With the creation of an amazing supercomputer, Japan threatens to ascend the throne of ultimate power, leaving the US cowering in the dust. And so sets the stage for a bitter clash of industrial giants.

A treacherous battle of wits involving the most motley band or warriors ever to shape global destiny: a brilliant ex-con capable of robbing millions of dollars with the touch of a computer key, a beautiful electronics genius and a CIA functionary joined together in a deadly game of international corporate espionage. It's a complex caper of sex and sabotage, of the double and triple cross, where the winner takes all and the loser forfeits the world.

from back corner of book

It is easy to find scapegoats for the terrible blunders of Vietnam but far too few have been placed the blame for far too long. This book corrects such misconceptions and explains how the entire war was a misguided operation with no victory strategy. At the same time, when the military wins Tet, the media became more famous by reporting it as a false failure and LBJ like Truman before him refuses to commit to winning and abandoning our boys for two years by leaving the war for Republican presidents to end it. What makes the book different is that the author does not blame the failures on Media bias like most critics. He blames Media's incompetence about the realities of military operations. When you combined such illiteracy with not even attempting to learn about South Vietnamese politics, while you end up missing the basic tools to report about the war and in the end, all lose. Yet, policies decided by the National Security Advisors failed time and time again because they could not agree to a solution to win or withdraw. So the media is not entirely responsible but they were the only winners along with the communists. At the same time, almost all of these so called educated reporters went on to stellar careers in the media, which says even less about the qualifications of our current mentors of the news. It is a good tool for future reporters who want to do a fine job on reporting events to learn what they must know before they write or go on television. I highly recommended.

This book, although somehwhat cryptically written--in the uncomfortable vernacular of JFK assassination research buffs--nevertheless is in my estimation a valuable addition to JFK assassination research. Anyone who is up on this literature has to have a good "crap detection" system, and this selection seems to have passed the test with flying colors. Since the early 70s, all serious roads to discovering who killed JFK seem to be leading back to tying up the loose ends left by the Jim Garrison New Orleans investigation. And since there were many such loose ends to tie up, doing so is not a small job. Torbitt has hit pay dirt, and at the very least, pushes Garrison's investigation to the next research frontier--if not to the very edge of completely uncovering the assassination plot. Yet, there are questions this research raises itself. For instance, I am not yet convinced of the Nazi connections--even though there is much circumstantial evidence to support Torbitt's point of view. Despite my misgiving, this piece is coherent in the extreme and can stand on its own. We know that when the conspiracy is finally uncovered, the truth will have its own unmistakable context, and this book has the "smell of truth."

I've known this book for over thirty years. Kennedy approachesVaughan Williams's catalogue both widely and deeply, with plenty ofmusical examples. Since I'm a Vaughan Williams headbanger, a book like this is my equivalent of hagiography. Kennedy assumes (correctly) that Vaughan Williams is one of the major composers of this century, and not just in England, and thus discusses works in a clear-eyed way, without special pleading, emotional ginger-up, or hysterical proselytizing. He gives us the musical "facts" of a work and shows, in purely compositional terms, why it's wonderful -- the most convincing argument of all. I've almost worn out my copy through reading and re-reading. When I listen to a Vaughan Williams work, I usually have the book handy. A classic of music writing.--Steve Schwartz

Based on a series of Lawrence Henry Gipson lectures presented at the Lehigh University from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, and aptly edited by Michael Kennedy and William Shade, The World Turned Upside-Down: The State of Eighteenth-Century American Studies at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century is an amalgamation of essays contributed by a broad range of distinguished scholars. These essays cover American History as part of world history rather than as if American History were isolated in a political vacuum. The scholarly, thoughtfully and persuasively argued essays cover such topics as early American technological history, slavery and African cultures in America, and the histories of early American women. Involving in its analytical depth, The World Turned Upside-Down is an excellent, most welcome addition to academic American history reading lists and reference collections.

This is a collection of letters written from Hunter's Childhood up to his successful Hell's Angels book. The most interesting thing about this book is the immense difficulty he had selling his stories and the desperate poverty in which he lived for years as a struggling writer. I guess like all people I kind of thought that someone this brilliant was just embraced by literary circles, and any problems he had was because he was a drunken, drugged out, crazy freak who upset everyone who tried to help him. This was not the case.
Like many geniuses Hunter was so far ahead of everyone that he had to wait for them to catch up.
The humor is so funny that it almost impossible not to crack up on every page, even in the midst of terrible personal turmoil Hunter was one funny man.
ONE problem, I wish that there were more letters FROM the people he wrote to over the years. Some of the funniest moments were the letters he received from people over the years. More of those exchanges would have helped and made the book much more interesting. That is why it is not 5 stars. It is still worth reading. Especially if you want to be a writer.

I have just got through reading this collection of Letters and found it to be worthwhile reading. I received the book as a gift and was not aware of a Fear and Loathing Letters Volume. I found this to be a highway of following (if anyone possibly could) and watching Thompson grow as a writer. While at the Air Force Base working as an editor of the Sports Section, he wrote to his family and friends as well as ex-girlfriends. Probably because he was away from home for the first time.

As the years go on the more this book became more interesting. Between following all over this country we follow him to South America were some of his best articles came from. I have read Hell's Angels and The Great Shark Hunt and found this to tie in with those books. Through his consumption of Old Crow and god only knows what else, we see letters to LBJ, various magazine editors, and Mr. Semonin and start to see the Hunter we all know and love to come out. The thing that makes him "likeable" is his blunt honesty, since he calls them as he sees them. He is intelligent and knows a lot about everything. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read Thompson!

If anything this book offers a chance to see what makes this amazing mind tick!

Perhaps, as Hunter Thompson suggests in The Proud Highway, people really do take more of a liking to his letters and not his serious work. This statement is easily endorsed by the fine contents that surround it. This is the perfect book for a typical Thompson fan, a collection of eccentric one plus page letters that suit a person with a short attention span. His sylistic prose is best received in short bursts, such as essays, articles, and letters. The letter format also allows us to see the evolution and experimentation Thompson has endured in his life. This pre-gonzo collection is Thompson as himself, not the "Raoul Duke" character he has personified in the past. While Hunter seems incapable of writing anything unautobiographical, the fact remains he is far more qualified to tell this story than any hack biographer seeking to romanticize and sensationalize Thompson's myth for a profit. The Proud Highway tells Thompson's story in a much more engaging fashion than the biographies, though there is no lack of effort and emulation in any of these books. This book should be required reading for aspiring authors.

If you have money. Read this book. No matter what color you are or even if you abuse your books. I will recommend JFK the movie who was named in a lawsuit as son of the man who saved RFK and we love him. Hail to the Chief RFK. You errored and loved man who knew it, I think you can guess what I mean. Good k.

i was kinda dissapointed in this book. the book looks awsome from the picture above, then you start reading it, and it kinda dissapoints you. the book is almost way in depth that you get lost. it mostly talks about the lawyers and how they got on, what they did during the trial, how Sirhan Sirhan can't remember jack squat from the assassaintion, and how this lawyer had another case going on and this and that. it's pretty dissapointing in my opinion. i'm gonna read it again though, more carefully. it's just that you get worn out that's all. it's like watching a 4 hour version of the movie Mars Attacks. anyway, if your'e interested in the RFK assassination, then buy the book. i just wish it would talk more about the actuall assassination that's all.

oh yeah, one more thing i can't understand at all. the book says that Sirhan Sirhan's lawyer in his opening statement says that he knows Sirhan killed RFK. but he was gonna prove that at the time he was under a transe. he was there pyshically, but not mentally. ha ha ha....a defense lawyer saying that when the evidence was clear that Bobby had a bullet hole in the back of his head when some 65+ witnesses stated that Sirhan fired from only the front. how can that be? 65+ witnesses see Sirhan fire at Bobby from the front, he's got a hole in the back of his head, nothing from the front, and the defense lawyer says his defendent is guilty of killing the would be 37th President????

alot of mystery surrounding this assassination. read the book.

In-depth research into Robert F. Kennedy's assassination at the Ambassador Hotel,L.A,on California's primary election night in 1968....one of those books that never leaves the fingers,all angles get covered,all bases are touched.

The books highlight,for me,is when it dissects Thane Eugene Cesar's role in the whole game. He was stationed directly behind Kennedy during the shooting & had admitted drawing his gun--& even privately admitted firing it. Cesar was assigned to guard the Ambassador hotel on the night of June 4 by the Ace Guard Service,a firm that had protected the U.S National Bank in San Diego; the bank collapsed in 1973 following several dealings with organized crime figures. Later on,as certain researchers uncovered more strange "alleged" Mafia connections to the shooting,a bizarre campaign of terror unfolded. Wald Emerson,a financial backer of research on the case,recieved threatening phone calls. The wife of attorney Godfrey Isaacs,who assisted the probe,died under mysterious circumstances. Journalist Theodore Charach,a leading investigator of the case who witnessed Bobby's killing,was accosted with a knife & asked to hand over evidence. His assistant,Betty Dryer,was knifed. And further incidents were described by Charach: "You see,the(Ambassador)hotel had Mafia connections too. Mr. Gardner,who was in charge of security,he disappeared. Now I don't know whether he's in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean,or where he is,but I haven't been able,you know,to locate him. And then another man,who was overall operations director,he commited suicide,& of course the files were destroyed,we found out,at the Ambassador Hotel". The Ambassador Hotel,in fact,had had mob ties since the 1940's,when gangster Mickey Cohen ran a major gambling operation there with some of it's personnel.

Fascinating insinuations of Mafia contacts,many reported attacks on those close to the assassination probe,etc,all support a reasonable presumption of Mob involvement in the murder...(I was stunned).

An incredible documentation,well worth the investment.

Like all Manchester books, he brings to life a time that was filled with far more intrigue than whether or not Oswald was the lone gunman. On that, he convincingly explains that he was, and rivets the reader with surprisingly interesting minutae on who rode in the motorcade with whom, along with the historical debate of when LBJ became President and whether he should have taken the President's plane back to Washington.

What strikes me as irresponsible is/was Manchester's characterization of Dallas, and seemingly blaming it for the President's assasination. Throughout we have to read of how "radical" right Dallas was, how it was chock full of "John Birchers", and that the city itself was hospitable to right wing murderers. This strikes the reader as a foolish waste when you consider that the killer was the exact opposite, such a communist sympathizer that he lived in the Soviet Union, and tried to seek asylum in Cuba.

For that, the book pales in comparison to other Manchester works in that it's harder to take his historical views seriously given his self-interested, and seemingly paranoid, efforts to discredit the big bad right wing.

William Manchester provides a fascinating account "from the eye of the storm." For the younger generation, for whom Kennedy's assassination is an historic fact rather than a horrible memory, "The Death of a President" invokes the feelings of the time--the promise of the Kennedy presidency, the unthinkability of his untimely death, and the chaos that ensued before order was restored.

Manchester begins by describing the political in-fighting within the Texas Democratic party that prompted the Kennedy-Johnson trip in the first place. Some of the funniest moments in the book (yes, despite the subject, it does evoke a smile now and then) are the efforts that Kennedy aides made to get a reluctant Senator Yarborough to ride with LBJ in the motorcades. The many seemingly inconsequential decisions that ultimately led to the slow-moving motorcade through Dealey Plaza make the reader want to cry out, "No! Put the bubble top! Speak at a different site!" As the book nears the fateful hour, the reader is left with a sense that there's still a chance to avoid this tragedy.

The hours and days immediately after the assassination are equally fascinating. Jackie's wait at Parkland Hospital and her trip home on Air Force One are told with heart-breaking detail. (Lest this aspect seem overly invasive, the reader should note that the book was written with her blessing and cooperation.) The story of how the memorable funeral and Arlington burial came about are fascinating. The tensions between the Kennedy and Johnson aides provide a good lesson in how NOT to act after a tragedy.

If you're only interested in the conspiracy theories, however, this is not the book for you. Manchester wholeheartedly backs the lone gunman hypothesis, and his descriptions of Oswald's movements at this time are hard to swallow in light of the details that have emerged in the decades since the assassination. Since most of the book focuses on the Kennedy family, the Kennedy and Johnson aides, and other political figures, however, this one drawback does not significantly detract from the book.

This book is about one of the more interesting groups from WWII. And it does a very good job of describing living in that group and some of the actions they partook in.
But it doesn't provide much context for what they did. Very little about how their actions worked with what was happening between the armies in North Africa and why what they did helped so much.
So if you want to know what life was like in the LRDG, this book is good (not great). If you want to know why what they did mattered - there's not much here.

This is as candid and forthright an account of life in the LRDG as you will ever find. Kennedy Shaw wrote this book in 1943 as the exploits of the LRDG in North Africa were coming to a close and the story flows with a freshness that time has not diminished.

Great book written by someone who was there. Many of the logistics taken for granted by todays special operations groups were thought up by these guys. Interestingly most of the force was made of of individuals from the Commonwealth and not England. For more detailed information go to Long Range Desert Preservation Group on internet.

This book would have been a lot more helpful if I'd picked it up four months ago when I was still pregnant, and didn't think I could trust my instincts on what's appropriate in regard to co-sleeping and baby wearing, etc. It definitely gives a first-time parent some good food for thought, but can be preachy and inflexible at times, too. Most of the stuff she goes over (and over, and over...sh'e pretty redundant) was pretty instinctive for both me and my husband. But like any book on the subject of parenting, I think you can take what you need from it and leave the rest. Your child is your best teacher, and children are INDIVIDUALS. Worth reading, but take it with a grain of salt, and trust your own instincts.

While I was pregnant, I read lots of books on baby and child care. I had heard of "attachment parenting" and it sounded sort of strange to me. A friend with wonderful kids I like a lot recommended this book to me and I read it cover to cover as soon as I brought it home.

Being a nurse, I loved the great medical references backing up all the book's suggestions. Plus, that's really what the author does. She suggests. She never says that there is only one "right" way to do anything. She encourages parents to become informed, get to know their own baby and then parent in the ways that feel right for their family.

She talks about her own chldren and she includes many, many real life examples from other families who talk about how attachment parenting works for them. Basically, the list of chapters serves as a "menu" of potential parenting options. As she says, some people may breastfeed but not sleep with their babies. Some may use a sling *and* a stroller. But if you do choose to nurse past babyhood or sleep with your baby, this book will give you all the info to support and help you with your decision. This would be the perfect book to give a mother in law who keeps bugging you about why you are still nursing or why you don't let the baby cry himself to sleep.

This is a well written, well documented, gentle book. If some other reviewers found it threatening or preachy, it might be their own deeply ingrained prejudices or defenses butting heads with a book that clearly challenges a lot of what we Americans believe to be the gospel truth of child care.

I loved it and highly recommend it.

If you're new to Attachment Parenting this book is an excellent introduction. If you're more experienced, this is a great book to have because it provides great simple explanations and presents evidence you can use to convince other people of the beauty of this way of treating children. The websites and resources it lists are *SO* helpful and really helped me learn more.

The point of this book is not to present all of the information there is, just to give the reader a taste of what is available for those who maybe do not have the time or the motivation to read _Our Babies, Ourselves_ and all of Dr. Sears' books. In that respect, it is an excellent introduction.

As for SIDS, co-sleeping is NOT a factor for SIDS. If your baby died in the family bed, it likely died in *spite* of it, not *because* of it. Doctors still don't know what causes SIDS and many believe it is a breathing/sleep disorder which causes stop-breathing episodes. THe CPSC study and other studies have not in any way directly linked co-sleeping and SIDS, in fact, other studies have concluded that co-sleeping prevents SIDS. The CPSC says that 64 children die per year in adult beds yet 900+ children per year die in cribs... does this mean children shouldn't sleep in cribs either? This book advises you to take the appropriate safety measures when it comes to co-sleeping, by preparing the bed appropriately and not sleeping with your baby if you are under the influence of drugs, alcohol, sedatives, or if you are extremely overweight.