International Reviews

The authors of "After Moruroa - France in the South Pacific" have done a brilliant job in relating France's colonial history in the South Pacific to its global and economic interests in the region today. And it is Maclellan and Chesneaux's ability to weave between past and present which makes this book such an engaging read....After Moruroa is an important book containing a vast amount of material... from review in Race and Class (UK), January-March 2000

This is an excellent and readable summary of the French presence in the South Pacific, stretching from the days of Bougainville and the "discovery", to present day - and into the future. The situation in French Polynesia and New Caledonia is made understandable, whereas the somewhat forgotten islands of Wallis and Futuna are more briefly treated. This book allows the reader to understand what is specific about French colonialism, from cultural as well as historical and political aspects.

"Nic Maclellan and Jean Chesneaux have produced After Moruroa, an enlightening history, analysis and interpretation of French thinking about the Pacific - made all the more valuable by its publication just before the referendum [in New Caledonia] in November" excerpt from review in Islands Business, October 1998

My Sisters and I all have this book. It is undoubtly the best cook book I have ever encountered. It is so good that we simply refer to it as "The Good book" because everything that comes out of it is goooood! Lots of pictures, easy to follow receipes, and a wonderful index. This book has lots of receipes that look fantastic, taste even better and are easy to make. But my favorite thing about this book is the index...I know what you are thinking, what kind of kook likes the index?? Well, let me tell you. Not only is it listed alphebetical by name but also by catagory and subject. If I have chicken breasts, I simply look under chicken breasts and voila! A list of all the receipes that use chicken breasts! If I am making brunch, I can easily flim through the brunch section and pick out something. I love it! This book is like a cooking bible! Some of my favorites are pecan pumpkin torte, barbecued shrimp with spicy rice and pork roast with sausage and spinach stuffing.

If you love to cook, you will love this easy to use and follow cookbook. This cookbook displays hundreds of recipes using all of your favorite namebrand items to help you prepare wonderful recipes from onion soup to key lime pie. My mother received this book as a gift a year ago and I have been searching everywhere to find a copy of my own. It is simply a wonderful cookbook to use, not to mention the simplicity of the recipes. If you are looking for a recipe that takes minimal amount of time to prepare and uses the name brands you can trust, then this is the cookbook for you. The selection of recipes allows you to find something to please everyone, whether it is the main course, an appetizer or a delicious dessert. I recommend that everyone who enjoys cooking or needs quick recipes in their busy life to purchase this book... and Happy Cooking.

I have found this book to be one of the best all-time cookbooks that a "newcomer" to the kitchen could ever buy. Everything is described in simple and plain english, nothing too difficult for the "inexperienced" cook.

Very thorough and complete both in job ideas and descriptions! Gives the in's and out's of many top notch organizations with international divisions and many smaller companies/organizations not as well known of. Good book for those trying to work their way around the world, or just to get some international experience by taking their current skills abroad!

This book is most informative book ever published on international jobs. I am very impressed.

I am a comunicator Engineer. I want a job..

Although published in 1999 toward the end of the Clinton presidency, America and Political Islam sheds a lot of light on the attack on the twin towers in 2001. Focussing on U.S. foreign policy toward various aspects of the Islamic resurgence and how it has changed both through time and in different places puts recent events into a broader context that is sorely missing from many analyses. The book's investigation begins with the Iranian Revolution and covers four presidencies: Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton.

It tackles head on the climate after the end of the Cold War, noting that an over-easy replacement of the "red menace" of Communism with the "green menace" of Islam explains surprisingly much. It also tackles the tendency to conflate the "Iran problem" with the "Islam problem" which has often led to inappropriate responses to current situations.

The largest contribution the book makes is in sketching out how much U.S. foreign policy is constrained by Congress and public opinion. Our presidential administrations would probably have made much more nuanced, relevant, and accomodationist responses to various situations related to Islam if they had not been cornered by powerful congressmen with simplistic black and white views of the world. A secondary contribution is pointing out the very many places where the U.S. in dealing with Islam says one thing but does something different.

Absolutely objective. Wonderfully insightful. Footmarked to the hilt.

This is the most useful, objective, engaging source I've found on the topic.

Overall Reaction:
Simply put, this is the most lucid work on the political Middle East and "the way it is, how it got there, and what to do about it" that I have seen. I understood everything Mr. Gerges had to say and could not help but be persuaded by his understated style and crystalline presentation. Written with respect for his reader (he never speaks patronizingly) he so clearly elucidates his points with well presented examples that the book becomes not only a compelling written account of his thought, but an excellent reference work. One does not need to absorb the whole book in order to arrive at valuable insight, although a thorough reading is recommended. In addition to the many keen observations he makes, he gives suggestions, clear, concrete suggestions, as to what to do with the problems outlined. I find this refreshing. Many books I have read recently project a good deal of frustration (although probably deserved) while others focus on what has gone wrong or been done wrong. Mr. Gerges collects his points of reference, tells us their histories and creates a map as to where things can be taken and put into order. Mr. Gerges presents his compelling reasoning along with a great deal of information (both in the text and in his extensive footnoting) all captured in a clear, calm approach.

How I will use this book in my further studies:
It is useful as a reference book as specific issues can easily be extracted for argument. I intend on both referring to this work in my writing with politicians and to keep up on Mr. Gerges's work to see what new insights he provides.

The book's main points:
We (the polled majority of the US at least since the Iranian Revolution in 1981) still hold the Arab Muslim in a negative stereotype as violent and Islam as a "hostile culture". He demonstrates that the US has never had a consistent policy, show of policy, thought process or self-knowledge of the Middle East. The west keeps reacting as if it were dealing with a (possibly) trained lion, in awe of its beauty, happy it has not jumped on us yet, and holding a gun at the ready in case it does. The west has never welcomed the Mid-East as a full member of modern society, it seems. As to our prejudices, he rightly points out the undeserved knee jerk reaction after the Oklahoma City bombing where numerous attacks on "Mid Easterners" were reported immediately after that bombing.
US Officials deny there is tie between media presentation, news and US Policy. I think there is ample evidence available that pretty well challenges that assumption especially when you look at the cumulative effect of media-news as well as media-entertainment on popular assumptions. Gary Sick's given quote: "We are all prisoners of our own cultural assumptions " is particularly to the point here, but it begs the question, "If we are prisoners, who is holding the key that will free us from mis-information?"
The book was written before the current situations, but his assessment of how we formerly backed the leaders we are now bombing when they were fighting the Soviet Union, and many other such observations, is still enlightening and relevant.
The Middle East, oddly, seems to be the Swamp of Politics. Wherever we step, there are bogs and tangled roots and mire and muck. If so, it is a swamp we have helped create. We have seemingly never dealt honestly with the Mid East and so we keep finding ourselves caught up in a matted tangle of former policies and legacies. We have been ambiguous at best and harmful (kindly put) to the development of good ongoing relations between the west and Middle East. It is as if we do not expect them to notice that we do not like or trust them very much, except for their oil. One of our ambassadors even said, "Islam is a conquering religion threatening the American way of life " although that Ambassador did stress that most US policy makers did not share his view.
The west views the Middle East as backward. The west cannot seem to get its head around the reality of a clerically dominated regime. We do handle the idea of the Pope, though. Maybe this is because the army of His Eminence is small.
Mr. Gerges points out the continual duplicity of governments: What they create, what they portray and what they are willing to do to keep the truth of one from another is the unfortunate, resource-consuming, status quo. It seems that one of the most pervasive issues the western world must learn to deal with is its confusion over how a people can live with a different cultural base of reference then the western model.

His brilliant step-by-step analysis of the unique histories of many of the Middle Eastern nations and their potentials (for benefice and for ill) is particularly well laid out. The Middle East is a region, but also a collection of countries. He gives us good access points into the machinery of the way things are so we can at least have the option and chance to do what we can for the best interest of all involved.

It is my conclusion that the oft-used political phrase of "clash of cultures" is not accurate. However, because of this book, I see it as much more of a clash of wills and belief in the right of one way to exist over, as opposed to along side of, others. Differing cultures can co-exist, but the will to be dominant, to have one's "ways" proved correct is what cannot be sustained. This book by Fawaz A. Gerges is at least an offered tool to help correct and improve the situation.

GregRobin Smith
RedHorse & Ridire Reviews
robin@knightstour.org
Please write me if you wish the whole review (including page # references)

This is a comprehensive analysis of the threat without being alarmist.

It is far too easy to find shocking explanations of the biological weapons potential that do not describe some of the difficulties in their procurement and delivery. This "sexy" approach captures our attention and makes for good entertainment, but the 'Chicken Little' approach doesn't help us develop rational methods for dealing with the issue.

Read this book if you want a levelheaded examination. It also contains a good description and solid recommendations for a national strategy.

In a very good way, I got more than I bargained for by reading this book. While seeking a solid source to inform myself on the "nuts and bolts", policy implications, and development of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), I continued to come across this title. Expect some dense and intense reading; there is not a wasted word here. The book focuses exclusively on the covert delivery of a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon against an American target, exploring possible methods, limitations, locales, preventive measures, and consequences. This book will considerably broaden the knowledge of any first-timer looking into WMD and likely provides substantive material for discussion among policy makers and experts in the field.

I picked up this book as a research tool for a paper. Not only did I find the book to contain everything I needed, I became so enveloped in the reality of what I was reading that I couldn't put it down. A fan of Tom Clancy novels, this book describes the harsh reality that we live in, while detailing both the strengths and the weaknesses of the US response to bioterrorism. A must read for those with an interest in national security issues.

It is a great book, and I would have not canceled the order if you would have shipped as your website said it would.

This book is a masterpiece. In practice, it deserves to become the "Holy Bible" of Microeconometrics applied to (but not only to) Development Economics. It is beautifully written by an amazingly knowledgeble economist, who has actually worked for years (and still does) on most of the issues this book deals with. It is no easy reading, and it would be worth spending a day for every single page, but it's excellent even if you don't want to go through the details, and you just need an intuition about the issues covered. The first chapter introduces the reader to many important aspects of the contruction and use of household surveys. The second chapter masterfully reviews many concepts of applied econometrics. Chapter 3 is about poverty and inequality measurement. Chapter 4 is about "Nutrition, children, and intrahousehold allocation", Chapter 5 deals with prices and tax reforms, and Chapter 6 with saving and consumption smoothing. The book also contains many useful Stata codes the author wrote and used for his many papers. Again, this is not a trivial reading, but if you are interested in applied economics you will find reading this book extremely rewarding, and often almost entertaining, because Deaton is one of the very few economists around able to write about technical stuff in a brilliant and intuitive way.

This is an excelent manual for anyone interested in studying consumption or welfare in developing countries. Profesor Deaton is certainly one of the experts in the field. His book is well written and flows easily from theory to practice. Really enjoy it !

This book cuts through the confusion, fallacies and ignorance surrounding antitrust policy. With scholarship and rigor, it analyzes classic antitrust cases to argue convincingly that antitrust law is wrong in theory and disastrous in practice. Its argument is nothing less than that antitrust laws should be repealed.

A summary of its contents may be helpful to prospective buyers: Its first fifty pages are concerned with theory, first discussing the rationale, legality and legitimacy of antitrust policy; then presenting and critiquing neoclassical competition theory, offering alternative theories, based in Austrian economics, in the process. The next 220 pages (including endnotes) are taken up with studies of more than 35 classic antitrust cases, organized into six topical chapters: monopoly under the Sherman Act; monopoly in busines history; price conspiracy and antitrust law; price discrimination and the competitive process; tying agreements and public policy; mergers, competition and antitrust policy. In each chapter, subsections explain the theory behind the analysis that follows and restate the chapter's conclusions at the end. The last chapter (ten pages) reviews the book's major findings, critiques both antitrust's enthusiasts and conventional critics and arrives at a radical conclusion from its examination of theory and history: "Nothing less than an extreme opposition in principle to all antitrust laws appears justified by the facts." An appendix (three pages) excerpts relevant sections of the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.

One observation made in its concluding chapter is that many antitrust critics do not reject antitrust law entirely, believing that there was at one time a "golden age" of antitrust when it was needed to curb monopoly and that today antitrust policy is often simply misguided. For those of you of this view: You are mistaken. Antitrust has never been justifiable, has never worked. Ever. And this book goes a long way toward proving it. This is why this book is important. It should be read by economists, students and anyone who would dare assert the realistic possibility of monopoly's arising in a free market: if you would assert this, you don't know as much as you think you do.

Dr. Armentano has written another book, *Antitrust: the Case for Repeal*; it is shorter and analyzes more recent antitrust cases (the most recent case in the book under review is from 1977), such as the one against Microsoft. I have not read it yet, but I expect it to be of comparable quality to *Antitrust and Monopoly*. For a philosophical and moral case for capitalism in general, see Ayn Rand's *Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal*, especially chapters 1 ("What is Capitalism?") and 3 ("America's Persecuted Minority: Big Business").

I remember reading this book in an advanced micro economics course at the University of Maine. It struck a chord and helped me turn the page to start questioning the standard fare served up by my professors. The Austrian analysis continues to make the most sense with respect all economic situations and it is books like this that need to be distributed to serious students of economics and philosophy.

In this book, Armentano presents a stellar case against antitrust. Using air-tight Austrian theory, he first refutes common fallacies inherent in the relevant aspects of today's popular economic theory. Afterwards, he goes through the history of antitrust prosecution, dispelling myth after myth. As a whole, this book proves without a doubt that antitrust is, and has always been, a dangerous and unnecessary set of laws.

What is a hotspot and why do I care? Why should it matter to me where money is spent in finding and protecting the earth's resources? These questions, for me, were answered in John Charles Kunich's book "Ark of the Broken Covenant". In words and phrases aimed at dissemination of information, John Kunich allows the gentle reader to enter into a world of Global warfare. 'To maintain the legal status quo for the hotspots is to sign a death warrant.' Issues that up to now were not in the forefront of the mind are explained in such a way that by the time you are finished reading you also are ready to take up the cause to make sure that no more of our precious resources are decimated. Everyone needs to know what we are allowing to go to extinction because of our ignorance. You need to read this book. You should have read it yesterday.

This is the most important book I have ever read. The future of
life on Earth is at stake, and John Kunich brilliantly explains how the law has been unable to stop the mass extinction now underway. He painstakingly describes the international laws and the laws of dozens of foreign nations that attempt to preserve biodiversity, and he leaves no doubt that all these laws have failed miserably. But more than that, Kunich has a proposal for how law can still save the day, and the planet. I've never seen anything in print as phenomenal as the concluding chapters where
Kunich makes the case for his alternative legal approach. Sheer
genius!

"Ark of the Broken Covenant" is an in-depth examination of the world's biodiversity "hotspots" and why current international mechanisms fail to protect them. The book lays out a practical approach to minimize future species extinction.
In the book, Professor Kunich persuasively argues for a shift from a worldwide species-based strategy to a prioritized location-based strategy as a means to have the greatest effort with limited resources. Going beyond the normal academic approach of stating a generalized solution to a problem, Professor Kunich offers a complete solution, starting with proposed legislation, to a viable means of implementing the strategy in the U.S., to workable incentives for third-world nations to support it.
"Ark of the Broken Covenant" should be the game plan for preserving endangered species. It is a must read for environmentalists, lawyers, scientists, poltical leaders, and concerned citizens.

Admiral Platt has managed a miracle. As a leader in transforming old practices to business practices in the Pentagon 20 years ago, his additional 8 years as a defense executive leaves him with a near-singular ability to light the way for how the Pentagon might yet succeed in transforming America's military hardware agenda. Not many college sophomores will reach for this compact, brief manifesto and memoir, but it would provide any one a sharply focused treatment of issues that are often avoided. I can say that no one in the Pentagon should be without it.

It's readable, doesn't bog down into the inevitable minutiae that characterizes most volumes about the defense business and it offers a serious warning -- that the U.S. defense business in general has become less competitive. That course can and should be changed. Bravo!

Admiral Platt speaks with the voice of experience and commands attention for his ideas. We do need to rethink our national procurement and defense strategy.
I highly recommend this book for any person seeking a better understanding of military thinking and procurement, as well as the problems we as taxpayers all face.
This book is a must read for Defense Department personnel and anyone seeking a balanced perspective and alternative to newspaper and media hype about defense procurement and strategy. This truly is applied wisdom by a serious thinker that will hopefully be taken to heart by our leaders in the DOD.

In these perilous times we are infused with patriotism and a firm
resolve to keep our country free and to send the word out that
we are strong in military might and determination. Unfortunately,
much of this is mere rhetoric. The present author, a retired
Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, brings to the forefront
his extensive experience and great concern for the future of our
country by detailing our past history in the area of military
procurement--its shortcomings as well as its positive aspects--
and a blueprint for the future. Although I feel well- informed about current events in the world, it was a startling revelation
for me to discover that I was totally unaware of the true nature
of military preparedness.We may have the determination to keep
our nation secure, but of necessity this must be backed by the means to do so. WE must have these means--military supplies and
weapons--precisely when needed. This implies that they must be
procured well in advance as speedily and efficiently as possible. Lengthy deliberations in the industrial sector and the
halls of government may seriously impair our effectiveness in our defense. Facts and figures are provided in this book to
strengthen the argument that we must act now so that we are not
caught defenseless. The author was in the center of the area of
procurement and had vital associations with some of the well-known personages involved, including the President of the United
States. The book is replete with anecdotes and personal comments
but never loses sight of its main theme and goal--to apprise
America of the absolute necessity to be always mightily prepared
and that speedy procurement is the sine qua non of this objective! I strongly recommend that this book be read by not
only our representatives in government but the general public
who should be informed.

I've now slogged through four books on Middle Age church architecture and this one is by far the best. The book is written clearly and not unnecessarily burdened with "professor-speak." At the same time, it provided more information, and more interesting information, than the other three books combined.

A couple of cautions: the book focuses on Gothic architecture; Romanesque architecture is discussed more as an introduction to Gothic architecture. And it doesn't have a glossary, which is a downside for readers not familiar with architectural terms.

I have used _Monastery and Cathedral_ as a teaching text and as a guidebook. It's worth lugging through France, even by train: photos are b/w but well chosen & informative, and follow the text well. Stoddard gives good contextual background and is clear in his description and explication of the most important medieval churches in France. Could do more with sculpture and symbolism: the main focus is architecture. But his section on treasures, manuscripts & stained glass is a good start. I'm about to use it as a text for an on-site summer course: it's a tried and true old friend.

Professor Stoddard's opus Art and Architecture in Medieval France : Medieval Architecture, Sculpture, Stained Glass, Manuscripts, the Art of the Church Treasuries is still a viable and valuable work to study for any student of the Gothic era. The information provided allowed me to understand the cathedrals of France clearly and was an indispensible aid when I was lucky enough to visit several of the cathedrals addressed. While not a "light" read, Dr. Stoddard is the standard for the era. I envy any student of his, those lucky gargoyles!!!