Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Antisemitic Prophet?
  • The Final Volume in the Biography of a Literary Giant
  • a crowning achievement
  • Warning--this is but the last volume in a great biography
  • The 2nd most important genious of the 19th century
Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881
Joseph Frank
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0691115699

Book Description

This fifth and final volume of Joseph Frank's justly celebrated literary and cultural biography of Dostoevsky renders with a rare intelligence and grace the last decade of the writer's life, the years in which he wrote A Raw Youth, Diary of a Writer, and his crowning triumph: The Brothers Karamazov.

Dostoevsky's final years at last won him the universal approval toward which he had always aspired. While describing his idiosyncratic relationship to the Russian state, Frank also details Doestoevsky's continuing rivalries with Turgenev and Tolstoy. Dostoevsky's appearance at the Pushkin Festival in June 1880, which preceded his death by one year, marked the apotheosis of his career--and of his life as a spokesman for the Russian spirit. There he delivered his famous speech on Pushkin before an audience stirred to a feverish emotional pitch: "Ours is universality attained not by the sword, but by the force of brotherhood and of our brotherly striving toward the reunification of mankind." This is the Dostoevsky who has entered the patrimony of world literature, though he was not always capable of living up to such exalted ideals.

The writer's death in St. Petersburg in January of 1881 concludes this unparalleled literary biography--one truly worthy of Dostoevsky's genius and of the remarkable time and place in which he lived.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Antisemitic Prophet?.......2003-10-15

Not until in this the fifth and final volume of Frank's biographical look at Dostoevsky's books is the issue of antisemitism fully dealt with, and good heavens what PASSIM references there are! Finally, Dostoevsky's introduction of the blood libel myth into The Brothers Karamazov got on Frank's nerves (I don't know if Frank is Jewish though): "[T]hat Dostoevsky should have introduced such material at all, no matter how topical it may have been, leaves a permanent stain on his reputation that nothing can efface.....NOW, he gives the widest possible circulation to this age-old vilification, first used in classical antiquity against the early Christians themselves." (p. 670)

Yet Frank's words for the book itself include: "genius," "grandeur," "poetic power," "symbolic elevation," "a monumental power of self-expression to his characters which rivals that of Dante's sinners and saints, Shakespeare's titanic heroes and villains, and Milton's gods and archangels....with the same superhuman majesty as the figures of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel." To save ink Frank might as well compare The Brothers Karamazov to the Old Testament. (This would be appropriate as Christianity is a leitmotif in Dostoevsky's works.)

Such a brilliant book! (Dostoevsky's, that is.) Little wonder that Einstein, someone I admire very much, also liked it a lot, antisemitism notwithstanding.

Frank's biographical criticism runs to almost 3,000 pages from Volume I-V. I'd hoped at least 300 of those pages would be devoted to The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky's masterpiece) but I got half that number.

The "mantle of prophet" which Frank refers to of course has nothing to do with antisemitism: He means that Dostoevsky was, even more than Pushkin, the prophet of the Russian radical spirit.

A long time will pass before another definitive work on Dostoevsky supersedes this multi-volume masterpiece.

4 out of 5 stars The Final Volume in the Biography of a Literary Giant.......2002-09-01

Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881 is the long-awaited final volume by Joseph Frank, Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritus at Princeton University and Professor of Comparative Literature and Slavic Languages and Literature Emeritus at Stanford University.

Previous volumes in the series are: Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt, 1821-1849; Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859; Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860-1865; and Dostoevsky: The Miraculous Years, 1865-1871.

It was during the final decade of his life, 1871-1881, that Dostoevsky wrote Diary of a Writer and his greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov. Many pages of Frank's fifth volume deals with analzying these two works (140 pages for The Brothers Karamazov alone).

With impressive literary scholarship, Frank throws light on the historical, political, economic, social, cultural, and literary setting within which Dostoevsky created his works of art, novels of great psychological depth.

For example, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "Dostoevsky, the only psychologist, by the way, from whom I had anything to learn; he is one of the happiest accidents of my life, even more so than my discovery of Stendhal."

Dostoevsky traced the roots of the evils in Russian society to a loss of religious faith. By "religious faith" he meant specifically the Christian faith of the Russian Orthodox Church. He thought the Roman Catholic Church was a distortion and perversion of true Christianity. (See the harangue Dostoevsky puts into the mouth of Prince Myshkin in Part Four, Chapter VII, of The Idiot.

Of particular interest is Frank's discussion of Dostoevsky's philosophical thinking (framed, of course, within a Christian worldview), such as his ruminations on Russian nationalism, rational egoism, and the freedom of the will, and his grave concerns over the adverse moral and political effects of atheism and nihilism.

Frank soft-pedals Dostoevsky's notorious anti-Semitism, seeking to exonerate his hero as being simply "a child of his time."

Although one finds many things to dislike about Dostoevsky, one cannot help being impressed by his literary genius. Recognizing the excellence of Dostoevsky's art, Frank devotes the lion's share of his volume not to the man himself but to the man's literary production.

While this is surely not the fault of Joseph Frank, one is depressed by the seemingly endless fare of Russian sectarian bickering and murky political maneuverings. One breathes a huge sigh of relief to escape this oppressive atmosphere.

5 out of 5 stars a crowning achievement.......2002-06-02

A truly triumphant conclusion to a massive and passionate undertaking. Frank shows the highest standards of scholarship in being objective, fair, yet sympathetic to one of the greatest of all writers. In this final volume, we have Dostoevsky living and breathing the Russian air of his beloved land seething with social, cultural and political issues of the day. An engaged and far-seeing artist if ever there was one. The complexity and paradoxical simplicity of his life presents us a real genius often at odds with the way he would be perceived by many of his readers, yet a humane and sincere human being. Now go back and read the magnificent works he has given us from his pen.

5 out of 5 stars Warning--this is but the last volume in a great biography.......2002-05-10

"Dostoevsky : The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881" is the fifth and final volume in Frank's extraordinary biography of Dostoevsky, a remarkable undertaking of more than a quarter century. While every volume has been exceptional and well worth reading, because they share a title and differ only in subtitle Amazon's system tends to muddle reviews of the various volumes together. This final volume covers the last decade of Dostoevsky's life, so don't buy it expecting a one-volume bio of the great writer. If you care about Dostoevsky's work find copies of the first four volumes, read them, then read this book. The series sets a superlative standard for examining a great writer's life and works, but this volume isn't really intended to stand alone, despite a short "story-to-date" intro.

5 out of 5 stars The 2nd most important genious of the 19th century.......2002-05-07

The first was Abraham Lincoln, and thank God he lived to see the Civil War to its conclusion. Unfortunately, Dostoevsky died of smoking-induced emphysema before his genious was able to formulate the aims of a revolution, potentially of comparable historical import to our own. This is my analogy -- not Frank's -- but his "biography" does make my view legitimate, I think.
Dostoevsky's sway over the new generation of radical activists was profound enough that he aimed to transform the ideology of socialist revolution into the ideology of a unique Russian Christian renaissance, in opposition to the secular materialism of the civilized world. In the author's eschatalogical imagination, he envisaged a Russian revolution of sentiment that would have had the opposite effect of France's "liberty, equality, and (compulsory) fraternity" -- but he died before he was able to manifest his positive ideal in its complete force through the character of Alyosha Karamazov. Thus, it would be interesting to find out what the sequel to The Brothers Karamazov would have been and also to see how Russians would have taken such a message.
Frank's "biography" should bolster most people's initial internal response to Dostoevsky's work -- a response that most of us have to struggle to articulate.
The art & life of Dostoevsky.(Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881) (book review): An article from: New Criterion
Average customer rating: Not rated
    The art & life of Dostoevsky.(Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881) (book review): An article from: New Criterion
    Gary Saul Morson
    Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
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    Release Date: 2005-07-30

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    This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on June 1, 2002. The length of the article is 3146 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: The art & life of Dostoevsky.(Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881) (book review)
    Author: Gary Saul Morson
    Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
    Date: June 1, 2002
    Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
    Volume: 20 Issue: 10 Page: 83(5)

    Article Type: Book Review

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    Dostoevsky and the fiery word. (The public square: a continuing survey of religion and public life).(Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881 by ... Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Dostoevsky and the fiery word. (The public square: a continuing survey of religion and public life).(Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881 by ... Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
      Richard Neuhaus
      Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
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      ASIN: B0008D9GM2
      Release Date: 2005-07-31

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      This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 5936 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: Dostoevsky and the fiery word. (The public square: a continuing survey of religion and public life).(Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881 by Joseph Frank)
      Author: Richard Neuhaus
      Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
      Date: March 1, 2003
      Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
      Page: 74(8)

      Article Type: Biography

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      Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881.(Book Review): An article from: The Modern Language Review
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        Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881.(Book Review): An article from: The Modern Language Review
        Derek Offord
        Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Digital

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        ASIN: B000JCD7SG
        Release Date: 2006-10-03

        Book Description

        This digital document is an article from The Modern Language Review, published by Thomson Gale on October 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1134 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: Dostoevsky: The Mantle of the Prophet, 1871-1881.(Book Review)
        Author: Derek Offord
        Publication: The Modern Language Review (Magazine/Journal)
        Date: October 1, 2005
        Publisher: Thomson Gale
        Volume: 100 Issue: 4 Page: 1164(2)

        Article Type: Book Review

        Distributed by Thomson Gale

        The German Army and Genocide: Crimes Against War Prisoners, Jews, and other Civilians in the East, 1939-1944
        Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
        • Is this something new??
        • Pure Apologetic Trash and Historical Rubish.
        • The right book written by the wrong people
        • A Shocking Portfolio of Evil Incarnate In the Wehrmacht!
        • Wehrmacht Complicity in Eastern Front Genocide & War Crimes
        The German Army and Genocide: Crimes Against War Prisoners, Jews, and other Civilians in the East, 1939-1944
        Hamburg Institute
        Manufacturer: New Press
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

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        ASIN: 1565845250

        Book Description

        An astonishing visual expos of the German Army's crimes in World War II. For the better part of fifty years, the powerful German army of World War II has been seen as an organization of consummate skill and honor, one that had little in common with the criminal policies and ideology of the Nazi regime. Fascinating and unforgettable, The German Army and Genocide explodes that myth. Through newly discovered documents and hundreds of astonishing photographs culled from archives all across Europe, The German Army and Genocide reveals that the nearly twenty million soldiers who passed through the feared Wehrmacht (the German army) were subjected to a massive ideological indoctrination, and that many were involved in widespread crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, acting both on orders by their superiors and--in many instances--on their own initiative. Based on a three-year German exhibit that sparked riots and heated controversy throughout the country, The German Army and Genocide features harrowing photographs taken by the soldiers themselves (often gleeful) of massacres, hangings, and torture; official army documents directing military units to murder Jewish communities; private letters written home, such as one from a young soldier who boasts that his unit had killed 1,000 Jews, adding, "and that was not enough"; and military directives that definitively prove close collaboration between the SS and the regular army throughout the war.

        Customer Reviews:

        3 out of 5 stars Is this something new??.......2007-04-06

        Having read through the book and read the previous reviews, I am somewhat bemused to understand what the major fuss is all about. I think its no mystery to any well read individual on World War II that the German Army took part in host of war crimes against POWs, Jews and other civiilians. I am not talking about the SS but regular army units. None of this should be any surprise to anyone outside of novice historians of the subject.

        This book reflects on that assumption, that the regular units of the German military committed war crimes and the photos showed that they did. Once more nothing truly revealing here. Problems with the photos is that while many does show German troops committing war crimes, others are more open to subjective perception. One of the reveiwers stated that the photos are rather on the small side and I agreed with him, they are terribly small and that affect their effectiveness.

        As bad as the German Army were, many of the photos shows them shooting hostages or hanging paritsans if we take their word on it as the book does. While these are not politically correct methods, they are acceptable methods of warfare since the dawn of warfare. Every nation that ever fought a war uses these methods and applied them.

        This book reflects on German war guilt and while that may be a noble effort, it doesn't exactly reflect the true nature of that guilt. It wasn't just those who wore the uniforms that made genocide work, but the civilians behind them who supported and aided their army to commit genocide. To commit genocide on a scale that Germany tried during World War II take more then an army, it takes a society, a national effort. To blamed it on the German Army as a whole, is simplistic cop-out.

        Small as the photographs were, I found them pretty interesting and somewhat depressing that man can be reduced to such a state of brutality and casual hate.

        Three stars is all I can give this book because it doesn't really state the true nature of the crimes. First the book doesn't say anything new here. Knowledgable readers already knows that the regular German Army committed host of war crimes outside of what the SS units have done. The photos are too small to be really effective and they are often open to conjecture on what the truth may actually be. Some are more effective then others, photos of mass execution of women and children however proves to be few and in-between here. The book shouldn't be read by novices as they may be misled into a wrong assumption.

        1 out of 5 stars Pure Apologetic Trash and Historical Rubish. .......2007-03-28

        Once again, German intellectuals have gone the extra mile to make themselves feel guilty about WWII. If you want a book which will assault your common sense and your vision more than any other book dealing with the Holocaust or war crimes, this is it. Herr Wagner has it right, most of the incidents portrayed in this book are photos of barbarism committed by the Russians, NOT the Germans, and are scenes the Germans came upon as they moved east. This has been proven, and most of these photos are taken from former Soviet archives.

        Here are just a few of the glaring problems that bother me about this book. One series of photos spread across three pages is captioned as being some 1,800 Jews rounded up in a Russian village prior to being shot. Yet, these people are very well clothed, in many cases carrying bags, some seem downright cheerful, and most interestingly, there are only four German soldiers to be seen in any of the photos, and only one of those four has a weapon - a pistol holster on his hip. These four guys shot 1,800 Jews with one pistol?

        Another photo series across two pages shows "Russian soldiers in Civilian Clothes being led away to be executed" and aludes to the point that these are not Russian soldiers at all, but innocent villagers. The problem here is, the men ARE wearing Russian uniforms! Three of them are wearing Russian officer's uniforms for pity's sake! It's now a war crime to lead POWs away at gunpoint?

        There are a large number of photos of German soldiers just standing around, interacting with seemingly unbothered civilians, and in one case, HEAVEN FORBID, a German soldier is shown carrying "stolen" chickens! NO JOKE!

        There are photos of partisan hangings and shootings, which no one would deny took place. There are also reprisal shootings shown in this book which are most certainly legitimate. One of the most graphic of these photo spreads shows Hungarian troops shooting a dozen partisans, however, not German soldiers. A number of the lynching photos are shown multiple times from different angles to give the impression of multiple events. I find it amazing how many innocent villagers who were lynched for no good reason happen to be wearing riding breeches and jack boots in these photos (Commisars perhaps?).

        I collect WWII vintage photos, and I have many photos of German POWs under guard by American and British soldiers. I have some showing German POWs and even former Hitler Youth boys (still in HJ uniforms) digging trenches while US GI's stand over them with rifles and Thompson machine guns. If I used the logic of this particular book, I would caption these photos, "German soldiers being forced to dig their own graves before being shot." I have no idea what these guys are digging trenches for and I don't think anybody shot them. The same can be said for most photos in this book. Just because there's a photo of a Russian digging a ditch, often times photographed without a German anywhere in the picture, that doesn't mean he's digging his own grave! Give it a rest!

        Then there's the problem of using the exact same photos several times in this book and captioning them as seperate incidents. One photo showing two partisans being lynched is captioned early in the book as having occured in 1941, and the exact same photo appears some fifty pages later, in a smaller format, and is captioned to be a reprisal hanging in the winter of 1944 and was "a photo found on a dead German soldier."

        In short, yes, crimes were committed by the German army. Crimes are committed by every army in time of war. This book is an concerted effort to create a negative image on the Wehrmacht using very sketchy evidence and inventing facts which simply did not occur. This is a book with absolutely no credibility. If you can get this one on sale for a few bucks, it's worth it just to see how outrageous it is. As a historical record of "war crimes" or "genocide", this is a work of pure fantasy and all you have to do is look at the photos and believe your eyes to realize this.

        2 out of 5 stars The right book written by the wrong people.......2005-07-15

        This book is mainly based on what was called the 'Wehrmachtsausstellung' or an exhibition on war-crimes of the wehrmacht during WW II. It has to be said that meanwhile this exhibition has been partly revised after a number of court trials revealed a considerable number of untrueisms.
        Yet, it is a fact that some German soldiers were involved in mass shootings of members of the communist party and jewish civilians, and for that it is a necessary book. On the other hand, a whole number of incidents simply did not occur as shown in this book, many were committed by the NKWD (later became KGB) and the Germans got blamed for it. Let me point out, this is not opinion
        but things which were found out during court trials before German courts, and even former KGB members testified this.

        4 out of 5 stars A Shocking Portfolio of Evil Incarnate In the Wehrmacht!.......2000-06-18

        No one who views this book can any longer doubt the complicity and cooperation of the general German armed forces, or Wehrmacht, in the murderous acts of Germany's ignominious Third Reich. Literally hundreds of graphic and horrific photographs show average German soldiers shooting, hanging, bludgeoning, or otherwise mistreating, torturing, and murdering helpless civilian men, women and children during operations on the eastern front. This is a grim but necessary book.

        Most surprising is the fact that the photographs were originally part of a German exhibition held in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two, and constitute a damning condemnation of the role of the average German soldier (as opposed to other specialized Waffen SS or Einsatzgruppe SS units) in visiting the whole panoply of horrors of egregious war crimes on the native populations of the subjugated countries during Operation Barbarossa. These were not crimes committed against opposing military forces, but were rather crimes committed against war prisoners, Jews, and other civilian segments of the subjugated regions.

        This is, by its very nature, not an easy or pleasant book to view or read. One does so reluctantly and only in an effort to learn more about the demons that ultimately threaten each of us, as we face personal responsibility for all of our acts as individuals. The conclusion one reaches after viewing these photographs and reading the accompanying text is humbling, shocking, and intensely relevant, even though some fifty years have passed. With similar shocking events composing the headlines and bylines of contemporary news casts, the most shocking thing one realizes is that the world evidently has not yet learned from its past, as events in Bosnia, Rwanda, Kosovo, and Somalia make perfectly clear. Human life is still held in little regard, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned in the blood and hate of ethnic, tribal, or national pedigrees.

        One problem with the book is that many of the photographs are small and difficult to appreciate in their full impact without a magnifying device. This, however, is a small quibble with a brave, terrible, and significant book such as this one. This is a book we should share with all those cynics who doubt that the Holocaust happened. Perhaps they can explain the hundreds of photos of ordinary German soldiers committing mayhem and murder in some clever fashion. Of course, the debate over what happened is not over. But this book and the documentation it constitutes makes understanding of the Holocaust and how it happened more possible.

        4 out of 5 stars Wehrmacht Complicity in Eastern Front Genocide & War Crimes.......2000-04-02

        Through declassification of wartime documents and research into archives newly made available after the dismemberment of the Soviet bloc, far more detailed analysis of German war crimes and genocide is possible, indeed is necessary. Most studies of mobile extermination squads, the Einsatzgruppen, and the death camps emphasize the principal role of various branches of the SS in mass murder. Studies of the war on the Eastern Front have tended to focus on the herculean battles waged and the stratregy and tactics employed from the inception of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 to the 1945 fall of Berlin to the Red Army.

        Generally, the German Army, the Wehrmacht, has escaped censure for the Holocaust in its earliest improvisational form and its later administratively controlled manifestation (the German Army wins no plaudits for treating Red Army prisoners according to the Geneva Convention but this seems to have greatly bothered relatively few Western historians).

        This book explodes the myth that the German Army was not complicit in wholesale murder of Jews, Gypsies and anyone else targeted by the Nazi state. Comprised of very many damning photographs from a controversial exhibit in Germany and supplmented by an expert historian's analysis, "The German Army and Genocide" is not the last word on the subject but it will spur new research and force needed reappraisal of the conventional wisdom.

        The controversy over the exhibit, and this book, is not over. Presentation of the exhibit in New York City has been delayed because of claims about the authenticitiy of some of the photographs and the accompanying legends. Nonetheless an increasing coterie of Holocaust and World War II scholars are finding ample evidence that the Wehrmacht not only aided the SS and the many reserve police battalions engaged in rounding up Jews and others for murder, its top field commanders knew full well what they were enabling and, in some cases, were enthusiastic albeit not very loud supporters.

        The photos in this book are not easy to view. With their penchant for documentation, the Wehrmacht captured the sometimes agonised, occasionally amazed expressions of their victims just before they were murdered. This is, however, a chronicle that should be viewed by all interested in the reality of the Final Solution and the barbarity of the German onslaught into the East.
        The German Army and Genocide: Crimes Against War Prisoners, Jews, and Other Civilians in the East, 1939-1944
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          The German Army and Genocide: Crimes Against War Prisoners, Jews, and Other Civilians in the East, 1939-1944
          Hamburg Institute for Social Research; editors
          Manufacturer: New Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000M66QHI

          Crescent of Crisis: U.S.-European Strategy for the Greater Middle East
          Average customer rating: 3 out of 5 stars
          • Plenty of very interesting ideas
          Crescent of Crisis: U.S.-European Strategy for the Greater Middle East

          Manufacturer: Brookings Institution Press
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          Binding: Paperback

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          ASIN: 0815716893

          Product Description

          The greater Middle East is beset by a crescent of crisis--a region of urgent danger stretching from Pakistan to Afghanistan, through Iran and Iraq, all the way to the Syria/Lebanon question and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The specific problems range from terrorism and nuclear proliferation to the rise of fundamentalism and a lack of democracy. These crises pose perhaps the most pressing security challenges to Europe and the United States today. Unfortunately, the U.S. and its allies across the Atlantic generally have approached them in separate ways, often resulting in tense transatlantic relations as well as missed opportunities to make the world safer. Clearly time has come for greater coordination of strategy and action. Crescent of Crisis brings together several leading American and European experts to develop a common approach to the pressing worries of the region. The contributors include some of the foremost analysts of the region from both sides of the Atlantic. They provide succinct synopses of the crises, compare U.S. and European perspectives, and suggest ways to increase cooperation. The editors synthesize this into a road map for U.S.-European cooperation in meeting the present and future challenges of this volatile part of the world. Contributors: Stephen Cohen (Brookings Institution), James Dobbins (RAND), Toby Dodge (University of London), Eva Goes (consultant), Martin Indyk (Saban Center at Brookings), Reinoud Leenders (University of Amsterdam), Flynt Leverett (Saban Center at Brookings), Ken Pollack (Saban Center at Brookings), Jean-Luc Racine (Centre for the Study of India and South Asia, CNRS/EHESS), Barnett Rubin (New York University), Yezid Sayigh (King's College London), Michael Schmunk (Harvard University), Bruno Tertraris (Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique).

          Customer Reviews:

          3 out of 5 stars Plenty of very interesting ideas.......2006-05-29

          There is a large amount of good material in this book. It explains some of the ideas Americans, Europeans, and Asians have for policies regarding Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It argues in favor of cooperation and the formulation of strategies to improve the present situation. Can this region become more democratic? Can it become happier and more prosperous? Can we help reduce strife there? Anyway, there are assessments of some of the problems, as well as some recommendations. The authors are bright and knowledgeable.

          However, I don't like the book. One problem is the treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The implication is that the conflict, although complex, is mostly territorial, and that there is a logical solution, a key element of which is to insist on Israeli borders that are very similar to its borders of 1966. But I fail to see how borders are much of an issue for either side. Israel has a purpose, namely to defend the rights of its citizens (including the right of refuge), and it probably can exist with as little as 8,000 or 10,000 square miles and still satisfy that purpose. But those who oppose Israel want to oppose its purpose, not its borders. In addition, Israel is land-poor, so I see any attempt to take land from it as completely arbitrary.

          As an analogy, pretend that the anti-Israeli aggressors are divided up into two groups. Both want to assert their power over a small minority by insisting that it admit that two plus two is more than four. Some (the "moderates") want to insist that it is 10, some (the "extremists") say 11, but both know what two plus two really is. Imagine that the minority (the Israelis) also knows what two plus two is, but is also divided up into two groups. One (the "moderates") says that two plus two is eight. The reason is that if they falsely confess to two plus two being more than eight, they'll owe too much money. Paying double is all they can afford! The other group (the "extremists") wants to insist that two plus two is seven. That will save them a little money, and saying that it is less than seven will antagonize the majority and get them into a war. Let's say that I can understand the "logic" behind the claims of the aggressors and the victims, even though I am saddened by it.

          What I truly dislike is the attitude of the supposedly wise people who write books such as this one. To my mind, they are busy proclaiming that two plus two is really the average of all these numbers. Not 11, 10, 8, or 7, but 9. The idea is that everyone is going to have to agree on 9 anyway, and that fanatics on both sides think 9 is a crazy answer, so it must be right. Those who disagree risk being labeled as "intolerant" or "uncooperative."

          The way I see it, the authors of this book have no excuse for their disregard of truth. One truth is that peace is a good idea for everyone. War kills people, destroys all sorts of things, and makes the survivors miserable. It is good to agree to peace even if one is not given the right to steal land from the land-poor as a bribe. Another truth is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is probably not about details involving borders. If everyone would agree to abide truth, justice, and human rights, the conflict would be over. As for borders, in peacetime they could be changed as needed. As Jefferson said, land belongs to the living, and I see no reason to come up with arbitrary and unusual borders for some states and try to impose them on those who will have to live in the region many decades from now.

          I think the authors of this book are just too clever when it comes to discussing the other nations as well. I don't know what the right answers are, but I'm pretty sure they don't have them. And my recommendations would start by trying to look for ways to keep options open rather than impose outside "solutions" on the people of the region.

          Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland's Natural Areas
          Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
          • Useful, Pertinent, Accurate
          Wild in the City: A Guide to Portland's Natural Areas

          Manufacturer: Oregon Historical Society Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

          ConservationConservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
          ReferenceReference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Natural Resources | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
          GeneralGeneral | Oregon | States | United States | Travel | Subjects | Books
          PortlandPortland | Oregon | States | United States | Travel | Subjects | Books
          Travel with PetsTravel with Pets | Specialty Travel | Travel | Subjects | Books
          OregonOregon | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
          Similar Items:
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          2. Walking Portland Walking Portland
          3. Portland Hill Walks: Twenty Explorations in Parks and Neighborhoods Portland Hill Walks: Twenty Explorations in Parks and Neighborhoods
          4. Best Places Portland: The Locals' Guide to the Best Restaurants, Lodgings, Sights, Shopping, and More! (Best Places) Best Places Portland: The Locals' Guide to the Best Restaurants, Lodgings, Sights, Shopping, and More! (Best Places)
          5. Insiders' Guide to Portland, Oregon: Including the Metro Area and Vancouver, Washington (Insiders' Guides) Insiders' Guide to Portland, Oregon: Including the Metro Area and Vancouver, Washington (Insiders' Guides)

          ASIN: 0875952739

          Book Description

          Detailed information about more than 85 natural areas in the Portland metro area allows anyone to explore the urban wilderness. A checklist of birds is included.

          "A must-have for anyone even remotely interested in signs of wildlife amid Portland's concrete canyons and manicured lawns. Every schoolteacher should be supplied one for field trips. Every car should be sold with one in its glove compartment. Tuck one into every motel-room drawer next to the Gideon Bible. Front to back, there's something in this book for everyone--a trip to take, a thought to spark a memory, a term to explain."--Bill Monroe, Portland Oregonian

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars Useful, Pertinent, Accurate.......2001-01-05

          I live in Portland and like many people don't get out as often as I should. I typically spend my time in and around the city. Wild in the City allows me to take advantage of what the Rose City offers, whether it tame or wild. There are some great ideas for day trips and a ton of interesting facts that keep me reading, even if I don't have the time to experience them all. On the stuff that I've done in the book it's all accurate. There's a ton of great information in this book and anyone who lives in Portland, or is interested in what Portland has to offer, should read this book. Do yourself one better. Buy it. You'll be glad you did once you're looking for something to do on a weekend when you didn't plan on something.

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          5. Faithfull: An Autobiography
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