Following Hadrian: A Second-Century Journey through the Roman Empire

Book Description

One of the greatest--and most enigmatic--Roman emperors, Hadrian stabilized the imperial borders, established peace throughout the empire, patronized the arts, and built an architectural legacy that lasts to this day: the great villa at Tivoli, the domed wonder of the Pantheon, and the eponymous wall that stretches across Britain. Yet the story of his reign is also a tale of intrigue, domestic discord, and murder. In Following Hadrian, Elizabeth Speller captures the fascinating life of Hadrian, ruler of the most powerful empire on earth at the peak of its glory. Speller displays a superb gift for narrative as she traces the intrigue of Hadrian's rise: his calculated marriage to Emperor Trajan's closest female relative, a woman he privately tormented; Trajan's suspicious deathbed adoption of Hadrian as his heir, a stroke some thought to be a post-mortem forgery; and the ensuing slaughter of potential rivals by an ally of Hadrian's. Speller makes brilliant use of her sources, vividly depicting Hadrian's bouts of melancholy, his intellectual passions, his love for a beautiful boy (whose death sent him into a spiral), and the paradox of his general policies of peace and religious tolerance even as he conducted a bitter, three-year war with Judea. Most important, the author captures the emperor as both a builder and an inveterate traveler, guiding readers on a grand tour of the Roman Empire at the moment of its greatest extent and accomplishment, from the barren, windswept frontiers of Britain to the teeming streets of Antioch, from the dangers of the German forest to the urban splendor of Rome itself.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Esoteric Read.......2007-03-05

Jullia Balbilla is an ancient lady traveling companion to Empress who lives in the shadow of Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian parades through Judea making the soldiers parade before him in the desert heat before the Jewish Revolt before the Emperor's imperial entry into an Egyptian frontier town. Julia accompanys the Emperor Hadrian visiting the Nile delta with his favorite aging Bithynian boy toy Antinious in tow to the mysterious cults where the priests in the temples sacrifice for the everlasting life of the Emperor or whoever happens to be visiting. She carves a poem or two on the base of the singing Colossi of Memnon and then she goes on to narrate the diefication of the mysteriously drowned Antinious who becomes a God in the spoiling twighlight of Hadrian's reign.

Hard to Follow Hadrian........2007-01-31

The author is scholarly, and her work shows a great deal of thought--but little joy. This is a difficult read! Instead of being a purely scholarly presentation, it was 50% conjecture, mixed with the idea that you would know some of the scholarly research. There were multiple times where the author assumed the reader knew things no one but a student of Hadrian would. And fully more than half of the book dealt with Antinous, not Hadrian. (The author theorizes that Antinous was a homosexual lover of Hadrian, whose death an a trip to Egypt drove Hadrian insane.) What reading this book did for me was teach me that Hadrian was a fascinating individual--and I'd like now to read something about him. Previous to this, my only knowledge of him was that he commissioned a Wall in Northern England. Now I know that he commissioned thousands of projects all over the Roman empire. It is a pity the author didn't more than mention a few. Hadrian was fascinating; this book about him isn't.

An Interesting Combination of Fact and Fiction.......2006-02-06

The author is a scholar, and her knowledge of this period of history (first and second centruy of the common era) shows itself in many ways. She also writes beautifully, particularly as her fictional diarist. Much of this is history, much is speculation, and the diary entries are outright fiction. I found the combination interesting and entertaining.

Biography, historical novel or travelogue?.......2005-10-04

This book chronicles some of the travels of the Roman emperor Hadrian, with a discussion of his actions and the presumed underlying thoughts. Unfortunately, the trouble starts early. The author cannot decide if this is to be a biography, a historical novel or a travelogue. These elements are in constant conflict. There is some effort to present the events through the eyes of one Julia Balbilla, a friend of Sabina, the emperor's wife. These passages are only partially developed, their content highly speculative and their overall purpose uncertain. They represent one particular biased viewpoint that seems at odds with the biographical approach. These sections are interspersed with, and detract from, the better biographical sections. Unfortunately, even the biographical and historical passages are arranged in a somewhat haphazard fashion so that the reader tends to lose track of the timeline. Sections dealing with the present condition of various monuments seem out of context with the historical narrative. A working knowledge of ancient Roman history and culture is required to understand the book.

The jacket suggests that the book will cover Hadrian's travels, the buildings constructed during his reign and present a journey through the empire. Actually, only his travels to Egypt and Greece are covered. Hadrian's Wall is not mentioned. Those famous Roman monuments, the mausoleum, the Pantheon and the villa at Tibur (modern Tivoli), are mentioned, but the discussion is quite superficial. Readers interested in Hadrian and his reign should try Marguerite Yourcenar's novel Memoirs of Hadrian. That book is slow, contemplative and often difficult reading, but ultimately rewarding.

Following Hadrian (For those of us just learning to learn).......2004-11-16

Although I cannot top the review of reviewer #2 I feel compelled to add my 2 cents worth. I just now finished this book. I spent 4 days of my life reading it and I am a much better person for having done so. Following Hadrian made ancient Rome come alive for me. Although I was expecting (and a little disappointed)not to walk on the wall with Hadrian as he toured Britian, I spent my time, nonetheless, in crazy clamoring Rome and along the verdent banks of the Nile. In between the Jews were crushed in Judea, a homosexual lover dispatched, monuments were built and the possible inner mind of a giant of history laid bare for me to explore. I really like ancient Roman and Greek history and the blending of the two 'mind-sets' was very helpful for me to see the continuing intellectual struggle between these two cultures. A struggle that was continuing even 2 centuries after the Romans had conquered the Greeks.(and the Egyptians, Macedonians,Iberians, British, Gauls etc. etc.) The inclusion of a fictional (but historical) narrarator was a gentle and poetic way to navigate among the bloodshed and carnage of the intrigue and the warfare. Bottom line, unless you are already very familiar with Hadrian, this is a book that will not talk over your head but will never insult your intelligence.

Elizabeth Speller put much thought and care into this book. Made me go to the internet to look for photos of the ruins she brought to life in Egypt and Tivoli. If you are slogging your way through Roman history, FOLLOWING HADRIAN will offer an oasis of information that reads like a novel and is unafraid to fill in the blanks.

Following Hadrian a Second-Century Journey Through the Roman Empire

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Following Hadrian a Second-Century Journey Through the Roman Empire
Elizabeth Speller
Manufacturer: Oxford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JYJ5RG

Book Description

Professor Ernest Blood was a generation ahead of his time. His coaching record of 1268-165 does not fully explain his excellence as a coach. His major flaw was winning too much. His biography explains why he is the most extraordinary of all Basketball Hall of Fame members.

Customer Reviews:

Way too boring.......2006-12-30

It reads like a hero worship book as might be written by a family member. It is quite an ordeal to plod through this book. I get only a few pages read - then I'm asleep. I suggest you preview the writing style first - and judge for yourself.

Book Description

Film critic David Robinson chronicles the early use of film as vaudeville sideshow; as sheer spectacle of moving images precluding any notion of plot development or drama; and as a fledgling dramatic effort, ranging from prizefights to Passion plays. He also takes readers to the nickelodeon theaters, and replete with more than 150 drawings and photographs, shows how the earliest devices of cinematic prehistory--machines with colorful names like the Phantascope and the Wheel of Life--led to the technology of filmmaking we know today.

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FROM PEEPSHOW TO PALACE
David Robinson
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPAH0O

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Great Sounds

Top O' the Charts: 15 Contemporary Christian Music Hits for Big-Note Piano
Carol Tornquist
Manufacturer: Word Music
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0634040693

Book Description

Fifteen popular favorites, including: Adonai * The Anchor Holds * Breath of Heaven * Draw Me Close * For Such a Time as This * On My Knees * Praise the King * Were It Not for Grace * Who Am I? * and more.

Customer Reviews:

Great Sounds.......2006-08-18

The songs can easily be played by a beginner. Even so, they don't sound like simple songs. Great way to sound like you're playing more advanced music.

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15 Top Hits

Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0634000888

Book Description

Features 15 of today's favorites arranged for solo instruments: Adia * Barely Breathing * Don't Speak * Flagpole Sitta * I Don't Want to Wait * I'll Be * Iris * Jump, Jive an' Wail * My Heart Will Go On * Semi-Charmed Life * Stop * Tubthumping * Uninvited * more!

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15 Top Hits for Easy Piano

Manufacturer: Hal Leonard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Easy piano arrangements of 2005's most popular songs: Bless the Broken Road (Rascal Flatts) * Breakaway (Kelly Clarkson) * Heaven (Los Lonely Boys) * Karma (Alicia Keys) * Lonely No More (Rob Thomas) * She Will Be Loved (Maroon 5) * White Houses (Vanessa Carlton) * and more.

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15 Top Hits of 2000

Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0634026828

Book Description

15 favorites for instrumentalists to enjoy: All the Small Things * Amazed * Be with You * Breathe * Broadway * Desert Rose * Doesn't Really Matter * He Wasn't Man Enough for Me * I Hope You Dance * I Need You * I Try * I Wanna Know * Never Let You Go * Say My Name * You Sang to Me.

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15 top hits, all organ
miller music
Manufacturer: miller music corp.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VHZGHY

Product Description

27 pages

290. "My Heart Will Go On" and 15 Other Top Movie Hits (E-Z Play Today)

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290. "My Heart Will Go On" and 15 Other Top Movie Hits (E-Z Play Today)

Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0793596521

Book Description

Includes these megahits: Chariots of Fire * Go the Distance (Hercules) * I Believe in You and Me (The Preacher's Wife) * I Say a Little Prayer (My Best Friend's Wedding) * The Way We Were * When I Fall in Love (Sleepless in Seattle) * You Must Love Me (Evita) * more.

Easy Piano 15 Top Hits the Chartbuster Series (Easy Piano 15 Top Hits The Chartbuster Series)

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Easy Piano 15 Top Hits the Chartbuster Series (Easy Piano 15 Top Hits The Chartbuster Series)
Hal Leonard Publ
Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PD7K6E

Product Description

The Colour of Love, Don't Be Cruel, Don't Worry, Be Happy, Fast CAr, Foolish Beat, I Don't want to Live Without You, I'll Always Love You, Kokomo, Make it Real, One MORE Try, Red, Red Wine, Shake your Love, Staying Together, What A Wonderful World.

15 Top Hits - All Organ (With Words and Chords)

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15 Top Hits - All Organ (With Words and Chords)
Frank Metis
Manufacturer: Miller Music Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Sheet music
ASIN: B000S9A5NA

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15 Top Hits - All Organ (With Words and Chords)
Frank Meitis
Manufacturer: Miller Music Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Sheet music

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ASIN: B000SBDHVU

Product Description

Contents include: What's New Pussycat? I'm Henry VIII I Am, Heart Full of Soul, Forget Domani, Cara Mia and more.

Customer Reviews:

Blackjack For The First Century.......2005-07-17

One usually assumes that if a person has written a book, he or she must have a modicum of knowledge about the subject being written about; but this book proves the fallacy of such an assumption. John Patrick is totally clueless concerning the mathematical probabilities which govern this game.

All games that are offered by a Casino have a built-in advantage, but seldom will you find an author suggesting that you play in a way that will increase the Casino's advantage over you. This is the only thing that John Patrick does correctly. Every one of his "special" ideas about how to play this game are WRONG.

If you play Blackjack the way he tells you to, you will not only throw away the money you spent to buy this book, you will also throw away the money you wager in a Casino using his "special" strategy. My only regret is that I had to choose a rating system from 1 to 5. If I could, I would have chosen -50.

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Thanks to Restaurant Design, I am confident that I can do this.

Great Book

The Food Service Professionals Guide to Restaurant Design: Designing, Constructing & Renovating a Food Service Establishment (The Food Service Professionals Guide to, 14)
Sharon L. Fullen
Manufacturer: Atlantic Publishing Company (FL)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Successful Restaurant Design

Opening a Restaurant or Other Food Business Starter Kit: How to Prepare a Restaurant Business Plan and Feasibility Study

Design and Equipment for Restaurants and Foodservice: A Management View

Restaurants That Work: Case Studies of the Best in the Industry

Restaurant Financial Basics

ASIN: 091062724X

Book Description

This new series of fifteen books - The Food Service Professional Guide TO Series from the editors of the Food Service Professional are the best and most comprehensive books for serious food service operators available today.

These step-by-step guides on a specific management subject range from finding a great site for your new restaurant to how to train your wait staff and literally everything in between. They are easy and fast -to-read, easy to understand and will take the mystery out of the subject. The information is "boiled down" to the essence. They are filled to the brim with up to date and pertinent information.

The books cover all the bases, providing clear explanations and helpful, specific information. All titles in the series include the phone numbers and web sites of all companies discussed. What you won't find are wordy explanations, tales of how someone did it better, or a scholarly lecture on the "theory". Think of them as "Cliff Notes TM" on the subject matter.

Every paragraph in each of the books are comprehensive, well researched, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read, yet are packed with interesting ideas. You'll be using your highlighter a lot! The best part aside from the content is they are very moderately price. You can also purchase the whole 15 book series the isbn number is 0-910627-26-6. You are bound to get a great new idea to try on every page if not out of every paragraph. Do not be put off by the low price, these books really do deliver the critical information and eye opening ideas you need you to succeed without the fluff so commonly found in more expensive books on the subject. Highly recommended!

Customer Reviews:

Thanks to Restaurant Design, I am confident that I can do this........2006-01-27

Thinking about my new restaurant was overwhelming. I was confused by themes, locations, and building codes until I read Restaurant Design. This book showed me how to determine the best locations and assemble the right team to bring my vision into fruition. I learned how to deal with lagging construction schedules and even pick colors schemes, which encourage profits. The beauty of this book is that it breaks down the intricacies of the entire design process into laymen's terms. You are provided with enough technical information to work with your team effectively. Thanks to Restaurant Design, I am confident that I can do this.

Great Book.......2002-10-12

Great Book! I Found These step-by-step guides easy-to-read, and easy to understand! The books are packed with information. They reminded me of "cliff Notes" from my college days.The information is comprehensive without the fluff you find in so many of the more expensive books out there on the subject. The books are also packed with resources such as phone numbers and the web sites of the companies they are discussing - there is no "theory" just great information.

Customer Reviews:

Just an Amazing Read of Determination & Joy in Living.......2005-10-27

What should our attitude be towards the deaf? Kisor gives us good insight with his memoir which is beautifully, sensitively and humorouly written. Some would term him an outcast to both the deaf culture and the hearing culture, since he lipreads and doesn't sign. Can't possibly be happy because he can't fully participate in hearing world, he's missing so much. But Kisor disagrees.

He achieved more than most hearing, having accumulated great English language skills. He demonstrates with the rare book written about deafness from a deaf author. His title is fascinating, since it is from story regarding his five-year old son and the nuances lipreading has trouble discerning.

Yes, improvements have happened and will continue with behavioral psychology and deafness, but here the spirit of the human inside is spoken of, something that no program can really guarantee success, but determination, help and support will aid.

This marvelous memoir contributes much to this cause. It is a most wonderful read for all interested in what a deaf person in a hearing world might be going through, especially the emotional strains deafness brings with it. Much to be gleaned here.

A belated discovery.......2005-06-25

I have only just caught up with this book 14 years after it was published. Kisor is very good on how he managed a life as a deaf person who operates orally in a hearing world, and manages to be quite tactful in dealing with the subject of the Deaf -- people who use sign language. He is perhaps more tactful than he really should be in discussing the ignorance of a lot of educators of the severely hearing-impaired and the rather patronizing "poor-you" attitude they often take.

I can say this because I have only a little more hearing than Kisor -- and for the same reason, meningitis at the age of 3. I am ten years older than he but remember well some of the stages he describes so accurately and honestly. Like him, I was lucky in my early teachers and in being kept away from schools for the deaf.

It does need to be said that cognitive psychologists and students of child language have learned a great deal about child language development since Kisor and I were children and even since his book was published in 1991. Their progress dates from Noam Chomsky's destruction of behaviorist notions of language almost 50 years ago. I hope very much that things have changed significantly in the education of the deaf and severely hearing-impaired.

With luck, students will recognize that Kisor is describing a bygone era. But it is an era that was and is still well worth describing.

What's That Pig Outdoors.......2004-11-29

I read this book for an ASL class in college and wow. This book is great. An amazing autobiography written by a deaf man, Henry Kisor who has managed to exist in a hearing world as a deaf man strictly by lip reading. He has been a journalist and this is amazing to me. A wonderful story written in the point of view of a deaf man and his lifelong journey to success and living in the hearing world. Reading this book has made me take a look at my life and made me feel as if I could do anything.

About being Deaf by someone who is Deaf........2002-01-01

I read this book back in 93 when I had just lost my hearing. I was 14 and dealing with suddenly becoming deaf. Most books about Deafness are written by physicians, or parents of the deaf, or children of the deaf, and not by the deaf themselves. Kisor's stories about lipreading and growing up and just being Deaf were wonderful for me to read. It gave me hope... if he is totally Deaf and can accomplish that much, then I, with a little bit of hearing left, certainly should be able to. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone deaf who is oral, anyone late deaffened, or anyone just interested in reading about the trials and joys of a hearing loss.

About being Deaf by someone who is Deaf........2002-01-01

What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness

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What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness
Henry Kisor
Manufacturer: Hill & Wang Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NY1X9K

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WHAT'S THAT PIG OUTDOORS?: A MEMOIR OF DEAFNESS
HENRY KISOR
Manufacturer: HILL AND WANG
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P93SBY

Book Description

The domestic phase of Washington's war on drugs has received considerable criticism over the years from a variety of individuals. Until recently, however, most critics have not stressed the damage that the international phase of the drug war has done to our Latin American neighbors. That lack of attention has begun to change and Ted Carpenter chronicles our disenchantment with the hemispheric drug war. Some prominent Latin American political leaders have finally dared to criticize Washington while at the same time, the U.S. government seems determined to perpetuate, if not intensify, the antidrug crusade. Spending on federal antidrug measures also continues to increase, and the tactics employed by drug war bureaucracy, both here and abroad, bring the inflammatory "drug war" metaphor closer to reality. Ending the prohibitionist system would produce numerous benefits for both Latin American societies and the United States. In a book deriving from his work at the CATO Institute, Ted Carpenter paints a picture of this ongoing fiasco.

Customer Reviews:

Hack Writer Policy.......2006-03-29

I had to read this drivel for what I thought was a Latin American history class, but turned out to be just another run-of-the-liberal-campus-mill drone session about how much the professor thinks America sucks and how racially superior brown people are to white people. While the author maintains a solid argument that the money we've spent fighting drugs has not been used wisely, he makes a poor case for the legalization of all drugs in the United States.

It is not the laws against drugs that are killing our citizens, it is the drugs themselves. Had the author any close friends or relatives whose lives were destroyed by drugs, he might be singing a different tune. Either that, or he's currently using too much of the products of whose legalization he promotes.

As of this writing, I'm the third person to write a review of this book. That should say something about its popularity among readers.

An Indespensible, Up-to-Date Examination.......2004-01-31

"Ted Galen Carpenter's new book is an indispensable, up-to-date examination of `Washington's futile war on drugs in Latin America,' as its subtitle states the topic. The author, a vice president at the Cato Institute, surveys the history of this policy, dissects the `ugly American' tactics used to carry it out, and concludes with `a blueprint for peace.'

"The title Bad Neighbor Policy cuts to the quick by twisting Roosevelt's `Good Neighbor' phrase of the 1930s to fit the current reality of destructive buck passing that characterizes the U.S. drug war in Latin America today. Most Americans, including drug policy analysts, seldom take this international aspect seriously. Although U.S. policymakers since the Cold War have trumpeted U.S. support for legal, democratic, and market reforms in the region, the `prohibitionist [drug] strategy works at cross purposes to all of these objectives' (p. 167). Indeed as Venezuelan American journalist Carlos Ball remarks, `The war on drugs has done more harm to democratic institutions in Latin America than all the communist guerrillas of the last four decades of the twentieth century combined' (personal correspondence, Ball to William Ratliff, June 24, 2003)....

"Public and government `hysteria' in America reached `record levels' in 1986 after the death of basketball star Len Bias from an overdose of cocaine. This hysteria provoked passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act and the declaration that drug trafficking is a national-security issue that requires significant involvement by U.S. military and intelligence forces. The invasion of Panama to seize Manuel Noriega in 1989 was the most overt U.S. military intervention to date....

"The core of recent drug policy is the Plan Colombia, originally an integrated $7.5 billion project that was born dead during Clinton's last years. Little beyond the antidrug military component (about a quarter of the total) was delivered (by the United States), while the economic and other development aid depended in large part on nonexistent Colombian and seldom forthcoming European funds. Neighboring countries have become unwilling hosts to drug producers and traffickers driven out of southern Colombia by expanded eradication campaigns -- the inevitable `push-down, pop-up' phenomenon.... Arrogant policies -- such as the potential annual `decertification' of Latin American governments that are determined not to have `cooperated' enough with the United States -- have weakened fledgling institutions, angered the public (who think the United States should be decertified), and driven peasants into the arms of narcoguerrillas. `The bottom line,' Carpenter notes, `is that, no matter what the specific configuration of tactics, the supply-side campaign against illicit drugs is doomed to fail. As long as there is a substantial global demand for those drugs, the supply will continue to flow' (p. 121). In the end, as The Economist has stated, `by any reasonable measure, America's "war on drugs" is a disaster' (May 3, 2001, qtd. from the on-line edition).

"In his final chapter, Carpenter concludes that the only way out is drug legalization -- that is, `treating currently illicit drugs as alcohol and tobacco are now treated' (p. 232). The book's strength, however, is its detailed dissection of U.S. drug policies in Latin America, not its summary statements (however much we may agree with them) on other matters that must be examined in detail when changing a complex, fundamentally flawed, decades-old policy with vast international repercussions. The monster the U.S. government has nurtured in Latin America and beyond is now on its own seeking whom it may devour....

" ...Rather than dodging this dilemma, we need to highlight it, pointing constantly to the baleful international consequences of the prohibitionist drug strategy and to the extremely difficult options it throws in the laps of American policymakers, who of course made the bad policies in the first place and are in a position to change them. Most Americans are moralistic about foreign policy, so one important tack would be to emphasize the moral abomination of this policy, abroad as well as at home.

"Some other recent studies touching on Latin America offer valuable supporting or contrasting perspectives. Ivelaw Griffith's edited volume The Political Economy of Drugs in the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin's, 2000) and Robert MacDoun's and Peter Reuter's coedited book Cross-National Drug Policy (London: Sage, 2002) touch on many of the broad issues. The latter includes a thoughtful essay by Francisco Thoumi. Robin Kirk's More Terrible Than Death (New York: Public Affairs, 2003) relates many examples of the horrors in Colombia and places great responsibility on the United States, but for the most part it targets users, not government policy. Russell Crandall's Driven by Drugs (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2002) provides considerable detail on how drugs drive U.S. policy toward Colombia. My essay co-authored with Edgardo Buscaglia, War and Lack of Governance in Colombia: Narcos, Guerrillas, and U.S. Policy (Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution Press, 2001), focuses on domestic as well as international factors affecting drugs and chaos in Colombia. Articles by Pamela Falk and Kenneth Sharpe in Stephen Thompson's edited volume The War on Drugs: Opposing Viewpoints (San Diego: Greenhaven, 1998) are useful, but their brevity illustrates how even books that bring together drug war specialists seldom look seriously at the problem's international aspects. Finally, a different twist in several ways is Walton Cook's Buzzword (Boalsburg, Pa.: Public Policy, 2001), a novel that discusses the possible control of narcotics-producing plants by the use of natural or enhanced organisms."

---------------------
Excerpted from a review by William Ratliff in "The Independent Review," Winter 2004.

A Special Book: Engaging & Enlightening.......2003-05-25

"Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America," by Ted Galen Carpenter is arguably the best book ever written on the American war on drugs in Latin America. This book is engaging and enlightening. Moreover, it is one of the most thoughtful and perceptive analyses we've ever had on Washington's campaign against drug production in Latin America.

This book is truly special. The "Introduction" exposes thirty years of American failure. From there the author explains policy from Presidents' Nixon, to Reagan, to Bush and to Clinton. He then goes on to focus on the dangerous implications of Plan Colombia and of many other flawed strategies that create an "ugly American" image. Finally, the author's narrative arrives at Mexico and the potential for disaster.

In conclusion, author Ted Galen Carpenter bravely outlines a blueprint for peace and for ending the war on drugs. This man has unique vision and this is a very worthy book. Hats off to a tier-one scholar! Highly recommended.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Independent Institute on January 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1665 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: Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America.(Book Review)
Author: William Ratliff
Publication: Independent Review (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2004
Publisher: Independent Institute
Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Page: 456(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Nature-Friendly Ordinances will help communities take affirmative steps to conserve and restore those biodiversity features of their environment that add value regionally and locally. It is intended for all local decisionmakers that deal with land use—planning staff, planning and zoning boards, local legislative boards, and property owners.

Land use ordinances—including planning, zoning, and subdivision regulations—often must address issues of habitat conservation, ecological function, watershed management, and conservation of diverse plants and animals. Unfortunately, many elected officials and land use planners understand these objectives far less than economic development strategies, community design, and fiscal policy. There has been a longstanding disconnect between biological understanding and land use regulation.

Local ordinances can contribute substantially to the conservation of biodiversity by supporting the creation and maintenance of conditions of ecological health on the local landscape. The lessons of ecology and conservation biology can enable local decisionmakers to use their familiar land use tools more effectively in making their development and redevelopment more "nature-friendly."

Nature-Friendly Ordinances, provides key features to help ordinance drafters integrate these considerations into their actions that affect land use. It defines the basic ecological guidelines that should guide land use decisionmaking by local governments. It identifies sources of biodiversity information and explains how local governments can tailor familiar types of local land use regulations to apply the ecological principles. Finally, the book provides examples of specific local governments that have used these land use tools.

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