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benehime's review against another edition
1.0
I want to throw this book against the wall. A few of the claims the author makes:
On the topic of whether war solves problems: "Nazism, Japanese Militarism and Soviet Communism were defeated through war". First of all, all of those were CREATED through war and its effects and the Soviet Empire collapsed on its own.
The constant comparisons to antique empires (Greece, Sparta, etc) is very over the top. Today's world and warfare is in no way actually comparable to the battles fought by the Roman, Greek, Macedonian or Phoenizian Empire. And honestly, bringing up great names like Caesar and thinking that today's generals can compare is hilarious.
The writing style is way too histrionic and emotional for me, but that is something of a personal reference. I'm used to neutral (which doesn't mean objective!) writing styles in media, so it's very over the top for me.
I went through a third of this book, it would be interesting to see how his opinions progressed, but I think I'd rather read a dictionary.
On the topic of whether war solves problems: "Nazism, Japanese Militarism and Soviet Communism were defeated through war". First of all, all of those were CREATED through war and its effects and the Soviet Empire collapsed on its own.
The constant comparisons to antique empires (Greece, Sparta, etc) is very over the top. Today's world and warfare is in no way actually comparable to the battles fought by the Roman, Greek, Macedonian or Phoenizian Empire. And honestly, bringing up great names like Caesar and thinking that today's generals can compare is hilarious.
The writing style is way too histrionic and emotional for me, but that is something of a personal reference. I'm used to neutral (which doesn't mean objective!) writing styles in media, so it's very over the top for me.
I went through a third of this book, it would be interesting to see how his opinions progressed, but I think I'd rather read a dictionary.
raehink's review
3.0
Provocative essays written in the aftermath of 9/11. I disagreed with a lot of his views, but loved reading the essays. Lots to assimilate.
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