Finding good information for research on the Japanese immigration issues has been challenging. Dr. Brody addresses many of the issues involving the Nikeijin and their return to mainland Japan. Her comparative analysis between how Japan and Germany treat returning immigrants was very informative. If you are researching Japanese immigration or just have an interest, I highly recommend this book.

The author's discussion on the theories of labor migration using the push-pull model was very informative. While the book is very specific on Japanese and Brazilian immigration, you will find the book very entertaining. If you are interested in the Nikkeijin, this is the book for you.

This was not my field of expertise, but I enjoyed reading Dr. Brody's book.

Books that portray an objective, fair and unbiased assessment of Israel's 'Operation Peace For Galilee' are very difficult to find..

In my experience most books on this subject appear to have a hidden agenda of vilifying Israeli military involvement in Lebanon whilst casting aside the wholesale, indiscriminate cross-border terrorism of Palestinian terrorist entities that caused such an involvement in the first place. Other books appear to be dedicated to the de-humanisation of then Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, for an alleged connection to the horrific massacres of Palestinians at the Sabra/Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese 'Christian' Phalange militia.

This book is refreshing and perhaps unique in that it seeks to provide as balanced an analysis as is possible.

Richard Gabriel, Professor of Politics, only proceeded with this book on the understanding that he was able to avoid any involvement with the Israeli censors and that he was permitted to obtain a neutral publisher. The final results of Professor Gabriel's study only being seen upon publication by any interested parties at the very same time as everyone else.

Professor Gabriel was able to draw upon interviews with many journalists - Lebanese, European, British, American and Israeli. The author was also able to spend unsupervised time with 'PLO suspects' detained in Israeli and Lebanon to gather the personal impressions and opinions of these prisoners in relation to their treatment and the conflict itself.

Access was also provided to numerous Palestinian Doctors and Nurses in Lebanese camps and also to many high officials in the Lebanese Government and combatants/members of the 'Christian' militias, the Druse militia and the Amal Moslem milita, thus providing some 'enlightening' information on the nature of the ethnic and religious hatreds prevalent within Beirut and Lebanon.

Similar access was provided to the Israeli side which also included interviews with the battalion & company commanders in the field together with the 'common' soldiers who bore the brunt of the combat.

The author was provided with his own transport and able to travel throughout the Lebanese battle zones, retracing by car or on foot, all the major routes of advance taken by the major Israeli units. This included the Bekaa Valley, Damour, the outskirts of Beirut itself and the region overlooking Damascus.

The author, having access to the actual terrain of the battle sites and with some eighteen years as a former Army & Intelligence officer, was able to comment in knowledgeable context about the operations at first hand.

One is left in no doubt about the horrors of this conflict and the traumas of having to frequently fight against an enemy hiding in civilian areas, with the harrowing experience which unavoidably ensued, of seeing civilians die as a result of military actions.

The author analyses the Sabra & Shatila massacres in some detail and credits the Israeli Government for not following the path of the debatable US Government reactions in relation to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and instead proceeding to condemn the action outright, whilst also convening an immediate tribunal of investigation.

(Might I respectfully direct those interested in Ariel Sharon & the Sabra/Shatila incident to the excellent work by Uri Dan entitled "Blood Libel". This book covers in depth the trial/court-case against Time Magazine for it's allegations against Sharon in relation to the episode. Oft ignored information is aplenty in this particular work.)

As is the nature of this book by Professor Gabriel, the main features involve the immediate context surrounding Israeli operations in Lebanon. Of necessity therefore, I suppose many aspects of the Lebanese conflict are unable to be included in any detail.

For example, the massacres at Tel az-Zataar and the Lebanese Christian towns of Damour, Aishiye, Beit Mallat and Tall Abbas. Massacres committed at these places by Palestinian militia under the control of Yasser Arafat, where it is estimated that about 100,000 Lebanese civilians were killed. I was disappointed that attention could not have been paid to important issues such as these, and also indeed to the Syrian massacre of civilians at Hama where some estimate that 30,000 or more Lebanese civilians were killed. These innocent victims still needing a voice to speak out for their plight.

All in all this is a splendid book which portrays a human aspect to both sides of the conflict sadly lacking in other books on the Lebanese conflict.

If you are looking for a politically-skewed analysis of the Arab-Israeli conflict or an overly biased account of the war, this is not your book. I say overly biased because all author have an opinion that is expressed overtly or covertly in their writing.

Richard A. Gabriel, a well-respected professor of politics at St. Anselm College, former US Army intelligence officer, and consultant to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees as well as the Pentagon, has written what is probable the most objective and well-written account of the 1982 War in Lebanon between Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese, PLO, and other forces. He has written numerous books about military actions including several books that constructively criticized the American actions in Vietnam. Several of his books have since become requred reading for courses at military academies.

Prof. Gabriel went out of his way to write an objective analysis of the combat, going so far as to interview PLO officials, IDF soldiers, and others. He also toured the battefields as they occurred as a guest of the IDF. Even more to his credit, he made a stipulation of his touring the front with the IDF that IDF miltary censors not be able to review his transcripts at all until after publishing. This means that he was able to effectively write whatever he wanted.

The book itself is brilliant. Within its' 242 pages are numerous analyses of various tactical and strategic conflicts of the 1982 War. He lists grievances and events of all sides into the war and yet hesitates to make value judgements about any of them short of miltary stance. While avoidings making the book a massive judgement of the political stance of any of the fighters, he doesn't hesitate to list political factors that the combatants considered at the time of the war.

One of the greatest treasures of having toured Lebanon and the conditions there is that he was able to disprove many of the false accounts that the media of the time forwarded to the public. Being a meticulous researcher also means that he always quotes sources and provides appropriate background. For instance, the PLO (through the Lebanese newspaper "An Nahar")claimed that Israeli forces killed 17,825 civilian noncombatants killed and wounded 30,103 civilians. Mr. Gabriel analyzed all of the data available from various sources (including interviews with village mayors and other on-the-site witnesses) and came up with a more likely figure of 4,000 to 5,000 killed and 12,000 to 14,000 wounded.

If you are looking for an account of the 1982 war that objectively evaluates military actions of the combatants then Prof. Richard A. Gabriel's "Operation Peace for Galilee - The Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon" is unparallelled. I highly recommend reading this book whether you are looking for more background on the Arab-Israeli conflict, are a military historian, a wargamer, or just someone interested in knowing more about the Middle-East.

Balance of power theory is one of the basic pillars of (neo)realist theory of international relations. It basically argues that states balance against the rising power since it creates a vital problem for their security. Since states are living in anarchical self-help world they should balance against the rising state(s). In this sense, Stephen M. Walt's The Origins of Alliances challenges this theory. Walt criticizes balance of power theory in arguing that states balance against perceived threats rather than only powers. He examines his theory under the light of the Middle East alliances from 1955 to 1979. His case is composed of thirty-six separate bilateral and multilateral alliance commitments and eighty-six national decisions. After the examination of these alliance structures he argues that balance of threat thesis provides a better grasp on alliance formation in the Middle East than variables of ideology, foreign aid, and political penetration. On the other hand, he holds also geographic proximity, offensive capabilities, and perceived intentions as important elements in alliance politics. Walt also claims that aggregate power (including population, individual and military capabilities, technical prowess), geographic proximity, offensive power, and aggregate intentions all affect the level of threat. Moreover, he observes balancing is more common than bandwagoning behavior in reference to the Middle East alliances in this period.He also states that weak states as compared to strong states are more likely to bandwagon rather than balance against rising powers. In general, Walt's The Origins of Alliances is an important study in demonstrating the role of perceptions in alliance politics and international relations in general well beyond material capabilities and power structures.

Stephen Walt's formulation of alliance behavior is the best attempt to explain alliances yet. He argues that states ally to counter againt not just power, as has generally been postulate, but against threat. He defines threat as a result of four factors: Power, geography, offensive weapons, and perceived intentions. To play out his theory he draws upon the Middle East after World War two as his case study. It is a fascinating and well-written history, which he used quite well to back his theory. He closes with a section applying his theory to US-Soviet relations in the 1980's. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand international relations as a whole, not just alliance behavior.

This book is one of the best if not the best as an introduction into the Ottoman history. Although the period Prof. Quataert focuses is from the 18th till the first quarter of the 20th century, the first three chapters are created as an introduction to the Ottoman Empire until 1700. Overall the book is very strong in historical analysis on an introductory level. At the end of each chapter Prof. Quataert offers a list of related readings, which makes this book a great resource for advanced students of Ottoman history as well.

This book takes a refreshing look at the often-maligned Ottoman Empire. While it's treatment of Ottoman political history isn't anything revolutionary, it's well-presented. The book's big strength is the inclusion of several chapters on Ottoman social and economic history. Quataert writes about the importance of ordinary things like new styles in clothing, evolving ethnic/religious relations outside the political realm, and changes in the role and place of women in Ottoman society. And as for economic history, I've usually usually never found it a real page-turner, but Quataert succeeds in making it pretty interesting, no small feat.

Throughout the book, Quataert corrects some of the many negative stereotypes about the Ottoman Empire that have accumulated in the Middle East as well as in the West. Nevertheless, he does leave out mention of the three Armenian genocides between 1894 and 1915. While his effort to focus on the positive face of Ottoman history is commendable, he should have spent some time discussing the darker side of that history.

But it's a great book. In addition to the excellent text, it's also packed with excellent photographs and charts, another major plus.

Murphey should get an astounding applause for his work. There is an incredible appeal that 'drains' you right into the pages of endless original arguments. The Ottoman Devlet (not Empire if you read the book carefully, I borrowed Maksudoglu terms for the Ottoman) finally received a fair judgement for their history. The research was acurately done with rare details, those which never surfaced before, which cleared out any pontless subjectivity mostly found on previous studies of the Ottomans. 'The sick man' was made 'sick' in the first place.

The rationalization of the Ottoman military might was the best part in the book. I am not surprised if this work becomes a classic.

Rhoads Murphey clears up a lot of mystification brought into the subject by authors who previously relied solely upon Western sources for understanding the Ottoman state. Some, for example, would talk about the Ottoman Empire as the perfect military state, designed around conquest, and others, thinking more of Ottoman decline, of the corruption, inefficiency, and lack of technical skill of their forces. Yet, a study of Ottoman history reveals, naturally, that neither of these extremes were true, and that the Ottomans had to contend with many of the same difficulties, military and administrative, that all of the western European states were attempting to overcome. For someone who really wants to learn how the Ottomans achieved what the did, and failed to achieve some of their more ambitious goals, this book is refreshing in that it teaches rather than obscures.

I've lived her for 6 years and had no idea about all the great adventures around the city. The best thing about the book is that it covers so many different activities -- now I can have a true multisport day, weekend, or longer trip. It's also helpful to know learn about the different clubs and outfitters for each activity, especially for things I've never done (climbing, paddling, scuba). Wish I had this book when I had just moved here. Now I have even more ways to exercise off Chicago's other specialty, excellent food!

Complete, comprehensive, detailed and fun. This is one of those books that is just a great guide/source of information to have if you live in Chicago or just visiting. I've lived several years in Chicago and always thought that I knew everything that was available to me to do outside there. But, this book included all sorts of new activities. Considering the short "outside season" in Chicago, do yourself a favor and pick this book up to make sure that you make the most of it.

Overstating the Arab State is the ironic title that Nazih Ayubi has chosen for his 'state' centered and Gramscian informed study of the nature of the Arab State in terms of its bureaucratic and interventionist development. The title also alludes to the overestimation of the actual power and strength of the Arab State. Ayubi has suggested that Arab states have been wrongly categorized as 'strong'; whereas, they are weak in terms of their extractive capacity, institutional strength and ideology.
A principal political argument of the book centers on the notion that the Arab State has not moved beyond the coercive and corporative stage to create a political system that enjoys the consensus of civil society and includes it as a basic component. This is the kind of political strength that Gramsci categorized as hegemony considering its attainment to be the defining attribute of a Strong State. Within this definition of hegemony Ayubi has also understood a state's ability to reduce its involvement in the productive functions of the economy.
According to Ayubi the Arab State rules on the basis of its monopoly of the coercive forces in society and violence that subjugate rather than complement society; thereby, it is better described as fierce than strong. Corporatism, or the domination of the institutions of the middle and working classes by the state in an attempt to create social and industrial harmony, has supplied the typical model of socio-political organization in the Arab world and applied to both monarchies and populist republics. Overall, an Excellent work. Ayubi died shortly after completing this book.

Nazih N. Ayubi makes a good analysis of the point. He gives both the historical background and the contemporary aspects of the issue. Instead of giving useless details, he focuses on the necessary aspects. the order of the book, the language, the level of the knowledge about the geographical area, which is of the interest are all perfect. If you are studying the arab states, the middle east or similar issues, you have to read it!

A very much needed book. Finally updates "Whitewater/ Quietwater" with much better information and maps. Written extremely well with lots of interesting tidbits of river info. This book has become the one must have book for paddling in Northern Wisconsin. Mike's Paddling Illinois is due momentarily.

I checked this book out from our local library in Green Bay and have subsequently asked for it for my birthday. This is a wonderful compilation of information, maps and helpful hints on a wide variety of northern Wisconsin rivers.

Having just bought a canoe last year, my wife and I have poured over these pages looking for new possible places to explore in this wonderful state of ours. A trip that we've taken the past few years is noted in incredible detail in this book. It includes notes on remote islands which we camp on to which rapids are worthy of portaging around. (We're amatuers!).

The author has done a wonderful job appealing to both rookies and more advanced paddlers by not taking anything for granted and explaining each bend and turn in superb detail. He also provides fascinating information on the history of the rivers and flowages he comments on.

Overall, I must say this is a must for serious (and not-so-serious) paddlers. A great gift. (Hint, hint mom! )

This exceptional and consistent trail guide offers eighty-two different sections to paddle on thirty-two rivers in southern Wisconsin, flexible enough to be made into day trips or overnight camping trips. Each stretch of river highlighted is done with great attention to what needs to be known and little information seems to be left out. River segments are treated similarly, the number of miles are stated, the launching and landing points of access are described, where camping, rentals and shuttle services are available (just phone numbers are supplied), the general gradient (rate of descent) in average conditions, other places to paddle within the chosen area, notes of history, full page maps and many small but nice black & white pictures. A detailed dialogue of each trip is also given, providing a sufficient idea of what to expect around the next river bend.

The book has a very thorough introduction that doesn't overlook the crucial skills and dangers to be aware of. It frequently mentions the importance of being informed about changing water levels and directs the reader to websites for finding such up-to-date info. The book also has a host of reference materials relevant to Wisconsin such as a list of annual events, clubs & organizations, websites, recommended reading (including bike trails and fishing!). Recommended books and videos for improving skills and a categorized list of certain river sections suitable for beginner, intermediate or expert paddlers plus a list of what fish are found most plentiful in each river.

The information you'll find here exceeds that of an average guidebook. Revealed are the many charms of Wisconsin to be found along its waterways. Unusual rock formations, old dams, waterwheel mills, historic buildings, covered bridges, rolling hills, valleys and narrow coulees, farmland, woodland, marshes, fun riffles and rapids, wildlife and so much more. Best experienced and discovered from the unique vantage point of a canoe or kayak. [reviewed at amazon.com by tilley_traveler]

Paddling Southern Wisconsin showcases 83 fun and memorable canoe and kayak excursions on southern Wisconsin waterways. Mike Svob offers the Wisconsin canoeing enthusiasts precise maps of roads, put-ins and take-outs, significant rapids, mileage, and other practical information. A detailed description for each of the 82 suggested trips provides a reliable idea of what to expect. General summaries cover camping opportunities, water levels, shuttle routes, access points, canoe rentals, even shuttle services (when available). A very highly recommended "do-it-yourself" reference and planning guide, Paddling Southern Wisconsin is enriched further with additional sources of information on fishing opportunities, river reading and maneuvers, as well as special safety factors for the canoeist or kayaker.

While in pursuit if my passion of travel, I have had the chance to use several types of guides, but never have I enjoyed reading any guide as this one. Very detailed, yet simply arranged, and excellent recommendations. Very accurate trekking information is also included in it, along with the typical "touristy" material. Maps could use a little more detail, as I saw it. Prices and other recommendations were excellent! Awesome job!

If anyone is going to Pakistan, I would highly suggest getting this book. There are so many things that I have never known even though I was there for several months.

Pakistan is a fascinating and unfairly under-rated country. It certainly is one of the poorest in the world but its people are the most welcoming you will ever meet and the scenery is enthralling. I promised myself I'll keep returning to Pakistan every year since my first discovery trip (1998). Look no further for the best guidebook to Pakistan. This new edition is VERY detailed and informative and has even succeeded in improving on the already brilliant previous edition. In my opinion, Lonely Planet's updated 1998 edition is not bad either but does not compare. Have a wonderful journey ! And please, if you go to Lahore, don't miss the beautiful Wazir Khan mosque !