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| Me Against My Brother | 
| Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis
Category: EBooks
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $22.36
You Save: $5.59 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 22553
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Dewey Decimal Number: 327
ASIN: B000PLXCD6
Publication Date: April 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 28 | | NEXT » |
Tough stuff January 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Peterson's story sure is not an easy read. He details the devastation of war and famine--much of it man made--in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda, and relates it to ethnic/cultural/clan/religious rivalries that westerners hardly understand, yet get in the middle of it to provide relief. Not a happy story and no happy endings.
 A Humbling Journey onto the Frontlines October 16, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I came to Peterson's book out of frustration - frustration of knowing that terrible things are happening in Africa, but not knowing the magnitude or appreciating the complexity of these events and what spawned them. I wanted to know more than the snippets that escape through the American media's sieve. This book did not disappoint! Different from Gourevitch accounts, Peterson forgoes a lot of the nuanced historical detail in favor of giving readers an in-depth account on these three countries from the front lines. Writing is clear and disturbingly illustrative. Peterson's emotions penetrate the text and whittle away at the detachment one can feel about events unfolding so far away from home. He poses hard questions about who is to blame, who are the good guys, and what if anything can be done to stop this violence - leaving space for the reader to form their own conclusions. Insightful with great journalistic integrity. Highly recommended.
 unique but narrow perspective July 10, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I appreciated Peterson's book because it is the honest personal evaluation of seemingly a super-human record of journalism for an American in a time when American foreign correspondence is increasingly cowardly.
Peterson has a good hold on the English language, and he certainly has a story to tell. As a personal memoir, I would say the book is first rate. I gave the book only 3 stars because the book purports to be a critical analysis of US foreign policy, and in this it fails in largely the same way (though without the same arrogance) that mainstream American journalism fails. Peterson fails to ask the important questions. It is true that as a "combat journalist" he has a very unique perspective on war-time Africa. I don't doubt his courage, and it's impossible not to like him after reading his book. But his analysis never really goes beyond criticizing high-ranking ineptitude. And ineptitude, though rampant in our military and political power circles, is not the problem with American foreign policy. The fundamental problem with American foreign policy (in Africa most of all) is our wanton motives going into conflicts such as this. The problem is the corporatist neo-colonial exploitation of the third world. The big picture may have improved by shades, but it still hasn't changed. Peterson fails to confront the problem in this way. As a correspondent on the ground, he has a unique but very narrow perspective. He would have to be paranoid to guess at the motives, especially the economic motives, of the IMF and the World Bank and America itself. In his entrenched position, it is sad to say, he is still blinded by the American media gloss and the Third World media vaccuum. And because Peterson is not truly an intellectual (more of a goodhearted poetic cowboy), he does not know where to go for primary sources that would give him insight into the true nature of economic exploitation. Rather, like most journalists, he goes straight for the quotes from the top. Almost all his sources are indeed high-level press releases and generic (journalistic) histories of the African countries.
I can't help but like Peterson because he seems so honest when he points out the obvious lies and stupid decisions of American thugs who only contribute to chaos when they claim to be restoring order. But in the end he is part of the system because the best advice he comes up with is to stop US aid to these countries (which is not an evil position in itself, but is a shallow excuse for a solution to a much deeper problem.)
In short, Scott Peterson is a good memoirist, a good person, but a bad political analyst. Putting political analysis in the hands of these cowboy journalists is the same mistake as putting political analysis in the hands of American soldiers (read Black Hawk Down). They can tell you about the battles, but they might not have any wider angle on the matter than someone at home. People like Peterson are indispensable because they are driven by an intention to help people, but they rarely get the big picture right. There are political analists, even some journalists, who offer a more profound view of the root causes of African conflicts. For Rwanda in particular, A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide is an indespensible work by an American journalist. Reading that book, then reading Peterson's account of Rwanda, will begin to give you some idea of the difference between successful journalism and the journalism that has failed us.
A TRAGIC BUT ENGAGING VIEW OF THE WORST IN HUMANITY July 27, 2004
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
AN EXCELLENT BOOK. NOT AS GRUESOME AS THE TITLE WOULD SUGGEST, BUT A DOWN TO EARTH, BOOTS ON THE GROUND LOOK AT ATTROCITIES IN THE THIRD WORLD FROM ONE WHO WAS THERE. THE AUTHOR REPORTS IT ALL WITH THE EYE OF A JOURNALIST AND THE HEART OF ONE WHO HAS SEEN THE BEST AND WORST IN MAN, AND DOESN'T SETTLE FOR THE LATTER.
HIS PIECE ON SOMALIA IS EXCELLENT. HE WRITES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE INHABITANTS OF MOGADISHU AT THE TIME OF OPERATION RESTORE HOPE. IN SO DOING HE ADEPTLY DESCRIBES THE EVENTS WHICH LED UP TO THE 1992 SOMALI CHAOS AND SETS THE CONTEXT FOR WHAT WILL FOLLOW: A STORY MANY OF US KNOW TOO WELL. AFTER READING HIS BOOK, HOWEVER, I REALIZED THAT I DIDN'T KNOW THE WHOLE STORY WELL AT ALL .
THE BOOK BLACKHAWK DOWN FAITHFULLY PORTRAYS A SMALL PIECE OF THAT TRAGEDY AND DOES SO NECESSARILY OUT OF CONTEXT. (TO THE SOLDIER ON THE GROUND THE SMALL PICTURE IS ALL IMPORTANT: THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF HIS SMALL PIECE OF THE MISSION AT HAND AND HIS PERSONAL SURVIVAL OF THAT MISSION ARE ENTIRELY ABSORBING.)AFTER READING MR PETERSON'S BOOK, AND SPEAKING TO SOME FRIENDS WHO WERE THERE AT THE TIME, I WAS LEFT SHAKING MY HEAD AT THE TRAGICALLY POOR DECISIONS MADE MY ADMIRAL HOWE, AND THE SEEMING ARROGANCE WHICH LED TO THEM. AS ALWAYS, IT IS HEARTBREAKING TO SEE THE UNNECCESARY HUMAN TOLL WHICH SUCH DECISIONS COST.
MR PETERSON IS AN ARTICULATE, COGENT AND PASSIONATE WRITER. HIS ACCOUNT SOMETIMES DELVES INTO A LITTLE MORE DETAIL THAN I WOULD LIKE, BUT FOR THE MOST PART IS AN ENGAGING READ. I RECOMMEND THE BOOK TO ALL WHO DESIRE A VIEW TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE THE CULTURALLY LIMITED CONFINES OF THE USA.
A Must Read Regarding Our Future & Our Past May 8, 2004
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Peterson has written an excellent report on the atrocities that have taken place under our eyes in Africa. Most Americans know about Somalia from "Black Hawk Down" but Peterson reports from a different perspective and brings new light to an old meaning. He reports on what both the UN and the US did wrong while on a "peace mission." I would have hoped we would have learned our lesson but some aspects Peterson describes ring much too true for our involvement in Iraq as well.The most horrifying account that Peterson writes so vividly about is the genocide in Rwanda. How does a world ignore such atrocity? I cried often during the reading of this section. I can't imagine how any country could ignore the pleading of such a dying nation in such a beautiful part of the world. To read about a man living in a wall for months to avoid being murdered, a child hiding under her parents while they were hacked to death, and see pictures of streets lined with death is beyond understandable. This is where our billions in defense should have gone! I believe this book to be a must read for all humanity. From each horrible account something is learned. Africa is a beautiful country on the verge of catastrophe while the rest of the world ignores its pleas. From such anger, bitterness and hate comes furure generations of the same unless the world steps up with bravery and defends a peaceful solution. A billion dollars of understanding would go alot further in this country than the others we chose to toy with. Peterson has brought the injustices to life masterfully. This book NEEDS to be read by anyone who cares about a global existence and our future.
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