Average customer rating:
- Simple, yet brilliantly witty.
- "Intelligent humor!"
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Not Exactly Rocket Science
Brent Coulson
Manufacturer: Smirk Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0966563700 |
Book Description
Not Exactly Rocket Science is a collection of nearly 170 hilarious single-panel cartoons. In a style reminiscent of The Far Side, these cartoons cover a wide range of subjects from "Eddie Haskell in Hell" to "Miniature Golf Caddies". Readers of all ages will enjoy cartoons such as "The weather forecast inside a snowglobe (always a blizzard!)".
Customer Reviews:
Simple, yet brilliantly witty........1999-01-16
This book transforms simple, everyday events into hilarious cartoons. The reader will laugh out loud nearly every page because of the types of things Mr. Coulson is able to portray in his cartoons. The art is fantastic and the captions brilliant. I can't wait for the next one.
"Intelligent humor!".......1999-01-12
Brent Coulson's "Not Exactly Rocket Science" is a compilation of clever, funny, creative concepts captured visually through his unique cartoon creations. It's enjoyable reading, great entertainment! Not Exactly Rocket Science receives ***** and I recommend it to everyone. It's universally funny! -S.Harpster
Book Description
Michael Freeman has a well-deserved reputation for effectively explaining the concepts behind digital picture-taking to a variety of audiences. Here, he turns his attention to the professionals and advanced hobbyists who are making the move from traditional to digital and want help mastering the technology and meeting their clients' new requirements. Freeman thoroughly answers the most frequently asked questions about the basics of digital capture, from cameras and computers to storage options, printers, and scanners. Photographers will learn the different file formats and how to save images for print or publishing on the web. They'll explore valuable software tools and basic image processing programs that fix common problems, and see how to improve pictures using an assortment of cropping and filtering techniques. The smart, detailed advice will give photographers confidence as they enter this new digital world.
Customer Reviews:
great book.......2007-05-18
I liked this book so much. I am still reading it and enjoying every page .
Best book on photography in decades.......2006-04-19
This is one of those books that you will want to read and then reference. I have been a film SLR photographer for decades and now am on my second generation DSLR. This book reminds me of my old Kodak Photographers Handbook and my Nikon SLR handbook. I think I will use the Pro Digital Photographer's Handbook for many years.
Michael's information about sensor technology compared to film and how lense design affects this is one example of the depth of topic in this great handbook. He also covers the digital workflow from simple (little to no editing) to complex (steps for client based work). The color management section was very useful to calibrate all my devices.
I highly recommend this book for the photographer who understands the basics - depth of field, apertures, shutter speed, etc. (Although he has a great section about sensor size and depth of field).
Buy it and enjoy it!
You need this book.......2006-03-08
So, you want to be a professional photographer? If so, you need this book to provide the kind of information you'll need when starting out. It contains all the nitty-gritty details that are an essential part of learning to turn pro, including information on meeting the needs and expectations of your clients. That's the kind of practical business advice you won't find in other digital photography books.
The amount of useful information in this book is amazing.
Great Book .......2006-01-30
This is a well written digital photo book. It's a great for beginners and reference for experienced photographers. I strongly recommend.
Excellent read and resource.......2005-10-23
In transitioning from film to digital, I needed some books for a quick transition and to avoid reinventing the wheel. I don't have a lot of time, so a focused and detailed reference that could rapidly take me to a functional level was needed. I was very happy with the accessibility and the level of detail presented. I read the whole thing, but realize that I will need to go back to it to get the full value from it (e.g., when I find the need for a particular technique or action). It does address workflow, but that is not its focus, which I would describe as more of a broad, but sufficiently detailed introduction to many issues and techniques available to the digital photographer.
Book Description
In this final volume of the series, the wackiness reaches fever pitch as the conflict between Taro the neat-freak and Maki the slob escalates into all-out war! The staff also recounts how they spent their summer vacation, but mayhem erupts when Toku's summer homework assignment turns out to contain the item Minagawa had been searching for. The gang is also forced to enter a local athletic meet, where they must compete against the employees of other shops... or else! And finally... has Sukekiyo the cat gone missing?! The guys had better find him before Minagawa's devastation affects them all!
Book Description
With Guerrilla Prince, syndicated journalist Georgie Anne Geyer calls on her twenty-five years of experience covering Latin America to create an extraordinary biography that finally reveals the untold story of Fidel Castro. Based on hundreds of interviews with unique sources - including four extensive personal interviews with Castro - Guerrilla Prince is an intimate and revealing portrait, charged with all the electricity of the charismatic man himself. In this edition, Geyer adds a preface and an extensive epilogue to her 1991 hardcover text, addressing the changes since that time - the collapse of the Soviet Union, the internal unrest, and the growing anticipation of a post-Castro Cuba.
Customer Reviews:
From the Camouflaged Prince into the Castelan Communist : Fidel Castro.......2007-06-02
According to Lenin's blueprint for the 'dictatorship of the proletariat',the state needs a constant one-party system of communists.Eventhough Lenin supported the scientific writings of Charles Darwin,Lenin believed that the people's will could be controlled and restricted by the state.History has proved him wrong.The loss of Fidel Castro would be the end of the Cuban-Leninist-Communist state.Fidel is a 'Leninist',and his brother Raul is a 'Stalinist'.Fidel was the fiery spark that kept the peasant's hopes alive.The 1959 revolution was an idealistic experiment in communist governing that quickly soured into stagnation and repression.Cuba has a very high literacy rate and advanced health-care for its Latin American people.Yet,the diesel fumes sicken the people,day in and day out.Sugar is a food-staple of poor people and still declining in global use.It does not seem appearant that Raul Castro will relinquish his authority,once he is crowned,'jefe supremo del pais por la gente'.His potentially stalinistic policies will be just as fettering and perhaps even worse than his older brother's edicts.-A soviet designed nuclear reactor will soon be operational,near Havana.The fate of this Chernobyl time-bomb is worrisome.And as with North Korea's quasi-communist leader,Kim Il Sun,the reigns of power are within the family.If socialist China continues its economic global ties,would Cuba secure Arabian oil via China?And cheap oil from Hugo Chavez?-Abdication of their rule would be the complete end of their influence and politically suicidal.So, who knows?Maybe a bearded Raul will try to board a Swiss jet and learn to ski the Alps?Hugo Chavez claims he is the communist of the campo,yet he is rhetorically quasi-Catholic and therefore European christian influenced.-This book is simply the best at showing the mental workings of Fidel Castro and why he took the role of 'Guerrilla Prince'.History is what happens when national leaders are busy making other plans.Learn about Castro's personal decisions in this book.I can only recommend reading this for understanding the charismatic personality of the world's oldest living ruler ,Fidel Castro.
Unmasking a Dictator / Desenmascarando a un Dictador.......2007-03-18
This book gives you a view inside the political and military decision making of the Cuba communist regime. It is incredible to see how every major decision is controlled and dictated personally by Fidel Castro himself. The so-called Revolution is really nothing more than Fidel Castro's personal wishes and views. What the revolution wants and does is not determined by what the proletarian wants as he demagogically preaches. This book truly takes the mask away and shows the real dictatorial and egocentric personality of Fidel Castro for the world to see, putting him up there with other dictators like Nicolae Ceaucescu, Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong il. All of the Cuban communist government's crimes and all the suffering of the Cuban people will be well known to the rest of the world after his communist regime is no more.
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Este libro muestra una ventana dentro de las decisiones militares y políticas del régimen comunista Cubano. Es increíble ver como cada decisión de importancia es controlada y dictada personalmente por el propio Fidel Castro. La llamada revolución no es nada más que la visión y los deseos personales de Castro, lo que la revolución quiere y hace, no es determinado por el proletariado como Castro demagógicamente predica. Este libro realmente desenmascara y muestra los verdaderos rasgos dictatoriales y ego centristas de la personalidad de Fidel Castro. Ubicándolo en un mismo grupo con dictadores como Nicolae Ceaucescu, Joseph Stalin y Kim Jong il. Todos los crímenes del gobierno comunista Cubano y el sufrimiento del pueblo Cubano saldrán a la luz pública mundial cuando su régimen comunista deje de existir.
Very well written and argued.......2006-12-29
This is the best written biography of Fidel Castro. It covers almost all of his life focusing mostly on the political and military aspects. If you want to get a sense of society as a whole I would recommend reading Fidel Castro by Quirk but otherwise this is an excellent start to Castro's life. You could read this and feel that you have covered every relevant part of his life and then some. If you want to understand how Cuba was transformed into what it is today this is essential reading. Highly recommend.
A real challenge for leftists.......2005-06-18
In one corner, an American "bourgeois" woman named Georgie Anne Geyer. In the opposite corner, Fidel Castro. The opening bell rings! :-0
If I understand the "leftist" mindset at all well, there is no decision to be made here. Castro is right, and Geyer is wrong, and that ends that.
But -- unfortunately for that mindset -- Georgie Ann Geyer worked really hard in compiling her book, and conducted interviews with hundreds of people, and she knows an awful lot more about Fidel Castro than he knows about her. She knows that Castro was a killer, even in his university days. She knows that he was an absolutely ruthless seeker-of-power, like some others we have known (Lenin, Hitler, Mussolini...)
And, in his quest for absolute power, Castro was helped by another thing, not much discussed here. This was the idea that the current system is so corrupt, that anything else would be an improvement. We citizens of the planet Earth need to be very wary of ideas like this. For example, in Iran: the idea that the Shah had to go, that anything else would be an improvement. BZZT! WRONG! Thirty years of terrorist mullahs certainly put a big damper on that idea!
In the same way, the Cubans of long ago partied and had good times and never really dreamed that anyone could be worse than Batista. Of course, sooner or later, they woke up to the fact that they were being ruled by a thug who would never relinquish power, and who would creep into his senility crowned by Forbes magazine as one of the richest men in the world. Oh, that hero of the people, that secretive billionaire Fidel Castro! How could anyone fail to kiss his beard, and declare him the savior of mankind?
Geyer does not have the whole story here: she cannot (given the date of publication) quite cover all of the damage done to Cuba. But in the time of that evil "fascist" Batista, Cuba was an economic marvel: its workers were ranked #8 in the world in terms of wages received, among many other things. Nowadays, Cuba battles it out with Burma for the honors of "most godforsaken country."
And to think: it is still a "fashion item" to wear images of Che Guevara, whose main ability was shooting prisoners -- in prison. Thousands of them! Fidel's Grand Executioner, and we strut around wearing his image, for what reason?
The best biography of this [expletive deleted]. I really hope that Cuba will come back to the real world, and soon!
the truth THE BEST BOOK ON CASTRO.......2003-09-09
Here is the true story of Castro, written largely from a foreign policy standpoint. This is not a story of the everyday man in Cuba(although we do learn that he suffered much economically). This is not an economic history of Castro's Cuba(Although we learn how much the economy declined and sugar production as well). This is the story of Castro's foreign flings and the cult of personality around him. We learn of Castro's invasions of a dozen countries in Africa, from Angola to the Congo. We learn equally of Castro's associations with his Latin American compatriots and his attempts to invade and infiltrate most of his neighbors. Those that love Castro and believe he created a socialist paradise in Cuba will not be happy with this book. Equally those wanting to learn the gruesome details of the many suppressed by Castro will also not be happy. This is a fair portrait of this larger then life Guerilla and the wrath he has brought upon the world. This is not a negative book that condemns Castro, in fact I find myself admiring him more after reading it. What one does have to ask themselves if they are an admirer of Castro is if he is truly loved by his people why are their no free elections? Why are other political parties outlawed in Cuba? Why are only government sponsored newspapers allowed? If Castro's socialism was such a paradise then why not let his own people write what they think of it, and say what they think, why murder your political rivals? Or banish them? It is so obvious that communism and all it brings is slavery to its own people, Cuba is a great example and this book tells all about Castro. The author could have done away with the investigation of the Kennedy murder because she reveals nothing new but pollutes many pages with theories.
Book Description
"For years, I cried, not over my own losses, but at the movies. When bad things happened to me in real life, I didn't react. I seemed cool or indifferent. Yet in the dark and relative safety of the movie theater, I would weep over fictional tragedies, over someone else's tragedy."
At age nine, Madelon Sprengnether watched her father drown in the Mississippi River. Her mother swallowed the family's grief whole and no one spoke of the tragedy thereafter. Only years later did Sprengnether react, and in a most unlikely place: in the theater watching the film Pather Panchali, by Satyajit Ray.
In this fascinating memoir, Sprengnether looks at the sublime connections between happenings in the present, troubling events from the past, and the imagined world of movies. By examining the films she had intense emotional reactions to throughout her adult life--House of Cards, Solaris, Fearless, The Cement Garden, Shadowlands, and Blue--Sprengnether finds a way to work through her own losses, mistakes, and pain.
Average customer rating:
- Synopsis
- Great author, bad proofreader. And the publisher, well...
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Symmetrical English: 1...c5
John L. Watson
Manufacturer: Hardinge Simpole Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1843821486 |
Customer Reviews:
Synopsis.......2007-07-11
First published in 1981. Volume 5 (1...c5) covers Black's most solid reply to the English Opening. This volume is the first comprehensive coverage of the Symmetrical Variation in algebraic notation and contains all significant developments since the author's earlier work English 1...P-QB4.
Watson's aim throughout has been to provide a practical balance of theory, discussion and examples. With encyclopaedic coverage and many original suggestions, this series gives the reader the ability to understand the complexities of the English Opening and to play it with confidence.
International Master John Watson is widely known as a player, author, and chess trainer. His books have won numerous awards including Book-of-the-Year awards for "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy" and "Chess Strategy in Action".
Great author, bad proofreader. And the publisher, well..........2006-11-23
REVISED REVIEW: TWO STARS, not four (see below)
I was so excited that IM John Watson, one of the world's leading authorites on the French Defense (to which I am fiercely and unwaveringly loyal) and the English Opening (which I have played but find less worthy of fierce loyalty than the French Defense, and I have to face as Black), had come out with a book on the English Symmetrical, that I bought this book immediately after I found it. I usually prefer to wait until there are some reviews. I even paid extra to get it shipped quicker. As usual, Amazon did not disappoint; the books arrived exactly when Amazon said they would.
I opened the book and casually leafed through it, and was disappointed to find several typos and proofreading errors on a first, cursory review. A move was even missing from p. 81 (Black's 11th move, 11...Bxc6, which, while obvious, should not be missing).
The sort of errors I found were not attributable to Mr. Watson; such is his reputation that if he said the earth was flat, I would suspect he had something to back up his claim. However, there is no excuse for these errors and the publisher, Harding Simpole, should be appropriately castigated. An errata list should be the least that they should provide to the people who bought the book in good faith and, frankly, got less than we paid for.
So I'm awarding the author and content five stars, but taking one away for the shoddy proofreading. Watson should be proud, and Harding Simpole should be ashamed of themselves.
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Since I wrote this original review, I have communicated with the publisher, and they said they feel I was not misled. For $30, I think the buyer deserves more than a book merely translated into algebraic; at the very least, an error-check should be performed. I, however, DO feel I was misled, and if you are considering buying this book, you should beware of what you are (and are not) getting. I cannot change the star rating above, but I CAN tell you that it is now TWO stars.
Book Description
This classic bestseller discusses the differences faced in international environments, the overall strategies companies can take, and practical alternatives for operating abroad. Its abundance of colorful maps, strong engaging and opening cases, and classic and contemporary examples provide a balanced approach to all functions of business.
More than 15 new cases have been added to this edition, all of which engage the reader with hot topical issues; these include Cran Chik, Luikoil, Cisco Systems, Johnson & Johnson, and Global Sofware Piracy. It has excellent coverage of Latin America, and reviews the latest institutional actions, market trends, and company activities. It provides an extensive background section, a comparative environmental frameworks section, a section on theories and institutions (trade and investment), a section on the world financial environment, business-government relationships, operations and tactical alternatives, and a section on managing business internationally.
For readers involved in international business, whether they are employees, managers, or owners/CEOs of such corporations. Also an excellent resource for individuals seeking to expand their current businesses to the international market.
Book Description
During his life, Rich Mullins challenged the sensibilities of what it means to follow Jesus in today's world, and now in his death, he challenges all to build upon his legacy of joy, compassion, brokenness, unblinking honesty, and wonder of an Awesome God.
Author James Bryan Smith describes this book as a "devotional biography," giving readers an insight into Rich's life, but more importantly, allowing the readers to learn what was most important to Rich?urging people to draw near to God.
Now available in paperback, this new edition features new packaging and two never before published spiritual writings of Rich Mullins, including a poem written two days before his untimely death.
Customer Reviews:
Arrow Pointing to Heaven certainly does........2007-06-08
The Book Arrow Pointing to Heaven is the most inspiring book I have ever read. I could not help but write "Amen," "Praise the Lord," "I need to read this again" or some other comment in the margins as I read the book. Having known Rich Mullins briefly early in his musical career, I knew he was someone different, someone closer to God than I could imagine, yet I had no idea just how close to the Awesome God he really was. This book, so well written by Smith, is a must for anyone that believes in God. It will take you to really knowing God in much the same way as Rich Mullins knew HIM - intimately. Perfect gift for graduation presents. I have given several with notes made in the margins of the gift books. Thank you for having such an all-inspiring-book! It is a MUST for persons seeking a better relationship with God.
Awesome biography/devotional.......2007-05-16
This book gives insite on what made Rich Mullins such a unique person while giving you a glimpse of into his struggles and humble triumphs. This should be an inspiration on how to truely lived sold out to Jesus....not how to be perfect, but how to be passionate, committed, refining,learning, and searching.
Buy one for yourself and a friend, I did while reading my friend's book.
If you don't know Rich's music, thats ok, but you'll be tempted to get some afterwards...Go for "Songs 1 and 2" for starters.
Enjoy!!!! Its a very captivative read even for those who don't read alot!
It's a great book.......2007-05-15
Rich Mullins has been an inspiration to me since my youth leader introduced him to me many years ago. I only wish I had the chance to see him play. This is a great book that shows a lil bit of Rich's values, lifestyle, and perspective. I'd encourage everyone to read this book, but I'd recommend finding a live concert or something of his first. peace.
awesome book!.......2006-07-26
Rich Mullins never ceases to amaze me even though he is no longer among us but with His beloved in heaven. This book has impacted my life as much as his music. James Brian Smith does an excellent job of sharing the more intimate side of Rich and the struggles he faced here in this world.
Highly recommended!
Great Man, Great Book.......2006-05-14
It's sad that as time passes fewer and fewer people seem to remember who Rich Mullins was.
That's the way it is with life and time, I suppose.
But it's especially sad in this case because the life of Rich Mullins was so extraordinary.
For that reason I would recommend this book to anyone. Everyone.
It has no agenda. It is not "preachy" in its approach. And it does not repeat the tired mantras of conservative Christianity, like so many other titles do.
Instead it is an honest account of one man's extraordinary life, and the profound truths we can all learn from it.
Customer Reviews:
Ordinary Americans, Extradordinary Stories.......2000-07-17
From the banal title of this book you might think you're in for a collection of stories about endless collective bargaining and the monotonous details of how to win a longer lunch break. Don't let the less than thrilling title keep you from this important book. What is actually contained between the covers are remarkable life histories and a rich tapestry of American experiences. The profiles in this book are as diverse as the working class itself. The characters are women and men, African-American and Eastern European. Some were born in urban ghettos, others raised on remote wind-swept farms. Some had absent parents or apolitical guardians already defeated by life with only racial and religious bigotry to pass on as a belief system. Others had parents whose views would be considered progressive today and then must have seemed dangerously radical. Some set out to be organizers but most had no intention of doing anything more than finding steady work. At some point however, each found themselves thrust head first into the class struggle and grabbed a hold of history. It is fortunate these stories have not been lost. Add this to your library.
Book Description
This book explores the issues facing the Kurdish population of Iraq in the aftermath of the war and the ongoing occupation. Written by a leading human rights campaigner and a journalist, it is the most clear and up-to-date account of what Iraqi Kurds want, and the problems that all political groups face in re-building the country, as well as exploring Kurdish links and international relations in the broader sense. It should be required reading for policy-makers and anyone interested in the current position of Kurds in Iraq.
Today there are an estimated 4.2 million Kurds in Iraq -- nearly a quarter of the country's population. The majority are Sunni Muslims. For a long time Iraqi Kurds have desired an independent Kurdistan -- a desire shared by Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Syria. However, for the moment, the most pressing issue is to maintain the autonomy afforded by Iraqi Kurdistan since the establishment of the no-fly zone. The book explores the rift in the UN and how it potentially affects the Kurds; the necessity of avoiding a humanitarian crisis; divisions between the two Iraqi Kurdish political parties; relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey; relations with Iran; US policy towards the Kurds; and the crucial role of the city of Kirkuk in the post-war settlement of Iraq.
Customer Reviews:
A GOOD, OBJECTIVE, AND WELL ORGANIZED OVERVIEW OF IRAQI KURDISH HISTORY AND PRESENT PROSPECTS.......2006-06-16
The author gives a readable and useful history of the Kurdish people. As always, an understanding of a people's past illuminates their present as, at some level, we are the sum total of our experience and how we choose/are able to deal with it. In the Kurdish case - that experience has been a history of repeated abuse at the hands of governments to whom they are somewhere between a nuisance and a threat. The problem presented by the Kurds is heightened by the fact that they sit astride some of the very best real estate of the nations in which their ancestral lands now find themselves (Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran). The responses of different countries to their own "Kurdish Problem" have been remarkably similar: some degree of ethnic cleansing. This was practiced in its most extreme form by Saddam Hussein during the Anfal Campaigns which included the use of chemical agents to kill thousands of Kurdish civilians.
In general the book was readable. No awards for eloquence or creative verbage, yet as a basic history - it worked. I would reservedly recommend the book to those with a specific interest in the subject matter. Of the books out there, it is one of the few to give an objective overview. Most of the others are subjective experiences of various western journalists or personal accounts written by those who suffered. In that respect, the book is worthwhile. For one stop shopping this book does put it all together in a well organized whole.
Valuable But Marred Guide.......2006-06-15
According to Michael Rubin, the liberation of Iraq propelled Iraqi Kurdistan into the international limelight. The Iraqi Kurdish militia plays an important role in Iraq; Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is a former Kurdish guerilla leader, and the Kurds have an important role in the new government's politics. The Iraqi Kurdish experience is now central to discussion over the fate of Baathist officials, and Kurdish demands remain at the heart of the debate over federalism.
Yildiz, executive director of the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project, has compiled a guide better than many other surveys of Iraqi Kurdish history, society, and politics. The Kurds in Iraq is a valuable guide not only for the policy practitioner but also for the general reader who wants a clear, concise study to aid understanding of a people and a region increasingly in the news. Unlike many other authors on this subject, he neither indulges his emotions nor does he artificially extend backwards Kurdish nationalism. He is precise, noting that while the term "Kurd" first appeared in the seventh century C.E., it would be almost a millennium before the term "Kurdistan" entered common usage and even then with a lack of precision as to its boundaries. His narrative is exact. Yildiz details not only Washington's 1975 decision to withdraw support for the Kurdish uprising but also the often ignored 1974 Kurdish decision to turn down Baghdad's autonomy offer. He also gives context to Saddam Hussein's 1987-88 Anfal campaign and does not limit its discussion to its most famous episode, the March 1988 use of chemical weapons against civilians in Halabja.
While Yildiz emphasizes human rights and international legal responsibilities, he glosses over intra-Kurdish human rights abuses. There is no mention, for example, of the 2-3,000 Kurds executed during the 1994-97 Kurdish civil war, nor does he discuss Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masud Barzani's appropriation of land and property from rival tribes, nor is there coverage of Iraqi Kurdistan's corruption problem. Small errors of fact mar the account. The Iran-Iraq war, for example, began in 1980, not 1983. Likewise, despite the nickname, the "Swiss dinar" currency used in Iraqi Kurdistan between 1991 and 2003 was printed in the United Kingdom and not in Switzerland.
Looking toward the future, Yildiz highlights conflicts over the death penalty likely to occur between the European states and the Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Saddam Hussein and other former top regime officials. He also questions the extent to which American and European civilians serving in the Coalition Provisional Authority and its successor organizations conform to international law. His background in humanitarian law contributes to some bias. He states that many "have called for the U.N. to take over administration of Iraq," something perhaps true among his human rights colleagues in London but certainly not among Iraqis, the vast majority of whom wish for a return to full sovereignty.
The Kurds In Iraq : The Past, Present and Future.......2006-03-08
The liberation of Iraq propelled Iraqi Kurdistan into the international limelight. The Iraqi Kurdish militia plays an important role in Iraq; Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, is a former Kurdish guerilla leader, and the Kurds have an important role in the new government's politics. The Iraqi Kurdish experience is now central to discussion over the fate of Baathist officials, and Kurdish demands remain at the heart of the debate over federalism.
Yildiz, executive director of the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Project, has compiled a guide better than many other surveys of Iraqi Kurdish history, society, and politics. The Kurds in Iraq is a valuable guide not only for the policy practitioner but also for the general reader who wants a clear, concise study to aid understanding of a people and a region increasingly in the news. Unlike many other authors on this subject, he neither indulges his emotions nor does he artificially extend backwards Kurdish nationalism. He is precise, noting that while the term "Kurd" first appeared in the seventh century C.E., it would be almost a millennium before the term "Kurdistan" entered common usage and even then with a lack of precision as to its boundaries. His narrative is exact. Yildiz details not only Washington's 1975 decision to withdraw support for the Kurdish uprising but also the often ignored 1974 Kurdish decision to turn down Baghdad's autonomy offer. He also gives context to Saddam Hussein's 1987-88 Anfal campaign and does not limit its discussion to its most famous episode, the March 1988 use of chemical weapons against civilians in Halabja.
While Yildiz emphasizes human rights and international legal responsibilities, he glosses over intra-Kurdish human rights abuses. There is no mention, for example, of the 2-3,000 Kurds executed during the 1994-97 Kurdish civil war, nor does he discuss Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masud Barzani's appropriation of land and property from rival tribes, nor is there coverage of Iraqi Kurdistan's corruption problem. Small errors of fact mar the account. The Iran-Iraq war, for example, began in 1980, not 1983. Likewise, despite the nickname, the "Swiss dinar" currency used in Iraqi Kurdistan between 1991 and 2003 was printed in the United Kingdom and not in Switzerland.
Looking toward the future, Yildiz highlights conflicts over the death penalty likely to occur between the European states and the Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Saddam Hussein and other former top regime officials. He also questions the extent to which American and European civilians serving in the Coalition Provisional Authority and its successor organizations conform to international law. His background in humanitarian law contributes to some bias. He states that many "have called for the U.N. to take over administration of Iraq," something perhaps true among his human rights colleagues in London but certainly not among Iraqis, the vast majority of whom wish for a return to full sovereignty.
Middle East Quarterly, Winter 2006
Average customer rating:
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The Structure and Evolution of Neutron Stars: Conference Proceedings
D. Pines , and
R. Tamagaki
Manufacturer: Perseus Books (Sd)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Astronomy
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Solar System
| Astronomy
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Star-Gazing
| Astronomy
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General
| Science
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Rocks & Minerals
| Nature & Ecology
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General
| Nuclear Physics
| Physics
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ASIN: 0201562936 |
Books:
- Orden y Caos: Un Estudio Cultural Sobre Lo Monstruoso en las Artes (Coleccion Argumentos)
- Orientalism and Visual Culture: Imagining Mesopotamia in Nineteenth-Century Europe.(Francis Frith in Egypt and Palestine: A Victorian Photographer Abroad)(Book ... review) : An article from: The Art Bulletin
- Panorama: Philosophies of the Visible (Textures: Philosophy, Literature, Culture)
- Pascin. 110 Drawings
- Pricing the Priceless: Art, Artists and Economics
- Reclaiming the Spiritual in Art: Contemporary Cross-Cultural Perspectives (S U N Y Series in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art)
- River of Words: Images and Poetry in Praise of Water
- Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck: 17th Century Flemish Drawings
- Ryokan: A Japanese Tradition (Art in Hand)
- Sea Change: The Seascape in Contemporary Photography
Books Index
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- The Writer's Journey, Second Edition: Mythic Structure for Writers
- The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
- Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
- Pit's Letter
- The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America: The Southern Rockies: Colorado and Utah
- Collins Gem Animals of the World
