Book Description
The United States has been engaged in what the great historian Charles A. Beard called "perpetual war for perpetual peace." The Federation of American Scientists has cataloged nearly 200 military incursions since 1945 in which the United States has been the aggressor. In a series of penetrating and alarming essays, whose centerpiece is a commentary on the events of September 11, 2001 (deemed too controversial to publish in this country until now) Gore Vidal challenges the comforting consensus following September 11th and goes back and draws connections to Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. He asks were these simply the acts of "evil-doers?" “Gore Vidal is the master essayist of our age.” — Washington Post ”Our greatest living man of letters.”—Boston Globe “Vidal’s imagination of American politics is so powerful as to compel awe.”—Harold Bloom, The New York Review of Books
Customer Reviews:
lawless government invites citizen anarchy.......2007-07-12
Is there a connection between Timothy McVeigh's 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people and is still the deadliest terrorist act in America except for 9/11; the FBI's ambush of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, that killed eighty-two people (1993); and the Iraq war? Well, maybe. In this slender volume of occasional essays the controversial writer Gore Vidal tries to connect the dots.
Vidal borrows the phrase "perpetual war for perpetual peace" from the American historian Charles Beard (1874-1948), famous for his outspoken criticisms of American interventionism abroad. To punctuate his point Vidal includes a list from the Federation of American Scientists that identifies 201 instances of American military intervention between Pearl Harbor and September 11, 2001 (pp. 22-41). In fact, this grossly underestimates American military incursions if Cullen Murphy of Vanity Fair is right that in any given year American forces conduct 170 "operations" abroad (Are We Rome?). At any rate, the Iraq war that began in March 2003 was, sadly, only one more instance of pre-emptive and unilateral state violence by America, some of it against its own citizens.
Whereas the press demonized McVeigh, Vidal tries to understand him. Based upon his three-year correspondence with McVeigh, who invited him to be one of the five witnesses of his execution (Vidal couldn't attend), Vidal concludes that Oklahoma City was McVeigh's revenge for Waco. Without the latter the former never would have happened. McVeigh clearly explained his motives in a letter to Vidal in which he quoted Justice Louis Brandeis in the Olmstead case of 1928, where the Supreme Court upheld the right of the federal government to wiretap private telephone conversations and use them as evidence: "Our government," wrote Brandeis in the dissenting opinion, "is the potent, the omnipotent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example." Thus did McVeigh "declare war on a government [at Oklahoma City] that he felt had declared war on its own people" at Waco. Later Vidal continues the Brandeis quote where McVeigh had left off: "Crime is contagious. If the government becomes the law breaker, it breeds contempt for laws; it invites every man to become a law unto himself." Lawless government invites anarchy; it will reap what it sows.
In Vidal's scenario, pre-emptive war in Iraq is of the same piece as the FBI slaughtering Branch Davidian cultists. "Now, with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard at the Pentagon, we are entering a new and dangerous phase," he writes. "Although we regularly stigmatize other societies as rogue states, we ourselves have become the largest rogue of all. We honor no treaties. We spurn international courts. We strike unilaterally wherever we choose. We give orders to the United Nations but do not pay our dues. We complain of terrorism, yet our empire is now the greatest terrorist of all. We bomb, invade, subvert other states. Although We the People of the United States are the sole source of legitimate authority in this land, we are no longer represented in Congress Assembled" (158-159). And so private citizens like McVeigh follow the example of government atrocities in Waco and Baghdad.
Wake up, America!.......2007-06-08
Vidal's job has always been to act as a Cassandra during the final days of the American republic: like her, he always speaks the truth but no-one believes it. This book is really just a collection of magazine articles and it's a shame that at 82 he probably doesn't have the stamina for a comprehensive analysis. Having said that, it's still worth reading if only for the essay on Timothy McVeigh.
And if you think I'm exaggerating about the American collapse, consider the obvious parallels between the fall of Rome and the present American decline - the destruction of the currency; defeat in war; and the invasion of the homeland by foreigners.
A major disappointment by a major writer..........2007-01-22
Gore Vidal is one of my favorite novelists, essayists, and pundits. BURR is one of my all-time favorite novels. And the editorial review of this book sounded very much like it covered not dissimilar territory to one of the best films of last year, the documentary WHY WE FIGHT, which outlines the disturbing evolution of the military/industrial/congressional complex. But this book turns out to be an off-kilter screed, an opinion piece peppered with facts but largely rant and rave with an uncharacteristic lack of satisfying insight. He even gets at least one fact wrong: in listing all the treaties we've broken he mentions Kyoto as one of them; in truth congress never ratified that treaty, hence there was never one to break.
Every great writer is allowed an off day. This book, though, was such a major disappointment because Vidal's novels have such a keen grasp of historical context and Vidal himself has such a learned and insightful overview. For me, a major disappointment.
Witty, bitchy, and impassioned, Vidal is on target critiquing unchecked state power.......2006-11-07
Gore Vidal is not my favorite writer, political or otherwise, because his tendencies to name drop and to remind the reader of his patrician heritage grate on my nerves. That said, this slender volume of collected essays is required reading for anyone, liberal or conservative, who thinks that the train of the United States has jumped its Constitutional tracks and is headed for catastrophe, both domestically and internationally. It is also nice to hear someone so eloquently remind Americans that our Constitutional heritage is primarily one of mistrust of government, our own first and foremost, and to challenge the received opinion that this mistrust is now tantamount to treason.
Not only is this sense of distrust our obligation as American citizens, but it is also healthy, Vidal argues. He supports this argument by discussing the violent and murderous contempt our government has had for those in the world, both abroad and at home, who would challenge its claims to ideological and actual dominance. The first essay in this collection endeavors to explain why those abroad hate the American government by making reference to the hundreds of military ventures our nation has engaged in (with almost absolute impunity it must be noted) over the last half-century. Democratically elect a leader whose policies don't completely gibe with American national (read "commercial") interests? Then Uncle Sam will help depose him. Since the end of WWII, the US has intervened in so many other nations' internal affairs, often with disastrous consequences for the everyday people in those nations, that the mind reels. The question becomes not "why do they hate us" but "why have they waited so long to show it?"
The essays which follow the introduction deal with issues of domestic un-tranquility and, in particular, the violent response of one Timothy McVeigh to a federal government that rages unchecked. If that last phrase seems extreme, imagine seeing your wife get shot through the head (as she clutched an infant) hours after watching your 14-year old son shot in the back by the same "law officers," all because you were entrapped into committing the "crime" of sawing off two shotguns. That's what happened to Randy Weaver at his Ruby Ridge, ID, home. He, and not the murdering authorities, was the one accused of crimes in that situation, and the media, complicit with the federal authorities, did its best to cover-up the true criminals. Later, a group of non-traditional religious folks were murdered, with their 27 children, by the same lawless authorities, and again, the media and government manipulated the story so that it was the citizen, and not the government, who was to blame. These incidents, argues Vidal, are indicative of a rogue American government, one that blames its victims and exonerates itself at every opportunity. Vidal also inveighs against the puritanical, prudish prurience of those Americans who so desperately want to see their neighbors controlled that they'll excuse their government of any crimes committed to that end, no matter how heinous. As he notes when discussing Timothy McVeigh's murder of innocents in the Murrah building in OKC, "every pancake has two sides." Ignoring the larger side of that pancake, an unchecked government run rampant against the freedoms of "we the people" and our fellow human beings in other nations, is to our detriment.
One minor drawback to this book is that Vidal rarely provides a citation to back him up in his diatribe, but this is easily rectified by seeking out denser corroborative works on the various subjects Vidal discusses (the writings of Noam Chomsky come to mind, for example). Please don't let that complaint keep you from reading this book; its witty, bitchy, and impassioned defense of the US Constitution and of the Republic it supports is much needed in these dark days of omnipresent surveillance and endless wars on inchoate terror.
Gore Vidal is Not a Mainstream Wimpy Historian: He is Honest and Makes Readers Think.......2006-07-24
Gore Vidal's major assets in writing political books are his wit, knowledge, and ability to write. Mr. Vidal clearly shows what political problems exist and uses precision in diagnosing these problems. His PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE, a phrase used by the great historian Charles Austin Beard, is apt title for this book. Readers should note that Vidal gives Beard credit for this phrase.
Vidal wrote one of the best assessments of the tragedy in Oklahoma for which Timothy McVeigh was executed. This tragedy which took place in 1995 is carefully discussed by Vidal. Vidal indicates that the way the feds explained the explosion is impossible to believe. One should note that the feds cleared the debris from this explosion as quickly as possible removing forensic evidence that could have implicated others or revealed that the force of the explosion was not due to the explanations offered by government "experts."
Another interesting facet of Vidal's assessment of Timothy McVeigh view of the U.S. government. McVeigh expressed anger and frustration and anger at government corruption and lying regarding both domestic and diplomatic issues. Vidal's evaluation of McVeigh is thought provoking. One should clearly note that Vidal does not condone McVeigh's actions, but one should at least be aware of why events, as tragic as they may be, do occur.
Vidal also gives some of the best explanations of U.S. foreign policy blunders that benefit no one except defense contractors, Pentagon bureaucrats, and some members of the U.S. House and Senate. These corrupt cronies faced a severe problem when the Soviets conceded that the U.S. could outspend them on arms races and comitted the crime of refusing to play the game any longer. Defense contractors, Pentagon flunkies, U.S. political figures, etc., had to invent new enemies to justify their bloated budgets and criminality. Vidal cites examples from Latin America (espeically Columbia), Asia, and Africa where U.S. political and military intervention has made life miserable and unbearable. What has been the result? Vidal carefully explains that Americans have become hated. In other words, the pious platitudes and obnoxious lies do not stand when the political realities and tragedies affect other peoples.
Those who have branded this book as "Bush bashing" have apparently not read it. Vidal does not spare anyone in this book, and he demonstrates keen criticism of those who are prominent Democrats and Republicans. Vidal had serious clashes with the Kennedys.
This reviewer doubts if Gore Vidal's books will change the world. However, his book titled PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE is there for the record. One should carefully examine pages 22-41 to see just how extensive U.S. military and political intervention is.
Readers should refer to Theodore Rushton's previous review of this book to get a more concise view. This reviewer agrees with Mr. Rushton that this book is important. Gore Vidal is not a "trained historian" which is why the book is worth reading. Mr. Vidal does not cater to politically correct nonsense and political agendas. He is more concerned with truth which is a lesson current historians have long abandoned.
Book Description
This book examines the various competing interpretations of Kant's foundational Perpetual Peace since its initial publication in the late eighteenth century. According to Easley's analysis, there are two patterns of interpretations: first, the text endorses peace proposals above the state level and second, the text is in favor of peace proposals at the state level. Eric Easley provides a comprehensive historical background and analytical framework for understanding Perpetual Peace, allowing scholars of international relations to better understand and appreciate its complex meaning and see beyond the conventionally accepted interpretations of the day.
Customer Reviews:
Eye opening.......2006-09-01
If you complain about and want to know why GWB lied us into war, you'd better prepare yourself for the fact that this has been going on for 100 and perhaps over 140 years.
For the real story on WWII (and beyond) you can't do better than this classic revisionist tome. I would also recommend "The Real Lincoln", and "Wilson's War" if you want to get a more balanced view of some of our "great" presidents and the unnecessary wars they embroiled us in - all of which caused millions of deaths, huge federal defecits, aggrandized the central government and brought us into the Orwellian police state.
An Exposure of Perpetual Stupidity.......2006-03-24
Harry Elmer Barnes was one of the most productive historians and social scientists of the 20th century. A bibliography of his books and monographs is about 50 pages and includes long tomes on various topics such as sociology, history, criminology, etc. His editing of PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE shows Barnes' ability as both a historian and an editor of other men whose contributions to this book are well written and poignant.
Barnes begins this book with an essay on the background of World War II by giving the reader a good summary of World War I and its aftermath. Barnes is clear that events before World War I were radically different than events during and after this war. He traces American policy from the end of World War I to World War II and beyond.
Barnes' use of Percy Greaves' background to the attack on Pearly Harbor is effective. Greaves was an expert on what actually happened when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Greaves' account is no sanitized textbook report but a carefully documented assessment that is basically unanswerable.
The same could be said of Morgenstern's work mentioned in PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE. Morgenstern's book PEARL HARBOR:THE STORY OF THE SECRET WAR is by far the best book written on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and when the "experts" could not refute him, they resorted to smearing him.
Charles Tansill's essay is well worth reading. In fact, Tansill's contritubtion to this book should be followed by a careful reading of his BACK DOOR TO WAR. Tansill had to resort to trickery to get the documents and sources for his BACK DOOR TO WAR.
The essays in PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE not only deal with the government's lying and manipulation to get Americans involved in a useless war, but the essays also indicate that the Americans got nothing out of the war. In fact, the only actual winners were the political leaders of Big Communism which expanded well into Eastern Europe and Asia. In fact, the phony "Cold War" was essentailly the attempt to settle the accounts from World War II.
Of particular interest is the essay on Orwellian trends. The government's use of war as a means to absorb unemployment by going to war and employing large numbers of people in war materials industries is instructive and should be read carefully. This essay makes clear that domestic problems and unemployment issues can resolved by long protracted wars with no clear winners or losers except for those who hold political power on both sides. This essay also shows how enemies and allies can change almost overnight.
PPERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL peace is a good start to learning a more comprehensive view on both the truth of the origins of World War II and the political and diplomatic trends thereafter. This book should be read by serious historians to correct the distortions in badly written textbooks and the phony presentations of politically correct teachers who are too timid to do any serious reading or thinking.
Foreign Policy *Must Read*.......2004-04-25
I stumbled across the original H/C version of this book at an antique dealer's shop. I was suprised by the title, I thought that Gore Vidal wrote the only book with that designation.
Upon reading the dust jacket and introduction, I knew the book was for me, as the editor drops the name of Charles A. Beard into the mix. (Beard is one of the few recent historians that Gore Vidal praises.)
The book is considered a 'revisionist' tome, and rightly so. The irony is that the original 'revisionists', (like Beard), sought to clarify the FACTUAL historical record. This book lays the case for foreknowledge of Japan's 'suprise' attack by the Roosevelt administration, and a series of maneuvers to incite Japan to land the first punch at Pearl Harbor.
With the help of the FOIA, Robert Stinnet recently wrote 'Day of Deceit' which vindicates much of what these authors were writing back in 1953. Vidal wrote 'The Golden Age' as a fictionalized account of FDR's maneuvers, and I think he also used the FOIA, and came to nearly identical conclusions.
You can disagree with the authors' product, but you cannot dispute the factual case laid out in detailed, indexed black & white truth.
Cuts through propaganda like a hot knife through butter. Still relevant over 50 years after publication. That's impressive for a foreign policy book.
A Classic Indeed !.......2002-12-24
Classic revisionist study of how FDR maneuvered America, against the wishes of most of its citizens, into war against Germany and Japan, and how FDR's war policy ended in betrayal, disillusion and endless conflict. Establishes convincingly that U.S. participation in World War II was neither necessary, nor desirable, nor just. Edited by one of this century's most influential American scholars, this is a work in the front rank of American historical scholarship. Eleven concise, scintillating essays on every aspect of FDR's secret diplomatic and military warpath, by eight giants of revisionist scholarship, including H. E. Barnes, Charles C. Tansill, F. R. Sanborn, W. L. Neumann, G. Morgenstern, Percy L. Graves, Wm. H. Chamberlin, and G. A. Lundberg. A measured and relentless exposé of the calculated deceit by which FDR overturned America's traditional neutrality policy, provoked Pearl Harbor, and waged a brutal, pointless war that culminated in mass slaughter at Dresden and Hiroshima, and betrayal -- of America and the West -- at Yalta and Potsdam. These are incisive, unmistakably American perspectives on how the US made a mockery of its own professed ideals during the "Good War." A virtual encyclopedia -- authoritative and comprehensive -- on the real causes and the actual results of America's entry into the Second World War. Indispensable as a history and a reference. Highly relevant for an understanding of how the United States came to its present-day policy of "New World Order" global military adventurism.
A Revisionist Classic.......2002-11-30
Americans were generally disillusioned at the end of World War I and this intellectual climate led to a dramatic re-examination of the origins of the war and the US role in it. No widespread revisionism followed World War II however. Our overwhelming victory, the horrible revelations of Nazi concentration camps, and the launch of the Cold War all led to war histories that lacked critical appraisal of our involvement, and the war itself. This book from 1953 attempted a re-evaluation with such evidence as was available at the time.
Barnes collected several essays from revisionist scholars on various aspects of the war: most dealt with Pearl Harbor and whether Roosevelt was aware of a coming attack. Only a few of the essays were by professional historians, and generally the book was attacked when it came out. Nonetheless, it is still in print, and some of its arguments have been vindicated in recent years.
Readers today will find the best essays to be those by William L. Neumann and Harry Barnes. Neumann explained how American foreign policy was based on a myth of China and failed to consider our own interests for peace with Japan. Barnes' essay on Orwell's 1984 is a gem, and deserves wide reading. It was one of the first critiques of the cold war. Most of these essays, however, are dated. In the final analysis, one cannot help but feel that many of these essays were simply a reaction to propagandistic war histories of the 1940s and 1950s. Dogmatic in some instances, unclear in others, this work has simply been superceded.
Product Description
A critical examination of the foreign policy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and its aftermath
Average customer rating:
- An excellent and scholarly read
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Naval Mutinies of the Twentieth Century: An International Perspective (Cass Series--Naval Policy and History)
C. Bell
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0714654604 |
Book Description
This volume brings together a set of scholarly, readable and up-to-date essays covering the most significant naval mutinies of the 20th century, including Russia (1905), Brazil (1910), Austria (1918), Germany (1918), France (1918-19), Great Britain (1931), Chile (1931), the United States (1944), India (1946), China (1949), Australia, and Canada (1949).
Each chapter addresses the causes of the mutiny in question, its long- and short-term repercussions, and the course of the mutiny itself. More generally, authors consider the state of the literature on their mutiny and examine significant historiographical issues connected with it, taking advantage of new research and new methodologies to provide something of value to both the specialist and non-specialist reader. The book provides fresh insights into issues such as what a mutiny is, what factors cause them, what navies are most susceptible to them, what responses lead to satisfactory or unsatisfactory conclusions, and how far-reaching their consequences tend to be.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent and scholarly read.......2003-10-08
I read and reread Professor Christopher Bell's first book - The Royal Navy, Seapower and Strategy between the Wars. So having got wind of the publication of this 'mutinies' book, I was much looking forward to getting hold of a copy and reading it. The book was well worth the wait. It is an excellent read about twentieth century naval mutinies in twelve different countries.
The general public perception of naval mutinies is probably limited to Captain Bligh on the [HMS] Bounty. This book totally dispels that myth. In covering the twelve mutinies, it gives the reader an idea of the vast scope of mutinies. A mutiny is both interesting in itself and it also tells you something about the navy in which it occurred. Most seamen know the seriousness and consequences of a mutiny. Thus for one to occur, can normally be taken as an indication of something seriously wrong with the leadership and conduct within the ship[s] concerned.
I suspect but have no reason to be certain that Christopher Bell was the main editor for this book: his 'stamp'seems to be present in several of the contributions.
A thought in passing is that the book limits itself to one mutiny per country. If two had been allowed, I wonder if the second Royal Navy mutiny covered, would have been that aboard HMS Warspite in 1937 following completion of its refit ???
As a student of the Royal Navy and somebody whose interest was awakened by Stephen Roskill, I thoroughly recommend this book. I would be most surprised if any reader is disappointed: more to the point, I believe most readers will enjoy it.
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Emperical Rock Failure Criteria
P.R. Sheorey
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Mining
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Mining
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ASIN: 9054106719 |
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Mutualism and Community Organization: Behavioural, Theoretical, and Food-Web Approaches
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0198540272 |
Book Description
Highlighting exciting new research from Japan into community ecology, this book brings mutualistic interactions into focus. During the last two decades, detailed research has shown that mutualistic or commensalistic relations play important roles in biological association, even among species sharing the same or similar resources. This volume describes synergistic reactions among living organisms, puts forward theoretical explanations, and explores their potential impact on community structure.
Books:
- Race and Reunion : The Civil War in American Memory
- Red Acropolis, Black Terror: The Greek Civil War and the Origins of Soviet-American Rivalry, 1943-1949
- Roman Auxiliary Cavalryman: AD 14-193 (Warrior)
- Roots of Strategy: The 5 Greatest Military Classics of All Time (Roots of Strategy)
- Samurai: An Illustrated History
- Seize the Fire : Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar
- Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda
- Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition
- Silent Warriors of World War II: The Alamo Scouts Behind the Japanese Lines
- Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front
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