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"An indispensable and riveting account" of the CIA's development and use of torture, from the cold war to Abu Ghraib and beyond (Naomi Klein, The Nation)

In this revelatory account of the CIA's fifty-year effort to develop new forms of torture, historian Alfred W. McCoy locates the deep roots of recent scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo in a long-standing, covert program of interrogation. A Question of Torture investigates the CIA's practice of "sensory deprivation" and "self-inflicted pain," in which techniques including isolation, hooding, hours of standing, and manipulation of time assault the victim's senses and destroy the basis of personal identity. McCoy traces the spread of these practices across the globe, from Vietnam to Iran to Central America, and argues that after 9/11, psychological torture became the weapon of choice in the CIA's global prisons, reinforced by "rendition" of detainees to "torture-friendly" countries. Finally, McCoy shows that information extracted by coercion is worthless, making a strong case for the FBI's legal methods of interrogation.

Scrupulously documented and grippingly told, A Question of Torture is a devastating indictment of inhumane practices that have damaged America's laws, military, and international standing.

• Sales Rank: #550441 in Books
• Brand: McCoy, Alfred W.
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.50" h x .72" w x 5.50" l, .95 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From The New Yorker
From the start of the Cold War to the early nineteen-sixties, the C.I.A. spent billions of dollars developing psychological tools for interrogation. The agency cast a wide net, funding a Canadian study that involved administering electric shocks to subjects in drug-induced comas, and recruiting people like Kurt Plotner, a Nazi scientist who, in his search for a truth serum, had tested mescaline on Jewish prisoners at Dachau. The eventual conclusion was that cheap, simple methods (for example, enforced standing) worked best, and were also more acceptable to the public than outright physical violence. McCoy skillfully traces the use of these methods from the Phoenix program in Vietnam—which was designed to ferret out high-level Vietcong, although of the more than twenty thousand people it killed most were civilians—to the actions of agency-trained secret police in Honduras in the nineteen-eighties, and the treatment of hooded detainees at Abu Ghraib.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

From Booklist
Current events have precipitated a number of recent books connecting executive-branch policy makers with Abu Ghraib and other torture scandals, and McCoy is not the first author to argue that American use of torture in intelligence gathering has been deliberate and systematic rather than accidental. This book is unique, however, in connecting the dots all the way back to early cold war mind-control research, reminding readers that the CIA has been an innovator in modern torture methods. Incorporating simple yet brutally effective techniques of psychological manipulation involving isolation, disorientation, and destruction of personal identity, McCoy argues, the modern CIA interrogation manual is premised on university and army research into the psychology of coercion. As in his earlier work on CIA complicity in the global heroin trade, McCoy is adept at tracing the inertia of government practice; his research on the effect of torture on the Philippine armed forces likewise shows policy in practice and demonstrates that psychological torture is at least as scarring as thumbscrews. Timely and compelling. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Alfred W. McCoy is a professor of history at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia and Closer Than Brothers.

Most helpful customer reviews

74 of 78 people found the following review helpful.
An invaluable book
By James Lowell
By providing a historical context for understanding recent revelations of U.S. government-perpetrated atrocities, McCoy convincingly unmasks the lie that Abu Ghraib is a mere aberration. In doing so, he shows that those in the United States who are serious about human rights have to address the ugly essence of U.S. foreign policy and practice rather than problems misperceived as short-term and exceptional. The evidence McCoy presents is overwhelming, and his analysis insightful.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
A Call For Soul Searching
By Mike Hopping
A Question Of Torture is a penetrating study of fifty years of United States involvement in torture research, practice, and propagation. Dr. McCoy, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, isn't neutral on the subject. But his book isn't a doctrinaire rejection of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Nor is it a compendium of tragic personal case studies. Instead, he takes advantage of his misgivings about torture to delve into its history, the whys and wherefores of state-sponsored torture, and the demonstrable results of these practices. The work he has produced is as illuminating as it is easy to read. And, supported by sixty pages of sources and notes, the book should prove useful to readers with academic interests as well.

McCoy, whose previous works include a landmark study of the heroin trade, begins with an overview of torture and its usages through the past two thousand years. Then he takes us to the early days of the Cold War and a concerted US attempt to increase intelligence yields through mind control techniques. Early on, the emphasis was on electroshock, hypnosis, psychosurgery, and drugs, including the infamous use of LSD on unsuspecting soldiers and civilians. But the results were disappointing. Researchers soon learned that sensory disorientation (hooding, manipulation of sleep, etc.) and "self-inflicted pain" (for example forcing an uncooperative subject to stand for many hours with arms outstretched) were more effective means of breaking prisoners. Augmented by fears of physical abuse, sexual humiliation, and other psychological attacks on personal and cultural identity, our government produced exactly the system on display in the Abu Ghraib abuse photographs.

But Iraq is hardly our country's maiden voyage into the application of torture on an industrial scale. During the Vietnam War, Project Phoenix, a joint CIA and Vietnamese counter-insurgency operation, resulted in the torture of tens of thousands of suspected Viet Cong and sympathizers and caused the deaths of more than 26,000 of them. In Latin America, US operatives trained and abetted right-wing military and paramilitary personnel during the dirty wars of the 1970s and 80s. We also shared our expertise with the shah of Iran's secret police and the Filipino military during the Marcos years. McCoy reports that Philippine officers trained in these "extralegal" methods, went on to lead RAM, one of the more persistent groups to seek the violent overthrow of Marcos and also his successor, Corazon Aquino.

McCoy recounts the political moves that paved the way for prisoner abuse to become US policy during the war on terror. And he documents the inability or failure of judicial, military, and congressional authorities to hold high-ranking personnel in the executive branch, CIA, military, or behavioral sciences accountable. In such an environment, he believes we should expect a continuing series of revelations concerning direct and indirect US sponsorship of torture.

Does torture work? McCoy finds little specific factual evidence to suggest the "ticking time bomb" rationale for torture on a small scale has merit. The Manila police learned of a plot to destroy several airliners from Abdul Hakim Murad's laptop computer, not from the sixty-seven days of torture that followed. Israeli claims of many suicide bombings prevented by harsh interrogation techniques boil down to one documented case. Mass torture, such as that practiced by the French in Algeria, Project Phoenix in Vietnam, the right-wing Latin American dictatorships of the Pinochet era, the shah's Iran, and the Marcos Philippines did win battles. But, in each case, the popular reaction to it contributed to losing the war.

If the "ticking time bomb" justification for torture doesn't correspond to experience and mass torture loses wars, why do governments resort to it? The reason, McCoy concludes, is not rational and not very different from kicking the dog after being barked at by the boss. "In sum, the powerful often turn to torture in times of crisis, not because it works but because it salves their fears and insecurities with the psychic balm of empowerment."

A Question Of Torture is a lucid exposure of an evil open secret and of the skeins of denial and justification swaddling it. This book deserves a wide readership and should, but probably won't, stimulate some serious national soul searching.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful.
This is Our Government
By Douglas S. Wood
Alfred McCoy, a distinguished professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, has long been a thorn in the side of the CIA. In the pages of this brief book McCoy traces the history of modern torture techniques as developed and used by the CIA. The book demonstrates that the Abu Ghraib abuses have roots far beyond the Bush years. The techniques used there are standard operating procedure.

Sensory deprivation, self-infiction of pain, and assault on the cultural mores of the victim are the hallmarks of the techniques. Read this book and then take one look at the infamous Abu Ghraib pictures and you will understand with certainty that the responsibility goes well beyond Lynndie England and the prison guard grunts. They did not come up with these techniques.

McCoy briefly relates that the US historically engaged in systematic torture in the Vietnam Phoenix program and taught Central American governments the CIA methods, to name just two examples. This history was largely ignored in discussions of Abu Ghraib as some commentators simply refused to believe that Americans would do such things.

But does torture work? And if it does, should we use it?

With respect to the efficacy of torture, McCoy quotes a 4th century C.E. Roman legal scholar Ulpian: "the strong will resist and the weak will say anything to end the pain." McCoy also destroys the silly hypotheses about the atomic bomb in Times Square used to justify torture.

McCoy has explained why we, in whose name this torture is performed, should oppose it:

"There's an absolute ban on torture for a very good reason. Torture taps into the deepest recesses, unexplored recesses of human consciousness, where creation and destruction coexist, where the infinite human capacity for kindness and infinite human capacity for cruelty coexist, and it has a powerful perverse appeal, and once it starts, both the perpetrators and the powerful who order them, let it spread, and it spreads out of control."

Highly recommended.

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^ Free PDF A Death in Texas: A Story of Race, Murder and a Small Town's Struggle for Redemption, by Dina Temple-Raston

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An extraordinary account of how a small Texas town struggled to come to grips with its racist past in the aftermath of the brutal murder of James Byrd, Jr.

On June 7, 1998, a forty-nine-year-old black man named James Byrd, Jr., was chained to the bumper of a truck and dragged three miles down a country road by a trio of young white men. It didn't take long for the residents of Jasper, Texas, to learn about the murder or to worry that the name of their town would become the nation's shorthand for hate crimes.

From the initial investigation through the trials and their aftermath, A Death in Texas tells the story of the infamous Byrd murder as seen through the eyes of enlightened Sheriff Billy Rowles. What he sees is a community forced to confront not only a grisly crime but also antebellum traditions about race. Drawing on extensive interviews with key players, journalist Dina Temple-Raston introduces a remarkable cast of characters, from the baby-faced killer, Bill King, to Joe Tonahill, Jasper's white patriarch who can't understand the furor over the killing. There's also James Byrd, the hard-drinking victim with his own dark past; the prosecutor and defense attorneys; and Bill King's father, who is dying of a broken heart as he awaits his son's execution.

Just as Bernard Lefkowitz pulled back the curtain on Glenridge, New Jersey, in his classic work Our Guys, Temple-Raston goes behind the scenes in Jasper, Texas, to tell the story of a town where racism and evil made itself at home

• Sales Rank: #1322674 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.70" h x 1.23" w x 6.00" l,
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Amazon.com Review
In the small town of Jasper, in the piney woods of deep East Texas, old slave relations still live below the surface along with an unwritten code of segregation. It was there that James Byrd was savagely dragged to death by three white men in a pickup. His death threatened to blow the town open. Dina Temple-Raston poignantly captures Jasper's desperate attempt to save its image as Jesse Jackson, the New Black Panthers, the KKK, and the media descended. In the process, she delves into such questions as, What does racism look like and where does it come from; follows the murderers to their final destination at Huntsville prison (ground zero for 40 percent of American executions); and shows how death forces people to see things the way they really are--and just how quickly they forget. A Death in Texas is a stunning and painful book that exposes racism in all its subtle and violent forms, and portrays the small heroes who try to change history. --Lesley Reed

From Publishers Weekly
This perceptive, grimly compelling account of the brutal 1998 murder of James Byrd in Jasper, Tex., is the first book on this nationally reported incident and a fine piece of journalistic reporting, covering the prosecution of Byrd's killers and the social and political aftermath for Jasper. On June 7, 1998, Byrd, a 49-year-old black man, was intentionally dragged behind a truck in such a way that his head and right arm were severed. Three white men were quickly arrested;. two were eventually sentenced to death and one to life imprisonment. Temple-Raston, a former foreign correspondent, uses this basic crime narrative as the backdrop for a complex, multilayered portrait of a small town coming to grips with its own history of racial hatred while simultaneously being thrust into the national limelight. Temple-Raston has a fine eye for detail: she documents how the town's lumber industry had historically abused black labor and mutilated black male bodies. Elsewhere, she presents the father of one of the killers remembering his brother's 1939 trial and acquittal for the murder of a gay man. And she captures the hysteria and fear that grip the town's population in the aftermath: the black community wonders what they might have done to prevent this; a policeman complains that Byrd was "the town drunk." Unsparing in her examination of the race hatred that led to the crime two of the men were members of "Christian Identity" white supremacist groups Temple-Raston is extraordinarily nuanced in exploring how poor, white men (often in prison) are drawn to this horrific ideology. Through a plethora of telling moments here, Temple-Raston painfully explores and exposes the lives of her subjects and the complications of hate and prejudice in the U.S.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In 1998, the world was shocked by the grisly dragging death of James Byrd, an African American man in Jasper, TX, which brought hate crimes and the cliches of Southern prejudice to the forefront of the American consciousness. Journalist Temple-Raston writes not only about the crime but also about the town, its casual segregation, and the terror of its black community, whose uneasy truce with the white community was shattered overnight. She notes that the murderers were captured within 24 hours, soothing African American fears that the crime would be ignored or covered up by the white law enforcement officers. All three men Bill King, Russell Brewer, and Shawn Perry were convicted, and King and Brewer are now on Death Row. Temple-Raston discusses the way both politicians and white supremacists used the murder to further their own agendas and reveals the unhappy lives of both Byrd and his murderers in an attempt to understand how drink and despair could so quickly transform into shocking violence. This deeply affecting book belongs in all true-crime collections.
- Deirdre Root, Middletown P.L., OH
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
"I'm sure it happens ,but you don't hear about it."
By Jerry Guild
This is an excellent book and for a lot of reasons.I don't know if it won any awards or not ,but it is certainly good enough to become a lasting account of the racially inspired murder of James Byrd by dragging him on a chain behind a pick up truck.This happened in Jasper,Texas on June 7,1998.

Dina has done an marvelous job of explaining the deep seated prejudices and injustices that created an enviroment for this evil action to occur.She has researched and shown the inner feelings and culture of all the people in this small town .Yes, there are good people, evil people and everything in between.

She is a trained and experienced journalist and her skills are very evident throughout the book.She spent countless hours talking to many of the people of this town and she writes in a way that conveys their everyday and personal language.No doubt there are many other small towns in America as well as around the world where the hatred and injustice are just as bad.All one has to do is remember the three young men murdered and portrayed in "Mississippi Burning";and that is only one of many,many examples.Dina reminds me of those great authors that so well wrote about the South.Two that come to mind immediately are Erskine Caldwell and William Faulkner,and that is pretty fancy company to be in.Dina not only covers the characters involved but also describes what happened before and during the murder but also the charges,trials and convictions.On top of that she shows the effect these events had on the families involved,the legal and justice participants as well as the townspeople and others outside the community.

Just look at some of these greatlines,sayings,descriptions,and these are only a sample of the many found throughout the book

"If I owned Texas and hell,

I'd rent out Texas and live in hell"

-General P.H. Sherman

"Death has a way of making even slow people hurry."

"When the devil's loose,it doesn't matter who he catches."

"This country boy's in trouble."

"Hell yes,I shot him;I should have done it ten years ago."

"A place near nowhere."

"A town where people stopped just long enough to lick a postage

stamp."

"The closest jobs got further away."

"Ain't nothing we can do."

"If I'd have married one of their sisters,they would hang me

so high my feet wouldn't touch the ground."

"What's done in the dark comes to the light."

"No battles are ever won by spectators."

"Bill King was a series of sums that did not add up."

"He said mixed couples should hang from the same tree."

"Some people have crosses to bear,I have crosses to burn."

"In the South,the past isn't dead,it's not even past."

Man,talk about picturesque language.

I tried to see what has transpired with the three convicted murderers on the web sites mentioned in the book,but without much success.If anyone knows their status,it would be helpful to include in a review.

I can't imagine anyone doing a better book on this whole affair than what Dina Temple-Raston has given us. I'll be on the lookout for future books of hers.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
The hate that hate made.
By Theodore Christopher
If you thought you knew just about everything there was to know about this horrible crime then you are probably in for a rude awakening. To say that Dina Temple-Raston's research of this crime and the background information is thorough is a major understatement. If you read this book, you will come aways a virtual expert on this incident, and the major players involved. The book is so complete that I couldn't imagine another book coming along presenting anything new, unless it was an update after this book was published.
She begins her book simply enough with the discovery of James Byrd's body. You immediately get the feeling of a fuze being lit on a bomb as the word of mouth starts to carry through the entire community. She succinctly traces how the news is passed from citizen to citizen about the torn up body of a black man that has yet to be identified. After the initial discovery, collecting of evidence, and the eventual identification, she then begins to explore the mulitple paths and dimensions that are at first seem very unrelated, but are drawn together in a way that keeps you turning from one chapter to the next.
She explores the make-up of Jasper, and its history. Nothing is left out as she goes way back in the past almost to the beginnings of settlement, and explains how prominent families got their fame, how the lumbering industry helped the town grow, and how earlier racial conflicts affected this part of Texas and this town in particular.
Fading back to the present we go into the interesting backgrounds of the major players in this sad saga. Interviews, quotes, and background of the most important people are at the heart of this book: members of James Byrd's family, the Sheriff, the minister crucial in the black community, and the perpetrator's family members. However, an added plus are the interviews and perspectives of the seemingly not so important people: the owners of the cafe/inn across from the courthouse, a local journalist, former employers of the perpetrators, etc. It is incredible how she takes the various opinions and perspectives including the very extremes with the Klu Klux Klan, and the New Black Panthers, and yet still weaves them into this tragic story without missing a beat or unduly breaking up the flow of the important sequential events. The murder is followed right through the trials, and the reader is not lacking for any details or other information.
She ends her book not with the perpetrators, but appropriately in the community where it all started, and the future of the community - its children. We gain a sense of where the town might be headed from her by how she gives us a picture of the ways in which kids are dealing with this crime that threaten to divide the races even more. After reading this book with all its attention to detail, brute reality, humanism, and the strength of the good people pressing to rise beyond this tragedy which is felt so clearly, I cannot imagine this book being any better than it already is now.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
A Powerful story of a racial murder
By Narayan Radhakrishnan
Let me be frank. I have never heard of the town Jasper in Texas, or for that matter about the brutal racial murder that shook that town on June 7, 1998. The murder described is so shocking, so brutal that it is difficult for me to imagine it to be a true incident.
James Byrd Jr., an unassuming middle�aged black man is found murdered. The murderers had apparently chained him to the bumper of a car & dragged him for more than three miles along a rough country road. Hours later the victim�s body is found in pieces with the flesh shorn off & the organs dismembered. The predominantly white Jasper community is shocked � a town that believed racism was a thing of past � a town that took pride in its peaceful enlightened outlook was suddenly in the heat of racial prejudices & disharmony. Evidence leads to three white men, Bill King, Shawn Berry & Russell Brewer. The three are charged with the murder.
From the initial investigation reports to the ultimate trial, A Death in Texas takes the reader through the life in the Jasper Community following this dastardly incident. Through the eyes of Sheriff Billy Rowles, author Dina Temple�Raston paints a picture of a whole community coming to accept the truth � such as it is. Billy Rowles emerges as the true hero in this crisis. He kept in check the racial tension, & the growing tension between the Ku Klux Klan members & the Black Panthers in the aftermath of this heinous murder. The author also forcefully brings out the gritty determination of District Attorney Guy James Gray & the fight unto the last stand taken by defense attorney Joe Tonahill in describing the highly publicized trial.
Dina Temple�Raston is a journalist & this is her first book based on her experience in covering the Byrd murder trial. The author�s fictionalistic narration is effective in bringing home the true, harrowing & brutal effect the murder had on a whole town. The author�s authoritative & detailed account without mincing words is impressive & praiseworthy.
The epilogue mentions that two of the accused are awaiting an execution date � & whatever be arguments for or against the death penalty � this is one of the �rarest among the rare cases� (the words used by famed Supreme Court Judge of India, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer while confirming a death sentence in a murder trial) that truly deserves the death sentence.
To say that I enjoyed the book would not be correct, it is disturbing, enjoyably disturbing!

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The electrifying story of Abraham Lincoln's rise to greatness during the most perilous year in our nation's history

As 1862 dawned, the American republic was at death's door. The federal government appeared overwhelmed, the U.S. Treasury was broke, and the Union's top general was gravely ill. The Confederacy―with its booming economy, expert military leadership, and commanding position on the battlefield―had a clear view to victory. To a remarkable extent, the survival of the country depended on the judgment, cunning, and resilience of the unschooled frontier lawyer who had recently been elected president.

Twelve months later, the Civil War had become a cataclysm but the tide had turned. The Union generals who would win the war had at last emerged, and the Confederate Army had suffered the key losses that would lead to its doom. The blueprint of modern America―an expanding colossus of industrial and financial might―had been indelibly inked. And the man who brought the nation through its darkest hour, Abraham Lincoln, had been forged into a singular leader.

In Rise to Greatness, acclaimed author David Von Drehle has created both a deeply human portrait of America's greatest president and a rich, dramatic narrative about our most fateful year.

• Sales Rank: #528996 in Books
• Published on: 2012-10-30
• Released on: 2012-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.58" h x 1.52" w x 6.39" l, 1.55 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 480 pages

From Booklist
The year 1863 is often described as the decisive of the Civil War, given the Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Von Drehle, editor at large at Time and author of the widely acclaimed Triangle (2003), the story of the infamous 1911 New York factory fire, asserts that 1862 was the transformative year that led directly to the ultimate Union triumph. It commenced with Union fortunes appearing bleak. Confederate forces threatened Washington, and Union general McClellan had a bad case of the slows, despite his command of a huge army. In the political realm, Lincoln was struggling to master the strong egos in his cabinet, and he seemed to lack the will or confidence to demand more aggressive action from McClellan. As the year advanced, von Drehle illustrates Lincoln’s transformation into a great political and war leader, who learned to manage and effectively utilize the talents of his advisors and decisively assumed the role of commander in chief, dismissing McClellan and beginning the advancement of fighting officers, especially Grant. This is an excellently researched chronicle of the year that helped change the direction of the war. --Jay Freeman

Review
One of Kansas City Star’s Top 100 Books of 2012

Featured in PBS "Washington Week" Holiday Gift Guide

One of Kirkus Reviews’s Best Nonfiction 2012

"1862 was the year of Lincoln’s ‘Rise to Greatness’… Von Drehle recounts the dramatic military and political events of that year, interspersing them with human-interest stories of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary times… These pages crackle with life and energy."—James McPherson, New York Review of Books

"Outstanding… Lean, insightful and often lyrical."—USA Today

"Spellbinding….Von Drehle has done a masterful job of extracting riveting anecdotes from original sources and balancing them with recent contributions to the field. Blending good research with a gift for page-turning narrative, he adroitly weaves together the complex military, diplomatic, political, legal and moral saga of the 12 months of 1862."— The Washington Post

"An invigorating, inspiring and often heartrending portrait of a great man and a troubled country…Von Drehle’s deeply researched book provides a degree of detail that Hollywood can’t touch."—Kansas City Star

"A compelling, sharply written narrative of the events of 1862, when the odds were against the survival of the Union itself…　 Amid the shelves of Civil War tomes, Rise to Greatness stands out as a brisk, compact history of Lincoln’s evolution as a leader. Von Drehle persuasively calls 1862 ‘the hinge of American history’."—Miami Herald

"Riveting … Equal parts war story, political intrigue and character study, the book at times reads as much like a John Grisham page-turner as serious history… For those with an invigorated taste to learn more about Lincoln — the real man, not the icon — The Rise of Greatness is a must read."— The Omaha World-Herald

"More has been written and discussed about Abraham Lincoln than about any other U.S. president, and for good reason… The Von Drehle book and the Spielberg film effectively serve as bookends to the story of how Lincoln’s personality allowed him to navigate and shape the beginning of the war and the end of it."—Harvard Business Review

"Appealingly written and artistically constructed…Von Drehle, a first-rank narrator, writes better than most historians… Von Drehle's largest contribution lies in his illuminating discussions of Lincoln as a superb leader."—The Oregonian

"A marvelous and gripping story, compellingly and beautifully written." —Commentary Magazine

"In Rise to Greatness, acclaimed author David Von Drehle has created a deeply human portrait of arguably America’s greatest president fueled by a rich, dramatic narrative focusing on our most fateful year."—The Blaze

"Brilliant."—Real Clear Politics

"Von Drehle’s polished style and sense of drama will appeal to general readers interested in this formative time in American history… Von Drehle makes a strong case that Lincoln’s remarkable development both as a military strategist and as a political genius occurred during [1862], laying the groundwork for eventual Union triumph."—Library Journal

"A thoroughly engaging examination of the irreversible changes emerging from a year when the nation’s very survival remained in doubt."—Kirkus Reviews

"Von Drehle has chosen a critical year (‘the most eventful year in American history’ and the year Lincoln rose to greatness), done his homework, and written a spirited account."— Publishers Weekly

"With his keen journalist’s eye for detail, and the surefooted feel of an historian, David Von Drehle has produced an enthralling book. Rise to Greatness is a marvelous and important story, marvelously told."—Jay Winik, author of April 1865

"Rise to Greatness is a terrific read packed with fascinating facts that add color to a powerful depiction of the Civil War's second year.　 The narrative is driven by Lincoln's movement toward freedom for the slaves and his growing disenchantment with General McClellan, climaxed by the general's removal from command and the president's issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation."--James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"In the perilous year leading up to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln had to maneuver against his own generals and cabinet officers while fending off dark forces desiring disunion or dictatorship. By succeeding, as David von Drehle shows in this fascinating narrative, Lincoln saved the Union and redefined the American presidency. This is not only an important work of history but also a valuable manual on leadership."--Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein and Steve Jobs

"Rise to Greatness is a fascinating and fast-paced account of Lincoln's pivotal year. David Von Drehle brilliantly captures the epic events and outsized personalities that accompanied the birth of the Emancipation Proclamation. His book succeeds in making a well-known story feel absolutely compelling."--Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire and Georgiana

"In this vivid, writerly, well-researched account, David Von Drehle demonstrates, month by month, that 1862 made Lincoln’s presidency. In the haze of Civil War nostalgia, we can easily lose sight of the reality that the odds were terrible that a United States in any form would survive that harrowing year. Yet as Rise to Greatness shows, the events of 1862 gave birth to a different nation, one rooted in emancipation."--David W. Blight, author of American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era

"With his great gift for stirring portraiture and historical narrative, David von Drehle takes us into the world of the Civil War and 1862 so convincingly that you almost wonder how it will all turn out."--Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage

About the Author

David von Drehle is the author of three previous books, including the award-winning Triangle, a history of the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire that The New York Times called "social history at its best." An editor-at-large at Time magazine, he and his family live in Kansas City, Missouri.

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141 of 144 people found the following review helpful.
A fresh view of 1862 as the pivotal year of the Civil War
By Alan F. Sewell
Author David Von Drehle's premise is that 1862 was the pivotal year of the Civil War, the year that ultimately guaranteed the Federal victory orchestrated by President Lincoln. Having read about the Civil War for 45 years, this theme seemed dissonant at first. Is "1862" a typo? Doesn't Von Drehle mean 18 SIXTY-THREE? Didn't that year begin with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson running rampant at Chancellorsville? Didn't it end with the Confederates severed along the Mississippi and driven back toward Richmond and Atlanta? Wasn't THAT the year that the tide of the war was irrevocably reversed to favor the eventual triumph of the Union?

Von Drehle makes a convincing case that 1862 is AT LEAST AS DECISIVE as the later years. He points out that a lot of things could have gone wrong in 1862 that would have wrecked the Union BEFORE the calendar turned over to 1863:

1. The North might have convinced itself that the Confederacy was unconquerable. Conventional wisdom is that the North overpowered the South with manpower, industry, and railroads, but that was far from obvious in the early years of the war. Before the war most of the nation's foreign exchange was generated by the South's cotton exports. Cotton made money for Northern shippers, brokers, and banks. Could the North's economy sustain itself without the South? The immense land area of the Confederacy might have made the logistics of subduing and occupying it impossible even if the Federals somehow managed to win every battle.

================
Pressure aside, the idea that the Confederacy-- now a powerful country in its own right-- could be tamed and forced back into the Union by an army of raw volunteers, led by an unschooled frontier lawyer as commander in chief, struck most European observers as far-fetched, even preposterous. "It is in the highest Degree likely that the North will not be able to subdue the South," the British, Lord Palmerston, counseled his Foreign Office.
================

2. Lincoln had to convince the North that it was fighting on the right side of history. The notion that the United States was a confederation of sovereign states was widespread even in the North. In the years before the war Jefferson Davis' States Rights speeches had been cheered as loudly in New York City and Boston as in Charleston and Savannah. Confederate leaders expected to reverse-engineer the United States such that even most of the Free States would secede from the old Union and seek admittance to the Confederacy. Lincoln had to win the NORTH over to the idea that the United States was a nation indivisible.

3. Lincoln had to mobilize the North for war. The logistical effort of raising, training, and equipping a National Army of hundreds of thousands was immense. Lincoln understood that besides mobilizing an army he had to finance it: "The result of this war is a question of resources. That side will win in the end where the money holds out longest."

4. Lincoln had to manage egotistical personalities in his Cabinet, in the Federal Congress, and among his army officers --- most of whom thought he was a hick. Cabinet members like Simon Cameron and Generals like McClellan were outrageously insubordinate. Yet their services at the beginning of the war were essential. The Congress' Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War constantly second-guessed Lincoln's decisions and interfered with his chain of command.

5. He had to ferret out the Union's military talent and promote it to high command. Lincoln had astoundingly bad luck with most of the generals who were prominent early in the war. Fremont, Pope, Burnside, Hooker and McClellan all had failings that made them ineffective as army commanders. Lincoln had to discern the abilities of men he did not know, such as Grant, Sherman, Thomas and get them promoted to army command where they could be effective in winning the war.

================
Lincoln's job was to glean somehow, from these thousands of unproven men, the few with the stuff of true leaders. As he was already discovering, a West Point education or a long stretch in uniform provided no guarantee of military ability.
================

6. He had to manage diplomacy, including irritating incidents like the Trent Affair, so as to keep the British and French from recognizing the Confederacy and perhaps intervening on its behalf. To keep the Europeans from intervening he had to prove that his armies could fight well enough to have reasonable prospects of restoring the Union by force of arms.

7. He had to time the Emancipation Proclamation perfectly. If he had done it any earlier he would have driven Kentucky and Missouri into the Confederacy. If he had waited any longer the Republican Party would have shattered and undermined the war.

8. He had to maintain his Administration on an even keel during times when rumors of exaggerated calamities, such as McClellan's retreat from the Peninsula and the slaughter at Fredericksburg reached Washington. Had Lincoln once given way to the panic that infected many in his Cabinet, his army, and in the Congress, the war effort would have unraveled.

9. He had to make his generals and the people understand that attrition favored the Union. After the slaughter of Burnside's army at Fredericksburg he said: "If the same battle were to be fought over again, every day, through a week of days, with the same relative results, the army under Lee would be wiped out to its last man, the Army of the Potomac would still be a mighty host, the war would be over, the Confederacy gone, and peace would be won.... No general yet found can face the arithmetic, but the end of the war will be at hand when he shall be discovered." This foreshadowed the rise of General U.S. Grant to supreme command in the following years.

10. Finally, he had to overcome personal tragedies in 1862 that would have incapacitated many men. His wife's erratic behavior was a public and private embarrassment. He endured the death by typhoid of his most beloved son Willie. He had to maintain his sanity, let alone his judgment, with both a family and a nation in turmoil.

The book demonstrates that by the end of 1862 Lincoln had accomplished substantially all of these objectives. He had mobilized for the war and financed it. He had convinced most Northerners that the United States was a real nation, not merely a confederation of "sovereign" states. He had replaced his old fogey generals with Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and other rising stars. He had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. And he had proven HIMSELF to be a great deal more than the backwoods bumpkin that so many had perceived him to be the year before. The war would continue for another year and a half, but by the end of 1862 the pattern had been set.

The book is written in an engaging style that takes the reader right into the Civil War. It is an education on the higher level aspects of the war that Lincoln dealt with as well as his colorful day-to-day routines. It will satisfy scholars and casual readers of popular history, including those who may not have read much about Lincoln or the Civil War.

It also provides insights into the controversial characters that surrounded Lincoln, such as George McClellan, Henry Halleck, Edwin Stanton, William Seward, Simon Cameron, and not least Mrs. Lincoln. The right amount of emphasis is paced on the military operations and battles --- explaining them sufficiently but without bogging the reader down in detail. Maps are included.

This book is all the more convincing because Von Drehle's knowledge of the Civil War and how people thought and acted in that time is COMPLETE. His expressive style conveys the drama of that year day-by-day in diary style so that the reader can imagine being right there at Lincoln's side as he receives each day's news, some of exhilarating victories and others of brutally discouraging defeats.

I approached this book skeptically, doubting whether Von Drehle really had a sound premise in his concept of 1862 being the pivotal year of the war. I finished the book by being educated as to all the reasons why it was. It's hard to believe that ANY book about the Civil War could seem "fresh" after so much has already been written, but David Von Drehle succeeds in presenting a uniquely fresh perspective to the war in focusing in on 1862 as its critical year.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful.
Focus on 1862
By William C. Hagen
This is a most interesting book chock full of information, both trivial and illuminating of behind the scenes action of both Abraham Lincoln and his opposition within the Washington political establishment during the year 1862. Von Drehle is able to translate chaos into mere complexity. A recurring image in my mind, especially when reading the opening chapters, was of an ancient seer sorting through the entrails of a goat in order to divine the future and here was an author up to his elbows in the same sort of mess trying to make sense of the past.

The book takes the reader in a month by month odyssey through the year 1862. There are indications that the original intent was to focus on that year as the most crucial in the greater history of America but devolved, in manner of speaking, into a close examination of the maturation of Lincoln as a leader. That is not meant to be a criticism but as an explanation of a seemingly dulling of interest in the bigger picture and concentration on the latter (or, maybe, the massiveness of the compilation of data led me to that feeling). As the book progresses, there is an emergence of the character of Lincoln from the flotsam and jetsam of the tumultuous years leading up to January 1, 1862.

Because its scope is limited to one year, it loses its contextual mooring and, therefore should not be read in isolation from broader histories of the Civil War Era. It augments those histories in a most useful way but should not be read in lieu of them. It might be better thought of as a social profile of a particular man at a particular time in his life rather than as a history.

There can be much that can be said about the content of the book but what it does not say is also of interest. To Von Drehle's credit, there is no aggrandizing of "Father Abraham"; that was to come later after elevation to Sainthood brought about by the successful conclusion of the war and his assassination. There is even reference to his alleged bi-sexuality and the purely politically inspiration for the issuance of the Proclamation of Emancipation and the timing of McClellan's ouster. By these omissions, the author adds to the credibility of his work.

It is apparent that Lincoln was not the Master of the Ship of State in the opening days, weeks and months of 1862. The idea that man (read Lincoln) drives or drove events versus the proposition that events define the man is clearly decided. The seeds of the Civil War (or War Between the States) were planted well before that time during the arguments surrounding the ratification of the Constitution - the arguments presented in the Federalist Papers and the anti-federalists were to be decided on the fields of battle rather than the halls of debate. The immoral specter of slavery snuffed out the political pertinence of those legitimate arguments. The head to head confrontation between proponents of an unlimited central government and those in favor of shifting the balance of power to the states was, rightfully, overwhelmed by the immoral conviction that a state, or any level of government, can rightfully overrule the God-given rights of justice and freedom for all. Except for rare and oblique references to "States Rights", Von Drehle avoids this issue that was, arguably, central to the secessionist's motivation. Did Von Drehle omit or not find supporting evidence or did Lincoln not know that State's Rights was an issue or did not care? He knew and acknowledged that fact because he hung the portrait of Andrew Jackson as a constant reminder of a similar crisis in that administration. The seeds of civil strife may have been fertilized and incubated by the Abolitionists but their germination was inevitable with or without the intervention of Lincoln, his cadre of supporters and detractors or the will of plantation owners - the war was predestined to occur, each battle demanded of itself to be fought, and every outcome was beyond the control of the military leaders involved. Lincoln's legacy was shaped as much or more by events outside of his sphere of influence as by his strength of character. I attribute those conclusions as much to what the author says as to what he does not say.

As a corollary to the above, I was struck by the revelation that, apparently, little strategic thinking went onto the North's conduct of the war - it was conducted as a series of tactical operations and the accumulation of tactical operations bear no resemblance to strategic planning regardless of the fact that, in this case, the results were indistinguishable. Lincoln was equally engrossed in political manipulation and patronage, family tragedies, the cultivation of personal relationships and the establishment of a permanent legacy as he was of excising the cancerous growths eating their way through the flesh of our new nation not yet four score and seven years old. The author was either unable to find the wizard behind the screen manipulating the chessmen acting out the national tragedy of that era or there was no puppet master or group of conspirators pulling the strings - the North wallowed its way to victory with only a moral compass to guide it.

I draw these conclusions as the result of a review of this book and its limited range between January 1 and December 31, 1862; a broader view and inclusion of supplemental knowledge might offer mitigating evidence. Further reading of histories and commentaries broader in scope might well offer contrary evidence.

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Lincoln's Rise To Greatness Merits This Great Biography
By Bill Shore
I bought this book on it's pub date and had to blow off the rest of the day because I didn't want to put it down. Having read dozens of other books on Lincoln I found David Von Drehle's original, captivating, with every word just right. It will make you wish the author has future plans to write about Lincoln's other years in office!

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~~ PDF Download Close Kin: Book II -- The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, by Clare B. Dunkle

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Clare Dunkle's acclaimed fantasy trilogy― now available in paperback

For thousands of years, young women have been vanishing from Hallow Hill, never to be seen again. Now Kate and Emily have moved there with no idea of the land's dreadful heritage―until Marak decides to tell them himself. Marak is a powerful magician who claims to be the goblin king, and he has very specific plans for the two new girls who have trespassed into his kingdom . . .

So begins the award-winning Hollow Kingdom Trilogy. Now in paperback, these editions welcome a whole new audience to the magical realm that Newbery Award winner Lloyd Alexander calls "as persuasive as it is remarkable."

• Sales Rank: #534666 in Books
• Brand: Henry Holt and Co
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.50" h x .51" w x 5.50" l, .35 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–Years have passed since the events of The Hollow Kingdom (Holt, 2003), and Kate is happily married to the Goblin King, Marak. As a human who has always thought of goblins as exciting and exotic creatures, her younger sister, Emily, enjoys spending her days with the many goblin children in her care. She has no thought of marriage until she unintentionally rejects the awkward proposal of her best friend, Seylin. Devastated, he decides to leave the kingdom to search for his elf ancestors. Once Emily realizes that she is the cause of his departure, and how much she cares for him, she sets out to find him, accompanied by the curmudgeonly goblin, Ruby. As in the previous book, the different characters discover that appearances do not necessarily reflect inner attributes, but this story delves deeper into examining the xenophobic attitudes held by the goblins, dwarfs, elves, and humans. The narrative draws readers into a multifaceted world of strong, compelling individuals. The final chapters come across more as a group of appendixes with a lot of explanatory information than as a true conclusion. Still, the background detail creates a compelling saga for fantasy fans. For maximum satisfaction, the books need to be read in order. The final book of the trilogy, In the Coils of the Snake, is due to be published in 2005.–Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WA
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From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. In Dunkle's follow-up to The Hollow Kingdom (2003), the elves face an awful reality: they have forgotten the ancient spells that once ensured their continuing survival of their races. When mixed-blood goblin Seylin joins the elves to explore his ethnic roots, he is shocked by their reduced circumstances. Parallel stories find human teen Em, now 18, replacing older sister Kate as heroine as she pursues Seylin to declare her love, and the Machiavellian King Marak strategizing to add more desirable elf blood to the goblins' genetic pool. The resulting multiple wedding manages to be both decidedly alien and strangely romantic at the same time--qualities that neatly encapsulate the allure of the first two books in the Hollow Kingdom trilogy. Despite a weirdly rambling conclusion, returning readers will appreciate the expanded view of a world where human, goblin, and elf sensibilities interestingly, if not harmoniously, coexist. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Clare Dunkle brings a fresh new voice and a fresh new vision to the high art of fantasy. She creates a world filled with intense excitement, terror, beauty, and love--a world as persuasive as it is remarkable.” ―Lloyd Alexander

“* A luminously polished fantasy that starts off strong and just gets better. A masterly debut.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review

“The impact of Dunkle's evocative storytelling lingers long after the final page.” ―Booklist

Most helpful customer reviews

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Five Stars
By Amazon Customer
Love, Love, LOVE this trilogy!!!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Return of the "Kin"
By E. A Solinas
Clare B. Dunkle returns to the world of "The Hollow Kingdom" with "Close Kin," a romantic adventure that stretches the boundaries of her invented world. Though this book is a bit too rushed, Dunkle's mix of humor and suspense carry the story smoothly as we find out a bit more about the mysterious elves.

Seylin the elf-goblin has been Emily's friend ever since she came to live with the goblins, and he has now fallen in love with her. When she absentmindedly rejects him, the brokenhearted Seylin decides to go find other elves. He manages to track down a camp of them -- but he finds that they have little in common.

The band leader is a brutal thug, the elves live in poverty, and the women are treated as scum... and all elf women die horribly in childbirth. Meanwhile, determined to find Seylin, Emily sets out accompanied by a crabby loremaster. Both she and Seylin discover the tragic joint past of the elves and goblins, and the terrible secret that is driving the elves toward extinction.

"Close Kin" takes a darker tone than its predecessor. Sure, "Hollow Kingdom" wasn't light and fluffy, but "Close Kin" explores the terrible aftermath of wars and misunderstandings. One scene even has an elf woman mutilating her face so no one will marry her. Yep, it gets that heavy, although Dunkle lightens up somewhat after the "kidnapping" of the elf brides.

It does rush past the romance a bit more quickly than you'd expect, and the elf women adjust to the feared goblins in way too little time. However, most of the plot moves at a fast clip, giving us plenty of looks at the grimy elf camp and the bloody history between the two races. There's certainly enough backstory to provide plenty of prequels, if Ms. Dunkle chose to write them.

Seylin gets plenty of dimension and angst to go along with his interesting elf-cat-goblin shapeshifting. Emily doesn't get much personal growth, sadly. But Dunkle also populates "Close Kin" with plenty of other interesting characters, such as a ditzy elf, a crabby priest, a little girl with her head full of fairy-tales, and a goblin street urchin (who is, incidentally, the most entertaining character in the whole book).

The final chapter of "Close Kin" seems to hint at the third book of the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, and it sounds like the third venture into the kingdom of the goblins will be winner.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
14 year-old reviewer
By Bodi Lake Estate
After reading the first book to the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy I was somewhat dissapointed by this one. Don't get me wrong, it is a good read through and through but holding it up to the first one and you'll find it's a star lacking. Since I'm not the type to tell you it's lacking and not the reason why, I'll explain myself. The dark ending to Close Kin showed way to much into the third book. Dunkle really should have waited to put that last chapter in there. It showed way to much, it was like the beginning of a book instead of the end. Emily's character needed abit more developing. She seemed way too immature to be getting married and that put me off abit. Seylin was brilliant! The best character of all. Dunkle really poured her heart into him. Not only was his character filled out and expanded from the first book but she added new insights to his personality that were simply delightful. The elves also were a special treat. Dunkle made their history so hauntingly sad, and their current state was almost pitiful, yet through it all they still retained a sense of themselves. Kate and Marak were the same, happily so, I couldn't have stood it had Dunkle changed them an atom from what they were before. I especially loved her addition of the goblin child Emily finds in England. That was very fun! The only thing good about Dunkle's foreshadowing ending was that it portrayed Catspaws personality in such a good way. I really think the third book is going to top everything off. Overall I recommend Close Kin strongly, albeit it has a few minor flaws.

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Based on classified documents and first-person interviews, a startling history of the American war on Vietnamese civilians

Americans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were isolated incidents in the Vietnam War, carried out by "a few bad apples." But as award-winning journalist and historian Nick Turse demonstrates in this groundbreaking investigation, violence against Vietnamese noncombatants was not at all exceptional during the conflict. Rather, it was pervasive and systematic, the predictable consequence of orders to "kill anything that moves."

Drawing on more than a decade of research in secret Pentagon files and extensive interviews with American veterans and Vietnamese survivors, Turse reveals for the first time how official policies resulted in millions of innocent civilians killed and wounded. In shocking detail, he lays out the workings of a military machine that made crimes in almost every major American combat unit all but inevitable. Kill Anything That Moves takes us from archives filled with Washington's long-suppressed war crime investigations to the rural Vietnamese hamlets that bore the brunt of the war; from boot camps where young American soldiers learned to hate all Vietnamese to bloodthirsty campaigns like Operation Speedy Express, in which a general obsessed with body counts led soldiers to commit what one participant called "a My Lai a month."

Thousands of Vietnam books later, Kill Anything That Moves, devastating and definitive, finally brings us face-to-face with the truth of a war that haunts Americans to this day.

• Sales Rank: #549123 in Books
• Published on: 2013-01-15
• Released on: 2013-01-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.59" h x 1.34" w x 6.43" l, 1.31 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

From Booklist
The shocking images of the mounds of corpses, including women, children, and even babies, murdered by American troops in the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai symbolized for many the horror of that war. At the time, military officials insisted that the massacre was an aberration and stressed that American troops in the field behaved with discipline and restraint, and strived to avoid civilian casualties. Not so, according to Turse, an investigative journalist who has been researching and writing about American “war crimes” in Vietnam for a decade. If his goal was to illustrate that atrocities committed against civilians were more widespread than previously acknowledged, Turse succeeds. He has mined Pentagon archives and conducted interviews with American veterans to credibly support his assertion. Unfortunately, Turse has a broader agenda, which is to show that the murder of civilians was systematic and encouraged by U.S. policy. He implies that our soldiers were on an out-of-control rampage on a regular basis.The nation could use a balanced view of the conduct of our combat troops in Vietnam, but this misses the mark. --Jay Freeman

From Bookforum
After reading Turse's meticulous, extraordinary, and oddly moving account, it's hard to avoid concluding that the US record in Vietnam has more in common with the Wehrmacht and the Imperial Japanese Army than "the greatest generation" that fought those enemies in World War II. —Jeff Stein

Review

“Harrowing.” ―The New York Review of Books

“An indispensable new history of the war… Kill Anything That Moves is a paradigm-shifting, connect-the-dots history of American atrocities that reads like a thriller; it will convince those with the stomach to read it that all these decades later Americans, certainly the military brass and the White House, still haven't drawn the right lesson from Vietnam.” ―San Francisco Chronicle

“A powerful case… With his urgent but highly readable style, Turse delves into the secret history of U.S.-led atrocities. He has brought to his book an impressive trove of new research―archives explored and eyewitnesses interviewed in the United States and Vietnam. With superb narrative skill, he spotlights a troubling question: Why, with all the evidence collected by the military at the time of the war, were atrocities not prosecuted?” ―Washington Post

“There have been many memorable accounts of the terrible things done in Vietnam-memoirs, histories, documentaries and movies. But Nick Turse has given us a fresh holistic work that stands alone for its blending of history and journalism, for the integrity of research brought to life through the diligence of first-person interviews...Here is a powerful message for us today-a reminder of what war really costs” ―Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company

“In Kill Anything that Moves, Nick Turse has for the first time put together a comprehensive picture, written with mastery and dignity, of what American forces actually were doing in Vietnam. The findings disclose an almost unspeakable truth… Like a tightening net, the web of stories and reports drawn from myriad sources coalesces into a convincing, inescapable portrait of this war―a portrait that, as an American, you do not wish to see; that, having seen, you wish you could forget, but that you should not forget.” ―Jonathan Schell, The Nation

“A masterpiece… Kill Anything That Moves is not only one of the most important books ever written about the Vietnam conflict but provides readers with an unflinching account of the nature of modern industrial warfare.… Turse, finally, grasps that the trauma that plagues most combat veterans is a result not only of what they witnessed or endured, but what they did.” ―Chris Hedges, Truthdig

“Nick Turse's explosive, groundbreaking reporting uncovers the horrifying truth.” ―Vanity Fair

“Explosive… A painful yet compelling look at the horrors of war.” ―Parade

“Astounding… Meticulous, extraordinary, and oddly moving.” ―Bookforum

“Meticulously documented, utterly persuasive, this book is a shattering and dismaying read.” ―Minneapolis Star Tribune

“If you are faint-hearted, you might want to keep some smelling salts nearby when you read it. It's that bad… The truth hurts. This is an important book” ―Dayton Daily News

“Kill Anything That Moves argues, persuasively and chillingly, that the mass rape, torture, mutilation and slaughter of Vietnamese civilians was not an aberration―not a one-off atrocity called My Lai―but rather the systematized policy of the American war machine. These are devastating charges, and they demand answers because Turse has framed his case with deeply researched, relentless authority... There is no doubt in my mind that Kill Anything That Moves belongs on the very highest shelf of books on the Vietnam War.” ―The Millions

“In the sobering Kill Anything That Moves, Nick Turse provides an exhaustive account of how thousands upon thousands of innocent, unarmed South Vietnamese civilians were senselessly killed by a military that equated corpses with results.... Kill Anything That Moves is a staggering reminder that war has its gruesome subplots hidden underneath the headlines but they're even sadder when our heroes create them.” ―Bookpage

“An in-depth take on a horrific war… A detailed, well-documented account.” ―Publishers Weekly

“This book is an overdue and powerfully detailed account of widespread war crimes--homicide and torture and mutilation and rape committed by American soldiers over the course of our military engagement in Vietnam. Nick Turse's research and reportage is based in part on the U.S. military's own records, reports, and transcripts, many of them long hidden from public scrutiny. Kill Anything That Moves is not only a compendium of pervasive and illegal and sickening savagery toward Vietnamese civilians, but it is also a record of repetitive deceit and cover-ups on the part of high ranking officers and officials. In the end, I hope, Turse's book will become a hard-to-avoid, hard-to-dismiss corrective to the very common belief that war crimes and tolerance for war crimes were mere anomalies during our country's military involvement in Vietnam.” ―Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried

“Nick Turse reminds us again, in this painful and important book, why war should always be a last resort, and especially wars that have little to do with American national security. We failed, as Turse makes clear, to deal after the Vietnam War with the murders that took place, and today―four decades later―the lessons have yet to be learned. We still prefer kicking down doors to talking.” ―Seymour Hersh, staff writer, The New Yorker

“This deeply disturbing book provides the fullest documentation yet of the brutality and ugliness that marked America's war in Vietnam. No doubt some will charge Nick Turse with exaggeration or overstatement. Yet the evidence he has assembled is irrefutable. With the publication of Kill Anything That Moves, the claim that My Lai was a one-off event becomes utterly unsustainable.” ―Andrew J. Bacevich, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.), and author of Washington Rules: America’s Path To Permanent War

“American patriots will appreciate Nick Turse's meticulously documented book, which for the first time reveals the real war in Vietnam and explains why it has taken so long to learn the whole truth.” ―James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers

“Meticulously researched, Kill Anything That Moves is the most comprehensive account to date of the war crimes committed by U.S. forces in Vietnam and the efforts made at the highest levels of the military to cover them up. It's an important piece of history.” ―Frances FitzGerald, author of Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam

“In this deeply researched and provocative book Nick Turse returns us to Vietnam to raise anew the classic dilemmas of warfare and civil society. My Lai was not the full story of atrocities in Vietnam, and honestly facing the moral questions inherent in a ‘way of war' is absolutely necessary to an effective military strategy. Turse documents a shortfall in accountability during the Vietnam War that should be disturbing to every reader.” ―John Prados, author of Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945–1975

“Nick Turse's Kill Anything That Moves is essential reading, a powerful and moving account of the dark heart of the Vietnam War: the systematic killing of civilians, not as aberration but as standard operating procedure. Until this history is acknowledged it will be repeated, one way or another, in the wars the U.S. continues to fight.” ―Marilyn Young, author of The Vietnam Wars, 1945–1990

“Nick Turse has done more than anyone to demonstrate―and document―what should finally be incontrovertible: American atrocities in Vietnam were not infrequent and inadvertent, but the commonplace and inevitable result of official U.S. military policy. And he does it with a narrative that is gripping and deeply humane.” ―Christian Appy, author of Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered From All Sides

“No book I have read in decades has so shaken me, as an American. Turse lays open the ground-level reality of a war that was far more atrocious than Americans at home have ever been allowed to know. He exposes official policies that encouraged ordinary American soldiers and airmen to inflict almost unimaginable horror and suffering on ordinary Vietnamese, followed by official cover-up as tenacious as Turse's own decade of investigative effort against it. Kill Anything That Moves is obligatory reading for Americans, because its implications for the likely scale of atrocities and civilian casualties inflicted and covered up in our latest wars are inescapable and staggering.” ―Daniel Ellsberg, author of Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

Most helpful customer reviews

239 of 274 people found the following review helpful.
Haunting
By MAA
Enough has been said, here and elsewhere, about the content of KATM and the meticulous archival and field research on which it is based. It is a brilliant (a word I use sparingly) work about one of the most tragic periods of Vietnamese and American history. It is also without a doubt the most painful book I have ever read. This might have to do with the fact that the subject matter is intensely personal for me. I still have vivid recollections of many of the scenes Nick Turse describes in excruciating detail. I am haunted by them.

Many of the comments in the 1 and 2 star category are eminently predictable and also reflect the views of some veteran Vietnam observers and scholars who should know better. The categories into which they fall are presented here in A-Z order.

Atrocities Committed By The "Other Side"

They did it, too! Whenever I hear this sophomoric comment, the first thought that comes to mind is that the Americans and their allies, including the Australians, South Koreans and others, had no right to be there in the first place. This is not an issue of moral equivalence. The "other side" was fighting against yet another foreign invader and its collaborators in the name of national liberation. It's that simple.

Fallacy of Generalizing from Personal Experience

If I had a nickel for every time I've read "I didn't witness any atrocities during my tour"... So because you didn't witness it first-hand means it didn't happen, right? Turse does not claim that every US combat soldier was a war criminal who was out raping, torturing and killing civilians. I know many veterans who, if they didn't know before they went, quickly realized after they arrived that the war was a colossal mistake. From that point on their goal was to stay alive and not go home in a body bag. There were many others, however, who were involved in the wholesale abuse and murder of civilians. You know who you are. Some of you are tormented by what you did or did not stop, others - the minority? - have no conscience. Perhaps justice will be meted out to you in the next life.

KATM/Turse Bashes Veterans!

It's fairly easy to dispense with this old canard. Since I have many friends and acquaintances, both in Vietnam and the U.S., who are veterans, I know that many have welcomed KATM. While the truth sometimes hurts, it can also be liberating. Those who were there, whether they participated in the acts Turse describes, observed them or heard stories about them, know the score, as do the survivors. KATM is not an indictment of all veterans who served in Vietnam only of those who were involved in the abuse, torture and murder of civilians and the "kill anything that moves" policy of the U.S. military and their superiors who oversaw the implementation of this brutal policy. Why do you think so many veterans are so troubled, dysfunctional and worse? What do you think many of them see and hear at night when the demons come?

Nothing New Here

According to whom? What Turse tells his fellow Americans and the rest of the world is breaking news to most of them. Most are not Vietnam scholars who have read hundreds of books and thousands of primary source documents. I am more familiar than most with the information Turse presents yet KATM fills in many gaps and connects a lot of dots that - collectively - form a damning indictment of the U.S. policy du jour.

Shooting from the Hip

I'm not gonna read da book `cause I read da summary and already know what he's gonna say. He's un-American, anti-American, and anti-military. (And besides, I'm blinded by the ideology of U.S. nationalism - as distinct from patriotism). Even tho I didn't read da book I'm gonna put my two cents on Amazon anyhoo. The lament of the close-minded and the refuge of the intellectually lazy. Next...

Sin of Omission?

Groundless criticism about what he supposedly left out: It's about war crimes committed by US soldiers in Vietnam as a frequent occurrence and the policies/conditions that led to those war crimes being committed. Turse proves it using U.S. government documents and stories from U.S. veterans and Vietnamese survivors. It was widespread and officially sanctioned. Therefore, there is really no basis on which to criticize him for not including everything you wanted him to include. If someone were to write a book that included everything Turse left out, it wouldn't be the first.

The True Place the American War Holds in the Memory of South Vietnamese vs. North Vietnamese? It Ain't that Simple...

This is a claim that some make. To which South Vietnamese are they referring? The ones who hitched their cart to the American (war) horse? The ones who benefited financially and in other ways from the U.S. occupation and the influx of billions of dollars? The ones who left in the nick of time with the assistance of their American benefactors? Or the ones Turse writes about - the targets of bombs, bullets, torture and other forms of abuse, the ghosts and the survivors?

Turse Wasn't There!

He was born in 1975; what does he know about the war in Vietnam? Most historians weren't around in the eras that they've studied and on which they are experts. Does that make them any less knowledgeable? (That's a rhetorical question, folks.) Turse's age is irrelevant. He was able to use U.S. government documents, travel to Vietnam to interview Vietnamese survivors of U.S. military attacks and interview U.S. veterans. Therefore, even though he never smelled the smoke or heard the artillery fire, he knows more than most people who were there. So much for this lame and illogical critique.

War is Hell

All wars are the same. Civilians suffer, are caught in the cross-fire, become "collateral damage." As the bumper sticker says "S*** happens." Read about "kill anything that moves" as a policy that was conceived of and implemented at the highest levels of the U.S. military and political establishment. That, combined with hatred for the Vietnamese and the fear and frustration of not knowing when or where the next attack would occur, the essence of guerrilla warfare, created the conditions for the perfect (war) storm in which millions of civilians suffered grievously. Then there's the argument that the Americans had no right to be in Vietnam in the first place, which would have prevented the deaths of 3.8 million Vietnamese, including 2 million civilians, and a long list of war legacies.

120 of 142 people found the following review helpful.
I was there, he is right on some things.
By George James Kalergis
A comment about the review by MAA. I agree with most of his comments. I think however he
Fails to give due and measured credibility to observations of veterans like myself and those like myself who did not see the kind of horrific abuse Turse reported is not valid and a disservice to soldiers like myself. No doubt the body count was BS, but I still maintain the rape, baby and women killings etc. is quite overstated. See my comments below.

There is some evidence for his proposition. He greatly overstates the incidence of rape and deliberate murder of civilians however. He makes it sound as if this was a routine/daily occurrence. In my year there in combat, I did not see one incident such as this.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my experience in Vietnam as a result of reading this book. It has some elements of truth to it, especially concerning the inflated body counts and influence from the chain of command for bodies. However, from my experience he has looked for (and found) many individual instances of abuse of civilians in that war and made it seem that was much more of a regular occurrence than it was.

He doesn't point out the danger we were in from women and children who would set booby traps or shoot at us. It was a nightmare scenario and I'm sure many soldiers lost their lives because they were not cautious enough with women and children.

To some degree, I think he takes the worst instances of a 12 year war and expounds on them making it sound like all units did this every day. In my experience that was not the case. I was a forward observer with a maneuver company in Vietnam in 1967. I patrolled the length of the An Lao Valley many times. His descriptions of what happened there have some merit. Now that I have reread the entire book many of his general descriptions are often overstated and the overall impression he gives of the deliberate violence to civilians is probably overstated to reach the conclusion he is looking for.

I am particularly skeptical of the rape and abuse of women and children. I saw no incidents of that kind my entire year in country and my contemporaries in other units across the division did not see that either. I think this is a major flaw in his reporting. He may have had a few soldiers report incidents of that, but I guarantee you that was not anywhere near as prevalent as he describes.

I have personal first hand knowledge of some incidents similar to what he describes. I can only speak with authority on what happened in the An Lao Valley and Bong song plain for the entire year of 1967. What I experienced there is pretty much as he described it as far as destruction of property, H & I fires, inflated body counts and emphasis on body counts was concerned.

I saw very little of the deliberate cruelty to women and children and sexual assault he describes. I suspect that occurred, but not in my unit or my contemporaries units, and not to the degree he alleges.

Since he is relying on written reports for his information, he may only be looking for information that confirms his conclusions. The report on the an Lao Valley and Bong song Plain has the ring of truth to it, but not when it comes to rape and abuse of women and children.

Still it was pretty terrible and what I did see could be considered an atrocity? It does not have to be a My Lai, there were few of those. However, designating the entire An Lao valley a free fire zone and then forcing people from there homes and destroying there huts, livestock and food supplies is an atrocity in my view and that is what I viewed there in person.

Too soon old, too late smart.

George Kalergis
LTC FA (Retired) 4 Bronze Stars, Vietnam

Highly recommended.

59 of 69 people found the following review helpful.
This book is polarizing and graphic; read at your own risk
By C. Peterson
This book seems to bring out the worst in a lot of reviewers. Either they give it 5 stars because it finally "reveals the truth" about the evil U.S. involvement in Vietnam, or they give it 1-star because it ignores the evil North Vietnamese involvement in Vietnam and slams U.S. soldiers. At the risk of sounding wishy-washy, I give it 3 stars.

Mr. Turse documents the abuses of SOME units and the emphasis on body counts that encouraged such abuses. It appears to me that his documentation is MOSTLY limited to areas near the DMZ and parts of the Delta, where a lot of the population did in fact support the North. (Please note the limitations mostly and some; I don't want a lot of comment posts telling me I said something more or less than I actually said). Other units in other places and times faced different challenges, and when soldiers say Mr. Turse doesn't reflect their experience, I accept their statements.

Of course civilians died, and of course some soldiers went off the rails. None of that is news. The author is trying to prove that U.S. policy in Vietnam practically guaranteed massive civilian casualties. He claims that by emphasizing body count as the metric for successful engagements, the U.S. government encouraged units to inflate their kills. One way to do this was by killing indiscriminately and then claiming that the victims were Viet Cong or sympathizers. Other policies also devastated the civilian population, such as free-fire zones, resettlement, and institutionalized racism.

One aspect that I don't think the author covers adequately concerns the soldiers themselves. This was not a professional army of volunteers. It was an army of very young, often unwilling, draftees. Units were not rotated in and out together as happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead an individual draftee was rotated into an existing unit as the new kid without a group for social support. The new kid quickly absorbed the ethos of the unit veterans, for good or ill. A professional army would likely have acted differently, and in fact it has acted differently (that is why Abu Graib (spelling?) is an aberration).

In short, the book offers an indictment and presents evidence. It is a very hard book to read, and even harder if you believe what he says. The evidence is voluminous and often gruesome. The charges are difficult for Americans to accept. It is up to you, the reader, to be the jury and decide the probity of the evidence and the logic of his argument. I think the author's evidence is good, but I think it proves somewhat less than he hoped. (edited for legibility and some spelling)

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