Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art (Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology)

Book Description

How do dealers price contemporary art in a world where objective criteria seem absent? Talking Prices is the first book to examine this question from a sociological perspective. On the basis of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative data, including interviews with art dealers in New York and Amsterdam, Olav Velthuis shows how contemporary art galleries juggle the contradictory logics of art and economics. In doing so, they rely on a highly ritualized business repertoire. For instance, a sharp distinction between a gallery's museumlike front space and its businesslike back space safeguards the separation of art from commerce.

Velthuis shows that prices, far from being abstract numbers, convey rich meanings to trading partners that extend well beyond the works of art. A high price may indicate not only the quality of a work but also the identity of collectors who bought it before the artist's reputation was established. Such meanings are far from unequivocal. For some, a high price may be a symbol of status; for others, it is a symbol of fraud.

Whereas sociological thought has long viewed prices as reducing qualities to quantities, this pathbreaking and engagingly written book reveals the rich world behind these numerical values. Art dealers distinguish different types of prices and attach moral significance to them. Thus the price mechanism constitutes a symbolic system akin to language.

Customer Reviews:

Very enlightening.......2007-05-07

The book isn't easy reading, but it has some very useful information for artists regarding pricing of their work.

Intriguing economic analysis of how fine art is sold.......2007-02-09

Getting a handle on the economics of the art market is much like grabbing smoke. Dealers are loath to discuss the financial side of their business and the private nature of their transactions frustrates researchers. Even the ostensibly open world of auctions is full of slippery practices. None of that deterred Olav Velthuis, whose exhaustive research into the art market yields a fascinating economic analysis. He explores the anticommercial bias of dealers and even finds some tangible factors that influence art prices. While impressive, Velthuis' work would have benefited from a more conversational, less academic tone. His fascinating price study, for instance, focuses on "coefficients" and "t-values" rather than on actual prices. Still, we recommend this study for its ambitious and intriguing attempt to shed light on a little-known corner of the economy.

Average customer rating:
Create Your Own Lettering (Action Packs)

Manufacturer: Top That! Kids
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Crafts & Hobbies | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1842295756

Average customer rating:

Description from cover

Create Your Own Lettering (Art Tricks)
W. Elson
Manufacturer: Top That Publishing PLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1842292668

Customer Reviews:

Description from cover.......2005-10-30

Discover the world of writing and make a range of impressive projects with this 48 page, in depth look at lettering, past and present. Complete with four high qualaity pens and 16 pages of perforated art paper to get you off to a flying start. This book contains everything from elegant calligraphy to cheerful and chunky cartoon lettering. Learn a variety of lettering styles, make print stamps and stencils, and discover how to use different textures to obtain stunning result!

Average customer rating:

Create Your Own Lettering (Art Tricks)

Manufacturer: Top That! Kids
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1845103041

Action Packs: Create Your Own Lettering (Action Pack)

Average customer rating:

Action Packs: Create Your Own Lettering (Action Pack)

Manufacturer: Top That Publishing Plc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Crafts & Hobbies | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1842292501

Book Description

Experience the thrill of creating your own digital video clips for playback on a personal computer, videotape, CD, DVD, or the Web! Chock full of fast-paced, high-interest tutorials and exercises, Video Editing with Adobe Premiere 6.5 is cleverly divided into sections that allow users of all abilities to quickly master the art of using one of today's most popular digital video editing tools to combine video footage, sound files, photography, and art files. Heavily illustrated with dynamic media clips on the accompanying CD to engage interest, this book puts its readers on a direct path to presenting their own projects by following a few simple steps. As they learn how to navigate like a pro through the most sophisticated Adobe Premiere 6.5 features and functions, readers will glean useful insights into hardware needs, the proper use of transitions, the impact of motion effects, integrating and balancing sound files, streaming video for the Web, working with digital camcorders and decks, and more! To ensure a complete understanding of how files developed with other applications interact with Adobe Premiere 6.5, this book provides detailed instruction on how to import line art, photographs, and audio files created with other programs. Processes for exporting final video clips into other software applications for additional enhancements are also demonstrated clearly and concisely, making Video Editing with Adobe Premiere 6.5 an extraordinarily complete guide to the world of digital video creation.

Customer Reviews:

OK - but look out for mistakes.......2003-02-09

Actually, I would rate the book about 2.5 stars. An average book that looks like it was written for Premiere 6.0 and then the single chapter on Titles was appended. However the book contains a lot of detail with mistakes as you progress through the lessons. Examples - Page 98 item 8, the "finish keyframe is D, not A. Another one that plagued Ch 4 and 5 was that Page 87 had the student set "Blast 14 to 37:15 with a duration of 2:15, which makes a total of 40 seconds. However, the rest of the lessons have this timing off, which affects the applied audio as well (Ch 5). While some techniques were nice to know, they were then repeated rather than adding new techniques to those already learned. My opinion is that Mr Peck was in a hurry to get something in print. This training book and CD could have been much better. I would have liked something a little better.

Too many mistakes.......2003-01-20

There are too many mistakes in this book. There are too many instances where the details in the tutorials in the book don't match the files on the companion CD-ROM. This causes too much confusion when trying to complete the tutorials accurately. This also wastes a lot of time.

Average customer rating:
Beetle Bailey: I'll Throw the Book at You
Mort Walker
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0448169436

Average customer rating:
I'll Throw the Book at You Beetle Bailey

Manufacturer: Tempo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000CEPKQI

Average customer rating:
I'll Throw The Book At You, Beetle Bailey
Mort Walker
Manufacturer: Tempo Books, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UTHKFE

Average customer rating:
I'Ll Throw the Book at You, Beetle Bailey.
Mort. Walker
Manufacturer: Putnam Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0441052789

Average customer rating:
I'll Throw the Book at You (Beetle Bailey Ser., No. 8)
Mort Walker
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HLPQQ0

Average customer rating:
I'll Throw the Book at You Beetle Bailey

Manufacturer: Jove Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Business | Business & Professional | Cats, Dogs & Animals | Comedy | Computers & Internet | Cooking | Doctors & Medicine | Essays | General | Hunting & Fishing | Jokes & Riddles | Lawyers & Criminals | Limericks & Humorous Verse | Love, Sex & Marriage | Parenting & Families | Parodies | Political | Puns & Wordplay | Religion | Rural Life | Satire, Classic | Satire, General | Science & Scientists | Self-Help & Psychology | Sports | Theories of Humor | Urban Legends
ASIN: 9993817023

Book Description

Wild Women Talk Back is a funny, inspirational banquet of delicious bon mots, quips, and unforgettable one-liners from movie stars, musicians, politicians, and women writers. The wild women quoted in this book are sassy, outrageous, and wickedly funny. From sex to motherhood, physical appearance to self-esteem, and coping with a career to finding wisdom, the women quoted here offer their own brash brand of counsel and commentary on themes common to women's lives:

• "I still miss my ex-husband, but my aim is improving."—Debbie Marsh, pistol owner

• "I'm as good a mother as the next repressed, obsessive-compulsive paranoiac."—Annie Lamott, best-selling single mom

• "No more tears now; I will think of revenge."—Mary, Queen of Scots

• "Some people were raised by wolves. I was raised by drag queens."—Margaret Cho, comic monologist

• "I'm not funny. What I am is brave."—Lucille Ball

Sometimes shocking, always entertaining, everyone from Madonna to Dr. Ruth to Isabel Allende weighs in on the meaning of life with wild-woman wit and timeless wisdom. Wild Women Talk Back is arranged into sections, such as Self-Esteem: On Being the Bees Knees, Working Women (Oh, Like There Are Any Other Kind) and Child Rearing and House Keeping. Compiler and author Autumn Stephens introduces each section, shedding contemporary light on the collection of quotes.

Sure to lift anyone's spirit, Wild Women Talk Back is sure to help any woman rejoice in her wild side.

Customer Reviews:

Wild Women Talk Back.......2005-09-03

Every "category had delightful quotes - loved so MANY of them - have a friend I cannot wait to give this to for Xmas...

Book Description

First published in 1974, this landmark work quickly established itself as the definitive study of French music from 1581 to 1733, a period that included masters such as Marin Marais, Lully, Couperin, and Rameau. This expanded edition includes a bibliography of more than 1,300 works.

French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau : Revised and Expanded Edition

Average customer rating:

French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau : Revised and Expanded Edition
James R. Anthony
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MU2TQG

Customer Reviews:

Awesome book.......2000-03-08

Dr. Frantzich knows his stuff. He does an excellent job describing CSPAN and it's impact on Congress. An important book for any Political Science Major, Professor, or any student of politics. The Naval Academy is lucky to have such a good professor.

Great resource for those wishing to learn more about C-SPAN........1998-04-30

This book is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn more about politics and the media. Rather than concentrating solely on Brian Lamb, this book takes a closer look at the effects C-SPAN has had on both the political world and the American public.

When Adam Delved and Eve Span: A History of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

Average customer rating:

When Adam Delved and Eve Span: A History of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381
Mark O'Brien
Manufacturer: New Clarion Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Revolutionary | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Peasant's Revolt: England's Failed Revolution of 1381 (Revealing History)

ASIN: 1873797451

Book Description

This introduction to the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England provides an accessible sketch of 14th-century life in England, and chronicles the era's class composition, political makeup, and the extensive impact of the Black Death on peasant life. The circumstances that led to the uprising, the taking of London, the murder of Wat Tyler, and other key moments in the revolt are described. Also included are reflections on the immediate and long-term impact of the revolt as well as a discussion about how the memory of the Peasants' Revolt has been debated within each wave of social struggle and revolution in England.

Customer Reviews:

An important book for every parent!.......1998-11-04

The book opened my eyes to how easy it is for young kids to get caught up in the drug scene. I learned how important it is for parents to be aware of many facets of drug prevention in order to raise their children drug free. It should be mandatory for everyone to read this.

A highly recommended resource for anyone raising a child.......1997-06-26

Somdahl should be commended for giving parents the facts about drug use among youngsters and ways to bring them up without fearing for the worst! I'm glad my husband and I finally found something that works

Average customer rating:

decent, I thought it was a history not an 'eyewitness' read

Gets the facts right, but misses much of the story

A Book for the Serious Student of Israeli Military History

Israel's Best Defense: The First Full Story of the Israeli Air Force
Eliezer Cohen
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

NO MARGIN FOR ERROR: The Making of the Israeli Air Force

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Fighters Over Israel: The Story of the Israeli Air Force from the War of Independence to the Bekaa Valley

Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Israeli-Arab War

ASIN: 0517587904
Release Date: 1993-10-26

Customer Reviews:

decent, I thought it was a history not an 'eyewitness' read.......2003-09-05

I thought this book was going to be a blow by blow history of the IAF. Unfortunatly much of it is the authors recollections. Now this does not discount the books greatness. The story is one of heroism and triumph over great odds. The Israelis built one of the best air forces int he world. An air force that able to defeat the arabs many times and proved in one on one combat to be far superior. Some detractors say this was simply because the 'American' weapon system was better, thats like a workmen blaming his tools, which is typical of the arab mindset, if they lose they always blame some plot that brought them failure, instead of crediting their opponents resolutness. Furthermore the Israeli air force was able to slip into entebbe and rescue Jewish hostages, something the americans failed to do in 1979 in the Desert One failure. On top of this the Israelis were able to airlift tens of thousands of jews from Iraq, Ethiopia and the Yemen.

Gets the facts right, but misses much of the story.......2002-10-15

This book tells the extended story of the Israeli Air Force, famed but also perhaps a sometime victim of its own rep. From its humble beginnings of foreign volunteers and Piper Cubs to the supersonic age of super-aces in F-16s, the IAF always possessed the veneer of the heroic. Being the principal military branch for a young nation repeatedly beset by war, the IAF's story closely parallels the history of Israel - from the scrappy jury-rigged days of the war of independence, the disappointment of 1956, the near-miraculous triumphs of 1967, the tragic near reversal of 1973 and the painful realities of Lebanon. Though the IAF has come a long way since its humble beginnings, and its history covers half a century, the shift from a cobbled-together, volunteer-staffed air force to an elite-trained arm equipped with cutting edge aircraft was sudden - about the time the major European powers turned to Israel as a counter for the pan-arabism of Egypt's Nasser, leading up to the abortive Suez campaign. Most of the foreign volunteers had returned home by then, and the Spitifres that fought the Independence War put into storage. (Late model F-51 Mustangs, however, remained in service and flew missions against the Egyptians in 1956; though seeming contemporaries of the Spitfire, IAF's Mustang's are more identified with the '56 war, then the war of independence). Israeli pilots, traveling abroad (seemingly on vacation) were taught to fly unforgiving transonic jets like the French Mystere. The IAF had opened its own academy by then, and had already established its reputation for being unforgiving to its cadets.

Because it's almost impossible to separate the stories of Israel and her air force, the authors can't go that deep into the individual stories of the pilots or the various conflicts in which they serve. With so many stories, so many people and hardware, it's hard to become interested in any one of them. Sure, this wasn't meant to be an especially dramatic reading, but air combat, like drama, relies on perceptual powers of its participants. In short, we get the stories - all of them - but have no human dimension in which to frame them. We learn that the Avia S-99, a Czech copy of the famed Me-109 fighter of WWII, was about as dangerous to its pilots as its enemies, or that the supersonic Mirage III had a severe problem with its engine, one that would soon show reveal itself to its pilots. We learn that Avi Lehnir flew too close to the MiG-21 he destroyed, and returned home covered in soot. Because the book is only concerned with getting the facts right and utterly ignoring the impact of the events on those who lived them, it's hard to get a sense of what it must have been really like to fly one of those monsters, and, more importantly why the Israelis were much better at it than any of their enemies. In fact, the difference was lay in how the Israelis excelled in learning how to fly their aircraft in ways not envisaged by their designers - the drag of the big delta wing on the Mirage III made it unsuitable for flying low altitude, or in extended dogfights where it lost energy quickly; the F-4 Phantom was designed as an interceptor rather than a dogfighter. Nevertheless, the Israeli triumph in 1967 owed much to her pilots' ability to coax unknown agility out of the Mirage, and fly them well below Egyptian and Syrian radar; and, echoing the American experience in Vietnam, the Israelis discovered a master dogfighter in the F-4 as well. Missing is any sense of the people flying these planes or at least responsible for them. The enormous success of the IAF therefore remains a mystery, probably unintentional. By the end of the book, you've covered 50 explosive years of aviation history, and can't begin to explain a single thing you've read.

A Book for the Serious Student of Israeli Military History.......2001-12-02

Any serious Israel Air Force buff should have at least three books on his shelf: Ehud Yonai's "No Margin for Error", Peter Mersky's "Israeli Fighter Aces", and Eliezer Cohen's "Israel's Best Defense". As a former fighter and helicopter pilot, Eliezer Cohen had first hand experience with, and access to the pilots and leaders who have made up the most respected air force of the jet age. His retelling of his own, and comrade's experiences in the face of war is riveting, and the scope of his IAF history takes him a full decade further into the story of this remarkable marriage of machines and men than does Ehud Yonai's own remarkable telling. Perhaps his one weakness in telling this story, is that Eliezer Cohen is a pilot by trade, and not a journalist, or novelist. Reading this book, you can see his skills as a story teller developing with each turn of the page. His finesse as an author starts out weak, but by the time that you reach his account of the Six Day War, Cohen's narrative becomes far too absorbing to pass this book by.

Amazon.com

The perilous ramifications of the September 11 attacks on the United States are only now beginning to unfold. They will undoubtedly be felt for generations to come. This is one of many sad conclusions readers will draw from Craig Unger's exceptional book House of Bush House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties. As Unger claims in this incisive study, the seeds for the "Age of Terrorism" and September 11 were planted nearly 30 years ago in what, at the time, appeared to be savvy business transactions that subsequently translated into political currency and the union between the Saudi royal family and the extended political family of George H. W. Bush. On the surface, the claim may appear to be politically driven, but as Unger (a respected investigative journalist and editor) probes--with scores of documents and sources--the political tenor of the U.S. over the last 30 years, the Iran-Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, the birth of Al Qaeda, the dubious connection between members of the Saudi Royal family and the exportation of terror, and the personal fortunes amassed by the Bush family from companies such as Harken Energy and the Carlyle Group, he exposes the "brilliantly hidden agendas and purposefully murky corporate relationships" between these astonishingly powerful families. His evidence is persuasive and reveals a devastating story of Orwellian proportions, replete with political deception, shifting allegiances, and lethal global consequences. Unger begins his book with the remarkable story of the repatriation of 140 Saudis directly following the September 11 attacks. He ends where Richard A. Clarke begins, questioning the efficacy of the war in Iraq in the battle against terrorism. We are unquestionably facing a global security crisis unlike any before. President Bush insists that we will prevail, yet as Unger so effectively concludes, "Never before has an American president been so closely tied to a foreign power that harbors and supports our country's mortal enemies." --Silvana Tropea

Book Description

Newsbreaking and controversial -- an award-winning investigative journalist uncovers the thirty-year relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud and explains its impact on American foreign policy, business, and national security.

House of Bush, House of Saud begins with a politically explosive question: How is it that two days after 9/11, when U.S. air traffic was tightly restricted, 140 Saudis, many immediate kin to Osama Bin Laden, were permitted to leave the country without being questioned by U.S. intelligence?

The answer lies in a hidden relationship that began in the 1970s, when the oil-rich House of Saud began courting American politicians in a bid for military protection, influence, and investment opportunity. With the Bush family, the Saudis hit a gusher -- direct access to presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. To trace the amazing weave of Saud- Bush connections, Unger interviewed three former directors of the CIA, top Saudi and Israeli intelligence officials, and more than one hundred other sources. His access to major players is unparalleled and often exclusive -- including executives at the Carlyle Group, the giant investment firm where the House of Bush and the House of Saud each has a major stake.

Like Bob Woodward's The Veil, Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud features unprecedented reportage; like Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country? Unger's book offers a political counter-narrative to official explanations; this deeply sourced account has already been cited by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, and sets 9/11, the two Gulf Wars, and the ongoing Middle East crisis in a new context: What really happened when America's most powerful political family became seduced by its Saudi counterparts?

Download Description

"Newsbreaking and controversial -- an award-winning investigative journalist uncovers the thirty-year relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud and explains its impact on American foreign policy, business, and national security. House of Bush, House of Saud begins with a politically explosive question: How is it that two days after 9/11, when U.S. air traffic was tightly restricted, 140 Saudis, many immediate kin to Osama Bin Laden, were permitted to leave the country without being questioned by U.S. intelligence? The answer lies in a hidden relationship that began in the 1970s, when the oil-rich House of Saud began courting American politicians in a bid for military protection, influence, and investment opportunity. With the Bush family, the Saudis hit a gusher -- direct access to presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. To trace the amazing weave of Saud- Bush connections, Unger interviewed three former directors of the CIA, top Saudi and Israeli intelligence officials, and more than one hundred other sources. His access to major players is unparalleled and often exclusive -- including executives at the Carlyle Group, the giant investment firm where the House of Bush and the House of Saud each has a major stake. Like Bob Woodward's The Veil, Unger's House of Bush, House of Saud features unprecedented reportage; like Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country? Unger's book offers a political counter-narrative to official explanations; this deeply sourced account has already been cited by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, and sets 9/11, the two Gulf Wars, and the ongoing Middle East crisis in a new context: What really happened when America's most powerful political family became seduced by its Saudi counterparts?"

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-09-26

Craig Unger has connected a lot of the dots! I think this should be required reading. It is depressing to read about all the crap that is going with our government and know that there is nothing that can be done about it. Left feeling outraged and helpless. At times it felt like a thriller and I am sorry that it is not fiction!

Politically correct!.......2007-07-26

It was during the 1930's that American geologists informed President Roosevelt about the immense oil resources of Saudi Arabia. Aware that the future of nations would greatly depend on oil, Roosevelt quickly established friendly diplomatic relations with the Saudi Royal family.

Then in 1974 a Texas aircraft broker named James Bath sold an F-27 turboprop to Salem bin Laden, Osama's older brother. (As a footnote, Salem bin Laden died in a small general aviation aircraft that he was piloting in Texas). From that moment onwards developed the "Houston-Jeddah Connection" which allowed wealthy Saudis to gain access to powerful Texas politicians and the Bush family that still lasts up till today.

The Saudis' ultimate goal was access to the inner sanctum of the US presidency. Businessmen such as BCCI's bin Mahfouz rescued American politicians' companies that were in financial distress. The author puts a price tag on the Saudis' contributions to the Bush family at a staggering $1.4 billion! Furthermore, $860 billion were invested by the Saudis in the US.

Then there is the Bush-Carlyle relationship. The Carlyle Group put George W. Bush on the board of one of its subsidiaries, Caterair, in 1990. From that moment on, the Bush family's relationship with the Carlyle Group began to become substantive. Key figures at the Carlyle Group included such powerful figures as James Baker, Frank Carlucci, and Richard Darman.

With former Secretary of Defense Carlucci guiding the acquisition of defense companies, Carlyle began making a lot of money from the Saudis, both through investments from the royal family, the bin Ladens and other members of the Saudi elite, and through lucrative defense investments.

The author shows how US leaders repeatedly chose to ignore the warning signs of Saudi extremism and corruption, in return for access to material wealth the Saudis promised them.

The Saudis also assisted the US in arming the Contras and Iraq.

According to the author, George W. Bush's narrow victory in the contested 2000 presidential election was due to the American-Arabs in Florida voting for Bush. They tipped the balance of the vote!

Many will find this Saudi-US relationship repugnant, especially when fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. Despite this latter fact, the White House helped about 140 Saudi royals and bin Ladens to fly out of the U.S. only days after 9/11 when all commercial and private flights were grounded. At first, the FBI denied this fact. Later, it was substantiated. The author contends that, contrary to FBI's insistences, the Saudis weren't screened as required by the FBI. All this was happening behind closed doors when no one else was allowed to fly. Former President Clinton was stuck in Australia, and former Vice President Al Gore was stuck in Austria.

Craig Unger's book shows how world Presidents and politicians are more than just elected officials -- they are members of circles of family and friends out to serve their own purposes and goals.

This book might deceive the reader in believing that the powerful Saudi Royals can and do influence the US Government. This is absolutely not true, but rather the other way around. The US holds the Saudi Royals in a strait-jacket, and they know very well that should the US decide to remove them from power, they can easily do so. Seeking to maintain power at all cost, the Saudi Royals are nothing more than a US puppet regime making a strong effort to please the Americans at all cost. It's all about personal favors - you scratch my back and I scratch yours. To illustrate, Crown prince Abdullah was shocked when he saw a picture of an Israeli soldier with his foot on the face of a young Palestinian girl. He called his nephew, prince Bandar, then the Saudi Ambassador to the US, and asked him to deliver a personal message to Bush condemning the Israelis. The message used strong language and did not carry a friendly tone. Bush junior was shocked. He immediately replied with a handwritten letter, stating that he supported an independent Palestinian State and asked that the Saudi-US friendly relationship continue. Crown Prince Abdullah boosted about this letter to Arab leaders, displaying the power the Saudi government had over the US. This boosting was short lived, for days later the events of 9/11 unfolded, and the Saudis found themselves on the defensive. They could not influence the US; it was the other way around. The US now held the Saudis by the throat!

You might ask how was it possible for all planes to be grounded after the 9/11 attacks except for those planes that were carrying Saudis? Bush has a lot to gain personally to extend favors to his rich friends!

This book is also an expose of the US role in the creation of the Mujahedeen or "Holy warriors", Osama bin Laden, and of Saddam Hussein. The Mujahedeen were created by the US to fight for the American cause under the pretext of fighting in the cause of Islam against the atheist foreign invaders. One of these Muslim "Holy warriors" was Osama bin Laden, who was transformed from a spoiled rich kid educated in the US to the Mujahedeen leader. The US was not bothered by the Mujahedeen as long as they served the US goal of weakening the Soviets.

Saddam Hussein was created by the US to fight the Iranians who were viewed as a threat to the US. At first, under the Shah of Iran, the US supported Iran and armed it to the teeth. When the Shah of Iran was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini and the US Embassy at Tehran was taken hostage, the US changed positions. Carter encouraged Saddam Hussein to attack Iran to ultimately free the US hostages. However, America soon realized that Iraq was gaining strength, so they once more changed positions and financed Iran. The US was giving Iran and Iraq conventional, chemical, and biological weapons to use on each other! This ping pong policy went on during Carter's presidency.

Reagan and Bush senior supported Saddam Hussein, even after they found out he was using chemical weapons against his own Kurdish citizens. Bush senior, during his Vice Presidency, went to the Middle East to give Iraq weapons of mass destruction and the media showed the meeting as "moving the peace process forward".

Of course the US was not bothered by Saddam Hussein as long as he served the US goal of weakening Iran. Saddam may have been a brutal dictator, but he was the US-made dictator. This is how the age of terrorism was born, sculpted by no other than the United States of America.

Saddam's relationship with Bush senior quickly deteriorated after Saddam invaded Kuwait and threatened to invade Saudi Arabia, thus endangering the global market for petroleum. The US asked King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to offer it bases in order to strike Saddam. Osama bin Laden, now viewed as a hero by all Arab nations for defeating the Soviets, asked King Fahd to deny the US request. King Fahd refused, and allowed the US to establish bases on Saudi soil. This angered Osama, and he declared a jihad against the United States because U.S. soldiers were being based in Saudi Arabia, the holy land of the two holy mosques in Medina al-Monawara and Mecca. Osama viewed the American bases as a blasphemy against Islam, with the "infidels" now standing on the "sacred soil". This rupture caused the King to send Osama into exile and confiscated his passport. Osama was therefore no longer a Saudi citizen. However, the other members of the wealthy bin Laden family remained close to the Saudi royals.

With its bases now in Saudi Arabia within easy striking distance to the Iraqi forces, the US, with the help of an international army, expelled the Iraqi army from Kuwait and imposed strict sanctions on Iraq as punishment. As a footnote, the author claims that Saddam Hussein did not amass a large army into Kuwait. The author alleges that two Soviet commercial satellites showed no Iraqi troop buildup in Kuwait except America's own troops.

Time went by, and Clinton was elected president. He continued the sanctions against Iraq and on several occasions bombed Iraq. But no crippling attempts were made against Iraq or removing Saddam from power. But when Bush junior came into power, he was determined to finish off what his father had started in Iraq. His goal also involved a highly personal grudge, as Saddam had previously attempted to have Bush senior assassinated while he visited his troops in Kuwait.

Prior to Bush junior's election, a policy favoring the overthrow of Saddam had already been written up by a neo-conservative group called "Project for a New American Century". Now Bush was waiting for any excuse to invade Iraq. This excuse came after 9/11. Bush junior grabbed this opportunity to invade Iraq, even though no Iraqis were on any of the airplanes in the terrorist attacks of 9/11; no al-Qaeda camps were present on Iraqi soil; and no weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq.

On March 28, 2002, Abu Zubaydah, a top al-Qaeda operative, was arrested in Pakistan. He was interrogated, and named three Saudi princes, including Prince Ahmed bin Salman, as al-Qaeda's link to the Saudi royal family. Zubaydah said Ahmed knew of 9/11 in advance. Prince Ahmed bin Salman died suspiciously on July 22, 2002, and the other Saudi princes named by Zubaydah mysteriously died as well by the end of the year.

Here are a few interesting comments by some reviewers on amazon.com:

"It goes without saying that the current Saudi monarchial regime is better than the alternative -- a radical Islamist theocracy."

"So what the heck are we doing dealing with these people? Three words: oil, oil, oil."

"How can you expect Bush to protect us from terrorism when he hangs out with the main financial backers of terrorism?"

"Have you ever wondered how the Saudi elite can be the playboys of the Western world, have homes in the United States, and still be the rulers of a strict Islamic nation that openly and vehemently despises anything Western and especially American?"

"Why was the Bush Administration opposed to an official investigation of 9/11? Remember, the 9/11 hijackers were mostly Saudis, and a few Egyptians -- no Iraqis or Afghans. Why did the Bush Administration censor 26 pages in the Congressional investigation of 9/11 about the U.S.-Saudi relationship? What secrets are the House of Bush and the House of Saud hiding from their respective peoples and the rest of the world?"

This book will leave you scratching and shaking your head in disbelief at the inner workings of governments. It will certainly change the way you think about politicians!

It Connects the Dots - Every Little, Bitty One........2007-07-08

I've been researching the "House of Bush" personally for over 20 years - peaked by the Iran-Contra Affair.

This copiously noted and researched book will put you on the top of the info wave....just in time for Bush43rd's turn at the helm of a Titanic ofa presidency.

With this information in hand, I am sure the Congress will be able to make their case for investigation of any and all trade agreements and security arrangements that Bush43 has been arranging with the House of Saud and their friends.

Great book for a long summer week out camping. Just remember to bring along Post-Its....you will be bookmarking every other paragraph for 'future reference'.

An Insightful Investigation Revealing a Lucrative Relationship .......2007-06-04

I must praise Unger for breaking down every detail for a clear understanding. I especially appreciated him jumping back to the roots of a secretive relationship between the "Bush Dynasty" and the wealthy elites of the desert monarchy of Saudi Arabia, to reveal the unknown wealth transferred between the two friends and how that money landed into the hands of the most notorious terrorist known to the modern world. Knowing the history of any relationship, event and or situation does enlighten ones eyes to the truths that lay hidden to citizens of the world, and Unger does just that, by revealing the secrets of the money transferring through the BCCI. I did enjoy the first half of the book more than the last half, only because Unger seemed to get wordy with descriptions, and declined to share with the readers critical information about the first gulf war (this is just one example: how Bush senior didn't want to invade Iraq itself, after deeming Saddam as dangerous not because he didn't want to start a war but because Iran would end up controlling the potentially weakened, Shiite majority country, and that is exactly what is happening today) Overall personally Unger was not as tell all as I thought he would be, and was a bit too conservative for my radical point of view.

The frightening truth.......2006-11-27

This is a must read for all. After reading this, if you still want to vote republican, fine. At least you are informed. For those who can really stand by the PNAC, go for it. The rest of us would like a democracy.

House of Bush, House of Saud: the Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties

Average customer rating:

House of Bush, House of Saud: the Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties
Craig Unger
Manufacturer: Scribner Book Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N72EKO

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books