Book Description
Respected for its coverage of foreign policy and domestic politics, Present Tense also provides a thorough examination of social and cultural history. The new edition includes a greater focus on the 1970s and 1980s, and increased coverage of recent immigration.
- New! Co-author Karen Anderson of the University of Arizona specializes in women's history in the modern period.
- New! The new "American Trends and Issues" boxed feature focuses on institutions that have undergone great change in the post-World War II era, including health care, education, science, corporate culture, medicine, broadcast journalism, and more.
- New! The Third Edition features increased coverage of post-World War II domestic issues, recent immigration, popular culture, and religion.
- New! A new final chapter covers the Clinton presidency, foreign affairs in the post-Cold War period, the 2000 presidential election, terrorism and the attacks of September 11, and global and economic issues in the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Very descriptive.......2006-05-04
The book along with the other "On our Own" are very well written books that answer all the question you might have.
Best history book Ive ever read.......2005-04-26
Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. Im actually selling it and if it were not due to finances I would keep it. I found the authors' to be fair and accurate. I simply believe this is one of the best styles of writing of history that Ive ever had the pleasure of reading. I believe all political views and belief's have been left at the editing table and only the facts presented unlike other history books Ive come across.
Book Description
This provocative book describes the sharp right turn the United States has taken following the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980. The treatment details how the policies pursued by the Reagan administration were a break from both the policies pursued by prior administrations and those pursued in other wealthy countries. The Reagan administration policies had the effect of redistributing both before- and after-tax income upward, creating a situation in which the bulk of the economic gains over the last quarter century were directed to a small segment of the population. The analysis explains how both political parties have come largely to accept the main tenets of Reaganism, putting the United States on a path that is at odds with most of the rest of the world and is not sustainable.
Customer Reviews:
Getting a Handle on 25 Years.......2007-07-24
Good compact survey of economic and political trends since 1980. Baker correctly (I believe) sees that date with the election of the arch-conservative Ronald Reagan as a watershed year. The narrative follows chronologically from the 1980 threshold and its background in the feckless Carter administration. Graphs and tables are included to buttress his points but do not disrupt the flow. It's not a polemical or particularly partisan work, though a critical undercurrent is sensed from time to time. Social issues such as gay rights, abortion, and other leading movements including the rise of religious fundamentalism are also discussed but not emphasized. There's not a lot of depth, though he's clearly most comfortable discussing causal factors shaping economic policy. Thus considerable light is shed on economic policy, particularly during the Reagan years. Put in perspective, the rightward swing over the past 25 years is unmistakable, as business backers see an opportunity to jettison or fatally weaken decades of fettering regulation. Now is a good time-- with the Bush debacle-- to get a handle on what this swing has wrought. Baker's handy little tome is a good place to start.
Enlightening and Entertaining.......2007-05-16
Fast reading and informative. I'll never view our goverment in the same light. The work was carfefully researched, the footnotes are plentiful. Once you read the first page its unlikely you can put the book down till its completed.
Dean Baker is the best.......2007-03-21
This book isn't what I expected. I wanted more facts and information on how the middle class has lost ground since 1980. This book is a good overview of government policy for the past twenty five years. You walk away from this book with a good overview of history. I'm going to have to dig a little deeper for the actual data that this book was based upon.
I'm a huge Dean Baker fan. Most economists are slaves to their perspectives. It's really hard to get good economic and fiscal views outside the corporate American view. Baker allows us to be free.
Baker predicts a recession this year because of the housing bubble. Lets see how accurate he is. I'm betting on Baker. Don't bank on the Wall Street guys, they seem more interested in protecting their clients than getting you truth.
Book Description
In 1958, an African-American handyman named Jimmy Wilson was sentenced to die in Alabama for stealing two dollars. Shocking as this sentence was, it was overturned only after intense international attention and the interference of an embarrassed John Foster Dulles. Soon after the United States' segregated military defeated a racist regime in World War II, American racism was a major concern of U.S. allies, a chief Soviet propaganda theme, and an obstacle to American Cold War goals throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Each lynching harmed foreign relations, and "the Negro problem" became a central issue in every administration from Truman to Johnson.
In what may be the best analysis of how international relations affected any domestic issue, Mary Dudziak interprets postwar civil rights as a Cold War feature. She argues that the Cold War helped facilitate key social reforms, including desegregation. Civil rights activists gained tremendous advantage as the government sought to polish its international image. But improving the nation's reputation did not always require real change. This focus on image rather than substance--combined with constraints on McCarthy-era political activism and the triumph of law-and-order rhetoric--limited the nature and extent of progress.
Archival information, much of it newly available, supports Dudziak's argument that civil rights was Cold War policy. But the story is also one of people: an African-American veteran of World War II lynched in Georgia; an attorney general flooded by civil rights petitions from abroad; the teenagers who desegregated Little Rock's Central High; African diplomats denied restaurant service; black artists living in Europe and supporting the civil rights movement from overseas; conservative politicians viewing desegregation as a communist plot; and civil rights leaders who saw their struggle eclipsed by Vietnam.
Never before has any scholar so directly connected civil rights and the Cold War. Contributing mightily to our understanding of both, Dudziak advances--in clear and lively prose--a new wave of scholarship that corrects isolationist tendencies in American history by applying an international perspective to domestic affairs.
Customer Reviews:
An enlightening book on public diplomacy .......2007-01-11
If you think Las Vegas tourist ads and "listening tours" are components of public diplomacy and international relations, you need to read this book. If you think media coverage is intense now, you need to read this book. Dudziak gets into the reality and impact of media coverage forty years ago and its impact on the global information war of the time that is remarkably similar to today: "Following World War II, anything that undermined the image of American democracy was seen as threatening world peace and aiding Soviet aspiration to dominate the world... Nations were divided between a way of life 'distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression' and a way of life that "relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms."
Dudziak looks at the impact of race and the civil rights movement in the United States on American public diplomacy and foreign policy. The impact of America's "color bar" on foreign relations is astonishing and Dudziak helps contextualize the movement and government responses within contemporary pressures.
Indiscriminate actions against foreign and American dignitaries reinforced the accessibility of race-based norms to all and played into Soviet propaganda and provided a painful counternarrative that impacted US foreign relations. The US Ambassador, Chester Bowles, to India, speaking in 1952 at Yale University said, "A year, a month, or even a week in Asia is enough to convince any perceptive American that the colored peoples of Asia and Africa, who total two-thirds of the world's population, seldom think about the United States without considering the limitations under which our 13 million Negroes are living."
As we attempted to project democracy and its emphasis on equality and freedom, in opposition to Soviet tyranny, discrimination in the US was well known beyond our borders. Dudziak presents "With Us or Against Us" examples with Louis Armstrong and Josephine Baker as examples, among others. In the case of Baker, State Department officers justified censorship and hardship imposed on Baker by discounting her personal beliefs. Her "derogatory" remarks "concerning racial discrimination in the United States" were deemed to be "presenting a distorted and malicious picture of actual conditions." If we do not practice democracy, how well will our promotion of it be received? This was a real question of the time that other history books ignore and was the very question Ambassador Bowles asked.
As Dudziak wrote, "Domestic difficulties were managed by US presidents with an eye toward how their actions would play overseas." Disingenuous or factually misleading statements to justify domestic policies and opinions are not the mainstay of any single generation. While not intending to be destructive to the nation, these policies have a severely detrimental affect on domestic cohesion and leadership within the foreign relations. Dudziak implies the race issue in the international press was the seed of negative views of the US. The golden temple of American democracy was seen as something falling short, even hypocritical. Locksley Edmunson, writing in 1973, could be speaking of today with our Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, and alleged secret CIA prisons when he wrote, "Those states best technically equipped to maintain world order are not necessarily the ones whose credentials recommend them as the most appropriate guardians of a global conscience."
You can read different things out of Mary Dudziak's book. As a student of public diplomacy, my take-away centered on the impact on foreign policy, which the author does a good job investigating. The take-away? Practice what you preach, or at least be effective in making them think you're trying to.
Causes and Effects.......2001-06-05
Upon first consideration one would think that the reciprocal influences of the Cold War and American civil rights activity would be self-evident. Perhaps, but Dudziak's book is full of surprises and details how galling the "American Dilemma" was to U.S. foreign policy-makers and various presidents and how each responded to the concerns of African, Asian, American, and European countries regarding the United States civil rights struggle over several decades. Why was civil rights legislation important to American foreign policy? How was Eisenhower's response to school desegregation in Little Rock influenced by foreign perceptions? How did the international attention to civil rights activity affect John Kennedy's domestic policies? Why was the State Department so concerned about Asian and African criticisms of the United States' record on civil rights? How was the Civil Rights Act of 1965 viewed by the international community? How did the views of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X affect United States foreign policy efforts? Was the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to an American activist also an international signal that worried a president and the State Department? These questions and many more are answered by Dudziak.
Dudziak deserves recognition and commendations for clearly demonstrating that the United States civil rights movement had a global as well as a national impact on America's foreign policy efforts and placed the United States squarely between the demands of a persecuted domestic minority and the scrutiny of the nations to which it declared itself the leader of human rights, liberty, and freedom in contrast to the totalitarian regimes of communist countries.
This book is well worth reading and an important addition to the growing number of books on the history of race relations that was not, and is not,taught in school. Kudos to Dudziak for an important job well done.
Eye Opening and Important -- A Great Read!.......2001-01-11
Mary Dudziak revisits a familiar chapter in American history--the civil rights movement--but provides readers with a completely new perspective on it.
We know about the work that was being done in the streets. But now Dudziak helps us see the movement through the eyes of America's cold war policymakers. For them, civil rights was a foreign policy problem, and Dudziak helps us see how this explains many of the movements successes and (maybe more important) many of its defeats.
Essential reading for everyone interested in American history, civil rights, constitutional law (yes, even Brown v. Board of Education must be seen in light of this analysis), and foreign policy.
Excellent!.......2001-01-08
This book is fabulous. Clear and articulate, it reads like a story and explores an aspect of the civil rights movement most authors and historians have neglected. It is meticulously researched and filled with information from sources ranging from presidential telephone conversations to news wires to official publications. The civil rights movement cannot be fully understood without reflecting upon the information contained in this book.
Book Description
"Without the Cold War, what's the point of being an American?" As if in answer to this poignant question from John Updike's Rabbit at Rest, Stephen Whitfield examines the impact of the Cold War--and its dramatic ending--on American culture in an updated version of his highly acclaimed study. In a new epilogue to this second edition, he extends his analysis from the McCarthyism of the 1950s, including its effects on the American and European intelligensia, to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and beyond.
Whitfield treats his subject matter with the eye of a historian, reminding the reader that the Cold War is now a thing of the past. His treatment underscores the importance of the Cold War to our national identity and forces the reader to ask, Where do we go from here? The question is especially crucial for the Cold War historian, Whitfield argues. His new epilogue is partly a guide for new historians to tackle the complexities of Cold War studies.
Customer Reviews:
Solid overview of US cultural history from 1946-1962.......2004-06-11
Whitfield's book serves as a succinct overview of American Cold War culture, which he defines as ending in the early 1960s (a questionable decision but one made by many scholars who employ the "Cold War Culture" rubric).
What sets apart this book from other entries in the literature is Whitfield's recognition of the importance of religion to Cold War America and his willingness to grapple with the Cold War's full range of moral implications (an element lacking in most academic studies of the domestic side of the Cold War, which tend to fixate endlessly on McCarthy, who is used to tar and discredit all variants of American anti-Communism). This is not to suggest that Whitfield is an apologist for McCarthy, not at all, but to commend Whitfield for understanding that, to paraphrase Arthur Koestler, the Cold War was the story of the United States fighting for a half-truth against a total lie.
Culture of Cold War -- Whitfield.......2001-07-14
Whitfield's book is extremely informative. The connections he makes are fascinating. The book made me want to go out to the library and Blockbuster and look at the popular books and movies he talks about for a second time in a fresh light.
Intelectually Challenging.......2001-02-17
This was rated a "3" by me because it was a little redundant as well as choppy. The book was great in the sense of intelecutal reading but lacked the story like atmosphere. I wouldn't recommend this book to be read for enjoyment, but it would be great if it were used as research on a paper. The chapters are broken up into sections 1,2,3,..etc, so once you have read one section the rest are really just other examples of what the author is trying to get across, easy to skim through for good facts and info. Good Luck!
Amazon.com
Part of the multivolume Oxford History of the United States, Grand Expectations spotlights the United States at the center of the international stage during the post World War II years. The book opens on country very different from the U.S. of today--racial segregation was law and more than half the nation's farm dwellings had no electricity. With England, Germany, and Japan ravaged by war, the U.S. entered a period of prosperity that soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. Though Patterson ends his book with the downfall of Nixon and the beginnings of a troubled economy, he concludes that the U.S. in 1974, "remained one of the most stable societies in the world."
Book Description
Beginning in 1945, America rocketed through a quarter-century of extraordinary economic growth, experiencing an amazing boom that soared to unimaginable heights in the 1960s. At one point, in the late 1940s, American workers produced 57 percent of the planet's steel, 62 percent of the oil, 80 percent of the automobiles. The U.S. then had three-fourths of the world's gold supplies. English Prime Minister Edward Heath later said that the United States in the post-War era enjoyed "the greatest prosperity the world has ever known." It was a boom that produced a national euphoria, a buoyant time of grand expectations and an unprecedented faith in our government, in our leaders, and in the American dream--an optimistic spirit which would be shaken by events in the '60s and '70s, and particularly by the Vietnam War. Now, in Grand Expectations, James T. Patterson has written a highly readable and balanced work that weaves the major political, cultural, and economic events of the period into a superb portrait of America from 1945 through Watergate. Here is an era teeming with memorable events--from the bloody campaigns in Korea and the bitterness surrounding McCarthyism to the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, to the Vietnam War, Watergate, and Nixon's resignation. Patterson excels at portraying the amazing growth after World War II--the great building boom epitomized by Levittown (the largest such development in history) and the baby boom (which exploded literally nine months after V-J Day)--as well as the resultant buoyancy of spirit reflected in everything from streamlined toasters, to big, flashy cars, to the soaring, butterfly roof of TWA's airline terminal in New York. And he shows how this upbeat, can-do mood spurred grander and grander expectations as the era progressed. Of course, not all Americans shared in this economic growth, and an important thread running through the book is an informed and gripping depiction of the civil rights movement--from the electrifying Brown v. Board of Education decision, to the violent confrontations in Little Rock, Birmingham, and Selma, to the landmark civil rights acts of 1964 and 1965. Patterson also shows how the Vietnam War--which provoked LBJ's growing credibility gap, vast defense spending that dangerously unsettled the economy, and increasingly angry protests--and a growing rights revolution (including demands by women, Hispanics, the poor, Native Americans, and gays) triggered a backlash that widened hidden rifts in our society, rifts that divided along racial, class, and generational lines. And by Nixon's resignation, we find a national mood in stark contrast to the grand expectations of ten years earlier, one in which faith in our leaders and in the attainability of the American dream was becoming shaken. Grand Expectations is the newest volume in the prestigious Oxford History of the United States. The earlier releases were highly acclaimed, and one, Battle Cry of Freedom, was both a New York Times bestseller and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Patterson's volume takes its rightful place beside these distinguished works. It is a brilliant summation of the years that created the America that we know today, a time of setbacks amid unmatched and lasting achievements.
Customer Reviews:
Oxford does it again!.......2006-12-17
Whenever you pick up an Oxford history of the United States you expect an attention to detail and excellent prose. This book does not disappoint. It covers the salient history during the time period and utilizes the top scholarship to do so. From urban history to social movements in the fifties and sixties this book covers everything. There is some repeating but that is to be expected when writing a book of this size. The coverage on the shifts in political viewpoints and the hope of the nation makes for fascinating reading. Patterson makes an interesting point with his ideas of the United States having Grand Expectations. His conclusions that go through what expectations fell short and what were filled puts the entire time period in a different and interesting perspective. This is a must read for any one interested in post world war 2 history or trying to understand how America arrived at where it is today.
It's like it all happened yesterday.......2005-10-31
The books in the Oxford History of the United States series appear to be of excellent literary and historical quality, and Grand Expectations is no exception. Picking up at the end of World War Two, James Patterson takes us on a broad journey over the panoramic American history of the next thirty years, ending with Vietnam and Watergate. Titles count, as one of my old college history professors liked to say, and this one counts well. America came out of the war as the only country stronger than when it entered. It was by far the war's biggest winner, due in various parts to geography, timing, luck, intelligent military planning, and economic might. The decades that followed saw America unfold its wings and soar like never before.
It also saw the rise of nuclear brinksmanship, several small but deadly wars in foreign lands, social conflict and turmoil on a scale never seen before, and the biggest change in basic lifestyles seen in America at that time. The rise of communications and transportation meant America was mobilized like never before. People knew what was in the world, and their own tiny corner of it no longer seemed enough. This meant, among other things, a hugely larger call for rights and privileges. Social welfare burgeoned. Racial tensions increased as a reluctant society was forced to acknowledge a deep and lasting stain on the body politic. Women would no longer be content to toil in the kitchen, cut off from the world.
Politically, the old ways were gone. The government grew in size and rancor. The red scare brought home the power of congress to assert its authority anywhere, and the importance of citizen alertness about their officials, a theme that would be again brought home in the Watergate scandal. On the world stage, America became the dominant player when the old players collapsed. Nuclear-armed America and Russia faced each other down, always threatening to destroy it all if things got out of hand. America intervened abroad on a scale never contemplated before, sometimes with good results and sometimes ending in disaster.
Grand expectations? Oh yes. The grandest, and the expectations have not ended. This is contemporary history, stuff that many readers may have lived through. These are events that are not distant, or behind us, but the direct precursors of the world we live in today. This is nearly the final chapter of the story of America that brings us to this very moment.
Just a Student.......2004-05-03
I had to read this book for my economics class. I had to choose it, it was actually one of the most informal books I've ever read. I don't read much, but this encouraged me to read more. Patterson explained it well. I say it explained most of all America's downfalls. Everything that went wrong with our poor decision making. What I thought was very eye catching is in trhe end he make a positive statement. I'm not saying everything was negative in the book, not at all, but it makes you think. I will have to read more of Oxford History Volumes.
A well-balanced overview of America's most troubled era.......2003-06-10
James Patterson has assembled the most comprehensive survey of contemporary American history. With the Cold War as the backdrop, he guides the reader through a tumultuous period that took in two wars and the Civil Rights movement. He amply describes the nature of these conflicts and the impact they had on American society. The leading figures are brought into focus, as well as the crucial events of the periods such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. He weaves in a wide variety of cultural issues such as religion, noting how it has influenced successive administrations. He ends the period with the downfall of Nixon, who appears throughout the book from his involvement in the House anti-American investigations, to his vice-presidency under Eisenhower to his subsequent presidency. It is a well-rounded account and a wonderful addition to the Oxford History of the United States.
What was most interesting to me was the powerful influence religion had on our society and the conflicts that arose during the Civil Rights movement and the Age of Aquarius. Patterson noted that Americans remained the most devoted church-goers throughout the troublesome 60's. The church became the rallying point of the Civil Rights movement, and also served as the bastion of white supremacy. Such contradictions made for volatile conflicts as each side felt it had the moral upper hand. The seemingly all-pervasive drug culture may have captured the public's imagination, but by and large America remained a nation of social conservatives.
Patterson provides good overviews of the Korean and Vietnam wars, tying them into the ideology of the Cold War. He shows the seamless pattern that ran through these conflicts, as well as other conflicts in which the US found itself embroiled in during its effort to defeat communism. The costly battles left millions of Asians dead and no clear victories, tarnishing the reputation we had achieved after WWII as the champion of democracy. He illustrates how each president from Truman to Nixon tried to avoid these conflicts, but somehow could never shake the "Losing China syndrome."
It is a well-documented book covering a tremendous amount of ground. Patterson steers clear of polemics, opting for a well-balanced assessment of the era. Naturally when one takes on such a broad subject, certain discrepencies do arise, but there are no glaring errors, and the book has a narrative grace that leads the reader effortlessly through the tumultuous events.
Interesting, readable, and careless.......2002-10-07
I read Patterson's book in order to improve my general understanding of the period (1945 - 1974) that he describes. Even though I had lived through those years, I realized that my knowledge and understanding of what happened then were somewhat cursory at best. I finished the book somewhat disapppointed. For one thing, even though my knowledge of the era was limited, I easily noticed a number of surprising errors.
In one egregious example, Patterson devotes a page (p. 276) to describe how `On March 1, 1954, the United States tested the world's first hydrogen bomb..'. He goes on to tell us how fallout from this test sickened crewmen on a Japanese fishing boat, and led to a public outcry. However, as he could have learned from an ordinary World Almanac, the United States tested the first hydrogen bomb in 1952, not 1954. The test he describes is actually the notorious Castle Bravo test, which did in fact occur on March 1, 1954. (The use of lithium deuteride fuel in this test led to an unpredicted secondary reaction, which in turn led the bomb to yield 15 megatons rather than the expected 6, thus endangering the Japanese fishermen, etc.)
At another point (p. 669) he preposterously tells us that the phrase `acid test' dates from the mid 1960's and stems from the use of LSD during that time. He would have been well-advised to consult an ordinary dictionary before making this claim - unless, in fact, it is merely a very subtle joke on the reader.
I also noticed his somewhat uncritical description of an April, 1972 bombing attack as `killing an estimated 100,000 North Vietnamese troops' (p. 758). One can only speculate on how many NVA soldiers Patterson thought were wounded in this attack, which must have marked a turning point in the history of warfare.
What I found especially unsettling about this sort of thing was Patterson's claim (p. xii) - a claim I have no reason to doubt - that a number of eminent historians `read every word' of his manuscript. One wonders - didn't any of these historians remember hearing people say `acid test' before the age of LSD? (Subsequently, after whatever fact-checking the publisher found appropriate, the book appeared as Volume X in the Oxford History of the United States, and went on to win the 1997 Bancroft Prize in History.)
So why, given its obvious unreliability with respect to facts, have I given this book four stars instead of one or two. In the first case, I make allowances for the sprawling unmanageability of the period, and of recent times in general. In the second case, the writing is reasonably balanced and judicious - though Patterson seems to be a liberal, he is neither hysterical nor shrilly self-righteous. Thirdly, the author has made a valiant effort to include and integrate coverage of foreign and domestic politics, the economy, social trends, popular and high culture, and so on. Finally, the book is very readable, though not nearly up to the literary level of its predecessor volume in the series, David Kennedy's distinguished Freedom From Fear: The American people in Depression and War, 1929-1945.
Book Description
A longtime investigative journalist uncovers one of the great untold stories of twentieth–century international intrigue, and the secrets it has held 㟵ntil now.
Shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis and Bobby Kennedy, two of the world's richest and most powerful men, disliked one another from the moment they first met. Over several decades, their intense mutual hatred only grew, as did their desire to compete for the affections of Jackie, the keeper of the Camelot flame.
Now, this shocking work by seasoned investigative journalist Peter Evans reveals the culmination of the Kennedy–Onassis–Kennedy love triangle: Onassis was at the heart of the plot to kill Bobby Kennedy. Nemesis meticulously traces Onassis's trail – his connections, the way that he financed the assassination – and includes a confession kept secret for three decades. With its deeply nuanced portraits of the major figures and events that shaped an era, Nemesis is a work that will not soon be forgotten.
Customer Reviews:
You won't be disappointed...........2007-06-25
Fans of Callas, Onassis, & Kennedy(s) should embrace this book a.s.a.p. Peter Evans does a wonderful job. What an extraordinary story that is told. I couldn't put this book down for several weeks. Even after I've finished it, it inspires re-reading. Highly recommended!!
Confusing.......2007-06-09
I thought that this book would be interesting to me because I like the Kennedy family and am interested in conspiracy theories, but I was wrong. This book is pretty good, but it is really confusing with so many people involved that sometimes it is hard to keep straight who this person is and what they did.
Rumors and Questions Answered.......2007-03-24
Those who find a conspiracy in every world event will be satisfied with the well-researched and well-written account of the possible involvement of Aristotle Onassis in the assassination of Robert Kennedy. As to the oft-asked question as to why Jacqueline Kennedy would want to marry the Greek tycoon, it is answered with a new understanding of the greed and lust that drove these compelling personalities. The narrative fairly jumps from the pages of this very fast read. Even the footnotes are fascinating.
Whoa!.......2006-05-04
What a fascinating, very well written book! It seemed every page had a juicy morsel or two and really opened my eyes into what was really going on during the last months of John Kennedy's life and why Jackie married Aristotle Onassis. As a teenager, I was shocked she'd married someone who obviously wasn't a friend of the United States. But Peter Evans portrays Onassis as someone so fascinating, even desirable in his "bulldog" approach to women, maybe money wasn't the only reason. Then again, once you read this book your whole image of "Camelot" and the "Holy Widow" will never be the same.
Review for Seller.......2006-01-15
The book came quickly and in exactly the condition stated: like brand new. Will definitely look this seller up again next time I'm shopping for books.
Book Description
"A rich, entertaining, and profound reading experience." -- The New York Times
"[The] most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam. It is also the Iliad of the American empire and the Odyssey of this nation's search for its idealistic soul. THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST is almost like watching an Alfred Hitchcock thriller." -- The Boston Globe
"Deeply moving . . . We cannot help but feel the compelling power of this narrative . . . . Dramatic and tragic, a chain of events overwhelming in their force, a distant war embodying illusions and myths, terror and violence, confusions and courage, blindness, pride, and arrogance." -- Los Angeles Times
"Most impressive, superb -- perceptive, literary, multidimensional." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A story which every American should read." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating account of Kennedy and Johnson and Vietnam.......2007-09-15
While a little dry sometimes this is Halberstam's definitive book. It really shows how the years of McCarthyism leading up to Kennedy's administration led to many terrible decisions about supporting Diem and trying to not look weak to the Russians. After the fiasco that was the Bay of Pigs Kennedy became even more determined to show strength. However the first tragedy among many was the assasination which while horrible in itself also came at a critical time in the course of the Vietnam policy. Halberstam theorizes that Kennedy was nearly ready to pull the plug on Vietnam when he died. Well written, incredibly well researched and an important book.
A number of similarities with Iraq 40 years later........2007-06-11
I read this book when it was first published and then found it to be an excellent description of the failures of the Kennedy-Johnson administration as it incrementally entered a war with North Vietnam. I have read it again after I read of Mr. Halberstam's death a few weeks ago.
I had been very bothered by the actions of the US in Iraq. After reading The Best and Brightest I know what was bothering me. It is a repeat although with different characters, different enemies, different locale but the same thinking process and lack of thought for the many "what ifs" that war produces. It would have been nice if a few of the planners of the Iraq fiasco could have read Halberstam's book and taken note of the mistakes that were made in 1963 before launching the war in Iraq in 2003.
Halberstam quotes Henry Kissenger as saying something to the effect of "we won't make the same mistakes . . . we'll make our own mistakes." It looks like the current planners and executors of Iraq strategy are making the same ones that were made in 1963 - and learning the same lessons about a counterinsurgency war being fought with traditional troops, equipment and strategy.
The Iraqi insurgency in Iraq will go the same way as the insurgency in Vietnam - they will wait us out but without the large scale battles that took place in Vietnam once the army of North Vietnam entered the action in large numbers.
Vietnam was disaster and tragedy for the Vietnamese as well as the Americans. What seems to be preventing the same level of disaster in the US is the fact that this war is being fought by non-draftees. That is one dissimilarity with Vietnam which has prevented the large scale protests across the nation which were seen as the presidency of Lyndon Johnson unraveled.
I recommend this book to all students of political and military strategy. It is an exceptional read and I would predict you won't come away angry - just saddened that so much talent brought forth so little in the way of return for Vietnam and the United States.
Decisions that led to 59,000 US and 3,000,000 Vietnamese dead. .......2007-06-10
THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST by David Halberstam interprets US Foreign Policy of the Vietnam War as delusional.
The principals: Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, William Bundy, George Ball, Dean Rusk, Averill Harriman, and Dean Acheson, not to mention Maxwell Taylor, and General Westmoreland. There are others of course.
The author weaves the character of each individual with the politics of the day and shows how it lead to decisions that were made from inner needs and wishful thinking rather than on facts. This error in thinking started at "the creation" i.e. the end of WWII. It torpedoed the power of rational thought.
Halberstam reasons that the US perceived the Soviets to be on the verge to swallow Western Europe. This led the US to turn to France to provide a bastion against them. Charles De Gaulle was ready to cooperate but only if the US allowed France to seize Indochina again.
In Halberstam's mind, the loss of China to the Communists, the Communist North Korean invasion of South Korea, the Communist Chinese invasion of Korea, McCarthy's hunt for Communists in the government, and then the Cuban missile crisis exacerbated and perpetuated fears about world domination by the Communists. These factors, according to Halberstam, contributed to the continued support of France in Indochina as an ally against monolithic Communism. After Dienbienphu, we did replace the French and decided that we would carry the crusade against Communism. We were then perceived by Ho Chi Minh as another western power colluding with another western but effete colonial power. The US nevertheless chose to allow France to regress to its former status as a colonial power over Vietnam in the name of stopping Communist aggression.
Neither Kennedy nor Johnson could show hesitation, ambivalence, or appeasement. Their obsession of not wanting to be viewed as weak trumped their instincts to look for alternatives. All the leaders, especially Dean Rusk, and with the exception of George Ball, put forth the Munich analogy to justify intervention and escalation.
In Halberstam's analysis, the Vietnam War was a defeat before it even began because it was based on a faulty strategy: To stop communist aggression. The idea to expel the French once and for all and to help unify North and South Vietnam was thought about but never acted upon.
Halberstam holds the Bundy brothers along with McNamara responsible not only as instigators but the propagators of the war. McNamara was characterized as a whiz kid with a funny haircut who used his unbelievable grasp of statistics to flim-flam the pentagon in doing his bidding. It brings to mind Mark Twain's three types of lies: Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Despite their super-education, their impeccable character, and their natural brilliance all the principals viewed the war as a war against Communist hegemony; they too could not show any hesitation, ambivalence, or appeasement to their president. To do otherwise was political suicide. On the other hand, George Ball was consistent in his opposition to the war from JFK to LBJ. To Halberstam JFK was changing his mind about the morality of the war but got gunned down; George Ball was the hero, LBJ the looser and France the thorn in our side.
Excellent study of self-deluding war criminals.......2007-05-29
This is a wonderful study of the dreadful people who committed the crime of aggression against Vietnam. It shows how they fooled themselves, and others too, that theirs was some noble mission, to save other nations from communism. In fact, it was a crime, resulting in the killing of three million innocent Vietnamese, who were killed trying to save their country from a savage, unjustified and illegal assault. So, not the best, nor the brightest.
ON THE QUESTION OF THE IRAQ (OOPS!) VIETNAM QUAGMIRE.......2007-05-10
As the current Bush Administration-directed quagmire continues in Iraq it is rather timely to look at a previous bout of American imperialist madness in Vietnam if only in order to demonstrate the similar mindsets, then and now, of the American political establishment and their hangers-on. This book, unintentionally I am sure, is a prima facie argument, against those who see Iraq (or saw Vietnam) as merely an erroneous policy of the American government that can be `fixed' by a change to a more rational imperialist policy guided by a different elite. Undeniably there are many differences between the current war and the struggle in Vietnam. Not the least of which is that in Vietnam there was a Communist-led insurgency that leftists throughout the world could identify with and were duty-bound to support.
Mr. Halberstam's well-informed study of the long history of struggle in Vietnam against outsiders, near and far, is a more than adequate primer about the history and the political issues, from the American side at least, as they came to a head in Vietnam in the early 1960's. This book is the work of a long time journalist who covered Southeast Asia from close quarters. Although over thirty years have passed since the book's publication it appears to me that he has covered all the essential elements of the dispute as well as the wrangling, again mainly on the American side , of policy makers big and small. While everyone should look at more recent material that material appears to me to be essentially more specialized analysis of the general themes presented in Halberstam's book. Or are the inevitably self-serving memoirs by those, like former Secretary of War Robert McNamara, looking to refurbish they images for the historical record.
The bulk of the book and the central story line is a study of the hubris of American imperialist policy-makers in attempting to define their powers, prerogatives and interests in the post-World War II period. The sub-text of the book, which the current inhabitants of the Bush Administration obviously have not read and in any case would willfully misunderstand, is how not to subordinate primary interests to momentary secondary interests in the scramble to preserve the Empire. Be clear that Halberstam was no vocal opponent of the war but rather sought to see it successfully completed by a more rational approach. However, apparently, commonsense and simple rationality are in short supply when one goes inside the Washington Beltway. Taking into account the differences in personality among the three main villains of the piece- Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon- the similarities of response and need to defend some sense of honor, American honor, are amazingly similar, individual rhetoric aside. There thus can be little wonder that the North Vietnamese went about their business of revolution and independence pretty much according to their plans and with little regard to the `subtleties' in American foreign policy (or military doctrine, for that matter). But, read the book and judge for yourselves. Do not be surprised if something feels awfully, awfully familiar.
Amazon.com
Gates, director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1991 to 1993, began in an entry level position and rose to the top. His insider's account of the Cold War, CIA operations and the unraveling of the Soviet Union is sprinkled with revelations including the fact that 1983 was the most dangerous year in U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations and that both the CIA and KGB sponsored countless "black operations" designed to embarrass and discredit the other side. Gates also reveals that he secretly met with KGB foreign operations chief Vladimir Kryuchkov on two separate occasions and how the CIA often acted in contempt of Congress. While none of this may come as a huge surprise, it never fails to shock when it's laid out in black and white by someone who was on the inside.
Customer Reviews:
"From the Shadows" by Robert M. Gates.......2007-10-01
Absolutely fascinating! Mr. Gates is an excellent writer and is able to make complicated information easy to follow. And what an insight he gave to the Presidents he worked for; he didn't have an axe to grind with any of them, even though they represented both political parties.
This is a book I enjoyed so completely that I hated to reach the end of it. It will be on my personal "re-read" list. No wonder Mr. Gates was selected to become Secretary of Defense in our nation's hour of need.
Engages the eyes and mind.......2006-11-17
Rarely do you run across a historical book that is so chocked full of names, dates and acronyms that engages your mind as you push to reader faster. Gates delivers great insight wrapped in words that are illustrative of the push and pull of power players - within and between government bodies - domestic and global. If you are curious about the claims of one party or the other concerning the end of the Cold War, then this book will prove to be enlightening. All contributed to the demise, but perhaps none more than the Soviets themselves. Great read. Engaging. Insightful. Illuminating. Perhaps now more than ever before this a read that helps look at the challenges we, as a global community, face today. Buy it. Read it. Gain perspective.
View from the inside.......2006-10-01
The CIA is probably the one institution that the US President controls the most; or so this book argues. Robert M. Gates spent over two decades working at the CIA, and is one of the few career officials who came in near the bottom and rose all the way to the top. This book is his memoir, and recollection of how the CIA served 5 consecutive presidents in the Cold War. Starting with Richard Nixon, and ending with the first George Bush, Gates shows how each president used, and sometimes abused, the CIA to further their policies with regard to the USSR and communist parties around the world.
The major points one gets from this book are as follows. First, Carter was no wimp with regard to the USSR. Second, the most dangerous years of the Cold War did not end with Vietnam; they included some years in the 1980's. Third, the CIA consistently disregards the laws of the US. Fourth, the CIA often gets suckered into doing thing at the whim of the president that it later regrets. Last, the first George Bush was probably one of the best diplomats the US has seen in recent times. Over all, this was a very good book and I am glad I read it.
Intense Reading - great enjoyment.......2002-09-18
Excellent account of what really goes on from the inside of the govt. They say that truth is better than fiction. This is true in a big way in this book. You will recall many of the events in not too distant history. They come alive in this book and history makes more sense. Intense reading - be sure to underline the names to keep track of the huge cast of characters. A big Aggie thumb's up for this one!
Informative but dry.......2002-07-23
Gates had access to some of the most fascinating characters in the history of the Cold War. His observations are incisive and revealing about many of these personalities; however, his book often reads like one might imagine a CIA memo reads, rather dry. The book provides feedback on several important historical instances but it does not go into much depth on any. I do not recommend it as a book used to learn the history of that era. Instead I would read it to gain a further understanding of what went on behind the scenes.
In general, I find Gates to be an interesting character himself. He has some hilarious anecdotes about life in the CIA. Such as when he is walking up the steps of Air Force One and turns to flip off several of the top officials (I think it was) in Romania after they botch his passport. In addition to a often dry sense of humor he also seems to have a great deal of character and integrity.
Book Description
A nearly 50-year review of U.S. efforts to transform defeated and broken enemies into democratic and prosperous allies.
Customer Reviews:
very informative.......2007-05-17
This book was a great piece of writing for anyone that is interested in learning about how the U.S. helps rebuild nations. It was very useful for research that I was conducting.
America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq.......2007-02-21
great background history to today's strategic events in Middle East
Good Background on Democratic Nation-Building.......2006-07-21
This is one of the portfolio of books exploring what it takes to create successful democratic nation-building--From German to Iraq (as the subtitle notes). It is also one of the better volumes among such works.
The RAND report goes into considerable detail, providing an operational definition of democratic nation building by looking at the commonalities in seven such interventions (Germany, Japan, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan). The report seeks to establish those factors associated with success or failure. Among those linked to success were the use of force "to underpin a process of democratization" (Page 1), occupation, peace enforcement, stabilization, and reconstruction. Success is (Page 2) ". . .the ability to promote an enduring transfer of democratic institutions."
The RAND report suggests a number of prerequisites, including military presence over time by the occupying country, international police presence over time, reducing postconflict combat-related deaths, timing of elections, dealing with refugees and internally displaced persons, initial external assistance, external per capita assistance, external assistance as a meaningful percentage of GDP, and changes in per capita GDP. This obviously entails a commitment to provide substantial resources to the redevelopment effort, to be willing to invest considerable time to nation building, to make sure that appropriate security arrangements are made. In short, the process cannot successfully be done quickly or "on the cheap."
Unhappily, the conclusions of this book--if accurate--surely raise questions about the ultimate success of the American involvement in Iraq.
For the interested reader and the expert.......2004-08-11
This is one kind of pre-war analysis for post-war Iraq that the Bush administration is accused of ignoring. (Iraq-specific background is the other.) Indeed, the back cover attributes to CPA head Paul Bremer, "...a marvelous how-to manual...I have kept a copy handy...since my arrival in Baghdad."
The book uses seven case studies in search of lessons for post-conflict reconstruction: Germany, Japan, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Each case study examines the challenges (security, humanitarian, civil admin, democratization, and reconstruction), the U.S. and international roles, what happened, and lessons learned.
Overall conclusions include: of the many variables, the level of effort in time, manpower and money is perhaps most important; security must precede reform; political reform needs to be "legitimized" by economic growth; there are tradeoffs between multilateral and unilateral efforts; and having good neighbors helps.
These conclusions are not earth-shattering, but the comparative effort is useful in itself and the lessons ought to have been helpful in Iraq. Compare this book with Orr's Winning the Peace (CSIS, 2004).
Excellent Policy Analysis with Congenital Defect.......2003-11-04
This book present an excellent policy analysis of USA-led enforced democratization. Based on historic-comparative study of seven such cases (Germany, Japan, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosova and Afghanistan), striking policy recommendations are derived on military and police presence over time, humanitarian help, economic reconstruction, building of civil society, holding of elections and more, as as to maximize success in democratization. In all these respects the book is outstanding, in terms of method and substance alike, as is to be expected from a RAND Corporation study. However, the book also demonstrates a widespread cultural blinder of USA policy thinking, namely underrating of cultural factors and over-optimism in respect to making the world democratic. Paradigmatic is the following statement, put forth without any reservations (on page 204) "democracy is transferable to non-Western...societies", followed by a definite statement that "there is no reason why Iraq cannot be democratized and establish democratic institutions and a pluralist polity". Little wonder that this frame of thinking, as applied in the book to Iraq, failed to foresee, at least as a contingency, what is now happening there, the idea of persistent and increasingly effective armed resistance against USA and other Western "democratizisers" after "victory" not being taken serious enough. If what is probably the best strategic Think Tank in the USA suffers from such misunderstanding of realities that do not fit into Western perceptions of "the other", there is much that USA policy makers and policy planners have to learn so as to enable the leading country of the West to fulfill is increasingly crucial role as the leading guardian of Western civilization and security.
Book Description
Robert Kennedy's role in American politics during the 1960s was pivotal yet has defied attempts to define it. He was a junior senator from New York, but he was also much more. The public perceived him as possessing the intangible qualities of his brother, the slain president. From 1965 to 1968 Kennedy struggled to find his own voice in national affairs.
In His Own Right examines this crucial period of Robert Kennedy's political career, combining the best of political biography with a gripping social history of the social movements of the 1960s. How did Kennedy make the transformation from cold warrior to grassroots activist, from being a political operator known for ruthlessness toward his opponents to becoming, by 1968, a "tribune of the underclass"? Based on never before seen documents, this intimate portrait of one of the most respected politicians never elected president describes Robert Kennedy's relationship with such well-known activists and political players as Benjamin Spock, Eugene McCarthy, Allard Lowenstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez, as well as the ordinary men and women who influenced Kennedy's views as he came to stand in the public arena and in the national consciousness as a man and a leader in his own right.
Customer Reviews:
What is here is good, but..........2001-12-10
Palermo's study of RFK on his own is well-researched and well-written, but it pays scant attention to the issue which dominated Kennedy's senatorial career - his attempts to do something about poverty in the U.S. While Vietnam is what drew him into his presidential run, poverty is the issue Kennedy spent more time on.
A Unique Political Journey.......2001-09-28
"In His Own Right", describes Robert Kennedy's political journey in the years after President Kennedy's assassination in 1963. Robert Kennedy suffered through a time of deep sorrow and grief after the death of his brother, and began a struggle to find his own political voice. RFK was in a unique position of national prominence, and many people looked to him to take the place of his slain brother. This book tells the story of how his political views began to change and evolve through very turbulent times both at home and abroad. Robert Kennedy had always been in the shadow of his brother, but he gradually began to stand in his own right. His own unique heart and spirit began to emerge, and it ultimately revolved around a sense of compassion and justice. By the time that he ran for President in 1968, there was much that Robert Kennedy could have given to America and to the world. This book explores that final political campaign, and the path that RFK always strived to find and follow.
Robert F. Kennedy was the Key Figure of the Sixties.......2001-07-14
While reading this fine book, I found myself immersed in the politics and social upheavals of the 1960s. My understanding of Robert F. Kennedy's role in the mid-1960s as a leader of a coalition of social movements was greatly enhanced. It was a joy to read!
Remembering grassroots efforts.......2001-07-09
Palermo's book is intriguing because it takes a closer look at how Bobby's campaign really began with grassroots politics. As a reader I found myself rallying behind the campaign that was abruptly and tragically cut short. I look forward to further exploration into the motivations behind Bobby's campaign.
A closer look at grassroot politics.......2001-07-08
The role of Robert Kennedy in Cold War politics is becoming a popular topic in academia and the media. At a time of growing disillusionment with American government and politicians I find Palermo's research an inticing and important step towards reviving interest in grassroots approaches by politicians. This book was well-written and deserves a reading because it explores the political philosophies and actions of an amazing man and truly caring politician.
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- Public Administration: Understanding Management, Politics, and Law in the Public Sector
- Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't
- Return to the River: The Classic Story of the Chinook Run and of the Men Who Fish It
- Russell Lee Photographs: Images from the Russell Lee Photograph Collection at the Center for American History (Focus on American History Series,Center ... History, University of Texas at Austin)
- Sacajawea (Lewis & Clark Expedition)
- Second Chance: Three Presidents and the Crisis of American Superpower
- Son of the Morning Star
- St. Petersburg (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Eyewitness Travel Guides)
- Suite Française
- Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership
Books Index
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1945 - Present
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Major Problems in American History Since 1945: Documents and Essays (Major Problems in American History)
America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 with Poster
Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle
World Religions: A Sourcebook for Students of Christian Theology
The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics
