Book Description

This collection of moving black-and-white photographs of recipients of the Medal of Honor shows not the glory of war, but the underlying spirit and humanity of true heroism. Forty-eight portraits are combined with comments, observations, and statements from the recipients of America's highest military honor. This compilation of words and pictures of men who served in the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps is both humbling and poignant. Their actions and lives vary as much as the conflicts (World War II, Korea, and Vietnam) and include a conscientious objector who never wielded a weapon and a man known as the "Last Eagle," as he was the last World War II pilot to retire. Each recipient's full official citation is included in the appendix. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A GREAT READ
There are a couple of good books about CMH winners. The thing I liked about this one was the photo's. All the winners in this book survived, and we get to see the man, as well read about his actions.
I really enjoyed this one. A very fast read

Touching on a different level
Mr. Casalini's book is incredible -- I found myself tearing up at some of the descriptions and pictures. These men are incredibly brave, but at the same time, none seemed to be anything but the guy next door. The wonderfulness of ordinary was truly captured and championed in this amazing book.

A remarkable and memorable compilation of portrait studies
Ordinary Heroes is a remarkable and memorable compilation of portrait studies showcasing winners of the Congressional Medal of Honor. Each photo is accompanied by an insightful caption or quotation arising from photographer Tom Casalini's personal interview with the recipient. Ordinary Heroes is a virtually unique contribution to military studies and a very highly recommended addition to community library collections -- especially as a Veteran's Day memorial acquisition or as a memorial donation by a Veteran's group or association.

Discover the Wonderfulness of Ordinary
While attempting with words to enter into the souls of the Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, Tim Wallis' commentary ebbs on the ordinary heroes, who are protectors of the Medal of Honor. The tremendous impact of the words that are spoken is second only to the full page photographs of the father/husband/patriot's in all their splendor. The photographs are not of men in full dress with the Medal around their neck, as you would think, but of them on the back porch, in the orchard or merely on the couch in prayer. The book shows us all what can be found if only we look a little harder. We too might discover the wonderfulness of ordinary. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (7)

The Good Brief Book on Roosevelt
This is a very good brief introduction to Roosevelt, and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a brief understanding of Roosevelt. Being written by a man from Britain, it also shows how the world views him - as one of the most important leaders in world history. You will not acquire a thorough understanding of FDR by reading this book. For that I would suggest "Champion of Freedom" by Conrad Black or the two-volume biography by James MacGregor Burns "The Lion and the Fox" and "Soldier of Freedom."

In response to Mister Syzek, my understanding is that Stalin broke his promises and controlled Poland despite the agreements made. Stalin was determined to control Poland no matter what, so Poland was never really on the table.

Franklin Roosevelt was a geopolitical realist, and the reality is that the Soviet armies controlled Eastern Europe and Poland. Stalin de facto controlled Poland. The American people had no enthusiasm for yet another world war againt Russia. They wanted their soldiers home. Maybe you should ask the American people why they were not willing to suffer 5 million killed for Poland.

You see, in America you must deal with these pesky things called voters and democracy.

So Roosevelt extracted what he could from Stalin: firm promises of elections and a free Poland. Roosevelt got everything he wanted from Yalta and was very sneaky to be able to get Stalin to promise even that.

To complicate the matter, the Soviet Union took the brunt of the war (17 million dead), and Stalin was rigidly determined to secure a buffer between Mother Russia and Western Europe. Stalin would not have budged on his goal.

So what Roosevelt obtained from Stalin was the best he could obtain - firm promises from Stalin to hold elections. It was Stalin who broke his promises. That made the Soviet Union look like the bad guy.

Truman then waged the Cold War (without the millions of dead from a hot war) leading to an eventual liberation of Eastern Europe. It's no surprise that Reagan was a huge fan of Roosevelt, voted for him four times, and attended his third inauguration (a moving event for Reagan). Reagan then brought an end to the Cold War without firing a shot.

You may be able to criticize Truman for not liberating Eastern Europe while American had a monopoly on the atomic bomb... or Eisenhower. Then again, maybe the path Truman took was wise. Maybe Roosevelt would have done things differently. We will never know because he died.

What we do know is that he extracted promises from Stalin, which he later broke.

I just want to stress that Stalin was determined to have Poland, no matter what. Please look at Stalin's goals and determination. The Russian armies took Poland on the way to Germany, and there was nothing Roosevelt could do about that. Here FDR was a realist.

At the same time, Roosevelt was an idealist in the Wilsonian tradition when realistic. He believed in the free determination of free people, but he was also realistic. For example, he essentially pushed for an end to world colonialism in his design for the post-war world. Churchill opposed this but he could do nothing about it. The British empire was too weak.

By the way, Poland was not even a country at the start of World War One and was viewed by some in a similar way to the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Should American have gone to war over the Baltic States?

This fine little book is a fine introduction to Roosevelt. It is the best brief book on Roosevelt.

If you want a more detailed study of Roosevelt's foreign policy then read Robert Dallek's Bancroft Prize-winning "Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy." My opinion pales in comparison.

FDR
Two points: Where was FDR when Poland, then Britain were on their knees and being devastated? The second point, Poland and her fate were minimized in what was an altogether too short a book to deal with such a significant figure, and the impact that he had upon our world. The United States and Britain betrayed Poland to Russian Communist control. The victim of Nazi Germany became again the victim of Soviet Communist domination, through the appeasement of Stalin by Churchill & FDR at Yalta and the "sphere of influence" power politics of the time. The U.S. and Britain sacrificed an expendable Poland to gain time and space for their own retaliation against Germany. They failed to recognize Russia's sinister motives in overplaying the "Lend-Lease" card, without consideration of the consequences.
FDR was a great domestic President, with little knowledge of, or appreciation for, foreign policy in other countries like Poland, whose contribution to Nazi defeat was enormous. Try reading the point of view of Poland, in "A Question of Honor". I would rate that book "six stars"!

An Elegant Little Life
Roy Jenkins, the prolific biographer of British Prime Ministers Gladstone and Churchill (as well as American President Harry Truman), died early last year, before this slim biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was completed. But even in its flawed state (it was completed by Richard E. Neustadt), this is an impressive book by an author of great knowledge and erudition that illuminates in intriguingly quirky ways the epochal life of its subject.

Jenkins was an Englishman active in Labour politics for half a century, and his is a very British take on Roosevelt's life, which both works and doesn't work to Jenkins' advantage. It is always problematic when an author is not of the same nationality as the person he's writing about (William Manchester's still-to-be-completed biography of Churchill, for example, was much criticized by the British). Where Jenkins gains in giving us a new perspective on a oft-told tale, he sometimes loses in dragging in references to the subjects of his previous books (an occupational hazard of the prolific biographer) or comparing some American political situation to its British equivalent when the comparison is tenuous at best.

Some of his more British asides are lost on the average American reader (as when he opines that the style and appearance of Groton, the prep school that Roosevelt attended, supposedly an imitation of Eton, "were much more like Cheltenham's or Marlborough's"). Also, because the author died before he had the chance to read proof, the text is not as precise as it might have been had the author lived longer (there is at least one sentence that defeats my attempt to make sense of it grammatically - it starts on the 19th line of page 73 and begins with the words "In consequence...").

These reservations aside, I am impressed with Jenkins' ability to take a long and complicated life and condense it into the brief span of this American Presidents series, while still making it comprehensible. The shelves of libraries groan under the weight of the F.D.R. biographies out there, but if you're looking for a concise life that tells the story of the 32nd President from a unique point of view, you might want to try this book before tackling one of the heftier volumes.

An excellent final book for a quality biographer.
The author, in this his final book, is British with an illustrious career as a biographer of such figures as Gladstone, Churchill, and Truman. He also served in his country's ministry. At first glance, it may seem controversial to assign to a foreigner the task of writing about one of America's greatest presidents. However, Lord Jenkins gives a perspective of Roosevelt without the tint of American politics.

It is amazing and disturbing to me the amount of enmity that some in this country express towards Roosevelt, bordering on delusional. What Roosevelt did for this country cannot be adequately expressed in a short biography, or in any book. Much of his pre-war accomplishments translated into an emotion of hope and optimism that moved to a sense of security during the war years.

The author addresses and logically dismisses the paranoid charges that either Roosevelt and/or Churchill allowed Pearl Harbor to occur. As one who lived in Britain during the war, he demonstrates Roosevelt's importance to freeing the world of fascism, and unsettling Churchill's colonialist interests. Fanatical right wingers condemn Roosevelt for the Yalta agreement's failure to rid Poland of the Soviets. The author (actually the co-author who wrote the last few pages after the main author's death) notes that neither Roosevelt or Churchill are at fault since Stalin was already in full control of Poland with no intention of peacefully moving.

My only criticism is the abruptness in which Eleanor Roosevelt is left out of the story. Of course, Mrs. Roosevelt is deserving of her own book that is not the point of this presidential series.

It is a shame that more people will not read this book. I recently wrote a review of the NY Times plagiarist Jayson Blair's book and that received a few dozen responses. This is perhaps my fourth or fifth review of an American President series book and the total responses number only a handful. I reason that much more can be gotten out of reading quality biographies of worthy individuals than concerning ourselves with an immature nobody.

Nice Compact Biography
* Roy Jenkins' FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (FDR) provides a short biography of
Franklin Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States. Jenkins traces
through FDR's upbringing as the only child of the domineering Sara Roosevelt;
his ambiguous relationship with his wife Eleanor, who was actually a niece
several times removed; and his rise in politics.

Jenkins paints FDR as the perfect politician, charismatic and charming,
something of an opportunist and a fence-straddler. Roosevelt was never a
very healthy man, possibly an effect of a sheltered upbringing, and he was
crippled by polio in 1921. However, he had a certain energy that made him
seem much more vital than he really was, the public impression of him summed
up in popular cartoons of him with a raised jaw, a self-assured smile, and a
cigarette in a holder clenched in his teeth.

That energy got him the governorship of New York State twice, confounding
those who thought he was a lightweight or could be manipulated, and then four
terms as President of the United States. There is little doubt that he was
one of the great American presidents, but true to his nature as a perfect
politician there was often less than met the eye in his actions. He was
certainly devious, but he was so good at it that it sometimes seemed like an
outright virtue. He generally wanted to do the right things, but sometimes
his methods for getting from here to there didn't bear too much close
inspection.

He was also certainly hated, particularly by the upper crust, who regarded
him as a traitor to his class. His efforts to help the common people gave
him the popularity to defy this hatred. He was also quick to denounce the
rise of authoritarian regimes abroad, but until war actually came denouncing
was almost all he did. He promised to keep the US out of war, but in 1940
began Lend-Lease, the name itself being a cover for what amounted to a pure
military assistance program to Britain, and then ordered the US Navy to
escort cargo vessels to mid-Atlantic to protect them from Hitler's U-boats,
characterizing this exercise with characteristic clever doubletalk as
"neutrality patrols".

There are those who believe that FDR actually knew about Pearl Harbor ahead
of time and let it happen to ensure that America would get into the fighting,
but Jenkins makes the case (not too hard to do) that this is nonsense. Pearl
Harbor was still convenient in that respect, and it was even more convenient
when Hitler, angry over Lend-Lease and the "neutrality patrols", declared war
on the US a few days later. In any case, FDR spent the war giving his people
free reign to conduct a mighty war effort and presiding over an uneasy Allied
alliance. Jenkins argues that only FDR had the stature to take such a
leadership position.

When FDR died in April 1945, the nation mourned, though he still remains to
an extent a controversial figure. Certainly his considerable expansion of
government involvement in American society has proven over the long run a
mixed blessing. In fact, the argument over the proper role of government in
society is one of the most important issues in American politics today.

Jenkin's FDR is a very tidy little biography, only about 175 pages long, and
mostly focused on FDR's political life. Those after dirt about his marriage
and his affairs will not get much out of this book. The fact that Jenkins
was a Britisher (he died of a heart attack just before completing this book)
and a member of parliament gives a bit of an interesting flavor to the work,
for example with Jenkins describing politicals dealing from the point of view
of someone who was clearly familiar with such things personally.

I will often say, if not exactly complain, that most biographies and
historical works give me more information than I need, but in the case of
Jenkin's FDR I would have liked to have seen maybe about 25 to 50 more pages
of anecdotal material, FDR's life having plenty of good stories to mine for
such things. However, that said, I have to recommend this little book as a
fine introduction to the fascinating, inspiring, complicated, and somewhat
shifty FDR. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Primary Colors author Joe Klein offers a nonfictional take on his favorite subject, Bill Clinton, whom he describes as both "the most talented politician of his generation" and "the most compelling." Klein is of two minds when it comes to the man from Hope: he is at once disappointed by Clinton's failure to achieve greatness, but also a defender of what Clinton did do. He can be unremittingly harsh about the 42nd president's personal shortcomings: "Bill Clinton often seemed the apotheosis of his generation's alleged sins: moral relativism, the tendency to pay more attention to marketing than to substance, the solipsistic callowness." Yet he also credits Clinton with running "a serious, substantive presidency" whose chief success was dragging "Washington toward a recognition that a revised form of government activism might be appropriate in the anarchy of an instant economy." Klein is a smart and engrossing writer, and The Natural is an honest liberal's best effort to explain eight controversial years. Readers who supported Clinton will discover new insights into why he didn't accomplish more; those who opposed him will gain a sharper understanding of why he remained so popular with the public. --John Miller ... Read more

Reviews (60)

The Natural: Bill Clinton
Joe Klein tackles the subject he knows best: Bill Clinton. Astute, even - handed, and keenly intelligent, The Natural is the only book to read if you want to understand exactly what happened - to the military, to the economy, to the American people, to the country - during Bill Clinton's presidency, and how the decisions made during his tenure affect all of us today.

Much has been written about Clinton, but The Natural is the first work to cut through the gossip, scandles, media hype, and emotional turbulence that Clinton always engendered, to step back and rationally analyze the eight years tenure, a period during which America rose to unprecedental levels of prosperity. Joe Klein puts that record into perspective, showing us what worked and what didn't, exactly what was accomplished and why, and who was responsible for the successes and the failures.

We see how the Clinton White House functioned on the inside, how it dealt with the maneuvers of Congress and the Gingrich revolution, and who held power and made the decisions during the endless crises that beset the administration. Klein's access to the White House over the years as a journalist gave him a prime spot from which to view every crucial event - both political and personal - and he sets them forth in an insightful, readable, and completely engrossing manner.

The Natural is stern in its criticism and convincing with its praise. It will cause endless debate among friends and foes of the Clinton administration. It is a book that anyone interested in contemporary politics, in American history, or in the functioning of our democracy should read.

A Concise Summary and Commentary
In this publication Klein essentially presents a summary of the Presidential career of Bill Clinton. Any reader of previous Klein commentary knows that, on the whole, Klein likes Clinton a good deal; however, he avoids becoming an apologist that the likes of Frank Bruni and Bob Woodward seem to have become with President Bush. He makes available criticisms of Clinton--both political and ehtical--at least as quickly as he does praises. In the end, this seems to be the culmination of the very vivid picture that Klein has been painting of Bill Clinton the man and politician ever since _Primary Colors_. The prospective reader should note before beginning that there is no controversial argument at work here (apart from what is already controversial about the President), nor is _The Natural_ a systematic synthesis based on study of recent history; this is merely a summary of the events of Clinton's presidency with subsequent commentary. Particularly engrossing is the section just over halfway through the book in which Klein succintly recounts the history behind the presently bitter partisanship in Washington and the effect of the post-Watergate media on public and private political discourse. In the seventh chapter (of eight) Klein also begins to analyze Clinton with respect to his historical context--which quickly gets interesting--but stops abruptly (Klein clearly hasn't gotten this far with Clinton yet). I would surmise that most of the people that dislike this book do so because of their emnity towards Bill Clinton himself, but if you are looking for a summary of the era with generally just and honest commentary from a rational and balanced commentator, this isn't a bad place to begin.

too short, unorganized
I got the impression that Mr. Klein just threw together a bunch of odds & ends he had left over from another book and notes -- the way they made the movie "Midway" out of edit-outs from "Tora, Tora, Tora!"

A balanced and thoughtful review--a rarity!
A rarity indeed in the realm of Clinton literature is an honest and balanced review of the Clinton years. It is not a deep review but a wonderful reconsideration of the Clinton years. Klein is spot on in most of writing--from his accounts of the destruction of Newt Gingrich to the accounts of Clinton's self-destruction. He hammers Clinton particularly hard for the Mark Rich pardon, which makes perfect sense in the context of who Clinton was. Klein makes one very bizarre conclusion. He blames Clinton for the current problems between Israel and the Palestinians. It is unclear how the failed peace talks are really Clinton's fault (don't Barak, Sharon and, of course, the Arafat and his ilk, deserve the blame?). Nevertheless, a rare book that is honest and tempered. And it pulls no punches. Fair and balanced.

Short-Cut to Understanding Eight Years
The Natural by Joe Klein will surprise few people, particularly those who have read his fictional Primary Colors, but it is a wonderful introduction to eight very strange years in American politics. Bill Clinton's biggest tragedy as a president was that he did not live through a time of crisis (beyond those sordid ones that he created for himself) because the evidence suggests he could have risen to the challenge with the utmost skill. He was a truly fascinating politician with an a amazing and powerful love of the game of politics. This book hits all the high (and low) lights of his reign and often gives a balanced and intelligent assessment. The author touches effectively on the changes brought to goverment by the arrival of Baby Boomers into government, such as Clinton and his easily bested foe, Newt Gingrich, in order to supply a context for the narrative. The book is short so it does not dwell on policy issues and cabinet ministers much but it is a nicely done remembrance piece. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1992, an idealistic but frustrated young musician from Nebraska goes in search of fulfillment behind the recently fallen Iron Curtain as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Estonia. After some hilarious missteps, he ends up finding love, adventure and a renewed sense of purpose. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Capturing the essence of Hiiumaa...
As an Estonian-American who grew up in the US and a visitor of Hiiumaa for a 2 -week vacation, after Wells' "Peace Corps Moment", I was pleasantly surpised to find how tourist friendly the island had become, from what I remembered from a previous visit. After reading the book, I realized how much Douglas Wells had been involved in creating the change. Hiiumaa has much to offer and Douglas captures the essence of Hiiumaa and the Estonian character and humor. I very much enjoyed his book and could not help but chuckle my way through it.

Great book!
Reading this book brought back good memories of working with Doug at the engineering firm. I laughed out loud at several of his stories. Doug has wonderful storytelling skills, a self-deprecating sense of humor and a sense of aplomb about any situation he gets himself into. You can easily put yourself in his place when you read the narrative. The sheep roundup story is great!

I highly recommend the book for anyone interested in the Peace Corps or the foreign service...or anyone looking for a good read. You won't be able to put it down.

Surprisingly good
This is a self-published book and I wasn't expecting much. I was really pleasantly surprised. Each chapter is a vignette from Douglas's life on Hiiumaa. The writing is good, the editing is crisp, the stories are funny. I think the book says more about Estonia, and about the period just after the events of 1989/1991, than it does about the Peace Corps. I spent quite a bit of time in the Baltics and Russia during the same years as Douglas. For me the book captured the flavor of these times very well.

An Author Let Down by His Editors
A delightful book about one man's Peace Corps experience in a country that recently restored its independence and rejoined the world. However, better editorial support would have enhanced this book:
- Travel books without maps: irritating to readers--in this case, lack of at least a sketch of Hiiumaa was particularly ironic because the author tells the story of developing tourist info about the island
- Word choice: an incomplete sentence was created when "where" was used instead of "were"; calling tall, light-haired, blue eyed Estonians "swarthy" when "weathered" or "suntanned" was more appropriate
- Fact verification: The "Looking Glass" alternate airborne command post flying out of Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, was never a 747, but rather an RC-135, a fact easily verifiable in open sources.

It may have been amusing the first time the author used the gimmick of describing himself as an uninformed traveler stunned to find a part of the world different from his preconceived notions. Repeated use of this gimmick grew tiresome.

Those crazy Estos
This book was hilarious. I finished the book in one evening, I couldn't put it down. I have recommended it to friends and family and all have enjoyed it. It gave my husband a glimpse of the Estonian food, personalities, attitudes, language and culture that I grew up with as the daughter of Estonian-Americans. ... Read more

Book Description

COP: “Buddy, I think this is a whorehouse.”

BUDDY CIANCI: “Now I know why they made you a detective.”

Welcome to Providence, Rhode Island, where corruption is entertainment and Mayor Buddy Cianci presided over the longest-running lounge act in American politics. In The Prince of Providence, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mike Stanton tells a classic story of wiseguys, feds, and politicians on a carousel of crime and redemption.

Buddy Cianci was part urban visionary, part Tony Soprano—a flawed political genius in the mold of Huey Long and James Michael Curley. His lust for power cost him his marriage, his family, and close friendships. Yet he also revitalized the city of Providence, where ethnic factions jostle with old-moneyed New Englanders and black-clad artists from the Rhode Island School of Design rub shoulders with scam artists from City Hall.

For nearly a quarter of a century, Cianci dominated this uneasy melting pot. During his first administration, twenty-two political insiders were convicted of corruption. In 1984, Cianci resigned after pleading guilty to felony assault, for torturing a man he suspected of sleeping with his estranged wife. In 1990, in a remarkable comeback, Cianci was elected mayor once again; he went on to win national acclaim for transforming a dying industrial city into a trendy arts and tourism mecca.

But in 2001, a federal corruption probe dubbed Operation Plunder Dome threatened to bring the curtain down on Cianci once and for all.

Mike Stanton takes readers on a remarkable journey through the underside of city life, into the bizarre world of the mayor and his supporting cast, including:

• “Buckles” Melise, the city official in charge of vermin control, who bought Providence twice as much rat poison as the city of Cleveland, which was at the time four times as large, and wound up increasing Providence’s rat population. During a garbage strike, Buckles sledgehammered one city employee and stuck his thumb in another’s eye. Cianci would later describe this as “great public policy.”

• Anthony “the Saint” St. Laurent, a major Rhode Island bookmaker and loan shark, who tried to avoid prison by citing his medical need for forty bowel irrigations a day, thus earning himself the nickname “Public Enema Number One.”

• Dennis Aiken, a celebrated FBI agent and public corruption expert, who asked to be sent to “the Louisiana of the North,” where he enlisted an undercover businessman to expose the corrupt secrets of Cianci’s City Hall.

The Prince of Providence is a colorful and engrossing account of one of the most tragicomic figures in modern American life—and the city he transformed. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Buddy Cianci... what a character. A good Book.
The book is accurate and well researched. Buddy loved Providence. Buddy was a loveable scoundrel. The author doesn't take sides with the issue, but tells the story of corruption, graft, payoffs, bribery, and the like. That's the way things work in Providence. There is almost no other way of doing business in Rhode Island, and it's been that way for as long as anybody can remember. Many believe that Abe Lincoln himself would have been dragged down the same way if he had lived in Providence long enough.
The book doesn't give too much credit for the many things Mayor Cianci did for the City, and its residents. Buddy just got caught up in it all, and this book tells why, and how. An absolute must read for anybody who has anything to do with the political spectrum, or Rhode Island.

Mayor Buddy Cianci: Without a Doubt, One-of-a-Kind
The reviewer, formerly from Providence, actually witnessed first-hand some of the goings-on described in this book and that occurred during the early part of the period defined by the author as Buddy I.

Mike Stanton does a journalistically very thorough job of chronologically revealing the true essence of one of the most fascinating and colorful persons to have ever treaded the modern American political landscape. Whether or not you know Providence or Rhode Island, the tale of Buddy Cianci will keep you turning the pages of Stanton's The Prince of Providence until the very end. While the writing and the flow of information could have been a little tighter in places, the Pulitzer Price-winning investigative reporter from The Providence Journal does a phenomenal job of telling the story of Providence (Ex-) Mayor Buddy Cianci, an immensely dichotomous personality who reflected to a tee the history and character of the city-state he ruled for a quarter century, but who now resides in a federal prison in New Jersey. Stanton's incorporation of the history of Rhode Island and its capital city is both fascinating and crucial to understanding just how this surrealistic juxtaposition of corruption and charismatic vision came to be and why it flourished for so long.

Rhode Island, which was founded in 1636 as an eccentric assembly of maverick outcasts, boasts on one hand a long and proud history of independence, rebellion, and milestones of progress. At the same time it has quietly nurtured a deep-seated tradition of pervasive, brutal and often murderous corruption. After all, where else could governors, mayors, and state Supreme Court justices all end up behind bars in the same decade? Its capital city was once a national player, a proud and wealthy economic powerhouse that had fallen into desperate straits by the time Buddy was first sworn in as mayor in January 1975. Although there is much debate today about the long-range prospects of the much-ballyhooed Providence Renaissance, no one can deny that this man Buddy almost single-handedly willed into existence the modern transformation of his city. The critics and skeptics of the renaissance openly wonder how much further the city would have gone had the 'Providence For Sale' signs not been posted all over City Hall during the long reign of Buddy. Nonetheless, as you read the pages of Stanton's book, you will find yourself utterly astonished at how the man they called Buddy, the man who substantially reshaped his city's fortunes, was brutal, vindictive, and corrupt, all the while being a seductive charmer who was (and remains) beloved by thousands. You will laugh, as this reviewer did, at the endless stories and antics of Buddy and at the quips and one-liners that were the product of a brilliant intellect. Sadly, you will also understand why the citizens of this historically mob-connected city did not until recently resolve to clean it up. One of the ironies that will certainly strike you is how the man called Buddy would publicly fulminate at the mere mention of HBO's The Sopranos - he maintained it was bad for the image of Italian-Americans and, therefore, bad for the image of Providence. Can one really be so blinded by the reflection in the mirror?

On a much broader level, Stanton's The Prince of Providence presents us with one of the most interesting political case studies of character and the human personality. One is left asking why the few who are as brilliantly and uniquely gifted as Buddy was usually end up self destructing by virtue of ruinous flaws of personality and character. This mystery is not answered in Stanton's The Prince of Providence - it is not meant to be a social study - but you will nonetheless find in the book one of the most interesting case studies from which to ponder that question and perhaps arrive at your own conclusion.

A Must Read if You Are from RI
I don't think the overall subject of the book will be surprising to anyone from Providence, or elsewhere in RI for that fact, but some of the stories and details in the book will shock you! I lived 1/2 my life in Providence and the other 1/2 in or near Miami. As bad as the banana republic of Miami has demonstrated it can be (Elian!), it cannot compare to the corruption found in Providence and throughout Rhode Island politics. I could not put the book down for 3 days.

The only reason I knocked off 1 star on my rating is that the writing quality could have been a bit better. The author rambles in some sections and then seems to repeat himself from time-to-time. The same is noted in some other reviews, so I don't think it was my reading. Nevertheless, it is a minor issue and the book is well worth reading and owning, particularly if you ever lived in Rhode Island. Just remember, it isn't fiction like the Godfather - it really happened.

Answers some questions, not all...
Buddy Cianci was Mayor of Providence for my entire childhood - I never knew another Mayor until I left the City of Providence at the age of 23. When Cianci was elected into office - the choices were slim - 'same ole, same ole' or 'what's his name' OR a young, bright, newcomer with actual thoughts in his head. The choice was obvious for many voters in Providence. Mike Stanton's book captures a lot of stories into this book and some are absolutely hysterical, but the book itself is disjointed, repetitive and at times extremely boring. It is also full of comments that speak negatively toward the people of Providence - comments that had I not lived there and returned for many years, would leave me believing that the entire state is a cesspool of idiots. They are not. Providence is a City like any other City - most of the people who vote do so by the eenie meenie method - very few vote with a true understanding or any kind of knowledge of the person they are giving power to - and usually any candidate that is elected ANYWHERE will be scrutinized by what they do good for their city and what they screw up. Most do not last as long as Buddy, in fact, no one has EVER lasted as long as Buddy - so why are some readers surprised by the lengthy stay? because Mike Stanton chose to write about mob, murder and mayhem and get the book out to the public for the quick money instead of writing a fully-developed story on each of the characters and WHY the people of Providence continued to keep him in office. Was the reason Buddy stayed in office for so long because he bought his way through a century? If you read this book, keep in the back of your mind - that government jobs, while there may be many of them, there are not THAT many out there that can be used to satisfy a whole city of voters - and also remember that any government revolves inside an insulated world - the information we get is all narrated by the media who are only informed by in-house people when they feel it necessary to inform the public of what is 'going on' in their world - which is usually biased and explained by someone who is really ticked off. Buddy was handed a filthy, dirty, rat-infested city and turned it into something that cannot be believed unless seen with your own eyes - the City is truly a beautiful place to be in - words I thought I would never say. Is there a darkness behind the City - of course there is - as there is every place in this world. I could go on for days - but I guess what I want people to remember while reading this book is that after all was said and done, after many, many years of digging and scraping Providence politics from top to bottom - the FBI and all the glory that help them - came away with less than a handful of people they could actually put away and put them away with nothing any more unusual than what goes on in every big company run in the US today. Cesspool? For Sale Sign on Everything? Have you checked out your home town today?

Great Read
Since I consider Providence to be my adopted home town, I couldn't wait to read Mike Stantons new book. During my seven years in RI, I watched as Providence moved from a dingy city to one of the stand out places on the East Coast and I believe it really had alot to do with Cianci. Unfortunately, the book details the seedy underbelly of what went on while the transformation of Providence took place. Stanton shows the the good, bad, and sometimes hilarious character that is Buddy Cianci. I even found some of the stories just laugh out loud funny and if you are not reading it you wouldn't believe it. Pick up this book today. ... Read more

Book Description

"The first book to belong permanently to literature. It created a man."
-- From the Introduction

Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World.

Written initially to guide his son, Franklin's autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life. Stylistically his best work, it has become a classic in world literature, one to inspire and delight readers everywhere. ... Read more

Book Description

Waris Dirie leads a double life -- by day, she is an international supermodel and human rights ambassador for the United Nations; by night, she dreams of the simplicity of life in her native Somalia and the family she was forced to leave behind. Desert Flower, her intimate and inspiring memoir, is a must-read for anyone who has ever wondered about the beauty of African life, the chaotic existence of a supermodel, or the joys of new motherhood.

Waris was born into a traditional Somali family, desert nomads who engaged in such ancient and antiquated customs as genital mutilation and arranged marriage. At twelve, she fled an arranged marriage to an old man and traveled alone across the dangerous Somali desert to Mogadishu -- the first leg of an emotional journey that would take her to London as a house servant, around the world as a fashion model, and eventually to America, where she would find peace in motherhood and humanitarian work for the U.N.

Today, as Special Ambassador for the U.N., she travels the world speaking out against the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation, promoting women's reproductive rights, and educating people about the Africa she fled -- but still deeply loves.

Desert Flower will be published simultaneously in eleven languages throughout the world and is currently being produced as a feature film by Rocket Pictures UK. ... Read more

Reviews (58)

Desert Flower
Desert Flower
Waris Dirie tells the story of her life, from a world of poverty and the nomad lifestyle, to the pressures of being a super model. I found her biography to be one of the most compelling books I have ever read. She is able to tell the remarkable story of her life and in doing so teaches its audience about the struggles that women still face in many other cultures today. She truly takes advantage of her privilege of living in the United States where as many of American natives take the simple pleasures for granted.
She gives excellent detail in telling her story and captured my attention quickly. She starts talking about her life as a child and the hardships that were brought upon her living the nomad lifestyle, constant moving around and a father with several wives. To make matters worse she is attacked and raped several times. One of the most heart breaking parts of her story is that she had to have Female Genital Mutilation, which is a common practice in Africa, but definitely illegal her in the United States. Through telling of her experiences it helps the readers of the book especially women to be thankful of the rights and freedoms we have today.
This book is a true inspiration and shows the power and strength of the human spirit and the will to overcome struggles. The shortcomings are a lot of bad words were used in the book, although I realize sometimes a certain word needs to get a point across to the audience. That was really the only part that bothered me. Overall I would rate the book at four stars.

Desert Flower - A remarkable piece of literature
Dear editor, I read your book and I think this a remarkable, rather brilliant piece of literature in modern times. It is not only because of Waris` touching story how she finally succeeded in getting that modelling job. To me, it is more the insight in a nomad`s life how they live and how they are confrontated with western attitudes. It is quite certain that Waris` story sounds realistic to the reader, though I have to remark that some passages in the book seem either not to be happened or unrealistic. Sometimes I ask myself how a girl at the age of 13 years managed to find Mogadishu (her aunt) almost on her own when running through the desert for weeks without having anything to drink or to eat. Well, perhaps it is my lack of imagination or more her strong bond to nature or even simply her female intuition. Due tu the fact that the language is far-reaching, easy to understand and that I can easily identify with Waris Dirie, I think on the whole this is a very good book. Apart from some critical points I can only recommend this to others.

Yes!
It naturally just goes to your heart. The language is simple and honest, so you can read the book in a day or two. Her story was just remarkable and the book was well-written. People should be made aware of FGM and its effects. They should know that it exists. I particularly liked the way she ended the book. She says that if the existance of FGM has any meaningful explanation, maybe she would think twice about denouncing it...but this practice has no significant reason to exist what so ever! There were, however, too many "In Africa..." generalizations in the book. FGM is not ubiquitous in Africa, in fact, most Africans don't even know that it's there. It is just concentrated mainly in East African countries like Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Djibouti, and some areas in West Africa like Mali for example. I loved the book. Everyone should read it!

Wow...:'(
I read this book as part of a medical sociology class that I took, and all I could think was wow. The strength of Waris is amazing. I was brought to tears so many times throughout this sad story, and it really made me angry that this sort of thing still goes on. As part of the class we also watched a tape showing an actual mutilation occur, and I couldn't stop shaking and crying. This book is definitely a must read for evry person out there, especially those whom have never heard of this widespread yet horrific practice. To Waris, I am very saddened by your story and send all of my love your way, no one should have to go through what you went through, and thank you for having the amazing courage to stand up against this practice, even when it is so unspoken about within Islam and African society. I truly hope that these outcries will open minds and educate those who need it most, and save many young women and girls from such a horrible, traumatic thing. My heart is with you and all women who have had to suffer under this horrible practice.

A must Read!!
I absolutely loved this book!! A Human Geography teacher recommended this book to me, as well as others in the class. I was very glad that I took her advice, and read it!! I could not put this book down! I read it in 3 days!! It's an incredible story. I think it's very moving to see how much some people have to go through. It really makes you appreciate what you have. Definitely read this book! ... Read more

Book Description

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this work describes the life of one of the most extraordinary figures in American political history. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Politics 101
Academic historians spend a lot of time complaining about the merits of so called popular history. This is of course mostly due to the fact that popular histories outsell what the academics turn out causing the academics to cry foul. I have read a fair amount of both types of history and have always felt that if the academics would turn out books that weren't so dull they could attract readers also. In his biography of Huey Long, T. Harry Williams delivers absolute proof that academics can turn out extremely interesting books. This book is fascinating from cover to cover and anyone who is considering a career in government should read this biography of one of the cleverest politicians of all time.

Historians often crucify the Kingfish but Williams doesn't follow that course. He simply presents the story and lets the reader decide whether Long was a hero or a villain. Huey's tactics were ruthless there is no doubt but in order to break the power of the Bourbon ruling class of Louisiana there was little alternative. This elite ruling class was thoroughly entrenched and had been grinding the people of Louisiana under their feet for years. Long may have indeed become a dictator but he broke the power of the Bourbons and brought Louisiana out of the 18th century. Huey's list of accomplishments is far too long for a review of this type but there is one area that must be mentioned. Huey gave to the people of Louisiana the key that would open the door to a brighter future by finally giving people a chance to get an education. For the first time children in Louisiana received free textbooks and LSU was built into a major institution of higher learning. He also created a medical school at LSU so those qualified citizens of the State that couldn't pay the high tuition at Tulane could still become doctors. Not only did this let the children of the middle class attend medical school, but also it also greatly improved the access of the people to medical care.

There is of course no doubt that Long had his bad side also and Williams doesn't cover it up. This is a very fair and balanced biography and the author's writing style is marvelous. Do not let the size of this work intimidate you, there are no tedious sections and chapters that will make your eyelids heavy. Williams relies heavily on oral history in this book. He has done dozens if not hundreds of interviews with Long's family, his associates, his supporters, and his enemies. Most of Long's communications were face to face or over the phone so this method was critical to the success of this work, and a success it is.

Many biographies are credited with being the definitive work on the subject's life. Sometimes with justification, sometimes without. In this case there is great justification for the definitive label. Nothing before or since has come close to Williams' work. If you want to understand the Kingfish, Louisiana politics, or just study a political genus at work, this is the book to read hands down.

Though 30 years old, still the definitive Kingfish biography
Many on-line reviews of the book critique it as "slow", "plodding", "pro-Long", etc. Any definitive biography by definition covers all available detail on the life of its subject. Harry Williams does that indeed. In fact, by the standards of biographers such s Barbara Tuchmann, it is somewhat restrained. It is probably impossible to be ambivalent regarding Huey Long, but Willimas does look at hims as objectively as could be imagined. He seems to separate Huey the man- often coarse and boorish- with Long the master politician. Indeed, in the chapter "Power Unto Himself", he points out that Long changed, with the focus of his efforts shifting from what he could do for Louisiana to what he could do for himself. It is a masterful book, and after reading it, one feels tempted to style oneself as an authority on Long. If there is a serious shortcoming, there is no epiloug to analyze the Long legacy, itself huge as personified by brother Earl and son Russell.

Wonderful!
This was one of the better biographies I've ever read. It was entertaining from start to finish and gave a detailed portrait of the man that was Huey Long, as well as of the world of Great Depression era Louisiana politics. Long was a flamboyant and interesting character. His politics while effective in most cases, were extremely divisive. He was among the first to take advantage of radio and ran extremely sophisticated political campaigns for his time. The book relies heavily on interviews with those who knew him and contains many highly entertaining stories about him. The one minor criticism of the book it that it doesn't talk much about the aftermath of his death. (Long was shot by the son-in-law of a political enemy shortly after he became a national figure and as he was preparing to challenge FDR for the presidency.) All in all, it is an excellent and entertaining read.

The finest political biography ever written
Since reading Williams' great bio of Huey Long, I have become fascinated by the Kingfish and have been looking for anything about him to absorb. That says a lot about the book. While Caro's books on LBJ are considered the gold standard of political bios, this book is slightly better. It is so detailed and so fascinating that you can breeze through the nearly 1000 pages in no time.

I suppose the one thing that stands out is how Williams is able to effectively show that Long was not the political boogeyman he is often painted as by historians like Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and many others. Yes, Huey was a flawed man and showed some dictatorial shades. But he also did many great things for Louisiana and was forced to use political heavy-handedness to deal with the vicious party machines that had controlled Louisiana prior to Long's emergence in 1928.

One could argue that Williams was a little too pro-Kingfish. He attempts to tone down many of Huey's character flaws and doesn't spend much time on Long's movement of state militia troops into New Orleans in an attempt to oust Mayor Walmsley. Nevertheless, despite this flaw, the book does well to balance against the very anti- Long views espoused by most historians.

I would suggest reading this book along with Garry Bouldard's book on Long's "siege" of New Orleans, and Ken Burn's outstanding Long biodrama. Both are available here on Amazon. Either way, this book was the best biography I have ever read and I would recommend it to any one with an interest in politics or with an interest in reading a compelling book.

Great!!!!
This book is the most comprehensive and well written biography I have ever read. Dr. Williams has written another great book to add to his collection. I highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in Huey Long. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Close the Dragon Gate
Great disservices to people whom are searching for information and enlightenment on Taoism. The authors used a map of china and a few books on Taoism to take the reader on an almost 300 page fairy tale coated to read like a biography. The characters shift personality quicker than a chameleon does color. I think there is a story in the book but the contrived situations get in the way.

Seems to be a fake
This book looks like pure advertisment of Wang Liping who is said to be chosen as 18th generation transmitter by one Taoist sect. Difficult to read because every second page I stumbled over direct or masked praise on Wang Liping / sect abilities. In the end (as expected) Wang Liping finishes with giving lectures to hundreds of students of Qigong. Special pages dedicated to how simple Wang lives, etc. Taoist teachings are scattered all over the book and don't give the impression of integrity.

One quote from the 1st page: "Over the preceding years the three Taoist masters had been engrossed in secret consultations about the matter of utmost importance, not only to them but to the world at large... trying to find a successor ...". Well after this matter important to the whole world I already assumed that money spent on book was wasted.

Quite a good tale...
This is a similar book to Deng Ming Dao's "Wandering Daoist" only the story of Wang Liping's training is not embellished in the manner of Saihung. Although I'm sure the average western practitioner of Qigong will likely shake his/her head regarding some of the 'training' methods used by the three old masters it is a good reminder of what one used to have to (and perhaps still should?) undergo before getting into serious practice. It is interesting how, right from the start, Wang Liping demonstrated many qualities essential to following the Tao including great patience and humility.

The book follows his initial training including stints in a hole in the ground and under a large cast-iron kettle. It then follows his journery with his masters into the mountains just as the Cultural Revolution began to sweep across China. Along the way many lessons are imparted including some interesting methods of cultivating with trees. The main portion of the story ends with Wang Liping's return to his village and subsequent marriage (!) as his masters admonish him to carry on the way in a form suitable for the new age.

The book finishes with some commentary on Wang Liping's present activities including some stories from his group training sessions - some of the first held in China as strict controls on Qigong began to be lifted.

I enjoyed the story as well as the information contained in here. There are some great views on meditation, including the aforementioned tree style, in addition to the overview of his training. There are also some very interesting tidbits about the location of the lower Dantien shifting in relation to the cultivator's distance from the equator. There is also an interesting comment that there are meridians within the body that are not terminated - that is, they are open to the universe.

Recommended...

Personal Experience
After reading this book, I had the fortune to meet a long time student of Wang LiPing and to study with this student for two years. He taught many of the techniques spoken of in the book and demonstrated a number of them. My teacher is now studying with a Buddhist master and has no vested interest in supporting Wang LiPing, however he vouched that Wang LiPing in fact demonstrated to him and many other students in china many of the techniques discussed in the book such as the weather changing, dream control and so forth. There were also a number of other things not discussed in the book. At any rate, based on my experiences with the techniques and based on my teacher's abilities and his stories of studying with Wang LiPing, this book is a true account of what Wang LiPing went through.

As for the way it is written, I found it to be mostly fascinating but it doesnt have the prose that Deng Ming Dao's books have and so it is difficult reading in certain places. On the other hand, this account is a true story, unlike Deng Ming Dao's trilogy and so if you are truly interested in Taoism this book is a must.

An invaluable document of contemporary Taoism
I can vouch that this is a truly astounding and brilliant book, as you would only expect it be - (look at the other books Cleary has translated, and tell me that a man with his skill and judgement would waste his time on something worthy of a one or two star review.) It comprehensively covers Wang Liping's full training and in doing so thoroughly discusses the philosophy and principles of Taoism. Along the way it details numerous Taoist practices, some only in as far as is safe or possible. Wang's apprenticeship takes place on the road over the Cultural Revolution, and is also unusual in that Wang has three teachers from two generations - a grandmaster and two mentors. The narrative is rich with annecdote, explanation and detail, though if your feeling sluggish, keeping an eye on the scope and depth of what is being gestured towards can prove a little testing at best. As such it can in fact make for disconcertingly easy reading - (most of it was related to two of Wang Liping's students by Wang Liping himself over a series of meetings.) As a document of Taoism as it stands today this book is particularly valuable: it sets out the monumental tasks, responsibilities and difficulties facing a lineage holder during China's uneasy settling after a century's upheaval and, perhaps most importantly, it unceasingly places Taoist philosophy and practice in the context of contemporary knowledge and epistemology. What becomes abundantly clear on reading the authors' lucid explanations is that in its interaction with modern knowledge Taoism is set to become the science par excellence and that, in essence, it is just that already. anguspretty@hotmail.com ... Read more

Book Description

A Look Over My Shoulder, by Richard Helms, begins with President Nixon’s attempt to embroil the Central Intelligence Agency, of which Helms was then the director, in the Watergate cover-up. Helms then recalls his education in Switzerland and Germany and at Williams College; his early career as a foreign correspondent in Berlin, during which he once lunched with Hitler; and his return to newspaper work in the United States. Helms served on the German desk at OSS headquarters in London; subsequently, he was assigned to Allen Dulles’s Berlin office in postwar Germany.

On his return to Washington, Helms assumed responsibility for the OSS carryover operations in Germany, Austria, and Eastern Europe. He remained in this post until the Central Intelligence Agency was formed in 1947. At CIA, Helms served as a division chief; as chief of operations for Frank Wisner; as deputy director for plans (operations); as deputy director; and, ultimately, as director, from 1966 to 1973. He was appointed ambassador to Iran later that year, and he retired from government service in January 1977.

A Look Over My Shoulder focuses on subjects such as intelligence collection, covert action, the uses and misuses of intelligence, and the problems secret intelligence encounters in an open society. Helms discusses

• working with Allen Dulles in Berlin in the early days of the Cold War.
• the amazing results of CIA’s Berlin tunnel operation, code name GOLD: “[Soviet officers’] unvarnished comments on the quality of Soviet military equipment, the intellectual capacity of fellow officers, and the wisdom of Moscow’s military policies were in more than one sense priceless.”
• the remarkable progress of high-altitude spying: “[The U-2 photographs] permitted resolution to some thirty inches—not quite enough to limn a football, as some press accounts have suggested, but quite good enough to spot a Soviet soldier perched on an open privy a discreet two hundred yards from [a guided missile] site in Cuba.”
• his relationship with presidents and other key figures of the Cold War: After an Air Force briefing on the destruction of the electric grid in North Vietnam, LBJ’s only question to Helms was “Are the lights on in Hanoi?”; J. Edgar Hoover once offered Helms “a forty-five-minute uninterrupted history of the FBI in peace and war.”
• how President Nixon attempted to embroil CIA in the Watergate cover-up: “The telephone call that set in motion the events that would eventually end my intelligence career came as I was preparing for bed, Saturday, June 17, 1972. . . . ‘I’ve just learned that the District police have picked up five men in a break-in at the Democratic Party National Headquarters at the Watergate.’”

It was often thought that Richard Helms, who served longer in the Central Intelligence Agency than anyone else, would never tell his story, but here it is—revealing, news-making, and with candid assessments of the controversies and triumphs of a remarkable career. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Revealing: politics is personal, too
This book is not afraid to look at fundamental problems in the area of intelligence, which America today is finding amazingly similar to the problems that Richard Helms observed in Germany immediately after World War Two. Helms was uniquely qualified to see the big picture, having been a newspaper reporter who had lunch with Adolf Hitler (Chapter 2 is called `Lunch with Adolf') the day of a big rally in Nuremberg in 1936, a privilege that Americans willing to spend a thousand dollars a plate to attend a fundraiser with American presidents more recently might be jealous of, if being a millionaire is not enough to make them happy. Henry Kissinger was happy to report in the Foreword that Helms was even invited to lunch with President Nixon after an early NSC meeting. (p. xi). There is even a picture of the famous Tuesday lunch group with LBJ, Rusk, Clark Clifford, General Wheeler, Walt Rostow, George Cushman and Walt Johnson. There is even a picture of a lunch with Vice President George Herbert Walker Bush with the caption, "At lunch in the Vice President's office. Aside from George Washington, the elder George Bush is the only President who had firsthand knowledge of the intelligence world."

The Preface reports that February 2, 1973, was the day James Schlesinger was sworn in as head of CIA and Richard Helms lost the position which was his main claim to fame. Richard Nixon had something to do with it, and Chapter 1, `A Smoking Gun' reports enough about the Watergate break-in to give the CIA perspective from the top, and ends with "Five months later, and a few days after his reelection, President Nixon called me to Camp David. It was the last time we spoke while he was in office." (p. 13). The Preface even claims "President Nixon had ended my intelligence career with a handshake at Camp David." (p. vi). If Helms is right about that, there was no personal contact between the Director of the CIA and the President of the United States in December 1972 and January 1973, when the Vietnam ceasefire was being hammered into place and a record number of B-52 bombers were being shot down by North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns and SAMs. That figures.

The German spies are most fascinating in the beginning of the book. Helms calls Martha Dodd an American, as she was the daughter of the American ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1938, but she was also girlfriend of Boris Vinogradov, the press secretary at the Soviet embassy in Berlin. After being charged with spying in 1957, she fled to Czechoslovakia. "Martha was seventy when she died in Prague in 1990." (p. 20). Spies and Richard Nixon have an acute sense of which side someone is on, and Helms seems to be particularly sensitive to the issues that Nixon would be prone to notice. Other major personalities are easy to locate in the index: Allen Dulles, James Angleton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko, and Frank Wisner.

Chapter 8, "The Gehlen Organization," deals with the group most responsible for allowing German intelligence after World War Two to maintain some continuity with the information that had been accumulating while Hitler was in power. As the only employer in West Germany that was not averse to employing the upper echelons of the previous regime, it had no trouble recruiting four thousand former Nazis, but Helms did not find them reliable. " . . . the American officers working with Gehlen in Washington neglected to insist upon being given the names of and biographical data on the RUSTY staff personnel. . . . Even in the confusion of the immediate post-war intelligence picture, this oversight violated one of the fundamental rules of secret intelligence, and helped to set the stage for the security disasters that in time all but destroyed the entire effort." (p. 86). A lot of people have been jumping to this conclusion without having the kind of in-depth knowledge of the situation which Helms observed.

On "fundamental rules of secret intelligence," (p. 86), Helms seems most upset that he received a felony conviction for denying something in testimony to Congress that he felt compelled to deny. Helms was bitter that in his confirmation hearings to be appointed ambassador to Iran, he was asked questions by people who knew that the answer was officially secret, so he was being forced to lie to maintain a cover story that was maintaining dubious deniability. This is the area of books on intelligence that I find most interesting. Nosenko was not allowed to participate in a free debate in America over the nature of KGB activities regarding Lee Harvey Oswald because the entire nature of the KGB was a matter of exclusive CIA jurisdiction within the American system, and holding Nosenko a prisoner for years was the perfect symbol of the amount of control that the CIA believed it was entitled to maintain over such information. Convicting Helms of a felony for lying to Congress was a matter of attempting to establish the principle that laws have a higher function than rules, and any individual within the American system is subject to the possibility of being hauled into court to be a patsy for whatever law the administration of justice intends to glorify in its present incarnation.

Helms doesn't exactly vilify Richard M. Nixon in this book, but just honestly stating "It has long been clear to me that President Nixon himself called the shots in the Watergate cover-up," (p. 13) is damn close. On our most recent impeachment, I think the movie "Candy" (1969, DVD 2001) with Enrico Maria Salerno as Jonathan J. John provides a better joke, when the police ask, "Did you see what happened to the girl in the blue dress?" Film buff J.J.J. responded, "I don't know. Who directed it?" That is the way most Presidents feel about the CIA.

Murder of the crew of the USS Liberty by Israel- 6/8/1967
Pages 300/301 of the Helms book:

One of the most disturbing incidents in the six days [war between Israel and
the surrounding Arab states] came on the morning of June 8[, 1967] when the
Pentagon flashed(urgent top-priority precedence) a message that the U.S.S.
Liberty, an unarmed U.S. Navy communications(spy) ship, was under attack in
the Mediterranean, and that American fighters had been scrambled to defend
the ship....

.... The following urgent reports showed that Israeli jet fighters and
torpedo boats had launched the attack. The seriously damaged Liberty
remained afloat, with thirty-four dead and more than a hundred wounded
members of the crew.

Israeli authorities subsequently apologized for the accident, but few in
Washington could believe that the ship had not been identified as an
American naval vessel. Later, an interim intelligence memorandum concluded
that the attack was a mistake and "not made in malice against the U.S."....

.... When additional evidence was available, more doubt was raised. This prompted my
[D]eputy [Director of Central Intelligence], Admiral Rufus Taylor, to write
me his view of the incident. "To me, the picture thus far presents the
distinct possibility that the Israelis knew that the Liberty might be their
target and attacked anyway, either through confusion in Command and Control
or through deliberate disregard of instructions on the part of
subordinates."

The day after the attack, President Johnson, bristling with irritation, said
to me, "The New York Times" put that attack on the Liberty on an inside
page. It should have been on the front page!"

I had no role in the board of inquiry that followed, or the board's finding
that there could be no doubt that the Israeli's knew exactly what they were
doing in attacking the Liberty. I have yet to understand why it was felt
necessary to attack this ship or who ordered the attack.

(299 words in a 452 page book)

Murder... they KNEW they were murdering defenseless American kids barely in their twenties so that they could complete WHAT two Israeli Prime Ministers(Menachim Begin and Moshe Dayan) have since admitted was a "land grab"....

...to get more land, ....more land than they had already grabbed by the fourth day of the Six-Day War-they left 34 American families without their sons, brothers, dads... and sent a good subset of the 171 injured home to THEIR families in the US maimed for life.

and the kids burned and maimed for life who are standing up for their 34 fallen comrades unable to rise from the dead to defend their own memories and blameless conduct... now the Israelis call them "liars" and "anti-Semites"...

...except a couple of the crew members of the USS Liberty were Jewish themselves... so they're not called "liars" and "anti-semites"... no, the Israeli attackers and Government of Israel call them "liars" and "self-hating jews"...

THE OFFICIAL POSITION OF THE CIA IS THAT THIS WAS A "TRAGIC MISTAKE".... BUT HERE IS WHAT THE OFFICIALS AT THE NSA HAD TO SAY TO UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE'S, DAVID C WALSH:Former NSA Officials Agree
David C. Walsh
The jamming of unique U.S. frequencies during the Liberty incident seems to establish deliberate intent. And in exclusive interviews with this author, several former high-level National Security Agency (NSA) officials agree.

On 14 February 2003, the "godfather" of the NSA's Auxiliary General Technical Research program, Oliver Kirby, noted that the Liberty was "my baby." Within weeks of the calamity, Kirby, deputy director for operations/production, read U.S. signals intelligence (SigInt)-generated transcripts and "staff reports" at NSA's Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters. They were of Israeli pilots' conversations, recorded during the attack. The intercepts made it "absolutely certain" they knew it was a U.S. ship, he said. Kirby's is the first public disclosure by a top-level NSA senior of deliberate intent based on personal analyses of SigInt material.

In an interview on 24 February 2003, retired Air Force Major General John Morrison, the agency's then-second-in-command (and Kirby's successor), said he had been informed at the time of Kirby's findings and endorsed them. Former NSA Director retired Army Lieutenant General William Odom said on 3 March 2003 said that, on the strength of such data, the attack's deliberateness "just wasn't a disputed issue" within the agency. On 5 March 2003, retired Navy Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, NSA director from 1977-1981, said he "flatly rejected" the Cristol/Israeli thesis. "It is just exceedingly difficult to believe that [the Liberty] was not correctly identified." He said this was based on his talks with NSA seniors at the time having direct knowledge. All four were unaware of any agency official at that time or later who dissented from the "deliberate" conclusion.

Interesting To Read, But Helms Struggles To Keep Things Nice
This is a biography we have been waiting for a long time. In fact, few even thought Richard Helms would even write his memoirs when one considers he spent his life working within the world of secrets, assassinations, political underdealings. Indeed, this can be a fascinating book for a realistic view of the world stuff like the Bond movies paint in more cartoonish terms. Helms takes us on a historical journey through World War 2 and his meeting with Hitler (where he describes the power of the Hitler aura upon the German people), he goes on into the years of Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon during which he was director of the CIA. But...should we take Helms' version of history as official? Probably not. Consider he makes an attempt to bash any theory that tries to show uptight men like him as anything other than squeaky clean. He especially tries to brush off the idea that the CIA might have been involved in the JFK assassination. He goes out of his way to especially criticise New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison who first brought the assassination conspiracy theories to the public and the Oliver Stone film based on the investigation and evidence of conspiracy, "JFK." He calls the idea of a conspiracy hogwash and tries to support the idea of Oswald acting alone with evidence that has already been shredded apart by investigators. Helms even tries to defend the image of FBI head J.Edgar Hoover, he confirms that Hoover kept certain files on people, but he attempts to deny the idea brought about by overwhelming evidence and testimony that Hoover lived a homosexual lifestyle. Helms presents a good story but also tries too hard to clean-up the image of a government that runs wild in some areas, something that has been long ago proven. It is a good read, well-written and detailed, but like any open-minded reader, read but carefully tread the waters because are we to believe Helms would honestly reveal secrets that even today would awaken rage from the general populace? Helms tells a good story, how much of it is true we will never know.

Sometimes Bland, But Priceless Collection of Gems

Richard Helms is, after Allen Dulles, arguably the most significant US spymaster and intelligence manager in history. It is a fortunate circumstance that he overcame his reluctance to publish anything at all, and worked with the trusted William Hood, whose own books are remarkable, to put before the public a most useful memoire.

Below are a few of the gems that I find worth noting, and for which I recommend the book as a unique record:

1) Puts forward elegant argument for permissive & necessary secrecy in the best interests of the public
2) Defends the CIA culture as highly disciplined--he is persuasive in stating that only Presidents can order covert actions, and that CIA does only the President's direct bidding.
3) Makes it clear in passing, not intentionally, that his experience as both a journalist and businessman were essential to his ultimate success as a spymaster and manager of complex intelligence endeavors--this suggests that one reason there is "no bench" at CIA today is because all the senior managers have been raised as cattle destined to be veal: as young entry on duty people, brought up within the bureaucracy, not knowing how to scrounge sources or meet payroll...
4) Compellingly discusses the fact that intelligence without counterintelligence is almost irrelevant if not counterproductive, but then glosses over some of the most glaring counterintelligence failures in the history of the CIA--interestingly, he defends James Angleton and places the blame for mistreating Nosenko squarterly on the Soviet Division leadership in the Directorate of Operations.
5) Points out that it was Human Intelligence (HUMINT), not Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), that first found the Soviet missiles in Cuba.
6) He confirms the Directorate of Intelligence and the analysis it does, as the "essence" of intelligence, relegating clandestine and technical intelligence to support functions rather than driving functions. This is most important, in that neither clandestine nor technical collectors are truly responsive to the needs of all-source analysts, in part because systems are designed, and agents are recruited, without regard to what is actually needed.
7) He tells a great story on Laos, essentially noting that 200 CIA paramilitary officers, and money, and the indigenous population, where able to keep 5 North Vietnamese divisions bogged down, and kept Laos more or less free for a decade
8) In the same story on Laos, he explains U.S. Department of Defense incapacity in unconventional or behind the lines war by noting that their officers kept arriving "with knapsacks full of doctrine".
9) In recounting some of CIA's technical successes, he notes casually that persistence is a virtue--there were *thirteen* satellite failures before the 14th CORONA effort finally achieved its objectives.
10) He gives Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) much higher marks at a user and leader of intelligence, such that we wondered why Christopher Andrew, the noted author on US Presidents and intelligence, did not include LBJ is his "four who got it" (Washington, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Bush Senior).
11) He confirms, carefully and directly, that the Israeli attacks on the USS Liberty were deliberate and with fore-knowledge that the USS Liberty was a US vessel flying the US flag on US official business.
12) He expresses concern, in recounting the mistakes in Chile, over the lack of understanding by President Nixon and Henry Kissinger (who writes the Foreword to this book) of the time lags involved in clandestine operations and covert actions.
13) In summary, he ends with pride, noting that all that CIA did not only reduced rear, it saved tens of billions of dollars in defense expenditures that would have been either defeated by the Soviets, or were unnecessary. There can be no question, in light of this account, but that CIA has more than "paid the rent", and for all its trials and tribulations, provides the US taxpayer with a better return on investment than they get from any other part of the US Government, and certainly vastly more bang for the buck that they get from the US Department of Defense.

Richard Helms is a one-of-a-kind, and this memoire should be read by every intellience professional, and anyone who wishes to understand how honorable men can thrive in the black world of clandestine and covert operations. RIP. ... Read more