Merchant of Death or History Buffs Guide to the Presidents

Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible

Author: Douglas Farah

Praise for Merchant of Death

"A riveting investigation of the world's most notorious arms dealer—a page-turner that digs deep into the amazing, murky story of Viktor Bout. Farah and Braun have exposed the inner workings of one of the world's most secretive businesses—the international arms trade."
—Peter L. Bergen, author of The Osama bin Laden I Know

"Viktor Bout is like Osama bin Laden: a major target of U.S. intelligence officials who time and again gets away. Farah and Braun have skillfully documented how this notorious arms dealer has stoked violence around the world and thwarted international sanctions. Even more appalling, they show how Bout ended up getting millions of dollars in U.S. government money to assist the war in Iraq. A truly impressive piece of investigative reporting."
—Michael Isikoff, coauthor of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

"Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun are two of the toughest investigative reporters in the country. This is an important book about a hidden world of gunrunning and profiteering in some of the world's poorest countries."
—Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

"In Merchant of Death, two of America's finest reporters have performed a major public service, turning over the right rocks that reveal the brutal international arms business at the dawn of the twenty-first century. In Viktor Bout, they have given us a new Lord of War, a man who knows no side but his own,and who has a knack for turning up in every war zone just in time to turn a profit. As Farah and Braun uncover and document his troubling role in the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror, his ties to Washington almost seem inevitable."
—James Risen, author of State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration

"An extraordinary and timely piece of investigative reporting, Merchant of Death is also a vividly compelling read. The true story of Viktor Bout, a sociopathic Russian gunrunner who has supplied weapons for use in some of the most gruesome conflicts of modern times—and who can count amongst his clients both the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the U.S. military in Iraq—is a stomach-churning indictment of the policy failures and moral contradictions of the world's most powerful governments, including that of the United States."
—Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad

The Washington Post - Fawaz A. Gerges

…a riveting investigation of the world's most notorious weapons dealer, Viktor Bout, whose post-Cold War arms network has stoked violence worldwide. Although U.S. intelligence officers have tried for years to shut down Bout's operation, Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun reveal that the United States paid firms linked to him as much as $60 million to ferry weapons to the U.S. military and private contractors in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

Publishers Weekly

While there's no shortage of books on international terrorism, drug cartels and genocide, the international weapons trade has received less attention. Journalists Farah and Braun center their absorbing exposé of this source of global misery on its most successful practitioner, the Russian dealer Victor Bout. Throughout the Cold War, they show, the Kremlin supplied arms to oppressive regimes and insurgent groups, keeping close tabs on customers; after the U.S.S.R. collapsed, the floodgates opened in the 1990s. With weapons factories starved for customers, Soviet-era air transports lying idle and rusting, and dictators, warlords and insurgents throughout the world clamoring for arms, entrepreneurs and organized criminals saw fortunes to be made. The authors paint a depressing picture of an avalanche of war-making material pouring into poor, violence-wracked nations despite well-publicized U.N. embargoes. America denounces this trade, but turns a blind eye if recipients proclaim they are fighting terrorism, they say. Ruthless people who shun publicity make poor biographical subjects, and Bout is no exception. The authors' energetic research reveals that rivals dislike him, colleagues admire him, enemies condemn him, and Bout describes himself as a much-maligned but honest businessman. Although an unsatisfactory portrait, the book surrounds it with an engrossing, detailed description of this wildly destructive traffic. (Aug.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

New interesting textbook: Imperial Hubris or Who Let the Dogs In

History Buff's Guide to the Presidents: Key People, Places, and Events

Author: Thomas R Flagel

Americans have named schools, counties, rivers, cities, and even their own children after U.S. presidents. Their work is in our laws, their words adorn our monuments, and their countenances appear in a trillion places (mostly on our currency). As we prepare to decide who will be the 44th president of the United States, can we truly say we understand the office and its phenomenal history? What do we really known about the men who helped transform a struggling republic into a superpower?

Using detailed top-ten lists, historian Thomas R. Flagel offers a provocative new look at an astonishingly resilient institution. With diligent research, he explores the best, worst, largest, and most controversial facets of an office that some feared would become a monarchy, others hoped would represent all of the people, and John Adams wanted to call "High Highness, the President of the United States of America, and the Protector of their Liberties."

Chapters include:

• Elections: the closest races, the most vicious campaigns, and the biggest landslides
• Presidential Character: careers, hobbies, the most religious presidents, and the Machiavellians
• The Domestic Sphere: the biggest deficit spenders, the most ambitious programs, vetoes, pardons, and the worst fights with the Supreme Court
• Foreign Affairs: diplomats, doctrines, and ranking the commanders in chief
• The Inner Circle: first ladies and vexing relatives, construction and destruction in the White House, scandals at the highest level, and the real West Wing
• In Retrospect: the most underrated and overrated presidents, assassinations andattempted assassinations, and the greatest changes to the presidency itself

Table of Contents:

Prologue     9
Presidential Character
Top Ten Prepresidential Careers     15
Top Ten Presidential Pastimes     27
Top Ten Overtly Religious Presidents     41
Top Ten Machiavellian Presidents     55
Elections
Top Ten Closest Races     71
Top Ten Landslides     85
Top Ten Most Controversial Elections     99
The Domestic Sphere
Top Ten Debt Presidencies     117
Top Ten Veto Presidents     131
Top Ten Conflicts with the Supreme Court     145
Top Ten Notable Pardons and Commutations     158
Top Ten Assassinations and Attempts     170
Foreign Affairs
Top Ten Doctrines     189
Top Ten Achievements in Diplomacy     203
Top Ten Most Successful Commanders in Chief     221
Top Ten Least Successful Commanders in Chief     240
The Inner Circle
Top Ten Most Influential First Ladies     257
Top Ten Vexing Family Members     272
Top Ten Alterations to the White House     285
Top Ten Most Powerful Offices in the West Wing     297
Top Ten Biggest Scandals     310
Epilogue     327
Lists of the Presidents     335
Notes     347
Bibliography     377
Index     393