Very well written. Starts a little slow with much preliminary
but fascinating information about the international politics
leading up to the war. After that starts a day by day account of the war and most major battles. I especially liked the many
behind the scenes personal interviews with pilots, Iraqi officers, tank commanders, etc. about their experiences,
Many " stories never told" . It was riveting. Very well researched, unbiased & hard to put down.

Friedman is one of America's best military autohrs and historians. His FIFTY YEAR WAR is the best account of the strategies and politics of the cold war. This DESERT VICTORY is an excellent, though somewhat short, review of the Kuwait war.

I'm rather hoping Friedman writes an account of last month's Iraq war ASAP, it is sure to be the best of the dozens of books sure to come out of the war.

Contains all the information your instructors did not want you to memorize. Containing common abbreviations for chemicals and physical properties, named reactions and a glossary of common organic subjects with the references to their reviews. Very comprehensive! Good bang for the buck.

I ordered this play because I had seen Fuddy Meers (also very good). David has a very unique vision of the world and that flows into his plays. I'm actually going to be directing a prodution of A Devil Inside this fall, I love this play.

Dialogues in Arab Politics has a lot on the importance of norms and social structure in international relations. Michael N. Barnett analyzes the norms and social structure at a regional context. Like Stephen M. Walt's The Origins of Alliances Barnett takes his case from the Middle East. He examines three quarter centuries of the Arab politics from the constructivist perspective; hence he re-conceptualizes the history of Arab politics. In so doing, he insists on norms and symbols of Arab politics, normative fragmentation among Arabs, symbolic exchanges and social processes. He puts norms and identities as the critical variables in shaping state interests by examining the Arab politics in that process. He defines dialogues as the times the Arab states begin to discuss about the desired regional order. The discussion is circumscribed by norms of Arabism and sovereignty. Barnett defines Arabism as source of both Arab identity and interests. He also deems norm of Arabism as expression of their interests. Norms of Arabism have been also used as an instrument by one state in order to manipulate and/control the foreign policies of other Arab states. In this respect, norms can be both constraining as well as instrumental factors. Norms and identities have also greatly influenced the Arabs in their unification goal as well as their relations with the West and Israel. Pan-Arabism was relevant from the Baghdad Pact to the 1967 War and it declined its force after the 1967 war and it disappeared from the agenda by the end of the Gulf War. Then the norm of Arabism was replaced by norm of sovereignty in Arab politics. The normative shift eventually changed the foreign policies of the Arab states that they begun to focus on state interests not on Arab interests. Overall, Dialogues in Arab Politics makes a great contribution to the growing constructivist literature in recent years.

This book is a insight into the world at the dawn of the 20th century. This is a sweeping comprehensive factual account that should be in the collection fo any book reader.

Adamec, Ludwig
1996Dictionary of Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press Inc. Pp. xvii, 364; illustrations, maps, war figures, table of chronology. ISBN # 0-8108-3232-1

Adamec has complied a fairly concise and to-the-point dictionary covering the affairs of Afghanistan from 1501 until around April of 1994. The book begins with a sweeping twenty-seven-page introduction to the "martial" history of Afghanistan. The introduction begins briefly with the rule of the Savids, but quickly moves on to a more in-depth history of Ahmad Kahn in the mid 1700's. In the introduction, Adamec covers a broad history of Afghanistan very effectively, and ends the introduction with Afghanistan being in a state of civil war. The introduction provides each period of Afghani history with a reference point in the dictionary itself. "In the introduction and dictionary there is also useful background material on how the war got started, and why, and how they were concluded" (p. ix). It is in the dictionary where Adamec goes into more in-depth information pertaining to certain Afghani events, rulers, weapons, and wars.
The dictionary provides fairly comprehensive information on all subjects discussed in it. This section also does a wonderful job of providing pictures, maps, and statistics on the subject matter discussed in their respective sections. The dictionary provides over two hundred entries, the most comprehensive ones dealing with Afghan foreign affairs and the Anglo-Afghan wars. "There are entries on the wars and campaigns, on the generals and sometimes diplomats, on tactics and logistics, and on weapons" (p. ix).
The last two sections of the book deal with chronology of events in Afghanistan and an extensive bibliography that can provide readers with additional books covering subject matter that they may be interested in. The chronology section begins in 1747 Ahmad Shah being crowned king, and ends in 1996 with Hekmatayar's anti-Taliban treaty with Rabbani. This section provides a great deal of information in a broad sweeping manner. The bibliography contains over 150 sources that one can use to research other topics on Afghani history. Overall, the dictionary does a tremendous job in providing a quick, and handy reference guide to anyone that has questions concerning Afghanistan. It makes accessing particular aspects of Afghani history extremely easy and informative.
Bryon Wait

This new work put out under the auspices of the British Museum has what it takes to become THE standard desk reference on the Ancient Near East. Entries are clear and concise (the longest run to two and a half columns). Also, they are good about letting the reader know which archaeological and historical issues are still matters of dispute (in other words, there seems to be no faking of certainty). Although there are no color plates, almost every page has a well-chosen and informative photograph or illustration. Maps and charts are simple and easy to absorb. The editors and their staff get major points for the quality and extent of their cross-referencing and indexing. It's very easy to spend hours following all the interesting leads and connections from one article to another. Many alphabatized reference works don't even bother with an index ("The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization" is an example of a work that desperately needs one); but, as anyone who has to do quick look-ups on the fly knows, an index is a great asset in any single-volume desk reference work.

Information the publisher should have given to Amazon.com: (1) The definition of the Ancient Near East the editors follow is the one used by the British Museum: Mesopotamia, Iran, Anatola, the Caucasus, the Levant and Arabia; (2) The chronological range covered by the entries stretches from 1.5 million years ago to the fall of Babylon to the Persian Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C. [Yes, dates are identified as "B.C.", not "B.C.E."]; (3) Besides information about the ANE that you'd expect to find, this dictionary includes information on the discoverers as well--the people and institutions who made significant contributions to ANE studies. (Although I'm not qualified to judge, I suspect the Brits are over-represented.)

Things I would like to see added in subsequent editions: (1) A general introduction that give the reader some context and background; (2) A timeline that relates what was happening in the ANE to the growth of civilization in Egypt. (I accept the need to limit discussion of Egypt in the individual entries, but would have appreciated a schematic that gave me a workable overview. Don't the Assyriologists ever talk to the Egyptologists at the British Museum?)

Overall an excellent work! I'm glad to own a copy.

In this book, professor Crawford provides an excellent, up-to-date report on what is presently known about the ancient society of Dilmun and others in the Persian Gulf area. Three areas are reported upon: North-western Arabia, Bahrain (Dilmun), and Oman (Magan). The author exhaustively reports on archaeological findings (including architecture, burial items, pottery, and more), analyzing their significance, but avoiding any broad speculation.

I can't say enough about this book. If you want to know what is presently known about Dilmun and Magan, but wish to avoid the extreme speculation (if not outright guesswork) of many books, then this book is for you!

I am looking for my cousin who wrote The Discerning Traveler's.His name is David Glickstein. My name is Joan Glickstein Freidlin. Could you please help me locate him by an email address. I would be most grateful. Joan Freidlin Jax, Fla.