Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

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The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself in Long Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretly while Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa's apartheid regime. Among the book's interesting revelations is Mandela's ambivalence toward his lifetime of devotion to public works. It cost him two marriages and kept him distant from a family life he might otherwise have cherished. Long Walk to Freedom also discloses a strong and generous spirit that refused to be broken under the most trying circumstances--a spirit in which just about everybody can find something to admire.

Book Description

The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself inLong Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretlywhile Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa's apartheid regime. Among the book's interestingrevelations is Mandela's ambivalence toward his lifetime of devotion to public works. It cost him twomarriages and kept him distant from a family life he might otherwise have cherished.Long Walk to Freedom also discloses a strong and generous spirit that refused to be broken under the most trying circumstances--a spirit inwhich just about everybody can find something to admire.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating book that should be read by everyone.......2007-07-03

It is not very often that I set to read non-fiction. This book, however, was originally recommended to me by a Rwanda refugee and so I made an exception. What a good decision that was.
Although I was familiar with Mandela's life and South Africa's struggle against the apartheid regime, this book provided me with much more profound understanding of the struggle and the historical events leading to the eventual overthrow of the racist regime. This book, however, is much more than an account of a dark time period in the history of humanity. Above all, this book is an amazing portrayal of a life of a man, an exceptional man who is much too human. We are taken through time, from Mandela's childhood to his presidency, blessed with a unique view of a man marked to die in a secluded prison. His struggle to become a "first-class" citizen and the brutal force with which the then government crushes the hopes of the young men and women is only but a part of the story. Most importantly, we are allowed a unique window into Mandela's psyche and his philosophy, for this book, to me, is mostly about human spirit, its strengths and its weaknesses. Mandela's contemplations regarding the social order, humanity, law, schools and his personal approaches are fascinating and profound. He delves into the depths of human behaviour in a fluid, understandable way; his words flow on the pages from one event onto the next, while maintaining a uniform message. Although he did engage in securing financing for a possible armed conflict, his hopes and faith reside in a non-violent solution. Mandela's life is, after all, one giant wound on the face of mankind. Neglected and abandoned by the superpowers of the world, the people of South Africa never lost hope and Mandela is a fascinating and shining example of a man, stripped of everything, who, no matter what life threw in his way, maintained his dignity and his sight not only on the problems, but also on the solutions. An amazing read I am happy to recommend. This book should be read by everyone.

The story behind legends.......2007-06-15

I had always heard that Nelson Mandela was a living legend, yet I knew so little about him. This book confirmed the legend.

The book takes you through the journey of his life. From his upbringing, to his entering the political life, his 27 years in prison and finally his return from prison to lead the nation. It is very interesting to read his rationale and thought process behind every decision, personal or political. He was a strong-willed man with an exceptionally strong sense of what is right and wrong. He spent 27 years in jail without ever applying for an appeal and rejecting every offer of release. He never lost his resolve even in the most trying of times. He believed that equality and freedom are every human's birthright and he was willing to die for the freedom of his people. The book has countless lessons not only for political leaders who lead nations but for common people for their day to day lives.

A must read for everybody. I would highly recommend it.

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.......2007-05-07

An excellent autobio by one of the few truly great men of the 20th century. Details his boyhood, early adulthood, and 27 (?) years in prison as a political prisoner of the apartheid government of South
Africa, followed by release and eventual President of the country. The amazing part is how, as President, he avoided revenge and eventually brought re conciliation to the races.

Very inspiring.......2007-04-10

There are all kinds of inspiring biographies and autobiographies. This one is unique. Most biographies lean toward the spiritual and base their inspiration on some divine energy or God. This is the most grounded in life biography that you can read. Not much about God, just about his own passion for equal rights. Even mindedness, even in the face of incredible pain.

Polit thriller.......2007-01-17

Despite due respect for a great leader, I did not really expect to like this autobiography very much. Mandela is no great speaker, his TV presence is rather flat, his English apparently not masterful. The life story in summary does not seem to have that much interest either, considering the long jail time and the fact that most of the "hot action" of the anti-apartheid movement happened while he was on Robben Island.
All wrong. The writing is surprisingly fluent, the story telling surprisingly efficient and free of waste as well as redundancies. Also free of sentimentality and exaggerated pathos.
If there is anything that I wished to be more detailed it is the period of his childhood and youth. This period is described in a rather remote way and with a sometimes irritating lack of explanation or reflection. I realized that may have happened due to the conditions under which the book was written: in jail. Also I could imagine that editors suggested some shortening: after all the book is still quite hefty.
If there is one negative comment that I have to make, it refers to NM's insistence that all trouble between black groups, such as the Inkatha violence problems, or tribal conflicts, have been caused by the perfidy of the whites. As much as I can understand the psychology behind this wishful thinking, I do not think it is a realistic approach.
Despite this comment and despite the book's size, it is never boring. Highly recommendable.

Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives

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The true "feminist agenda"
Important feminist study on militarisation

Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women's Lives
Cynthia Enloe
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520220714

Book Description

Maneuvers takes readers on a global tour of the sprawling process called "militarization." With her incisive verve and moxie, eminent feminist Cynthia Enloe shows that the people who become militarized are not just the obvious ones--executives and factory floor workers who make fighter planes, land mines, and intercontinental missiles. They are also the employees of food companies, toy companies, clothing companies, film studios, stock brokerages, and advertising agencies. Militarization is never gender-neutral, Enloe claims: It is a personal and political transformation that relies on ideas about femininity and masculinity. Films that equate action with war, condoms that are designed with a camouflage pattern, fashions that celebrate brass buttons and epaulettes, tomato soup that contains pasta shaped like Star Wars weapons--all of these contribute to militaristic values that mold our culture in both war and peace.
Presenting new and groundbreaking material that builds on Enloe's acclaimed work in Does Khaki Become You? and Bananas, Beaches, and Bases, Maneuvers takes an international look at the politics of masculinity, nationalism, and globalization. Enloe ranges widely from Japan to Korea, Serbia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Britain, Israel, the United States, and many points in between. She covers a broad variety of subjects: gays in the military, the history of "camp followers," the politics of women who have sexually serviced male soldiers, married life in the military, military nurses, and the recruitment of women into the military. One chapter titled "When Soldiers Rape" explores the many facets of the issue in countries such as Chile, the Philippines, Okinawa, Rwanda, and the United States.
Enloe outlines the dilemmas feminists around the globe face in trying to craft theories and strategies that support militarized women, locally and internationally, without unwittingly being militarized themselves. She explores the complicated militarized experiences of women as prostitutes, as rape victims, as mothers, as wives, as nurses, and as feminist activists, and she uncovers the "maneuvers" that military officials and their civilian supporters have made in order to ensure that each of these groups of women feel special and separate.

Customer Reviews:

The true "feminist agenda".......2001-01-01

Cynthia Enloe is the author most quoted by opponants of women in the armed forces, because she presents the real Feminist viewpoint, which is staunchly anti-war and ambivelant toward the military. Enloe's arguments, supported by N.O.W., are coopted by "anti-feminist" foes of servicewomen as proof of their own contention that women have no place in the military. Paradoxically, after quoting Enloe, those same crusaders then lambast a so-called "feminist lobby" for promoting gender integration in combat operations. No doubt they confuse Feminism with some "politically-correct" positions of Congressional military panels, which are, ironically, often ignored or opposed by N.O.W. But Enloe's books go much further than simply stating Feminism's pacifist ideals. In "Maneuvers", she accuses the military of deliberate victimization of women worldwide. She makes a number of good points concerning the cruelties of war toward civilian women, but her antimilitary bias shows and is sometimes rather venomous. She gives no thought whatsoever to the conditions which make warfare an unpleasant reality and the armed forces a necessity. Nor has she any real concern for American military women or their reasons for wanting to serve. By relating selected incidents of harassment or violence against servicewomen, she presents a negative and mostly false impression of the American military's widespread and willful victimization of its female members. Read "Maneuvers" for the Feminist counter of Brian Mitchell's "Flirting With Disaster", but don't expect balance in the views of either author.

Important feminist study on militarisation.......2000-10-14

Cynthia Enloe adds to her series of writings looking at the effects of militarisation on women's lives - from the laundresses, camp followers, comfort women and sex workers to feminist military personnel and those who fight the home front.

Like Jan Jindy Pettman's "Worlding Women - a feminist international politics", Enloe's latest book seeks to look at international relations from a gendered perspective - and succeeds admirably.

Book Description

This is Alex Boraine's account of South Africa's acclaimed Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was set up after the collapse of the apartheid regime. The TRC had the monumental task not only of uncovering decades of systematic human rights violations, but of doing so in a way that would help a very damaged nation to reconcile and move forward. Boaraine clearly sets out the process leading to the establishment of the TRC, describes the hearings at which victims and perpetrators testified about human rights violations, and considers reactions - inclusding criticisms - to the TRC and its final report. He analyses the key features that contributed to the Commission's success, and gives an honest assessment of some of its mistakes. This is also a personal story, giving insight into the feelings, disappointments, and rewards that the TRC's participants experienced. This book helps to elucidate and answer the many difficlut questions that were crucial to South Africa's TRC , and that need to be addressed by all people who are working with societies in transition.

The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown

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African Americans and their background
The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown

The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown
Tim Hashaw
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0786717181

Book Description

The voyage that shaped early America was neither that of the Susan Constant in 1607 nor the Mayflower in 1620. Absolutely vital to the formation of English-speaking America was the voyage made by some sixty Africans stolen from a Spanish slave ship and brought to the young struggling colony of Jamestown in 1619. It was an act of colonial piracy that angered King James I of England, causing him to carve up the Virginia Company’s monopoly for virtually all of North America. It was an infusion of brave and competent souls who were essential to Jamestown’s survival and success. And it was the arrival of pioneers who would fire the first salvos in the centuries-long African-American battle for liberation. Until now, it has been buried by historians.

Four hundred years after the birth of English-speaking America, as a nation turns its attention to its ancestry, The Birth of Black America reconstructs the true origins of the United States and of the African-American experience.

Customer Reviews:

African Americans and their background.......2007-08-07

This book is excellent for 1) putting the arrival of Africans at Jamestown in context both in European (English, Spanish and Portuguese) politics of the time, and 2) giving in great detail the political, social and economic situation of the Angolan kingdom whence these Africans originated. The activities of the Spanish ambassador to the court of King James is enjoyable diplomatic intrigue; the relation of James to Africa is convincing and should be part of literary studies of Ben Jonson's work. I was amazed to learn that many of the enslaved Africans had Christian backgrounds of several generations, and familiarity with European languages and customs, resulting from Portuguese colonization and missionary activities for more than a century prior. Hashaw does himself credit in showing the similarities and differences in the political and military activities and alliances of these African and European rulers and aristocracies. In addition, he shows in great detail the identities, activities and onward movements of these Africans and their descendents (who are normally anonymous figures in standard histories), and gives credible evidence on the origin of the Melungeon families of Appalachia, and insight into the contributions of Africans to cattle herding and to agricultural success in the Americas. A real page-turner -- a riveting and enlightening account that makes fresh some once-stale facts from your obligatory American history class.

The Birth of Black America: The First African Americans and the Pursuit of Freedom at Jamestown.......2007-03-30

The book was excellent!

September 11, 2001: A Record of Tragedy, Heroism, and Hope

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Magnific photos.
An American Tragedy 9.11.01
rewview not purchased
Rivoting!!
A superb photohraphic account of that terrible day...

September 11, 2001: A Record of Tragedy, Heroism, and Hope
Editors of New York Magazine
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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September 11, 2001

ASIN: 0810905620

Book Description

On the morning of September 11, 2001, two hijacked airplanes destroyed New York's World Trade Center Towers. Thus began the extraordinary story of a great city coping with the worst disaster in its history. As shock and amazement gave way to grief for the victims and their families, New Yorkers reached deep inside themselves to discover a sense of civic nobility, exemplified by the heroism of firefighters, police, and rescue units.

In this new book from Abrams, the editors of New York magazine provide a visual record of the city in the week after the attack, through the images of several superb photographers and the words of prominent New Yorkers, including Mayor Giuliani. The book begins with the attack itself, documenting the panic and chaos it caused, and goes on to chronicle the rescue efforts by firefighters, police, and construction workers at Ground Zero and the attempts of the city's leaders to maintain morale. Color photos record a vast emotional upheaval of grief, rage, and patriotism, and display the many memorials created by private citizens, at hospitals, parks, firehouses, and in the streets.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the September 11th Fund, which has been created by the United Way and the New York Community Trust to respond to the immediate and long-term needs of the victims, their families, and the communities affected by the events of September 11.

Customer Reviews:

Magnific photos........2002-03-14

Very good book. I would recommend to anybody interested about the tragedy of september 11, 2001. The money raised from the sale of this book goes to the September 11 Fund. Help the families of New York...

An American Tragedy 9.11.01.......2002-02-06

This book grabs you.
I had watched the events take place on television at work, with my coworkers, one could look out the window and see the smoke in the distance. Being a New Yorker everyone I know has either lost someone or knows someone who did.
I had seen the book in a store before Christmas, but it was too close to 9/11 to buy it. Since that time it has been sold out everywhere.
If you want to see hell on earth in book form this is it. But more importantly, buy it and keep it so that we never forget 9/11/2001 or let it happen again.

rewview not purchased.......2002-01-31

I have never received this book and I was actually ordering a different book when I ordered. I wanted to order the 9/11 book by LIFE magazine, not this one. Like I said; I wouldn't be able to critique this anyway because I never received it.
Please let me know how to delete this order and re-order the one by LIFE magazine instead.
Thank you
Nora Bartman

Rivoting!!.......2001-12-12

As I leafed through the pages of this keepsake book, goosebumps appeared on my skin as well as tears. It brings back the horific day in clear view.

I'm ordering three more for my childrens hope chests.

A superb photohraphic account of that terrible day..........2001-12-03

This superb pictorial remembrance of the events of September 11 comes to us from the editors of New York magazine. Rather than focusing on all of the events of that day, this book simply focuses on the attacks on the World Trade Center. What results is a wonderful photographic record, with an emphasis not on the attacks themselves, but rather on the post-attack heroism and recovery efforts.

If you are looking for a book that will anger you and yet still manage to raise your spirits, get this book. The strength of the American people and the savagery of the Islamic terrorists is well displayed in this work.

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Skillfully written, absorbing story

Freedom at Midnight--prequel to the 21st century

Mountbatten Autobiography

Priceless account of the culmination of India's freedom struggle and the immediate aftermath

A must read either before or after a visit to India

Freedom at Midnight
Larry Collins , and Dominique Lapierre
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

India | Asia | History | Subjects | Books | Ancient
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ASIN: 0671220888

Book Description

A famous major work on Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, Mount Batten and Partition.

Customer Reviews:

Skillfully written, absorbing story.......2007-07-19

This book inspired Miguel Sousa Tavares own book,
Equador, apparently, but only conceptually (I didn't
read the latter.)

There's a new edition, from India VIKAS PUBLISHING HOUSE,
based in Jangpura, New Delhi, 1997. Found mine in used
book store, in mint condition.

Freedom at Midnight--prequel to the 21st century.......2007-06-05

This is an excellent book about nations, states, people, ethnic and religious tensions, and violence versus non-violence. Anyone seeking not only to understand modern India but indeed the post modern post colonial world must read this long and detailed book.

The insights reflect the over three years of research and incredible access that the authors had to both primary sources and participants in the process of dissolving Britain's Indian Empire.

The book starts with a violent prequel to Britain's decision to leave India. Two events collided--Britain, the exhausted and spent `victor' of World War II could no longer afford the Empire, and India, may of its men having fought and died for liberty elsewhere in the Commonwealth, wanted their own domestic freedom. Events, tensions and bloodshed started to spiral out of control until Churchill was forced to admit "It is with deep grief that I watch the clattering down of the British Empire with all of its glories and services that it has rendered to mankind. Many have defended Britain against her foes, but none can defend her against herself." (p. 53) The challenge for the British, Indian and would be Pakistani leaders and planners was to fix a date and a process that would not be perfect, but would somehow be better than Gandhi's incantation to "leave India to God."

Mountbatten and Jinnah--the lead Brit and lead Pakistani--held a series of meetings that were crucial to the carving up of Empire. At the same time Mountbatten had to deal with Nehru and Gandhi on the other side of the equation--a prequel to `shuttle diplomacy' if ever there was one. Despite the fact the most prudent planers wanted no partition, Jinnah--secretly being consumed by a tuberculosis he knew would kill him soon--drove himself and everyone else to achieve the dream of a independent and separate Pakistan. Knowing that you will not long live to inherit the consequences provides a freedom of thought and action that is liberating in the present, but holds dire results for the later generations. (pp 102-111)

While everyone was trying not to let the emotions and dogs run loose and wild, more and more ethnic and religious incited violence continued to leave hundred and indeed thousands of dead in wide swaths across India (Kahuta, Peshawar, Punjab, Kashmir). Seeking to calm the tempers and stay the killings, instead the British were left with almost no choice but to draw an almost arbitrary set of map lines that guaranteed the violence would accelerate before it would abate. Mountbatten traveled tirelessly, his perceptive wife at his side, from refugee camps to destroyed towns and burnt bodies--and ever more frantically realized that he had to set a date soon and then drive everyone remorselessly to achieve it as perfect as it could be, not as perfect as it should be.

Ironically, it was the Armies--Pakistani, Indian and British--that had to be brought back into to instill discipline and restore some semblance of order, although in many cases they were simply too few, too late. As the Chapter 13 "our people have gone mad' displays in poignant writing, once the lid was off the pot, it simply began to boil over even faster. Gandhi, in the last great act of his life before being assassinated by a Hindu group of radicals, was able to instill some peace and order--but only in the isolated spots were he could personally be present. As the multitude of 20, 30 and 50 mile long columns of refugees wound their way past each other, the unspeakable was done over and over again. Trains were halted and all butchered. The scope was simply too vast even for Mountbatten and Gandhi.

In many ways, this book foretells of Africa, the Balkans and Iraq today in a great many painful parallels. It is a hard read, but read it you must if you want to try to understand how groups that have lived more or less at peace and in co-existence, can over a few short months and years, become bitterly polarized antagonists for generations to come.

Mountbatten Autobiography.......2007-02-15

I have to accept that this is one of the better books regarding India's early days. The authors are great narrator, and it sounds more like a novel. One of the major flaws in a book is that it is written to glorify Mountbatten. For example, initially the book goes through a great detail to explain that it was Mountbatten's idea to give Independence quickly. It explains that he fights with Churchill, and he goes against most of his colleagues to give India's freedom quickly. But later when Punjab is burning, the authors say that it was the Indian leaders' idea to give freedom quickly.
I have to accept that I never read anything about Jinnah, Is he really as evil as he was portrayed in this book?
The authors really did a good work on Gandhi. Each and every event, such as Congress stabbing him in the back, controlling the riot in Calcutta was written well.
In conclusion, great book and a must read, but don't have your conclusion based on this book.

Priceless account of the culmination of India's freedom struggle and the immediate aftermath.......2006-07-26

I was spellbound by this book and just could not let it go without finishing through. Here is my take:

Pros: This book has an excellent and gripping narrative, is exhaustively researched, gives a vivid account of 1947 in India as if one were living in that time and truly worthy of its best seller status.

Cons: These are very minor points and I do not know whether they are entirely avoidable in a work of this magnitude. There are a small number of inaccuracies such as Indian names of people, organizations and festivals wrongly spelt, some numbers inaccurate etc. Also, sometimes this book dwells too much on the peculiarities of Hinduism - I am not sure whether this was just an integral part of this literary work and if it was really required in this book.

All in all this book is one of the best accounts of the momentous year 1947 in India's history.

A must read either before or after a visit to India.......2006-04-21

This is just an amazing read in the same tradition as O Jerusalem written by these same two authors. Very engaging and makes you feel like you were right there. I like the author's attempt at neutrality in telling this amazing story. If you want to understand the history of this era this is a great way to get it! It seems researched well and well documented.
barb

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report
Truth and Reconcilation Commission of South Africa
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1561592455

Book Description

South's Africa's violent and complex history is chronicled in the five-volume Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, a chilling record of the hearings that exposed atrocities perpetrated by the South African apartheid government and opposing parties over the thirty-four year period of 1960-1994. A guide to using the report, synopsis, glossary, table of key events, an index, and a fully searchable and networkable CD-ROM have been added to this edition, enhancing its value for educators and scholars.

An Eye at the Top of the World: The Terrifying Legacy of the Cold War's Most Daring C.I.A. Operation

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Misleading title; really just a medicore climb journal
Gripping Read; Chilling Historical Event; Modern Day Adventure
An Eye At The Top Of The World wins 2007 HIMALAYAN LITERATURE AWARD.

An Eye at the Top of the World: The Terrifying Legacy of the Cold War's Most Daring C.I.A. Operation
Pete Takeda
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing's Greatest Generation

ASIN: 1560258454

Book Description

At some point during the inhumanly cold Himalayan winter straddling 1965 and 1966, a peculiar collection of box-shaped objects — one sprouting a six-foot, insect-like antenna — plummets nine thousand feet down the sheer flanks of a remote peak. Ripped from its moorings by an avalanche, the jumbled apparatus slides down a funnel-shaped hourglass of hard snow and shoots over a black cliff band, careening a vertical distance six times the height of the Empire State building. The boxes come to rest on the glacier at the mountain's base. One, an olive-drab casing the size of a personal computer, begins to sink. Then, trailing a robotic dogtail of torn wires, it slowly burns through the snow, melting into solid blue glacial ice, eventually disappearing beneath the surface, and never seen again.

No one actually witnessed this event. But as you read these words, nearly four pounds of plutonium — locked in the glacier's dark unknowable heart — are almost certainly moving ever closer to the source of the Ganges River.

Eye at the Top of the World, provides a harrowing present-day account of Takeda’s expedition to solve the mystery of Nanda Devi.

Customer Reviews:

Misleading title; really just a medicore climb journal.......2007-10-08

Quite disappointing. I was expecting a documentary about the CIA missions, instead it is a journal of a modern climb along the same route. Unfortunately, the story is poorly told: the characters could be compelling (they're real people!), but the writing just never develops them as the author just dumps detail on us leaving us with an impression of cardboard cutouts. The story could be compelling (high altitude climbing is tough and tricky), but again, the author choses the wrong details. Combine the poor telling with with poor fact checking by the editor (e.g., Padilla was not a dirty bomb maker, a fact known in 2005 whereas this book's copyright is 2006, etc) and numerous spell-checker induced spelling errors and low quality photo reproductions...

Apparently I wanted Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs (Modern War Studies) by M.S. Kohli and Kenneth Conboy. Perhaps you do as well.

Gripping Read; Chilling Historical Event; Modern Day Adventure.......2006-12-21

This book is a rare breed--a story that blends the recounting of a gripping and alarmingly serious historical event with a fascinating 1st person story of personal discovery and adventure. For anyone from history buffs to armchair mountaineers to concerned citizens, this book has something to offer. If anything, I'm surprised that the book hasn't garnered more attention, especially considering that the environmental crisis that may result from the botched CIA mission in the 1960s could become a chillingly deadly and vicious situation for one of the world's most populous nations.

Read the book, you won't be disappointed!

An Eye At The Top Of The World wins 2007 HIMALAYAN LITERATURE AWARD........2006-10-23

An Eye At The Top Of The World has jointly received the first prize from the 2007 Kekoo Naoroji Memorial Himalayan Literature Award.

The Himalayan Club, based in New Delhi, awards the Kekoo Naoroji Award in association with Naoroji family and Godrej Industries for the best book on mountains of Himalaya published during a year.

JURY VERDICT:
"Well written with crisp authority on both scientific and mountaineering matters Peter Takeda`s AN EYE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD is a survey of secret climbing expeditions to Uttarakhand in the 1960`s crafted with considerable skill. It combines in an expedition narrative the details of earlier clandestine climbs where American and Indian operatives placed and lost on Nanda Devi a nuclear powered spying device and replaced it with another (later recovered) on Nanda Kot. Radical in its concept, Takeda tracks down convincingly the planning and execution of this startling CIA operation, and has written a mountaineering thriller into the bargain. For years rumours have floated around the mountaineering fraternity and it is fascinating to have a good many of them confirmed though their sequence may have been mixed up. Despite being written for a lay American readership and from an American point of view, this a sensitive enquiry and the author`s feelings for the Nanda Devi region come across as both intimate and real. Bound to be controversial, the book`s sober tone guarantees its uncomfortable disclosures and their presumed fallout on the environment will find a lasting audience. The jury is unanimous in according joint first place to this compelling story."

There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975

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Whites 'n' rights
Absolutely Incredible - a must read!
A great read, but not entirely honest

There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975
Jason Sokol
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307263568
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Book Description

While the landmarks of the civil rights movement have become indelible parts of our collective memory, few have written about what life was like for white southerners who lived through that historic time. Now, in his brilliant debut book, historian Jason Sokol explores the untold stories of ordinary people experiencing the tumultuous decades that forever altered the American landscape. So often historical accounts of the era have focused on the movement’s most dramatic moments and figures, and paid greatest attention to the brave steps taken by blacks to effect long-awaited change. In this riveting book, Sokol goes beyond the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, the 1960 student sit-ins, and the soul-stirring speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., and into the lives of middle- and working-class whites whose world was becoming unrecognizable to them. He takes us to New Orleans’s Ninth Ward, where, in 1960, a painful episode of school integration brought out the fiercest prejudices in some and made accidental radicals of others; to Ollie’s Barbecue in Birmingham and Pickrick Fried Chicken in Atlanta, and thousands of lunch counters in between, where “some white employees greeted black customers as though they had been patrons for years; others slammed doors in their faces; still more served them hesitantly and reluctantly.”

There Goes My Everything traces the origins of the civil rights struggle from World War II, when some black and white American soldiers lived and fought side by side overseas (leading them to question Jim Crow at home), to the beginnings of change in the 1950s and the flared tensions of the 1960s, into the 1970s, when strongholds of white rule suddenly found themselves overtaken by rising black political power. Through it all, Sokol resists the easy categorization of whites caught in the torrent of change; rather, he gives us nuanced portraits of people resisting, embracing, and questioning the social revolution taking place around them. Drawing on recorded interviews, magazine bureau dispatches, and newspaper editorials, Sokol seamlessly weaves together historical analysis with firsthand accounts. Here are the stories of white southerners in their own words, presented without condescension or moral judgment.

An unprecedented picture of one of the historic periods in twentieth-century America.

Customer Reviews:

Whites 'n' rights.......2007-08-23

There's a lot to admire in Jason Sokol's "There Goes My Everything," but also a good deal to regret.

The idea was excellent. Why should history always be written by the victors? The civil rights movement in the South threw up many fascinating personalities and served up many dramatic incidents. Since, as Sokol says, it was done by black people, with whites almost helpless observers, the retellings naturally concentrate on the main actors.

There are many more and thicker biographies of Martin Luther King Jr. than of Ross Barnett.

But although southern whites may have been helpless against a tide of history -- Sokol's view, not mine -- they were not only passive actors. Even when they were, they went through mental changes -- conniption fits, many times -- that have an interest all their own.

Sokol set out to interview surviving actors, both converts to integration and diehard segregationists; and to ransack the archives for contemporary journalism, essays, reports by do-gooders etc. This is a dissertation for a degree in history, and it reads like it. Not much verve but plenty of detail.

To sum 400 pages in a sentence, Sokol found that the South was never of one mind about civil rights. No kiddin'!

Sokol's approach is somewhat loose-jointed, although chapters embrace themes. The best is the one on schools, but it also raises the most troubling conceptual problem for Sokol's thesis, which is that racism was both widespread and deep in the South.

Most people, most Southerners accept that it was deep, but events, including many compiled here, bring that into question. Racism was in the South's face because it was enacted into law -- rather late, too. Jim Crow took a long time to grow up. So, why did the racial system crumble so quickly?

Sokol does not give much background, but he does note that in 1948, Henry A. Wallace's run for the presidency comprised a biracial strategy in the South. "Wallace's efforts failed in the end, although his campaign showed that some southerners might oppose segregation if given a viable forum in which to do so."

For historical reasons, the South was a one-party region. Sokol never really takes on the issue of how much racism was at the service of politics, rather than the other way around, although in a remark or two he does indicate that he is aware of the question.

So, can a structure that is built on deep foundations be brought down by a moderate storm? As Sokol himself says, many -- in fact, the majority -- of southern places adopted and adapted to civil rights without storm and stress. A few incidents gave the lead to the many. Can indifference to skin color be racism? Can racists be indifferent to skin color?

It would not be hard to pick up a daily newspaper in 2007 and find examples of far more enduring racism elsewhere. When a memorial to those who gave their lives for civil rights in the South was proposed, only about three dozen names were collected; and the collectors could hardly be charged with trepidation. Why did the South resist so mildly?

Sokol doesn't ask the question, but he answers it in a way. Most whites were at bottom indifferent to race, as compared with, say, keeping schools open. They may have said they were segregationists, and as long as they didn't have to choose between segregation and something else, they were. But when blacks (and their white accomplices, of whom I was one back in the '60s) made them choose, segregation usually fell behind.

It certainly makes it difficult for a historian when his target will not hold still, but Sokol is good at switching back and forth.

The switching also contributes to the book's irritating repetitiveness. If Sokol wrote, "Of those white southerners who came to accept integration, more were repulsed by segregationist violence than attracted to civil rights demonstrations," he wrote it 20 times. And, again, why were they not attracted to violence in the `50s and `60s? They had lived with lynchings for a long time.

The chapter on "The Contours of Political and Economic Change" is Sokol's weakest. The economic argument would have benefited from some numbers. Also, it is more than questionable whether the decline of tenant farming had much to do with black assertiveness. The decline arrived in many places long before civil rights agitation did. See, for example, my review of a rare book by an actual white tenant farmer, "Throwed Away" by Linda Flowers.

I have other knocks against this otherwise interesting book, but I will mention just one more.

There is not a word about music, other than references to "We Shall Overcome." Sokol mentions, briefly, how sports led to interracial commonality. But submitting to an organization that has been integrated by somebody else is a far different thing from going up to the window as a private individual and buying a ticket to the James Brown review. I knew quite a number of southern white boys (but few girls) who got integrated that way.

Absolutely Incredible - a must read!.......2007-05-15

Jason Sokol, in his first book, has given us a picture that most academic historians of the Civil Rights have not evaluated - the response of the people that had been the oppressors for hundreds of years in the Southern United States.

So many traditional histories of the Civil Rights Struggle focus on dynamic personalities like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, or Malcolm X. Many others look strictly at the legal aspects of key Supreme Court decisions such as Brown vs. the Board of Education. Yet others study the growth of "Black Power".

Sokol has taken all of these and evaluated them from a different perspective - how the oppressors became equal to the oppressed. It is a lively and original study based largely on primary materials including oral interviews of participants, legal documents, and contemporary newspapers.

I found such tidbits as the white-on-white violence and the comparison of those whites acquiescing to or supporting full integration to Communists to be fascinating stories in and of themselves. When combined with the legal fights waged by people such as Ollie McClung and the inadvertent radicals such as the Garielle family in New Orleans, Sokol provides us with a history of the Civil Rights Era that is necessary and long overdue.

There should be many studies devoted to the topics that Sokol has introduced in this work, and it should foster the flourishment of the historiography of the Civil Rights Era for years to come.

A great read, but not entirely honest.......2007-02-05

As a Southerner who started first grade in a segregated classroom in 1966, attended a "token" integrated classroom in 1967, and attended an all-white private school thereafter, I found this book interesting and hard to put down. I agree with the praise given by other posters, although I do have some criticisms.

The author relies on research and publications of the past, which is understandable. There is no other way the book could be written today. The book deals mostly with the period 1955 to 1975, but the failure to update a few facts could almost be taken as an intentional effort to mislead the reader.

For example, we are told that the business leadership of Yazoo City, Miss., strongly supported the public schools, and as a result after integration the schools remained 40 percent white. This is true, but today, the Yazoo City school system is 97 percent black. I discovered this fact after 30 seconds on the Internet, so why couldn't the author provide this information.

Likewise, the author suggests that white life goes on as always in places like Eutaw, Ala., where everyone happily attends the "safety-valve" Warrior Academy. Again, a web search quickly reveals that Warrior Academy has only 118 students, K-12. An October 22, 2002 story in the Birmingham News, "Private white academies struggle in changing world," describes how most Alabama Black Belt academies are providing a sub-standard education and barely keeping their doors open. These facts contradict the author's conclusions, so he just leaves them out.

The author correctly notes that the poor whites shouldered the burden of integration, although I do wonder how the author could suggest it was a burden, since he also suggests it provided them with their "freedom." Most poor and working class whites exercised their new freedom by moving. The result is that is many Southern communities there literally are no or few working class or poor white people left.

I would suggest to any scholar wishing to study integration in the South that he start by finding the full-page newspaper advertisements by prominent white parents declaring their support of public schools (i.e. Yazoo City, Rolling Fork, among others), and then follow up where their children actually graduated high school. In short, find out why those who wanted to support public education and integration left the public schools, despite their public proclamations of support. Doing so might provide the best guide for the education of Southern children.

Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror

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Mini-Review: "Militant Islam in Southeast Asia - Crucible of Terror" by Zachary Abuza
Frustrating work
sloppy and pandering
Superb Book, Shows what OPEN Sources Provided, Great Speaker
Essential Reading

Militant Islam in Southeast Asia: Crucible of Terror
Zachary Abuza
Manufacturer: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1588262375

Customer Reviews:

Mini-Review: "Militant Islam in Southeast Asia - Crucible of Terror" by Zachary Abuza .......2006-07-19

I acquired this book, "Militant Islam in Southeast Asia," in order to do some background research for a novel I am writing. My book is a long-term project with no projected publication date as yet. It is a rather ambitious undertaking - a retelling of "The Odyssey" set as an Al Qaeda terrorist story that takes place partly in Indonesia! So, in preparation for an eventual fact finding trip to Indonesia, I have been doing some reading about terrorism and Southeast Asia.

Zachary Abuza is on the faculty in the Political Science and International Relations Department at Simmons College in Boston. He has traveled extensively in researching this book, which has received enthusiastic praise from many quarters.

W. Scott Thompson of Tuft's University's legendary Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy had this to say about Abuza's work:

"Showing an astonishing persistence in tying together the threads of the terrorist threat, Abuza has come up with a dazzling display of Al-Qaida at work. It is rare that a book comes out with so deep and thoughtful analysis of a contemporary subject - this may well become the standard reference on everything happening in the Southeast Asian theater of the world terror crisis."

Barnett, in "The Pentagon's New Map," and in his recent "Blueprint for Action," makes it clear that Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, will play a pivotal role over the next several decades in impacting the balance of power among the leaders of what Barnett calls "the Core" and the "New Core." Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world, and will play a significant part in determining the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. Therefore, Abuza's seminal work becomes a very helpful tool in understanding how terrorism in general - and Al-Qaeda in particular - may serve as a crucial factor in determining how the relationship between the West and the worldwide Muslim may evolve.

Using painstakingly well-documented and footnoted research, Abuza traces the growing influence of Al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia - from Afghanistan and the jihad against the Soviets to the bombing in Bali and beyond. His basic premise follows a logical chain of events. Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, many zealous Southeast Asians who had fought as mujahadin returned to Asia to use their skills and battlefield experiences to bring the passion of jihad to several local struggles to establish autonomous Muslim states through Southeast Asia. These struggles included the secessionist movements in Mindanao, East Timor, Sulawesi and the Malukus and Aceh - among others. Once the U.S. attacked Afghanistan to topple the Taliban and neutralize the command and control of Bin-Laden's team, Al-Qaeda was forced to flee from its lair in Afghanistan and scatter among a handful of safe havens - many in Southeast Asia. At first, these safe havens - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand - were used as a convenient "back offices" for Al-Qaeda to conduct training, money-laundering, weapons acquisition and coalition building. Al-Qaeda also funded and co-opted many local insurgents and gave them a vision of taking part in a global jihad against the "savage intervention of the American Crusade Armed Forces and their allies [who are involved] in the Muslim cleansing scheme. . . as a `harsh reprimand' to Jews and Christians led by American heathens in oppressing and tainting the Islamic holy land, where the Revelation of the Prophets descended." (Pages 166-167).

Eventually, the terrorists took advantage of lax security and political dissent in these nations to launch terrorist attacks on soft targets within these host nations - the bombing in Bali being the most spectacular and deadly among these incidents.

For anyone who wants to develop a more comprehensive understanding of where Al-Qaeda is heading in its long-term strategy and short-term tactics, this book as a valuable resource.

Al

Frustrating work.......2004-11-05

This is a frustrating work. You read the glowing blurbs (none of them experts on Southeast Asia, to my knowledge) and you expect a great book. The book does not, alas deliver: it is good in some ways, not in others.

At one level, the book is quite good. Abuza manages to tie together a wide variety of facts into a coherent narrative. The book reads reasonably well, although there is clear evidence of haste (e.g. misspelled names). If you knew little about Islam or Southeast Asia, you'd probably come away with the impression that this is a crackerjack book.

But what if you *do* know something about Islam or Southeast Asia? Alas, here the book is irritating. Take this howler: "Because Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, it is easier for radicals and terrorists to fit in." (p. 123). That is an absurd statement. (On the same page, Abuza opines about former PM of Malaysia Mahathir's "insecurity about being a Muslim Malay" -- who knows what he is talking about?)

Abuza, to his credit, usually avoids such bizarre claims. But he resorts to a formulation all too common on "terrorism" experts: that there is something called "moderate" Islam in SEA and then radical or extremist (which he identifies with "Wahhabis" or Salafis).

If you know anything about Salafis, you know that Saudi Arabia is full of them, some of them probably seeing themselves as Salafis committed the 9/11 attacks . . . BUT that the vast majority of them do not embrace terrorism! No matter. Abuza paints with a broad brush and thus smears all Salafis without explaining what, exactly, in their beliefs makes them terrorists. This is intellectually lazy. It explains nothing.

The use of terror is a TACTIC. It is a tactic used by weak non-state groups of all sorts of backgrounds. What we really need to know is why, at this particular time in history, a tiny percentage of Salafis have decided that it is the tactic to use.

One last point: Abuza seems to like "moderate" Muslims. WEll, almost all Indonesians are Muslims. Some of these so-called moderates (e.g. NU, the military leadership) engaged in the killings of 1965-66 that left about 500,000 civilians dead. Some of these "moderates" killed East Timorese (over 100,000). But just as I would never use this as proof that "moderate" Muslims are bloodthirsty thugs BECAUSE OF THEIR ISLAM, so I don't think that individuals are terrorists because of their
Islam. Islam contributes a world view, and many Salafis are rigid and uncompromising in their beliefs. . . one might want to argue that Salafis are more *predisposed* to the use of terror . . . but Abuza does not even make that more nuanced argument.

My advice: read this book for the story of the different networks of terrorists in SEA. Take some of its claims with a grain of salt: after all, who really respects the Philippine intelligence services, who provide some data to Abuza. But discount Abuza's explanations on Islam.

sloppy and pandering.......2004-03-20

This book is rubbish. Abuza uses weak secondary sources with third rate results. He does not know the relevant languages to do substantive research (Indonesian, at least) and has cobbled together a text that panders to the most paranoid of policymakers. He's part of the fear-mongering industry and his work should be read with great skepticism, if read at all.

Superb Book, Shows what OPEN Sources Provided, Great Speaker.......2004-01-25

I have the advantage, in reviewing this book, of having heard the author present his views in a superb illustrated briefing that held 150 government intelligence professionals glued into their seats and fixated on the author's rapid-fire compelling presentation.

This man is a brilliant scholar who has returned to the almost lost art of combining persistent field work with foreign language open sources (both printed and oral), and thoughtful analysis.

Across the board, from his narrative to his footnotes to his bibliography to his index, this book is as good as it gets. This is a world-class contribution to our understanding in three areas: 1) what can be known about terrorism and militant Islam from open sources of information (but is being largely ignored by the so-called professional intelligence agencies that are obsessing on secret sources and methods; 2) what governments in Southeast Asia are and are not doing about it (in many cases, abusing American naiveté or being put off by American arrogance; and 3) where militant Islam is going in this area--be afraid, be very afraid.

If all academics were this good, we would not need spies. This book and this author represent the very best scholarship that one could ask for. The author is the Program Director for East Asian Studies and associate professor of international politics at Simmons College. Goggling him yields a fine selection of interviews and Congressional testimony.

Essential Reading.......2004-01-05

This is a fascinating book that examines the Southeast Asian terrorist network in chilling detail. It is highly readable, yet filled with data and information. It is essential reading for all those interested in Southeast Asian terrorism,and to understand how Al Qaeda has morphed.

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