Kingdoms of the blind: How the great democracies have resumed the follies that so nearly cost them their life by Harold W Rood

Kingdoms of the blind: How the great democracies have resumed the follies that so nearly cost them their life by Harold W Rood is the first book in my Hailer Publishing reading project it was not a fortuitous beginning. Perhaps this explains why it was on sale.

The book is divided into two sections the first of which discusses German rearmament between the world wars. This section is actually pretty good although Rood does seem to imply that Germany was getting ready for World War II in about 1921. I think that's an overstatement there's a difference between rearmament and planning a global conflict.

The second section is where things fall off the rails. It's a discussion of Soviet and American responses from the end of World War II through the late 70s [the book was published in 1980]. Rood's logic such as it is is that Germany was allowed to rearm by the Allies which led to the second world war. The Soviets are arming at a fast rate which means they're going to launch a Third World war. With hindsight the argument is rather silly. Even without hindsight his argument doesn't make much sense. For instance he says that the Cuban missile crisis was actually a loss for the Americans. He also is at pains to point out the strengths in the Soviet economy. A wee bit overblown as he probably should have known at the time. I'm pretty sure there were signs of economic problems in the 1970s. I did find it interesting that he never mentions the Berlin airlift. I guess that would have violated his thesis that the West was ignorant and incompetent.

Not recommended!

I'm not going to announce my next book in the project until Canada Post figures out whether it's going out on strike or not.

Hailer Publishing reading project

Most of the books I read and review here are either used or remaindered. I don't feel particularly guilty about this. First of all is the often overpriced nature of books particularly in Canada. Second I don't buy into the collective guilt argument that me failing to purchase the latest Jasper Fforde book new is going to cause the end of Western civilization. Authors in food lines, international publishing conglomerates going bankrupt and retailers closing up shop. If the Bush administration hasn't managed that yet I'm not sure how I'm supposed to.

All that being said when it's a niche publisher that puts out quite a bit of material I'm interested in at reasonable prices. I feel a little guilty. Since I have basically finished up my research on the Sudan campaign I have a little more time and cash to play around with. So roughly once a month I'm going to be buying something directly from Hailer Publishing. This also gives me an excuse to get more of their stuff. I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up or if I'll buy everything available, we shall see. There are currently 33 titles in their catalog I already have some of them.

For the month of September I just put in my order for Kingdoms of the Blind: How the great democracies have resumed the follies that so nearly cost them their life. by Dr. Harold William Rood naturally I'll put a review up.