In this stranger-than-fiction page-turner, investigative reporter Kaplan (Fires of the Dragon, 1992) and Andrews, Asia correspondent for British Esquire, pursue the apocalyptic Aum cult from its bizarre genesis and gestation to its notorious 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, which killed 11 and wounded 5,500. The authors have done their homework in researching the breadth of the hidden activities of this strange cult, though they play on readers' fears by sensationalizing, for instance, Aum's attempts to acquire Russian nukes, based on rather skimpy evidence. Nevertheless, Aum Shinri Kyo (Aum Supreme Truth) has found its place in history as the first civilian-engineered chemical terrorism. The group's partially blind guru, Shoko Asahara began more as a megalomaniacal con artist, but his perverted mix of Buddhism, pseudoscience, and millennialism lured 40,000 from Japan, Russia, and elsewhere. Aum's beliefs entail rituals involving electrode caps, truth serum, and barbiturates, and methods akin to those of Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and the Mafia. Although Aum's financial structure resembled a Japanese keiretsu (corporate family), with 37 companies internationally under its control and a boasted $1 billion in assets, it also had interests in land and insurance fraud, medical scams, harassment, kidnapping, and murder. From their Mount Fuji stronghold, they experimented clumsily and unsuccessfully with botulism, anthrax, and various toxins until they hit on sarin, a Nazi-developed nerve gas. Their first sarin attack targeted some unsympathetic judges in a night assault that killed seven people, but it went unsolved by the police until Aum struck Tokyo's subways. Kaplan and Andrews dub Asahara ``the prophet of hi-tech terrorism,'' but aside from an afterword glossing the Senate's investigations on chemical weapons proliferation, their sensational account lacks a true object lesson. At the end of the Cold War and on the eve of the millennium, this docu-thriller about Aum's preparations for the end of the world makes for a fascinating, grim, near-unbelievable read.
Pub Date: July 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-517-70543-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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