A Revision of the Genus Mapania

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair was regarded as something of a maverick in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He broke ranks with the majority of his own Labour Party in England, as well as the prevailing opinion among European leaders, to support George W. Bush's plan to topple Saddam Hussein. But according to veteran British newsman James Naughtie, such a maverick approach is completely in character for Blair, who has a long history of sticking with his convictions even if it puts his own popularity at risk. Curiously, that mindset has actually led to a great deal of popularity for Blair, first among the British people and then among American war supporters who lauded Blair for his consistent support of Bush. Contrary to characterizations of Blair being an advocate of invasion purely for political interests or as a victim of neo-conservative brainwashing, Naughtie presents Blair as a man of genuinely independent thought, convinced of not just the viability but the necessity of using force to bring greater security and freedom to the world. The Accidental American focuses heavily on the hours and days following the 9/11 attacks, detailing the urgency Blair felt reacting to the crisis and along the way providing candid (and newsmaking) glimpses inside the corridors of power, such as Colin Powell's characterization of the Dick Cheney-Donald Rumsfeld-Paul Wolfowitz group as "f---ing crazies." While Naughtie interviewed Blair for the book and explains Blair's beliefs and motivations in tremendous detail, the Prime Minister is never laid bare, remaining intriguingly enigmatic throughout. Still, The Accidental American is a valuable look at one of the more fascinating and important figures in modern global politics. --John Moe

Book Description

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is the most popular foreign leader in the United States, and one whose support for America has made him widely reviled at home. Why did Blair become such an object of fascination here? What are Democrats to make of their old friend's attachment to Bush? In a Europe profoundly skeptical about a new American imperialism, why did Blair decide to face resolutely west across the Atlantic?

To James Naughtie, a renowned British journalist with unparalleled knowledge of Blair and a deep understanding of American politics, the story of our love affair with Blair provides a fascinating mirror on the troubles facing Western democracies, and on America itself. In The Accidental American, the first book about Blair written specifically for American readers, he explores how a politician swept to power by a party once avowedly socialist came to make common cause with American neo-conservatives; and became the gatekeeper between America and Western Europe.

Though Blair has been feted by Congress and is beloved by the White House, his real beliefs about America remain almost unknown. Naughtie has watched Blair close-up for many years and has many contacts inside his circle of friends and advisors. In the tumult of a presidential election year, this book provides a revelatory portrait of a master politician and revelatory insights into the politics and character of our own country.

Customer Reviews:

Why the "special relationship" didn't work for Blair.......2005-03-07

This book represents a great achievement in explaining what drove the seemingly strange pairing of a UK Labour prime minister and a US Republican President on a venture that hardly any other major political leader in the world supported, being the war on terror post 9/11 which ultimately led to the invasion of Iraq and its ongoing occupation at great cost to the occupiers and the Iraqi people.

The writer is a UK political correspondent with great experience of the Labour Party (he has written the best account to date on the Blair relationship with Gordon Brown, whose unwillingness to remain Number Two features to the end of this book) and the US and while he covers the US aspects very well his real story is on the road that led Blair to a policy that few in his party really supported and has since cost him dear in public perceptions of his leadership.

After a rather unfocussed start (where the story seems to be continually jumping around in time) it settles down into an incisive chronological analysis of how Blair having reached his agreement with Brown to be leader then became prime minister without any prior government office experience and with an unassailable parliamentary majority started to develop links with Clinton which then had to be replaced with Bush after his slim victory over Gore.

That both have developed such a strong personal bond despite very different backgrounds and world views is skilfully explained in the context of Bush badly needing Blair to have international credibility for his very US neo-conservative driven strategy and Blair having taken a very personal decision with little input from his Cabinet in seeking a great international issue to grasp. The book gives a very good feel for the inner workings of Blair's "presidential" style of government especially in Cabinet that led to this being so easily done and which Naughtie demonstrates led to Bush underestimating how far Blair had gone out on a limb and was then exposed to UK parliamentary revolt against that decision.

Naughtie includes lots of personal off record comments that flesh out how the end result was Bush and his Executive conceding little to their end gameplan (the book should kill any remaining views of the UK ever being likely to benefit from the much touted "special relationship" unless US and UK interests are aligned on an issue) and Blair having made a personal commitment based on his early views of Islamic revolutionaries then being moulded post 9/11 into a intransigent loner who trusted his instincts and not the counsel of his colleagues and advisers plus other political leaders. The book is worth buying just for the chapter on the failings of the various Intelligence Services and how in the UK their role was to try and provide evidence and justification for a decision which Blair had already made and in which they failed him plus fooled themselves into not providing the clarity that may have stalled (if not stopped) him.

A very unique book with one of the best book covers I have seen in years!

Bush is his Co-Pilot: Blair, Bush and the Iraq War.......2005-01-05

The political behavior of British Prime Minister Tony Blair is something of an enigma - why does he support the American president, so despised in the UK, at great harm to his popularity? Why did he back Bush into the war in Iraq, ostensibly in quest of weapons of mass destructions, even though the UN inspectors urged for more time?

As Blair followed George W. Bush, his popularity in the UK plummeted, his party is in something close to an open revolt, and his standing in Europe has deteriorated. And for all his trouble, it appears that Blair got precious little in return from the American administration. As French President Jacques Chirac recently put it "I am not sure that it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favors systematically."

British journalist James Naughtie, author of another acclaimed book about Tony Blair (the Rivals, about the relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown), tries to answer these questions precisely. His answer is that Blair is a true believer; he believes that the 9/11 has been a wake up call for the world. "I could see this Islamic Extremism... bring about a very dangerous conjunction of terrorism and states that are utterly unstable and repressive" (quoted on p. 203). These views of Blair's antedated 9/11. They were the impetus for his promotion of the Kosovo war. Already in the late 1990s, Blair saw a new international order rising, one based on the struggle against evil. The terrorist threat required a whole new political philosophy:

"Before September 11th the world's view of the justification of military action had been changing. The only clear case in international relations for armed intervention had been self-defence, response to aggression. But the notion of intervening on humanitarian grounds had been gaining currency" But after 9/11, "What had seemed inchoate came together." The need for security required preemptive action. Countries which suppressed freedom, harbored terrorists or had weapons of mass destruction had to be dealt with. In effect, Blair agreed with Condoleezza Rice's claim that "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud".

So is the Labour PM really in accord with Bush, Cheyney and Rumsfeld? In Naughtie's thorough discussion, it is not so simple. There is a great difference between Bush and Blair. Naughtie quotes Blair as saying "I never quite understand what people mean by that neocon thing" (p.71)

That may be the key to explain the great divide between Blair and the Bush administration. Blair may not be aware of the gap, or of its enormity. The Prime Minster believes in the importance of democracy. For him, the military action against Iraq or El Qaeda is only a part of a greater attempt to create international security and peace. "You cannot deal with terrorism security as simply a security issue. You also have to deal with the more compassionate side of the issue... the poverty, the lack of interfaith understanding. All these things need to be part of the agenda." Although Bush and his administration may pay lip service to these ideals, for them internationalism and real international cooperation are anathema. They cannot possibly support them.

In my view, Blair's partnership with Bush committed him to the Bush administration's incompetent, corrupt and extremist policies. Naughtie seems to think that Blair's support was essential or at least important, to Bush (see for example p. 203). But I disagree - in the Bush administration, the moderates, as Paul O'Neal observed, act as cover only. Bush would use Blair for all he is worth - but he would concede nothing in return.

I have much sympathy for the ideology Blair advocates, but Bush is no partner for promoting it. Blair's collaboration with the Bush administration not only diminishes his popularity - it also discredits his cause.

Useful account of Blair's links with Bush.......2004-10-24

James Naughtie, the Today presenter, has written a useful account of Blair's links with the USA, particularly with Bush and his colleagues. Naughtie recalls that when he asked Pentagon insider Richard Perle what came next after Afghanistan, Perle replied, "The really important thing is that there is a next."

So, in January 2002, Bush set the timetable for invading Iraq and told Blair. Blair then promised to join Bush's war, secretly changing government policy from peace to war, without telling anybody.

Naughtie writes that the `bloodstream' of the US-British special relationship is the intelligence linkage. Indeed, the USA's intelligence services are the world's biggest and most expensive. Yet all the US intelligence claims about Iraq's WMD - the uranium oxide bought from Niger, the mobile chemical laboratories - have been proven false. US intelligence was so bad that the CIA's head resigned, and his deputy left too.

The Labour government had all these intelligence resources behind them. Yet their notorious government dossier on WMD was largely pilfered from a ten-year-old PhD thesis! So what, exactly, did Britain gain from this so-special relationship and its precious `bloodstream'?

As a result of the illegal invasion of Iraq, there is now an illegal occupation of Iraq. Naughtie quotes a senior Foreign Office man who described the US's occupation policy as `a catastrophe from beginning to end'.

When Naughtie asked Blair if he agreed with the White House lawyer who said that the Geneva Conventions were `quaint', Blair replied, "Of course not. Neither do the Americans." Typically, Blair was denying the evidence just put in front of him.

Labour's war (for the Labour Party could have stopped it, but didn't even try) has weakened all that it holds dear. The link with the USA is in danger, the EU split, NATO divided, the Labour Party eviscerated, and Parliament, the Foreign Office and the intelligence services all discredited. But worse, Labour's war has made Israel increase its killings, thrown the Middle East into chaos, worsened the risks of terrorism to Britain and elsewhere, and added the danger of endless wars in a `clash of civilisations'.

The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency.(Brief Article)(Book Review): An article from: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Average customer rating:

The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency.(Brief Article)(Book Review): An article from: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Manufacturer: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. on March 1, 2005. The length of the article is 316 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
Publication: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2005
Publisher: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
Volume: 61 Issue: 2 Page: 69(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thompson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Fair Beginning.......2001-07-18

As one who has researched the Barker gang (and the later Barker-Karpis gang) for years, I would like to point out, in fairness to author Robert Winter, that this book, dealing with the early years of the gang, is highly accurate. I wish there were source notes and that the author did not choose to be so vague on specific dates because it detracts from the obvious research he has done. Few other authors have written on the careers of the pre-1931 Barkers and their associates and most of what was written in the past is wildly innaccurate. Winter has gotten his facts straight but this will not be readily apparent to the average reader without documentation. Irritating typos also abound. But one wonders why Winter stopped in 1931, just prior to the gang's reaching the big-time. The Barker-Karpis gang was a virtual crime wave in itself, far more professional, dangerous and interesting than even their famous contemporary, John Dillinger--but we've yet to see a good book on them. And this latest amounts to only about the first two chapters...

Mean Men: The Sons of Ma Barker.......2001-07-08

Very poorly written. The author knows a lot about an assortment of criminals but the book does not suit the title. It does not focus on the sons of Ma Barker. It is so poorly written that you find yourself getting lost because the subject jumps around so much. The publisher did a very poor job of editing. The book is so full of glaring typographical errors that it becomes distracting.

A bit of a rip-off!.......2001-05-16

It's disappointing enough when you spend $.... on a book & then notice it has only 144 pages. When you find out later, after reading the book, that the author admits to leaving the story of the Barkers mid-stream, with 4 years of their story untold, then it borders on a rip-off. Improbably, the story ends at it's most interesting stage, when Ma Barker's active role in the family's crimes is just commencing. Strange indeed! On a positive note, the book is well researched & the style of writing has a certain "machine gun" delivery that is quite well suited to the subjects. However, the Barkers appear only as incidental characters amongst a large gang of bungling under-achievers who made their ill-gotten gains more often by breaking & entering small businesses in the middle of the night, rather than the more daring face-to-face crimes. The gang fell foul of the law frequently, usually as a direct result of their own stupidity, shooting their way out of, & often in to, further trouble. The protective mantle that Ma Barker consistently attempted to throw around her odious off-spring is really quite touching. It is also a clear indication that a mother's love is both unfathomable & not something to be taken lightly. Ultimately, it seems that the uncharismatic Barkers are just not able to provide sufficient material to produce a good book. Maybe that's why the author gave up half way!

Mean Men.......2000-06-30

This is a great book that proves history is not dry and boring. The author chronicles the life of the Barker crime family beginning with their early days of wildfires and theivery, to their more notorious crimes like murder. As their mother, Ma Barker, protected the name of her four criminal sons, they developed a niche with a network of crime families and gangs in the heartland of America. Anyone who likes movies about the underworld of crime will love this book about one of our first families.

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The Animals Roadshow
Desmond Morris
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0224025198

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Applique Takes Wing

A book to stretch your techniques

Amazing book for amazing work

Applique takes wing Exquisite Designs for Birds Butterflies and more

super

Applique Takes Wing: Exquisite Designs For Birds, Butterflies And More (That Patchwork Place)
Jane Townswick
Manufacturer: That Patchwork Place
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Applique | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1564775844

Book Description

In this follow-up to her first three books, amazing appliqué artist Jane Townswick shares all-new blocks featuring beautiful birds and butterflies, along with her best techniques for flawless appliqué.

· Sixteen original block patterns offer unique ideas, such as adding iridescent fabrics for sparkle and shine

· Designs include a hummingbird, dragonfly, monarch butterfly, and many more flying creatures

· Techniques reveal Jane's secrets for invisible stitching, no-template leaves, and free-form branches

Customer Reviews:

Applique Takes Wing.......2007-08-28

An excellent book, exquisite designs indeed, easy directions, am excited to start. For those who want to express their artistic side.

A book to stretch your techniques.......2007-02-09

Have you ever said: "I will never do that!" That is just what I said about appliqué. "Oh, it is so beautiful but I will never do that! It is just too involved". OK, so now I have to take back what I said. I have been gathering different instruction books on appliqué techniques and APPLIQUÉ TAKES WING provides new techniques for me to learn.

The book is about some of my favorite subjects: birds, moths, butterflies and dragonflies. It contains six pages of basic hand-appliqué techniques, six pages of special techniques such as those for making flower stems and a page on color blending. There is a 20 page gallery of quilts and wall hangings to peruse over before you choose which one you will start. (Of course, you will make all of them but you have to start somewhere!). The final pages are the how-to's of making the twelve different patterns.--- six birds and six butterflies and moths (the dragonfly falls into this category).

The fabrics used in this book will make me stretch as I have only used 100% cotton up to now. The moths and dragonfly uses metallic sheer and metallic mesh fabric for wings. Each set of instructions for each block has a fabric and supply list followed by the instructions for putting it all together. There are plenty of graphics and photos so you won't get lost. Each block also lists the techniques that are used to create that particular block. The final page contains a resource list as no craft book is complete without this page.

Amazing book for amazing work.......2007-01-05

I think I now have all of Townswick's books. Her design and hand applique work is stunning, and her directions are excellent. A great choice for anyone who wants to take applique to the next level

Applique takes wing Exquisite Designs for Birds Butterflies and more.......2006-11-04

Great book many many great ideas in it am glad i got it

super.......2006-03-24

I really like this book, wonderful applique patterns. I would recommend it to anyone.

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It made me smile, It made me say, "Oh Yes, this is true."

It made me smile, It made me say, "Oh Yes, this is true."

It made me smile, It made me say, "Oh Yes, this is true."

Worthy Family Reading

Raising Faith-Filled Kids: Ordinary Opportunities to Nurture Spirituality at Home
Tom McGrath
Manufacturer: Loyola Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Faith | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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My Monastery Is a Minivan: 35 Stories from a Real Life

Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0829414258

Customer Reviews:

It made me smile, It made me say, "Oh Yes, this is true.".......2002-11-10

Many books about religion and children sound like they're writtrn by monks or mother's with too much time on their hands. Now I have great respect for the religious men and women who have graced my own life but their expertize is not in raising children. On the other hand mothers know a lot about raising children, but if one has the luxury of writing a book while in the midst of parenting, perhaps that family is not too typical. As a mother of four I never had much discretionary time.

My husband and I took our faith seriously and tried our best to share it with our children but it is only in hindsight that I recognize the truth and wisdom that Tom McGrath has taken the time to put on paper so that those of us too busy doing it, can also be intentional about sharing with our dear ones that faith which is so dear to us. Add to that the bonus that McGrath writes with such a refreshing and non-pietisic style that it makes faith come alive and reminds us of our deepest beliefs.

All this would be fine but irrelevant if it just added more time consuming practices to a parent's already busy life. Then we'd have to add guilt and feelings of inadequacy to our list of parenting failures. But McGrath lets us in to the realm of faith sharing gently. He shows us how it's not just about going to church and saying memorized prayers but it's also about how we take the ordinary times and people in our lives and recognize their holiness. It doesn't necessarily take more time, it just takes awareness.

I especially liked the story of how children pick up faith not only from their parents but are helped, sometimes invisibly, by other relatives and friends that surround our families. For example, he tells of how, as a child, an older relative patiently explained to him the stories behind the holy cards that fell out of her prayer book. It put flesh on the sometimes vague concept of the "communion of saints". Raising Faith-Filled Kids goes on to offer numerous other prompts that remind us of how God works through every day family life. It's nice to have a book that invites, gives creative ideas, and encourages but doesn't preach. It's also nice that it was written by a father - not that he had much time either.

It made me smile, It made me say, "Oh Yes, this is true.".......2002-11-10

Worthy Family Reading.......2001-04-29

Mr. McGrath does an excellent job giving parents useful advice in an area not often covered in our culture. Tone is conversational, friendly and comfortable. This book will help you to relate to your children better.

Book Description

One of the art world's most poignant love stories comes to life in this fascinating book.

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