Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam

Book Description

"This incredible story, which plunges us immediately into the bloodiest aspects of the war, is also a suspenseful autobiography that will keep you chewing your fingernails to see if Van Devanter survives any of it at all. She proves herself a natural storyteller. . . . The most extraordinary part in this book is Van Devanter's plight after the war-her attempt to retrieve the love of her family, only to realize they don't want to see her slides, hear her stories; her assignment to menial duties at Walter Reed Army Hospital. . . . How Van Devanter survives all of this to become, incredibly, a stronger person for it is what makes her book so riveting."-San Francisco Chronicle

"An awesome, painfully honest look at war through a woman's eyes. Her letters home and startling images of life in a combat zone-surgeons fighting to save a Vietnamese baby wounded in utero, the ever-present stench of napalm-charred flesh, a beloved priest's gentle humor and appalling death, the casual heroism of her colleagues, a Vietnamese 'Papa-san' trying to talk his dead child back to life, a haunting snapshot dropped by a dying soldier with no face-tell the story of a young American's rude initiation to the best and the worst of humanity."-Washington Post

"Moving, powerful . . . a healing book."-Ms. Magazine

"This book reads like a diary: unguarded, heartfelt. . . . [It] is both moving and valu-able, for reminding us so vividly that war is indeed hell . . . and that its most tested heroes are the doctors and nurses who doggedly labor not just to save life, but also to keep their respect for it, even as their surviving patients are sent out, once more, unto the breach."-Harper's Magazine

"In Vietnam, reality hit fast: Van Devanter's plane was fired on when it landed in Saigon; and after three days of adjustment, she was assigned to the 71st Evacuation Hospital, a 'MASH-type facility' near the Cambodian border. There, the casualties, . . . the personal danger, the fatigue, the heat, rain, and mud, the harassment of officers enforcing petty regulations, and above all the meaninglessness of American involvement rapidly put an end to Van Devanter's blind patriotism, her innocence, and her youth. . . . Van Devanter brings us face to face with the toll that undeclared war took on its combatants."-Kirkus Reviews

"If you read only one work about Vietnam, make this the one. . . . This is the way it was, as seen through the eyes of an army second lieutenant when she was twenty-two. I believe her completely, because this reviewer remembers Vietnam the same way, when he was a nineteen-year-old Marine PFC."-Deseret Sentinel

Customer Reviews:

Sex, lies and surgical tape...30+ years later.......2007-08-07

Based on my personal observations, Lynda was the laughing stock of the 71st Evac Hospital. And, she was also almost universally disliked. You had to tolerate her. But, you didn't have to like her. I heard alot from her other "friends" there in 1971. And, I was unfortunate enough to have to spend an afternoon, sitting in a jeep in downtown Pleiku, while she and a friend were wined and dined, so I observed her interactions firsthand. She was laughed at constantly because she was always trying to get out of doing something. But, that was Vietnam's fault. Not hers.

The book is not even good fiction. About 95% of the happenings she claimed never occurred. If they occurred they occurred to someone else, someplace else. The majority of the book is nothing but flights of fancy from a woman that wouldn't know the truth if it bit her. Every problem she ever had, since 1969, was blamed on Vietnam, the people she worked with, the war, the weather, whatever. Not one time in her book did she ever take responsibility for her actions and the repercussions she got from bad decisions.

My review of this book is not as fluent as others. But, my statements are based on personal experience with the subject matter of her and this book firsthand. I was there, I know.

Home Before Morning.......2007-05-18

I read this book for the first time many years ago now and it touched a cord in me simply at the time I was going thru something similar myself being discharged from the military and finding that you really have no place in the world. I never experienced anything like she did and how she overcame all her obstacles only attests to the strength of the person she became because of it. I believe she has passed on now due to exposure of agent organge while serving our country. I always try to make people see just what sacrifices that our fighting men and women go thru to keep us free that we never even hear about except very rarely in such books as this one. "They" don't want this kind of information coming out to let us know just what has really gone on. This continues to be one of my favorite books and I generally wind up reading it a few times a year. It's one book that will never be let go. It is well worth reading and I guarantee you it will make you think and be appreciative of the little things that we all take for granted.

honest look into the time and culture of the Vietnam War.......2007-01-20

Lynda was a U.S. Army nurse at the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku from 1969-70. In 1979, a year after the founding of Vietnam Veterans of America, she helped launch and became the head of VVA's Women's Project. She also began counseling other Vietnam veterans and conducting seminars around the country. Lynda was among the first few who committed herself to helping herself and others recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following Vietnam. I knew Lynda personally for many years. It took me a few years to get around to reading this book and when I did I wished I had read it earlier as it provided me a lot of insight into what ordinary men and women were thinking and feeling as they found their lives involved in the quagmire called Vietnam and the impact that it had upon them for the remainder of their lives. Honest, sad, vivid. Lynda passed away in 2002.

Life Changing.......2006-06-11

Growing up in the generation just past the edge of the Vietnam War era, I never really understood the war or the veterans. As a nurse, I started reading this book for the "nursing story." By the end of the book, I had a whole new view on the war, nurses in the war, veterans, the pain of war and the aftermath. I am appalled at the treatment, such as being spit on when our troops returned. It literally was life altering in my thought process of this era. Soon after reading it, a Vietnam vet. accompanied his wife for a procedure in the unit I worked. He openly told me that he had been sober for 2 months, and I was able to look at him in a whole new light and sincerely tell him how great that was. Another reminder that we have no right to judge others.

Fact or Fiction??.......2006-04-15

Ms. Van Devanter passed away in 2002. She, along with all who served in Vietnam, deserve our respect and appreciation for the sacrifices which they made in a very difficult and unpopular war.

I read this book and was deeply moved. However, just after I read the book I found a website dedicated to the memory of the 71st evac hospital near Pleiku where Ms. Van Devanter served. The author of the website served side by side with Ms. Van Devanter during her tour in Vietnam. I asked him what his thoughts were on the book. Here is his reply:

"Let me just say it like this: "Home Before Morning" is a wonderful blend of facts and exaggerated facts, designed to entertain and promote a certain agenda.....was that diplomatic enough?? I was fortunate enough to visit with Van (her nickname) while she was on a book tour that included my hometown. We had a great visit and she gave me a copy and wrote some nice things on the coverleaf. I took it home and read it that night, then had lunch with her the following day. She, of course, wanted to know what I thought of it. I asked her where she'd served, as it was obviously not at the 71st. We both laughed about that and she admitted that she wanted to sell books.

Van and I arrived at the 71st within days of each other and worked together every day until she was transferred out. She was an officer and I was an enlisted man, so we lived in different worlds, though working together 12 hours a day. Since we worked together, we sometimes hung out with the same gang...the OR/ER/Post-OP/X-ray bunch. After a few months of patching up GIs, NVA, civilians, etc., we both got disenchanted with the way the war was going and became politically active and were among the ringleaders of the "Great Turkey Day Fast" of Thanksgiving Day, 1969...consisting of refusal to eat Thanksgiving Dinner to protest the manner in which the war was being fought.

The case that she identifies as Gene was actually one that I scrubbed on. It's among the stories I have listed on the site. It was pretty gruesome and must have touched a nerve in her. Each of us who served there has at least one case that we think about every day.

Lest you believe that the war was as Van described it...it wasn't! There were lots of times when we had NO cases at all and a few very scary times when we had many more cases than we could handle. As in most military situations, it was 99% boredom and 1% sheer terror! 99% of the time we were operating on 1% of our brain power and 1% of the time we needed 150%!! Sometimes it was really wild! I think there's a story about "Push" that describes it..if not, I'll have to write it down."

You be the judge.

Home Before Morning: Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam

Average customer rating:

A deeply moving work
better than the review
A good introduction to Vietnam, but not its best literature

Home Before Morning: Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam
Lynda Van Devanter , and Christopher Morgan
Manufacturer: Bt Bound
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Customer Reviews:

A deeply moving work.......2002-03-28

This was probably one of the first books I read on Vietnam. Part of my attempt to put my experiences there into some kind of perspective. I found the book deeply moving. It also opened my eyes to the experiences of those who consistently saw more of the horror of war then many of the rest of us did. I am in sharp disagreement with the review by Mr Versaci. This is an excellent look at the experiences of the physicians and nurses who took care of us.

better than the review.......2000-08-29

I read the book in the context of one person's experience, not for a global understanding of the Vietnam war. It was a moving and informative look at the life of a person who paid a painful price for her service.

A good introduction to Vietnam, but not its best literature.......2000-03-25

Lynda Van Devanter's Home Before Morning is a thoroughly engaging narrative about her "coming of age" as an army nurse in the Vietnam War. Her moral, political, and emotional growth throughout the novel follows a classic pattern: she is initially naive about war and guided mainly by her untested ideals, she goes to Vietnam and "loses her innocence" about war and its nature, and she grows and develops as a result of this "loss." This pattern recurs again and again in Vietnam narratives (e.g., Platoon and Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War), and its familiarity lends much emotional weight to Van Devanter's story. In all fairness, however, the power of her experiences cannot be denied. As an army nurse she sees a great deal of the bloodshed, and she is in a particularly important position to "put a face" on the dead and wounded, which she and co-writer Christopher Morgan do very effectively. However, while this book is a powerful introduction to the realities of the war, it tends toward the melodramatic (particularly when Van Devanter becomes involved with a doctor), and it never really explores some of the deeper issues about the war that her experiences raise. For readers looking for books on the Vietnam War that exhibit both top-notch prose and an insightful exploration of the ambiguities of War, I would suggest Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato, as well as Michael Herr's Dispatches.

A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time (Second Edition, Revised and Updated)
Average customer rating:

The best of the best in Israel's history books

A Comprehensive Work

An excellent reference

Thorough and thought provoking

Great big book for a great little country

A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time (Second Edition, Revised and Updated)
Howard M. Sachar
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001

The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: Sixth Revised and Updated Edition

The Case for Israel

A History of Zionism: From the French Revolution to the Establishment of the State of Israel

The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader

ASIN: 0679765638
Release Date: 1996-02-13

Book Description

Second Edition, Revised and Expanded

Customer Reviews:

The best of the best in Israel's history books.......2007-10-10

Anybody who wants to know about the history of the State of Israel,you should read this book.

A Comprehensive Work.......2007-06-27

It is very difficult to accurately and comprehensively analyse this work.

The fact is that Sachar go's out of his way to be even-handed, which leads to a dilemma in itself.

The truth is that one cannot be objective in a conflict where it is clear to any fair-minded and honest observer who the agressors are and always have been: The Jews peacefully returned to their ancient land, and for nearly a century the Arabs have been trying to drive them into the sea.

There are times when I am uncomfortable with the author's particularly unfair treatment of the Jewish freedom fighters- the Irgun and Lechi- whom he labels as 'terrorists'.

At the same time, he honestly appraises the history of the situation as he see's it, and does not like the malevolent 'new historians' and revisionists, like Chomsky, Finkelstein, Said, Lenni Brenner and Israel Shahak, go back and rewrite history to suit their own destructive and malicious agenda against Israel.

This is an honest appraisal, in which the author strives to be fair.

Though his commentary is not always to my liking, he sticks to the facts, except in cases like the so-called massacre of Deir Yassin, where he has accepted the 'official' version' of events, despite clear evidence that there had been no deliberate killing of Arab civillians by the Jews.

The author begins by outlining the beginnings of the Zionist movement, the work of pioneers such as Moshe Hess, Leo Pinsker, Moses Montefiore, Achad Ha'am, Theodore Herzl, Chaim Weizmann and Vladimir Jabotinsky. He describes their strugles to adapt to harsh terrain, in the land which had flourished two thousand years before, when their ancestors lived there.

He describes how sucessive waves of Jews returning to the Land of Israel, struggled to adapt, often, to the homeland that was being restored.

He writes of the purchase by the Jews from Arab absentee landlords. The book describes the revival of the Hebrew language, thanks to the efforts of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and of the the long tradition of discrimination and dhimmni status of the Jews, in the Holy Land, and Arab countries under Islamic domination.

We learn of the origins of Communist hostility to Zionism and the Israeli people, of the originally warm attitude to Zionism by forward thinking Arab leaders such as King Feisal of Syria, and the bloody pogroms by Arabs on Jewish communities in the Land of Israel in 1920, 1921, 1929 and 1936-1939.

The truth is that a very large part of the Arab hostility to Zionism, and the returning Jews originated in the fear among the Arab aristocracy in the Holy Land, and elsewhere in neighbouring lands, that the egalitarian spirit of the Jews, the democracy and emphasis, on social justice and democracy would influence the Arab masses, and therefore threaten the powerbases of the Arab elites.

We read of Hitler's ally and Jew-hater Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini, one of the original founders of Islamic jihad against the Jewish people, and his impassioned preaching of venom and genocide against the Jews.

Much of the Arab hostility and agression towards the Jews of the then named 'Palestine' was encouraged by intense propaganda directed at the Arabs by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, this at a time when hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees where fleeing from Nazi Germany to the Holy Land.

The book also highlights the Balfour Declaration and how the British later reneged, under Arab pressure, on the promises to the Jewish people of restoration to their ancient land.

Many of the British actively assited the Arabs against the Jews, and the British blocked the netry of hundreds of thousands of Jews, attempting to enter 'Palestine' as an escape from Hitler's infernos.

The book discusses the persecution of Jews in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt, and their mass expulsion from these countries after they fled from the Arab states, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs from the countries they had lived in for centuries.

The book describes the miraculous survival of the Jews of Israel, during the Second World War, and their victories against overwhelming odds in the War of Independence, the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War.

The book describes how before the Six Day War, the Arabs had surrounded Israel ,and openly issued hideous threats of genocide against all the Jews of Israel, forcing Israel to fire the first shots in order to survive(after Nasser had closed the Straights of Tiran) , and of the decades of infiltrations into Israel of marauding Arab terror bands killing Israeli men, women and children, including the massacres of Jewish children at Kiryat Shmona and Ma'alot, by the terrorists of the 'Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine'. And we also read of the cowardly attack by Arab states on Israel, that started the Yom Kippur War, and the unpreparedness of Israel's leadership that was scared to strike first for fear of upsetting world opinion.

This was a tragic mistake that imperilled the Israeli nation, and led to many unnecesary deaths of Israelis.

The book also describes the other triumphs of Israel: the absorbtion of millions of Jews, the struggles of the Oriental Jews (Jews from North Africa and the Middle East)for equality, the admirable building up of Israel's welfare state, and the capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann in the early 1960's.

He also reflect on the conflicts within Israeli society and, contrary to the allegations by an earlier reviewer, focuses much on the issues of Israeli Arabs.

The trial of Eichmann brought home the horrors of the holocaust, and the lessons derived by the holocaust, by emphasizing the dangers inherent towards a Jewish minority living among a non-Jewish majority, and the need for an ingathering of Jews from all parts of the world in a homeland of their own.

During a break in the court sessions of Israel's thirteenth Independence day, David Ben-Gurion referred to the Eichmnn trial in a speech:

"Here for the first time in Jewish history, historical justice is being done by the sovereign Jewish people. For many generations it was we who suffered, who were tortured, who were killed-and were judged...for the first time, Israel is judging the killers of the Jewish people...and let us bear in mind that only the independence of Israel could create the necesary conditions for the historic act of justice".

Never again can catastrophy allowed to overtake the Jewish people, and the Jewish people subjected to genocide, especially not in their own homeland.

In a hostile world, much of which wants Israel destroyed, Israel must and will survive...with the help of the Allmighty.

Long live the State of Israel!

An excellent reference.......2005-02-14

This book does a fine job of supplying a detailed history of Israel. It is over 1000 pages, not even counting the index or the huge bibliography.

Sachar's idea is to tell us what happened and why. That does not mean taking sides. It does not mean saying if the people involved were reasonable or moral in choosing the sides they did.

I can understand this approach. We all wish that we could always view relatively current events from the perspective of those who could see which side was being greedy, which side was simply immoral, or which side was being impractical. But we can't, so Sachar simply reports what happened as best he can. And I don't see how I can ask for more than this.

In addition, the simple retelling of what happened and why tells us plenty about how wise or moral decision-makers were. Let me give one example. Sachar has a hefty section on the response to the UN Partition Resolution of November, 1947. Britain refused to gradually transfer authority to a United Nations commission, explaining that this would result in "confusion and disorder." Britain did everything possible to avoid cooperating with those in the UN or the Jewish Agency. The six UN commission members were made unwelcome. They "were soon reduced to foraging for food and drink. They accomplished nothing."

Meanwhile, the British Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, simply regarded the Jews as enemies. As Sachar writes, Bevin claimed "that the whole Jewish 'pressure' was a gigantic racket run from America," that the Jews had stolen "half the place" (that is, half of the Mandate territory), and that "he would not be surprised if the Germans had learned their worst atrocities from the Jews." I think this ought to tell any perceptive reader plenty about Bevin.

On top of this, Sachar explains that Bevin and some important British officers were predicting an Arab military victory, and that the Arabs would have no difficulty taking over the whole country. Nowadays, some people appear to have forgotten all this and are pretending that everyone knew that the Arabs would be no match for the Jews, which is yet one more reason why we ought to read this book!

Sachar also tells us about the British swiping the entire contents of the Mandate treasury, to make sure the Jews got none of the money. At the same time, the British gave 300,000 pounds to the Supreme Moslem Council, an indirect subsidy of the Arab war effort. The British strictly enforced an embargo on Jewish immigration and Jewish weapons acquisition. Meanwhile, the British happily sold weapons to Iraq and Transjordan.

It is true that on April 1, 1948, the Jews decided to stop responding to Arab attacks in a purely defensive manner. With Jerusalem threatened, they did decide to take action to relieve the siege. But Sachar has already shown us that one reason the Jews were unable to try such a plan before then was that the British would have stopped them by force.

There is an enormous amount of information in this book. I recommend it to everyone who is interested in the topic, no matter what political views they may have.

Thorough and thought provoking.......2004-09-04

Very well-written, very informative, balanced view of the evolution and struggles that Israel has undergone.
I only wish it had an extra chapter to give similar perspective to the tumult of the past few years.

Great big book for a great little country.......2004-03-22

Besides being the heaviest book I've read in a very long time, A History of Israel, by Howard Sachar, is probably among the most useful anyone will find on that subject. Let's face it, in today's world the subject of Israel still comes up a lot, far more than one might expect for such a small country. And in an atmosphere in which fifty seven percent of people polled list Israel as the greatest threat to world peace, an educated person cannot afford to be ignorant on the matter.

Israel is a great country. And like all great countries (like most countries, actually) it has a right to exist. Its history extends back quite some time before its founding. If you doubt this, or know someone who does, than the early chapters on Zionism and Jewish migration into Palestine will be invaluable. Want to know just how the Jews came to inhabit the land? Was it a land grab? Theft? Acquisition by conquest? The answer is no, and you can get the details here.

What is Israel like? What is its culture? Economics? Daily Life? How about religion? They're Jews, but how devout are they? What power does the rabbinate have? What arts and sciences flourish, or fail to, in Israel? These are also covered, often, and in detail.

Israel has fought five major wars in its short life. Why? Who started them? How did Israel respond? Did these wars exist in a vacuum, or are they part of an ongoing antagonism against Israel from its Arab neighbors? What actually happened in the Six Day War? Just how did the occupation come to be? All of these issues are examined in detail.

Who runs Israel? What is the party structure? What do they believe? How does Israel relate to other countries, and how has this changed over the years? What about the United States? Is Israel really the fifty-first state? Again, these are all issues dealt with in detail.

The operative word here is detail. With over a thousand pages of small font text, Sachar can cover everything he wishes and go as deep as he desires. This is a history text, not a polemic essay. The point is to show Israel for what it is, avoiding the pitfalls that await anyone writing about the most controversial country every to exist. To the extant that Sachar has taken any sides, it would probably be with the Labor party and against the Likud party. As far as Israel's relations with the Arab countries go, he has stated things as they happen. It may be a surprise to many, but Israel has a really good record vis-à-vis the treatment of Arabs and they owe no excuses to anyone over their presence in the world.

So although the book is formidable and very, very long, it is clear and relevant to today's world. If you'd like to get past the shouting and name-calling and really find out about the country, this is the place to look.

History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.
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History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.
Howard M. Sachar
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UY8KRQ

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History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time; 2nd Edition, Revised and Updated
Howard M. Sachar
Manufacturer: Alfred A. Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KXD0UO

A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.
Average customer rating:
A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.
Howard M. SACHAR
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RJI54M

History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.
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History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IBM2O8

Average customer rating:
History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time.
Howard M. Sachar
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M3U1D6

A history of Israel: From the rise of Zionism to our time
Average customer rating:
A history of Israel: From the rise of Zionism to our time
Howard Morley Sachar
Manufacturer: Basil Blackwell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
General | Judaism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007AN3YI

Book Description

"Unique among survival books...stunning...enthralling. Deep Survival makes compelling, and chilling, reading."—Penelope Purdy, Denver Post

After her plane crashes, a seventeen-year-old girl spends eleven days walking through the Peruvian jungle. Against all odds, with no food, shelter, or equipment, she gets out. A better-equipped group of adult survivors of the same crash sits down and dies. What makes the difference?

Examining such stories of miraculous endurance and tragic death—how people get into trouble and how they get out again (or not)—Deep Survival takes us from the tops of snowy mountains and the depths of oceans to the workings of the brain that control our behavior. Through close analysis of case studies, Laurence Gonzales describes the "stages of survival" and reveals the essence of a survivor—truths that apply not only to surviving in the wild but also to surviving life-threatening illness, relationships, the death of a loved one, running a business during uncertain times, even war.

Fascinating for any reader, and absolutely essential for anyone who takes a hike in the woods, this book will change the way we understand ourselves and the great outdoors.

Customer Reviews:

Captivating Read.......2007-10-06

This book is a captivating read. Once you start reading it you won't want to put it down. This is a must read for anyone venturing off of their couch and beyond the bounds of their metropolitan life style. Lawrence Gonzales provides real life examples of the human plight in our world where nature is king.

Where was his editor?.......2007-09-17

There is the potential for a great book hidden in this one. Unfortunately the authors ego hamstrings his own ability to bring it to fruition. A good editor coulda/shoulda done it for him. 60% of the book is the author's attempt to review the latest neuro- and other science explaining how our brains work when under extreme stress. 20% of the book is devoted to the completely superfluous stories of his own brushes with danger and palling around with famous buddies like Lyle Lovett and Lyle's Dad. That leaves 20% of book left for the meat - the real stories of real people in extreme situations. The science is interesting, but his attempts to synthesize wildly diverse fields is rambling, repetitious and often just boring.

Apparently I am in the minority.......2007-09-10

I thought this book was VERY poorly written and primarily a pontification of the author"s very boring, "oh and then I survived again aren't I amazing and wonderful, this little humble miracle that I am" *accomplishments*. Personal perspective is certainly valid, but not to the degree that he took it. I would have prefered to have heard other people's stories. I am a RN, EMT, trained as a wilderness first responder,climber, skier, trekker,runner, horsewoman, former river guide and I do not underestimate the value of his information and the importance of sharing it, but his style of writing and his boasting just turned me off. I say borrow it from the library, don't waste your money by buying it.

Great book for insight into the psychology of survival.......2007-08-28

I found this well written, informative and very enjoyable to read. If you are studying wilderness survival skills then consider this as the flip-side of your training. Studying the psychological aspects of survival is as important as the physical skills. This is a very good book.

The Human Spirit.......2007-08-22

There are a number of reasons why you should read this book. It is well written and engaging. It gives you an insight into the human spirit. And, the descriptive tales of survival when people are stranded in conditions that seem beyond hope are extraordinary.

Deep Survival Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death

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Deep Survival Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death
Gonzales Laurence
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UEFC4K

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Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death
Laurence A Gonzales
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7EIQ2

Book Description

Can sociology help us to tackle environmental problems? What can sociology tell us about the nature of the environment and about the origins and consequences of environmental risks, hazards and change? In this important new book Alan Irwin maps out this emerging field of knowledge, teaching and research. He reviews the key sociological debates in the field and sets out a new framework for analysis and practice.Among the themes examined are constructivism and realism, sustainable development and theories of the risk society. Readers are also introduced to communities at risk, institutional regulation and the environmental consequences of technology. Particular topics for discussion include genetically modified organisms, nuclear power, pesticide safety and the local hazards of the chemical industry. Rather than maintaining a fixed boundary between nature and society, Irwin highlights the hybrid character of environmental issues and emphasizes the role of social and cultural factors within environmental policy.Combining theoretical discussion and case-studies with a sensitivity to the concerns of environmental policy and practice, Sociology and the Environment provides an excellent introduction to an expanding and immensely important field. It will be a valuable text for students and scholars in sociology, geography, environmental studies and related disciplines.

Customer Reviews:

Environmental sociology.......2003-02-22

It is a very good book on environmental sociology.It documents relationships of environment,sociology and science/technology.
First, it discusses realist and constructist's point of view.
According to realist,environmental problems are simply impact upon society.According to constructivism,environmental problems are social construction.
Secondly,it explains important aspact of environment
'sustainable development'. It is the development which meets the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It requires changes in a number of systems e.g. political,social,technological to achieve harmony among humanbeing.humanity and nature.
Thirdly, it explains Ulrich Beck's 'Risk Society'.
Just as modernisation dissolved the structure of society in the 19th century and produced the industrial society, the modernisation today is dissolving industrial society and other modernity 'late modernity' or 'risk society'is coming into being. The proccess of modernity is becoming reflexive.Problems find constraints of everyday life are no longer externallt imposed, we enter a secondary phase of modernity,raising new challenges,scientifically induced risk and also problems (loneliness'anomie etc.)The reflexive modernisation , the proccess is 'automatic operation of autunomous modernisation process'.
Then it shows how science plays a significant role within the social construction of environmental threat.Here science,risk and environmental issues are explained by means of giving examples of chemical hazards,civil nuclear power and BSE.
Lastly,technology which is a vital for sociological analysis for
environmental sociology is explained. Here sustainable technology and role of technology for construction of alternative environmental future is explained.Relationship of sociology,technology and environment is given.
It a book for a student of sociology,environment and any sincere reader. It shows how late modernity gives rise to risk society and further theories if risk society and ultimately reflexive modernisation concept.

Sociology and the Environment: A Critical Introduction to Society, Nature, and Knowledge

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Sociology and the Environment: A Critical Introduction to Society, Nature, and Knowledge
Alan Irwin
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUC23G

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