Victory Denied or The Argument

Victory Denied: Everything You Know about Iraq Is Wrong!

Author: Roger T Aeschliman

"Everything you know about Iraq is wrong" is more than just the sub-title of the startling upbeat memoir "Victory Denied." It is the truth. The war in Iraq IS over, the insurgency is reeling from hammer-blows and Iraq's future is bright. What's wrong in Iraq is the American national media reporting only the worst of the worst, day after day, ignoring every iota of good news and improvements in the country. "Victory Denied" takes you all over Iraq as a part of the Joint Visitors Bureau official dignitary escort team, into meetings with US and Iraqi Generals, US and Iraqi governmental officials, Iraqi citizens, and the soldiers who are there getting the job done. It is a remarkable memoir, written boots-on-the-ground by a deployed Kansas Army National Guardsman with a professional background in media, government and politics. These skills served him well as he navigated the halls of the US Embassy in Baghdad, crossed vast deserts to opulent palaces, and toured up the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the very borders of Iran and Syria, dodging diplomats and Congressional aides as well as bullets. Even more it is the personal and moving story of an American soldier leaving home to do his duty when called. Aeschliman is erudite and thoughtful - a true renaissance man - writing as eloquently on the diverse subjects of history, botany, zoology, astronomy, sociology, philosophy and religion, as well as military affairs and current events. Additionally this book is a love story, a deeply touching account of a husband, father, son, and community leader in love with his wife, children, parents and his city, state and the United States of America. "Victory Denied" will shock the public discourseover Iraq and will change the face of our 2008 Presidential campaign.

Go to: Cocina asiatica or Preserved

The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics

Author: Matt Bai

Widely cited by journalists and bloggers as the man to read to understand the political races, New York Times Magazine writer Matt Bai has written a book about the Democratic Party that's as riveting as it is timely and vital. The Argument takes readers to the front lines of the grassroots progressive movement that is seizing power from the party's weakened D.C. establishment, capturing a colorful cast of donors and power brokers struggling to articulate a direction: an argument. The result is a fascinating, uniquely candid look at present-day politics.

The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani

In his illuminating new book, the journalist Matt Bai examines the health of the Democratic Party, focusing on the insurgent progressive movement that is taking on the Washington establishment—a largely Internet-driven movement that's brought together wealthy venture capitalists, determined to help build a re-energized party; angry bloggers, furious with the Bush administration and fed up with Democratic moderates; and isolated suburban liberals in red states, eager to use the Web to connect with like-minded citizens around the country.The Argument…combines lots of energetic reporting on the ground with some astute political analysis. The result is a colorful topographical map of the Democratic landscape: an anatomy of the party's new progressive wing and its contentious relationship with centrist groups like the Democratic Leadership Council, and some sharply observed portraits of progressive power brokers like Howard Dean, the bloggers Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zъniga and the union leader Andy Stern.

The New York Times Book Review - Nick Gillespie

With the possible exception of the Republican, is there a major political party more stupefyingly brain-dead than the Democrats? That's the ultimate takeaway from The Argument, Matt Bai's sharply written, exhaustively reported and thoroughly depressing account of "billionaires, bloggers, and the battle to remake Democratic politics" along unabashedly "progressive" (read: New Deal and Great Society) lines.

The Washington Post - Jose Antonio Vargas

…unsparing, incisive and altogether engaging…a must read for anyone unaware of the seismic shift that's afoot among the Democrats…a layered, colorful portrait of a party in transition.

The New York Times - Michiko Kakutani

Illuminating . . . A colorful topographical map of the Democratic landscape.

The Economist

Engaging and painstakingly reported.

The New York Times Book Review - Nick Gillespie

Sharply written, exhaustively reported.

Washington Monthly - Kevin Drum

I had more fun reading The Argument than I've had reading any political book in ages. It was fun the way The Boys on the Bus was fun. The way Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 was fun. . . . Or maybe even the way Primary Colors was fun.

What People Are Saying

Joe Klein
What a terrific book! Matt Bai has written the semi-secret history of the Democratic Party as it has writhed toward success in the first decade of 21st century. Filled with hilariously strange characters and situations, this is also a thoroughly reported--and dead serious--look at the direction politics is headed at an important moment in our history. If you want to understand what promises to be a crucial political year in 2008, The Argument is certainly the place to start (Joe Klein, Time Magazine political columnist and author of Politics Lost)

Evan Thomas
Matt Bai has written a wonderful book--honest, insightful, and funny. Democrats should read it and weep--or learn from it. (Evan Thomas, Newsweek)

Roger Rosenblatt
This is both an original and a significant book - something very hard to come by. Matt Bai has not only disclosed the dead zones in the Democratic Party; he also has hit upon the questions that could bring the Party - and the country - back to life. As if that were not sufficient, he writes succinctly yet beautifully. The Argument is probably the most important political study of recent years.

Michael Tomasky
One of the most fascinating, underreported, and misunderstood political stories of the Bush era has been the liberal effort to push the Democratic Party to be more aggressive and to stop getting rolled by conservatives...Matt Bai conveys this important behind-the-scenes story with unmatched insight, wisdom, and sympathy. (Michael Tomasky, editor, Guardian America)