Cris Shore has written a quite outstanding book on the European Union, showing how its leaders aim to create a single European state.

The EU's founders warned us that they sought to destroy the sovereignty and independence of its member states. Jean Monnet wrote, "Everyday realities will make it possible to form the political union which is the goal of our Community and to establish the United States of Europe." Konrad Adenauer said that the original proposal for pooling French and German steel production was "first and foremost political, not economic. This plan was to be the beginning of a federal structure of Europe."

Later, Chancellor Kohl said, "In Maastricht we laid the foundation stone for the completion of the European Union. The European Union Treaty introduces a new and decisive stage in the process of European Union which within a few years will lead to the creation of what the founding fathers of modern Europe dreamed after the last war: the United States of Europe."

In practice, the EU has already gone far towards creating a new state, although it has signally failed to create one that is honest and democratic. As Shore writes, "To most critical observers it seems quite evident that the European Community has acquired most of the characteristics of a state, however much some might wish to deny this." And, "with its single currency, its Central Bank and treaty control over money supply and borrowing, the EU takes on the powers of a sovereign state, albeit a transnational state without a democratic government." As Pascal Lamy, Delors' chef de cabinet, admitted, "The people weren't ready to agree to integration, so you had to get on without telling them too much about what was happening."

The Committee of Independent Experts reported in 1999 that fraud, cronyism, mismanagement and cover-ups were rife in the European Commission, summarising, "It is becoming difficult to find anyone who has even the slightest sense of responsibility." Shore concludes that the Report "exposed ... the extraordinary degree to which patronage, fraud and corruption ... had become established, even institutionalised, within the Commission."

Chris Shore's "Building Europe" is an innovative study of the European Union, and should be taken seriously. Shore is one of the first to jump in the post-EMU debate: now that Europe has almost completed Economic Union, what are the expectations, challenges, and impossibilities with regard to further integration? Shore offers a systematic discussion of the role of 'culture' in the European Union. How has a European identity been created, or not!, among both citizens and civil servants in Brussels? Shore turns out to be quite critical in the end. Europeanism is not strongly rooted among the peoples of Europe. And the elites in Brussels are far from what a perfect European bureaucrat must be like. He concludes that the goal of European federalism, which so strongly depends on some form of common European identity, may be one bridge too far. To conclude, Shore's informed and refreshing perspective on the actual challenges to European integration forms an important contribution to the debate. Anyone who wants to think of tomorrow's Europe may probably want to read "Building Europe", no matter if you agree or disagree with Shore's final conclusions.

This text can be equally helpful in the field as well as the classroom. Dr. Clark's expertise and research in union building shows through in his logical and clear methods.

A smart and savvy look at the way unions can help in managing our lives. Dr. Clark adds a touch of class to the usual ho-hum union research books. This one is a keeper and one that every student in labor studies and industrial relations should keep on their bedside for moments of clarity in which unionization becomes the clear answer in their lives.

This work is a politcal biography, in the sense that the major focus is on Lenin's revolutionary activities - specifically in building and organizing the Bolsheivik party - in the years before the first World War. The beauty of this book is that it exposes the "sacred capitalist myth" that ascribes the Marx-Lenin-Stalin progression as one that arises naturally. In 'Building the Party' we see Lenin not as a rutheless bloodthirsty dictator but rather as a brilliant tactical organizer and one of the foremost intellectual-revolutionaries of the Twentieth Century

This is a great biography on Vladimir Lenin, focusing on his early years. It chronicles Lenin's youth and the history of the early Marxist movement in tsarist Russia. Later chapters focus on his efforts to craft an effective revolutionary party.

This book is chock full of information, but is still very engaging. It is pretty down to earth and doesn't make use of high-falutin language wherever possible. Compare reading this book to the official Stalinist biography of Lenin, or those put forward by right-wing cranks.

Overall, this is a must-read for all activists, especially socialists. I highly recommend this book to people with an interest in politics.

This geomentally challenging journey into pure estivation is so abstractually written, it cries of the Socratic method. This read promises a ravenous hunger for more.

Chilling, confrontational and exposing of the geomentallity. This geomentally challenging journey into pure estivation is so abstractually written, it cries of the Socratic method. This read promises a ravenous hunger for more.

Well and away the most comprehensive source to Canadian fire insurance plans in Ontario collections, bar none.

This esoteric title has been an invaluable addition to our collection - I'm looking forward to further editions or reprints.

Kemp Tolley was an attache to the Soviet Navy during WWII. He wrote this book during the late Cold War, which makes its general fairness all the more impressive. Don't be fooled by the title, which sounds like some sort of role-playing game--this is a keeper.

There are numerous funny stories in this book. Tolley, who spoke (perhaps present tense; word is he's still around) fluent Russian and adapted to Russian culture rather than attempting to bend it into something Americanesque, genuinely liked the people of Russia. He has done a fine job of separating this from his views on the Soviet political system, giving us a very fair portrayal of Russians (and to a lesser degree other USSR ethnic groups).

This would be a fine read for anyone planning to visit Russia. While the politics have changed a lot, the culture has changed far less, and this book would help the visitor to appreciate it.

Admiral Tolley writes from his personal experiences in wartime Stalist USSR. He spent two years as a naval attache dealing with the Soviet government and supporting the Allied efforts to supply the USSR with needed material. He met, wooed and wed his wife there. Later, following his transfer back to the fleet he enlisted the intervention of senior Soviet official to obtain an exit visa for his wife long after his own departure. Various wartime travel to Murmansk, Vladivostok, and other ports add spice to this excellent book. Also included is a brief sketch of the author's experiences as a Russian language student in Shanghai and Riga before WWII and a trip across Russia by train to Western Europe. A good read.

As a woman, I would feel most grateful and honored if Choi Chatterjee would share more of her wisdom with the faceless and unwashed masses. In particular, I am interested in the history of feminists with six figure husbands, the best kind of feminists money can buy. I became interested in this subject as a student of Carol Srole's, and my interest blossomed as I became more interested in how I could be a feminist, and still get a man to pay most my bills.

The message of this book is that if we would just listen to women, particularly women in academia, their insights, wisdom, and uncommonly intelligent perspective on history and other things, then we would be so much better off.
Of course, men have run the world amuck for the past ten thousand years. And I don't think i'm the first one to admit that they have done a pretty good job of fouling it up, as well! Just look at how they've treated WOMEN, for crying out loud. They treat them like, I don't know what, but Choi Chatterjee sure does. She knows what women have suffered, and how easy men have had it all these years.
Please, I ask y ou, take a moment, today, tomorrow, or some day soon, to really LISTEN to what women in academia are saying. Then, and only then, will the world be a better place. And if you don't believe me, go ask Phil Goff and Francisco Balderrama. They'll tell you.

This is one of the best-written and most gripping Christian autobiographies I've read in years. I started it in the afternoon, managed to put supper on the table for my family and get the kids in bed, and finished the whole thing. My father is a Baptist pastor and we regularly prayed for our fellow believers in the persecuted church, so it was especially moving for me to get a clear picture of what life was like for the Vins family as they tried to minister in the Soviet Union during the years of Communist oppression. I would recommend this book for junior high students on up. It would be an excellent book for families to read aloud and discuss together, or for Sunday School teachers to share a chapter or so with their classes during a reading time each week (they'd keep coming back for sure). The book really makes you evaluate the depth or your own Christian commitment in the light of what Natasha and her family endured.

This is an autobiography of a mid-twentieth century Russian girl, Natasha, and her family from Kiev. It is an adult book that children with 5th grade reading level can also enjoy. Children of the Storm recounts her father's imprisonment, her schooling and questioning of Christianity, and all that happened to them in the years of Soviet crackdown of Biblical Christians. Fast-moving, very interesting, well-written. I highly recommend it.

Reviewer Everitt's remarks capture the book's essential value. Several points however merit emphasis. First, Horne's book brings out the symbiotic relation between the studios' desire for non-independent company unions, on one hand, and organized crime's desire for corrupt unions, on the other. By taking in one another's washing during the tumultuous events of '45 - '47, these two representatives of private capital maintained an alliance that defeated efforts by the Conference of Studio Unions to emerge as an independent union of movie-making employees. Horne the historian is detailed about this sinister and under-reported alliance. Second, by using abundant primary sources, the author debunks the nurtured image of CSU as a communist-led movement, a scare tactic still in its infancy following the anti-fascist WWII and, as the book shows, a tactic used to increasing effect by the corporate-owned press of the day. Belated communist support for CSU strikers was willfully twisted by these flacks into communist domination. Third, the inability of the CSU to cross racial and gender lines of the day is emphasized. This had the unfortunate effect of reducing potential for attracting outside allies, especially among aggrieved African-Americans and women's groups, though it's hardly surprising that prejudices within the union would reflect those of the larger society from which it sprang. It's fascinating to follow this dark underside of the Hollywood dream factory, though I did find time shifts in the narrative confusing at times. Nonetheless, Horne has focused his word-camera on a worthy and neglected real life drama.

Amazingly, this is the first comprehensive work written on a key event in American labor history -- an event that was headline news in the mid 1940's, and that among many other things set the stage for the passage of Taft-Hartley and propelled Ronald Reagan into politics. While countless historians have left no stone unturned in examining the Hollywood Blacklist, the story of the Hollywood studio strikes has long been relegated to footnotes and chapters in more general works. With this work Gerald Horne has shined a relentless light of painstaking scholarship on what may well be the most neglected event in American labor history. The footnotes alone are worth the price of the book and will no doubt entice many readers to follow these myriad paths deeper into the hidden corners of Hollywood history.

This book belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in Hollywood history, labor history, the Hollywood Blacklist, American radical history, and the history of organized crime in America. It should especially be read by anyone who earns their living as a worker in the film and television industry or is a member of IATSE and wishes to know the true story of their union's dark history.

Once again, Kit Bonner's knowledge of naval history has proved a most interesting and thought provoking read. The facts, written so smoothly, one would never suspect it wasn't a novel. His smooth writing allows the reader to step back in time, and to relive each and every carefully researced snipits of our nation's history. In this book, Mr. Bonner tells us about the ships and of a time long sense passed. He writes of a time, and of ships who served their country well, but are now out of the reach of those of us who can only read about them from masterful writers such as Kit Bonner. The Cold War was terrifying to live through, yet Kit stimulates thoughts within the reader...is the Cold War really over? A great read. I'd recommend "The Cold War at Sea: An Illustrated History to anyone who enjoys Naval History. Thank you Kit, and I look forward to your next book.

This book provides the reader with a visual account of the 46 year war at sea between the Soviet Union and the west. The book will make the reader knowledgeable about the war and reveal many events not previously discussed in other non illustrated books. There are many rare and unusual photographs of the Soviet navy at sea. It is an excellent reference book.