Rating: 
Summary: Multiple Memoir
Review: The Cold War was a war of nerves. Like all war, it was costly and wasteful. And like most war, determining the key event or strategy that led to its particular end point may be subject to endless debate. Peter Schweizer's point is that but for the strategy developed by the Reagan team and adopted by President Reagan in 1981 to 1983, the particular ending resulting in the collapse of the Soviet Union would not have occurred. The story he tells is compelling. History may well confirm his analysis.This is not an academic work. It is more a multiple memoir. Most of Mr. Schweizer's citations are of interviews he conducted of major figures in the Reagan Administration. It also reads like a cookbook with one recipe. The ingredients-military buildup, economic embargos, support of regional conflicts in Communist lands, and most important, adoption of the strategic defense initiative-are set up in the first part of the book. These ingredients were more or less in place by the end of 1983. The book then becomes repetitious, sort of like telling the cook to stir the pot and then stir the pot some more. In the end, Gorbachev comes on the scene, recognizes that the pot has boiled over and takes it off the stove. Other authors have been critical of the Reagan team's efforts. Schweizer points out that some of the criticisms were expressed by team members (especially Haig and Schultz) at the time the secret decisions were made. As time passes and peace allows for a more expansive view of the events in the 1980s, criticism will likely increase. A book such as this one will be all the more important then, as a reminder of what was done and how and why it was done.
Rating:
Summary: Multiple Memoir
Review: The Cold War was a war of nerves. Like all war, it was costly and wasteful. And like most war, determining the key event or strategy that led to its particular end point may be subject to endless debate. Peter Schweizer's point is that but for the strategy developed by the Reagan team and adopted by President Reagan in 1981 to 1983, the particular ending resulting in the collapse of the Soviet Union would not have occurred. The story he tells is compelling. History may well confirm his analysis. This is not an academic work. It is more a multiple memoir. Most of Mr. Schweizer's citations are of interviews he conducted of major figures in the Reagan Administration. It also reads like a cookbook with one recipe. The ingredients-military buildup, economic embargos, support of regional conflicts in Communist lands, and most important, adoption of the strategic defense initiative-are set up in the first part of the book. These ingredients were more or less in place by the end of 1983. The book then becomes repetitious, sort of like telling the cook to stir the pot and then stir the pot some more. In the end, Gorbachev comes on the scene, recognizes that the pot has boiled over and takes it off the stove. Other authors have been critical of the Reagan team's efforts. Schweizer points out that some of the criticisms were expressed by team members (especially Haig and Schultz) at the time the secret decisions were made. As time passes and peace allows for a more expansive view of the events in the 1980s, criticism will likely increase. A book such as this one will be all the more important then, as a reminder of what was done and how and why it was done.
Rating: 
Summary: Damage to the US Constitution
Review: The Reagan oil strategy to bankrupt the Soviet Union was a noble cause, and it worked. If CIA Dir Bill Casey tipped off Saudi Arabia to a change in US Treasury policy that made the Saudis loads of money, this was obviously a payoff for the Saudis suffering the lower oil production and lower oil price. EEOC Chairman Clarence Thomas was going nowhere special, until he played brilliantly stupid in the court case "Ali Boureslan vs ARAMCO." Nearly 1,000 Americans lost their jobs with ARAMCO, a US corp., while Saudis continued to be hired, and while Saudis were sent on professional development assignments to other US corporations on US soil. This case was Clarence Thomas's fast track ticket to the Wash DC Appeals Court 1989 and US Supreme Court 1991. Then contrast the 1990 Civil Rights Act vetoed by Bush and the 1991 CRA which was introduced by Sen John Danforth. Politics fixed the Soviets and justifiably so, but politics fixed a court case-- those nearly 1,000 Americans should receive the Medal of Freedom for their unwitting part in bringing down the Soviet Union.
Rating:
Summary: Damage to the US Constitution
Review: The Reagan oil strategy to bankrupt the Soviet Union was a noble cause, and it worked. If CIA Dir Bill Casey tipped off Saudi Arabia to a change in US Treasury policy that made the Saudis loads of money, this was obviously a payoff for the Saudis suffering the lower oil production and lower oil price. EEOC Chairman Clarence Thomas was going nowhere special, until he played brilliantly stupid in the court case "Ali Boureslan vs ARAMCO." Nearly 1,000 Americans lost their jobs with ARAMCO, a US corp., while Saudis continued to be hired, and while Saudis were sent on professional development assignments to other US corporations on US soil. This case was Clarence Thomas's fast track ticket to the Wash DC Appeals Court 1989 and US Supreme Court 1991. Then contrast the 1990 Civil Rights Act vetoed by Bush and the 1991 CRA which was introduced by Sen John Danforth. Politics fixed the Soviets and justifiably so, but politics fixed a court case-- those nearly 1,000 Americans should receive the Medal of Freedom for their unwitting part in bringing down the Soviet Union.
Rating:
Summary: Same Strategy Used Today
Review: The story is about Soviet Union, but it fits well for today if you substitute the names: Free Europe Radio-->Free Asia Radio; Soviet Union --> P. R. China; Afghanistan --> Taiwan; Poland--> Hong Kong; US --> US
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: This book is an incredibly well written and factual book about Reagan and how he started the end of the Cold War. Contrary to popular opinion, Gorbachev did little iniatially to end the Cold War, he responded to Reagan's overtures, as this book clearly demonstrates. Schweizer sweeps from Latin America to Europe to Afghanistan with breathtaking detail and excellent inside information, interviews, and analysis. If you want to know what Reagan really did, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good But I Wanted More
Review: This book is an interesting collection of true-life spy stories, behind the scenes political maneuvering, and good old-fashioned covert operations. What got me so interested in the book in the first place was the A list of people the author interviewed for the book - Caspar Weinberger, Robert MacFarlane, George Schultz, Richard Pipes, Herb Meyer, and Richard Allen. Other then actually being part of the meetings and operations, I do not know how the author could have got a better description of the events. The book gives you a run down of some of the more successful and not all that well-known operations that the Reagan team pulled off during his administration. I was really surprised at all the focus and wrangling on the oil prices and the behind the scenes work the U.S. did for the Gulf States. I couldn't help but think that the Shah of Iran was correct in blaming the Carter administration for his downfall given all the other support that America could give to keep these leaders in power. We also get a large dose of the help the U.S. and the Vatican provided to the Poland Solidarity group. Reagan just had his hand in everything. My only issue with the book is that I would have liked a bit more overall detail, the book was a bit short I thought. I would have liked another 50-100 pages. The author did a good job, but he is not an edge of the seat author. He just spelled out the case very professionally with a little pro Reagan bias. For an interesting different view of many of these operations I would suggest you find a copy of "The Forth World War". It is the memoir of the head of the French version of the CIA during the late 70 - 80's and deals with a lot of the same issues and operations that this book covered. The bonus of the book is some very reviling and interesting predictions about his view of the upcoming worldwide religious war.
Rating:
Summary: Good But I Wanted More
Review: This book is an interesting collection of true-life spy stories, behind the scenes political maneuvering, and good old-fashioned covert operations. What got me so interested in the book in the first place was the A list of people the author interviewed for the book - Caspar Weinberger, Robert MacFarlane, George Schultz, Richard Pipes, Herb Meyer, and Richard Allen. Other then actually being part of the meetings and operations, I do not know how the author could have got a better description of the events. The book gives you a run down of some of the more successful and not all that well-known operations that the Reagan team pulled off during his administration. I was really surprised at all the focus and wrangling on the oil prices and the behind the scenes work the U.S. did for the Gulf States. I couldn't help but think that the Shah of Iran was correct in blaming the Carter administration for his downfall given all the other support that America could give to keep these leaders in power. We also get a large dose of the help the U.S. and the Vatican provided to the Poland Solidarity group. Reagan just had his hand in everything. My only issue with the book is that I would have liked a bit more overall detail, the book was a bit short I thought. I would have liked another 50-100 pages. The author did a good job, but he is not an edge of the seat author. He just spelled out the case very professionally with a little pro Reagan bias. For an interesting different view of many of these operations I would suggest you find a copy of "The Forth World War". It is the memoir of the head of the French version of the CIA during the late 70 - 80's and deals with a lot of the same issues and operations that this book covered. The bonus of the book is some very reviling and interesting predictions about his view of the upcoming worldwide religious war.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional !!! -- my view from former Soviet Union
Review: This is exciting book. I read it in Russian edition. It is so frank that first time I thought it's a KGB fabrication. Step-by-step, year-by-year author shows how US crushed Soviet Union. There is in-depth analysis, a lot of documentary material and interviews with top players. It's the real eye-opener to understand what happened with Soviet Union and why.
Rating:
Summary: Casey & Reagan vindicated.
Review: This was the first book I bought through the internet - and I ordered it because it was cross-referenced with another interesting book I had read! It offers a fascinating insight into the rivalry between Casey/Reagan iconoclasts and the east coast Anglophile State Dept. President Clinton continued this successful tradition by masterminding the Irish peace process over the objections of the Establishment wedded to a anachronistic 'special relationship' between New & Old England. Like many European intellectuals I originally saw Reagan as a dangerous country boy without feeling for the subtleties of geopolitics. But here is troubling evidence that Reagan was right! We saw him as a great communicator able to delegate, yet it seems he had an obsession for detail on things Soviet. Schweizer makes a good case that the Casey/Reagan initiative was a far-sighted & successful strategy. Maybe this is too simplistic a hypothesis. There are simpler explanations for, e.g. the high tech defense build-up (what Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex). He confirms rumors we had heard before: US & Chinese involvement in subversion in Soviet Stans, Zia's role in Afghanistan & Soviet involvement in Zia's assassination, the arming of bin-Laden & other Afghan mujehaddin with sophisticated weaponry - including Stingers, Bush's clash with Reagan on the oil price collapse and Solidarity. There are also some bizarre new accounts: Casey tipping King Fahd off about Treasury plans to weaken the dollar: this made the Saudis billions - surely in breach of SEC rules? The US simultaneously targeting Osirak nuclear power station while arming Saddam, and how Al Haig was toppled. I felt however that the best bits were still missing: for example, the contras & Irangate, and the full story of Administration (& moderate Arab) support for Saddam pre-1990. Ultimately, however, Casey & Reagan were vindicated.
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