Systems Of Government Books - Page 5

The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban

Sarah Chayes

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Interesting but poorly written 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 9 people found this review helpful.

An utterly confusing account of the war in Afghanistan. Its merit is that it gives the reader a probably realistic impression of the complexity and intransparency of Afghan politics and history...nothing is what it seems. Its flaws are chronological disorder, personal grudges and reporter-centrism...("look at me getting the real dope against all odds" and "look at me, the only sensitive observer").

Editorial Review:

As a former star reporter for NPR, Sarah Chayes developed a devoted listenership for her on-site reports on conflicts around the world. In The Punishment of Virtue, she reveals the misguided U.S. policy in Afghanistan in the wake of the defeat of the Taliban, which has severely undermined the effort to build democracy and allowed corrupt tribal warlords back into positions of power and the Taliban to re-infiltrate the country. This is an eyeopening chronicle that highlights the often infuriating realities of a vital front in the war on terror, exposing deeper, fundamental problems with current U.S. strategy.

The Seventeen Traditions

Ralph Nader

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Total reviews: 48 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

My boyhood in a small town in Connecticut was shaped by my family, my friends, our neighbors, my chores and hobbies, the town's culture and environment, its schools, libraries, factories, and businesses, their workers, and by storms that came from nowhere to disrupt everything. . . . Yet childhood in any family is a mysterious experience. . . . What shapes the mind, the personality, the character?

So begins this unexpected and extraordinary book by Ralph Nader. Known for his lifetime of selfless activism, Nader now looks back to the earliest days of his own life, to his serene and enriching childhood in bucolic Winsted, Connecticut. From listening to learning, from patriotism to argument, from work to simple enjoyment, Nader revisits seventeen key traditions he absorbed from his parents, his siblings, and the people in his community, and draws from them inspiring lessons for today's society. Warmly human, rich with sensory memories and lasting wisdom, it offers a kind of modern-day parable of how we grow from children into responsible adults--a reminder of a time when nature and community were central to the way we all learned and lived.

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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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 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.

The ANATOMY OF MOTIVE: The Fbis Legendary Mindhunter Explores The Key To Understanding And Catching Vi (Lisa Drew Books)

John Douglas, Mark Olshaker

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Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Why?

In this eagerly anticipated new book from the international bestselling authors of Mindhunter, Journey into Darkness, and Obsession, legendary crime fighter John Douglas explores the root of all crime -- motive.

Every crime is a mystery story with a motive at its heart. Understand the motive and you can solve the mystery. The Anatomy of Motive offers a dramatic, insightful look at the development and evolution of the criminal mind. The famed former chief of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, Douglas was the pioneer of modern behavioral profiling of serial criminals. Working again with acclaimed novelist, journalist, and filmmaker Mark Olshaker, the collaborator on his previous three bestsellers, and using cases from his own fabled career as examples, Douglas takes us further than ever before into the dark corners of the minds of arsonists, hijackers, bombers, poisoners, serial and spree killers, and mass murderers.

From seemingly ordinary men who suddenly kill their families or go on a rampage in the workplace to dedicated murderers who embark on the kind of spree that resulted in the death of fashion designer Gianni Versace, John Douglas helps us understand what causes violent sociopathic behavior. In chapters such as "Playing with Fire," "Name Your Poison," and "Guys Who Snap," he shows how criminals use and react to the media and how the motives behind hijacking and terrorism have evolved through recent history.

For the first time, Douglas identifies the common building blocks contributing to the violently antisocial personality, showing the surprising similarities and equally surprising differences between various types of offenders. Douglas profiles notorious assassins, examining that particular personality and how it applies to other types of crimes. Drawing on cases from today's headlines, he looks at recent sniper incidents at schools and other public places to penetrate the minds and motivations of mass killers. As Douglas tracks the progressive escalation of these criminals' sociopathic behavior, he also shows the common elements in many of their pasts that link them together.

Through riveting profiles and a narrative that reads like the best mystery fiction, The Anatomy of Motive analyzes such diverse killers as Lee Harvey Oswald, Theodore Kaczynski, and Timothy McVeigh, and helps us learn how to anticipate potential violent behavior before it's too late.

Versailles: A Biography of a Palace

Tony Spawforth

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The behind-the-scenes story of the world’s most famous palace, painting a picture of the way its residents truly lived and examining the palace’s legacy, from French history through today

The story of Versailles is one of historical drama, under the last three kings of France’s old regime, mixed with the high camp and glamour of the European courts, all in an iconic home for the French arts. The palace itself has been radically altered since 1789, and the court was long ago swept away. Versailles sets out to rediscover what is now a vanished world: a great center of power, seat of royal government, and, for thousands, a home both grand and squalid, bound by social codes almost incomprehensible to us today.

Using eyewitness testimony as well as the latest historical research, Spawforth offers the first full account of Versailles in English in over thirty years. Blowing away the myths of Versailles, he analyses afresh the politics behind the Sun King’s construction of the palace and shows how Versailles worked as the seat of a royal court. He probes the conventional picture of a “perpetual house party” of courtiers and gives full weight to the darker side: not just the mounting discomfort of the aging buildings but also the intrigue and status anxiety of its aristocrats. The book brings out clearly the fateful consequences for the French monarchy of its relocation to Versailles and also examines the changing place of Versailles in France’s national identity since 1789.

 Many books have told the stories of the royals and artists living in Versailles, but this is the first to turn its focus on the palace itself---from architecture and politics to scandal and restoration.

Intelligence Analysis: A Target-Centric Approach

Robert M. Clark

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Handbook for Today's Analyst 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Robert M. Clark's "Intelligence Analysis: A Target-Centric Approach" is an up-to-date, practical manual on the conduct of analysis in the context of the current global war on terrorism. This manual is well suited for classroom use for intelligence professionals, whether in the military, in civilian government agencies, or private industry.

Clark divides his topic into three principal sections. In the first, he provides a detailed break-down of the target-centric approach as the collaborative, interactive, information network-enabled analysis that has replaced the hierarchial stovepipe architecture of the Cold War.

In the second section, on modeling, Clark explains in clear and understandable language the process by which analysts synthesize available information into a conceptualization of the intelligence problem. This key step produces the basis to which analysts will apply predictive analysis.

The heart of the book is Clark's exploration of the techniques and potential pitfalls of predictive analysis. Clark discusses a variety of methods to approach analysis, along with their practical limits and familar challenges such as bias and customer interaction. His liberal use of examples from recent intelligence failures help make clear just what a challenging combination of art, science, and team effort good intelligence analysis should be.

This book is not without some faults. His definitions of Strategic, Operational, and Tactical intelligence are imprecise and not those commonly in use in, for example, the Department of Defense. Strategic intelligence is better defined by the level of the customer served and not by whether it is long range or short range. Similarly, his breakdown of the standard intelligence disciplines achieves simplicity at the expense of considerable accuracy. As an example, his explanation of TECHINT confuses the acquisition of foreign materials with their actual exploitation for intelligence value. It should be noted in Clark's defense that the U.S. Intelligence Community lacks standardization, which fault contributes to the challenges of collaboration.

This book is very highly recommended to intelligence professionals interested in a systematic and unclassified exploration of the techniques of good analysis.

Editorial Review:

Designed to give analysts and practitioners state-of-the-art, practical information and skills, Intelligence Analysis guides readers through the art of target modeling and organizational analysis, as well as quantitative and predictive techniques. Intelligence collectors, consumers, and analysts can and should work together to create and share a conceptual model of the intelligence target. Simply put, it's a smarter, more sensible way to collect, synthesize, and utilize intelligence. The author makes extensive use of real-world examples and cases and employs nearly 100 graphic elements to illustrate the versatility and effectiveness of his methodology.

A good read, a handy reference source, and a proven toolkit, practitioners in both industry and academia should not miss the opportunity to do intelligence in a more intelligent manner.

Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again

David Frum

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Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Thought provoking discourse for genuine conservatives 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Both the Republican and Democrat national parties are built on the "big tent" theory: that they are to incorporate all the divergent views of their respective constituencies into a single party, rather than have dozens of splinter parties as in Europe and elsewhere.

The result has been a remarkably stable system of government. The serious student of politics knwos that within the larger party, there is always a dominant faction and that this dominant faction changes from time to time.

For about thirty years, genuine conservatives dominated the Republican Party. With them came the West's victory over the Soviet Union, the freeing of Eastern Europe without bloodshed, forcing welfare and budget reform on the nation and other victories, large and small, including the historic 1994 election victory. Perhaps because of its very success, the Republican Party lost its way and genuine conservatives were shouldered aside.

Now comes David Frum, a Canadian, with his thoughts on how Conservatism can win again.

It is indeed a thought provoking book, but not one that will be adopted as a Conservative bible.

Frum's basic thesis is that conservatives have lost their way, that too many of them have lost touch with the changing public and its views. He is right in his perceptions, but his prescriptions may not be acceptable to real conservatives.

For example, Frum goes on at length about how his proposal for a new way of viewing the abortion issue. I have a better idea, I think: ignore. Just say that the government has no business getting involved with the question at all and take the Republican Party out of a can't win situation.

Frum's suggestions on trying to get people to understand that terrorism is a real problem, on the other hand, are sound as are his suggestions for true reform of public education.

To his credit, Frum doesn't declare that his ideas are the only ideas. They are suggestions to get the debate rolling - and his book is laudable for that. It is, in fact, excellent and thought provoking reading.

One thing Frum can't do in this book, however, is to reconnect conservatives to the leadership of the Republican Party, which truly seems to have lost its way.

Jerry

Editorial Review:

At a moment of crisis and pessimism for American conservatives, David Frum offers fresh ideas---and fresh hope. Too many conservatives and Republicans have shut their eyes to negative trends. Frum offers answers.

Slouching Towards Gomorrah

Robert H. Bork

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 136 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Worthwhile ideas destroyed by too many errors and omissions 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Robert Bork's "Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline" has long attratced my attention - an attention that ultimately I often feel comes from being a victim of people listening to the violent music whose condemnation is one of the book's highlights.

Bork's basic thesis is that modern liberalism is destroying the basis upon which Western civilisation was built and unless a dramatic reversal of cultural trends occurs Western civilisation will disintegrate. "Modern liberalism" for Bork is a combination of radical egalitarianism involving the belief that every group of people must be equally represented in every institution with radical individualism requiring the most absolute possible freedom for every person.

In "Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline", Bork looks at what he sees as the critical aspects of modern liberalism from multiculturalism to feminism to the degradation of culture. In his viewpoint, multiculturalism has led to a loss of respect and even criticism of unique accomplishments of Western civilisation, feminism is contrary to normal biological roles, and the violent degradation of popular culture is the result of a nihilism that admits of no social duties and is completely present-oriented with no though for the future.

Bork's argument of these points is by no means bad: I can even sympathise with what he says about the narcissistic nihilism present in so much modern music, and the points he makes about the way in which cultural studies at some American universities are deliberately geared to ignore the more "civilised" non-Western cultures is likewise not a bad point.

However, even here, Bork is confused when he says "Rap songs like "Horny" and "Big Man with a Gun" are not, as one would hope, culturally marginal...". Though Bork undoubtedly wishes to lump all violent music under the label "rap", fans of industrial (Nine Inch Nails) or death metal are a quite different cultural group from those of gangsta rap even if their message is little different. His tendency towards error is also seen when I could not find a song "Horny" on any Snoop Doggy Dogg album.

Also, whilst he looks at cultural trends in the United States, Bork doe snot realise that in every other developed nations bar Australia the situation is much, much worse. Whereas in the US there is active opposition to "narcissistic nihilism", such opposition is completely absent in Europe or Canada or New Zealand. His lack of knowledge of Europe in particular, also leads him to some dubious conclusions: if you study European history, you ought to realise that "narcissistic nihilism" was merely driven unground by people like Franco and Salazar and returned with a vengeance later.

All in all, this could have been a very valuable guide to Western culture if it were written with better knowledge and perspective and more checking of facts. As it stands, "Slouching Towards Gomorrah: Modern Liberalism and American Decline" is too full of errors and omissions to recommend.

Editorial Review:

Judge Bork, one of our nation's most distinguished conservative scholars offers a prophetic view of a culture in decline, a nation in such serious moral trouble that its very foundation is crumbling. Of our own President, Bork writes: "Thirty years ago, Clinton's behavior would have been absolutely disqualifying.... It is difficult not to conclude that something about our moral perceptions and reactions has changed profoundly. If that change is permanent, the implication for our future is bleak." Bork has brilliantly encapsulated a nation and a culture on the brink. He courageously sounds an alarm for all Americans.

Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence (Intelligence and National Security Library)

Abram N. Shulsky, Gary James Schmitt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Solid introduction into the world of intelligence 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I would say that this book would be a good first read for anyone interested in learning more about the intelligence community. It covers a wide variety of information without getting to in-depth into any one subject, so it feels like a pretty well-rounded experience. I also felt that the use of some historical examples really helped not only to make the book more interesting to read but to make some of the concepts easier to understand.

My biggest problem with this book is that at points it reads like a college textbook, which isn't always a particularly good thing. I also found some of the sections that talked about the relations between policy and intelligence to be pretty dull. Overall this book is a pretty informative and a mostly enjoyable read.

Editorial Review:

This revised edition of the classic guide Silent Warfare accounts for recent earth-shaking world events -- the breakup of the Soviet empire, for example -- and for the most recent laws and thinking on the new dimensions of intelligence. It remains the only intelligence primer.

Shulsky and Schmitt, leading intelligence scholars and government experts, write clearly and for the nonexpert in this first comprehensive overview of the elements of intelligence designed for both the students and the general reader. A guide to the principles of collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action and to their interrelationship with policymakers and democratic values, Silent Warfare provides a useful framework for understanding today's altered intelligence world as well as the future. It is an informative book for anyone intrigued by the shadowy world of the spy or concerned with security threats, terrorism, or economic espionage.

Privilege and Scandal: The Remarkable Life of Harriet Spencer, Sister of Georgiana

Janet Gleeson

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

The Other Spencer Girl 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

History, especially that which is viewed through the eyes of women, has always fascinated me. Over the last decade, one period of history that has really started to interest me is that of Georgian England, during the reigns of the five Hannoverian kings -- George I, George II, George III, George IV, and William IV.

While at the time, women could not vote, directly own property, and legally were considered to be children -- they were able to have influence on, and at times manipulate, the world around them. In Privilege and Scandal author Janet Gleeson shows the life of one woman who did just that.

Henrietta Frances Spencer, the youngest surviving daughter of the Earl Spencer and his wife, was beautiful, smart and possessed of a great deal of charm. As with her elder sister, Georgiana, she was expected to marry well, produce children, and be a credit to both her family and her new husband. She grew up very close to her older sister, a bond that would last all of their lives together. But Harriet, as she was known, was also passionate, determined and craved excitement in her life, all of which would eventually prove her undoing.

She married, after several failed courtships, Lord Duncannon, the heir to the Earl of Bessborough and a wealthy Irish peer. And Harriet, with the help of her sister, Georgiana, now the Duchess of Devonshire, entered into London political society with full abandon. Once she had produced the necessary heirs to her husband, two sons and a daughter, she also gave into the admiration of the gentlemen around her, affairs that she tried to keep discreet, but sometimes got a bit out of hand, especially when it came to the playwright and politician Richard Sheridan.

If this sounds shocking to twentieth first century readers, in a time when marriage was made more for financial gains and family connections, if the partners were discreet, and quiet about it, affairs could be tolerated. Unluckily for Harriet, her husband was very possessive and jealous, and Harriet did her best to keep things quiet. That is, until she met Lord Granville Gower, the younger son of a noble family who was possessed of outrageous good looks, a great deal of charm and brains to boot. While Harriet tried not to give in -- by this time she had given birth to a fourth son -- soon enough there were whispers of an affair, and Harriet was terrified that word would get back to her husband.

And that marriage was shaky. There were rumours that there would be a divorce, and Harriet's health was already undermined from stress, several miscarriages, and what appears to be a series of strokes. She had already courted scandal by overspending, a bad habit of living and gambling on credit -- enough to where the Bessborough estates were mortgaged to the hilt, and the family was about to declare bankruptcy -- and her outspoken support of liberal politicians such as Fox and Sheridan. The pamphleteers and cartoonists of the day found both Georgiana and Harriet prime targets for satire and there were times when both women, with sometimes children, mother and servants in tow, would escape to the Continent to evade scrutiny.

Then the worst happened -- Harriet found herself pregnant by Lord Granville....

I'm not going to reveal much more of this story, as how it all worked out for Harriet, Georgiana, their husbands and children does make for remarkable reading. I had always wondered why the women of the Regency period had such loose reputations, especially with the later Victorians, but now, it becomes much more clear. Women were finding a new freedom, in the press, in the arts and in politics. And Harriet, determined to enjoy it all, did just that.

Author Janet Gleeson creates a vivid portrait of Harriet Spencer, using Harriet's letters, those of her contemporaries, and the history of the times to write this story. The depictions of high society life in London and France are particularly strong, and compelling to read. The writing style and pacing get somewhat dry at times, and slow the book down about a third of the way through, but once Harriet meets Lord Granville, the story truly picks up again.

I found Harriet to be a very interesting woman to read about, complex and at times maddening, but also very sympathetic. Gleeson, to her credit, doesn't go too far in making her subject unbelievable or overly romantic, but stays within what is known, and only rarely goes and makes conjectures about Harriet.

If the name Spencer is familiar, yes, this particular Spencer family were the ancestors of that Lady Diana Spencer who would live and die so tragically.
For those who would like to learn more about the Spencers and the world that they lived and moved in, I would recommend two other biographies, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman (republished as The Duchess and made into a film starring Kiera Knightley) and Elizabeth and Georgiana: The Duke of the Devonshire and His Two Duchesses by Caroline Chapman and Jane Dormer. All three books provide a well-rounded picture of turbulent times and a fascinating group of people.

As well as the story itself, there are ample notes, two inserts of black and white photos showing portraits and places, as well a bibliography that gives hints for further reading. Happily, a genealogical chart unsnarls the complicated relationships.

Four stars overall, and recommended for those interested in this period of time.

Editorial Review:

A revealing portrait of one of the most glamorous, influential, and notorious members of the Spencer family

Intelligent, attractive, and born into wealth, Harriet Spencer, ancestor of Princess Diana, married Frederick, Viscount Duncannon, at the age of nineteen. But it was her affair with Lord Granville Leveson Gower that resulted in the birth of two children and all but consumed Harriet’s life.

The first comprehensive biography of Lady Harriet Spencer, Privilege & Scandal gives readers an inside look at the British aristocracy during the decadent eighteenth century, while bringing one of the era’s most intriguing women to life.