Tom Shachtman
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"Shachtman is like a maestro, masterfully conducting an orchestra of history, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and journalism together in a harmonious and evocative symphony of all things Amish. He follows the lives of numerous young Amish in the midst of the tumultuous "Rumspringa" years .... I fully expect to see this book short-listed next year come literary awards time." Christian Science Monitor Publishers Weekly starred review: "A teenage Amish girl sits in her buggy, one hand dangling a cigarette while the other holds a cell phone into which she is loudly chatting away. This girl, like many Amish teens sixteen and older, is in a period called rumspringa, when the strict rules of community life are temporarily lifted while an adolescent chooses whether to be baptized into the church and abide fully by its laws. Shachtman is a sensitive and nimble chronicler of Amish teens, devoting ample space to allowing them to tell their stories in their own words. Throughout, he uses the Amish rumspringa experience as a foil for understanding American adolescence and identity formation in general, and also contextualizes rumspringa throughout the rapidly growing and changing Amish world. This is not only one of the most absorbing books ever written about the Plain People, but a perceptive snapshot of the larger culture in which they live and move." "Writer, novelist, and documentarian Shachtman has created a fascinating and near-unprecedented glimpse into the inner lives of Amish society. High recommended." Library Journal "A riveting and instructive portrait," Kirkus Reviews "Mr. Shachtman's wonderfully rich portrait and history of the Amish as a people and a faith helps to show why one of the strictest religious communities in America is better at holding a flock than some of the most liberal." Wall Street Journal Reviews of other Recent Books by Tom Shachtman TERRORS AND MARVELS: How Science and Technology Changed the Character and the Outcome of World War II (Morrow, 2002) "Remarkable view of a war that not only advanced but politicized science, perhaps forever.... A comprehensive analysis of how mobilization and management of scientists -- and their research and resultant technologies -- produced an array of weapons for the Allies that ranged from horrific to unbelieveable. Shachtman ... builds a fascinating case boosting science, including ‘soft disciplines’ ... as a pivotal factor in the outcome." -- Kirkus Reviews. "There was more to WWII science than the atomic bomb, demonstrates Shachtman in his fascinating history …. Shachtman dramatically captures the breakneck pace of research and the charged atmosphere of the WWII lab …. The impeccably researched, taut volume maintains its focus on the role of science without drowning in voluminous WWII historical material. This effortlessly readable text will be of interest to fans of history and science, and to the casual reader as well." -- Publishers Weekly. "TERRORS AND MARVELS shows you that when desperate times call for desperate measures, science will answer the call, morality be damned …. A fine and knowledgeable writer who sees the union between science and state becoming increasingly strong … Shachtman does an exceptionally good job not only explaining how all the gizmos work, but also showing that scientific and technological know-how alone isn’t enough." -- San Jose Mercury News "A brisk, clear, and revealing narrative. Shachtman has done an impressive job of explaining the far-reaching scientific/ technological aspects of World War II …. Other books have dealt with the technology of the war, but none has endeavored to explore more fully the extent to which that technology was utilized …. Because World War II was so predominantly a conflict of machines, this penetrating and intelligent study is highly relevant." -- World War II History. ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD (Houghton Mifflin, 1999) "Analyzes the social impact of the chill factor, explains the science of cold and tells the curious tales behind inventions like the thermometer, the fridge and the thermos flask …. Excellent use of analogies … [an] astonishing observation … a fascinating finale …. Recounts the history of cold with passion and clarity." –- New York Times Book Review "Intriguing … a disarming portrait of an exquisite, ferocious, world-ending extreme." -- Kirkus "An absorbing account to chill out with." –- Booklist "The pursuit of absolute zero may not, at first, seem important or exciting ... But Shachtman –- who has a gift for telling scientific adventure stories –- has done a wonderful job of conveying the excitement …. This is a truly wonderful book: purchase this before it becomes an episode of Nova. –- Library Journal (starred review) "Shachtman … holds the reader’s attention with the skill of a novelist as he relates the 400-year effort to fill out what scientists have called ‘the map of Frigor.’" – Scientific American "This esoteric scientific adventure story –- as keenly pursued as the simultaneous quest for the arctic regions –- is masterfully told …. In many ways an absolute delight, chock-full of quirky characters questing for ever-lower temperatures and discovering fundamental properties of matter along the way …. Shachtman has achieved an enormous feat, combining science, biography and analysis into a compelling narrative full of explosions, obsessed experimentalists and unexpected revelations." – Atlanta Journal-Constitution "For a subject bound to leave many readers, well, cold, [Shachtman] has compiled here a surprisingly fascinating account of what cold is and the role it has played and plays in our lives and nature." -- Copley News Service. AROUND THE BLOCK: The Business of a Neighborhood (Harcourt Brace, 1997) "A ‘near-classic’ ... One of the best descriptions of American business in microcosm to come out of the 1990s [and] the sort of business book that is published too rarely .... Its subject goes to the heart of modern American business -- and in the process tells you more about social conflicts, immigration, education and, indeed, America itself than countless loftier works .... Most memorable are the characters .... Mr. Shachtman is wonderful at detailing the obstinacy of small businessmen .... One of the book’s best chapters is on the stout defence put up by a gym and a video store against two national chains that move in across the street .... Another fascinating section looks at the economics of three deli-groceries ...." -- The Economist "To answer such questions as whether small businesses create jobs and how they survive the competition with big business, Shachtman spent a year exploring the assorted enterprises in a square block of Manhattan’s Chelsea. The book is crowded with real people speaking candidly about plans and problems as varied as their occupations, which range from dog grooming to wholesale plumbing supplies. A grand idea, splendidly executed." -- The New Yorker. "Fascinating detail, [a] terrific new book ... a lively, insightful chronicle of a year in the business life of a Manhattan block .... AROUND THE BLOCK is a wonderful weave of personal stories and big-picture trends. Mr. Shachtman has mastered the art of the disciplined digression: his side trips into architecture, history and macroeconomics are short and sharply illuminating." -- The New York Times, Business Section. "A complex and detailed [study of] the gradual, almost invisible creation of jobs, wealth and economic growth through the establishment and nurturing of small businesses .... A thoughtful, interesting book ..... Tom Shachtman has written a good and useful book that -- unlike so much else these days -- gives cause to look to the future with hope." -- Washington Post Book World |
WelcomeHi -- I'm Tom Shachtman, a writer, filmmaker, and educator. I've written thirty books, and two more are being published this year. I've also written and occasionally produced and directed documentaries for the major television networks ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS, including a two-hour NOVA based on my book ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD.
BREAKING NEWS, December 2009: The AIP, American Institute of Physics, has just awarded me and the ABSOLUTE ZERO documentaries its prestigious science writing award for 2009! My most recently published book is THE FORTY YEARS WAR: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE NEOCONS, FROM NIXON TO OBAMA, written with Len Colodny and published by HarperCollins. Len Colodny and I were the featured guests at the Washington, D.C., World Affairs Council on January 7th at 6:30 PM, in a ninety-minute discussion moderated by Ray Locker, national security correspondent for USA Today. C-Span taped the program. It was first shown on January 31, 2010, and is now available for viewing on their website, at: http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/291579-1
Other publicity about THE FORTY YEARS WAR: December 8, 2009. My article in the Washington Post book blog, "Where are the Neocons Today?" Link: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/ History News Network (HNN) blog, my article about "The Nixon Quartet," dealing with the uneasy interactions of Nixon, Kissinger, Haig, and Fritz Kraemer during the years of the Nixon Presidency -- a prelude to the longer discussion in THE FORTY YEARS WAR. Link: http://hnn.us/articles/119555.html Also recently posted, on Huffington Post, my article about former VP Dick Cheney's channeling of the thoughts of Fritz Kraemer, the long-dead guu of the neocos -- another teaser for THE FORTY YEARS WAR. Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-shachtman/railing-against-obama-che_b_380196.html Dr. Luke Nichter, a Texas scholar, has posted a page on his authoritative Nixon tapes site, regarding THE FORTY YEARS WAR and Fritz Kraemer, and quoting extensively from Kraemer's October 24, 1972 conversation in the Oval Office with President Richard Nixon -- a centerpiece of our book. Link: http://www.nixontapes.org/kraemer.htm AIRLIFT TO AMERICA: HOW BARACK OBAMA SR., JOHN F. KENNEDY, TOM MBOYA, AND 800 EAST AFRICAN STUDENTS CHANGED THEIR WORLD AND OURS has just been published. First reviews from the Washington Post and The Nation are in, and they are quite positive, echoing earlier pre-pub reviews by Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. The foreword is by the great singer and social activist Harry Belafonte, who along with Jackie Robinson and Sidney Poitier signed the first appeal to the public for support for the airlift, fifty years ago.
BREAKING NEWS: I'll be reading from and discussing AIRLIFT TO AMERICA for the Africa section of the Library of Congress on March 12, 2010, in a nonetime session that is free and open to the public. Washington Post: “This book fills in a piece of Barack Obama's background. Quite an important piece, in that the subject is the so-called airlift, between 1959 and '63, of hundreds of young Africans to the United States, where they studied at colleges and universities …. The idea was to let promising young Africans experience firsthand the freedom and promise of American life. No less an analyst than the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. thought the program would advance the cause of civil rights on both continents.” The Nation. “Airlift offers an intriguing tidbit of US history and a look back at a brief moment when Many Americans and Africans caught glimpses of a shared and hopeful future.” Kirkus Service lauded the book's "revealing character sketches" of individual students and their fascinating lives, and summed up the book by saying it offers "a compelling portrait of nation-building abroad and nation-changing at home." Publishers Weekly: "A memorable and poignant recounting of a significant endeavor that is still scoring successes around the world, this book is not to be missed by African and American history buffs." BookBrowse --Editors Choice -- "This thorough, patiently researched, and at times moving account of dedicated young people hungry for an education and those who helped them receive it will appeal to students of American history in the 1960's in particular, and anyone interested in an important turning-point in the struggle for human rights in the U.S. and in Africa .... I came away with my idealism refreshed. The architects of the student airlifts believed in freedom, human dignity and self-determination; the students they helped believed that through education they could help a nation. By having the courage to act on those beliefs, and the determination to persevere through delay and defeat, they would change the world in ways they could never have imagined." AIRLIFT TO AMERICA is the never-before-told and quite heroic story of the 1959-1963 airlifts from East Africa that helped Barack Obama, Sr., father of the president-elect, and Wangari Maathai, future winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, among hundreds of others, to study at American and Canadian colleges and universities. The airlifts and their graduates changed not only the future course of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and other nations of East Africa, but also the course of U.S. race relations. Jack Kennedy's donation to enable the 1960 airlift became an important issue in that year's American presidential election, and was a factor in swinging enough African-American votes into his column to give him the victory. Reviews of THE FORTY YEARS WAR: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE NEOCONS, FROM NIXON to OBAMA, which I wrote with Len Colodny, author of the underground classic SILENT COUP. Kirkus has given THE FORTY YEARS WAR an enthusiastic review. Here's the summation: "In this readable history, the authors tell many intriguing tales, including the neocon incubator that was Scoop Jackson’s senate office; the military spying on Nixon’s National Security Council; Haig’s maneuverings during Nixon’s final days; the rise of Cheney and Rumsfeld under Ford and their denouement under Bush II; the neocons’ shameless readopting of Reagan after his accords with Gorbachev proved successful; the controversial decision to leave Saddam Hussein in power after the Gulf War; and the continuing and curious role of reporter Bob Woodward in the neocon story. A well-reported, fast-paced history lesson on the eternal conflict between ideologues and policymakers and the hubris that always accompanies success." |
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