, the preeminent expert on resource geopolitics, forecasts a future of surprising new alliances and explosive danger. World leaders are now facing the stark recognition that all materials vital for the functioning of modern industrial societies (not just oil and natural gas but uranium, coal, copper, and others) are finite and being depleted at an ever-accelerating rate. As a result, governments rather than corporations are increasingly spearheading the pursuit of resources. In a radically altered world— where Russia is transformed from battered Cold War loser to arrogant broker of Eurasian energy, and the United States is forced to compete with the emerging “Chindia” juggernaut—the only route to survival on a shrinking planet, Klare shows, lies through international cooperation.

The Secret History of the American Empire: The Truth About Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and How to Change the World

John Perkins

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 58 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A riveting exposé of international corruption—and what we can do about it, from the author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which spent over a year on the New York Times bestseller list.

In his stunning memoir, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, John Perkins detailed his former role as an “economic hit man” in the international corporate skullduggery of a de facto American Empire. This riveting, behind-the-scenes exposé unfolded like a cinematic blockbuster told through the eyes of a man who once helped shape that empire. Now, in The Secret History of the American Empire, Perkins zeroes in on hot spots around the world and, drawing on interviews with other hit men, jackals, reporters, and activists, examines the current geopolitical crisis. Instability is the norm: It’s clear that the world we’ve created is dangerous and no longer sustainable. How did we get here? Who’s responsible? What good have we done and at what cost? And what can we do to change things for the next generations? Addressing these questions and more, Perkins reveals the secret history behind the events that have created the American Empire, including:

• The current Latin-American revolution and its lessons for democracy
• How the “defeats” in Vietnam and Iraq benefited big business
• The role of Israel as “Fortress America” in the Middle East
• Tragic repercussions of the IMF’s “Asian Economic Collapse”
• U.S. blunders in Tibet, Congo, Lebanon, and Venezuela
• Jackal (CIA operatives) forays to assassinate democratic presidents

From the U.S. military in Iraq to infrastructure development in Indonesia, from Peace Corps volunteers in Africa to jackals in Venezuela, Perkins exposes a conspiracy of corruption that has fueled instability and anti-Americanism around the globe. Alarming yet hopeful, this book provides a compassionate plan to reimagine our world.

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

Samuel P. Huntington

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 240 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Engrossing analysis of world order 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This excellent book provides the reader with a view of the world based on civilizations - past, present and future. If you cannot find time to read the entire book, read the last chapter. It describes creditable circumstances under with a third world war could ignite.

Confirmed predictions 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

First published in 1996, this scholarly discussion of future international relations has been a classic from the beginning and will remain so for decades to come. From among the seven most important civilizations the author selected three, which may collide in conflict. Thus, in Moslem eyes Western culture is decadent in various ways and therefore utterly unacceptable. The current resurgence of the Islamic civilization is seen as an evolution no less significant than the Reformation or Marxism, demanding society's complete overhaul, renewal and purification, a movement whose impact on history will grow as the Moslem population will soon represent thirty percent of humanity. At the same time, Islam is seen as the least tolerant of religions, as it promotes peace inside their ranks but hostility toward the infidels outside.
Similarly, in East Asia, the Confucian civilization adheres to commandments like order, discipline, hard work and abstemiousness, where the individual subordinates to the needs of the community. Alien to them is what they call the West's sanctifying of human rights. Whereas we in the West expect our value system soon to become universal, the Confucian world is convinced that "the Anglo-Saxon module is not working" and that their own standards must of necessity apply to the rest of humanity. Here, again, the impact of such convictions will be immense as the center of gravity of economic power is rapidly shifting from the West to the East.
Out of such discordance, there arise economic and political contentions and military ones cannot be ruled out. Huntington believes possible conflicts could arise from a contest between Western arrogance, Islamic intolerance and Sinic assertiveness. The spark igniting material strife, however, will most likely be generated by more prosaic crises such as the youth bulge among the unemployed, terrorism, rivalry in the search of resources such as oil, and the pervasiveness of weapons of mass destruction among those who suffer and rebel.
The main message carried forth from this study is that any military clash in the future will most likely oppose not nations but rather civilizations in what he aptly calls fault-line wars. He points to the danger that such inter-civilizational feuds will be uncompromising and almost impossible to halt.
Huntington advises the reader that cultural universalism, so engrained in the mind of the West, is ill advised and that especially includes the American tendency to be "a nanny if not even a bully" in other civilizations. We must, he says, renounce universalism of values, and instead accept diversity and seek commonalities.
Since these thoughts were first published, much has been confirmed. The power shift toward East Asia is rapidly progressing. Fault-line conflicts in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Chechnya and the Balkans have resisted or defied peacemaking efforts. Our promotion of democracy, civil rights, and individualism has been rejected elsewhere in favor of soft authoritarianism. Most importantly, perhaps, is the West's failure to observe the "abstention rule", that is, for one civilization to abstain from invading the lands of another.
Every prospective world leader should read this book at least once.

Editorial Review:

The thesis of this provocative and potentially important book is the increasing threat of violence arising from renewed conflicts between countries and cultures that base their traditions on religious faith and dogma. This argument moves past the notion of ethnicity to examine the growing influence of a handful of major cultures--Western, Eastern Orthodox, Latin American, Islamic, Japanese, Chinese, Hindu, and African--in current struggles across the globe. Samuel P. Huntington, a political scientist at Harvard University and foreign policy aide to President Clinton, argues that policymakers should be mindful of this development when they interfere in other nations' affairs.

Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids

Jim Marrs

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 169 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Educate: fight the New World Order 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book covers the groups who run the international shadow government:
The New World Order, The Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), The Trilateral Commission, The Bilderbergers, The Illuminati, and Freemasonry.

I think Jim must live on Mars 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love this type of book, however 90% of it is stolen from other conspiracy theory books and most of those theories have been flat out proven to be false. There was little to no actual investigation here. No new material, nothing to make my purchase worth while. First book in my life I threw in the trash where it belongs!

Editorial Review:

What secrets connect Egypt's Great Pyramids, the Freemasons, and the Council on Foreign Relations? In this astonishing book, celebrated journalist Jim Marrs examines the world's most closely guarded secrets, tracing the history of clandestine societies and the power they have wielded – from the ancient mysteries to modern–day conspiracy theories.

Searching for truth, he uncovers disturbing evidence that the real movers and shakers of the world collude covertly to start and stop wars, manipulate stock markets, maintain class distinctions, and even censor the news. Provocative and utterly compelling, Rule by Secrecy offers a singular worldview that may explain who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.

Understanding International Conflicts (6th Edition) (Longman Classics in Political Science)

Joseph S. Nye

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Primer on Conflict Theory 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

A good introduction to political theory in relation to conflict and war, especially if you are not political science student. We used it for a class on US intelligence and social trends at our university (National Defense Intelligence College)

Understanding the contemporary world 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Understanding..., sixth edition, is an excelent introductory manual to international conflicts, but is a book of yesterday (2007), and it must to be updated. The importance of energy supply is underestimated in the text.

Editorial Review:

Part of the “Longman Classics in Political Science” series, Nye's best-selling text has been completely updated with new discussions about Middle East politics, including the Israel-Palestine dispute and the Iraq war, terrorism in general and radical Islamic terrorism in particular, the global politics of oil, and much more. Replete with illustrative examples and written in a lively, engaging manner, this is a brief, inexpensive book that students will buy and actually enjoy reading. It deftly balances theory and history to help students develop a well-rounded, informed framework for analyzing the international issues confronting us at the beginning of the 21st Century.

How to Ruin the United States of America

Ben Stein, Phil DeMuth

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

On the heels of his very successful books, How to Ruin Your Life, How to Ruin Your Love Life, and How to Ruin Your Financial Life, Ben Stein, in collaboration with his pal Phil DeMuth, has tongue firmly in cheek once again as he comes up with surefire ways to ruin the greatest nation in the history of the human race.

Try a few of these on for size:

· Trust the United Nations to protect us and our security.

· Make it unlawful to worship God or even to show images of the Ten Commandments.

· Convert our universities into fortresses of anti-Americanism, hatred of freedom, and centers of confusion and ignorance.

· Encourage contempt for the family and for the community.

· Allow Hollywood to brainwash us into believing that only suckers and criminals fight for their country.

· Treat the military, the police, firefighters, and teachers as losers and pay them starvation wages.

Hey, does any of this sound familiar? Maybe that’s because it’s already happening! Ben and Phil give you all the information you’ll ever need in order to successfully ruin the USA even further! Sardonic, humorous, but also angrily emphatic, this is a book every old-fashioned patriot really needs to read!