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The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)

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Better Than Blowback
What else has Mr. Johnson done for the Republic lately?
It's all about oil and world power
Will the People Save Their Republic?
America's Preeminence

The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)
Chalmers Johnson
Manufacturer: Owl Books
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805077979
Release Date: 2004-12-23

Amazon.com

Since September 2001, the United States has "undergone a transformation from republic to empire that may well prove irreversible," writes Chalmers Johnson. Unlike past global powers, however, America has built an empire of bases rather than colonies, creating in the process a government that is obsessed with maintaining absolute military dominance over the world, Johnson claims. The Department of Defense currently lists 725 official U.S. military bases outside of the country and 969 within the 50 states (not to mention numerous secret bases). According to the author, these bases are proof that the "United States prefers to deal with other nations through the use or threat of force rather than negotiations, commerce, or cultural interaction." This rise of American militarism, along with the corresponding layers of bureaucracy and secrecy that are created to circumvent scrutiny, signals a shift in power from the populace to the Pentagon: "A revolution would be required to bring the Pentagon back under democratic control," he writes.

In Sorrows of Empire, Johnson discusses the roots of American militarism, the rise and extent of the military-industrial complex, and the close ties between arms industry executives and high-level politicians. He also looks closely at how the military has extended the boundaries of what constitutes national security in order to centralize intelligence agencies under their control and how statesmen have been replaced by career soldiers on the front lines of foreign policy--a shift that naturally increases the frequency with which we go to war.

Though his conclusions are sure to be controversial, Johnson is a skilled and experienced historian who backs up his claims with copious research and persuasive arguments. His important book adds much to a debate about the realities and direction of U.S. influence in the world. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

"Impressive . . . a powerful indictment of U.S. military and foreign policy." Los Angeles Times Book Review, front page In the years after the Soviet Union imploded, the United States was described first as the globe's "lone superpower," then as a "reluctant sheriff," next as the "indispensable nation," and in the wake of 9/11, as a "New Rome." In this important national bestseller, Chalmers Johnson thoroughly explores the new militarism that is transforming America and compelling us to pick up the burden of empire.Recalling the classic warnings against militarism-from George Washington's Farewell Address to Dwight Eisenhower's denunciation of the military-industrial complex-Johnson uncovers its roots deep in our past. Turning to the present, he maps America's expanding empire of military bases and the vast web of services that support them. He offers a vivid look at the new caste of professional militarists who have infiltrated multiple branches of government, who classify as "secret" everything they do, and for whom the manipulation of the military budget is of vital interest. Among Johnson's provocative conclusions is that American militarism is already putting an end to the age of globalization and bankrupting the United States, even as it creates the conditions for a new century of virulent blowback. The Sorrows of Empire suggests that the former American republic has already crossed its Rubicon-with the Pentagon in the lead.

Customer Reviews:

Better Than Blowback.......2007-06-10

In the first nine chapters of the book, Johnson writes about his perception of an increasing American militarism, and also says there is an emerging American empire. He also describes the privatization of the military through war merchants and mercenaries. A solid case is made against some members of the current administration, but he doesn't spare Clinton's "globalization" in the book either. The tenth and last chapter alone is nearly worth the price. After making a very strong case for the United States to turn from its interventionist tendencies of the last 30 years, Johnson outlines four great dangers the USA will face as it wades deeper into the waters of interventionism. He finds fault with all recent past presidential administrations, and says that Congress has abandoned its duties and responsibilities in favor of greasy palmed careerism.

Like the first part of the trilogy, Chalmers Johnson writes about blowback, a CIA term for unintended consequences of covert action. His theory is that the perils of blowback are increasing, and the country is rapidly descending farther and farther away from its democratic moorings and into a militaristic empire.

This book is written in a more interesting style than part 1 ("Blowback") and keeps the reader interested through out.

Weakness-Some of the original source work is not strong and it is clearly written with a more popular audience in mind. For example, the suspect web site Capital Hill Blue is used as a source. So, perhaps some of the evidence presented is flawed, but the main theme still rings true.

This book, coupled with "Blowback" have seriously altered my thinking of foreign policy matters. I recommend both.

What else has Mr. Johnson done for the Republic lately?.......2007-06-03

Gore Vidal has been writing far longer and more eloquently than Mr. Johnson on the end of the Republic as a consequence of the American Empire. Mr. Johnson adds a dispassionate and steadily accumulating set of figures, monetary and otherwise, that show the true costs of the American Empire and its negative eroding effects on the Republic.

This is Mr. Johnson's second book in his "American Empire Project". The first Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (Second Edition), published before the events of Sept. 11, 2001 now seems eerily prescient. That book pointed out the unintended but inevitable consequences of American foreign policy and interference abroad and suggested a consequent "blowback".

The problem I have with Mr. Johnson and other eminent diagnosticians, even Vidal (though he did try running for elected office in CA a long time ago), is they seem unwilling to go further than write books. Mr. Johnson makes much (pp. 12) of Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the US Constitution which says "No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time." Now the latter clause regarding publication of accounts has been honored only in the breach, at least in recent times. I wrote Mr. Johnson asking "What legal attempts by private citizens have been made thus far to attempt to have this provision enforced?" Mr. Johnson replies that "You ask an excellent question but it would take a Constitutional lawyer to answer it." Now if I am to trust Mr. Johnson in his avowed belief in the Republic, its Constitution and the enforcement thereof, I would have expected him to have explored this avenue of enforcement already.

Given that the Republic is not yet dead, and that the rule of law is at least intermittently permitted, and that the courts are not yet entirely corrupt or partisan. I for one don't understand why those of Mr. Johnson's ilk, with their resources, don't approach the courts or petition the few honest or semi-honest legislators left to force the light of day on the costs and consequences of our empire. At least then, no citizen of this our disappearing Republic will be able to say that Mr. Johnson didn't do his best to tell them so. Only writing books doesn't cut it.

It's all about oil and world power.......2007-04-29

A reading of this book will give you a better understanding of 9/11, and our subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. It's all about oil and world power. The reasons given to the American public for wars like Vietnam and Iraq, are just window-dressing. If you want to understand the news behind today's headlines, read this book, without delay.

Will the People Save Their Republic?.......2007-04-13

Professor Emeritus Chalmers Johnson reviews the growth and details the pervasive influence of the military - industrial complex on the body politic since President Eisenhower's well known but little heeded warning in his 1961 Farewell Address. He explains and details how the United States has modified but adopted the imperialist policies of the past empires such as Rome and Britain as its world domination grew. The current unification of corporate, military and Executive Branch, personified by the Cheney-Halliburton-Executive revolving door, dominates over an impotent legislative branch to the point where democracy and the republic have been replaced by a militaristic and imperialist governing class that may be beyond control or accountability. Professor Johnson contends that militarism and imperialism take on a life of their own and that prior world powers have been forced to choose between democracy and imperialism because the two are incompatible.
Almost by definition, the military is bureaucratic and undemocratic. Military contracts are lucrative and without meaningful competition or oversight creating an unhealthy dependency and symbiosis that is subject to cronyism and corporate welfare. Unelected military bureaucrats conduct the most important foreign relations through their foreign counterparts by relationships cultivated over years and backed by training, financing and supplying of armaments. Hundreds of permanent military bases throughout the world establish American presence and permanency. The State Department and the CIA have been replaced by the Defense Department. The proclamation of an indefinite or permanent state of war against an amorphous enemy following 911 provided the final nails for the coffin of democracy as the military mind imposes its control over domestic affairs. There is still some hope for democracy but it grows ever fainter.

America's Preeminence.......2006-12-30

Sorrows of Empire a thought provoking book and a counterpoint to the Friedman's The World is Flat, and Barnett's The Pentagon's New Map (both excellent books also).

Johnson suggests that US militarism and imperialism (e.g. military bases
throughout the world) will lead to 4 sorrows:

1) perpetual war - leading to more terrorism against Americans wherever
they may be an a growing reliance on WMD among smaller nations as they try
to object to US imperialism
2) Loss of democracy and constitutional rights as the presidency
skirts Congress and as both are influenced by the Pentagon
3) Truthfulness will increasingly be replaced by a system of propaganda,
disinformation, and glorification of war, power, and the military.
4) Bankruptcy, as we pour our economic resources into every more grandiose
military projects and divert capital from the free market, and shortchange
education, health and safety.

Johnson states that American triumphalists, including Robert Gates, convinced the US public that the demise of the USSR was a great American victory, but the actual collapse of the USSR into the CIS was due to economics (Freidman and Barnett make that same point). The Pentagon, rather than restructuring and demobilizing after their major Cold War enemy folded, has looked for other areas to justify its budgets (e.g. B2 bomber, the Joint Strike Fighter, and nuclear programs). The Pentagon is now involved in the war on drugs, the war on terror, and overt and covert preventive interventions throughout the world. In a change that has nearly been unnoticed, US foreign policy has shifted from civilian control to military policy control, and now the US is acting as a law unto itself, withdrawing from treaties and disparaging international cooperation.

This book was published in 2004, well before the current situation due to the Iraqi war venture could have been predicted, and Johnson's predictions are prescient: he describes the worst case for Iraq as sectarian violence and civil strife.

Johnson makes the case that a revolution in US relations with the 'rest of the world' occurred between 1989 (the fall of the Berlin wall) and 2002. Foreign policy gave way to military expansionism: permanent bases and airfields, espionage listening posts, and strategic enclaves on every continent. This is militarism - because US national security does not depend on this expansion. He states the armed services have put their institutional preservation ahead of national security, and in the first chapter he draws historical parallels with the Roman empire, which fell to barbarians because it couldn't afford to sustain its far-flung outposts.

Johnson states the 4th Amendment should protect the US citizens' right to privacy and prevent unreasonable searches, but that is not the case. He argues the government has systematically been violating our privacy - and this was before the controversy of the Foreign Intel Surveillance Court broke in 2005, before Gen Hayden was appointed to the NSA.

Johnson quotes Jefferson, "that when the government fears the people, there is liberty; when the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

The SoE describes that militarism, going beyond what is needed for national security, damages globalism and international relationships by taking capital resources from the free market forces, reallocating money, talent, and resources to the military which is not responsive to real forces of supply and demand, and which is responsive to crony capitalism and false claims of effectiveness.

Some of Johnson's assertions bear further explanation: e.g. on pg. 287, he cites Immanuel Wallerstein's `world systems theory', but this concept is not described. On pg. 70, he asserts that "Most neocons have their roots on the left, not on the right." I would have liked further explanation of this. Johnson, like Chomsky, is very critical of both Democrats and Republicans - he is describing the systemic forces, larger than politics, that are shaping the future of the US. Certainly many of his assessments are opinions which are quite controversial, but these opinions deserve consideration.

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East

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A must read
Voluminous, informative, Britain-centered, some pieces missing
Why is the Middle East in so much turmoil?
Makes you wonder...
History Repeats Itself

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
David Fromkin
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0805068848

Book Description

Wonderful....No book published in recent years has more lasting relevance to our understanding of the Middle East. Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews:

A must read.......2007-05-30

Fabulous! This book is essential to understanding the middle east today and how it became that way (and how hard it will be to fix it).

Voluminous, informative, Britain-centered, some pieces missing.......2007-05-14

This book is about British policy and ambitions in the Middle East more than about the Middle East itself. It provides a compelling argument that political and tactical mistakes (and greed) by the Western powers are to blame for some of the problems in the region today. David Fromkin is not a conventional academic historian. He was a lawyer for many years before becoming a professor, hence his natural focus on political negotiations, diplomatic wrangling, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, machinations, power plays, disputes among government factions, etc. He does an excellent job of laying all this out.

Fromkin writes in an engaging style and his clear organization makes this long book fairly easy to read. The only part that disappointed me was the discussion of Central Asia, which is vague and incomplete. Fromkin does not identify the ethnicity/nationality of the players involved. He inaccurately and collectively refers to the peoples of this region as "Turkish speakers"--in fact most (but not all) speak Turkic languages, related but not identical to Turkish. For readers not familiar with Central Asia, it would have been helpful to note the Soviet republics (and now independent nations--Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan) established soon after the episode with Enver Pasha and the Basmachi that Fromkin discusses. A more detailed map could have been included. It would have been interesting to compare Soviet and British policy in the creation of republics or nation-states but this is not touched on. As a location of important oil and gas reserves, Central Asia is once again of strategic interest to regional and world powers (including the U.S.). That Fromkin neglects to provide essential background information on the region is a serious flaw, and looks like a careless oversight. This part of the book could have been better researched. Fromkin is not a Middle East or Central Asia scholar per se, and does not appear to read the languages of the region. There are no Arabic, Turkish (or, also relevant, Russian or German) sources in his bibliography.

Fromkin's archival research has been mostly in British diplomacy and Zionism, and this is where his book is most informative. He has obviously combed through an enormous amount of material. Interested readers will need to look elsewhere for the perspective of the Middle Eastern peoples themselves, and may disagree with Fromkin's interpretations of events, but will gain much from the abundant factual material presented here. We learn, sadly, how very much history repeats itself.

Why is the Middle East in so much turmoil?.......2007-04-10

I purchased this book several years ago. With the events of the past 30 years in the Middle East, I decided to read it , in hopes of understanding the recent history of the area. Once I started, I could not put the book down. It's well written and shows little bias. I highly recommend it to those who have the same question.

Makes you wonder..........2007-03-30

I agree 100% with all the other reviewers. This is a well written, informative book, that everyone who wants to have an informed opinion about the middle east should read.

On chapter 31 (The New World, p.259) there is a quote from a speech given by T. Woodrow Wilson (then president of the US)on the 4th of July 1918, that caught my attention:

"The settlement of every question, whether of territory or sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of political relationship, upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people immediately concerned, and not upon the basis of the material interest or advantage of any other nation or people which may desire a different settlement for the sake of its own influence or mastery"

This speech outlined the Four Ends for which the US and its allies were supposedly fighting. These Four Ends outlined the discrepancies between American and European post war goals. The allies were imperialist countries, and the US were not.

No wonder John M. Keynes wrote "When president Wilson left Washington he enjoyed a prestige and moral influence throughout the world unequaled in history" (chapter 41, p.390). Maybe president Wilson was a bit naive, but the US entered the war with lofty ideals.

Makes you wonder what happened to those ideals, doesn't it?

Excellent book. Don't hesitate, buy it NOW.

History Repeats Itself.......2007-02-24

A Peace to End All Peace is a masterpiece that picks up where Guns of August leaves off. The author threads together the wide-ranging people, places and events that reshaped the Middle East following World War I and the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The book traces the mostly failed attempts by colonialists, primarily British and French, to transform Asian cultures into Western style democracies with seemingly randomly defined national borders without regard to cultural differences separating the people. The primary motives: oil, power and military presence, as they remain today. This book shows that ethnocentric Westerners have learned little about the Middle East since then. This mangled shaping and reshaping of the region continues today, spearheaded by the American colonial foray into Iraq by dint of war that may soon spread overtly to surrounding countries. A Peace to End All Peace demonstrates an old adage: If we cannot learn from our past mistakes, we are bound to repeat them.

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

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Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
Very Interesting
History as Science Fiction
Provocative, appealing and controversial
pharaohs lived in the 3rd century AD

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Provocative, appealing and controversial.......2006-08-02

Fomenko has succeeded to convincingly demonstrate the misconception about what "history" factually is... It is fiction and -like we can read and judge for ourselves- no science. It indeed is "make belief" only. I "discovered" Fomenko while studying the "old" history of Al Andaluz, Spain. Having found too many contradictions in available data, having seen too many forgeries as to pretend the importance of christianity for its decline, I ventured out to find Fomenko, who convinced me that we know little if anything for sure of the epoch before the XI-century. However, the integration of the Arabic-Islamic cultural history into the heavily distorted Western fails... There are some attempts to fit "the budding new religion" (Islam) into Fomenko's scheme, but they are too weak to be taken seriously and too often focussing on Turkey as the region where things started to influence the West, which is untrue at all.
Islam certainly was no "new religion" in the X-century. That the highly cultivated Al Andaluz ruler Mohammed-I could have been "mirrored" down in time into some myth about the "illiterate" founder of Islam itself is highly speculative. Nevertheless, Fomenko convinces me about the processes that were involved in forging a christian history. Intriguing and controversial as his books are, I recommend them as to rethink our current position in time and space and simply verify what was claimed. It is a "good" book, but not for bedtime reading... Mundus vult decipi, the world wants to be cheated. Fomenko's readers will understand why.

pharaohs lived in the 3rd century AD.......2006-02-16

Traces of white wine were found in Tutankhamen's tomb however there were no record of white wine in Egypt until the 3rd century AD, 1600 years after the young pharaoh died according to the traditional chronology. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18925395.400
It can be interpreted as a contribution towards New Chronology theory that pharaohs lived in the 3rd century AD.

Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil

Average customer rating:

Wake up - be alert - question
Excellent analysis of the evidence available
There should be a million more books like this on the shelves.
Conspiracy after another ....Not a good read!!!
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury

Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil
Michael C. Ruppert
Manufacturer: New Society Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

The attacks of September 11, 2001, were accomplished through an amazing orchestration of logistics and personnel. Crossing the Rubicon discovers and identifies key suspects-finding some of them in the highest echelons of American government-by showing how they acted in concert to guarantee that the attacks produced the desired result.

Crossing the Rubicon is unique not only for its case-breaking examination of 9/11, but for the breadth and depth of its world picture-an interdisciplinary analysis of petroleum, geopolitics, narcotraffic, intelligence and militarism-without which 9/11 cannot be understood.

The US manufacturing sector has been mostly replaced by speculation on financial data whose underlying economic reality is a dark secret. Hundreds of billions of dollars in laundered drug money flow through Wall Street each year from opium and coca fields maintained by CIA-sponsored warlords and US-backed covert paramilitary violence. America's global dominance depends on a continually turning mill of guns, drugs, oil and money. Oil and natural gas-the fuels that make economic growth possible-are subsidized by American military force and foreign lending.

In reality, 9/11 and the resulting "war on terror" are parts of a massive authoritarian response to an emerging economic crisis of unprecedented scale. Peak Oil-the beginning of the end for our industrial civilization-is driving the elites of American power to implement unthinkably draconian measures of repression, warfare and population control. Crossing the Rubicon is more than a story. It is a map of the perilous terrain through which, together and alone, we are all now making our way.

Michael C. Ruppert is the publisher and editor of From the Wilderness, a newsletter read by more than 16,000 subscribers in 40 countries. A former Los Angeles Police Department narcotics investigator, he is widely known for his groundbreaking stories on US involvement in the drug trade, Peak Oil and 9/11.

Customer Reviews:

Wake up - be alert - question.......2007-06-19

Riveting, provoking and disturbing are the three adjectives for Crossing the Rubicon. It is a page turner, filled with fascinating details about 9/11, the CIA and our government. Surely, for the truth seeker, this book is captivating.

Be alert, sober and a critical thinker. Be willing to question all that you learned...for things are not as they appear...or what we have been indoctrinated to believe.

Read the book.

Also, take a look at Catherine Austin Fitts' website solari dot com

Excellent analysis of the evidence available .......2007-06-12

This is a well done researched book that taps into the Official 9/11 Commission Report myth. Who was behind 9/11, what prompted it, and what was the purpose and consequences for the US political process. The books delineates in detail the CIA's involvement with the drug trade and arming foreign guerillas to meet their own needs and their involvement with events leading up to 9/11 along with the FBI, Military Industrial Complex, and Wall St. This detective journalism at its best. If you ever wanted to know what and who was REALLY behind 9/11, I highly recommend this book. It is quite extensive with lots of hard factual information. If you are looking for stats like the guy below, this is not for you. Instead, the book acts like a "connect the dots puzzle" that flows consistently throughout the book. I think this will seriously change how you view the US political and governmental system.

There should be a million more books like this on the shelves........2007-06-12

This books absolutely blew me away. I don't even know what else to say.

Ruppert argues his case in the book as if presenting to jury. The only defense to the book's logical conclusion is that Cheney and Co. weren't cross examined; but since the Administration refused at all cost the 9/11 Commission's establishment and their own sworn testimony before it, that's about all the proof we need of their treason.

READ THE BOOK. Read the 9/11 commission report, and then Whiteout (by Cockburn and St. Clair) and every other expose of CIA drug dealing and covert terrorism in alliance with Nazis and neo-Nazis...I mean, neo-conservatives. You'll be convinced, if you can handle it that is.

Conspiracy after another ....Not a good read!!!.......2007-06-05

I was looking for more statistical information and got a political diatribe. The looming energy crisis is everyone's problem and we should all invest our time and energy in solutions not this riff raff.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury.......2007-03-18

Mike Ruppert, Former LAPD Narcotics agent begins the book with background into the established complicity of the CIA. The US's CIA & mafia trading drugs for Weapons to Iran back in 1977, and revealing the US governments liquid assets from money laundering to the tune of 500bil to 1.5 trillion- a year.
He presents back ground info as if he were speaking to a Jury; Further defining Peak Oil as a commodity that will cease to exist in our Children and grand Children's lifetime. We are on the down side of peak oil.
Further, he points out motive and back ground from Zbigniew Brzezinski's "The Grand Chessboard......" Regarding the Civil war In Afghanistan with Russia as destabilization of the Soviet Union for the US to proceed with their illegal, self serving agenda, etc.
I've been familiar with Mike Ruppert's work through his website.
His work has been congruent with my own research, and other research the author makes reference to in the book: ie; The Center For Cooperative Research Timeline, which I've had the pleasure of working with Paul Thompson on. I have recommended this book to many on another site who are all working on putting the pieces of that day together.
I am grateful to see so many in the EU working diligently on this historical day of tragedy (That was swept under the proverbial carpet) and subsequent propaganda by the US Government, and Bush's premeditated, yet falsely preemptive attack on Iraq.

Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age Audiobook CD: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR (11 CDs) (The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child)

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Story of the World, Volume 4: The Modern Age Audiobook CD: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR (11 CDs) (The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child)
Susan Wise Bauer
Manufacturer: Peace Hill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR
The Story of the World Volume 2: History for the Classical Child (Story of the World: History for the Classical Child (Audio))

ASIN: 1933339039

Book Description

The Story of the World CD audiobook is a collaboration between Jim Weiss, whose voice is "liquid gold" (CNN TV), and Susan Wise Bauer, whose writing has been described as "timeless and intelligent" (Publishers Weekly). These spirited readings of the last volume in Bauer's history series bring to life the stories and records of human history from ancient times to the present.

Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, this volume of the popular Story of the World series weaves world history into a storybook format. The fourth volume covers the major historical events of the last 150 years, from the American Civil War to the presidency of Nelson Mandela.

This audio CD edition may be used along with the print books, as a supplement to a traditional history curriculum, or independently. 11 audio CDs.

The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization

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clear explanation of why western roman empire went down!
The Last Man unlocks the gates
getting it right finally
Read last chapter first
Don't Distort History With Modern Views and Philosophy

The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization
Bryan Ward-Perkins
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
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Europe after Rome: A New Cultural History 500-1000

ASIN: 0192807285

Book Description

Why did Rome fall? Vicious barbarian invasions during the fifth century resulted in the cataclysmic end of the world's most powerful civilization, and a 'dark age' for its conquered peoples. Or did it? The dominant view of this period today is that the 'fall of Rome' was a largely peaceful transition to Germanic rule, and the start of a positive cultural transformation. Bryan Ward-Perkins encourages every reader to think again by reclaiming the drama and violence of the last days of the Roman world, and reminding us of the very real horrors of barbarian occupation. Attacking new sources with relish and making use of a range of contemporary archaeological evidence, he looks at both the wider explanations for the disintegration of the Roman world and also the consequences for the lives of everyday Romans, in a world of economic collapse, marauding barbarians, and the rise of a new religious orthodoxy. He also looks at how and why successive generations have understood this period differently, and why the story is still so significant today.

Customer Reviews:

clear explanation of why western roman empire went down!.......2007-05-13

there are many theories why that mighty Roman empire went down.
but after i read this book,now i have clear idea.the author explains what happened during fall of empire by both archaelogical and historical documents.also this book said when middle ages begins, everything about
what civilisation offer to people was virtually gone! after i read this book,i have fear in my mind what if this modern civilisation collapse,like the Roman empire 1600years ago...

The Last Man unlocks the gates.......2007-04-15

What for Bryan Ward-Perkins is the ultimate mark and criterion of high civilization? The Cathedral at Chartres? The mosaics at San Vitale? The organum of Pérotin? The poetry of Basho? Nay, friends; it is the use of the F-word (p. 168). And so, unable to distinguish between culture and decadence, the author unwittingly unlocks the gates of civilization to the very barbarians whom he claims to detest. Does Ward-Perkins really expect the youth of his precious modern European Civilization - and it will the youth, not he, who will have to do the fighting - to bleed for it against the Islamic horde or - apparently even worse for him - against American Evangelicals, when this civilization's touchstone is overpriced Riedel glass and Meißen porcelain, fattened Angus cattle, ubiquitous spray-can graffiti (offered as a sign of high literacy), prolific vulgarity (masquerading as sophistication), well-upholstered bordellos (with such fine tile roofs!), fur-lined toilet seats, and second helpings of Beef Wellington and Lobster Thermidor? Also sprach the pedant at Vanity Fair. So the Soma bartender in the Brave New World. Thus The Last Man writes history.

getting it right finally.......2007-03-25

I have always been angry with these historians that picture the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire as some sort of evolution rather then what it was a collapse. In this fall much was lost. The writer has some good thoughts on the issue.

Another book to checkout if you are interested in this one is The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians

Read last chapter first.......2007-03-21

While reading the book, I thought his evidence was somewhat thin, albeit interesting. I have never realized the "boring" stuff such as coins and pots would tell so much about a civilization and, more importantly, its economy, and so forth.

It was not until the last chapter, that I have realized what he did made sense, and how all his other arguments were put in place. I am not a historian or an archaeologist, and I wasn't aware of the change in attitude over the years on the subject of the Fall of Rome within the academic community. The last chapter explained the change, and why he did not sit well with it.

When an author is called a "revisionist", there is always something negative about it. ("Forced into Glory" by Lerone Bennett, Jr. was a good example of bad "revisionist" writing) I do not think "The Fall of Rome" is another attempt to rewrite history, but it is a reminder of how history can be subjected to the values of modern day.

Don't Distort History With Modern Views and Philosophy.......2007-02-24

This is the kind of book that is easy to review--and easy to denigrate as a yet another effort to read the past through the lens and viewpoint of the present day. This book refuses to enter into the past times and refuses to present a viable history of the late Roman empire; the author disdains plausible historical conclusions and fairness in historical writing.

Call it what you will, Marxist history, post-modern history, Howard Zinn history., this book appeals to people mis-educated in how to write and read history. There are empirical data in this book, but they only serve as a smokescreen to hide the imposition of the author's present-day emasculation of the truth of the past.

Unfortunately, this kind of history is encouraged in today's colleges and among the so-called "intellectual elite. Read this book only to see how poorly history can be written. "Quid est haec dementia."

The Story of the World Activity Book Four: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR

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The Story of the World Activity Book Four: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR

Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Story of the World: Activity Book One: Ancient Times

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ASIN: 0972860355

Book Description

This comprehensive activity book/curriculum guide contains all you need to make modern history come alive for your child!

Don't just read about history—experience it! Designed to turn The Story of the World, Volume 4 into a complete history program, this activity book provides comprehension questions and answers, sample narrations, maps and geography activities, coloring pages, lists of additional history and literature readings, and many hands-on learning activities, all designed for grades 2-5.

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR

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The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child, Volume 4: The Modern Age: From Victoria's Empire to the End of the USSR
S. Wise Bauer
Manufacturer: Peace Hill Press
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Binding: Paperback

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The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor, Revised Edition (Story ... the World: History for the Classical Child)
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ASIN: 0972860339

Book Description

Discover the marvelous stories of the world's modern nations with the newest volume of this read-aloud series.

Where was the Crystal Palace? Who was the Sick Man of Europe? And how did cow fat start a revolution?

Now more than ever, other countries and customs affect our everyday lives—and our children need to learn about the people who live all around the world. Susan Wise Bauer has provided a captivating guide to the history of modern nations all around the world. Written in an engaging, straightforward manner, the final volume of the popular Story of the World series weaves world history into a storybook format, covering major historical events in the years 1850-2000. From the Middle East and China to Africa and the Americas—find out what happened all around the world in the last century and a half. Designed as a read-aloud project for parents and children to share together, The Story of the World includes the stories of each continent and people group.

Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization

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An excellent collection of essays from a great scholar

Ends of British Imperialism: The Scramble for Empire, Suez, and Decolonization
Wm. Roger Louis
Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present

ASIN: 1845113470
Release Date: 2007-07-10

Book Description

Pax Britannica to Pax Americana is the story of the British Empire from its late-nineteenth century flowering to its present extinction. Louis traces the British Empire from the scramble for Africa, the turbulent imperial history of the Second World War in Asia, and the mid-20th century rush to independence to the Suez crisis, the icon of empire's end. It forms the ideal platform from which to examine the aims and outcome of empire. This authoritative and highly engaging history appears at a time when interest in the history of the British Empire has, ironically, never been stronger, making Ends of British Imperialism a must-read item for both scholar and general reader.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent collection of essays from a great scholar.......2006-10-08

William Roger Louis is a giant among scholars of British imperialism. The editor of the "Oxford History of the British Empire", for nearly half a century his scholarship has helped define the field. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Suez crisis he has collected his essays related to that defining episode. These not only cover the incident itself but a number of related topics - for as he explains, "the Suez crisis can be studied as an episode in decolonization and that decolonization itself . . . can best be understood in the context of the long colonial era extending from the British occupation of Egypt in 1882 to the death of Nasser in 1970 and the withdrawal of all troops East of Suez in the following year."

Louis groups these essays into ten categories. After an introductory overview of Suez and decolonization, he provides an essay on colonial empires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and four on "the scramble for Africa". These are followed by four which examine the First World War and the mandates system, two on the British possessions of Singapore and Hong Kong, and four on India, Palestine and Egypt, which are linked together by the theme of impending independence. After five essays on decolonization in general, he includes six on aspects of the Suez crisis itself and four more on Britain's withdrawal from the rest of the Middle East in its aftermath before finishing with three essays on the historiography of his field.

Though all but one of these essays have been published before now, bringing them together allows Louis to draw out three main themes. The first is the one which occasioned the volume - the study of Suez in the broader context of decolonization. This last, failed effort to hold onto the empire through force led the British to attempt to maintain some vestige of their influence through more informal means, which is the second theme of his collection. Finally, as British control gradually slipped, new states emerged throughout Africa and Asia; it is the consequences of their emergence which forms the final theme Louis emphasizes.

Taken together, these essays represent a formidable body of work on one of the key developments of modern times. Though some of the essays have been reworked, the basic scholarship within them remains as informative and insightful as it was when they were first published. Delving into the pages of this book provides insight not only into the demise of the British Empire, but into how it shaped and defined the world in which we live today. No student of British imperial history should be without this volume, and anyone interested in understanding the twentieth century will profit from reading it.

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

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Yet more praise
This book should be required reading for all Americans and Japanese
The Definitive Account!
Not as impressed as other reviewers
Excellent, but misses the whole point

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire
Richard B. Frank
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141001461

Amazon.com

Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire is an impeccably written analysis of the last months of the Pacific War and the unfolding of the American air campaign over Japan. The story opens with a searing description of the fire-bombing of Tokyo in March 1945, which caused more deaths than the atom bomb in Hiroshima. Within five months, Japan's economy was collapsing and the country faced catastrophic starvation. Richard B. Frank coolly analyzes different scenarios for ending the war (Russia waited in the wings). Frank concludes that the emperor and the Japanese military were far from ready to surrender, and that the decision to use the atom bomb probably saved millions of lives, not only Allied but Japanese and other Asian lives, also--perhaps a hundred thousand Chinese were dying each month under Japanese occupation. The effects of the bomb worked on many levels, even lending faces to the Japanese militarists, who could convince themselves that they were defeated not by a lack of spiritual power but by superior science. Densely documented, intelligently argued, Downfall recreates the end of the war from the viewpoints of the principals, giving the book an unusual immediacy. A highly valuable insight into the disintegration of the Japanese Empire, one of the most dramatic episodes of World War II. --John Stevenson

Book Description

In a riveting narrative that includes information from newly declassified documents, acclaimed historian Richard B. Frank gives a scrupulously detailed explanation of the critical months leading up to the dropping of the atomic bomb. Frank explains how American leaders learned in the summer of 1945 that their alternate strategy to end the war by invasion had been shattered by the massive Japanese buildup on Kyushu, and that intercepted diplomatic documents also revealed the dismal prospects of negotiation. Here also, for the first time, is a comprehensive account of how Japan's leaders were willing to risk complete annihilation to preserve the nation's existing order. Frank's comprehensive account demolishes long-standing myths with the stark realities of this great historical controversy.

Customer Reviews:

Yet more praise.......2007-04-10

I was so fascinated by this book that I read all the previous reviews. I only want to add my unlimited praise and to add a few thoughts and stories...
I was as unaware as anybody of the details of the end of the Pacific war until I met a fellow (Bill Lear, son of "the" Bill Lear) who was on a troop ship to Olympic. He said the officers told them that they all were going to die. After that the book was a natural, and I couldn`t have chosen better.
In my present line, I am in Japan a lot. If there is any one thing that makes Frank`s book fascinating, it is the detailed look at the inner workings of that eastern mind in the government and military leaders, and the resulting confusion for their hapless diplomats. In some cases it is not so radical - we Americans still get huffy about Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese were following a pretty basic tenet of war. Frank didn`t really go to a lot of trouble to remind us that the "unfathonable" Asian way of seeing things is normal to them. Perhaps it isn`t necessary. Any Japanese soldier who sees dying for his emperor/country as his highest honor will tend to see anyone who surrenders or is beaten before he can sacrifice himself, as the lowest sort of worm, not worthy of bayonet practice let alone a bowl of rice. Just an example, but with a point. Frank managed to state facts, back them up with numbers and intel documents and let it go at that. The case builds easily in the reader`s mind that this was a terrible war and that the allies/Americans were in a real conundrum about how to end it. Which brings up the sadly fascinating fact that the very thing that the allies demanded, as a way of keeping "these fascist and militarist governments from starting a world war every few years", was unconditional surrender, the very thing the Japanese couldn`t accept.
One thing which makes a really great book is that it opens discussion on the topic rather than, say, on the writer`s vocabulary. By that measure, this is one of the best. Please indulge me...
I have been to the peace museum in Hiroshima. It is very moving and also very evenhanded. It shows the little uniforms of the school kids killed - they were in town that day to help build firebreaks. It also has the army order on the wall which commanded that when the invasion came, all subjects were to show up on the beaches with pitchforks, sticks or any other weapon that came to hand. Hiroshima, by the way (to answer a previous comment) was the headquarters of the 5th Japanese Army, in charge of Japan and Korea (where they'd been since 1920, only getting to Manchuria in 1931, re another comment)It was also a recruit center, and a navy shipyard, in other words not exactly non-military.
My Dad flew in B-29s. He was a tough old farm boy, but once he met an army buddy who had also `been there` That`s the only time I saw him cry. I don`t think it`s wrong to lament the terrible things humans are capable of doing to each other and to make them stop; a basic about war, by the way. The fact that millions of innocents had died and were likely to keep dying in this war would make any way of stopping it look pretty good, ie, "moral". I personally would say, you can`t argue with success. The Japanese had been fighting since at least 1920. Days after the bomb, it was over. I`m in the camp of "the Russians had nothing to do with it." I want to thank Mr. Frank for explaning readably and in detail, how that came about.
Finally a note from my Mom... The war council was correct in believing that Americans were sick of the war (Incorrect in their eastern way in seeing Potsdam as weakness). They were beaten but wouldn`t quit. If you had a family member in the service, you put a red star in your window, and if they were killed, you changed it to a gold star. There were plenty of houses with two gold stars in the window. People in 1945 wanted the war to end and wanted the boys home. Imagine you are Truman, and a wife/mother says to you, "You mean to tell me you had the means to end this war the day before my boy was killed, and you didn`t do it?"
Read this book.

This book should be required reading for all Americans and Japanese.......2007-03-26

It is easy today, with so much information out there about the horrors of atomic warfare, and so little remembrance of the actual history of the final stages of WWII, to be critical of the U.S. decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan.

Sadly, as a result, most Japanese are taught today that they were merely the victims of overwhelming American might, rather than the aggressors and instigators of war, and even more sadly, we are confronted with the shameful specter of anti-nuke, anti-war, anti-history Americans pathetically apologizing to the Japanese, misquoting history, and blindly ignoring the real facts behind the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.

In this book, Richard Franks sets about methodically re-creating the historical context of the end stages of WWII. He addresses virtually every controversial claim, every possible scenario, in the decision process that led to the atomic bombing. Other reviewers have mentioned several points already, and so I present only a summary of the major controversies dealt with in this book:

1. Why was it necessary to drop two atomic bombs or to use them on civilians? - The U.S. was afraid that Japan would think that its supply of atomic bombs was limited (and in fact, production was limited, but was steadily growing), and wanted to demonstrate to Japan that it had the ability and willpower to completely annihilate Japan with a series of atomic bombs. As it turns out, the U.S. calculations were correct. After Hiroshima was bombed, Franks points out that there was a faction in the Japanese military that had enough knowledge of the difficulty of uranium separation to deny the possibility that the U.S. could have developed such a bomb or claimed that the U.S. would not be able to keep up the atomic bombing, and used these arguments to continue to hold out against surrender. Other Japanese military leaders hoped that world opinion would bar the U.S. from further use of the atomic bombs on civilians. That the Japanese military doubted the willpower of the U.S. to use atomic bombs against civilians is proof that a mere demonstration on some unpopulated target would have been useless. Dropping two atomic bombs thus served to vaporize all of the final delusions of these fanatic military leaders.

2. Wasn't Japan close to surrender already because of the massive firebombing of its cities? The U.S. had destroyed over 60 Japanese cities already, killing over 100,000 in one raid on Tokyo alone. However, while this caused enormous suffering for Japanese civilians, the military elite ruling Japan couldn't care less, and continued to hold out for a final land battle, intending to inflict enormous casualties on any U.S. invasion. Their calculation was that the U.S., a democracy with freedom of the press and freedom of speech that even then was extremely sensitive to casualties, could be forced to offer a negotiated surrender with better terms (see no. 5 below for more on this) instead of unconditional surrender. One thing that Franks does not emphasize enough is that subsequent firebombings after Tokyo killed far fewer people per raid, as the Japanese learned how to deal with the firebombing better. A significant factor in the success of the firebombing was the nature of the highly flammable wooden cities of Japan. However, neither firebombing nor the inaccurate conventional bombing of that era would have had much impact on the dispersed and hidden armed forces of the Ketsu-Go operation (the Japanese plan for a massive suicidal countering of an American invasion on the island of Kyushu). Ketsu-Go versus the atomic bomb would have been a completely different story. The general in charge of Ketsu-Go happened to have his headquarters in Hiroshima, and after surviving the atomic bombing and seeing its effects, he bluntly told Hirohito that he could not be sure anymore that his forces would be able to fend off an invasion. IMHO, it was this realization by the military that Ketsu-Go would fail in the face of the atomic bomb that was the key in forcing the military to accept defeat without an invasion. And it was this realization by Hirohito that the military would accept his "command" to accept unconditional surrender that encouraged this timid personality to finally step in and "command" surrender (Franks gives some more convoluted reasons that I think are less convincing. He does not emphasize enough that Hirohito had no legal authority at the time to force the military to do anything - Hirohito's power was entirely based on tradition, respect, and superstitious symbolism - and in fact the military fanatics had a history of assassinating advisors to Hirohito whenever it seemed that he was favoring a course of action that they did not like).

3. Weren't the estimated potential U.S. casualties in an invasion grossly inflated? Perhaps they were, but first of all, if you are an American and think that ANY number of dead American soldiers in an invasion of Japan would have been worth trading in return for not using the atomic bomb, then you need to have your citizenship revoked. And if you are Japanese, and believe that a U.S. invasion would have been preferable to atomic bombing, then you really don't understand the fanaticism of the military elite that was in control at the end of the war. At Saipan and Okinawa, the local Japanese citizenry had been recruited into the battles and had suffered enormous casualties. Even worse was being planned for an invasion of the Japanese homeland, with the entire civilian population given bamboo sticks and suicide bombs which they were expected to use against U.S. soldiers. Franks calculates that the civilian casualties in an invasion of Japan would have far exceeded what was suffered at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In addition, U.S. intelligence eventually revealed that preparations for Ketsu-Go were so extensive that chances for a successful invasion were becoming increasingly uncertain. American casualties would have almost certainly been enormous. While General MacArthur blithely swept all of that intelligence under the rug, and continued to insist on the original invasion plans, Admiral Nimitz was on the verge of going on the record opposing the invasion when the atomic bombs were dropped. This book makes clear that a U.S. invasion of Kyushu, led by the over-confident MacArthur, could have well been a complete disaster.

4. Wouldn't a blockade and continued bombing of Japan have forced a surrender? - Yes, but it would have taken a much longer period of time, at a minimum of several more months, and resulted in enormously greater loss of life to others besides U.S. soldiers. Franks points out that by attacking Japan's railway systems and vital coastal shipping, the U.S. could have easily shut down all food distribution in the country. However, again, because the Japanese warlords did not care about the suffering of the civilian population, it is likely in such a scenario that they would have held out for so long that Japanese deaths from starvation would have easily exceeded the deaths from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Plus there were also the vastly greater numbers of deaths that would have occurred in the countries that had been invaded by Japan, people who would have continued to die under a brutal occupation. There would also have been much greater numbers of deaths amongst Allied POWs. The numbers calculated by Franks are truly staggering, and make clear that atomic bombing to force a surrender was by far the least of all evils in terms of total numbers of dead people. Franks also recounts the massive atrocities committed by the Japanese in WWII. Yep, after you read these sections (the atrocities mentioned included dissecting and drilling holes into the brains of captured, living American airmen, among other niceties), you might also look more favorably upon atomic bombing Japan. Let's face it, this was a war without mercy, and the Japanese, who were merciless in their treatment of their enemies, had no right to expect any. Nevertheless, after the surrender, Japan did receive mercy, in the form of massive shipments of food from America to their starving civilians.

5. Wouldn't a negotiated surrender, as demanded by the military warlords, have been preferable to atomic bombing? No, first and foremost, up until the atomic bombings, the Japanese militarist faction simply refused to consider surrender under any conditions. They wanted an invasion and a chance at redemption of national honor with their Ketsu-Go operation. The peace faction's best efforts consisted of delusional hopes that Russia could somehow broker a negotiated settlement. Even AFTER both atomic bombs had been dropped, and Russia had declared war on Japan, the militarist faction continued to hold out briefly for a negotiated surrender with three additional terms besides maintenance of the emperor (which the peace faction also wanted): a short occupation by a minimal force, demobilization of Japanese troops by Japanese officers, and trying of war criminals by Japanese courts (Franks does not mention these details in his book - they are contained in another book "The Day Man Lost Hiroshima"). Acceptance of such conditions would have resulted in only a temporary cease-fire, much like the treaty of Versailles had been for WWI. It would not have removed the basic root causes that led Japan to attack East Asia and America - the institutions and ideology of an intensely nationalistic and fanatic military elite that put national honor and pride above everything else, including common sense. This bitter lesson from WWI, that the military elites and institutions of Germany and Japan needed to be completely eradicated in order to ensure lasting peace with those nations, was what caused Roosevelt to demand unconditional surrender. Roosevelt did not want the sacrifice of the lives of so many soldiers to be in vain, as it had been for WWI.

In summary, people critical of the atomic bombing of Japan simply fail to grasp just how difficult it was at that time for the U.S. and the peace faction in Japan to force an increasingly delusional military elite that was fanatically committed to national honor and pride to give up all of their institutions of power without first completely immolating their country. Read this book, read it carefully, and you WILL understand.

The Definitive Account!.......2007-01-21

With regards to the dropping of the atomic bombs, this is the finest book I have ever read. Frank uncovers new evidence to illustrate that initial casualty figures given to Truman were based on a handful of Japanese defenders on the island of Kyushu. In reality, there were twice the amount of defenders willing to die for their emperor. Thus, Frank proves, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the bombs WERE needed in order to save THOUSANDS of American lives. Additionally, he proves with great clarity that the decision to drop the bombs ultimately saved thousands of Japanese lives as well. With this wonderfully well-researched piece of scholarship, Frank destroys Gar Alperovitz's arguement that Truman dropped the bombs in order to quell the emerging threat of Soviet communism. A must-read for anyone seriously researching the decision to drop the atomic bombs!!

Not as impressed as other reviewers.......2006-12-14

This is a mediocre summary of the rise of Japan and the American response during world war 2. The description of the war is not very well written but some new perspectives were added that were not available in other texts. While some of the thoughts are very inspiring the writing was not good enough to hold my interest and it was a struggle at times to get through the whole book.

Excellent, but misses the whole point.......2006-10-21

The issue is not whether Japan was about to surrender,
yet the US, for reasons of its own, opted to use the bombs.

Nor is the issue whether Japan, wanting to or not,
would - no matter what - have had to surrender within a few months,
if only the US had opted to blockade, not invade,
the home islands.

For a host of reasons I agree the bombs had to be used
for the simple reason we had to effect a surrender as soon as possible.

The real issue is whether the US needed / should have used those bombs,
without warning, on two large civilian targets (Give me a break,
if Hiroshima or Nagasaki were in any way military targets,
then every place in Japan was also).

Why was not the first bomb instead dropped into Tokyo harbor?
Or used just to knock the top off of Mt. Fuji?

Many, many fewer casualties, yet providing every bit as much shock and awe.

I think the second bomb would nonetheless had to have been dropped
on a city, if only to make the Japanese realize the Allies meant business.

But even then, a warning could / should have been broadcast
to all six or so possible target cities, saying "Leave at once or be incinerated"
because a bomb like that just used will be dropped.

Scholars need to stop attacking straw men,
and start addressing the real issues.

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