The Life of Faustina Kowalska: The Authorized Biography

Customer Reviews:

"Mercy My Mission" -- The Life Of Sister Faustina.......2006-11-20

Sister Sophia Michalenko has given us a most spiritually rewarding "biography" of Sister "Saint" Faustina in this volume. It is the perfect companion book to Sister Faustina's own "Diary" . . . this places her diary entries in an order and context which allows us to see the spiritual insights of this mystic and "holy soul" in a more complete perspective.

While it reads like a simple biography and story retelling the life of this young nun, it at the same time draws so heavily and appropriately on the Saint's own writings that we begin to "share" in her very spirituality . . . we get to walk together with Sister Faustina's soul on this pilgrim journey toward God and toward God's infinite loving "Divine Mercy". In fact, we learn and discover that "Divine Mercy" is not only the destination and goal of our lives, but at the same time is also the road we must walk and travel to arrive there. And why walk it alone when Saint Faustina can walk alongside you . . . with conversation and encouragement and prayerful guidance? This book can bring that companionship alive for you . . .

i advise you to get this volume along with a copy of Sister Faustina's own diary, "Divine Mercy In My Soul". As you page through her diary and perhaps skip about from chapter to chapter as interest leads you, also read Sister Michalenko's biography of Faustina from beginning to end . . . then the Diary will take on a much deeper significance and impact on you . . . it will become a spiritual treasury . . . and a book of prayer . . . and a friend.

Fantastic, Engrossing Biography.......2006-03-28

This is a wonderful book! The author does an excellent job creating an interesting biography that flows well and helps the reader understand the life and spirituality of a truly amazing Saint.

This book is based on St. Faustina's diaries. However, where the diaries are massive and don't always flow in a way that is easy to digest [they are not chronological], this biography organizes the diaries and what they contain in such a way that it is easy to read without losing any of the authenticity of what Saint Faustina wrote about her life and her relationship with Christ.

In addition to a really fascinating story, this biography is great spiritual reading. I knew a little about St. Faustina and the Divine Mercy devotion before I started the book, but I have found her life to be extremely inspiring and I think I have had a lot of spiritual growth reading this book - coming to understand Divine Mercy and to understand what Sister Faustina went through to bring it to us - wow. Its just amazing.

So, I highly recommend this book both for your reading enjoyment [its a great story!] and for your spiritual edification! You can't lose either way. :)

Skip this one!.......2006-03-09

This "Authorized Biography" is nothing but quotes from the "Diary" -- which is EXCELLENT. Buy that one, and you will learn all that is in this biography and LOTS more.....all of it wonderful.

How can one person change the world?.......2002-07-17

Sophia Michalenko has captured the grace and beauty of a saint. The Life of Faustina Kowalska was so inspiring that I went out and purchased her diary. This book has help me both spirtually and mentally. It worth reading and meditating on.

Talk about a wonderful life!.......2002-03-29

This is a special book about private revelations of Jesus Christ to Sr. Faustina. The book offers special insights into her life, and a great amount of detail on the miracles. I took the advice from the reviewer from Baltimore to read this first before reading the diary. It is wonderful to read about these amazing events from only about 60 years ago.

The Life of Faustina Kowalska : The Authorized Biography

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The Life of Faustina Kowalska : The Authorized Biography
Sophia Michalenko
Manufacturer: St. Pauls Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 817109502X

Customer Reviews:

Quilts are a lot like people.......2004-10-21

Quilts are a lot like people. They are not overnight undertakings. They seldom turn out the way they were intended. Colors change when you run short of fabric. Edges misalign where you least expect it.

When Carol Nielson and her husband inherited an album quilt-half a quilt, to be precise-she had no idea of the journey on which the fragile folds of appliqués and painstaking stitches would call her. Created in 1857 by the women of the Salt Lake City LDS 14th Ward, the quilt was raffled off to raise money for the poor, the Perpetual Immigrating Fund, and for various Mormon charitable enterprises. Each block was designed and signed by one of the women, many of whom were wives of leading church authorities.

Nielson's desire to find the quilt's other half, and to find out more about the women whose legacy she had-both literally and figuratively-inherited, led her back in time through countless lives of hardship, joy, and spiritual conviction in the face of adversity.

Filled with detailed photographs of the quilt and images of those who stitched the blocks, this book is a stirring read, a rich and beautiful testimony to women whose hands shaped not only thread and cloth, but also a state, forging a community with their pioneer spirit.

"Carol Nielson has not only brought together two halves of a quilt, she has restored a forgotten community of women. Her patient research has transformed a family relic into a communal treasure."
-Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, author of A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812

"A vital contribution to Utah's rich history adding to an unfortunately under-appreciated and under-documented part of our history-frontier women."
-William Slaughter, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Historical Department

"A compelling and thorough study of a quilt, the pioneer women who stitched it, and ultimately, the Mormon experience that defined them."
-Kae Covington, author of Gathered in Time: Utah Quilts and Their Makers, Settlement to 1950

Carol Holindrake Nielson has a BA in English education from Utah State University. She has been a teacher, tutor, and an historical interpreter at Mount Vernon, Virginia. She lives in Layton, Utah.

78 color photographs, 45 halftones

Book Description

It is unlikely that you have ever found yourself trapped inside a burning skyscraper or entombed within an Egyptian pyramid. Nonetheless, you probably have some idea of these and many other places because of their portrayal on screen. The movies have overcome the constraints of time and place by bringing us images of diverse and otherwise unfamiliar settings.

This work covers the many applications of art and architecture appearing in the movies produced in Hollywood from the very beginning until the fifties. The first chapters deal with the process of design, construction, physical characteristics and immediate functions of a wide variety of architectural sets. The remaining chapters examine the great number of styles shown in those movies and take the reader up to the final triumph of modernist architecture in the aftermath of the Second World War.

B - The Blue Book: Schaum Popular Piano Pieces
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B - The Blue Book: Schaum Popular Piano Pieces

Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Piano | Instruments & Performers | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Schaum Christmas / B - The Blue Book

ASIN: 0757906915

Popular Piano Pieces / B - The Blue Book
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Popular Piano Pieces / B - The Blue Book

Manufacturer: Warner Bros Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
jp-unknown1 | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0769237436

Book Description

The POPULAR PIANO PIECES books correspond with the traditional Course books, providing the student with additional material to reinforce the musical understanding and keyboard skills acquired through study of the Course books. Each piece has been carefully selected and carefully arranged to capture and retain the interest of the performer and the listener. The solo arrangements are complete and satisfying; the duet accompaniments add harmonic and rhythmic flavor.

The Ultimate Board Member's Book: A 1-Hour Guide to Understanding and Fulfilling Your Role and Responsibilites
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Every Board member needs to read this.

A board's best friend

A Must Read for Non-Profit Board Members

An Hour Well Spent!

Add This Book to Your Non-Profit Library

The Ultimate Board Member's Book: A 1-Hour Guide to Understanding and Fulfilling Your Role and Responsibilites
Kay Sprinkel Grace
Manufacturer: Emerson & Church
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Nonprofit Organizations & Charities | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Leadership | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Business Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
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Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face - Revised Edition: A 1-Hour Crash Course on Raising Major Gifts for Nonprofit Organizations

Asking: A 59-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers, and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift

The Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards: A 59-minute Guide to Ensuring Your Organization's Future

Fundraising Mistakes That Bedevil All Boards (And Staff Too): A 1-hour Guide To Identifying And Overcoming Obstacles To Your Success

The Imperfect Board Member: Discovering the Seven Disciplines of Governance Excellence

ASIN: 1889102180

Book Description

Here is a book for all boards:

• Those wanting to operate with maximum effectiveness • Those needing to clarify exactly what their job is • Those wanting to ensure that all members — novice and veteran — are `on the same page' with respect to their role and responsibilities

Kay Sprinkel Grace's new work will take your board members only one hour to read, and yet they'll come away from The Ultimate Board Member's Book with a firm command of just what they need to do to help your organization succeed.

It's all here in jargon-free language: how boards work, what the job entails, the time commitment involved, the role of staff, serving on committees and task forces, fundraising responsibilities, conflicts of interest, group decision-making, effective recruiting, de-enlisting board members, board self-evaluation, and more.

In sum, everything a board member needs to know to understand their role and serve capably is explored.

Real world, not theoretical, concrete not abstract, The Ultimate Board Member's Book focuses on issues and concerns that all board members will inevitably face and grapple with.

This enlightening one-hour read is THE book to which nonprofit organizations in America turn to hone the skills and effectiveness of their boards.

Customer Reviews:

Every Board member needs to read this........2007-03-07

Thank you Kay for reminding us that this is noble service. This easy to read guide is a must for any board member, new or experienced. Kay's straighforward, non-nonsense style helps the reader understand the importance of their work and the value it brings to their organization and to their community.

A board's best friend.......2007-02-10

This is the most essesntial companion a board member could ever want. Its the best quick reference filter I've seen for leading, governing, and advising. Powerful, simple, concise, and 21st century relevance. Bravo Kay Sprinkel Grace !

A Must Read for Non-Profit Board Members.......2007-02-08

We give this book to all our Board members at Board Retreats. It is a quick read and our Board members rave about it. Yours will, too.

An Hour Well Spent!.......2007-02-08

A short, but by no means superficial, review of what makes a great Board Member...and how great Board Members can build great institutions. Filled with practical advice--and a dose of inspiration as well--it's an engaging read, appropriate for both the novice and the seasoned hand. Highly recommended.

Add This Book to Your Non-Profit Library.......2007-02-08

Ms. Grace's clear and succinct guide is a must have for any non-profit library. New and seasoned board members alike will benefit from the information provided. New board members will understand their role to provide "time, talent, and treasure" to support their non-profit's mission and seasoned board members will be reinvigorated to continue their good work. It's a breeze to read and so helpful.

Book Description

One of the most admired and innovative contemporary artists working today, Chuck Close has pioneered ideas of scale, form, and color through the theme of portraiture, a genre that he has fundamentally redefined. The first book to focus on Close's self-portraits and the portraits he has made of fellow artists, Close Reading is a uniquely intimate portrait of Close's life and work by the former director of the Walker Art Center, Martin Friedman, a longtime friend who has had unprecedented access to the artist.

After covering the biographical details of Close's life-including the sudden illness in 1988 that led to near-complete paralysis, and the degree of recovery that enabled him to continue his painting career-Friedman moves on to a probing examination of Close's self-portraiture. The final section deals with Close's paintings of artist subjects, among them Cindy Sherman, Francesco Clemente, Jasper Johns, and William Wegman. Included here are Close's insightful comments about these works and Friedman's discussions with the artists themselves, which reveal much about Close's accomplishments and issues of self-portraiture in both Close's art and their own.

Customer Reviews:

An Insightful, Warm Homage to Chuck Close: The Man and the Artist.......2005-11-22

Martin Friedman has written and composed a book about his friend and honored colleague Chuck Close that reads as a fine biography. Friedman, previously with the highly regarded Walker Art Center and now an important art historian and curator for other museums, began his 'conversations' with Chuck Close in 1969 and grew into a close personal as well as professional relationship with the artist and this relationship is evident in the quietly detailed information about Close's well known bout with paralysis and subsequent recovery to the point of continuing to be able to paint. The quality of friendship is palpable.

But Friedman does not limit his writing to simply the personal issues that make Chuck Close a hero in the realm of overcoming tragic blows. This book, better than any of the other many volumes on this innovative artist, provides solid information on the development of Close's technique of producing vast canvases out of pixilated portions, explaining in fine detail how he approaches the portrait from inception through painstaking process, to completed work. No one has explained and illustrated it better.

Once Friedman has shown us process he then shares some of Close's important portraits of fellow artists such as Francesco Clemente and Cindy Sherman and accompanies these experiences with valuable illustrations of the works in addition to Friedman's own conversations with each of the artist models in a way that only a man who has the depth in contemporary art that Friedman can make informational and rational!

For this reader the most satisfying portion of this superb book is Friedman's discussion of the Self Portraits of Chuck Close, works that provided significant bridges between his struggle against physical challenge and emotional recovery. It is not only insightful psychologically; it is a true homage to a contemporary hero. Throughout the book the pages are filled with copious excellent reproductions of the materials discussed.
Highly Recommended on many levels. Grady Harp, November 05

War from the Top : German and British Military Decision Making During World War II
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War from the Top : German and British Military Decision Making During World War II
Alan F. Wilt
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ8IT0

WAR FROM The TOP. German and British Military Decision Making during World War II.
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WAR FROM The TOP. German and British Military Decision Making during World War II.
Alan F. Wilt
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NYBLAQ

The Iraq War: The Military Offensive, from Victory in 21 Days to the Insurgent Aftermath
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A Clear Perspective on the Iraqi Conflicts

Ignore this turkey

Not Up to Par

Well written, but of limited use

Excellent Precis from our Best Military Historian

The Iraq War: The Military Offensive, from Victory in 21 Days to the Insurgent Aftermath
John Keegan
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Iraq | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda

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The First World War

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ASIN: 1400079209
Release Date: 2005-05-24

Amazon.com

John Keegan is recognized as one of the top military writers of his day, having authored comprehensive analyses of both World Wars and other significant historical events. In The Iraq War, he takes on a situation that was still murky and volatile at the time of publication. The result is a book rich with detailed information on the region and its key figures but somewhat hasty in its effort to provide a succinct history lesson. In the opening chapter, Keegan writes "The war was not only successful but peremptorily short, lasting only twenty-one days from 20 March to 9 April," and he later gives little mention to the protracted and amorphous violence in the region since Baghdad fell, characterizing as "aftermath" that which many see as the actual war itself. Between these sections, however, Keegan provides valuable insight into the geopolitical history of the region and provides an extensive biography of a ruler of whom most Westerners became aware only in the early 1990s: Saddam Hussein. Keegan presents Saddam as a brutal thug who is also possessed of a powerful and vicious political savvy, and charts his growth from Ba'ath Party muscleman to ruler of Iraq. Sections on the military efforts of the U.S. and British forces are extensively detailed and offer insight into not only what the plans of the coalition forces were but the strategic philosophies behind them as well. Keegan characterizes the war as "mysterious," seeking to understand why opposition forces seemed to disappear from active combat and why the citizens of Iraq paid the conflict little regard. And while such mysteries have not yet been solved, it is clear given the ongoing instability in Iraq that the final chapters of the Iraq War have yet to be written. --John Moe

Book Description

The 2003 Iraq war remains among the most mysterious armed conflicts of modernity. In The Iraq War, John Keegan offers a sharp and lucid appraisal of the military campaign, explaining just how the coalition forces defeated an Iraqi army twice its size and addressing such questions as whether Saddam Hussein ever possessed weapons of mass destruction and how it is possible to fight a war that is not, by any conventional measure, a war at all.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, Keegan retraces the steps that led to the showdown in Iraq, from the highlights of Hussein’s murderous rule to the diplomatic crossfire that preceded the invasion. His account of the combat in the desert is unparalleled in its grasp of strategy and tactics. The result is an urgently needed and up-to-date book that adds immeasurably to our understanding of those twenty-one days of war and their long, uncertain aftermath.

Customer Reviews:

A Clear Perspective on the Iraqi Conflicts.......2007-02-13

John Keegan brings clear vision and logical, scholarly clarity (in the best sense) to this discussion of 20th-21st century conflict in Iraq.

His statements of fact will not be pleasing to many political partisans, and will certainly be poorly regarded by much of the European political elite. Unfortunately for his detractors, Keegan can support his arguments with facts and logic.

Those seeking a factual account of the politics and conflict in Iraq will find this book invaluable. Recommended for open-minded, intellectually capable people.

Ignore this turkey.......2006-09-05

Keegan started out years ago with a bang with The Face of Battle, in which the post-Vietnam and, for the UK, a post-Empire spirit made for a genuinely innovative military history.

This early promise has NOT been fulfilled, and Keegan has declined considerably in quality because he's become co-opted by the Establishment, a post-Empire, Blair establishment every bit as corrupt as Haig.

Keegan has never served in combat yet loftily recommended in the 1980s that the "tempo" of the next war (which as a Sandhurst insider he was probably planning) be increased to 24/7. In this, he gave NO consideration to the high levels of post-traumatic stress and the war crimes that have resulted from the US policy of "no sleep until Baghdad" in the second Iraq war.

Keegan is post-Sixties, all right, but instead of peace and love, he's a Nietzchean who'd wage war with the poor man's body.

His "war" is chateau generalship by the rich, actually fought, 24/7, by British working class lads, blackfellows from Britain's few remaining colonies, and of course Americans.

Keegan popularized and made respectable for a new generation the old lie, subtly and over time, dulce et decorum. Precisely by foregrounding war's utter brutality he made it somehow acceptable and ONCE AGAIN a test of manhood, and this has gotten people killed.

His book on Military Intelligence managed, idiotically, to dismiss MI as secondary and not critical precisely, almost to the day, when the American and British MI was declaring victory (remember Mission Accomplished?) and failing to see how disbanding the Iraqi army would create the insurgency.

The Iraq War recounts the war as a board game with neither any anticipation of the postwar mess nor any compassion whatsoever for the men and women who fought it, or the Iraqis brutalized. At key points, it expresses a puzzlement about the failure of Iraqis to greet their "liberators" which shows a willful incomprehension of anything outside military science.

Ignore all writings by John Keegan until he issues a public apology for the lives this twit has destroyed while sipping pink gin at Sandhurst. For a good history of the Iraq War cf. Thomas E. Ricks, THE IRAQ WAR.

Not Up to Par.......2006-07-24

Even the world's greatest living military historian admits to being "mystified" by the Iraq war in his opening chapter. The following chapters are more in the Keegan style and provide a solid background on Iraq and its place in the region. Iraq did not provide the sustained episodes of combat that Mr. Keegan may be used to detailing, and hence his work is brought up significantly short, as there are no great tank or infantry battles for him to cover. His analysis of the war's aftermath is brief and unsatisfactory, especially when that is where the real war began. Mr. Keegan wrote about his subject too early in its history and the results leave the reader as equally mystified as the author. Far more highly recommended would be Yossef Bodansky's "The Secret History of the Iraq War", David Zucchino's "Thunder Run", or "Generation Kill" by Evan Wright.

Well written, but of limited use.......2006-06-27

Your impression of Keegan's Iraq War will depend largely on what you expect to get out of the book and also on what type of reading you have already done on the subject.

What you'll get in Keegan's book is one-half Iraqi history, one-half historical military/diplomatic account of the 2003 Iraq War. The first half of the book is not bad by any means, but after comparing its organization and presentation to some of the other major Iraqi history books, it doesn't stand out as one of the better versions available today. I would imagine if you haven't done much or any reading on Iraq before reading this book, you would come away feeling as if you should definitely do more reading after finishing this book.

The second half of the book is where I started to have second thoughts. When Keegan says "The Iraq War," he's primarily referring to the three week military campaign. There is detailed description of military movements and what kinds of weapons were used, etc., and also maps to the same effect. Not having read much military history myself, it's hard for me to judge how good this part of the book is (although Keegan seems to be a highly esteemed military historian). My take on this part of the book would be that no one was ever unsure of whether or not the U.S. would be able to defeat Iraq militarily, so in terms of really gaining an understanding of what's happening in Iraq now, this book doesn't help much at all. To Keegan's credit, there appears to be a paperback version that mentions the insurgency, but in the first edition of the book, the audience that is being catered to is the military history crowd.

These two main parts comprise the entire book, and while it was well-written, at the same time it really does not stand out as one of the better books about Iraq that I've read. If I could identify one major reason for what I would consider to be this book's shortcomings, I would attribute it to the fact that Keegan is a military historian and not someone who has a particularly strong background in Middle Eastern politics. The end result is a rather generic and strangely organized section on Iraqi history, then a discussion of a military campaign whose outcome was doubted by no one. Iraq is one of the most puzzling and complex states in the Middle East, perhaps the world, and trying to present an accurate picture of Iraq without the proper background is a tall order.

If you're a military buff, than this book will be of interest to you. If you're looking to gain a deeper understanding of Iraq, then books by Anderson & Stansfield, Sluglett, and Tripp will be of more interest. If you're someone well-versed in Middle Eastern affairs, don't expect too much, but at the same time it is important to read as many books on the subject that you can get your hands on.

Excellent Precis from our Best Military Historian.......2006-06-08

`The Iraq War' by the eminent English military historian and journalist, John Keegan is a model of reflective reporting on a recent major historical event, bringing to bear all of Keegan's insight into Anglo-American history and military practice.

For starters, I strongly disagree with those reviewers who felt Keegan gives us too much background for at least two reasons. First, the actual military campaign was so short, a narrative of it would hardly fill a book half this size. And second, the background is much more interesting and much less well known to those of us who followed every move of the Third Infantry division and the First Marine expeditionary force on CNN day by day from Kuwait to Baghdad.

The most immediate lesson I got from this book are the fact that the Central Command commander, General Tommy Franks is as good or better a commander than his colleague commander of the 1991 Gulf War, `Stormin Norman Schwarzkopf'. If Franks impressed Keegan who has studied and analyzed every major conflict in the 20th century, I have no doubt that Franks was a good man for the military task at hand. A corollary lesson is that for this immediate military task, Franks did in fact have enough troops to accomplish the immediate capitulation of Iraqi armed forces. This does not mean there were enough coalition forces to nail things down after that initial success and it certainly does not mean that Frank's civilian superiors in Washington really understood the Iraqi situation either before the war began or after the coalition gained nominal control of the country.

The most interesting aspects of Keegan's summary of the actual combat was the fact that the regular Iraqi troops simply melted away with the approach of American or British heavy units, the heaviest resistance came from neither regular troops nor the elite Republican Guard, but from `fedayeen' irregulars, many of whom were actually Islamic fanatics from neighboring countries such as Syria. The native Iraqis were so uninterested in the war that civilians routinely wandered into combat areas and were often mistaken for fedayeen fanatics. Another interesting aspect of Keegan's narrative of the combat was his characterization of the overwhelming superiority of American and UK troops over their Iraqi opponents. The Iraqi equipment bought from the Soviets was at least two generations behind the allied gear and the third and fourth rate troops were simply no match for the elite Marines, Airborne Divisions, and first line 3rd Infantry division (which is actually more like an Armored division of World War II days).

As an eminently balanced reporter and historian, I was very happy to see his outsider's assessment of the American troops and commanders, especially of those periods at the end of March, for example, when so many commentators were prophesying doom and gloom at what was nothing more than a holdup for a desert storm in order for supply lines to catch up with the forward troops.

The really interesting stuff comes in the background chapters. One surprise was how such seemingly small events can sway the tide of history, as how the European and American public was alarmed when a western journalist was executed in Iraq, after thousands of natives were purged with not so much of a flicker of interest. Another was the influence of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had on the first President Bush to consider military action against Saddam in 1991.

The even more interesting material of the book is the contrast of Saddam's generally secular regime contrasted to the fundamentalist Islam regimes of Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. Keegan does not draw any significant conclusions about this, but he very effectively paints a picture that makes cooperation between Iraq and Al Quaida seem very unlikely.

Possibly the single most interesting observation comes on page 54 where Keegan explains the mystery of why Islam, which was the leading source of learning and thought for over 700 years, turns its back on independent reasoning and the future and directs the faithful to be more oriented to the past. This is at the same time (15th and 16th centuries) when the Western Christian church was accommodating reason and scientific inquiry, leading to the technological prominence of Western Europe as time went on.

People who are looking for strong, concrete reasons for why we should or should not have invaded Iraq in 2003 will not find them in this book, although Keegan does offer plenty of factual material to help people make up their own minds on these issues. But, even Keegan admits that he does not yet have the whole story and leaves some questions open at the very end.

Any balanced view of the invasion of Iraq should take this narrative into account.

Book Description

Political scientists have long been concerned about the tension between institutional fragmentation and policy coordination in the United States bureaucracy. The literature is rife with examples of agencies competing with each other or asserting their independence, while cooperation is relatively rare. This is of particular importance in policy areas such as biodiversity, where species, habitats, and ecosystems cross various agency jurisdictions.

Bureaucratic Landscapes explores the reasons for the success and failure of interagency cooperation, focusing on several case studies of efforts to preserve biodiversity in California. The book examines why public officials tried to cooperate and the obstacles they faced, providing indirect evidence of policy impacts as well. Among other topics, it examines the role of courts in prompting agency action, the role of scientific knowledge in organizational learning, and the emergence of new institutions to resolve collective-action problems. Notable findings include the crucial role of environmental lawsuits in prompting agency action and the surprisingly active role of the Bureau of Land Management in resource preservation.

Bureaucratic Landscapes - Interagency Cooperation and the Preservation of Biodiversity

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Bureaucratic Landscapes - Interagency Cooperation and the Preservation of Biodiversity
CW Thomas
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OR0TZA

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