Customer Reviews:
not as good as "the cocaine kids".......2007-08-05
although is isnt as good as "the cocaine kids", williams has managed to put a very realistic face on the crack problem killing america. my only real complaint with the book is that it dosent go into the lives of the books subjects enough... it seems more like a short over-view instead of being intensly focused. i did enjoy the read and i will probably re read it again in the future.
Man, I just got to get me a book about crack! .......2005-09-27
This book is pretty much what its title says it is: a book about people in a crackhouse. It's incredibly sad at times, and the characters are depicted in good detail, but the author's dedicated quest to make this book something for everyone and not just for anthropologists sometimes backfires, and the story comes across as oversimplified and dumbed down.
I would have liked more about the author's experiences spending time in this crackhouse, and about what sort of moral stance he had to take when he found himself in rooms with young girls trading oral sex for drugs, and that sort of thing. The author's effort to minimize his own presence in the book just makes his character more mysterious, and made me wonder about him: did he try crack? Was he ever tempted by these promiscuous young girls? He raises a lot of questions--and not just about himself--but he gives a lot fewer answers, and doesn't leave the reader with much hope at all for any of the book's human subjects.
Maybe that's about right, though.
Ever Wonder What Really Goes On In A Crackhouse?.......2002-05-30
If you've ever wondered what really goes on in a crackhouse, or what kind of people inhabit such a place-this is the book for you. I very much enjoyed Terry Williams writing style-simple and straightforward, not preachy or judgemental. I enjoyed this book so much I ordered his other book-Cocaine Kids. This is an excellent read, although it's pretty gritty. I was surprised to see it in the "Youth" section.
A good introduction to this countercultural subset........1999-05-10
Terry Williams does a very good job in introducing the reader to this little known and forgotten subset of our society. The story focuses on his experiences and observations of a small group of crack and free-base cocaine users. His prose is devoid of moral undertones and is non-judgemental allowing the reading to form his own opinions and motivations.
Crackhouse: Notes from the End of the Line does not sensationalize or exploit the travails of these people in this lifestyle. This book does not shock anywhere near as much as it educates. Mr. Williams does not sugar coat anything, but he refrains from overstating the obvious.
Mr. Williams has also included a nice glossary of terms at the end of the book concerning the crackhouse vernacular.
I wish the book could have detailed the lives of the inhabitants outside of the actual crackhouse or smoking room with more detail. How were these people contributing to society when they weren't "seeing Scotty" (a phrase that Williams' group would sometimes use when getting high)? Perhaps, this was not the focus that Williams was aiming for.
In any case, I strongly recommend this book for anybody with an interest in the ethnology of crack cocaine users. I found the book educational. I look forward to reading more about this subject in the future.
Customer Reviews:
(RAW Rating: 4.5) - What is happening to black men?.......2007-08-04
Demico Boothe has explored the reasons so many black men are indeed in prison in, WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON? He begins with his own story of a shaky upbringing and his subsequent dabbling in drug dealing. He was caught with a few grams of crack cocaine but because it was the dreaded crack, he was given 10 years in prison. When he left prison after serving his time, he was actually railroaded back into prison by a crooked justice system. He delves deeply into our justice system and the motives behind all the new prisons that are being built. He gives succinct and reasonable views of exactly what is happening now in the United States and how the past has played a role in the present. He uses persuasive statistics regarding the number of black men in prison as compared to the number of white men who are incarcerated.
Demico Boothe has done an excellent job of researching his subject and it is a plus, if unfortunate for him, that he has actually experienced first hand what he's talking about. I knew I was hearing the real story rather than just statistics from an intellectual who had no real idea of what the prison system is really like. I would have liked for Boothe to search a little deeper into the Haiti, Aristide and USA question, maybe even reading Randall Robinson's take on the situation, and then he might see it a bit differently. Otherwise, it is a good book and one every one in America should read. We indeed, have a crisis going on.
Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In.......2007-06-09
The book was very interesting. I learned soooo much about the government and the prison industry. I did some searching independantly to check on the things reported in the book and they are very true. Great Read!! Buy the book.
A Must Read.......2007-05-25
Mr. Demico's book is a must-read for anyone concerned about young African American men. Although I did not agree with every conclusion he reached, Demico's main premises are convincing. As a white woman who teaches mainly students of color, I am always impressed, and often in awe, of those young men who reach college with so much going against them. Demico's books lays bare not only the horrible inequalities of our society, but also the racist attitudes of our political system - - Democrats, Republicans, and most everyone in between.
Why are so many Black Men in Prison?.......2007-05-13
I is a well put together book. He really goes into a lot of detail of how our society is really set up.
Why are so many blacks in prison?.......2007-05-12
I found this book very interesting. As a white devil myself, I had no idea that I was responsible for forcing blacks into committing crimes and then subsequently clogging up the whole "Prison Industrial Complex"(tm). I will try to stop causing this, as I am sure it is creating a LOT of trouble for everyone! Sorry!
It is probably also my fault that young black men dressed in XXXXL clothes overtly threaten me and my family members routinely. Can anyone tell me what I should do to make this not happen?
I imagine it's also my fault that black on white violent crime is WAY higher than white on black violent crime, even though blacks constitute about 12.5% of the population, and whites are about 70%. But since it is impossible for a black to commit a hate crime according to our criminal justice system (since blacks are not under any circumstances racist), statistically, there are more white on black hate crimes. Boothe notes a statistic regarding hate crimes, but he skips the one about interracial violence in general.
In sum, Boothe notes that just about everything blacks do is actually MY fault, because my skin is white. Boothe, I've got a word for you.
Introspection.
Book Description
With a beat reminiscent of hip hop or rap music, a well known nursery rhyme is brilliantly transformed into a powerful poem about the tragic problem of illegal drugs and its victims. From the harvesting of the coca plants to dealers and gangs to the innocent crack babies born everyday, cocaine's journey is starkly traced from beginning to end. The rhythmic text, which is realistic but not moralizing, will appeal to teenagers and adults. But it is also accessible for even very young children, making this a valuable resource for parents, teachers, librarians, caregivers, and everyone else who is looking for a way to broach this difficult subject. A list of organizations is provided for those seeking help for a loved one or a way out for themselves. A forword by children's advocate Michael Pritchard teaches us that we are all victims of this debilitating drug but reminds us that we also have the ability to change our world.
Customer Reviews:
speak out.......2005-12-20
The book does what it intended. It makes you think and stimulates conversation.
Could it get any better?.......2005-01-16
I once read a little book i like to call War and Peace. it stunned and amazed and wonderfied me. But when i read The House that Crack Built,i was brought to tears. I showed it too all my friends and then went on a little"personal crusade", promoting its vitrues and encouraging young readers to follow their dreams. I keep this book on my shelf, next to Harry potter(another classic), Lord of the rings, War and Peace, '1984', the entire works of Dr. Suess, Fathers and Sons, Sir arthur Canon Doyle's collected works, and the Holy Bible. Buy this book and it will change your life. Amen.
Ummm.......2002-06-07
When I and a friend discovered this in our High School Library we laughed our butts off. This should not be in the children's book section. While it does provide a good dyscribtion of what drugs do to your life and how crack goes from producer to consumer there is one major flaw. It is vain, arrogant and sounds like it came off a Mcgruf the crime dog pamlet or a D.A.R.E T-shirt.
taking responsibility for our own actions.......2002-05-07
i use this book continuously when working with patients with substance abuse. i have found it helps them to think about how our actions effect others... about how buy crack just isn't bad for the addict, but destroys the whole community. i read the other reviews about this book. the ones who are pessimistic, don't seem to be getting the point. the overall theme is taking responsibility for our own actions and considering the possibility of change. it reminds me everytime that i read it, that in some small way, my choices are making a difference.
Great for children.......2001-08-17
I was first introduced to The House that Crack Built working at a summer program in the ghetto of North Philadelphia. I instantly saw the interest it sparked in the children and the thought that it provoked in them. To them this book was al to real, as for many drugs is a part of their every day life. However, it showed drug dealing and drug use without the glamour that is often given to it both in the media and in many drug infested areas. Yes it is true that many middle class suburbanites also abuse drugs but the reality of the matter is that such a choice will have more of an impact on somebody from the ghetto that have little to hope for in life as it is.
Book Description
Kill the Messenger tells the story of the tragic death of Gary Webb, the controversial newspaper reporter who committed suicide in December 2004. Webb is the former San Jose Mercury News reporter whose 1996 “Dark Alliance” series on the so-called CIA-crack cocaine connection created a firestorm of controversy and led to his resignation from the paper amid escalating attacks on his work by the mainstream media.
Author and investigative journalist Nick Schou published numerous articles on the controversy and was the only reporter to significantly advance Webb’s stories. Drawing on exhaustive research and highly personal interviews with Webb’s family, colleagues, supporters and critics, this book argues convincingly that Webb’s editors betrayed him, despite mounting evidence that his stories were correct. Kill the Messenger examines the “Dark Alliance” controversy, what it says about the current state of journalism in America, and how it led Webb to ultimately take his own life.
Webb’s widow, Susan Bell, remains an ardent defender of her ex-husband. By combining her story with a probing examination of the one of the most important media scandals in recent memory, this book provides a gripping view of one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of investigative journalism.
Customer Reviews:
The scary truth.......2007-04-08
As the editor of the Applegator Newspaper, I have many books crossed my desk. I was captivated from the beginning to the end. And the story confirmed many of my fears. If one has any interest on the CIA, I highly recommend this book.
J.D. Rogers
Editor of the Applegator Newspaper
Essential Reading.......2007-02-28
This book should have received far more publicity than it's had since publication. It is essential reading for every American. Decades later, the aftereffects of crack's explosion are still with us: prisons overflowing with low-level drug operatives, destroyed inner-cities and families. Nick Schou should be commended for trying to keep this issue in the public's eye. And, Gary Webb should one day receive the accolades that eluded him in his lifetime.
CIA trained and funded Contra death squads also coke dealers.......2007-02-21
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." - William Colby, former CIA Director
Kill the Messenger does a tremendous service by providing the reader with a detailed account that touches on all the issues that led to Gary Webb's downfall and ultimately his suicide. Also the book delves into the CIA/Contra cocaine smuggling that went on under the radar during the counterinsurgency war that raged in Nicaragua. Of course Webb unearthed much of the story.
One thing the mainstream press liked to do was treat the Contras as if they were a mutually exclusive entity separate from the CIA. Thus when the establishment media reported that the Contras dabbled in drug smuggling they could simultaneously report that at worst the CIA just turned a blind eye. Unfortunately for the CIA and the powers that be, the Contras were wholly trained and funded by the CIA. The CIA and the Contras were essentially one and the same. If the CIA never existed the Contras never would have even been conjured up and never would have been able to wage a bloody war against civilian targets, raping and pillaging throughout the Nicaraguan countryside and sending massive quantities of cocaine into the United States; much of which landed at the doorstep of Los Angeles and other major cities that had just started to feel the sting of Reaganite socio-economic policies.
Webb was basically the first journalist who truly blew the lid off the CIA's Contra cocaine smuggling operations that went on during the early and mid 1980s. Kid glove treatment does not one receive when exposing one of the most powerful and violent institutions in world affairs. Webb was basically vilified by the pillars of establishment journalism for having the temerity to report the truth. The Washington Post and New York Times attacked Webb's work once they realized Dark Alliance was gaining traction among the American public due to it being given extensive coverage via the Internet and black talk radio. The Post even went so far as to have a journalist who was in the pocket of the CIA write a story highly critical of Webb's findings. Being that the Post and Times more or less ignored much of the CIA skullduggery that went on during the 1980s it's not surprising to see the treatment they dealt to Webb because of his chutzpah. Kill the Messenger lays all this out for the reader to dissect. It's interesting to note that the same Post reporter who bashed Webb had decades ago written a highly critical review of Philip Agee's excellent book Inside the Company, a book which exposed CIA lawlessness and abuses.
Webb unearthed that one Contra (CIA) fundraiser, Norwin Meneses, was actually considered the "King of cocaine" in Nicaragua. Kill the Messenger provides the outline in which L.A.'s street gangs were at the end of a chain of a covert action to equip and arm the CIA's Contras. Meneses, and other thugs, play a major role in the book and in the covert action outlined therein. Of course cocaine was a primary funding source. Narcotics often play this role when money must be drummed up in a secret fashion. Of course during the 1980s was when coke was turning to crack and sweeping up the lives of much of the underdogs and poverty stricken.
One technique the mainstream media used in attacking Webb's story was to lament the fact that he often relied heavily on the testimony of criminals under oath. Apparently these sources never talked to a prosecuting attorney, since DAs often rely on such testimony in order to arrive at justice. Kill the Messenger addresses the fact that a respected French journalist who had covered Nicaragua in the 1980s, rushed to Webb's aid because he knew the core of Webb's work was genuine and true. He felt the U.S. media attacks against Webb were completely unjust. It should be remembered that in highly charged issues of this type there often is no proverbial smoking gun. What serious researchers are forced to do is put together a case based on the best available evidence in order to construct a highly probable scenario.
This book should be required reading; it exposes a dark side of American foreign policy that had obvious domestic implications as well. What went on with United States involvment in Central America 25 years ago was ostensibly a modern day extension of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine. Webb was a courageous person who did the American public a great service by weaving the pieces together and providing this incredibly important story. In a just world he'd now be chilling out on the beach with a cold drink in his hand and Pulitzer at his side.
Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb.......2007-01-09
Well-written, direct and serious treatment of a personal as well as national story. It's a page turner for the armchair reader and a must for any student or teacher of journalism for its careful examination of the complex relationship between investigative reporter and editor. Its title exactly reflects the objective treatment Schou gives to a still controversial subject.
An Honest Book About a Dishonest Reporter.......2007-01-08
Gary Webb was a controversial reporter. He wrote first a series of articles and later a book under the title of "Dark Alliance" that showed that there were connections between the CIA and drug smugglers. Webb was unmercifully attacked by fellow journalists and was fired by his newspaper. Eventually, Webb committed suicide.
Nick Schou set out to portray Webb as a victim of the establishment. However, as a result of his own honest journalism, Schou wound up portraying Webb as being a rather different person than what Schou originally thought that he was.
Gary Webb was a bold reporter, but he was also guilty of serious transgressions against journalistic ethics. He engaged in cherry picking and ignored evidence that did not fit his thesis. He was not interested in fairness. Webb gave in to aggrandizement and egomania. Webb was a journalistic slacker and hypocrite. After leaving journalism, Webb gained a job in California state government where he became the stereotypical lazy bureaucrat.
Nick Schou lays out the sad and pathetic life story of Gary Webb a would be star of investigative reporting who was himself guilty of the same kind of ethical and moral lapses that he accused others of having.
This book is most heartily recommended.
Average customer rating:
- CIA Case Officer from Central American Era Validates This Book
- CIA=Criminals in Action
- After Downing Street Memos, the US Should Reconsider this Book,
- Conspiracy history
- A brave effort
|
Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion
Gary Webb
Manufacturer: Seven Stories Press
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The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade
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ASIN: 1888363932 |
Amazon.com
In July 1995, San Jose Mercury-News reporter Gary Webb found the Big One--the blockbuster story every journalist secretly dreams about--without even looking for it. A simple phone call concerning an unexceptional pending drug trial turned into a massive conspiracy involving the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, L.A. and Bay Area crack cocaine dealers, and the Central Intelligence Agency. For several years during the 1980s, Webb discovered, Contra elements shuttled thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States, with the profits going toward the funding of Contra rebels attempting a counterrevolution in their Nicaraguan homeland. Even more chilling, Webb quickly realized, was that the massive drug-dealing operation had the implicit approval--and occasional outright support--of the CIA, the very organization entrusted to prevent illegal drugs from being brought into the United States.
Within the pages of Dark Alliance, Webb produces a massive amount of evidence that suggests that such a scenario did take place, and more disturbing evidence that the powers that be that allowed such an alliance are still determined to ruthlessly guard their secrets. Webb's research is impeccable--names, dates, places, and dollar amounts gather and mount with every page, eventually building a towering wall of evidence in support of his theories. After the original series of articles ran in the Mercury-News in late 1996, both Webb and his paper were so severely criticized by political commentators, government officials, and other members of the press that his own newspaper decided it best not to stand behind the series, in effect apologizing for the assertions and disavowing his work. Webb quit the paper in disgust in November 1997. His book serves as both a complex memoir of the time of the Contras and an indictment of the current state of America's press; Dark Alliance is as necessary and valuable as it is horrifying and grim. --Tjames Madison
Customer Reviews:
CIA Case Officer from Central American Era Validates This Book.......2007-06-09
I am probably the only reviewer who was a clandestine case officer (three back to back tours), who participated in the Central American follies as both a field officer and a desk officer at CIA HQS, who is also very broadly read.
With great sadness, I must conclude that this book is truthful, accurate, and explosive.
The book lacks some context, for example, the liberal Saudi funding for the Contras that was provided to the National Security Council (NSC) as a back-door courtesy.
There are three core lessons in this book, supported by many books, some of which I list at the end of this review:
1) The US Government cannot be trusted by the people. The White House, the NSC, the CIA, even the Justice Department, and the Members of Congress associated with the Administration's party, are all liars. They use "national security" as a pretext for dealing drugs and screwing over the American people.
2) CIA has come to the end of its useful life. I remain proud to have been a clandestine case officer, but I see now that I was part of the "fake" CIA going through the motions, while extremely evil deeds were taking place in more limited channels.
3) In the eyes of the Nicaraguan, Guatemalan, and Honduran people, among many others, the US Government, as represented by the CIA and the dark side Ambassadors who are partisan appointees rather than true diplomats, is evil. It consorts with dictators, condones torture, helps loot the commonwealths of others, runs drugs, launders money, and is generally the bully on the block.
I have numerous notes on the book, and will list just a few here that are important "nuggets" from this great work:
1) The CIA connection to the crack pandemic could be the crime of the century. It certainly destroys the government's moral legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
2) The fact that entrepreneur Ricky Ross went to jail for life, while his supplier, Nicaraguan Blandon, was constantly protected by CIA and the Department of Justice, is a travesty.
3) Nicaragua, under Somoza, was the US Government's local enforcer, and CIA was his most important liaison element. As long as we consort with 44 dictators (see Ambassador Palmer's "The Real Axis of Evil," we should expect to be reviled by the broader populations.
4) I believe that beginning with Henry Kissinger, the NSC and the CIA have had a "eugenics" policy that considers the low-income blacks to be "expendable" as well as a nuisance, and hence worthy of being targeted as a market for drugs to pull out what income they do have.
5) I believe that CIA was unwitting of the implications of crack, but that Congress was not. The book compellingly describes the testimony provided to Congress in 1979 and again in 1982, about the forthcoming implications of making a cocaine derivative affordable by the lowest income people in our Nation.
6) The Administration and Congress, in close partnership with the "mainstream media," consistently lied, slandered witnesses to the truth, and generally made it impossible for the truth to be "heard."
7) The ignorance of the CIA managers about the "ground truth" in Nicaragua and Honduras, and their willingness to carry out evil on command from the White House, without actually understanding the context, the true feelings of the people, or even the hugely detrimental strategic import of what they were about to do to Los Angeles, simply blow me away. We need to start court-martialling government employees for being stupid on the people's payroll.
8) CIA officers should not be allowed to issue visas. When they are under official cover they are assigned duty officer positions, and the duty officer traditionally has access to the visa stamp safe for emergencies (because the real visa officers are too lazy to be called in for an emergency).
9) I recently supported a movie on Ricky Ross, one that immediately won three awards in 2006 for best feature-length documentary, and I have to say, on the basis of this book, that Rick Ross was clearly not a gang member; was a tennis star and all-around good guy, was trying to make school grades; was disciplined, professional, and entrepreneurial. He did not create the cocaine, he did not smuggle it into the country, he simply acted on the opportunity presented to him by the US Government and its agent Blandon.
10) There is a connection between CIA, the private sector prison managers in the US, and prisoners. This needs a more careful look.
11) Clinton's bodyguards (many of whom have died mysteriously since then) were fully witting of Bill and Hillary Clinton's full engagement in drug smuggling into the US via Arkansas, and CIA's related nefarious activities.
12) CIA not only provided post-arrest white washes for its drug dealers, but they also orchestrated tip-offs on planned raids.
13) Both local police departments, especially in California, and the US Government, appear to have a standard "loot and release" program where drug dealers caught with very large amounts of cash (multiple millions) are instantly freed in return for a quit claim on the money.
14) CIA Operations Officers (clandestine case officers) lied not just to the FBI and Justice, but to their own CIA lawyers.
15) DEA in Costa Rica was dirtier than most, skimming cash and protecting drug transports.
The book ends with a revelation and an observation.
The revelation: just prior to both the Contra drug deals and the CIA's ramping up in Afghanistan, which now provides 80% of the world's heroin under US administration, the CIA and Justice concluded a Memorandum of Understanding that gave CIA carte blanche in the drug business.. The author says this smacked of premeditation, and I agree.
The observation: here is a quote from page 452: " ...the real danger the CIA has always presented--unbridled criminal stupidity, clouded in a blanked of national security."
Shame on us all. It's time to clean house.
Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth'
The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade
Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America, Updated edition
The Big White Lie: The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War : An Undercover Odyssey
Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb
The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA
From BCCI to ISI: The Saga of Entrapment Continues
Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
Fog Facts : Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin (Nation Books)
CIA=Criminals in Action.......2007-03-22
Gary Webb proves that at the very least the US government at the highest levels knew about and protected Contra connected Nicaraguans who were smuggling MASSIVE amounts of cocaine into America and more or less created and caused the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980's. These same Nicaraguans were in most cases working for the CIA.
Don't kid yourself, the global elite control the drug trade. The CIA is just a conduit for them to do it. From what I have read the illegal drug trade is the second largest industry in the world so why should it be any surprise? Whats covered in Dark Alliance is just one of their many operations along these lines. Do some research about Mena, Arkansas and Barry Seal. Read the book Dope Inc. Read Celerino Castillo's book. Do you think its a coincidence that once the American military removed the Taliban from Afghanistan and installed a puppet government that Heroin use has went to all time highs? Gee I wonder why there is so much semi-covert US military and CIA action going on in Columbia these days? One of the main reasons new world order military forces were in the Balkans murdering Serbians was because they want to control that area because its a big drug pipeline for smuggling Heroin and Hash into Europe from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The CIA was caught smuggling Heroin into America by sewing kilos inside of dead bodies during the Vietnam war. A drug lord that totally controlled a whole region of Cambodia admitted on videotape that the CIA was who he was doing his business with. I mean what do you need to hear to know the United States government is a criminal enterprise!?!?
Gary Webb somehow managed to commit "suicide" by shooting himself in the head TWICE! Murders made to look like "suicides" are trademarks of the CIA. Webb was sniffing around and exposing a lot of dangerous people, from Crips and Bloods, to Columbian drug lords, to the highest level of the US government so it shouldn't be that surprising that he turned up dead under mysterious circumstances. Although we will most likely never know for sure who murdered him (most likely it was the cia) don't believe for one second that this guy commited suicide.
After Downing Street Memos, the US Should Reconsider this Book, .......2006-12-10
When this book was published in 1998, I bought and read the hardback edition. I found the author's argument's compelling. However, the Bush Family machine was in high gear polishing its image for W.'s presidential run, so the nation's so called free press pretended that this story of abuse of government power to sponsor terrorism at the cost of ignoring a crack cocaine epidemic here at home was less important than Bill Clinton's flirtation with an intern. The journalists who dismissed this book can not bear all the blame. Their bosses at the corporate media was chaffing under federal media ownership rules, and one of the promises which the Bush family and Karl Rove would make repeatedly all the way until W. was sworn in for his second term in 2005 was that they were going to relax those rules and give the US corporate media monopolies beyond their wildest dreams. So, the Heathers, like Ms. Connelly dutifully reported that Gore was a liar, and the book reviewers panned Mr. Webb's masterpiece of investigative journalism.
Now that we know that the second Bush administration, which is crawling with Iran-Contra figures, was willing to lie in order to deceive this nation into going to war in Iraq---a war that has cost us billions of dollars, thousands of US lives, made us less safe from terror, and cost us the goodwill of our allies around the world as well as being a convenient excuse for a deliberate administrative power grab at the expense of the US Constitution--maybe the skeptics who said "Such a thing could never happen here" to Webb's account of CIA "ends justify the means" gone wild should take off their rose colored glasses.
There are factions within the government who think that some lies to the American people are "good." Indeed, the Washington Post sank so low as to call the administration Plame Scandal "The Good Lie." Then, there are those people who believe that the truth shall set you free. Most people searching Amazon for something to read (and most people reading the Washington Post for that matter) belong to the latter group. I am saddened that Mr. Webb's life ended so tragically, but I am glad for the sake of our country that he wrote what he did. It is never too late to learn the important lesson, that it is the responsibility of the people to keep their eyes on their elected leaders, because you never know what kind of trouble they will get up to.
Conspiracy history.......2006-08-09
It would take a LOT of research to check the accuracy of Webb's extensively documented thesis in this book, but he makes a chillingly convincing case that elements within the Reagan admin. encouraged or at least acquiesced to the flooding of US markets with cocaine as a source of funds for the illegal contra war in Nicaragua, thereby fueling the crack epidemic of the 80s. It transcends the tag of 'conspiracy theory' and becomes legitimate conspiracy history for 3 main reasons: 1) He does an impressive job of getting to the primary sources, including drug kingpins 2) much of the most damning evidence is culled from USG documents and federal witnesses testifying under oath 3) he builds a 3D, global picture of the case, following the story to nicaraguan prisons and costa rican police files when it leads there. Ultimately, he simply out-reports the critics and naysayers of his Mercury News expose on this subject. Highly recommended.
A brave effort.......2006-07-17
Just to remind everybody... don't let yourselves be fooled again and again... Gary Webb was KILLED.
If you really want to know why then read this book. You'll be seriously shocked about the truths revealed here.
Average customer rating:
- Money, Power, Drugs, Policy, Cocaine/Crack Epidemic
- Reads like a Tom Clancy novel - but this is TRUE
- Was This Book "Privished?"
- A true American hero.
- An excellent book written by a very courageous individual
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The Big White Lie: The Deep Cover Operation That Exposed the CIA Sabotage of the Drug War : An Undercover Odyssey
Michael Levine , and
Laura Kavanau-Levine
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1560250844 |
Customer Reviews:
Money, Power, Drugs, Policy, Cocaine/Crack Epidemic.......2006-08-26
The first sign of corruption in a society ... is that the end justifies the means. ~Georges Beranos, "Why Freedom?" (1955)
When you finish going through this book, you will gain a new perspective on the drugs war, and some of the root causes of the drugs problem in United States.
"Look Mike, our country has many diverse interests and you're one man in one little corner of the world. There are a lot of people a lot smarter than you and I involved in this business who might know a few things we don't. So just because an action might seem right doesn't mean it is; and even if it's the right thing to do, sometimes it's not the healthiest."
...
He was silent for a long moment. "Mike, don't ever forget a peanut butter sandwich."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. I'm telling you this because I like you."
...
"Bario was one of the best and most committed undercover agents in DEA; he had done some of the agency's highest-level deep cover work. He was also a friend of mine. A year earlier he had been arrested for smuggling heroin from his post of duty in Mexico. While in jail in a Texas border town awaiting a removal hearing, he took a bite of a peanut butter sandwich and went into convulsions, and then a deep coma. He died a month later. He wife was told by the prison warden that strychnine had been found in his blood. The official autopsy report listed the cause of death as asphyxiation -- he choked on a peanut butter sandwich.
Many of Bario's fellow agents were aware that he was involved in cases that overlapped CIA interests. The rumor was that he "knew too much" about the CIA smuggling drugs into the United States to support its own interests and that he was killed by either members of DEA's Internal Security (who was in reality CIA) or by the CIA itself. I had always been one of those who had placed little credence in the rumor. Who could really believe that a branch of the U.S. government would assassinate its own people for any reason?"
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FAIR USE NOTICE. This website contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available without profit to those who have an interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance their understanding of personal worldview, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Reads like a Tom Clancy novel - but this is TRUE.......2004-02-12
Mike Levine is a good writer. Add that to the fact that he was one of the best undercover agents in American history and you've got the equation for a great book. I had to stop myself a number of times to remember that this is NON-Fiction. The bumbling and deception that goes on at the higher levels of our Criminal Justice system would be laughable had this been a work of fiction. There is just too much detail here for it NOT to be true. This book, coupled with Levine's other book "Deep Cover" show you how the people in power manipulate the media to show the public the reality they want them to see. In light of the Iraq war "intelligence" misinformation, we can see that nothing has changed. In fact, the stakes have gotten higher.
Was This Book "Privished?".......2002-08-08
Note that this review is 4 years after publication... four years of silence.
A book that tears the mask off the fraudulent "War on Drugs". It exposes the growth of the war from two (highly mutually destructive) agencies in 1971 (Customs and DEA) to 55 and counting. It describes very extensive, high-volume CIA involvement in smuggling itself to obtain unaccountable funding.
It documents the cost of the fraudulent war. In dollars misspent, in innocent lives lost through raids gone amok and witnesses silenced, in the credibility of government agencies and the news media, and in the harm resulting from the 5-fold increase (his figures) in drug usage during the time $1 trillion has been wasted in the fight.
Recommend finding this book used or in a library, or reading Levine's chapter in "Into the Buzzsaw" by Kristina Borjesson.
A true American hero........1999-01-27
I rank this book with "Dark Alliance" and "C.I.A.: Cocaine In America" as the most telling indictment of America's pseudo-war on drugs. Unlike most suthors who pontificate solutions from ivory towers and exhort stratagem with quill pens, Mr. Levine, not unlike Mr. VesBucci, for that matter, advises from hard-fought experience.
An excellent book written by a very courageous individual.......1998-06-16
Michael Levine is a former DEA agent who, throughout the 1980's, worked to uncover, expose and convict many of the leading suppliers of cocaine to the United States. Unfortunately for Levine, many of the most powerful cocaine dealers proved to be CIA assets, supported and even bankrolled by the American government in pursuit of shadowy foreign policy objectives. Levine's diligence in fighting the so-called "drugs war" brought him the ruination of his reputation within the DEA and ultimately the destruction of his career. The cynicism that Levine exposes within the highest levels of American government is breathtaking - and profoundly depressing.
Average customer rating:
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Crack, Cocaine, Methamphetamine and Ice
Leslie E. Moser
Manufacturer: Multi Media Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Substance Abuse
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ASIN: 1878938002 |
Book Description
Providing insight into drug use from the point of view of female users, this book tells of the complex lives, challenges, and choices of women who use crack cocaine. While popular images of these women present them simply as unreliable individuals, unfit mothers, and women who will do almost anything for crack, Claire Sterk's years of ethnographic research reveal the nature and meaning of crack cocaine use in the larger context of their lives, including the impact of such issues as gender, class, and race.
Focusing on active crack users, Fast Lives compiles information from participant observation, informal conversations, individual interviews, and group discussions. Sterk details the ways in which use affects the lives of these crack users. She captures how these women arrived at their use, how they survive under current circumstances such as the constant threat of HIV/AIDS and violence, how they develop and maintain intimate relationships, how they combine the multiple social roles of mother and drug user, and how—as they share their aspirations and expectations for the future—their stories underscore the effects of poverty, sexism, and racism on their lives.
Many of these women recognize their own responsibility for ensuring positive change. Sterk's book, which includes an argument for a "harm reduction" approach, reminds us that their strength and courage will too often be futile without social policies that are realistic and appropriate for women.
Fast Lives will engage readers interested in social problems as well as students of cultural anthropology, sociology, criminology, public health, ethnography, substance abuse, and women's health.
Customer Reviews:
Female Crack Addicts...Who Are They?.......2002-05-30
This book lays in all out there for you, in a clinical, organized, research-based way. Claire Sterk explains the "hierarchy" among these crack-using women, from "queens of the scene" to the low-level prostitutes. The book details their sexual relationships, their jobs (or joblessness), how they manage children among other things. Terry Williams (see Crackhouse-Notes From the End of the Line, The Cocaine Kids) assisted with Sterk's research efforts. An excellent read of a side of life most of us thankfully don't experience.
Step into their world !.......2000-05-26
Truly lets you see life through the eyes of a crackhead. You'll feel like you are really there. Shocking lifestyles. You won't wanna put this down. Whether you're a recovered addict or just curious I would say this book is worth reading!
Book Description
Crack in America is the definitive book on crack cocaine. In reinterpreting the crack story, it offers new understandings of both drug addiction and drug prohibition. It shows how crack use arose in the face of growing unemployment, poverty, racism, and shrinking social services. It places crack in its historical context--as the latest in a long line of demonized drugs--and it examines the crack scare as a phenomenon in its own right. Most important, it uses crack and the crack scare as windows onto America's larger drug and drug policy problems.
Written by a team of veteran drug researchers in medicine, law, and the social sciences, this book provides the most comprehensive, penetrating, and original analysis of the crack problem to date. It reviews the social pharmacology of crack and offers rich ethnographic case studies of crack binging, addiction, and sales. It explores crack's different impacts on whites, blacks, the middle class, and the poor, and explains why crack was always much less of a problem in other countries such as Canada, Australia, and The Netherlands.
Crack in America helps readers understand why the United States has the most repressive, expensive, and yet least effective drug policy in the Western world. It discusses the ways politicians and the media generated the crack scare as the centerpiece of the War on Drugs. It catalogues the costs of the War on Drugs for civil liberties, situates crack use and sales in the political economy of the inner cities in the 1980s, and shows how the drug war led to the most massive wave of imprisonment in U.S. history. Finally, it explains why the failures of drug prohibition have led to the emergence of the harm reduction movement and other opposition forces that are changing the face of U.S. drug policy.
Customer Reviews:
This book is great.......2004-02-12
I'm telling you this book is really enlightening and shocking. You won't find a better laid argument against our nation's drug policies. Must Read!
The book is well-written, clear-sighted and informative.......1998-11-24
In Crack in America, Reinerman and Levine have brought together a wealth of facts and expertise. The authors' chapters are well-written, and hardhitting. Their arguments are carefully composed, and the authors present sensible alternative models. The editors and their contributors have obviously spent time and effort researching the medical, legal and social components of drugs in America and elsewhere. Reinerman, Levine, and their contributors - Loren Siegel and Ira Glasser from the ACLU, Troy Duster, Ethan Nadelman from the Lindesmith Center, Marsha Rosenbaum and Sheigla Murphy, et al, are informed by a sense of social context - the issues of class, race, the economy and popular culture. They are sharp-minded thinkers and writers, who obviously should be involved in the creation of our nation's drug policies. The answers aren't easy, but if we are going to start anywhere we first need to ask the right questions. Levine's and Reinman's book poses substantial questions and issues that must be addressed if we plan to be a more inclusive society, and not a culture that marginalizes and demonizes people in trouble.
Book Description
Using first-hand experience, the author presents a practical treatment approach, originally designed for crack patients, but generally applicable to chemical dependency problems. It also explains the social, biological and psychological factors in crack addiction and various barriers to treatment.
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