Book Description
In this vivid biography Geoffrey C. Ward brings back to life the most celebrated — and the most reviled — African American of his age.
Jack Johnson battled his way out of obscurity and poverty in the Jim Crow South to win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. At a time when whites ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist. While most blacks struggled simply to exist, he reveled in his riches and his fame, sleeping with whomever he pleased, to the consternation and anger of much of white America. Because he did so the federal government set out to destroy him, and he was forced to endure prison and seven years of exile. This definitive biography portrays Jack Johnson as he really was--a battler against the bigotry of his era and the embodiment of American individualism.
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant piece of work.......2007-09-14
I thoroughly enjoyed this book on Jack Johnson. The man was the best boxer of his generation and lived his life to the fullest extent outside the ring.
The author has produced a tremendous work that completely looks at the life of the champion and gives a look at the USA in that time. Johnson had to deal with numerous issues in his day and he handled it in a manner that few could.
Well worth reading.
The Baddest of the BAD! See it for yourself, could Clay do this??.......2007-02-03
I have made a study of this man and he fought at a time when a referee was basically the guy with the best seat in the house, as there were no such things as "standing eight counts", as a knockdown was the end of the round and this is why Jack Johnson, who started as a much lighter man, and he seriously had an I.Q. of a 4 year old, but, when he hit, the canvas shook!~!~! He was the first...the "VERY first BLACK MAN to be the 'International Heavyweight Champeen of the World' ". He respected no white man, and he showed his disdain by always having beauteous white women on his arms (plural) and he knew that he whipped up a frenzy where ever he went and esp. when he fought. He waited..a long time as NO WHITE man would show his face to get into the ring. The man "James Jeffries", dared to be the man to 'wipe Jack out'..he was called "The Great White Hope", and the whole world wanted the death of Jack Johnson by any white hands..he was that HATED!~!~! But, this man, worked out, not in a gym, like a "ROCKY" movie, He stood all day in the middle of barns as his best accomadations would be for Jack. He had barrells full of rocks (where do you think "Stallone's Barn scene in Russia" came from???) That was Jack Johnson for real, heaving as much as he could heaving and heaving those barrells as much as he could until all he was spent... he was a muscular man who could take your head off as Floyd Patterson did when he was the first "Heavyweight" (at 180 lbs)to regain the world's Heavyweight Crown before Muhammad Ali did it three (3) times!...Back to Jack Johnson...I cannot say much more except that when James Jeffries went down, he had NO HEART to get up..not one more time would he stand before what Jack Johnson called: "Da Hevywate Champeen of da world"! As he kept taunting his manager with that question time and again..."WHEN do I get a try"? So, the day 's temperature was over 100 degrees , if I recollect, and no wind blew, but, Jack entered into the ring first...then the "GREAT White- Hope", James jeffries, with thousands standing in that heat for what seemed as scores of years...and he was the first to leave, heaving the "spit bucket" at the newspress people, as he ran under the ring and on a waiting train...heading for "HIS FORM of GLORY": You shall read it, I know, and you will understand prejudice, hatred, violence in boxing, for it is gone as we see the sport today...this was a day of gladiators...standing, swinging, falling, the opponent standing above his opponent, waiting for a knee to leave the mat, them, again...POW!..before the "ref" even said "get back"!Jack would stalk the dizzy, man falling on the ropes, the mat, almost left the ring a few times..never a count to ten...it was down and out ...that was boxing in the "Glory Days" of the baddest Men in the world, not, greatest, or the hardest left hook, or the fastest jab..that all meant nothing.
What was the value here was round 20, round 30, round 50...and the band beat on! As did Jack Johnson...in HIS lifetime~!~!~!..this must be read by sports heros of today who are covered with padded armor for protection and for millions and millions of US Dollars. Jack walked proudly everywhere, with a pocket of change and died a poor man... Yes, these were the true Boxers of the past..this was the ONE!~!~! The ONE that you'll remember...for a long, long time!~!~!
Rick, "Strings"
A True Icon in the History of Sports.......2006-08-16
Jack Johnson was no saint, and certainly Geoffrey C. Ward does not defend his vices nor forgive Johnson in his book, "Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson". What Ward does do (with great research and writing) is gather details pertaining to periods in leading up to and between what generally is known as Johnson's triumphs and headlines. Furthermore, he does set the scene of a land not yet ready for Johnson's maverick ways.
You get the early stories of Johnson as a youth and his influential mother who set upon him the idea that he was capable of anything. His days of leaving school for work, to his beginnings in early prizefighting are covered in detail as well as his participation in battle royals which many black fighters of his era too had experience in. These beginnings were the catalyst of the rise and conquering of the most distinguished pugilistic title "World Heavyweight Champion". His style was before any time; a defensive master who toyed with opponents and at times would carry conversations with ringside onlookers.
Johnson and his women were always intriguing and really got him in a pickle with the government. Beyond Jim Crow, blacks acting "uppity" were easy targets to make examples of in judicial or extreme (lynching) measures. Johnson being the most notorious black American of that era certainly was as easy a target for the Anglo-Saxon sentiment. "Lil' Arthur" though was a rebel and lived his life as he chose, his extradition came after a long battle which he did put a good fight. I think to compare him to Ali is incorrect. Ali was unpopular to many, but popular on the flip side as well. Johnson was always looked upon as a threat by a white majority and eventually even looked down upon in disgust by many of his fellow blacks.
His downfall was sad, but all in all Johnson lived his life as good as a black American could in that time. He traveled the world unlike any normal citizen would of and rubbed many known shoulders of his day. It is only tragic that if he were not black, he would have been regarded as the Babe Ruth of boxing.
Profound humanity outpoints facile race classification.......2006-05-23
Growing up in the Midwest, we knew nothing about Jack Johnson. Only Joe Louis appeared as the iconic boxing champion we kids admired. Even our parents and grandparents seemed to know nothing about Johnson. However, at this moment, my 86-year old father is reading this book. Perhaps I bought for it him to redress past oversight.
Only through the stage play and film, "The Great White Hope" did we gain an introduction to the man Jack Johnson. Ward's book fills a goodly number of historical gaps, and even when specifics are ambiguous (Johnson himself offered several versions of his life's events), the larger picture of a man denied his fundamental humanity emerges.
This is no mere hagiography of the man. Johnson, ever clearly a self-confident man, is present in the pages with his failures, foibles, his faults. But a generation or two passed him over, shut him out of their memories, failed to add his powerful presence as heavyweight champion to stories told to newer generations. The reason for this oversight was fear. Johnson's insistence upon his manhood, as much or more manhood than his contemporaries, was a fearsome thing for black men to display. Choosing one's own style of abundant living or a woman of one's desiring, regardless of color or custom ran powerfully against the expectations of black subservience. Whites feared this usurpation of their presumed entitlement, and among blacks too there were those who feared what form of white revenge might be visited upon them because of Johnson's perceived impertinence.
Ward offers readers a recapturing of gloomy early 20th Century racial politics combined with Jack Johnson's poised and mesmerizing stance against a world in overwhelming refusal to understand and accept him. He fought for and won the heavyweight championship not to represent black hopes and ambitions against whites (though these hopes were surely buoyed by his unprecedented victories). He joined the fray as simply one man against another man, pitting wit, style, grace, and strength to win.
Although DNA now provides unassailable scientific proof for the insignificance of skin color in the human species, at the turn of the 20th Century, Jack Johnson proved this with his fists.
Ward's bio delivers a nice punch!.......2006-04-17
I had no knowledge of boxing history and had never heard of Jack Johnson before picking up this book. I'm not normally invested in any sport, but Ward quickly and smoothly pulled me into the fights of yesteryear. Not just the boxing matches but the trials Jack Johnson had to overcome because of his ethnicity.
I learned a great deal and found myself a fan of Mr Johnson because of his charming personality. He paved the way for so many African-American athletes by creating a cult of personality that anyone, regardless of skin color, could admire.
Product Description
The rise and fall of Jack Johnson.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Weekly Standard, published by News America Incorporated on January 31, 2005. The length of the article is 1428 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: Boxing in jazz: Wynton Marsalis imposes his version of the story of Jazz on a Ken Burns documentary.(Books & Arts)(Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson )(Movie Review)
Author: Tim Marchman
Publication:
The Weekly Standard (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 31, 2005
Publisher: News America Incorporated
Volume: 10
Issue: 19
Page: 36(3)
Article Type: Movie Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 4025 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: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.(Book review)
Author: John C. Walter
Publication:
Afro-Americans in New York Life and History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 31
Issue: 1
Page: 122(8)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Cineaste, published by Cineaste Publishers, Inc. on March 22, 2005. The length of the article is 2141 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: Unforgivable Blackness: the Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.(Movie Review)
Author: Leger Grindon
Publication:
Cineaste (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2005
Publisher: Cineaste Publishers, Inc.
Volume: 30
Issue: 2
Page: 50(3)
Article Type: Movie Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
The two previous volumes in this hugely popular series have covered Fighters 1939-1945 and Strategic Bombers 1935-1945. This new addition takes a close look at a varied range of aircraft types, principally described as ground-attack and special-purpose types, but which includes Kampfzerstorer (multi-purpose combat aircraft), multi-purpose and fast bombers, explosive-carrying aircraft intended to attack other aircraft, air-to-air ramming vehicles, bomb-carrying gliders and towed fighters, and airborne weapons and special devices (rockets, cannons, flame-throwers, etc.) As in the first two volumes, the technical descriptions and histories of about 140 aircraft types are brought to life by many specially created full-color artworks, showing the projects, often in unit markings, as they might have appeared if they had come to fruition and/or if the war had continued beyond 1945. This series has proven indispensable for historians and notably for modelers, whose imaginations are fired up by these revelations.
Customer Reviews:
Moderation is the key.......2007-01-15
This volume gives an idea of how wide-ranging were the Nazi plans and ideas. They spread themselves so wide that they, thankfully, overstepped their ability to produce. Without some focus on the tasks at hand, they were off in a hundred different directions. The authors have, with all three volumes, shown the advanced thinking coming out of Germany. But they also show the bureaus doing scattered if effective work. These are worth having not only to see what they had planned, but also to show a national leadership leaping and bounding here and there trying to solve problems by bringing new production as the solution. These books are worth having.
Pretty Pictures, but disappointing research.......2004-12-29
Page 7 of this book contains a remarkable Publisher's Note, in which the publisher acknowledges the efforts of translator Ted Oliver (for this book was originally written in German) for his efforts to improve on the original version and the addition of "commentary on the author's erroneous text repeated from sources known to be incorrect or speculative." It must be almost unique to have such a statement in the foreword of a book.
There still is a lot of interesting material in this book, including many fascinating reproductions of original German drawings. But the text is took skimpy, and too much space is devoted to often speculative artwork. This book creates an appetite for more, but one is left feeling dissatisfied and in doubt about the validity of what one has just read.
I don't regret buying this; it is a book worth having. But compared to Tony Buttler's really excellent series on British Secret Projects (which is, that is true, rather harder to digest) this is the work of a dilettante.
They were ten years ahead........2004-11-25
In this third book of their series on Luftwaffe Secret projects the authors have found some 140 aircraft that were proposed and/or developed for military use by the various German companies. The war years, for Germany were accompanied by great leaps in engine design. The engines of the ME-262 jet fighter, the rocket engine of the ME-163, the V-1 Buzz bombs pulse jet engine and improved traditional engines were all becoming available for new air frame designs.
Further experience on the battlefield had also brought a greater understanding of the needs for new aircraft designs. The German companies responded with a series of designs. Many of these designs look surprisingly like the designs proposed by American and British companies during the early 1950's as these kinds of new engines were becoming available over here. In one case the comparison is so close that there is a picture of a Junkers 1941 ground attack aircraft and a photograph of an American A-10 Warthog on facing pages.
Many of the other aircraft proposed, especially by Blohn and Voss are so goofy looking that I'm reminded of the old saying, "if it looks good it will fly good." In the case of Blohm & Voss, it's apparently the other way around. Reports that I've seen say that their planes fly well, in spite of how goofy they look.
A book to be read a couple of times and to serve as the basis for a lot of conversation with other airplane buffs.
Great Book.......2004-08-10
Number 3 in the Secret Projects Trilogy is just as good as Fighters and Bombers. The research is as good as it gets considering the subject matter but the authors have resisted the temptation to fill in the blanks with historical licence where the data is lacking. The artwork is inspiring and continues in the tradition of the previous volumes. Highly recommended to all aviation enthusiasts and particularly Luftwaffe 1946 modellers.
Super Work!.......2004-01-13
Mr's Herwig and Rode, an excellent work on the topic. I found this book to be very informative, had interesting and rare photos, the illustrations and line drawings were excellent, and it was easy to read. There were some items discussed that I had never heard of, namely the "Flammelwerfer" or flamethrower on the rear of an aircraft. All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject. A truly super job!
Book Description
Since 9/11, one important question has persisted: What was really going on behind the scenes with intelligence services and government leaders during the time preceding that terrible day? After an eighteen-month investigation, Gerald Posner reveals much previously undisclosed information, including details about a secret deal between Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden; how the U.S. government missed several chances to kill or capture bin Laden; how the CIA tracked–and then lost–two of the hijackers when they entered the United States months before the attacks; the devastating consequences of the crippling rivalry between the CIA and FBI; and the startling account of top al Qaeda captive whose information subsequently led to a trail of mysterious deaths of Saudi Arabian princes and Pakistani military leaders.
Why America Slept exposes the frequent mistakes made by law enforcement and government agencies, and demonstrates how the failures to prevent 9/11 were tragically not an exception but typical. In the end, Posner makes a damning case that the terrorist attacks could have been prevented.
Download Description
The story of the years leading up to 9/11 is the story of what might have been, and also serves as a call to the defense of America's future. Since 9/11, one important question has persisted: What was really going on behind the scenes with intelligence services and government leaders during the time preceding the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks?
After an eighteen-month investigation that uncovered explosive new evidence through interviews and in classified documents, Gerald Posner reveals much previously undisclosed information:
- the identity of two countries that might have had foreknowledge that a terrorist attack was scheduled for September 11 on U.S. soil
- a startling account of the interrogation of a leading al Qaeda captive
- facts about a series of deaths that point to an ongoing conspiracy by some governments to hide the extent of their earlier relationships with al Qaeda
- details about a secret deal between Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden
- how the U.S. government missed several chances to kill or capture bin Laden
- evidence that German intelligence may have protected an informant who was involved with many of the 9/11 plotters
- how the CIA tracked -- and then lost -- two of the hijackers when they entered the United States more than twenty months before the attacks
- the devastating consequences of the crippling rivalry between the CIA and FBI as the United States moved unwittingly toward 9/11
In a dramatic narrative, Why America Slept exposes the frequent mistakes made by law enforcement and government agencies, and demonstrates how the failures to prevent 9/11 were tragically not an exception but typical. Along the way, by delving into terror financing, the links between far-flung terror organizations, and how the United States responded over the years to other attacks, Posner also makes a damning case that 9/11 could have been prevented.
Why America Slept lays to rest two years of conjecture about what led up to the worst terror attacks in America's history. This breakthrough book presents an infuriating review of how incompetence and misplaced priorities made America an easy target for terrorists.
Customer Reviews:
It Is Time To Wake Up.......2007-02-12
Gerald L. Posner proved his prowess as an investigator in his books covering the murders of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. But it is with this account on the political games & blunders that led to 9/11 which will define his reporting for future generations.
It is not only the 20-plus years of quiet deals, turf wars and unexplainable ignorance, but the powers who hold the puppet strings of the so-called American political leaders that doomed innocent civilians on that September morning.
And the perfection of the reporting has deflected harsh criticism initially aimed at Posner, in particular the threatened legal action from the Saudi ruling family. The truth really stings when it is in a book and cannot be honestly repudiated by the puppeteers.
As the Bush Administration and their lap dogs - Democrats and Repulicans - in Congress and the media prepare the American people to escalate the military quagmire in Iraq and rattle the sabre at Iran and other sovereign nations, Posner's message is as important as ever.
The politcians refused to set an alarm clock of common sense. It is time for the people to wake them up to the truth behind their criminal lies.
Wake up America.......2006-10-24
"9/11 could have been prevented."
A dry read that will leave you frustrated with the failures within our government and around the world. Information is taken from personnel interviews and extensive references. We shut our eyes and ears--willingly ignorant. Were we looked on as a paper tiger?
Posner covers: The ignored Mosques and charities in our own cities, who raise funds for terrorists; the lack of communication within and between our government, CIA, FBI, and law enforcement--division, hindrances, lack of action, ineptness; terrorists cells within; links to iraq; bombings leading up to 9/11; the warnings of the Bin Ladin progression; missed opportunities; the money flow--banks, businesses.
The media reporting on domestic terrorists was overshadowed by the O.J. trial--the later bringing in a more captivated audience. Our priorities lie elsewhere.
Was Zubayday tortured? Who else new and failed to tell us?
Good accompaniment: "9/11 Commission Report"
Concise, Provocative, And Well Researched.......2006-06-16
In "Why America Slept" Gerald Posner has written an excellent account of policy and intelligence failures that prevented America from suspecting, detecting, and preventing the September 11, 2001 attacks. The book is not a typical political ax-grinding tome, but rather seeks to dispense credit and blame regardless of party affiliation. The book goes back to the Carter administration, which in many ways set the tone for US dealings with Muslim extremists (largely excepting Reagan) and is particularly good at exploring the legal hand-wringing that went on in Washington in attempting to deal with terrorists in a politically correct manner, and a general failure to take terrorism seriously enough (the book gives perhaps the best account of the Clinton administration's failure to treat Osama bin Laden as a major threat, despite the 1999 findings of the Hart-Rudman report on national security.)
A major recurring theme of the book is the now-familiar refrain of lack of intra- and inter-agency cooperation (most notably between the CIA and FBI), utter incompetence by the INS, failure to correctly analyze threats by militant religious factions (starting with the takeover of the Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, New York by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, ultimately giving bin Laden prime influence at the Center,) and political cowardice in pursuing religious enemies of the United States, including enemies who had repeatedly threatened US interests.
This is a very concise and well documented history of the government inaction that utterly failed to prevent the worst surprise attack in American history. I highly recommend it to everyone.
succinct, clear, and detailed.......2006-04-17
Gerald Posner's Why America Slept is a short, engaging, well-researched book about the events leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the failings by government agencies (U.S. and otherwise) that enabled them to succeed. Without intending to be, it is an excellent primer (along with James Bamford's A Pretext for War and the 9/11 Commission Report) to show the bankruptcy of the "U.S. government did it" conspiracy theories. The book does not address those theories, it simply lays out the events and evidence that led up to 9/11 in great detail--events and evidence which those conspiracy theories completely ignore. As Posner's earlier book Case Closed more explicitly showed for JFK assassination theories, they proceed by selecting isolated apparent anomalies in the evidence or errors in the official accounts, stringing them together to build a superficially semi-plausible case, and ignore everything else. The same tactic is used by those who deny the reality of evolution or the Holocaust. Those who use this technique fail to realize that any attempt to construct an account of a large, complex historical event is likely to have a few minor errors, but the best explanation is one which incorporates the most accurate and most comprehensive amount of the available data.
Notable for their absence from the book are any significant links to Saddam Hussein and Iraq, though Posner does discuss a few that exist (and mentions and cites speculation by Laurie Mylroie). In my view, this is appropriate, though he could have debunked some of the bogus claims of connections, like the claim of Mohammed Atta meeting Al-Ani in Prague, the mistaken identification of al Qaeda's Ahmed Hikmat Shakir Azzawi (family name, Azzawi) with Iraqi intelligence agent Lt. Col. Hikmat Shakir Ahmad (family name, Ahmad), or the other bogus claims from bad intelligence information assembled by Douglas Feith and promoted by Stephen Hayes in his book The Connection, if only Posner's book hadn't predated Hayes'. On the other hand, Posner documents significant links between the hijackers and Pakistan's intelligence services and Saudi royalty.
The list of failings Posner documents is long--it includes failure by Bill Clinton to treat terrorism seriously enough, and in particular to treat Osama bin Laden seriously enough, even after the Hart/Rudman report on national security was issued in 1999. It includes walls between agencies (especially between the CIA and FBI), incompetence by the INS, failure to heed multiple warnings, the FBI's inability to investigate religious groups--even when Islamic extremists were openly advocating attacks against the U.S. at conferences held at U.S. hotels.
Posner's book starts in 1990 with the takeover of the Alkifah Refugee Center by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and the subsequent murder of Emir Shalabi, which solidified bin Laden's influence over the Center. He then backtracks to the 1970s to cover CIA activity in counterterrorism, and back to the 1950s to cover the history of Osama bin Laden up until the late 1980s. He devotes a chapter to the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane in Manhattan, and documents the connections to Rahman and al Qaeda which were ignored in the prosecution of El-Sayyid Nosair, who pulled the trigger.
Another chapter documents the secret deal between the Saudi government and bin Laden that would not only allow him to operate freely but to be funded with millions of dollars from the Saudis in exchange for a promise to keep his activities off Saudi Arabian soil.
Posner covers the first WTC bombing attack, bin Laden's time in Sudan (and the U.S.'s failure to apprehend him despite multiple opportunities), and his deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He discusses the hijacking plot foiled by police in the Philippines, "Operation Bojinka," which involved hijacking planes, loading them with explosives, and flying them into buildings. He discusses reporter Steve Emerson's work on Jihad in America, and the Oklahoma City bombing, which discredited the idea of Islamic terrorism in the eyes of many when it proved to have a domestic source. (Posner describes and refers to the work of Jayna Davis, who still argues for a Middle Eastern connection to the Oklahoma City bombing.)
Posner has a brief mention (p. 103) of Wadi el-Hage, bin Laden's private secretary, who lived in the U.S. in the early 1990's and was "implicated in the murder of a radical imam in Arizona" (Rashad Khalifa in Tucson, though Posner doesn't name him).
Subsequent chapters cover money trails to al Qaeda, al Qaeda attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, the crash of EgyptAir 990, Ahmed Ressam's attempt to cross into the U.S. from Canada with explosives, and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, before going into detail about the movements of the 9/11 hijackers up to their attacks, the numerous missed opportunities to track and apprehend several of the key players, and the immediate aftermath and capture of key al Qaeda operatives like Abu Zubaydah, whose interrogation after his apprehension in Pakistan in 2002 concludes the book.
This book is a great introduction to the events surrounding 9/11 and is highly recommended.
Government Bungling - Again!.......2005-12-24
Posner writes that "the seeds of failure were sown repeatedly in almost 20 years of fumbled investigations and misplaced priorities." Perhaps 9/11 could have been prevented - hindsight is always easy. However, it is clear that our technological prowness notwithstanding, the U.S. did make a number of serious errors.
Several examples were given about Arab enclaves within the U.S. openly fomenting anti-Israel and anti-U.S. hatred. Brooklyn and Detroit were cited; one multi-award-winning journalist was invited to some of the meetings and created a PBS program on the topic. Unfortunately, little attention was paid by law enforcement or political leadership. As a result, they failed to "connect the dots" between various terrorist murders within the U.S. and simply assumed they were all/mostly the work of individuals acting alone.
Barney Frank also earned coverage in the book by sponsoring an amendment that prohibited using terrorist organization membership as grounds for denying visa - one had to have committed terrorism acts.
As for Condoleezza Rice's assertion that "no one could imagine terrorists flying an airplane into a building," Posner relates how specific plans to crash planes into CIA headquarters and another unidentified D.C. landmark were found in a Manila terrorist's laptop and corroborated by one of the individuals.(Such evidence needed to be taken seriously as those involved were building bombs to assassinate the Pope and simultaneously blow up several 747s). Also, French authorities had told the U.S. of a foiled attempt to fly a plane into the Eiffel Tower.
Interminable infighting between the CIA, FBI, NYPD, State Department repeatedly harmed terrorism-fighting efforts, and was well covered by Posner. One suspects that much more would get done if fewer agencies (and Congressional restrictions) were involved.
Posner also covered the alleged offer by Sudan to turn over bin Laden - supposedly we declined because we didn't think we had anything to prosecute him with at the time.
Then there was the Phoenix memo and the Minneapolis FBI plea to get a court order to look into Zacarias Moussaoui's computer. (Phoenix had 8 agents assigned to terrorism, and 60 to drug cases.)
The "Bottom Line:" Why are we paying untold billions for such moronic government? Why bother to vote (both Democratic and Republic administrations made major errors)?
Book Description
Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity brings together more than thirty leading scientists and conservation practitioners to consider a key question in environmental conservation: Is the conservation of large carnivores in ecosystems that evolved with their presence equivalent to the conservation of biological diversity within those systems? Building their discussions from empirical, long-term data sets, contributors including James A. Estes, David S. Maehr, Tim McClanahan, Andr?s J. Novaro, John Terborgh, and Rosie Woodroffe explore a variety of issues surrounding the link between predation and biodiversity: What is the evidence for or against the link? Is it stronger in marine systems? What are the implications for conservation strategies?
Large Carnivores and the Conservation of Biodiversity is the first detailed, broad-scale examination of the empirical evidence regarding the role of large carnivores in biodiversity conservation in both marine and terrestrial ecosystems. It contributes to a much more precise and global understanding of when, where, and whether protecting and restoring top predators will directly contribute to the conservation of biodiversity. Everyone concerned with ecology, biodiversity, or large carnivores will find this volume a unique and thought-provoking analysis and synthesis.
Customer Reviews:
Marshalling science for the conservation of large carnivores.......2007-08-31
The contributors to this edited book are all advocates of carnivores as well as being partisans of a particular side in an academic debate. This debate concerns the relative importance of "top-down" and "bottom-up" regulation. For example, are elk in Yellowstone limited by the amount of forage available (bottom-up) or by wolf predation (top down)? The answer to the scientific question matters for environmental policy: wolves are a lot more important for the ecosystem if top-down regulation dominates.
With this in mind, it's possible that the fact that these authors like large carnivores for ethical reasons might influence their scientific judgment that top-down regulation generally characterizes ecosystems. Or, it could be that the world really does work that way - - you be the judge. The authors are honest and up-front about both the policy issues and the scientific issues, and there are several contributions that argue for more complex relationships among trophic levels than the simple bottom/top-regulation dichotomy would suggest.
Within this general consensus, the editors have done a good job selecting papers. There is a nice diversity of cases: the usual suspects (wolves and grizzlies for the lay reader; otters, sea urchins, and kelp for the biologist) as well as some new suspects (Florida panther, coral reefs) and some more unusual items (culpeos and exotic herbivores in Patagonia). Themes included not just basic predator-prey relationships but a wide range of more complex relationships within ecosystems on land and in the sea.
The chapters are written by biologists for biologists, but few of the chapters are particularly technical. It should be readable for a lay person with a college degree (or equivalent) - - but it's certainly not a book for the beach. Nonetheless, it is a good book, and one of the few edited books in which the many contributions really do address the same topic. Not only biologists but anyone interested in policy issues of large carnivore conservation can learn from this book.
Books:
- Walking Taylor Home
- We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love
- When All the World Was Young: A Memoir
- When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot Over North Vietnam
- When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt After the White House
- Why We Can't Wait (Signet Classics)
- Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy
- YOU CAN'T GET MUCH CLOSER THAN THIS: Combat With Company H, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division
- A Journey into Dorothy Parker's New York (ArtPlace series)
- A Schoolteacher in Old Alaska: The Story of Hannah Breece
Books Index
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- Nutrition and HIV: A New Model for Treatment
- Mathmaticians are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians
- Artistic Relations: Literature and the Visual Arts in Nineteenth-Century France
- Nature with Children of All Ages: Activities and Adventures for Exploring, Learning and Enjoying the
- Wildflowers of Southern Africa
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Beyond Glory: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, and a World on the Brink
Cinderella Man: James J. Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History
Papa Jack: Jack Johnson And The Era Of White Hopes
Jack Johnson ("They Didn't Know It Couldn't Be Done." Series)
