Try reading this book. It incites the desire in me to shrink it down to something else, like any psychiatrist would approach a case of psychotic multiplicity. There are a number of individuals with credible positions presented in this book, and the summaries of those positions express matters that are highly important. The problem with the story is that, instead of hinging on the things that are important, the whole picture is in danger of becoming unhinged whenever a decision approaches the bottom line. This is like great art which has no conception that the whole world might see this picture and consider it absolutely nukers. As crazy as all the other nukers in the world might seem to us, it takes a lot of effort to keep from applying the same judgment to the system which inflicts the costs mainly on ourselves. There are things in this book, like William Greider's comment about "payoffs for layoffs" on page 200, which make it too obvious which bottom line matters. His personal suggestion to "turn out the lights rather than waste all this money waiting for world war three" (p. 201) is coupled with his knowledge of officers who "question this choice of toys over boys" (p. 202) because of what's happening: "they're being rolled by the industry." (p. 202) Even Wilson has to report that "There are too many fiefdoms." (p. 202) That might be the main conclusion here, except that it is followed by some comment about a president who would rather "chat by the side of the road until a compromise route is agreed upon." (p. 203) The index doesn't have an entry for "depleted uranium" weapons, but we are still planning for some part of the world to become a dumping ground for our bombs, and it is highly unlikely that there will be much of a chat by the side of the road before the choice of mistakes on where we can hurt our enemies the most is made. The story of how "the American military's fighting edge was being lost for lack of money" (p. 90) hardly makes sense in a world that keeps complaining when we do destroy things.

George C. Wilson is simply the best reporter alive writing about the American military. THIS WAR REALLY MATTERS brings into the cold light of day the federal budgetary process and its effect on national defense issues. The book is relatively short--just twelve chapters--and is written in the clear, easy-to-understand style of the professional reporter Wilson certainly is. He tackles the tough questions: Why is the military orgainzed the way it is? Does it have the weapons it needs to fight now and in the future? Why and how are new weapons systems procured? As you might suspect, Wilson confirms, It's the money, Stupid! THIS WAR REALLY MATTERS is a literate, lucid masterpiece that should be read by every military officer and candidate for federal office. It should also be read and re-read by every student interested in the way decisions are made in a major democracy.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in deaf studies or who has a deaf child. It shows all the emotional levels what hearing parents with a deaf child goes through (the feeling of not understanding deafness,thinking the child has limitations,and the list goes on and on and on...). I read this book in a few days and could not lay it down. I recommend this book to everyone I come into contact when talking about really good books.

Jeff (Sign Language Interpreter Student).

George F. Kennan is a man who seems to attract controversy like a lightning rod does lightning (a comparison Kennan whimsically applied to himself when dicussing the fallout of his Reith lectures in the second volume of his own superb memoirs). The historical debate over his conception of "containment" that began well over 20 years ago can finally be decisively settled by Wilson Miscamble's brilliantly researched and written "George F. Kennan and the Making of American Foreign Policy, 1947-1950". Although the terrain has been covered in previous volumes -- and done so well in many cases, Miscamble's book is the first to widen its scope away from a strict study of Kennan while still maintaining him as the focus. The literature that deals with Kennan exclusive of the context of his actions fails to show the very real constraints upon American policy, especially toward Germany and Europe in general. Yet, despite Kennan's limited freedom to manuever, he stands as one of the most influential career officials in the history of the State Department. Kennan was apolitical, yet he managed to assume a position in Truman's administration in which he literaly shaped many aspects of American foreign policy. Miscamble's book explains how this occurred and, in the process, not only delivers a valuable lesson to today's policy-makers in government but also (hopefully) settles a long-standing historical debate.

George C. Wilson captures the true essence of the life of an infantryman during the waning years of the cold war. He exposes a side of the military in an objective way, in which few people truly see. Mr. Wilson makes it clear that the military needs to place that invaluable American asset, the soldier, on a level of extreme importance. He shows that our military is facing a leadership crisis, especially at the middle management position. The Washington bureaucrats need to read this book, and get a grip on the true state of our United States Army. Good job, Mr. Wilson!

George Wilson is an excellant author and gives the truth in this book. I wrote to Mr Wilson and at the time my husband to be was in basic as a mud soldier and Mr Wilson autographed and sent me a copy of his wonderful true book. A must read for infantry.

The four authors that compiled research for this book did a fantastic job. They had four different minds that created a synergy that is very helpful for those organizations that are ready to take the next step from empowerment to virtual teams or high performance teams. For those organizations that have not started empowerment, this book is not one to read. Here is a synopsis of the most important issues in the book: 1) Knowledge is power (p.18); 2)the job of the manager is different and difficult - to find the best people you can, motivate them to do the job, and allow to do it their own way; 3)for companies to succeed in the future, the employees need to be challenged; 4) if we conduct business as usual, we soon won't have business to conduct (p24); chapter 4 discusses the changing role of the leader - from autocratic to participateive to high-involvement leadership. There is one part that appears as if the writers were never in a very strong union environment. They discuss unions as if they will willingly accept this change. I do not agree with their concepts on this issue. I believe that unions will fight against this concept due to the reason for unions being alive and well today. A great note from the authors is on page 216 - "Many team leaders are so conditioned to think only about what the team needs that they neglect their own development". This is a great comment from those of us who lead managers. We need to ensure that our managers continue to learn... In the summary on p. 264, the comment, 'Virtual teams, and the people who lead them, are the wave of the future', is a statement that should be repeated over and over. We all need to continue to reach for that continual "virtual" team. The powerful comment on p. 269 is to answer the question, "If you can't say why you actually make your company a better place, you are out." We need to continually ask ourselves how we can improve our company or get out of the way of those who can. This is an excellent boo! k for those who need to take the next step in managment.

There is no point in discussing the many problems with this book in any depth, because one would have to write a book about them. Suffice it to say that Wilson, clearly a non pilot, had all the benefits of access based on his position and made the least of them. Readers who are interested in finding out more about Naval Aviation and its inner truths should read Paul Gillcrist's terrific FEET WET, and his follow-on VULTURE'S ROW. 'Gator' is the real thing, a PAX graduate and immensely experienced in the cockpit, from piston-engined aircraft of the '50s to the F-14, and his books are everthing that EDGE isn't.
It's not a matter of 'close, but no cigar.' EDGE isn't even close. Sorry, Wilson, no sale (anyone want my copy, which is being used alternately as a coffee-mug coaster and door stop?).

Whilst the author had unprecedented access to an entire course as aviators earned their Test Pilot certification, i was really dissapointed by the very vague nature in which the book actually details 'flying on the edge'. With the exception of 2 -3 chapters there is very little detail behind the actual flying part of the course. Their exists even less detail on the thory and the author does not even go to the trouble of actually informing the reader of what the course elements are. There is little detail on rotary wing operations also.

I wanted to read about test flying and test pilots. Instead the author provides mere glimpses of the flying and seems happier to discuss the politics of test flying and the Navy - he gives a whole chapter to the Tailhook scandal which has nothing to do with 'flying the edge' in my opinion.

If you want hard core flying and test flying action look somewhere else

A very thorough, well-written book about Test Pilot School, where daring and usually cocky pilots are turned into Engineers/Pilots. George Wilson spent a whole year with Class 100 at TPS and describes all they had to go through in breath-taking detail.

Mr. Wilson even describes the history behind the School and explains the struggles encountered by the first aviators testing airplanes.

A definite buy for the military airplane enthusiast.

I picked this up because I wanted to learn more about the North Korean capture of the spy ship USS Pueblo during the Cold War. The story is told by Carl Schumacher, who was the Operations Officer on the Pueblo at the time of the capture. He describes his assignment to the Pueblo, the other officers on the Pueblo, the details of his capture and the forced confessions. The book ends abruptly as the Pueblo's crew, after being held nearly a year, is released. I found myself feeling cheated -- what happened next.

I didn't find the book to be particularly compelling given the fantastic nature of the story it tells. It is difficult to understand why the Captain gave up the ship so easily, though Schumacher attempts to do so. It seems that Schumacher's primary purpose in writing the book was to criticize the US Code of Conduct and explain how it is ineffective in situations such as this.

There were a number of books on the local library shelf about the Pueblo incident, many written by former crew members. Although I have not read them, I would recommend taking a good look at the alternatives before choosing this option.