ECWalter

These men will deservedly end up in hell

Reviewed: 10-09-23

By “these men” James Angleton was referring to Allen Dulles, Frank Wizzner, and Dick Helms. I am referring to them and to all those who participated in the coup and murder in 1963 and especially the “good” people who knew, who saw, and did nothing.

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Powerful

Reviewed: 08-01-23

Some reviewers say it is too long, .but both the Irish author and the Irish central character would likely admit their land is not noted for its concise speech. but the language is always very deft, and the suspense builds in this wrenching plot. The ability to show deep sympathy for many truly diverse characters is impressive, and at times so deeply moving as to make one choke with emotion at the thought of what these kinds of people endured during the war. For instance, a 17-year-old boy who prays with the monsignor in his gruesome prisoner of war camp reveals a stunning heroism that shames most of us. The author and the actor also do wonderfully well with a lower-class Londoner who is one of the heroes. It is delightful to know that he will be the central character of the final book in the trilogy that is planned. I also note that the pope makes one brief but evocative appearance in the novel. Cheap moralists will likely say the pontiff comes off poorly, but in fact the author shows him as concerned to save what he is responsible for, not as someone indifferent to others' suffering, though I wonder if there is any factual basis for the scene, and the author should in justice have relatied how the Pope in fact also assisted with the kind of work this novel depicts. A powerful and delightful tale.

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desperately needed truth

Reviewed: 08-07-22

The author is calm but devastating in documenting. how fashionable intellectuals badly hurt the very people who are suffering and in whose name they claim to speak. He does not ignore any of the pains that those foolish intellectuals like to point to or the historic tragedies they delight in. but he does show how they would take all of us down a road that leads to hatred division and prolonged suffering. this has happened not only in America, as he documents, but in country after country on every continent. those on the left who imagine they are the friend of the suffering and those on the short end of the equality stick are cowards if they do not confront this brilliant African Americans, challenging facts and arguments. those on the right who do not try to understand the suffering of others. likewise go wrong. All of us can learn from this wise man.

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a fearless genius

Reviewed: 07-08-22

Thomas Sowell traveled the world to learn the truth of ethnic conflict and rivalry finding the same patterns over and over from which he draws deep wisdom so badly needed in our time. He writes calmly and objectively as he speaks truths. many prefer not to hear. If you are fearless, test yourself by reading this brilliant book.

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author is a moral imbecile

Reviewed: 05-29-22

This was written years after the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union had disappeared, yet the author never notices how that happened, never makes reference to it in any significant way, much less to Ronald Reagan and his Cold War mentality, to use a silly phrase the author loves. As others have noticed, the author is badly repetitive, either because he wishes to browbeat or because his thought processes are so scrambled that he can't keep things straight. He speaks incessantly of peace without giving any explanation of what it means explicitly. He seems to think that peace is the United States not even contemplating resistance to communist tyranny. In this very long and long winded and repetitive book, he never once has the least reference to the less than peaceful existence of the hundreds of millions of human beings suffering under communist tyranny during the period he's discussing. The only reference to these poor suffering millions comes in passing when he mentions that Poles were not fond of a particular policy. This sad and twisted author is a reminder that virtue signaling-- the grotesque self-righteousness of fools-- existed before that term was coined.

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1 person found this helpful

another masterpiece

Reviewed: 05-19-22

...by Wodehouse the Master of comedy. He was considered a genius by so many other writers, including Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, Anthony Powell, Hilaire Belloc, Ronald Knox.

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brilliant

Reviewed: 04-05-22

Possibly the most brilliantly concocted plot of dozens of novels by this master. A delight.

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A Southern Partisan looks back in his Old Age

Reviewed: 05-03-21

A Virginia legend recounts all his adventures in the war with Lee, Jackson, and Stuart. Most fascinating by far was Mosby's postwar friendship with Grant, whom he revered.

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a former hard Left activist has 2nd thoughts

Reviewed: 04-18-21

David Horowitz was a top left-wing voice in the 60s & 70s, working with Black Panthers & editing Ramparts mag. Here he explains his 2nd thoughts & examines other radicals sympathetically but honestly. The Saul Alinsky essay is masterful, and the Christopher Hitchens essay is the best thing ever written on that great but tragic figure.

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Very unusual book on DiMaggio in later life.

Reviewed: 04-10-21

Dr. Positano became a late life friend of the great DiMag & shares wonderful stories.

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