Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable ...

Unbelievably readable.:
I think it is something of a miracle that Mr. Harris made this book so accessible. I picked up this book because I enjoyed other material that Bob Harris produced, but I was a little wary about this book. After all, he's writing about many of the "b-side" wars in countries that don't make the 7 o'clock news. The sources of these conflicts range from leftover Cold War proxy wars to colonization to ancient struggles when men in bearskins beat each other with femurs. That is a lot of material to cover in a tiny book and simplifying or omitting the histories can prevent readers from gaining any real knowledge of what is going on. Mr. Harris avoided this problem by avoiding lengthy histories and, while acknowledging the roots of the conflicts he describes, largely focusing on the contemporary "things blowing up." There are usually short blurbs about the history of the conflict and then a look at the modern state of the conflict and the parties involved. Generally, these are pretty good. In the interest of not getting himself killed Mr. Harris seems to play a fairly neutral party when examining the various size wars. The sole except is when he gave into his personal rage about the invasion of Iraq. I took the review down to 4 stars just because he left out the Armenia-Azerbaijan/Nagorno-Karabakh war. Sure, things have settled down there, Mr. Harris, but no peace agreement has been reached. And how can you overlook the history of that war - at one point both sides paid the Russians to fight for them and a Russian Air wing ended up fighting a Russian Tank column. That's comedy gold, in a really dark way.

Harris fills in the gaps. (and there were lots of gaps):
Think the mainstream media is going to keep you up to date on all this stuff? No. In fact, I sometimes wonder if they prefer to keep you in the dark. They certainly don't tell us much about some of these conflicts. I followed Bob Harris's blog when he traveled around the world researching this book. When I came across it recently, I bought it without hesitation, knowing that I was going to be reading the work of a guy who has a knack for trivia -- even important trivia that isn't trivial at all to the people who have to live with it. Think of Who Hates Whom as a "Cliff's Notes" version of dozens of world conflicts. Bob humbly apologizes for not having the space or time to devote to ALL the world's conflicts, but as he reminds us again and again, there's a lot of hate in this world. Somehow, in Bob's words, it comes out more like conditions that have been inherited for generations -- conditions that nobody really wants, but once these things get started it's hard to stop them. He always finds a flower in the abyss, though, and never leaves you hopeless and desperate for goodness. These are often good people who cannot help but do bad things, for the conflicts are much bigger than any individuals. For example, here's Harris's take on "The Difference Between Tutsi and Hutu: In short: not all that much. Tutsis and Hutus have lived on the same land, spoken the same languages, intermarried, and sometimes had trouble telling each other apart for centuries. Genetically they're indistinguishable. Y'know that episode of Star Trek where Frank Gorshin has half his face painted black, and the other guy has the other half painted black, and they hate each other? This is that. ... (...big cut...) ...What matters: enough locals believed in the difference." Bob Harris is smart and sensitive. But that he finds elements of humor in these dark places, without ever being insulting or insensitive, takes a special, uncommon skill. A gift, if you will. If you find yourself hearing about conflicts in parts of the world you scarcely knew existed, you should read this book. It's fast reading. It can be read in short bursts. It's informative and important. In our shrinking world there is no longer any excuse for ignorance. You can't say "I couldn't have helped; I didn't know about it," because the information is at hand, and because too many people are using that excuse to let too many people die, starve, or suffer extreme conditions -- even torture -- when some awareness and letter to Congress might help bring their plights to light. Recent publicity has highlighted the tragedy and trauma that is/was Darfur, but such things are being repeated around the world. Get to know the score. Read this book. Shooshie

"No Expertise. Zero.":
"I claim no expertise. Zero. My degree is in elecrical engineering...I've been a comic, TV writer...I'm lucky I'm allowed to drive." (page 3). "I know so incredibly little. Maybe I'd rather keep my mouth shut for a while" (page 6). For the record, virtually no U.S. troops fought in the Congo, just some spec and cia advisors. The non-Congolese fighters were mainly mercenaries from white South Africa and Rhodesia. No mention of the mercs here. Their history has been luridly detailed in books by men like Mike Hoare. No person educated in this area would omit them. I stopped reading at page 56. Don't trust any of this from this point on. If you want to read history, read books by people with degrees in history, or people who lived history.

Very, very well done:
I'm not sure how to characterize this book, but I'll just go with: THIS FREAKING RULES. It provides the CONTEXT to world events, so you have a better idea of what's going on. I only bought it a few weeks ago, but I've read it cover to cover twice already. It does a great job of boiling down the major players and conflicts in each regional hot spot. For example, I admit that I never really understood what was going in Africa. I knew vaguely that there were some bad rebels in Darfur, and had joined a facebook group condemning the violence (gotta love my generation's concept of activism). I knew that lots of people died and people were poor and malnourished. Also, a few years ago under the Clinton administration, there was something about Rwanda and mass genocide. Seriously, that was the extent of my knowledge/involvement for the continent. But NOW, AFTER READING THE BOOK, I look at Africa and know more -- and not just about those regions I mentioned above. I look at the news and think, wow, in Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvengirai agreed to share power? What does this mean for the destitute people of Zimbabwe? Can the Zanu PF really work with the MDC? Wasn't it still a raw deal for the MDC because Mugabe tortured a bunch of people so the second run off election was in his favor? Or moving across the globe to Thailand, I look at the PPP and think, aren't people now protesting a government that they democratically elected in November 2007? (Yes, but the rich people who don't believe in one person one vote are doing the protesting is the counterpoint. But the counterpoint to that is the current administration is a proxy for the ousted billionaire leader Thaksin Shrinawatra and reeks of corruption.) This review has gone on too long, and I need to get back to work, but I just want to say to Bob Harris: (1) thanks for explaining to me what happened in the Sopranos ending (yes, I am fully cognizant of all your disclaimers but c'mon, you KNOW you nailed it); and (2) thanks for making me care about foreign policy. Hopefully others will catch on, too.

Funny and thought-provoking:
Subtitled "Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing Up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide," this book gives short essays on the various "little wars" going on around the world. Where is the world's deadliest conflict since World War II? Try the Democratic Republic of the Congo, right in the middle of Africa, where nearly 4 million people have been killed in the last six years. Huge deposits of gold, diamonds and copper, all over the country, have not helped the situation. The term "blood diamonds" came from the simultaneous civil wars in the west African countries of Cote D'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone (also paid for with diamond mining). Burma is full of various ethnic groups who have had a hard time getting along with each other. Currently, it is like a Third World Soviet Union, a group of diverse lands controlled by police state tactics. Did you know that the official calendar in North Korea says that time began with the birth of Kim Il-Sung? While it's 2008 in the rest of the world, in North Korea, it's the year 97. In a way, America is financing both sides in the civil war in Colombia. On one side, the US Government sends millions of dollars in aid, usually military, to the right-wing government. On the other side, Colombia produces 80% of the world's cocaine, of which America consumes more than half, so American drug users are financing the rebels. The national motto of Scotland, translated into English, is "Nobody provokes me with impunity." Seriously. The nationalist symbol of Wales is the leek, a type of large green onion. Nobody knows why. Who Hates Whom? may be intended as a humor book, but it does a really good job at explaining the various wars and insurrections that sometimes reach the evening news.