- Taschenbuch: 160 Seiten
- Verlag: Noonday Pr; Auflage: Reissue (April 1994)
- Sprache: Englisch
- ISBN-10: 0374519323
- ISBN-13: 978-0374519322
- Größe und/oder Gewicht: 21 x 14,2 x 1 cm
- Durchschnittliche Kundenbewertung: 4.8 von 5 Sternen Alle Rezensionen anzeigen (4 Kundenrezensionen)
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Amazon Bestseller-Rang:
Nr. 54.567 in Englische Bücher (Siehe Top 100 in Englische Bücher)
- Nr. 41 in Englische Bücher > Geschichte > Europa > Westen
- Nr. 84 in Englische Bücher > Sachbücher > Sozialwissenschaften > Bräuche & Traditionen
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Anyone who has ever traveled in Switzerland cannot help but to have remarked upon the overwhelming tranquility of the country. But this tranquility is illusory. As John McPhee writes in La Place de la Concorde Suisse, a rich journalistic study of the Swiss Army's role in Swiss society, "there is scarcely a scene in Switzerland that is not ready to erupt in fire to repel an invasive war." With a population smaller than New Jersey's, Switzerland has a standing army of 650,000 ready to be mobilized in less than 48 hours. The Swiss Army, known in this country chiefly for its little red pocketknives, is so quietly efficient at the arts of war that the Israelis carefully patterned their own military on the Swiss model. You'll understand why after reading this outstanding book.
Pressestimmen
"McPhee, in showing us as many aspects of the Swiss Army as their famous knife has blades, has produced one of his books."—Edmund Fuller, The Wall Street Journal
"The Swiss have avoided fighting a war for almost 500 years. To preserve that enviable record of peace, they maintain one of the world's largest armies, on a per capita basis. This paradox . . . is the core of McPhee's engaging La Place de la Concorde Suisse."Jack Schnedler, Chicago Sun-Times
"Delightful . . . What McPhee saw and learned he writes about with his inimitable light touch."—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
"'Switzerland does not have an army,' says one of John McPhee's informants in La Place de la Concorde Suisse. 'Switzerland is an army' . . . McPhee put his reader inside Switzerland with elegance and insight."—Jonathan Steinberg, The New York Times Book Review
"The Swiss have avoided fighting a war for almost 500 years. To preserve that enviable record of peace, they maintain one of the world's largest armies, on a per capita basis. This paradox . . . is the core of McPhee's engaging La Place de la Concorde Suisse."Jack Schnedler, Chicago Sun-Times
"Delightful . . . What McPhee saw and learned he writes about with his inimitable light touch."—Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times
"'Switzerland does not have an army,' says one of John McPhee's informants in La Place de la Concorde Suisse. 'Switzerland is an army' . . . McPhee put his reader inside Switzerland with elegance and insight."—Jonathan Steinberg, The New York Times Book Review
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Format:Taschenbuch
First published in the early 1980's during the Cold War, this book is still in print. Because its title is in French it has never been a bestseller, but people continue to buy it. Why?
Perhaps the book's popularity is maintained by word of mouth, year in year out, by readers having served in Zurich or Geneva with an international organisation, bank or NGO based there. Again why?
Perhaps to warn their friends that Switzerland is not a normal country: as John Mc Phee writes, most countries have an army, but only the Swiss army has a country. The Swiss army is described by Mc Phee as a totally vigilant entity despite peace during the past 500 years. Strategic bridges and passes are mined, high mountains hide untold military resources. Army recruits are thoroughly trained, then sent home with their rifle and ammunition, and recalled for 2-3 week every year for quite serious exercises (well described by the author) until well into their forties.
A review should not reveal the best parts of a book. So read about the effects of WW2 firestorms in Germany on Swiss building codes, how foreign military attachés were shocked by the Swiss air force during an exercise, how a lowly employee can command his boss during annual military exercises, as reservists.
This is a wonderful little book based on talking with real Swiss. Mc Phee takes part in one such annual military exercise and his principal (but not only) resource person is a Swiss vintner. No book references, just people talking.
Perhaps the book's popularity is maintained by word of mouth, year in year out, by readers having served in Zurich or Geneva with an international organisation, bank or NGO based there. Again why?
Perhaps to warn their friends that Switzerland is not a normal country: as John Mc Phee writes, most countries have an army, but only the Swiss army has a country. The Swiss army is described by Mc Phee as a totally vigilant entity despite peace during the past 500 years. Strategic bridges and passes are mined, high mountains hide untold military resources. Army recruits are thoroughly trained, then sent home with their rifle and ammunition, and recalled for 2-3 week every year for quite serious exercises (well described by the author) until well into their forties.
A review should not reveal the best parts of a book. So read about the effects of WW2 firestorms in Germany on Swiss building codes, how foreign military attachés were shocked by the Swiss air force during an exercise, how a lowly employee can command his boss during annual military exercises, as reservists.
This is a wonderful little book based on talking with real Swiss. Mc Phee takes part in one such annual military exercise and his principal (but not only) resource person is a Swiss vintner. No book references, just people talking.
Format:Taschenbuch
Ho appena riletto con grande piacere questo libro di John McPhee nella sua brillante traduzione italiana. Nessun autore (a me noto) é riuscito a darci un'immagine così precisa dell'esercito più pacifista del mondo e degli uomini che lo compongono. John McPhee non ha solo cercato di scavare nelle caverne-hangar delle inaccessibili montagne svizzere, ma anche -e soprattutto- é riuscito a fornirci un quadro luminoso dei caratteri umani e della commistione tra potere economico ed esercito.
D'altra parte per la Svizzera, piccolo territorio e grande potenza finanziaria, conservare la pace -anche con la forza di dissuasione- é fondamentale per la sua stessa esistenza: "se vuoi la pace prepara la guerra" dicevano al proposito gli antichi romani 2000 anni addietro. John indaga, curioso ed ironico, e rinviene dati ed informazioni che amalgama con le proprie fonti di conoscenza: il risultato é un'affascinante romanzo verità, un saggio nel vero senso del termine che diventa leggero e godibile per il lettore. La narrativa é talmente avvincente che in alcuni momenti il freddo del ghiacciaio esce dal libro e ci congela le dite delle mani, il vento sibilante gira da solo le pagine, una dietro l'altra, fino alla fine del racconto, lasciandoci solo il tempo di pensare che la pace svizzera descritta da John McPhee é poco diversa da una guerra senza sangue. Assolutamente fantastico!
Format:Taschenbuch
With the volunteer military facing staffing problems, and with the first tentative trial balloons about restoring the draft being lofted, this book offers insight into a fascinating alternative. The Swiss system is superior to a lottery-based conscript army because it encompasses everyone, not just the unlucky and the young. That not only makes it fairer, but provides protection for democratic values against the standing professional army that the Framers feared. Read this book together with Gary Hart's excellent book "The Minuteman: Restoring an Army of the People" (Free Press 1998), which argues for a Swiss-style approach in America.
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