Book Description
This dynamic and comprehensive text from two nationally renowned scholars has been completely updated and continues to demonstrate the profound influence African Americans have had and continue to have on American politics.
Book Description
At a time when international terrorism is the focal point of our concerns, a far more pressing threat has arisen to the balance of power in the world and ultimately to the security of our country. Since the Islamic Republic of Iran admitted, just two years ago, that it was secretly producing highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium, leading nations have struggled to react in an appropriate manner. In this book, the U.S. public is able to learn, in full detail and for the first time, exactly what the Europeans and UN have been trying to forestall.
In Iran we see a country, located at the center of the Middle East, which could very shortly have the ability to strike its immediate neighbors and nations farther away with nuclear weapons. With the innate size to dominate its region, Iran is also a country with an avowed mission to export it's theocratic principles, and a nation which has, over the past 25 years, been a notorious supporter of terrorist organizations. Its parallel development of atomic bombs comprises the greatest threat that we have seen in the new millennium.
In Iran's Nuclear Option, defense expert Al J. Venter details the extent to which Iran's weapons program has developed, and the clandestine manner in which its nuclear technology has been acquired. He demonstrates how Tehran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and details the involvement of several countries who have been shown by the IAEA to have trafficked in illegal nuclear materials. He proves, for the first time, a direct link between the now-defunct South African apartheid regime's nuclear program and Tehran's current nuclear ambitions.
Venter digs deep into ancillary subjects, such as Iran's fervor on behalf of Shiite Islam, its missile program-developed alongside its nuclear one-and the role of the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards), whose tentacles have spread throughout the Middle East and increasingly further afield. While noting Tehran's support of terrorist groups such as Hizbollah, Venter follows closely how the Persian homeland itself has progressed toward a strategic nuclear capability that would make recent terrorist attacks look obsolete.
Iran's Nuclear Option is essential reading for anyone with an interest in global security and the perilous volatility of the Middle East. It also comprises an indicator for America's own options, should it be willing to counter the threat while time remains, in favor of world peace rather than greater global instability.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting view on Iran's atomic bomb.......2006-12-31
Recent events since the book has been released show that Iran wants a bomb but probably is further away then this book suggests. As most of the other reviews have covered the book, well enough as I will just add that I found the large section that the writer discusses on South Africa annoying as I thought it was off topic and yet an interesting one as he states that South Africa in actively spreading helping the spreading of nuclear and advanced conventional weapons. I am not totally convinced on the nuclear weapons. I hope the writer will in future, supply more information on this subject.
Iran has a right to self-defense.......2006-08-21
While I'm not an advocate of nuclear weapons or nuclear power, I can certainly understand why Iran would be moving in the direction of this sort of technology. It understands that the US is an aggressive military empire that has been on a quest for hegemony for generations. On top of that, the US has already been involved with the overthrow of an Iranian leader, the democratically elected Mossadegh. That overthrow led to the US-backed Shah and his brutal security forces. So, predictably, Iran is moving to defend itself. If US citizens have a problem with that, they should work to change their own society which has thousands of nuclear weapons, a yearly $450 billion military budget, hundreds of military bases around the world and a history of conducting aggression around the world.
Stephen Kinzer's "All the Shah's Men" and nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi's "Iran Awakening" are vastly superior books.
By the way, Iran's president did not suggest that Israel and the Jews should be destroyed, what he said was that the "occupying regime" of zionist Israel should be "removed from the pages of history." A remark similiar to what the ANC was saying about ending South Africa's Apartheid regime. The blog of Middle East scholar Juan Cole analyzes the way Ahmedinejad's remarks have been mistranslated, while providing regular analysis of the region as a whole.
Some people seem to desire these fear-mongering books/tv dramas/radio shows that go on about all the threats the US allegedly faces. I guess that's because they or loved ones make a living in our military industrial compex and need to rationalize what they're doing. Similarly, the citizens of fascist Germany were convinced of various concocted threats to their country (Poland, the Jews, etc.) while diverting their eyes from the actual harm they were causing in the world.
"Every government explains its existence and justifies all its violence on the ground that if it were not there things would be worse. Having convinced the people that they are in danger, the governments dominate them. And when the people are dominated by governments, the latter compel them to attack each other. And in this way a belief in the governments' assurance of the danger of attacks by other nations is confirmed among the peoples. Divide and conquer."
-Leo Tolstoy, "Christianity and Patriotism"
Lacking in focus, not lacking in analytical short cuts.......2006-07-20
OK. I'm not sure where to begin with this book. First of all, it is the most scattered, poorly focused book i have ever read. I am not sure why the chapter on the Iran-Iraq War was in the book, nor am I positive why the author spent so much time discussing South Africa. Many of the chapters did not fit and would have been better off in the appendix, while many of the appendices, such as the one on iran's missiles, would have been much better suited in the main text. Also, while much of the text is interesting, such as the Appendix on Hezbollah, the author spends too much time talking about that topic, and not its relationship with Iran. While this book is supposed to be about Iran's nuclear weapons program, very little time is actually spent discussing it.
The most glaring flaw with this book is that it lacks definitive proof to support many of the claims the author is making. He takes many analytical short cuts, arriving at dubious assessments based on questionable evidence. His chapter on the Iranian involvement in 9/11 is bizarre, and i find it hard to believe that the US, based upon the information provided by the intelligence community, attacked the wrong country, while the author, based on his limited sources, was correct.
The bottom line is that this book is at times sensationalist and before the Iraq war I read scores of books that were similar in their apocolyptic tones.
While much of the information in this book is interesting, such as the bits on Islamic culture, I caution the reader to keep a healthy skepticism in regards to many of the author's claims, and suggest that Venter takes a class on how to organize a paper.
Solid Work Heavy Reading Though.......2006-06-15
Patrick Clawson said it well enough, inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have uncovered one hidden Iranian nuclear program after another during the last two and a half years. Tehran has now acknowledged having concealed (for eighteen years) a wide range of nuclear activities. Some of them have few peaceful applications but are directly useful for nuclear weapons. This surprising nuclear progress fits a context, for the Iranian regime has also tested long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and its Supreme Leader has proclaimed that Israel is a cancer that should be excised by being wiped off the map.
Iran's nuclear program has attracted much attention from governments and from authors intent on highlighting the Iranian threat. Some books are scaremongering, ill-informed, or both; in contrast, the Timmerman (Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran) and Venter books are solid accounts (as the forthcoming Iran's Strategic Weapons Programmes: A Net Assessment from London's International Institute of Strategic Studies also promises to be).
Timmerman writes in a chatty style with much color about the various players, structuring his account around the interaction among the actors. Learning, for example, that German foreign minister Joschka Fischer is married to the daughter of an Iranian dissident illuminates the dynamics of policymaking. Timmerman's account is also extraordinarily well-informed, reflecting his years of association with the policy circles he describes. Unfortunately, he undermines his credibility by accepting too readily the accounts of some Iranian exiles, especially the defector Hamid Reza Zakeri, who tell hair-raising stories about Iranian hidden capabilities. Timmerman is correct that U.S. intelligence agencies have a bias against defectors, preferring assets they themselves cultivated, but Zakeri's accounts are at times suspiciously convenient. That said, Timmerman's Countdown is the book to read for an engaging peak behind the curtain.
Venter's Nuclear Option is the place to turn for technical details and footnoted references. It offers the most systematic exposition to date about Iran's nuclear program and its role in world affairs. After a solid introduction to the history and political culture of the Islamic Republic, with a solid exposition about Iran's support for terrorism, especially by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Venter carefully walks the reader through Iran's nuclear and missile programs. Along the way, he incorporates essays by leading experts from the Institute for Science and International Security (David Albright and Corey Hinderstein) and the Federation of American Scientists (Charles Vick). As might be expected from a South African author, Venter highlights the parallels between South Africa's successfully concealed nuclear program and what is known about Iran's efforts. Some of the most technical information is in appendices; nevertheless, his account does make for heavy reading.
The world on the brink.......2006-01-24
The reality of the nuclear threat from Iran is gaining prominence in the media with the belligerent utterances of its unstable president. So in a way this book has been prophetic; it remains a must-read, along with Atomic Iran by Jerome Corsi. Venter deals with more than just nukes by investigating the ayatollocracy and its power structures, the country's missile programme, its other dangerous weapons and its terrorist network.
Chapters 1 to 3 provide an overview of the country, the people and recent history like the Iran-Iraq War. There is also a discussion of the differences between the Sunni and Shia varieties of Islam, the role of the 12 imams and the Mahdi, the 12th. This is very relevant in the light of Ahmadinejad's apocalyptical mysticism and provides insight into the regime's ambitions to become a regional super power.
How close Iran is to having a nuclear weapon? Despite Steven Tanner's doubts expressed in the foreword, it might already have one, according to the evidence in chapters 4 to 6, which also look at technical aspects like centrifuges and the enrichment of uranium. The horrifying effect of detonating a nuclear bomb in Manhattan is discussed here.
The co-operation or involvement of primarily South Africa, Russia, China, Pakistan (the Khan network) and North Korea with Iran's nuclear and missile programmes is explored in chapters 9 and 10. But France, Germany and India have also contributed to the current situation. The next chapter details Iran's history of support for terrorists and the brutal oppression of its own people.
Chapter 11 discusses Iran's attempts to obtain other weapons of mass destruction; the next one seeks to determine the mindset of the Pasdaran and the revolutionary guards, the pillars of the regime. It is imperative to halt the country's nuclear programme but the author does not offer any suggestions as to how to go about it. The book concludes with detailed appendices and an index.
Iran has been expert at deceiving the world about the progress and purpose of its nuclear programme for more than two decades. Thanks to Ahmadinejad, it is no secret anymore that Israel is Iran's prime target. This holocaust denier has said so. But of course the regime also wants to dominate the entire region and control its oil reserves. Whatever happens, forget about cheap oil for the foreseeable future. The world is on the brink, as this book made clear months ago.
Book Description
The astounding story of runaway slaves during the American Revolution and the lives they forged on four continents
Customer Reviews:
A Most Amazing Book.......2006-08-29
The first three "official" reviews of this book fail to convey the sheer original, revealing, even emotional nature of this book. Many Americans now accept that their patriotic Revolutionary ancestors--including the Founding Fathers--owned slaves. Some Americans are aware that many of these slaves fled to the British controlled areas and cities under the promise of gaining freedom. A few Americans may then know of what happened to these former slaves--how many were take off to Nova Scotia with thousands of white Loyalists. What Cassandra Pybus reveals in this book opens all this up into dimensions undreamed of by all but perhaps a literal handful of historians. And in fact, what she presents is more like a nightmare than a dream. In an impeccably researched and footnoted narrative, she first investigates those three relatively "knowns" that I referred to above, providing details that will astound most of us. And when she goes onto present the story of what happenened to most of these former slaves as they movd on not only to Nova Scotia and London but then on to Sierra Leone and Australia--well, it is history as revelation. Although Pybus stays rooted in the strictest procedures of the historian, the end effect is to feel you are reading a novel. But a novel describing events of such unnmitigated misery, of human suffering, of human cruelty, that no novelist would dare invent these happenings. I defy any reader to put the book down saying (a) "Oh, I had suspected all this might have happened" and (b) "In any case I can't see getting especially worked up over it." The end result is a book that both charges far more human beings than we have imagined with being cruel to African-Americans and at the same time informs us of how many of these same African-Americans endured these cruelties and utimately prevailed. In a word, I found it spellbinding!
A side of the American Revolution little known until now.......2006-04-05
While most American schoolchildren in the U.S. are taught of the American Revolution as a glorious struggle of backwoods colonials fighting for their freedom and independence against the world's most powerful empire, few, if any, are taught of the great tragedy experienced by African-Americans, many of them former slaves, who fought with or sided with the British in the hopes that they would secure their individual freedoms. I was one of those many schoolchildren inculcated in the myth of the Revolution, but I have since expanded my knowledge of the Revolution beyond the history texts. Despite this, I was not aware of the globe-circling stories of former slaves of the American Revolution as carefully documented and researched by Cassandra Pybus in "Epic Journeys of Freedom". But now that I am, I hope these stories become more widely known as examples of not only the failure of the American Revolution to live up to its ideals, but more important, as examples of the unquenchable human desire for freedom and the extent to which brave men and women will go to find it.
I cannot do justice to any of the individual stories in "Epic Journeys of Freedom" in this or any review, and much of the immediacy and drama of the stories come from the first-hand sources of the era that Pybus has collected and orchestrated into compelling narratives. By retelling the history of individual lives set within the context of the American Revolution and its aftermath, Pybus reduces a mythic, seminal event in America's founding to a personal level. The eyes through which we see the Revolution, however, belong not to the victors, but to the disenfranchised and dehumanized; America's victory meant their enslavement, so they fled the land of liberty to seek their own freedom across distant borders and oceans.
Some may ask why bring up more stories of America's past injustices when we have come so far in addressing them. We read these stories and remember their lives because they remind us why men and women have risked all and died for their freedom. They remind us of both our worse and better natures, and offer hope for a more just and free world.
Book Description
On August 7, 1998, bombs exploded at two United States embassies in East Africa. American anthropologist Susan Hirsch and her husband Jamal, a Kenyan, were among the thousands of victims, and Jamal died. From there, Hirsch went on to face devastating grief with the help of friends and families on two continents, observing the mourning rituals of her husband's community to honor him. When the alleged bombers were captured and sent to New York to stand trial, she witnessed firsthand the attempts of America's criminal justice system to handle terrorism through the law.
In the Moment of Greatest Calamity is her story--a tale told on many levels: personal, anthropological, legal, and, finally, political. The book's central chapters describe Hirsch's experience of the bombing trials in a Manhattan federal court in 2001, including a behind-the-scenes look at the investigation leading up to the trial, encounters with some of the FBI's leading terrorism investigators, and many moments of drama from the proceedings themselves. Hirsch reveals the inner conflict that results from her opposition to the death penalty and concludes that the trial was both flawed and indispensable.
Hirsch's story of this tragedy and its legal aftermath comes to life through--and is enhanced by--her skills as a social scientist. Her unique viewpoint makes it unlike any other story about terrorism.
Customer Reviews:
Susan Hirsch, In the Moment of Greatest Calamity.......2007-05-12
This is a very powerful nd readable book. I highly recommend it and hope it comes out in paperback for students to read.
An Amazing Book.......2006-12-06
This book I heard on an NPR story. A few years ago, I also heard the author, Dr Hirsch, interviewed after the US Embassy attacks in Africa. In which she lost her husband, and then attended the consequent trials of the alleged terorists, part of the then little known group, Al-Queda.
She is a smart and articulate person, and her book is very imformative in today's sensationalist driven media. She is a voice of reason, offers clear and stunning analysis on contemporary culture and ethics.
She is a Cultural Anthropologist, and actually focused her studies on Law. I highly recomend this book to anyone interested in modern culture and the growing tension between Islam and the West.
A unique and timely view on Justice!.......2006-12-04
Susan Hirsch's new book "In the Moment of Greatest Calamity: Terrorism, Grief, and a Victim's Quest for Justice" is a unique and vital introspection into the role justice can play in coping with political violence. Written from the authoratative position of being a participant in one moment of greatest calamity, while simultaneously focusing an analytical eye towards the legal anthropology this moment creates the book provides a remarkable blend of what social scientists often call the subjective and objective approaches to understanding social reality. Hirsch does a comendable job of weaving her personal story of loss together with insightful and honest analysis of what justice means in the aftermath of such calamity. Teasing out the distinctions of justice as determined by past culpability for actions AND by future projections of the good, Hisrch's work is an accessible read for both scholar and lay alike. This is a book that you will find hard to put down! If you are not captured by her story, then her analytical scholarship will surely draw you in.
Book Description
In this new book developed from the prestigious Reith Lectures, Nobel Prize—winning author Wole Soyinka, a courageous advocate for human rights around the world, considers fear as the dominant theme in world politics.
Decades ago, the idea of collective fear had a tangible face: the atom bomb. Today our shared anxiety has become far more complex and insidious, arising from tyranny, terrorism, and the invisible power of the “quasi state.” As Wole Soyinka suggests, the climate of fear that has enveloped the world was sparked long before September 11, 2001.
Rather, it can be traced to 1989, when a passenger plane was brought down by terrorists over the Republic of Niger. From Niger to lower Manhattan to Madrid, this invisible threat has erased distinctions between citizens and soldiers; we’re all potential targets now.
In this seminal work, Soyinka explores the implications of this climate of fear: the conflict between power and freedom, the motives behind unthinkable acts of violence, and the meaning of human dignity. Fascinating and disturbing, Climate of Fear is a brilliant and defining work for our age.
Book Description
The 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were massacred in just 100 days, was an unparalleled modern-day slaughter. How does a nation pick up the pieces after the killing has stopped?
In a gripping narrative that examines the power of the press and sheds light on how the media turned tens of thousands of ordinary Rwandans into murderers, award-winning author and journalist Dina Temple-Raston traces the rise and fall of three media executives -- Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, and Hassan Ngeze.
From crime to trial to verdict, Temple-Raston explores the many avenues of justice Rwanda pursued in the decade after the killing. Focusing on the media trial at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she then drops down to the level of the hills, where ordinary Rwandans seek justice and retribution, and examines whether politics in the East African nation has set the stage for renewed violence.
In the months leading up to the killing, two local media outlets, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) and the tabloid newspaper Kangura, warned that a bloody confrontation was brewing. No one would be spared, they said. Observers said later that fearmongering from RTLM and Kangura played a key role in igniting the genocide, so much so that the three men behind the media outlets became the first journalists since Nuremberg to be tried in an international court for crimes against humanity.
Drawing on extensive interviews with key players, Dina Temple-Raston brings to life a cast of remarkable characters: the egotistical newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze; hate radio cofounders, the intellectual Ferdinand Nahimana and the defiant legal scholar Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza; an American-led prosecution team wary of a guilty verdict that might bring a broadly written judgment muzzling the press the world over; the bombastic American defense attorney John Floyd; heroic Damien Nzabakira, who risked his life to drive forty orphans to safety only to spend eight years in prison accused of their murder; and Bonaventure Ubalijoro, a Rwandan diplomat and politician who believed in miracles.
An extraordinary feat of reporting and narrative, Justice on the Grass reveals a Rwanda few have seen. A searing and compassionate book, Justice on the Grass illustrates how, more than a decade later, a country and its people are still struggling to heal, to forgive, and to make sense of something that defies credibility and humanity.
Download Description
"The 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were massacred in just 100 days, was an unparalleled modern-day slaughter. How does a nation pick up the pieces after the killing has stopped? In a gripping narrative that examines the power of the press and sheds light on how the media turned tens of thousands of ordinary Rwandans into murderers, award-winning author and journalist Dina Temple-Raston traces the rise and fall of three media executives -- Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, and Hassan Ngeze. From crime to trial to verdict, Temple-Raston explores the many avenues of justice Rwanda pursued in the decade after the killing. Focusing on the media trial at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she then drops down to the level of the hills, where ordinary Rwandans seek justice and retribution, and examines whether politics in the East African nation has set the stage for renewed violence. In the months leading up to the killing, two local media outlets, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) and the tabloid newspaper Kangura, warned that a bloody confrontation was brewing. No one would be spared, they said. Observers said later that fearmongering from RTLM and Kangura played a key role in igniting the genocide, so much so that the three men behind the media outlets became the first journalists since Nuremberg to be tried in an international court for crimes against humanity. Drawing on extensive interviews with key players, Dina Temple-Raston brings to life a cast of remarkable characters: the egotistical newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze; hate radio cofounders, the intellectual Ferdinand Nahimana and the defiant legal scholar Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza; an American-led prosecution team wary of a guilty verdict that might bring a broadly written judgment muzzling the press the world over; the bombastic American defense attorney John Floyd; heroic Damien Nzabakira, who risked his life to drive forty orphans to safety only to spend eight years in prison accused of their murder; and Bonaventure Ubalijoro, a Rwandan diplomat and politician who believed in miracles. An extraordinary feat of reporting and narrative, Justice on the Grass reveals a Rwanda few have seen. A searing and compassionate book, Justice on the Grass illustrates how, more than a decade later, a country and its people are still struggling to heal, to forgive, and to make sense of something that defies credibility and humanity. "
Customer Reviews:
Subtle, Frightening, and Wise.......2004-11-15
This is a highly nuanced book that deals with all the complexities of an impossible situation. The characters are almost Shakepearean, some of them good, some of them foolish, some of them manipulative, some of them darkly evil. The situation is extraordinary. Temple-Raston has a wonderful ear and is able to let people tell their own stories, and make their own judgments. This is elegant, brilliant journalism, written with great moral clarity but without ever moralizing.
Book Description
Offering a balanced introduction to contemporary security dilemmas, this book takes as its central theme the key but evolving role of power within the international system. Combining theory and practice, Sean Kay surveys the full range of conceptual frame
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2003-10-15
To Judith Shklar, among all the compnents of citizenship, there are two that are most important - the right to vote, and the right to earn. In regards to the former, in her mind, the act of voting is much less important than having the right to vote, a belief starkly contrasted by Tocqueville. By earning, she means being remunerated for labor. She says that by this definition, aristocrats and beggars cannot be true citizens because they to not earn based upon their own labor; artistocrats - based upon the efforts of others, and beggars - based upon handouts from the money of others. At times, her point is very hard to find, and at other times it seems like she just goes on and on. But overall, I know more for having read it.
Customer Reviews:
an excellent social critique.......2007-03-27
As I read this book, my mind repeatedly pulled up scenes of George Orwell's 1984. For those of you who have read 1984 and can recall, Winston is given a book by O'Brian that explains the nature of the Party, the reasons for thier oppression, the brainwashing that the Party uses to keep control, and the reasons civilization fell under despotism. The Quest for Community may as well be the book that Winston reads.
This book examines the problems created when small social groups that are intermediate between the citizen and the State become effaced in an attempt to "free" citizens from their responsibility to them. This leaves responsible to one party only, the State.
Robert Nisbet shows clearly the appeal of radical individualism and documents the history and progression of the idea. He shows how, should the State absorb the functions of the intermediate groups such as the church, the family, and the gild, the individual would be directly responsible to the State in all aspects of life.
This is a terriffic read. The only criticism I would have for it is that I felt at times it was a tad redundant, but the ideas are insightful and the logic is sound. I highly recommend this book.
Remember the date!.......2006-07-23
The book reads like a contemporary critique of our society. When I discovered it was written in 1953, I realized I was holding the works of a true prophet. Nisbet predicted and explained the developments of our times.
I particularly appreciated his explanation of what happened to the power held by a non-government institutions (e.g. the church) when it declined as an institution. The answer was that a small part was given to individuals and the rest went to the central government. Hence the odd paradox of ever increasing individual freedom in the face a dramatic increase in the power of the central government. Both individual and state were taking power from community institutions, however unequal the division.
Insights on every page.......2004-12-06
This is a profoundly important book, with insights on every page. Nisbet points out the true fight is not between the individual and the State; it's in-between the mediating institutions between the individual and the State, such as churches and families. When those institutions are destroyed or absorbed by the political State, then humanity stands naked and helpless before it. This condition goes by many names, but is generally known as fascism. He points out that unfortunately when those institutions are destroyed, some people find pleasure in being part of the State, even though they are literally being Borgified. This is one of the most important books I have ever read, and recommend it to those interested in what "alienation" truly means and what it leads to.
Brilliant.......2001-12-26
Robert Nisbet (1913-1996) was one of the most important conservative thinkers in the twentieth century and this work, The Quest for Community, was perhaps his most influential. It helped spark a Renaissance in conservative thought in America, appearing around the same time as Voegelin's The New Science of Politics, Buckley's God and Man at Yale, and Kirk's The Conservative Mind. [Brad Stone, Robert Nisbet, p. xvi.]
Modern man craves community and order. As Nisbet says, modern society encourages a sense of alienation and a loss of community. Nisbet brilliantly describes how modern literature, politics and religion bears witness to this sense of alienation. If man can't find community in mediating institutions such as the church and the family, he will find it in totalitarian movements. "The greatest appeal of the totalitarian party, Marxist or other, lies in its capacity to provide a sense of moral coherence and communal membership to those who have become, to one degree or another, victims of the sense of exclusion from the ordinary channels of belonging in society." [p. 32.] War itself becomes a means of escape from the "vast impersonal spaces of modern society." [p. 34.]
In addition to describing alienation in modern life, Nisbet analyzes the ideological origins of man's loss of community. Although many paved the way for this state of affairs, the chief villain was Rousseau. Rousseau sees the individual and the state as the two most basic entities, and it is the state that reconciles the conflicts between men and within man himself. [pp. 125-28.] The state "frees" man by destroying his allegiance to intermediate social institutions, thereby freeing him for service to the General Will.
This is the most important work I read in 2001. I would say that it ranks with Prof. Martin van Creveld's masterly The Rise and Decline of the State as one of the most important works on the theory of the state in print. Coincidentally, I reviewed that work exactly one year ago today.
Classic and great work.......2000-02-14
This is truly one of the best works of sociology I have ever read. The topic and slant of the book is truly unique: that people search for and need 'community', or meaningful relationships in social groups. Nisbet tracks the decline of many of the once relevant and viable social groups, and how their position has been encroached on by the State and centralized capitalism, with a keen historical analysis. His broad and deep analysis is indeed stunning. The length of the book, around 250 pages, is also very workable. The only negative about this book is that Nisbet's prose is sometimes awkward, though at other times beautiful.
Books:
- Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
- Apollo Moon Missions: The Unsung Heroes
- Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development (3rd Edition)
- Austen's Unbecoming Conjunctions: Subversive Laughter, Embodied History
- Best Damn Garage in Town: My Life & Adventures
- Brazilian Adventure (Marlboro Travel)
- Brian Jones Straight From The Heart: The Rolling Stones Murder
- Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia
- Bruce Chatwin: A Biography
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Zoom
- Remembering Iwo: A Personal Memoir
- The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War
- The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
- Wuthering Heights
- The Windward Road: Adventures of a Naturalist on Remote Caribbean Shores
- New Perfect Resume
- Social Security in Europe:Development or Dismantlement
- The Manhattan Beach Project: A Novel
Civil Rights & Liberties
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
African Americans and the American Political System (4th Edition)
Basics of American Politics, The (13th Edition)
Dimensions of Black Conservatism in the U.S.: Made in America
Can We All Get Along?: Racial And Ethnic Minorities in American Politics (Dilemmas in American Politics)
Black Visions: The Roots of Contemporary African-American Political Ideologies
