Complete with fine remarks and introductory tutorials, Norman Solomon exerted accurate perceptions in this pamphlet.
"Judaism: A Very Short Introduction" gave a run-through of every aspect of (ancient and modern) judaism. Its time-saving structure is neat: without omitting any of the vital issues which concerned the religion and its followers. This book is well-blended. It maintained proportionate dispositions towards religious practices, cultural heritage, and evolutionary anthropology. There is hardly any weakness in its presentations.
Anybody who needs an insight into the 'dos' and 'don'ts' of judaism would find it useful. Its summarized contents included all the transformations, which the ancient religion has undergone.

Christians tend to believe they know all they need to know about Judaism because their Old Testament consists of the Hebrew Scriptures. This book does an excellent job of showing Christians (and others) that Judaism today is more than Abraham, Moses and David. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Judaism was forced to adapt and in many ways redefine itself. This easily read book explains the development of Rabbinic Judaism as opposed to Biblical Judaism. Anyone who claims to be a student of world religions should read it. Any Christian who wants to develop a better understanding of what was happening to Judaism in the early days of Christianity should also read it.

This Review refers to the paperback edition of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, by Norman Solomon, and Reese Erlich and as introduced by Howard Zinn with an afterward by Sean Penn.

Target Iraq is a book of many aspects, covering varying topics relating to the recent Iraqi war from a pre-war perspective. The introductory chapters focus largely on the media and self-censorship, providing the reader with insight into how the larger media organizations conduct their operations. The book then goes on to describe the opinions of the Iraqi people, with both examples from public and private sources. After which it moves into the US propaganda campaigns and examples of why the majority of it is untrue, in the authors' opinions. Detailed in the later chapters is the use and visible consequences of depleted uranium, along with the UN resolution issues, and effects of the economic sanctions. Concluding the book is a chapter concerning US manipulation and discrediting of various aspects of the UN, followed by the motives for war. Also contained in the book is an introduction by Howard Zinn, afterward by Sean Penn, article by Seth Ackerman, Bush speech with analysis, and Resolution 1441 with analysis.

This book contains a nearly extreme bias at points; however, it does probe both sides of some aspects. It does manage to provide a decent overview of Iraqi public opinion, and properly warns that the opinions may change once the displacement of power takes place. There are also informative summaries concerning depleted uranium and the illegal no-fly zones.

The two authors, Solomon and Erlich, switch each chapter, giving the reader an interesting mixture of viewpoints. Solomon is the stronger literary presence throughout the book, yet is also quite lacking in his ability to back up his rather strong claims with proper evidence. The result is a shell of sorts, leaving the reader skeptical if they do not already have a proper background in the area. Erlich, on the other hand, wanders and is weaker in his content but stronger in his presentation of possible sources to collaborate his statements. Yet, Erlich has an intriguing literary form that allows the reader to come to his/her own conclusions. However, neither provides any form of a bibliography, forcing the unfamiliar reader through hours of research to verify their statements. There are also typographical errors in the appendices.

The private interview with the Iraqi civilian family is an invaluable insight into the opinions and thoughts of the Iraqi people. However, the literary styles and lack of sources subtracts heavily from the book. Overall, the book would have been a great and inspiring work, even after the war, had it been the recipient of proper source work and effort. Perhaps the authors could release an updated version with a proper list of sources.

This book brings up a few points that are not publicized in the main-stream media in regards to the situation in Iraq. It could be beneficial for those who don't read alternative press, and would like to familiarize themselves with a non-corporate media view. However, if you are looking for an in-depth analysis of the situation in Iraq, you might be disappointed in the book.

Personally, I thought that the chapter on self-censorship in the media was the most thought provoking.

"Target Iraq" is a must for anyone who is concerned about the truth in the upcoming war with Iraq. Both Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich went to great lengths to be fair and to state facts and the sources of information for these facts. The book is clear and concise in presenting a case against going to war with Iraq.

It is not just a book about a war with Iraq. It is a book that will educate you on what is going on in our government and the news media. Knowledge is power, and the knowledge gained from reading "Target Iraq" will allow the reader to cut through the deluge of bad information we receive daily concerning the war with Iraq. This is a book for those who wish to know the truth.

If you are tired of political talk shows that consist of appeals to emotion rather than fact, then this is the book for you. For example I was viewing a political talk show where one of the people in the discussion said that the Iraqi people would be "dancing in the streets" if American troops invaded Iraq. An interview of an Iraqi citizen that can be read in "Target Iraq" quickly dispels any such notion.

If you wish to understand the role played by our secretary of state Collin Powell than this is the book for you.

If you wish to understand why claims by the American news media that Iraq expelled U.N. inspectors in 1998 are not true than this is the book for you.

Sean Penn who recently traveled to Iraq with Norman Solomon writes a moving afterward that is an appeal to president Bush where Sean Penn shows his concern for our eroding civil rights, the young American men and women who will have to fight this war and the innocent civilians of Iraq.

Considering the ramifications and long term effects of a war with Iraq "Target Iraq" is one of the most important books written to date. I urge everyone who is concerned with the truth to read this book and to tell their friends about "Target Iraq." A democracy can only work if people are informed and this book does just that.

The only book which has been published about the most interesting commentery on the talmud. Solomon's book explore the text that constitute the intelctual life of the last century jewish rabais. This sorts of texts changed the way of interprataion, and has provided new methods to the ultra-ortodox rabais when the deal with those text. Solomon's book discuss those technics and gives the reader who are not aquainted with this literature an approach which could help him to understand those dificult texts. very recomended to those who interested in modern jewish text, and has very rare chnaces to meet the core of the rabais philosophy.

I couldn't quite get the point of the book. I mean, I know that killing baby seals is bad, and also those big corporations and all, but what about Professors Harris and Chomsky and the deconstruction of the question about the operations of patriarchy and about how we have to end womyn's suffrage??? This book is on the right route but on the wrong highway, if you know what I mean.

Any conservative who bashed this book is clearly touched by what it reveals, and the b.s. of the corporate media this text points out. The only next question will be what corporation is going to buy amazon.com, there by controlling this medium. A wonderful text for any media critic

absolutely great book, necessary reading for anyone who thinks this country is "free" for anyone but the wealthy

First, I was surprised to find out that the media is as conservative and Republican as it apparently is. One would certainly not guess it from the reporting that is done. And what was really lacking in this book was any kind of even handed approach to bias in the news. I'd grant that there is bias towards the right in some reporting. But by reading this book you'd think that there was only far-right leaning reporting only with nary a lean to the left in any news reports.

One point raised by the authors more than once was the use in news reports of unnamed sources and few hand-picked named "expert" sources. But throughout their diatribe against the right-wing controlled media they used many of these same techniques with many an unnamed source as well as the (over)use of a small number of "expert" sources used to prove their points.

I was truly looking for a book that helped in understanding and, as they say, detecting biases in the news media. What I came away with in this book was that it was written by some far left wing fanatics (should have guessed based on the foreword being written by Ed Asner) who did not want to give a balanced treatment to this topic (who but someone like Asner could have guessed that the NY Times is really a Republican mouthpiece!)

This book carefully in no nonsense language, analyzes the media bias and the institution of the media and how it operates and how the final product gets aired on news televison or in print. This along with Manufacturing Consent by Herman and Chomsky is a must if people want to know the truth about the media

This is one of the single most thought provoking books I've ever read. It provides the reader with a real behind the curtain look at the media and politics. This is a must read for every American!

The book is made up of a collection of editorials from FAIR, the public-interest watchdog group. The articles are short and not particularly incisive, and focus on the usual transgressions of America's corporate-owned media. As a reference source Cohen and Solomon's book is not particularly valuable: the articles are simply too brief to provide much useful depth or information. Moreover the groupings lack real coherent unity that follow through on the theme. Still and all, a revisit of Upton Sinclair's struggle against the entrenched wealth of his day (1920's & 30's) provides useful perspective on today's media struggles. And the beat goes on.

This book provides excellent examples of what the news media is all about. Cohen and Solomon explain logically and entertainingly the business of modern media. The book illustrates why, in so many cases, what is not reported is more telling than what is. An invaluable guide to understanding the sound bytes that pass for news.

Solomon's The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media is a collection of juicy columns full of facts and quotes exposing how the mainstream media's lack of fair, complete, and unbiased reporting has become a major limiting factor for our democracy. He particularly addresses the consolidation of media power, the myth that liberalism dominates the media, and how the mass media has become little more than a public relations industry for the rich and powerful. Solomon realizes that access to information from all spectrums is a fundamental part of a healthy democracy; he raises this and many other issues virtually never covered in mainstream news. The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media is an extremely important book for all those who desire a clear vision of how the corporate media system works. Excellent book.

Solomon, a media analyst with a finely-tuned and raging impatience with mealy-mouthed, corporate-dominated reporting, is the definition of an "anti-pundit." His book punctures the phony, puny-minded pablum that passes for mainstream news. The book starts off with a great satire of what the TV news would look like "if anchors talked straight." Solomon stays right on the mark on a set of important topics: coverage of labor (and the anti-intellectualism in much economics/business reporting), hypocrisy in scandal mongering and human rights and a host of other arenas, racism in reporting, and the right-wing-funded punditocracy. I'm using the book to help my students learn about critical thinking ... and to show them that cultural analysis can be sharp and smart and funny without being obscure!

As depicted on the cover illustration, Norman Solomon brilliantly shows us how the mass media behaves like submissive monkeys, well-trained by corporate power. The book effectively urges us to be concerned with the consequences of this behavior, particularly with the human rights abuses it fosters.

An angry, often insightful, and sometimes tirade against the "corporate takeover" of the once-liberal Democratic Party written by a media critic for Fairness and Accuracy in the Media. The author's leftwing bias is clear and upfront as he documents the rise of the Democratic Leadership Council (Senator Leiberman is the current chair - and VP candidate) as the latest chapter in neglect and oppression of poor minorites. Solomon concludes, "to accept the mirage of a humanistic Clinton administration it helps - enormously- to be white and not poor." Written in 1994, this book anticipates the tensions between Clinton and more hardline environmentalists and union activists concerned about the World Trade Organization.

False Hope's harsh, and it is very harsh, critique of the Clinton Administration's origins, motives, and consensus solutions sounds too harsh for my ears. Still, False Hope offers a breezy if depressing read that might be helpful as voters consider whether to promote Gore and Leiberman to the White House. The question remains whether false hope is better than no hope?

Several years ago there was a British lecturer who, in order to win a competition for the most boring lecturer of the year, wrote -and delivered- a Marxist analysis of a fairly ordinary joke about a coconut. The lecture went on for several highly tedious hours.

Mr Solomon's "attack" on Dilbert and Scott Adams reminds me of that lecture.

Mr Solomon makes an error common to many so-called media critics. They over-value their own importance and fail to identify terrible faults in themselves. Whilst, mysteriously, being able to see minor (or imaginary) faults in others.

Mr Solomon further attacks Scott Adams for making money from his intellectual properties. Mr Solomon's attack on Mr Adams would, therefore, only be valid if he criticises from the position of a man who writes entirely for free.

Unless Mr Solomon does work for financial reward?

In that case it would be very easy to dismiss Mr Solomon as a self-serving hypocrit and to ignore anything else he has to say on any subject.

For people night suspect that "once a self-serving hypocrit..." But that would be an unfair attack on Mr Solomon,would it not? Almost in the same way that Mr Solomon made an unfair attack on Mr Adams.

I love reading scathing criticism of humor by well-meaning but, unfortunately, completely humorless critics. Solomon and Tomorrow show they lack the required funny-bones needed to both understand and appreciate Dilbert. Far from being a double agent of the corporate elite by using the new opiate of the masses-humor-to quiet the grumbling proletariat, Scott Adams uses "Dilbert" to poke fun at us all. If Solomon and Tomorrow would simply go back to Scott's seminal work, "The Dilbert Principle," they would see that Adams' basic premise is that we are ALL idiots sometimes, whether we be managers or peons. Their "shocking" claim that Scott actually favors downsizing comes as no surprise to real fans, either. In "The Dilbert Principle" Adams clearly states that the first round of downsizing probably was a good thing. But too much of a "good thing" can be fatal; and Scott says as much in the same chapter of his book. Furthermore, despite our critics' claims, Adams DOES offer his own solution to the problems of the modern corporate situation: the OA5, or Out At Five, Principle. This principle isn't a groundbreaking insight into how companies could be run; it's just common sense from a man who has actually spent years inside a cubicle working for a large, bungling, and yet somehow successful corporation. What the OA5 principle really says to managers is to simplify things, let your people do what they do best, and don't get in the way.

Solomon and Tomorrow expect too much of "Dilbert" as a vehicle for corporate criticism and proletarian exhortation. That's not what it's about; thus, their critique is really misplaced. There are examples in the strip of dedicated workers (Alice, e.g.) and good managers (although it WAS just an alien in disguise). But "Dilbert" is about the silly and frustrating things that go on in almost all corporations. It's a way for us to relate, not a manifesto for revolutionary change. Nobody is being fooled here by the purpose of "Dilbert," except perhaps for the authors of this book. And as for the co-optation of "Dilbert" by the very corporate America it makes fun of...come on, fellas! This is standard practice. When John Lennon songs are used to sell Nike shoes, Jimi Hendrix is used to sell Camaro's, and Gen X slackers are used to push all kinds of syrupy sodas, it's fairly obvious that corporate America is pretty immune to criticism and only welcomes the opportunity to reach those who vow never to become a part of the heartless machinery of the modern corporation. Solomon and Tomorrow not only miss the point of "Dilbert" entirely in this book, they don't even understand the corporate monster they say "Dilbert" is serving. Critiques of corporate America have their place in our society because there are a lot of things wrong with in the modern workplace. However, isn't attacking a comic strip as a way to sell your rhetoric to the general public a bit dubious and, might I add, "Dilbert"-esque? Solomon and Tomorrow had better be careful or they might find themselves bungling around inside the borders of Scott Adams' strip.

One can often tell much about a book from the opinions of its detractors. For instance, the most common arguments in the negative reviews of this book so far have been, "But downsizing really IS a good thing" and, "If you disagree with me, you're a Communist." A close runner-up is, "For cryin' out loud, it's just a cartoon; it's not like Dilbert's being hyped as `a cartoon hero of the workplace' or `ripping aside the flimsy corporate curtain' or anything like that." Honorable mention goes to "But Dilbert has shown top managers doing stupid things, too," breathtakingly missing Solomon's point that we the workers are not suffering because top management is stupid (or because we are), but because top management is actively screwing us over - and Adams is helping them get away with it by telling us, "You can't do anything about it; just lie back and enjoy, er, laugh at it." A must-read.

Joyce Nelson's histrionic tirade makes this book an amusing, if thoroughly digusting, read. Starting with the "story" of how one of the world's largest and most respected public relations firms worked in conjunction with a latin american government regime to cover up the deaths of thousands of citizens, Nelson's little book sounds almost plausible at first. But it becomes clear by the third chapter that Nelson has a particular axe to grind against big business in general and the media in particular, and the PR professionals that adeptly serve both those institutions.This book is highly recommended for all PR practitioners, students of media, or even folks just wanting a good laugh -- but it is not to be taken seriously, under any circumstances.

Joyce Nelson's histrionic tirade makes this book an amusing, if thoroughly digusting, read. Starting with the "story" of how one of the world's largest and most respected public relations firms worked in conjunction with a latin american government regime to cover up the deaths of thousands of citizens, Nelson's little book sounds almost plausible at first. But it becomes clear by the third chapter that Nelson has a particular axe to grind against big business in general and the media in particular, and the PR professionals that adeptly serve both those institutions.This book is highly recommended for all PR practitioners, students of media, or even folks just wanting a good laugh -- but it is not to be taken seriously, under any circumstances.

Joyce Nelson takes a wonderful, easy reading, and very critical examination of the Public Relations Industry and how it is a tool of power-mongreing, regulation bending, environment destroying corporations to keep people in the dark about what is going on all around them. Joyce is a little rough around the edges at times but gives vivid and excellent examples to make her point. Definitly recommended for anyone considering a career in PR, who may perhaps reconsider.