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- Prince William: Born to be King
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Prince William: A Birthday Scrapbook
Manufacturer: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0689835329 |
Book Description
The Prince is Legal!
He's tall, blond, and royal -- and now he's eighteen!
Find out everything you want to know about Prince William the Gorgeous in this photo-filled scrapbook.
Includes brand-new pictures and tons of inside info!
Customer Reviews:
Prince William: Born to be King.......2000-06-06
This book was very informative. It included several facts about Prince William. I read it strait through and enjoyed every page. All the facts stated appeared to be true, and nothing was said that would offend or upset William and his fans. I searched for a book that included a lot of information about the future king of England. I purchased several different books, but this book proved to be the most informative.
Book Description
It was the Rumor of the New Millennium for the entire hockey world. The biggest story of the 2000-2001 National Hockey League season began as a whisper in Pittsburgh, and then raged across the sports pages and web sites of North America as the holidays neared. Mario Lemieux, the super-sized star of the National Hockey League driven too young from the game at which he excelled, was contemplating a comeback. In the wake of an interminable string of ailments and injuries, Super Mario had left the game in 1997 and limped into the Hockey Hall of Fame, barely into his thirties. By age thirty-four, he was president of the Pittsburgh Penguins, once again resurrecting a foundering franchise, this time in a suit. Ironically, accepting that responsibility only heightened his desire to address some unfinished business...on the ice. Healthier than he had been at any time in the last five years of his playing career, No.66 confirmed his return to the NHL ice wars, a belated Christmas present for Pittsburgh and the hockey world. Few could imagine the impact he would have on the league. From his early days as a hockey prodigy to the brilliant rise of his career (and its unexpected fall due to injury) and finally his return in a blaze of glory, Mario Lemieux: Over Time is the definitive book on one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
Customer Reviews:
Mario Lemieux Over time.......2002-07-31
This Book is a must Have for any Die-HARD or just a fan of ''Le Magnifique''or ''The Magnificent''. It mainly about his life from Pee-wee hockey to the comeback, Its covred. They have on most pages the games from mario's first back to the Final game of the 2000-20001 regular season.
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Featured Player
James Curtis
Manufacturer: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0810830442 |
Book Description
Mae Clarke, best known for her grapefruit-smeared appearance in Public Enemy, spent more than four decades in Hollywood, appearing in more than 100 feature films and nearly as many television appearances. In a series of candid and often poignant interviews during the last years of her life, she talks about her years in the movie and television business.
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Hollywood Studio Blu-Book Motion Picture , Television, Radio Directory, Stars Edition Contains Over 2500 Home Addresses of Stars, Directors, Producers, Executives, Featured Players, Writers, Cameramen, Etc Who is Who , What They Do,
Various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JD4HRU |
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Baseball rules corner: last season featured many strange plays in the major leagues.: An article from: Baseball Digest
Rich Marazzi
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B000S0TCHY
Release Date: 2007-06-15 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Baseball Digest, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2007. The length of the article is 3499 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: Baseball rules corner: last season featured many strange plays in the major leagues.
Author: Rich Marazzi
Publication:
Baseball Digest (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 66
Issue: 2
Page: 90(6)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Southern Medical Journal, published by Southern Medical Association on August 1, 2004. The length of the article is 2652 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: Neurapraxia, "stingers," and spinal stenosis in athletes.(Featured CME Topic: Sports Medicine)
Author: Steve Page
Publication:
Southern Medical Journal (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2004
Publisher: Southern Medical Association
Volume: 97
Issue: 8
Page: 766(4)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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The New Best of Neil Young
Manufacturer: Warner Bros Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0769208606 |
Book Description
After the Gold Rush * Cinnamon Girl * Comes a Time * Cowgirl in the Sand * Down by the River * Harvest * Heart of Gold * Long May You Run * Ohio * Old Man * Southern Man * Sugar Mountain.
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The New Best of Neil Young for Guitar
Manufacturer: Warner Bros Pubns
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ASIN: 0769270034 |
Book Description
The titles in this folio for easy guitar are: After the Gold Rush * Alabama * Cinnamon Girl * From Hank to Hendrix * Harvest Moon * Heart of Gold * Like a Hurricane * The Needle and the Damage Done * Ohio * Old Man * Only Love Can Break Your Heart * Southern Man.
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The New Best of Neil Young for Guitar (The Best of Series)
Manufacturer: Alfred Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1576234479 |
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- Finland's Struggle in the Gray Area between Good and Evil
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GURPS WWII: Frozen Hell
Hunter Johnson
Manufacturer: Steve Jackson Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1556346395 |
Customer Reviews:
Finland's Struggle in the Gray Area between Good and Evil.......2003-07-22
World War II is often depicted as a black and white struggle of good against evil. This book is an excellent introduction to one of its most interesting gray areas: Finland, co-belligerent with the evil Nazis against our Soviet allies.
Setting the stage with a short history of Finland, beginning with its independence from Russia during World War I and continuing through the events leading to its involvement in World War II, the book explains and describes the Winter War, when the Finns resisted Soviet invasion of their territory, the Continuation War, when the Finns fought alongside the Nazis to reclaim the territory they'd lost during the Winter War, and the Lapland War, when the Finns expelled the Nazis from Finland.
Later chapters explain and describe the Finnish military, the Finnish people, and the gear, weapons and vehicles that the Finns used to fight. Sidebars throughout the book cover related subjects, such as Finnish pronunciation, place names, especially influential people, peripheral issues and events, and important Finnish cultural concepts. The last chapter discusses ways to use the information in the book for roleplaying games. And the book also includes a bibliography to facilitate further research.
My only critique is that the book doesn't even mention one of the greatest combat heroes of the Winter War -- and, with over 500 enemy kills, one of the deadliest soldiers of all time -- Simo Hayha.
Book Description
Reveals the Key Management Principles Behind Dell's Unprecedented Success
The story of how Michael Dell grew a dorm-room, custom-PC shop into the world’s leading computer systems company, in just 21 years, has become part of modern business lore. But until now, none of what has been written about Dell, Inc. and its business practices has afforded business professionals a clear, practical understanding of the guiding principles underlying the company’s phenomenal success.
In How Dell Does It, industry insider Steven Holzner cuts through the hype surrounding Michael Dell and the company he built to expose the core principles that have guided Dell, Inc. from the start. He takes us deep inside the company to explore, in exacting detail, every aspect of the company’s processes, practices, and culture, and he shows how they function within the framework of Dell’s revolutionary business model. He distills powerful lessons that business leaders in every industry sector can use to achieve extraordinary results the way Dell does.
Among other things, you’ll discover how to:
- Adapt Dell’s just-in-time inventory techniques to your company
- Use “virtual integration” to turn customers and suppliers into partners
- Anticipate and adapt to market changes at a moment’s notice
- Harness the awesome power of the Internet to achieve record growth
- Motivate employees to new heights of innovation and productivity
Customer Reviews:
Why Dell works for its "Dudes".......2006-11-17
Using material from Direct from Dell, by Dell Computer founder Michael Dell, and from computer industry Web sites and trade publications, author Steven Holzner does a solid job of describing Dell's rise over the past two decades and explaining what it is doing now to expand its market dominance. If you want all the details, though, you may feel frustrated. For example, Holzner says that Dell obsessively tracks the profit and loss of every business unit. However, he does not explain how. Which metrics does the company use, other than the often-cited ROIC, and how did it develop them? Similarly, Holzner notes that Dell analyzes markets and moves into them at just the right time. But how is it able to judge them so accurately? The book plateaus at the level of reportage, rather than rising to the level of inside analysis. However, if you are looking for a summary of Dell's very successful business strategy, we recommend this overview.
Needs An Editor.......2006-06-08
I was very excited to get around to reading about 'how Dell does it.' I have admired Michael Dell and his company for many years as an IT professional. I'm very interested in their supply chain management system that allows for the phenomenal Dell Direct process.
With this said - I was deeply disappointed with this book. Mr. Holzner, IMHO, needs an editor. The chapters do not flow. I was constantly distracted by his cross-referencing that litters far too many paragraphs. Here is an example sentence from page 25, "Dell also cuts its inventory radically (Chapter 5), works with standard components (Chapter 4), is perpetually streamlining (Chapter 6), and puts enormous pressure on suppliers (Chapter 8). There is a Table of Contents on page iii that tells me where these topics are covered. I do not need constant reminders throughout the chapters.
An editor would have minimized or eliminated this along with Mr. Holzner repeating himself a few times in each chapter.
Lastly, I also felt that Mr. Holzner relied too much on Michael Dell's book and various magazine articles. There was very little first-hand information that I couldn't find using Google and buying 'Direct From Dell.'
I really liked the topic, I just wish I wasn't so distracted by the writing style. If you're interested in reading this book, go to a bookseller and sit down and read the first chapter and then look at the endnotes. If it still appeals to you after this, go ahead and make the purchase. Otherwise I recommend a pass.
How Dell does it - Or rather how the Author does it............2006-04-10
I am still reading this book. I have gone through around 100 pages or so.
A lot of things are widely known. But worst of all, I don't know if I can believe this book at all.
The author included a lot of quotes from articles and Dell's website.
Has the author interviewed any insiders who might have offered insights into how Dell is managed ? Or did he just bash together this book from all the anecdotes available after "googling Dell" on the web.
Some (not much) Interesting Material.......2006-02-22
Fortune dubbed Dell as the "Most Admired Company in the U.S." in its 3/07/05 issue. It is now a $49 billion company, with 57,000 employees worldwide. Formed in 1984, three years after the IBM PC, it was only 25th among computer manufacturers in the early '90's, but, according to Holzner, still made the Fortune 100 in '92.
Dell was fortunate that when he began IBM could only meet about 10% of its demand, and it had made both the software and hardware open-source (no patent protection). Dell not only was one of many to take advantage of the situation, but added the competitive advantage of using a low-cost direct sales model. (Dell estimates this eliminates the need for an additional 25-45% markup.)
Dell also soon concluded that selling direct allowed better understanding of customers (vs. receiving information filtered through a retailer), and management of inventory (order data was not "confused" by retailer actions - eg. sales, hoarding). Soon Dell had a strong presence thanks to selling at about half IBM's price, while providing as much as twice the CPU speed. Dell also recognized that an unknown firm would have difficulty winning acceptance, and so was one of the first to offer a guarantee (30-days), and then went competitors one better by providing ono-site service.
Holzner points out that Dell moves into products after they become standardized, but before commodities. Relatively recent areas include printers (also punctured H-P's major profit source, decreasing its ability to fund new attacks on Dell), servers, and AV equipment.
Dell uses standardized parts, thereby minimizing need for R&D expenditures (Dell
< 1% of sales, Sun Microsystems 14.7%, Hp and IBM about 6%).
Lately Dell has come under attack for significant service problems - long waiting periods on hold, clueless technical support, and hard-to-understand representatives. (The latter is due to outsourcing to India, and the "cluelessness" due to an inability to get both English-speakers and technical competence in a single representative.) This has angered many former supporters, including myself; however, Dell points out customers have an option to pay extra for better service. Thus, the new policy can be justified on the basis of meeting Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) measures - the basic evaluative tool used throughout the firm. (Underlying Logic: A tech-savy customer should not have to subsidize support for those who are novices.)
Dell segments its business by customer type, not product. (Large business, small business, home user, etc.)
The other Dell technique heavily emphasized in "How Dell Does It" is minimizing inventory - eg. two hours' worth on hand. However, Holzner would do well to also point out that this is nothing more than part of the Toyota Production System, applied to P.C. manufacture, and pursued by most every other reasonably successful firm today.)
Bottom Line: "How Dell Does It" provides minimum information that one would not have already surmised.
Good but not complete.......2006-02-20
The is the best book available about Dell right now which isn't saying alot since not much else is out there. I have seen the rise of Dell since it's inception in the 80's. I think Dell is a company that was, and is, very successful but is now on the wrong track. The author pointed out the extensive concern by Dell's customers regarding poor technical support but I don't think he went far enough. I also think some of the "innovations" that made Dell successful are not as helpful as they once were or are not working as well. For example;
1. For those who are familiar with Six Sigma, Dell is either really bad or maybe just tone deaf to the "voice of the customer". Customers want a good price,quality, and support when they buy a computer. Computers are not toasters and all three are still important. The voice of the customer did not ask for bloatware on their PC's that slows down the machine and makes it less stable. they did not ask to be put on hold for hours, transferred endlessly, hung up on, or to talk to people they can't understand when they need technical support. They did not ask for an overly restrictive choice of what they can choose for their computers. The customer did not want discussion and help forums on Dells site shut down.
2. Just in time manufacturing is not a Dell innovation but they did put it to good use. However go look at Dells web site anytime and you will see that there are many items listed as delaying shipment of the whole computer if you order it.
3. The author describes standardization as being a Dell strength but Dell has customized motherboards and power supplies for the sole purpose of making the computer non-upgradeable. Thats not standardization and only benefits Dell not the customer.
4. Corporate and indivudal customers want AMD processors. Dell has steadfastly refused to produce servers with Opteron chips that are vastly superior to Intels Xeon or to equip indiivudal computers with AMD chips which are faster, cooler, and much better dual-core than Intels kludged efforts. Dell talks about selling AMD but just uses it as a way to drive down Intels prices.
5. Dell views employees as disposable assets they can treat anyway they see fit.
6. Michael Dell once said that Apple should liquidate the company and distribute the proceeds to it's shareholders. Now he wants to make Mac clones and Apples market cap is higher then Dells. Dell also just discontinued their feeble second attempt at a hard drive based MP3 player.
7. Dell recently eliminated it's 30 day money back guarantee and replaced it with a 21 day guarantee with a minimum 15% restocking fee.
8. Dells latest attempt to resurrect their image using the Dimension XPS line has been a failure as the machines are loaded down with bloatware the high prices charged for special support have resulted in poor support, and they are already pricing the XPS line down with coupons.
9. My personal beleife is that you should only buy a dell if you are willing to take a chance that it will have no issues ever. Trust me...you really don't want to ever have to reach their customer support.
All of these point to a company on the decline whose brand is no longer seen as premium. Where does Dell go from here? If the author had brought up this issues or had any real discussion as to Dells' future it would be a much more interesting book.
Book Description
"Capture your child's evolving unique personality through verbal snapshots. An innovative, heart-warming concept. A priceless gift to your children and yourself."
"This little book gives you the simple 'how-to's' and inspiration you need to preserve your child's unique words and expressions."
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Chief Executive (U.S.), published by Chief Executive Publishing on August 1, 2002. The length of the article is 2558 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: Building on the brand: a strong brand presence does more than just resonate with consumers. It also creates an imperative inside the company that connects employees, managers, and shareholders. (Marketing). (book review)
Author: Bill Leigh
Publication:
Chief Executive (U.S.) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2002
Publisher: Chief Executive Publishing
Page: SS10(4)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
A gripping and definitive portrait of the man who headed one of the most enigmatic and terrifying regimes of modern times
In the three and a half years of Pol Pot's rule, more than a million Cambodians, a fifth of the country's population, were executed or died from hunger. An idealistic and reclusive figure, Pol Pot sought to instill in his people values of moral purity and self-abnegation through a revolution of radical egalitarianism. In the process his country descended into madness, becoming a concentration camp of the mind, a slave state in which obedience was enforced on the killing fields.
How did a utopian dream of shared prosperity mutate into one of the worst nightmares humanity has ever known? To understand this almost inconceivable mystery, Philip Short explores Pol Pot's life from his early years to his death. Short spent four years traveling throughout Cambodia interviewing the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement, many of whom have never spoken before, including Pol Pot's brother-in-law and the former Khmer Rouge head of state. He also sifted through the previously closed archives of China, Russia, Vietnam, and Cambodia itself to trace the fate of one man and the nation that he led into ruin.
This powerful biography reveals that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were not a one-off aberration but instead grew out of a darkness of the soul common to all peoples. Cambodian history and culture combined with intervention from the United States and other nations to set the stage for a disaster whose horrors echo loudly in the troubling events of our world today.
Customer Reviews:
Yawn.......2007-02-03
I am sorry but this book was boring. I think it took a special kind of writer to make something as seemingly interesting/horrific as the Khmer Rouge so dull. This book is overloaded with details upon details that do not really give any real insights into what happened in Cambodia or upon Pol Pot.
This is not the first book someone should read to get a strong understanding of Pol Pot or the Khmer Rouge. Instead it should be read by people that are serious students of this subject otherwise you will just get bogged down with names and the little bureaucratic nuances of the Khmer Rouge step by painful step.
This book has taken me a long time to read through and I generally read pretty quickly. I would find myself cleaning my house or doing laundry to avoid finishing. I am one of those people that feels they need to finish a book once they started it and this one made me seriously reconsider.
Better History Than Biography.......2006-09-21
I read this book knowing virtually nothing of Pol Pot or the history of the Cambodian revolutionary movement. Having read the book I feel it works far better as a history of modern Cambodia and the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge than it does as a biography of Pol Pot, hence my rating. My expectations of Short's work are high having greatly enjoyed his biography of Mao which is overflowing with the kind of personal detail and insight that is absent from this work. I would speculate that this may have something to do with the availability of source material and perhaps with the cultural issues around the definition of truth in Cambodian culture which Short alludes to in the book.
Despite this I came away far more knowledgeable than I arrived and Short is an excellent writer with a knack for making his material easily digestible.
Good history, but only an average biography.
A sober look at one of the 20th century's deadliest regimes.......2006-05-16
Those looking for a biography of Saloth Sar (aka Pol Pot) may be surprised to find that this is not so much a chronicle of Pol's life, but rather a thorough account of Cambodian political history from the post-World War II era on. Nonetheless this is an invaluable book about the tradegy that the Khmer Rouge unleashed upon Cambodia.
The first part of the book, in which Short sets up his narrative by describing in detail the founding of the Cercle Marxiste and Pol's studies in Paris, was a bit slow-paced. At the same time, it was probably necessary in order to shed light on the roots of some of Pol's radical views.
The narrative really picks up once the Khmer Rouge launch their coup and begin to implement their radical utopian dreams. I agree with the reviewer below that the evacuation of Phnom Penh was one of the most vivid and horrific events depicted in the book. The piercing analysis of Tuol Sleng, the Khmer Rouge's detention and torture center, was extremely powerful.
Short also does a superb job depicting Cambodia's relationship with its Asian neighbors, especially Vietnam, China and North Korea, and, to a lesser extent, Thailand and Laos. The reader will gain tremendous insight into how realpolitik and political relationships manifested themselves in the communist dictatorships of South-East Asia. At the same time, Short emphasizes that what unfolded in Democratic Kampuchea was of a uniquely Cambodian flavor, and it is important to distinguish between the genocides perpetrated by the Stalin and Maoist regimes.
That having been said, I think Short has some serious flaws as a writer; not stylistically, but in terms of moral clarity. He seems obssessed with discrediting the United States as an evil superpower that contributed to the genocide, and he has nothing but contempt for the American presidents from Nixon through Carter. At times his prose can seem downright acidic. Such judgments and interpretations are better left to the reader.
Nevertheless this is a superb account of the Khmer Rouge and the immense suffering inflicted upon the people of Cambodia, and should be read by anyone with an interest in understanding how and why this particular genocide developed.
Excellent.......2006-03-14
Pol Pot was the ruler of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979. He was the de facto leader since mid-1970s. During his time in power Pol Pot together with his cronoies created an aggressive regime of agricultural reform. A society rife with paranoia. A society designed to create a utopian Communist society which was known for repressing intellectuals.
Pol Pot espoused a radically revised variant of Maoism, adapted to Khmer nationalism. Envisaging a perfectly egalitarian agrarianism, the Khmer Rouge favored a completely agrarian society to the point that all modern technological contrivances were banned. Money was made illegal. Pol Pot was rabidly anti-Soviet and Red China considered him a balancing force against their archenemies, the Vietnamese Moscow-oriented regime. And during the detante, the Western powers took more or less the same line, offering diplomatic support to the Khmer Rouge after they were ousted from power by the Vietnamese in 1979. The killing fields were less important than the domino theory.
This was the first book I read about the major actors of the Vietnam conflict and my perspective on the conflict has changed. Clearly, the Viet Cong played a more aggressive and nefarious role in the emergence of the Khmer Rouges than they are willing to admit.
Pol Pot is an interesting person, to say the least. He clearly was an intellectual, a demagogue and an ideologue. He had excellent administration skills and must have been a person skilled in tactful negotiations with his friends who soon became his enemies. The really interesting person emerging from reading this book is not Pol Pot but king Sihanouk, a buddy of Mao and Kim Il Song. What king would be a buddy of two of worlds worst communist mass-murders? Sihanouk's continued efforts to lead his land go hand in hand with Pol Pot's efforts to create a perfect society. I am not saying that Sihanouk was guilty or contributed to the killing fields, but he definitely was a catalyst.
And as all perfect societies, they are bound to implode. The violent and inherently evil rule of the Khmer Rouge is a low point of world history. It is is shocking that Pol Pot eliminated a larger proportion of the population as known beasts as Stalin, Hitler, or Mao.
The book has an engaging style; it read as a good spy novel and not as a biography!
Read it and learn.
Mass Murder in a Slave State .......2005-12-29
It may be impossible to explain why Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge government caused the deaths of more than one million -- possibly two million --Cambodians during their 4 year rule (1975-1979) The author, Philip Short, made an effort to do so in this book. I didn't find his theory -- that the mass-murder was consistent with Khmer culture and history -- very persuasive, but I don't have a better one to offer in its place. Perhaps, insane outbreaks are hot-wired in the human psyche to occur now and then -- in the same way that lemmings commit mass suicide by running over cliffs. The Khmer Rouge was a movement that ran amok.
"Pol Pot" is a thorough, readable, and well-researched account of Cambodian politics from about 1950 until the death of Pol Pot in 1998. The writer avoids polemics and gave me a sense of confidence that he is presenting the ghastly story of Pol Pot and Cambodia as objectively as possible. Short's account may be too dispassionate for many people as he focuses on Khmer Rouge philosophies and programs, rather than recounting endless atrocity stories. Those stories are readily available elsewhere. In this book, I appreciated the author's search for the root causes of the Khmer Rouge's inhumanity.
The most interesting part of the book to me was the fall of Phnom Penh in April 1975 and the subsequent forced evacuation of that city and other Cambodian cities by the Khmer Rouge. Short has a detailed account of that event, the philosphy behind it and the human consequences.
Pol Pot himself seems an unremarkable person. It is fitting that after he died his body was burned on a funeral pyre comprised of old tires and broken furniture. Evil is banal.
Smallchief
Average customer rating:
- Dougherty's Peninsula Campaign
- A New Peninsula Campaign
- Dreadful book
|
The Peninsula Campaign Of 1862: A Military Analysis
Kevin Dougherty , and
J. Michael Moore
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1578067529 |
Book Description
The largest offensive of the Civil War, involving army, navy, and marine forces, the Peninsula Campaign has inspired many history books. No previous work, however, analyzes Union general George B. McClellan's massive assault toward Richmond in the context of current and enduring military doctrine. The Peninsula Campaign of 1862: A Military Analysis is an effort to fill this void. Background history is provided for continuity, but the heart of this book is in military analysis and the astonishing extent to which the personality traits of generals will often overwhelm even the best efforts of their armies.
The Peninsula Campaign lends itself to such a study. In the book, lessons for those studying the art of war are many. On the waters, the first ironclads forever changed naval warfare. At the strategic level, McClellan's inability to grasp Lincoln's grand objective becomes evident. At the operational level, Robert E. Lee's difficulty in synchronizing his attacks deepens the mystique of how he achieved so much with so little. At the tactical level, the Confederate use of terrain to trade space for time allows for a classic study in tactics.
Moreover, the campaign is full of lessons about the personal dimension of war. McClellan's overcaution, Lee's audacity, and Jackson's personal exhaustion all provide valuable insights for today's commanders and for Civil War enthusiasts still debating this tremendous struggle. Historic photos and detailed battle maps make this study an invaluable resource for those touring all the many battlegrounds from Young's Mill and Yorktown through Fair Oaks to the final throes of the Seven Days' Battles.
Customer Reviews:
Dougherty's Peninsula Campaign.......2006-04-03
I felt the book was excellent and here's why. I thoroughly enjoy Civil War history but having never been in the military, I wonder what the commanding generals consider when reviewing terrain etc. Using the framwork already provided by such remowned secondary sources such as Sear's At the Gates, the author introduces the term OCOKA and uses it eplain the criteria used to evaluate a field of battle. It was the first time I have been exposed to that concept and enjoyed the insight.
The writing was well done- not a spare word. I liked the treatment of Jackson and his underperformance due to exhaustion. And after so many books recently have attacked McClellan, the author details the excellence of his retreat- giving credit where credit is due. In short, it was an even-handed approach.
A New Peninsula Campaign.......2005-09-14
I was doubtful that anyone could possibly have something new to write about the Peninsula Campaign. Unlike other studies, this book does not dwell on what has already been written about the Peninsula Campaign, but uses the campaign to highlight the complexities of "joint" military operations. The authors argue that Major General George McClellan essentially lost the element of surprise on the Peninsula, his "turning movement" evolved into a frontal assault. Although the Union Army had mass on their side, a lack of communication with the Navy and difficult terrain further hindered the success of the operation. In addition, the author shows how McClellan failed to "synchronize his military strategy with the political," (p.161.) as illustrated by his combative working relationship with President Lincoln. I enjoyed reading the back index, which provides readers with a useful guide to the Peninsula's Civil War sites. On a negative note, the maps are really poor and of little use and the author did not use enough primary sources, citing secondary sources instead. Moreover, it would have helpful for the author to place "joint" in historical context, i.e. when the United States became succesful at such operations. Nonetheless, it was a thoughtful analysis of this early campaign.
Dreadful book.......2005-07-11
This is one of those reviews that one is reticent to write because it is so harsh (so I'll keep it short!), but I hope interested readers will appreciate it before shelling out a great deal of money for such a disappointing book. Since specialists are the target audience of books of this type, I think it is more than fair to evaluate it in those terms. The research is all secondary sources, with an overreliance on a few (such as Sears' work). The few maps that are included are tiny little primitive things that show the reader nothing useful. The analysis lacks depth and tells you little you didn't already know in more detail from other works. And, finally, the stated goal of analyzing the Peninsula campaign using modern military concepts is neither insightful nor interesting. This book cannot be recommended to anyone familiar with the literature of the campaign.
Book Description
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Citation Details
Title: The Peninsula Campaign of 1862: A Military Analysis.(Book review)
Author: Elizabeth D. Leonard
Publication:
The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 69
Issue: 2
Page: 345(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Princess Diana, the Lamb to the Slaughter is the story of a teenaged British aristocrat who becomes the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England. Betrayed by her husband and frightened by palace intrigue she dies in an automobile crash in a Paris tunnel at the age of 36. Was it an accidentÂor was it murder?
Download Description
Princess Diana, the Lamb to the Slaughter is the story of a teenaged British aristocrat who becomes the Princess of Wales and future Queen of England. Betrayed by her husband and frightened by palace intrigue she dies in an automobile crash in a Paris tunnel at the age of 36. Was it an accident
Customer Reviews:
Diana Book is Not Just Another Tribute.......2005-09-10
Since we lost our Queen of Hearts, the books about her by those who claimed to "know" her have proliferated like a bad rash. Rather than going away, they have just gotten worse. Over time, I have become disgusted with these people who are obviously working out some agenda/grudge against someone they either hardly knew, were jealous of, or decided they didn't like--and who is not, to our great loss, here to defend herself. This makes these books not only unfair, but heinous.
All too common as well, are the "conspiracy books," which claim to expose the "truth" about her death. Since I am as disheartened by these as by the others, I do not buy or read them. It is hard to find credibility there when, every time someone famous dies, the "conspiracy" fanatics come crawling out of the woodwork to tell us all the truth. (If you know so much, then why is she still dead?)
As a result, I have become so careful that I hardly buy books about the Princess I cherish, unless the title makes it obvious that the book is a loving and respectful tribute, not a bashing, a dissection, or, worst of all, a Charles-and-Camilla suck-up tome.
(For example, any book by the notorious Charles-sucker, Penny Junor, is off my list.)
The reason I bought this one is because the title is composed of Diana's own words about herself the night before her wedding, so I thought the chances of it being a bashing were slim.
(In the Introduction, the author admits she is a fan who followed Diana's life and then became obsessed with her death and her own unaanswered questions--so my instincts were correct there.)
From the opening paragraph, Joy Jones Damon held my attention, as she drew a scenario of conspiracy and murder, then traced precedents from England's history to say, "This has happened before."
(She is careful to say that in no way does she accuse Her Majesty the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, or Charles of being part of any plan to murder the Princess of Wales.)
As unwilling as I was, and am, to believe that Diana was murdered, I finished the book wondering if indeed it were not so.
(People kept saying Diana was paranoid; well, maybe she was, but maybe with reason. She was many things, but she was never stupid--as Prince Charles and that woman he gave a title, but who will never be Queen of England, or even a lady, found to their cost.)
There are no sensation-grabbing headlines here, just nagging questions that won't go away quietly.
Why would smart, safety-concious Diana go without her seat belt? Why was Henri Paul allowed to drive the most famous couple in the world to their destination if he was obviously impaired?
And, whatever you think of Paul Burrell, why did Diana predict the exact manner of her death--and say in a note in her own handwriting, that Charles was going to have her killed to marry "the other woman?"
The only "truth" is, it doesn't matter if she was murdered, or who did it, except to see justice done for Princes William and Harry's sake. What matters is that she is gone. And whatever truths she took with her, whatever happened in that car was terrifying beyond description. For that, we may cry many more tears--but we will never know.
Princess Diana The Lamb to the Slaughter.......2004-05-07
I purchased this book based on its reviews. However, after reading it, I was disappointed in the accuracy, historically and psychologically.Ms Damon's attempt to write a cohesive and intelligient book on Princess Diana's life, before and after her marriage, did not support a solidly researched book. Her speculations of Diana's psychological issues were amateurish and not well researched. Historically, Ms. Damon tells us nothing that we did not know previous to this publication. In chapter 7, Ms Damon makes a reference to King Richard III smothering his nephews to death in order to claim the crown of England and stabilize the House of York. She tries to tie in this proposterous Shakespearian diatribe into the unstable House of Windsor, with the implication that the Windsors had Diana murdered to save their crown. Historically, both are speculative and unproven. The only thing in common between King Richard III and Diana Princess of Wales is their own personal trauma and heartache with betrayal, dishonesty, and treason thrown their way in an unfair manner. Surely they would have been comrads had they lived in the same lifetime. This book does not contain fair and balanced information on Diana and her relationships with Prince Charles and the rest of the royal family. She merely throws alot of suspicious mumblings to the wall and hopes it sticks.I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a solid and concise source on Princess Diana.
Insightful.......2003-06-16
The title caught my attention! Was this blood shed as a sacrifice? Was the Princess like a helpless lamb that required the constant protection of the shepherd? Did she trust too much and get eaten by the wolves, or did the shepherd actually lead her to the slaughter. What a unique approach the author has chosen.
Ms.Daymon gives us the background information we need with insight and a deep understanding of the Royal Family, but it's not a history lesson. She uses solid logic in putting together a conspiricy theory, but it's not alarmist (Chicken Little -"the sky is falling") or far fetched.
As the reader gets engrossed in the life of the Princess, it's as though the author has been granted an omnicient visit into the soul of "the lamb". Where did this insight come from? It becomes very obvious that Ms. Daymon has developed a strong empathic spirit that is able to capture deep feeling and a powerful sense of loyalty and trust. She really understands the strength of love and the devastation of rejection.
In the end, it all makes sense. It comes together. It's historically a logical conclusion. One closes this book and simply goes hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
A royal book.......2002-12-06
Joy Jones Daymon's book, "Princess Diana - The Lamb to the Slaughter" is more than another fan book. I found this book to be an important look at Diana's role in history and much more. Daymon raises some very important questions regarding Diana's life, and death. The book asks if we will ever know how the Royal family of Britain used her, and whether or not her death was truly an accident. The 142-page book is packed with information about British royal history, protocol, and information about the current British royal family. Daymon's book helps the reader to understand what it is like to be a member of the royal family. The book even contains a section on the British dietary concerns of the War Years. This book is a wonderful source of information for anyone interested in British royal history, and customs. "Princess Diana - The Lamb to the Slaughter" is so entertaining I had a lot of trouble putting it down. Daymon seamlessly weaves history, psychology, and Diana trivia into an intelligent, concise, and very readable book.
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- Princess Alice: The Life and Times of Alice Roosevelt Longworth
- Princess Diana, The House of Windsor and Palm Beach: America's Fascination With "The Touch of Royalty"
- Princess Victoria Meltia (History/20th Century History)
- Queen Elizabeth II: A Woman Who Is Not Amused
- Queen Mother: An Alternative Portrait of Her Life and Times
- Queen Victoria in Her Letters and Journals
- Ray Lindwall. Cricket Legend
- Richard III: A Source Book (Sutton History Paperbacks)
- Romanov Autumn: Stories from the Last Century of Imperial Russia (Taschen Specials)
- Royal Families and Palaces of Gujarat
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