I am happy to be able to recommend High Altitude Nuclear War by John Lewallen to a wide audience. The human story over the last few millennia has been the chronicle of the conquest, domination and subjugation of the many by the few by means of better technology and amoral intent. "The History of Civilization" has only amounted to the writings of people willing to praise the monsters that oppress us. The word "civilization," as it is currently used, is a euphemism for this tragedy. Superior technology, from the sword to the nuclear bomb, has been the essential enabling element of oppression. In my, and many peoples view, the liberation of the vast majority of us who are currently oppressed will be impossible as long as our thuggish elites have access to current military and informational technologies. Gentle people can never hope to overcome thugs when the thugs are allowed to band together and use superior technology against us. Consequently our, and our children's, only hope of denying these people the weapons that they use to subjugate us is to tear down "civilization" as they conceive of it. It is my belief that out of the ashes of this so called civilization a wiser and gentler people will be able to take up the challenge of improving our lives and the life of the planet without the influence of thuggery and violence. The condition of war, and the constant threat of war, is integral to the success of the world wide class of thugs that have successfully subjugated and oppressed the entire world at this point. It is from this perspective, and not the author's, that I highly recommend this book.

The first fifty pages are authored by Mr. Lewallen himself, and presents his view, and hope, that people informed about the dangers of high altitude nuclear war, and nuclear war in general, will have the courage and power to force a change in the goals and attitudes of our militarist elites toward more peaceful approaches to settling differences. Personally, I don't see it. He does succeed in painting a vivid picture of a world subject to a hair trigger threat of global nuclear war that will start in space with nuclear weapons targeted against modern industrial technology.

The remainder of this 200 page book is devoted to excerpts from recent congressional testimony. These transcripts of conversations between congressional representatives and various scientific and military experts take place in front of the virtual curtain of military secrecy. Much care is taken to avoid speaking of issues and facts that are appropriate only for "secret sessions." Consequently, we are shown only part of the picture and are left guessing what the full truth might be. None the less, what is revealed is compelling. What emerges is a picture of confusion and ignorance on the part of our leaders as to their true vulnerability to high altitude nuclear explosions that will, in an instant, render modern industrial and electronic technology useless slag. In a poignant irony they continually refer to their pipe dream concept of this kind of war as HEMP (an acronym for High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse). I don't want to be smoking what they are smoking. Consistent with all our previous experience with government, these hearings give little attention to common sense or show any impulse to slow the building momentum toward global nuclear war. On the contrary they presume that the pressing problem is how to win a nuclear war!

This book hides a secret treasure for anyone, like myself, who is foolish enough to try to imagine an informed vision of how the human race might yet survive our current living nightmare of war, domination and subjugation. From a close reading it becomes clear that one possible outcome is a nuclear exchange that never gets much beyond the stage of an opening salvo of a high altitude mutually destructive, world wide attack that effectively puts a stop to advanced technology itself! With the weapons of repression suddenly ripped from their hands, it may be possible to deal effectively with the thuggish leadership that so oppresses us. When I have had a chance to discuss this with Mr. Lewallen himself (we are old friends) he calls this the "Jubilee bomb" idea. This is in reference to the idea presented in the bible of a time when all debts are to be forgiven and all slaves are to be freed. It is satisfying to my sense of the ironic that our greatest threat may also be our greatest hope. We may yet see an end to the rule of brutality on earth. To this end I encourage you to join me for a minute at noon each day (Pacific standard time) to pray for the Jubilee bomb.

Let me close with a quote from the written Statement presented to the House of Representatives, Military Research and Development Subcommittee, on July 16th, 1997, by Dr. Lowell Wood entitled "Threat Posed by Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) to U.S. Military Systems and Civil Infrastructure" addressing the "Peculiar Aspects of EMP Attacks."

"Indeed, a nuclear EMP attack on a nation is, in the large, the obverse of what the neutron bomb was asserted (utterly falsely by anti-deployment-directed Communist propaganda, but nonetheless with great political effect) to be in the small: an arch-capitalist weapon which killed people but didn't destroy the capital plant in which the people were located. EMP weaponry (potentially even in a single copy), in acute contrast to this now-ancient canard, potentially destroys in a highly effective manner the high technology electrical/electronic plant of any advanced nation - the heartland of modern civilization - while not directly harming people at all."

In case we didn't have enough to worry about, the author exposes a little known carastrophe that could result from a high altitude nuclear detonation -- the EMP (electromagnetic pulse). The first section of the book is a tutorial of what it is and how it might happen. The remaimder of the book is the actual Congressional testimony of expert scientists on the real danger from EMP. Well written, understandable and a dialog between scientists and Congressmen. It's all here : what it is and what we can and can't do. A must for those who want to understand this little realized danger waiting to happen.
Joel Leventhal, Ph.D. (Emeritus Scientist , USGS)

I first learned about the artist Joe Brainard in two articles published in Art In America in July 1997, written by Edmund White and by Carter Ratcliff. I saved those features and came across them recently. Sharing my renewed enthusiasm for this artist with a friend, he informed me that he had seen a wonderful retrospective of Joe Brainard at the Berkeley Art Museum last year and that he had purchased a fine catalogue of the exhibit. I was delighted to find this incredible catalogue at Amazon.com. A tremendous overview of this underappreciated genius with relevant text and fantastic color reproductions of exhibited work. Amazing to see work created 20-30 years ago that has so obviously influenced a generation of contemporary artists. This book is highly recommended to anyone interested in contemporary art. If you don't know the work of Joe Brainard, this retrospective will impress, and if you are already an admirer of this extraordinary talent, this is a must have for your art library.

This book gave me all of the information I needed to cook and enjoy seaweed. Before I purchased this book, I had no idea all of the varied ways to prepare and serve this nutritous vegetable. The best recipie was the "Sushi Salad". I loved it! It tastes just like sushi without needing all of the time to prepare those "new wave" looking finger foods. It was so easy I started packing my yoga instructor husbands lunch. He loves it and encourages me to also make "marinated seapalm fronds" for special occassions.

I have this paperback in my collection on Vietnam. I thought it a little errorneous over time, as Vietnam has healed up surprisingly well after all the B-52 strikes cratering the countryside. As a helicopter pilot with the Outlaws in the Mekong Delta in 1966-67, I too wondered how long our artillery and airstrikes' destruction would affect this small tropical country, so dependent on its rice crop. However, the real value of this book is about looking deeper at the ethnic conflicts between various groups--that was the root of the problem--far more than we know, and the author produced some information not found somewhere else. I deeply appreciate the book, and it is a keeper.