Oxis International

OXIS International, Inc. is engaged in the research, development and sale of products that counteract the harmful effects of “oxidative stress.”

Oxidative stress refers to the situations in which the body’s antioxidant and other defensive abilities to combat free radicals (a.k.a highly reactive species of oxygen and nitrogen) are overwhelmed and one’s normal healthy balance is either lost or severely compromised. OXIS’ first products will include L-Ergothioneine (ERGO) as a key component. ERGO is a very powerful, multifaceted antioxidant.

Some of the potential benefits of ERGO include its ability to:

•Conserve and maintain the levels of other antioxidants such as Vitamin E, Vitamin C and glutathione; •Increase respiration and the oxidation of fat (possibly contributing to increased energy and exercise capacity);

•Protect mitochondria from damage (this is important because potentially damaging reactive oxygen species are generated when oxygen is normally metabolized in mitochondria,

•Reduce the damaging effects of environmental ultraviolet radiation (likely to be important in protecting the eyes against cataract producing oxidative injury);

•Neutralize increased oxidative stress by providing an ROS (reactive oxygen species) and RNS (reactive nitrogen species) scavenging capacity, a property that protects key molecules in the body; and, Protect against the effects of neurotoxins that are believed to have a casual role in the development and progression of cognitive decline.

More information on the main site http://www.oxis.com/

Lead a healthy and happy life with Oxis International.

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Outliers:The story of success

This review is from: Outliers: The Story of Success (Hardcover) The main tenet of Outliers is that there is a logic behind why some people become successful, and it has more to do with legacy and opportunity than high IQ. In his latest book, New Yorker contributor Gladwell casts his inquisitive eye on those who have risen meteorically to the top of their fields, analyzing developmental patterns and searching for a common thread. The author asserts that there is no such thing as a self-made man, that "the true origins of high achievement" lie instead in the circumstances and influences of one's upbringing, combined with excellent timing. The Beatles had Hamburg in 1960-62; Bill Gates had access to an ASR-33 Teletype in 1968. Both put in thousands of hours-Gladwell posits that 10,000 is the magic number-on their craft at a young age, resulting in an above-average head start. Gladwell makes sure to note that to begin with, these individuals possessed once-in-a-generation talent in their fields. He simply makes the point that both encountered the kind of "right place at the right time" opportunity that allowed them to capitalize on their talent, a delineation that often separates moderate from extraordinary success. This is also why Asians excel at mathematics-their culture demands it. If other countries schooled their children as rigorously, the author argues, scores would even out. Gladwell also looks at "demographic luck," the effect of one's birth date. He demonstrates how being born in the decades of the 1830s or 1930s proved an enormous advantage for any future entrepreneur, as both saw economic booms and demographic troughs, meaning that class sizes were small, teachers were overqualified, universities were looking to enroll and companies were looking for employees. In short, possibility comes "from the particular opportunities that our particular place in history presents us with." This theme appears throughout the varied anecdotes, but is it groundbreaking information? At times it seems an exercise in repackaged carpe diem, especially from a mind as attuned as Gladwell's. Nonetheless, the author's lively storytelling and infectious enthusiasm make it an engaging, perhaps even inspiring, read.

 Outliers: The Story of Success

The devil's rooming house

The gripping tale of a legendary, century-old murder spree.
A silent, simmering killer terrorized New England in1911. As a terrible heat wave killed more than 2,000 people, another silent killer began her own murderous spree. That year a reporter for the Hartford Courant noticed a sharp rise in the number of obituaries for residents of a rooming house in Windsor, Connecticut, and began to suspect who was responsible: Amy Archer-Gilligan, who’d opened the Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids four years earlier. “Sister Amy” would be accused of murdering both of her husbands and up to sixty-six of her patients with cocktails of lemonade and arsenic; her story inspired the Broadway hit Arsenic and Old Lace.
The Devil’s Rooming House is the first book about the life, times, and crimes of America’s most prolific female serial killer. In telling this fascinating story, M. William Phelps also paints a vivid portrait of early-twentieth-century New England.



The Devil's Rooming House: The True Story of America's Deadliest Female Serial Killer

The sex club

A well-plotted suspenseful tale with a pulse-pounding ending -- Midwest Book Review <BR> The Sex Club is a great read. The author maintains tension so well I stayed up four hours bast my bedtime to finish the book. A well crafted story with an unexpected ending. Extremely fulfilling. -- Theresa de Valence, mystery reviewer<BR>The Sex Club is suspenseful, thought-provoking, and very readable, with likable protagonists and villainous villains. --Carola Dunn, author of the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries.

L.J. Sellers rips current social issues from editorial pages, wraps them in exciting, multi-faceted mysteries, and delivers thrilling reads. Pick up any Sellers mystery and you ll find the full package lovable, flawed human beings with interesting, imperfect lives; twisted, mean-spirited villains that we love to hate; good guys who aren t so good; bad guys who have standards; a suspenseful tale with enough plot twists and red herrings to keep the mystery fascinating to the last page and leave the reader begging for more. --Charlotte Phillips, author of the Eva Baum mysteries.

L.J. Sellers has written a fine debut mystery novel that explores religious fanaticism and its effects on the lives of various people. The characters are well developed, the plot plausible and well executed with an unexpected twist at the end. I look forward to reading more books by this talented author. --Lillian Porter, Bloodstained Book Review

Product Description

When a bomb explodes at a birth-control clinic and a young client turns up dead, Detective Jackson is assigned both cases. But are they connected? Kera, the clinic nurse who discovers that the girl's Bible group is really a sexual free-for-all, thinks they are. But confidentiality keeps her from telling the police, so she digs for the truth on her own and becomes the bomber's new target. Soon another girl is murdered. Can Jackson uncover the killer's shocking identity in time to stop the slaughter?
 
About the Author


L.J. Sellers is an award-winning journalist, editor, and the author of the Detective Jackson mystery/suspense series. The first two books, THE SEX CLUB and SECRETS TO DIE FOR, have been highly praised, and the third book, THRILLED TO DEATH, will be released in August. Her next two novels, PASSIONS OF THE DEAD and THE BABY THIEF, will be published in 2011. When not plotting murders, L.J. enjoys performing standup comedy, cycling, social networking, attending mystery conferences, and editing fiction manuscripts.

This review is from: The Sex Club (Paperback)


I would normally not have picked up The Sex Club off the shelf, as I'm not much of a mystery fan. However, the masterful and expressive cover caught my eye. Surprise - L.J. Sellers held my interest from first to last, and I hated to see the story end. This is a police procedural, following the steps of the detective as he solves the crimes. The police aspects are well-researed, and the reader rides along with the detective eyes open and cheering. The characters are well drawn, complete with human foibles, and very sympathetic. Thankfully, the author did not stoop to giving the detective more than his share of faults. The tender romance is treated softly, a natural outcome of proximity, but does not overwhelm the crime story. And the crimes! Realistic for today, sadly. As it is set in Eugene, OR, home of my alma mater, that added personal interest, but the setting could Smalltown, anywhere. Living as I do now in a hotbed of Christian conservatism, the issues she brings up of religious fanatacism were very to the point. I am looking forward to the next Detective Wade Jackson novel.

 The Sex Club (Detective Jackson mystery)

Spiritual clearing

What a horn of plenty is Diana Burney's Spiritual Clearings, as well a gift for therapists and clients alike. Replete with the knowledge of many years of experience and research, Diana has found her own wonderful way of being helpful to so many. Introducing us to the spiritual world that we may find our own perspective, and providing a plethora of tools to keep at our fingertips, ... Diana shares the underpinnings of multiple disciplines, and gives techniques for cleansing, healing, and clearing across time and space. Thank you Diana for sharing your wisdom and life experiences."

—Judith Baldwin, author of From My Heart to Yours: A Transformational Guide to Unlocking the Power of Love

A blend of spiritual and practical material, Spiritual Clearings offers a comprehensive checklist of situations that may require a personal, home, property, or business clearing, from confronting illness or feeling “stuck” in life, to having trouble selling a home, to high employee turnover. In addition to describing energetic blockages, such as negative thought forms, author Diana Burney also discusses different categories of energy, its presence in the invisible world, and the unseen influences or beings that may be drawn to discordant energy. Through spiritual clearings, Burney proposes, we can release our own negativity as well as guide unseen negative forces toward the light. The book’s clearing rituals include prayers that invoke the assistance of higher beings such as archangels and Ascended Masters, incantations and chants from different spiritual traditions, the visualization of divine light and the violet flame, and the expression of gratitude. Additional meditation and visualization exercises, descriptions of divine beings, and a summary of the universal laws provide readers with a clear path to fulfilling their potential and creating a personal environment of confidence, creativity, love, and acceptance.

Some reviews:This review is from: Spiritual Clearings: Sacred Practices to Release Negative Energy and Harmonize Your Life (Paperback)

Through her book, Diana Burney has generously shared her experiences, training, energy, and wisdom. Ms. Burney presents to us the interconnectivity of sacred practices, positive and negative energy, the intuitive mind and divine guidance, and the harmony of life. In processing, assimilating, and living the cornucopia of this seasoned text, especially the prayers, mantras, affirmations, and invocations for an intuitive mind and divine guidance, I have had a profound positive experience. I highly recommend this book to all celebrating and experiencing your spiritual journey. We express our gratitude to Ms. Burney for sharing herself and her spiritual strengths with us.

Spiritual clearings

Everest: Mountain without Mercy

When David Breashears agreed to climb Mount Everest with an IMAX camera in order to film from the summit, he had no idea that his little expedition would become embroiled in a tragedy that would make headlines around the world. On May 10, 1996, two expeditions led by experienced Everest guides Rob Hall and Scott Fisher summited the mountain, only to suffer the loss of eight members--including the two leaders--on the way back down.

At the time, Breashears and his filmmaking crew were at the base camp preparing for their own climb--originally planned for that same day but postponed after realizing there would already be several other groups on the summit. Instead of making a film, Breashears and company participated in the rescue and only later reached the summit of Everest to successfully complete their film. Broughton Coburn, a long-time resident of Nepal and a friend of David Breashears, was commissioned to write a book about the filmmaking expedition, the tragedy on Everest, and the mountain itself.

He has more than succeeded with Everest: Mountain Without Mercy, a taut recounting of disaster and triumph at 29,000 feet. But this book is about more than just mountain climbing; Coburn has also included fascinating information about Nepal, Buddhism, and the Sherpa culture, as well as the history of climbing Everest. He covers everything from the causes of altitude sickness to Nepal's increasing problems with deforestation, and through it all he weaves the story of that day in May when Everest again proved unpredictable--and deadly. For a white-knuckle climb to the top of the world's highest mountain, complete with stunning photographs, you can't do better than Everest: Mountain Without Mercy.

Everest: Mountain without Mercy  

Touching My Father's Soul: In the Footsteps of Tenzing Norgay

A book of adventure, wisdom and spiritual enlightenment. Touching My Father's Soul recounts Tenzing's son, Jamling Norgay's treacherous climb to the world's most forbidding summit. As retold in Krakauer's Into This Air, the 1996 IMAX climbing expedition collided with tragedy. As the climb unfolds so too does Norgay's inner journey. His desire to finally stand alongside his father's soul on the summit of Everest is realised, as is an understanding of his family's Sherpa history and a realisation of the power and significance of the Himalayas. Beautifully repackaged for the paperback edition, this is a classic. About the Author Jamling Tenzing Norgay is the son of famed mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who climbed Everest in 1953 with Sir Edmund Hillary. Jamling is also the star of the IMAX film Everest, and lives in Nepal. Broughton Coburn is the author of the National Geographic Society book Everest: Mountain Without Mercy. Coburn has lived in Nepal for 25 years and has a deep knowledge of Himalayan culture and Tibetan Buddhism.

Even with a foreword of the Dalai-Lama and an introduction of Jon Krakauer! If this is no blessing! The author is the first. Sherpa who wrote a book on mountaineering in the Himalayas and about how Sherpas look at it. He climbed the Everest himself in 1996 as a member of the filmteam IMAX. So far he was really in the footsteps of his famous father Tenzing, who was the first man to make it to the summit.


Since meanwhile it is custom for the Sherpas to surpass each other in performance to attain reputation in the Sherpa community it cannot be surprising that the author had to emulate his father. He succeeded in that of course, otherwise we would not have this book. Here it is, the report of an accomplishment!

Yet the book is more than that! You have to know that his father was in his times not only a national hero for the Sherpa, but also for the Nepalese and Indians - his home was India - even the English Queen conferred him the medal of St. George. In the USA a honorary doctorate was added.

It is also understandable that his son is reporting in this book a lot about the difficult relationship to his father. Jamling was destroyed when his father rejected his participation of an Everest expedition at the time when his son was a student . he did it with the words: "I climbed the Everest that you do not have to do it!" A reasonable decision which fell on his son`s deaf ears!

All the more since the relation to his father was formed by severity and tradition. Tenzings fame was a burden not only for his son but as well for his family, because he was steadily on journeys, there was no time for the son whose way could have been foreseen.

In 1986 his father died. Now he wanted to climb the Everest all the more. The opportunity came with the invitation of the film maker and mountaineer David Breasheares. Just when there was the season that again the nonsense of mountaineering in high altitudes at all costs overshadowed the sense of pure mountaineering! That was more the case than ever before, because meanwhile there were more commercial summit enterprises than genuine sportive enterprises. Clients who were no real mountaineers bought the "summiting". Catastrophies included!

1996 was practically the year when also Krakauer made his fortune - not by summiting but by writing about it and about the most tragic mountain accident ever at the Everest.

Jamling does the same here. Not too bad certainly for the sales figures of the book! Whether the book is the best what the literature on Everest climbing has to offer, as asserted by Krakauer? I do not think so. Too simple the style, pensive, yes, but not reflecting enough! He climbs higher than he thinks deep.

The tragedy on Everest gives the frame incidence of the book from which there are always flashbacks. Interesting is the inner change which the author is trying to picture us. It began with the mission to find to himself, to step out of the giant shadow of his father: "I was driven foremost from the wish to attain understanding. I had the feeling that only when I follow my father on the mountain... I really could experience something about my father...I wanted to find out what moved him and what he had found on the mountain".

Jamling, who had mainly visited secular schools and colleges, called himself a cynic. He, who did not really believe in the teachings of Buddhism! In face of the catastrophe of the mountain he has something like an aha-experience which brought him to turn to religion: "When I found myself in the womb of the mountain, surrounded by believing Sherpas and confronted with death cases which took place and had taken place here my cynism had quickly flew off."

Besides he is describing how he admired the Americans until he started to study in the USA and realized how disrespectful the students behaved in front of their teachers.

"A life in abundance might be excusable, but where is thankfulness?" You can also hear that in a marriage love can grow, a love that could have been absent in the beginning, but is destined to become the result of a "shared, true life`s experience". And likewise he is informing many experiences with critical comments. That is how a traditionally educated Sherpa looks at the western world. Read it, it is partly elucidating, although it should not be!

Here you have to consider that he made these sayings after his "conversion". But notwithstanding this, I think, this kind of thinking was already implanted in him. The experiences on Everest only clarified where he was ideological at home. This is becoming apparent when he performs certain rites together with other Sherpas in the preparation for the climbing, from the recitation of mantras to special physical or spiritual exercises. Moreover the author is reporting about many other traditions and concepts of the Sherpas. He is considering what happens when he dies on the mountain. This is getting more concrete when the two previous expeditions meet their destinies. Should they still dare a try? How to overcome the unease? Whence to get the motivation?

The description of the climb, even with all the sufferings and strains and the macabre confrontation with frozen predecessors, has nothing new to offer. We have seen this already. When he stands on the summit, he says: "we are here- we are on the summit! And it is wonderful!"

Lack of Oxygen I say! He notices the presence of his father, even of his father`s pride about the achievement of his son. And he hears him speak: "Jamling, you did not need not go so far, you did not need to climb this mountain in order to be with me and to talk to me!" Nevertheless he was happy. So this is also settled!

In the end the author is confessing to be a follower of the cultures of East and West. He adopted in the West scepticism, but for metaphysical questions the Tibetan buddhism is more competent. The views of West and East would not properly contradict each other, is his message! He is proposing to "expand the sound synergy which - even when just latent - exists between both hemispheres of thinking". True, without the help of East and West neither his father, an eastern, nor Hillary, the westerner, could have made it to the top of Everest.

A nice sentence at the end of the book: "We should not believe that a little sin could not do any damage. Even one small spark can enflame a huge haystack. Quite similarly the value of good deeds should not be under-estimated. Even tiny snowflakes, one upon the other, can cover the highest mountains with pure white."

This book was written by a Sherpa which makes it differ from the mass of other Everest books from the pens of western mountaineers. Alone because of this it has deserved to be read. I found it more entertaining and informing than many other books related to the theme. If somebody wishes to get more information about the psychics and the world, of the Sherpas, he should read Sherry Ortners "The world of the Sherpas".

Touching My Father's Soul: In the Footsteps of Tenzing Norgay

Touching My Father's Soul:A Sherpa's JourneyTo The Top Of Everest

The 1996 Everest tragedy is widely known through Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Here, Norgay, son of one of the first two men to scale Mt. Everest in 1953, describes his experience leading the IMAX team that filmed their own 1996 climb. Lower on the mountain during the infamous storm, Norgay's team had radio contact with th%u2026e doomed expedition and participated in later stages of rescue. Possessing an amazing trove of cultural and historical understanding, Norgay, with Coburn (coauthor of Everest: Mountain Without Mercy), intersperses his narrative with stories of his father's famous ascent and provides insights into the society of the Sherpa, the Tibetan Buddhists who help Westerners climb Everest. Physiologists believe, he writes, that Tibetans "may possess a gene that allows for more efficient oxygen delivery at high elevations." Western readers will be struck by the significance Sherpas ascribe to fate in achieving a feat that for most Westerners is a glorification of individual strength and will. It's refreshing to encounter a Tibetan sensibility and perspective in an adventure narrative, although there's not much new here about the tragic 1996 events, the commercialization of Everest, the competition among groups, etc. But Norgay's clever weaving of the parallel stories of his climb and his father's enriches an already gripping tale. The broad, well-established adventure audience will devour this book. Norgay is intent on the accomplishments and experiences of his legendary father, Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who first reached the summit with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953, and commendably shares his most private and human thoughts while retracing his father's greatest path. As Touching My Father's Soul acknowledges, however, no one conquers Everest. You sneak up on it, then get down as quick as you can. -Michael Ferch

Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest

Buddhism Observed: Travellers, Exiles and Tibetan Dharma in Kathmandu (Anthropology of Asia)

'The book offers a valuable, well-organized, and persuasive picture of an important relationship in the history of modern Buddhism.' - Social Anthropology . This anthropological study examines the encounter between Western travellers and Tibetan exiles in Bodhanath, on the outskirts of Kathmandu and analyses the importance of Buddhism in discussions of political, cultural and religious identity. About the Author Peter Moran is Director of Academic programs in Kathmandu for both Trinity College, USA and the International Honors Program, Boston University. He is also the academic director at the Centre for Buddhist Studies at Kathmandu University.

Buddhism Observed

Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya

Enjoy the high passes, breathtaking landscapes and exhilarations of trekking in Nepal with Lonely Planet. Whether you want to make a tilt at Everest Base Camp, reach remote Tibetan villages or circuit sacred lakes, this guide lets you light out for the roof of the world. This book includes the biggest and most well-known treks around Nepal, and the descriptions of those treks are very detailed and comprehensive. The maps provided are accurate and helpful. If you are looking for alternatives or treks off the beaten tourist tracks, few of the featured routes fit that bill. In addition, there are very few short (less than 4 days) treks, and almost no routes within close proximity to Kathmandu. This book is good if you are coming to Nepal for less than a month and only want to hit one or two of the major treks.

Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya (Walking)

Rule by Secrecy:The Hidden History that Connects the Trilateral Commission,The Freemasons,and the Great Pyramid

Disturbing, provocative, and utterly compelling, Rule by Secrecy offers a singular worldview that may explain who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.

In this unconvincing potboiler, Marrs, who charged that conspiracies were behind the JFK assassination (Crossfire) and government cover-ups of the UFO phenomenon (Alien Agenda), now offers a sweeping view of world history through the warped prism of conspiracy theory. The world’s richest and most powerful individuals, he opines, wield excessive influence over governments and news media through their control of multinational corporations and organizations he refers to as “secret societies,” such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the international Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg group (which holds annual closed-door conferences around the globe).

 The aim of these “secret societies,” suggests Marrs, is one-world government and centralized social control, and in this respect, he adds, all these groups and their offshoots carry the imprint of older secret brotherhoods, including Freemasonry and the Illuminati. Conspiracy buffs will have a field day wading through this morass, but other readers will remain unpersuaded by a tract that proceeds by way of innuendo, quotation of other conspiracy researchers’ extremist opinions and unsubstantiated statement.

 Marrs squeezes into his procrustean framework the origins of WWI and WWII, Nazis’ occult dabblings, the Russian Revolution, the Morgan and Rothschild banking dynasties and the Knights Templar, and he uncritically entertains a host of maverick theories. His conspiracy trail winds up back in Mesopotamia, as he plies territory mined by Zecharia Sitchin, who believes that extraterrestrials founded the earth’s earliest civilizations. Ultimately, this mishmash lacks the semblance of plausibility that helped make Alien Agenda a bestseller.

Drawing on historical evidence and his own impeccable research, Mars carefully traces the mysteries that connect these modern-day conspiracies to humankind’s prehistory. The eye-opening result is an extraordinary synthesis of historical information -; much of it long hidden from the public -; that sheds light on the people and organizations that rule our lives.

Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids

Family of Secrets:The Bush Dynasty,America's Invisible Government,and the Hidden History of the last 50 years

From The Washington Post’s Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Jamie Malanowski Halfway through the concluding chapter of Family of Secrets, Russ Baker mentions, not entirely modestly, that when a colleague heard some of the things he would be disclosing in his almost 600-page book about the Bush family and its connections to John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Watergate and many other pivotal events, the colleague “suggested, only half in jest, that the book be called ‘Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong.’ ” Well, any investigative journalist whose credo isn’t “Everything You Thought Is Wrong” should probably pack it in. No quality, not even doggedness, is more important than the ability to embrace the belief that, despite what everyone else thinks, only the reporter really knows the truth. But with this big challenge comes a big burden of proof. As history’s tide rolls out, we may eventually discover that everything we think we know about the George Bushes, père et fils, is wrong and that everything Baker alleges about them in his book — their secrets, their labors on behalf of powerful, self-serving interests — is right on the money.

Despite strenuous efforts, however, Baker doesn’t prove it here. A softer sell would have served him better. A capable investigator who has written for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, Baker is skillful at taking bits of information and placing them in contexts that make the Bush family’s behavior and decisions look unusual and, frequently, nefarious. Had he been satisfied to raise suspicions, he would have been provocative and, on some counts, persuasive. But by trying to explain everything, to create a unified field theory of American tragedy that has the Bushes as the key actors and beneficiaries, Baker exceeds his grasp. Take, for example, the many details Baker has collected about George H.W. Bush and his activities in Texas in the 1950s and early ’60s. Baker’s cornerstone is a memo, reported by the Nation magazine in 1988, in which J. Edgar Hoover says the FBI spoke to “Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency” after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. To that Baker adds suggestive pieces of information about the Bush family-Yale-Skull & Bones-CIA-oil industry nexus. All this, taken together, advances the possibility that the elder Bush was at least a minor asset to the CIA, and maybe more, when he was doing business in Latin America and the Caribbean early in the Cold War.

As everyone knows, Bush became the CIA’s director in 1976. But Family of Secrets posits that his connections to the agency go back much earlier. Baker then scrutinizes the elder Bush’s movements on Nov. 22, 1963. On the morning of the assassination, he was in Dallas, then flew to Tyler, Tex., to speak at a luncheon (the speech was cancelled when the shooting was reported; Baker notes that Bush remained “supremely well composed”), then flew back to Dallas and on to Houston, but not before phoning the FBI from Tyler to report his suspicions that a Republican Party activist might have been involved in the killing. Add in a handful of Bush associates who had interesting (and in one case downright bizarre) connections to the event, the author’s general distrust of right-wing oilmen, an argument that the CIA had its own reasons for hating Kennedy, and suddenly you have a scenario that starts to sound like a conspiracy. Baker never explains how Bush might have been involved in the assassination; he only suggests that having apparently developed ties to the CIA and having had these weird friends and having done this odd informer thing — possibly to establish an alibi — well, he must be up to his neck in something. And who knows? But the Nation asked George H.W. Bush in 1988 if he were the person Hoover was referring to, and a spokesman for the then-vice president said no. The CIA produced another George Bush who had been on its staff at the time of the assassination, although that guy also denied having dealt with the FBI. Baker suggests that this was some kind of cover story to protect Bush 41, but what kind of cover story is it when the coverer doesn’t stick to the story? The point is, Baker is not content merely to raise uncomfortable questions; he has latched onto the Grand Theory of Bushativity, and he insists on pressing his case with evidence that will not bear the weight. Every time he reaches a gap in someone’s means or motivation, he hops, skips and jumps across it as nimbly as a mountain goat. Such words as “appears,” “apparently,” “likely,” “seems,” “seemingly” and “in all likelihood” appear at many crucial junctures; there are more crutches in these pages than in the grotto at Lourdes.

Baker also hurts himself by consistently thinking the worst of his subjects, even on matters only tangentially related to his central argument. He makes a big deal, for example, out of inconsistencies in the elder Bush’s accounts of being shot down during World War II. Smith suggests that Bush changed his story to seem more courageous and to diminish his responsibility for the lives of his crew. Never mind studies that point to the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, and set aside all we know about how the passing of time messes with memory. Just think: Bush was flying an airplane and trying to bomb a target while people were trying to kill him, and they very nearly succeeded. I’ve never been in that position, so I can’t say how well I would have recollected events. I can say I have gone into a supermarket with two small children and come out having forgotten to buy the very item I went to the store to get. Baker’s Javert-like pursuit makes him seem unreasonable. This is just one of many places where the author overplays his hand. In a particularly weak section, he argues that Bush was complicit in a plot to undermine Richard Nixon. Here Baker relies on revisionist accounts of Watergate that point to John Dean as the one who ordered the break-in, or to the CIA as conspiring to oust Nixon. Bush is linked to these fuzzy schemes primarily by having, like the Watergate burglars, a CIA connection. In addition, Baker finds it suspicious that Bush advised Nixon to come clean about the break-in. But such advice was highly conventional and could be considered anti-Nixon only if you buy the idea that Bush prodded an innocent president to admit to something that didn’t involve him. Baker doesn’t convincingly cast Bush as anything beyond a sycophantic, Zelig-like presence in the Nixon years.

The later chapters of the book, about George W. Bush, are more plausible, if only because Baker breaks less ground in his coverage of the family’s connections to Saudi Arabia and the younger Bush’s record in the National Guard. But having seen Baker stretch his evidence in the early chapters, a reader cannot be entirely sure that he isn’t doing the same thing again. The next time this intrepid investigator takes aim at a subject, he might remember that it is wiser to underpromise and overdeliver than vice versa.(washington post)

Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years

Ghost Wars:The Secret History of the CIA,Afghanistan,and Bin Laden,from the Soviet Invasion to September 10,2001

Steve Coll’s Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 offers revealing details of the CIA’s involvement in the evolution of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the years before the September 11 attacks. From the beginning, Coll shows how the CIA’s on-again, off-again engagement with Afghanistan after the end of the Soviet war left officials at Langley with inadequate resources and intelligence to appreciate the emerging power of the Taliban. He also demonstrates how Afghanistan became a deadly playing field for international politics where Soviet, Pakistani, and U.S. agents armed and trained a succession of warring factions. At the same time, the book, though opinionated, is not solely a critique of the agency. Coll balances accounts of CIA failures with the success stories, like the capture of Mir Amal Kasi. Coll, managing editor for the Washington Post, covered Afghanistan from 1989 to 1992. He demonstrates unprecedented access to records of White House meetings and to formerly classified material, and his command of Saudi, Pakistani, and Afghani politics is impressive. He also provides a seeming insider’s perspective on personalities like George Tenet, William Casey, and anti-terrorism czar, Richard Clarke (”who seemed to wield enormous power precisely because hardly anyone knew who he was or what exactly he did for a living”). Coll manages to weave his research into a narrative that sometimes has the feel of a Tom Clancy novel yet never crosses into excess. While comprehensive, Coll’s book may be hard going for those looking for a direct account of the events leading to the 9-11 attacks. The CIA’s 1998 engagement with bin Laden as a target for capture begins a full two-thirds of the way into Ghost Wars, only after a lengthy march through developments during the Carter, Reagan, and early Clinton Presidencies. But this is not a critique of Coll’s efforts; just a warning that some stamina is required to keep up. Ghost Wars is a complex study of intelligence operations and an invaluable resource for those seeking a nuanced understanding of how a small band of extremists rose to inflict incalculable damage on American soil. –Patrick O’Kelley –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001