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by Noam Chomsky
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Metropolitan Books (2006-04-04)
ISBN: 0805079122
EAN: 9780805079128
Dewy Decimal #: 327.730090511
Hardcover: 314 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 2006-04-04
SKU: 103008067
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: looks brand new
More Product Infomation
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The world’s foremost critic of U.S. foreign policy exposes the hollow promises of democracy in American actions abroad—and at home
The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene against “failed states” around the globe. In this much anticipated sequel to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, charging the United States with being a “failed state,” and thus a danger to its own people and the world.
“Failed states” Chomsky writes, are those “that do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, that regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and that suffer from a ‘democratic deficit,’ having democratic forms but with limited substance.” Exploring recent U.S. foreign and domestic policies, Chomsky assesses Washington’s escalation of the nuclear risk; the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; and America’s self-exemption from international law. He also examines an American electoral system that frustrates genuine political alternatives, thus impeding any meaningful democracy.
Forceful, lucid, and meticulously documented, Failed States offers a comprehensive analysis of a global superpower that has long claimed the right to reshape other nations while its own democratic institutions are in severe crisis, and its policies and practices have recklessly placed the world on the brink of disaster. Systematically dismantling America’s claim to being the world’s arbiter of democracy, Failed States is Chomsky’s most focused—and urgent—critique to date.
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Customer Reviews
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Thought-provoking
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-10-14
Noam Chomsky turns the table on conventional wisdom by claiming that the state most in need of democratic intervention is the United States itself. His basic premise is that the United States government is controlled more by corporate interests than by the people. Government policies are driven by the needs of corporate giants.
To back up this claim, Chomsky looks at America's history of democracy promotion going all the way back to Latin American interventions at the beginning of the 20th century. Time and time again the picture that appears is that of an America that actually crushes governments chosen by the people in favor of supporting rightist dictators. According to Chomsky, the American government is all for the rhetoric of promoting democracy, but as soon as democracy threatens American business interests, it all goes out the window. By looking at the history of democracy promotion, it seems that democracy in the world is actually bad for business from an American standpoint.
This book will really make you think about government policies. In the end, it is important to practice what you preach. If the government believes in the power of democracy, then it should follow-through on developing it rather than catering to business interests. By throwing democracy out the window, we're actually making the world a more dangerous place to live in.
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Bitter Bias
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-08-15
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is the first time I have felt compelled to write a review. Perhaps I need to read earlier books, but Failed States seems extremely biased, lacking focus, incoherent, and having a weak structure. I don't necessarily disagree with the conclusions in it, but I find the presentation of his ideas inadequate toward convincing a non-biased audience.
The book throws facts, figures, and data at you at an impressive rate, but doesn't try to build that information into a convincing whole. The authors obvious familiarity with the topics matters little when an unbiased reader is confused by his casual references and statements of fact with minimal support. Information without structure and context is very suspect. In particular, his claims of what the American people really want seemed to be casually talked about.
Even so I enjoyed reading criticism of American foreign policy. Concerning that criticism, the author doesn't offer a foil by comparing it to those Failed States that the US is being compared to. Nor, despite the authors claims to the contrary, does he really offer much advice upon specific changes. I believe he thinks changes needed are evident by what he chooses to attack. They weren't obvious to me besides "Stop doing the horrible things I am telling you about." That isn't telling anyone what they should be doing instead.
I'm a bit curious if the authors believes he is influencing open-minded people with the book. Obvious bias weakens credability. I am forced to hazard the guess that this is simply written for those who already agree with his stances.
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The virus of popular democracy was once again destroyed.
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-14
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Noam Chomsky writes about the first 9/11 which took place on Tuesday September 11th 1973 in Chile when the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by the military forces of Augusto Pinochet. The coup had full backing of he US government and an estimated 3200 people where killed(although figures are believed to be twice as high) and over 30000 people tortured. The government of Pinochet started collaborating with other right wing dictatorships in the South american region creating an international state terrorist program called "Operation Condor". This program "killed and tortured mercilessly in the region and branched out to terrorist operations in Europe and the United States".
Pinochet was greatly honored by both Ronald Reagan and Thatcher. But worse terror was to come in both Argentina and the central American region by "the current incumbents in Washington and their immediate mentors". It was really the American fear of the independent nationalism of Chile that sparked this coup. The fear was based on the fact that Chile might become a "conttagious example", as Henry Kissinger called it, for other nations to follow. Therefore Americas obssession with Cubas successfull "defiance of the master" or even with Irans defiance with their overthrowing of the Shah in 1979. This was the real reason for the US intervention in Vietnam as well, because the country could become a "virus infecting others" (notably resource rich Indonesia). This could eventually destabalize the entire region putting the resource interests of US corporations and the British at risk . In other words, it was necessary to "justify destruction of parliamentary regimes and imposition of murderous dictatorships throughout much of the world in order to guarantee stability and control of vital resources". The virus had to be destroyed.
Public fear would have it that the domino theory would be put into effect. Ho Chi Min would conquer South East Asia, and the successfull rebellion in Nicaragua would create many similar states in central America spreading the communist scourge all over the world. Therefore it was important to sell the idea that you where fighting the Soviets, when in fact it was democracies pursuing national interests that where being crushed to ensure the safeguarding of access to resources. The Soviets have now been replaced by narco trafficers, Al-qaeda or just terrorists in general. These have all become legitimate excuses for interventions and "democracy promotion", the latest example of course being Iraq. As the pipe dream of weapons of mass destruction became apparent, the high flying ideal of democracy promotion was put forward by the Bush II administration. This would surley lead to a democratization of the whole region. The truth is that it has had quite the contraty effect, actually it has promoted the spread of terrorism in the region. This was now turned into an "idealistic war" based on Americas "messianic mission" to bring democracy to the middle east.
Britain created modern day Iraq to ensure control over its oil resources after the fall of the Ottoman Empire after world war 1. The Iraqi wealth remained in the hands of a few wealthy landowners, sheiks and of course the British. Their colonial rule and its brutally repressive society lasted up until 1958 when Abdul Karim Kasim overthrew the British colonial rulers. Both the British and the Americans reacted immediatley fearing the Qasims actions would spread like a virus among other Arab states in the region. It had to be stopped and president Eisenhower went as far as to say that Qasim was trying to "get control of the middle east oil to get the income and the power to destroy the western world". Of course this virus had to be stopped and in 1963 the CIA under the Kennedy administration organized a regime change in Iraq, in collaboration with a young Saddam Hussein and the Baath party. The CIA provided the Baath party with lists of suspected Communists and leftists and the slaughter began. National security council staffer Roger Morris writes about this time saying "The Baathists systematically murdered untold numbers of Iraqs educated elite" including "hundreds of doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers and other professionals as well as military and political figures."
Americas actions during the Reagan administration in El Salvador during the 1980s became a model for Iraq. Here the administration saw to it that "technically credible elections" where held but that the Christian democratic candidate won. The administration "could not concieve of an El Salvador in which the military was not the dominant actor, the economic elite no longer held the national economy in its hand" ..."the US government had no real conception of democracy in El Salvador." As the "democracy promotion" commenced in El Salvador the state sponsored terror expanded within the country, all the while supported by Washington. The opposition was slaughtered in the 10s of thousands, the independent press was completley destroyed, and torture, rape and other atrocities where rampantly commited by government sanctioned death squads. In the words of the (surviving) jesuit priests of the country "alternatives that differ from those of the powerfull" didnt stand a chance.
John Negroponte is serving in the current Bush administration in charge of counterterrorism. He worked as ambassador to Honduras during the 1980s. Here he was also in charge of, at the time, the worlds largest CIA station. Negroponte "was essentially managerially in charge of the Contra war in an extraordinary way for a diplomat". Negroponte denied the atrocitiés being commited in Honduras so as to assure that the military aid kept flowing to the international terrorist operations he was running. He was closely associated with General Alvarez who was the chief of the Honduran armed forces, Negroponte praised his "dedication to democracy", the infamous Honduran batallion 3-16 was one of the most brutal and vicious groups of Latin American killers and they where on the CIA payroll.
America has overthrown many democratically elected governments and installed brutal military dictatorships in their place. Some examples include: Guatemala, Iran, Chile, Brazil and a long list of others. All in the name of "democracy promotion". But instead of promoting democracy, democracy has been subverted. Client states have instead been created, designed to serve the privledged elites and creating "favorable interests for her(Americas) private overseas investment". Communism was often used as a cover term for the threat of independant development. So infact the "virus" that has been repeatedly destroyed has been popular democracy.
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Who tells the truth?
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-11
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Noam Chomsky describes two diagramtically opposed faces of his own country; one relating to what its government does and another relating to what his fellow citizens know. In between there is a compliant press that is not good at being impartial. The government of the USA seems to be an oligarchy that leans to the far right and less far right alternately, and the press seems to be its propaganda machine. I am not a communist, not even a socialist. I merely belive in an intrinsic dignity of humanity that needs to be more assertive. While he may not have all the answers, Noam Chomsky helps us ask more questions.
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American foreign policy is the pits
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-06-30
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Ever since learning about Ron Paul last January, my interest in politics, especially those of the libertarian position, have increased approximately 800%. I considered myself a libertarian a good year before learning about him and his campaign but once I got into his message and delved deeper into the foreign policies of the likes of McCain, Obama, Hillary, and past figures such as Reagan and Bill Clinton, I was revolutionized and cured of any and all political apathy I had. Of course my libertarian views don't just rest on foreign policy, but it is a large part of my concern.
So though I generally do not agree with Noam Chomsky on economics and private property, I understand where he's coming from and I know he means well; I generally agree with the rest of his views, including his foreign policy views which are similar to Ron Paul inasmuch as he views the United States' arrogance with nation-building and intervention as a key problem in the world today. This is actually the first Chomsky book I have read and will not be the last. Presented almost in the manner of an extended thesis paper (quotes and citations are in the thousands in this book), it makes for a stimulated if occasionally dry read as Chomsky begins by dissecting America's interventionist "democracy promoting" policies in Iraq, Vietnam, and elsewhere as well as our supreme hypocrisy with propping up brutal regimes in places such as Indochina and elsewhere. He mentions that as conflicts such as the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia raged, brutal dictators elsewhere were left unscathed, as our economic and resource interests lay abound with the support of many of these brutal regime. Chomsky proves in a very academic sense how few (and possibly none) of our foreign policy intrusions since Woodrow Wilson (and dating back to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson) have been for much more than empire-building, resource claiming, and the removal and/or propping-up of dictators who are against our interests (in the former's case) and who will be an aid to our interests (in the latter).
Though I found Chomsky to be somewhat of a dry writer (like I said, the book assumes you have a vast knowledge of American foreign policy history past and present), he is brilliant. When I say dry I mean that it is very clinical and not written in a way that might grab the average reader, but for readers like myself with an attention span and an interest in the subject it is a blast to read. I found myself marking pages and highlighting a lot so I could go back and do further research upon completion.
In short, this is an excellent read for anyone curious about America's disastrous and insanely hypocritical and arrogant policies towards our fellow nations. Neocon republicans (and some Democrats who worship the likes of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) will be brought to rage by its brutal honesty, but in the end will not be able to intelligently refute any of it. Highly recommended.
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by Noam Chomsky
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Metropolitan Books (2006-04-04)
ISBN: 0805079122
EAN: 9780805079128
Dewy Decimal #: 327.730090511
Hardcover: 314 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 2006-04-04
SKU: 103008067
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: looks brand new
More Product Infomation
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Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
The world’s foremost critic of U.S. foreign policy exposes the hollow promises of democracy in American actions abroad—and at home
The United States has repeatedly asserted its right to intervene against “failed states” around the globe. In this much anticipated sequel to his international bestseller Hegemony or Survival, Noam Chomsky turns the tables, charging the United States with being a “failed state,” and thus a danger to its own people and the world.
“Failed states” Chomsky writes, are those “that do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, that regard themselves as beyond the reach of domestic or international law, and that suffer from a ‘democratic deficit,’ having democratic forms but with limited substance.” Exploring recent U.S. foreign and domestic policies, Chomsky assesses Washington’s escalation of the nuclear risk; the dangerous consequences of the occupation of Iraq; and America’s self-exemption from international law. He also examines an American electoral system that frustrates genuine political alternatives, thus impeding any meaningful democracy.
Forceful, lucid, and meticulously documented, Failed States offers a comprehensive analysis of a global superpower that has long claimed the right to reshape other nations while its own democratic institutions are in severe crisis, and its policies and practices have recklessly placed the world on the brink of disaster. Systematically dismantling America’s claim to being the world’s arbiter of democracy, Failed States is Chomsky’s most focused—and urgent—critique to date.
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Customer Reviews
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Thought-provoking
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-10-14
Noam Chomsky turns the table on conventional wisdom by claiming that the state most in need of democratic intervention is the United States itself. His basic premise is that the United States government is controlled more by corporate interests than by the people. Government policies are driven by the needs of corporate giants.
To back up this claim, Chomsky looks at America's history of democracy promotion going all the way back to Latin American interventions at the beginning of the 20th century. Time and time again the picture that appears is that of an America that actually crushes governments chosen by the people in favor of supporting rightist dictators. According to Chomsky, the American government is all for the rhetoric of promoting democracy, but as soon as democracy threatens American business interests, it all goes out the window. By looking at the history of democracy promotion, it seems that democracy in the world is actually bad for business from an American standpoint.
This book will really make you think about government policies. In the end, it is important to practice what you preach. If the government believes in the power of democracy, then it should follow-through on developing it rather than catering to business interests. By throwing democracy out the window, we're actually making the world a more dangerous place to live in.
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Bitter Bias
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-08-15
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is the first time I have felt compelled to write a review. Perhaps I need to read earlier books, but Failed States seems extremely biased, lacking focus, incoherent, and having a weak structure. I don't necessarily disagree with the conclusions in it, but I find the presentation of his ideas inadequate toward convincing a non-biased audience.
The book throws facts, figures, and data at you at an impressive rate, but doesn't try to build that information into a convincing whole. The authors obvious familiarity with the topics matters little when an unbiased reader is confused by his casual references and statements of fact with minimal support. Information without structure and context is very suspect. In particular, his claims of what the American people really want seemed to be casually talked about.
Even so I enjoyed reading criticism of American foreign policy. Concerning that criticism, the author doesn't offer a foil by comparing it to those Failed States that the US is being compared to. Nor, despite the authors claims to the contrary, does he really offer much advice upon specific changes. I believe he thinks changes needed are evident by what he chooses to attack. They weren't obvious to me besides "Stop doing the horrible things I am telling you about." That isn't telling anyone what they should be doing instead.
I'm a bit curious if the authors believes he is influencing open-minded people with the book. Obvious bias weakens credability. I am forced to hazard the guess that this is simply written for those who already agree with his stances.
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The virus of popular democracy was once again destroyed.
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-14
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Noam Chomsky writes about the first 9/11 which took place on Tuesday September 11th 1973 in Chile when the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by the military forces of Augusto Pinochet. The coup had full backing of he US government and an estimated 3200 people where killed(although figures are believed to be twice as high) and over 30000 people tortured. The government of Pinochet started collaborating with other right wing dictatorships in the South american region creating an international state terrorist program called "Operation Condor". This program "killed and tortured mercilessly in the region and branched out to terrorist operations in Europe and the United States".
Pinochet was greatly honored by both Ronald Reagan and Thatcher. But worse terror was to come in both Argentina and the central American region by "the current incumbents in Washington and their immediate mentors". It was really the American fear of the independent nationalism of Chile that sparked this coup. The fear was based on the fact that Chile might become a "conttagious example", as Henry Kissinger called it, for other nations to follow. Therefore Americas obssession with Cubas successfull "defiance of the master" or even with Irans defiance with their overthrowing of the Shah in 1979. This was the real reason for the US intervention in Vietnam as well, because the country could become a "virus infecting others" (notably resource rich Indonesia). This could eventually destabalize the entire region putting the resource interests of US corporations and the British at risk . In other words, it was necessary to "justify destruction of parliamentary regimes and imposition of murderous dictatorships throughout much of the world in order to guarantee stability and control of vital resources". The virus had to be destroyed.
Public fear would have it that the domino theory would be put into effect. Ho Chi Min would conquer South East Asia, and the successfull rebellion in Nicaragua would create many similar states in central America spreading the communist scourge all over the world. Therefore it was important to sell the idea that you where fighting the Soviets, when in fact it was democracies pursuing national interests that where being crushed to ensure the safeguarding of access to resources. The Soviets have now been replaced by narco trafficers, Al-qaeda or just terrorists in general. These have all become legitimate excuses for interventions and "democracy promotion", the latest example of course being Iraq. As the pipe dream of weapons of mass destruction became apparent, the high flying ideal of democracy promotion was put forward by the Bush II administration. This would surley lead to a democratization of the whole region. The truth is that it has had quite the contraty effect, actually it has promoted the spread of terrorism in the region. This was now turned into an "idealistic war" based on Americas "messianic mission" to bring democracy to the middle east.
Britain created modern day Iraq to ensure control over its oil resources after the fall of the Ottoman Empire after world war 1. The Iraqi wealth remained in the hands of a few wealthy landowners, sheiks and of course the British. Their colonial rule and its brutally repressive society lasted up until 1958 when Abdul Karim Kasim overthrew the British colonial rulers. Both the British and the Americans reacted immediatley fearing the Qasims actions would spread like a virus among other Arab states in the region. It had to be stopped and president Eisenhower went as far as to say that Qasim was trying to "get control of the middle east oil to get the income and the power to destroy the western world". Of course this virus had to be stopped and in 1963 the CIA under the Kennedy administration organized a regime change in Iraq, in collaboration with a young Saddam Hussein and the Baath party. The CIA provided the Baath party with lists of suspected Communists and leftists and the slaughter began. National security council staffer Roger Morris writes about this time saying "The Baathists systematically murdered untold numbers of Iraqs educated elite" including "hundreds of doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers and other professionals as well as military and political figures."
Americas actions during the Reagan administration in El Salvador during the 1980s became a model for Iraq. Here the administration saw to it that "technically credible elections" where held but that the Christian democratic candidate won. The administration "could not concieve of an El Salvador in which the military was not the dominant actor, the economic elite no longer held the national economy in its hand" ..."the US government had no real conception of democracy in El Salvador." As the "democracy promotion" commenced in El Salvador the state sponsored terror expanded within the country, all the while supported by Washington. The opposition was slaughtered in the 10s of thousands, the independent press was completley destroyed, and torture, rape and other atrocities where rampantly commited by government sanctioned death squads. In the words of the (surviving) jesuit priests of the country "alternatives that differ from those of the powerfull" didnt stand a chance.
John Negroponte is serving in the current Bush administration in charge of counterterrorism. He worked as ambassador to Honduras during the 1980s. Here he was also in charge of, at the time, the worlds largest CIA station. Negroponte "was essentially managerially in charge of the Contra war in an extraordinary way for a diplomat". Negroponte denied the atrocitiés being commited in Honduras so as to assure that the military aid kept flowing to the international terrorist operations he was running. He was closely associated with General Alvarez who was the chief of the Honduran armed forces, Negroponte praised his "dedication to democracy", the infamous Honduran batallion 3-16 was one of the most brutal and vicious groups of Latin American killers and they where on the CIA payroll.
America has overthrown many democratically elected governments and installed brutal military dictatorships in their place. Some examples include: Guatemala, Iran, Chile, Brazil and a long list of others. All in the name of "democracy promotion". But instead of promoting democracy, democracy has been subverted. Client states have instead been created, designed to serve the privledged elites and creating "favorable interests for her(Americas) private overseas investment". Communism was often used as a cover term for the threat of independant development. So infact the "virus" that has been repeatedly destroyed has been popular democracy.
|
|
Who tells the truth?
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-11
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Noam Chomsky describes two diagramtically opposed faces of his own country; one relating to what its government does and another relating to what his fellow citizens know. In between there is a compliant press that is not good at being impartial. The government of the USA seems to be an oligarchy that leans to the far right and less far right alternately, and the press seems to be its propaganda machine. I am not a communist, not even a socialist. I merely belive in an intrinsic dignity of humanity that needs to be more assertive. While he may not have all the answers, Noam Chomsky helps us ask more questions.
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American foreign policy is the pits
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-06-30
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Ever since learning about Ron Paul last January, my interest in politics, especially those of the libertarian position, have increased approximately 800%. I considered myself a libertarian a good year before learning about him and his campaign but once I got into his message and delved deeper into the foreign policies of the likes of McCain, Obama, Hillary, and past figures such as Reagan and Bill Clinton, I was revolutionized and cured of any and all political apathy I had. Of course my libertarian views don't just rest on foreign policy, but it is a large part of my concern.
So though I generally do not agree with Noam Chomsky on economics and private property, I understand where he's coming from and I know he means well; I generally agree with the rest of his views, including his foreign policy views which are similar to Ron Paul inasmuch as he views the United States' arrogance with nation-building and intervention as a key problem in the world today. This is actually the first Chomsky book I have read and will not be the last. Presented almost in the manner of an extended thesis paper (quotes and citations are in the thousands in this book), it makes for a stimulated if occasionally dry read as Chomsky begins by dissecting America's interventionist "democracy promoting" policies in Iraq, Vietnam, and elsewhere as well as our supreme hypocrisy with propping up brutal regimes in places such as Indochina and elsewhere. He mentions that as conflicts such as the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia raged, brutal dictators elsewhere were left unscathed, as our economic and resource interests lay abound with the support of many of these brutal regime. Chomsky proves in a very academic sense how few (and possibly none) of our foreign policy intrusions since Woodrow Wilson (and dating back to John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson) have been for much more than empire-building, resource claiming, and the removal and/or propping-up of dictators who are against our interests (in the former's case) and who will be an aid to our interests (in the latter).
Though I found Chomsky to be somewhat of a dry writer (like I said, the book assumes you have a vast knowledge of American foreign policy history past and present), he is brilliant. When I say dry I mean that it is very clinical and not written in a way that might grab the average reader, but for readers like myself with an attention span and an interest in the subject it is a blast to read. I found myself marking pages and highlighting a lot so I could go back and do further research upon completion.
In short, this is an excellent read for anyone curious about America's disastrous and insanely hypocritical and arrogant policies towards our fellow nations. Neocon republicans (and some Democrats who worship the likes of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) will be brought to rage by its brutal honesty, but in the end will not be able to intelligently refute any of it. Highly recommended.
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by Roger R. Hock
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Prentice Hall (2001-06-21)
ISBN: 0130322636
EAN: 9780130322630
Dewy Decimal #: 150
Paperback: 336 pages
Edition: 4
SKU: 110808015
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: some markings and highlighting...creases and heavy edge and corner wear
More Product Infomation
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This unique book closes the gap between psychology textbooks and the research that made them possible. Its journey through the “headline history” of psychology presents 40 of the most famous, most influential studies in the history of the science, and subsequent follow-up studies that expanded their findings and relevance. Readers are granted a valuable insider's look at the studies that continue to be cited most frequently, stirred up the most controversy when they were published, sparked the most subsequent related research, opened new fields of psychological exploration, and changed most dramatically man's knowledge of human behavior. Studies examined cover the following areas: biology and human behavior; perception and consciousness; learning and conditioning; intelligence, cognition, and memory; human development; emotion and motivation; personality; psychopathology; psychotherapy; and social psychology. For individuals interested in the evolution of psychological study and its impact on the field.
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Customer Reviews
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Psychology book
Rating (4)
Date: 2008-09-15
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This psychology text arrived just in time for my class. In very good condition. Thank You!
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Great Intro to Psychological Research
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-09
I'm a psych major in college, so I naturally enjoyed reading about these important studies. However, I think anyone could enjoy this book. It's very readable and covers crucial research from all areas of psychology. Read about one study or all forty; this is a great book!
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A great book for any psychology student (or fan!)
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-10-27
This book does an excellent job of summarizing the most important contributions of psychological research in its relatively young history. As a psychology professor, I plan to use this book in the classroom -- many of my colleagues already do. It gives students a great history lesson and also familiarizes them with past and current theories in the field of psychology. We especially love how the author includes more recent studies that have resulted from the original 40 studies -- current directions, so to speak. Great book!
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great!!
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-09-27
this book is great! very interesting studies that psychologist have made throughout tHE YEARS. I USE IT FOR my psych class in college.
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Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of Psychological Research
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-02-24
0 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Book is in perfect condition and was received in a timely fashion. Thanks!
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by Paul Waldman
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc. (2004-02-01)
ISBN: 1402202520
EAN: 9781402202520
Dewy Decimal #: 973.931
Hardcover: 336 pages
SKU: 030208AC13
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting......light shelf wear on dustjacket...
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
"Waldman gets right to the heart of the con." -Greg Palast, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
How to Build a Fraud
--Portray son of one of America's most influential families as down-home Texan
--Berate media as "liberal" until they stop asking tough questions
--Take advantage of reporters' tendency to not check the facts
--Mask reactionary policies in compassionate words and pictures
--Push false stories from right-wing media into mainstream media
--Extol the virtues of workers while systematically pushing an anti-labor agenda
--Propose a series of tax cuts aimed at the wealthy, but sell them as a boon to ordinary Americans
--Disguise destructive initiatives with friendly sounding names
--Befriend media with "genuine guy" routine
--Keep the public from accessing information
--Maintain message discipline at all times
--Question patriotism of anyone who disagrees
--Repeat above until it all seems true
In Fraud, leading political and media analyst Paul Waldman exposes the truth behind the rise of George W. Bush. What is revealed is more shocking than just a pattern of lies and incompetence. It is the story of how a clever political machine built a high-stakes game of deception, a policy of lies to capture the highest office in the free world, a fraud that continues to this day.
The power of the fraud lies in the ability of the Bush machine to manipulate the press, and thereby avoid having the truth exposed. Waldman's findings reveal an astonishing record of how the nation's media has not only given Bush a pass again and again, but have failed to follow up on even the most openly dishonest parts of the Bush agenda.
For all Americans who have been uneasy about the honesty of the Bush administration, but unsure what it means or how far it goes, Fraud is a shocking wake-up call.
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Customer Reviews
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Excellent, Logical Arguments
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-09-23
2 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book has excellent arguments which shows that various major media providers put George Bush in a false light, a pretty one, in order to make him out to be a good or innocent person when in reality, he is not at all.
Mr. Waldman skillfully and logically explained using even subtle evidences as to how the media puts him in an undeserved good light.
One of the things I found fault with however was that he said that George Bush was not evil, yet ironically, his description of Bush, despite whatever else Waldman was saying about Bush Jr. in his book, was a man who with the help of his friends and allies as well, made and makes deliberate efforts to portray him as someone who he is not, that includes him having a humble, God-fearing personality, and who is honest about his true goals for the laws and speeches he makes. For example, Bush hiding the fact that his true intent is to fatten the rich and keep the poor poor. According to the Bible, and many major religions, and even obscure ones, to give to the rich (those who already have) as well as steal from and oppress the poor, especially to fatten the rich by doing so, is EVIL. Even non-religious people sense that to take advantage of the poor to increase the wealth of people who are already rich is an evil act.
Despite that flaw, this book is a great help for reformed type Christians in showing the hellish direction the U.S.A. and the countries it oppresses are going.
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Very interesting book..........explains media oversight
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-07-23
9 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
Paul Waldman exposes one of the most corrupt Presidents to take office and the news media that has supported him.
Fraud shows how the public has been grossly misled. The American Media has portrayed President Bush in a favorable light. Partly because they are gullible, partly because I suspect the news media is owned by very wealthy individuals or large corporations and partly because the Bush Administration has used "bullying tactics" to get bias coverage.
If one looks closer you see that the facts speak for themselves and Paul Waldman lays down the facts.
This book not only lists many of the lies uttered and policies enacted by our 43rd President but lists the exact sources of information (like a college thesis paper) so there is no doubt as to the validity of the information provided. This isn't "Bush Bashing" as much as it's a laying down of documented utterings by none other then W himself.
People that are still pro Bush will not see this, they will make excuses and allowances for the more then 262 lies documented as the American Public sees what they want to see.
We have a President that has bent all rules in favor of his own personal agenda vs the public good. He habitually says one thing, the press reports what he says and then he turns around and quietly does whatever he wants. The media seems to not see or want to see the discrepancy and in the process Americans are being deceived.
I suspect historians will verify that Fraud was accurate and the American People were misled.
I found page 52 very interesting, here Paul Waldman compares Bill & Hilary Clinton's Whitewater scandal to George W. Bush's Harkin Scandal and shows how the American News Media has twist and shaped the publics perception in favor of George Bush Jr.
The Whitewater Scandal was the target of an Independent Counsel investigation that spent more than $70 million in taxpayer funds. And how much money was involved? Approximately $220,000.
George W. Bush made $848,560 on his "timely sale" of Harken stock, the $20 million in losses Harken hid from shareholders, and the $8 million in sham profit it created out of thin air with the Aloha deal".
The New York Times ran more than 1,000 articles on Whitewater and only 9 for Harken. Seems the press largely ignored the "Harken Scandal" while climbing all over Whitewater.
The above is only one sample of how the news media has failed the American People big time. We're not getting the full unbiased story. The public at large has no comprehension of the extent we are being manipulated by the press.
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Reviews by Nan Kilar and Bobby Miller
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-04-12
7 out of 9 customers found this reveiw helpful
Lucid and compelling. By far one of the best anti-Bush books I've read. It's done with a scholar's scrupulous attention. Waldman placed this book at the head of the line with me by repeatedly providing thought provoking comparisons. Frankly, I'd like to compare it with my anti-Bush book, but really the two are incomparable. You will see Bush as he really is. What you will learn, and this pleases me because I've been, okay I'll say it, preaching that Bush is not some dumb clown that doesn't know his left from his right. He knows damn well what he's doing and he's doing it according to plan like a champ. The greatest trick the devil ever played on earth was to convince people he didn't exist. The pleasure was all mine, Waldman.
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How to talk to a conservative, if you must
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-27
36 out of 37 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book was a phenomenal, well-written expose of George Bush. As one reviewer put it, it is an encyclopedia of every thing that is wrong with George Bush, and the fraud he has perpetrated on the American public.
Waldman catalogues so many facts and attributions per page, it is difficult to read so many pages in one sitting, because you want to absorb the messages. This book is filled with footnotes and appendices and nexus searches. It is impossible here to list all the things that Waldman describes in detail: his drunkeness, arrests, insider trading, favored military treatment, sleazy campaign attacks, the administration chickenhawks, and his lies about everything from WMD's to taxes.
Waldman writes well. His message is clear, concise, and easy to follow. His arguments are compelling and unassailable. If you are still uncertain, read all the one star reviews and look at what they attack: the editorial spelling of a latin phrase, or a dismissive, shrill-like, paragraph without a single, intelligent, cogent analysis, refutation of fact, or challenge of Waldman's work. That may be your best recommendation.
I hope he writes another one about the second term. I'll stand in line for it.
If you want one book that will teach you how to talk to a conservative, this is definitely one of the very best.
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How Bush Makes Clinton Look Saintly!
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-12-29
10 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
Waldman provides a good compilation of Bush and his Administration's lies and manipulations of the truth. While little is presented that is new, having it summarized in one place helps shock readers who have become innured to what has been going on, or may have been too busy to notice.
Examples from the book include:
1)Bush likes to brag about his "business experience." The reality is that he ran three oil companies into the ground, and achieved baseball ownership status only through a sweetheart deal with some of his father's friends. Further, evidence strongly indicates that Bush was guilty of insider trading, and he has refused to release documents relevant to the case. (The SEC, led by a Bush, Sr. appointee, found no problems and closed the case.) Finally, one of the companies Bush was a director for also set up a phony Cayman Island subsidiary to dodge American taxes.
2)Bush gave the impression that Ken Lay (Enron CEO) was but a distant and minor supporter. Reality is that no company gave Bush more money over the course of his political career than Enron.
3)Waldman claims "Orwellian Misdirection" is a favorite Bush tool in which the speaker accuses his opponents of the very thing of which he is guilty. For example, when questioned about his extraordinary fundraising during the 2000 campaing, Bush accused his opponents of being the real profligates.
4)Bush vetoed a Texas patients' bill of rights which was then passed veto-proof and without his signature. When accused of not supporting patients' bill of rights, he claimed to have brought Republicans and Democrats together to accomplish such. (Note: No such bill has moved at the Federal level since Bush became President.)
5)Bush claimed his 2003 tax-cut plan would allow 92 million Americans to keep an average of $1,083 more of their own money. The reality was that the numbers were badly distorted by benefits received by the rich, and 66 million would only benefit by an average $19.
6)Efforts to repeal the "estate tax" instead referred to it as the "death tax." In reality, it then only involved the wealthiest 2%, though thanks to the confusion generated half of Americans believed that most families would have to pay estate tax when someone died.
An important read for any citizen seeking to be well-informed.
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by J. A. Mangan
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Frank Cass (2000-12-30)
ISBN: 0714681296
EAN: 9780714681290
Dewy Decimal #: 796.082
Paperback: 288 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 091608018
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No noticeable Underlining or Highlighting...minor wear on cover
More Product Infomation
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Stories of remarkable women who devoted their lives to the cause of women's physical liberation are told in this volume. They each shared the same ambition: to free women's bodies through sport. Scholars have studied the paradoxical importance of sport in both reinforcing the male-dominated status quo and emancipating women from traditional repression in both Western and Eastern worlds, but the role that individuals played in achieving the political and economic freedom of women through sport has been neglected. This collection records the bravery of these forgotten inspirational figures whose determination challenged and overcame convention, custom and prejudice to free women from the ranks of the sexualized, controlled and oppressed.
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by J. A. Mangan
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Frank Cass (2000-12-30)
ISBN: 0714681296
EAN: 9780714681290
Dewy Decimal #: 796.082
Paperback: 288 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 091608018
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No noticeable Underlining or Highlighting...minor wear on cover
More Product Infomation
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
Stories of remarkable women who devoted their lives to the cause of women's physical liberation are told in this volume. They each shared the same ambition: to free women's bodies through sport. Scholars have studied the paradoxical importance of sport in both reinforcing the male-dominated status quo and emancipating women from traditional repression in both Western and Eastern worlds, but the role that individuals played in achieving the political and economic freedom of women through sport has been neglected. This collection records the bravery of these forgotten inspirational figures whose determination challenged and overcame convention, custom and prejudice to free women from the ranks of the sexualized, controlled and oppressed.
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by Jacques Barzun
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harper Perennial (2001-05-01)
ISBN: 0060928832
EAN: 9780060928834
Dewy Decimal #: 940.2
Paperback: 912 pages
Edition: 1
Release Date: 2001-05-15
SKU: 091208026
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
More Product Infomation
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Highly regarded here and abroad for some thirty works of cultural history and criticism, master historian Jacques Barzun has now set down in one continuous narrative the sum of his discoveries and conclusions about the whole of Western culture since 1500. In this account, Barzun describes what Western Man wrought from the Renaissance and Reformation down to the present in the double light of its own time and our pressing concerns. He introduces characters and incidents with his unusual literary style and grace, bringing to the fore those that have "Puritans as Democrats," "The Monarch's Revolution," "The Artist Prophet and Jester" – show the recurrent role of great themes throughout the eras. The triumphs and defeats of five hundred years form an inspiring saga that modifies the current impression of one long tale of oppression by white European males. Women and their deeds are prominent, and freedom (even in sexual matters) is not an invention of the last decades. And when Barzun rates the present not as a culmination but a decline, he is in no way a prophet of doom. Instead, he shows decadence as the creative novelty that will burst forth – tomorrow or the next day. Only after a lifetime of separate studies covering a broad territory could a writer create with such ease the synthesis displayed in this magnificent volume.
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Amazon.com Review
In the last half-millennium, as the noted cultural critic and historian Jacques Barzun observes, great revolutions have swept the Western world. Each has brought profound change--for instance, the remaking of the commercial and social worlds wrought by the rise of Protestantism and by the decline of hereditary monarchies. And each, Barzun hints, is too little studied or appreciated today, in a time he does not hesitate to label as decadent. To leaf through Barzun's sweeping, densely detailed but lightly written survey of the last 500 years is to ride a whirlwind of world-changing events. Barzun ponders, for instance, the tumultuous political climate of Renaissance Italy, which yielded mayhem and chaos, but also the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo--and, he adds, the scientific foundations for today's consumer culture of boom boxes and rollerblades. He considers the 16th-century varieties of religious experimentation that arose in the wake of Martin Luther's 95 theses, some of which led to the repression of individual personality, others of which might easily have come from the "Me Decade." Along the way, he offers a miniature history of the detective novel, defends Surrealism from its detractors, and derides the rise of professional sports, packing in a wealth of learned and often barbed asides. Never shy of controversy, Barzun writes from a generally conservative position; he insists on the importance of moral values, celebrates the historical contributions of Christopher Columbus, and twits the academic practitioners of political correctness. Whether accepting of those views or not, even the most casual reader will find much that is new or little-explored in this attractive venture into cultural history. --Gregory McNamee
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Customer Reviews
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Quite a Journey!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-10-20
In as few words as possible, this is an excellent cultural history of the West. The author shares his capital of what amounts to nearly a century of lived experience and impressive erudition with anyone lucky enough to have opened the pages of this book. Barzun's writing is top notch and highly entertaining as well. The author has the uncanny ability to summarize complicated subjects chock full of controversy in a short sentence or two like Huston Smith (e.g., the theory of evolution is well furnished with evidence. Its mechanism is still unknown). Barzun serves more as a guide here than an academic lecturer on what turns out to be virtual tour de force of Western Culture -- art, science, philosophy, politics and religion -- as it unfolded over the last five hundred years. In philosophy alone, the author does a better job in covering the key thinkers of the period better than many, if not most introductory texts. That is to say he explores the cultural and historical context of thinkers like Descartes or John Locke and how it shaped their ideas. Barzun does an equally impressive job in describing the impact of technology on a variety of subjects from the musical composition of Mozart to the influence of Cicero on the development Renaissance Humanism. The author covers a lot of territory between the covers and does so admirably with style to spare. Given all that is out there to explore in the way of reading material, not too many books make it to `the read again' category on my mental list. This one is definitely worth a second reading IMHO!
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Snoozer
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-10-02
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
From Dawn To Decadence, by Jacques Barzun, a cultural critic, historian, and former Columbia College provost and professor, was published at the height of the pre-millennial Y2K fever and purported to be a detailed analysis of the last five hundred years of civilization, or at least Western Civilization. Its subtitle is 1500 To The Present, 500 Years Of Western Cultural Life. It is, however, nothing of the sort. It is a shapeless, formless hodgepodge of ideas and incidents, biographies of the usual suspects, like Luther, Erasmus, Cromwell, Mozart, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Shaw, and Byron, and preenings, that offer no coherent view nor explanation for the last half eon. He also tries to elevate forgotten `names', such as James Agate, that were forgotten for a reason, although obviously favorites of Barzun, while barely mentioning titans like Shakespeare- save for a great quote from Samuel Pepys dissing the Bard's plays, Newton, Picasso, and Einstein. Barzun is not insightful enough to knock a person off their pins with a startling premise, as Jared Diamond did in his 1998 tome Guns, Germs, And Steel, nor is he the prose stylist that Daniel J. Boorstin is in his classic 1983 and 1992 books The Discoverers and The Creators. In those works, Boorstin made history fun again, by bringing a novelistic technique to stodgy historical tomes.
Barzun's tome, which he claims took a lifetime to write (he was born in 1907 and the book hit print in 2000), is simply a giant, frustrating muddle. And it's not just the text of what he says, but his presentation on the page. The book has numerous sidebars in the text that distract visually, but even worse, offer nothing intellectually, with some of them being patently ridiculous quotes from vapid pseudo-celebrities like rapper Ice T and comedian Bill Murray. Ironically, this is the sort of shortcut literary and intellectual technique pioneered in glossy magazines of the sort that Barzun contemptuously dismisses as decadent, and without merit. Read Edward Gibbon's Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire or Winston Churchill's History Of The English Speaking Peoples for a real sense of what true historical inquiry is about and written. Yet, the biggest defect of the book is that it simply adds nothing to the known facts it recounts, does so with no grand style, and leaves one asking what purpose did the book serve?
Unwittingly, Barzun often undermines his own claims. For example, he states, `the demand for genius has died out,' then proceeds to write a book that demonstrates this fact. Or, he writes, `Bad writing, it is easily verified, has never kept scholarship from being published,' and writes a book laced with egregious spelling errors (incredibly, he even misspells Samuel Butler's dystopian classic Erewhon as Erehwon so that it spells Nowhere backwards!), worse grammar, poor punctuation, and ill-parsed sentences. Or, he claims, `The West has been the mongrel civilization par excellence,' as if it were a gift from the gods bestowed first and only to himself. Not that he does not have some bright spots- such as logically and semiotically defending the use of Man in the non-sexual sense of the word, or giving the most cogent definition of scientism I've ever read- not bad science, but science misapplied to areas it has no sway over- the law or ethics, but these are too few and far between.
In short, Diamond had a great idea, and Boorstin the writerly gift to excite. Barzun lacks both insight and the ability to convey knowledge well. When he claims that `the peoples of the West offered the world a set of ideas and institutions not found earlier or elsewhere,' it's as if he believes he's said something new and pristine, where others have said it before and better- or did I say that already?
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Hey Eric
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-07-20
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I just finished this book for the first time. I'm very impressed you've read it seven times! (see review below) It took me about three hours per day for four weeks to finish (including some re-reading). My current view is that it's the best book I've ever read - not an objective statement, obviously, but a description of my thankfulness to Mr Barzun for sharing his astonishingly rich perceptions. He's spot on even about the last 50 years - ignore the reviewers flustered by his lack of political correctness (eg Alistair Cooke's snotty comment about "idiosyncracy of judgement").
Also, he turned me on to Hazlitt - what a writer!
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One of the best books you'll read this year...
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-03-21
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
--whatever year you happen to read it. Jacques Barzun's *From Dawn to Decadence* is simply a magnificent work of popular scholarship--fascinating, informative, and entertaining; what's more, it's lucid and readable from start to finish. It's the rare book that even after 800 pages you're still sorry to see it end...all the more so in this instance since you suspect the author had the knowledge and insight to have gone on agreeably for at least another 800 pages.
Barzun begins the biography of our culture's 500-year lifespan with Martin Luther and the significance of the Protestant "revolution" and he traces its development all the way to its exhausted decrepitude in late 20th century postmodernism. It's hard to imagine anyone writing this story with any more panache and authority than Barzun, a scholar who has clearly assimilated this vast span of history--its personalities, ideas, art, politics, and religious and social upheavals--and from it distilled its essence from the press of his own mature vision.
History, as Barzun clearly and honestly states in his introduction, can never be totally objective. Physics teaches us that the observer always colors the observed. So what good fortune it is to have Barzun as the observer--urbane, witty, knowledgeable. Having lived 90+ years, Barzun hasn't only studied a lot of history, he's seen a lot of it, too. So one feels compelled to respect his panoramic perspective even though it tends towards "old fogeyism," especially in the final thirty pages or so of *From Dawn to Decadence* where he sums up our culture's demise in a scathingly dismissive role call of practically everything. Barzun, like the stereotypical crotchety grandpa from his recliner, never seems to tire of pointing out that there's nothing new under the sun ((true enough)) and for any cultural manifestation we take as characteristically contemporary, he can point out some analogous example from three hundred years ago. "So you young'uns think you invented the sexual revolution, eh? Bah! Back in 1648..." etc.
Still, that's not to say that Barzun doesn't have a point or that his critique of contemporary "culture" isn't legitimate or entirely off the mark. It's hard to argue against the notion that the western worldview is growing dim and our culture unraveling all around us. On the other hand, reading through this 800-page survey of catastrophes and innovations, one is hard-pressed to find a period of time in the last 500 years when the culture *didn't* appear to be in imminent danger of expiring. Perhaps it's already dead and just doesn't know it--but that's another story.
*From Dawn to Decadence* brings together an enormous amount of information crafted into a narrative of compelling drive and power. If any work of history can merit being called a "page-turner," this would be that work. I don't think it possible to read this book without benefit and enjoyment. For a culture that has all but forgotten its roots and its past, *From Dawn to Decadence* is an essential tonic to open our eyes to where we've been, where we are, and where--if anywhere--we may be headed.
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The in-depth flow of cultural evolution
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-01-14
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a masterfully in-depth survey of cultural evolution. Barzun goes several layers of fame down, to show the significance of numerous poorly remembered innovators, whose contributions rival those of more often-repeated names. For just one example we have Lady Marquise de Ramboullet, who in the 1600s opened her Paris salon, dedicated to high-minded conversation between men and women. The issues her guests discussed included government, science, or the church -- subjects which were previously matters for men of rank. But here a cultured woman set the rules and tone for debate on matters public and private. In de Ramboullet's game, the object was not to "win" arguments or humiliate opponents, but to stimulate creativity, interaction, and mutual admiration. The participants were to treat each other as ladies and gentlemen, the way they dreamed of being treated themselves. Their competition was to raise the level of consideration and self-respect for every guest. Perhaps de Ramboullet's salon was a sophisticated play, set apart from the real world. But the play soon became a standard by which the world and its human relations were judged. (p. 187-188)
With loads of lights like this for century after century, who cares if Barzun turns into a sour-puss on contemporary culture by the book's end?
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by Jacques Barzun
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harper Perennial (2001-05-01)
ISBN: 0060928832
EAN: 9780060928834
Dewy Decimal #: 940.2
Paperback: 912 pages
Edition: 1
Release Date: 2001-05-15
SKU: 091208026
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
More Product Infomation
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Highly regarded here and abroad for some thirty works of cultural history and criticism, master historian Jacques Barzun has now set down in one continuous narrative the sum of his discoveries and conclusions about the whole of Western culture since 1500. In this account, Barzun describes what Western Man wrought from the Renaissance and Reformation down to the present in the double light of its own time and our pressing concerns. He introduces characters and incidents with his unusual literary style and grace, bringing to the fore those that have "Puritans as Democrats," "The Monarch's Revolution," "The Artist Prophet and Jester" – show the recurrent role of great themes throughout the eras. The triumphs and defeats of five hundred years form an inspiring saga that modifies the current impression of one long tale of oppression by white European males. Women and their deeds are prominent, and freedom (even in sexual matters) is not an invention of the last decades. And when Barzun rates the present not as a culmination but a decline, he is in no way a prophet of doom. Instead, he shows decadence as the creative novelty that will burst forth – tomorrow or the next day. Only after a lifetime of separate studies covering a broad territory could a writer create with such ease the synthesis displayed in this magnificent volume.
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Amazon.com Review
In the last half-millennium, as the noted cultural critic and historian Jacques Barzun observes, great revolutions have swept the Western world. Each has brought profound change--for instance, the remaking of the commercial and social worlds wrought by the rise of Protestantism and by the decline of hereditary monarchies. And each, Barzun hints, is too little studied or appreciated today, in a time he does not hesitate to label as decadent. To leaf through Barzun's sweeping, densely detailed but lightly written survey of the last 500 years is to ride a whirlwind of world-changing events. Barzun ponders, for instance, the tumultuous political climate of Renaissance Italy, which yielded mayhem and chaos, but also the work of Michelangelo and Leonardo--and, he adds, the scientific foundations for today's consumer culture of boom boxes and rollerblades. He considers the 16th-century varieties of religious experimentation that arose in the wake of Martin Luther's 95 theses, some of which led to the repression of individual personality, others of which might easily have come from the "Me Decade." Along the way, he offers a miniature history of the detective novel, defends Surrealism from its detractors, and derides the rise of professional sports, packing in a wealth of learned and often barbed asides. Never shy of controversy, Barzun writes from a generally conservative position; he insists on the importance of moral values, celebrates the historical contributions of Christopher Columbus, and twits the academic practitioners of political correctness. Whether accepting of those views or not, even the most casual reader will find much that is new or little-explored in this attractive venture into cultural history. --Gregory McNamee
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Customer Reviews
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Quite a Journey!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-10-20
In as few words as possible, this is an excellent cultural history of the West. The author shares his capital of what amounts to nearly a century of lived experience and impressive erudition with anyone lucky enough to have opened the pages of this book. Barzun's writing is top notch and highly entertaining as well. The author has the uncanny ability to summarize complicated subjects chock full of controversy in a short sentence or two like Huston Smith (e.g., the theory of evolution is well furnished with evidence. Its mechanism is still unknown). Barzun serves more as a guide here than an academic lecturer on what turns out to be virtual tour de force of Western Culture -- art, science, philosophy, politics and religion -- as it unfolded over the last five hundred years. In philosophy alone, the author does a better job in covering the key thinkers of the period better than many, if not most introductory texts. That is to say he explores the cultural and historical context of thinkers like Descartes or John Locke and how it shaped their ideas. Barzun does an equally impressive job in describing the impact of technology on a variety of subjects from the musical composition of Mozart to the influence of Cicero on the development Renaissance Humanism. The author covers a lot of territory between the covers and does so admirably with style to spare. Given all that is out there to explore in the way of reading material, not too many books make it to `the read again' category on my mental list. This one is definitely worth a second reading IMHO!
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Snoozer
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-10-02
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
From Dawn To Decadence, by Jacques Barzun, a cultural critic, historian, and former Columbia College provost and professor, was published at the height of the pre-millennial Y2K fever and purported to be a detailed analysis of the last five hundred years of civilization, or at least Western Civilization. Its subtitle is 1500 To The Present, 500 Years Of Western Cultural Life. It is, however, nothing of the sort. It is a shapeless, formless hodgepodge of ideas and incidents, biographies of the usual suspects, like Luther, Erasmus, Cromwell, Mozart, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Shaw, and Byron, and preenings, that offer no coherent view nor explanation for the last half eon. He also tries to elevate forgotten `names', such as James Agate, that were forgotten for a reason, although obviously favorites of Barzun, while barely mentioning titans like Shakespeare- save for a great quote from Samuel Pepys dissing the Bard's plays, Newton, Picasso, and Einstein. Barzun is not insightful enough to knock a person off their pins with a startling premise, as Jared Diamond did in his 1998 tome Guns, Germs, And Steel, nor is he the prose stylist that Daniel J. Boorstin is in his classic 1983 and 1992 books The Discoverers and The Creators. In those works, Boorstin made history fun again, by bringing a novelistic technique to stodgy historical tomes.
Barzun's tome, which he claims took a lifetime to write (he was born in 1907 and the book hit print in 2000), is simply a giant, frustrating muddle. And it's not just the text of what he says, but his presentation on the page. The book has numerous sidebars in the text that distract visually, but even worse, offer nothing intellectually, with some of them being patently ridiculous quotes from vapid pseudo-celebrities like rapper Ice T and comedian Bill Murray. Ironically, this is the sort of shortcut literary and intellectual technique pioneered in glossy magazines of the sort that Barzun contemptuously dismisses as decadent, and without merit. Read Edward Gibbon's Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire or Winston Churchill's History Of The English Speaking Peoples for a real sense of what true historical inquiry is about and written. Yet, the biggest defect of the book is that it simply adds nothing to the known facts it recounts, does so with no grand style, and leaves one asking what purpose did the book serve?
Unwittingly, Barzun often undermines his own claims. For example, he states, `the demand for genius has died out,' then proceeds to write a book that demonstrates this fact. Or, he writes, `Bad writing, it is easily verified, has never kept scholarship from being published,' and writes a book laced with egregious spelling errors (incredibly, he even misspells Samuel Butler's dystopian classic Erewhon as Erehwon so that it spells Nowhere backwards!), worse grammar, poor punctuation, and ill-parsed sentences. Or, he claims, `The West has been the mongrel civilization par excellence,' as if it were a gift from the gods bestowed first and only to himself. Not that he does not have some bright spots- such as logically and semiotically defending the use of Man in the non-sexual sense of the word, or giving the most cogent definition of scientism I've ever read- not bad science, but science misapplied to areas it has no sway over- the law or ethics, but these are too few and far between.
In short, Diamond had a great idea, and Boorstin the writerly gift to excite. Barzun lacks both insight and the ability to convey knowledge well. When he claims that `the peoples of the West offered the world a set of ideas and institutions not found earlier or elsewhere,' it's as if he believes he's said something new and pristine, where others have said it before and better- or did I say that already?
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Hey Eric
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-07-20
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I just finished this book for the first time. I'm very impressed you've read it seven times! (see review below) It took me about three hours per day for four weeks to finish (including some re-reading). My current view is that it's the best book I've ever read - not an objective statement, obviously, but a description of my thankfulness to Mr Barzun for sharing his astonishingly rich perceptions. He's spot on even about the last 50 years - ignore the reviewers flustered by his lack of political correctness (eg Alistair Cooke's snotty comment about "idiosyncracy of judgement").
Also, he turned me on to Hazlitt - what a writer!
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One of the best books you'll read this year...
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-03-21
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
--whatever year you happen to read it. Jacques Barzun's *From Dawn to Decadence* is simply a magnificent work of popular scholarship--fascinating, informative, and entertaining; what's more, it's lucid and readable from start to finish. It's the rare book that even after 800 pages you're still sorry to see it end...all the more so in this instance since you suspect the author had the knowledge and insight to have gone on agreeably for at least another 800 pages.
Barzun begins the biography of our culture's 500-year lifespan with Martin Luther and the significance of the Protestant "revolution" and he traces its development all the way to its exhausted decrepitude in late 20th century postmodernism. It's hard to imagine anyone writing this story with any more panache and authority than Barzun, a scholar who has clearly assimilated this vast span of history--its personalities, ideas, art, politics, and religious and social upheavals--and from it distilled its essence from the press of his own mature vision.
History, as Barzun clearly and honestly states in his introduction, can never be totally objective. Physics teaches us that the observer always colors the observed. So what good fortune it is to have Barzun as the observer--urbane, witty, knowledgeable. Having lived 90+ years, Barzun hasn't only studied a lot of history, he's seen a lot of it, too. So one feels compelled to respect his panoramic perspective even though it tends towards "old fogeyism," especially in the final thirty pages or so of *From Dawn to Decadence* where he sums up our culture's demise in a scathingly dismissive role call of practically everything. Barzun, like the stereotypical crotchety grandpa from his recliner, never seems to tire of pointing out that there's nothing new under the sun ((true enough)) and for any cultural manifestation we take as characteristically contemporary, he can point out some analogous example from three hundred years ago. "So you young'uns think you invented the sexual revolution, eh? Bah! Back in 1648..." etc.
Still, that's not to say that Barzun doesn't have a point or that his critique of contemporary "culture" isn't legitimate or entirely off the mark. It's hard to argue against the notion that the western worldview is growing dim and our culture unraveling all around us. On the other hand, reading through this 800-page survey of catastrophes and innovations, one is hard-pressed to find a period of time in the last 500 years when the culture *didn't* appear to be in imminent danger of expiring. Perhaps it's already dead and just doesn't know it--but that's another story.
*From Dawn to Decadence* brings together an enormous amount of information crafted into a narrative of compelling drive and power. If any work of history can merit being called a "page-turner," this would be that work. I don't think it possible to read this book without benefit and enjoyment. For a culture that has all but forgotten its roots and its past, *From Dawn to Decadence* is an essential tonic to open our eyes to where we've been, where we are, and where--if anywhere--we may be headed.
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The in-depth flow of cultural evolution
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-01-14
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a masterfully in-depth survey of cultural evolution. Barzun goes several layers of fame down, to show the significance of numerous poorly remembered innovators, whose contributions rival those of more often-repeated names. For just one example we have Lady Marquise de Ramboullet, who in the 1600s opened her Paris salon, dedicated to high-minded conversation between men and women. The issues her guests discussed included government, science, or the church -- subjects which were previously matters for men of rank. But here a cultured woman set the rules and tone for debate on matters public and private. In de Ramboullet's game, the object was not to "win" arguments or humiliate opponents, but to stimulate creativity, interaction, and mutual admiration. The participants were to treat each other as ladies and gentlemen, the way they dreamed of being treated themselves. Their competition was to raise the level of consideration and self-respect for every guest. Perhaps de Ramboullet's salon was a sophisticated play, set apart from the real world. But the play soon became a standard by which the world and its human relations were judged. (p. 187-188)
With loads of lights like this for century after century, who cares if Barzun turns into a sour-puss on contemporary culture by the book's end?
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by Robert Leckie
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Castle Books (2005-06-30)
ISBN: 0785819630
EAN: 9780785819639
Dewy Decimal #: 973
Hardcover: 650 pages
SKU: 101308024
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No noticeable Underlining or Highlighting...minor wear on dustjacket
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
A narrative history of the fifty years following the American Revolution discusses the Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson administrations, military expeditions against the Barbary Pirates of North Africa, sea battles between U.S. and British frigates, and the War of 1812.
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Customer Reviews
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Good Introduction to the American Expansion Period
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-08-11
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
From Sea to Shining Sea is the second or third Leckie I have read. Some readers believe him to be too basic while others like his writing style. Personally, I am in the latter category. While a life-long fan of American history, I prefer the writing style of a Leckie over the dry writing style you would find in many college textbooks.
While the reader can argue with some of Leckie's conclusions, he definitely writes in a style that holds the reader's interest.
From Sea to Shining Sea covers the period from the Barbary War (just before the War of 1812) to the period just after the Mexican War (late 1840s). Throughout the book interesting descriptions of several characters, including politicians (Monroe, Polk, Jackson, Madison, Jefferson, etc.) and military officers (Jackson again, Taylor, Scott, Decatur, etc.) and battles of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War.
I heartily recommend From Sea to Shining Sea as an excellent introduction to American history from the early 1800s to the late 1840s - peroid that is often overlooked because of the Civil War, Revolutionary War, World War 2, Vietnam War, and other periods.
While I'm sure there are other more detailed and scholarly books out there, Leckie's book is a great | | | |