Chamberlin covers a roughly 50 year time period and several regions of the world to point out the violence of the Cold War. “Between the end of World War II and 1990 more than 20 million people died in violent conflicts. Broken down that means that an average of more than 1,200 people died in wars of one type or another everyday for 45 years. Most of them were civilians.”
Chamberlin covers the history of conflicts in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and states:
“This book argues that this violence was not simply an accidental consequence of local wars or super power meddling rather massacres such as My Lai were integral components of the Cold War world.”
The scope of this book is broad so only a superficial glance at each of the areas covered is given. However the book provides a valuable overview about the conflicts that occurred during the Cold War and the role the United States and the Communist Countries played. It pays little attention to uprisings like 1956 in Hungary and 1968 in Czechoslovakia against communist rule. It also is lacking in information on Cuba and South America.
The book will leave the reader with a greater understanding of the wars in Asia and the Middle East between 1945 and 1990.
Overall I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.
Thomas Aquinas is credited as one of the greatest proponents of natural law. During his time in Cologne he was taught by Albertus Magnus. Magnus used the teachings of Aristotle in his mentorship of Thomas Aquinas.
Samuel Adams believed in American Independence from Great Britain. He is one of the most well know Son's of Liberty. On August 1, 1776 he gave a speech to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Hefei, China Thursday 6:00AM
The rising sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon. The darkness of night was about to give way to the light of day. The sleeping city would soon be bustling with activity completely unaware of what had occurred while it slept.
Zhao Kai stood outside a small warehouse looking building. For all of the modernization that had been occurring in China this building had been skipped. At least on the outside. It appeared old and nearly abandoned but the inside told a different story. Before Kai entered the building he glanced at the rising sun. This was his favorite moment of the day. The blinding light of the sun was a weapon that he used literally.
On numerous occasions he would take a prisoner to a spot where there was an unobstructed view of the rising sun. Then he would bind them in such a way that they had to stare directly into the sun. If he did his job right they would not be able to close their eyes and would return to their prison cells blinded for life. If he didn’t just kill them. That punishment would not be on the table today but perhaps tomorrow. He liked ...
