Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro

Book Description

Feeling overwhelmed by the sheer depth of Apple's mammoth video editing software Final Cut Pro? In Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro, video effects expert and instructor Kevin Monahan helps narrow your focus by tackling the software purely from the perspective of its motion graphics and special effects capabilities. His style is passionate yet approachable, and he provides plenty of hands-on tutorials to get you started actually using the software. Along the way, you'll learn the most essential and efficient concepts and techniques--many undocumented elsewhere. A DVD with trial plug-ins, sample project files, and QuickTime movies accompanies this richly illustrated, four-color book--required reading for anyone interested in creating spectacular effects and motion graphics with Final Cut Pro.

Customer Reviews:

great investment.......2005-11-21

I have read several books on FCP, from plain and simple for beginners to the real advanced stuff. This book I have to say, I have to place it on position number 1. To anyone serious about FCP is a must buy.

Worth the Money -- BUY IT!.......2005-01-22

This book is a tremendous timesaver. In a few hours, you can learn how to do some really stunning effects, all from within an editing application. FCP is not just for cutting anymore! If you're strapped for time and or cash, and you need to wow a client, its a lot more efficient and frugal to work all within FCP, rather than creating motion graphics in other applications with steaper learning curves and price tags. Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Pro by Kevin Monahan is a one-of-a-kind book that fills a gap in the pantheon of editing how-to-books, and it does it extremely well. Great job, Kevin.

A bit disappointed.......2004-08-06

I purchased this book based on the numerous great reviews here, but I have to say I am quite disappointed.

I am proficient in softwares such as Photoshop and After Effects, but I am new to Final Cut Pro. I was hoping to learn from this book techniques that can only be done in FCP. However half way through the book all I got were very basic things such as moving/scaling layers around, faking 3D effects or playing with type, which can be done 10 times better in After Effects. The author only touched briefly on the more unique concepts in FCP (such as roll tools and slip tools). I had to find information on those via Final Cut Pro Help.

I am also disappointed at the exercises on the DVD that comes with the book. The exercise sequences were very simple and wasn't designed well, and I often found myself following the book and producing an effect that I would never want to make (such as squashing a movie clip into awkward dimensions and making them fly around the screen), or it would be an effect that can be produced much better in After Effects. At first I was hoping to see and learn from examples similar to hollywood movie trailers/title sequences, but I have seen none of that so far.

I also find the organization of this book a bit confusing. For instance, in the first few chapters of the book it will show an example using various techniques, such as nesting and masking, but it wouldn't show you right away how these techniques are done until the later parts of the book (and it wouldn't even tell you if these techniques would be covered in the book at all!). Also, personally i think a new user should read the first 5 chapters before doing the bonus exercise in chapter 1 in order to know what's going on.

However, this book did point out things that I would have overlooked if I were to experiment with Final Cut Pro myself.

A must have!!.......2004-07-11

I very highly recommend this book. I never knew you could do so many cool things in FCP and I've been using it since version 2 for my own small video production company (www.gforcevideo.com) There are so many things you can do....things like having a shot be black and white and just one part of the shot (say a red shirt) be in color....ways to pull a key without using a blue or green screen (by using say a white pull down movie screen type background and then using Luma key) and many other AWESOME graphic and effects possibilities lie in the pages of this book. Not only that but all the color illustrations can give you a lot of ideas for making your own graphics. Plus you get some new filters!! This book is definitely worth the price and every serious FCP editor should have a copy in his or her edit bay!!!!
Great job Kevin!! :-)

Best of the bunch.......2004-05-01

As non-linear editing software like Final Cut Pro gets more and more sophisticated, the greater the challenge it presents. The problem is that not all editors share the same areas of expertise, some having classic narrative editing backgrounds and others having more experience as graphic artists. That's what's so great about this title: instead of trying to cover all possible aspects of the programme in a general way, it chooses to focus on a particular area, but then goes into it in real depth.

It's obvious that the author knows his way round FCP with his eyes shut, but also that he knows a thing or two about teaching as well. However complicated the techniques described, the reader is always given the feeling that they can expand their creative abilities. Even seasoned pros will be surprised at how many new tips they pick up along the way.

Book Description

This practical book focuses on just the parts of Final Cut Studio that editors and designers need to create motion graphics in their daily work. Using footage from the BBC archives along with Motion, Final Cut Pro, and Live Type (all included in Final Cut Studio), you’ll build broadcast-quality titles, motion menus, show bumpers, and news opens. As with the other titles in the Apple Pro Training Series, each chapter in this Apple-authorized guide represents a complete lesson--with projects to complete and a review section to reinforce the lessons. Author and video editor/producers Mark Spencer and Jem Schofield begin by introducing the basics of creating an animated title sequence with Final Cut Pro. From there, you’ll learn everything from text animation, compositing, and keyframing to 3D set creation and camera animation. Step-by-step exercises and a DVD with project and media files will have you creating stunning motion graphics in no time.

Customer Reviews:

A Fast Way To Get Up And Running.......2007-07-25

After using Adobe's Premiere and After Effects for a number of years, I finally decided to switch to Final Cut Studio 2.

Whilst editing methods in Final Cut Studio were pretty much the same, I wanted to unlock the hidden gems that I knew FCS2 had under the hood.

I've been a fan of Peachpit Press' releases so I didn't hesitate to stock up on the Final Cut Studio 2 series. Of all the titles in this category, "Apple Pro Training Series: Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Studio 2" was the first to arrive in the mail.

Each lesson is fun and takes you through the new features and quickly gets you familiar with the power of the software.

This is a perfect book for anyone new to Apple's mammoth A/V suite and also for those that wish to become certified without attending classes. Using this book series, you can take the Apple Certified Pro Level 1 exams (for Level 2, you will need to attend actual classroom courses).

To get the most from this book, set aside the time needed for each lesson, don't rush them as you could miss a vital step or even a useful side note (I learned from this mistake) and keep it to one lesson per day to maximize retention.

Highly recommended for those getting started out in Final Cut Studio 2 and want to get working on projects quickly.

Book Description

Internationally recognized experts in the field introduce their "business excellence paradigm".

In this book, two leading pension fund experts lay out a comprehensive plan for effective fund management. With the help of domestic and global case studies they critically assess current approaches to pension fund management and isolate what works and what doesn't using their unique critically acclaimed "run-it-like-a-business" model.

Keith P. Ambachtsheer (Toronto, Canada) is principle at KPA Advisory Service, Inc., a pension fund management consulting firm. He runs The Ambachtsheer Letter and cofounded Cost Effective Measurement, Inc., which monitors the performance of 300 of the world's largest asset funds. D. Don Ezra (Toronto, Canada) is Director of European Consulting at Frank Russell Co. His previous books include The Struggle for Pension Fund Wealth.

None Dare Call It Treason - 25 Years Later
Average customer rating:

American Treason

better red than you

Will We Wake Up Now, Or Wait Until The MOURNING?

Which Road Did You Take?

True Patriots should buy this book

None Dare Call It Treason - 25 Years Later
John A. Stormer
Manufacturer: Liberty Bell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Customer Reviews:

American Treason.......2007-07-22

None Dare Call It Treason--25 Years Later is an update of John Stormer's 1964 bestselling book, None Dare Call It Treason. Stormer's book was a bestselling book in 1964 because many individuals and organizations bought boxes of his book and distributed them at no cost. By 1964, Americans were aware that Fidel Castro imposed communist rule in Cuba with the help of the dishonest American media (especially, the New York Times) and treasonous American political leaders. President John Kennedy's blunders included calling Castro the Simon Bolivar of Cuba, guarantees of communist rule in Cuba to end the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the betrayal of Cubans who returned to Cuba for the Bay of Pigs invasion. Details of the assassination of President Kennedy included possible links to Cuba and to the Soviet Union. Another 1964 book detailed the unsavory past of President Lyndon Johnson: A Texan Looks at Lyndon by J. Evetts Haley. Senator Barry Goldwater, 1964 Republican presidential candidate, an anti-communist, and author of The Conscience of a Conservative, posed a threat to those in the American media and even in the Republican Party who were not anti-communist.

Stormer's update is important reading today, especially for Americans duped by the neo-conservatives (neo-Trotskyites) into believing that communism died with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stormer has documented how communism remains strong in many countries, including in supposedly former communist countries with the same political leaders in power.

Unfortunately, Stormer's updates are lacking, incomplete, or wrong on many issues. For example:

1. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is no longer an anti-communist organization (page 311). When Castro was waging his communist revolution, the DAR was one of the few honest organizations in America exposing Castro as a communist. On April 14, 2005, a new generation of DAR leaders permitted supporters of the Iranian Communist MEK (MKO, PMOI, NCRI, Rajavi Cult, Pol Pot of Iran) to hold an annual convention in its convention hall in Washington, DC. Does John Stormer dare to call this treason?

2. The John Birch Society (JBS) is no longer primarily an anti-communist organization. Named for an American who was murdered by communists in China, JBS exposed truthfully Castro's communist revolution. While the American Opinion Book Service lists some anti-communist books, the recent focus of articles in The New American magazine has been upon the threats to the loss of American sovereignty, such as: United Nations, North American Union, and NAFTA. JBS authors view as a more immediate threat the loss of the American Constitution and dollar to a new constitution with the union of Mexico, Canada, and America and with a new currency, the Amero. While Stormer was critical of the political activities of the Rockefeller brothers, he needs to address in future updates posted claims by Eustace Mullins and others that Nelson Rockefeller provided the initial funding for the John Birch Society. Did Nelson Rockefeller hope that the loss in the presidential election of Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964 would pave the way for a Nelson Rockefeller victory in 1968?

3. While Human Events claims to be a conservative magazine and Web site and quotes former President Ronald Reagan as saying that it is essential reading, Human Events has become a neo-conservative (neo-Trotskyite) magazine and Web site. On July 11, 2007, Human Events posted "Unleashing the Iranian Opposition" by Daniel Pipes. Pipes has been supporting the Iranian Communist MEK for years. His latest article was about his recent trip to France to attend a major rally of the Rajavi Cult. Also attending was Congressman Bob Filner (Democrat--California and son of a communist party candidate for Congress). The MEK murdered American military officers, Rockwell International employees, and large numbers of Iranians, and of Iraqis. On July 13, 2003, the New York Times Magazine published "The Cult of Rajavi" by Elizabeth Rubin. Even the New York Times, with its long history of promoting communists, reported correctly that the MEK is a cult whose leader many Iranians call the "Pol Pot of Iran".

4. Stormer's explanation of the misuse of tax-exempt foundations (Chapter 11) needs to be updated. Neo-conservative supporters of communist terrorists and of Trotsky's dreams of endless wars rely upon tax-exempt foundations to move money with little or no disclosures. While 501 (c) (3) public charities must make Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 990 disclosures, a review of such disclosures at GuideStar's Web site will reveal that many of the political charities supporting America's terrorist enemies are not making disclosures. See, for example: Iran Policy Committee. While the American government closed the Holy Land Foundation for giving contributions to Hamas, the American government has not closed public charities promoting another organization on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations: Iranian Communist MEK.

5. Stormer documented many of the activities of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). An important update is that the CPUSA has not had any candidates for President in recent elections. While the CPUSA denies claims that it is satisfied with recent Democratic Party candidates for President, its claims appear weak that running a candidate for President is a poor use of its scarce resources.

6. Stormer's update did not include an explanation of how the admirers of Trotsky were able to move to the Democratic and Republican parties using the neoconservative label.

While Stormer or others need to write more books about American treason since 1964, most Americans would benefit greatly from reading Stormer's book.

better red than you.......2006-02-28

i was more than willing to give None Dare Call It Treason a chance, as i found the scale of Stormer's research impressive. However, the fact that none of his predictions concerning a massive Communist takeover in America came to pass, coupled with his outspoken admiration for McCarthy and truly insane predictions like this:

"Once the takeover comes, you, like millions of others, who believe in God and man's responsibility for his own actions, can be slaughtered like diseased animals or worked to death in slave labor camps or brothels for the Red Army." p. 20

have forced me to conclude that Stormer's thesis was overwhelmingly incorrect. Perhaps the most irritating part of the book was his suggestion that the American educative system was hopelessly pro-Communist. The fact that None Dare Call It Treason was distributed in American high school classes rather undermines his argument.
the sad thing is, because None Dare Call It Treason is so exhaustively researched, it is far too dry to be amusing, even when read ironically. and ironic amusement is the only positive product of propaganda.
in closing, i would take Communism over John A. Stormer's America any day.

Will We Wake Up Now, Or Wait Until The MOURNING?.......2005-10-05

[Originally posted on 2004, July 9.]

I attempt to season some of my reviews with a pinch of levity, but that will not be the case in this instance because I find nothing even remotely amusing about this subject!

'NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON: 25 YEARS LATER' is John Stormer's 1990 update of his original classic which documents Communist infiltration of the United States government as well as many other public opinion-molding sectors of American life. Mr. Stormer conclusively shows how our long-cherished American Principles have been subverted by Communistic methodology which utilizes the press, court rulings, the labor movements, the education system, tax-exempt foundation grants, government influence, and (believe it or not) even religious publications to exert pressure from above and below in order to reconfigure our framework and adapt existing structures to accomodate Socialistic goals.

The person who tells you that this is all just paranoid delusion and innuendo unsupported by any verifiable documentation is DELIBERATELY misleading you! 'NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON: 25 YEARS LATER' is one of the most thoroughly researched books I have ever encountered during my lifelong reading addiction! The exhaustive reference section spans a full 25 pages of minuscule print that cites countless books, textbooks, articles, Congressional records, administrative reports, official bulletins, treaty protocols, sworn testimony from government hearings, and most significantly, myriad Communist publications and reviews. It's not that there is just a "mountain of evidence" to support every one of Stormer's charges - that mountain is the size of Everest!

Let me assure you that the scenario presented in this magnificent masterpiece of research is as relevant to us today as the day it was first published - this despite the "appearance" of Communism's collapse in the Soviet Union. (You should know that this democratic "false front" and even the demolition of the Berlin Wall was foretold as far back as 1982 by the top-level KGB defector, Anatoliy Golitsyn in his book, 'NEW LIES FOR OLD.' This book is still in print and so you can verify for yourself his accuracy in revealing the Communist ploy years in advance.)

Why has the United States government made a pretense of fighting Communism all the while giving aid to Socialist States; securing their infrastructure and feeding their people at American tax-payer expense? As Stormer so accurately points out on page 66: "EVERY COMMUNIST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD LITERALLY HAS A 'MADE IN THE USA' STAMP."

Think about this: Isn't just the idea that the world's great superpower could not manage to emerge victorious from the "police actions" in Korea and Vietnam simply ridiculous on its face? "Winning" was never the objective of our "leaders", and Stormer proves this beyond all doubt! Reading this book for the first time years ago and thinking about all of our service men killed overseas and their families torn apart and scarred forever, there were many times that I slammed it down in rage - really not sure that I could bear to read on. Although it's a moot point for me, if I had a son who was contemplating enlisting in the armed forces (or facing conscription), I would consider it my obligation as a responsible parent, to insist that he read John Stormer's book before making any decision. What I would give to have been able to get this book into the hands of Pat Tillman before he sacrificed his NFL career and then his life in Afghanistan! God bless and keep that noble man.

You can be sure that there are many individuals out there who DO NOT want you to read 'NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON: 25 YEARS LATER.' They are hoping that the American People will continue to sit lobotomized before the boob tube and let sleeping dogs lie. Except these dogs aren't really asleep; It is we who snooze while they plot our demise! If a self-professed Communist was to frantically insist that "Nobody should read this book!....Do not buy this book!" then that is all the confirmation that you should need in order to ascertain that, in fact, EVERYBODY should read this book, and that YOU should buy this book. I urge you to do that NOW!

To summarize: NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON: 25 YEARS LATER is the heartbreaking and nauseating truth about our government's love affair with Communism. For those who lost loved ones in the Korean or Vietnam "police actions" this book will be particularly disturbing. Without a trace of hyperbole I tell you that Five Stars does not come remotely close to doing justice to the merits of this great work. It is of nearly singular distinction and unquestionably one of the most important books I have ever read. 'NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON: 25 YEARS LATER' would still be standing if I was forced to clear my bookshelves of every political tome save three. A highlighted and well-worn copy of it should be found in the personal library of virtually EVERY true American patriot....right alongside G. Edward Griffin's, 'THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND.' People, we had better wake up pretty darn quick otherwise the MOURNING will soon be upon us!

Which Road Did You Take?.......2004-08-24

This book, especially the revised introduction, should be an ephiphany to anyone who has attended college since 1960. However, I fear few will read it.....but it will resound amongst those who a troubled about the America we've seen develop since the "beat" generation.

HOW could Alger Hiss, a reknowned Communist, have participated in decision-making at Yalta that would enslave hundreds of millions under Communism? Did you know that Josef Stalin once studied for the Orthodox priesthood? Or that Hollywood-beloved Fidel Castro is not a product of the working class, but the University of Havana? Or that Karl Marx' Das Kapital is a conglomeration of once-rejected theories of dialectics and conflict, hardly original, and read by few who have committed mass atrocities in his name? Why were the Germans so afraid of Communism, even the Fascists? Could it be, that in such close proximity, they knew the foe better than we ever would?

Did you know that Gorbachev's new "perestroika" and "glasnost" were terms used in the early 20th century to soften the image of communism THEN, by Lenin and others, to encourage foreign investment and charity.

The core of this book, written in the 1970s, rings true today. How could avowed Communists infiltrate our highest levels of governments? Why are they (in America especially) rarely OF the people, but from the upper classes?

This is an astounding book, which should cause you to reevaluate terms used constantly, such as Capitalism, Communism, Democracy. Americans in the "fly-over" states have more to fear than from a Tim McVeigh or a Terry Nichols. The Enemy is Within. Deep.

If you can't tolerate what's documented here, should you vote?

True Patriots should buy this book.......2000-11-15

This is one of the first books I read after getting heavily involved in politics. Mr. Stormer opened my eyes that there is a concerted effort by people who hate America to bring her down.

Read this book to see who our true enemies are.

None Dare Call It Treason
Average customer rating:
None Dare Call It Treason
John A. Stormer
Manufacturer: Liberty Bell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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None Dare Call It Treason - 25 Years Later

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The Unseen Hand

ASIN: B000EHMIM2

Average customer rating:

A True Classic

An interesting look into history

Propaganda...?

Reads like a novel

ANTIQUE COLD WAR PROPAGANDA

None Dare Call It Treason
John A. Stormer
Manufacturer: Liberty Bell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It

ASIN: 0899667252

Customer Reviews:

A True Classic.......2005-11-02

Stormer first wrote this book in 1964, which shows just how prescient he was. This edition was revised in 1990. I just found out about it, but have not read it yet. Judging from the other reviews, he has added a LOT to it; and he might not have arranged this much expanded material as carefully as he organized the less ambitious scope of the first edition. The first one was very tightly reasoned.

As I understand it, State Department Document 7277 was a plan for total global disarmament. President Kennedy presented this global vision in his speech to the United Nations in 1963. All the nations of the world will be gradually disarmed until no state will be able to challenge the progressively strengthened UN Peace Force. Whenever any Congressman expressed concern about this, his colleagues insisted, "They're just talking." In other words, just ignore the frighteneing rhetoric that was written into the founding document of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

To understand some of Stormer's new material better, read "The Naked Capitalist", by W. Cleon Skousen. Read with especial care the section about John Ruskin and the philosophy of Plato. What ties all these disparate movements together is that they all are basically working towards a New World Order based on Plato's Republic. I don't know about Rockefeller being an anti-communist hawk; but Skousen shows that from the beginning, the global communist revolution has been financed by wealthy western capitalists. They are following the dictum of Plato: use any means available to destablize the existing world order, to prepare the way for the new world order. Abraham Lincoln began to understand some of this when he discovered that all the international bankers were financing both sides in the Civil War.

The Bible predicts all of this, and prophesies that it will result in the Battle of Armageddon. It is an irony of world history that those who work towards world peace are driving the world towards its final war. When men refuse to submit to the enlightened rule of the new peace-makers, the rulers will in their self-righteousness resort to extreme repression. The sinful natures of the rulers, unchecked by political accountablity- for all men are sinners- will drive them into all sorts of bloody lusts against the people and against each other. The Bible says it will be the worst tyranny in all of world history- a title which, considering the competition, deserves a lot of respect.

An interesting look into history.......2004-08-04

After reading Ann Coulters bestseller Treason, I happened to run into this old book by accident. It seemed intriguing so I plowed through it. Now part of the reason I gave it just an average rating wasn't so much because I think the author was some kind of nut, the impression one may get by reading some of the other reviews, but simply because I'm used to excellent writing and more concise topics. This little book just jumps all over the place, tries to cover too much ground.

Now, as to the accuracy of his words, well, much of what he claimed to be happening has indeed been proven true. The soviets did intent to keep taking as much as they could and the fact that they failed doesn't in anyway prove those worried about it were wrong.

American politicians betrayed countless peoples to the insipid and cruel system of communism, and the only people that try and act like that isn't true are either leftists or those ignorant of history. Our own government was infiltrated by soviet spies, of that fact there's little argument, it's just how many and what they were trying to accomplish and what they did accomplish that brings up two arguing camps.

If you're the type that thinks Coulter is a fascist, you'll obviously gain nothing by reading this book. For others, you have to have an interest in the history of the time to really enjoy this book which reads much like a text book at times. Part of the reason I gave it only three stars was because of the age of the work and the period it covers, being outdated meant I wasn't able to pick up on a lot of the flavor of the work.
If you're doing research on the topic, however, I'd say the book probably would rate a four or five star rating as it gives details and footnotes and covers a lot of ground.

Propaganda...?.......2003-07-03

None Dare Call It Treason is pulp propaganda hacked out, but it does serve an important purpose. It deftly (and inadvertently) makes a case for exactly why NOT to oversimplify arguements into good vs. evil. Besides, most of the information is simply made up.

This book should be admitted into a class about the effects of propaganda when taken out of context - the ravings of someone who might've drank too much coffee at the typewriter.

Reads like a novel.......2003-06-27

It has been years since I read this book but as it inspired my undergraduate paper, it made an impression.

I think the author, Stormer, was sensationalizing. I remember an episode where Nelson Rockefeller supposedly met on a Soviet submarine in Long Island Sound with some nefarious characters to plot the takeover of America by the USSR. In the real world, Nelson was actually quite a bit more hawkish than Nixon and was pro-defense spending. Then there was State Department Plan 7277 which was a plan to surrender to either the Soviets or the U.N. Stormer was always a bit ambiguous about Communists and the One World Socialist Conspiracy. It sounded as though they were alternative enemies at times at then at other times one would assume they were the same.

There certainly are consipiracies, including obviously a Communist one to destroy our freedom, but Stormer connected too much: politicians, educators, modern art, water floridation. To acknowledge that conspiracies exist is not to credit all history to a grand conspiracy theory. When the conspiracy theory gets too complicated it starts to break down. No single group has such magical powers to control so many events over decades or even centuries.

If what he said was true, then how did we win the Cold War???

ANTIQUE COLD WAR PROPAGANDA.......2003-01-03

This book is nothing more than fascist cold war propaganda. According to the author, the tiny American Communist Party (thoroughly infiltrated by the FBI, I might add) and its leader Gus Hall have secretly controlled the United States for decades now. The author provides no documentation for this allegation, no verification at all, he just reads Gus Halls self important public statements, then tries to show how this proves that Gus Hall controlled some policy of the government. This book would be very funny if it were only better written.

Average customer rating:

None Dare Call it Treason
John A. Sotrmer
Manufacturer: Florissant, Missouri: Liberty Bell Press, 1964
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LVH15K

Average customer rating:

None Dare Call it Treason
John A. Stormer
Manufacturer: Florissant, Missouri: Liberty Bell Press, 1964
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O3NZ64

Average customer rating:

NONE DARE CALL IT TREASON

Manufacturer: LIBERTY BELL PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HFUDFK

Average customer rating:

How the French Army almost crumbled in 1917.
Brilliant work
Perilous Times

Dare Call it Treason

Manufacturer: Dorset Pr.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0760722404

Customer Reviews:

How the French Army almost crumbled in 1917........2006-02-17

This is a fascinating story of how the French Army almost crumbled in 1917. General Nivelle started an offensive which almost cost the French their Army. When you have troops marching off to the front and immitating the Bah, Bah of sheep, you know you have lost the confidence of your troops. Two men rose from the ranks and helped the Army regain its balance. Philippe Petain rested the Army (no more offensives for the time being) and Clemenceau (the Tiger) helped the French stay in the war to ultimate victory. A series of trials of mutineers also stabilized the French Army and weeded out defeatists. When the French Army went back onto the offensives in late 1918, the war sealed the fate of Germany.

This is a great read about a little known event in the Great War. If the French Army had cracked, history might have been vastly different. As it was, France and Great Britain defeated Germany.

Brilliant work.......2005-08-26

Watt's work is a classic on the French Army and French nation at war. There is precious little in English on the French experience in WW I (BUT see Doughty's new book) and this book details not just the military aspects of the struggle but also the political. The heroes of the work are Clemenceau and Petain, who rallied their nation and army (respectively) to victory when the communist and socialist pacifists, some of whom were in collusion with the Germans, would have surrendered and allowed France to be destroyed. A brilliant work and a cautionary tale of the enemy within.

Perilous Times.......2005-08-23

This is a book about the mutinies in the French Army after the failed Chemin Des Dames offensive. The book does a good job describing the events and personalities involved in General Nivelle's disasterous offensive. It is also effective in its discussion of the mutinies and Petain's role in solving some of the problems which led to the implosion of the French Army. However, Watt's description of the ring of subversives and traitors in high places borders on the lurid. Some of the individuals mentioned were traitors while others were merely opposed to continuation of the war. Here difference of opinion is often equated with treason. It also must be noted that consensus politics are not a part of the French tradition as they are part of ours. The book has an air of Cold War red-baiting about it. Finally, recent research suggests that the mutinies were not incited by socialist agitators. All in all, however, the book is informative and a good read. Hopefully, someday these events will be described comprehensively with the objectivity they deserve.

None dare call it reason;: A critique of John Stormer's None dare call it treason

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None dare call it reason;: A critique of John Stormer's None dare call it treason
Julian Foster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007DR4VI

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"A Bas La Guerre!" -- Mutiny in the trenches
Excellent description of WWI from French point of view

DARE CALL /TREASON
Richard watt
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 067119030X

Customer Reviews:

"A Bas La Guerre!" -- Mutiny in the trenches.......2002-08-28

One might or might not agree on the author's take, reasonable in any case, on politics here, but this work is a good account of France during World War I (and before) with a blunt perspective and some of the facts that don't make it into story book accounts. The description of the mutiny in the trenches by the French soldiers is especially interesting, and, while no doubt not the last word, does actually mention this quite important subject! It is significant the left often bypasses this material, perhaps because of the history of the Kronstadt mutiny. It is not coincidence the Bolshevik revolution was one wildcard in the situation.
It is also clear that this 'mutiny', like a strike, did accomplish, to some degree, its purpose, and the efforts of Petain to restore order more than yielded on many of the key issues. A host of fascinating details, such as the drunken stupor pervading trench warfare, as an ingredient of acquiescence, to say nothing of the mutiny itself, where this backfired, to say the least. The 'poilus' could see what the generals simply could not see, the obvious absurdity of the 'over the top' strategies.
Acerbic and well worth adding to a list of books in this field.

Excellent description of WWI from French point of view.......2000-01-06

This book is supposed to be primarily about a short but very dangerous time during WWI (spring 1917), when the common French soldiers on the Western Front got fed up with the incompetence of their leaders and temporarily rose up against them, got good and drunk, and refused to fight.

But, in order to have us really understand why the soldiers acted (and felt) as they did, Mr. Watt sketches back quite a ways in French history (to the 1800's) and then spends several more chapters on the first years of WWI itself, so the bulk of the book is really an overview. He does a fantastic job at this -- I tried a few military histories of WWI and gave up on them, but Mr. Watt made everything clear to me, not only the movements and main battles (the Marne, the Somme, Verdun, and the Chemin generals were trying to do, why it worked or didn't work, and the effect the battles had on the total war effort and morale.

The book is invaluable reading even for just the descriptions of the trench warfare. I never understood the significance of the term - why they were so hated - until reading this book. And Mr. Watt explains how the Germans and French were mismatched because WWI took place in the window of time after the invention of artillery but before the full-scale use of the tank. He tells how the French military leadership took a shamefully long time to figure out that bayonet charges (!) were useless against machine gun and artillery barages -- also, that the generals thought that to attack and never defend was the secret of military success. So the incredibly valiant French soldiers were sent out time and time again to trot, crawl and climb across the fields of barbed wire -- and be cut down before they could get anywhere near the Germans. After thousands and thousands of men were slaughtered, the generals realized they had to change their tactics and dig in, but even then, for the next 3 years, they continued to launch useless offensives, even though the clear-headed among them realized that it had become a war of attrition.

Along with this recount of the military side of the War and how it made the French soldiers discouraged, Mr. Watt describes what was happening in France politically at the time, which also undermined the war. Certain French leaders, politicians and newspapermen, pretty much aided and abetted the Germans, because their political base was the pacifist left-wing, and also because they assumed that France would lose the War and they personally would be in a better position for having fostered anti-war factionalism.

Despite these depressing events, Mr. Watt never descends to cynicism. He puts forward two heroes -- the military general Petain, who turns things around in the nick of time (at Verdun, and later during the mutinies), and, on the political side, "The Tiger," Clemenceau, who ran France like a dictator for those final war years but managed to keep her intact. At the end of the book Mr. Watt tells us what happened post-war to these 2 and also to the traitorous Malvy and Caillaux. There are definitely surprises here - the French political mindset is hard to understand from my American point of view, and probably from others as well. As the author states, "It was as if during World War II a former President of the United States were conducting secret conversations with known traitors in the pay of Nazi Germany...and as if the Attorney General and his director of the F.B.I. were winking at the whole affair."

Another shocker was the fact that there was at the time almost no independent press, and that one of the top liberal newspapers was being literally financially subsidized by the Germans! Mr. Watt explains that, for some reason, French newspaper ads didn't generate much profit, so, to survive, periodicals had to accept money from political factions. Astonishing, indeed.

Mr. Watt is a very fine writer, dramatic, as the subject matter calls for, and almost poetic when occasion demands. He is, as the dust jacket says, scrupulously fair, though not in the least supercilious or detached. And, though there is nothing made up or exaggerated, he manages to end each chapter in such a way as to impell you to the next.

For another great book by RM Watt on WWI, search "The Kings Depart." If you need to read something on WWI, I would recommend both of these, for their clarity, passion, fairness, and just plain enjoyability.

Dare Call It Treason
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Dare Call It Treason
Richard M. Watt; Introduction John Elting
Manufacturer: SIMON AND SCHUSTER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKRUGS

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