Book Review: by William Hughes

“Remember Howard’s warlike thrust...” - from “Maryland, My Maryland,” the state’s anthem, by James Ryder Randall

John Eager Howard (1752-1827) was one of Maryland’s finest sons. He was a distinguished infantry officer in the Revolutionary War from the summer of 1776, until 1781. Later, he got involved in politics, serving as governor of Maryland, a state senator, and finally, in the U.S. Senate. When you enter the harbor of Baltimore, his namesake, Fort Howard, now defunct, will be found to the starboard side of your vessel. In addition, one of the major streets in downtown Baltimore City is named for him, as is one of Maryland’s 23 counties. (1) Yet, Howard’s intrepid military exploits haven’t been chronicled in a book, until now.

Thanks to authors, Jim Piecuch and John Beakes, Howard comes alive again in a military biography worthy of such a legend. Its title is: “Cool Deliberate Courage: John Eager Howard in the American Revolution.” Well written and fully documented, the book is 164 pages long. Focused on Howard’s career in the military, the authors, with a wide brush, also retell the story of that war, whose victory by the gallant rebels over the then-mighty British Imperial War Machine helped to establish the Republic.

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Review by A.K. Zaman Dhaka, Bangladesh

It is almost two years since the first edition of The India Doctrine appeared on Bangladesh bookshelves to wide acclaim and appreciation. The newly revised edition now titled The India Doctrine (1947-2007) is an astonishing work of exceptional depth and analysis and is probably the first book of its kind not only in Bangladesh but also in South Asia as a whole. It is indeed a stupendous effort by Barrister MBI Munshi. While I had a few words of criticism for the original version of the book which appeared to me to be fragmentary and a little disjointed this revised edition is an exceptional work and its various parts have been finely consolidated and is also far better written and organized. As the author reminds us, he had almost two years to write this revised edition and it was certainly time well spent as the language and style is now much easier to follow and effortless to comprehend.

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A book review by Gilad Atzmon

Ramzy Baroud’s “My Father Was A Freedom Fighter” is more than a book, it is actually a masterpiece. In an overwhelmingly evoking personal style Baroud manages to bring to light the history of the Palestinian people and their battle with Israel and Zionism. Through the story of the Baroud’s family the book outlines every event in the history of the conflict and reflects on the way it transformed the Palestinian reality.

The book is a heart breaking depressing story of the Baroud family’s journey from paradise to hell. It is a flight that starts in Beit Daras, a small pictorial village in the south of Palestine. It ends in a Gaza refugee camp. It is a tragic journey of a rural self-sufficient population that is driven into total dispossession, humiliation and absolute poverty. And yet, there is a beam of light along the book namely resistance: Ramzy’s father Mohammed, was a freedom fighter. He didn’t win a single war, not even a battle, yet, against all odds, in spite of his poverty and illness, he managed to educate his children and to plant hope in their young souls, to fuel Ramzy with fierceness, which along the years transformed the young man into a monumental inspirational writer and an icon of intellectual resistance.

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DAVID BECOMES GOLIATH
VOLUME TWO of ALAN HART's epic on the Israel/Palestine Conflict

This is the second volume in the series, ZIONISM: The Real Enemy of the Jews, the inside, true story, monumental and moving, of Zionism’s colonial enterprise and the conflict it provoked in and over Palestine that became Israel; a conflict which shows no sign of ending and contains, some fear, the seeds of a doomsday catastrophe for the region and possibly the whole world.

David Becomes Goliath reveals in well-documented detail, starting in 1948, why Zionism’s assertion that Israel has lived in constant danger of annihilation, the “driving into the sea” of its Jews, is propaganda nonsense. The revealed truth is that after Israel unilaterally declared itself to be in existence, the Arab armies did not have the ability - neither the numbers nor the weapons - to defeat Israel’s forces. Despite some stupid Arab rhetoric to the contrary - a propaganda gift which is still a trump card in Zionism’s hands - the Arab regimes had no intention of even trying to destroy the Israel of the vitiated partition plan. After Israel’s victory on the battlefield, the Arab regimes were at one with Zionism and the major powers in wanting the Palestine file to remain closed. There was not supposed to have been a regeneration of Palestinian nationalism. Yasser Arafat’s real crime was making it happen.

Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, Vol. 2: David Becomes Goliath
978-0-932863-66-9 345 pp. $21.95 2009
see below for SYNOPSIS, REVIEWS, AUTHOR, TABLE OF CONTENTS

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By Dr. James J. Brittain, Foreword by Dr. James Petras

This book presents an insider's account of Columbia's internal conflict. At the forefront are the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP).

Although they are one of the most powerful military forces in Latin American history, little is known about the FARC-EP. James J. Brittain explains where and why this political military movement came into existence and assesses whether the methods employed by the insurgency have the potential to free those marginalised in Colombia.

As democratic socialism develops in Venezuela and Bolivia, Brittain's fascinating study assesses the relevance of armed struggle to 21st century Latin American politics. This is an essential title for those wishing to develop a full understanding of the continent.

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Book review By Trond Øverland

Arundhati Roy Disturbs Democratic Daydreaming

Arundhati Roy is an unusual Indian woman. Instead of acting the graceful upholder of traditional values, she goes on challenging the hard core of establishment thinking. Roy is India’s leading commentator on such evils as militaristic imperialist capitalism, Hindu-supported genocide of Muslims, and dam disasters. In her latest book, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers, she hammers at perhaps the most central of all contemporary sacred pillars, i.e. that of democracy, which in her words “have metastasized into something dangerous”.

Grasshoppers is a collection of essays on such recent events as the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai, the 2006 visit to India by “the war criminal” U.S. President George W. Bush, the 2002 Gujarat carnage (between 2000-4000 Muslims slaughtered), the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament by "so-called" Pakistan-based terrorists, and the growing inequality in India (“the old society has curdled and separated into a thin layer of thick cream – and a lot of water …”).

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Review by Greg Palast

Purchase

I was in deep, deep, hot, hot water with my editors at The Guardian in London. The paper was facing a ruinous suit by George Bush Sr.'s business buddies because of one of my stories. Then a tall, Aussie of dramatic demeanor walked uninvited in my boss' offices and said, "Yes, Palast is trouble. But he's good trouble."

John Pilger's intervention helped save my sorry behind.

Now he's saved my stories, and the stories of Seymour Hersh, Edward Galenao, Edward R. Murrow, Robert Fisk, the assassinated investigator of the Chechen War, Anna Politkovskaya, and many others in a big, fat—626 pages!—book of what he says is, "Journalism that changed the world." It's called Tell Me No Lies.

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