Human Geography Books - Page 5

Don't Know Much About Geography (Don't Know Much About...)

Kenneth C. Davis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Too much personal bias for a purported factual book 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Let me start by saying that I enjoyed Don't Know Much About History, and some of this author's children's books such as Don't Know Much About the Presidents. They present facts in a fun way, and provide interesting details that are little known to many. I began eagerly reading Don't Know Much About Geography expecting the same format and writing style. Unfortunately, this book (and Don't Know Much About the Universe) were laced with just enough insults and left-leaning commentary to take the enjoyment out of these books.

Mr. Davis was, too often, injecting his own, clearly patronizing opinions about what can loosely be termed the Judeo-Christian religions. He is obviously entitled to his opinions, but in a book that is supposedly factual - even a humorously factual book - these jabs seem unneccessary and frankly, annoying. He speaks of those people of the past (both famous and not) that had a religious faith as being "chained" to it or somehow held down/held back, both intellectually and literally because of their faith. In fact, he is blatantly condescending towards "religion" in general.

In addition, he often insults those who can be termed "conservative" leaders of the past such as former President Ronald Reagan. Again, he is the author and can write was he pleases, but why add politics in this fashion into a book of this type?

Mr. Davis has small sections in the book entitled "Geographic Voices" which contain interesting and humorous quotes from the past. I wish he had placed all his political commentary into sections entitled "Liberal Voices" so I could have just skipped this nonsense.

Other reviewers correctly pointed out scientific and historical errors which were presented as facts. I tried not to focus on these things because others had already described these issues in detail. Let me just say that besides the handful of just plain inaccuracies, some theories (or at a minimum, debatable points) are presented as FACTS. The mainstream media often employs this tool - "If we printed it/reported on it/broadcast it, it is true" - which in turn is accepted as fact by many of the nation's viewers/readers, without even the slightest question as to its accuracy. Perhaps most people don't have the time to verify every piece of information for its accuracy; but that is why, in my humble opinion, those who DO report/write/broadcast have a duty to the public to be accurate.

If you can get past the insults and left-leaning politics, you may still find this book an interesting read. For me, these things were too instrusive.

Editorial Review:

Who Killed The Dead Sea? Where was the Garden of Eden? What's So Bad About the Badlands?

Get on board as Kenneth C. Davis, author of the acclaimed national bestseller Don't Know Much About® History, takes us on a fascinating, breathtaking, and hilarious grand tour of the planet Earth -- opening our eyes and imaginations to a wide, wild, and wonderful world we never knew.

John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman

Robert Skidelsky

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

An excellent,nontechnical biography of J M Keynes 4 out of 5 stars.
15 of 29 people found this review helpful.

This book is Skidelsky's one volume abridged version of his previous three volume biography(1983,1992,2000)on J M Keynes.Skidelsky successfully weaves all of the different aspects and strands(personal,familial,historical,social,political,economic) of Keynes's life into a beautifully constructed historical tapestry that will keep the reader's attention from the first page to the last.All of the different talents Keynes possessed and displayed during his lifetime come alive on the pages of this book.Skidelsky is the master of his material as long as he concentrates on the vast nontechnical aspects of the life of his subject.Skidelsky has clearly mastered the historical and chronological events and interrelationships that occurred during Keynes's life. Unfortunately,Skidelsky does not have the necessary formal training in mathematics,logic,statistics or probability in order to properly understand or assess any of those parts of Keynes's scholarship that involves the use of formal logical and mathematicalmethods or analysis.These technical deficiencies in Skidelsky's academic training are the main defect,not only in this book but in the entire corpus of Skidelsky's writings on Keynes going back over 30 years.I will concentrate on Skidelsky's error filled statements concerning Keynes's A Treatise on Probability(1921;TP) and the logical theory of probability.On p.95,Skidelsky conflates the principle of indifference(poi) with the principle of insufficient reason.They are not the same.Keynes's poi requires a balance or symmetry of the relevant,available evidence or factors involved before equiprobabilities are assigned.The poi can't be applied if there is no relevant evidence.Advocates of the principle of insufficient reason,on the other hand, argue that equiprobabilities can be applied in states where no relevant evidence exists.Keynes always rejected this kind of reasoning.Skidelsky bases his assessment of Keynes's logical theory of probability on the error filled work of A. Carabelli and R.O'Donnell.Carabelli and O'Donnell base their assessments of the TP on four sources:1)Keynes's introductory guide to the measurement of probability in chapter III of the TP;2)F. Ramsey's 1922 book review of the TP in The Cambridge Magazine;3)F.Ramsey's 1926 book review of the TP in his article,"Truth and Probability",published in 1931 in a book of articles;and 4)Keynes's 4 page eulogy and very brief review of the book in 1931.In chapter III,Keynes had already made it clear to the alert reader,who had a mind of his/her own (and would not ape the preposterous ,nonsensical claims made by F. Ramsey that by nonnumerical and nonmeasurable Keynes meant that numbers could not be used in general to estimate probabilities,i.e.,that Keynesian probabilities were like a surveyor assigning nonnumerical heights to a mountain hidden in the mist)that the vast majority of Keynesian probabilities used in common discourse were/are interval estimates.John Maynard Keynes is the originator and founder of the interval estimate approach to probability.Keynes spells it out in a number of places in the TP:"...we judge that the probability of the actual argument lies between these two(numbers;reviewers note).Since our standards,therefore,are referred to numerical measures in many cases where actual measurement is impossible,and since the probability lies BETWEEN(Keynes's emphasis)two numerical measures..."(1921,p.32).After warning the reader not to reach any conclusions based on chapter III alone until after Part II of the TP was reached(p.37),Keynes gives his definition of nonnumerical in chapter 15 of Part II on p.160 of the TP.On pp.161-163 and pp.186-194(ch.17),Keynes presents his approximation approach .It has nothing to do with ordinal rankings(see Skidelsky's queer claims on pp.284-285,for instance).An upper bound and a lower bound are specified for some 13 worked out probability problems.One of these problems(a revision of Boole's problem 10)is then made the foundation for Part III of the TP.Part III is then made the logical foundation for Part V. Carabelli's and O'Donnell's "reading" of Keynes's TP is very poor,at best.Skidelsky's conclusions,based on their very poor reading,are very poor.Skidelsky also appears to have been misled by Richard Kahn and Joan Robinson into believing that Keynes was a strictly literary economist, who was a poor mathematician by 1927. Supposedly,Keynes had never taken the twenty minutes that was necessary to understand the theory of value(microeconomics).Based on these bizarre beliefs,Skidelsky comes to the queer conclusion that Keynes deliberately refused to present any formal mathematical model of his general theory in the General Theory(1936;GT).Any mathematically trained reader can find Keynes's completely worked out model,with the results presented in the form of elasticities so that a reader of the GT can compare Keynes's results with those of A C Pigou,in chapters 19,20,and 21 of the GT.Keynes then compares and contrasts his model with Pigou's model,who had also presented his results in the form of elasticities, in the appendix to chapter 19 of the GT.A technically trained economist should purchase a copy of the GT instead of this book.

Editorial Review:

Indispensable for students of economics, of twentieth-century history and for any reader keen to gain an insight into the life of one of the most remarkable figures of the last century. 'Nobody who wants to understand one of the most extraordinary Englishmen of his time can do without this biography.' - Eric Hobsbawm. 'A classic ...the author knows his subject as intimately as any historian could.' - Niall Ferguson, "Sunday Telegraph". 'It is very unlikely that Lord Skidelsky's three volumes on J.M. Keynes will be surpassed, at least in the 21st century.' - Andrew Roberts. 'Nobody knows more about Keynes than Lord Skidelsky.' - Daniel Johnson, "Daily Telegraph".

Steel Bonnets: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers

George MacDonald Fraser

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"If Jesus Christ were amongst them, they would deceive him," it was said of the plunders, raiders, and outlaws who terrorized the Anglo-Scottish Border for over 300 years. Theirs is an almost forgotten chapter of British history, preserved largely in folktales and ballads. It is the story of the notorious raiding families--Armstrongs, Elliots, Grahams, Johnstones, Maxwells, Scotts, Kerrs, Nixons, and others--of the outlaw bands and broken men, and the fierce battles of English and Scottish armies across the Marches. The Steel Bonnets tells their true story in its historical context-- how the reivers ran their raids and operated their system of blackmail and terrorism, and how the March Wardens, enforcing the unique Border law, fought the great lawless community. A superb work of scholarship and a spellbinding narrative. George MacDonald Fraser is the celebrated author of the Flashman novels, The Candlemass Road, The Pyrates, and the Private McAuslan stories.

The Origin of Virtue

Matt Ridley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Provocative with some confusing conclusions 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I gave this book four stars out of five because most of the book seems to develop a sound argument for virtues and traits arising out of evolutionary development. Where it fails is in some of its conclusions. Here I am echoing the Editorial Review From Library Journal as shown here on Amazon.com. After pointing out how mankind, many times as hunter-gather tribes, has caused massive destruction and drove many species to extinction, he concludes that the best way to be environmentally friendly is through small, local cooperatives rather than large, especially state sponsored or directed, environmental organizations. (He arrives at other similar conclusions in other areas as well). This seems to be a dichotomy. While he does provide some evidence, it is not nearly as conclusive as he seems to believe. At one point he speaks of the English medieval common. He points out that stinting is still an on-going practice in some regions, thus leading to the conclusion that local control and cooperation is best. However, this argument leaves a lot to be desired. First, the commons system mostly broke down for a variety of reasons, one of which was cheating. This lead to the enclosures. This ended up leading to wealthier individuals who ended up purchasing more property and reducing his neighbors to fuedal status and eventual poor management. If the commons system was so successful, it is hard to understand why it almost completely collapsed. To be sure, the collapse can be partially explained to some degree by other aspects of human nature. Yet, a truly successful system should have been able to resist such corruption.

Likewise, the attacks on the larger "do good" organizations seems questionable. After all, it has been a defining nature of man to organize in ever larger groups for at least 10,000 years, the time of the earliest known permanent settlements. While 10,000 years is a mere blip on the evolutionary scale, the need to organize seems pervasive, as he points out early on using the complex systems of plants and animals as examples. While the frailties of human nature do not always lead these organizations to performing the best good, it is unquestionable that many people involved in these organizations are selfless. Also, another counter-argument to his conclusions is the fact that much of the Industrial world democratically votes for things that will cost them, but are for some sort of larger good.

What this book does well is demonstrate that many virtuous traits did come out of evolutionary development, rather than cultural or religious forces. While these latter undoubtedly have an effect on these traits, they are not the source. It does a good job explaining what the base behavioral tendencies are, thus providing a basis for evaluating our institutions, finding ways to reward positive traits and to punish the negative traits that always arise.

This book is an easy read. If the subject is interesting to you, purchase the book, just keep on mind some of the weaknesses. A newer book you may want to consider is Moral Minds. Or, perhaps, read both.

Editorial Review:

Why are people nice to each other? What are the reasons for altruism? Matt Ridley explains how the human mind has evolved a special instinct for social exchange, offering a lucid and persuasive argument about the paradox of human benevolence.

The Hidden Dimension

Edward T. Hall

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Badly dated 3 out of 5 stars.
19 of 20 people found this review helpful.

It had been required reading when I was in college, but I found it hadn't aged very well on a second reading. Hall tried to make his case against urban overcrowding, citing the "behavioral sinks" that were being created in the 1960's. He presented numerous examples, starting with mice, that showed the debilitating effects overcrowding has on animals, and applied this to the overpopulated urban environments.

More interesting was the study he did on the way persons from different culture perceive space, drawing from American, European, Arab and Asian societies. Even between Americans and English the differences were startling, but it seemed to me that he made too much of these differences, that affluence has as much a role in shaping the way people perceive space as does culture, which Hall did not touch upon.

Hall was pessimistic of the modern cities in America, noting that the race riots, in his mind, resulted from the cultural differences between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics. I think it had more to do with social inequalities than it did race, but Hall seemed convinced there are inherit differences between the races that could not be overcome, which I found to be too deterministic.

Editorial Review:

An examination of various cultural concepts of space and how differences among them affect modern society. Introducing the science of "proxemics," Hall demonstrates how man's use of space can affect personal business relations, cross-cultural exchanges, architecture, city planning, and urban renewal.

Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping by the Author of Why We Buy

Paco Underhill

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

It's Alright 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I had to read this book for a consumer-behavior class. The subject matter is so interesting and full of unique little insights about our consumer culture, but Underhill gives only a cursory analysis; in reality, most of the book seems to be a mechanism for name-dropping clients and touting the glorious magic that is...Paco Underhill.

Underhill's writing style is flippant and annoying, but having said that, it is a quick and easy read and a good intro to anyone interested in the topic.

Editorial Review:

Paco Underhill, the Margaret Mead of shopping and author of the huge international bestseller Why We Buy, now takes us to the mall, a place every American has experienced and has an opinion about. The result is a bright, ironic, funny, and shrewd portrait of the mall -- America's gift to personal consumption, its most powerful icon of global commercial muscle, the once new and now aging national town square, the place where we convene in our leisure time.

It's about the shopping mall as an exemplar of our commercial and social culture, the place where our young people have their first taste of social freedom and where the rest of us compare notes. Call of the Mall examines how we use the mall, what it means, why it works when it does, and why it sometimes doesn't.

The Rise of the Network Society (New Edition) (The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture Volume 1)

Manuel Castells

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Polymath Desperately in Need of Focus 2 out of 5 stars.
42 of 50 people found this review helpful.

Given Castells' huge range of understanding and the sheer ambition of his work, it seems a bit unfair to really criticize this book. Few writers would try to tackle the huge ideas that Castells covers here - vast theories about the state and direction of humanity in relation to the rising information society. On the other hand, theory-of-everything books like this, as frequently attempted by polymaths such as Fritjof Capra, have their own unavoidable problems which deserve to be criticized. When a theorist tries to combine knowledge of everything into a huge integrated and unified theory, the writing becomes monstrously diffuse and unfocused. That is the exact problem with this book.

Castells obviously has an understanding of all the disparate theoretical areas that would be encompassed by such a huge endeavor. As the book progresses, Castells is not afraid to move from areas like astrophysics to rural sociology to corporate architecture to programming language to everything else you could think of, often in successive paragraphs. But when describing everything, Castells eventually reaches conclusions on nothing. Bringing together disparate realms of knowledge is one thing, but reaching insights that make sense is much more difficult.

That all makes this book extremely tiresome for the reader. In that exasperating theory-of-everything fashion, Castells can't stop piling on new terminology like real virtuality, technopoles, or milieux of information (terms created by himself or others) that merely illustrate the smashing together of ideas, rather than synthesis. And whenever it's time for an awe-inspiring insight, Castells can only come up with supposedly deep (usually in italics for significance) pontifications like "space is crystallized time" or "a place is a locale whose form...[is] self-contained within the boundaries of physical contiguity." These are indications of Castells' writing style - never-ending collections of disconnected pieces of data, topped off by windy pronouncements. After so many intensive build-ups, Castells can come up with little for the reader to really chew on.

And get this man an editor, please. Extremely long paragraphs, some more than two entire pages long, illustrate a real lack of control in the writing department. Castells also has the habit of endlessly qualifying his ideas by explaining what he's NOT going to talk about and why he decided to cover what he IS talking about, to the extent that he almost forgets to make his points at all (see the early portions of chapter 4 for a good example of this). And to think that this 500+ page monster is merely the first book in a trilogy on this subject. Castells deserves credit as a polymath with huge interests and ideas. But he is sorely lacking in focus, and effective writing skills. [~doomsdayer520~]

Editorial Review:

This book, the first in Castells' ground-breaking trilogy, is an account of the economic and social dynamics of the new age of information. Based on research in the USA, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, it aims to formulate a systematic theory of the information society which takes account of the fundamental effects of information technology on the contemporary world.

Tappan on survival

Mel Tappan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An easy question/answer format supplements hard facts. 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Mel Tappan's had a big influence on the survival movement with his newsletter Personal Survival Letter and a later column in various magazines, and his first book SURVIVAL GUNS offered up many practical firearm tips, so prior fans and newcomers alike are sure to eagerly anticipate the publication of Tappan on Survival. This comes back into print for a new generation with a new foreword by survivalist Bruce Clayton, and returns the ideas and practical applications of a man who before 1999 served up a series of recipes for survival in the event of any disaster, whether it be nuclear or caused by storms. An easy question/answer format supplements hard facts.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Editorial Review:

One of the greatest books ever written on practical survival is back in print for the next generation of self-reliant citizens! Mel Tappan was the godfather of the modern preparedness movement, and this classic collection of his writings is an indispensable resource for information on how to develop a survival mind-set, identify the best survival locations, store food, maintain communications, select firearms and much more. A new foreword by Bruce Clayton, himself an important figure in the preparedness movement after the publication of his book Life After Doomsday in 1980, describes the unique appeal of Tappan’s writings and personality, puts Tappan’s role in the survivalist movement in historical perspective and explains why his work is still highly relevant today.

Hammond Atlas of the Bible Lands

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best Bible Maps! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

These maps are incredible. Places in the Bible in the OT that you can't find in some others, it's here! On the outside, it looks like a children's book; but once you utilize it in your study of the Scripture, it is phenomenal.

Hammon Atlas of the Bible Lands 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

One of the best compositions of Bible maps. I recommend all my students to purchase this book, so they can better understand the sites mentioned in the Bible.

Note: the picture on the cover is of the Islamic Shrine 'The Dome of the Rock' 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The picture on the cover of this text is of The Dome of the Rock (Arabic: translit.: Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah, Hebrew: translit.: Kipat Hasela, Turkish: Kubbetüs Sahra). It is an Islamic shrine.

It is not the 'Church of the Holy Sepulchre' as mis-identified in the Atlas itself.

The Dome of the Rock is located at the center of an ancient man-made platform known as the Temple Mount (Hebrew, Har haBayit; literally, the Mountain of the House) to the Jewish people and the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) to the Muslims. The platform, greatly enlarged under the rule of Herod the Great, is the site of the Second Jewish Temple which was destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

In 637 AD, Jerusalem was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate army during the Islamic invasion of the Byzantine Empire. And in a rivalrous act of competition with the original historical religions of Jerusalem with long prior religious history in this place, Judaism and Christianity, the Dome of the Rock was erected between 685 and 691 AD. And, unfortunately, there it remains.

Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin on Friday, 2 October 1187 and the Haram was reconsecrated as a Muslim sanctuary. The cross on top of the Dome of the Rock was replaced by a golden crescent and a wooden screen was placed around the rock below.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, unsurprisingly and typically, non-Muslims were barred from the area. Since 1967, non-Muslims have been allowed some entry, but non-Muslim prayers on the Temple Mount are not allowed.

In 2006, the compound was reopened to non-Muslim visitors free of charge, between 7:30-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. during Summer and 7:30-10:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. during Winter. Non-muslims may never enter on Fridays, Saturdays, or Muslim holidays. Entry is through a covered wooden walkway next to the security entrance to the Western Wall known as the Mugrabi or Maimonides Gate. Entry to the mosques themselves is prohibited to non-Muslims, as is access to the Temple Mount through the Cotton Market. Visitors undergo strict security screening, and items such as Hebrew prayerbooks or musical instruments are not allowed.

The Muslim presence in the Holy Land began with the initial Arab conquest of Palestine in the 7th century. The Muslim armies' successes put increasing pressure on the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire.

In the year 1009, the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (That's not a surprise, is it.) The Dome was not destroyed but the Sepulchre was. In 1039 his successor, after requiring large sums be paid for the right (no surprise there, either. Dexter Filkins of the New York Times references a conversation with an Iraqi following an interaction with an American, in which the Iraqi says "We take their money, but we hate them."), permitted the Byzantine Empire to rebuild it. Pilgrimages were allowed to the Holy Lands before and after the Sepulchre was rebuilt, but for a time pilgrims were captured and some of the clergy were killed. The Muslim conquerors eventually realized that the wealth of Jerusalem came from the pilgrims; with this realization the persecution of pilgrims stopped. However, the damage was already done, and the violence of the Seljuk Turks became part of the concern that spread the passion for the Crusades.

Editorial Review:

Atlas of the Bible Lands Hardcover Edition features diagrams, maps, and charts that provide readers with a thorough understanding of the Biblical past and present. It features a section on the geography of the Holy Land showing terrain, vegetation, and climate information. The chronologically arranged maps show important political changes, the course of empires, and the expansion of the early Christian church. There are also many color and black and white photographs of Biblical places, artifacts, and archaeological sites.

The New Imperialism (Clarendon Lectures in Geography and Environmental Studies)

David Harvey

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Right on the money, though tough reading. 5 out of 5 stars.
82 of 86 people found this review helpful.

In the last thirty years or so, there has been a growing body of thought and literature in the world that America is the next Empire, maybe not in the Roman mold, but surely as powerful as the old English empire. Contributions to this train of thought have come from numerous corners; peace activists protesting the Vietnam War, anti-globalization groups protesting US corporations, French farmers protesting McDonalds, Muslim scholars and clerics throughout the world, and isolationists within American politics. These groups and their arguments have tended to emphasize the how of empire; how America came to empire, how it is an Empire, and of course, how we will fall like other Empires. This book tries to give a why, and does so from the oldest of corners opposing the American Way: socialism, and the writings of Marx and his followers. As such, it does an impressive job within a very short number of pages.

To be brief, this book proposes several points. First, America has gradually turned into an empire over the last fifty years. As evidence, the author points to the dozens of military bases the US has around the world. American now has more military installations in more places than any other nation that has ever existed. Many of these bases are located in countries that are not democratic; i.e. the citizens of these countries did not vote to invite America's military in. The only possible conclusions are that the local government stays in power through America's support (financial or otherwise), or are outright puppet governments.

Second, this is not an empire built on the control of land and the founding of colonies in say the English mold, but instead is an empire built on opening up consumer markets for American corporations and controlling non-renewable natural resources such as oil, again for domestic consumption. The first part of this argument is self-evident; America has no colonies in the most literal sense and our ambassadors in most countries are holed-up in concrete fortresses instead of prancing around like local kings of the hill. The second part of this argument is also as self-evident, to those whose eyes and ears are open. Specifically, America's aid, money, attention and soldiers often end up in places that are either important trade posts (Suez and Panama Canals), have oilfields (the entire Middle East), or have a large business community which we do business with (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany).

Third, America has made this transformation to the ignorance of most of its citizens, but to the alarm and suspicion of almost everyone else. This is probably the most important point of this book. Pull over any American on the street, give her a map of the world and ask her to point out all the countries which have been militarily attacked (bombed, invaded, occupied, etc...) by the US since 1900 (excluding the two World Wars). She should answer Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and might recall North Korea, Somalia and Serbia. She will probably leave out Haiti, Cuba, Panama, Philippines, Libya and Mexico, and will surely be unawares of Russia (US troops invaded during the Russian Revolution), Cambodia (secret bombings ordered by Nixon during the Vietnam War) and China (prior to World War II). No other nation in the history of the world has intruded upon the soil of so many other countries as has the USA. If this does not qualify America as an empire, than nothing can.

Fourth, this growth of empire has been fueled by the same historical reasons and processes that fueled the growth of the British Empire, the Nazis, the Roman Empire, and other great empires. War serves as a way to divert the public attention from domestic troubles; usually economic. To be exact, the fruits and costs of war alleviate various economic pressures that could doom a nation's leadership if otherwise left to fester. The centuries prior to England's Age of Empire was marked by a stratification of English society. Most of the livable land in England passed into the ownership of a small, wealthy minority. You were either born into it or outside of it. Those born into it were not going to give up wealth to their less privileged brethren, so colonial expansion provided a way by which those born outside of it could achieve wealth and status in life. Population growth was relieved by sending people off to other lands. The poor benefited because emigration kept the labor pool small, thereby keeping up wages. The rich benefited because English colonies provided an outlet for their produced goods, and a source of natural resources (e.g. tea from India) and cheap labor (cotton from the American south). Similarly, war and the resulting influence of other countries economic and political policies help the US economy grow.

Fifth, all of this is not unexpected. The path America has taken was described over a century ago by Karl Marx and his followers as the path all capitalist countries take. After the end of the Cold War, intellectuals the world over concluded that Marxist thought was over; relegated to the trash heap of history. Actually, the historical processes described my Marx have played themselves out numerous times in the 20th century.

Sixth, the current Bush administration marks a watershed in the history of America, akin to the rule of Augustus in Rome. Specifically, the latter's rule marked the official transition from Roman Republic to Roman Empire. The Bush administration, with either the consent or ignorance of the American electorate, have quickly exited the numerous treaties it had bound itself to in the previous five decades, has openly called out enemies to oppose, and has invaded two countries (so far). As such, the span from 2001 - 2008 is when America, in the eyes of others, has decided to transform from world leader to world bully, akin to the transition from Roman Republic to Roman Empire.

Seventh, like all empires, America clothes its actions abroad (i.e. foreign policy) in morals and ethics, but they are mostly driven by self-interest. The author does not argue this point fully, primarily because it is elaborated elsewhere. This keeps the page count down, but reduces the impact and persuasiveness of the book. In response to the other (incredibly ignorant) review for this book, I will take up this argument here.

a. In World War II, the US declared war on the Nazis ONLY AFTER they declared war on the US. If the US was such a high-minded nation as the other review implies, America would have declared war on Germany the moment Nazi troops entered Poland. Related to this, millions of Jews tried to flee Europe during the 1930's and 1940's. Many of them tried to enter the US. The US rejected most of them and only allowed in those with political connections, those with money, and those with training in quantum physics, nuclear physics, weapons technology (Einstein, Oppenheimer, etc...), and others that could help US science and technology. If the US was such a moral nation, it would have allowed in all the Jews. We, America, defeated the Nazis because they declared war on us, and posed a mortal threat to us. This is no different and no better than one street gang eliminating another street gang that steps on its turf.
b. During the Cold War, the US intervened militarily in other countries to prevent the spread of communism. This was often and usually done without the explicit consent of the populations of the host countries. Vietnam is a prime example. Throughout the 1960s, the US military frequently held secret, mock elections in villages throughout South Vietnam. The Communist candidates nearly always won, even when the US-backed candidates had more funding and resources to bribe the electorate. Why? Because the Communist candidates offered what the people wanted. This is why there was never an election in South Vietnam during the US occupation. America did not care about what the South Vietnamese wanted; we only cared about what we wanted.
c. During the Cold War, the US provided aid to other countries that publicly supported the fight against communism. An example is South Africa. As long as the white government publicly opposed communism, the US government and US corporations turned a blind eye towards apartheid. It was only the civil rights movement, and especially black activists that brought this to a halt in the 1980s.

These and other experiences in countries around the world prove beyond a doubt that America did not care about liberty, justice, freedom and democracy in other countries, but only that they oppose communists. The question then begs as to why America was so interested in opposing communism. This leads to the last point argued in this book. Every empire needs an opposite; Greece had Persia, Rome had Carthage, the English had first the Spanish and then later Napoleon. We had communists. Communists are bad for business because they believe in communal, non-transferable rights to everything, which is anathema to the concept of individual, transferable ownership of anything, the basis of capitalism and business. Who runs America? Not civil rights leaders like Caeser Chavez or Martin Luther King Jr. Not progressive politicians like Eugene Debs or Ralph Nader. No, America is run by businessmen (current and ex) and those who cater to business interests. It was Robert McNamara, JFK and others connected to the business world who led America and its naïve president LBJ into Vietnam, not those who were fighting for freedom and liberty like MLK Jr. or Malcolm X.

In all, this is a great book to read, though the text is tough and hard to work through.

Editorial Review:

People around the world are confused and concerned. Is it a sign of strength or of weakness that the US has suddenly shifted from a politics of consensus to one of coercion on the world stage? What was really at stake in the war on Iraq? Was it all about oil and, if not, what else was involved? What role has a sagging economy played in pushing the US into foreign adventurism? What exactly is the relationship between US militarism abroad and domestic politics? These are the questions taken up in this compelling and original book. In this closely argued and clearly written book, David Harvey, one of the leading social theorists of his generation, builds a conceptual framework to expose the underlying forces at work behind these momentous shifts in US policies and politics. The compulsions behind the projection of US power on the world as a "new imperialism" are here, for the first time, laid bare for all to see.