Will2Combat

Strong, but flawed.

Revisado: 12-08-23

Right out the gate Walter cites "the Ukrainian Civil War" as proof that the era of organized military clashing has ended. These are rare but definite mistakes in her conclusions. The ruzzian invasion was not a civil war. Talking to Ukrainians, even since 2014, would have cleared that up. Furthermore the differences in uniforms, systems and conduct are absolutely stark. The use of organized forces for state-against-state conflict is still very much a thing.

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Some of the worst from one of the best.

Revisado: 04-25-20

I consider Aaron Dembski-Bowden the Black Library's best author. This is the man who made the Word Bearers interesting instead of their usual role as unremarkable babbling zealots, who made the World Eaters relatable and human from the Chaos legion most know for it's anonymous raving berzerkers, and the Night Lords -innovators of the "skinning pits" and space marines voted most likely to be the worst thing in the galaxy since the Dark Eldar- actually sympathetic. I would even venture that ADB might like digging gems of tragedy and drama out of the most stereotypcal and cliche'd of space marines specifically for the challenge. The man is an authenticaly skilled storyteller; I'd read a burger king menu for hours if he wrote one. Yet the Spears of the Emperor is terrible. It's a slog of dull cliche' and bolter porn. It's opening chapters are a mix of repulsive, yet somehow uninteresting, shock content and starry-eyed abjection before a figure we are told is remarkable for being distant and imperious even by space marine standards -but who is not cruel, because villains are cruel and our boring living god is no villain. According to his property, that is. The subject of our fawning property that is our PoV is Lieutenant Commander Amadeus Kaias Incarius. Tasked with finding and assessing the military readiness of the planet Nemeton since the coming of the Great Rift (formally the Cicatrix Maledictum; why a giant hole is space is specifically female I don't know) he journies through the Straits of Epona at great but unimportant peril to do his duty. (As an aside ADB once angrily observed that white supremacists are drawn to Warhammer 40k and that he loathed them. I appreciate his spirit, but they're not exactly wrong and you'll see why.) As the Mentors land on the planet Nemeton the narrator insistently relates how it is savage and hostile. Yet white marble ruins are observed and thus it is that actually civilization was attempted on Nemeton because the marble had to be imported in not being natural to the planet's prevailing mountain ranges. One Nemeton he is confronted by suspicious, belligerant (and crucially) unreasonable Spears of the Emperor who are marked by their superstition and outlandish facial tatoos. Thus Incarius has to bring the wisdom of the "civilized" to them that they can do "the emperor's will." Incarius's chapter of the Space Marines, the Mentors, are an offshoot of the Ultramarines who's themes are almost entirely Roman and Greek themselves with heros variously named Agemmemnon, Sicarius, Gais, and Marneus. Perhaps they brought all that white marble. I don't normally go fishing for outrage but given how dull this novel is the glaring White Man's Burden themes are irreducably intrusive. And Lo! are the glories of the Greeks and the Romans exalted. Lo! does the enlightening and relentlessly rational yet stern and distant slaughtering champion master his temper as he indulges the sulky, surly savages he is obliged to ally with. All that's missing is a hearty "Deus Vult" and ADB has already written about the literally crusading Black Templars. I'm not going to finish the task of this story. I'm sure the Spears and the Mentors finally find common ground in their service to the emperor (friendship is magic after all!) and that at the last Incarius demonstrates a _slight_ thawing towards his Chapter's property as the duty of a space marine is ultimately service to humanity -if not exactly humans- and that the Exilus Empire is brutally decapitated in a moment of spectacular heroism only permitted by the cruel, but willing and oh-so necessary, sacrifice of various slaves (most of whom we will probably not meet) and ...I was going to citizens of the planet but they're _also_ slaves and the line is held and the Imperium triumphs. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'll get an outraged reply that my infidelity to the emperor (who's name I don't usually bother capitalizing) has led to be miss the true depth and brilliance that Aaron-Dembski Bowden is justly known for. But that would just help make my point. I didn't get that far because Spear of the Emperor is terribad. It is a reminder that apparently the audience of 40k needs to be reassured that their overpriced plastic toys are better than the rest of their play universe and that three chapters of "stunning violence" and hagiography of yet another dull collection of cliche murderous subhumans in magic space armor is a task even an ADB can't master. There is nothing here, no glint of gem in the muck. Just a commercial for an empire of slavers who're not villains because they tell us so and who are we to challenge them.

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Easily worth a credit despite it's flaws.

Revisado: 03-17-20

Great book for perspective on the history of US democracy, less so for the Both-Sides-Ism that fill the later chapters. The ideas of Democracy Without Liberalism and Liberalism without Democracy are a bit mind-bending to understand but entirely worth the brain sweat. While I hate to knock competent work the narrator's perpetual "GEE WHIZ" affect and tone drove me bonkers. This book really would be better related soberly and straightforwardly instead of like it was being read to preschoolers.

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Insightful, thoughtful, and gutless.

Revisado: 04-23-19

On one hand this book is very thorough by being historically minded and considerate of how authoritarian governments are formed in nations outside America. It's list of authoritarian tendency warning signs is probably the biggest highlight though it's analysis of the Maduro and Chavez governments and their gradual right-ward leaning into totalitarianism are also quite good. On the other hand it's also extremely centrist. It's adrift in political consensus thinking about the importance of swing voters, that the Left and Right are essentially morally equivalent, that Trump voters are apparently not really motivated by anything -nor bigotry nor status anxiety nor economic concerns are much explored- and it's ultimate lesson is to -in very appropriately centrist tones- the Democrats to "play nice." And it makes me a little sick and frustrated. There is a lot of mooning over "political guardrails" and "political norms" and that is frustrating -oh, but have no doubt this is accurate mooning. The case is clearly and effectively made that a tit-for-tat escalation between Republicans and Democrats starting (in modern times; a >great deal< is made of FDR's court-packing attempt and his choice run for a 3rd and 4th term) with the Gringrich Revolution being the effective initiator. There is Democratic obstruction of George Bush jr, there is filibuster abuse and gerrymandering, there Is political hackery galore. "Yes Virginia both sides do it" is the message of this book. But that's a false equivalence. Barack Obama isn't GWB. FDR isn't Nixon. The genius of Newt Gingrich was the realization that civility is for suckers and this book belongs to those suckers. There is very little interest in stakes -this is a book for detached technocrats who fundamentally understand that ideas don't matter, not citizens looking for a path forward. Is money in politics corrupting? Is the GOP in suicide pact with reckless authoritarianism? This book doesn't care. That's not it's thesis, we're not here to find answers we're here to get dreamy-eyed about when neighbors were polite to each other because it was easier to abandon Reconstruction than to upset the South by honoring promises to support universal voting rights. FDR's the villain, national financial catastrophe and bloody NAZIS don't count it's the principle of the matter how dare he sir how dare he. This is a book about nothing. It has a great deal to teach us but ultimately nothing useful to say. It is terrified of Donald Trump and for reasons thoroughly thought out and explained, but no answers beyond "play nice." It's the mating cry of the political dinosaur class echoing lonely over the primeval marsh wondering where everybody went while rats eat it's eggs.

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esto le resultó útil a 50 personas

This is a brilliant book.

Revisado: 04-10-19

In short if you want to understand Conservatism not in the terms it prefers but from the level of it's DNA I don't know if there is better than this. This book is insightful, direct, and deeply thought out. It isn't about looking for some mystical, morally lazy middle ground it's about defining what Conservatism wants and how it acts. Pair it with Bob Altemeyer's "The Authoritarians" and you'll have the essence of Conservatism in it's starkest relief. This is a research document not an editorial, I can't recommend it enough.

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esto le resultó útil a 17 personas

Sometimes insightful, always condescending.

Revisado: 11-14-17

So imo when Crenshaw mentions his religious leanings this is an easy illustration of his fondness for condescension and personal confirmation bias.

He's right, he knows he's right, get on board or get comfy being justly ostracized, ignored, and homeless.

Ugh.

This is much more a book for the families of people with ADD larded as it is with conclusions that sum up as, "if this doesn't work your burden didn't want to succeed; don't worry it's not your fault/screw'em for being lazy."

For the actual bearers of the disorder there are plenty of solid rules and behavioral models worth trying...buried beneath the relentless smug and assembly-line psychological advice.

If you felt like you didn't fit in before listening to this that feeling is, imo, probably going to deepen with the added wound-salting of "your misfortune is not my problem."

Ah, the essential Baby Boomer. Happy to bill you for his help, not so much interested in the human suffering of the world he's profiting from.

So, 2 stars for content. Get "Driven to Distraction" and "Delivered From Distraction" instead, they're better is just about every way.

PS: that quote "life doesn't come with an instruction manual" predates the internet by at least a generation. Schmuck.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Fantastic, enthralling, may make you miserable.

Revisado: 09-19-17

Oh jesus christ humans. There's no excuse.
It's just people, just fear and pride and a thirst for honor. It's the cultural ulmination of the veneration of warfare and power.

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Looking for something to get angry about?

Revisado: 11-02-14

How about a US State Dept toad who's responsbile for the deaths of a quarter million people?

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas