The Future of Art: An Aesthetic of the New and the Sublime (Suny Series in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art)

Book Description

Draws upon a wide range of aesthetic theories and artworks in order to challenge the view that art is valueless or purely subjective.

By analyzing the three loci of aesthetics--the subjective, the objective, and the absolute--the author concludes that only the sublime demonstrates that art is neither subjective nor objective. The one essential component of art is the new, the sole "instrument" that can guarantee art's vitality even when confronted by the nihilistic tendencies of modernity.

Book Description

Edited by Werner Blaser & Lars Muller.

5.5 x 10.25 in.
180 illustrations

Book Description

The terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001 touched people worldwide, and cartoonists have turned to art to express their grief and support. 9-11: Emergency Relief is a comic book project to benefit the American Red Cross featuring some of the comic world's leading talents. From legendary creators such as Will Eisner and Harvey Pekar to new talents on the cutting edge of the comics medium such as James Kochalka and cover artist Frank Cho, over 80 cartoonists from all areas of the cartooning world have joined together in this community effort. Released January 2002 from Alternative Comics, 9-11: Emergency Relief is a collection of these cartoonists' personal non-fiction accounts of their experiences related to the tragedy. 100% of the profits from the 9-11 Emergency Relief trade paperback will be donated to the American Red Cross.

Customer Reviews:

A Touching Reminder Of A Day That United All Of America...........2002-07-08

Where were YOU on the morning of September 11th, 2001? I was at work when Howard Stern reported that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers. Having been born and raised in The Bronx before moving to Rochester, N.Y., my workday immediately ended as I focused my full attention on Howard's show; He became my only link to the city I loved and would always call home. Later on came the TV reports and the images that will never leave my mind, but for those first few hours, I sat listening in shock as the man who makes me laugh every workday became my only connection to family, friends, and loved ones who were suddenly living in a war-zone.

9-11: Emergency Relief is a benefit book that is filled with true stories from September 11th. They range from touching, to infuriating, to thought-provoking, and the list of creators reads like a who's who of Indy Comics: James Kochalka, Will Eisner, Tony Millionaire, Harvey Pekar, Tom Hart, Joyce Brabner, Ted Rall, and literally DOZENS of others. Besides being entertaining, and raising money for the Red Cross, the book fulfills another important purpose: It stands as a reminder of a day we must NEVER forget. God Bless America!

Amazing, dense and horrifying.......2002-02-16

Easily the best of the comics industry's myriad responses to the tragedy of September 11th, this book gets down into the nitty-gritty of human experiences and reactions to tragedy. No superheroes. No larger-than-life expostulation. Just real people - talented artists - telling amazing stories. Higlights include Gregory Benton's "Treasure," an untitled Hutch Owen story by Tom Hart that manages to toe the fine line between rage and sentiment and "Citadel Of The Night" by K. Thor Jensen and Chris Knowle. Honestly, though, the book is so full of great material that nobody should be without it.

Every community library in the country should acquire a copy.......2002-02-05

After the September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in the skies over Pennsylvania, some 50 graphic novelists and cartoonist ranging from such legendary names as Will Eisner and Harvey Pekar, to newer talents such as Frank Cho and James Kochalka, came together in a very special project as a way of expressing their grief, patriotism, and support of the American people in the face of naked, lethal, ideologically driven aggression. The result is 9-11: Emergency Relief, a powerful graphic novel. The proceeds will go to benefit the American Red Cross. Simply put, every school and every community library in the country should acquire a copy of 9-11: Emergency Relief for the edification of their students and their patrons.

Universal Emotions in Black and White.......2002-01-31

9-11: Emergency Relief puts a unique perspective on a shared tragedy. Taking the events out of the cold realism of news photography and video and into the pen and ink world of the comix artist lets the reader share the emotions of another individual on a highly personalized level.

Do not let the genre keep you from reading this book! Even if you are not a comix afficionado, the images and storytelling technique of each artist/author are fascinating and deeply moving.

Like any good book, it is well structured. Stories lead up to the event, there are on-site accounts, the aftermath, and the realization that we're living in a changed world. For people having trouble coming to terms with the events of 9-11 -- regardless of their age -- this book provides comfort and insight. We all have stories to tell about 9-11 and most readers have probably wished they could express their own feelings so well. Fortuntely, this group of artists says it for us.

Terrific book!.......2002-01-24

Everyone has a dark side--it's that frightening part of our personalities that drives
you to root for something to blow up and hurt James Bond. It's what makes us "root
for the bad guy" at Mel Gibson films. It's what drove us to watch with rapt attention
on September 11, as the Civilized World crumbled before our eyes.

This, happily, is not the part of us that forces us onward through "9-11," a graphic
novel that tells nearly fifty stories by respected creators from the comic-book industry
about the terrorist attacks and their implications. "9-11" is, with rare exception
like Ashley Wood's obscenity-laden two page monologue, a labor of profound love.

Here, comics legend Will Eisner--who literally invented the concept of "sequential
art," the name by which the academic community now refers to comics--joins virtually
ever major creator in the comics industry in donating his time, money, energy and
artwork to charities benefiting the victims of the September 11 terror attacks.

Marvel Comics lead the pack, their magazine-format "Heroes" book being the first
released (in late October) and best-promoted of all benefit books. The first week
in January, they followed up with "Moment of Silence," another comics-for-charity
project to which Hollywood director and comics guru Kevin Smith contributed a story.
"9-11" was released on January 9 by Alternative Comics, a small, independent publisher.
It contains mostly works done by small-press of self-published comics creators who
are not under contract to a major publisher. Contributors include Phil Hester of
DC Comics' best-selling "Green Arrow," Michael Avon Oeming of "Powers" and "Bluntman
and Chronic" fame, Eisner and "Bone" scribe Jeff Smith. Sixty-two stories featuring
more than 75 creators are collected in the 200-page book, which costs [price]. All
profits from the sale of "9-11" go to the American Red Cross.

Especially notable in the "9-11" tribute book are several pieces by non-legends,
who have been largely overlooked even in the comics press due to names like Harvey
Pekar, Will Eisner and Tony Millionaire being attached to the project. A. David Lewis'
11-page "Alabaster Cities" details his exploits on the morning of September 11, which
are refreshingly non-dynamic. Rather than depicting himself running out the door
to help, as is the temptation when writing a story about your personal reaction to
great tragedy, Lewis and many other creators in the book simply paint a picture of
desperate phone calls, frantic e-mails and great personal reflection and fear. Despite
a medical condition that precludes him from Armed Services duty, Lewis confesses
to ever-so-briefly worrying about being drafted on September 11--a thought that surely
crossed the mind of every young male in the country in the hours following the attacks
on America.

John "Bean" Hastings has a short but poignant story about the importance of art and
popular culture in troubled times--it's clear that he put a lot of himself in a small
amount of pages, and the result is stellar. Keith Knight's indictment of middle America's
closedminded attacks against Arab-Americans and Danny Donovan's disappointment that
the heroes of comic books and movies weren't there to save us when it was truly needed,
hit home in witty and well-thought-out stories designed to make readers take a break
from the seemingly endless pages of grieving and think about their own attitudes.

All in all, "9-11" is a beautiful book, put together by truly talented people and
well-executed; it can do no person harm to buy a copy. Or two--the money, after all,
is going to charity.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating

Proceedings of the 5th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference

Manufacturer: Loving Healing Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Disaster Relief | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1932690379

Book Description

Recent years have seen an extraordinary number of major disasters, critical incidents and other events that have had major impacts on our world. The 2004 tsunami, hurricanes Rita and Katrina, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan affect millions of lives daily. Potential events such as Avian Flu pandemic, global warming and the increasing threats of spreading unrest in the Middle East are concerns that weigh heavily on us all.

November 8-11, 2006, the Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute held their Annual four-day Disaster Mental Health Conference. The theme of the conference was "TAKING CHARGE IN TROUBLED TIMES: Response, Resilience, Recovery and Follow-up." This edition contains the major papers presented at the conference and summaries of additional presentations. They address some of the major crisis events confronting our societies in recent years, namely, large disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Rita; case studies such as Abu Ghraib, and traumatic events such as a night club suicide bombing, the role of cultural sensitivity and ethics in disaster settings, resilience, and the importance of planning, education and taking care of our first responders and mental health professionals. An additional concern with information includes information about preparation of communities and families for deployment and return of military personnel. The importance of planning for how mental health personnel can respond in the event of an Avian Flu Pandemic is also discussed. Presenters are drawn from researchers and responders from Wyoming, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

http://www.rmrinstitute.org

The Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Institute is a 501(c)3 Non-profit Organization

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating.......2007-04-29

Reviewed by Linda Benninghoff for Reader Views (4/07)

This compilation of 10 papers deals with people's reactions to a wide variety of disasters, including not only terror and Hurricane Katrina, but child abuse and the trauma suffered by families of service members.

In the 7th paper, "The Dissociation of Abigail," Abigail, a victim of child abuse, is "confronted with aspects of human capacity for malevolent behavior greater than the ability of the mind to comprehend." Perhaps this definition gets at the true nature of terror also. The author speaks of Abigail experiencing cognitive dissonance as opposed to consonance.

Cognitive dissonance is also experienced by the personnel at Abu Ghraib prison. In his essay, "Why Good People Go Bad, A Case Study of the Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Courts Martial," Alan Hensley discusses the horror of living in Iraq where people are killed on a daily basis and compares the Stanford Prison experiment, where guards began similarly abusing prisoners because of poor conditions there.

These poor prison conditions, including all-female guards being given responsibility for a predominantly male prison population--something intolerable in Arab culture--contributed to the abuses at Abu Ghraib. A situation of cognitive dissonance is created--where the individual cannot comprehend his world and is in disharmony with it.

In "Culture and Ethics in the Eye of the Storm: Engaging Katrina Survivors in Pennsylvania," by Kenneth Glass and Tasha Graves, the authors discuss how the hurricane primarily impacted poor blacks. The author writes: "In my inner psychic world there is the reality that as successful black woman I am guilty of having basked in my feeling of being separate from such uneducated poverty-stricken individuals that happen to share the same race as I." Yet she becomes incensed at the care given the victims of the hurricane and comes to realize her own vulnerability.

Another essay, "Pandemics and Biological/Chemical Terrorism Attacks: A New Role for Disaster Mental Health," by Thom Curtis, looks into the threat of avian influenza as well as chemical attacks. It suggests that mental health professionals can take care of those afflicted with anxiety or psychological disorders because of the threat, to remove the burden from medical personnel coping with the actual outbreak of the disease or the attacks.

Taken together, the papers are fascinating. The "Proceedings of the 5th Rocky Mountain Region Disaster Mental Health Conference" provides insight into the nature of the individual's response to terror and disaster. They should be interesting reading for everyone who either indirectly or directly has been affected.

Community service projects to remember victims of 9/11.(Brief Article): An article from: The Non-profit Times

Average customer rating:

Community service projects to remember victims of 9/11.(Brief Article): An article from: The Non-profit Times
Matthew Sinclair
Manufacturer: NPT Publishing Group, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Non-profit Times, published by NPT Publishing Group, Inc. on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1254 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Community service projects to remember victims of 9/11.(Brief Article)
Author: Matthew Sinclair
Publication: The Non-profit Times (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2002
Publisher: NPT Publishing Group, Inc.
Volume: 16 Issue: 9 Page: 1(3)

Article Type: Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

The Funniest People Who Write Books and Make Music contains such anecdotes as these:

When Peg Bracken started writing, she would often type the first page of a famous short story for inspiration. Often, she discovered that the page did not look as impressive typed on a sheet of paper as it did printed on a page in a book, so sometimes she would imitate her English professor and write on the sheet of paper: “You can do better than this, Mr. Faulkner.”

André Previn played jazz with a couple of American-African musicians. Afterwards, he went into a diner, where two white men asked him, “Why the hell don't you play with your own kind?” Mr. Previn replied, “To tell you the truth, I wanted to, but I couldn't find two other Jews who swing.”

Soccer and Cup Final day are important in England. Once, the noted conductor Sir Thomas Beecham held a rehearsal on Cup Final day. The rehearsal had been going on for only a short time when a giant television was delivered to the rehearsal area. Sir Thomas then said, “Now, gentlemen, let's get down to the most important business of the day—watching the match.”

Customer Reviews:

Funny book.......2006-02-24

I bought this book blindly as a prize for a very select group of people with open minds. I find it quite delightful. It is not, however, for everyone. Mr. Bruce is very Liberal in his choice of anecdotes and has something that will offend almost every minority and majority, even in our group. I don't regret my choice though. It is well-rounded in point of view and full of the irony, pain and joys of life written in humorous fashion. Be prepared for anything!

Book Description

Hollywood Knights examines the role played by Hollywood films in America's appropriation of the medieval past in times of cultural crisis. It analyzes the Arthurian films produced during the red scare of the 1950s, the breakdown of traditional authority in the 1960s and '70s, the turn to the right in the 1980s, and the redemption of national and masculine authority in the 1990s, arguing that these films propose an idealized past--an American Camelot and a democratic chivalry--to solve the problems of a troubled present, ensure prosperity at home, and extend a beneficial American authority abroad. Movies discussed include The Knights of the Round Table, The Sword in the Stone, Camelot, the Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogies, Excalibur, and The Fisher King.

Book Description

In this important sourcebook, JIT expert Hiroyuki Hirano provides the most vital information available on the visual workplace. He describes the 5S's: in Japanese they are seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke (which translate as organization, orderliness, cleanliness, standardized cleanup, and discipline). Hirano discusses how the 5S theory fosters efficiency, maintenance, and continuous improvement in all areas of the company, from the plant floor to the sales office. This book includes numerous case studies, hundreds of graphic illustrations, and over forty 5S user forms and training materials.

Customer Reviews:

5 Pillars Rocks.......2007-04-20

As a quality and safety manager for more than 15 years, I STILL found this book to be wonderfully useful. A clean, well structured and smooth functioning work environment MUST be at the basis for quality and productivity. The text is well organized and presented with clearn B&W photos, flow charts and sample forms. Hirano also includes plenty of funny, true life stories to keep the book interesting. Highly recommended.

Turn the 5S principles into a process for your organization..........2006-11-01

...this book shows you how. The author explains how costly untidiness and dirt can be. Imagine the cost of employees wandering around looking for tools instead of adding value through their work. This is one of the few books you can study and then implement the lessons learned from your study. For years to come every time you study it you will learn something new; therefore I recommend the sturdy hardcover edition. You will find your colleagues wanting to continually improve their 5S process too.

Readable and practical book.......2005-12-05

I checked this out from the library and read it in one day (I didn't do anything else all day, and I'm a fast reader). Hirano's style is very educational: he resorts to humor, he states his biases clearly, he details step-by-step instructions, he warns about pitfalls, he gives his own insight on overcoming those pitfalls. He walks the walk: the only photo of him in the book is of him cleaning the floor in a factory.

For anyone already familiar with Lean Principles, the focus of this book is 5S, of which the English translation is approximately Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain. However, Hirano never or rarely uses those, preferring instead to use more accurate (but less alliterative) words like, Organization, Orderliness, Cleanliness, Standardized Cleanup, and Discipline. He explains strategies for starting and for sustaining these "pillars", such as a ruthless red-tag campaign to initiate organization, signboards to maintain orderliness, and 5S patrols to maintain cleanliness and to improve on what already exists. He includes sample forms and kick-off campaign letters.

Best of all, this book shows how 5S is the basis for all other Lean Principles, such as reducing muda and improving throughput. A fantastic resource that I know I will be using over and over.

GREAT!!!.......2005-10-21

A simple "how-to-do-it" book (step by step) with many examples. When I started to talk to top management I did not have to convince them, the book did this.

The 5S's (Pillars) really work!.......2000-03-31

The 5 Pillars described in this book are the 5S's derived from the Toyota Production System. Are: Organization, Orderliness, Cleanliness, Organized Cleanup and Discipline. The 5S's help lay a solid foundation for the implementation of the Just in Time system in any plant.

The book talks about a step by step procedure for implementing this productivity improvement tool in any organization. This tool is highly effective in something as simple as an office area to something as complex as a Nuclear power plant. We realized an improvement of 11% in productivity at our manufacturing facility and has helped us increase the morale of the workers substantially.

The chapters could have been put in a better order as one needs to jump from one chapter to the other for simple references. It covers all the details in depth, but is not put in the best possible manner.

Average customer rating:
5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace The Sourcebook for 5s Implementation
Bruce Talbot
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000N7GGHG

Book Description

Unchained Memories is a riveting compilation of more than forty narratives drawn from interviews with former slaves conducted in the 1930s by the government's Works Progress Administration. The book is an adaptation of HBO's documentary special for 2003, also titled Unchained Memories . From slave auctions to emancipation, the narratives trace the extraordinary experiences of lives spent in slavery.

Customer Reviews:

Slavery As Experienced By Slaves.......2007-01-09

Amazing book. I've never read one like it. Quite interesting. Honest experiences. An eye-opener. Anyone interested in history will enjoy this. I am.

A wonderful historical collection.......2003-07-02

In this beautiful, historical collection of slave narratives and photographs, we are given a look inside the lives of actual slaves being interviewed as part of a project conducted by the Works Progress Administration. With more than forty interviews, UNCHAINED MEMORIES is a work of art that provides a well-rounded look at the lives of slaves. It includes insight into their living conditions, thoughts about slavery, their families and even the details of actual slave auctions. It is a sometimes sad collection, but much needed to help us understand the progress our ancestors have made in the world.

Through their accounts, we are able to see the pain and suffering as well as the spirit and pride of those born into slavery, learn from it, and pass it along to our children. This is a wonderful resource for not only African American families, but for anyone interested in history and the period of slavery and its impact upon the African American race. It is compiled with the grace and dignity deserving of a people who have been through so much!

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Sickening true stories of depravity.......2003-06-29

This book is hard to read. It is hard to wade through the cruelty.

There are stories here of families being split apart by an uncaring master class. Children were callously sold and permanently separated from their parents. Husbands and wives were similarly split up.

Frankly, it makes you sick.

Then there are the stories of brutality. Again it makes you sick. How could the slave owners have sunk so low?

If you are looking for well written stories that bring the institution of slavery to life for you, this is not the book. What you get here are very short and very simple reports by individuals. There's nothing here that you didn't know already. This is not a great work of literature.

This is just a punch right in the nose to make you wonder how slave owners could have been so cruel.

A Beautiful Book.......2003-02-26

"...Oh freedom, Oh freedom, Oh freedom over me. And before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free"
__Old Negro Spiritual

The words of the spiritual above must not have been uttered to these beautiful human beings who have graciously allowed interviewers from the 1930's Governments Works Progress Administration to chronicle their life stories. For if the words above had been uttered, the slave experience, from an intimate and painful point of view, would never have received the credence they due. Tales of slavery are still passed down from generation to generation, and traditions still are followed but to see a book like Unchained Memories is special. Quite simply, this is a beautiful book. I'm so thrilled to have been given the opportunity to read it and experience it and learn from it. I can treat the book as a textbook, a factual accounting of the lives of former slaves who have wonderful stories that they don't mind sharing with the world. For that reason alone, this book has earned a permanent place on my coffee table, for all who enter into my house to experience. Something about the actual words of former slaves bound in book form validates an agonizing time in American History.

Unchained Memories is well researched and magnificently laid out. At the beginning of every chapter is an introductory text that accounts for the tenure of the time, followed by a poignant quote and then brief narratives begin. My one regret is that the narratives are so short, when biographers obviously spent a great deal of time with these people. I am grateful that there is an extensive bibliography at the back so that I can, at some point, go and read the entire account by the former slave. Oh where will I find the time? If you read this book, I would highly suggest that you get a copy of the HBO documentary of the same name and watch it as well. There is nothing like "hearing" the words spoken by African American actors of today in the vernacular of the time.

I'm glad that Unchained Memories was published, and quite fittingly made its debut during Black History Month. These former slaves are the reason why Black History Month is perpetuated now and a fitting tribute for remembering from whence we as a nation have come.

Exceptional bridging of history and experience.......2003-02-16

An exquisite pictorial and narrative exploration of the institution of American slavery, this book provides readers with the opportunity to experience from personal recollections what it was like to live under conditions of slavery. The text format, an artistic balance of photographs and primary sources, is composed of interviews with former slaves conducted in the 1930s by the Federal Writers' Project. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of slave life - auctions, work, family, special occasions, providing a deeply etched portrait of hardships and abuses as well as examples of strength of character and quiet dignity. A worthy addition to one's library!

Average customer rating:

Almost Right!

Not just about Air Power in Vietnam

A FAR better book than the unkind review below suggests

The limits of doctrine in face of reality

Great reference material but flawed conclusion

The Limits of Air Power: The American Bombing of North Vietnam
Mark A. Clodfelter
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Aviation | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Vietnam War | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
General | Vietnam | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Crosswinds: The Air Force's Setup in Vietnam (Texas a & M University Military History Series)

The Transformation of American Air Power (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs)

American Airpower Strategy in Korea, 1950-1953

Bombs, Cities, and Civilians: American Airpower Strategy in World War II (Modern War Studies)

ASIN: 0803264542

Book Description

Tracing the use of air power in World War II and the Korean War, Mark Clodfelter explains how U. S. Air Force doctrine evolved through the American experience in these conventional wars only to be thwarted in the context of a limited guerrilla struggle in Vietnam. Although a faith in bombing's sheer destructive power led air commanders to believe that extensive air assaults could win the war at any time, the Vietnam experience instead showed how even intense aerial attacks may not achieve military or political objectives in a limited war. Based on findings from previously classified documents in presidential libraries and air force archives as well as on interviews with civilian and military decision makers, The Limits of Air Power argues that reliance on air campaigns as a primary instrument of warfare could not have produced lasting victory in Vietnam. This Bison Books edition includes a new chapter that provides a framework for evaluating air power effectiveness in future conflicts.

Customer Reviews:

Almost Right!.......2004-11-23

Mark Clodfelter's "The Limits of Air Power" is an interesting book that explains the development and deployment of strategic air power during the Vietnam War. The book is based on excellent research and provides a good overview of all of the political and military nuances that guided the application of strategic bombing above the 20th parallel.

Clodfelter falls short in his conclusion that the war as fought by the communists was primarily a guerilla war prior to TET 1968, and that strategic air power would not have provided the same results in 1965-66 as did Operations Linebacker I and II during 1972. The primary combatants until 1968 were the Viet Cong but they were supplied with arms and material by the North Vietnamese. Although they did not require food from NVN for their subsistence, they sure needed arms and ammo. Surprisingly, Clodfelter overlooks this obvious point.

I believe the application of an intense strategic bombing campaign in 1965-66 -- as conducted during Linebacker II might have produced the results that were achieved during December 1972. Instead of being so certain about his conclusion -- maybe he should simply let the reader decide.

Not just about Air Power in Vietnam.......2003-11-26

On one level, Mark Clodfelter's "The Limits of Air Power" is a learned assault on the myopia of Air Force commanders and the canonical vision that political constraints doomed the military to defeat in Vietnam. On another, more important level, it is a thoughtful analysis of the classic Clausewitzean dictum that "war is politics by other means," which has implications far beyond the air campaigns against North Vietnam.

Clodfelter uses a simple, but effective framework to examine political efficacy of three major air campaigns against North Vietnam: Rolling Thunder (March '65 to October '68), Linebacker I (April '72 to October '72), and Linebacker II (December '72). For each campaign, he assesses to what extent the bombing helped achieve the civilian leadership's "positive political objective" (i.e. what political purpose the US was trying to achieve by the use of force). At the same time, he identifies and assesses the various "negative political objectives" that put constraints on the use of force (i.e. what political purposes were endangered or aggravated by the use of force). Finally, he considers other factors that could constrain the use and effectiveness of air power, such as doctrine, weather, technology, personnel, etc.

The author's conclusions are persuasive, although not exactly groundbreaking in their originality. In short, Clodfelter argues that Linebacker II (aka "Christmas Bombings"or "Eleven Day War") was a more effective political tool not because air power was finally unleashed with a fury against Hanoi as Air Force planners had been calling for all along, but rather because the positive and negative political objectives of December 1972 were so less ambitious and less constraining from those of pre-1968. Nixon's primary positive objective was to secure the continued withdrawal of US combat troops while not abandoning South Vietnam to an imminent communist take-over. Détente and Kissinger's diplomacy ensured that China and the Soviet Union would not intervene, and Nixon's landslide re-election the month before removed major domestic issues from the equation. Moreover, the conventional nature of the March '72 Easter Offensive exposed the North to punishing air attacks on their major combat units that seriously endangered their ability to defend themselves. Thus, the pain Linebacker II inflicted led Hanoi to agree to terms that gave the US "peace with honor" but left them able to fight another day. President Johnson's more sweeping positive objective (i.e. "a stable, independent, non-communist South Vietnam"), along with his many negative objectives (a legitimate concern of superpower escalation, a desire to protect his domestic Great Society Program and win support for the US abroad), and fundamental disagreement among his advisors on the chief objective on the air campaign, all combined to undermine Rolling Thunder's utility as a political tool.

Is Clodfelter's work - and particularly his framework - relevant to the international security questions of today? Absolutely. And not just from the perspective on air power. What are the United States' positive political objectives in the War on Terror? What are the concomitant negative objectives that will constrain how that war is waged? A critical inquiry of these questions will reveal that US political objectives and constraints are far more ambitious than those of the Johnson Administration, let alone Nixon. The ability of force to achieve those objectives by themselves is, for all intents and purposes, impossible.

Clodfelter is a political scientist and this book is pure political science, so for those interested in war stories and the like, this book most definitely isn't for you. However, if you are looking for a cogently argued and thoroughly researched assessment of the use of force for political purposes, this book is not to be missed.

A FAR better book than the unkind review below suggests.......1999-11-28

This book isn't perfect. Several times I found myself thinking 'hmm, I don't think that's a fair conclusion', mainly because of the author's occasional unsustained assertion, hyperbole or sweeping generalisation. But heck, this book deals with a very contentious topic, so the author isn't going to please everyone anyway.

The research is good, the argument compelling (even if not always agreeable) and the prose clear and engaging. In short, this is a good book. It's certainly much better than the anonymous reviewer from Montgomery, AL, suggests.

I teach airpower, and I encourage my students to read this book. They shouldn't swallow it all hook, line and sinker, but they SHOULD read it.

The limits of doctrine in face of reality.......1999-10-15

An associate professor of history at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Mark Clodfelter displays a huge knowledge of facts and figures as concerns the American bombing of North Vietnam. He masterly shows the connection between political and military factors conducive first to the failure in saving South Vietnam as an independent country, and later to helping the United States save their face when getting out of the trap. What is no less interesting from an up-to-date standpoint, the book also helps understand why the war of Kosovo was won by air power, and why not just so according to the three-day schedule envisaged by the NATO's high command.

Great reference material but flawed conclusion.......1999-09-30

Amazing how Mark Clodfelter, a School for Advanced Airpower Studies graduate, could draw the conclusion he did if he really did the research and understood combat air operations. The Vietnam War stopped being a simple insurgency by 1967 and became a full conventional war by 1968, with North Vietnamese Regulars doing most of the fighting, and requiring conventional artillery, rockets, automatic weapons, and armored vehicles. To think that we could not have very quickly put North Vietnam on the full defensive at the beginning of 1968, had we followed Curtis LeMay's counsel to prosecute attacks on the 74+ strategic targets, particularly when North Vietnam had no significant air defenses, defies comprehension. The results from Linebacker I/II (in the face of one of the world's densest and most lethal air defense systems) proves the point. When the war was run by a competent president (Nixon) instead of an incompetent buffoon like LBJ (read Dereliction of Duty for details) the Air Force could bring Hanoi to its knees within weeks and could have saved tens of thousands of Army and Marine lives--the terrible hemorrage American families still feel to this day. It is abominable that instructors at Maxwell read and believe this garbage and then teach it to Air Force officers going through courses at Air University.

Average customer rating:

An Exellent Book!

A story that stays with you

Pretty good, but a bit of the bait and switch

Inside an Ill Fated Airliner and The Lives of Its Passengers

"Fly it as far into the crash as you can".

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: A True Story of Tragedy and Triumph
Gary M. Pomerantz
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Commercial | Aviation | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Aviation | Transportation | World | History | Subjects | Books
Safety & First Aid | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation

Flight 427: Anatomy of an Air Disaster

Emergency! Crisis on the Flight Deck, Second Edition

The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents

MAYDAY: Accident Reports and Voice Transcripts from Airline Crash Investigations

ASIN: 0609810162
Release Date: 2002-07-02

Amazon.com

An American could fly on a turboprop run by a regional carrier once per day and not expect to die in a crash for 8,000 years, according to one estimate. That's small consolation to the 29 people who found themselves on ASA Flight 529 in 1995, when a faulty propeller cracked and destroyed one of their plane's engines. As Gary M. Pomerantz notes in Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds--the title refers to the length of time between the engine blowing and impact--"Of all the emergency checklists, there was none on how to fly with one wing." Pomerantz says his book is "not about a plane falling, but the human spirit rising." That's only part right. Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds has plenty of human-interest angles, but it mainly holds a morbid fascination akin to rubbernecking at the scene of a highway accident. Ever wonder what people do when they know they're about to crash and believe they might die? Herein lie the answers. (Unexpectedly, they don't scream.) Pomerantz conducted hundreds of interviews for this book, from the flight's 19 survivors to family members of the deceased to the mechanic who refurbished the bad propeller before it went back on the plane. It is by turns interesting, poignant, and harrowing. Readers drawn to stories of adversity will find it riveting. --John Miller

Book Description

“An ode to the beauty and dignity of the human spirit.” —Dominick Dunne

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds is a heart-pounding real-life drama about how ordinary people rise above their fears and muster extraordinary courage and strength in the face of danger. In this gripping and inspiring story, Gary Pomerantz brings readers deep inside the hearts and minds of twenty-nine people whose fates take a dramatic turn when the plane they are on crashes in a west Georgia hayfield. You will be amazed by how they react in those fateful moments, and by their remarkable personal journeys in the days and months that follow.

Customer Reviews:

An Exellent Book!.......2007-05-24

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, written by Gary M. Pomertantz, is a compelling, tragic story about ASA Flight 529. Shortly after takeoff, with a horrible explosion, the flawed propeller caused the left wing engine to break down. These circumstances left the crew with nine minutes, twenty seconds to prepare for a crash. In these nine minutes and twenty seconds, Gary Pomertantz goes deep into the hearts and minds of the passengers aboard who knew they were almost in the grip of death. Some people blamed God, others cried, and the crew members recalled their training. A dismal story with tragedies and triumphs, heroic deeds and cruel deeds, Gary Pomertantz clearly shows a person's true character will be seen through times of disaster in the scramble to survive. Gary Pomertantz writes with such lively descriptions and intense action that the reader will be experiencing the action as if it is happening right then. A truly indescribable book, Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds will be an unforgettable read with horrific and inspiring moments that will touch your heart. Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds is recommended to all readers who like a terrific drama-filled book. This book is a must-read and a real page-turner. Definitely a five-star book with two thumbs up, a reader simply cannot miss this book.

A story that stays with you.......2007-03-13

I saw this book on the front seat of a car recently as I was walking through a parking lot. I was amazed at how simply seeing the cover brought to mind very specific scenes from the narrative. It's been years since I read this book and still I can recall many moments, both horrific and inspiring, that the author relates. Most books I can hardly remember even reading! It's a powerful story.

Pretty good, but a bit of the bait and switch.......2007-01-18

It strikes me that most reviews are gushingly postive more in honor of the deceased and the survivors of the airplane crash detailed in this book. That's understandable. The story here - which is about the precise details around the cause of, events preceding, passengers affected by, occurence of, reaction to, investgation of, and industry-wide impact of a particular commerical plane crash - is gripping, and one that will forever change your attitude about flight and the frailty of life in an aluminum tube surrounded by high-test fuel. My "bait and switch" remark is in regard to the title. Only a fraction of this book concerns the nine minutes and twenty seconds that elapsed from the time that ASA Flight 529's propeller exploded to the ground impact - in fact, that is about the amount of reading time needed to cover the pertinent text. That's disappointing insofar as that was a selling point of the book - a chance to hear from survivors who experienced what any modern traveler has thought about, which is to face the reality of the risks that underlie all those frequent flier miles and little bags of peanuts (American Way magazine never mentions the wisdom of wearing cotton clothing and running shoes, or the grit that might be needed to leap with broken bones through a blazing curtain of jet fuel). No - most of the book is a respectful biographical review of the living and dead, both pre- and post-crash. So, for the reader is more interested in the miracle and the consequences of flight, an account of some gutsy and selfless flying in the face of death, and a clinical review of crash mechanics, this book will leave you wanting. For the others who are willing to be exposed to some hard but true stories of tragedy and survival, this is a fair book.

Inside an Ill Fated Airliner and The Lives of Its Passengers.......2006-05-15

The term "page turner" is often overused and books described this way are all too often overrated. However this term applies perfectly to "Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds : A True Story of Tragedy and Triumph" by Gary Pomerantz. The book provides fascinating insights into the aircraft, it's damaged propeller, the inspector was passed the propeller, the crash into a rural Georgia field and, most of all, the lives of the 29 passengers aboard ASA Flight 529.

It is clear from the details and insight in the book that Gary Pomerantz did extensive research into the crash, the people involved, and all the matters surrounding it and them. If there is any downside to this book, it is that it tends to become a little repetitive toward the end and finishes weakly.

But don't let that prevent you from ordering this book. Its a great read and highly recommended.

"Fly it as far into the crash as you can"........2006-05-05

A fellow pilot and instructor gave me this book and said "just read it". I did and it was terrific for the genre, if there is indeed one. This book brings together how a commuter turbo prop plane crashed in the mid 1990s, tracing it to a small fracture in the left propeller. I was impressed with the investigative detail Gary Pomerantz went to, with the original work done for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

One can take away many things from this book. One is the will to survive. Others include heroism, reactions under extreme stress and pain, and the strentgh of the human spirit. The pilots here should make all of us proud. Many who do not fly think that we are glorfied bus drivers. When things are going well, which is much of the time, it is easy. But when things go bad, and they went very bad on this flight, you want pros up front and the survivors of this horrific crash had the best.

Pomerentz pieced together in a very seemless way an accident that altered hundreds of peoples lives. It is a book that should be read by all who are interested in aviation or lives coming together at some critical, unthought of way. It is a must read for pilots. NEVER, EVER give up on the plane. The old test pilot adage applies: "Fly it as far into the crash as you can". They did and many survived just because of that.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books