Book Description
An unprecedented account of life in Baghdad’s Green Zone, a walled-off enclave of towering plants, posh villas, and sparkling swimming pools that was the headquarters for the American occupation of Iraq.
The Washington Post’s former Baghdad bureau chief Rajiv Chandrasekaran takes us with him into the Zone: into a bubble, cut off from wartime realities, where the task of reconstructing a devastated nation competed with the distractions of a Little America—a half-dozen bars stocked with cold beer, a disco where women showed up in hot pants, a movie theater that screened shoot-’em-up films, an all-you-could-eat buffet piled high with pork, a shopping mall that sold pornographic movies, a parking lot filled with shiny new SUVs, and a snappy dry-cleaning service—much of it run by Halliburton. Most Iraqis were barred from entering the Emerald City for fear they would blow it up.
Drawing on hundreds of interviews and internal documents, Chandrasekaran tells the story of the people and ideas that inhabited the Green Zone during the occupation, from the imperial viceroy L. Paul Bremer III to the fleet of twentysomethings hired to implement the idea that Americans could build a Jeffersonian democracy in an embattled Middle Eastern country.
In the vacuum of postwar planning, Bremer ignores what Iraqis tell him they want or need and instead pursues irrelevant neoconservative solutions—a flat tax, a sell-off of Iraqi government assets, and an end to food rationing. His underlings spend their days drawing up pie-in-the-sky policies, among them a new traffic code and a law protecting microchip designs, instead of rebuilding looted buildings and restoring electricity production. His almost comic initiatives anger the locals and help fuel the insurgency.
Chandrasekaran details Bernard Kerik’s ludicrous attempt to train the Iraqi police and brings to light lesser known but typical travesties: the case of the twenty-four-year-old who had never worked in finance put in charge of reestablishing Baghdad’s stock exchange; a contractor with no previous experience paid millions to guard a closed airport; a State Department employee forced to bribe Americans to enlist their help in preventing Iraqi weapons scientists from defecting to Iran; Americans willing to serve in Iraq screened by White House officials for their views on Roe v. Wade; people with prior expertise in the Middle East excluded in favor of lesser-qualified Republican Party loyalists. Finally, he describes Bremer’s ignominious departure in 2004, fleeing secretly in a helicopter two days ahead of schedule.
This is a startling portrait of an Oz-like place where a vital aspect of our government’s folly in Iraq played out. It is a book certain to be talked about for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
Arrogance is not Wise.......2007-10-17
This book is quite well written, and shows the folly of arrogantly trying to rebuild Iraq after the war without having done the necessary homework on that country and with very selfish and dubious motives on the part of the Bush Administration. Nicely written book, informative and objective to the last page.
An outstanding book about the incompetence we have shown in Iraq.......2007-10-11
Any book has bias and I do not doubt that Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a journalist for the Washington Post, saw some things in Iraq in a bias way. Still, this book is a MUST read for anyone to better understand just where we went wrong in Iraq. At times, I felt I was reading a PJ O'Rourke or Carl Hiaasen book about government bureaucrats ruining yet another program. At other times, I just shook my head in disbelief and some of the arrogance and absurdity of the people put in positions of power in Baghdad. As I read the book I realized that it is no wonder that the Iraqi people are tired of us.
The author points out that many Americans were put in positions of power and authority with no real expertise or understanding of Iraqi culture or Islamic culture. Resumes from neoconservatives were all that was needed to head up programs so loyalty meant everything. The drawback, of course, was that people with no real idea of what the heck they were doing ended up bungling up everything they touched.
This book reminds me that our nation needs to stop and think of what our role is supposed to be. George Marshall, creator of the genius Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, is spinning around in his grave right now as the incompetence in Iraq makes me wonder what happened to real leaders in our nation. Bremer? Rumsfeld? Cheney? Clueless. This book points that out with the evidence and it's a chilling reality of the mistakes we are making on an hourly basis in that nation.
Pretty close to the truth...sorry to say.......2007-10-09
I was working at the CPA during the time the author covers in his book. I think I may have been at some of the meetings he describes. He captures the sense of the CPA, a bunch of well-intentioned, hard-working people without much of a clue about how to run an occupation in an Arab country. These were heady times and we believed we were birthing a new democracy. Few of us were equipped to pull it off and the split between DoD and the rest of the US and coalition governments doomed us from the start.
I was there!.......2007-10-06
I did a tour at the American Embassy in 2006, after the events recorded in "Imperial Life." It was fun being able to read about details of the Republican Palace, then go to that particular feature and see it for myself. More importantly, I could put what I read into context, both in the Embassy and in Iraq itself. Even though the CPA no longer occupies the Green Zone, the isolation of the military and state department staff from events occurring around us was similar to what happened to the CPA in "Imperial Life." Most staff (military included) rarely leave the the Green Zone making the average non-Iraqi resident unaware of what goes on beyond the walls. If you want to understand what living in the Green Zone is like, and why progress is slow in Iraq read this book.
Timely information.......2007-09-23
"Imperial Life" is honest, first hand, information. The author has a good grasp of the subject, of the surroundings and above all, of reality. He is able to pick up the essentials and deal with them without exaggerating his importance or his role. He is a well informed man, as he should be. The book is very well put together, and a pleasure to read. It is above all, timely. This means, regretably, that its importance shall pass, as the events he decribe will give in time place to "new improved" versions. The importance for historians to come and to serious readers will not be diminished.
Average customer rating:
- Exciting
- Tedious and Repetitive
- Tired of the Mercenary Plot
- Whiny, bossy heroine
- Waiting for the Next Book
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Stalemate (Eve Duncan Forensics Thrillers)
Iris Johansen
Manufacturer: Bantam
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ASIN: 055380345X
Release Date: 2006-12-26 |
Book Description
Eve Duncan has turned down the job twice already. Her skill and devotion in identifying murder victims and helping bring their killers to justice may be world-renowned. But Eve works exclusively for law enforcement and the families of the innocent, and the man on the other end of the phone is many things—none of them law-abiding or innocent.
One of the world’s most wanted men, little is really known about Luis Montalvo except that he is extraordinarily dangerous and that he never takes no for an answer. Now he wants Eve’s help in the worst way. For he believes they have something in common—and he’s about to prove it with a grisly warning.
Eve will leave everything and everyone behind, even the man she trusts and loves the most, Atlanta detective Joe Quinn, to travel to Montalvo’s luxurious armed compound in the Colombian jungle to identify the skull he has recovered. She has agreed to this devil’s bargain to save an innocent family, but also for a reason she can’t admit to Joe, to the CIA, to anyone. For the man in the jungle has promised to be able to give Eve what she wants most of all—the key to unlocking the darkest and most painful mystery of her past.
But Eve is in more danger than she can imagine. As she gets closer to identifying the skull, she finds herself caught between two ruthless killers with no way out. Now, with everything on the line, Eve Duncan must make the most chilling choice of all. And if she’s wrong…she’s dead.
Customer Reviews:
Exciting.......2007-10-05
I thought this was one of the author's better efforts with the introduction of a possible new romantic interest and a great deal of real action. I hope to see that relationship develop and the action to continue.
Tedious and Repetitive.......2007-10-01
In the beginning I really liked the character of Eve Duncan, but as the series progresses, I find myself liking this character less and less.
Maybe its her tedious marriage/partnership/relationship with Joe or that the majority of the books in the series continually places her adoptive daughter, Jane, in danger.
This series is becoming tedious and repetitive. Stalemate is a boring read. I found myself struggling to finish it. Maybe it should have been titled Snoozemates. Instead of buying these novels save your money and check them out of the library.
The only saving grace to this atrocious mess was Luis Montalvo. Although he was a notorious Colombian arms dealer and written to be the antagonist, I found myself intrigued by this character.
Iris Johansen does such a wonderful job describing this character that he becomes sympathetic rather then a villain. Whether or not this was her intention, I found myself rooting for a relationship to develop between Eve and Montalvo.
This almost relationship is what brought a freshness to the story.
Nothing new or interesting happens. The Eve Duncan series needs to change direction or end.
Hopefully, not before I find out more about Luis Montalvo.
Tired of the Mercenary Plot.......2007-09-30
I've been reading Johansen's books for nearly ten years now. I liked the first few Eve Duncan forensic books but I am becoming increasingly bored with the whole mercenary plot that she continues to write about. She seems to be out of fresh ideas. The plots have become cookie-cutter to me...a female goes to the jungle (there always seems to be a jungle involved), a mercenary is one of the main characters, there's sexual tension between them, a rescue is needed, blah blah blah. Each one is becoming predictable. I probably won't pick up another one if it's anything like the ones before it.
Whiny, bossy heroine.......2007-09-29
I have seldom disliked a main character as much as i did Eve Duncan in this book. She was truly ridiculous and unbelievable. Montalvo was painted as a hard, cold, sinister character, but she starts bossing him around from the get go. It was bad enough on the phone, but once she is in his compound, it became ludicrous with her stomping and storming around, issuing ultimatums.
SPOILER
But when she insisted on going on the mission to the cemetery and Montalvo meekly giving in, that was it for me. These are hard men, trained, mentally ready for the terrible things that could happen, but they give in to this stupid woman at every turn, putting the lives of many men at risk with her self righteous nonsense.
And frankly, I have never felt any real love from her toward Joe. Just lip service. There is no chemistry whatever between them.
I've always liked Iris Johansen, but will never read an Eve Duncan book again.
Waiting for the Next Book.......2007-09-10
The Eve Duncan series is ful of searching for her daughter, and danger.
This book was much better then Countdown, but not as good as the first three.
As for the new possible love interest, I am tired of Eve and Joe their romance has played out to the end, and now it is time for her to venture out.
I want the next book to come out so I can see if Luis told her where bonniw is.
Book Description
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom and the New York Times bestseller Crossroads of Freedom, among many other award-winning books, James M. McPherson is America's preeminent Civil War historian. Now, in this collection of provocative and illuminating essays, McPherson offers fresh insight into many of the most enduring questions about one of the defining moments in our nation's history. McPherson sheds light on topics large and small, from the average soldier's avid love of newspapers to the postwar creation of the mystique of a Lost Cause in the South. Readers will find insightful pieces on such intriguing figures as Harriet Tubman, John Brown, Jesse James, and William Tecumseh Sherman, and on such vital issues such as Confederate military strategy, the failure of peace negotiations to end the war, and the realities and myths of the Confederacy. This Mighty Scourge includes several never-before-published essays--pieces on General Robert E. Lee's goals in the Gettysburg campaign, on Lincoln and Grant in the Vicksburg campaign, and on Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief. In that capacity, Lincoln invented the concept of presidential war powers that are again at the center of controversy today. All of the essays have been updated and revised to give the volume greater thematic coherence and continuity, so that it can be read in sequence as an interpretive history of the war and its meaning for America and the world. Combining the finest scholarship with luminous prose, and packed with new information and fresh ideas, this book brings together the most recent thinking by the nation's leading authority on the Civil War. It will be must reading for everyone interested in the war and American history. "James McPherson is the master historian of the Civil War in our time." --Gabor Borritt, Director, Civil War Institute, Gettysburg College "Not merely is McPherson the leading living historian of the Civil War, but he is a scholar whose knowledge and authority are unsurpassed; when McPherson speaks, even in a minor key, people listen." --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
Customer Reviews:
Citizen Soldiers.......2007-09-22
The Forgotten Cause of the Civil War: A New Look at the Slavery Issue
I was very impressed with the way Union soldiers debated the issue of slavery in their letters (Slavery was not a controversy in the slave states, so no comparable debate took place among Confederate soldiers). Few Americans are also aware that Union soldiers' experience with confronting slavery in the South provided essential support for emancipation.
it is unprofessional to mix social activism and history.......2007-08-09
Instead of giving us a balanced study showing the foibles and positives of both sides, we are given this pro-Northern dribble. McPherson has a made career of distorting history to suit his social agenda, That puts him the same class as Howard Zinn and Eric Foner.
A Reader's Delight - Except for the UDC and the SCV! .......2007-08-05
With 'This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War' James McPherson demonstrates once again why he is America's foremost Civil War historian. McPherson serves up sixteen essays for your delectation (most of which have been previously published elsewhere).
McPherson arranges his essays around several themes: What caused the war? What were the goals of each side? What strategies did the leaders pursue? And how is the war remembered?
McPherson's genius lies in his ability to synthesize perspectives of value to any reader, but especially the general reader with some knowledge of the war. Many of the essays analyze recent scholarship with McPherson's encyclopedic knowledge and understanding gained from years of study. This reader especially appreciates McPherson's even-handed dispassionate scholarship in a still field laced with emotional landmines despite the passage of nearly 150 years.
Despite all that has been written, McPherson remains remarkably able to bring fresh insight. One essay ('Long-Legged Yankee Lies: The Lost Cause Textbook Crusade') examines the extraordinary efforts by Confederate loyalists to distort the war's history and its teaching, especially in Southern schools. No doubt that gets the goat of the SCV (Sons of Confederate Veterans) and the UDC (United Daughters of the Confederacy), but they don't like him anyway.
An earlier essay ('And the War Came') establishes beyond cavil that the institution of slavery and the interests behind it were the cause of the war. In other essays McPherson examines the relative merits of Grant, Lee, and Sherman and whether the South was foreordained to lose the war due to the imbalance of resources.
I am not a Civil War historian, but I can't imagine that even the most learned professor would not benefit from McPherson's wonderfully distilled insights. I've read a number of McPherson's other works and rank this book at the top. McPherson's sparkling prose and easy clarity made reading 'This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War' a rare pleasure.
Mighty Interesting.......2007-06-12
This is a fine series of essays and book reviews by the author of Battle Cry of Freedom, the best single volume on the Civil War. McPherson is a passonate and lively writer, full of interesting facts and angles on the War.
I would not, however, recommend this particular book for the Civil War neophyte, as it assumes a fair amount of prior knowledge. If your new to the subject, read Battle Cry of Freedom or any of a number of other comprehensive histories before moving on to this book.
Some of the topics:
Slavery as the the main cause of the War.
Harriet Tubman and John Brown.
Confederate war strategy-offense or defense?
Antietam as the death knell for British and French recognition of the Confederacy.
Lee's goals in Gettysberg campaign.
Jesse James' post-war motivations.
Southern censorship of history textbooks inconsistent with the "Lost Cause."
Grant and Sherman.
The North's transition from restraint to total war.
Copperhead newspapers.
Peace negotiations.
Herndon on Lincoln.
Lincoln's exercise of war powers.
The tension between war powers and civil liberties is addressed in the last topic. After a military commission jailed Clement Vallandigham for "disloyal sentiments and opinions" at a crucial stage of the War, the Copperheads howled about free speech, trial by jury, and habeas corpus. Lincoln's famous response: "Must I shoot a simpleminded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch the hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?"
Excellent in every way..........2007-05-22
Prof. McPherson is, in my opinion, the dean of Civil War historians, a well-earned complement. This collection of essays is up to his usual high standards. They are thoughtful, persuasively argued and well-written. Whether one is new to CW scholarship or has read hundreds of titles, this should not be missed.
Book Description
A century after Appomattox, the civil rights movement won full citizenship for black Americans in the South. It should not have been necessary: by 1870 those rights were set in the Constitution. This is the story of the terrorist campaign that took them away.
Nicholas Lemann opens his extraordinary new book with a riveting account of the horrific events of Easter 1873 in Colfax, Louisiana, where a white militia of Confederate veterans-turned-vigilantes attacked the black community there and massacred hundreds of people in a gruesome killing spree. This was the start of an insurgency that changed the course of American history: for the next few years white Southern Democrats waged a campaign of political terrorism aiming to overturn the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and challenge President Grant’ssupport for the emergent structures of black political power. The remorseless strategy of well-financed “White Line” organizations was to create chaos and keep blacks from voting out of fear for their lives and livelihoods. Redemption is the first book to describe in uncompromising detail this organized racial violence, which reached its apogee in Mississippi in 1875.
Lemann bases his devastating account on a wealth of military records, congressional investigations, memoirs, press reports, and the invaluable papers of Adelbert Ames, the war hero from Maine who was Mississippi’s governor at the time. When Ames pleaded with Grant for federal troops who could thwart the white terrorists violently disrupting Republican political activities, Grant wavered, and the result was a bloody, corrupt election in which Mississippi was
“redeemed”—that is, returned to white control.
Redemption makes clear that this is what led to the death of Reconstruction—and of the rights encoded in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. We are still living with the consequences.
Customer Reviews:
A Needed Corrective.......2007-04-11
Nicholas Lemann's book "Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War," focuses on mostly forgotten and often sanitized versions of specific incidents that marked the end of Reconstruction and the regaining by White Southerns of state and local government institutions leading to Jim Crow and Segregation that continued for another 90 years or so. The book, relatively brief, examines in detail several incidents, one in Lousiana, the others in Mississippi where local vigalante groups seized control from local black officials through intimidation and massacres. It is perhaps not coincidential that the worst offenses took place in Mississippi, and perhaps some sort of rough justice that in exchange Mississippi remained for decades afterwards on the lowest rung of the ladder among the states in nearly every social and economic ranking.
Much of the book is through the eyes of one Adelbert Ames, a Union general, senator and governor of Mississippi, as revealed in the copius correspondence with his wife, Blanche Butler, who most of the time remained at home in the North. Because of weariness of the part of the North, insufficient troops, deliberate foot-dragging by US officials sympathetic to the South, and indecisiveness on the part of President Grant, these events from 1874-76 were allowed to precede with little intervention and protection of Black citizens. In effect, the withdrawal of Northern troops in 1877, the result of a compromise that ended the electoral stalemate in the Hayes/Tilden presidential election of 1876, overturned a major achievement of the Civil War, namely full citizenship and voting privileges for former African slaves. The result was another dark stain on American history and our pretenses of a just and equitable society where everyone has the chance to be president.
Because of its brevity, the book suffers from a lack of context of how overall Reconstruction had proceeded in the South, it's weaknesses and its victories. The book also would have been improved through a map, particularly Mississippi and the various places where the rampages of the vigantes took place. Another improvement would have been photographs of the several colorful characters portrayed. But all in all, for a brief look at an important moment in American history, the book is highly recommended.
Last Battle?.......2007-03-14
The subtitle is a little bit of a cheat, for the Civil War was long over by the time the massacres of 1875 began, but after reading Nicholas Lemann's book on the failure of Reconstruction and the life of Civil War General Adelbert Ames, I can see why he decided to bend the truth and capture the huge Civil War market.
he shows how JFK was a patsy to the Southern Conservative myth of Reconstruction and how, in PROFILES IN COURAGE (1956) Kennedy included Lucius Lamar of Mississippi as an avatar of courage, when in actuality he was a liar and a bigot and was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of Mississippi freedmen. What was JFK thinking? Well, as Lemann points out, this was not an anomaly in Kennedy's otherwise antiracist public profile. Indeed it was part and parcel of his curiously suspect voting record and public stand towards the race question. It was as though, in the polarized 1950s, he had to keep the Southern Democrats happy in order to win their support for the campaign he saw coming his way. PROFILES IN COURAGE dismisses Adelbert Ames, Lemann's (admittedly flawed) hero, as a mere carpetbagger, not worthy of living in Mississippi, a `foreigner' and an Abolitionist. The strange thing is that, he lived so long (at age 98, he was the oldest surviving Civil War officer) his daughter Blanche was on hand to shame Kennedy into agreeing to change future editions of PROFILES. Then her years of disappointment began, for even though Senator, and then President Kennedy, had agreed to re-research Reconstruction, he never did, and when she kept bugging him he enlisted the help of her grandson, "Paper Lion" George Plimpton, to call his honorable kinswoman off his back. Of course all of these people had incredible privilege and wealth.
A needed corrective to the Reconstruction story.......2007-02-24
Having lived in the South for the first 21 years of my life, I can attest to the staying power of the myths of Reconstruction and the succeeding era which I was taught to call Redemption.
The central motif of these myths is that of courageous, heroic whites finally standing up to a brutal Northern occupation, but turning to violence only when physically threatened.
Some prominent historians -- Eric Foner in particular -- have been forthright and comprehensive in setting out the true facts. In my readings, there have been two aspects still missing from such large-scale works. First of all, a visceral, detailed accounting of the intensity of white-on-black violence has been needed. Second, we have lacked a nuanced, detailed biography of Adelbert Ames, perhaps the best exemplar of the promise interracial cooperation held for the South.
In "Redemption", journalist Nicholas Lemann makes an attempt to remedy both these insufficiencies in a narrative aimed at the non-specialist reader. Instead of giving us a comprehensive study of how integrated southern state governments were driven from power, Lemann chooses instead to focus primarily on the single example of Mississippi, with some inclusion of parallel events in neighboring Louisiana. And the story of Reconstruction Mississippi cannot successfully be understood without considering the career of New Englander Adelbert Ames, a Union veteran who became first the state's senator and then governor during this period.
Lemann recounts instance upon instance of politically-inspired and deadly violence that steadily drove Republican voters, especially blacks, from the polls. While many leading white Democrats maintained deniability and claimed that such attacks were rare and always provoked by the other side, and while President Grant's commitment to federal protection decisively waned, Governor Ames cast off his naivete and tried to counter with what forces he could muster. But without timely federal intervention, this proved an impossible task. Ames was finally forced to face facts, and he resigned the governorship and left the state for good. The Solid South was born with violence as midwife.
Lemann's choices mean that he needs to do three things well. First, with respect to bringing home the intensity, pervasiveness, and comprehensive effects of the violence, Lemann is especially convincing, at least within Mississippi (and to a less significant extent Louisiana). Second, his incorporation of an Ames biography is in itself valuable and multi-faceted. But it doesn't serve as a full-fledged biography due to the author's chronological boundaries. We do learn of Ames' background and his significant relationships with others, most notably his wife and father-in-law; these are important in understanding Ames' behavior in Mississippi. But for Ames' life after Mississippi, Lemann takes only a cursory wrap-up approach.
Finally, we should expect Lemann to do a convincing job of integrating these two intersecting narratives. In this he is largely successful. But there are moments when his attention to the details of Ames' life, while welcome to this reader, may yet seem only remotely relevant to the larger story of the Redemption era.
In 1933 Adelbert Ames became the last Civil War officer to die. The myths of Redemption have lived on long after, and Lemann's book is a significant contribution to puncturing those myths and establishing the truth.
Mississippi Burning.......2007-02-09
This is a story on how government failed, how the civil rights of freed slaves and blacks became a political playground of hate and deceit and how victory on the battlefield was lost to thugs & cowards. It clearly shows how history can be manipulated by the criminals who ushered in a sordid era of Jim Crow laws while others looked away.
Author Nicholas Lemann does a magnificent job in detailing the death of Reconstruction through white terrorism in Mississippi in the 1870s, which emboldened the white racists throughout the south to institute what became known as the "Mississippi Plan" of intimidation and murder to seize power in every government institution and to kick blacks back into servitude.
The heroes are the victims - the blacks and some white Republicans - who boldly stood alone while the mobs seized control in a revolution of aversion, and then afterwards wrote the articles and books, whose key lies are still being taught as factual history today.
You will be angered as Lemann explains as a reporter how Reconstruction was lost. But then look around, and realize that the subtitle, The Last Battle of the Civil War, may be incorrect. Unless this country confronts the harsh realities of the past, the last battle of the Civil War has yet to be fought, or won.
America's Own Terrorists.......2007-02-04
In this short historical account, Nicholas Lemann tells the disturbing story of how ex-confederates in Mississippi brought about the end of Reconstruction in 1875 through an orchestrated campaign of savagery and deception.
The "Mississippi Plan" employed an ugly and brutal pattern: when freed slaves attempted to exercise their political rights--by convening political rallies, becoming candidates for office or simply trying to vote--southern whites responded with hellish violence, not merely fighting the freed slaves, but coldly murdering them in front of friends or family or, worse, hunting them down if they fled.
To justify their heinous conduct, the whites invented an emotionally laden cover story that, to this very day, resonates among the American public. In their view, the violence was necessary to forestall imminent "Negro uprisings," prevent rape and pillage by brutish and bestial blacks, and redeem the honor of the south from the depredation of northern carpetbaggers who seized control of the political system by duping or bribing the newly freed slaves.
The key to the Mississippi Plan was the public relations tactic of presenting the organized slaughter of blacks as random local incidents, a tactic that discouraged President Grant from sending federal troops to secure the rights of the newly enfranchised citizens. Absent this safeguard, the intimidation worked, and the Democrats won control of key offices, despite significant Republican majorities among registered or potential voters. With the outcome of the presidential election of 1876 in dispute, the nation embraced the "Compromise of 1877" in which the Democrats agreed to let Rutherford Hayes become president and the Republicans agreed to the removal of the remaining federal troops from the South. Reconstruction was over.
Much of this tale is told through the eyes of Adelbert Ames, a Northerner and celebrated Union Army general who was elected Governor of Mississippi by the multitude of new black voters. Sometimes the book reads like a biography of Ames. Only at the end does Lemann step back from the detailed account and provide the larger picture of how the "Mississippi Plan" became the blueprint for the entire Southern strategy to end Reconstruction and how the nation shamefully abandoned its commitment to true citizenship for blacks.
As I read "Redemption," a profound sense of disgust and outrage rose within me. So horrific, repulsive, and needless was the conduct of the Southern Democrats that, at times, I felt Lemann must have been omitting facts that would have balanced the story. But this is precisely Lemann's point: when Southerners today celebrate the honor and courage of Dixie, they are endorsing a fiction that was invented in 1875. There was no honor, only terror of helpless black victims.
Book Description
On the night of the presidential election in 1876, a gang of counterfeiters out of Chicago attempted to steal the entombed embalmed body of Abraham Lincoln and hold it for ransom. The custodian of the tomb was so shaken by the incident that he willingly dedicated the rest of his life to protecting the president's corpse.
In a lively and dramatic narrative, Thomas J. Craughwell returns to this bizarre, and largely forgotten, event with the first book to place the grave robbery in historical context. He takes us through the planning and execution of the crime and the outcome of the investigation. He describes the reactions of Mary Todd Lincoln and Robert Todd Lincoln to the theft--and the peculiar silence of a nation. He follows the unlikely tale of what happened to Lincoln's remains after the attempted robbery, and details the plan devised by the Lincoln Guard of Honor to prevent a similar abominable recurrence.
Along the way, Craughwell offers entertaining sidelights on the rise of counterfeiting in America and the establishment of the Secret Service to combat it; the prevalence of grave robberies; the art of nineteenth-century embalming; and the emergence among Irish immigrants of an ambitious middle class--and a criminal underclass.
This rousing story of hapless con men, intrepid federal agents, and ordinary Springfield citizens who honored their native son by keeping a valuable, burdensome secret for decades offers a riveting glimpse into late-nineteenth-century America, and underscores that truth really is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Customer Reviews:
I'm off to Springfield..........2007-09-21
A must read before your next tour to Springfield, IL and I apologize to all my grade school teachers for rolling my eyes during those trips. This has got to be one of the most intriguing series of historical data I have ever read. Craughwell will place you squarely in the middle of it all.
wonderful book.......2007-07-22
The box was full of ants. They spilled out when I opened the box. It was really creepy.
Love This Book!.......2007-07-16
I had just finished American Brutus and was hungry for more on the subject when I came across this charming and extremely well told narrative of the plot to steal Lincoln's body. Mr. Craughwell has a pitch perfect ear, capturing both the tragedy of the assassination and the rollicking comedy of a young country where enterprise and illegality often overlapped. Counterfeit wampum, the tricks of the embalming trade, the excesses of tabloid journalism...this is the kind of book that gets you hooked on history for life and delights those of us who got hooked so many years ago.
Thomas Craughwell exhumes a bizarre and long forgotten episode in our nations history........2007-07-16
It was an incident that I had never heard of or read about anywhere. Indeed, when I asked about a dozen friends and relatives not one of them had ever heard about it either. On Election Night 1876 Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes attempted to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln from the sarcophagus inside the Lincoln Monument at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Il. It was all part of a bizarre plot concocted by a two-bit counterfeiter known as Big Jim Kennally. "Stealing Lincoln's Body" recalls this somewhat obscure tidbit of history. This is a fascinating tale that will go a long way to help the reader understand just what was going on in these United States back in 1876 and in the years that followed.
Perhaps the most important fact that you will come across in "Stealing Lincoln's Body" is that in 1876 nearly half of the money in circulation was counterfeit. I found this to be absolutely incredible! This was a serious problem that was wreaking havoc with the nation's economy as we attempted to bounce back from the Civil War. One of the most accomplished counterfeiters of that era was a man named Benjamin Boyd who hailed from Cincinnati, OH which at that time was recognized as the counterfeit capitol of the nation. It was his arrest and incarceration in October, 1875 that would eventually lead to the plot to steal the body of President Lincoln.
"Stealing Lincoln's Body" reveals the intimate details of how the plot to steal the President's body and hold it for ransom was hatched. You will be introduced to Elmer Washburn, chief of the Secret Service and to detective Patrick Tyrrell who were both instrumental in foiling the plot to steal Lincoln's body. And you will meet John Carroll Power, the custodian of the Lincoln Monument and the group of men who were part of a secret society that would come to be known as "The Lincoln Guard of Honor". In addition, you will discover the fascinating secret about the actual whereabouts of President Lincoln's body in the years following the attempt to steal it. You will also learn a bit about what was going on in the very sad life of Abraham Lincoln's widow Mary. She would never get over the assasination of her husband. In addition, you will gain some new insights into the life of the Lincoln's only surviving son Robert Todd Lincoln. Robert would have to be classified as somewhat of an enigma and his life certainly would take any number of strange twists and turns along the way.
I found "Stealing Lincoln's Body" to be an extremely engrossing read. I also would be remiss if I failed to mention the 20 pages of photographs included here that really seemed to bring these events to life for me. Thomas Craughwell has done a fine job of bringing to light an important piece of American history. Recommended!
One of the best!!.......2007-07-09
One of the best history books I've read in a long time! Some fascinating and little known facts. Couldn't put it down!
Book Description
Written by a leading Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, this text describes the social, economic, political, and ideological conflicts that led to a unique, tragic, and transitional event in American history. The third edition incorporates recent scholarship and addresses renewed areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era including the motivations and experiences of common soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Civil War reference - Brilliant narrative.......2006-09-24
Ordeal by Fire is an excellent reference for anyone studying the Civil War. James McPherson has a brilliant narrative style that makes his work a pleasure to read, and easy to comprehend. This is a must-read book for anyone studying the civil war. It is also a good reference for the Reconstruction era.
Excellent Civil War Depiction.......2005-09-21
Ordeal By Fire has been an excellent source so far of what caused America to enter into a full scale Civil War
Brilliant!.......2005-03-23
Insightful, and comprehensive. I bought this book in order to study for a DSST exam on the Civil War. I find myself going back to it now just for the joy of reading it. By the way, the book does a super job of getting you ready for the exam.
Second to None.......2004-02-15
McPherson's work here is quite comprehensive, notwithstanding The Battle Cry of Freedom, and quite detailed which makes it exactly the right text of choice for a Civil War classroom. The maps, charts, and photographs show without crowding the material the nature of the battles and campaigns the Union and Confederacy fought against each other. The photographs include gems that drive the ravaging, taxing, bloody hell of war home to readers. One cannot help but be shocked by the photograph on page 490 or many of the others depicting the horrors of war. That is one of many reasons that make this a book worth reading. Also worth mentioning is the meticulous amount of information and the methods by which it is organized. McPherson's text is mainly digested details of the war as he rarely refers the reader to other sources. There is an excellent organization to the text that makes it second to none.
Outstanding textbook.......2003-10-14
While the general reader or Civil War buff might enjoy McPherson's popular "Battle Cry of Freedom," this book in a first rate textbook on the Civil War. McPherson spends ample time exploring the causes of war: the disputes over slavery in the territories, the attempts at compromise, and finally the start of the war itself. His military analysis of various battles is suscinct but comprehensive: satisfying to the military history buff, but not confusing to the lay reader.
Most importantly, McPherson incorporates a lengthy discussion of Reconstruction into the book (an element missing in "Battle Cry of Freedom"), thus describing the crucial aftermath of the war.
Book Description
Here's everything students must know about computed tomography to excel in the classroom, score big on the ARRT exams, and thrive in clinical practice. Covers the full range of topics--ultrasound interaction with tissue, the ultrasound beam and image, quality control, the biological effects of ultrasound, image artifacts, and more.
Customer Reviews:
New book just like ad described.......2007-09-28
THis book was new just like the ad described and I received it very quickly. THanks a bunch.
Computed Tomography by Stewart Bushong.......2007-01-13
I am very impressed by Stewart Bushong's books. This book is concise, easy to follow and presented in a way that keeps your interest. The last time I performed a CT scan was in 1987. I am preparing to work on a 16 slice unit and this is one of the books I chose to help me get up to par in CT. I have been doing MRI since '87...lots have changes have occurred in CT imaging and I know Bushong can help me catch up!
NICE BOOK.......2007-01-09
I PASSED MY REGISTRY SO I GUESS IT WORKED. LOVE BUSHONG SINCE I TOOK HIS COURSE IN RAD SCHOOL IN HOUSTON. HE IS VERY SMART BUT SOMETIMES CAN BE A LITTLE OVER MY HEAD. STILL A GREAT BOOK TO STUDY FROM.
only covers part of the registry.......2006-11-11
good review of important physics of CT.
This however is only a small part of the registry.
If you want to prepare for the registry get Medical Imaging Consultants book.
Good for someone who is just beginning to study CT.......2006-02-22
I purchased this book for a quick review. I have already passed my boards and wanted a refresher. This book was not the book to use for that. It was written elementarily. I think if you only knew little about CT it could be helpful. Or if you didn't understand something, maybe it would help explain things better.
Book Description
This comprehensive text achieves the ultimate goal of crime scene investigation in answering – What happened? – Who was responsible for each action? – What was the sequence of each action? Readers see the importance of each step through authentic photos, real life cases and full coverage of crime scene reconstruction. It also includes the most recent technological advances in the forensic sciences (i.e. database technologies, digital cameras, DNA analyses, and computer-aided crime scene reconstructions). Systematically organized to follow the same sequence in which crime scenes are processed, this is one of the most informative texts of its kind available.
Introduces crucial concepts regarding collecting, examining and interpreting physical evidence. Comprehensive coverage of procedural methods for crime scene searches, photography, sketching, and collecting of all major physical evidence categories. Extensive coverage of sexual assault investigations including how to collect physical evidence from the crime scene, from the victim and from the suspect. Key information regarding homicide scene investigations, including the procedures essential to the forensic autopsy. Examines the various types of physical evidence used in reconstructions.
Serves as comprehensive reference for those working in law enforcement.
Book Description
Bloodstain pattern analysis helps establish events associated with violent crimes. It is a critical bridge between forensics and the definition of a precise crime reconstruction. The second edition of this bestselling book is thoroughly updated to employ recent protocols, including the application of scientific method, the use of flow charts, and the inter-relationship of crime scene analysis to criminal profiling. It provides more illustrations, including color photographs, and explains the use of computer programs to create demonstrative evidence for court. Bloodstain Pattern Analysis provides forensic scientists, investigators, and attorneys with quick and accurate information.
Customer Reviews:
Exceptional.......1998-10-01
I was a student in one of Ross Gardner's bloodstain pattern analysis classes using these principles. Very informative and quite interesting.
Amazon.com
Published in 1988 to universal acclaim, this single-volume treatment of the Civil War quickly became recognized as the new standard in its field. James M. McPherson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for this book, impressively combines a brisk writing style with an admirable thoroughness. He covers the military aspects of the war in all of the necessary detail, and also provides a helpful framework describing the complex economic, political, and social forces behind the conflict. Perhaps more than any other book, this one belongs on the bookshelf of every Civil War buff.
Book Description
Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War--the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry--and then moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself--the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Particularly notable are McPherson's new views on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory. The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war--slavery--and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. This "new birth of freedom," as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict. This authoritative volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty.
Customer Reviews:
Great read with a Northern bias.......2007-10-05
As many others have commented, this is a great one volume history of the Civil war and is easy to read.
The long build up to the firing on Fort Sumter also sets the political context well though I agree with some other reviewers that the narrative is a little thin on the battle sequences. But for a detailed account of the military campaigns to have been included you'd have needed alot more than the 862 pages of this book. So my verdict is that it's as good as it gets for a work of this size.
There's definitely a Northern bias so I'll be reading Shelby Foote's 3 volumes to get a more Southern perspective.
As MacPherson so aptly ends his work the point about the Civil War was that in many ways the secession consisted of a counter-Revolution. Southern Society in fact represented the old, pre-industrial world, mirrored in many parts of Europe at the time, while it was in the North that the real revolution had occurred. My one criticism therefore is that I would have liked to see this theme developed a little more. Was slavery really the central issue which MacPherson makes it or was the war more a clash of competing social visions, with the Southern States' vision more closely resembling that of the Founding Fathers?
With the power of Federal Government increasing daily over our lives this question has more relevance today than it has had in decades.
A great read.
Too much, too small.......2007-09-19
First, prior to reading "Battle Cry for Freedom", I read "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin which encompassed the political aspect of the era. "Team of Rivals" was one of the best books I have read in a while which made "Battle Cry of Freedom" pail in comparison. My saving hope was "Battle Cry of Freedom" would cover more of the war aspect which is done, sort of.
The beauty of this books is its scope in which it covers the war, the politics, daily lifestyles, North and South (I think its focused more on the Union), the economics, the issues and leaders of the era (1850's to 60's). It truly is comprehensive in terms of it being a single volume. To that point, simply the vast amount of information is crammed into the book and much detail is left out. For example, less than 40 pages (out of approx 850 pages) are dedicated to the closing year of the war when Grant took over command of the entire army. Numerous major battles and campaigns took place where a lot of detail was not allotted. I felt the author rushed through this part especially since it being a climatic part of the war. Another example is the assaination of Lincoln (and atteps of cabinet embers) was limited to one paragraph in the approx. 8 page epilogue. So with the ending of the war, the book ended just as abruptly. The book itself was all bones and very little meat. In this respect, this is a good book for one who would like a light, general background on the Civil War and the era. But for those who are truly interested in this American War and the politics, I find there are far better books and one book simply will not suffice.
The book read more or less like a text book (dry) vs. a good novel. There was a review in which someone said "every hear of a movie in which everyone was saying how great a film it was but when you watched it, you scratched your head wondering if you didn't get it cause it wasn't that good to justify the rave over it?" Well my sentiments exactly. This book gets high praise but I failed to see why it was so good. I contemplated putting it down numerous times and being satisfied with reading "Team of Rivals" for the politics and Shelby Foote's trilogy (for the war itself). But I persevered. I did learn a lot for this book, do not get me wrong. But it was a chore to remain interested with the author's style and drudge forward reading on. I probably would not recommend it to a friend but rather the Kern's or Foote's books instead.
Superb account of the civil war!.......2007-08-13
Having read about a quarter into the book so far, I find it a gripping account of the affairs leading up to the American Civil War and the war itself. Being a European I didn't know much about this era of American history (and I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of it!) but it gives a superb insight in what made this war happen and how it progressed. Every aspect of that time is covered: social, economic, political and judicial (my personal favorite) events that shaped the history of the first three quarters of 19th century America. I think this book will be a valuable addition to any one's library who's interested in Amercian history and politics, not just the civil war itself, even though that is of course the main theme of this book. A definite must-buy!
Best 1 Volume History of the War.......2007-08-03
This is simply the best single volume history of the Civil War Era in existence. The book flows exceptionally well, reading almost like a good fiction story rather than nonfiction. Grossly entertaining yet informative, treatment and coverage of the period is pretty well balanced. Although I disagree with McPherson's analysis that a Northern Political Revolution started the war or his contingency theory that at several key instances, had events unfolded differently, the outcome of the south would have been successful in her attempt at permanent disunion. However, it is still the best, and still my favorite one volume history of the era.
Finest book on the Civil War.......2007-07-30
As has been said here before: If you only read one book on the history of the Civil War, make it this book! I never expected such a comprehensive and detailed survey of the political, social and economic forces at play to be contained in this one book. There are few books I buy extra copies of to pass around to friends, but this is one that has earned that rank. The only other I can think of at this time is Unintended Consequences by John Ross. Don't pass this one by either.
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