Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life

Amazon.com

Andrew Wyeth's achievement is unmatched by other modern American realist painters: he produced canvasses that became American icons, deepening our sense of the possibilities of representational painting in an abstract age. This biography, produced by family friend Richard Meryman, who first wrote about Wyeth for Life magazine in 1964, takes in not only Andrew Wyeth's life but three generations of Wyeths: the peerless illustrator N. C. Wyeth, Andrew's father; Andrew Wyeth; and Jamie, Andrew's son and a successful realist painter in his own right. The "Secret Life" of the title refers in part, of course, to the "Helga" paintings, sketches, drawings, and portraits (many of them in the nude) of Wyeth's neighbor, later his companion and assistant, Helga Testorf. The revelation of the "Helga" series gave the married Wyeth's life, at almost 70, a final dose of drama. This new biography, besides delving deeply into Wyeth's personal life, includes long discussions of almost every Wyeth canvas.

Book Description

"A revelation. No one will ever view Andrew Wyeth's apparently tranquil works the same way again after reading this vivid and astonishing portrait of the turbulent, driven man who paints them. Richard Meryman has written a wonderful book."
-- Geoffrey C. Ward

At its most fundamental level, this stunning and unique biography describes a distinguished painter's enterprise of transmitting emotion onto a flat surface. It explores all the factors that have combined to create Andrew Wyeth -- his childhood in a hothouse of creativity; his hypersensitivity; his formidable wife; his identification with people marginalized and misunderstood -- all which have made him an American icon. In the process, his realist works in watercolor and tempera, including the famous "Christina's World," have gained him a special and secure niche in the history of American art.

The book is a portrait of obsession -- how single-mindedness has affected Wyeth's relationships and transformed his world into a realm of secrecy and fervid imagination. Those who read this book will never look at Wyeth's work as they did before. It reveals the artist's dark depths, as well as the ruthless, angry, child/man fantasist who paints the basic brutalities of existence -- death and madness --that vibrate eerily beneath his pictures' calm surfaces.

Richard Meryman's narrative is almost novelistic, with its larger-than-life characters and subplots: the tragedy of C.C. Wyeth; Betsy Wyeth's campaign for independence and individuality; the byzantine 15-year-long drama of the Helga paintings; the eccentric and creative Wyeth clan; and the idiosyncratic land and people of Maine and Pennsylvania.

Based on 30 years of research, frequent visits and countless conversations with the artist, his family, friends, admirers and critics, Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life is the only book about the man and the artist that gets behind his carefully guarded screen, tells the full story of his life and reveals his complex personality and the motivations for his paintings.

Customer Reviews:

A great biography.......2007-01-13

This was a very interesting biography on Andrew Wyeth. I feel this book gave me insight into the artist himself, his wife Betsy and the Wyeth family. This book made me feel familiar with Karl Kuerner, Karl's farm, Christina Olson, Ben Loper and many others which added so much to how I look at the paintings. I feel I see the paintings in a whole different way. I liked the fact that Andrew Wyeth painted his close friends, everyday people and those that we can relate to in our personal lives. I loved the book and am now half way through reading it again.

Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life.......2007-01-11

condition fine. Take some of the statements with a grain of salt.
Not always facctual

Could not put this book down, thinking of reading it again now I've finished it..........2005-10-20

I have recently been studying [privately - I am a painter, not a student] the work of Andrew Wyeth, and so was pleased when I came across this biography of his life. I found it a totally absorbing read, and read the whole [it is long] book cover to cover, which even Rothko's biography failed me on, and I am a great fan of his. Reading a negative review above - Andrew Wyeth is not a dirty old man, and please don't let that reviewer put you off. As an artist, struggling daily with the development of my craft, I found this book riveting. It explained a lot to me about myself [and I am neither old, dirty, nor a man!] and my life as an artist, and my partner's role in that life. The descriptions of Wyeth working, his methods, his relationships with his models [few of which were ever nude, or female], all people he knew, in depth, and loved, in depth. This is a warts and all biography, a thorough and fascinating read. So fascinating, that I feel sorry to have just finished the last page earlier today, and having to return my library copy of the book, I am visiting Amazon to purchase my own copy for my collection. Buy it, borrow it, beg it, read it, even an abstract painter will learn from reading this book. It is about an artist's relationship with his world.

Answers to My Questoins Found Here.......2005-04-21

In a museum about two hours driving from where I live, there was an "Andrew Wyeth Show" where many of his work were shown. I am writing this several days after I saw the show.

To me, the "mystery" was his paintings. Why do they look like more than mere images? Why other realism painting don't catch my attention like those of Wyeth's? His skills as a painter is without a doubt a perfection, but that's not it. What, then, does make his work special?

That was all I wanted to know, and reading Chapters 1 and 2 were enough for me to draw my own conclusion. I found some important keywords that I don't list here because important keywords differ from person to person. I am sure if you read this book with a mission you can find some keywords that helps you - as a painter.

I think that each chapter should have had a name instead of just chapter 2, chapter 3, and so forth because not everybody has time to read this thick book and not everybody is interested in knowing the every detail of the painter. Some chapter had less importance to me, although I am sure they may be important to other people. They were description of his family members and people who had something to do with the painter, but I find them too detail for my purpose of reading.

I think this book can be compressed and will still be as good as it is if compressed wisely. It is too bad that a reader has to read the whole book to see what is written in each chapter. If I was a writer I would have had a chapter for Christina Olson, a chapter for Wyeth as a young person, a chapter for his inspiration, a chapter for the influence from his family especially his father, and so on. That way it is easier to read and go back to where you want to go back to find something that captured your attention. I had to flip pages after pages because the book is not organized.

Andrew Wyeth is a dirty old man.......2003-06-21

After I read the other 5 reviews I wondered if we had read the same book! In this much too revealing biography, Andrew Wyeth comes across as a man with some very real problems. How so? How would you feel about a neighbor of yours in his 70s who would shed all his clothes and drive around naked on a motorcycle at night? How would you feel about the same man streaking with a niece through a boring party? How would you feel about a man who secretly painted a voluptuous blonde model in the nude for 15 years secretly and hid it from his wife? The list could go and on. What readers have to realize as I have is that tremendously gifted men and women can be brilliant at their gifts of genius and yet fall flat on their faces as decent human beings. There is no doubt that Andrew Wyeth is a genius. There are few who can capture the feeling of loneliness, country, the inner soul of his models with such sensitivity and yet can turn into a leering dirty old man, have a mouth that spews forth utter filth and his people skills are of the lowest caliber. Once some people went to see the artist to commission him to paint something for them and by the end of the visit decided against it because of the way he came across.

I recommend Wyeth's early studies from the 50's to the late 60's as examples of egg tempera painting at its highest level but as far as any young artists emulating his life and mannersisms, they should be warned. There have been artists who have been shining examples by their lives- Durer, Rembrandt, Cole and Church come to mind- men who were passionate about their work and living on the highest levels of morality and goodness. An artist does not have to be a flaming reprobate to be a success.

Wyeth sees very little that is not jaundiced in life. I was disappointed in the extreme at some of the things that were written in this book. It really caused me to reevaluate my respect for the man. I would not want to know him personally and now I find it difficult to stomach some of his images knowing what he really thinks abaut them. The whole family needs to sober up and walk more circumspectly. If you decide to read this book, you were warned. It is a depressing experience at best. I recommned the Life of John Adams by David McCullough instead!

Average customer rating:
Andrew Wyeth A Secret Life
Meryman Richard
Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000UDZPQ6

Average customer rating:
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life/The Sea Hunters/The Cult at the End of the World/E. Coli 0157 (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 42: 1997)
Richard Meryman , Clive Cussler , David E. Kaplan & Andrew Marshall , and Mary Heersink
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000JFFCKY

Average customer rating:
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life/The Sea Hunters/The Cult at the End of the World/E. Coli 0157 (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 42: 1997)
Richard Meryman , Clive Cussler , David E. Kaplan & Andrew Marshall , and Mary Heersink
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000GQ0OWM

Average customer rating:
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life/The Sea Hunters/The Cult at the End of the World/E. Coli 0157 (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 42: 1997)
Richard Meryman , Clive Cussler , David E. Kaplan & Andrew Marshall , and Mary Heersink
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000KIV58I

Average customer rating:
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life/The Sea Hunters/The Cult at the End of the World/E. Coli 0157 (Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction, Volume 42: 1997)
Richard Meryman , Clive Cussler , David E. Kaplan & Andrew Marshall , and Robert Gandt
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000GP7FXO

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Andrew Wyeth (A Secret Life)
Richard Meryman
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OEXRSY

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Andrew Wyeth (RI) : A Secret Life
Richard Meryman
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000H8KDIE

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Andrew Wyeth - A Secret Life
Richard Meryman -
Manufacturer: Harper Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000PRVCTG

Average customer rating:
Andrew Wyeth - a Secret Life
Richard Meryman
Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Wyeth, Andrew | ( V-Z ) | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000O61G4Y

Amazon.com

The popularity of Michael Shaara's wonderful Civil War novel The Killer Angels left many readers hungry for more information about its real-life protagonist, Joshua Chamberlain, who bravely led the 20th Maine in holding the Union's extreme left flank at Little Round Top on the second day of Gettysburg. This dual biography introduces a new figure, nearly as compelling: William Oates, the man who commanded the Alabama troops opposing Chamberlain's bluecoats. Their parallel lives, captured on these pages, reveal the country's 19th-century sectionalism and allow Perry to write a chronicle of the Civil War and its aftermath through the prism of two engaging personalities.

Chamberlain's story is fairly well known. He was a Bowdoin College professor who left his post to serve in the army, fought well, and went on to a successful postwar political career as the governor of Maine. Oates, like Chamberlain, was the son of a farmer who got caught up in his nation's defining conflict, and then helped it inch along to recovery years later as a pragmatic governor and member of Congress. Perry refuses to canonize either--Chamberlain was an overbearing husband and Oates stuffed ballot boxes--yet his treatment of these two admirable but flawed men provides a refreshing new way to read about the Civil War. --John J. Miller

Book Description

At the center of this absorbing dual biography lies the legendary conflict at Little Round Top--"the single most important struggle" of the Civil War. Little Round Top decided the Battle of Gettysburg, opened the door to Northern victory, and brought together the disparate lives of two important Americans: Joshua Chamberlain, an academic from Maine who proved to be a brilliant military strategist, and William Oates, an Alabama maverick who fought heroically throughout the war. Both were self-educated men whose military success propelled them to the governorship of their respective states. By drawing on a vast mine of documents, Mark Perry brings these men vividly to life, and affords a fascinating look at nearly seventy years of American history. As a compelling portrait of two fabled men and an evocative account of the most crucial period in our nation's past, "Conceived in Liberty shows how history should be written" (Joseph Persico, author of My Enemy, My Brother).

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Dual Bio of Little Round Top Commanders.......2006-03-27

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and William Oates clashed on the extreme flank of Little Round Top at Gettysburg. The Author traces the development of these young men turned military leaders and their post-Civil War lives in an excellent portrait of perhaps prototypical Southern and Northern patriots and the mindsets they brought to battle.

Neither man was trained for the military before the war, though Chamberlain was attracted to the army life. Trained for the ministry, Chamberlain became a leading professor at Bowdoin College in Maine. Oates was a neer-do-well, spending much of his late adolescence moving one step ahead of the law for a crime he committed in Alabama. Oates was able to clear himself and get home and remarkably bootstrap himself to the position of educated man, school teacher and lawyer on the rise.

When the War broke out, both Chamberlain and Oates were enthusiastic champions of their regions. Oates was able to act on his military desires from the outset, while Chamberlain had to sneak into the army by pretending to take a sabbatical from a college reluctant to lose a star professor to the cause.

Both serious students of war and engaged commanders, Oates and Chamberlain met on what may be the penultimate part of perhaps the War's most significant battle. Upon fierce engagement with barely 600 total men hung the fait of armies numbering almost 200,000 and a nation of millions.

This book gives an excellent telling of the battle at Little Round Top. The fighting will of course be familiar to the Civil War student. What also fascinates is the well drawn in-depth dual portraits of two men who embodied the mind of warriors for their respective causes.

A wonderful dual-biography of two men who made history!.......2005-02-02

Even though Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates came from totally different backgrounds, they seem to have become more and more similar as their lives progressed. On July 2, 1863, they faced one another in one of the most crucial battles in American history. Both earned reputations as brave officers in combat during the Civil War, and both became involved with politics following the war's end. I've been a Civil War buff nearly all my life, but at first I didn't expect to enjoy another dual-biography (they usually try to cram too much info in one volume). I was pleasantly surprised by this well-written and well-researched book which should be required reading for any Civil War buff. It doesn't go overboard praising Joshua Chamberlain's war record as other biographies have done, and William Oates, one of the most overlooked Confederate officers, finally got the attention he deserved. Highly recommended.

Nice Parallel.......2002-07-30

Very well researched..unique because it looks at two very different (and similiar) generals. Also contains a pretty good overview of significant battles of the war.

A Prime Example of What the Civil War Won for All of Us.......2001-12-29

The Civil War was, in some ways, our own clash of cultures that ended up with us having a stronger, and more philisophically harmonic country than we had then. After the war we no longer were "Those United States" but "These United States".

While it took longer (and still has not taken root) for some Southern areas to accept that they have changed because of the war, this book outlines in a fascinating fashion why the American Dream was won in 1865.

Joshua Chamberlain and William Oates are both opposing personalities. Chamberlain was a professor, Oates a laborer. Chamberlain was a respected fellow before the war. Oates was much less.. even going into hiding at one point from the law.

What they had in common was a belief that they had gone as far as they could in their lives before the war. Chamberlain was forever going to be a professor. Oates forever a laborer.

Both faced each other in Gettysburg. While Chamberlain was the hero of Little Top in that battle, Oates eventually had a longer and more productive politcal life than Chamberlain.

Neither of these men won their positions by birth, wealth, or by the inner workings of a political machine. They won their positions by hard work, and the admiration of their men in battle and the people they fought for.

While it may have been possible prior to the Civil War for these men to have done so (Abraham Lincoln is a prime example) the fact is that the Southern philosophy was beaten in 1865, and the Northern philosophy of hard work, and position by trust and admiration rather than birth, and wealth won out and both sides reaped benefits and still are from that day.

The Importance of Philosophy.......2001-08-14

In reviewing Golay's "To Gettysburg and Beyond," I bemoaned the artificial nature of comparative biographies. Ultimately, I argued that the disreputable life of the rebellious Edward Porter Alexander was not worthy to be compared with that of the faithful Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. I still stand by those claims.

Once again, a comparative study has been published featuring Chamberlain and a Confederate adversary. This book, however, is much more worthy of an investment of your time and attention for at least two important reasons.

First, unlike Golay, Mr. Perry has selected a worthy individual to compare with Chamberlain. Unlike many of his Southern compatriots, Oates was not a former high ranking official of the US federal government (e.g.: John Breckinridge or Jefferson Davis), nor was he a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point or a former US Army officer (e.g.: Davis, Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, Bragg, Alexander, Ewell, A.P. Hill, Garnett, Pickett, Armistead, et al.). Thus, Oates did not compound his acts of sedition with the violation of sacred oathes.

Second, Mr. Perry's text is not so much a comparative biography as it is a comparison of the philosophies and circumstances that led these two, brave men to heroically oppose one another on Little Round Top.

Following St Origin, the Church has long argued: "Lex orandi; Lex credendi." Mr. Perry makes clear that the opposite is also true: beliefs can lead to actions. Right beliefs lead to great, heroic actions (a la Chamberlain), and flawed philosophies lead to tragically flawed actions (a la Oates).

Mr. Perry's real contribution is not so much that he exegetes the lives of two brave men for us to emulate. His real contribution is that he demonstrates the power and value of our beliefs.

Average customer rating:
Conceived in Liberty Joshua Chamberlain, William Oates, and the American Civil War
Mark Perry
Manufacturer: Viking Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W58WS0

Average customer rating:
Conceived in Liberty: Joshua Chamberlain, William Oates, and the American Civil War
Mark Perry
Manufacturer: Viking Press c1997
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ONVO12

Average customer rating:
Conceived in Liberty : Joshua Chamberlain, William Oates, and the American Civil War
Mark Perry
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIXHKI

Average customer rating:

Correct. It Took Nero 9 Days to Burn Rome.

Very intelligent work......

Better than Negri's 'Empire'

Rome wasn't burnt in a day

Read this book before November 2004

Incoherent Empire
Michael Mann
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

An expert on power, politics, and empire proposes how the current US regime might save itself.

The US is a military giant, better at devastating than at bringing peace to other countries. It is a political dwarf, unable to rule foreign lands or control its own client states. It is the backseat driver of the global economy; it cannot steer, but prods poorer foreign states toward often-irresponsible free-market politics. An ideological phantom, it seduces with promises of freedom, democracy, and material plenty, while bringing only militarism and stagnation. By dissecting the military, economic, political, and cultural resources of the US, Mann concludes that these resources only add up to an incoherent empire.

Mann also analyzes US involvement in invasions overseas, the war on terror, and "rogue states," concluding that the strategies it utilizes only increase the resolve of terrorists.

Customer Reviews:

Correct. It Took Nero 9 Days to Burn Rome........2007-09-13

This book is must reading. It is closely argued with specific after specific like Cheney's opposition to Gorbachev and nuclear disarmament even after the collapse of the USSR; or oops, the mistake of briefly listing a Christian nation like Armenia on the State Department's official terrorist states list. The criticisms that the reviewer above makes are unfounded. First off, the criticism that this book lacks a "long view of history" is presumptuous to say the least. Michael Mann has written THE definitive MULTI-VOLUME History of Social Power--if anyone has mastered the long-view of imperial development, it is he. Secondly, the criticism of the "tone" of the book says more about the reviewer than it does about the content of the book. First off, how can anyone write with specific details about the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and the ignorant and arrogant assertions pouring out of the White House justifying it and not express with words what any caring human being must feel and think? As for the "chickenhawk" terminology, it is not a mere slur but a quite specific term--the distinction between "hawks" and "doves" is standard in political discourse. It has been around for a long time. But since the 1980's with the rise of neoconservatism, a whole new dimension has been added. The new imperialism that Mann studies is quite different from the older nationalism. In the older nationalism, a hawk was a hawk--he fought in wars and he advocated war. In the new imperialism, more often than not, the ones who actually fought in wars do NOT endorse the new imperialism's wars. So for example, the conservative Republican Senator from Nebraska, Chuck Hagel, who actually fought in Vietnam has opposed the new imperialism's wars right from the beginning. On the other hand, Bush the Younger, who effectively avoided any war experience in Vietnam has been the main force for the new imperialist wars in Iraq, Afganistan, and on "Terrorism" in general. Hagel, a conservative Republican with combat experience is a conventional "hawk." Chuck Hagel is no "dove." But the new imperialism is so "incoherent" as Mann argues, that the old political categories of hawk/dove and much more simply don't describe the brand new dimensions. For these new dimensions, new terms are needed or even better, modifications of old terms, thus a "hawk" has combat experience and advocates belligerent foreign policy based on that personal experience. Those new young buckeroos who went out of their way to avoid combat, like Bush did when his dad helped him get into the air guard flying obsolete planes with a preference card requesting exemption from OUTCONUS duty, are a different breed of political cat. You can not call a traditional hawk like Hagel and Bush the Younger both "hawks" and have any kind of clarity of thought. For that matter, you can not call Bush the Elder (a traditional "hawk") and Bush the Younger, Mann's key comparison, both "hawks" and capture the two in the same category for political analysis. You need a new term for the new thing and "chickenhawk" fits it perfectly. Whenever a new phenomenon is given a new name, it is usually its opponents who see it and name it and the initial connotation is offensive. So for example, "Lutherans" was a highly derogatory title for the early followers of Martin Luther in the early 1500's. Luther specifically ordered his followers not to call themselves "Lutherans." But after a century of being called that by the "true catholics," the Lutherans finally started wearing that derogatory title with pride even though doctrinally they even to this day confess themselves to be members of "the one holy catholic and apostolic church" and not "Lutherans." But almost every new name for a new thing starts out like this. "Hawk" originally was derogatory and so was "dove"--they may still be in some sense but they fit the phenomena and so we wear them until something new comes along. "Incoherent Empire" is a must read book by THE expert on "the long view" of the history of social power. I highly recommend reading all the volumes of Mann's opus magnus for anyone really interested in what "empires" are, how they develop, and most importantly, how they differ from one another. I can agree with the reviewer's title, however, Rome was not "Burnt" by Nero in "just one day," the Great Fire of Rome that started on 19 July 64 AD burnt for 9 days with 30% of the city completely leveled and 70% of the city damaged in some fashion. The question is, are we ready to assess the damage of what the new "incoherent" form of imperialism in America has done to us, our future and to the world?

Very intelligent work.............2004-09-11

I just finished reading this book and I could not wait to write my humble review about it. This work by Prof. Mann presents such a rational and powerful analysis of what is happening in the world today that it is difficult to understand how some people fail to see the obvious consequences of the military adventures the american govt' undertakes.

Apart from the fact that US foreign policy is sometimes based on very simplistic views and a lack of understanding of cultures and aspirations of the rest of the world ...it also assumes that the US has the right to judge and impose its ways...The american people , good , honest ,hard working and very patriotic , but almost always misinformed , can not see ,that maybe some of those displayed by the US media as fanatic terrorists view themselves also as patriotic and nationalist fighters...We must go further and deeper and examine what causes their unrest and if in fact they are enemies of the US or if they feel it is the other way around...The results may surprise you...

Terrorism MUST end...and the best way is to end what causes it....and most of the time the cause is state repression and unequality...when the causes are gone , the evil minds that
harm innocent people would be unable to justify their actions.

Better than Negri's 'Empire'.......2004-08-06

And I thought that at one point what was needed in the Mann book was a true strain of Marxist critique; however, Negri's 'Empire' has that and it still isn't any good. Now about the Mann book, to be precise:

For those who run the US empire, I highly doubt that the sum of all the parts is so incoherent. Look what all that militarism has got them--bigger and bigger military, intelligence and security budgets (like wow, if you add in all the supplementary budgets since 9-11)and two wars to keep them busy spending all that money. And this is why this elite, right down to its upper working class whites who provide the personnel, is so hermetically sealed from any critique or even a sense of crisis from within. So long as the budgets increase and the federal contractors get their money, they will keep selling militarism and mercantilism as the American way.

Like the Chalmers Johnson book, I'm not really sure just what Mann is trying to save from itself. It isn't a system that has gone out of whack and too far out. It's a system that was inherently so from the very start. Right-wing libertarians kid themselves if they think Jefferson would oppose Bush.

Rome wasn't burnt in a day.......2004-03-09

Michael Mann's "Incoherent Empire" is a good addition to the recent raft of books shining a much-needed light on America's descent from republic to empire. However, I found it flawed in its tone, and in its easy acceptance of Leftist dogma. More seriously, its historical perspective is too short.

To his credit, Mann does a fine job proving his thesis (articulated on page 13), that the employment of military unilateralism by the Bush Administration is not the policy of "realism" it's made out to be. With his thorough focus on ongoing and potential military threats and ample documentation of global, especially Middle Eastern, opinions of American actions, Mann proves that we're not winning any friends worldwide. Indeed, burdened as we are with a particularly parochial viewpoint, "Americans, insulated within their self-censorship, do not even know how isolated they are" (p. 261). Worse, many Americans who do recognize this don't seem to care.

This is where I think Mann's tone comes into play. His casual deployment of Leftist smear-words (describing the 2000 election, for example, as "a neo-conservative chicken-hawk coup" [p. 252], as just one example), or constant mis-identification of America's mercantilist trade policy as "capitalism" or "free trade," no doubt endear him to a certain segment of his readership. But it undermines what I think is a far more important mission: helping potentially sympathetic audiences (even conservative ones) see the strengths of his arguments. In this area, Chalmers Johnson's recent "The Sorrows of Empire" is a much better work.

The other area where Johnson's book is far stronger than Mann's is in his long-term historical perspective. Mann is too quick to paint the new militarism as a product of a neo-conservative cabal. Unquestionably, the neo-cons play a major role in the growth of the Empire, especially the current emphasis on military unilateralism. But Mann writes as though the "Incoherent Empire" was conceived in Defense Department memoranda during Bush the Elder's term, and midwifed by Bush the Younger following 9/11. In fact, Johnson makes an almost ironclad (in my opinion) case that the roots of Empire sink far back into America's past. The old cliché about Rome not being built in a day has a literal, and precise, application here.

And if Rome wasn't built in a day, it won't be burnt in one either. Mann writes on his last page that the "political solution" to the situation he describes is to "throw the new militarists out of office" in November 2004. But to turn out the neo-cons and replace Bush the Younger with someone different (and the differences between Bush and Kerry are much smaller than either man would have us believe), would simply mean changing the Emperor. The apparatus of imperial power would remain in place.

Mann's book is a good start, but I believe he needs to widen his field of vision somewhat. This is about far more than a few "chicken hawks."

Read this book before November 2004.......2003-10-23

When Vice President Cheney staffed the Bush Administration, he gave jobs to many of his neoconservative friends. The neoconservatives want to establish an American Empire, using American military might. Now that they have given us a war in Iraq, they would like to invade Syria and Iran as well.

So Michael Mann took time out from his scholarly work to give us a clear and concise analysis of American Imperialism. Since his specialty is the history of empires of the past, he is well equipped to tell us about the American empire of the present.

His conclusion: The US government has military power, but does not meet any of the other requirements for establishing and keeping a successful empire. If you want to know the details, buy and read his book.

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This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 3877 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.

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Title: Imperialism and disorder: the global ambitions and internal decay of the United States.(Incoherent Empire; Contours of Descent: US Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity; Tyranny in America: Capitalism and National Decay)(Book review)
Author: Geoffrey Wood
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 56 Page: 283(9)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Incoherent Empire.(Book Review) : An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Incoherent Empire.(Book Review) : An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Stephen A. Bourque
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2005. The length of the article is 819 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: Incoherent Empire.(Book Review)
Author: Stephen A. Bourque
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Page: 379(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Incoherent Empire
Michael Mann
Manufacturer: Verso
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K7EP7W

Book Description

Fishing the Great Lakes is a sweeping history of the destruction of the once-abundant fisheries of the great "inland seas" that lie between the United States and Canada. Though lake trout, whitefish, freshwater herring, and sturgeon were still teeming as late as 1850, Margaret Bogue documents here how overfishing, pollution, political squabbling, poor public policies, and commercial exploitation combined to damage the fish populations even before the voracious sea lamprey invaded the lakes and decimated the lake trout population in the 1940s.
From the earliest records of fishing by native peoples, through the era of European exploration and settlement, to the growth and collapse of the commercial fishing industry, Fishing the Great Lakes traces the changing relationships between the fish resources and the people of the Great Lakes region. Bogue focuses in particular on the period from 1783, when Great Britain and the United States first politically severed the geographic unity of the Great Lakes, through 1933, when the commercial fishing industry had passed from its heyday in the late nineteenth century into very serious decline. She shows how fishermen, entrepreneurial fish dealers, the monopolistic A. Booth and Company (which distributed and marketed much of the Great Lakes catch), and policy makers at all levels of government played their parts in the debacle. So, too, did underfunded scientists and early conservationists unable to spark the interest of an indifferent public. Concern with the quality of lake habitat and the abundance of fish increasingly took a backseat to the interests of agriculture, lumbering, mining, commerce, manufacturing, and urban development in the Great Lakes region. Offering more than a regional history, Bogue also places the problems of Great Lakes fishing in the context of past and current worldwide fishery concerns.

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