Book Description
Culminating a 25-year career, Jones hunted every North American species and subspecies with his .30-.06 rifle.
Customer Reviews:
One of my all time favorites.......2005-02-21
When I received this book I was surprised at its size. It is larger in format and thicker than you will expect, and given the high quality glossy stock on which it is printed, it's heavy.
Each chapter of the book covers another subspecies of huntable game in North America including the jaguar (which the author darts). Each chapter is broken into two parts. In the first part Dr. Jones discusses the game itself, describing its ecology and history. These sections are very informative without being dry or boring. In the second section of each chapter Dr. Jones describes his own personal hunt for the animal.
I found this book impossible to stop reading. My procedure was to read a chapter each night before bed. Unfortunately, this led to some late nights for me. Sometimes I wanted to read the next chapter so bad I stayed up another 45 minutes just to get it in!
You may never hunt musk ox, or Peary's caribou, or a desert bighorn or jaguar. But this book will make you feel like you were right there with Dr. Jones as he hunts these animals.
This is not a how to book. While there are recommendations of equipment, these hunts were all guided and Dr. Jones focuses more on describing the game and hunt itself and his experiences than he does in trying to teach the reader how to hunt a particular animal.
This is superior piece of work. You will not regret buying it, even though you may lose a little sleep.
Model book for future hunting literature.......2002-11-27
If you happen to like books which are impossible to quit reading, this is one you must buy. However, being a large, well designed book mandates caution - other responisiblities will be easily forgotten in the Dr. Jones' writing and wonderful color photos.
My personal hunting library has grown over the years, and now number well over 200 titles. Dr. Jones' volume deserves to be recommended reading for every big game hunter, regardless of his personal aspirations or abilities, a distinction shared by few hunting books. However, the incorporation of a modified "peer-review" process in the development of this book is essentially unprecendented in the hunting literature. By utilizing this process and the input of several experts, J.Y.'s book is becomes the most authoritive book on NA big game. More importantly, he has established a model which should be closely followed by outdoor writers everywhere. I hope this proves to be the legacy of this book.
a HUNTING book.......2002-07-30
This book is truly a hunting book.
For those who would like to know what type of hunting situation you'd encounter in north America than this book is for you.
It doesn't discuss guns and other equipment in detail, but that's exactly what make this book a HUNTING book.
Book Description
One of the most elite educational institutions in the world, the Air Force Academy has, from its inception, attracted the best and the brightest, producing leaders not only in the military but throughout American society.
In recent years, however, the Academy has also been producing a cadre of zealous evangelical Christians intent on creating a fundamentalist power base at the highest levels of our country.
With God on Our Side is shocking exposé of life inside the United States Air Force Academy and the systematic program of indoctrination sanctioned, coordinated, and carried out by fundamentalist Christians within the U.S. military.
It is also the story of Michael L. Weinstein, a proud Academy graduate and the father of two graduates and a current cadet, who single-handedly brought to light the evangelicals’ utter disregard of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state that is so essential to the nation’s military mission. Weinstein’s war would pit him and his small band of fellow graduates, cadets, and concerned citizens against a program of Christian fundamentalist indoctrination that could transform our fighting men and women into “right-thinking” warriors more befitting a theocracy. In the process, he would come face to face with religious bigotry and at its most extreme and fight an unrelenting battle to save his beloved Academy, the ideals it stood for, and the very future of the country.
An important book at a critical time in our nation’s history, With God on Our Side is the story of one man’s courageous struggle to thwart a creeping evangelism permeating America’s military and to prevent a taxpayer-funded theocracy in which only the true believers have power.
Customer Reviews:
A Conspiracy Nut.......2007-08-11
Because a person believes in God and is a member of the Military, therefore, that individual, motivated by their belief in God, conspires to overthrow the government of the United States. Now you know what it's about, save your money for something worthwhile.
Beware of religious fascists.......2007-07-18
More than two years ago the author of this book started the Military Religious Freedom Foundation as a watchdog to make the military obey the laws of separation of Church and State. His concern started with a specific evil at his alma mater, the Air Force Academy, the chronic harassment and intimidation by evangelicals to pressure Catholics, liberal Christians, Jews, and others to assent to a right wing, primitive faith. Weinstein explains how the military has been taken over by a fundamentalist agenda. What these chaplains are doing is a blatant violation of the famous wall between Church and State.
Various chaplaincy codes flatly prohibit the "proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice."(p. 74) In the command structure of superior and inferior of the military this may put government in the person of an officer in the position of commanding a soldier or cadet to convert or else. This prohibition of evangelizing the fundies reject as curtailing their freedom of religion, claiming that making converts is enjoined as an integral part of their religion. Anything less, they claim, is anti-Christian bigotry, a bias against the majority, and discrimination against their belief. Remember, in most circumstances when fundies speak of Christianity it does not include Roman Catholics and liberal or mainline denominations.
Mikey Weinstein has qualification to take on this struggle few can match. A family tradition of father, son, and grandchildren graduating from the Air Force Academy, law degrees and experience of service in the White House, and a network of political allies. The book is a narrative of events at the Air Force Academy and the military in general which lead Weinstein to found the organization. The book is a quick and easy read. It seems part of a push back on the inroads made by "born again" religious fascists on the administration of the country. In the long run I do think the believers in fascist Christian authority will lose.
The evangelizing of our military.......2007-06-29
Unless we are in the military or are close to someone who is, our knowledge of what goes on inside this institution is very scant. From our perspective at a distance, when we think of the military we pull up associations like discipline, character building, team building, following orders, sacrifice, etc. Military academies include these items, with the addition of leadership training, emerging into military strategies and history, and the details just sort of drop off into a mystery of rigorous studies and training. We rarely, if ever, make associations with religious training and an institution whose objectives include promoting a particular religious ideology--that of evangelism. Their aim is to convert the "unchurched." Appears among the branches of the military the Air Force Academy is the prime agent for converting those who have not already joined the ranks.
Weinstein's book was a real eye-opener. He traces his own personal experiences and those of his 2 sons, as well as others who enter the gates of the Academy and are confronted with constant intimidation by those who are driven by the need to convert as their highest mission. Those who resist are intimidated, ridiculed, and isolated. There is no relief, and no process for appeal, as those in charge clear up to the top, condone and promote this policy of religious mission.
The book recounts the battle of Weinstein as he decides to take on this perversion melding military with religion. The author is very religious himself, but he recognizes the danger of the military becoming an agent for religion.
Evangelism Versus the U.S. Constitution.......2007-05-08
What would you do if you found that people espousing a brand of intolerant evangelical religion were turning an organization that was responsible to a large degree for shaping your life and career into a tool for coercive recruitment? No, I'm not talking about the White House; I'm referring to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Mikey Weinstein, a self-described "militant Jew" took on the academy, the Air Force and the Department of Defense a couple of years back because of flagrant violations of the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution by the officers and cadets of the Air Force Academy. Their officers, chaplains and classmates were subjecting cadets to a robust and pervasive proselytizing of fundamentalist Christian doctrine. And if you happened to be Jewish, it was likely that you would be treated like an outsider, subjected to humiliation and possibly called a "Christ killer" by classmates.
"With God on Our Side: One Man's War Against an Evangelical Coup in America's Military" chronicles Weinstein's crusade against the school from he himself graduated with honors in 1974 and followed it with a distinguished record of service in the judge advocate general corps and three years on staff in the Reagan White House. So he's no slouch. Instead Weinstein is the third generation of a four-generation military family, and both his sons graduated from the Air Force Academy.
While the narrative occasionally gets rather breathless -- especially the first couple of chapters where the author is desperately trying to hook the reader with the power of Weinstein's personality and the gravity of his crusade, the book is well-written.
For a look into the underpinnings of the race to theocracy and the rise of radical evangelicalism that we are witnessing in America today, read this book.
The corruption of power.......2006-12-12
Weinstein's account is a fascinating illustration of the famous quotation "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." For better or for worse, the training of a cadet involves tearing his personality down and rebuilding it; unfortunately, the officers in charge of the Air Force Academy have chosen to use this power to take cadets at their most vulnerable and indoctrinate them with their own particular brand of religion. Some of the most chilling passages describe how Jewish cadets are subjected to Mel-Gibson-style anti-Semitism, and how the administration fails to support them.
A good companion to this is Reichen Lehmkuhl's book Here's What We'll Tell Them, about his experience as a gay cadet at the Academy in the mid nineties, and he pervasive homophobia in the chaplain corps. This is a problem in the U.S. military in general, but seems to be a special problem at the Air Force Academy, maybe because of the influence of the many Christianist groups that have their headquarters in Colorado Springs. It sounds like things are totally out of control there!
One disappointment: I was expecting to hear at the end of the book about how the lawsuit turned out. But this is an ongoing event.... you'll have to resort to sources such as Google News to keep up with the latest developments. I note that the suit has recently been thrown out on a technicality, but will be refiled. Mr. Weinstein isn't going away, and I suspect that he will be holding the military's feet to the fire for years!
Book Description
The story of Anton Dilger brings to life a missing chapter in U.S. history and shows, dramatically, that the Great European War was in fact being fought on the home front years before we formally joined it. The doctor who grew anthrax and other bacteria in that rented house was an American-the son of a Medal of Honor winner who fought at Gettysburg-on a secret mission, for the German Army in 1915. The Fourth Horseman tells the startling story of that mission led by a brilliant but conflicted surgeon who became one of Germany's most daring spies and saboteurs during World War I and who not only pioneered bio-warfare in his native land but also lead a last-ditch German effort to goad Mexico into invading the United States. It is a story of mysterious missions, divided loyalties, and a new and terrible kind of warfare that emerged as America-in spite of fierce dissention at home-was making the decision to send its Doughboys to the Great War in Europe.
This story has never been told before in full. And Dilger is a fascinating analog for our own troubled times. Having thrown off the tethers of obligation to family and country, he became a very dangerous man indeed: A spy, a saboteur, and a zealot to a degree that may have so embarrassed the German High Command that, after the war, they ordered his death rather than admit that he worked for them.
Customer Reviews:
"The Enemy Within".......2007-08-11
Robert Koenig's portrayal of Anton Dilger's mission to bring germ warfare to America during WWI is far more than just a gripping story of biological warfare and sabotage in one of its first modern instances. Koenig's work resonates to our own contemporary struggle against terrorism in a number of different ways. First, Koenig delves into the psyche and family history of Anton and with painstaking research presents to the reader the fascinating story of how an American born medical student becomes an agent for Imperial Germany. Second, we are reminded of the response of the US government in dealing with the supposed "enemy within", in both its indiscriminate nature and ineffective results. Finally, Koenig also reminds us of the societal response towards the supposed German-American "threat", one that had its own "liberty stakes" (taste great when combined with "freedom fries", one would assume).
This is a very well researched book that combines intrigue of the mysterious world of spies during WWI with a personal story of a man who chose to betray his country, one that his father served proudly during the Civil War. In a way, Koenig offers a reminder that our current predicament is not so unique.
A very well researched, well written book........2007-05-25
I've read the book a couple of times and have gotten more out with each reading. Bob Koenig has done a tremendous job in terms of the accuracy of his research. His writing style draws the reader into the story. Excellent and highly recommended.
Gripping book, painstakingly researched.......2007-04-06
To someone from outside the US, this book brought many revelations, foremost of which was the insight into the thriving German community that existed there prior to 1914, but now is no more. We are familiar with Italian, Greek and Polish influences, but the Germans, as the enemy after a bitter war, had to subsume their culture.
The anti-hero of this gripping book, Anton Dilger, belonged to a family which was more American than German already, but he felt the pull back to earlier roots. The personal letters and insights that Rob Koenig has painstakingly researched show how horrific incidents like the Corpus Christi Massacre in Karlsruhe can have far-reaching effects through people struggling with their identity.
Koenig tells this story in such a way that you do not know what is coming, and thus every chapter has an impact. Throughout, he reveals his mastery of scientific writing for the public. I've read some of his other work on contemporary science, and was delighted to see this historical work. I hope he does another book. This one, meanwhile, is highly recommended to those who like biography, travel, history, science and warfare, all rolled up in one.
Dogged Search for an Elusive Spy.......2007-03-14
My name is Tim O'Neil (husband of Christine). For a decade, Robert Koenig and I worked together as reporters at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I offer this as personal disclosure and testimony to my knowledge of Mr. Koenig's fine work. He is thorough in research and careful to confirm information. His writing is clear and absorbing. He applied those skills in writing The Fourth Horseman. He read family files and forgotten government archives. He searched hard for single documents to explain or confirm information on Anton Dilger, and then wrote a full narrative of the motivations and acts of a man who worked hard to cover his tracks. He took time to explain Dilger's era, especially its reliance upon horses, to provide the setting for one man's trail. The result is a fine book.
The Fourth Rider is Pestilence --.......2007-03-14
Because we now remember WWI for its industrialized slaughter, we have almost forgotten how important horses still were to the conduct of war -- so important that disrupting the shipment of horses from the U.S. to Britain and France was a priority for the German war effort. One of the first organized attempts at germ warfare was directed at infecting horses bound for Europe.
This story of Anton Dilger, an American surgeon who worked undercover as a saboteur for the Germans, has an historical sweep that will engage a broad audience -- particularly in light of our newly-heightened fears of biological warfare. The underlying research makes the book a resource for specialists in several areas -- WWI, military history, biological warfare -- and the graceful presentation also suits it to the general reader of history.
Dilger, the son of a Civil War cavalry officer, betrayed his family, his country and his profession in organizing the infection of American horses with anthrax and glanders germs. The author follows him from his childhood in rural Virginia through his education in Germany, his recruitment and work as an undercover agent, to his probable death -- never entirely confirmed -- in Spain during the flu pandemic in 1918.
Even after almost a century, a sad immediacy clings to many aspects of this story. The horses are gone, but much else remains the same.
Book Description
Chad Pregracke was a high school student when he first glimpsed the trash that littered the bottom of the Mississippi, a shocking sight that launched him on a quest to clean up the river. After four discouraging years seeking government help without success, he decided to take his fund-raising private—and a corporate sponsor decided to take a chance on this naive but unshakably determined young man.
Ten years later Chad's one-man project has grown into a $500,000 operation with more than 60 sponsors (including National Geographic). His work has been featured on national news and won numerous honors and accolades, but its grassroots, can-do spirit still thrives aboard the 135-foot barge that serves as home base for his organization, a floating environmental classroom, and an inspiration to people of all ages.
This is the story of his personal triumph as an advocate for America's rivers. Chad measures success in tons of garbage removed and thousands of people with a new stake in—and a new understanding of—the river environment. But From the Bottom Up is much more as well: a first-person chronicle of Chad's own life along the Mississippi featuring colorful characters, a near-death experience, a haunted swamp, and other flourishes worthy of a modern Mark Twain; and a fascinating portrait of the river itself which explores everything from the natural history of mussels and catfish to Indian lore to the key role of the Mississippi in our country's history.
Customer Reviews:
We need more people like this! .......2007-08-23
It's a great book that details how one person saw a need for change no matter what it took. Chad perservered (and continues to) and has created this movement that draws in sponsors, staff and volunteers who are happy and willing to help with enthusiasim. It's very well written and makes for a good read. Thanks Chad and Jeff - keep up the good work!
Fantastic! .......2007-06-15
I could not be more engaged in the book than I am - it is so thrilling and to read about the experiences they have had it makes you wish that you could have been there! It is just excellent! I love it - and I'm so excited when I carry the book somewhere and people ask me what I'm reading because I can't wait to tell people some of the CRAZY things that have happened to Chad and his crew.
ANYONE could read this book and thoroughly enjoy it - I even share parts of the book with my 6 year old son who can't wait to get back out the XStream Clean up this year!
It's amazing how he can take something seemingly so mundane as picking up garbage - write a book about it - and it is just an amazing adventure!
Rising to the Top.......2007-05-29
"From the Bottom Up" is an enormously impressive account of the prodigious effort and success of Chad Pregracke and his clean-up team to take on a difficult and necessary problem in our environment.
Our world needs this motivation, talent, work, and hands-on planning to protect our planet. Jeff Barrow's excellent writing makes the information flow easily and captivates the reader's interest. The dedicated and hard-working team forces attention to rise to the top of our consciousness and educates the reader on the necessity of cleaning up our waterways, taking responsibility for our environment, and stimulates our will to do it.
Great, very entertaining story about one man's idea and his ability to get thousands to help........2007-05-01
It's hard to write an accurate description of this book, let alone Chad Pregracke's accomplishments. Do you measure it in the number (545) of refrigerators he's pulled from rivers? Do you measure it in the number (15,991) of tires his group has pulled up? Or possibly by the number (1) of horse's heads he's pulled from the river? Combine these stats with tons of press coverage alongside a trip to the White House to receive an award alongside Rudy Giuliani and Bill and Melinda Gates and you've got a very good story.
Over the past 10 years Chad has assembled a group of volunteers, sponsors, and genuinely interesting people to help him accomplish a daunting goal of cleaning up America's rivers. This has extended into an audacious goal of planting a million trees and educating thousands of students on his "floating classroom."
This book will give you an inspiring, very entertaining snapshot of how it was done and even gives you a quick blueprint of how to do something in your own area. Read it for an inspiring portrait of a true original who started with a small idea and turned it into a national movement.
It's a real CRUSADE - action - danger - adventure & comic relief!.......2007-04-27
This is an amazing story with never a dull moment. Chad has to be one of the most tenacious persons on the face of the earth! The obstacles he overcame were numerous and the spirit he faced them with was awe inspiring. They don't call it the Mighty Mississippi for no reason. Chad's fabulous sensce of humor comes shining through from this self appointed trash talking, picking, sorting, recycling dude.
Book Description
An ancient mystical experience, the Vision Quest was undertaken by Native Americans as an odyssey of self-knowledge and fulfillment--a spiritual journey into the wilderness and the soul. In this classic account of the relationship between man and nature, America's most famous outdoorsman reveals the secrets of this profoundly moving ritual.
Customer Reviews:
life changing.......2007-10-10
This book it truely incredible. It will make your re-evaluate your life and the way you live it. I think everyone should read this book at least once, if not once every year, just to get grounded again. A definate must buy!
This is the way to do do business.......2007-01-19
I am thrilled with how fast the book arrived and the excellent condition it is in. Will definitely buy from this seller again.
Tom Brown's "The Vision..." doesn't disappoint.......2006-07-16
As a long time Tom Brown fan, The Vision: The Dramatic True Story of One Man's Search for Enlightenment, keeps with the spirit of the previous works I have read. It is my feeling the author has a true message he wishes to impart on our society, one that leads to a better understanding of our relationship with nature and life itself.
This book delves into the author's message of a return to a intimate relation with nature and putting our lives on a natural path of harmony with the planet on which we live and must share with all living entities.
You will not be disappointed in the message, and the paths opened leading one to a better understanding of the way to achieve these goals. I highly recommend this work to anyone seeking these truths.
Completely Amazing.......2000-06-27
This book is simply incredible. Having read "Grandfather" and "The Tracker" before this book, I found myself on an incredible journey through the Vision Quest. I found that it deepened my desire to do as Tom Brown, Jr. has done. The Vision Quest in the cave towards the end was absolutely amazing. It is probably best to read at least "The Tracker" before this one, but it's not totally necessary. A must read at any rate.
Worth Re-reading.......2000-03-13
I have read this book twice now, I enjoyed and learnt it both times. Better the the previous two books, in 'The Vision' Tom goes deeper into his personal spirituality. The book takes you through many of Tom's life lessons building nicely into where the later books will take you. It is the kind of book where you will find something covered which will add insight to your current life circumstances.
Book Description
When Charles O. Rossotti became Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in 1997, the agency had the largest customer base—and the lowest approval rating—of any institution in America. Mired in scandal, caught in a political maelstrom, and beset by profound management and technology problems, the IRS was widely dismissed as a hopelessly flawed enterprise. In Many Unhappy Returns, Rossotti—the first businessperson to head the IRS—recounts the remarkable story of his leadership and transformation of this much-maligned agency. In the glare of intense public scrutiny, he effected dramatic changes in the way the IRS did business—while it continued to collect $2 trillion in revenue. Through fascinating accounts of heated Congressional hearings, encounters with Washington bigwigs, frank exchanges with taxpayers and employees, and risky turnaround strategies, Rossotti serves up a colorful story of leadership and change against daunting odds. He also underscores why every honest taxpayer should demand reform in the broader U.S. tax system. Infused with keen wit and hard-won business wisdom, Many Unhappy Returns illuminates the perils and possibilities of leading large, complex organizations in a transparent world.
Customer Reviews:
Reforming Government is Hopeless!.......2005-12-29
Rossotti tried it as head of the IRS from 1997 to 2002, coming from outside government and without prior significant tax experience. At the time, it had the largest number of customers and lowest approval rating of any institution in America. Behind this rating was a new $4 billion computer system that could not meet requirements, callers couldn't get through, staff could not resolve many issues without added calls and letters, there were high error rates in response to caller questions, and numerous charges of staff building "success rates" by deliberately focusing on taxpayers thought least able to resist.
One of Rossotti's early acts was to have a list compiled of outstanding promises - it exceeded 5,000. He consolidated the list and focused on 157 - giving them top attention. In addition, Y2K was coming - threatening chaos unless thousands of old programs were changed before the old programmers familiar with them and increasingly uncertain about their own future left. (Resolved that problem with a temporary 10% bonus and the promise of re-training in new languages.)
The "bad news," however, is that Congressionally-imposed complexity had led to an 83,000-page manual, a prohibition on quotas, and a requirement for performance statistics. Further, MAJOR improvement would require not only simplifying the tax code but also the organizational structure. For example, the Office of Management and Budget had great control over staffing, and Treasury department attorneys determined the legal rulings used by staff - often with little concern over practicality.
Rossotti focused on having staff stop seeing taxpayers as "the enemy," moved to organize those responding to taxpayer questions by topic and providing more training. Their efforts did improve customer satisfaction ratings, but he did not provide data on what happened after leaving. (My experience in government is that after the crisis passes or the change agent leaves, things revert back to the way they were.)
Probably most helpful, though was Rossotti's suggestion for Congressional focus - that the definitions and requirements regarding dependents (different in various situations) and tax-treatment of savings accounts added the most complexity to most taxpayers situations. Therefore, revising those areas would have significant benefit in simplifying taxpaying for many, many taxpayers.
It's not just the IRS.......2005-06-15
This is a truly remarkable book. Clearly written, with many practical examples and devoid of management jargon, it describes what Charles Rossotti did to signbificantly improve IRS operations. But it's not just about the IRS, or about big, cumbersome government buraeucracies, or about how to change organizations. It's about good management! The principles that guided Rossotti and that he lays out out in this book are universal, such as focus on the customer (that's right, taxpayers treated as customers)and involvement of employees in the improvement process. Those apply to any organization at any time and make this book an extraordinary valuable read for anyone genuinely interested in good management. I highly recommend it.
Government at its best.......2005-05-07
All those interested in how the best modern management practices of the private sector can be applied to huge government bureaucracies with dramatic benefits to the taxpayer (literally) should read Charles Rossotti's book. This book should remove all doubt about whether it's possible to improve the operational performance of government. The fundamentals are all that's needed: getting one's arms around the whole problem, structural reorganization, customer focus, gathering input from all directions, using modern information technology, leveraging the frustrated talent already in the organization, constant and honest communication, and the right chief executive. Rossotti was the right executive for the IRS, and fortunately he has written a clear and lively narrative of his experiences there.
Some Happy Returns Too.......2005-03-28
This is a modest and engaging memoir from a successful businessman who, to the surprise of his own family, accepted an offer to become Commissioner of the IRS. He took the job in 1997, when the IRS was in a political firestorm, being berated as both abusive and bungling in dramatic Congressional hearings. Charles Rossotti took over this very troubled agency, and after five years of hard work, left it, well, still a troubled agency, but with somewhat more manageable problems than it had before.
The list of problems he faced was truly daunting. The IRS was an outdated organization based on geography instead of function; its computer system for taxpayer accounts was from 1962; its customer service lines were chronically busy; and its workforce was demoralized. On his first day in office, Rossotti told his staff he wanted to send an e-mail to all employees and was promptly told it was impossible. Where to begin?
He began with the organization, removing layers of management and consolidating functions so that offices could focus on particular types of taxpayers. Rossotti was allowed to bring in his own management team, but to his relief, found that the career IRS executives he inherited were eager and able to make big changes in the agency. He accompanied IRS employees during their meetings with taxpayers so that he could watch them work. He replaced the big paper manuals that telephone assistors used with computer databases, and devised a plan to keep the old computer system updated for Y2K and tax law changes until a new system could be designed and deployed. All these changes were made after consulting with everyone from the employees' union to small business groups; Rossotti's motto is, "Engage, and then decide."
As the dour title of the book would suggest, not everything went well. Most of Rossotti's plan for "Modernizing America's Tax Agency" had only long-term benefits, but the politicians who make the rules and set the budget wanted a sense of immediate accomplishment. Congress demanded that he respond to the hearings by firing some employees. The White House hoped that a few public relations gestures could just make the problem go away. In one of book's few insider revelations, Rossotti claims that Clinton aides actually asked him to find a "happy taxpayer" for the audience of a State of the Union speech. Rossotti's budget requests were routinely cut, so he reduced enforcement to pay for the improvements he wanted in customer service. Not surprisingly, tax evaders, often assisted by prestigious accounting firms, took full advantage of the decline in audits.
So what is Charles Rossotti's legacy? The organizational and technological changes he was able to make will have lasting benefits. The IRS has caught up with such basics as fax and e-mail, and the irs.gov website is excellent. Rossotti's positive assessment of the employees he met is encouraging. His major emphasis on customer service may be threatened though. Rossotti's successor, alarmed at the level of cheating but no more successful with the overall budget, is now cutting customer service to shore up enforcement. Congress ignored Rossotti's requests to simplify the tax code, and in fact made things worse. Rossotti certainly wasn't the first businessman to go into government and find frustration, but with his modesty and his emphasis on consultation, he seemed much more poised for success than an autocratic type.
Many Unhappy Returns is neither bitter nor self-congratulatory. Rossotti doesn't criticize many people by name, and he is quick to share credit for what went right. His analysis of organizational structures certainly won't outsell books on terrorism or celebrity trials, but he does seem to be a very honest and capable man who took on a difficult job with no prospect of fame or glory. Reading his book is a small way of saying thanks. He didn't completely succeed, but thank God people like him are willing to try.
Someone had to do it.......2005-02-25
Just when you think that your own job is the pits, you encounter someone whose occupation is even worse. Actually, Rosetti volunteered - sort of, if you can call succumbing to pressure from several Washington heavies 'volunteering' - to fix something that appeared terminally broken: the IRS. But the result is a book that has more to do with transformational change in large organisations than taxation, and Rosetti is clear about the steps that were involved in bringing the IRS back from the brink to being a fairly credible organization (although he admits the process will take much longer than the five years that he held the job).
As a former businessman from the private sector, before taking the job he insisted on being able to form his own team - and he managed to assemble some good people from the private sector and from within the IRS. He also highlights the importance of keeping reform promises credible - better, he says, to only promise realistic changes, rather than promise the world and deliver nothing. Another key was the installation of up-to-date technology - astonishing to realise that the IRS was still running on a computer system from 1963.
The major problem was the micro-mandates imposed on him by various Congressmen and other stakeholders, as well as the apparently random interventions of the Clinton White House.
As a non-American, I cannot personally vouch for Rosetti's claims about the IRS lifting its game, although it sounds right from other things I have read and heard. One way or another, it makes for a pretty interesting book, and Rosetti writes with clarity and occasional humor (an ability to see the funny side of things would have been essential in this job).
I think I will send my (advance) copy to the head of the tax office in my own country.
Average customer rating:
- America Interpreted
- Brilliant
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One Man's America: A Journalist's Search for the Heart of His Country
Henry Grunwald
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Journalists
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
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Memoirs
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ASIN: 0385493576
Release Date: 1998-09-15 |
Amazon.com
Henry Grunwald worked his way from copy boy at Time magazine in the 1940s to editor in chief of the entire publishing empire of Time Inc., before retiring in 1987. In this moving memoir, Grunwald tells of his Jewish family's flight from Nazi Austria, his new life and schooling in America, and his eventual rise to dizzying heights in the publishing industry. Along the way, Grunwald lets slip some telling asides about the literati he knew in the media world and the political and cultural movers and shakers he kept company with, as well as his personal opinions about the direction of American life in the years since World War II. One Man's America is a terrific insider's view of the magazine and newspaper business in its hey-day and a memorable memoir by a thoughtful man.
Book Description
A wise, witty, and humane autobiography filled with a passionate curiosity about the people--and meaning--of America. One Man's America is at once a stirring account of a young immigrant becoming an American, a personal history of the major milestones of the late twentieth century, a fascinating insider's view of the most widely read news magazine in the world, and a warm and loving family saga. Here also is the remarkable success story of a boy driven from his native Vienna by the Nazis and returning years later as an ambassador; of a copy boy who rose to become editor of Time magazine.
During his long and distinguished career in journalism, Grunwald knew, befriended, and feuded with some of the greatest figures on the world stage, from Whitaker Chambers and Marilyn Monroe to John F. Kennedy and Henry Kissinger to Ronald Reagan and Fidel Castro. But the immense power his position allowed him was tempered by a fierce desire to know everything he could about the mores and folkways of the whole United States, Main Street bankers and student radicals alike, through whom he sought to understand the heart of his adopted country.
One Man's America is, above all, a hymn to the ever-turbulent, ever-changing land of America.
Customer Reviews:
America Interpreted.......2000-01-10
Yesyesyes. I have lived through post war America and Grunwald has recalled and revisited the troubling events since 1945. If I hadn't lived through it, it would be even more important to have read this book. I have been gripped by it for days and I am richer and wiser for having read it.
Brilliant.......1999-08-20
Insightful, impeccably written autobiography that reveals the man -- the major events, and the people who shaped those events, as chronicled in Time Magazine ... of which Grunwald was editor-in-chief.
Book Description
As a boy growing up in rural Arkansas, Bob Brewer often heard from his uncle and his great-uncle about a particular tree in the woods, the "Bible Tree," filled with strange carvings. Years later he would learn that this tree was carved with symbols associated with the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Civil War-era secret society that had buried gold coins and other treasure in various remote locations across the South and Southwest in hopes of someday funding a second War Between the States. These secret caches were guarded by sentinels, men whose responsibility it was to watch and protect these sites. To his astonishment, Bob discovered that both his uncle and his great-uncle had been twentieth-century sentinels, and that he had grown up near an important KGC treasure site.
In Shadow of the Sentinel, Bob Brewer and investigative journalist Warren Getler tell the fascinating story of the Knights of the Golden Circle and the hidden caches the KGC established across the country. Brewer reveals how, with agonizing effort, he eventually deciphered the fiendishly complicated KGC codes and ciphers, which drew heavily on images associated with Freemasonry. (Many of the key KGC post-Civil War leaders were Scottish Rite Masons, who used the cover of that secret fraternity to conduct their activities.) Using his knowledge of KGC symbolism to crack coded maps, Brewer has located several KGC caches and has recovered gold coins, guns, and other treasure from some of them.
Shadow of the Sentinel is the most comprehensive account yet of the activities of the KGC after the Civil War and, indeed, into the 1900s. Getler and Brewer suggest that the clandestine network of KGC operatives was far wider than previously thought, and that it included Jesse James, the former Confederate guerrilla whose stage and bank robberies helped to fill KGC treasure chests.
This is a rousing and provocative adventure that weaves together one man's personal quest with an intriguing, little-known chapter in America's hidden history.
Customer Reviews:
If you're interested in treasure stories, you like this book........2007-06-09
I very much enjoyed this book....until the last chapter. My family is from the same area of northwestern Arkansas as original source material for this book. I was able to see a lot of similarity between my family's stories and what is in the book. I thought it was very captivating except for the ending. I felt like there should have been another 100 pages to resolve the details that you are lead to. I was left with my jaw hanging. That being said, I do think it makes a very interesting and provocative read.
Starts Good But Gets Bogged Down.......2007-02-01
Started well but there were chapters that just lagged. It will probably be of more interest to those wishing to decipher treasure signs.
Great Read!.......2006-02-17
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I began and finished it in less than 12 hours. Once I picked it up and started reading it was impossible to stop. I enjoyed the mystery, the history, the captivating writting technique and the fact that you really never get bogged down with one topic or activity of the writers. However, for those of you who have read it, I noticed he never says what was in the trunk that he wasn't supposed to go into. I am very much into Confederate history as well as Jesse Woodson James, so this reveiw may be biased. I have to admit I wanted to grab a shovel and a metal detector and head out West after reading this book. I really believe there is lots of hidden treasure in the South. If this book ain't true and the writer is a lier then I guess it ain't true and the writer is a lier. But, the book is very interesting just the same. If you are a believer of what he writes about, you too could find treasure.
Confederate black helicopters, perhaps?.......2005-11-20
REBEL GOLD is a better than average conspiracy book, if you're into that sort of thing. And it has the added allure of postulating the existence of a fabulous buried treasure.
Written by ex-Vietnam vet Bob Brewer and investigative journalist Warren Getler (Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune), REBEL GOLD describes the former's twenty-five year quest to establish the existence and location of Confederate gold and silver caches buried by the pro-secessionist Knights of the Golden Circle in the anticipation that they could one day be used to further a second Civil War. Along the way, Brewer associates the Knights with the Scottish Rite Freemasons, Scottish freedom fighters, the medieval Knights Templar, and the post-Civil War outlaw activities of cousins Jesse Woodson James and Jesse Robert James. (Gee, there was more than one?) Brewer concludes that Jesse and Jesse weren't robbing for personal gain, but to enlarge and help conceal the Confederacy's rainy-day stash.
Brewer's quarter-century involvement with rebel treasure depositories, which are ostensibly scattered over a wide swath of territory in the American Southwest and South, is incremental. Growing up in the Arkansas backwoods, Bob was first exposed to the existence of hidden swag by listening to the recollections, stories, and veiled references by resident old timers. It wasn't until he returned home from Vietnam that Brewer began to take these verbal clues seriously and undertook to systematically correlate and follow widely spread physical mapping clues, principally carvings in the trunks of trees and buried markers. To his credit and the overall story's credibility, Bob did manage to unearth several relatively small troves of buried coins in the area. Later, as his knowledge of the KGC increased and he came into possession of additional coded maps and information, he transferred his attention to a larger area across the state line in Oklahoma, and finally to Arizona's Superstition Mountains. In Oklahoma, he was thwarted by a fellow treasure hunter with whom he'd naively shared knowledge and who allegedly beat him to a significantly large stash of gold in a buried safe. In Arizona (and back in Arkansas), Brewer was, and still is, blocked from unearthing (presumably) major hordes by the fact that the sites are on federal land. And who, in their right mind, wants to share found riches with the dang guv'mint, eh?
Bob's ultimate triumph, if it can be called such, was in identifying the precise but presumed location of the Arizona treasure vault - underneath Picketpost Mountain - after interrelating a myriad of clues - including cliff carvings, buried markers, and coded stone tablets - with the help of a couple of local amateur treasure hunters and a topographical map of the region.
This yarn by Brewer and Getler is a good one, though to be completely believable the reader would, I suspect, had to have been there. Brewer's surmises and intuitive leaps are both numerous and mind-boggling. For instance, concerning an enigmatic stone tablet containing both text and the image of a horse, an image which Brewer had discerned amidst the contour lines and other features of his topo map:
"Bob surmised that the textual clue DON ... was intended to read in reverse, as NOD. If the giant horse's head were to nod ... it would be facing the zone of interest, directly south."
Further, from a newspaper obit about the death of the presumed KGC sentinel Elisha Reavis, Bob's mental contortions are revealed:
"The article reported that a 'Billy G. Knight' - an English 'cowboy' ... had cautioned Reavis a couple of weeks before his mysterious death to 'see a doctor'. Reading between the lines, the 'English cowboy' could easily pass for a medieval Knight Templar, Bob thought. The G could well be a nod toward the hallmark symbol for 'Geometry' (some say, 'God') in Freemasonry. And, he speculated, based on related clues uncovered in Arkansas and Oklahoma, 'William' could suggest William Wallace, the heralded Scottish freedom fighter ..." Yeah, well, like I said, I guess you had to be there.
The thing is, as even Brewer himself recognizes on page 197:
"(The mapmakers) had left behind their signature system of symbolism, too subtle for most to recognize and perhaps too clever for those in the know to be able to follow the encrypted signposts."
So, what was the point of creating maps and clues so arcane and obscure such that die-hard secessionists in future generations might not even be able to recover the treasure? Whatever happened to "keep it simple, stupid"? Indeed, I suspect you could give the same maps and clues to a hundred different cryptologists and come back with a hundred different conclusions. Why should the reader believe Brewer's interpretation, especially as he wasn't (and hasn't been) able to make the major find that would prove him correct?
I'm awarding REBEL GOLD four stars for its interesting premise. Otherwise, it's hard to care. Besides, the symbol "Au" and a figure of the Virgin Mary have just appeared on the trunk of a tree in my yard with her finger pointing down. Hey, Mother, get the shovel! We're gonna be rich, girl!
Exciting new history proven by current day facts.......2005-07-25
First you should know that this is the paperback version of "Shadow of the Sentinel" but you will want both-that for your permanent library and this one for your backpack. I can personally attenst to the signs and symbols referenced as I lived in NW Arkansas in the 1950's and was surrounded by searchers for 'lost Spanish gold'. A true book you will not be able to put down and a search that is far from finished. Well written and extensively researched.
Book Description
From White Shield to Washington DC, new Indian wars are being fought by Ivy League–trained lawyers called Coyote Warriors—among them a Mandan/Hidatsa named Raymond Cross. Coyote Warrior tells the epic story of the three tribes that saved Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery from starvation, their century-long battle to forge a new nation, and the extraordinary journey of one man to redeem a father’s dream—and the dignity of his people.
Cross graduated from law school, and following his father’s death, returned home to resurrect his father’s fight against the federal government. His mission would lead him to Congress, which his father had battled forty years before, and into the hallowed chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court. There the great-great-grandson of Chief Cherry Necklace would lay at the feet of the nation's highest court the case for the sanctity of the United States Constitution, treaty rights, and the legal survival of Indian Country.
Customer Reviews:
Effective Native American Self-Determination.......2007-03-04
Considering that very few people will witness Raymond Cross's dynamism in person or read his eloquent legal briefs and law review articles, Paul VanDevelder's "Coyote Warrior" provides a persuasive account of another Native community's fight for justice in America. The legal struggles of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples for their land and sovereignty, as seen from their standpoint, provides valuable insights into the institutionalized bad faith of federal Indian policy. The author achieved his goal of making the compelling story of three tribe's contentious political relationship with the United States accessible to a wider audience.
Is atonement possible?.......2006-05-20
This book is an eminently readable account of the disasters which befell the Arikara,Hidatsa and Mandan tribes when they were displaced by the damning of the Missouri.
It is also a disturbing revelation of the shenanigans of government, producing a sense of shame in those of us who look for"justice for all" from our representatives in DC.
It falls to bold Coyote Warriors,Martin Cross and later his brilliant son Raymond to combat in court,the injustices perpetrated on Native peoples.
As a piece of reporting VanDevelder's work is carefully phrased,occasionally lyrical, avoiding heavily loaded language.
It is also supplemented with an exhaustive bibliography(of which the author says there is more),one bound to satisfy demanding researchers.
Coyote Warrier: One Man, Three Tribes, and the Trial That Forged a Nation.......2005-07-20
An extraordinary look at the forces that disenfrnchised an Indian Nation from its heritage and its land. An insightful look into the destructive forces that rend family and community ties when frderal policies that de-humanize Native people are allowed to be implemented behind one man's ego, and a government's indifference. It is an all too familiar story -- well told -- of disenfranchisement of Indian people and governments. And finally, a story of the courage and incredible intellect of one families battle against irresistible forces.
An exceptional introduction to Indian legal rights and more.......2005-04-08
I have published an award-winning law review article on Federal Indian Law, worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (until I couldn't hold my nose any longer), and had the great good luck to learn Indian Law from Prof. Raymond Cross at The University of Montana School of Law. But Paul VanDevelder taught me new things about all three.
Mr. VanDevelder deftly explains some of the more arcane aspects of Federal Indian Law in a way that, at least for me, filled in more of the puzzle pieces - but while also making it easily accessible to even the non-professional. Mr. VanDevelder taught me that the Corps of Engineers can be even more insidious and arrogant than even I had suspected. And, given the good professor's reluctance to blow his own horn, Mr. VanDevelder taught me that merely having known Raymond Cross was far more an honor than I could have ever guessed.
If you have any curiosity about Indian legal rights, or seek understanding about the grave damage government administrators can do when they embody the worst kinds of ignorance, arrogance, and egomania, or merely hope to be inspired by a ripping good yarn about the undeniable perseverance of the human spirit, Coyote Warrior is your book.
The Law of the West.......2004-11-03
At first glance this book would appear to be a rather standard documentary of the struggles faced by a particular Indian nation. That is true to a certain extent, as the book covers the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara), who until the 1950s were the most successful and self-sufficient Indians in the country, then saw their productive lands disappear under a Missouri River reservoir. After forced relocation and disenfranchisement, and political bullying from government agencies pushing through water reclamation projects that were probably a giant boondoggle, the tribes went instantly from success to destitution and dependence on the government. VanDevelder illustrates their long-term suffering through the decades-long travails and heartbreaks of the Cross family, whose father Martin led a valiant but hopeless struggle to save the tribes' livelihood and culture. The story continues through their traumatic uprooting and torn connections to their community, up to the current successes of son Raymond who has become one of the leading Indian attorneys in the nation.
VanDevelder's extensive coverage of the careers of Martin and Raymond Cross is what makes this book unique, and much more than your typical respectful but depressing expose on current Indian affairs. VanDevelder unveils the extremely complicated nature of Indian law in general, with issues of sovereignty and broken treaties from centuries ago still mucking up court cases to this day. He also gives in-depth (though occasionally over-detailed) coverage of the particular legal maneuvers and challenges faced by the Three Affiliated Tribes and the Cross family, which thanks to the legal brilliance of Raymond and some powerful allies, finally resulted in partial justice after several decades of suffering and cultural ruination at the hands of the U.S. Government. VanDevelder writes of legal maneuvering and governmental shenanigans with a surprising amount of suspense, and somehow even makes a Supreme Court exploratory hearing seem dramatic. A bonus is VanDevelder's unique descriptions of legal precedents going back to medieval Europe in the thirteenth century, and the far-reaching historical development of Indian law in America to the present day. [~doomsdayer520~]
Customer Reviews:
A Great Story With Many Different Layers!.......2004-02-22
LIke many, I picked this book up from an interest in anthropology. Like most of those same people, when I finished it, it felt as if i'd ended a great novel. To be completely honest, there are a severely limited number of times I (a twenty-six year old male graduate student in politics) have read a book only to have tears roll down my cheeks. Seriously, this is a glorious story as well as a fascinating anthropological commentary.
Here's the context: Ken Good was a graduate student under Napoleon Chagnon who was one of the first to do work with the Yanomamo indians. Chagnon wanted Good to do some research (field work) that might help supplement Chagnon's thesis that that Yanomamo are violent more by nature than culture. No matter the reasons, Good ends up not only abandoning Chagnon and his research, but finds the Yanomamo significantly less violent (by nature or culture) than Chagnon did. This may, in part, have been due to the fact that where Chagnon always remained the detached observer (his book is full of graphs, charts, and statistics), Good's got very personal (no stats here, for better or worse).
...Which brings us to the next layer of the story. Beyond being an anthropological perspective on the Yanomama, it is a fantastic - FANTASTIC! - love story. After a few years of living in the Yanomama community, good was offered a wife according to tradition. It took him a while to warm to it (and her even longer, given that he had strange habits like writing in notebooks and wearing 'foot coverings' Who would do such things?!). Their love blossomed, though, and the second half of the book is much about a host of difficulties: his struggle to 'hold on to her' when obligation took him out of the village for months at a time, the struggle to get a legal marriage to a woman who has no birth records, and later, how to get her out of the village with him.
The only problem i had with the book has less to do with the book and more with its circumstances. Good comments that Chagnon, in painting the Yanomama to be 'fierce people' overexaggerated (rather than fabricated) their ferocity. My guess, after reading both books, is that Good did the same thing by possibly underexaggerating. Good, for instance, will speak of some of the heinous things that Yanomama do, speak of it as a ancillary side-note, and wrap it up in two sentences, only returning to the topic chapters down the road. Truth be told, I think the truth lies betwixt Chagnon's and Good's accounts and I can't fault either book, but when one reads the two together, one gets the impression that BOTH authors completely missed (or ignored) things that the other got. How else could such different accounts come to pass?
For all that I strongly recommend this read both for education in anthropology and as one of the best love stories around.
Moving piece of work.......2003-11-29
I was lucky enough to have Dr. Good for a class one semester at NJCU where he teaches. This book is an insightful look into a world far removed from ours. If one had read this book without meeting Professor Good, one would wonder what type of man he is given the difficulties he faced in the Amazon. Ken is one of the most down to earth professors I've ever had and opened my eyes to a new culture while teaching me to put aside ethnocentrism. If you attend NJCU, I suggest taking him for an anthropology class. Be prepared to have your cultural horizons broadened.
Into the Heart and Into My Heart.......2001-06-10
Good's work is a participant observation study of a primitive group of Indians who live along the Orinoco river in the Amazon. These people live communally and have a different world view than most of us are familiar with. As a result, the Yanomama normative structure is based on their world and culture. As I tell my sociology students, certain patterns may be considered universal, but the content of culture varies. For example, the Yanomama have no concept of privacy. Everything they did according to Good was public, except for sex and defecation. This is similar to the south African !Kung (Bushmen) who have no word for stranger. (Lee, 1969, !Kung Bushmen Subsistence...) They lived in large circular houses called shapono. There were no walls in these structures, and people arranged themselves by kinship and lineage so that the social organization of the families in the village is reflected in the placement of hearths and hammocks. It is within this structure and the central plaza that nearly all domestic activity takes place: child rearing, food distribution and preparation, trading and feasting, curing and cremation, drug taking of the men, singing and dancing of the women. (p. 33)
Good referred to the Yanomama as the pain in the neck people instead of the fierce people as Napoleon Chagnon did in his original work of the same title. Good found the Yanomama's lack of concern for privacy somewhat difficult to deal with. In our culture, privacy and independence are the expected norm. We even have terms for behaviors that violate such norms such as invasion of privacy and, of course, trespassing. The Yanomama are not viewed as violent or aggressive but rather as highly emotional and acting without (social) constraints. We might call this behavior impulsive.
Good believed that "... the best way to study the Yanomama was to understand the entire cultural context, rather than concentrate solely on the quantitative measurements...wanted to understand them--and I wanted them to understand me...not simply to record what they were doing, but to comprehend what it meant in the context of their lives." (p. 47)
The Yanomama never use their names in public...they call each other by the appropriate kinship term (father, mother, son, daughter) (p. 52) With a numeric system that stops at two, the Yanomama do not reckon years or ages; instead they categorize people according to general age groups: infants, children, adolescents, adults, elders. (p. 66) Their sense of self (women) included lack of concern for the way they appeared to others. Judgments about another person were not based on how they looked/appeared. Although skills in hunting and shamanism were valued, still every person was on the same level as every other one. There was minimal concern with vanity. (p. 80).
Among the Indians, a visit is never just a visit...and trade is always involved. (p. 97) Normally, the Indians don't like to have their pictures taken since they believe that the image (soul-noreshi) is captured. They were especially irritated when the German scientist Eibel-Eibesfeldt set up a video camera in the middle of the village all day. (p. 137)
I certainly empathize with Kenneth Good's comments about Chagnon's work. Unfortunately, I have never been to the Amazon, or lived with the Yanomamo. I do envy his experiences. In addition, I give complete credibility to his comments and find them most interesting. In the past, I assigned his book as required reading for my Sociology classes. I also list Chagnon's work as supplementary reading as well.
A Bible-based love.......2001-01-21
Book review
I have found the book "Into The Heart" by Kenneth Good very appealing both from a woman's point of view and from a Scriptural aspect. When reading the Bible about how a husband ought to love his wife: Ephesians chapter 5 verses 25, 28, 29, 31, 33, is very clear on that. In Kenneth Good's book I could sense the genuine love this man had for his wife which he had demonstrated in so many ways.
In the jungle, he tried to protect her from harm. During an imminent miscarriage, he insisted on carrying her heavy basket, while they were trekking in the rainforest. Husbands in that culture did not carry women's baskets even if these women were at death's door. Later, when the miscarriage was in progress, he was at her side in the dark of night, trying to comfort her. To shield her from insect bites he sprayed her back with mosquito repellent. A woman is obviously not at her attractive best during a miscarriage or childbirth, but this author was not turned off by her appearance. He did what he could to minimize her suffering. These were acts of kindness out of love. All he wanted to do was to ease her suffering, discomfort and fear. How many men in our Western civilized society would do this? A few but not all!
He further demonstrated his love for his wife when he took her back to the United States. By marrying her, he had made a statement to the WORLD: This is the woman I love, she is the one I have chosen to be the mother of my children. He knew full well that by this interracial cross cultural marriage he would face some criticism. Racism after all is alive and well in our Western Societies. But this author stood by his wife, was never ashamed to be seen with her. Financial sacrifices were made to return for a visit to his wife's tribe and family. It was during such a trip that their second child was born in a jungle hut. It is obvious that every thought of the author was to please his wife, to make her happy, to make her isolation and separation from her family bearable. This is a poignant love story, a story of endurance, a story of sacrifice, a story of one man's unselfish love for his wife. Albeit he lost his wife, but I concur with the saying: " It is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all".
A reader in Canada. macska@christiancanada.com
An honest perspective--with whine and roses........1999-12-25
This book is mixed. On the one hand, we obtain the perspective of a student of one of the more eminent anthropologists of the field, Napoleon Chagnon. He describes in detail the so-called Great Protein debate between Marvin Harris (who argues that competition for game leads to warfare) and his own mentor (who claims that abduction of women is the flashpoint for war), and, by measuring the weight of game brought into "his" village, concludes that Harris wins the debate in this instance. His attempt to explain why he is weighing all those porcupines to a people whose vocabulary contains no numbers exceeding "more than two" is hilarious.
I have no problem with his sex and marriage with a locally defined adult woman--even if she was only 13 years at first contact. We have a rigid view of sex that would put him in the slammer if he did it in New Jersey or even in Caracas--but this was Yanomamo territory. I have no truck with the bluenoses who cry ethics--unless he raped or otherwise coerced her. If the attraction was mutual, then their relationship is neither your business nor mine. (And they tell us that anthropologists are not ethnocentric!)
On the other hand, I do have a problem with all that whining and paranoia attending his falling out with Chagnon. What does he expect? Of course there is going to be friction. It may be that Chagnon is so rigid in his thinking that he tolerates no dissent--an anti-academic attitude if there ever was one, but what else is new? Tolerance of different opinions is the exception, not standard practice, in academia. If Good dissents from Massa Napoleon, he should prepare to take the consequences from the Stalins of academia.
For the record, I think Chagnon's view is closer to the mark, inasmuch as Good never reports an actual battle arising between two bands meeting at a contested game site. Indeed, affirming the protein weight as expected in Harris's hypothesis, in and of itself alone, does not settle the issue.)
All in all, not a bad book--if he cuts out all that self-pity.
Books:
- Rebel with a Cause
- Recollections of My Life
- Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay
- Shaping the Next One Hundred Years: New Methods for Quantitative, Long-Term Policy Analysis
- Singled Out: How Singles are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After
- Smythe Sewn Foiled Super Size Unlined (Paperblanks: Old Leather)
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
- Someday
- Something Beautiful for God
- Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas
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