Kevin's Watch

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!

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.

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