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Heads: Heliogravuren Aus Den Serien "Mein Gesicht Ist Ein Gesicht Ist Kein Gesicht" Und "Kopfe"
Hermann Forsterling
Manufacturer: Umschau-Braus
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Richie Rich: Derring-Do and Dough-Re-Me
Manufacturer: Ace Books
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- Read it in ONE SITTING!
- good Young Adult reading
- If you like "The Sleeping Father"...
- Thumbersucker and then some
- I couldn't put it down.
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Thumbsucker: A Novel
Walter Kirn
Manufacturer: Anchor
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Mission to America: A Novel
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Up In the Air
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Thumbsucker
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She Needed Me
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Thumbsucker
ASIN: 0385497091
Release Date: 1999-10-19 |
Amazon.com
New York magazine's witty, cheeky book critic Walter Kirn rides high in his exhilarating second novel, and so does his protagonist, Minnesota teen dweeb Justin Cobb. Justin's hippie dentist may have hypnotized him out of his socially perilous thumbsucking habit, but he can't suppress the boy's "oral gift." Justin's mouth just won't quit: beer, decongestants, nitrous oxide, cough syrup, Midol, and Ritalin go in, and out spritzes hilarious commentary on his eccentric yet authentic life and times. Our hero's mood larks and plunges erratically, but Kirn's prose is alert, artful, under control. The debate coach's skin is "the neutral hue of turkey meat." One of Justin's realistically inconclusive crushes is a redhead "with freckles the color of new pennies." Her dad is a Limbaughesque columnist who calls welfare recipients "food tramps." Meanwhile, Justin's dad, Mike, is "the Führer of fly-fishing," an ex-gridiron hero obsessed with deer hunting (and eating). He's also prone to spouting his vile old coach's preposterous apothegms ("Until you're broken, you don't know what you're made of"). Mike is funny and poignant--a tricky note to hit.
Like a mucked-up modern Huck Finn plying his own stream of consciousness, Justin drifts into weird scenes: a job at a gas station fated for torching, a visit by his mad Winnebago vagabond grandparents, a kidnapping caper to rescue a pothead infant from sinister hick parents, Grit and Munch. Chapter 4, about a Chippewa City debate meet and rather chaste orgy, is dazzling teen satire. Not that Thumbsucker is flawless: Justin's nurse mom is a vague character, his more vivid kid brother is inexplicably ignored, the satire of the Hazelden celeb rehab is lame, and, like Huck's, Justin's adventures sort of peter out instead of leading up to a slam-bang finale. The family's conversion to Mormonism seems arbitrary, though richly detailed, since Kirn was a small-town Mormon kid.
Flaws, schmaws. Thumbsucker is the truest book about adolescence I've read since This Boy's Life, and Kirn is some kind of comic genius. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
This eighties-centric, Ritalin-fueled, pitch-perfect comic novel by a writer to watch brings energy and originality to the classic Midwestern coming-of-age story.
Meet Justin Cobb, "the King Kong of oral obsessives" (as his dentist dubs him) and the most appealingly bright and screwed-up fictional adolescent since Holden Caulfield donned his hunter's cap. For years, no remedy--not orthodontia, not the escalating threats of his father, Mike, a washed-out linebacker turned sporting goods entrepreneur, not the noxious cayenne pepper-based Suk-No-Mor--can cure Justin's thumbsucking habit.
Then a course of hypnosis seemingly does the trick, but true to the conservation of neurotic energy, the problem doesn't so much disappear as relocate. Sex, substance abuse, speech team, fly-fishing, honest work, even Mormonism--Justin throws himself into each pursuit with a hyperactive energy that even his daily Ritalin dose does little to blunt.
Each time, however, he discovers that there is no escaping the unruly imperatives of his self and the confines of his deeply eccentric family. The only "cure" for the adolescent condition is time and distance.
Always funny, sometimes hilariously so, occasionally poignant, and even disturbing, deeply wise on the vexed subject of fathers and sons, Walter Kirn's
Thumbsucker is an utterly fresh and all-American take on the painful process of growing up.
Customer Reviews:
Read it in ONE SITTING!.......2005-08-23
So, I saw the tralier for Mike Mills' film adaptation of this book a few weeks ago and decided that since I live in North Louisiana and I probably won't get to see the film until it comes to DVD (unless I drive a few hundred miles to an independent theater), that I would buy the book. So, I ordered it and it came in the mail on a Saturday afternoon. Given that my life is pretty boring altogether, especially in the Summer, I unwrapped it, opened it up, and dived in. And, I kid you not, I did not stop reading until I was done. From the first paragraph, scratch that...the first LINE, I was hooked. Now, I will admit that I am a sucker for a good coming of age, Holden Caulfield-esque novel, but this one really surpassed my expectations. As an English major and hopeful writer (fingers crossed), I found this to be one of the most thoughtful, insightful, dramatic, and darkly humorous novel's I've ever read. I think Walter Kirn did a fantastic job of portraying his characters as authentic specimens and I am extremely jealous of his writing style altogether. All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone with and open mind and an afternoon to spare, because they won't be able to put it down.
good Young Adult reading.......2005-04-27
3.5 stars. The cynicism of the narrator's world never completely lifts, but the narrative moves briskly along from one warped vignette to another. I don't think there's a single profanity uttered but the sense of a crude, self-loathing father is conveyed adequately. An interesting introduction to Mormon conversion tactics.
If you like "The Sleeping Father"..........2005-03-11
Who can resist a title like that? I ordered this book a few years ago based on the author's reputation. I finally got around to reading it, because a movie adaptation is coming out soon. Thumbsucker is about sixteen-year-old Justin Cobb. His Midwestern coming-of-age story is not your grandfather's coming-of-age story. His painful adolescence is marked by thumb sucking, Ritalin, hypnosis and eventually conversion to Mormonism. A quirky and amusing tale that reminded me of The Sleeping Father by Matthew Sharpe.
Thumbersucker and then some.......2003-06-17
Justin Cobb tried EVERYTHING to stop sucking his thumb. Finally his dentist suggests hypnosis. After this hypnosis (performed by the dentist) Justin seems to forgo thumbsucking, but the story doesn't end there. Justin turns to sex, drugs, fishing, working,speech team, and even Mormonism to relieve his neurotic energy. On another visit to his dentist, he is diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder. With each of his new obsessions, Justin is thrown into another dilemma.
This book has a great dose of humor while it tackles some serious issues. In one part, Justin goes with a girlfriend to buy drugs. The dealer puts a baby in a box and blows marijuana smoke in the box. After leaving, Justin and his friend plot to kidnap the kid and turn it over to authorities. Of course, nothing in Justin's life goes as planned and it has a humorous twist. This is just one of many adventures that Justin faces during this book.
As if Justin's personal problems aren't enough for him to dea with, throw in his essentric family. You can't go wrong with this book!
I couldn't put it down........2003-04-15
I didn't LOVE this book, but I still could not find myself to put it down. It was interesting, and at times, even good, but I just could not in anyway identify myself with any of the characters because they all seemed a little inconsistant and, well, fictional. This book allowed me to pass the time, and I did finish it, so I have to give it points for keeping my intrest. I was deeply dissapointed in the ending, though.
Book Description
"Justin Cobb, the main character of Mike Mills's directorial debut, is still sucking his thumb at 17. He wants to stop, but when he finally does--thanks to hypnotherapy administered by his new-age orthodontist, played by Keanu Reeves--it throws his life and his family's into complete disarray. Thumbsucker, which documents the eponymous film's production, is art in itself, packed with work from a group of super-hip, internationally known young photographers including Takashi Homma, Ed Templeton, Todd Cole, Mark Borthwick and Ryan McGinley. The art scene it records is close kin to that presented by the recent Iconoclast bestseller Beautiful Losers, this time offering readers a hit of the Lower East Side's aesthetic and social life by way of Hollywood. If Thumbsucker the film offers an honest and funny look at those who feel deeply flawed, both in youth and middle age, Thumbsucker the photo book offers an honest and funny behind-the-scenes look at the heartbreaking and uplifting process of producing such a project. With an introduction from Tilda Swinton, who stars--in both movie and book--alongside Vincent D'Onofrio, Benjamin Bratt and Vince Vaughn."
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Spies, Thumbsuckers, Etc.
Thomas Ross
Manufacturer: Lord John Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0935716505 |
Book Description
GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns combines information from the Third Edition GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Compendium II -- plus our new core setting, with infinite possibilities for timeline-hopping adventure! (You don't have to play in the core setting -- there isn't some game-altering metaplot -- but it's there if you want it.) This 240-page, full-color hardcover contains everything a GM needs to create and run a GURPS Fourth Edition campaign.
Customer Reviews:
AWESOME...but you must be creative.......2007-09-17
GURPS is one of the most, truly, generic systems around... and that's no suprise since it's the first. In this fourth edition, SJ games brings to bear their 20+ years of experience with this system and delivers an excellent addition to the GURPS line. The system is fully able to be employed in any genre from fantasy, science-fiction or horror and it flexible enough for even the most creative of gamers. If it has any weaknesses they would be:
1. too many options: some gamers might be overwhelmed by the number of options available. Keep in mind that the game can be as simple or as complex as you like.
2. all of the "flavor" is on you: GURPS (since it is generic...duh) is not set up to convey flavor through the design of its character sheets, the naming of abilities or the graphics in the books. Flavor is ALL up to the game-mast
... on the otherhand, perhaps those are strengths.
Pretty Good!.......2007-01-10
An awesome upgrade to GURPS 3rd Edition. Full colored and illustrated book, some new rules added and some old rules banished, creating a better balanced and understandable system.
Five stars again to SJG.
The best Gurps compilation.......2007-01-10
The "Gurps 4th Edition" just fixed all "Gurps 3rd Edition" weakness. The two books are so great. The color and hardcover look and feel are some big diference between the books and the the old versions.
The bad comercial thing: are two books, and you need to have both if you want to be a Game Master.
The "Characters Guide" have lots of resources to make a rich character and the "Campaigns Guide" have a good Game Master stuff.
If you want to have some good RPG System, well, you need to buy "Gurps 4th Edition", but you need some time and practice, cause the game system is so rich, then the rules number is high.
Nice book, too bad Amazon's stock is all damaged..........2006-08-02
While the book is great, I have received no less than 3 damaged versions of this book from Amazon. Clearly their entire stock is messed up as each replacement they have sent has the same problems. Namely, sticking pages where glue leaked from the spine during binding, scuffed and soiled covers, and heavy dings or crushed spines. Order from someone else!
COMPLETE your GURPS Book 2 of a the classic Basic GURPS set.......2006-04-25
This book 2 of the GURPS basic set (4TH EDITION) The last edition was a single book of 256 pages plus instant characters section, but so much material was add to the new edition it would have weighed in at a total of 576 pages, while suitable for stoping bullets, a but unwieldy for gameplay, so Steve Jackson games have divided everything a player has to have is in book one, basic system rules and everything for character creation, just enough combat to get a player into the game. The rest of combat is this book. This book goes into detail for what a GameMaster needs to know about physical feats and combat (in greater detail). It covers vehicles and technology. It includes stats for animals and some monsters, along with a guide for world design and Game Mastering itself. "Tool kit chapters let the GM make artifacts, character abilities, and entire game worlds (in fact an infinity of worlds, alternate, parallel, cross-genre, etc.) Don't get me wrong this is just for GMs. Players who enjoy detail and the creative side of the game will find this book inspiration for beginning their own campaigns. My point is it's not required, but Basic Set GURPS: Characters and Campaigns are designed to work together, pages and chapters are consecutively numbered and the index covers both books and repeated in both. SJ games has made the system easy to play, easy to learn and easy to get hooked. They have also made the new Basic Set easier to carry around. GURPS stands for Generic Universal Role Playing System and it is just that, it is the perfect for linking already existing d20 systems, creating cross-genre campaigns or making campaigns based on any book, movie, TV series or concept you or SJ Games can brainstorm (before the Wizards of the Coast edition we used GURPS to run Star Wars and Dr. Who campaigns).
www.sjgames.com/e23/ is an excellent resource for pre-generated PDS ranging from short adventures to whole sourcebooks. Like D&D, there is a considerable amount of GURPS material out there, either new and updated or old and out-of-print, anything you can imagine (Fantasy, the Prisoner, Horror, Swashbuckler, and loads of other supplements). The GURPS main web site is good too, www.sjgames.com/gurps/ most books and supplements hotlink from Amazon.
Book Description
LIGHTS, CAMERA, SCREAM
Has Dawson's dream finally come true? A low-budget teen horror film is shooting in Capeside and Dawsom deeperately wants to work on the set. This could be the professional break he's been looking for an he's really excited. That is, until Jen lands the job he wanted.
Meanwhile, Joey loves the attention she's getting while spending time with the movie's to-die-for lead.
JOEY, DAWSON, PACEY, JEN.
Four teens ready to take on the world. They're learning about life, and learning how to love.
Customer Reviews:
Save your money for something better.......2003-10-03
I have read many books, but this one was not my favorite. I drededly read 100 pages, than put it down. I couldn't bare to read any more. All of the other books in this series are great, but i would save your money, and not buy this one.
SCREAM!.......2002-06-22
Dawson was too low and depressing in this one, I really wish these books would move away from the whole Dawson-Joey thing cos it gets boring and irritating, much like Patrice in this story. Although there were some funny lines, there needed to be more light hearted moments as the book gave off a sad vibe the entire time. It was rather predictable, but the story moved along nicely. If your a fan of DC youll probably enjoy it, although I would recoment "Major Meltdown" or "shifting In To Overdrive" first.
Save your money!!.......2001-08-29
I have read all of the books in the series and love them all except this one. All of the others grab you from the start and don't let go till the end. This one, however, being the exception. It was slow moving and dull and I would strongly suggest buying it used or just going to a book store and plopping in a couch for awhile to read it to save your money. The best one out of the series in my opinion is "Calm Before the Storm."
Good... but not the Best!.......2000-07-13
I've read all the Dawsons Creek Book, and this one just doesn't do it for me! IT was good... thats why i give it 4 stars! But i like how Pacey & Joey are together now... and this one... they werent haha! Well...Joey & Jen find a little love in here... and so does Dawson.. a little! RECOMMEND if Dawsons Creek fan!
Not Bad, Creek fans should enjoy.......1999-12-24
I enjoyed reading yet another book in the Dawson's Creek series. This book keeps the characters true to who they are on the TV show. I think this book overplays the Dawson/Joey relationship a little too much. I was hoping for a better plot...maybe adding a little more about the horror movie into it. Nonetheless, if you enjoy watching Dawson's Creek, you will surley enjoy this book.
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Fat Erik and the Booger
Bryan Kilgore
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
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Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
ASIN: 1591098807
Release Date: 2004-03-25 |
Book Description
Laugh yourself happy with Fatt Erik as he goes on an adventure with a booger that is hanging from his nose. No one tells him that the booger is there, except his teacher who exposes his nastiness ,as well as,exposing truth. "DON"T MISS THE FUN".
Book Description
In its final report, the 9/11 Commission famously called the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism.” To Gerald Posner, the bestselling author of Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, this is a gross understatement. In his new book, Secrets of the Kingdom, Posner exposes the undeniable truth about U.S.-Saudi relations–and how the Saudis’ influence on American business and politics poses a grave threat to our security.
The result of an intensive two-year investigation,
Secrets of the Kingdom penetrates the innermost layers of the shielded House of Saud and presents indisputable evidence of complicity and deceit at the highest levels–evidence that the 9/11 Commission, either deliberately or negligently, failed to consider. Using bank records and other previously undisclosed information, Posner unearths many disturbing truths and shattering revelations about the ties that bind the Saudi and U.S. governments, including
• how countless failures in U.S. intelligence and law enforcement gave extraordinary preferential treatment to prominent Saudis living in the United States, including members of the bin Laden family, in the days after 9/11
• a likely close connection between a powerful member of the House of Saud and Abu Zubeydah, the highest-ranking al-Qaeda operative captured so far by the United States
• how the Saudi government has turned a blind eye to the role Saudi charities–including many controlled or supported by Kingdom officials– have played in bankrolling al-Qaeda and Islamic terror groups
• the never-before-revealed Saudi and U.S. emergency plans in the event of a national crisis in the Kingdom, plans that could affect the security of the United States and the entire Middle East
Secrets of the Kingdom is an explosive study that will have a profound impact on both U.S. policy and Americans’ perception of their government and its extensive ties to a foreign power. Posner uncovers a disturbing picture of how two nations, despite their differing agendas, have become inextricably entwined.
Customer Reviews:
Something lacking with this book.......2007-04-13
This book does not seem as well researched, as factual as Posner's previous books. It certainly does have some facts we don't often see, and for someone who knows little about Saudi Arabia this might be of value. However the overall description of the Saudi government leads one to think they are 99% thugs and thieves -- e.g. the way the monarch induces Saudi royal family to "earn" rather than just accept welfare, is to set them up to receive bribes! There certainly are repetitive examples of over-the-top spending and behavior by high ranking members of the Saudi Royal Family. Is the message class envy, or something more important here?
Early in the book I got the feeling that Posner was too personally involved in the news here, for example some of the . Certainly the anti-Jew and anti-Israel world view attributed to the Wahabbi thinking, is shocking and could imaginably lead to another Jewish Holocaust if they got what the Wahabbis wanted. I don't even know for certain whether Posner is Jewish, but get the impression he cares too emotionally about this book's subject, to write a 1st rate book here.
This book focuses on Saudi Arabia, but to address the world's Arab problems, anti-Semitism problems, and oil problems would require we look at the other parts of the Arab world as well. This book instead shows the threats posed by Wahabbi Islam, and the corruption that is brought about by unearned oil wealth, from a land that was seized by warfare in the first place.
Each of the chapters seems to me to be a half proved argument, there is just something a little flimsy about the sources by journalistic standards. I'm glad I read this book but feel there must be other books to read, before I get any kind of balanced picture of Saudi Arabia or the Arab world. Each of Posner's other books that I have read, is better than this one.
this a dangerous book with lots of holes.......2007-01-21
I know very little about Saudi Arabia. Yet, on page 34, I knew right away that the incident where the 15 girls died in a fire at their school because the religious police prevented firemen and others from saving the girls because they were not properly covered, the author had the wrong date. He stated that this happened on March 14, 2000. It actually happened on March 15, 2002 and you can still find an article on the incident at the BBC website (and elsewhere). I knew this because I was not paying attention to Saudi Arabia in 2000. I definitely was paying attention in March of 2002 (only 6 months after 9/11/2001) and I remember the incident well. Well, that is okay because out of 191 pages of text (I am not including the index, etc in this page count), it would be easy to make a mistake. The problem is that this mistake was made on page 34. I wondered through the rest of the book what other mistakes were made.
In spite of this error of date of the fire at the school (admittedly a minor error unless it was one of your own children who died), I will say that the book is an intriguing one (but also dangerous). I feel that it is a dangerous book because of how the author presents the Saudis. I feel the author is irresponsible in how he frames Saudi-US relations and the Saudis. After readng this book, one would be tempted to want to end all US relation with the Saudis and to begin to see all Saudis with suspicion and in the most negative light. The truth is, whether we like it or not, the US and Saudi Arabia do have a very long relationship and just as the US is not completely without possibility for betterment, neither are the Saudis. Not all Saudis are terrorists! However, if you read this book and believed everything in it, you would certainly be prone to think that not a single Saudi is worth any degree of trust or partnership.
Part of what makes the book such a page turner is that it reads like a horror story. For instance, on pages 125-134 he describes radiation dispersal devices. He provides a technical description of how the rulers of Saudi Arabia might have engineered the possibility within their oil fields for the destruction of their own land so that it would be completely useless for decades and decades due to radiation. RDD is part of a possible and theoretical scorched earth Saudi policy should the House of Saud ever fall.
Other topics explored in the book include the history of the Saud royal family, Arab and Jewish lobbying and influence on American policy, buying of arms by the Saudis, the massive buying of America (did you know the second largest shareholder of the Fox channel is a Saudi prince? indeed this same prince owns a portion of the company that is presenting the very same web page that you are now reading (I verified this on the prince's website), as well as corruption, extravagance, and excessive spending of and by the royal family, and of course terrorism.
Unlike Thomas Lippman who actually spent decades living in, exploring, and writing of Saudi Arabia in books such as the "Inside the Mirage: America's Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia"), I don't remember reading a single word by Posner where the Saudis were shown in any kind of favorable, moderate, or humane light. Lastly, the book describes Posner as having undertaken a 2 year investigation. Again, if you read authors such as Lippman, you will hear people who have decades - even lifetimes - with the culture.
So read this book if you really want to be frightened, if it doesn't bother you that a whole people of a nation is painted in a negative light, if it doesn't matter that the author is one of the least experienced authors of his subject matter, and lastly, that at least part of the book is pure speculation (although the author freely and openly makes that disclosure).
Clancy Novel- but real.......2006-03-27
Gerald Posner opens up a whole new aspect of geo-politics that, when I heard myself summarizing to those around me, sounded like a bad Clancy screenplay- except this is true.
Extremely enlightening, scary and timely. A super read.
Excellent and Timely Insights!.......2005-12-11
Posner begins by relating the outcome of capturing Abu Zubeydah, the highest-ranking al-Qaeda operative captured so far by the United States. The U.S. arranged to mislead their captive into thinking that he had been turned over to Saudi's. Zubeydah's reaction was one of relief, and he quickly spit out the phone #s of two Saudi royals, stating that "they would take care of the situation." Unsure what to make of this, the U.S. then informed Zubeydah that the phone #s were no good. He then provided several other Saudi names and that of the Chief of Pakistan's Air Force, adding that the Pakistani and one of the Saudis knew of 9/11 in advance.
Both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan denied Zubeydah's claims, as expected. However, three months later, all those named started dying under suspicious circumstances.
Posner then briefly summarizes how the Sauds came to power after WWI, defeating the Ottomans (prior ruling tribe) and others. He then goes on to cover how Saudi Arabia is much more religiously conservative than other branches of Islam, though it has relaxed somewhat in recent years. Nonetheless, one is horrified to read how 15 girls recently died in a fire at their school because authorities would not let them out without "proper" headgear.
Other sources have clearly identified hatred of Israel as a major motivator in the Islamic world. This is somewhat understandable in response to Israel's takeover of Palestinian land and subsequent mistreatment of those citizens. Posner, however, also points out that the Sauds had this hatred before WWI!
Posner also details how Saudi Arabia threatened to nationalize its oil industry in the early 1970s unless businesses lobbied for it. Shortly thereafter, Egypt attacked Israel, Nixon decided to resupply Israel, and the U.S. oil embargo followed. Eventually the embargo was lifted, but prices increased ten-fold, and the Saudis used their new wealth for conspicuous consumption and to engender support among other nations for a resolution condemning Israel.
At this point the "good news" is that eventually the Saudi's began to use their vast wealth to build public infrastructure; the "bad news" is that it was accompanied by lots of corruption.
King Faisal was assassinated in '75 by the nephew of a prince he had ordered killed while protesting (religious reasons) opening a TV station. Posner points out that the nephew had spent years in the U.s. - thus, it was concluded that the West had corrupted him, and general dislike of the U.S. again increased.
America's prolonged military presence on Saudi soil (considered a major affront to Islam) during the first Gulf War helped motivate Bin Laden. (President Clinton compounded the problem by allowing women to be stationed at the base.) At about this time, Saudis worried about others trying to take over their oil fields (President Carter had an official plan drawn up to do so) established a "scorched earth" policy - Semtex explosive was placed in key locations, and it is also rumored that mini "dirty-bombs" were additionally positioned.
As for the current war of terror - Posner points out that much terror-funding comes from the Sauds, and they have failed to cooperated with U.S. banking officials trying to stop the flow.
Overall - a very informative and alarming book.
Polemical Rather Than Historical.......2005-10-31
Those who are looking for an introduction to Saudi history will be disappointed with this book. It is a polemic that, from beginning to end, seeks to persuade rather than to explain.
For example, the first anecdote (involving a civilian flight made by a Saudi royal while civilian traffic was shut down after 9-11) is presented with an almost lurid suggestiveness that is never quite backed up by facts. In fact, there are explanations for this flight that do not signify the insidious influence of the Saudis that is the thesis of this book, one of which is that the prince involved, being on a flight piloted by a pilot with CIA clearence, had been present in the country on 9-11 and delegated to assist the American government in its post haste investigations of 9-11. Try as you might, you can't find this contention assessed and rejected. In fact, the CIA connection was only incidentally mentioned, and this unbalanced presentation is both typical of the book and not in the least conducive to developing an analytical understanding of Saudi-American relations.
More annoying than hyperbolic and unbalanced weighings of the facts is that accurate factual presentations are often so skillfully juxtaposed with other facts as to lead the incautious reader to draw conclusions that the author never quite draws, but may seem to have drawn. If I say cats are feline and cunning, follow with another true remark to the effect that dogs like bones, and return to the discussion of cunning, it may appear to the incautious reader that I have established that dogs are cunning. Mr. Posner's persuasive writing certainly certainly is. This type of lawyerly deception is given even to plainly false contentions.
This book is one in a long line of charges and countercharges of either Israeli or Arab influence in the American government. You will have no trouble establishing which side Mr. Posner prefers. It is also one of the line of recent right wing polemics written for popular consumption and persuasion, offering only shallow and often illusory analysis that is unhelpful to understanding our complex relationship with the Saudis, substituting only shallow cliches for real understanding. Its informational value is extremely limited, and in fact negative if someone lacks a prior background in pertinent facts.
For this reason, though it is an entertainingly written book, there are better ways for everyone, whether well versed or not, to spend an evening.
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Local Birds of North Central Texas
Manufacturer: Local Birds Tx
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ASIN: 1886403481 |
Books:
- The Merchant of Marvels and the Peddler of Dreams
- The New Complete Guide to Wildlife Photography: How to Get Close and Capture Animals on Film
- The New Testament: Through 100 Masterpieces of Art
- The Primary Colors: Three Essays
- The Yale Dictionary of Art and Artists (Yale Nota Bene)
- Truth and Photography: Notes on Looking and Photographing
- Vixens of Vinyl: The Alluring Ladies of Vintage Album Covers
- Whack Your Porcupine, and Other Drawings
- Whose Muse?: Art Museums and the Public Trust
- Wild: Fashion Untamed (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Crazy '08: How a Cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads, and Magnates Created the Greatest Year in Baseba
- Daughter of the Empire
- Antibodies in Diagnosis and Therapy: Technologies Mechanisms and Clinical Data
- An Inconvenient Wife
- Collectible Beads: A Universal Aesthetic
- Compton Gamma Ray
- Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun
- Tom of Finland: His Life and Times
- American Iconology: New Approaches to Nineteenth-Century Art and Literature
- In Vitro Neurochemical Techniques
Sculpture since 1945 (Oxford History of Art)
A Sculpture Reader: Contemporary Sculpture Since 1980 (Perspectives on Contemporary Sculpture)
Modern Sculpture: A Concise History (World of Art)
Passages in Modern Sculptures
Sculpture in the Age of Doubt (Aesthetics Today)
