Freedom & Security Books

The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism

Andrew Bacevich

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From an acclaimed conservative historian and former military officer, a bracing call for a pragmatic confrontation with the nation's problems

The Limits of Power identifies a profound triple crisis facing America: the economy, in remarkable disarray, can no longer be fixed by relying on expansion abroad; the government, transformed by an imperial presidency, is a democracy in form only; U.S. involvement in endless wars, driven by a deep infatuation with military power, has been a catastrophe for the body politic. These pressing problems threaten all of us, Republicans and Democrats. If the nation is to solve its predicament, it will need the revival of a distinctly American approach: the neglected tradition of realism.

Andrew J. Bacevich, uniquely respected across the political spectrum, offers a historical perspective on the illusions that have governed American policy since 1945. The realism he proposes includes respect for power and its limits; sensitivity to unintended consequences; aversion to claims of exceptionalism; skepticism of easy solutions, especially those involving force; and a conviction that the books will have to balance. Only a return to such principles, Bacevich argues, can provide common ground for fixing America’s urgent problems before the damage becomes irreparable.

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals

Jane Mayer

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Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A dramatic and damning narrative account of how America has fought the
"War on Terror"

In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, used the crisis to further a long held agenda to enhance Presidential powers to a degree never known in U.S. history, and obliterate Constitutional protections that define the very essence of the American experiment.

THE DARK SIDE is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world-- decisions that not only violated the Constitution to which White House officials took an oath to uphold, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. In gripping detail, acclaimed New Yorker writer and bestselling author, Jane Mayer, relates the impact of these decisions—U.S.-held prisoners, some of them completely innocent, were subjected to treatment more reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition than the twenty-first century.

THE DARK SIDE will chronicle real, specific cases, shown in real time against the larger tableau of what was happening in Washington, looking at the intelligence gained—or not—and the price paid. In some instances, torture worked. In many more, it led to false information, sometimes with devastating results. For instance, there is the stunning admission of one of the detainees, Sheikh Ibn al-Libi, that the confession he gave under duress—which provided a key piece of evidence buttressing congressional support of going to war against Iraq--was in fact fabricated, to make the torture stop.

In all cases, whatever the short term gains, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, and our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself. THE DARK SIDE chronicles one of the most disturbing chapters in American history, one that will serve as the lasting legacy of the George W. Bush presidency.

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism

Ron Suskind

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Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Ron Suskind comes a startling look at how America lost its way and at the nation's struggle, day by day, to reclaim the moral authority upon which its survival depends. From the White House to Downing Street, from the fault-line countries of South Asia to the sands of Guantánamo, Suskind offers an astonishing story that connects world leaders to the forces waging today's shadow wars and to the next generation of global citizens. Tracking down truth and hope within the Beltway and far beyond it, Suskind delivers historic disclosures with this emotionally stirring and strikingly original portrait of the post-9/11 world. In a sweeping, propulsive, and multilayered narrative, The Way of the World investigates how America relinquished the moral leadership it now desperately needs to fight the real threat of our era: a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists. Truth, justice, and accountability become more than mere words in this story. Suskind shows where the most neglected dangers lie in the story of "The Armageddon Test" —a desperate gamble to send undercover teams into the world's nuclear black market to frustrate the efforts of terrorists trying to procure weapons-grade uranium. In the end, he finally reveals for the first time the explosive falsehood underlying the Iraq War and the entire Bush presidency. While the public and political realms struggle, The Way of the World simultaneously follows an ensemble of characters in America and abroad who are turning fear and frustration into a desperate—and often daring—brand of human salvation. They include a striving, twenty-four-year-old Pakistani émigré, a fearless UN refugee commissioner, an Afghan teenager, a Holocaust survivor's son, and Benazir Bhutto, who discovers, days before her death, how she's been abandoned by the United States at her moment of greatest need. They are all testing American values at a time of peril, and discovering solutions—human solutions—to so much that has gone wrong. For anyone hoping to exercise truly informed consent and begin the process of restoring the values and hope—along with the moral clarity and earned optimism—at the heart of the American tradition, The Way of the World is a must-read.

America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

Mark Steyn

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 491 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

America Alone - A must read 5 out of 5 stars.
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I purchased two additional copies of the book to give to friends. It is a very timely, well-written book. Get one before it's banned! Canada is trying to prevent it's sale there. It is enlightening and frightening at the same time. Regardless of where you stand on the issues, this book will get a reaction from you.

It's a time of change, take time to review Mark Steyn's perspective.

The most disturbing book I've read this year 5 out of 5 stars.
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Mark Steyn is witty, snarky, rarely acidic, and always entertaining to read. However, America Alone is not entertainment. It's quite disturbing. From his description of Europe's swift demographic decline to his predictions of the rise of EUrabia due to the influx of Muslims to replace the dying cultures, he paints a pretty bleak picture of the future. Francis Fukuyama's "End of History" where liberal-democratic welfare states would be the Future of the World doesn't look like it's going to pan out as predicted.

As Steyn notes near the end, the book isn't about Islam, or the decline of the West, or terrorism, or any of the simple, trite soundbites that have been attributed to it. It's an argument for WILL, for the West to grow a spine, to reacquire our civilizational confidence. Lord Kenneth Clark in his BBC series "Civilization: A Personal View" said (and I paraphrase) that one of the most important feature of a civilization, if not the most, was confidence. Confidence that it will still be around next year, that it is worthwhile planting crops now, so they could be harvested next season. Confidence that soldiers won't suddenly appear on the horizon and destroy your farm. Confidence that an apple seed planted in your backyard will provide fruit for your grandchildren. That if you paint a fresco, the wall its on will still be standing in a century. That if you write a book, the language you use will still be understood half a millennia in the future. And that if you hauled stone for the great cathedral which had been building since before your father was born, and which your baby son might live to see completed if, the good Lord willing, he lived to be an old man; your efforts would be valued by subsequent generations stretching forward toward some unimaginably distant futurity. And above all, the self-confidence that you are part of something grander than yourself, something with roots in the past, and a glorious future of achievement ahead of it.

When the Romans lost that self confidence, when they began doubting their own purpose, they began to die.

Europe is, as Steyn illustrates, dying now from the lack of confidence, leaving only the U.S. to stand against an ideology that wants all the world to live under its crushing weight.

It's a book everyone should read.

Out of Mao's Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China

Philip P. Pan

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post and one of the leading China correspondents of his generation comes an eloquent and vivid chronicle of the world's most successful authoritarian state -- a nation undergoing a remarkable transformation.

Philip P. Pan's groundbreaking book takes us inside the dramatic battle for China's soul and into the lives of individuals struggling to come to terms with their nation's past -- the turmoil and trauma of Mao's rule -- and to take control of its future. Capitalism has brought prosperity and global respect to China, but the Communist government continues to resist the demands of its people for political freedom.

Pan, who reported in China for the Post for seven years and speaks fluent Chinese, eluded the police and succeeded in going where few Western journalists have dared.

From the rusting factories in the industrial northeast to a tabloid newsroom in the booming south, from a small-town courtroom to the plush offices of the nation's wealthiest tycoons, he tells the gripping stories of ordinary men and women fighting for political change. An elderly surgeon exposes the government's cover-up of the SARS epidemic. A filmmaker investigates the execution of a young woman during the Cultural Revolution. A blind man is jailed for leading a crusade against forced abortions carried out under the one-child policy.

The young people who filled Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989 saw their hopes for a democratic China crushed in a massacre, but Pan reveals that as older, more pragmatic adults, many continue to push for justice in different ways. They are survivors whose families endured one of the world's deadliest famines during the Great Leap Forward, whose idealism was exploited during the madness of the Cultural Revolution, and whose values have been tested by the booming economy and the rush to get rich.

The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

Naomi Wolf

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Total reviews: 173 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Winner of the 2008 NAUTILUS SILVER AWARD in the category of Social Change/Activism

In a stunning indictment of the Bush administration and Congress, best-selling author Naomi Wolf lays out her case for saving American democracy. In authoritative research and documentation Wolf explains how events of the last six years parallel steps taken in the early years of the 20th century‚’s worst dictatorships such as Germany, Russia, China, and Chile.

The book cuts across political parties and ideologies and speaks directly to those among us who are concerned about the ever-tightening noose being placed around our liberties.

In this timely call to arms, Naomi Wolf compels us to face the way our free America is under assault. She warns us‚–with the straight-to-fellow-citizens urgency of one of Thomas Paine‚’s revolutionary pamphlets‚–that we have little time to lose if our children are to live in real freedom.

“Recent history has profound lessons for us in the U.S. today about how fascist, totalitarian, and other repressive leaders seize and maintain power, especially in what were once democracies. The secret is that these leaders all tend to take very similar, parallel steps. The Founders of this nation were so deeply familiar with tyranny and the habits and practices of tyrants that they set up our checks and balances precisely out of fear of what is unfolding today. We are seeing these same kinds of tactics now closing down freedoms in America, turning our nation into something that in the near future could be quite other than the open society in which we grew up and learned to love liberty,‚” states Wolf.

Wolf is taking her message directly to the American people in the most accessible form and as part of a large national campaign to reach out to ordinary Americans about the dangers we face today. This includes a lecture and speaking tour, and being part of the nascent American Freedom Campaign, a grassroots efforts to ensure that presidential candidates pledge to uphold the constitution and protect our liberties from further erosion.

The End of America will shock, enrage, and motivate‚–spurring us to act, as the Founders would have counted on us to do in a time such as this, as rebels and patriots‚–to save our liberty and defend our nation.

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

Lawrence Wright

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Total reviews: 282 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

THE book to read if you ever want to know why 9/11 happened 5 out of 5 stars.
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I like to read a lot. I owned the hard copy version of The Looming Tower and because I have well over 500 other books on my shelves, hadn't gotten around to reading it. Then I downloaded the iPod audiobook version which ended up grasping me totally. Finally I bought a Kindle and The Looming Tower now resides there as well.

The book is an incredible story of 9/11 and those who made, and let it happen as well as those who tried as hard as they could to prevent it. One of the latter was an FBI agent who is as complex a character as full of flaws as a human can be but if there is a hero in this book, it's him -warts and all. He was killed on 9/11 trying to save people in the WTC.

Why is this book so good? Because it really delves into the mind set of those who made it happen from bin Laden and his henchmen, to a certifiable "nut case", a Sayyid Qutb whose repressed sexuality and heavens knows what else drove him to father the current version of Islamic fundamentalism. It's easy to realize what sort of sociopaths are drawn to this belief system, but America has its own nut case fundamental religious zealots be they Jewish or Protestant. They range from harmless "speaking in tongues" types and rattle snake handlers to "W", who is as motivated by religious fundamentalism as is bin Laden.

"W" has at least permitted and encouraged wiretapping and torture to deal with the violent brand of Arab crazies who wish a lot worse than 9/11 on us. It may seem out of line to those shuddering in horror at our loss of liberty, but so far there are no more 9/11s in the USA.

I was born in 1938 and remember WW2 [barely] but know enough history to know that when you are at war, you should spare no effort in totally destroying the enemy as we did in WW2 with the Japanese and Germans.

After spending 20 years in the military, I only became more convinced that war should occur only if you mean business. Bringing "democracy" to Iraq is a sick joke. "W" should have watched Lawrence of Arabia and maybe he might have gotten a clue of the inevitable morass that awaited those stuck in the tar of Iraq. In WW2 we weren't worried about locking up presumably innocent Japanese, or censorship of all letters from our soldiers. All this under a president who many Americans considered the political equivalent of Stalin, or the equivalent of a socialist's greatest hope. Today the liberals are still worrying about the loss of freedoms, but freedoms can return AFTER the war. Whether they will is another story. The fault with our current miasma of political manure lies with us citizens. What we see in Congress, not to mention the executive and judicial branches merely reflect America's citizens own lack of care, education and hedonism.

But I digress. The Looming Tower is an incredible "morality tale" and Greek tragedy wrapped up in one. Hubris abounds, those idiots responsible for the debacle are named, although it is apparent that none suffered career reversals for their poor performance with the exception of the two people who saw it coming and couldn't stop it - FBI agent O'Neill and Richard Clarke. Clarke was smeared by Bush gunsels from Limbaugh to other White House staff thugs who fear the truth as a vampire fears sunlight. Condoleza Rice is shown as witless and also very much responsible for 9/11 because when presented with reality she couldn't think clearly or was driven by political expediency to the wrong decision - i.e. ignoring the threat.

The book is NOT a hatchet job on anybody. You get to see all the characters responsible on both sides and there is little to no judgmental criticism. As Det. Friday used to say on Dragnet, for those of you ancient enough to remember him, "Just the facts, M'am. Just the facts."

Much as I hate to swallow my atavistic tendencies to dismiss the likes of bin Laden and his cronies as crazy "rag heads", you will understand the character attributes that made his hellish plans come to fruition, and they certainly did not start with 9/11. I can only wish we had the likes of him to conduct our own war on the terrorists, although fortunately Cheney comes close.

Read this book. You can only grow wiser and sadder from the experience.

Editorial Review:

National Book Award Finalist

A Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year

A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is the definitive history of the long road to September 11.

The Return of History and the End of Dreams

Robert Kagan

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Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Hopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities: Great powers are once again competing for honor and influence. Nation-states remain as strong as ever, as do the old, explosive forces of ambitious nationalism. The world remains “unipolar,” but international competition among the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Japan, India, and Iran raise new threats of regional conflict. Communism is dead, but a new contest between western liberalism and the great eastern autocracies of Russia and China has reinjected ideology into geopolitics. Finally, radical Islamists are waging a violent struggle against the modern secular cultures and powers that, in their view, have dominated, penetrated, and polluted their Islamic world. The grand expectation that after the Cold War the world would enter an era of international geopolitical convergence has proven wrong.

For the past few years, the liberal world has been internally divided and distracted by issues both profound and petty. Now, in The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan masterfully poses the most important questions facing the liberal democratic countries, challenging them to choose whether they want to shape history or let others shape it for them.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley

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Total reviews: 295 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Malcolm X's searing memoir belongs on the small shelf of great autobiographies. The reasons are many: the blistering honesty with which he recounts his transformation from a bitter, self-destructive petty criminal into an articulate political activist, the continued relevance of his militant analysis of white racism, and his emphasis on self-respect and self-help for African Americans. And there's the vividness with which he depicts black popular culture--try as he might to criticize those lindy hops at Boston's Roseland dance hall from the perspective of his Muslim faith, he can't help but make them sound pretty wonderful. These are but a few examples. The Autobiography of Malcolm X limns an archetypal journey from ignorance and despair to knowledge and spiritual awakening. When Malcolm tells coauthor Alex Haley, "People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book," he voices the central belief underpinning every attempt to set down a personal story as an example for others. Although many believe his ethic was directly opposed to Martin Luther King Jr.'s during the civil rights struggle of the '60s, the two were not so different. Malcolm may have displayed a most un-Christian distaste for loving his enemies, but he understood with King that love of God and love of self are the necessary first steps on the road to freedom. --Wendy Smith

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Tim Weiner

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Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Overpowering 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

No exagerations and no fabrications.
That's the way it is with the CIA.
A profound digging into the mechanism and operational structure of the agency.
Overpowering.
A great deal of information.
Hot!

A Lesson 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book might as well be a "how to fail" manual for any modern American bureaucracy.

In the early years the company is run by dynamic and entrepreneurial founders and mavericks who do a whole lot with very little and are driven by passion and patriotism. They come up with amazingly creative and innovative plans and solutions that actually work and save the day. A company is born.

Then a bunch of alcoholic guys show up swaggering and bragging like mavericks but without the brains or foresight- lots of people and projects die needless deaths due to gross incompetence, stupidity and lies. Lies even to the president who is making policy and war decisions. The wagons begin to circle closer to protect the tribe. On the eve of the Chinese invasion of Korea--the CIA knew NOTHING but said the Chinese would never attack. Thousands of Americans paid for that lie with their lives. The CIA was convinced Cuba would never let Soviet missiles on the island. We almost had WW3 over that little screw-up.

Then the career bureaucrats and managers show up and try to put their stamp on things. Budgets bloat. Egos inflate. Nepotism, cronyism and careering become rampant. All mistakes are carefully hidden or blamed on others. Luck (like the Iranian coup) is trumpeted as a major intelligence and covert ops success. Back stabbing, positioning, scheming, and of course the constant bragging and lying all contribute to a loss of focus on the original mission and create an echo chamber of yes men and allies at the top, with seething morale-sapping resentment, fatigue and bitterness in the ranks. Everyone is just waiting for their pensions and reading newspapers/blogs each morning to gather intelligence. Critical data on Vietnam is suppressed for political reasons.

Then comes Mr. Clean-it-all-up from outside the company. Everyone hates him. Paranoia, backstabbing and lies and bitter rivalries emerge. The agency starts making mistakes like assassinating or bombing the wrong targets, spying on their own citizen, flooding problems with millions of dollars as a "solution," They new guy fires a bunch of people that don't share his views, and he leaves within a couple years with a promotion to the state department, a cabinet position or hey-maybe even president. Since the CIA warlords can't hire or convert people that actually speak foreign languages they just payoff warlords around the world to do their dirty work. Payrolls included at various times: The Shah of Iran and his corrupt sister, the King of Jordan, The warlords in Sudan now performing genocide, Noriega, a two-bit assassin named Saddam Hussein, a terrorist that blew up 77 Cubans on an airplane, opium warlords in Laos,etc etc etc.

The company is then left in the hands of a bunch of naive, inexperienced, RCG interns brimming with ideas and energy but scarred by premature jading. For a brief moment, an entrepreneurial and can-do esprit de corps grips the troops. Congress or the board of directors steps in the fix what is hopelessly broken and installs- a guy who ends up being charged with conspiracy, fraud, money-laundering and fixing million-dollar contracts for his friends in the beltway.

At some point- the Soviet Union collapses- but nobody is even aware of it.

The amateurs left over are promoted beyond their abilities and end up kidnapping, torturing and killing people on accident in their efforts to "get ahead." The lifers resign in disgust. Private intelligence-gathering start-ups sprout all over Washington. Outsourcing spirals out of control. The brain drain becomes a brain vacuum. All new CIA hires adopt the 5-year plan: Get in, make connections, get out, and get paid.

At the end of the day, billions and billions of dollars were wasted on pretty much nothing constructive.

So much for Wild Bill Donovan's legacy.

Editorial Review:

With shocking revelations that made headlines in papers across the country, Pulitzer-Prize-winner Tim Weiner gets at the truth behind the CIA and uncovers here why nearly every CIA Director has left the agency in worse shape than when he found it; and how these profound failures jeopardize our national security.