Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille De Polignac and the American Civil War (Texas a & M University Military History Series)

Customer Reviews:

IF YOU ENJOY CIVIL WAR BIOGRAPHIES "READ THIS"!.......2001-05-31

This is one of the most well written Bio's i have ever read! it kept me riveted to my hammock! I would highly recommend it!!

Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History

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Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
William Arceneaux
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008FSAYK
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on November 1, 2002. The length of the article is 787 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: Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War.(Book Review)
Author: William Arceneaux
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2002
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 68 Issue: 4 Page: 970(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War.(Book Review): An article from: The Historian

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Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War.(Book Review): An article from: The Historian
William R. Snell
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000B9DQY2
Release Date: 2005-09-03

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Historian, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2003. The length of the article is 525 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: Lafayette of the South: Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War.(Book Review)
Author: William R. Snell
Publication: The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2003
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Page: 725(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Book based on a fallacie,.......2006-08-19

This book and others like are based on unproven myths and fallacies that were popular in the nineties. Just like this other lie called facilitation. The truth is that traumatic memories are remembered, not forgotten or repressed. If it happens it is extremely rare.

Trouble is, once you start believing something happened, it stays with you like a real memory.

Please, do not believe the assumption these books are based on.

Life Saver.......2005-06-05

Upon reading this book I was finally able to realize the flashbacks and images that have been haunting me for years.Every turn of the page was another window into my thoughts and emotions offering insight and relief. I was able to piece my feelings together like a puzzle and use that to change my life. This book helped me realize many of the problems I am having and offered me solutions of how to deal with them. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with issues from their past. I can guaruntee that if it helped me it can help many others!

Debatable.......2005-04-28

Although this book is very readable and has some reasonable information, the impression it gives is disputed by most psychological researchers. Repressed memories are very rare, and checklists to determine whether sexual abuse has occured are not valid.

The American Psychological Association (http://www.apa.org/pubinfo/mem.html) says, "The issue of repressed or suggested memories has been overreported and sensationalized by the news media. Media and entertainment portrayals of the memory issue have succeeded in presenting the least likely scenario (that of a total amnesia of a childhood event) as the most likely occurrence. The reality is that most people who are victims of childhood sexual abuse remember all or part of what happened to them...there is no single set of symptoms which automatically indicates that a person was a victim of childhood abuse. There have been media reports of therapists who state that people (particularly women) with a particular set of problems or symptoms must have been victims of childhood sexual abuse. There is no scientific evidence that supports this conclusion."

Still the Best Intro to the Topic of Repressed Memories.......2004-05-25

This book is a classic for a reason: it includes the basic psychological outlines of the workings of repressed memories, along with case histories demonstrating various symptoms and after-effects of sexual abuse. It also clearly explains various techniques for aiding memory retrieval, and gives an overview of healing processes. Erickson writes from much experience and compassion as well as knowledge of abuse; she was truly a pioneer in this field.

Along with "Courage to Heal," this book is a must-read for those new to recognition of repressed memories and the journey toward healing. It is both honest and hopeful. I also recently read the most lucid dramatic account of going through the process of recognition of repressed memories: "Yesterday's Warrior" by Heather Harrison. "I Never Told Anyone" is also a great collection of true short stories by women survivors.

I've read alot of survivor books, but for anyone just starting out, Erickson's "Repressed Memories" is probably THE book.

Finally, I have hope!.......2003-12-07

This is a great book! I read it in a day and for the first time in a really long time I do not think I am crazy and have hope that I can recover my childhood memories and deal with the nightmares. Her checklists are great, the way she chronicles the story of Sarah is amazing and gives me soooooo much hope for myself. Also, the flow of the book is excellent and there's not alot of academic writing/jargon. Thank you Renee for writing this book - I wish I had found this sooner!!!

Repressed Memories: A Journey To Recovery From Sexual Abuse

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Repressed Memories: A Journey To Recovery From Sexual Abuse
Renee, Ph.D.;b97 Frederickson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Abuse | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000JRBGU2

Average customer rating:

A "must" for anyone who enjoys mixing their own drinks

173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails

"A Book Of History And Of Longing"

173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails : Potations So Good They Scandalized A President
Tom Bullock , and D. J. Frienz
Manufacturer: Howling at the Moon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bartending | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Spirits | Drinks & Beverages | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
History | Gastronomy | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris

The Savoy Cocktail Book

ASIN: 0965433323

Book Description

173 Cocktail Recipes from before America's Prohibition Era including numerous absinthe, champagne cocktail, julep, pousse, cobbler, and punch recipes. Book includes a resource page for ordering ingredients, 20 fun facts and stories about drink in history (George Washington's favorite drink, why Ben Franklin "flipped," how Winston Churchill's mother inspired a New York bartender to create the Manhattan, a 1913 scandal of the "I didn't inhale" variety involving Teddy Roosevelt, and over 40 turn-of-the-20th-Century beverage-related advertisements, illustrations, railroad beverage menus, and quotes. Introduction by George Herbert Walker (grandfather of former President George Herbert Walker and great-grandfather of current President George Walker Bush).

Customer Reviews:

A "must" for anyone who enjoys mixing their own drinks.......2001-08-11

The only beverage book that includes lost and almost-lost cocktail recipes from before 1920, 173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails: Potations So Good They Scandalized A President is an amazing glimpse into the history of liquor in America, as well as a collection of so many different drink preparations that even the most gregarious connoisseur is certain to find something new and especially intoxicating. In addition to the drink mixes themselves, this book also memorializes the life and times of the recipes' original author, Tom Bullock (1872-1964), the first African-American to write a drink book. Present-day co-author D. J. Frienz has added over 40 illustrations, 20 pages of little-known facts about the history of drinking, and suggestions as to where to purchase ingredients that might be hard to come by. 173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails is a "must" for anyone who enjoys mixing their own drinks, or is searching for a new taste in their cocktail glass.

173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails.......2001-06-22

Includes 7 absinthe recipes and a handy reference guide for ordering it over the internet. Just what I needed after seeing Moulin Rouge!

"A Book Of History And Of Longing".......2001-03-01

"Like a great civilization, the cocktail flourished, went out of fashion, and faded. These are recipes from the great exodus." says Mark Brown, Food Writer at The Tulsa World. "You never really miss something," says Tom Rush, bartender,"until you don't have it." "D. J. Frienz found Rufus Estes in her mother's kitchen. But to find Tom Bullock, she had to go online. There was just something about Estes' 1911 cookbook. Gravy-splattered and grease-spotted, it told a story that Frienz couldn't let die. In 1999, she published "Good Things To Eat As Suggested By Rufus" so it wouldn't. . . . . This time, it's Bullock and his 1917 recipes from 'The Ideal Bartender.' It's a remarkable collection of cocktail recipes from a remarkable, if mysterious, barman. Up to and perhaps beyond Prohibition, Bullock mixed drinks at the St. Louis Country Club and the Pendennis Club of Louisville and was quite revered for it." "Behind the bar at the St. Louis Country Club, Bullock shook cocktails for such drinkers as Teddy Roosevelt and George Herbert Walker. Sound familiar? His great-grandson is your new president." . . . . Frienz' "concoction is '173 Pre-Prohibition Cocktails." As with Estes, she's taken Bullock's original text and shaken it up with anecdotes, quotes, sources and all sorts of imagery from the cocktail's primevil period. It's a longing for the classics that inspired her." "I love things that last," Frienz said, "things that are deep and have meaning. A perfect cocktail is a beautiful thing." . . . . . "Somewhere in St. Louis, his [Tom Bullock's] old house still stands. Like the cocktail of pre-Prohibition America, it's all but condemned."

Average customer rating:
Backyard Songbirds - An Illustrated Guide To 100 Familiar Species Of North America
Marcus Schneck
Manufacturer: Crescent Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NK8QAS

Average customer rating:
Backyard Songbirds: An Illustrated Guide to 100 Familiar Species of North America
Marcus Schneck
Manufacturer: New Line Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1597641103

Average customer rating:

Hobson's Choice

Disappointed

Fine for novices and those who don't mind the "homemade" look

Lots of good ideas, some seem difficult to execute

Not for the non-sewer

Jan Saunders' Wardrobe Quick-Fixes (Star Wear S)
Jan Saunders , and Janice Saunders Maresh
Manufacturer: Chilton Book Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fashion | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Sewing | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Household Hints | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Easy, Easier, Easiest Tailoring

Sewing 911: Practical and Creative Rescues for Sewing Emergencies

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Rip It!: How to Deconstruct and Reconstruct the Clothes of Your Dreams

Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0801983916

Amazon.com

If it's broken, fix it! Instead of making do with the broken zippers and worn elastic, the little spots and stains and holes, the too tight/too loose/too short/too long, learn how to alter, repair, restyle, and embellish all your wardrobe outcasts. Filled with hundreds of easy remedies and timesaving strategies, supported by lots of helpful line art, this book can save you loads of money by helping you get those clothes out of the back of the closet and make them wearable once again--and sometimes they'll look even better than before. --Amy Handy

Customer Reviews:

Hobson's Choice.......2007-01-23

I checked this book out from the library, and I'm planning to purchase it, despite its many flaws. Why? Because there doesn't seem to be anything else out there on this topic (Publishers: take note). I'm giving it 4 stars, because I can't find anything else to compare it to. Incredibly, with the plethora of new books on knitting and even the healthy number of books on altering t-shirts for skinny young hipsters, there just aren't any real books for the average sewer who wants to make her purchased clothes fit better. The drawbacks to this book have been cited by other reviewers: very outdated styles, ugly kitchey illustrations, and the whole Christmas Sweatshirt Mom aesthetic - very depressing. But to its credit, it gives instructions on making your clothes bigger or smaller and offers encouragement to at least try, and not just accept the clothing industry's cookie-cutter ideology. We're not all built the same. Our clothes don't have to be, either.

Disappointed.......2006-08-22

Most of the ideas in this book just seemed so silly. I am a petite woman who has a hard time finding clothes that fit, even when wearing petites. The little cartoon drawings made it even worse. This was a big waste of my money. Given the other reviews, I thought this would be a good alterations guide. I sure was wrong there! I wish I could find a book on alterations for petite women who want to look professional.

Fine for novices and those who don't mind the "homemade" look.......2006-05-05

As an experienced sewer and someone who has to alter nearly every item of clothing I purchase, I was really looking forward to getting this book, based on the reviews. However, this book is a joke. It offers very little in the way of TRUE altering--ideas like "Make an elastic band to hold too-long sleeves up around your elbows" does NOT qualify as good technical advice, in my humble opinion. The "fashions" (if you can call them that) recommended in this book are grossly outdated (I suspect they were already passe even in 1995 when the book was printed), and they all have a grossly home-fashioned look to them. If you are really into baubles, embellishments, and that frumpy "mom made it" look, buy this book. If you are looking for a good guide to TRUE altering, spend your money elsewhere. My new copy is getting donated to the library.

Lots of good ideas, some seem difficult to execute.......2005-05-28

I bought this book with the idea of trying to alter ready-to-wear clothes so they fit better---I wanted to find a book that included basic techniques (hemming jeans/pants, making long sleeve shirts into short sleeve shirts, etc.) as well as more advanced ones (altering suit jackets to fit better, adding darts to shirts, skirts). I'm not sure if other such books exist (most other alterations/tailoring books explain how to alter/fit patterns when you're sewing a piece of clothing from scratch, not when altering an already-made piece of clothing) but I would be curious to if there are any others that people would recommend. I've seen that there is a book called 'Altering Women's Ready-To-Wear' by Mary Roehr (seems relevant) but don't know anything about it.

I haven't used any of the techniques from this book but have tried other similar techniques that I found online (hemming jeans without having to topstitch a straight line, reconstructing t-shirts into more fitted/flattering shirts (halters, camisoles, etc.) or into other types of clothing (skirts, dresses)).

This book seems to give useful ideas, some of which I plan to try (for example, removing a zipper stop and putting a zipper back on track; sewing side pockets closed on skirts/dress pants; etc.). Some of the techniques seem interesting (making things tighter or looser) but are beyond my level of sewing (advanced beginner). I would agree with the previous reviewer that for the most part, the book is much more useful to someone who sews a little at least---there aren't that many no-sew techniques included. The book is somewhat dated (for example, it tells you how to adjust/make longer elastic stirrups for your stirrup pants) but you can apply many of the principles to modern day clothing. The other complaint that I have with the book is the organization of the text/diagrams---the book is structured so that there are 4 columns across two pages---the center columns contain text, and the outer columns contain diagrams that relate to the text. I would prefer the blocks of text and corresponding diagrams to be grouped together on the page, not in a columnar format. Also, this would allow for more white space---the book feels very crammed/tightly packed and would be easier to follow with more space.

This being said, this book contains numerous useful ideas that I haven't been able to otherwise find grouped together in a book like this, so I'm glad that I bought it and would recommend it to others.

Not for the non-sewer.......2005-04-19

I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I read reviews that made me think that as a non-sewer, somehow this book could tell me how to do quick and easy repairs. The only use it has to me is that it might give me some ideas for repairs to request from a seamstress. There were no definitions for the neophyte. For example, there were repeated references to "serging" which, I guess, is something kind of like sewing, but different. I do think it is an excellent book for someone that already knows how to sew and wants some ideas on how to do repairs that will improve the fit of garments. I am sorry I bought the book as it is useless to me, and I am selling it.

Wardrobe Quick-Fixes, How to lengthen/shorten, loosen/tighten, update, embellish, repair and More

Average customer rating:

Wardrobe Quick-Fixes, How to lengthen/shorten, loosen/tighten, update, embellish, repair and More
Jan Saunders
Manufacturer: Chilton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NDBE40

Book Description

"A survival guide to healthy living- indispensable advice for women of all ages."
-James F. Balch, M.D.,
coauthor of Prescription for Natural Healing

Menopause brings a multitude of changes for women. It's a time when you need to prepare your body for a hormonal roller coaster ride and protect yourself against various health risks-that means making positive, healthy lifestyle decisions.

In this book, leading nutritionist Leslie Beck explains how you can success-fully manage the myriad symptoms of menopause through nutrition and develop a long-term plan for optimal health. Whether you are peri- or post-menopausal, Beck can help you make smart changes to your diet, add the right vitamin and mineral supplements to your daily routine, and choose the most appropriate herbal remedies for your symptoms.

Based on cutting-edge research, this essential, easy-to-read guide explains how you can lose weight or prevent the weight gain that is often associated with aging or hormone replacement therapy. You'll discover how to reduce your risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, and other serious health problems. Whether you're taking hormones or not, you'll see what steps to take to make the best decisions for your lifestyle.

Most important, you'll learn how to stay healthy and feel better-naturally-during menopause.

Topics include:

Anxiety
Breast cancer
Depression
Forgetfulness
Heart disease
Heavy periods
Hormone replacement therapy
Hot flashes
Insomnia
Menstrual cycle changes
Mood swings
Night sweats
Osteoporosis
Perimenopause
Sexual changes
Weight gain
Vaginal dryness

Download Description

A natural, healthier way to deal with the symptoms of menopause

Women are increasingly looking for healthful ways to deal with the changes that menopause brings. In this timely book, one of Canada's leading nutritionists explains how to manage the many symptoms of menopause through nutrition. Based on cutting-edge research, this essential guide will help women ease the symptoms of perimenopause, including hot flashes, mood swings, insomnia, and sexual changes. They will also discover how to lose weight or prevent weight gain often associated with lifestyle habits, advancing age, or hormone replacement therapy, as well as reduce the risk of diseases such as breast cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease.

Amazon.com

The ways in which this sparkling, unexpected anthology will be classified in libraries and bookstores--lesbian studies; classical studies--will strike anyone who reads it as absurd. A sweeping look at the persistence of the Greek poet Sappho in the artistic and popular imagination, The Sappho Companion draws on everything from the Roman myths of Sappho to the eighteenth century rediscovery of Herculaneum, with its intriguing papyrus fragments, to Pat Califia's 1980 lesbian S/M book, Sapphistry: The Book of Lesbian Sexuality (out of print). The only book that compares to The Sappho Companion in its breadth and imaginative vigor is Charles Sprawson's lyrical book on swimming, Haunts of the Black Masseur: The Swimmer as Hero, in which the swan-diving Sappho makes an appearance. You don't need to know a thing about Sappho to relish this book, but for true enthusiasts, it makes a good companion volume for Yopie Prins's Victorian Sappho, Paige DuBois's Sappho is Burning, and Anne Carson's brilliant meditation, Eros: The Bittersweet. --Regina Marler

Book Description

Born around 630 BC on the Greek Island of Lesbos, Sappho is now regarded as the greatest lyrical poet of Greece. Her work survives only in fragments, yet her influence extends throughout Western literature, fuelled by the speculations and romances which have gathered around her name, her story, her sexuality. The Sappho Companion brings together many different kinds of work, ranging from blue-stocking appreciations to juicy fantasies. We see her image change, recreated in Ovid's poetry and Boccaccio's tales, in translations by Pope, Rossetti and Swinburne, Baudelaire, and H.D., in the modern versions of Eavan Boland, Carol Rumens, and Jeanette Winterson. Artists, too, have felt Sappho's power, and the, Companion contains a rich variety of illustrations: classical statues and pre-Raphaelite paintings, Roman mosaics, and Romantic pornography.

Customer Reviews:

NOT yawn!.......2003-02-12

I don't know what the previous reviewer is talking about; I loved this book. Granted, I am no scholar of Sappho. Although I have read various translations of her poetry in the past, I do not read Greek and cannot comment upon whether Reynolds' research is accurate. However, given her amazing previous work (editing Aurora Leigh, the Penguin Book of Lesbian Short Stories, etc.) I am inclined to trust her (and I like her writing style anyway).

For me, this book was the perfect introduction to Sappho. It includes historical background followed by many of Sappho's fragments in a variety of translations. But that's just the beginning: Reynolds goes on to show how Sappho has been imagined/created by literature up to the present day. She anthologizes a variety of poems, plays, and fictions inspired by Sappho. It is amazing to see how, though so little of her writing survived, she has remained a titaness in our imaginations. Each literary generation has reinvented and recreated her. Reading Jeanette Winterson's amazing story "The Poetics of Sex" (narrated by a modern-day Sappho) fills me with hope and joy at the potential for lesbian creativity that is Sappho's legacy. I also appreciated the inclusion of works of art depicting Sappho through the ages. Although they are in black and white, they are an exquisite visual touch to this beautiful volume (the cover art is amazing as well).

I urge you not to judge this book by one bad review. It is a book to be perused at leisure, to leaf through in times of anxious sorrow and contemplative joy. Buy or borrow a copy and judge it for yourself.

Yawn.......2002-10-01

I don't know for whom this book may have been written. For the Sapphophile, there are certainly more exhaustive and interesting books, some are which are noted in the bibliography at the end. Furthermore, for all the treacly editorial reviews about Ms. Reynolds's scholarly resources (which are certainly evident), she abuses them time and time again in two ways, one merely bothersome, and the other approaching dishonesty. 1.)She frequently truncates the passages from other authors just when they begin to get interesting. 2) She frequently selects works of literature, particularly poems, that may or may not have anything to do with Sappho and offers no solid evidence that they do. They are, I guess, Sapphic by association. Reynolds's association. The two most obvious examples are Shelley's "To Constantia, Singing" and Emily Dicknson's ""Heaven"- Is What I Cannot Reach!" To take the latter as a case in point, the poem is supposed to be Sapphic because of a three line Sappho fragment (#105) about an apple on the topmost bough. Need I remind everyone that there was another apple on a bough in another book that has a far more rich cultural history. And given that Dickinson's poem concerns "Heaven" and "Paradise," it seems a stretch, so to speak, to see the poem as influenced by the Sapphic fragment. Truth be known, I spent many more hours meditating on Ms. Dickinson's exquisite 15 line poem than I did in reading the rest of the entire hodgepodge of this book, though I plodded through from srart to finish.
So, my advice is to buy a book of Ms. Dickinson's poems or a more intriguing and honest study of Sappho. This book is just a non-starter.

Average customer rating:

The Sappho Companion
Margaret Reynolds
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OCQBJ8

Average customer rating:

The Sappho Companion
Margaret (edited by) Reynolds
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHE7MG

Average customer rating:

The Sappho Companion
Margaret (Editor) Reynolds
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTLGTG

Average customer rating:

The ultimate tribal chief

To know Arafat

Bad book about a bad man

Very well researched

ok

Arafat: From Defender to Dictator
Said K. Aburish
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: B0000DK4HL

Book Description

In this meticulously researched and iconoclastic work, the internationally respected Palestinian analyst and writer Said K. Aburish turns the current Western perception of Arafat upside-down and presents a re-examination of the leader's life. Judged by how the West now views him, Arafat has undergone one of the fastest transformations of any public figure in recorded history. In a mere four years he has moved from rejected terrorist to Nobel Peace Prize winner and respected international statesman. As a son of Palestine himself, Aburish questions the leader's methods, motives and effectiveness. As well, he addresses the mysteries of Arafat's public and personal life and speculates about the future leadership of the Palestinians.

Customer Reviews:

The ultimate tribal chief.......2006-02-17

A political biography of a man who became the most recognizable figure of the 20th century. Anything pertaining to his private life is only mentioned so long as it has direct bearing on his behavior as a politician.

A harsh yet compassionate portrayal of Arafat, a man who came to embody the essence of Palestinianness, as much for the rest of the world as for the Palestinians themselves. A restless man, with an inherent need to be involved in politics, to become a leader rather, a need that found expression in the search for a Palestinian identity, and a need that found justification for its existence in the quiet plea of the Palestinian people for a father figure, a guiding light, someone to drag them out of oblivion, lift their spirits and give them a sense of purpose.

Convincing, fearless, charming, uncompromising, intensive, delicate, full of ideas and energy, elusive, manipulative, impulsive, stubborn, totally unorganized, are only some of the adjectives and expressions Abu Rish uses to describe Arafat, who felt more at home commanding and subordinating than leading in anything that required any sort of direction.

The symbol of Palestinian resistance, of a country and its people, he has to be credited with single-handedly succeeding in drawing attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. On the downside, his talents were not sufficient to adapt to opportunities, whenever these presented themselves, he had no understanding of modern economics and instead adhered to a tribal system of giving and receiving, he was essentially uneducated and unable to grasp the essence of International politics, in other words make calculated decisions and formulate strategies based on accurate evaluations of and within a contemporary political environment. Matters were further aggravated by his insecurity and obstinate insistence on being the center of attention, which meant he excluded from his entourage people who were of any real worth and could offer valuable and informed advice.

A detailed and revealing biography of a tribal chief. An outstanding tribal chief maybe, but one who, as such, stood no chance of surviving in the current political arena.

To know Arafat.......2005-09-05

Being a palestnian, I thought that I whitnessed, heard and read enough about Arafat. I never thought that I need to read his biography. This book proved me wrong.

The author has well researched this book, and have tackled all the stories and myths that surrounded Arafat.

I enjoyed the first chapters of the book, about Arafat early life, which was very informative.

However I expected more from the author specially in discussing the episodes of Jordan and Lebanon, because it has affected Arafat's and PLO's policies towards Arabs, Israel, peace and armed struggle.

The book lost a point because of the chapters discussing Oslo. While in these chapters the writer cites many examples about Arafat turning to a dictator, nothing really changed in Arafat. He was a defender and dictator at the same time from his early days. The only difference is that Arafat adopted unpopular policies which made him more open to criticism.

This book stops at 1997. I would be interested to see the author writing about the remaining period of Arafat's life between 1997 and 2004 in a future edition of this book.

Great effort, and recommended read.

Bad book about a bad man.......2004-11-11

Said Aburish downplays much of the evil of Yasir Arafat.

At his core, Arafat is a terrorists and a murderer. Arafat hates not only Israel, but the west.

Even if you are not pro-Israel, what people don't realize is that Yasir Arafat was killing American's way back in the 1960's and 1970's.

He was responsible for the killing if US Ambassador Cleo Noel Jr. in 1973.

Very well researched.......2004-09-24

Even though an interview with Arafat in which he could have offered some justifications to counter Aburish's accusations, the book still managed to safely sail to the shore of objectivity.
With or without Arafat, the amount of information acquired from his aides and from news reports makes the book fairly credible.
The book revolved around two main themes: First, Arafat has always put his leadership concerns over all other matters including vital Palestinian interests. Second, the Israelis never intended to recognize the Palestinian leadership as the representative of the Arabs residing in the occupied territories. Instead, it opted for trying to deal with the Jordanian leadership as the representative of these Palestinians and using a policy of an iron fist with them.
An articulate Aburish argues that the peace process was born dead for three main reasons. Arafat's tribal behavior and corruption made him impose his leadership on the Palestinians living in the territories whereas the real leadership was offered by the residents themselves such as Al-Shafi, Ashrawi and Husseini. Second, the Israeli never stopped creating new realities by constantly expanding their settlements in Palestinian territories and errecting new ones, a situation which made the Palestinians always doubtful of the Israeli true intentions toward a durable peace.
While Arafat believed that some Israeli concessions would beef up his leadership after he was ejected from Beirut in 1982 and lived since then in Tunisian exile, Israel thought that with minimum concessions it could force Arafat to police and supress the Palestinians living under occupation.
The end result (not in the book), was the collapse of the peace process and an increase in violence, which creates a bleak picture of the future of peace and makes both the Palestinians and the Israelis head into oblivion.

ok.......2004-09-24

While I agree with some of the things he says, such as his views on Saddam, I do not think he truely understands the situation that Arafat is in. If Arafat is as corrupt as the author claims, maybe he is, that still does not explain the actions of Sharon. If the jewish state truely wanted peace, the peace plan offered by Barak years ago would have never been taken off the table, it is obvious that isreal wants peace on its terms,which means the land. It wants peace but, also wants the land. Even if Arafat was the most honest leader that still would not have given the palastinian people a truely viable, seperate state, free of constant incurtions from isreali toops. The peace plan of Barak did not address the settlements, which would have given Isreal the excuse to keep its toops in the Palastinian state. Consider this, would americans have liked the fact that after their revolution, the British were able to keep their toops in their cities, I think not

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