Systems Of Government Books - Page 14

Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford

Julia Fox

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Subjects -> History -> Europe -> England -> Tudor & Stuart

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Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In a life of extraordinary drama, Jane Boleyn was catapulted from relative obscurity to the inner circle of King Henry VIII. As powerful men and women around her became victims of Henry’s ruthless and absolute power, including her own husband and sister-in-law, Queen Anne Boleyn, Jane’s allegiance to the volatile monarchy was sustained and rewarded. But the price for her loyalty would eventually be her undoing and the ruination of her name. For centuries, little beyond rumor and scandal has been associated with “the infamous Lady Rochford.” But now historian Julia Fox sets the record straight and restores dignity to this much-maligned figure whose life and reputation were taken from her.

Born to aristocratic parents in the English countryside, young Jane Parker found a suitable match in George Boleyn, brother to Anne, the woman who would eventually be the touchstone of England’s greatest political and religious crisis. Once settled in the bustling, spectacular court of Henry VIII as the wife of a nobleman, Jane was privy to the regal festivities of masques and jousts, royal births and funerals, and she played an intimate part in the drama and gossip that swirled around the king’s court.

But it was Anne Boleyn’s descent from palace to prison that first thrust Jane into the spotlight. Impatient with Anne’s inability to produce a male heir, King Henry accused the queen of treason and adultery with a multitude of men, including her own brother, George. Jane was among those interrogated in the scandal, and following two swift strokes from the executioner’s blade, she lost her husband and her sister-in-law, her inheritance and her place in court society.

Now the thirty-year-old widow of a traitor, Jane had to ensure her survival and protect her own interests by securing land and income. With sheer determination, she navigated her way back into royal favor by becoming lady-in-waiting to Henry’s three subsequent brides, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Howard. At last Jane’s future seemed secure–until an unwitting misstep involving the sexual intrigues of young Queen Catherine destroyed the life and reputation Jane worked so hard to rebuild.

Drawing upon her own deep knowledge and years of original research, Julia Fox brings us into the inner sanctum of court life, laced with intrigue and encumbered by disgrace. Through the eyes and ears of Jane Boleyn, we witness the myriad players of the stormy Tudor period. Jane emerges as a courageous spirit, a modern woman forced by circumstances to fend for herself in a privileged but vicious world.

Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia

Ahmed Rashid

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Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Jihad: Book Review 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Mr Rashid does a great job introducing this region to a reader who is only familiar with this area through the news reports. Central Asia covers an area nearly the size of the contiguous USA west of the Mississippi excluding Texas. Kazakhstan to the north comprises about 2/3s of this area. The remaining four "Stans" are squeezed between the Caspian Sea to the west with its vast oil reserves, China to the east and Iran and Afghanistan to the south.

Within these chapters is an adequate, short, understandable introduction to the history of the area from the Mongol invasions through their subjugation by the communists. You are introduced to the geography and the political boundaries, which were drawn by Stalin, and the state of affairs in each country between the downfall of the USSR and 2001. You learn that communist style dictators rule all but one of these countries and all the countries are both repressed and impoverished.

The meat of the story seems to begin with the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the USA's efforts to thwart that assault. Our work with the resistance fighters through Pakisitan brought the outside world into central Asia for the first time in 60 years. With the defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan and the USSR's collapse, these countries were plunged unprepared into the modern world. The continuing repressive natures of their governments coupled with the arrival of fanatical Muslim missionaries soon lead to the birth of several Islamic fundamentalist organizations.

The Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), Hizb ut Tahir (HT) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are the main focus of most of the book. Each of these organizations aims at overthrowing the current governments in the area and replacing them with some form of repressive Islamic state; however, none of the groups is particularly clear on what that would be. I think that Mr. Rashid does a very good job at portraying these organizations as destructive, reactionary groups with no plan for the world after they win.

Finally, the strategic concerns of Russia, China and the USA are dealt with and how they relate to Central Asia. I would like to point out to future readers that whenever the USA's influence in the region is mentioned America is indicted because its military and economic aide is not tied to political reform; regional leaders are just encouraged to reform. However, no such concern is ever once raised by Mr. Rashid when he discusses the influence and aide of Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, any European Country or any other player in Central Asia. Also, not once in the book is there ever any discussion of the responsibility that the residents of each of the "Stans" have for the maintenance and good government of their own lands.

All in all this is a well written and worthwhile book. It covers the subject area briefly, but well. I came away from this book with a much better understanding of this region, its problems and what we will be facing for many years to come.

Editorial Review:

Ahmed Rashid, whose masterful account of Afghanistan's Taliban regime became required reading after September 11, turns his legendary skills as an investigative journalist to five adjacent Central Asian Republics-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-where religious repression, political corruption, and extreme poverty have created a fertile climate for militant Islam. Based on groundbreaking research and numerous interviews, Rashid explains the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, describes the goals and activities of its militant organizations, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and suggests ways of neutralizing the threat and bringing stability to the troubled region. A timely and pertinent work, Jihad is essential reading for anyone who seeks to gain a better understanding of a region we overlook at our peril.

The Politics Of The Administrative Process

Donald F. Kettl, James W. Fesler

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Editorial Review:

Public administration in a democracy has to achieve a delicate balance. Bureaucracy must be powerful enough to be effective, yet accountable to elected officials and, ultimately, to the people. How is that best accomplished? Kettl and Fesler understand that the push and pull of political forces make the functions of bureaucracy ever more contentious, but no less central to governance.

In a long-awaited and widely anticipated revision, the authors continue to answer the challenging questions that drive the study of public administration: What is the nature and purpose of bureaucracy? How do public organizations work and why do they behave the way they do? How are administrative decisions actually made? Always keeping students--our future professionals and managers--in mind, Kettl and Fesler convey the political and management realities of public organizations through vivid example, and with humility and humor.

Core topics receive strong analytic coverage, including personnel management and leadership issues at all levels of public organizations. Implementation is at center-stage, with a focus on program assessment, contracting, and intergovernmental relations, while the ramifications of budget making and appropriations are also covered in depth. As well, readers can rely on the authors for the ins and outs of regulatory procedures and the appraisals of various decision-making strategies.

What's New?
The third edition not only incorporates new and important scholarship, but assesses changes to actual practices that have occurred at all levels of government in recent years. With current, real-world examples drawn from local, state, and federal agencies and organizations, the authors address such hot-button issues as:

• Strategies for administrative reform and new ways to respond to the public will;


• Administrative ethics and accountability within the American constitutional system;


• New challenges for governmental oversight;


• And the modeling of public administration on business practices.

New Photos and Graphics!
Throughout the book, more than fifty new tables and figures elegantly display data and important concepts while new, carefully selected photos enliven the book's redesign and usefully supplement textual material. End-of-chapter materials enable student research with lists of key terms, suggested reading lists, and annotated web links.

Brand new to this edition is the Case Appendix at the end of the book featuring fourteen cases--one for each chapter--that get students to apply ideas and analysis from the book to real situations affecting real people with real consequences for governance. Authored by Donald Kettl and 3-4 pages long, each case emphasizes the people and the politics that are at the front lines of public administration at the local, state, and federal levels.

Cases include:

• The Vioxx recall and its implications for legislative oversight;


• New source review environmental regulations and the political and legal debates surrounding the Bush administration's changes;


• Taser gun implementation by police forces and the problems of subjective discretion and potential misuse;


• Intelligence failures brought to light by 9/11 and the deep organizational problems facing the nation's intelligence and homeland security agencies;


• Philadelphia's mass transit system and the politics of budgeting;


• The recent flu vaccine shortage and the intergovernmental and international dynamics at play in that debacle;


• And Florida hurricane disaster relief and reform at FEMA.

Each case is narrated in the engaging, journalistic style familiar to readers of Kettl's articles in Governing. Useful discussion questions at the end of each case help shape student responses and in-class conversation.

What Does China Think?

Mark Leonard

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A renowned foreign policy expert with deep connections to China's next generation of thinkers opens up a hidden world of intellectual debate that is driving a new Chinese revolution.

We know everything and nothing about China. We know that China is changing so fast that the maps in Shanghai need to be redrawn every two weeks. We know that China has brought 300 million people from agricultural backwardness into modernity in just thirty years, and that its impact on the global economy is growing at unprecedented speed. We have an image of China as a dictatorship; a nationalist empire that threatens its neighbors and global peace.

But how many people know about the debates raging within China? What do we really know about the kind of society China wants to become? What ideas are motivating its citizens? We can name America's neo-cons and the religious right, but cannot name Chinese writers, thinkers, or journalists--what is the future they dream o for their country, or for the world? Because China's rise--like the fall of Rome or the British Raj--will echo down generations to come, these are the questions we increasingly need to ask. Mark Leonard asks us to forget everything we thought we knew about China and start again. He introduces us to the thinkers who are shaping China's wide open future and opens up a hidden world of intellectual debate that is driving a new Chinese revolution and changing the face of the world.

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror

Mahmood Mamdani

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A sound bite to counter a sound bite? 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This is a tough book to review--while it does have some valid points to make, it descends all too often into polemics. And even polemics aside, the book has problems at times. Some problems that caught my attention were:

1) While Mamdani criticizes several writers for characterizing Muslims into the "good" and "bad" camps, he can equally be accused of not recognizing the differences in foreign policies between the Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bush administrations.

2) Mamdani takes stance that religion, politics and culture must be viewed separately and are not linked. While I would not disagree that politics can be separated from religion and culture, I have a hard time understanding his stance on separating religion and culture--the way many of us learned anthropology, religion is considered part and parcel culture. (But then again, Mamdani avoids defining culture and what constitutes it.)

3) The historical context of America's proxy wars is told in a very one sided fashion. Missing is the activities of the Soviets, and to a lesser extent the Chinese, in a variety of Third World countries. Furthermore, in terms of the rise of political Islam, terrorism and the modern concept of jihad, his account differs from Kempel's Jihad.

4) The section on the rise of al-Qaeda and the Taliban has a heavy reliance on newspaper articles from the Los Angeles Times and Rashid's book on the Taliban. Missing from his story is Burke's book on al-Qaeda (or his articles from the Guardian), and use of other American, and British or French newspaper sources.

5) The presence of endnotes gives the book a scholarly air, but the reader needs to realize there is a lot missing on a variety of topics. Not only are works like Burke's and Kempel's missing, Mamdani has the tendency to make statements, assuming that they are facts as such and not opinions, need to be referenced and footnoted. One example is on page 92 dealing with how long the South African government could have supported Renamo without US support.

6) Mamdani contradicts himself at times. Probably the best example of this is his critique of co-existence/tolerance on page 173, and his call for it in the closing pages of the book.

While this book does make for compelling reading on America's proxy wars and America's selective use of terrorist groups against its opponents, it is far from a scholarly account. Mamdani's book ends up reading like a set of cobbled together sound bites that are trying to counter a sound bite. A much more nuanced and better referenced book on the topic is Richard Bonney's _Jihad: From Qur'an to bin Laden_.

Editorial Review:

In this brilliant look at the rise of political Islam, the distinguished political scientist and anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani brings his expertise and insight to bear on a question many Americans have been asking since 9/11: how did this happen? Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is a provocative and important book that will profoundly change our understanding both of Islamist politics and the way America is perceived in the world today.

Looking backward (Harper's modern classics)

Edward Bellamy

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Good, but a bit boring 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I enjoyed reading "Looking Backward." It speaks much about the problems facing America near the turn of the century; the problems that affected almost everyone in America every day. The problems of greedy monopolists is the most evident, but also others. The book is not as much as a story as it is the author laying out his groundwork for a perfect society with a story sort of, but not really, built around it. There is sort of a romace, but almost the entire book is characters telling the protagonist what the future is like. I do find it funny though. Back in the 19th century, authors GREATLY underestimated the technological progress of mankind. Just decades later, it was the opposite- and authors were greatly overestimating it.

not worth your time 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The book is (at best) a third rate utopian hack job, that maybe has some interest for those who have a special interest in utopian lit.

More an Economic Manifesto Than Great Fiction 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

** spoiler alert ** This book reads more like an economic manifesto than a work of fiction. A man from the late 1800s falls asleep and wakes up to find that he was in such a deep trance that it's now the year 2000. Nearly the entire book is a discourse on what has changed over the course of the century. Many of the changes really have happened, but most have not. Even though retirement at age 45 would be nice, the overall government-run utopia Bellamy suggests will never be possible unless human nature changes. I w...more This book reads more like an economic manifesto than a work of fiction. A man from the late 1800s falls asleep and wakes up to find that he was in such a deep trance that it's now the year 2000. Nearly the entire book is a discourse on what has changed over the course of the century. Many of the changes really have happened, but most have not. Even though retirement at age 45 would be nice, the overall government-run utopia Bellamy suggests will never be possible unless human nature changes. I would have enjoyed this book more if there was an actual storyline somewhere other than at the very beginning and very end of the book.

Changes That Have Happened:
*artificial lighting
*absence of chimneys and smoke for heating
*"credit cards"
*programs for listening to music live ... possibly internet since it's by telephone connection
*doctors may only practice if they've passed medical school
*radio alarm clock
*women in the work place
*church by phone connection (internet?)

Changes That Haven't Happened:
*the rise of monopolies choked out small businesses finally and finally gave rise to one company that owned everything (without any bloody revolution because the people all wanted it)
*governments aren't allowed to have enough power to use for maleficent causes
*Harder jobs have fewer hours and easier jobs have more hours to make it so that there is someone who wants to do every job
*every person is a common laborer during the first 3 years of their work service
*there is no buying nor selling
*there are no banks
*everyone has the same salary
*"the nation guarantees the nurture, education, and comfortable maintenance of every citizen from the cradle to the grave"
*free immigration because one country doesn't have to feed and clothe the person anymore and the other gets a free worker
*waterproof enclosed corridor appears during rainstorms for going out without an umbrella
*retirement at age 45
*free education up to age 21 (about grade 18)

Editorial Review:

Introduction by R. Jackson Wilson

Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics (P.S.)

Eleanor Herman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Added tidbits of history 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read a lot of period/non fiction of this period and loved this book. Gave me information about the players of the time I had never heard before. Easy read and lots of fun!

Editorial Review:

In royal courts bristling with testosterone--swashbuckling generals, polished courtiers, and virile cardinals--how did repressed regal ladies find happiness?

• Anne Boleyn flirted with courtiers; Catherine Howard slept with one. Henry VIII had both of them beheaded.
• Catherine the Great had her idiot husband murdered and ruled the Russian empire with a long list of sexy young favorites.
• Marie Antoinette fell in love with the handsome Swedish count Axel Fersen, who tried valiantly to rescue her from the guillotine.
• Princess Diana gave up her palace bodyguard to enjoy countless love affairs, which tragically led to her early death.

In this impeccably researched, scandalously readable follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Sex with Kings, Eleanor Herman reveals the truth about what has historically gone on behind the closed door of the queen's boudoir.

The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from Roosevelt to Clinton

Fred I. Greenstein

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Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

As Americans choose and install a new president for a new century they could do no better than to read this work by one of our keenest observers of the modern presidency. Drawing on a quarter-century's immersion in the presidential record and scores of interviews, Fred I. Greenstein provides a fascinating and instructive account of the qualities that have served well and poorly in the Oval Office from Franklin D. Roosevelt's first hundred days to the end of the Clinton administration. Greenstein offers a series of bottom-line judgments on each of his eleven subjects and a bold new explanation of why presidents succeed or fail. Previous analysts have placed their bets on the president's political prowess or personal character. Yet by the first standard, LBJ should have been our greatest president, and by the second the nod would go to Jimmy Carter. Greenstein surveys each president's record in public communication, political skill, vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence. He concludes that the last is by far the most important. According to Greenstein, FDR provides endless positive lessons but is a source of warnings. Truman let his bizarre readings of history lead him astray. Eisenhower was wise but failed to communicate a vision. Kennedy had no vision. Reagan was Carter in reverse. It is Ford who is most unappreciated and genuinely interesting. Ford balanced many conflicting demands, kept his poise, and left the office much stronger than he found it. Presidents can avoid failure if they are willing to accept the warnings of failures past and act accordingly. But it is not only presidents who should read this book with care. Some flaws cannot be overcome nomatter how otherwise talented the man. Only three of Greenstein's eleven modern presidents were "fundamentally free of distracting emotional perturbations." When we choose our presidents, we will do well to listen to Greenstein and "Beware the presidential contender who lacks emotional intelligence. In its absence all else may turn to ashes."

The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the the Third World: Newly Revealed Secrets from the Mitrokhin Archive

Christopher Andrew

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 1992, Vasili Mitrokhin, a former KGB archivist, snuck out of Russia carrying with him a vast cache of transcriptions of top-secret KGB intelligence files. The FBI later described his trove of documents as "the most complete and extensive intelligence ever achieved from any source." Renowned historian Christopher Andrew had exclusive access to both Mitrokhin and his archive. In 1999, they published the explosive bestseller The Sword and the Shield, which provided a complete account of KGB operations in Europe and America.

In The World Was Going Our Way, Andrew now chronicles the KGB's extensive penetration of governments throughout the Third World-the battlefield on which the U.S.S.R. sought to achieve global supremacy. Andrew's definitive account fundamentally revises the history of the Cold War, and sheds new light on the state of the world today. The KGB worked tirelessly for decades to foster anti-Americanism in the developing world, making this book essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the intractable hostility America faces in the ongoing war on terror.

I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World, Special 75th Anniversary Edition (Martin Luther King, Jr., born January 15, 1929)

Martin Luther King

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> People, A-Z -> ( K ) -> King, Martin Luther

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial looking out over thousands of troubled Americans who had gathered in the name of civil rights and uttered his now famous words, "I have a dream . . ." It was a speech that changed the course of history.

This anniversary edition honors Martin Luther King Jr.'s courageous dream and his immeasurable contribution by presenting his most memorable words in a concise and convenient edition. As Coretta Scott King says in her foreword, "This collection includes many of what I consider to be my husband's most important writings and orations." In addition to the famed keynote address of the 1963 march on Washington, the renowned civil rights leader's most influential words included here are the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," the essay "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence," and his last sermon, "I See the Promised Land," preached the day before he was assassinated.

Editor James M. Washington arranged the selections chronologically, providing headnotes for each selection that give a running history of the civil rights movement and related events. In his introduction, Washington assesses King's times and significance.