some manners in which the author describes mahathir's way of ruling might prove to be unfounded by some people but overall it was a great read.

a 5 stars for me.

Mike Umhofer has written a story that needed to be told. Inthe Autumn of 1967 the longest battle of the Vietnam War until that date began to unfold in the Central Highlands in the remote jungles near the Cambodian, Laos, and Vietnam border. The action centered in the mountains around an airstrip at Dak To...The Area of Operations around Dak To belonged to the 1st Brigade of the Fourth Infantry Division and Mike tells the story as it really took place. I was the Brigade S-1/Adjutant and Mike was the Brigade S-5/ Civil Affairs Officer. For years I have faulted myself for not keeping an account of the actions and people in our Brigade-now 33 years later I find that Mike Umhofer has made up for my neglect. He kept a journal of his tour in Vietnam arriving about the same time we joined the Brigade...Above all, he kept track of the horrendous battles our Brigade undertook during November of 1967. We lost many good men...This is a book that every student at the Army Infantry School, Army Civil Affairs School, and student of military history should read. It tells it the way it was and how Civil Affairs at the Unit level should be done. It also highlights the interactions of a brigade staff officer with those above and below him in the organization. Above all it is a great book to be given to grand children of those who were at Dak To.

This is somewhat of a technical book as it deals with the structure of decision making during a very tense and important period of our nations history. However, if one sees it as a description of our road to folly, it is a fascinating read.

The book is a necessary primer on the "what might have been" aspects of a policy that, like a runaway freight train, developed a pattern and trail of its own, leaving Americans from policymakers on down groping for answers. One observes a Lyndon Johnson, a master of domestic politics and known for his ability to put together compromises to secure needed bread and butter objectives, caught dumbfounded, feeling helpless in an area concerning which he had no expertise. Johnson fell into the trap of rightist Republican thinking of the fifties, which saw Communism as an international monolith. Johnson became convinced that America's survival was at stake in a small Asian nation some ten thousand miles away. He embraced the domino theory, believing that Vietnam constituted a potentially critical loss that would propel thenceforth to an accelerating series of defeats for America.

At a time when Johnson needed valuable input from a State Department strategic hand who saw Vietnam from a balanced international perspective, George Ball, the one operative with a broad European portfolio, who advised the president not to get trapped in Vietnamese quicksand, was outranked by his boss, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, as well as hawkish Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. As a result, Ball, who had listened to French President Charles De Gaulle's warnings of the dangers of an extended Vietnam military involvement, saw his advice spurned as the Rusk-McNamara tandem prevailed.

Meanwhile speculation continues over what President Kennedy might have ultimately done had he lived. One thing was certain. Had Kennedy, like Johnson, decided to escalate American involvement, he would have made the decision basically on his own. Kennedy used Rusk more as an administrator since foreign policy was one of his major areas of interest, unlike the case with Johnson, who, from Berman's and other accounts, deferred heavily to Rusk and McNamara.

The paradise of color and the changing effects of light were Renoir's greatest gift to the world. This book, Renoir: The Crown Art Library, showcases some of the artist's most beloved works and gives a brief overview of his life.

A quick glance at this book tells you that Renoir's favorite subject was always people. In fact, it is possible to select an entire series of masterpieces from Renoir's works without including even one landscape--something that would be impossible with any of the other Impressionists.

The people created by Renoir are always filled with the warm joy of simply being alive. Of the many illustrations in this book, most are in color, allowing us to both study and participate in the "joie de vivre" that Renoir, more than any other artist, communicated to the world.

There is a short analysis of the evolution of Renoir's technique and we learn why he abandoned the dark, sombre colors of the Old Masters and turned to the brilliant reds, blues, yellows and greens of which he was so fond.

We learn how and why the feminine form became a stronger and stronger element in his paintings, especially those of his later years, and we see how, in the last ten years of his life, he limited his palette to only a few colors--cinnabar, ochre, Naples yellow, black and some white, yet managed to create playful visions of a sun-bright world, seemingly devoid of weight; paintings in which contours of people and surroundings are blurred and all is joined in a concord of color and naturalness.

Renoir: The Crown Art Library is a wonderful introduction to the life and style of this master Impressionist, the world's most joyous painter. Those looking for a biography of Renoir would be better off choosing Renoir, My Father, by Jean Renoir, the artist's middle son. In-depth analyses of Impressionism and Renoir's own technique in particular, are also better covered in other books such as Rewald's History of Impressionism.

But for the vast majority of people, laymen who only want to increase their knowledge and appreciation of the world's greatest artists, Renoir: The Crown Art Library offers a wonderful starting point. With is lavish illustrations and lively text, it will broaden the scope of anyone's understanding. The book is a joy to browse and once insight is gained into the how and why of each painting, that joy is only increased.

While certainly far from exhaustive, Renoir: The Crown Art Library, is a lovely book and anyone with even a passing interest in Renoir and Impressionism will find it well worth their while.