Review of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Since 1900 (Hardcover)

Reviewers who've disparaged this author refuse to accept the objective facts discussed in his book and the inevitable conclusion that arises from these facts: uniquely among great powers, the US and Britain have mostly been a force for good in the world.Simply compare, as the author does, the overall progress and freedom of the American sphere during the Cold War to the terror and privation of the Soviet bloc.Or the fact that the legacy of Britain's Empire is, predominantly, a series of countries with freely-elected parliaments (versus the blood-thirty dictatorships that have taken root in France's ex-colonies).Or recall the genocides comitted over the years by other world powers (Russia, Germany, Japan, China, Turkey, etc.).Unless you're incurably hostile to democracy and capitalism (capitalism being the economic manifestation of democracy), or to the use of military force to defend democracy against fascists (of any stripe or religion), this book will resonate with you.



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Review of The Eurosceptical Reader 2 (Hardcover)

This excellent collection of essays on the EU looks at the economics and the politics of the European Union; it finds the EU to be failing on both counts.
Tony Thirlwall explains why the euro would not bring a stable interest rate to aid our industry, nor would it curb the speculators: a single currency may end speculation within euroland, but it increases capital flows between euroland and everywhere else, threatening the euro's stability and therefore interest rate stability.
Mark Baimbridge, Brian Burkitt and Philip Whyman provide a characteristically sharp study of the European Central Bank. They note that the OECD says that for the industrialised economies, the natural rate of unemployment, below which inflation will accelerate, is 11%. So for the Bank, "the focus of monetary policy becomes to ensure, in practice, that unemployment is sufficiently high to reduce price and wage increases." The present level of unemployment across euroland is 11%, so this must be an EU success story: why aren't we applauding?
They show that Britain is not meeting the five tests. The EU's economies are diverging, as Wim Duisenberg has admitted. We have more economic flexibility than euroland does; investment into Britain is rising, the City of London is flourishing, and unemployment is lower than in euroland.
On the political side, many of the essays prove that the EU wants the euro to lock members forever into the planned EU state. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said, "The introduction of the euro was not only the crowning-point of economic integration, it was also a profoundly political act, because a currency is not just another economic factor but also symbolises the power of the sovereign who guarantees it."
And it would be a most undemocratic state, as even the Euro-fanatic Michael Heseltine admits: "The ... notable characteristic of present political arrangements is that they are about as ineffective and unaccountable as they could be ... the institutions themselves are totally incapable of adjusting to that change. We have federalism by stealth ..." Unaccountable, incorrigible, deceitful - he could be describing himself! No wonder he loves the EU.



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Review of Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy (Hardcover)

I had only heard of the Tulsa race riot of 1921 a few years ago, even though I went to high school in the early 1980s in Bartlesville, OK, 45 miles north of Tulsa (and have driven on the highways that now run through the Greenwood section more times than I can count). I remember the fear that was passed on to me about that section of Tulsa and the dread of facing students from its high school whenever we played them in football, a darker fear than seemed warranted for a city of its size. Now, knowing the history of the race riots and the fears both sides had of sparking another one, I understand why.

Hirsch does an amazing job of piecing together from both "official" and oral history the story of the riot, as well as what led up to it, and the racial climate surrounding the event. While he clearly favors the "black" side of the story, he doesn't give in to the most extreme views, and he does give the "white" views time and space. He also points out the difficult questions of reparations, and why there are no easy answers. Most importantly, "Riot and Remembrance" shows the readers why history can never be neatly tied up and packaged. We will probably never know the details of what happened on the ugly night and day of May 31-June 1, 1921, in Tulsa. We'll never know for sure the death toll, or what exactly was in the hearts of the African-Americans, the "ruffian" white, or the city leaders who coveted the Greenwood land. But at least with Hirsch's book, we have a chance to ponder all sides and draw our own conclusions.

And, by the way, this is one Oklahoman who thinks the state and city SHOULD pay reparations in the form of scholarships and economic development in North Tulsa. I suspect I am in the minority, though!



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Review of The American Presidents: Critical Essays (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities) (Hardcover)

The American Presidents presents a comprehensive collection of highly informative articles analyzing and evaluating the presidential careers of the men who have occupied the office since its inception in 1789 down to the present day. The contributors consider the nature of presidential greatness, examine the ways in which challenges affected presidential greatness, and discuss personal characteristics and presidential performance. Very ably edited by Melvin I. Urofsky, The American Presidents is an essential, core, benchmark reference title for students of American political history, the American presidency, and political science studies.



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Review of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (Hardcover)

Niall Ferguson has written an easily accessible and very entertaining history of finance, ranging from the clay tokens of Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago to the hedge funds of today.The title of this book has apparently been modelled on Jacob Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man,"and like that book it will be made into a television series.Being a television celebrity is not something that wins the admiration of one's peers in the history profession, to say the least.But those little rebukes are relatively mild compared to the scorn he received for his political views in Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power and Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire.In those works he argued that empire was beneficial not only to the mother country but the dominated countries as well.In this work he chronicles not only the history of money but also makes a case for liberalized finance.

Ferguson examines the financial subplot behind some of the major historical powers such as the role of money in ancient Mesopotamia, the denarius in Roman society, and gold and silver in the civilization of the Incas.He is very good in his descriptions of financial families like the Medicis and the Rothchilds, and how they became banking dynasties.Another memorable episode was the rise of Amsterdam as the world's financial center and the center's subsequent shift to London.

History is also filled with financial disasters of which we are well aware today.Ferguson tells the story of John Law and how he became France's head of finance.He engineered a financial bubble that took them several generations to overcome.Making matters worse, it occurred at the same time as the British South Sea Bubble.

Also instructive is the history of the first great globalization (1870-1914).(For this period also read Jeffrey Frieden's Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century.)The world had become so economically interdependent that the pundits believed the possibility of war between great powers had been eliminated.This sentiment was famously expressed in "The Great Illusion" by Norman Angell.

Although this book was written before the current economic crisis, the last chapter is very prescient."From Empire to Chimerica" tells of the symbiotic relationship between China and America.The combined country "accounts for just over a 10th of the world's land surface, a quarter of its population, and a third of its economic output, and more than half of the global economic growth of the last eight years".This relationship, in which China saves and America spends, and in which China's savings is used to enable America to spend even more, is clearly unsustainable.Ferguson sees this savings glut as the cause of the current subprime crisis.That, in my humble opinion, was one of the causes; there were many bad actors involved in this catastrophe, citizen-borrowers included.

Although it is not obvious to everyone in the midst of a crisis,Ferguson correctly points out that financial engineering is one of the great forces behind human progress.The history of finance is a process of creative destruction.Financial risk-taking is necessary for economic expansion and human development, and Ferguson does a good job in making the case.Too bad it reads like a script made for the History Channel.



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Review of Daily Life in Hitler's Germany (Hardcover)

I must agree with with other two reviews of this book about the rather poor text.While it does occasionally bring up an interesting point, a number of its arguments are discredited by a large number of contrasting studies.

That said, what is important are the photographs.Here is the face of Nazi Germany.One of the most frightening pictures was of the young men, students and SA, burning books outside the university in Berlin in May of 1933 (page 94).The expressions of pure predatory joy are typical of ideological "true believers."The thuggish brutality of the SA is brought out in another photo, which at the same time hints at the more subtle evil of the SS (page 90).Pages 47 and 51 give evidence of the deadness, normally seen in revolutionary art, of Nazi high art.An entire chapter is devoted to the Hitler Youth; showing the indoctrination of the young by dressing them the same, having them beat drums, and march chanting political slogans.

Hitler came to power promising to save Germany's middle class, though his base was initially among the prolitariat.In the beginning the laboring class was largely split between left and right.The National Socialists started as a rightist labor union.Attaining power, they outlawed all other unions.While working conditions before the Nazis weren't good,from the pictures, one gets the impression that they slipped even before the Allied bombing campaign.

Buy this book for the pictures and buy "The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town 1922-1945" by William Sheriden Allen (available from Amazon.com) for the text.

Product Description
ritten by historical experts, Daily Life in Hitler's Germany offers a chilling portrayal of the Third Reich to bring Germany's most harrowing era to life. Topics include: -The Nazi indoctrination of children through the Hitler Youth -The subversion of the arts to serve National Socialist ideology -The Nazi obsession with sports as a means of creating a super-fit Aryan race -The role of women in Germany in the 1930s -The fate of those individuals and races who had no place in the Thousand Year Reich. Illustrated with over 270 black and white period photos, Daily Life in Hitler's Germany examines fully how Hitler influ-enced the everyday lives of millions of ordinary Germans.

About the Author
Dr. Matthew Seligmann is an expert on the foreign and colonial policy of Wilhelmine Germany, as well as the origins of World War I. He is the author of Rivalry in Southern Africa 1893-1899: the Transformation of German Colonial Policy, co-author of Germany from Reich to Republic 1871-1918: Politics, Hierarchy and Elites; and co-editor of Leadership in Conflict 1914-1918. He currently lives in Great Britain.

Dr. John McDonald is a former teacher and an expert on twentieth-century European history. He currently lives in Great Britain.

Dr. John Davison is an expert on twentieth-century European history. He currently lives in Great Britain.


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