The Raft Is Not the Shore is a profound and inspired exchange between a gentle Buddhist monk and teacher from Vietnam Nhat Hanh and a Christian dissident Daniel Berrigan, originally published in the 1970s, but, sadly in many ways, striking in its relevance to the current international crisis in the Middle East. Unlike a mere theological conference, where matters revolve around "conceptual" issues, pedantic scripture exegesis and other superficial attributes of "knowing the way," Nhat Hanh and Berrigan's dialogue is a true sharing of religious experiences and personal insights that invites the reader to "be on the way". Akin to the saints whose greatness both admire, their own lives serve as a moving example of containing the Good in the very movement to it.

Revolving around many of the issues related to the Vietnam War and how it affected religious life in both Vietnam and America, the book focuses on such eternal dilemmas as the meaning of life and death, retaining wholeness in the face of living in modern society, and the role of a religious person in the world, as well as discusses resistance to violence, dogma and conformity. It offers a unique exchange of perspectives on suffering and spiritual life, which, in the true spirit of ecumenism, affirm that faith is ultimately in the heart and that peaceful meditation and listening to each others' stories of suffering is a viable alternative to national strife and terrorism.

Both authors believe that no doctrine, whether religious or philosophical, should be treated as the absolute truth, but rather serve only as a guiding means for developing awareness, tranquility and opening one's heart to others. They see organized religion as an institution parallel to society and oftentimes as bankrupt, complacent and antihuman as to make an individual's true spiritual quest by necessity one of perpetual resistance. Since both Nhat Hahn and Berrigan attempted mediating between Israelis and Palestinians without taking sides, they bring a freshly unbiased and much needed perspective on how to prevent the nation states from "protecting" the well-being of their citizens through sacrificing the lives of these very citizens. The book is full of memorable stories from the Diamond, Lotus and Heart Sutras, the Bible, contemporary life of Vietnamese monks and nuns, and religious communities of resistance in the United States. One of them relates the curious rites to which the Le Dynasty emperors in Vietnam were bound in times of major national disasters: since it was believed that emperors caused calamities by not having pure enough hearts, they were expected to confess their sins publicly, eat vegetarian meals and sleep on a mat for a while, to atone for their misguided leadership. Would it be a gross misunderestimation not to expect the same from a Texas rancher?

Written over 25 years ago, this book is so fresh it's scary. Their discussion of the situation in the middle east offers a much needed window on the spiritual dimensions of the problem of believing that violence ever ultimately solves anything. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking spiritual guidance and salve during this difficult time after the World Trade Center attack. Nhat Hahn is very task oriented, Berrigan very heart oriented, a great mix. It is a true ecumenical dialog, which enlightens.

Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan, S. J. are longtime friends and soulmates. These conversations , taped in paris in the 1970's,show the depth and breath of their friendship and spirituality. After 26 years these conversations are still fresh,if not vital[vital is totally subjective].The Buddhist -Christian dialogue was not started by these men, though it was taken to a new level by these poets. Unlike many of these books,there is no need by either man to explain away their beliefs nor make it so palatable to the other that all of the original tang is lost. This is more like two poets speaking at a cafe{which it was,in part} talking about their lives, and the forces and times in which they live. Since I view these two men to be two of the best spiritual guides alive, this book is important and interesting and much much LIGHTER than the titile would suggest{.Also, of similar intetest,THE GETHSEMANI ENCOUNTER.} Excellent book by two giants

Ungar's book is a wonderful retelling of the Pentagon Papers controversy, from start to finish. It follows the stories of Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the documents, the New York Times reporters and editors who worked with them (in a secret location, for fear of Nixon's government), and the compelling legal battle that followed their publication, reaffirming some of our most basic First Amendment rights. If you want to read just one book on the Pentagon Papers, this should be it.

I read this book a long time ago, and it impressed me greatly. By providing a series of insights into American approaches to a conflict with enemies of the United States who happened to be foreign, if the press can be believed, and by setting himself up as someone who wished to examine the issue of individual guilt in this context, the author managed to transform himself from a secret server of the system to the most famous domestic enemy of official secrecy in matters relating to national security. Those people who know the identities of the President and Secretary of Defence in November, 1965, might easily guess which one of them sent the other a secret memo expressing the fear that the odds were about even that the future could be worse. If this doesn't make any sense to you, you might gain something from reading this book.

Like many others I was sucked into the Vietnam war against
my will. I paid for what I thought was LBJ's war with my
blood and sanity. What "SECRETS" does is to fill in the
blanks with the background of the political agendas of a
number of presidential administrations. "SECRETS" validates suspicions some of us have had for more than thirty years. "SECRETS" is the memoir of one person, Daniel
Ellsberg, who took a stand on the side of humanity and
morality in an effort to end the Vietnam war and topple
the corrupt and insatiable desire for ultimate power that
would have been Richard M. Nixon's had it not been for
the release of the Pentagon Papers.

"SECRETS" is a story of patriotism at its finest, where
one man risked everything in an effort to disclose the
truth about power and war conducted by the United States Government. Reading "SECRETS" exposes war for what it
really is, a manipulative tool of big business and
government order.

If more Americans would read this book they would become
aware enough to argue whether or not we should ever
engage in the brutality and ignorance of war again.

"SECRETS" should be required reading for anyone in
America who believes him/herself to be a patriot.

Bob Algie

After finding this book quite by accident while browsing through the wonderful Concord bookstore the other day, I was astounded to find how relevant and interesting a story author Daniel Ellsberg manages to conjure up after all this time regarding his legendary experience leading up to and including the leaking, release and publication of the infamous "Pentagon Papers' by the New York Times. As he explains early in the long yet fascinating monologue, he fully expected to be sentenced to a long prison sentence for having secreted a copy of the highly classified Department of Defense's official history of the American Government's policy and involvement in Vietnam. The report was a damning confirmation of the worst fears of the anti-war movement, and provided overwhelming evidence of the cynical, manipulative, and deceitful character of our government and its deceit to its own people regarding its involvement.

What surprised Ellsberg most in all of this swirling excitement and activity was his own growing celebrity, and while he spent years fearing the worst for his own admitted culpability in defying criminal statues by stealing and leaking official government secrets, eventually the charges against him were dropped based, among other things, on the revelations of the Nixon's plumber's unit's illegal break-in at Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office. Ellsberg was an unlikely hero, a graduate of the Harvard University economics doctoral program, a former marine officer turned defense issue intellectual, a frequent visitor to Vietnam who was rankled by the distinct difference between what he was seeing and experiencing during his visits, on the one hand, and what the official American government position regarding what the situation was on the ground on the other.

Based on this growing dissatisfaction and the discovery of the so-called Pentagon papers, a treasure trove of more than 7,000 pages of carefully documented details about the U.S. Government's involvement in Vietnam and its motives, considerations, and actions, Ellsberg tried to enlist the support of a number of Senators and Congressmen in an effort to use the evidence in the Pentagon Papers to undercut the Government's position and thereby end the war itself. Failing to do so, he finally surrendered the documents to the New York Times, which agreed to publish them through a series of daily excerpts (and also later in an abridged best-selling paperback version). The Government tried to stop publication, but was denied the right to do so by the Supreme Court. Of course, with the publication came an increase in public opposition to the war and a recognition of the degree to which the Executive branch and the military had intentionally misled the public regarding the conduct of the war and the situation on the ground for the moiré than 500,000 troops then stationed in-country. Still, it took more than five more years before the American involvement in Vietnam ended.

This is a wonderful book to experience, and in reading it one comes to recognize the formidable skills Ellsberg brings to bear in terms of his amazing recall, eye for details, and ability to successfully juggle a variety of interacting considerations at the same time. This guy is smarter than the average teddy bear, and it is easy to see how difficult a task it would have been for the Department of Defense and the nitwits over in the White House to try to outmaneuver him. I was a bit surprised at some of the personal revelations in the book, and while it is obvious that Mr. Ellsberg has a healthy ego, he manages for the most part to keep it at bay in retelling a story that could have easily have devolved in a retelling of the David against Goliath epic, but which he keeps objective and factual enough to keep the story rolling along as a recounting of the gripping events that transpired more than thirty years ago and helped to turn the tide of public opinion toward the war in Vietnam. I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in 20th century American history. Enjoy!

I watched Mr. Ellsberg debate Mr. Cristol on C-Span about two months ago and had to have this book to see what all the fuss was about. Now I know. Secrets is about a guy that was in the loop and suddenly saw the loop as it really was. A fabrication of lies to the American people in order to follow an idiological agenda that would lead American into a war that we did not need nor want. 54,000 dead Americans later the war grinded to a halt mainly because of one man showing enough courage to uncover the lie. His name is Daniel Ellsberg and this is his story. With the lies of WMD, American soldiers dying everyday, corporations with close ties to the Bush Administration getting billion dollar no bid government contracts to rebuild Iraq, and the secrecy surrounding Bush's regime we need someone to step forward and tell the truth. This is a must read and whether you agree or disagree this book has the history and facts to keep you wondering about our government for a long time.

While I found this absorbing and thoughtfully written biography of Vietnam anti-war activist Daniel Ellsberg to be a bit overblown and pretentious at times, it is a masterfully written exploration of a complex and puzzling man, and provides the reader with a far-reaching biographical portrait that both neatly complements as well as providing a foil for Ellsberg's own recent autobiographical efforts in the best-selling work "Secrets". While "Secrets" concentrates first and foremost on the period of his life leading up to and including the debacle over the illicit release of the top-secret Pentagon papers to the press, Well's biography, "Wild Man" gives us a much more fully developed, balanced, and for the most part more objective look at the mercurial, narcissistic, and stunningly brilliant Ellsberg's life.

Ellsberg's direction in life was aggressively forged in the crucible of his aggressive and domineering mother's ambitions for him, such that he rose by dint of ability and hard effort to the heights of academic success early, graduating with a PhD in Economics from Harvard in the pre-Vietnam war era. Yet Ellsberg often did the unexpected, especially given his pedigree as an ambitious young Jewish-American intellectual; after college he volunteered for the Marine Corps, and served as an officer before going on to graduate school. After graduating from Harvard, he soon found himself recruited for the Rand Corporation, an elite Defense-Department funded think-tank and private preserve for intellectuals useful for the DOD bureaucracy. Sure enough, Ellsberg's controversial ideas and thoughtful repose gained him notice and a post within the government working for a highly placed Pentagon undersecretary.

This position placed him in the catbird seat in terms of his access to the opening sequences and related bureaucratic responses to the expanding conflict in Vietnam. Even as he lent his support to the Pentagon, Ellsberg became concerned about the use of body counts and other quantitative measures being employed as key indicators of our military situation and progress being made. Criticisms of the methodology fell on deaf ears however, and Ellsberg found himself more isolated and less influential than he had hoped he would be. Instead, he argued for a long and detailed survey "on the ground" in Vietnam, which he would volunteer to accomplish for himself, and which he felt confident would give a better, more accurate and realistic appraisal of American forces in the region. Over a eighteen month period, Ellsberg became convinced the war was being conducted all wrong, that the employment of such metrics as body counts, bomb tonnage, and areas secured were catastrophically misleading at best and profoundly delusional at worst.

The rest, as they say, was history, and it is useful to have both Ellsberg's recollections as well as those of an independent biographer in detailing just how and why all that cam e to transpire did so, for the devil is in the details of the historical record. At the same time, I was a bit offended by Well's recurring tale-spinning in terms of providing the reader with salacious material about Ellsberg's peripatetic and admittedly insistent womanizing. While there is no doubt that Ellsberg is no saint, I still fail to see why Wells felt it was so important to stress Ellsberg's ego excesses, his romantic escapades, or his apparent inability to stay the course on any particular intellectual path long enough to make a career of it has to do with his heart-wrenching decision to expose himself to a possible life behind bars in order to provide the American people with what he felt was critical information they had a right to know. Still, this is fascinating material, and any self-respecting sidewalk psychoanalyst like you and I are likely to enjoy a lot of his thoughtful ruminations about Ellsberg even as we know they are largely irrelevant to what happened and why. This is a worthwhile if somewhat flawed book. Enjoy!

Having been interviewed for this book I can testify to the trueness of the part that dealt with the overlap between Dan Ellsberg and myself. Tom Wells gives an absolutely remarkable picture of that time, the time I knew Ellsberg. Presumably Wells's skill at interweaving the stories given by the many people he interviewed are accurate throughout the book. Fascinating book. I couldn't put it down. Interesting to see this picture of the muddle and deceit of our government about that war. I recommend the book to those too young to remember some of Ellsberg's times as well as to those of us who are old enough to remember part of the history of his times. Wells has done a terrific job.

In 1971 Daniel Ellsberg did a very brave and daring thing. The release of the Pentagon Papers was seen by others in my generation as one of the greatest acts of heroism imaginable. It is not surprising that Ellsberg -- the man -- is not the shining star that I thought he was in the summer of '71. Wells' book presents the man in amazing detail and we see him for the complex and perplexing person he is. Wells has done a great deal of research to write this book and it explodes off the page. Some may say that Ellsberg is a man for whom a biography is not deserved, but reading even the first chapter makes you realize just how central he is to the last 30 years of American history. After that, the book reads like a good novel.