I can't remember reading a book from cover to cover since leaving graduate school,which was quite a while ago. I met my match with this book however. It was compelling and forced one to continue to read late into the night. I am looking forward to her next book.

Very compelling reading, more so stimulating if you understand West Indian and South American cultural life.

Excellent book that I couldn't put down once I started reading. It was a non-complex read that was easily understandable. Hope to hear that you have another novel coming out!

Ibrahim Karawan is a first-rate professor of international relations at the University of Utah, and this work confirms his balanced and scholarly approach to the subject. In "The Islamist Impasse," Karawan effectively shows how, far from sweeping the Middle East, political Islam is now on the defensive, due to effective state strategies, lack of success in nations where it has taken root, and lack of overall control. This is a superbly-written and invaluable reference that belongs in the library of anyone with an interest in international relations and/or the politics of the Middle East.

I picked up this title with the expectation of it being just another dry policy wonk-ish paper from the International Institute of Strategic Studies, but I was surprised to find it not just timely and interesting but also easy to read and understand. I sat down and finished it in one day and thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr. Thomas spells out clearly America's practical and political needs for undertaking future military operations in coalitions. Using examples of coalition operations of the past 2 decades, but particularly the examples of the Gulf War and Kosovo, he highlights the hindrances facing the US, France, Germany, and the UK--each with a unique set of circumstances--in building and contributing to future coalitions. He also proposes a realistic "division of labor" to allow each country to maximize its "competitive advantage" for effective contributions to future coaltions. Highly recommended for anyone interested in America's near-term defense and national security challenges.

This volume is a valuable literature on international relations with regard to understanding the complicated nature of arms control bargaining process. Authors examined growing threats of missile proliferation during 1980s and the emergence of the Missile Technology Control Regimes (MTCR) as well as Russia's missile export policy and its reluctance to involve the MTCR. This study well shows the U.S. efforts for preventing missile proliferation and how it persuaded Russia to participate and embrace the MTCR

Ballistic-Missile Defense and Strategic Stability by Dean A. Wilkening gives a thorough review of available missile defense technologies and their possible impact upon global stability. The author's detailed analysis looks at national missile defenses, regional defenses, and boost-phase defenses while giving particular attention to the capabilities and limitations of each. Wilkening pays special attention to the strategic impact upon other nuclear powers such as China, Russia, UK, France, India, and Pakistan that would result from the American implementation of the different forms of missile defense, along with the resulting reactions and concerns of those states. Although Wilkening appears to have a favored form of defense, the book is well balanced and fair in its analysis. Overall, the book is an informative short-read that gives the reader a basic understanding of existing missile defense technologies. Excellent book for those who enjoy combining number-crunching and global strategic thought.

This is a very expensive little book - well it was for me - it is a 67 pages long - still it was worth it - for me. It is an Adelphi Paper (#300) so that is partly why it was not so cheap. The Author - Rosemarie Forsythe is a career diplomat so she brings a certain bias to the direction of this work - but at least you know where she is coming from.

Divided into 5 small chapters - History of Oil in the region, Oil exploration and export, Major Projects, Export options and lastly prospects for the region. This work like Roberts' Caspian Pipelines - I would view as required reading - for a good general background to the issue of oil (not gas) in the Caspian Region - although written in 1996 - it is valuable to see what has changed - and what has not.

As a book I found it to be a good read - although it is a very short book - it only provides a brief overview of the main projects of 1996 - such as Tengizchevroil and the AIOC asperon sill project - these are of course the main projects but there are other possibliy bigger ventures in the wind - especially in the north Caspian. Passing references are made to the role of China, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey in the push for the pipelines to traverse their territory.

Written as a geostrategic work the underlying tone of this tome is just that - and to quite honest I think it is the only way to correctly interpret the issue of energy reserves and pipeline direction in the caspian region. This book - like many others does not provide a basis for what geopolitics/geostrategy is, so for some readers that are not aware of this, the subtle nuances may be lost

The author identies 7 policy options for contributing to the long term viability of energy reserve development in the region - and to date 3 of these 7 options are taking shape - albeit slowly. Firstly mutlipipeline routes as opposed to one MEP. Second devlopment of the littoral states technical and legal infrasturute - albeit piecemeal and lastly a slight increase in environmental concerns.