The Far Side ® Gallery 2 (Far Side Series)

Book Description

The Far Side® and the Larson® signature are registered trademarks of FarWorks, Inc.

Customer Reviews:

Far Side Gallery 2.......2005-10-26

It was an ok purchase. I am a die hard fan of far side as it appeals to my sense of humour. However, it had about as much duration as the average archie comic and left no lasting impression. No desire to re-read. Overall a fair book.

Unable to Continue.......2005-08-12

I'll write the review for this book as soon as I'm able to stop laughing.

Like all good galleries this only contains masterpieces.......2003-05-03

The Far Side Galleries are literature's version of greatest hits CDs. This edition is even forwarded by Stephen King.

The artistic masterpieces in this one come from the books Brides of The Far Side, Valley of the Far Side and It Came From the Far Side. It may be cheaper to buy these books individually instead of this gallery so compare prices before purchasing.

The advantage of owning the galleries is that some cartoons are full page size which is three times the size of the original books. Not all cartoons are full size though just some.

Classic cartoons contained in this one such as dogs looking at slides with one pointing to the screen, "Now in this slide we can see how the cornered cat has seems to grow suddenly bigger, Trickery! Trickery! Trickery!" Another has a guy waking up with a post it note on his left foot where his toe should be with the words "Went to market" on it. The classic human parody of nagging where a bear demands of her husband who has No. 8 shaved into his fur, a huge tag with no.8 on his ear and a needle sticking out of him "Late Again! This Better Be Good!"

Is this book better than other galleries? Well that's a matter of opinion, different ones appeal to different people. Should you buy it? Yes!

the far side is by far the funniest comic strip.......2002-01-20

i can't tell you whether or not to buy this collection, you either like gary larson's work or you don't. and if you know his work, and everyone does, you already know if you want this. it's a winner. and has a brief intro by stephen king--it comes to no surprise that king is a fan of the far side. they seem to fit together.

The twisted world of Gary Larson.......2001-11-26

"The Far Side Gallery 2" gathers together a generous helping of cartoons by the brilliant Gary Larson, with an introduction by horror icon Stephen King. Larson's work is a surreal blend of horror, science fiction, and satire, all filtered through Larson's twisted, often macabre, sense of humor.

Larson aims his pen at many targets in this collection; vampires, nuclear holocaust, the Bible, the tooth fairy, obesity, game shows, suicide, Vikings, vegetarianism, creationism, and much, much more. He often pokes fun at famous people or characters from literature and popular culture: Albert Einstein, Humpty Dumpty, Frankenstein, Carl Sagan, the Brady Bunch, etc.

One of Larson's trademarks is to feature non-human characters who talk and behave remarkably like humans. Many such characters appear in this book: worms, extraterrestrial creatures, sharks, slugs, elephants, dragons, flowers, roaches, and more.

The book is full of weirdness, but throughout it maintains an oddly consistent "Larsonian" logic. So if you want to see a Venus Kidtrap awaiting a meal, a devil leading a nightmarish aerobic workout session in hell, or Spanish-speaking dolphins confounding a team of scientists, check out "The Far Side Gallery 2."

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Gary; Foreword by King, Stephen Larson
Manufacturer: Andrews and Mcmeel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V2INF6

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2

Manufacturer: Andrews & McMeel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 7800050181

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Gary Larson
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Far Side | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000NW4ANI

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Gary Larson
Manufacturer: Andrews and McMeel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Far Side | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000LXZYHA

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Larson Gary
Manufacturer: Andrews and McMeel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LCPTGC

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Gary Larson
Manufacturer: Andrews, Mcmeel & Parker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Far Side | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000IEXPNC

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Gary Larson
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Far Side | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000GRQG1E

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2

Manufacturer: Andrews, Mcmeel, & Parker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HW2QIK

Average customer rating:
The Far Side Gallery 2
Gary Larson
Manufacturer: Andrews and McMeel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Far Side | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000P8D9OG

Average customer rating:
Mrs. Weber's Diary
Posy Simmonds
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Drawing | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0224017195

Average customer rating:
Mrs Weber's Diary
Posy Simmonds
Manufacturer: Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPHKYA

Average customer rating:

Just okay

Photo Book

A WEALTH OF VALUABLE DIGITAL SLR INFORMATION!

500 Digital SLR Photography Hints, Tips, and Techniques: The Easy, All-in-One Guide to Those Inside Secrets
Chris Weston
Manufacturer: Rotovision
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | How-to | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Digital Photography | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Digital Photography | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography: An Instant Start-Up Manual for New dSLR Owners

Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)

The Digital SLR Bible: A Complete Guide for the 21st-Century Photographer

Mastering Your Digital SLR: How to Get the Most Out of Your Digital Camera

Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies

ASIN: 2940378061
Release Date: 2006-08-01

Book Description

500 tips make digital SLR photography easy for all photographers

* 450 images plus jargon-free text lets photographers learn painlessly
* Ideas for beginners and beyond--all in bite-sized chunks
* Makes digital SLR photography fun and approachable

Here's the definitive companion for photographers who want to get the best out of their digital SLRs--and themselves. This accessible, colorful blend of step-by-step tutorials, quick fixes, and bullet-point tips offers the perfect antidote to dry, boring technical manuals. Everything from the digital workflow to advanced manipulation techniques, filters, special effects, and output options is presented in bite-sized chunks, accompanied by illuminating illustrations. And no jargon! A comprehensive bible of the digital SLR, 500 Digital SLR Photography Hints, Tips, and Techniques allows photographers everywhere to take great pictures and get professional results.

Customer Reviews:

Just okay.......2007-07-11

Leaves you wanting more... 500 little blurbs. Each of the 500 techniques are as little as a one sentence how-to, which only leaves you wanting more information. Which means, you need yet another book to actually learn the techniques presented in this book. The "500 tips" is just a gimicky way of selling the book, and it makes it hard to read. For instance, tips 261-269 on bracketing come out to a total of 13 sentences which span two pages. And yet, 13 sentences on this subject is only a tease.

It's a really pretty book, lots of vibrant, glossy pictures. But it only will take you 20 minutes to skim it and move on to something with more substance. The best person to buy this book should probably be someone who has never held a camera and has just gotten their first one.

Photo Book.......2007-03-16

A Gift for my husband, He said it has great simple info in it.

A WEALTH OF VALUABLE DIGITAL SLR INFORMATION!.......2006-12-13

Five INFORMATIVE Stars!!
This is another very colorful and well-done book by photographic expert Chris Weston, which gives 500 "hints, tips, and techniques" concerning Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera usage, ancillary equipment, and unique photographic techniques for both the amateur and the expert photographer. All of which is packaged in a sturdy-looking, small workbook-like paperback format. It also has over 400 stunning photographs in 2 photo-galleries and throughout the book, providing many examples and ideas about what constitutes a good picture and how each was "framed" by the photographer.

And there is a ton of information contained within the 500 tips, many of which may make you say, 'why didn't I think of that?' Some tips are very brief but excellent, for example:
>>(Tip number) "028": (Title): "Review only what you need to." (Tip): "Set the camera so that the auto-image playback is switched off. This will help conserve the batteries." < <
A very brief bit of advice that may help you have sufficient power ready when it is needed for a great shot. Some of those automatic camera features do silently burn up battery power. He makes the point over and over about getting the "settings" right before shooting. He also gives several "recommended camera settings" for different shooting situations: a big plus for amateurs and semi-professionals.

An overview of some of the subjects covered: camera setup; image quality; RAW versus JPEG and TIFF file formats (and the big advantage and disadvantage of JPEG: pay close attention to these two separate tips because these are your actual images which affect resolution and printing quality); file compression; pixels and resolution; noise reduction; an FLMF (focal length magnification factor) chart; batteries; storage media; indoor and outdoor flash photography; white balance (WB); depth of field; ISO; histograms; techniques for different types of subject matter; "Top 10 tips for choosing lenses"; printing and printers; television display usage; and so on. He does not get into commercial brands of equipment beyond FLMF, although some are shown for example only. Just follow instructions carefully and have your camera technical manual handy for reference. DSLR users may find themselves tabbing, highlighting, and marking up this book as you work your way through it. It's printed on very colorful and durable-looking glossy paper. Happy Shooting! Five PHOTOGENIC Stars.

(Paperback with very colorful, glossy pages; 8" x 9" small workbook-size format; 128 pages.)

SLR Tips & Techniques (Learn Photography Series)

Average customer rating:

SLR Tips & Techniques (Learn Photography Series)
Eaglemoss Publications
Manufacturer: HP Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0895861879

Average customer rating:

SLR Tips and Techniques

Manufacturer: HP Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I9JDIS

Average customer rating:

SLR Tips and Techniques
Unknown
Manufacturer: HP Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L0MJP8

Average customer rating:
Official Handbook of Practical Jokes
Peter Van Der Linden
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0451158733

Average customer rating:

Cool

Second Official Handbook of Practical Jokes
Peter Van Der Linden
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0451169247

Customer Reviews:

Cool.......2000-05-22

This book is great i love it, it has lots of jokes that anyone can do and they are all soooooo funny, its horrible that its out of print but you should still try to get it

Book Description

The Prix Volney Essay Series analyzes and reproduces, often for the first time, essays submitted for this most prestigious of linguistic prizes, awarded since 1822 by the Institut de France to recognize work in general and comparative linguistics.

In Volume I the series editor, Joan Leopold, introduces the founder of the prize, Constantin-François Chasseboeuf, Count Volney, and incorporates the history of the Prix Volney into the history of academies and scholarly institutions, linguistics and the social sciences in the nineteenth century. Jean Leclant, Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, which now awards the Prix Volney, and Professor of Egyptology at the Collège de France, summarizes the historical and contemporary role of the Académie, including its organization of prize competitions.

Alan Kemp of the University of Edinburgh treats the first, and initially central, subject of the competition: the transcription of Oriental and other languages using modified forms of the Roman alphabet. His essay `Transcription, Transliteration and the Idea of a Universal Alphabet' is followed by two previously unpublished prize-winning Volney essays (1822, 1823) on this subject by Josef Scherer and a reprint of the prize-winning Essai sur l'analyse physique des langues ou de la formation et de l'usage d'un alphabet méthodique (1837) by Paul Ackermann. The study of French linguistics, which was officially excluded from the competition, but which formed the basis of many entries and numerous winners, is then treated by Jacques Bourquin, for French studies in general, and by Jacques-Philippe Saint-Gérand, for French dialects in particular.

The volume concludes with Gaston Bordet's and Jacques Bourquin's introductions and Jacques Bourquin's edition of the Prix Volney manuscript by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, `Recherches sur les catégories grammaticales, et sur quelques origines de la langue française' (1839). This is a manuscript of the only known linguistic work by the famous French social thinker.

Book Description

Most macroeconomic theory has focused on goods and money rather than on labour, but this book goes someway to redressing this balance. It examines a wide range of labour-market issues from the perspective of modern macroeconomics. It considers policy issues, as well as theory, and criticises both Keynesian and New Classical approaches.

Customer Reviews:

A real find.......2000-07-19

I have read only one chapter, so far: chapter 20, titled "Putting Aggression to Use." However, in all my developmental/psychoanalytic study, I have never read a more concise, clear, compassionate and easy-to-read account of healthy development of aggressive urges. Reading this chapter moved me to find and order the whole book. Marvelous!

Book Description

In 1860, Ohio was among the most influential states in the nation. As the third-most-populous state and the largest in the middle west, it embraced those elements that were in concert—but also at odds—in American society during the Civil War era. Ohio’s War uses documents from that vibrant and tumultuous time to reveal how Ohio’s soldiers and civilians experienced the Civil War. It examines Ohio’s role in the sectional crises of the 1850s, its contribution to the Union war effort, and the war’s impact on the state itself. In doing so, it provides insights into the war’s meaning for northern society. Ohio’s War introduces some of those soldiers who left their farms, shops, and forges to fight for the Union. It documents the stories of Ohio’s women, who sustained households, organized relief efforts, and supported political candidates. It conveys the struggles and successes of free blacks and former slaves who claimed freedom in Ohio and the distinct wartime experiences of its immigrants. It also includes the voices of Ohioans who differed over emancipation, freedom of speech, the writ of habeas corpus, the draft, and the war’s legacy for American society. From Ohio’s large cities to its farms and hamlets, as the documents in this volume show, the war changed minds and altered lives but left some beliefs and values untouched. Ohio’s War is a documentary history not only of the people of one state, but also of a region and a nation during the pivotal epoch of American history.

Civil War commerce of the Ohio Valley: As illustrated with 36 original documents

Average customer rating:

Civil War commerce of the Ohio Valley: As illustrated with 36 original documents
David K Webb
Manufacturer: David Knowlton Webb
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Day books, biography and related documents of the Civil War era, 1862-1865

Average customer rating:

Day books, biography and related documents of the Civil War era, 1862-1865
Harrison Leathers
Manufacturer: H.W. Prill]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006YPY4C

Notes of a preliminary sanitary survey of the forces of the United States,: In the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, near midsummer, 1861, ([United States] Sanitary Commission. [Documents])

Average customer rating:

Notes of a preliminary sanitary survey of the forces of the United States,: In the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, near midsummer, 1861, ([United States] Sanitary Commission. [Documents])
Henry W Bellows
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

“An indispensable and riveting account” of the CIA’s development and use of torture, from the cold war to Abu Ghraib and beyond (Naomi Klein, The Nation)

In this revelatory account of the CIA’s fifty-year effort to develop new forms of torture, historian Alfred W. McCoy locates the deep roots of recent scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo in a long-standing, covert program of interrogation. A Question of Torture investigates the CIA’s practice of “sensory deprivation” and “self-inflicted pain,” in which techniques including isolation, hooding, hours of standing, and manipulation of time assault the victim’s senses and destroy the basis of personal identity. McCoy traces the spread of these practices across the globe, from Vietnam to Iran to Central America, and argues that after 9/11, psychological torture became the weapon of choice in the CIA’s global prisons, reinforced by “rendition” of detainees to “torture-friendly” countries. Finally, McCoy shows that information extracted by coercion is worthless, making a strong case for the FBI’s legal methods of interrogation.

Scrupulously documented and grippingly told, A Question of Torture is a devastating indictment of inhumane practices that have damaged America’s laws, military, and international standing.

Customer Reviews:

Principled but profoundly naive.......2007-08-10

I read this book on the recommendation of a liberal friend whose views I respect, and with whom I've had many civil arguments about the subject of interrogation of known terrorists who neither have the rights of U.S. citizens nor those of genuine POWs (i.e., they weren't captured in uniform, they don't take direction from a centralized authority that recognizes the rules of warfare, etc.). So it's fair to say that I started off as a skeptic.

But this book utterly failed to persuade me of much of anything I hadn't already either accepted or known. Mr. McCoy is hopelessly naive and lacking in a sense of genuine moral, political, or social proportionality.

For instance, he writes in the introduction: "Compared to weighty matters of state raised by Abu Ghraib, Watergate, narrowly construed, seems little more than the failure of one man's character; Iran-Contra an isolated albeit intriguing incident at the sunset of the Cold War; and above all, l'affaire Monica Lewinsky sad, sordid, and forgettably partisan." If you are the sort of person who can swallow that sort of ridiculous hyperbole -- i.e., someone who thinks anything that happened to in one foreign prison can genuinely compare to what was quite literally (not just metaphorically) the threatened destruction of representative democracy and the Rule of Law (if Nixon had continued to defy the judicial and congressional branches) -- you'll enjoy this book.

Mr. McCoy also relies extensively on value judgments on extremely subjective matters from "experts" whose expertise is nonexistent. For example:

"Although seemingly less brutal than physical methods, no-touch torture leaves deep psychological scars on both victims and interrogators. One British journalist who observed this method's use in Northern Ireland called sensory deprivation 'the worst form of torture' because it 'provokes more anxiety among the interrogatees than more traditional tortures, leaves no visible scars and, therefore, is harder to prove, and produces longer lasting effects.'"

One wonders whether this "expert," this "British journalist," had the opportunity to observe Iraqi parents as their children were fed through chipper-shredders like tree limbs by Saddam's secret police. That's a "no-touch torture" that I, albeit as ANOTHER non-expert, would consider to be quite a bit worse than any sensory deprivation imaginable.

I do not doubt Mr. McCoy's patriotism, but rather his wisdom. I do not doubt his sincerity, but rather his judgment. There is a certain type of idealist who believes in absolutes, who judges everything and everyone who falls short of perfection to be utterly ruined, and who will follow the internal logic of his positions into ridiculous extremes. I'm afraid Mr. McCoy proves himself to be such an idealist through this book.

It's well and good -- indeed, it's critical -- for us to continually remind ourselves of the need to adhere, as a society, to the strictures of civilization that distinguish us from the barbaric enemies who would ritually rape and mutilate our daughters before beheading them for wearing eye shadow or a two-piece bathing suit. But I do not believe that Mr. McCoy grasps that there are GENUINELY, indisputably EVIL men who, by their conduct and their dogma, have knowingly and deliberately done everything possible to forfeit their rights to be considered part of humanity. For my daughters' sakes, and for Mr. McCoy's (if he has any), I'm perfectly happy to forfeit Mr. McCoy's regard: He can call me a barbarian if it makes him feel smugly superior, but by and large, I support the official policies that the Bush-43 administration has promulgated.

I can and do draw practical, moral, and legal distinctions between, say, crushing a testacle on the one hand, and playing loud rap music while humiliating someone with fake menstrual blood on the other hand. I weep NO tears at all for someone "tortured" in the latter ways -- none. And this book gives me no reason why I should.

This quote is variously attributed to Churchill, Orwell, and others, but it's true: "We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." I am grateful for them; Mr. McCoy, I think, would have us put THEM in prison, and have the rest of us surrendered over to those who would gladly slit our throats precisely BECAUSE of our "civilized [Western] attitudes." I'm glad he's not in charge.

Misrepresentation of the Legacy of Donald O. Hebb.......2007-06-15

I am a retired neurosurgeon and quite familiar with the life and works of Donald O. Hebb.

I have just read Chapter 2 of the recently published book by Alfred McCoy, "A Question of Torture."
The chapter makes very interesting reading, but I am chagrined by the number of factual errors contained in this work regarding Dr. Hebb's alleged role in the development of methods of "psychological torture."

Dr. McCoy's most egregious error, in referring to the sensory deprivation experiments conducted at McGill by Dr. Hebb and his colleagues, is the assertion that, "In silent, sadly eloguent testimony to the corrupting influence of this research, it is ironic that Hebb .........should be best remembered today for the work that made him, perhaps unwittingly, the progenitor of psychological torture". It is regrettable that McCoy published this silly statement for public consumption. Clearly, Dr. Hebb is not best remembered for that reason.

At the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in London, Ontario (into which Dr. Hebb was inducted several years ago) there is an exhibit which cogently displays his major contribution to the field of psychology, that is, the publication of "The Organization of Behavior" which has been compared in its biological significance to Darwin's, "Origin of Species". Dr. Hebb proposed in this book, for the first time, that psychological functions such as memory and learning may be explained on the basis of neural activity. Any knowledgeable psychologist would remember him primarily for this achievement.

Further, Dr. Hebb was nominated for the Nobel prize, became the President of the American Psychological Association and achieved a "distinctive place in the history of twentieth-century psychology", not because of the sensory deprivation experiments but because of his distinguished career launched by his seminal theories proposed in "The Organization of Behavior".

Finally, to refer to Dr. Hebb as a colleague of Dr. Cameron is a real stretch. There was absolutely no collaboration between the two. In fact it is well known that Dr.Hebb had nothing but contempt for Dr. Cameron's work.

It is clear from the report of George Cooper to the Canadian Ministry of Justice that the purpose of the sensory deprivation experiments was to try to understand the methods the communist forces were using to "brain wash" UN solders during the Korean War. Hebb's experiments provided that understanding. Dr Hebb had nothing to do with subsequent decisions by others to incorporate some of the general conclusions of these experiments into interrogation techniques.

It is unfortunate that Dr. McCoy has so distorted the significance of the contributions of this distinguished scientist in order to dramatize his incorrect conclusions that Dr. Hebb was the father of "psychological torture". Dr. Hebb can no more be considered the father of psychological torture than the discoverers of the germ theory of disease can be considered the fathers of biological warfare.

The gross inaccuracies in this chapter of the book must raise questions regarding the bias and accuracy of the research incorporated into the remainder of the book.

Why do we allow such barbarism in our name?.......2007-02-14

Halfway thru this book, I found myself asking --- how is it possible that W., Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft are not, right now, serving life sentences in jail? There is something HORRIBLY wrong, bordering on psychotic, with an America where such sick, evil, barbaric acts - from people WE voted into office - people who claim to be deeply religious - can go unpunished.

Human beings were beaten over the course of several days, hooded, until dead while in US custody. This went on for years. The only crime of one of those murdered in our custody was that he went to the Americans to find out the status of his son who we also had in custody.

Dr. King, you sacrificed so much for us. But, we have so quickly gone back to our old ways. Instead of lynching negroes in the south, we now murder muslims in the east - but only after torturing them for days, weeks, sometimes even years.

We hide behind our leaders, who order such horrible acts of beastiality, and we pretend we do now know. Just protect us - we tell them. Protect us -- but don't let us know how you do it. Just do it.

We are no better than the monsters who took down the twin towers.

The abuses described in this book are too well detailed and footnoted to pretend the author is lying or confused. He did his research well and provides ample references for anyone wishing to fact check him.

Why do we allow this? Why do you allow it? Why do I allow it?

We are a lost nation. An empire already beaten by its own excesses.

Emergence of the Totalitarian State within our Republic.......2006-12-30

Alfred McCoy's A QUESTION OF TORTURE documents in chilling and sickening detail the history of CIA policy regrarding torture, from the Phoenix program in Vietnam to the War on Terror. He demonstrates that the Agency, which has long constituted a state within a state, has been extensively involved in the use of torture to undermine democratic governments and prop up totalitarian ones all over the world. To be sure, the CIA has used torture with "finesse". It has eschewed crude techniques in favor of ones which use the insights of psychology to design tortures which exploit ethnic and personal phobias to "break" subjects. Physical pain of the sort which leaves no scars but the emotional (after all, the last thing the CIA wants is to have one of its victims appear, obviously maimed, in a news bulletin) is combined with humiliation, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, and manipulation of daily routines in order to cause the dissolution of personality and regression to an infantile dependency upon the torturer. As McCoy says, these techniques have "metastasized like an undetected cancer inside the U.S. intelligence community over the past century." And never more so than since 9/11. As McCoy points out, in the multiple investigations and congressional inquiries sparked by the revelations coming out of Abu Ghraib and other prisons, the CIA has always been exempted, as it is from the provisions of the McCain Anti-Torture Amendment to the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act, making that Amendment meaningless.

The edition of McCoy's book which I purchased from Amazon pre-dates the passage of the Military Commissions Act (MCA) signed into law by President Bush on October 17 of this year. Thus McCoy was unable to comment upon the most horrible development of all: AMERICAN CITIZENS CAN NOW BE DETAINED, CLASSIFIED AS UNLAWFUL ENEMY COMBATANTS AT THE WHIM OF THE ADMINISTRATION, AND TORTURED WITHOUT ANY RECOURSE TO THE COURTS, WHETHER TO OBTAIN A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS OR REDRESS FOR THEIR TREATMENT. This is nothing less than the emergence of the totalitarian state within a state which has been growing in this country since World War II. The enactment of the MCA only serves to underline the relevance of McCoy's revelations, as the democracy that is being undermined is now our own, and the totalitarian state that is emerging will affect every American in catastrophic ways.

There is only one problem with McCoy's analysis. Toward the end of it, he conducts a detailed inquiry in order to answer the question: is torture effective in obtaining information? Reaching the conclusion that it is not, he asks, why then do our leaders choose to use it? His answer is that it "salves their fears with the psychic balm of empowerment." (p. 207). This is naive. The American government does not need any psychic balm, as it is the most powerful government ever to exist on this earth. And there is no need to ask if torture is effective in obtaining information, for our government has no need of information, since it is itself "running the show". In fact, torture is very effective in obtaining the thing that it really wants: CONFESSIONS, which will convince the American public that there is an enemy out there so dangerous that the struggle against him justifies the surrender of their most fundamental liberties. It was just such a confession which got us into Iraq, when Shiekh Mohammed Ibn Al-Libi "admitted" under torture that Iraq was supplying terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, an "admission" which later turned out to be false.

When one considers the fact that, according to the best informed sources, some 90% of the people detained in the War on Terror are absolutely innocent, torture becomes not only effective but necessary, for how else can one build a picture of looming threat from a bunch of poor souls picked up by mistake or handed over to the U.S. for bounties? The ultimate message is that the worst terrorists in the world operate out of Washington, D.C., and that we have far more to fear from them than from small-time operators and novices like Al Quaeda.

Fair Expose and Openning for Dialog.......2006-12-18

I am reminded of Dr. King's "how long" speach in which he reminded those who would listen that they would not have to suffer long, "for no lie can live forever." Exposing the lie is the first step to openning the difficult topic to the light of public discussion. America is a great country as some reviewers have pointed out. It is not, however, perfect. And the use of torture as it has been exposed by the book and others is a sad mark on a great country's record. We should have learned something from the civil rights struggles we have fought but instead we seem to have all too quickly forgotten the importance of protecting the least of these. "How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

The American culture of torture: a review essay.(World as Laboratory: Experiments with Mice, Mazes, and Men)(A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, ... review): An article from: Social Justice

Average customer rating:

The American culture of torture: a review essay.(World as Laboratory: Experiments with Mice, Mazes, and Men)(A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, ... review): An article from: Social Justice
Robert P. Weiss
Manufacturer: Crime and Social Justice Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Social Justice, published by Crime and Social Justice Associates on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 4270 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The American culture of torture: a review essay.(World as Laboratory: Experiments with Mice, Mazes, and Men)(A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror)(Book review)
Author: Robert P. Weiss
Publication: Social Justice (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Crime and Social Justice Associates
Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Page: 132(6)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Torture around the world: governments are often more reluctant to discuss torture than to practice it.(Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK? A ... An article from: National Catholic Reporter

Average customer rating:

Torture around the world: governments are often more reluctant to discuss torture than to practice it.(Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK? A ... An article from: National Catholic Reporter
Darrell Turner
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from National Catholic Reporter, published by Thomson Gale on April 7, 2006. The length of the article is 1065 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Torture around the world: governments are often more reluctant to discuss torture than to practice it.(Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK? A Human Rights Perspective; A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror; Torture: Religious Ethics and National Security)(Book review)
Author: Darrell Turner
Publication: National Catholic Reporter (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 7, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 42 Issue: 23 Page: 18(1)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:
Harrier, Hawk of the Marshes: The Hawk That is Ruled by a Mouse (Smithsonian Nature Book)
Frances Hamerstrom
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Ornithology | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0874745381

Average customer rating:
Harrier Hawk of the Marshes (The Hawk That is Ruled by a Mouse)
Hamerstrom
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NHWLSO

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books