The Untold History of the United States

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peter
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The Untold History of the United States

Post by peter »

by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick.

Have just picked up a copy from my library and am quite exited as to what this book will contain. I believe I read a review some time ago when the book was first published saying that it was a pretty incendiary work - but can remember no more than that. I remember Stone from his Vietnam films [and JFK] as being quite an 'anti' figure [or so was the image of him I formed], but don't really have any more knowledge of him than this [highly suspect] impression. I'm guessing from the title alone that the conventional view of American history will not be what is being presented - but it is unlikely that the book would sell many copies if it was.

Have any of you guys with perhaps more knowledge of Stone, the book or the risks of accepting what it might comtain on face value, got any comments or advice on how one should take this work [ie with a big pinch of salt, toung in cheek, fingers crossed behind back, etc etc] or indeed if one should take it at all!
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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Vraith
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Post by Vraith »

I haven't read it...heard a couple things about it which fit with what I think of Stone, which is why I haven't read it.
So I'll be interested in your impression/reading.
[[fwiw, what I think of Stone: he has the occasional interesting thought/perspective/idea...and then he kills it with distortion. Which would be fine if he intended satire or something...but he takes the absurdity as real/serious/dramatic. And sometimes he just flat out lies.]]
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
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Post by peter »

Thats an observation I shall bear in mind at all times during the reading V. I've only got a short ways into chapter one, but already in the foreword and introduction the tone has been set and he ain't cutting the state any slack! In his view America is a dying empire whose sum influence on the world has been pernicious at best and at worst outright evil! One point of interest has been his relating of the beginnings of The Great War from an American perspective; normally I have only ever encountered it from the British point of view and there is an air of freshness about how it is presented here.
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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peter
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Post by peter »

Sorry It's taken a while [I'm a notorious 'book hopper' - I read about five at a time] but overall my view is positive. I keep a healthy degree of scepticism about Stone and Kuznick's 'spin' on the hard facts of american history, but the book is both provocative and easy to read. It's as entertaining a 'history' book as ever you will read
The truth is a Lion and does not need protection. Once free it will look after itself.

....and the glory of the world becomes less than it was....
'Have we not served you well'
'Of course - you know you have.'
'Then let it end.'

We are the Bloodguard
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