Political Doctrines Books - Page 21

Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History (5th Edition)

Jackson J. Spielvogel

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

Comprehensive overview that is thorough yet easy-to-read 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I can only wholeheartedly agree with the review by "zdravstvui" from Colorado Springs.

Spielvogel's outstanding book is very accessible for the general reader, yet at the same time rich in insightful detail that contributes toward a sound understanding of exactly HOW the horror of Nazi Germany was able to arise amongst a great and cultured people, and not all that long ago, 70 years being a fairly short span of time when seen against the broad sweep of man's history.

"Hitler and Nazi Germany: A History" was recommended to me by someone last year, so I bought a copy, perused it quickly, and unfortunately let it sit for too long on my bookshelf unread. But having recently viewed PBS's sobering TV series "Auschwitz: Inside The Nazi State" I was prompted to visit this book again for a more thorough understanding of Nazi Germany, and am glad I did.

It's hard for Babyboomer's like myself born after World War II to comprehend the widespread scope of this terrible conflict, and the epicenter which began it all: the ideology passionately held by Adolph Hitler and the Nazi party. We can all too easily arrive at the foolish conclusion that such a tragedy could simply never happen again. But the genocide of the Cambodian people by Pol Pot in the late 1970's, the more recent mass slaughter in Rwanda during the mid 1990's, as well as the "ethnic cleansing" campaigns in areas of the former Soviet Union, remind us all too well that the shocking conflagration of mass genocide can ignite and spread on the world scene very quickly.

Read this book to see not only how it actually DID happen on a massive scale in Nazi Germany and it's occupied territories, but especially the underlying ideological and social conditions that lead up to it, and how it could happen again, perhaps, God-forbid, on an even larger scale.

Editorial Review:

This text is appropriate for introductory college level courses on 20th Century Germany History, the History of Nazi Germany, or 20th Century European History. The text is a brief, yet comprehensive survey of the Third Reich based on current research findings and written for students and general readers who want a deeper view of this period in German history. This text provides a balanced approach in examining Hitler's role in the history of the Third Reich. Coverage ranges from the economic, social, and political forces that made possible the rise and growth of Nazism as well as the institutional, cultural, and social life of the Third Reich, the Second World War, and the Holocaust.

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays on How to Change the World

Ernesto Che Guevara, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays On How To Change The World collects "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Reform or Revolution" by Rosa Luxemburg, and "Socialism and Man in Cuba" by Ernesto Che Guevara. All three writings share in common a revolutionary spark; here are ideas that transformed the world, with repercussions resonating to the modern day and beyond. A preface, introduction, and brief notes on the contributors round out this vital collection concerning political power, social consciousness, and the need for societal transformation, especially recommended for library and educational reference shelves.

Editorial Review:

"Let's be realists, let's dream the impossible." Che Guevara's words summarize the radical vision of the four famous rebels presented in this book: Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto, Rosa Luxemburg's Reform or Revolution and Che Guevara's Socialism and Humanity. Far from being lifeless historical documents, these manifestos for revolution will resonate with a new generation also seeking a better world.

"The world described by Marx and Engels . . . is recognizably the world we live in 150 years later."-Eric Hobsbawm

"Rosa Luxemburg was a brilliant, brave and independent woman, passionately internationalist and antiwar, a believer in the people's 'spontaneity' in the cause of freedom; a woman who saw herself as Marx's philosophical heir."-Adrienne Rich

Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans

Vivien Spitz

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A chilling story of human depravity and ultimate justice, told for the first time by an eyewitness court reporter for the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Nazi doctors. This is the account of 23 men torturing and killing by experiment in the name of scientific research and patriotism. Doctors from Hell includes trial transcripts that have not been easily available to the general public and previously unpublished photographs used as evidence in the trial.

The author describes the experience of being in bombed-out, dangerous, post-war Nuremberg, where she lived for two years while working on the trial. Once a Nazi sympathizer tossed bombs into the dining room of the hotel where she lived moments before she arrived for dinner. She takes us into the courtroom to hear the dramatic testimony and see the reactions of the defendants to the proceedings. This landmark trial resulted in the establishment of the Nuremberg code, which sets the guidelines for medical research involving human beings. A significant addition to the literature on World War II and the Holocaust, medical ethics, human rights, and the barbaric depths to which human beings can descend.

Nazi International: The Nazis' Postwar Plan to Control Finance, Conflict, Physics and Space

Joseph P. Farrell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

another grat book from Farrell 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

With this book Farrell takes a slight detour from his usual scientific detective work and moves into the realm of "conspiracy theory," or as he says, "conspiracy hypothesis." Using the same logical precision I have come to expect from his work, he analyzes the rumors and stories of Nazi escape at the end of World War 2.

Even in a work this size, over 400 pages, he can still only scratch the surface of the vast, powerful underground movement that the Nazi party created to facilitate their escape from their near-miss at world domination. As Jim Marrs has pointed out in his new book, and Farrell echoes here, the Nazi Party never surrendered - Germany, Japan and Italy did, but the Nazis did not. To drive the point home clearly, Farrell reproduces the "instruments of surrender" signed at the end of the war. Was it an incredible oversight to let the Nazis slip through the cracks like that, or was it just another part of their extraordinary plan?

The book is 12 chapters in 4 sections, and begins with a look at the surrender, the science fiction novels of Wilhelm Landig, Nazi UFO myths and Reinhold Schmidt, and part of the information Carol Rosin communicates from the late Werner Von Braun (a greater portion of which is available from Steven Greer's Disclosure Project, and well worth your attention). I was especially happy to see more information on Landig, as I was intrigued by his mention of Landig's novels in an earlier book.

He goes on to describe the financial processes by which Allied banking and other Big Money interests helped create both the Nazi party and the Bolshevik revolution. Again, he shows that the financial dealings and corporate underground created are so vast and powerful that even a book this size can only hit the high points. The legal wrangling of I.G. Farben's breakup took 52 years because the corporation was so vast and convoluted!

He discusses the escape theories surrounding Martin Bormann, Heinrich "Gestapo" Muller, and Adolf Hitler, having dealt with Hans Kammler and others in his previous books on Nazi scientific work.

He covers the migration of Nazis to South America and other places, and spends a large part of the book looking at the financial and political threads that indicate the heavy influence of the Nazis, even to this day. An interesting revelation is how important Nazis such as Otto Skorzeny were to the creation and training of our current nemesis, Arab terrorism.

He ends the book with information on the secret scientific work in Argentina and elsewhere, with a final chapter on Nazi influence in NASA. In the NASA chapter he quotes heavily from the research of Hoagland and Bara, which is also worth reading in depth. This is the only section where he gets back to the science we are so used to him writing about.

As always, Farrell dishes up a fantastic survey of the situation, paying great heed to detail and corroboration. He cites his sources, and provides actual copies of many documents, both in the main text and an appendix. He proves once again that he has the skills of a scientist with the intuition of a street wise detective. His procedure is logical and follows his usual structure of point by point elucidation backed up by evidence and lists of conclusions. Also, as always, he gives the reader lots of entry points to go deeper into the information.

While something of a departure from his more science oriented books, he proves that he can handle the topics of finance and politics as well as he does science. If you liked his other books, you'll like this one. If you are interested in just how much influence the Nazis still exert in this world and how they managed to get in that position, this is a good place to start.

Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, New and Expanded Edition

Walter Lafeber

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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Walter LaFeber's timely analysis looks at the ways that triumphant capitalism, coupled with high-tech telecommunications, is conquering the nations of the world, one mind—one pair of feet—at a time.

With Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism, Walter LaFeber has written a biography, a social history, and a far-ranging economic critique. From basketball prodigy to international phenomenon to seductive commercial ideal, Michael Jordan is the supreme example of how American corporations have used technology in a brave, massively wired new world to sell their products in every corner of the globe. LaFeber's examination of Nike and its particular dominion over the global marketplace is often scathing, while his fascinating mini-biography of Michael Jordan and the commercial history of basketball reveal much about American society.

For this new paperback edition, LaFeber has added a chapter on globalization in a changed world, after mass protests and since September 11.

Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America

Garrison Keillor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 83 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Entertaining prose but simplistic thesis 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The thesis can be summed up in just a few words: Democrats good. Republicans bad.

Luckily, Keillor takes his time with the argument and I got the most enjoyment from the book reading the little stories and limericks that he uses to get his point across. The style is wonderful, but the content was very boring.

Editorial Review:

In this thoughtful, deeply personal work, one of the nation’s best-loved voices takes the plunge into politics and comes up with a book that has had all of America talking. Here, with great heart, supple wit, and a dash of anger, Garrison Keillor describes the simple democratic values—the Golden Rule, the obligation to defend the weak against the powerful, and others—that define his hard-working Midwestern neighbors and that today’s Republicans seem determined to subvert. A reminiscence, a political tract, and a humorous meditation, Homegrown Democrat is an entertaining, refreshing addition to today’s rancorous political debate.

* A New York Times bestseller
* Updated and revised with a new introduction for the 2006 midterm elections
* A Featured Alternate Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club

Public Opinion

Walter Lippmann

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Walter Lippman's Legacy as I See It 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I had the good fortune to meet Walter Lippman growing up, as my father was his children's orthodontist (overbites all). Through this, Lippman and my biological mother, the receptionist, began an affair that lasted--on and off--for several tumultuous years. While Lippman the intellectual is to be respected, I cannot recommend his book without reservation. I mention this on accout of the extent to which his shenanigans with my biological mother resulted in a great deal of cruelty and psychological trauma to her fragile working-class psyche. If Lippman were around today, I would ask him about this. As I cannot, I am simply leaving this review here so others may read the "full story." You cannot judge a book by its cover, but you can judge an author by his actions in the world.

Editorial Review:

An instrumental work on todays outlook on the dominance of media in democracy, Public Opinion, is a key work by author Walter Lippmann. Does the manufacturing of consent amount to a democracy in the way democracy is practiced? Does the mass media have a control over the public opinion? These are questions that are more important today with the emergence of new technologies like the internet, and older technologies, like television, which are being politically dominated by an opportunistic media. Public Opinion is a highly recommended work for those who are interested in understanding the role of media and public opinion in politics and also those who enjoy the writings of Walter Lippmann.

Democracy Under Pressure: 2002 Election Update (with InfoTrac)

Milton C. Cummings

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Democracy Under Pressure 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

was a good book, a very interesting college course. This book was easy to read and follow.

Uses a lot of examples 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I used this text as a course textbook for a college class last semester. One of the good things about this book is that it contains a LOT of examples about every topic concerning government that is discussed in the book. One of the bad things that I've found however, is that these examples make the book very tedious - if you are just trying to get straight information (ie: to learn from), and you want to do it quickly, I would not recommend this book; however, if you are seeking to learn, and you learn best by seeing real-life examples, then this is the book for you, for it has plenty of those! Personally, I found it a little too much, but I realize that this is just my opinion, so I don't knock the book at all.

Editorial Review:

DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE has provided over a million students with a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of American government. Cummings and Wise pair lively narrative with exemplary scholarship to convey a balanced, realistic sense of political history and to describe the institutions of American government. Throughout, the authors examine the theme of democracy under pressure, discussing the way democracy responds to the needs and demands of various groups over time. The text is developed around a systems approach - a framework of analysis that discusses various elements of the political process in terms of inputs and outputs - and focuses on the gap that exists between theory and reality in government today. This new edition has been updated to include the results of the 2002 congressional elections and other recent events of importance to the American political scene.

They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons

Jacob Heilbrunn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Nuanced and non-polemical 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

For summaries of the content, see the material on this website from "Publisher's Weely" and the "Book Descripton." Each does a good job.

In my opinion this book is excellent. It captures differences among the neo-cons (personalities as well as political thinking), and describes how their positions, alliances, etc. have changed over time.

The author's politics are conservative (I am not) but thoughtful. Although critical, he is not on a witch-hunt. I consider the book eminently fair, not given to name-calling and exaggeration. In addition to the usual suspects, some surprise actors appear in the neo-con chronology, including Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

On a few topics the book left me wanting more information and/or analysis. (1) Given the heavy (predominant) Jewish presence among leading neo-con spokespersons, and the Biblical element in chapter headings, I hoped for more explanation of links between neo-con thinking and the Jewish Bible (aka Old Testament). No such luck. (2) The (self-described as Jewish) author's conclusions about how neo-con politics serves Israel leave me in something of a fog. Is the message like that of the then president of General Motors who famously said, "What's good for GM is good for America" (as in, what's I think is best for Israel automatically is good/best for the USA)? I am not sure whether the author is tip-toeing around this issue lest he be excoriated as a "self-hating Jew"/anti-Semite, or is making a nuanced point that escapes my understanding.
Nevertheless, this book ias a great read, and hard to put down.

Editorial Review:

From its origins in 1930s Marxism to its unprecedented influence on George W. Bush's administration, neoconservatism has become one of the most powerful, reviled, and misunderstood intellectual movements in American history. But who are the neocons, and how did this obscure group of government officials, pundits, and think-tank denizens rise to revolutionize American foreign policy?

Political journalist Jacob Heilbrunn uses his intimate knowledge of the movement and its members to write the definitive history of the neoconservatives. He sets their ideas in the larger context of the decades-long battle between liberals and conservatives, first over communism, and now over the war on terrorism. And he explains why, in spite of their misguided policy on Iraq, they will remain a permanent force in American politics.

Political Liberalism (Columbia Classics in Philosophy)

John Rawls

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Rawls' Thought Experiment 4 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

Imagine that the U.S.A. has decided to re-found itself, and you have been elected by a large geographical constituency as one of the founding fathers who must negotiate the principles for a new Constitution; further imagine that you are similarly elected to the Constitutional Convention to draft the new constitution under these principles, the Legislature which translates this constitution into law, and the Supreme Court which interprets this law in the light of experience.

You must do your duty by the people who have elected you and the generations to follow, but your electorate has no specific social character and your only mandate is to found a just constitution which will provide stable conditions for social cooperation and a well-ordered society.

How will you conduct yourself in negotiations with your fellow nation-founders? What kind of reasoning can you rely upon? You have your beliefs, but the others hold to different beliefs. And you are going to have to justify your actions to your constituency which is made up of all kinds of people, with all kinds of beliefs and all kinds of interests. You are going to have to explain yourself in a way which will seem reasonable to people who may not share your beliefs and be acceptable to those who do share your beliefs.

This is the thought experiment which John Rawls invites his readers to conduct. Rawls argues that ever since Catholicism and Protestantism fought each other to a standstill in Renaissance Europe, and the separation of Church and State was accepted as unavoidable, "reasonable pluralism" has become a fact of life for modern societies, and a fact which should be welcomed. He argues that if you conduct such a thought experiment, then you would have to come up with a conception of political liberalism something like that which he develops in his own thought experiment written up as Theory of Justice (1971) and more recently, Political Liberalism (1995).

Whether to endorse slavery, free market capitalism, democratic socialism or recreate a landed aristocracy, it is up to the "parties" to decide in due course, on the basis of the founding principles they decide, but given that the constitution must be defensible in terms which will be counted reasonable by the populace at large, Rawls is confident that such a thought experiment would come up with some kind of political liberalism. Rawls regards the relations of production as a secondary question which can be sorted out in due course, once the institutions of representative democracy and the judiciary have been settled and the citizens can legislate the social system.

In Rawls' books this thought experiment is called the "original position" though Rawls describes it in slightly different terms. Rather than supposing one is elected from large geographical electorates, Rawls proposes a hypothetical "veil of ignorance" so that the delegates do not know the social status of those that they represent nor what social position they may occupy in the state to be founded. Otherwise, his thought experiment pretty much matches the current US Constitution, barring political lobbyists, big business control of election campaigns and the naked play of self-interest within the institutions of really existing democracy.

Thus Rawls does much the same as Kant when he re-invented the Revealed Religion of the 18th century Lutheran Church by means of Reason, and Hegel when he set out to discover what was rational in the reality of early 19th century Prussia, but, it has to be said, in a way which is commensurate with a democratic republic of the 20th century, as a "self-standing" conception, limited to that which could be justified from the standpoint of any comprehensive metaphysical, moral or religious doctrine.

Like Kant and Hegel, Rawls does not validate everything that exists in the present-day U.S.A. as rational; he holds that the high cost of US election campaigns which ensures the restriction of nomination of candidates to the very rich, and the lack of an adequate health service and social safety net which ensures that a substantial proportion of the population cannot pursue the good life, are contrary to the requirements of justice. Nevertheless, for Rawls it is the constitution which decides the distribution of wealth and power, not the other way around.

The "original position" which Rawls characterises as a "representation device," is used to argue for "justice as fairness" as a candidate for an "overlapping consensus" "for the right reasons," which can withstand the test of "public reason" by "rational" and "reasonable" citizens who count one another as "free and equal," as a "self-standing" "political" conception, as opposed to a "comprehensive doctrine," and thus create the basis for a society as a "well-ordered system of social cooperation".

Editorial Review:

This book continues and revises the ideas of justice as fairness that John Rawls presented in A Theory of Justice but changes its philosophical interpretation in a fundamental way. That previous work assumed what Rawls calls a "well-ordered society," one that is stable and relatively homogenous in its basic moral beliefs and in which there is broad agreement about what constitutes the good life. This book goes deeper to ask how a stable and just society of free and equal citizens can live in concord when divided by reasonable but incompatible doctrines.