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- TOP 1000 MOVIES OF ALL TIME AS VOTED ON BY MOVIE-GOERS
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ZagatSurvey Movie Guide: 1,000 Top Films of All Time (Zagatsurvey)
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Customer Reviews:
TOP 1000 MOVIES OF ALL TIME AS VOTED ON BY MOVIE-GOERS.......2003-09-22
I find this Zagat survey of movies particularly handy when I want to rent a movie and want to see something that has stood the test of time.
Viewers have numerically rated their favorite movies by Overall Quality, Acting, Story, and Production Values. Under each title in the alphabetical section, there is a short paragraph made up of a sampling of viewer comments. This alphabetical listing contains the 1000 movies that the (large) sampling of viewers named as their favorites
In addition to this alphabetical list there are categorical lists such as lists:
. . . . by Overall Quality in descending order
. . . . by genres, in descending rating order in each genre.
. . . . . . (Genres are things like Action, Americana,
. . . . . . Biography, Crime, Documentary, etc.)
. . . . by Decade (from the 1910/1920's to the 2000's)
. . . . by Lead Actor
. . . . by Director
. . . . by Subject/Style
. . . . by Foreign Film and Country
. . . . and many more.
Under each category, there is a an alphabetic listing which, of course, is in addition to the overall alphabetical listing of the complete thousand entries.
As I stated in the beginning of this review, I find this guide very handy because I can find so much information so easily.
Also, the back cover of the survey tells us that there are 50 handy indexes (some of which I have listed above) which make large quantities of information readily accessible. By using this survey, you can select a movie based on the opinions, not of critics, but of other movie-goers. In my opinion. this is a better way to choose a movie than to just rely on the word of the professional critics.
Customer Reviews:
Barnet Remembers.......2004-08-16
This rather thin volume recounts Charlie Barnet's recollections of his years in the spotlight leading his more-or-less third echelon (in importance) orchestra. Much of it documents assorted adventures on the road along with recollections of various singers and sidemen he worked with over the years. In an apparent attempt to make this rather boring bio more spicy, quite a bit of space is devoted to facts that tend to tarnish his legendary status. They play up his more immature, irresponsible nature and present a seemingly endless parade of Barnet's less-than-honorable activities -- mean stunts, one night stands, quickie marriages and a whole lot of boozing it up (and drugs, too). Remarkably, such "hot" text is more tedious than anything and only lowers one's opinion of the man. As another review points out, the discography included in this book is woefully incomplete -- and, incredibly -- ignores nearly every one of Barnet's 26 1936-46 chart hits! It's too bad that Barnet did not write this with someone who could have adjusted the book's focus and eliminated it's shortcomings. Barnet was probably an interesting guy to know -- and while this slim book does give some insight into his thought process and life one can not get anywhere else, it's a shame that this volume is all we'll ever have from Barnet's perspective. I'm just sorry that, overall, it lowered my opinion of him.
this is a good start for this artist.......1999-03-05
this book was great for info on charlie and life in the big band swing era .I really injoyed the stories .The disaponting item i found in this book is that it has a discography in it that is only of favorite recordings of charlie and not complete,but it has every song he recorded as far as who wrote it, ect.ect.
Book Description
Grandmaster Chris Ward explains the important ideas behind every major opening, unraveling among others the secrets of the Sicilian, the mysteries of the Modern and the fundamentals of the French. He emphasizes the need to understand the key elements of each opening rather than simply memorize a series of complicated variations that leave you stranded if the opponent varies from the expected route. This book deals with every important opening, focuses on the application of simple principles and has a revolutionary layout to help readers absorb the key ideas.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent, but not overwhelming...........2007-01-19
"Improve Your Opening Play" is an excellent FIRST book on openings for a beginner who knows all the basics, but needs a deeper understanding of the purpose of various openings. It will be particularly helpful for occasions when the beginner is white and is met by various popular openings that would put him or her at a disadvantage without some knowledge of the intent, strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches black can take. It will also give the beginning a player a variety of strategies for countering white. This can help a beginner to gain an edge on another beginner who is not familiar with a particular opening.
From a pedagogical standpoint, this book provides a broad overview of each of the most important openings and their variations. This provides a framework for building on the basics and deeper study down the road. The immediate advantage is that the beginner will soon be able to recognize various openenings and avoid major mistakes. It will also give him the knowledge he needs to look up what someone else used against him and do further research.
This book is NOT intended to be a comprehensive text on openings. As such, it is not overwhelming. It provides approximately 6-8 moves of each opening and variation, the simple logic behind these moves and the advantages and disadvantages of the resulting position. It also provides some questions as to how to proceed and encourages the reader to think on their own from there. I think this is a good way to go because it allows new players to learn the basics of the various openings quickly and then experiment on their own. This makes further study more meaningful and with real game experience advanced study will be more productive and beneficial. There is nothing like losing a game because of a bad opening due to lack of understanding to motivate one to learn more!
I have several opening books and although I have been playing chess for a long time, sometimes I feel overwhelmed reading them. It is much more interesting for me to master general concepts and then build upon each of the major themes over time. This partly because I only have limited time to devote to the game and studying it. This is probably the boat most people are in. If you like chess, but are turned off by the density and apparent complexity of other openings book, this might be just right for you.
Chris Ward writes in a simple, straightforward and conversational tone. This makes this text very readable and the major principles easy to digest. There are also lots of useful diagrams and he doesn't present so many moves between diagrams that it is difficult to memorize the board position. In short, this is an informative and enjoyable read.
Lastly, while the book isn't exhaustive in its treatment of openings, it does provide some strategic guidelines as to how to continue. It doesn't give examples, but it encourages you to experiment with the position. I think this is a great approach in a world of
<$20.00 chess engines with tutoring capability. As a pianist, I know that reading about music is not the same as practicing. I think the same applies to chess, you need to digest a certain amount of material and then apply it in real game situations before learning more. In summary, I think this book accomplishes its objective of providing beginners with just enough opening material to give them basic understanding, some direction as to how to go forward and enough challenge that learning is exciting rather than frustrating or overwhelmin.
A brief and solid introduction to the openings in chess.......2005-06-08
In "Improve Your Opening Play", Chris Ward gives a brief overview of the most popular and important openings, and succinctly explains the ideas behind them. Along the way, Ward will sometimes invite the reader to work on an exercise. These are usually pretty brief and fairly easy to solve, but they do help cement certain ideas that one should learn.
The book is comprised of 7 sections:
1) Opening Fundamentals
2) Symmetrical e-pawn Openings
3) Other Defences to 1 e4
4) Symmetrical d-pawn Openings
5) Other Defences to 1 d4
6) Other Openings
7) Solutions to Exercises
All of this information is covered in less than 150 pages, which is not enough to really go into any depth. However, for the beginning player who wants a basic understanding of a lot of different openings, the book is pretty good. There are plenty of diagrams throughout the text and Ward's straightforward writing makes the concepts easy to grasp.
One caveat: Though this book is targeted towards beginners, it is not the first book a beginner should read. Rather, it is a good introduction to chess openings, made for the player who already has a reasonable grasp of basic chess play.
Disappointed.......2004-02-01
This book contains flawed analysis (on the Möller Attack and others) which is really not acceptable. The book gives a glimpse of several major openings (to its credit) but stops its analysis arbitrarily and does not really emphasise the fundamental underlying principles which it claims to do. It is patchy and not good. I feel like Chris Ward must have written this book while he was bored one day, and it took him less than an hour...
This is the perfect book to BEGIN opening study.......2002-12-12
I am writing this review of Improve Your Opening Play because the other reviews leave a gap or two in explanation. In sum, this book is perfect for the absolute OPENING beginner -- and I don't mean CHESS beginner.
If you're an opening beginner, when you go to the bookstore and see the various titles on openings, you may wonder, "What's the use of learning the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian when my father's never gonna let me get more than 2 moves into it?"
This book is for you. There are way too few books like Improve Your Opening Play, which accomodates the multitude of players who need to know the opening fundamentals before proceeding on to the much more detailed books on the market.
Reuben Fine's book on the ideas behind the openings, of course, is also a good place to start, but this book is more up-to-date, a little "shorter and sweeter," very well organized, and presents its lessons in a visually simple and effective manner. The IDEAS underlying each move of every opening you are likely to see (an average of 6 to 8 moves out) are thoughtfully presented. The discussion also includes analysis of common variants to many of the more classic moves.
In my opinion, GM Chris Ward, gives just the right amount of information to the new student of the openings, making opening study fun rather than overwhelming, and providing a solid foundation for more advanced study of any opening you may want to pursue. If you thoroughly study this book, when you see a particular opening in play, you will have a grasp of what you should be striving for as well as what your opponent is trying to do, and I, for one, have always felt that the THINKING in chess is what makes this great game fun -- not the memorization.
Straightforward introduction to the ideas behind openings.......2002-07-23
I like this book a lot, it is a brief synopsis of the overall idea of each of the major openings. Like a previous reviewer noted, it is strictly for beginners and will not teach you an opening. It will, however, give you the basic plan behind the opening and can be the starting point for study (after which you will want to get a dedicated opening book, most likely).
If you look at it as The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings 'lite', you will not be far off. My only major complaint with this book is coverage of the Caro-Kann compared to some other openings. It's basically nonexistant, and you are left feeling a little short changed. The coverage of the Sicilian, on the other hand, is quite good (for a book of this type) mentioning both c3 and several forms of the open (the author is a dragon expert!).
After you read this book, I think the ideas behind the chess openings should be your next book, for a little more detail, then probably choose one or two opening specific books -- the new 'Starting out' series by everyman would probably be a good choice for a novice player. As always, MCO (or NCO -- don't want to start a holy war) will be useful as reference material.
In summary, this book is very good, but is only the first step; you will not find everything you need in this book, only a very broad overview.
Book Description
As U.S. organizations continue to explore overseas business opportunities, they will be challenged to adapt to the new market's local characteristics, legislation, fiscal regime, sociopolitical environment and cultural system. Riding the Waves of Culture shows international managers how to build the skills, sensitivity, and cultural awareness needed to establish and sustain management effectiveness across cultural borders. This revised edition is updated with new research and statistics.
More than an encyclopedia of cultures and customs, this essential guide:
- Describes successful and failed cross-cultural business transactions of multinational organizations such as AT&T, Heineken, Motorola and Volvo
- Offers techniques managers can use to anticipate and mediate some of the difficult dilemmas of international management
- Uses country-by-country graphs, examples, and other comparisons to illustrate how different cultures regard and respond to various management approaches
- Includes a CD-ROM of graphs, charts, and exercises to help readers evaluate their effectiveness as a global manager
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding research results in clear & useful guide.......2007-09-19
I was surprised to have my horizons expanded greatly though I had initially expressed skepticism at another book on diversity. On the contrary, this one contains real, practical, appropriate cultural nuances and advice on particulars for many national and cultural traditions. I heartily suggest it as a cornerstone of a modern cultural analysis of the factors that can contribute to enhancing diversity. Even though a bit dated, their research still is valuable. I cannot wait for the next edition!
Essential reading for executives - and politicians.......2006-02-26
This book is deservedly already an international management classic, and should be required reading for anybody who needs to interact with other nationalities and cultures. Hofstede got there first with his classifications of cultural dimensions, but Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars' are arguably more compelling, and - more importantly - the book is both highly readable and replete with case studies. It gives American and Northern European business people insights into why their assumptions about what motivates people from other parts of the world are wrong, and why so many US-centered initiatives founder on the rocks of unrecognized cultural differences. Send a copy to the White House!
For Business Poeple and Managers.......2005-06-30
This is a shorter, and more condensed version of the authors' earlier book 'Building Cross Cultural Competence'. In this book, the authors' target managers and business people who are looking to understand cultural differences and how to deal with them in a variety of circumstances and situations. Each chapter begins with am introduction to one of the dimensions, a discussion of how the differences manifest themselves and concludes with 'tips' on how to deal, and how to do business, with the different culture explored in that chapter.
The authors use the same six dimensions of culture introduced in their earlier work (universalism vs. particularism; individualism vs communitarism; specificity vs. diffusion; achieved status vs. ascribed status; inner direction vs. outer direction; and sequential time vs. synchronous time), but they present these dimensions in a much more accessible and simple manner with more emphasis on what each dimension actually means for business people and how it affects business-related situations.
This book has become the reference for business people and managers in the area of culture. Simple and very well written without losing credibility; this is a book that will enlighten and guide any manager in dealing with people from other cultures. While in some ways it is a 'western-centric' book (targeted to Western - especially US - managers), it remains very useful for managers from other cultures since the authors have attempted to keep the examples and discussion culturally neutral.
A Great Introduction to Intercultural Understanding.......2004-05-03
At last from Europe, a clear, concise, readable explanation of the critical dimensions of international management. It places culture in a perspective that allows for applications internationally and within the diversity of single nations.
David C. Wigglesworth, Ph.D. is an international/intercultural human resource, management, and organization consultant and president of D.C.W Research Associates International in Kingwood, Texas, USA. He can be reached at dcwigg@earthlink.net
Riding the Waves of Culture.......2003-10-02
An excellent overview of culture and cultural differences. For a more specific look at Americans, read Working with Americans (Stewart-Allen/Denslow)
Book Description
The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the Revolutionary War's crucial southern campaign and helped to set up the final victory of American independence at Yorktown Nathanael Greene is a revolutionary hero who has been lost to history. Although places named in his honor dot city and country, few people know his quintessentially American story as a self-made, self-educated military genius who renounced his Quaker upbringing-horrifying his large family-to take up arms against the British. Untrained in military matters when he joined the Rhode Island militia in 1774, he quickly rose to become Washington's right-hand man and heir apparent. After many daring exploits during the war's first four years (and brilliant service as the army's quartermaster), he was chosen in 1780 by Washington to replace the routed Horatio Gates in South Carolina. Greene's southern campaign, which combined the forces of regular troops with bands of irregulars, broke all the rules of eighteenth-century warfare and foreshadowed the guerrilla wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His opponent in the south, Lord Cornwallis, wrote, "Greene is as dangerous as Washington. I never feel secure when I am encamped in his neighborhood. He is vigilant, enterprising, and full of resources." Greene's ingenious tactics sapped the British of their strength and resolve even as they "won" nearly every battle. Terry Golway argues that Greene's appointment as commander of the American Southern Army was the war's decisive moment, and this bold new book returns Greene to his proper place in the Revolutionary era's pantheon.
Customer Reviews:
Washington's General: Nathanael Greene and the triumph of the American Revolution. .......2007-09-22
1. The book was a good overview of the life of Nathanael Greene. It did a very good job of setting before the reader some of the inner drives and their sources which triggered some of Greene's actions and choices.
2. The book suffered from a lack of maps. It needed strategic, operational and tactical maps in order to better explain the text, especially for readers who may not be familiar with the geography, the campaigns, or the methods of the American Revolution.
3. Gen. Greene is justly held up for his service as the Quartermaster from mid Valley Forge until the Southern Campaigns. Even then his mastery of logistics set a tone and pattern for American warfare methodology to this day. The book would have been better served by some charts, data, etc of the challenges, successes etc of his efforts. Manpower, supplies etc. It would have helped the reader to better understand the contribution against odds that Greene made.
4. Greene is laurelled for his innovative southern campaign which in this book suffers from detail and scope. With only about 50 pages devoted to this forgotten campaign.
5. Overall a very good introduction, well written, easy to read, even providing a good glimpse into the relationship between Greene and his wife and children and his hero ... Washington.
One of the best books about the Revolution I've read.......2007-03-19
with rare compare. Although certainly not a thematic book that gives you an eagle's eye view of the war, the dimension that Golway gives Greene produces so much real and detailed persepective on every person in the book, even the elusive and aloof George Washington.
The Good: The book proceeds chronologically from the makings of the man Washington would call his best general to his untimely death. Probably the most enjoyable parts are the quotes from primary sources showing Greene's strengths and many human foibles. This may be why he is so uninteresting to most people, because most textbooks and sources will not mention his frequent mispellings, his frequent "pinings" for his wife, his ambition tempered by practicality, and the impressive actions of a great man who has never seemed to outgrow the limitations he felt as a child.
The Bad: A lack of detail about some of the battles, especially his legendary Southern campaign, betray the author's lack of elaboration on topics of military strategy, something which is crucial to Greene's character and legend. While Mr. Golway went into detail about the living conditions and the logistical nightmare Greene had to manage, more detail about how the fighting was would have greatly added to this already superb biography.
The Ugly: While the reading level is very tolerable for anyone, some of the more racy details may not always be for younger readers even if they are incredibly amusing. The descriptions of the horrible conditions Continental soldiers faced is a welcome departure from the typical omissions in many other works about the Revolution. Simply saying that some Continental soldiers raided civilian stores or robbed people gives as biased a picture as the omitters if one does not understand the desperate context of the American Revolution. All in all, you get a great biography not just about Greene, but everything he saw and everyone he saw as well.
A Masterful Biography of George Washington's Favorite General.......2007-03-05
This is a great book! It is extremely well written and tells a tremendously interesting story.
Recently, I had the chance to listen to a presentation by author Terry Golway on the Continental Army's Major General Nathanael Greene in the American Revolution. Golway is as captivating a speaker as he is an author.
In his book, Golway contents that Nathanael Greene was George Washington's foremost military commander. It is true, Greene, who was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General at the start of the Revolutionary War, lacked any military experience. And during the war he made key mistakes that resulted in the British defeat of Washington's Army. But Golway contends that Greene learned from these mistakes and evolved into a top-notch strategist and battlefield commander.
It is that evolution that is the focus of the book, and Golway tells the story flawlessly.
Equally interesting is the focus on Greene's young, beautiful, and flirtatious wife, Caty. "What WAS going on between Caty Greene and George Washington?!" I remember the author asking out loud during his presentation in Boston. Shortly afterward, this was followed by another loud exclaimation: "And WHAT about Caty Greene and the Marquis de Lafayette?!" The book addresses both questions in detail.
The following are some of the quotes from the book I enjoyed the most:
"These are times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." (Thomas Paine, "The Crisis" 1776)
"Fortune seems to frown upon the cause of freedom; a combination of evils are pressing in upon us from all sides. However, I hope this is the dark part of the night, which generally is just before the day." (Major General Nathanael Greene to his wife, Caty, December 16, 1776)
"The natural strength of this country in point of numbers appears to me to consist much more in the blacks than the whites. Could they be incorporated, and employed in its defense, it would afford you double security. That they would make good soldiers I have not the least doubt."
(Nathanael Greene to the Governor of South Carolina, John Rutledge. Rutledge turned down Greene's recommendation and refused to let African-Americans serve the American cause in the south.)
"We have trod the paths of adversity together and have felt the sunshine of better fortune. We have found a people overwhelmed with distress, and a country groaning under oppression. It has been our happiness to relieve them....Your generous confidence, amids surrounding difficulties; your persevering tempers, against the tide of misfortune, paved the way for success." (Nathanael Greene's Farewell to his Southern Army, June 21, 1782, Charleston, South Carolina)
These words ring as powerfully today as when they were written, more than two-hundred years ago.
Outstanding book about Washington's indespensible General.......2007-02-20
After watching CSPAN's interview with David McCullough (promoting his book "1776"), I had to know more about this vital yet little known Revolutionary War General. Brian Lamb asked the author who he thought was Washington's best General, McCullough said "without a doubt, Nathanael Greene". Since I am a history teacher, and an "amateur" historian on Colonial America, I had to find out more about this General.
Terry Galloway has written an outstanding biography about Greene. Galloway's book is a fascinating read that sheds invaluable insight into Greene's Quaker background, what molded him into a revolutionary, and his invaluable yet little known contribution to the Continental Army.
In the book you find out about Greene's strict Quaker background, how he realized he wanted to expand his education and experiences outside of Rhode Island, what his personal life and loves were, and how he became an outstanding General who greatly contributed to helping the "rebels" when the Revolutionary War (especially in the south). This truely is an excellent biography.
Highly Recommended!
Extremely well written and engaging biography.......2007-02-17
A great book about a great man whose life was cut short in the closing days of the Revolutionary War. After reading the book the only remaining question was "what if he had lived?" I'm sure if he had, he would have left an even more lasting impression on his country's early political beginnings. Extremely well written and engaging biography.
Book Description
From Hitler's Wehrmacht of World War II to the Bundeswehr, the German Army uniform has changed greatly over the last seventy years. Through periods of glory, defeat and renaissance, the uniform has evolved. Prussian and Germanic traditions have remained strong throughout the uniform's history, and can still be found in the insignia and equipment of the present-day soldier. A provisional Reichswehr was formed in 1919, and, for the first time, the German Army had a common uniform for all the federal states of the Weimar Republic. With Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the uniform began to take on the symbols of Nazi Germany, the eagle and swastika being added. Post-war Germany saw a divided nation with two distinct uniforms, and today we again see a common uniform for a united Germany. Uniforms of the German Soldier charts this fascinating evolution. With more than fifty color photographs and more than 400 black-and-white photographs, this book gives the reader an unparalleled visual record. Each photograph is accompanied with a detailed, authoritative caption.
Customer Reviews:
Mediocre Effort.......2007-07-11
Let me first say that I don't own this book. After a close perusal of it at a discount book store, and at a price of $10.00, I still could not bring myself to buy it. I have an extensive library of uniform books for most European countries, including Germany, and I believe this book to be poor value for the money. Many, if not most of the photos have been reproduced before, and the choice of color prints is just terrible, both in subject, and in color reproduction. Detailed uniform plates are reproduced in the book, but in black & white; they should have been printed in color. This volume may suffice for one with casual interest in the subject, but overall ,I found it most disappointing. Also, way too much coverage on the post WWII West & East German militaries.
A fine resource for a range of readers, from collectors of World War II memorabilia to history buffs.......2006-07-24
The uniform of the German army has changed greatly over the last 70 years, and here to document it all is UNIFORMS OF THE GERMAN SOLDIER: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY FROM WORLD WAR II TO THE PRESENT DAY. Lovely color photos liberally pepper a guide which analyzes gear, pairing detailed information captains with visual emphasis explaining interesting aspects of each uniform, insignia and equipment piece. Veteran military history writer de Quesada provides a fine resource for a range of readers, from collectors of World War II memorabilia to history buffs.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Amazon.com
In 1980, Zimbabwe was the great hope of Africa, a place where blacks were supposed to realize their postcolonial destinies under the enlightened leadership of Robert Mugabe. But now the country formerly known as Rhodesia is an international basket case with a wrecked economy and a dim future. In this disturbing book by Martin Meredith, a British journalist with extensive experience in southern Africa, Mugabe transforms into a villain. "Year by year, he acquired ever greater power, ruling the country through a vast system of patronage, favoring loyal aides and cronies with government positions and contracts and ignoring the spreading blight of corruption," writes Meredith. "Power for Mugabe was not a means to an end, but the end itself." His reign has been so wretched, in fact, that some of the most sympathetic people in Our Votes, Our Guns are the white farmers who once supported apartheid-style rule but decided not to flee when Mugabe came to power. They were promised multiracial harmony; what they got instead was a racist dictator who thought nothing of using violence against them. Admirers of Philip Gourevitch--or, indeed, anyone with an interest in African politics--will appreciate Meredith's depressing but important story. --John Miller
Book Description
The story of what Robert Mugabe did to the once-flourishing African state of Zimbabwe: how it happened, why it happened, and its implications for Africa.
Robert Mugabe came to power in 1980 after a long civil war in Rhodesia. The white minority government had become an international outcast in refusing to give in to the inevitability of black majority rule. Finally the defiant white prime minister Ian Smith was forced to step down and Mugabe was elected president of a country now called Zimbabwe. Initially hopes were high that he had the intelligence, political savvy and idealistic vision to help repair the damage done by colonialism and the bitter civil war, and to lead his country's economic and social development. He was admired throughout the world as one of the leaders of the emerging nations and as a model for a good transition from colonial leadership. But month by month, year by year, Mugabe became increasingly autocratic; his methods increasingly violent. In recent years he has unleashed a reign of terror and corruption in his country. Like the Congo, Angola, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Zimbabwe has been on a steady slide to disaster.
What happened in Zimbabwe? Now for the first time the whole story is told in detail by an expert. It is a riveting and tragic political story, a morality tale, and an essential text for understanding today's Africa.
Customer Reviews:
Scholarly and well done.......2007-01-12
The book is incredibly well researched, yet manages to keep it all organized and interesting. If you want to learn more about Robert Mugabe and his rule over Zimbabwe, this is the book for you.
Zimbabwe: from liberation to kleptocracy........2006-02-26
A nice book about the kleptacracy of present day Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe took a jewell of a country and turned it into a failed state. He has done this so he can enrich his family, friends, and supporters at the expense of the vast Zimbabwean people. Meredith describes the liberation of Rhodesia and the early promise of Mugabe's presidency. After the honeymoon, Mugabe gave jobs to his supporters and enriched his party, the ZANU-PF. Latest developments in Zimbabwe continue to show the mass exodus of the few remaining whites, and the poverty of the majority population. Mugabe enriches himself and his supporters, but leaves the rest of the population to fend for itself.
I couple of comments about what some of the other reviewers said. Zimbabwe is no longer a democracy. Hitler took Weimar Germany and made it into a Fascist state. Ferdinand Marcos took the Philippines and turned it into a tin horn dictatorship. Just because a country has some trappings of democracy, it is not a democracy. Remember the Soviet Union had elections, and they were not free. Zimbabwe may have elections and a somewhat free judiciary, but it is not a democracy any more than Rhodesia was a democracy. Mugabe is showing traits of a Fascist or Communist Dictator (i.e. hero worship of the leader). Mugabe is also showing signs of his racist nature. He often berates the former white leader Ian Smith, but Mugabe's leadership (or dictatorship) is worse. At least Smith gave up power, Mugabe wants to retain power forever.
Another comment made by another reviewer is that the West should not show debt forgiveness to certain Third World countries. I quite agree, why subsidize Zimbabwe so we can enrich the kleptocrats of the ZANU-PF and Mugabe's family. The West should have learned its leason with Mobutu and Zaire. Don't give Zimbabwe a dime until ZANU-PF and Mugabe are gone.
This is a good book from a great author. I am reading his latest work about the Fate of Africa, and this is a nice companion read.
A well told tragedy that still continues.......2004-11-27
This book puts into context better than anything I have read the major tragedy that has been occurring in Zimbabwe for over twenty years. The parallels with the Congo (as covered in the excellent book "In the footsteps of Mr Kurtz" on Mobutu's kleptocracy in Zaire) are matched here by the story of how a wealthy and well developed colony after a crippling war of independence came under Mugabe's control.
The saddest aspect is while matters started very promisingly with the country ripe for a muti racial experiment and very similar to South Africa, the early use of force to remove tribal opposition was then applied unremmitingly to the white minority with fatal long term effects on the country's economy.
That inequality existed and changes were needed on land distribution were clear - the redistribution when it occurred was done in such a manner that not only were the whites permanently alienated but the corruption and lack of planning as to what was to replace has had fatal consequences with mass poverty, unrest and a wealthy autocratic elite destroying the future prospects for the poorer native populace of the country.
The control of every facet by Mugabe's Zanu Party whenever challenged has been met with violence from local opposition using North Korean trained cadres to outright intimidation of the judiciary, one of the real heroes in this story.
A very well told and researched history.
Decline and Fall of Zimbabwe.......2004-01-12
This is a super-readable book about the career of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, whose corruption, brutality, and paranoia have wrecked Zimbabwe's democratic institutions and have brought the country to the brink of economic ruin. The book is refreshingly free of cant, and the author has a sharp eye for political grotesqueries, which have abounded in post-independence Zimbabwe. My only complaint (and hence the rating of 4 stars) is the lack of footnotes or any real analysis of the social or economic currents underlying Zimbabwean politics. Instead, journalist Meredith is content to chronicle events newspaper-style.
Chronicling the Third World Tyranny of the Black Hitler.......2004-01-04
~Our Votes, Our Guns~ chronicles the tyrannical rule of Robert Mugabe, from his heyday as a revolutionary guerilla who was captured an imprisoned to a victorious leader in what was initially to be a coalition government in the 1970's with Ian Smith's Rhodesian white colonials, the various black factions, and Mugabe's ZANU party in unity. Recently he said he could be a "black Hitler ten-fold" in a political speech. By the early 1980's, Mugabe eschewed the idea of a coalition government, opting instead for total consolidation of rule by his party. Mugabe through Machiavellian manipulations managed to scapegoat the political opposition in the public eye. Thereafter, he justified purges ostensibly for the purposes of stifling his contrived threat of a coup d'etat. Mugabe's violence obviously only served to foment political opposition-both white and black-and browbeaten white farmers gradually dropped the conciliatory posturing as their farms were confiscated and family members were murdered. In his approach to counter-insurgency, Mugabe boldly proclaimed to his opposition, "We have to deal with this problem quite ruthlessly," with regards to resistance in Matebeland, so "Don't be surprised if your relatives get killed in the process..." Grim reports of Ian Smith's Rhodesian Apartheid regime knocking off guerillas pail in comparison to the horrors unleashed by Mugabe. Millions have been killed as a result of Mugabe's rule.
Robert Mugabe has secured his power base through a corrupt scheme of patronage to cronies while bribing armed cadres of murderous mobs to crush political opposition. Mugabe literally despises whites, but also shows his hatred for black minority opposition in his own nation. Espousing the familiar Afro-Marxist rhetoric of a demagogue dictator, he seemingly justifies any means requisite to purge his nation of the 'evil' vestiges of capitalism and colonialism. Mugabe rules with fanatical zeal and has morbid remarks in reference to his policies of forced famine and mass-murder, which are eerily reminiscent of Pol Pot. He offers no apologies for his cruel measures designed to solidify his rule. He has plundered the nation, stripped it of its productive capacity, and his made zealous efforts to confiscate and redistribute private farmland, which has utterly devastated the economy of Zimbabwe. He has reduced the productivity of a once largely self-sufficient agricultural nation to a destitute backwater republic. Besides utilization of political violence, Mugabe, much like the warlords of Somalia, holds onto power precariously by controlling the distribution of foreign aid and humanitarian relief through his spoils system of patronage. In doing so, he buys support from a loyal cadre of cohorts.
Recently, the fashionable thing amongst the media establishment and policymakers in the West-particularly Leftist cadres in the UK has been to tacitly support and praise Mugabe's efforts for land reform while conveniently ignoring the horrors of his regime perpetrated against both whites and blacks. The mass-media never does specials on ethnic cleansings in Zimbabwe. And unfortunately political correctness of leftist journalists in the West tends to extol leaders like Robert Mugabe (while ignoring his criminal track record as mass-murdering despot.) The one smug thing I really dislike about liberal journalist Martin Merideth is his initial enthusiasm for the good intentions of Mugabe when he first came to power... He acts as if socialism and anti-colonial wars of national liberation are all noble and admirable, but Mugabe simply came along and betrayed the principle. The communist bloc-the Soviets, Chinese, and North Koreans-launched anti-colonial propaganda campaign to fuel insurgent revolutions fusing nationalism with socialism in an effort to build a pro-communist, anti-Western bloc in the Third-World. Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela were among their minions. The red crown jewels in this endeavor included Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Zaire. The pictures documenting his torture and mass-murder at various web sites are repugnant to the human eye and conscious. Yet those champions of human rights, the UN and IMF, continue to bolster his regime with aid. Meanwhile, in the Western media turn a blind eye to the atrocities when reporting anything on Zimbabwe and only gloss over the need for the West to help arbitrate Mugabe's land reform proposals. Land reform in Neo-Marxist newspeak means confiscation and redistribution of private property. Mugabe's legacy is one of criminal mass-murderer who destroyed his country's economy while murdering and starving 'his people.' He is a murderous thug whose judgment may never come from some tribunal, but will when he meets his maker.
Many outside observers naively approach southern African politics and international relations with the idea that fighting is between blacks and whites. They ignore abuses by black revolutionaries against their own blood kin, but why should it be any less acceptable when perpetrated against whites? Nelson Mandella, the media darling, was a violent communist terrorist, but doesn't get exposed by the Western media, but rather is heralded as a patron saint. There is a book by a black clergyman Sipo Mzimela tied to the ANC opposition, which documents the murderous ANC-perpetrated terrorism and corrupt assent of Mandella called Marching to Slavery, which may be found on a used book search since it is conveniently out-of-print. Despite exposing Mugabe, Martin Meredith cannot bring himself to trample the sacred cow of Mandella's fictious legacy as a humanitarian hero in his other book.
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Bird Watching with Ben
Ben Gelman
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Nature Writing
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Birds
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General
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Reference
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Ornithology
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ASIN: 0809312212 |
Book Description
Ben Gelman likes birds. He is a writer and editor, not a scientist, not an ornithologist. Yet for the past half century he has been doing what ornithologists do—watching birds, studying them, counting them, keeping lists of species, writing about them.
Gelman’s approach is personal, conversational, not technical—an invitation to go bird watching with a knowledgeable, enthusiastic friend. He shares what he has seen and what can be seen in Southern Illinois.
Roger Tory Peterson concludes his Foreword to Bird Watching with Ben with this endorsement: “But I must let Ben tell about the birds he has seen in these ornithological hotspots [in southern Illinois] as well as those which visit him around his home. You will enjoy his observations and insights as I have.”
Books:
- The Green Vault In Dresden: Renassance And Baroque Treasury Art
- The Infinite Line: Re-making Art After Modernism
- The Madonna of the Future: Essays in a Pluralistic Art World
- The Nude in American Painting, 1950-1980
- The Paintings of Alice Dalton Brown
- The Prints of Michael Mazur: With a Catalogue Raisonne 1956-1999
- The Rsvp Cycles: Creative Processes in the Human Environment
- The Sovereignty of Art: Aesthetic Negativity in Adorno and Derrida (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)
- The Visions of Tondal: From the Library of Margaret of York
- The Writings and Drawings of Leonardo da Vinci: Order and Chaos in Early Modern Thought
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