4 comments about Spartacus and the Slave Wars: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture).

1. 
   Pretty good book but not much in it about Spartacus. Its mostly about two other slave wars.



2. In the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, three major slave wars shook the Roman yoke. The first two servile wars were on the important island of Sicily and left thousands dead. The final servile conflict was to go down in history as the rebellion of a gladiator named Spartacus (though he really became the supreme leader later in the struggle). Shaw has presented us with a very interesting book in which he presents ancient Roman sources describing the rebellions. While this is generally a one sided view, it is the best we really have in terms of documents on the conflicts. While some of the numbers of dead and combatants may be exaggerated by the Roman authors at times, their accounts give us insite into a fascinating and horrifically brutal period of turmoil. The author himself adds some commentary that is useful to the reader and assists in forming a better ideal of the struggles. Overall, I recommend this book to those interested in the history of pre-Imperial Rome or interested in the Spartacus Revolt.



3. I'm a big fan of sourse books for students and scholars both because they enable us to focus on a particular topic in some detail and to discuss the problems in using primary and ancient sources. I think that Brent Shaw's introduction and commentary throughout are excellent but I have one big question: is this all the evidence he could find out about agricultural slaves and gladiators? Having read the 'handbooks' some of the passages are drawn from, I think there is more out there. Likewise I think there is more evidence for how gladiators lived and were viewed/treated by freepeople that could shed further light on the causes and reactions to the three biggest slave wars in Rome's history.



4. This was a textbook for Prof. Shaw's Slavery & Society in Ancient Rome class, which I took.
   
   Other reviewers have praised the introduction, and rightly so. It includes a great introduction to the political, social, and economic forces behind agrarian slavery; a summary of the servile wars themselves; an exploration of various artistic representations of Spartacus; and raises questions about historical accuracy and the ancient authors' representation of Spartacus.
   
   The translations in this book are wonderful. We also used Thomas Wiedemann's "Greek and Roman Slavery," but Shaw's translations are easier and more interesting to read--engaging, concise, and lucid. The selections, at least for the section on the Spartacus war itself, are quite comprehensive in scope. The documents for the other sections provide a sense of how various factors played into the slave wars. The information in this book is very "digestable," without being inadequate or excessive.
   
   The bibliography is also excellent, and proved to be VERY useful for further research. The sources are categorized by subject. Subjects range from the general ("Slaves & Slavery", "Slave Wars: General") to the two wars themselves ("The Sicilian Slave Wars", "The Spartacus War"). There are also sources for comparative slavery, Spartacus in historical writing and fiction, and various artistic representations (i.e. Spartacus in film).
   
   This book is accessible for students' use as a textbook, but I also recommend it as a valuable resource for people interested in the slave wars, slave resistance in general, and agrarian slavery.

5 comments about No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II.

1. This is a true story of four amazing men , their lives and their short lived lives aboard the USS Dorchester on their way to Greenland. They were the life line to the inlisted men aboard the USS Dorchester. Four different religions, four different people with the same God that they worshipped, they all brought a sence of security to the crew and other men and two women on the ship. When the ship was torpedoed by a U-boat and was sinking the four Chaplains took off their life jackets so that at least 4 more people had the hope that they would be rescued in time before they were to become another startistic that the sea would eventually get, another bobbing light amongst the waves and ice flow. The four Chaplains gave their lives and became emortal in their lives with God in Heaven . Fantastic story , it only took to evenings to read couldn't put the book down



2. This is a touching book about the four chaplains who gave their lives for our soldiers. You will read a biographical background on each chaplain. Their love for each other and the love for the soldiers reached beyond the line of denominations. They gave their lives so that others may life. You can see their beautiful pictures in the stained-glass window at Washington's Cathedral. I had the privileged to visit several years ago.



3. I ordered this book for my father, whose brother died in WWII. The family was given almost no information at the time, but by piecing together details, my mother determined that he was almost certainly on a particular boat when it was sunk by the enemy. That fact was confirmed by this book, and it offered a lot of information that is offered only sketchily in other areas. We appreciate the author and the information he was able to provide families, as well as the story of the wonderful chaplains. My mother, an avid reader (particularly about WWII), said this was one of the best written histories on WWII that she has read.



4. Everyone who's already reviewed this book has said so much about it that it's hard to find anything more to say about how well it's written, what a great gripping true story it is, and the amazing heroism of the four chaplains. This book is so well-written and has such a compelling and involving story that I read it in like two days, and wished there had been even more. Additionally, this heroic tale from WWII has special meaning to many of the people in my area (New York State's Capital District) because Rev. Clark Poling's church was in nearby Schenectady, providing a local connection.
   
   The book itself follows a somewhat nonlinear format, going back and forth between the pre-war lives of the four chaplains and their lives during the war, particularly after they boarded the Dorchester and arrived in Greenland for a very brief stay before going back on the ill-fated ship. After this point, the narrative switches entirely to a linear format, discussing the ship's final night before being torpedoed by a German U-boat and the chaos, heroism, and tragedy that ensued. Not many people could honestly say that they would give up their lifejackets if their ship went down in freezing waters in the middle of the night (Rabbi Alex Goode even gave up his gloves) or remain calm in the midst of such frantic circumstances and such a life-and-death situation. Many people back then also weren't so forward-thinking about interfaith relations, with a Reform rabbi, a Catholic priest, and two reverends from different Protestant denominations being such close friends and reaching out equally to everyone on the ship, largely being nonsectarian apart from when they did things like conduct services. This was still an era in which many Protestants and Catholics didn't associate with one another, to say nothing of the rampant institutionalised prejudice against Jews, and, in a number of areas, against Catholics as well. They set a moving and heroic example for all time, not just in the area of interfaith relations, but also in the area of selfless sacrifice. It was interesting to read in the Afterword about some of the people who have since been awarded the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity Award, such as the Japanese Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Omri Abdel-Halim al-Jadah, a Palestinian Muslim who died while saving a young Israeli Jewish boy from drowning. The Afterword also provided information on what happened to the survivors of the Dorchester sinking and the near and dear ones of the chaplains.
   
   As we find out all throughout the book, this tragedy could have been prevented (it was kind of like a smaller-scale Titanic) if only the Dorchester had been inspected more closely or refurbished, or if there had been enough lifejackets and safety instructions provided, and even after disaster struck, the casualties could have been reduced if the nearby American ships had begun searching for survivors and bringing them onto their ships right away instead of thinking nothing serious had happened or going after the attacking U-boat first, but even in the midst of such bungling and such a chaotic disaster, the amazing heroism of the chaplains shone through as well as it would have in calmer circumstances.



5. With a sickening thump, an explosion wracked the troop transport S.S. Dorchester - a German torpedo had found its mark. It was shortly after midnight, February 3, 1942, and the ship was about to sink into the deadly cold waters off of Greenland. As men panicked and struggled to find a way to save their own lives, four men walked amongst them spreading calm and encouragement. Helping everyone they could find, even giving away their own precious lifejackets, the four chaplains - Rev. George Lansing Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alex Goode, Rev. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Fr. John Washington (Catholic) - sought to serve their God and the fellow men. And when the end came, survivors saw the four chaplains, locked arm in arm, praying on the upside-down hull of the ship, just before it dove beneath the waves.
   
   This book tells the remarkable true story of four men who joined the American military as chaplains, their experiences at their Massachusetts training camp, and their final tragic mission. It is a story that is bound to bring a tear to your eye, but it is also a great story of faith and truly living the life of godly sacrifice. Overall, I think that this is a great book, on that I highly recommend to everyone.

5 comments about A Table in the Presence: The Dramatic Account of How a U.S. Marine Battalion Experienced God's Presence Amidst the Chaos of the War in Iraq.

1. Even after reading this book several times I am brought to tears knowing that God was with the Marines during the battles early in the war. I know of one Marine who was so blessed by Carey Cash that he is planning to enter the ministry with the plan to become a military chaplain when he retires. For anyone who doubts that God still performs miracles, this book is a "must read".



2. 
   We need to know this stuff. My son was 1/5 on this invasion. It took me four years to be able to read what he went through. He said it was nothing compared to the next two tours but I enjoyed the book, and was glad to know the guys had such a great chaplain. I've bought more copies and am loaning them to friends and family. It's hard to read about Iraq or any war, but Americans should respect and appreciate every freedom we have. VOTE!



3. I was given this book to read as my son shipped out for Fallujah, Iraq. As many mothers who had seen their sons off to war, I was prayerfully asking for God's protection over my son and those around him.
   This book answered some of those questions, and gave me a reassuring hope, that God is watching over those we love, and His angels are as busy as ever protecting our loved ones.
   Although the story is heartwrenching, it is an unbiased account of how God's presence in such a desolate place carried these Marines to victory.
   I highly recommend to anyone who has a loved one in the military to read this and pass it along to others in the family.



4. I had first heard about this book from a friend about three years ago. He had recommended it highly and I put it on my 'to read' list. After reading it, I wished that I had gotten to it sooner.
   
   'A Table In The Presence' is an inspirational account about the horrors and heroism of the war. It is written from the perspective of a Navy chaplain serving with a Marine Corps battalion. Although it is an historical book, it has a spiritual focus.
   
   Lt. Carey Cash recounts many episodes of apparently divine intervention. Several of these stories defy any other explanation.
   
   This is a very touching and compelling book. It will be of particular interest to Christians and military veterans and their families. I highly recommend it.



5. I am reading the book, A Table in the Presence, and just discovered I knew the author's parents in Northern Virginia 30 years ago. The book is wonderfully written and tells a story that needs to be told of God's presence with the troops in Iraq. We need more TRUE accounts such as this one so the citizens of our country are aware of the peace God gives even in the middle of a war. I knew the author's mother as a wonderful Christian woman.
   Elaine in South CArolina

5 comments about Lincoln.

1. Everyone has their favorite one-volume biography of Lincoln. This is not just mine, but many others' as well. Reason: its narrow focus--the man himself, what he saw, knew, did, and thought, from birth to death. No grand historical sweep here, no psycholgical deconstruction, no "lessons", for historians, or future presidents, or anyone else. Just clean, utterly credible narrative.
   
   Professor Donald was 76 years old when he published this work. He immersed himself in the Abraham Lincoln Papers, which had been sealed for eighty years, until 1947. He had written or co-written ten previous books about Lincoln and the Civil War era. That deep learning gave him the confidence to write this book with particluar clarity and force.
   
   When Michaelangelo was asked how he carved his "David", he is said to have answered, "It was already there, in the marble. I just carved away all that was not David." Here, Donald has carved away all that is not Lincoln, and the result is sublime.



2. We all know how the story of Lincoln tragically ends. Therefore it is a testament to the biographer's consummate writing talent that one still feels a sense of emotion and loss when he describes that night at the Ford Theater. In the six hundred pages that come before, he so perfectly captures Abraham Lincoln the man, his strengths, his sometimes surprising flaws, that you feel in some way you know him. That is David Herbert Donald's singular achievement. With a style that avoids stuffiness and prolixity, this is a great read for both the casual reader and the more serious student of history.



3. I read this book a couple of years ago. I've heard it described more than once as the "definitive" Lincoln bio, but it's not the most readable. I don't insist that the history I read be easy and light, but this book was a bit too dense and detailed for me. Parts were interesting, but I got majorly bogged down in the middle. There have to be Lincoln bios out there that would be of more interest to the general reader.



4. This is a biography of Lincoln. The problem in writing a biography of Lincoln, of course, is that so many thousands of books on Lincoln have already been written. How do you say anything new and useful about the man, about whom more words have been written than anyone else in American history?
   
   Donald deals with this problem by adopting an unusual biographic strategy. In most biographies, of course, the writer is writing both the life of the subject and at least to some degree larger history. To put the life into context, as a rule, the writer needs to explore the larger issues with which the person was concerned.
   
   Donald very deliberately does not do this. He says in his introduction that is not a general history of 19th century America and it is not. He says that he will focus only on Lincoln himself, and he does. He does not, for example, give us a detailed description of any of the Civil War battles. Lincoln was not present at those battles, so they are not described. His focus is exclusively on Lincoln, the people around him and the events in which he was directly invovled.
   
   The result is odd, but it works. You get very little about the overall strategy of the Civil War. You get next to nothing about Congressional politics in the Civil War. You get virtually nothing about the Confederacy. Instead, you get this kind of reality-TV approach, where you feel as if you were following Lincoln around.
   
   In line with this approach, Donald offers a minimum of interpretation. He presents no arguments about Lincoln's signifigance or role in history. The thesis of the book, if you can call it that, is a very understated argument that LIncoln saw himself as the passive instrument of events, rather than the active shaper of them. It is more a theme, a literary device, than an argument.
   
   The book, in short, takes a minimalist approach to the subject. It works, simply because there is so much written on LIncoln. Out of the vast oceans of material that one could cover, and out of the oceans of argument one could make, Donald sticks tight to the subject and lets events speak for themselves. The end result is that he is able to write a very full biography, on his own odd terms, and keep it just under 600 pages of text. I found the book kind of cold emotionally, but nonetheless very gripping and very informative. I would not call it a definitive biography of Lincoln -- it is too short and self-consciously limited for that -- but, as one volume biographies go, it is very, very good.



5. I have a read a lot of biographical works on Abraham Lincoln. I found this to be the best and most balanced view. If you read biographies or other works related to Abraham Lincoln, you must include this book. It is required reading and was written by one of the - if not the - preeminent scholar on Lincoln.
   
   I would also recommend you to other books, in addition to this one, if you desire to learn about Abraham Lincoln. Reading a variety of biographies about Abraham Lincoln will give you an overall and better picture than one book can alone.
   
   However, having said that, this is the best Lincoln biography. It is excellent.

5 comments about Eastern Approaches.

1. I bought this book in the 60's in the Time/Life edtion, but didn't get around to reading it until 1995, when I was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan for a few weeks. Of course, that was the perfect setting, but from any viewpoint in the world "Eastern Approaches" is quite close to the perfect travel book. I left my copy in the library of the American Club in Peshawar, trying to save luggage room for Afghan textiles, and I was very sorry to learn when I got home that it was out of print. Now it's back, and I look forward to reading it again while sitting in my armchair. "Eastern Approaches" is a great read, and never more relevant than today.



2. This is an exciting autobiography, which I have read and reread over the years. Of particular interest is the author's introduction into the SAS.
   
   This book will become a permanent fixture in your library.



3. Pre WWII, Maclean finagled trips through parts of the USSR where no westerner had previously been, even crossing into Afghanistan from the north at one point. He spent much of WWI aiding Marshal Tito's effort to drive the Germans out of the Balkans. Fascinating stuff, this, eloquently written and he's a damn good storyteller.



4. This book is of great historical value. The narration is witty and elegant. I would recomant it to everybody interested in European history.



5. This is a truly unique book and comparable only with Churchill's 'My Early Life' as an adventure history. Some people write adventure books, some people have adventures but Fitzroy McLean, like Churchill, or TE Lawrence, is able to do both. A rare treat and very easy to read.

5 comments about BIG SHOW: The Greatest Pilot's Story of World War II (Cassell Military Paperbacks).

1. Clostermann's account of the air war in Europe is one of the best I've ever read -- almost as good as Wellum's "First Light." Clostermann's writing is vibrant, the level of detail is astounding, and his ability to put you "in the cockpit" during those harrowing days is really unparalleled. Highly recommended.
   
   My only complaint, and what robbed the book of a fifth star in my humble opinion, is that Clostermann's transparent anti-American agenda is pursued at every turn, without any perspective or sense of balance. For example (a) his (arguably fair) criticism of French civilian deaths at the hands of American bombers is devoid of any similar reference to Bomber Command's exploits in the intentional area bombing of German civilians; (b) friendly fire events actually appear at every turn in his narrative, but the Americans are singled out for special criticism on that point, for no apparent reason other than bias; and (c) Clostermann claims at one point, without any evidentiary basis whatsoever, that a directive about "proper" targets in the theater was ignored only by the Americans.
   
   Indeed, at times one detects Clostermann's generic distaste even for some of the Brits in the RAF! I was left wondering whether Clostermann was "projecting" in an effort to avoid discussion of the frankly shameful conduct of so many Frenchmen during the war.
   
   But all that is, in the end, a small bone to pick. Certainly Clostermann himself was not among the group of disgraced Frenchmen. His devotion to duty, skill, and courage -- characteristics shared by many of the Free French pilots -- can't be doubted. Moreover, his frank discussions of his own fear, and the effects on his flying, give this narrative an authentic feel. This is a very good book.



2. Along with Heinz Knocke's 'I Flew for the Fuhrer' an absolutely outstanding aviation read. Like others here the original edition I had inherited was almost worn thin. I was delighted to read the 'extra bits' as I could probably almost recite the old one! Particularly poignant were the comments regarding Tempests being attacked by US fighters and the description of the 262's arriving to surrender on Clostermann's airfield in 1945. This book simply cannot be recommended enough.
   
   PS:I would suggest along with 'I Flew for the Fuhrer' that an excellent companion read is Eric Brown's 'Wings of the Luftwaffe' - an RAF technical pilot who offers unbiased opinions on Luftwaffe aircraft.
   
   PPS: Regarding the -D9/Ta152 comments above. I believe old Clo-Clo is technically correct!



3. .
   
   Pierre Closterman died on March 22, 2006. News of his death prompted me to go back to my father's bookcase and pull out 'The Big Show'. It was just as exhilarating a read as I remmeber as a kid in the 70's
   
   Closterman uses wondefully evocative language in decscribing events in the air over Europe in WWII. Full of action and a 'vital elan' that was unfortunately in short supply among Frenchmen in the 30's and 40's. Some drawbacks to the book are an uneccessary snobbish attitude towards the Americans and Brits as well as minimizing of some of his own failures (the most critical being the lack of air discipline that led him to fail to support his wingman, Mouchette, that led to his companion's death). But such is the nature of autobiographies.
   
   But well worth the hours spent to read this gripping account of one man's war.
   
   
   .



4. What a pleasure to have a new edition of this marvelously evocative book available! This is the first time that it has been presented in its entirety and the additions only increase the book's value as a window into the world of the combat aviator.
   
   The book was originally written shortly after the war and as a result there is an immediacy about it that is, at times, electrifying. It was an international best seller and deservedly so, highlighting the career of a fighter pilot who started flying combat on Spitfires and ended up in Tempests. For many years it was the only book that dealt with combat action in the Tempest, a beautiful and powerful warplane introduced late in the war to combat the V1 and the new German jets. The original edition has some minor errors in it, but the descriptions of the missions were just outstanding! The swirl of the dogfights, the dives into flak, dealing with zero visibility weather, the victories recounted in detail, the losses of friends recalled with a warrior's stoicism, this fine book set a standard that has only been approached by other works.
   
   As V. M. Yeates WINGED VICTORY was the finest First World War fighter pilot book, THE BIG SHOW is the second war's. Yeates told his story as a novel based on his experiences as a Sopwith Camel pilot on the Western Front, but the latter book, while reading like a novel, has the extra advantage of being true.
   
   Pierre Clostermann wrote two other books, but his first book was his finest and cannot be recommended highly enough. To read it is to find in its pages what it was like for young men to fly and fight in the hostile skies of Europe in what has come to be known as "the good war."



5. This book is a page turner. It's amazingly exciting and you will feel like you're into the cockpit of Spitfires and, later, Tempests. But some strong issues arise...
   
   First of all, the number of victories by Clostermann. He says he had 33. RAF official claims put him wuth "only" eleven! A great, very GREAT discrepancy;
   
   Second, a lot of facts are simply untrue. He says, about Walter Nowotny's death, that the German ace was a long foe of him. Goosh, ALL of Nowotny's victories were obtained on the Eastern Front, save on or two pairs, while he was flying an experimental Me-262 unit in Western Europe!
   
   Anyway, it's very good book.

5 comments about Spymaster: My Life in the CIA.

1. Ted Shackley was an important player for many years in CIA Operations, and there is much to be learned with respect to how one formerly could succeed in the CIA. The flip side is that Shackley carefully cherry-picked events and operations that made him seem omniscient, prescient, and squeaky-clean while burying his failures, mistakes, and political machinations. This is a book where the author uses a self-serving memoir to wash his hands in public while requesting adulation.
   
   Nonetheless, Shackley was at or close to important events in our intelligence history, and his recounting of those events is important to the historian. One would not totally discount Layton's book concerning Pearl Harbor because of its inaccuracies and distortions. One simply takes such works for what they are.
   
   One should note the extemely important impact of social graces and political adeptness required for success in the CIA. This, of course, had been established by its forerunner, the OSS (Oh, So Social), which provided vast numbers of invisible windbreakers to the Eastern Elite during World War II (One couldn't see them, but they protected you from the draft.) Membership in the OSS was even better than enlisting under the ASTP (Army Specialized Training Program) where elite whiz kids of the "Greatest Generation" were sent to college with the Army providing room, board, tuition and pay for two years, hopefully remaining there until the war was over. Robert F. Kennedy availed himself of this program as did many others of his social status.
   
   A second nugget was that anyone who could speak a foreign language immediately came in with a leg up. Shackley spoke Polish, and although I could not find where he had do so, apparently learned German over the years. That gave him his start as a case officer, but he rapidly progressed to supervisory positions that widened his horizons. Shackley mentions the importance of paper work and his talent in writing cables and keeping headquarters well-informed. For a case officer, paper work consumes more than 50% of his time, but at managerial levels, paper work, meetings and social obligations can reach 90% of the individual's activities. As always, literary ability is crucial to career success, not action on the ground or successful operations. Remember, the "Cold" (courtesy of LeCarre's "The Spy That Came In From The Cold") is not East Germany -- it is the field as compared to the warmth of headquarters.
   
   Shackley would have us believe that the CIA was the primary US intelligence agency in Germany from World War II until he left for Miami in 1962. This is hardly accurate, as the vast majority of intelligence such as that which Shackley contributed was being supplied by the CIC and Army Intelligence during that period. Until 1959, Army Intelligence's influence in the DDR was so great that it could control all movements on the East German railways. More often than not, the Agency acted as an umbrella organization although it did select certain high profile operations and take them away from other agencies. The Army's focus on Vietnam ended much of AI's positive intelligence gathering in Europe by 1965, and one result was the gross intelligence failure by any agency to detect the Soviet moves on Czechoslovakia in 1968.
   
   Shackley's activity to provide early warning by radio of Soviet aggression in Europe was actually antedated by several years by an US Army intelligence operation penetrating East Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union. Possibly Shackley was unaware of that operation, but that operation also provided ground photos of Soviet SAM sites and supporting installations that were later used to good effect to analyze the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. It is difficult to believe that Shackley never learned of its existence, and more likely, he chose to ignore it to receive credit when none was due.
   
   A third important disclosure by Shackley is the extremely debilitating effect of "turf wars" on intelligence activity and overall operations success. Ambassador Sullivan almost single-handedly insured that the US would not be able to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and has to go down in history as one of the US's most inept State Department officials (and there have been many, including wacky Madeleine Albright who ignored terrorism almost religiously.) Sullivan's canard of maintaining Laos's "neutrality" which the North Vietnamese freely ignored by making use of Laos's territory to make war on Laos and South Vietnam was silly and stupid in the extreme.
   
   There is much to criticize Shackley about, but he glosses over or omits those situations in this book. He used the Hmongs to fight the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese almost to the last Hmong (like the British have done throughout history (they fought the French to the last German or Spaniard, and then the Germans to the last Frenchman (now they'll fight anyone to the last American). One can say that they were all the resources he possessed, but there were other options like fighting for the removal of Sullivan. And, of course, the whole discussion of the CIA and opium is absent.
   
   Shackley's criticism of Angleton was much too muted and he tended to save his criticisms for those in lower ranks than himself or in other organizations like the Special Forces. Apparently his life-long political skills were simply too ingrained to overcome in producing good analysis. His recounting of operations against Castro and Cuba leaves the reader feeling that he told only a very small percentage of the story, but one must give the author some slack here since much of this may still be classified.
   
   I enjoyed his proof that the CIA was not involved in the killing of a Vietnamese agent by the Special Forces by dwelling on the term "termination with extreme prejudice." Then he himself uses the term "mole" discussing operations in the 1950s although that term would not be coined by John LeCarre until the late 1960s. Who's reading too many spy novels now? "Termination with extreme prejudice" was used by most intelligence agencies by the early 1960s.
   
   And lastly, Shackley makes a good case not to trust American politicians as the example of Senator Symington shows most clearly. As the Congressional hearings in 1945 over why the US had produced such an inferior battle tank (the Sherman) proved, Congress does little more than shoot the wounded. All intelligence agent handlers (CIA case officers) must continually bear that in mind. Unfortunately, this has now been taken to an extreme, with the CIA becoming increasingly inept through risk-aversion and it's reliance on self-important Eastern Liberals (epitomized by Valerie Plame) to fill out its ranks. It is possible that today the CIA has more case officers in the US itself serving in some capacity, sometimes in training (& playing at training), than on station in foreign countries. In addition, almost all CIA case officers today are operating under diplomatic cover which greatly limits the scope of their activities but provides them with safety and security. Human intelligence gathering suffers greatly as a result.
   
   In short, this is a valuable book that must be read carefully by the historian and compared to a number of other works, some still coming out. In no respect is it the last word or even fully accurate in what it covers.



2. The first few chapters are good. Shackley, via Finley, does provide a nice outline for understanding the various traditional missions CIA is tasked with. Ted provides a much better view of Bill Harvey than I had ever read before.
   
   The book falls short when Ted writes about the Vietnam War. First, Ted claims to have known nothing about CIA involvement in world heroin distribution. Mr. Shackley claims that it was those awful USAID guys who were the cowboys running drugs in concert with some rogue Laotian's. Anyone who has investigated this mess knows that Edgar "Pop" Buell was in charge of this "assistance" program along with his sidekick alleged CIA Sky operative George Cosgrove. They reported to CIA because they handled the military logistics for the entire Laotian area of operation.
   
   A second area of the book, which I found ingenuous was Ted's alleged hatred for the Phong Hoa or "Pheonix Project." Clean Ted claims that he and all of the good CIA staff found Phoenix "repugnant." Shackley looses sight of the fact that Phoenix was the most successful CIA operation of that war. In contrast, Ted's own Sky operations failed miserably by settling for the establishment of listening posts along the Ho Chi Mihn Trail. If Ted had demanded that NVA convoys be interdicted by ground forces from the Mu Gia Pass to Tchepone, the South Vietnamese might have won that sorry war. If you think I am wrong, ask yourself did Shackley fail to become the director because he wasn't one of the skull and bones or was it because Colby outperformed him during the Vietnam era?
   
   The CIA Laotian operations ended up getting generations of Hmong males killed. By the end of the war, CIA was employing boys so young that they could not operate in the field. CIA called them "Hill Sitters" because they were restricted to defensive positions at base camps. There were so few men that Thai mercenaries were utilized to defend these camps from being overrun. How is that for being repugnant?
   
   Anyway, Only real historians need read this book because only someone with prior knowledge will be able to sift fact from congressional testimony. Read "The Blood Road" by John Prados and "The Politics of Heroin" by Alfred McCoy before you read this book.



3. I would normally have given this book only three stars for its incompleteness and deception (outlined below), but Ted Shackley was arguably a giant in the clandestine world, and whatever his crimes of omission or commission might have been, I consider this a "must read" for anyone who wishes to move beyond the entry level in the clandestine service. I note with respect that B. Hugh Tovar, himself an accomplished officer, writes the Foreword.
   
   Shackley's career covered all the hotspots, from attempting regime change in Cuba to Berlin Cold War operations to Laos where he excelled while killing tens of thousands, to Viet-Nam where he helped cook the books and ramp up the "report count" (the CIA equivalent of the body count), to Chile to Iran Contra in his afterlife. I pay particular deference to the author's discovery that the combination of US air power for surveillance, mobility, and fire support, with indigenous irregulars, constituted a new form of warfare, one CIA executed well in Afghanistan.
   
   This personal account is grotesquely incomplete. The author has essentially provided a "CIA Lite" account that is not as much fun as Mile Copeland's "Without Cloak or Dagger," not nearly as revelatory as "Blond Ghost" by David Corn, which clearly rankled the author and perhaps drove him to devise this account; and not nearly as detailed as any of the books on Viet-Nam including those by Snepp, De Forest, and of course Allen, whose "None So Blind" is the definitive work. There is no mention of Sam Adams or the author's acquiescence in false force reports demanded by General Westmoreland and the politically-motivated Ambassador. There is also no mention of his role as a recruiter and funder of Zbigniew Brzezinski when the latter was a student here in the USA and Shackley was a Polish-speaking case officer trolling for influentials. The book is yet to be written on the triangle between Shackley, Breziznski, and the mandarins of the extreme right like Dick Cheney, all of whom agreed that the capture of the Caspian Sea energy and the Eurasian region was a priority for the 21st Century.
   
   This personal account is also extremely deceptive. The naive reader who is not widely read or is lacking in professional experience will not be familiar with the very deep literature on drug running and money laundering that was pioneered by CIA officers working out of Laos in the Viet-Nam era, and its subsequent evolution into the Nugen Hand and BCCI money laundering bank activities. Nor is there mention here of the Safari Club or other notorious alliances by select elements of the CIA with South Africa, Argentina, or Saudi Arabia. The account also ignores any reference to the alleged activities of Ted Shackley in running arms to the Contras and bringing drugs back into America via Southern Air Transport, going onwards to Europe to convert the drugs into money and the money into more arms for the Contras (against the will of Congress).
   
   Within this book, the author is at pains to document that he forbade any drug activity to be associated with Air America or any of his operations in Laos, that he conducted spot checks, and on one occasion intercepted and then publicly burned a case of high-grade opium.
   
   He concludes the book with some moderate recommendations for change, but most interestingly for me, as the international proponent for Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), he states on page 282 that the world has changed to such an extent (i.e. commercial access to Russia and China and other previously denied areas) that fully 80% of any secret wish list from 1991 can today be satisfied with overt means, including overt human legal travelers. We agree on this important point, which most of the U.S. Intelligence Community continues to deny.
   
   I read this book with care, in part because as resident in Viet-Nam from 1963-1967, and as a clandestine case officer in Central America during very ugly times, I feel I have walked in this ghost's shadow.
   
   I have three bottom lines:
   
   1) By any standard, this was an extraordinary officer who performed at the very top of the profession as it was then defined. He earned the respect of his Laotian counterparts, and I have absolutely no doubt that those whom he was charged with impressing or serving, were impressed and served.
   
   2) Much of what he did was covert action of questionable legality and value, such as the pin prick sabotage attacks against Cuba, but this was not his fault, it was the fault of an extraordinarily stupid political system in America (Bobby Kennedy exceeded Ollie North on the idiot standard in our world).
   
   3) Finally, we have the question mark. I have no direct knowledge, but I venture to suggest that Ted Shackley, according to multiple accounts in the published literature, was at least indirectly if not directly associated with a number of criminal or extra-legal adventures. I do not believe he profited personally--I believe he felt that whatever he was doing was in the service of his government, but like so many others, I do wonder if he did not confuse loyalty to the system with integrity in preserving the Constitution.
   
   Hence, I believe this book, and the author's life, were one third heroic, one third mundane, and one third highly questionable--not because he lacked honor, but because the system that he served lacked honor.



4. Shackley tells his tale of a career in the CIA. This is not a biography of everything he did and is not intended to be. There are no secrets revealed here. Instead, is an honest look at what life in the CIA was like for Shackley. In the foreword it is suggest that the word 'My' could have been left out of the title. This is a fair assessment of the book.
   
   The book does not read like a novel, but neither it is a dry retelling of historical events. Instead, Shackley uses many different stories to explain different topics such as the use of Air America, Public Relations and Counterintelligence. Details are left to a minimum. Anecdotes such as having to leave behind his daughter's rocking horse because it was too big for the moving allowance or getting overly drunk at a ritual going away party in Laos show the human side of the job.
   
   Why 4 Stars?:
   Shackley and Finney tell some good stories and show a lot about what it is like to have a career in the CIA. The book is not meant to be a tell-all of CIA operations and it does not attempt to do so; it fits with the no-nonsense manner that Shackley was known for. Unfortunately, about 50 pages in the middle were just plain boring; my advice to readers is to just barrel through them becuase it gets better and there are a few good pieces of CIA life in there. At times, the book follows chronologically, but there is also quite a bit of jumping around. This weak timeline makes it hard to use as a reference. All in all, it does give an account of a CIA Officer's career and what it was like to be involved in those events.



5. Shackley could have chosen to enlighten us about what he learned as head of CIA's Miami office in the months before and after the JFK assassination. He chose not to do so. There is no mention of many issues raised in other books that he could have discussed to make a major contribution to history. He never mentions Operation 40, or operations against the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (which Oswald made famous by his association with it), or the efforts of anti-Castro operatives to blame Castro for JFK's murder (which he would have known a lot about), or his testimony to the House Assassinations Committee, or his knowledge of operatives, or alleged operatives, accused over the years of complicity in the events preceding JFK's murder. On the other hand, there is ample coverage, with many pictures, of the award ceremonies in his honor, if you are interested in that sort of thing. I wonder why this self-named "Spymaster" bothered to write this book.

5 comments about Once A Fighter Pilot.

1. Awesome book. All I ever wanted to do was fly an F-4 and this book brought me as close as I'll ever get. Written in a down-to-earth manner that was easily understandable; thanks Jerry Cook!



2. This book is a must read for all military pilots and those seeking such status. Gen Cook tells it like it was and reminds me of a bunch of pilots sitting around the table discussing their careers. Most of us have always believed his basic tenet that could not believe that we were being paid to fly for the service. He also reminded me that your primary instructor had the biggest impact on your approach to training other pilots. Thank you !



3. Jerry Cook's "Once A Fighter Pilot" is one of the books that occupies a small section of my shelf reserved for truly extraordinary books written by pilots. Many fighter jocks are good at BFM, formation, gunnery, instrument flying, and other skills, but the ones who can evoke strong emotion through the written word are scarce. My military flying career is past, but this book takes me right back into the cockpit, in a way few books do.
   
   This book is the real deal, folks.



4. I first saw this book in a local bookstore and saw the cover. I didnt really now what it was about, but when I read it it was the best book yet. It is on my Absolute Favorite list.Since I bought the book I have read it over 5 times, and find something new each time. It has also made me want to be a fighter pilot in our Air Force. A must read for anyone.



5. I've read "Once a Fighter Pilot" more than once, and greatly enjoyed it each time. It's an intriguing mix of stories about flying in Vietnam, flying at MacDill AFB while the F-4 was just becoming available, and many flight instructor tales. (And sometimes the flight instructor stories are scarier than the ones about flying in Vietnam!) He's opinionated, open, honest, and to the point.
   
   I consider this to be in the top 5% of its genre because it covers such a broad area and does it well. There are perhaps better and/or more detailed autobiographies specifically about flying in Vietnam, but this one is one of the few which really covers Air Force life during the 60s. I also like the overall style, it's a series of short tales in chronological order rather than a more continuous work.
   
   It's a fun read--you won't regret it.

5 comments about Hitler: The Pathology of Evil (Potomac's Paperback Classics).

1. The author studies the childhood and adolescence of Hitler in great detail;
   the facts are well-known, but the author provides interesting, psychological insights.
   The author then goes on to describe Hitler's development in the pre-WWII years, and relates it to his childhood and adolescence.
   The treatment of the pre-WWII years deserves 4 stars.
   
   The weak point of this book is its treatment of the war years 1939-45 in Chapter 16 (Conquest and Annihilation): it is incomplete, simplistic and at times not convincing.
   In particular, the military decisions discussed are more complex than the author admits or realizes.
   The author, apparently lacking military expertise, relies on popular myths (in part due to German generals, who blamed Hitler for all mistakes, including their own);
   he tends to downplay military considerations in military decisions;
   he tends to neglect the Prussian-German tradition of conducting war, the stab-in-the-back legend, the experience made in past operations (WWI and WWII), the military situation on the ground and the military and political institutions involved in the decision-making process.
   Furthermore, the author neglects the significance of social-psychological processes: e.g. it is possible that Hitler's interactions with other sinister individuals (Goebbels, Bormann, Himmler and Heydrich) made him more radical (sometimes called group polarization: small, cohesive groups with similar opinions can make opinions more extreme).
   
   More generally, the author fails to show the limitations of his psychological point of view.
   
   It is the war years (the aggressive conduct of war, the war crimes and the holocaust) that sets Hitler apart from countless other dictators,
   and it is the treatment of the war years that is the weak point of this book;
   hence 3 stars instead of 4 stars.



2. While my interests is mainly the establishment of the Nazi party in Germany, this book gave a really good background of Hitler himself. It was fascinating. Be prepared for something which deals a lot with psychology and psychoanalysis. It is good to read this book about the same you read Sebastian Haffner or Claudia Koontz's books on Hitler and the Nazi party.
   
   It is a quick read and really well written.
   
   While we can never excuse the actions of the Nazis, we can understand what led them to do what they did and how we can keep it from happening again.



3. This book attempts to un-demonize Hitler long enough to understand his development as an abused child, a failed person, and as the most evil dictator in human history. Only a Jewish Psychololgist could attempt such a feat, and the author, George Victor, has done a remarkable job. Most interesting was how Victor pointed out in great detail the conflicted personality of Hitler, piece by piece, and tied those conflicts to the abuse that he and his beloved mother suffered at the hands of his father.
   
   Virtually everything Hitler said or did was a contradiction, due to his extreme self-loathing, wherein he masked his own intense hatred of himself and his father, by pretending to be superhuman, while projecting everything he hated about himself and his family, a tall order, onto every other group imaginable, all of whom paid the ultimate price for reminding Hitler of himself.
   
   Must read for anybody interested in WWII and/or German/Austrian history.



4. someone has made sense out of it all...by filling in Hitler's background,as it has never been revealed before...we can understand how madness and evil converged in the persona of one man who managed to murder millions because of his completely illogical beliefs..My whole life I have been trying to understand him(his evil influence),and this book has really helped me considerably.I can even see how his vile minions,the SS,were attracted to him and his ruthlessness..and obeyed him til the end.This is a fact-filled book,yes,but it is extremely well-written and researched,and I have read it over the course of two days.If you are, as I am,fascinated and repulsed at the same time about the most powerful and evil (well..I can't use bad language here,so fill in the blanks)"human being" of the 20th century...then this most excellent book will help you further in understanding just what happened,and why.



5. Not to be confused with "Hitler: the search for the origins of his evil".
   I advise readers not to be concerned at seeing the word psychoanalysis being bandied about here. It is true that Victor comes from a background in this but the book does not lean on the spurious nature of psychoanalysis and it makes sense in its own terms. I strongly recommend the book. Now Hitler makes perfect sense. An essential supplement to a Hitler biography for students of the man.

3 comments about Growing Up in the 1850s: The Journal of Agnes Lee.

1. Miss Agnes Lee, as the daughter of the famous general, was in a unique position to record the inner workings of one of America's oldest families. She records a touchingly ordinary life of a typical 19th-century young woman; home life, going to school, her hopes and dreams. Truly interesting to historians should be her position as "teacher" for her grandfather's slaves, who were being prepared for their freedom. General Lee wanted them to be taught to read and write so they could make a living, and Miss Agnes and her beloved sister Annie (who died tragically of typhoid during the war) taught the classes. Agnes, like her sisters, never married although she had a hearbreaking love over with Orton Williams, whom the war turned into a hard-drinking man. She tearfully refused his proposal and never healed from her grief when he was hanged by Union troops. This is an invaluable resource for a young girl's life of the period. Highly recommend



2. The Journal of Agnes Lee was written over a 5-year period while Agnes was between 12 and 17, and before the Civil War that would make her father such a legend. Don't expect breathtaking adventure here, but rather sit back and enjoy a view of this young girl coming of age in the 1850's. My strongest reaction to the book was, "How I would have loved to know Agnes!" She really does come alive here with exuberant spontaneity. Her writings provide many glimpses into the overall family life and way of thinking about her life. Agnes' love for her family is intense, and it can make the reader jealous of such closeness, rarely seen in today's society. I do recommend this book to those who want to know about General Lee's family life, and those who are interested in knowing more about this delightful girl, taken from the world by illness at age 32.



3. Eleanor Agnes Lee was the daughter of General Robert E. Lee, the famous Conferderate Commander in the War Between the States. This is the journal from her girlhood. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There are many books about Robert E. Lee, but there are very few about the rest of his family. This is one of the only sources on his third, beautiful daughter, Agnes, and lets us see better the life of the Lee family. It tells of her faith, her struggles, and her wonderful relationship with her family. I loved this book!